Tokyo City
The next Morning with Minato and Akitsu
Minato and Akitsu were still in the basement and both were having a stare down between them, neither side was giving in. Minato had his right hand fingers on his pistol and his left hand gripped the detonator to Akitsu's explosive collar. He was sitting on the cot where he had been sitting all night they had spent the entire night talking about the Sekirei and he had to say he was impressed by her knowledge and willingness to share it.
Akitsu was sitting in the same Seiza position all night and a pile of food wrappers were setting to her left from all the food Minato had given her as a form of reward for her useful answers. She gave her master the best answers she could give to his questions he asked her, not once during the conversation had he struck her. Her hunger was satisfied finally and she loved the candy bars her master had in his possession, after he stopped questioning her he had resigned himself to just staring at her with his hand on his pistol.
That was how they spent a good four hours of the night; just staring at one another, Minato still didn't trust her all too much and refused to sleep with her in the room and without anyone to watch her while he slept. Call him paranoid but he preferred to keep his freedom and refused to become breeding stock for a bunch of aliens. As the stare down continued Minato and Akitsu's match was interrupted by a watch on Minato's wrist. Glancing at it he saw it was six in the morning, he looked at Akitsu and frowned at the clothes she was in.
She wasn't going to be blending in anytime soon if she wore those. So he sat up and Akitsu stared at him intently while he got up and stretched his back with several satisfying pops and cracks that made Minato release a sigh of relief. He holstered his pistol, but kept a hold on the detonator to her collar. He walked over to the plastic containers in the room and opened one up and reached inside retrieving some clothes. He tossed them to her and she let them fall into her lap.
She gently lifted them up and examined the articles of clothing chosen by her master. The clothes were a black long sleeve shirt, a grey colored jacket that seemed to be in a camouflaged pattern, a matching pair of pants, and a black scarf. She looked up at her master and noticed him set his bag from yesterday on the cot and start to take out everything inside of it. "Get dressed and then we'll get going." He said while he took one of the spare gun holsters and set it on his right hip and then put the Minebea 9mm Pistol in the holster, his revolver went into a shoulder holster.
Akitsu nodded her head and began to undress without a care in the world and then she slowly started to put on the clothes her master gave her. Minato meanwhile had taken all the weapons out of his pack and started to organize it so he could carry them all. The MP5 was placed inside one of his trench coats many pockets, the M1014 was strapped to the side of his pack and he had taken the shotgun shells and placed them in his military jackets pockets. The M4 carbine was wedged between his back and his pack with the rifles sling going across his chest. The knives were placed in various places all across his body.
The grenades also found a place inside his trench coat and the claymores were stored inside his pack. After putting on his jacket, coat, pack and boots he turned to see Akitsu putting on the clothes he gave her. He walked back to the boxes and grabbed a pair of socks and a pair of shoes and tossed them to her. "Put those on." He said before taking out two MRE's, one for him and another for her, he figured if she got hungry that her stomach would roar out and draw unwanted attention.
Once Akitsu had her shoes on and they both had eaten they headed out to the world, at the door separating them from the outside Minato donned his gas mask and his scarf, Akitsu delicately wrapped the scarf her master gave her around her neck and lower half of her face before pulling up the hood of her jacket. Minato looked around for any sign of activity and once he was satisfied there was nothing he walked out with Akitsu trailing behind him only a foot away. The morning air was chilly and a small layer of frost decorated everything, a low mist hovered above the ground. The sun was just rising and the sky was painted pretty colors.
They walked back into the park and Minato kept his finger near the trigger of the Kar98 rifle. Minato grabbed Akitsu by her sleeve and dragged her to his side. "Stay where I can see you." He hissed and Akitsu nodded her head, and they crouched in the tall grass and made their way towards the sprawling mass of trees. Several times Minato had heard the roar of Sekirei engines and had made them pause until the sound left.
It was around five in the afternoon when they finally reached the Jungles edge. The entire day was spent hiking through the park, parts of the city, through a marsh, and dodging Sekirei patrols. The place they were currently were at was inside of an apartment building that was overrun by vegetation and was missing chunks of it from where explosives had apparently struck it. They were on the second floor currently; Minato was at a window looking over the jungle with his rifle. Akitsu was standing to the side of the window hands clasped together and standing at attention.
The jungle was across the street from them with the street and the entry doors being their only obstacles. The vines and vegetation crawled over the steel gates and sprawled itself in every direction. The glass doors to the botanical gardens were covered in grime and dirty to the point you couldn't see through them, the walls of the botanical gardens weren't in much better condition. Only a few miles away a Sekirei craft was flying overhead and through his scope Minato could see several figures dash across the roof tops with almost blinding speed. Minato sighed and leaned out of sight to the left of the window, opposite of Akitsu.
"Seems like there's no way in without getting into a fight." Minato said and Akitsu nodded her head. "We'll find someplace to stay for the night and god willing; we'll find a way in tomorrow." Akitsu looked at her master and followed him as he made his way down the hall of the building to the stairs. Minato opened the doors to several rooms all throughout the building until he stopped at one that was on the fifth floor of the building.
The room was rundown with the bed in the corner of the room looking about to collapse in on itself, the walls were peeling, there were also large bloodstains decorating the walls of the room. Minato checked the apartment and found there was only the living room, a side kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom connected to the bedroom. All in all it was just about the size of a student flat.
