Chapter 16
Everything was just a little blurry around the edges. Makoto fought it back, tried to focus, but it was getting harder to do. At this point, she wasn't really running anymore. Shuu and Touma were doing all the running for her while she was draped between them like a marionette with broken strings.
Before, she'd just wanted to sleep.
She was starting to worry that pretty soon her body wasn't going to give her a choice.
The Senshi and the Troopers ran on in silence, down the twists and turns of dark hallways, Rei and Shin in the lead. Makoto was incredibly grateful to have Rei's ability back with the group. The priestess could steer them clear of any significant danger now, even if she appeared to be leading them deeper into the structure instead of out of it.
Makoto grit her teeth and controlled her breathing, using exercises she'd learned during her tenure as a Senshi to keep the pain under control and keep her brain focused. She needed to pace herself. She had no idea how much longer they'd be on the hoof, and she needed to last much longer than that.
Rei and Shin both suddenly skidded to a stop, the rest of the group sliding in behind them.
"Here." Mars indicated a room to the side with her chin, sliding open an intricately painted door and gesturing them all inside. Shin stood on the other side of the doorway, his face dark and serious as he kept watch while they all hustled inside.
Mars and the Warrior of Suiko pulled up the rear, hurrying in and closing the door shut behind them. Rei grabbed a wooden beam and slid it into the door's track, providing a flimsy security measure, before pulling an Ofuda from her sleeve and slapping it onto the door itself.
Makoto watched, feeling comforted, as the priestess then did the same thing to each wall, the ceiling, and the floor before opening another door on the wall opposite the one they'd come in, gesturing everyone inside again.
Makoto grit her teeth as Touma and Shuu moved her through it with the others, and then took slow, relaxing breaths as she watched Rei repeat the warding process again before making a few hand gestures and muttering something rhythmic under her breath.
After a few tense moments of silence, Rei exhaled, her shoulders slumping as the tension bled from her muscles.
"Ugh. That sucked." She muttered, putting her hands to her lower back and attempting to arch in a stretch.
"Tell me about it." The Senshi of Venus cracked her neck and let out her own groan as she stretched her arms over her head. She definitely looked like she'd seen better days, in a place about as far from here as she could get. Makoto winced in sympathy and hoped Minako wasn't trying to hide any dire injuries either, or they might just be toast.
Ami was studying their surroundings carefully, but Makoto noticed a definite look of longing as she took in the comfortable, cushioned furniture she passed in her examination. "Rei, is the warding good enough for us to rest?" Mercury asked softly.
Mars turned, giving Ami a weak smile.
"That's the idea," she replied. "But it won't hold for long, so we should take shifts, and everyone should get some rest now. I'll take the first shift," she volunteered. Shin put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm with her." He vowed. They all nodded, and then mercifully, Touma half carried, half dragged her over to a huge and fluffy-looking divan that was dripping with pillows. Makoto didn't care if it was a zombie's bed. At this point she'd probably lie down on a pile of zombies if they just promised to hold still and let her sleep. Touma set her down gently and she simply collapsed backward into the cushions, letting out a heartfelt groan of delight as they cradled her.
She could cheerfully kiss Rei.
"Better?" a low, familiar voice asked.
Makoto opened her eyes and smiled up into the face of Touma no Tenku.
"Loads," she assured him, snuggling in.
He draped a blanket over her that he'd found who knew where. It smelled musty – like it'd been hanging out in a…well, a tomb, actually – but she didn't care. It was a comfort she needed. Touma sank to the floor in front of the divan, leaning back against the furniture and draping his arms over his knees as he tilted his head back and let out a long sigh. The deep blue of his undergear gleamed in the dull flicker of the lantern light that ringed the room, casting a halo around the Warrior of Tenku as he let his head fall forward and simply sat in stillness, resting.
"You don't have to sleep on the floor. There's plenty of room up here."
She wanted to take back the words as soon as she'd said them. They were too forward, too bold, and turned a corner in their relationship that they might not recover from. She struggled to find the right words to take it back without sounding even worse.
"I mean…you don't have to—" she was interrupted by a quiet male chuckle.
"I know what you meant. Thanks. But I don't want to jostle you. This is plenty comfortable down here. Lots of cushions. I'm good," he replied, running the fingers of one hand through his shaggy blue locks. A stab of jealousy wove through her as she realized that she wanted to be the one doing that. She wondered how soft his hair might be.
Then she came to her senses.
What the heck was she doing? She needed to get herself under control. She was always doing this. Pining after guys, falling for total strangers, when it was never the right time or place. And being trapped without powers while they were hunted in the Underworld? That was probably the number one wrong time and place to be thinking about silly things like touching a boy's hair.
With a snort, Makoto forced herself to close her eyes, cautiously easing herself into a more comfortable position. She just needed some sleep. She'd wake up refreshed, feeling right as rain, and totally focused.
More importantly, she'd stop falling for Touma Hashiba, keeping their relationship at the level of camaraderie, it belonged.
888
Touma leaned his head back against the divan cushion and let out a heavy sigh as he studied the timber framing of the ceiling. Rei's ward still sat in the ceiling's center, but he noticed that it had begun to brown around the edges.
He really needed to sleep. But every time he tried, the effort proved to be in vain. The sound of Makoto's soft breathing behind him, the memory of her screams when Ami had tended her, the way she'd fought so bravely despite the incredible pain she'd been in – it all kept cycling through his brain.
And behind it all – the deep hole in his gut where Tenku should have been sang louder than any other thought he had. He hadn't realized how big a presence in his life the armor had been until it'd been blocked from him. Its calm and reassuring energy had gifted him with a sense of confidence he'd thought belonged solely to him. Needing the support and protection of a woman who could barely stand on her own two feet was humbling. It disturbed his psyche in ways he hadn't even thought about. He hadn't ever realized how important it would be to him to protect someone. How badly he'd need it.
