I do not own Shaman King or any of it's characters. Please read and enjoy.
When Kanna heard that a group called the X-Laws had investigated and figured out her favorite brand of cigarettes, she laughed her head off like a madwoman.
They actually investigated that? And who the fuck were the X-Laws?
A group of shamans vowing to kill Lord Hao?!
Ridiculous.
It only reinforced the general perception of Hao's followers that this X-Laws or whatever they were, were nothing more than a bunch of upstarts with a keen liking to being suicidal.
Marco Testarossa, Luchist Rasso and Jeanne D'Arc, the supposed triumvirate of leaders for the suicidal ones, had been slowly but surely gathering followers of some strength who had a desire to defeat Hao. The X-Laws were occasionally were successful, they had disrupted many recruitment drives done by the Tsukigumi and had struck back at minor followers of Hao with skill and brutality.
Kanna had seen the results of a few of those battles, what was left of some members of Lord Hao's group was not pretty but she ignored the X-Laws for the most part despite orders to be on alert for them. The group seemed like a distant threat and she was much more powerful than the poor saps who got killed.
Besides she had far too much trouble and headaches dealing with homegrown problems.
"For f&# sakes Macchi, give me back my f&#ing lighter!"
Like trying to get a desperately needed nicotine hit before someone in her team really did die.
"Mari thinks Kanna needs to stop smoking…"
She had a peanut gallery of individuals commenting on her smoking habit.
"It's bad for your lungs." Big Guy Bill
"Allah forbids such things." Turbine
"Ain't good for your voice, totally wreaks your ability to sing." Zhang Ching
And so on, and so on. Health warnings, complaints, etc.
Kanna smoked more just to piss them off.
Or would be smoking cigarettes if Macchi would give her back her lighter.
"Macchi, you are so going to suffer in tomorrow's training! Extra two hours of personal training!" Kanna swore.
"Heh. That's until tomorrow, you're not doing anything to me right now!" the young girl proclaimed in a sing song voice.
Mari watched with increasing boredom.
"Mari is bored…" the doll user announced for the umpteenth time. Kanna swore that sometimes the only words Mari knew involved boredom, something to end her boredom and Chuck.
"If you're so damn bored, than help me get my lighter back!" Kanna snarled as Macchi jumped about like cricket.
The Italian girl considered the proposal for a grand total of five seconds.
"Mari feel lazy, will watch and hope for entertainment," she answered.
The blue haired German felt like turning her anger towards to Mari rather than Macchi because she knew the Italian girl wouldn't try to avoid abuse but doing that would not get back her lighter.
"HAHAHAHAH! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread girl!" The orange haired witch announced in a maniacal voice. She jumped on the ledge of the roof, spun around and was about to jump again when Kanna managed to grab the smaller girl around the waist.
"GOTCHA!" the nicotine denied teen snarled.
Macchi struggled against Kanna despite the precarious position they were in. The ledge of the roof revealed a five floor drop to the ground.
Not that it mattered to Shamans of their strength. Their powers allowed them to land safely from extreme heights among other things. The amount of training they had to do for such an ability was another story entirely though.
It was at that faithful moment as the two struggled that the Zippo lighter slipped from Macchi's hand and Kanna's cigarettes were loosed from her pockets and fell to earth.
"MY CANCER STICKS!" the German shaman screamed in absolute horror and loss.
"Oh… sugar…" was all that Macchi could say.
They watched gravity do it's grand work.
While their training allowed them to attain safe landings from extreme heights, it had never occurred to them to finesse their ability to extend to other things other than themselves… like falling objects that provided Kanna with much needed relief and prevented the wholesale murder of two little girls (who were innocent and as cute as can be! Macchi).
A distant tinkling of the Zippo lighter smashing into the ground below reached the Hanagumi's ears. From what Kanna could see, not only was her Zippo appear to be smashed into pieces but her cigarettes were soaked in the lighter fluid from the Zippo.
"… Mari think we should go check what survived…"
At that all three Hanagumi jumped off the roof and landed on the ground without talking. Their furyouku glowed in the darkness of the alley faintly as it worked to slow down their descent downwards. Their feet landed on the ground with a soft thud.
Kanna rushed forward to her precious treasures to see how it came to its demise.
It was then that Macchi realized she was in trouble. A hopeful look for possible help was issued from the witch to Mari, as usual, it was futile. The Italian girl merely looked vaguely interested to see what was going to happen next and was quite satisfied with simply waiting for Kanna's reaction.
Macchi fearing renewed attacks from Kanna and took up a exaggerated defensive position.