Akitsu followed Minato inside the flat and kept her eyes solely on Minato. Minato closed the door to the flat and found a piece of furniture, a chair, which was unbroken and propped it against the door and locked the door as well. "This isn't exactly one of my safe houses but it'll do for now." He muttered to himself before taking a seat against a wall with Akitsu placing herself opposite of him. Minato took off his pack and removed the M4 from his back propping both against the wall, he took his pack and removed a few items from it before pulling out a small tarp and set it down.
Once the tarp was laid down he set the items from the pack down on the tarp. The first item was a small propane stove. Minato turned the knob of the gas tank before lighting the fire with a match. Once the fire's intensity was to where he wanted it he pulled out a tin cup, setting the tin cup on the stove's top he pulled out a water bottle and poured the water into the cup. Akitsu watched all this with unblinking eyes, and wondered what her master was doing.
Once the water started to boil Minato retrieved two cups of Ramen noodles and poured the boiling water into the two cups of ramen gently. Once he was certain the ramen was ready he gave one cup to Akitsu and kept one for himself before breaking out two pairs of chopsticks giving one to Akitsu who looked at them curiously making Minato sigh. "You don't know how to use chopsticks do you?" He asked and Akitsu shook her head no.
Minato grabbed the chopsticks from her and handed her a fork. "Eat up, I don't want that monster of a stomach you have giving us away." Akitsu nodded and dug into the food quickly as did Minato. Soon both were full and somewhat happy. Minato was leaning against the wall and Akitsu was sitting Seiza across from him. Minato had his revolver lying on his lap, and he had removed his mask. Night had fallen and Minato could hear the creatures of the night roaming the city.
Howls, shrieks, roars, and cries of pain sounded out all over the city. Akitsu seemed to be nervous and kept glancing to the window Minato had covered with a dirty blanket from the bedroom of the flat. Minato was relaxing for a moment and felt calm when he stiffened. He slowly gripped his pistol with his right hand and pulled the hammer back slowly, Akitsu looked at her master as she heard the click that signified him readying his pistol. She saw him lean forward and turn off the stove top that had been heating the water inside the cup for tea. He was glancing at the door to the hallway all the while and he slowly raised his pistol to the door.
He kept the pistol leveled at the door and she looked towards the door and couldn't hear anything, she was about to question Minato when she heard a low growl and the sound of something passing by their door. She paused and stopped all movement as she listened to the low growl and snaps of whatever was on the other side of the door. She could hear the sound of heavy footfalls behind the door and she could tell whatever was on the other side had left after nearly a minute.
Minato released the hammer of his pistol back into its resting place before going back to leaning against the wall, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He looked at Akitsu and put a finger to his lips so as to keep her quiet. They both relaxed somewhat but still kept their guard up through the night, or at least Akitsu did. Minato, at around midnight, started to fall asleep due to sleep deprivation and all the work they had done that day. Moving through a destroyed city, avoiding enemy ships and patrols, and keeping an eye on a prisoner had been rather tiresome.
His eyes started to fall and he jerked back up a moment later. 'No…I mustn't fall asleep.' He thought to himself but it felt like something was trying to make him sleep. 'Need…to…stay awake… need to keep a…eye on the Sekirei.' No matter what he thought or tried it was futile as his head lowered as he fell asleep.
Xx Line Break xX
Minato found himself in a jungle of some kind; he looked around confused as he didn't recognize anything. Lightning bugs flashed through the dark forest and when he looked up he could see the moon shining through the canopy. He spun around looking for anything that might tell him how he got here. He was still dressed in his clothes he fell asleep in, his gas mask was missing form his face and he felt uncomfortable.
Everything seemed translucent and certain colors seemed to glow while others seemed to just fade in and out of context. "Is this what someone feels like when their high?" He asked himself before shaking his head. "Alright what the hell is going on?" He got no reply before he sighed and placed both his hands on his face. "Great, so I'm alone in a jungle, no idea how I got here or where here even is, and I think I might be high." He paused for a moment before rubbing his temples. "And now I'm talking to myself." He paused as a small sound reached his ears; all movement he made was stilled as he waited for the noise. There it was!
It sounded like faint crying. It was coming from his right; looking towards that direction he saw that the noise led deeper into the jungle. Minato slowly removed his hands from his face and walked towards the noise, he didn't make a sound as he moved like usual. As he moved towards the crying sound he could have sworn that the jungle seemed to brighten. Then he reached a tree in the jungle, the tree was decent sized and the leaves of the tee glowed an emerald green.
But the tree wasn't what drew his attention; rather what was in the tree, sitting huddled in on themselves was a small blonde child. The child was most likely a girl based on the fact that they wore a white sundress. The child had long dirty blonde hair that was tied off near the end by a leaf green ribbon, he could hear faint sobs coming from the kid and he was wondering if they had any idea where they were.
"Hey," Minato called out and the kid stilled. "Gaki, you know where we are?" Minato asked and the kid in the tree turned towards him and he finally got a good look at the kids face. She had bright green eyes, like forest green, she looked like she eight maybe ten years old, and small tears were being rubbed away from her face by her arm. "What?" She asked and Minato sighed. "Do you. Or do you not. Know where we are?" Minato asked and spoke slow for the kid and the girl in the tree looked at him confused.
After a moment of no response Minato decided for a better approach. "Alright, do you want to tell me why you're up in a tree like a cornered cat?" The girl sniffled for a moment and then decided to speak up. "Ku-chan…Ku-chan was taken out to the scary park and told to stay here." She said and Minato guessed the kid was Ku-chan and she was talking about herself in the third person, not a good thing it was considered a sign of insanity. "Ku-chan didn't listen and explored the scary park and then some big, ugly monsters tried to hurt Ku-chan."
