Morning, Author here.
Thank you for the reviews. I'm releasing this chapter a day early to make up for the rest of the busy week.
Mai-hime and related belong to Sunrise
Agnus Dei
The Suzushiro mansion was in a virtual uproar as the mistress began her death march up and down the empty hallways and vacated rooms. Yukino wisely shut herself in her room with the computer screens running at full force while Haruka wore the carpet thin with her aggravated pacing and opened doors that had already been opened countless times before. She just couldn't believe it. In the space of what seemed to be several days, everyone she had housed turned out missing. First to go was that Kuga and she just knew the punk was running around getting herself in loads of trouble—Fujino was probably all over that mess too. Haruka didn't even want to think about that headache-inducing problem. Then came Tokiha's busting out and that coincidental fire in Hokkaido that seemed all too convenient for her liking. Shigeru was the next delinquent to go and she honestly had better expectations for the man. It wasn't as if he needed to lay his life on the line for the antics of a bunch of power-wielding girls. The Kanzaki/Minagi/Whatever-they-referred-to-themselves-as siblings were the final ones to abandon the Suzushiro ship with some bogus excuse about needing to pick up something at home. It was the oldest trick in the book and she still wondered how she managed to let them get away. She knew they were up to something when that familiar black company car of the Fujino came rolling by to pick them up. All of them were going to kiss her fists when she found them, but Kuga first. She was definitely going to enjoy giving Kuga the first and biggest punishment for being such a punk. Yukino heard the strange laughs echoing down the hall and she pinched the bridge of her nose before finally deciding that it was more important to stop Haruka, even if it did sacrifice her own easy life in front of those computers.
"Haruka-chan... it's really no use," Yukino said with a weary sigh.
"No! Those little jerks are going to pay their dues and we're going to find them!" Haruka declared with a fist pumped up in the air.
"... I don't even know why I'm going to ask this... but how are we supposed to find them?" Yukino asked.
"Hm!" Another strange laugh came out and Yukino frowned at her friend, wondering if she was really losing her marbles. "That's where your doubt will now cease to desist!"
"... Exist, Haruka-chan."
"Yeah, yeah! Just pay attention for a bit and let me finish before I jumble it up again." Haruka cleared her throat to prepare her explanation of her master plan. "See here, Yukino. Remember that project you worked on during high school for the robotics exhibition?"
Yukino thought back to it and finally nodded as she recalled the exact circumstance. It had been a rather ambitious project despite the requirements for the exhibition being rather elementary in comparison. She had experimented on the use of reconnaissance devices that were both easy to deploy for the user and undetectable by the person being watched. She likened it to a spore released by a plant and had even gained the idea by watching a dandelion's seeds scatter whenever Haruka picked up a fuzzy blossom and blew on the white tufts. It had taken several tries to create a successful cloaking mechanism for the spore but the result was a working prototype that was to be praised when considering the rather menial funding put into it. It had been given a favorable mention at the exhibit but no one had approached her for a development of a marketable model, so she had placed the project back into the Suzushiro laboratory and formally washed her hands of the affair. She was surprised that Haruka even remembered the project but at the same time a smile wormed its way to her face as she looked up at her best friend.
"Well, what about my old project?" Yukino asked, prompting her to go on.
"I took it," Haruka said proudly.
Yukino paused.
"... What?"
"I know I didn't screw that one over, Yukino, but I'll repeated it just the same. I took it!" Haruka repeated firmly before going further. "I activated it, and I put a 'spore' or whatever you called it on Minagi's little box thing."
Yukino adjusted her glasses. First of all, how on earth did Haruka manage to get the system online to even employ one of the spores? Her knowledge with computers was decent enough but the project had been stashed away long enough so that the internal batteries for the controller would have expired long ago. Second, the "box" Haruka mentioned must have been the strange wooden box that Mikoto had taken to lugging around the Suzushiro mansion shortly before their untimely exit. Haruka had given it an experimental lift once to try figuring out what was inside and was mildly surprised at the sheer weight of that package. They wondered what was in it but due to common courtesy did not attempt to open it despite it being stacked up against the coat closet whenever Mikoto was exploring the mansion. How Haruka, who was not very well-known for being sneaky, managed to smack a spore on that box was beyond Yukino's comprehension. But Haruka seemed to know what she was going and she gave off a successful little laugh in light of the circumstance.