"I know little girl fu, I dare you to try and punish me!"
Kanna ignored Macchi picked up her lighter.
The Zippo lighter was simply… 'dead'. It was smashed to little metal bits and lighter fluid bleed from it profusely, soaking Kanna's hand. The Marlboro's were no better, they were wet and soggy with lighter fluid, it was no better than a gasoline wetted match ready for a spark.
It was her favorite and only lighter she had… and the only pack of cigarettes she had were similarly ruined.
Kanna was stock still.
Macchi stopped her manic posturing of exaggerated martial artist mastery while Mari was still as she watched Kanna hand crush her lighter fluid soaked Marlboro's and shake with anger.
"I… am going to get… cigarettes… Stay here… OR ELSE…" the stressed out leader of the Hanagumi managed to spit out and stormed away from the two in search of peace, quiet and a hit of nicotine to calm herself.
When Kanna was finally out of sight, Macchi broke the silence.
"Wow… We really managed to piss her off this time, didn't we?"
Mari merely narrowed her eyes, both with boredom and a bit of worry.
After all, Mari had heard that the X-Laws were in town.
It took awhile but Kanna found it at last.
Her find?
A corner store that could be found any where in world. It had various junk food snacks, pop, the odd vaguely healthy food snacks and cigarettes. The things that corner stores usually kept stock of.
Cigarettes being the only thing that Kanna was truly interested in. She had already spent the last fifteen minutes looking for a shop that sold Marlboro's.
With liberal swearing, and enthusiastically violent interrogation of various humans, Kanna had finally found the place. She even managed to mug a cool looking Zippo lighter off some punk kid, it had a flaming skull motif all over it.
It took what was left of Kanna's depleted will not to cry in relief and joy at the prospect of getting her nicotine hit. She kicked the stand of her bike and smiled to herself as she arrogantly strode towards the corner store. Ashcroft remained at her bike to protect it from thieves, and besides she didn't need her spirit to beat the utter crap out of a mere human.
Kanna opened the door to the place with a satisfactory bang that announced her presence like a gun shot. A young blonde haired woman with glasses in a red apron and white clothing was the at the cash register. Her face held a bright smile and laughing eyes, Kanna found the young woman was beautiful in a way she was not quite sure how describe. It was not an overwhelming beauty of a model or a statue. It was more like the beauty of a face of a friend one has not seen for many years or that of a painting of a saint in frozen piety and faith.
It made Kanna feel uncomfortable and peaceful at the same time, as contradictory as it sounded.
"Bienvenue!" The woman announced in German accented French. The woman was, however, extremely short for her age and far too happy for Kanna's taste… but the Hanagumi leader could sense the muted power of another fellow shaman from her. It was extremely weak compared to own but it would be enough for some shamanic abilities. It was only that fact (and the fact she could tell other woman spoke Kanna's native German) that prevented her from indulging in her proscribed routine of beating up workers of corner stores for fun (i.e. for shits and giggles Kanna).
"Hey," Kanna answered back in German. The green eyes of the woman at the cash register widened with pleasant surprise.
"Another fellow German, what brings you to the banlieu's at this late hour?"
Kanna smiled at the familiar sound of her native language.
"Just passing by and found I was in need of some cigarettes," the Hanagumi leader answered and casually looked at the rack of cigarettes behind the convenience store worker.
"Couldn't wait for a smoke, eh. What would you like?"
"A Marlboro."
"Light or?"
"Give me the heavy stuff."
"Um, I know this sounds strange but I think I know you from somewhere. Could I ask for your name?"
"My name is Kanna Bismark."
"Kanna Bismark?… Hm I've heard of that name from somewhere," the woman mused as she attempted to remember from where.
Kanna smiled and waited the inevitable realization that the woman was talking to a member of Lord Hao's campaign to purify the world.
"Oh, I remember you from Der Schwarze Ritter concerts. You were always hanging around the bassist Ademaro Bismark!"
Kanna blinked in surprise, it had been years since anyone ever mentioned that band or her dead brother. Moreover, the woman did not look like a Black Metal fan at all… then again the fans of any sort of music were rather varied.
"Heh, didn't think anyone remember me from such a long time ago."
"Oh, it's impossible to forget a little blue haired girl out-swearing ninety percent of the patrons at the bar and smoking Marlboro's like they were nothing," the woman answered. She quickly grabbed a pack of Marlboro's from the back shelf and laid it on the counter.
Kanna took it and noted that even she wanted to, she couldn't pay for the pack. She carried no money.