Minato was a bit surprised, the girl looked relatively unharmed, and still this was most likely a dream. "Then when the big monsters tried to hurt Ku-chan, Ku-chan's friends protected her." Minato looked at her with interest. "Oh and where are these friends of yours, Ku-chan." Minato asked and Ku looked at him and then patted the tree she was on. "Ku-chan's friends are the still here." She said and then started to tear up. "But Ku-chan is still alone and scared with her friends." She pressed her head into her knees and started to shake and he could faintly hear sobs.
Minato sighed and then looked at the small child. "Why don't you come down from there?" He asked and Ku looked at him from her red eyes and shook her head. "Come on, I'll catch you." He said and held his arms out to the girl and Ku seemed to hesitate for a moment before leaping into his arms making him take a step back from the sudden weigh of the child as she crashed into him.
He could feel her shake as she sobbed into his chest and he held her close to his chest, he rubbed her back in small circles and tried to calm the girl down. After a moment she calmed down and looked back up at him and he smiled at the girl. "All better, right?" He asked and Ku nodded her head.
"Thank you, Onii-chan." She said and wrapped her arms around his neck and Minato stiffened. He hadn't been called that since he had last seen Yukari, if she were still alive now she'd be what, fifteen, maybe sixteen. He held the girl tighter and they stayed that way for a few moments before Ku began to squirm wanting down.
Minato gently set the girl on the ground and she looked up at him with a small smile. "Thank you, Onii-chan." Minato nodded his head and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Don't mention it." He said and Ku giggled, she then lost her smile and looked behind her before frowning. "Onii-chan, will you come get me? Will you rescue me, Onii-chan?" She asked as her form seemed to move farther away and started to fade. Her arms were outstretched towards him and he reached out to grab one of her hands with his.
"Onii-chan, please help me!" She cried out one last time and Minato desperately wanted to help the girl. He no longer thought of this as a dream rather he thought of this as real as he desperately reached for the child.
Xx Line Break xX
Minato awoke suddenly, eyes shooting wide awake and looking everywhere for Ku. She was nowhere in sight, neither was the jungle they had been in. He was back in the apartment with Akitsu kneeling opposite of him, eyes closed in what most likely would be sleep. He looked at himself and patted himself down looking and feeling for any changes or anything the woman might have done while he slept.
Finally satisfied that he was not tampered with in any way he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. That dream had been far too real for his liking; he could feel the humidity of the jungle, the chirping of bugs, and the pressure of where the girl had crashed into his chest. He opened his eyes and stood up and looked at his watch to see it was eight in the morning. He holstered his pistol that was still in its place in his lap.
He sighed and went about getting something for breakfast out. Looking over at Akitsu he noticed that she was stirring slightly as he ripped open some food packages. "Good to see you're awake, now eat up." He said as he tossed her some ration bars that she ate quickly along with a bottle of water that was quickly downed. "We have a big day today." He said as he finished off his ration bar and packed up everything. Once everything was stowed away and they were both fed, Minato picked up the M4 and strapped it to his back with the backpack going over it.
He held on to his Kar98 and removed the chair from its position at the door and opened it, glancing down the hall he saw nothing that would give them any trouble, and slowly slid out while Akitsu came out behind him before quickly moving to his side where he could keep track of her.
The two people walked down the halls slowly as to avoid making noise or drawing unwanted attention. They eventually found themselves at the bottom floor and watching the doors to the jungle across from them. Looking at Akitsu across from him Minato spoke up. "Think we can find whatever it is this tournament is about inside?" He asked as he motioned towards the jungle. Akitsu nodded her head.
"Ah….yes, most likely, though we may encounter other Sekirei in there, and if the objective in the jungle is a Sekirei we might meet other Ashikabi." Minato nodded his head before walking out into the street while scanning the rooftops.
Akitsu walked next to Minato as they closed in on the gates. They eventually found themselves standing at the doors and Minato looked at Akitsu before turning back to the doors and nudging them open with the tip of his rifles barrel. The door opened revealing a sprawling jungle that was teeming with all sorts of fauna, some of it Minato had never seen or heard of.
The air was thick with moisture due to the humidity of the jungle, long vines filled with leaves stretched up trees covering the trunks and then attaching to other trees through the canopy allowing little to no light through to the forest floor. The path that had once been pristine concrete was now almost invisible due to the vegetation, the lamp posts, benches, and vending stalls were overrun by vines and flowers.
Though there were signs that this was not a place of beauty and serenity in its final days. Piles of sandbags were present in front of Minato and Akitsu and a .50 caliber machine gun sat behind it, a skeleton was draped over the sandbags with the rags of its uniform still attached to it. There were similar positions like this one beyond the one in front of them, and a lot more skeletons were present, all their weapons and munitions were dropped where they died and were untouched.
A military camouflage net was erected in a group of trees; it almost reminded Minato of a spider web seeing as the steel supports were replaced with four large trees. Minato walked forward with his rifle at the ready and he marched up to the pile of sandbags and jumped onto of them before dropping down onto the other side. There were more skeletons covered by the sandbags, and as Minato glanced them over he could see the shoulder patches that identified their allegiances.
There was Japans flag present amongst a greater majority of the skeletons, a few bore the American flag, the Americans were there due to their Military and navy bases in Japan and once the ships had begun attacking they decimated any and all naval vessels that were in the middle of the oceans effectively cutting off trade and transport.
