Chapter 6
A Chance Meeting
Free at last of the Youma infested halls, Minori catapulted herself at the Youma smacking them with her bucket and frying pan, that sent them flying into Shiki's dual bladed scythe defeating them in one swift movement. Beyond them in another corridor, Yozakura and Murakumo were also dispatching youma that were holding them off as Yumi saw them acting like true warriors. Once they were defeated they gathered with Yumi who was looking a bit distant, when Minori snapped her out of her daze.
"Good work everyone, now let's rendezvous with the others and see if they need our help," Yumi said.
Team Gessen nodded and raced off into more corridors.
Renka, Hanabi and Kafuru, were holding up pretty well against a youma ambush, as they raced to and fro sending their common foe crashing into the walls of the tower corridor. Once they were clear, Kagura and Naraku arrived with good news.
"The new guy, Danzo must've hit a bump in the road when he tried saving Miyabi's life, but she just attacked him due to his cocky behavior," Kagura said, feeling worried.
"You guys go and find him, and make sure that he doesn't get into anymore foolish scrapes," added Naraku.
The three sisters nodded and soon raced off to find their new unexpected ally.
Team Hebijo was now moving quickly dispatching any youma that stood against them as Miyabi's anger became more unstable. Imu was looking more worried than ever at her friend, as the last of the Youma fell.
"Come on team double your efforts and exterminate those youma, I want to find my brother and kill him for taking my father's life just as those bastards took my mother's life!" she shouted angrily.
The rest of Team Hebijo nodded as they split up and went to seperate locations inside the tower. Ryobi however felt something in her heart as she placed her hand upon her chest, that made her mildly worried, but dismissed the thought to continue the mission.
In a candle lit room, Danzo soon saw three girls standing alert when they approached a statue of a woman at an alter. Youma soon emerged behind them with strange contraptions that glowed with power, then spectral forms erupted and summoned new lesser youma to attack them head on. Not wanting to see these new girls slaughter, Danzo catapulted with Defiance in hand and slashed at the lesser youma killing them with a powerful strike.
Two of the girls had silver hair and green eyes with different colored outfits regarding their role as Shinobi Masters, while the third girl had dark wavy hair tied in twin tails, dark eyes, and a dark colored outfit. The girl in the white and yellow outfit looked admirably at Danzo as he fired his new crossbow weapon dubbed the Adrian which Danzo knew from an famous book he read called "Rosemary's Baby." Firing his crossbow at the youma, it sent several violet plasma arrows at the Youma dispatching them in seconds. The first girl in black knocked another youma down sending it ricocheting into the other girl's dagger that she kept concealed behind her in her left hand. Danzo leapt above, putting Adrian aside and firing his shotgun that he dubbed Revenant, and fired at the youma with the large canisters of youma souls to prevent to prevent them from summoning more to take the place of the other fallen youma.
Once the youma were gone, the item in the statues hand clattered from the statue's hand landing on the altar for Danzo take. He examined it carefully as the three girls saw his array of weapons on his person. He knew it was the Siren's Shriek and so pocketed it in his coat as the first girl in gold, and black with crescent moon symbols upon it stepped up with a warm smile.
"Thank you for saving our lives," she said bowing down.
"It's nothing, I saved your bacon, you and your pals helped me out, so were cool," he smirked.
"Indeed," agreed the dark haired girl in black.
The other girl looked at Danzo, but also thanked him for the help.
"I'm Gekko, and this is my sister Senko," She said.
"I'm Danzo," Danzo said, his now focusing on the girl with the fan.
"I'm Senkou and Gekko's fearless leader, Fubuki," said the third girl.
Danzo sensed something about this girl that made him smirk.
"So you're also a youma," he observed.
"I'm only half-youma," Fubuki corrected him, then sensed something about Danzo. "You also have youma blood mixed with your human blood that flows inside your veins."
Senko and Gekko were surprised to see another human-youma hybrid like Fubuki standing before them. Danzo just shrugged and walked off towards the door.
"Whatever you say Fubuki," he said in an "I don't give a crap" tone.
Gekko watched him go as Asuka and Yumi raced towards their friendly rivals only to see Danzo wasn't there.
"Where's Danzo?" Yumi asked them.