"That'll be 9 Francs," the blonde haired woman said as the cash register made a small ching sound and waited for cash to be passed.
"… How about you just pretend I paid," the German shaman coolly answered as she attempted to reach for the cigarettes. Before her hand could take it, the corner store worker grabbed it back.
"Whoa, there. Sorry, but my boss would…"
Kanna didn't bother allowing the poor working stiff a chance to finish her sentence. In a flash the Hanagumi wrapped her left hand around the other woman's neck and brought her furyouku to life. An eerie bluish glow lighted Kanna's right fist where it remained to give the unfortunate blonde woman a warning.
"I suggest, you back off and let me have the cigarettes or else you'll find out just how weak you are compared to me," Kanna stated coldly as she applied further pressure on the hapless cashier worker/shaman's throat for emphasis.
"Erk… Fine, take it! Take it!" The woman wheezed and raised her hands to calm Kanna. There was no real panic in the weaker shaman's eyes, just a sadness that the other thought was wrong. The blue haired German dismissed its significance though and dropped her hold on the shorter woman.
The corner store worker massaged her neck. When it was obvious to Kanna that other woman wouldn't stop her anymore, the German turned around to return to her bike. Already the familiar actions of getting the cigarette in the blue haired German's mouth was in the work. Kanna paused to lit the cigarette at her lips at the door with the silver zippo lighter.
The familiar burn of smoke filled Kanna's lungs as she reached for the door. Then she found the burn of the smoke became something sweet and soothing. Before Kanna could spit out the cigarette in her mouth, her body froze on the spot. She could barely twitch her fingers and her body felt as heavy as lead.
"Kanna Bismark, Hanagumi Captain. Born in Hamburg, Germany on 1982.
Amelina Bismark, mother, deceased due to cancer. Ademaro Bismark, brother, deceased from a drug overdose. Garin Bismark, father, murdered."
It was chilling to hear the recitation of her family from that woman's voice. Not because it was full of malice or was unemotional but rather because it was saddened by the litany of death.
"Soon after the death Ademaro Bismark, you were homeless and in desperate need of money. The most obvious source of money was to use your shamanic abilities to earn a living. Soon enough, you were abusing your abilities and robbing unsuspecting residents of Hamburg. Eventually, you were suspected of murdering Garin Bismark in a dispute."
Kanna strained her muscles to turn her head towards the convenience store worker. She could only turn her head so far because of the paralysis and saw her captor from the corner of her eye.
"The Hamburg police couldn't understand how the crime was committed. Garin Bismark's body was apparently ripped apart by a some sort of polearm or spear. Given the lack of evidence and murder weapon, they were soon forced to take you off the suspect list. After that you then began traveling throughout Europe using your shamanic ability and some traditional Roma shamanism to tell false fortunes and con customers… Eventually you met Asakura Hao," then the monologue was over. All that could be said had been said. All of it was correct, and Kanna was dumbfounded.
The woman had taken off her glasses, and her red apron without any sense of urgency. Carefully stowing them away as though it was the end of a shift and she had all the time in the world. Beneath the apron was a holster and gun that Kanna had not noticed when she had talked to the other shaman. Then the woman picked up her white coat that had been hanging on the back of a chair, hidden in a corner, and put it on. It was then that Kanna recognized the symbol on the metal epaulette of the white coat.
The X of the X-Laws.
Kanna could sense the woman in white's power flare up to full strength after being suppressed to fool her.
The X-Law was more powerful than her.
And she had finished fastening her white uniform coat.
'Oh shit.'
That was all Kanna could think as she watched the X-Law march towards her, the gait of the woman in white was sure and even. Hanagumi felt herself break out into a cold sweat of fear, the woman in white had a much too kind smile on her face.
The X-Law stopped before Kanna and looked at her carefully, green eyes going up and down on her captive and as if to size her up for her funeral casket. Kanna wondered if now was a good time to have life flash before her eyes, she had seen the X-Laws handiwork before and she sure as hell did not want to end up like it.
For three excruciatingly long seconds, the X-Law did nothing but stand in front of the paralyzed Kanna.
The arm of the X-Law shot out and grabbed the still lit cigarette out of the captive shaman's mouth and held it before her critically.
"And smoking is bad for your health, so is underestimating the X-Laws… I'm sure you'll spread the news," the woman noted with a hint of humor. The smile was still so kind, like a mother scolding a child.