So the Americans that resided in the pacific joined up with the Japanese mainland as best as they could and joined in Japans final stand. Then there were the skeletons that bore the UN's signature flag, the UN forces tried to make it back to their homelands but were cut off as well and so they too were forced into Japans last stand.
So safe to say there was a variety of weapons and equipment lying about, everything from Ak-47's to javelin rockets. Minato nudged the bodies with his boot and watched as they fell to the ground with a clatter of bones, one of the skeletons helmets fell off and rolled across the ground before coming to a stop directly at Akitsu's foot.
Akitsu looked down at the helmet before bending down and picking it up to admire it for a moment, the helmet was an American standard issue with a pair of goggles strapped to the front, the name Lauren was drawn on the side of the helmet in black Sharpe and a few bloodstains marred the helmet along with several cuts.
"Looks like they got hit by gas." Minato said as he bent down to the skeletons and pried at its ammo pouches. Akitsu looked at her master and Minato looked back up at her as he managed to pry a M4 clip from one of the pouches. "They didn't manage to squeeze off a single round, the bodies don't look to have broken bones and they have no gas masks on." Minato stated as he took a satchel from one of the skeletons and began to fill it with various items.
Akitsu looked at the helmet before walking to the sandbags and setting it down. Minato looked at her for a moment before standing back up and strapped the satchel across his chest. "Let's go, I have a feeling that this is going to be a long day." Minato spoke and Akitsu nodded her head before following after Minato as he walked forward deeper into the jungle.
As they walked Akitsu observed her master as he walked, his steps were cautious and soundless, he was always turning his head this way and that looking for anything that was dangerous or useful, his fingers never moved far away from the trigger of his rifle. Akitsu could see why he stayed alive without getting caught for so long. He was cautious, resourceful, clever, silent, and most of all dangerous.
He was armed to the teeth, that much she could vouch for, and he was willing to use any means to kill the enemy, a simple steel pipe her kind would've thought as useless and unimportant was a weapon for Minato. The shadows in the dark her kind disregarded as being too small to hide anything was an ambush, and the weak humans her kind had thought they so thoroughly subjugated were still resistant and willing to fight.
She was knocked out of her thoughts as she watched Minato hold his hand up in a stop motion and then drop to the ground in a crouch. He moved forward with Akitsu also dropping to a crouch and following his actions. They stopped at a ledge that had been raised up by something and were kept from being seen by the foliage.
Minato's eyes were trained on something and Akitsu followed her master's gaze and came to the sight of a clearing, about fifty yards away, that was about a hundred yards in length and another hundred in width, it was filled with grass and offered almost nothing in cover. But that wasn't what drew both their attention, no it was the group of Sekirei duking it out in the middle of the field.
Lightning flew across the field and a volley of knives followed along with a blur of green, white, blue and red. It was a skirmish between several groups of Sekirei, about three or four if Minato counted right. A figure dashed across the grassy field and attempted to kick another Sekirei, the target dodged but the kick hit a tree, effectively shattering the tree into splinters.
"Damn it, now we got to find a way around those fucking dumbasses." Minato growled out before settling his rifle on the side of a tree. He scanned the field with a scope and he could make out a Sekirei dressed in a one piece suit white and blue suit, a pair of matching boots, and wielding a blood red lance, she had long green hair and Minato could see her face was set in an expression of delight as she fought.
The one that seemed to be her ally was a woman with a low-cut haircut, a purple and gold leotard, and a pair of knee length boots. She had an expression to the lance wielder as she destroyed the landscape with her kicks.
There were a set of twins with long black hair dressed in matching suits that looked more suited for S&M rather than combat, the only difference he could see between them was the color of their suits. They were throwing lightning bolts across the field and blowing trees apart with their powers.
Then Minato caught sight of another figure in the fray, his blood started to pump and he felt himself get a bit nervous, there standing at the edge of the clearing was a man with grey hair, an orange scarf wrapped around his neck, a black body suit, geta sandals, and holding a sword as he stared at the two groups battling before him.
There were several other Sekirei but only those four caught his attention, especially the last one. The last one was a familiar, and unwanted in Minato's thoughts, face that he had met before. "It's him." Minato stated and Akitsu looked at her master as he gazed at the tree line she also stilled and looked at the man there.
"Ah…Mutsu," She stated and Minato nodded his head.
"You said he left his squad right?" Minato asked, if he had backup nearby and said back up consisted of the squad he was in Minato did not want to tangle with them today.
"Ah….yes." Minato nodded his head with a sense of relief. Minato watched them all fight, except for Mutsu who seemed content to watch and wait, and he began to wonder what the tournaments prize was.
"What do you think, Akitsu?" He asked and Akitsu looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"Ah… what do I think of what, master?" She asked and Minato sighed as she called him master, again.
"What do you think the objective of this…tournament is?" He asked and Akitsu looked at the fight that was being carried on.
"Ah…most likely land or some form of reputation. Though it looks like they were all heading further into the jungle." She spoke up in her quiet monotone. Minato nodded his head as he backed up slowly with Akitsu following suit.
"We'll find a different route, try to avoid any and all fights, though should we be engaged we'll need to end it quickly." Akitsu nodded her head with nary a sound.
"Ah…understood, my master." Minato sighed, again, and kept creeping through the jungles foliage.
