Chapter 11
The evening after Mr. Goro was drafted to help the Hellsing Organization found Akiko and Seras in the gym of the Mansion. Both of them were dressed in their uniforms and in fighting positions. Akiko eyed Seras as the vampire looked back at her. Seras had always beaten Akiko during these sparring sessions, but Akiko was determined to win at least once. Suddenly, the kitsune darted forward at Seras. Seras moved to block a kick to her head, but Akiko stopped and kicked at her knee instead. Seras jumped back just in time to avoid it, and Akiko pressed her attack. She went after Seras, throwing combinations of jabs and cross punches while Seras retreated several more steps before blocking her blows with her forearms.
Seras threw a quick punch that scrapped Akiko's cheek, and Akiko went for a sweep. Seras jumped over her leg and stretched her shadow arm to Akiko. Akiko avoided the shadowy tentacle and jumped back to avoid it again. Seras saw her chance and went after her, sweeping her shadow arm like a whip, forcing Akiko to move and run faster than she ever had before to avoid it.
Akiko quickly grew frustrated; she had been so close this time! And now she was on the ropes. Again! No matter what she did, Seras always beat her at sparring, the vampire was stronger, faster, and had more experience at all of this. Akiko never could do anything right! Her siblings were better than her, Alucard was better than her, even Seras was better than her! The frustration and anger at everything and everyone exploded through her, all at once! Before she knew what was happening, Akiko was surrounded by bright blue fire!
"What the Hell!?" Seras screamed in surprise. Akiko looked at her hands and saw herself in a mirror, she was surrounded by foxfire. "Is that foxfire?" Seras asked. Akiko nodded, surprised; the fire surrounded her and didn't burn her, it felt both comforting and furious at the same time, like normal fire. Seras withdrew her shadow arm and walked up to Akiko, "Can you…shut it off?" Akiko concentrated on more calming thoughts, like being at her computer and hacking through an easy system, using her knowledge to send pedophile's computers to the stone age, having a full stomach and no one threatening her, and the fire disappeared. "We need to learn how to use this," Seras said, "Anything that we can use that your family doesn't know about will be to our advantage."
Akiko nodded, and thought back to when she activated the fox fire, she focused all her rage, frustration, and anger, and the foxfire surrounded her again. Seras looked at her and it was clear that the gears were grinding in her head. "What are you thinking?" Akiko asked Seras. "Do you think it works like ki, like in shonen battle anime?" Akiko didn't know what to say to that and took a minute to think about it. "Maybe? Let me see," the kitsune said as she concentrated. She put her hands together and focused her mind, imagining her foxfire coalescing into a single fireball.
Slowly a small spark appeared between her hands, and then focused and grew until she had a ball of foxfire between her hands about the size of a healthy grapefruit. "Make it move!" Seras excitedly said, and Akiko concentrated more on the fireball, and it floated away from her hands and circled her head. Akiko focused with her right index and middle fingers and used them to help her concentrate, allowing the fireball to move in more complex patterns. Figure eights, loops, swirls, and even kanji figures were made in the air with the foxfire ball.
Seras' ruby eyes were lit up in excitement, "This is amazing! I can't believe that this is your first time doing this!" Akiko nodded, "I know right? Maybe it's like the Force from Star Wars, I just got to stop thinking and feel it." Akiko made her foxfire ball fly towards Seras and swirl around her head. "I feel like a little girl playing with a fairy," Seras commented as she moved, and Akiko made the foxfire ball move with her. She 'chased' Seras like this around the room, Seras slowly speeding up until she was running as fast as any fit human her size would.
They were like this for almost a half hour, Akiko struggling now to keep up her concentration, when Seras stopped. Akiko briefly lost control, and that was when disaster struck. The foxfire ball hit Seras in her stomach, and the vampire lit up like a Molotov cocktail! Seras screamed as the supernatural fire burned her, "TURN IT OFF! STOP IT!" Akiko focused and concentrated on the fire, but no matter what, it wouldn't stop burning! The air was filled with Seras' screams the smell of her burning flesh as she went down and tried to use 'Stop, Drop, and Roll' to smother the fire, but she kept on burning. Akiko saw a fire extinguisher and quickly ran to grab it. She went back to Seras and use the fire extinguisher, emptying its contents all over her.