"Those amateurs thought they could get away from this Suzushiro Haruka!" the blonde girl declared with a smirk. "That goes to show how wrong those little delinquents are."
"I see..." Yukino cleared her throat. "Where is the viewing unit, then?"
"Oh! I have it right here."
Haruka brandished what looked to be an octagonal hand-held mirror with an ornate green back. Yukino took it gently and tapped the side of it to reveal a sort of menu screen that blipped to life on the mirror. After a few seconds of tapping at the menu the mirror's surface shuddered briefly to reveal what looked to be a moving environment. Haruka cheered.
"See! It works!"
Yukino couldn't help but smile as she pushed the mirror back so Haruka could see it as well. Even the spore's microphone seemed to work as garbled conversation filtered through with a fair amount of static.
"They seem rather far away from Fuuka judging from the amount of noise," Yukino noted with a worried frown. "At this rate the sound will cut off and the video will be out soon after that."
"Then we'll just have to look for visual clues until the GPS system locks on," Haruka replied simply.
They watched and waited, noting that the box was moving through what looked to be the streets of a city. Snow was on the ground but all they could see were national chains of stores and nothing too telling of the immediate area. They immediately ruled out Hokkaido—no one could get in or out at the time due to the fire now being labeled as a terrorist act. The GPS struggled through its location search and they saw even more dingy streets along with the brief flicker of a black suit.
"Oh, that must be Kanzaki," Haruka pointed out as she nodded towards the black suit.
"It would appear so. I wish there was..." Yukino paused. "Wait a minute."
She stopped the real-time view and quickly brought up the menu again on the device. After scrolling through the options she brought up a screen shot of the time just before she had paused.
"Doesn't that look familiar to you?" she asked to a curious Haruka.
"Hm? Let me see."
She was handed the mirror and she squinted as she tried to discern what Yukino had so readily picked out. She saw what looked to be a red and white wire structure in the far distance. There was no mistaking what it could have been.
"... Tokyo Tower?" Haruka frowned and scratched her head before she did a double-take. "EH? What the hell are they doing all the way over there?!"
"GPS coordinates confirmed," Yukino announced over Haruka's exclamation. "They're heading towards what appears to be the bay area. I'm going back to the computer to pull up a list of establishments in that area. Haruka-chan, can you put that back in real-time?"
Haruka nodded and tapped at the side of the mirror once more to go back to the viewing mode. In under two minutes Yukino returned with a slim stack of papers in her hands.
"This is all I could pull up about the area," she explained. "But through process of elimination we should be able to figure out their destination."
"... Sounds good."
Yukino nodded and began to pour through the lists as Haruka clapped her fist up against her open palm.
"Wait for us, delinquents. This Haruka is going to give you a righteous pounding!"
They ended up having the mango pudding after all.
Of course they had ice cream on the menu. They even had the sundae Natsuki had been dying to try ever since she had heard of it. But Natsuki couldn't help but order the mango pudding instead, even if the dessert was sweet enough to make her teeth hurt and rich enough to make her stomach uneasy after having several heaping spoonfuls with the evaporated milk topping. Shizuru's earnest eyes literally called for the sweet treat as soon as the plates had been cleared and the dessert menu was presented. The bill was outrageous, but for the first time they didn't have a meaningless conversation over it as Natsuki sent a credit card back with the bill as she handed it back to the waiter. They walked out of the trendy restaurant hand in hand with a cold wind pushing them along.
"Do you think she'll be there?" Shizuru asked quietly as they walked down the street.
"Yeah. It's a strange feeling. Like a calling of some sort." Natsuki squinted and moved her head side to side. "I dunno how else to explain it. She'll be there and your aunt will probably be going after her as well. As for when, I guess that's really up to her. But we have some time."
She took in a slow, steady breath, held it for a second, and let it go in one long blast of steam that poured out of her mouth. Shizuru knew she was attempting to steady herself as they walked and she placed a hand on her shoulder to offer support. Natsuki grasped onto it for a second before letting go and taking a look around.
"Alright, no one's around."