"Good, now what are we going to do?" Minato asked himself softly as Akitsu knelt at his side while he crouched with his rifle in hand. He looked around and got frustrated by the amount of trees blocking his sight. He looked at the rifle in his hand before setting it against a tree while Akitsu looked on as he took off the back pack and swapped the M4's place with the kar98.
Minato put the back pack back on over the Kar98 and held the M4 in his grip. Minato pulled the bolt back and chambered a round before flipping the fire rate to full auto. "This should do the trick." He muttered as he stood up slightly before moving deeper into the jungle. "Stay quiet, and follow my orders to the letter, failure to comply…"Minato let the sentence go as he held up the detonator to Akitsu's collar.
"Ah…understood, master." Akitsu spoke and Minato felt an eye twitch. Minato and Akitsu stalked through the forest without a sound, Akitsu was like a shadow of Minato, silent and would never be noticed unless you looked. Minato himself was like the prey turned hunter, silent, watching, and planning. It was like the saying goes the hunter becomes the hunted except this time the hunted became the hunters.
As they traveled through the jungle Minato saw things, hallucinations and imaginary things. Ghostly nearly translucent children played and dragged their parents around, a ghostly couple with blank faces walking hand in hand down the concrete paths; he could hear the children's cries of excitement.
'Maybe, maybe I'm losing my mind.' Minato thought to himself as he watched the images change as they headed deeper and deeper into the jungle. The playing children became body bags that lined the edges of the sidewalk, the mothers became mourning people crying over the dead and mutilated bodies of people, the couple became a single person, carrying a gun and blood dotted their ghostly figure.
Shouts echoed around as people dashed back and forth and he could swear he heard the sound of helicopters in the air and the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions. Sirens sounded and as he looked up he could see the canopy of trees become a night sky filled with an orange glow as fires raged and missiles and tracer rounds arced across the sky.
Minato was yanked out of the visions as he felt Akitsu touch his shoulder; he looked at her to see her usual emotionless face in place. "What?" He asked as Akitsu bowed her head.
"Ah…apologies, master," cue the eye twitch, "You stopped and were staring into space for quite some time." He looked at his watch and saw that nearly three hours had passed and it was nearly six in the evening.
"Damn, time flies." He muttered and Akitsu nodded her head. "Thank you, Akitsu." He gave the thanks almost hesitantly and as he watched her reaction he saw her face gain a faint dusting of pink across her cheeks.
"Ah…you're welcome, master." She intoned quietly and Minato's face gained another twitch.
"We need to move." He spoke as he turned around and paused as he saw another apparition before, though this one he could recognize anywhere. There in front of him was Ku watching him with curious eyes.
"Onii-chan?" The girl quietly asked as Minato face palmed.
"What the hell is happening to me?" He asked himself quietly before removing his palm from his face. "Akitsu, do you see anything right there?" He asked pointing towards Ku and Akitsu looked at the spot.
"Ah….I see a little girl." She spoke and Minato nodded his head.
"Just checking." He sighed as he looked at Ku. "Now, I want to say your name is Ku, but right now I think my mind is lost, so just to check, your name is Ku, right?" He asked and Ku smiled as she looked at her Onii-chan.
"Yay!" She gave a little cheer and lunged at Minato, though she just ghosted through him. "Ow." She gave a small sound as she landed on the ground.
'Yeah, all I want for Christmas is my mind and a bottle of alcohol strong enough to put me down.' Minato thought to himself as he sweat dropped at the girl who was now rubbing her behind. "So want to tell me what you are doing here, and in my dream?" He asked and Akitsu looked between the two in a somewhat surprised manner.
"Ah…I think I know the answer, master." She spoke up and Ku looked at Akitsu in wonder, Minato glanced at her and made a go on gesture. "Ah…I believe we've found the objective of this tournament." She spoke as she gestured towards the girl and Minato looked between the two several times.
"So…she's a Sekirei?" He asked somewhat hesitantly.
"Ah…yes." Akitsu replied and Minato sighed before lowering his head.
"Onii-chan," He heard that tone before, and he knew he shouldn't look up at the girl, but he did anyways. Ku was looking at him in worry, hopefulness, and confusion. "Onii-chan, you said you'd come get me." She sniffled and tears gathered in her eyes. "Y-y-y-y-you, pr-pr-promised." She stuttered and Minato kind of felt like a dick.
On one hand she was a Sekirei and his sworn enemy, on the other she was a child, she was hindrance, yet he promised to help her. Sighing Minato looked at Ku before straightening up. "And I will." He spoke up and Akitsu stared at her master, while Ku's tears were wiped away by her sleeves. "But I need to know where you are, can you guide us?" He asked and Ku nodded her head as she seemingly disappeared into air particles.
Then came the gut feeling to go straight and Minato followed the feeling and Akitsu fell into step behind him. The feeling guided him and he could tell this was the work of Ku as a sort of GPS guide. Trekking through the jungle further they came upon many sights that surprised Minato, a fuel truck that was still intact and when he knocked on the tank he could tell it still held fuel, there was a troop transport suspended in a tree and covered in moss and vines.
Eventually they came to a stream that had clear water flowing through it and trees and tall grass were on each side of the stream, as they stepped onto the opposite side Minato stopped before turning and pointing his rifle into the trees. "Come out; come out, where ever you are." Minato spoke and Akitsu turned around as well to face the trees as well, after a moment rustling was heard and a person Minato did not want to see was there.