"He just walked off after Fubuki told him about how he's got both human and youma blood in his veins," She told them.
Asuka and Yumi were stunned by this revelation.
"But he saved our lives from those youma that ambushed us in the chamber, and walked off because of what I said to him," Fubuki said a small smile appearing on her face.
Yumi saw the smile, and happily knew that there was some trace of humanity still lurking in her foster sister's heart. Asuka meanwhile knew that they had to tell their friends about the shocking news.
"We better gather our friends together for a little meeting," she suggested.
"Good idea Asuka," replied Yumi and sent out a flare to signal the other kunoichi to meet them in the chamber. Once together, save for Miyabi who was still looking for her brother, they all heard Yumi's explanation about Danzo's secret. Although surprised by this news, Asuka assured them that he was friendly enough to save the Shinobi masters from certain death making them relax but still remaining vigilant for anymore youma wanting to attack.
"I hope I see that this Danzo guy's handsome," said Katsuragi with a mischievous grin on her face.
"Oh he is handsome," assured Yumi, "he saved my life from a giant millipede that was about to kill me and defeated it all while I helped him out."
Katsuragi fist pumped the air. Ryona began to hug herself tightly getting a glare from her sister.
"Let's move out, and take down any youma that may be in the tower," said Ikaruga.
"Roger!" said the other Kunoichi, and they split up into individual teams of two or three.
Meanwhile Danzo had managed to collect a crystal skull and immediately dispatched the Youma that ambushed him with barely any scratch on him.
"What a bunch of wimps," he said to himself, and raced back to the doorway at the skull spire. Once he arrived after fighting his way through many youma, he placed the skull in the right pillar. Bolts of electricity arced between them breaking the chains, and clearing the path to his inevitable destination.
On the top of the tower Hibari and Haruka, saw Ryuki nearby on a statue looking away from them as Danzo climbed up to the top as rain began to fall from the clouds above their heads. Ryuki turned his head to see him from the corner of his blue eye, his blue coat billowing behind him in the evening breeze.
"You showed up," he said calmly, then turned to face him fully.
"You sure know how to throw a party! No food, no drinks, and one of the many babes I met just left," Danzo said in a cocky tone, making Haruka giggle softly under breath.
"My sincerest apology brother, I was so eager to meet you, I couldn't concentrate on preparations for the bash," Ryuki replied as the rain fell harder on them.
"Whatever, at any rate, it's been a whole year since we last met. How about a kiss from your little brother? Or better yet how about a kiss from THIS!" Danzo smirked pointing Silver-Moon at Ryuki, as a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky above their heads.
"So this is what they call a heart-warming family reunion, huh?" the younger twin grinned pridefully.
"You got that right," replied Ryuki as he flicked Yamikaze out of it's sheath.
Ryuki lunged at his brother and swung down at him, but Danzo evaded and countered with Arjuna and Rama trying to stagger him. Above Haruka and Hibari stood a safe distance away as beam of light flashed towards Danzo who jumped over it. The brothers charged again furiously as the raindrops scattered around them creating a shield around them. They soon jumped back to catch their breath for only a couple of seconds, then Danzo lunged again with flurry of swipes from his blade Defiance, as Ryuki calmly deflected them, and countered by hitting him with the pommel of his katana sending Danzo crashing into a statue. The younger twin in red drew Black-Star, and fired rapidly at Ryuki who stopped the attack, and layed the bullets on the ground. Then he sent them flying back at Danzo who cut them in half scattering them in all directions. Ryuki glared at his brother.
"Why do you refuse to gain power? The power of our father Sato?" Ryuki demanded coldly.
"Father? I don't have a father. I just don't like you, that's all," Danzo chuckled pridefully.
They swung their swords at each other and entered a blade lock with their swords generating sparks that light up their faces. Then Ryuki sent Defiance flying from his Danzo hand and plunged Yamikaze into his brother's gut.
"Foolishness, Danzo. Foolishness," Ryuki stated coldly, "Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."
Ryuki then shoved Danzo aside, grabbed the amulet from his neck, and slashed at his coat sleeve. Danzo collapsed onto the ground as Hibari became worried about him from her hiding place. Ryuki looked at Danzo's amulet, then brushed his hair back sending the water out of it making it spikey again, while the rain continued to fall. He walked away picking up Defiance as Danzo slowly began to stand up, only to be stabbed in the chest by his own blade making Hibari flinch fearfully again.