They ducked into an alleyway and Natsuki clapped her hands together. A blue light enveloped her and she fell to her knees as her body retreated beneath fur and fangs. Duran shook his head to free his fur of stray ice crystals before looking down at Shizuru. She pulled the hood of her coat over her head when Duran dropped down to the snowy ground. In two seconds she gracefully swung a leg over the wolf and patted him over the shoulders to tell him that she was securely on. Duran straightened and looked around with his lone eye to study the walls of this particular alleyway before centering in on what looked to be a good jumping point. He took a short trot down the length of the alleyway before his muscles surged. Shizuru grasped onto the heavy fur of his shoulders and flattened herself onto him as he pushed off of his paws to leap a good five stories up. All four of his monstrous paws managed to land on a railing before he nimbly skipped off and touched down on another jumping point. He wall-kicked his way back and forth between these alleyways until he touched down on the rooftop, easily fifty stories up in Tokyo's cityscape.
The steam curled up in fine tendrils as it emanated from Duran's body. Shizuru straightened and sat up on the wolf, placing one hand behind her to keep herself balanced on top of this mass of fur and muscle. The wind was stronger in the higher altitude and it knocked her hood away to let her hair fly back. She looked around cautiously before reinforcing her grip on Duran's fur and pulling her hood back on again. The wolf felt those fingers sink into his fur and he took off, taking great lumbering strides that covered the roof of the building in five seconds flat. Duran jumped off the end of the building and easily cleared the gap to the next. His tongue began to loll out as his paws slammed into the snow-covered rooftops, and even Shizuru began to feel his growing exuberance of being able to run free for the first time in a long while. Duran easily made short work of Tokyo in an impressive five minutes of what seemed to be effortless flying off of rooftops. His speed would have been the envy of any sort of public transportation. He finally came to a stop on top of a particular building and deftly jumped down below. He skipped against the wall several times and nearly ran down the length of it but pushed off the last minute to avoid running himself straight to the ground. All four of his paws landed on the fresh snow and he exhaled slowly in a satisfied snort before lowering himself down. Shizuru slid off of the beast and shook the snow from her coat as Duran retreated into Natsuki's body once more.
Natsuki coughed into a gloved fist and straightened her slightly-rumpled suit for a moment.
"Okay... I think I'm ready."
Shizuru nodded and took Natsuki's offered arm as the two of them easily walked out of the alleyway and back into society. The club was only a minute's walk from here and they were let in through the VIP entrance without as much as a blink. After a run through the coat closet to check in their heavy winter coats and Natsuki's jacket, they found themselves following the crowd down to the expansive dance floor. The last time they were in a club, they very nearly died. It seemed that clubs and the couple didn't mix, but there was a time when the two were inseparable. The music was loud and the beat was bumping into their bodies as they very nearly dove into the dance floor due to the momentum of the crowd. Natsuki quietly unbuttoned the cuffs of her shirt and began to roll the sleeves up to her arms as she backed into one of the pillars that rose up from the floor to the ceiling of this underground club. Shizuru followed her and began to move sensually to the music, backing into Natsuki until they touched. They were close, way too close, but the stifling heat of the area and the dancers surrounding them gave a good enough cover. They weren't just moving to the beat of the crowd. Emerald and crimson eyes took stock of the dancers around them and even the elevated VIP sections. There was no threat right now and Shizuru turned so that they were now facing each other.
"You up for some dancing?" she asked.
The surreal request caused Natsuki to grin. They were on the eve of what could be their last night, yet the flashing lights of the club went on as brightly as any other day. Here was their last chance to dive into this secure blanket of normalcy and at least have a little bit of fun before the conflict started up. Besides, they hadn't danced in a long time, and the unspoken challenge in Shizuru's eyes had to be answered as far as Natsuki was concerned.
You may think we're crazy, but that's the only way to live life for us.
"Sure. Might as well get some dancing done tonight while we have the chance."
Shizuru tugged on her tie and Natsuki allowed herself to walk forward through that leash. She stopped walking as soon as she felt those bare shoulders press against her own as Shizuru pulled the tie over her shoulder.
"Try to keep up, then," Shizuru murmured in her ear as her swaying hips began to establish the rhythm.