Mutsu stood at the edge of the stream, sword in hand and staring at Minato, Minato leveled his rifle at the Sekirei's chest. "I wondered if you survived our encounter." Mutsu spoke and Minato flipped the safety off the rifle, Mutsu didn't seem to mind at all as he stared at his onetime prey. "You humans surprise me, and I'm sure I'm not the only Sekirei with that opinion, but beside the point I was sure you were dead." Mutsu spoke in an even tone and Minato prepared himself.
"Not for lack of trying." Minato finally spoke and let loose a few rounds, the Sekirei dodged them effortlessly and dashed at Minato intent on knocking him out. Just as he was in striking distance his senses warned him of something and he leapt back as several icicles punctured the ground where he stood, the water around the icicles began to freeze and a mist started to rise up.
"It's surprising to find you in the company of one of my kind; I would have thought you'd gut us without a second thought." Minato fired a spray of bullets and Mutsu dodged as they neared him, then he leapt back into the tree line as a row of icicles pierced the trees.
"Well, I find her to be better company than you and yours any day of the week, Yamamoto Mutsu!" Minato yelled as he started to fire at Mutsu's cover, said Sekirei had widened eyes.
Mutsu leaped to his left and into cover behind a rock, Minato stopped firing to reload his weapon. "How'd you figure out my name?" Mutsu asked as he tried to peak his head over the rock and was forced to duck as an icicle nearly shaved the top of his head off.
"You're smart, at least I think you might be, figure it out yourself!" Minato yelled back and Mutsu watched as a grenade dropped from the sky right next to him.
As he found the grenade Minato turned to Akitsu. "Can you hold him off?" He asked and Akitsu nodded her head as Minato nodded and started to head into the jungle towards Ku and at that moment the grenade went off showering Akitsu and the area in mud and other debris. Mutsu reappeared opposite of Akitsu on the other bank and stared at the discarded number.
"You aren't bonded to him are you?" He asked and Akitsu lowered the scarf around her face and then the hood, revealing her face and the distinguishing mark on her forehead. Mutsu stared impassively at the woman before drawing his sword. "I'm sorry for this; I'll try and make it quick." Mutsu said quietly and Akitsu's impassive face changed into a scowl.
"You will not harm my master." Mutsu was surprised by the hatred in her voice and the hesitated and that brief half a second of hesitation cost him, Mutsu danced backwards as a hailstorm of icicles chased after him, the icicles formed out of thin air seemed endless and unrelenting. Finally he they stopped and he looked to see the snow woman in front of a wall of ice that kept anyone from chasing her master.
"Ah…I'm sorry I'll make this quick, so please die now." She spoke in a monotone and then waved her hand as a wave of frost went after Mutsu and he raised a wall of earth to block it, said earthen wall was frozen solid as the frost hit it.
"This is going to be a long day." Mutsu spoke quietly before preparing to engage the snow woman.
Xx Line Break xX
Minato ran through the jungle as the battle between Akitsu and Mutsu raged on. He could feel the cold behind him as the forest froze; he leaped over a fallen log and continued to cut through the jungle, the feeling in his gut urging him in a certain direction.
He entered a glade and the feeling in his gut disappeared. Looking around he eventually found a mass of roots that overlapped and formed a shelter, it was impressive, though that was not what drew his attention. No rather it was the bundle of straw blond hair on the ground. Minato walked up to the bundle and kneeled down, with the butt of the M4 resting on the ground, and he gently shook the bundle.
"Ku, Ku, it's time to wake up." Minato whispered and eventually the bundle shifter and sat up revealing Ku as she rubbed her eyes and then they landed on Minato.
"Onii-chan," She murmured, and then her eyes widened and she was awake. "Onii-chan!" She shouted, and with that outcry she leapt at Minato and crashed into his chest.
"Hey, hey, now. I'm right here, now we need to go." Minato spoke to the girl; said girl nodded her head and stepped back from him. As if to punctuate his last statement an explosion rang out and looking behind him at the direction he noticed it was near where he left Akitsu and Mutsu and a geyser of earth was shooting into the sky.
"Like right now." Minato stood up and held his rifle, and turned to leave before he paused. Right across from them was a woman dressed in a dress, she had a scythe in her hands, she had brown hair tied with a red ribbon and she seemed to find something amusing.
"I couldn't have said it better myself." The woman spoke up and as Minato studied her he spotted the Sekirei crest on the crimson blade of her scythe.
"Fuck my life." Minato muttered and pointed his weapon at the woman. She laughed at Minato and Ku seemed to shiver as she clutched his leg.
"Aw, that's adorable, what are you going to do, throw that at me?" She asked and Minato raised an eye behind his mask. 'Maybe she doesn't know what a gun is.' He thought to himself and decided to humor her.
"No, I expect to kill you, now please run along and pretend we never saw each other." Minato said in an even tone and the Sekirei sneered.
"An Ashikabi bossing a Sekirei around, that's adorable. Now my master wants that girl so if you'd stand aside." Minato looked between Ku and the woman before sighing and hanging his head, his weapon lowered.
The woman smirked and began to walk forward while Ku had tears in her eyes and seemed to curl in on herself. "My life really sucks." With that sentence spoke Minato's weapon raised itself fast and the woman had barely a moment to blink before a hail of lead sped towards her and her eyes widened as she leapt away.
Minato let off the trigger long enough to aim at her again and he let off another burst of gunfire forcing the Sekirei to leap away; again and again this happened until Minato had to reload. Click Minato looked at his weapon before hitting the switch to drop the spent clip and attempted to insert another one.