He shifted, trying to get comfortable. He'd tried to convince himself to lie down but hadn't really been able to move from his position beside Makoto. It wasn't the surroundings. As a Trooper, he'd definitely slept in worse conditions. Like the dead. Which meant it was probably the company. And not just Makoto.
Somewhere to his left, a quiet cough broke the stillness, and Touma pulled his gaze back down to meet the eye of Seiji Date. The Warrior of Korin appeared to be locked in a mental struggle similar to his own, and Touma flashed him a sympathetic smile.
Behind Korin, the lithe, blonde form of Minako Aino slumbered on a pile of cushions, curled partially in shadow, her hair cascading all around her. Like him, Seiji remained sitting vigilantly, leaning against the cushions but not sleeping. In the center of the room, the Warrior of Kongo was sitting near Usagi Tsukino, who slumbered on some sort of sofa. The girl was snoring, deeply asleep, and clearly not troubled there. Shuu was picking at his fingernails with a pocketknife, but Touma knew Kongo's attitude was a façade. If anything went down right now, Shuu no Kongo was going to be the first guy on top of it.
Across the room, Ryo sat cross-legged next to Ami Mizuno. Ami had fallen asleep sitting up, laying on one arm across a small side table. On the other side of the table, Rei had fallen asleep in a different position, despite her avowed watch. Shin stood beside Rei, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a watchful eye casting its gaze around the room.
"You should all be sleeping." Shin's quiet admonition might as well have been a blast from a cannon for the way it seemed to slice through the quiet. The Warrior of Suiko cast a meaningful gaze at the wards around the room that were slowly crumbling.
Touma shrugged, rubbing his face with his hands for a moment.
"Yeah," he admitted, but still made no attempt to get more comfortable or try to sleep.
"I just….can't," Seiji's quiet admission resonated through the room and Touma saw several agreeing nods.
"We gotta do something. Figure something out." The uncharacteristic seriousness in Shuu's voice jostled them all, and they nodded again.
"I can't touch Rekka. Doesn't matter what I do, I just can't touch it. But the Senshi can use their powers?" Ryo growled. "What are we missing?"
Touma thought carefully, mulling the situation over.
The Senshi couldn't transform. But they could still use their powers. No transformation. Powers. Touma thought back to his conversation with Makoto as they'd watched emerald lightning crawl along her fingers.
What was the difference between a transformation and the magic itself? He wished he could wake Makoto and ask her.
He put a hand to his chin and tried to sort through all the details that he remembered about the Senshi when they'd been transformed and the way Makoto had been here in the Underworld. He furrowed his brow and dug deep, trying to think over every angle.
Transformation. Magic.
Maybe….What if the ability to transform and the connection to the energy of Jupiter could be accessed separately?
What if….what if he could call the Sho Ha Kyu without calling Tenku? Yes, the weapon was technically part of the armor. But, how unshakeable was that connection? Could it be stretched?
Maybe the block could be weakened enough to let through some of the armor, even if Touma couldn't actually call the armor itself.
Now he was getting somewhere.
But how to test it? He'd never tried to call only his weapon. The Golden Bow and its quiver of limitless arrows simply came with Tenku.
"Touma. What is it?" Seiji's quiet interruption effectively snapped him out of his thoughts, and Touma came back to himself to find every eye in the room on him. Was he that obvious, even when his mouth was shut?! He flushed, self-conscious, and put his hands up in front of him, palms out.
"Sorry. Just trying to think things over."
"Got anything?" Ryo wondered, looking far too eager. Touma frowned.
"I don't know. Maybe?" In the heavy, expectant silence that followed, Touma cleared his throat, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "So….hear me out on this. But what if the Senshi transformation is separate from the actual energy that fuels it?"
When they all merely stared at him, Touma squeezed his eyes shut and massaged the bridge of his nose. Maybe his instincts were off?
"What?" Shuu asked, sounding puzzled.
"No, wait. I think I get it," Seiji interjected. The bearer of Korin was stroking his own chin in thought. "Touma's saying that even though the transformations are blocked, the actual power of the Senshi is accessible."
Feeling relieved, Touma nodded.
"Yeah, kinda. But more like….trying to get the whole transformation through is blocked, but trying to get at little bits of power through the block is….doable," he interjected.
Ryo, Shin, and Shuu visibly perked up.
"But that's not going to work for us. What'm I supposed to do, call my gauntlets and my shin guards? How is that going to help us?" Ryo snarled with frustration. Shin cast their leader a look of amused affection.
"Not quite Ryo. Not pieces of our armor," the bearer of Suiko replied. Seiji inhaled sharply, pounding a fist onto his flat, open palm.
"Of course! Our weapons! Touma thinks we can call our weapons!" he blurted. Behind him, Minako stirred and the bearer of Korin ducked his head sheepishly. They all hunched and immediately plunged themselves into silence.
"So….how'm I supposed to get my tetsubo without my armor?" Shuu leaned forward as he whispered. Touma shrugged, his frustration bleeding into the gesture.
"I don't know. That's what I can't figure out. And I'm not waking Kino to ask her how she got at her powers." He rubbed his face again, feeling the frustration seeping into his veins. The Troopers lapsed into silence as they all considered that.
"Listen. We don't have a lot of time. Shin, I'll stay up with you. The rest of you guys get some shut-eye. If we're going to try getting our weapons without our armor, we're going to need all the rest we can get," Shuu said suddenly. They nodded, resolved. Touma slouched further against the divan and interlocked his fingers, resting his joined hands over his belly and closing his eyes.
It wasn't much at all really, but the small degree of hope seemed to do the trick – he was out within moments.