The club was awash in blue lights that looked like snow as silver bits of shining confetti began to fall all around them. Her hands trailed down that body and rested right at those enticing hips, just ghosting over the dress as they remained in sync with the movement. Her own body began to respond positively to the commanding rhythm and soon her lips parted through this stifling heat. She took in the smell of alcohol and perfume wafting around them. So many smells ran through her sensitive nose but she focused only on the honeyed hair in front of her. Oh, this was dangerous. The way those hips and that body were moving drove her crazy and brought her tactile senses into overdrive as her fingers trailed down the silken fabric of her dress and played with the asymmetrical hem that started slightly above Shizuru's knees on one side and trailed down the other in a gentle arc. Shizuru's fingertips danced down her bare arms and she held a breath, abruptly turning her around. A playful smile appeared on Natsuki's lips as she shook a finger warningly even when they continued to dance in this same beat.
"That was mean of you," she admonished even as her fingers found their way to Shizuru's lower back. "Getting me all worked up over such a tease. Ikezu, my Shizuru."
"Ara... That was quite the nice impression," Shizuru replied cheekily.
"Well?" Her lips were right up against the delicate shell of Shizuru's ear. "Are you gonna fix it?"
She pushed Natsuki against the wall and held onto the front of her shirt with both hands as the song began to die down. Natsuki placed her hands over those fists and grasped onto them as she felt Shizuru's head rest against her shoulder.
"Ah. We'll have to continue this later, then. I guess we really only did have time for one last dance," Natsuki noted softly.
"... It's a shame. Tonight was beautiful, Natsuki."
Natsuki smiled grimly.
"Yeah."
Her arms slowly wrapped around Shizuru, pulling her close and holding her tightly before closing her eyes. The club erupted into a roar of blue and red fire that washed through a decent-sized hole that was seemingly punched through the concrete ceiling of the underground establishment. The sound system became a crackled mockery of itself as wires whipped out in wild arcs and the crowd began to voice their panic in the form of frightened screams. The patrons began to run out in sheer terror but Natsuki merely opened her eyes and stared straight ahead towards the fiery wave of heat and smoke that washed towards them. Her response was to narrow her eyes. Ice crept out from under her feet. It created a sizable pool that then formed a border around the two, snuffing the flames out before they got close enough to pose a discomfort.
"... No holding back," Shizuru said in her ear before she let her go.
Natsuki nodded curtly and stretched her arms above her head.
"Well. Here I go."
The first attack came in the form of a ball of fire racing towards her. She continued to walk forward and idly punched towards the flame. At the last second her fist was encased in ice, extinguishing the flame before it could even attempt to singe her skin. It was still a little hard to breathe in this stifling heat. She loosened her tie and undid the first button of her shirt, stretching out the collar a bit to let in some breathing room. After a moment of no continued attacks, she stopped and looked up. The first thing she saw was the four rings of flame that continuously burned. Accompanying those were the arms and legs followed by the body and most importantly those bloodshot violet eyes. She wondered briefly what had happened to her friend but knew that most of it was probably due to the unstable beast residing beneath her skin. A red scarf was wrapped around her neck. The ends whipped around this way and that in long arcs that complemented her flying nature quite well. All in all, she was going to be a scary adversary. Natsuki sighed in boredom and tucked her hand in her pocket to retrieve her black leather gloves. After pulling them on she placed her hands on her hips and waited for the staring contest to be over.
"Yo, Mai. You're still in there, right?"
Mai looked down with unseeing eyes.
"Wolf..."
Natsuki shrugged her shoulders at the grating noise. So they were even further along in integrating into one individual after all.
"Never mind. Let me try this again." She waved. "Yo, Kagutsuchi."
When Mai let loose a snort it carried a jet of fire out. Natsuki let out a low whistle in response and her breath misted into frost as she did so.
"I have the advantage here," Kagutsuchi remarked as his gravely voice spilled out from Mai's moving lips. "Stand down."
"I'd like to. But I can't let you go running around like this." Natsuki sniffed slightly. "I suppose you're not going to sit around idly either."
"Kiyohime will be joining us soon, but I will take care of you by then." A barely-contained sneer spread across Mai's mouth. "You won't stop me from achieving my goal."
"Oh? And what's that?"