He attempted to because as soon as the gunfire stopped the Sekirei did as well and looking at Minato she grinned as she watched him try to place another clip in the weapon, and she sped towards him, as she was near him he dropped the rifle and pulled out one of his many combat knives.
The Sekirei tried to swing her scythe at Minato and Minato ducked, barely managing to dodge the weapon, he rose back up and attempted to slash the Sekirei across her midriff, the Sekirei jumped back and watched Minato with a growing grin. Minato shrugged off his pack and looked back at Ku. "Keep out of this." Minato said before looking at the Sekirei.
The Sekirei smiled at him, a cruel smile filled with malicious intent, and Minato readied his knife in his left hand. His right was at his side, the fingers twitching and behind his mask his face was blank. "Well, I'll say this much, you definitely aren't a Sekirei, so just what are you?" The Sekirei asked and Minato remained silent.
"No comment, well I can always beat it out of you, my name's Yomi, and I'll be your executioner tonight." She exclaimed happily before dashing at Minato, fast, Minato had barely a moment before ducking down to dodge a slash that would've taken his head off, he moved up wards and attempted to slash Yomi from naval to neck. Yomi leaned back and took a step back.
She attempted to retaliate and tried to use the end of her scythes staff to jab Minato in the chest, Minato moved it to his left and spun to his right concealing his body behind the tail of his coat. Yomi had a smile on her face as she watched the stranger; he was an interesting one, no Sekirei but still interesting.
That smile turned into a look of shock as Minato spun to face her, barely foot in front of her face and he held his nine millimeter Minebea pistol, the hammer pulled back and the safety off. Minato fired off a round and Yomi moved her head to the side, and Minato had time to pull another round off, Yomi's face turned into a smile and she backhanded Minato away.
"I'm done playing." With that said she sped over to him before he could stand up fully and kicked him in his chest sending him into a tree. Minato slammed into the tree and his knife dropped to the ground while he still held his pistol, as his feet hit the ground he took aim at Yomi and squeezed off four more shots, each one being dodged. Yomi kept on smiling as she twirled about and dodged each shot without much effort.
Minato stood and emptied his clip as he tried to predict where Yomi would step, she dodged them all, and as he dropped the spent clip Yomi appeared in front of him and slammed him back into the tree using the butt of her staff and as he felt blood start to leak out of his mouth her hand latched onto his throat. "Well, why it was amusing watching you struggle I think it's time I ended this, don't you agree?"
She asked this while she slid her scythes blade behind Minato and rested the blade against the back of his neck, so if she pulled she would decapitate him. Minato behind his mask grimaced and raised his right arm as if to punch her in the ribs. "Oh, that's adorable; you think you still have a chance." She spoke with a snarky tone and Minato couldn't help but chuckle. "What's so funny, are you one of those people who find death amusing?"
Minato shook his head before saying one word. "Checkmate." And with that one word he clenched his right fist and a blade slid out from beneath the coats sleeves, the blade was nearly a foot and a half in length and looked very sharp, Minato jammed the blade into Yomi's side and said Sekirei jerked back a bit then looked down at where Minato's blade was placed in her side.
Minato pushed the blade further into her side and Yomi gasped as she released her blade and his neck as she coughed up blood, Minato's left hand gripped her shoulder and held her in place as he slid his blade out of the wound then shoved it through her chest right through her heart, Yomi gasped and coughed up more and more blood, Minato kept stabbing her over and over all over her chest.
Finally he planted the blade in her naval and then ripped it up to her neck and ripped out her throat with the blade, spraying blood all over his front. Yomi stumbled back, her face covered in her own blood and her eyes losing their light as she stumbled backwards before falling straight back and stayed there in a growing pool of her own blood. Minato clenched his fist again and the blade disappeared back under the sleeves of his coat.
As Minato stared down at the woman he could see that her torso looked more like hamburger meat than anything at the moment and she was literally covered in her own blood. Minato flipped her over and knelt down to examine the back of her neck, there was a Sekirei crest, the same one that Akitsu had, except that this one was in black ink instead of red. Reaching into his coat he pulled out another one of his knives and stabbed her right in the middle of her crest, she shuddered and then the crest began to vanish, like ink being washed away, Minato left the knife stuck in the Sekirei's neck before standing and looking over at where Ku was.
She was kneeling and covering her eyes as she whimpered. Minato picked up his pistol and knife he had dropped before grabbing his rifle and pack; finally he stood in front of the young Sekirei and stared down at her huddled form. "Hey, we need to go now." Minato spoke and Ku stilled before looking up and flinching at him, he looked down and noticed he was covered, literally covered, in Sekirei blood. He looked back at Ku and held out a bloody hand.
"Come with me, or stay here and go with people like her. Those are your options." Ku seemed hesitant and after a moment gently took his hand. Minato pulled her to her feet and noticed her feet were bare and covered in mud, dirt, and had taken a green color, like grass stains. "You need a pair of shoes." Minato spoke plainly and Ku looked at Minato questioningly.
"Never mind." Minato said and Ku simply clutched his hand tighter. Minato after putting a new clip into the M4 picked up the empty magazines and stuffed them into a separate pouch, at Ku's questioning look Minato explained. "Clips are getting hard to come by, need to keep stocked up on them, just in case."
Minato took Ku's hand into his and began to lead the way out of the clearing and together they left the dead body on the forest floor, once more Minato was swallowed into the dense mass of trees, vines, and overall green environment. Even as she held onto him Ku was having a little bit of trouble making out his form. Eventually Minato stopped before letting go of Ku's hand and using his now free hand to steady his rifle as he raised it up.