And still the foxfire burned as several Hellsing soldiers, Alucard, and Sir Integra ran into the room. "What did you do!?" Sir Integra yelled at Akiko. "I used foxfire! It was an accident! We were practicing with it and it accidentally hit her and I don't know how to stop it!" Akiko yelled back as Seras' pained screams started choking off as her body was blackening, charring, and she was moving more slowly. "STOP IT NOW!" Sir Integra screamed as her soldiers tried their own fire extinguishers and even a firehose, all in vain. "Akiko, focus! This is your power you need to control it or Seras will die!" Alucard said, actually sounding afraid for the younger vampire.
Akiko remembered how she had turned it off before and focused on her rage. The fire around Seras burned brighter for a second, before Akiko focused and calmed down. The flames slowly shrank before they finally died. Seras however was reduced to a charred black skeleton. "S-Seras?" Integra said as she stepped closer to her. "Seras!?" she yelled as she fell to her knees in front of the burned up Draculina. Seras didn't seem to be healing at all, everyone in the room silently watched her for fifteen minutes, and nothing happened. Sir Integra's head turned to look at the horrified Akiko, and Akiko was frozen in fear by the look in the woman's eyes. "You killed her…" Sir Integra said as she stood up.
"I…I…I…" Akiko couldn't talk, could barely breathe she was so paralyzed with fear as Sir Integra stalked up to her and drew a gun from her coat. Sir Integra grabbed her hair and pulled her closer as she put the gun to Akiko's forehead. Akiko squeezed her eyes shut as tears ran down her cheeks, when she heard a voice weakly say, Don't…Integra… "Seras!?" Integra and Akiko both said in shock. Need…blood… Seras' voice said. Integra looked at Akiko and Akiko looked back at her. Integra put her gun away and pointed at one of her soldiers, "You, give me your combat knife." The soldier nodded and wordlessly gave it to her.
Integra turned to Akiko and told her, "You did this," she gestured to the charred skeleton that Seras was reduced to, "Now you will fix it." Akiko swallowed and nodded. She took the knife from Integra and went to Seras. She looked at Alucard and asked, "Should I let it go to her mouth…or something else?" Alucard took off his sunglasses and examined Seras closely. "Cover as much of her as you can. Even if you pass out, she needs all the blood she can get. Possibly an entire bath of blood," Alucard answered. Integra nodded and went to their blood supply, while Akiko took off the glove on her left hand and cut her palm. Akiko winced at the pain but still clenched her left hand to get the blood flowing as she poured her blood over Seras' charred body.
Seras' voice stated in Akiko's head, Need…more… "I'm sorry Seras," Akiko said as she adjusted the knife to her wrist and cut it deeply. Blood poured from her wrist, and Akiko felt herself becoming lightheaded quickly, but she continued to move her injured arm over Seras, coating her as much as she could with the lifegiving liquid. New flesh started to cover the black skeleton that was Seras, but only barely was she starting to resemble something human. Just enough of her healed for her to vocalize, "Mooore…bllooooddd…"
Sir Integra came into the room just then with two Hellsing soldiers behind her carrying a medium-sized tub filled with blood. Integra lifted Seras up and Alucard went to Akiko. He licked her palm and wrist both clean of blood, and she saw the bleeding stop as well. Meanwhile, Integra gently laid Seras into the blood-filled tub and waited. After five minutes, the blood seemed to lower, and slowly over ten minutes they watched as Seras' body absorbed the blood, until finally she emerged, fully healed; and completely naked as well. Sir Integra quickly took off her coat and covered Seras, then lifted her up bridal style. "Wait," Seras said, "Integra, this isn't Akiko's fault. Give me your word that you won't punish her for this, it was an accident, she shouldn't suffer for it." Integra looked back at the dizzy kitsune and then at Seras.
Integra sighed and told Akiko, "You can return to your room now. And…thank you for trying to help." Sir Integra carried Seras out of the gym and the soldiers returned to their stations. "Alucard…help me. I feel too weak to move," Akiko asked. Alucard picked her up bridal style as well and teleported to her room. He gently laid her down and said, "I'll see if we have anything hearty to help you recover in the kitchen." Akiko laid on her bed and wondered if discovering foxfire was worth all that had just happened.
Alucard returned five minutes later with a hot bowl of beef stew and a glass of orange juice. Akiko drank the orange juice and when she regained her strength, she dug into the hearty beef stew. As she ate, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she hadn't stopped the foxfire in time, and wondered what it could do to other vampires.