Chapter Three – When Idiots Clash Blades

"Have I met you before?"

"What kind of question is that supposed to be?" Shizuma Yuuho demanded, taking a step back and bringing her blade in an upward arc. Her assassin parried the sword effortlessly though her eyes never left Yuuho's face. The young heiress found it unsettling. She shook her head, trying to maintain her focus. "Never mind that—who sent you? My fiancé?" She spat the last word out as if it was too vile for her mouth.

"He didn't say. I didn't ask," was the short reply.

Yuuho's eyebrows knotted in sudden anger and her pace quickened. This woman appeared to be on the defensive—something which had boggled Yuuho. If she was a hired killer alright, then why did she seem reluctant to attack Yuuho? It just didn't add up.

"Damn," her assassin growled huskily when she realized she was being backed in a corner. She dodged the next swipe, widening her stance in a half-crouch and threw herself in a forward roll. Yuuho twisted her body and felt it protesting. She ignored the feeling and went after her 'attacker' bringing her sword down in a violent clash. For a moment they just stared at each other, their chests heaving, their faces flushed. Yuuho could even feel a slight trickle of sweat moving down her chin.

"Sigma?"

Yuuho blinked and took a few steps back. "Who's—?"

The door slammed opened behind her. Light spilled out from the hallway and before she could even move to see who had interrupted her, the other woman was running towards her and shoving her to the side, her blade whipping out to intercept the errant bullet that was meant for Yuuho. She swept the blade sideways, hitting another bullet and lunged forward, her katana biting the man's thigh. "Come on," the woman urged, tugging at Yuuho's arm. "Let's get out of here." She slammed her heel against his—Ryouichi's—knee and dropped the katana in favour of the gun which she had grabbed in midair. Her other hand slid downwards to grab hold of Yuuho's free hand. "Trust me."

Yuuho found that she couldn't say no. They ran together down the hallway and into the fire exit, taking the steps three at a time. She found her insides burning and tripped on her own kimono, crashing against her attacker-turned-saviour. They landed on the floor in a sudden, painful thud with Yuuho on top of the other woman. She found strong arms wrapped protectively around her and pushed away, looking at forest green eyes questioningly. "As much as I would love to get to know you better, Hime, I suggest that we get a move on," the woman murmured breathlessly.

Hime? Yuuho wondered as she shakily stood up. This woman had called her by another name before: Sigma. Why the sudden change?

She's right, you know. Yuuho berated herself silently. They had no time for such trivialities. They began running again at a slower pace. "Might I at least know your name?" She asked on impulse.

"Jun," the woman replied. "Kuga Jun."

They reached the bottom of the floor just as they heard steps crashing down from above. Kuga urged for her to move faster, but her weak body protested. Yuuho didn't know if she could last any longer. Kuga must have sensed that something was wrong because she had emptied the gun of its cartridge and had thrown it to the floor before sweeping her up, carrying her bridal style. "Humour me," Kuga whispered closely to Yuuho's ear, her lips grazing lightly against it.

It made Yuuho blush a ferocious red.

Before she could come up with a coherent reply, however, Kuga had kicked the door open and was running for dear life. What happened next became a mixture of blurs and heartbeats, of men shouting angrily and pointed fingers, and of cool breezes and the scent of cinnamon, leather and smoke invading her sense of smell. By the time she was no longer disoriented, she found herself clinging to Kuga's waist, a helmet covering her face. She wondered where they might be heading, but was too exhausted to ask. For now, all she cared about was keeping herself from falling off the motorcycle. Everything else could wait.

It was perhaps an hour later before the motorcycle began to decelerate, much to Yuuho's relief. The flight from the hotel had left her winded, and though she was no longer running, riding a motorcycle was an entirely new and terrifying experience to her—an experience she did not care to undergo again anytime soon. Kuga coaxed her from the motorcycle and all but half-dragged her back to what appeared to be a small apartment complex. She draped Yuuho on the couch before sitting on the floor with a pained grunt, rubbing her shoulder with her left hand. "Anything for you, Hime?" She drawled, fatigue evident in her voice.

Comfortable clothes? A glass of water? Sleep? Yuuho wanted to say. "Answers," she croaked instead. "I want answers."

"Ask away."

"Were you sent to kill me?" Yuuho asked sharply.

"Yes." There was no doubt to the answer—no hesitation.

"Then why didn't you kill me?"

Kuga smiled disarmingly, "Because it's against my policy to kill a pretty girl."