Akitsu appeared before the two, Minato sighed before lowering his rifle and taking in the form of the snow woman. He was surprised by the fact she had survived against Mutsu, his highest expectations were for her to defeat Mutsu and be wounded enough to not be able to follow, and yet here she was, battered, bruised and cut up but still able to find him and follow him.
Akitsu's clothes were shredded up, her hood was torn off leaving a piece of shredded black cloth fluttering in the wind, her scarf was tucked into her jacket now and seemed a bit shorter, her jacket had gashes through it, the entire left arm of the jacket was nearly torn off it was barely held together by a patch of cloth, a cut went along her midriff and he could see very faint traces of blood along the edge. Her hair was dirty and had a few clumps of mud in it, her face was smeared with dirt and she bore a few cuts on her cheeks.
Her pants were extremely dirty and seemed more slashed up than the rest of her, Minato sighed, the pants would look more like a patch work quilt if he had to stitch it back up. Though her shoes were untouched, though a few mud stains were here and there, on the end of her right foot was a blood stain like she had kicked something hard enough to make whatever she kicked bleed.
"So," Minato began and Akitsu looked up at Minato, "Should I even ask about the other guy?" He asked and Akitsu tilted her head questioningly, this caused Minato to sigh and rub his covered face. "Can I assume that Mutsu won't be a problem any time soon?" Akitsu tilted her head back into place before speaking.
"Ah…yes, I incapacitated him, master." She spoke and Minato sighed again.
"Details, details." He motioned towards her and she nodded her head as she fell into place besides Minato.
"Ah…I stabbed him in the gut with an icicle before pinning him to a rock by his hands using icicles and left him there without his sword." Minato tilted his head and wondered how the snow woman managed that before shrugging.
"Ah…master is that your blood?" Akitsu asked and Minato looked at his blood covered front and shook his head. "No, it's from a….troublesome person, who will no longer be of any consequence." He spoke and Akitsu paused before nodding her head, her master had been covered in blood and she was worried her master was hurt.
"Let's go before we run into more….unwelcomed guests." He emphasized on unwelcomed before walking forward, Ku took his left hand while Akitsu watched the little girl, hesitantly Akitsu held onto Minato's jacket. Behind his mask Minato had twitching eyebrows and was silently counting down from ten.
"What….are you two doing?" He asked and Akitsu and Ku looked at one another before looking back at Minato.
"Ah….making sure to keep master safe." Akitsu surprisingly spoke first.
"Ku-chan doesn't want her Onii-chan to leave." Minato at that moment felt like bashing his head in.
"Of course I get stuck with the two needy and holdy feely types, I bet the psychotic one isn't this grabby." He murmured to himself.
In the city to the north a certain sword wielding grey haired woman sneezed, she brushed it off as someone talking about her before sharpening her blade.
Minato sighed before continuing on. "I'll….allow it, but if we get wrapped up in a fight I'll need to be able to move, can I trust you two to take care of yourselves or do I need to hold your hand through all this like you're a bunch of baby's." He asked and Ku pouted while Akitsu nodded her head.
"Ah…thank you master." She intoned quietly before her hold intensified.
"Ku-chan is grown up!" Ku proclaimed and Minato spun around before putting a hand over her mouth. Ku's eyes were wide and she watched as Minato looked every direction before speaking up in a near whisper.
"Not so loud, they will hear us; we don't want them to hear us."
Ku nodded her head before Minato removed his hand and stood up and continued on with both the Sekirei holding onto him. Eventually the trio made it to a clearing where Minato had seen a fuel truck, as they were about to leave Minato stopped and turned to face the fuel truck. "Akitsu, take Ku across the street and wait for me there, I have a small task to do before we leave." He spoke not even turning to the two Sekirei.
Akitsu nodded her head as she and Ku both released their holds on Minato, Ku more reluctantly than Akitsu. Akitsu grabbed her juniors hand in hers and began to move towards the exit of the botanical gardens and the jungle itself.
Minato, once the two Sekirei were gone walked up to the fuel truck, more specifically the fuel nozzles, and turned the valve to open the nozzles, but not a drop of fuel came out. "Damn, must be clogged." Minato cursed before raising his rifle and using the rifles butt to break open the fuel nozzles, after a few well-placed hits the nozzles popped off and gasoline started to flow out in a flood.
"Well, good news is that we have the gasoline, now what to light it with, but not be caught in the blast at the same time?" He asked himself as he looked around before digging in his pockets. He pulled out a detonator and a small cube of C4 a little bit that was reserved for emergencies. The cube was about half the size of a rubrics cube and was easily concealable.
Minato set the charge on the side of the fuel tank and armed said explosive. Minato started to jog across the area and as he moved he noticed the gasoline had spread over the area and was already among tall grasses and the trees. Minato exited the botanical gardens and spied Akitsu and Ku across the street next to a hotel. The day light sky had been exchanged for the plethora of colors that accompany the twilight of the world. Purple and gold colors covered the entire horizon of the setting sun.
Minato jogged next to Akitsu and Ku and held the detonator to the C4 in his right hand. "Let's go, the shows about to start." Akitsu nodded and stood by his side while Ku took his left hand in hers. He led them away from the gardens, and behind his mask a smile bloomed. "And here. We. Go." He stated in a whisper and pressed the detonator.