Natsuki should have been shaking in her shoes. Here was a creature who readily commanded fires hot enough to turn her to ash in three seconds. She wouldn't last five minutes against this raging beast masquerading as her best friend. But she merely tucked one hand in her pocket and shifted into a more relaxed position as she stared up at Mai. What a day to die. She had eaten the best meal she had in over a year, went dancing in a fine establishment that was now crumbling to dust, and now she was going to go through the fight of her life. All things considered, she figured it all came to about even. If today was the day, so be it. She wasn't afraid.
Then came a mocking laugh from Mai and she raised an eyebrow in response.
"Don't tell me you don't feel these strings of fate pulling us closer and closer to perfection. You can sit on your haunches and wait on your mistress like the dog you are, but I will not let this opportunity escape me for another three centuries. You have felt these tides of fate draw in and out over the ages, Duran. Do not tell me that you aren't affected."
"Perfection?" Natsuki narrowed her eyes. "Are you talking about this influx of power?"
"Precisely. With it, I could do anything. I could raise this world up to the heavens, or I could crush it with my own fist." Mai brought her slack hand into a tight fist. "I will not let you get in the way of this."
The world was beautiful, once.
Natsuki felt the snatches of memory tickle down her mind as she sighed once more.
"You want to make the world beautiful again, huh." She smiled. "Well, I'm sorry. I can't allow that anymore."
Mai's eyes flickered for a second and she thought she saw them come back to life. Suddenly the expression on Mai's face shifted from surprise to outright anger as she reared one hand back. The ring around that wrist brightened and spun even faster as a white-hot flame began to form in front of her palm.
"Then die!!"
Natsuki tensed and brought both of her arms up, locking her forearms against one another to form a protective X in front of her chest and head. The fireball connected into a shield of ice that drew up in front of her. The two forces began to battle for supremacy. Which would fall first—the impossibly hot flame or the incomparably cold ice? Natsuki breathed out slowly and suddenly broke her guard, flinging her arms down so that they ended up on either side of her. This caused the wall of ice to break due to an unseen force, swallowing up the flame and snuffing it out while at the same time shooting enormous shards of ice towards Mai. Mai through her hands up and blocked them with the fire rings swirling around her wrists, but her expression contained mild curiosity at this new development.
"You've improved."
"Well, it's in bad taste to show off everything you can do on the first try," Natsuki remarked.
In actuality Natsuki had the advantage of the cold climate aiding her. The fierce winter winds blew in through the convenient hole Mai had made, bringing in a good amount of snow and enough natural cold to supplement her abilities and help put a damper on the fires. With that in mind she set herself up for a purely defensive sort of fight. Kagutsuchi had enough stamina to overrun her but with the climate advantage it would only be a matter of time before those blue fires around Mai turned into a more manageable shade of orange. The first thing she had to do was neutralize anything Kagutsuchi could use to his advantage, and for that she centered on the well-stocked bar. Mai aimed a hand towards that bar and let loose with a massive ball of flame.
Natsuki was tossed into the air by the following explosion as the alcohol caught fire and the glasses exploded due to the pressure. Before she could fall into that dire mess she drew herself upright in mid air and brought her hands out in front of her in one strong, fluid push. The hole behind Mai caved in even more as a strong gust of blizzard-like winds washed past her and centered underneath Natsuki's feet. This snow built and built, forming a hard block of ice and providing the foundation for a pathway. She slid back and directed this growing path into a sort of half-pipe that took her sliding on her feet and landing a safe ways away from the mess. She stared down at her hands and frowned. She had never been able to do that, before.
Focus, and it will be possible.
She blinked at Duran's command but had little time to ponder over it as a rain of fire spewed out towards her. She took off running and neatly kicked off the wall, bringing her gloved hands out in a wide arc. This caused a shield of ice that extended outwards, checking the fire rain and diminishing it as the shield melted into water. Mai's body was drenched by this downpour and the droplets fizzled into steam as they hit the fire rings keeping her afloat. Natsuki hurriedly backed away to avoid some of the fizzling fires as they hit the ground.
"Ack!"
She took a second to stomp away the fires before turning up to face Mai once more.
"That could've ruined my shoes," she said while shaking her fist half-heartedly.
Mai offered what looked to be a semi-contrite smile in response.