"Is that really the truth?"

"Partially," Kuga admitted. "I could say that I didn't want to kill you in cold blood. I could say that I had my suspicions about my employer's true intentions. I could say that keeping you alive was simply more appealing to me than leaving you to die. But although there is a bit of truth in each of those statements, the reason why I didn't kill you was because you reminded me of someone I used to know."

"Someone named Sigma," Yuuho spoke flatly. "Who is this Sigma?"

"My turn to ask questions," Kuga replied, her green eyes flashing with sudden intensity. "How come you didn't seem surprised when you saw me?"

Yuuho frowned, annoyed that Kuga had cut her off. "And why should I answer your questions? You haven't answered mine yet."

"Because I decided not to kill you."

"And I should feel indebted to you? A killer?"

Kuga grimaced and looked away, her expression hurt. Yuuho felt her heart clench involuntarily and wondered why.

Finally, Kuga answered boldly, "I saved you, didn't I?"

Yuuho watched her with wary eyes. Who was this woman? At first, Yuuho thought that she was just an ordinary, if exceptionally-skilled assassin. However, from the way Kuga had reacted earlier, the name she had uttered, and her instinct to protect Yuuho—those were not mere coincidences. Whoever Kuga was, she knew something that she wasn't letting on. But what? Was she somehow connected to Yuuho? Surely Yuuho would have recognized her if that was the case.

Sigma. She had remembered the woman utter it before. This Sigma person must be important to her. It would explain why she was so hesitant to kill Yuuho in the first place. Yuuho eyed her warily, wondering how she could use Sigma to her advantage. Perhaps, she thought after a moment's pause, it would be beneficial for me to play to her tune for a while. "I expected a killer tonight." Yuuho finally admitted.

Kuga raised an eyebrow at her, mild surprise evident in her expression. "Go on."

"I didn't want to get married to Ryouichi." Yuuho said plaintively. "I was very much against my uncle's proposition. In fact, I was planning to arrive late and publicly announce that the arrangement was off—that it was a forced marriage that I had not agreed to at all," she growled fiercely. "Someone of his intelligence would have deduced that much at least and would have had me assassinated. At the very last minute, he would have arrived to rescue me, stopping the cold-blooded killer in time, and convincing my mother that being married to him was to the best of my interests. He would have said that I had inherited a lot of my father's enemies, and that what I needed the most right now was a protector—a husband."

"Clearly you don't agree with him," Kuga spoke, grinning wolfishly. "So what do you plan to do now?"

That question had thrown Yuuho off. "Pardon?"

"Obviously, you're not going back to your would-be husband. So what do you plan to do? Live here with me?" Her grin widened, her tone bordering on lewd. "I don't mind—even if it means sharing a room with you."

Yuuho flushed, and before reason could overcome impulse, she had already grabbed a thick, heavy hardbound book from a side table and had hurtled it towards Kuga. The smirking woman caught it deftly with one hand, her eyes never once leaving Yuuho's.

"Nice throwing arm."

A few metres behind Kuga, the door exploded in a rain of splinters and slivers of wood, embedding themselves deeply on the ground and on the ceiling.

"Fuckin' hell! I didn't know this gun had so much kick in it." Yuuho heard someone protest.

"Hmph."

Yuuho turned to look back at Kuga, but the girl had suddenly disappeared in that short interval. "Ku—" She stopped what she was about to say when she saw her saviour reaching for a katana under the table—just how many did she have?—and slowly pressing her back against the wall, peering cautiously at the now-broken front door.

The first woman to step inside had a roughened, gangly look about her, all sharp edges and unruly clothes—her lips upturned in a permanent sneer. The next who followed had similar features, though hers were far softer, her black, wavy hair almost making her appear womanly. Both carried massive guns.

Yuuho tensed at the sight of those weapons. But what could she do? She didn't have a sword with her, and even if she had a gun right now, she never had the opportunity to learn how to use it. Hide—that was what she needed to do. She looked around quickly and scrambled down to the floor on her knees. She took long, cautious breaths, cursing Ryouichi for the hundredth time that day for making her wear a kimono in the first place. Moving around in it would be a task in itself, and there was very little space for manoeuvrability in this room. But what else could she do?

"Well, lookie what we have here." Yuuho stiffened in sudden fear. Had they found her already? "The fuck do you think this is, Nancy?"

"It appears to be a complex security system," the one named 'Nancy' replied casually.