"Do you finally have it?" asked Akira who had arrived.
"Yes! No the spell Sato cast will be broken!" replied Ryuki as he recovered his sword and scabbard.
Akira smiled calmly and soon walked off. They had barely gotten a few feet away from Danzo when his sword began to change. The Skull with the horns in its eyes had it's jaws parted making it look like it was screaming, the cross guard was then extended, and the pommel now had a crown of short stunted spikes. There was a loud splash making Ryuki turned to see Danzo lunging at him, and draw his sword to stop his brother's attack by stabbing his hand sensing something with in him.
"I see a youma inside you has awakened in you as well," Ryuki observed.
Danzo pulled his bloodied hand out of his brothers sword and flung him aside, but Ryuki jumped away and prepared to strike again.
"Wait! We should leave. For the moment we have all that we need," said Akira.
Danzo slowly began walking his breathing erratic and his footsteps heavy, as he saw Ryuki and Akira flee and disappear before him. His body began to glow with red light, then it erupted in a burst of white with several kanji symbols spelling his name with red streaks etched across his face like Kabuki make up as he unleashed a guttural roar making Hibari tremble as she watched him. The marks soon vanished, and Danzo collapsed onto the ground exhausted, with Defiance lying near him, and a pool of blood underneath him. Thinking that Danzo was dead, Hibari jumped from her hiding place and ran to his side. She carefully turned him over to see that his face was motionless, and held him in his arms. Tears slowly flowed down her cheeks as she thought that Danzo had died from exhaustion, but Haruka leapt down from her perch and gently placed her hand on his neck as Hibari's tears landed on Danzo's face.
"He's still alive, but the exertion was too much for him to handle," she said to the pinkette.
"Oh thank goodness," Hibari sighed in relief, placing Danzo's head onto her chest he could hear her heartbeat.
Several floors below the roof, Fubuki collapsed to the ground and clutched at her head, making Senko and Gekko worried.
"What's wrong Fubuki?" asked the two half-sisters.
"The youma in Danzo, has finally awakened," Fubuki said.
They didn't know it, but they soon began to believe their leader as they pressed on with their mission.
After a few minutes, Danzo's eyes flickered open, and he carefully pulled himself up by placing his hand on Hibari's shoulder for leverage. Hibari smiled happily to see that Danzo was okay as he walked stiffly towards the edge of the tower pulling of the sleeve of his jacket that had been slashed by Ryuki's sword. Haruka saw him pick up the now awakened Defiance from the ground and holster it. Looking down from the roof of the Tower of Darkness, Danzo slammed his fsit on a statue causing it to crack and explode into tiny fragments. With a smirk Danzo realized that he had been given a new kind of power as Hibari watched in shock and awe. Then she ran towards him, but was too late as Danzo jumped off the Tower and disappeared from sight in pursuit of the two assailants escaped from him. Haruka stood beside her with a calm smile.
"I think he's starting to understand his true power," she said calmly, as she lead Hibari away to lower levels of the Tower.
Using the velocity to his advantage, Danzo saw the bird-like youma and began to shoot at them as he now ran down the tower at breakneck speed, jumping left and right as he fired his guns at them, and treated his foes as stepping stones. He leapt of the tower and spun firing a rainstorm of bullets that they could not avoid, then fired at his side and in front at more of the youma that were approaching him. Jumping again, he fired gangsta style, leapt over another, landed on another, and kicked them down with such force that he began to enjoy himself immensely. More of the youma attempted to surround him, but they were all dissected by his sword and gun in seconds. Danzo threw Defiance down at the youma which then impaled them, and fred Black-Star at it scattering blood everywhere, and making the sword move at high velocity, that it began moving faster like a spaceship re-entering the atmosphere. Danzo soon began to feel his hand burn, but he didn't feel it as he grabbed Defiance, and leapt off the tower. He looked like he was flying as his sword gleamed in the pale moonlight, but didn't notice a huge snake-like youma called Basilisk coming towards him, and swallow him whole.
On one of the floors Homura who had seen Danzo rush past the window she was near was shocked to the core.
"Sweet merciful mother of Kagura," she said, and raced off to find her friends.