"I apologize."
The sarcasm was not missed even with the misplaced voice. Natsuki clapped her hands together and spread them out wide. The ice gathered at her fingertips and began to form some sort of shape as it spun rapidly in front of her open palms. After a second the ice stopped spinning to form two identical guns made out of clear ice. She gripped these guns and brought them up towards Mai.
"Bang," she muttered.
She slammed her fingers on the "triggers." Instead of bullets the guns fired off their barrels which then grew into lighting-fast shards of ice, each easily large enough to tear Mai's body apart. Mai closed her eyes and dodged one bullet, knocking the other away while the "guns" regenerated, replacing the barrels with even more ice in their reload. Natsuki tapped the guns together and grinned. Alright, this was going to be a fair enough fight.
Then the club began to rumble again but the two disregarded this in favor of attempting to run each other to the ground with fire and ice punching each other out in a deadly stalemate. But Shizuru's wary eyes saw and she turned her attention out towards this new development. Another hole was punched through this establishment, this one being formed out of an oozing poison that burned through everything it touched. Within this smaller hole stepped in Kyoko Marguerite accompanied by the cause for Kagutsuchi's initial ire. Shizuru narrowed her eyes.
"... Smith."
She looked around and spotted what looked to be a corridor that led down to the cleaning supply closet in the club. After some quick searching she spotted a contractor's broom, a large sweeping instrument with a long wooden pole. She studied this item for a second before taking off her heels. She brought the broom up and smashed the end of it against the concrete wall, effectively bashing it apart and making it useless save for the pole portion of it. It had enough weight to it so it would not fly out of her hands if she spun it. That was good enough for now.
Kyoko turned a critical eye towards the dueling two before facing Smith.
"If I take them both out in one hit, then our agreement stands," she muttered.
He adjusted his glasses and smiled.
"Indeed, if you manage to do so."
Kyoko threw him a level look before readying herself. Those silver eyes morphed into a snake's eyes as she glared at the two and brought her hands up to perform the finishing blow. In what seemed to be a split second later she felt her hands get knocked out alignment by a blunt, heavy object. She turned and took in the stern crimson eyes of her niece standing in front of her with a wooden rod in her hand. Kyoko stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to do. Smith was yelling something at her but she tuned it out in favor of staring at the sheer determination in Shizuru's eyes. Angrily she pushed past Smith and faced Shizuru.
"What on earth do you think you are doing?" she hissed.
"Attacking you, it would seem," Shizuru replied.
A close blast of heat washed over her, causing her hair to fly in different directions and her eyes to respond to the red glow of the fires criss-crossing around her. Kyoko watched as her niece easily brought the broken pole in front of her as if it were the same as any other ornate weapon capable of taking her down. She would have laughed at the absurdity of it if it weren't for those eyes.
"You would fight your own blood?" Kyoko inquired with a tilt of her head. "You have no powers and you will not last against Kiyohime."
"If it comes to that, then yes. I suppose I will fight my own blood."
Shizuru spun the rod over her head before whipping it out in front of her.
"We don't have time for this," Smith interjected. "The gates of Valhalla will not wait for some petty family rivalry—"
"Shut your mouth!" Kyoko snapped. "You have no say in this!"
She turned towards Shizuru and offered her a tight-lipped smile.
"If it is a fight you want, dearest child... then you will have it!"
Shizuru wondered when she was gifted with this sudden sense of recklessness. Kyoko Marguerite was one of the most gifted users of a weapon called the chain whip. This heavy weapon was merely a chain-connected set of heavy iron bars. It was flexible enough to be cracked around like a whip yet sturdy enough to break bones and bash skulls in. Most of the time chain whips contained a pointed end that would be used as a stabbing point. This particular one could easily be coated some sort of poison, and Shizuru didn't doubt that this would be the case. Kyoko drew the weapon and snapped it into place as she faced Shizuru, who still stayed in a ready position with the pole out in front. She knew she was at a direct disadvantage when using a long weapon against something like a chain whip, but there was no other option available.