"Well bloody freakin' hell, woman! Why don't you do something about it? Do you want us to be caught by the cops or sommat?"

Nancy snorted. "Stop being so jittery, you idiot. You needn't worry. By the time the cops get here, we'll be long gone. Unless you doubt our abilities. What's a punk?"

"Violence! Disorder! Anarchy and chaos!" The other woman barked without a second's thought.

"Who's a punk?"

"Me!"

"Good. So you should have no problems pissing the police off, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"But what?"

"It's different," was the stubborn reply.

Yuuho heard more incessant cursing, followed by a loud, sudden crash. "They have a freakin' iron maiden, Nancy. You know—like that band!"

"It's not quite an iron maiden," Kuga spoke, making Yuuho's heart beat a little faster in what she hastily labelled as 'hope' blossoming in her chest. It was certainly not because Kuga didn't sound really heroic at that moment—certainly not. "But you could say that our little trap was inspired by it."

Yuuho, who could hide no longer, moved to her knees and took a peek from behind the couch. Part of the barrier that hid the front door had separated and embedded itself against the wall. Their two attackers stood a few hand-spans away, breathing heavily and eyeing it with a bit of trepidation. Kuga was standing behind the rough-looking woman, lightly pressing the katana against her cheek.

Yuuho had to admit, Kuga looked pretty cool at that moment.

Suddenly, Kuga shifted her katana so that she held it at an odd angle. With a sweep of her leg, she sent the rough-looking woman stumbling forward, jumping on her back and over Nancy to land behind the other woman. Her katana clanged angrily, grating against the big gun that the woman carried. Nancy had intercepted her attack in time. Kuga took a few steps back, assessing her situation quickly. She grabbed the tanto from a bootstrap and threw it at Nancy, missing her throat by a few inches. Behind Nancy, the other woman yelped. The tanto had slammed against her shoulder, making her let go of her weapon.

"Are you alright, Shidou?"

"Hell no! That damned fucker freakin' hit me with a knife."

"It could be worse. You could be dead," Nancy muttered icily. She hoisted her gun and aimed for Kuga but found that she could not get a clear shot. Kuga had jumped at an angle from the metal railing just outside and slammed against her. Nancy fell back and hit Shidou who landed on the ground, groaning loudly.

Nancy scrambled to her feet and reaching for her gun when she felt the cold press of metal against her cheek. She moved her face a little and met Yuuho's determined eyes.

"I may not be an expert when it comes to guns, but like most people, I know where the trigger is." Yuuho spoke calmly. "So I suggest that you keep still while my friend here ties you up."

"That won't be necessary."

Yuuho spared a glance at the newcomer and saw a woman standing behind Kuga, carrying two katanas. A white band encircled her forehead, though it did nothing to keep the strands of dark red hair out of her face. She wore a grim expression.

Kuga, who reacted by instinct, turned around to swing her blade towards this new enemy and was efficiently disarmed. Yuuho blinked her eyes a few times in wonderment. She had only seen the woman twitch her wrist a little. Was she really that fast?

No, it couldn't be.

"What do you want from us?" Yuuho demanded and realized that she had used the word 'us'. Did that mean that she saw Kuga as an ally? She frowned and pushed that thought away. There was no time for trivial thoughts. Instead, she added, "Did Ryouichi send you?"

"I don't think he can afford me," the woman replied blandly. "Besides, I only serve one master."

"Yeah, she's Amachi's bitch," Shidou murmured.

"Watch your tongue," Nancy growled, "or Miyamoto-san will rip it out of your mouth before you can even say the word 'punk'."

"Oh, but, Tonami-san, I am far more civilized than that," chided the one named 'Miyamoto', shifting her weight from one foot to another in a show of discomfort.

"What do you want from us?" repeated Yuuho evenly, frustrated at being ignored by these people.

"We were supposed to kidnap Kuga-san," Miyamoto answered, "but since you're here, we'll have to kidnap you as well. Security measure, you understand—we don't want any unnecessary problems."

Yuuho was about to protest when she felt a sharp sting on her neck. Everything began to look blurry. She felt her movements turn sluggish and tried to back away but rough hands had grabbed her shoulders, stopping her from any further movement, and dragged her forward against her dwindling will. The light dimmed until she could no longer make anything out. Voices became more distant, until all was silent. The last word she heard was, "Hime!" before the darkness swallowed her whole.


A/N: Just a quick heads up: the next chapter will be about the other characters, set at an earlier time. As always, updates will be mentioned in my bio.