The X-Law reached into her coat and pulled out a small case from it's pure white depths. Kanna watched with sick fascination as the woman slowly opened the case and easily extracted a syringe, filled with a clear green liquid. She watched as the hand slowly and gently guided the syringe to her neck. Kanna felt a prick as the needle entered her neck and cascade of cold water run through her veins as the plunger of the syringe depress.
Kanna had never felt so very ill in her life. If her body would allow it, she would have shaken with fear. The paralysis of her body, held by the trap the X-Law had set, now gave way to paralysis caused by the drug that the X-Law had administered to Kanna.
The world was very fuzzy now and Kanna felt herself gently laid down to the ground like a child tired and in need of sleep. The will to fight or flee meant little now, she could only weakly thrash at her enemy with ineffectual punches and her mind wasn't clear enough for her to summon Ashcroft. Her mind was unfortunately clear enough to realize that she was going to die.
The X-Laws showed no mercy to anyone associated with Lord Hao.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
A knife whizzed past, barely missing, the X-Law who leapt back just in time. The blade cut the white coat but failed to draw blood from her. But the blade did wreck havoc inside the corner store.
It was Jack in all it's psychotic pumpkin glory and Macchi.
The X-Law didn't blink as she quickly drew her gun from her holster and fired a barrage of bullets. The screaming shots of mana flew through the walls and window of the convenience store like a hot knife through butter. The powerful attack forced Macchi to retreat, as she did so the X-Law woman summoned her spirit to do battle.
Kanna was sure that the sight of the X-Laws Angel Gabriel would burn in her memories forever. White, mechanical and swift, the enemy spirit charged forth to do battle with Jack. The swiftness of the attack would have guaranteed a quick skewering of Jack, had Mari not counterattacked with Chuck to stop it.
The damage was light, the Hanagumi leader easily saw that the battle was going to be over very quickly. The sheer speed of the Angel and X-Law woman as she charged into battle was breathless.
A normal Shaman would say that the X-Law was a bit touched in the head to go toe to toe with two shamans at the same time with a mixture of hand to hand and spiritual fighting.
Yet as the fight progressed it became clearly obvious that speed and hand to hand was the strength of the X-Law woman. Her coordination with her angel was excellent, her ability to dodge and parry attacks from both shaman and spirit was astounding and the sheer effectiveness of the X-Law woman's strategy was startling.
Every time Macchi and Mari tried to pincer her, the X-Law would immediately make sure their attacks would put themselves in danger because of the crossfire when she dodged. Every time the other two Hanagumi tried to flank her, the great angel would attack the most vulnerable element of their attack, spirit or shaman.
The X-Law was more experienced, powerful and skilled. Mari and Macchi, together were equal to the lone X-Law in power but were blinded by youthful excess and overconfidence. And a glaring lack of coordination. It was an uneven fight and Kanna could see that the X-Law was merely intending to let Kanna's team mates exhaust themselves in their wild attacks and inconsistent tactics.
The drugged shaman wrenched her mouth open despite the dizziness and began to barking orders.
"She's trying to make you use up your mana! Make Chuck provide cover fire for Jack's attack like we did in training!"
By some miracle Mari and Macchi decided to follow Kanna's orders without complaints. They were beginning to sweat with their efforts of trying to attack the nimble X-Law and her white angel without success.
The doll Chuck raised his gun and fired his bullets to force back the speedy X-Law away from her position of strength of close combat and causing the angel to protect it's master more thoroughly with it's body. As the shots ricocheted off the armor, Mari prepared Jack to attack. No longer being forced defend, the gleaming knives of the pumpkin doll were drawn and it winded itself up for it's attack. A veritable tornado of steel blades that would slice away everything. The windup was slow but once it got going the speed and damage it did was devastating.
The green eyes of the X-Law narrowed as she saw the attack come tearing towards her. The angel spirit immediately threw up a shield to protect its master.
Mari pushed every ounce of her power in not killing her enemy (though she was terribly tempted to) but to making sure the force of the attack would stun or buy the Hanagumi team time to escape with their erstwhile leader. They needed to create distance and confirm that their leader was all right. Macchi had already gone into the devastated corner store to rescue the drugged German.
The lolling body of an almost insensate Kanna pushed Mari over the edge. The attack did not pierce the shield of the X-Law or do permanent damage to the angel but the force of it caught the woman by surprise.
Mari grabbed onto one of Kanna's free arm as Macchi dragged their leader to escape.
"See you latter ya bitch!" Macchi shouted back as the X-Law flew into a pile of garbage from the power behind the attack.
The Hanagumi didn't bother looking back to see if they had killed the X-Law, their priority was to get Kanna and themselves out of danger and into safety. The two oversoul spirits Jack and Chuck carried off Ashcroft but left the bike behind in their haste to escape. Kanna realized she was probably never going to see her bike again.
It was only after they had ran for a solid thirty minutes that Mari and Macchi decided they had run far enough to hide themselves on a roof of an old dilapidated apartment. Kanna could smell the stinking garbage from the alleyways and murmurings of humans going about in their small moldy residences.
The night sky was bright with the artificial after glow of electric lights that blotted out the stars but the moon hung over the city.
A silence that was only punctuated with the sharp gasping breaths of Mari and Macchi fell.
"You all right fearless leader?" Macchi finally asked. Her face was pale with exhaustion from the battle.
"…" Kanna remained silent. Mari drew near to check and see if her 'fearless leader' was injured in any way.
"Is she dead?" Macchi turned her questioning voice to Mari.
"Mari knows Kanna is alive. Kanna's eyes are open and breathing normal…"
"Think that lady in white sucked out her soul? Maybe she trapped Kanna's mind and…" the English witch theorized wildly, her arms darting about crazily to elucidate her ideas.
"… I can hear you…" Kanna finally spoke.
"Oh, you sound pretty fine for a person who got her butt whooped. What happened? You got weak all of sudden and needed help from little girls like us?" the orange haired little girl asked in a good natured snotty way that she knew annoyed Kanna.
Macchi's tone of voice and the word 'weak' set the paralyzed shaman on edge. Mari noticed and backed away. Macchi could feel rage from Kanna and shut her mouth immediately.
This was not the same as Kanna's annoyance toward Macchi when she had smashed Kanna's Zippo lighter or the numerous complaints of Mari and her boredom.
Kanna was seriously and honestly enraged at them.
"I never needed your help…" Kanna hissed through tightly clenched teeth and abruptly went silent, her eyes glared at the sky above her. She had never felt this weak ever since she was ten years old, and she had vowed to herself that she would never be this weak again in front of anyone. A rage flickered about Kanna's mind as she tried not to scream and rant at her weakness and her team mates. For the first time since she had been assigned to lead the two as team leader, she had never felt so infuriated and embarrassed to the point that she wanted to hurt them and hurt them badly.
Hurt them as much as Daddy hurt her.
Kanna felt sick.
Macchi and Mari watched Kanna carefully, their leader had never showed such an aura of true rage aimed at them until now. They couldn't help but feel a bit discomfited.
Mari was first to break the silence. The blonde haired Italian's voice was piercing as always because of it softness and almost just as emotionless. There was a hint of softness, of pain and, perhaps, sympathy.
"Mari didn't want Kanna to die…"
Kanna simply deflated. Any rage or embarrassment she felt, drained away and she found that looking at her team mates to be harder than her attempts to quit smoking.
"… I fucking know… I'm… Thanks," was all that Kanna could say.
Macchi happily bounded over.
"So you forgive us?" Macchi chirped and smiled brightly.
"Yeah, I forgive ya. Now if you mind, I have to lie here and wait for the drugs to wear off. So bugger off and guard the area," Kanna sighed in resignation.
"So… You can't move at all?" Macchi asked for confirmation.
"If I could move, I'd kick your ass to shut your mouth," Kanna barked back. Macchi's smile widened and her eyes took on a demonic look of delight.
Kanna realized that something badä was going to happen to her.
Macchi reached into her pocket and took out something that Kanna recognized as the implement of her tortureä .
"You wouldn't… you wouldn't fucking dare…" Kanna snarled. Her arms were still heavy and body refused to respond to her increasingly frantic mental commands to move or at least attack Macchi.
"Of course I would dare!" Macchi replied happily.
POP
The black permanent ink marker top was removed and the wet tip was ready for some serious face doodling on Kanna's face. The manic grin on Macchi's face made Kanna very very afraid.
Kanna could see in the corner of her eye that Mari was similarly armed and ready as Macchi. The blonde haired girl had a very faint smirk on her face that made Kanna wish that the X-Law woman had killed her.
Seeing Mari smirk in such a manner would give anyone nightmares for days on end, if not for all of eternity.
Yet, it had been awhile since Kanna had seen the blonde girl seem so… happy.
An aggravated sigh passed through Kanna's lips and she gathered her nearly non-existent resolve to endure what was too come.
"Draw a fucking mustache on my face, and YOU FUCKING DIE!"
"Aww… That just means I'm going to draw that on you first."
"Mari is not bored now…"
"FUCK!"