Kyoko flicked her wrist and the whip began its dance of destruction towards Shizuru who managed to knock the deadly dart away. The whip rebounded and one of the lengths managed to smack heavily onto her forearm, causing the limb to seize with the shock of being hit. Shizuru flicked her arm out and attempted to massage some feeling back into it, bringing her weapon up just in time to deflect another strike. The rod whipped up and around as she spun and flicked her wrists to get the rod moving in a quick circle to knock the whip's trajectory out of her way. Halfway during this spin the whip managed to wrap around the center of the rod and they stood in a deadlock that was quickly decided when Kyoko yanked her weapon back. The rod broke into two smaller halves, one for each hand. Shizuru breathed out in mild frustration as she fixed her grip on the two ends and tapped the sticks together before whipping them out in quick circles. When the next crack of the chain whip came she knocked the dart end with a decisive smack before spinning and getting close enough to graze Kyoko's cheek with the splintered end of the half-rod. Those crimson eyes lit up at the minor point but soon that expression turned into alarm as she felt something rip towards her. She brought the two sticks up into an X as the pointed end of the chain whip stuck right into the center of the crossed sticks. The sticks cracked and finally shattered under the pressure, leaving Shizuru without a weapon and now looking into the triumphant silver eyes of her aunt.
Oh... crap.
Shizuru let go of the splinters in her hands and pat her hands together to clap them free of sawdust. Kyoko ran several fingers across the line oozing blood down her cheek. She stared at the coppery blood for a second before smiling.
"So I still bleed. How fortunate." The pointed end of the chain whip hit the floor for a second as she paused. "However, I'm afraid your dance is coming at an end."
Natsuki shoved Mai away from her and took one fleeting look back towards the ground.
The whip cracked once more as Kyoko raised it high above her head, intent on using this momentum to bring the pointed end crashing into Shizuru's skull. Before it could hit, however, a hand grasped onto the chain link before the end. The hand closed over in a tight grip, further restricting movement, and the two looked over with varying expressions of shock at the newcomer. Mikoto offered a mild smile in response to the flabbergasted looks as a hail of ice and fire showered over them. Behind her stood a man with a rather grim expression on his face.
"Otou-han?"
Shigeru offered a slight smile in Shizuru's direction but he kept his gaze solely on his sister who at this time was staring at him like he was an apparition from the underworld. He moved his neck from side to side and took off his driving cap, tossing it behind his shoulder in one haphazard motion.
"Now... You didn't think I'd be letting you have so much fun by yourself, did you?" he asked in a dangerously soft voice.
Kyoko took a step back when he took one forward. His eyes were not the kind maple-red shade anymore. Instead they took on a rather frightful blood-red glow as he slowly undid the buttons of his coat. The coat slid from his shoulders and he undid his cuff links, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up after pocketing the silver links.
"It ends here," he declared.
"... You wouldn't last ten seconds against Kiyohime," Kyoko spat.
"Do you think you could honestly hold me back?" Shigeru countered with a raised eyebrow. "I know I'm not going to be able to, not until I'm through with your Kiyohime."
It had all the makings for a successful turnover, but then came the surprised cry from Reito that caused them to run and look at him. His eyes were fixed towards the ceiling at the stalemate between the two battling scions of ice and fire. Reito looked up at Mai and for a second his heart stopped. This painful feeling caused him to paw at his chest yet he failed to unlock his eyes from that fiery queen of hell fighting above him. Shizuru stared at him with her lips slightly parted from her earlier exertions and her current confusion over this similar feeling in her own heart.
No...
"No!!"
Mai's true voice rang out as she suddenly grasped onto her head with her hands. Natsuki panted as she crouched on the dance floor, grasping onto her arm as she attempted to collect herself. Dimly she was aware of the new arrivals into their sordid battle but her eyes were focused solely on Mai as she finally struggled with Kagutsuchi for dominance.
"Not again," Mai whispered. "Not again..."
Her eyes flickered in and out of focus until finally her body stilled and she let go of her head. For a hopeful second Natsuki wondered if Mai had won, but then those violet eyes turned into a most frightful shade of green that spread even to the whites.
Shizuru shoved Reito down onto the ground as Mai rocketed towards them with an unearthly speed. Shizuru looked up into those green eyes and for a second she was sure that those flame-tipped claws fashioned from Mai's own fingers would find their home in her own stomach. Indeed, the tips grazed her midsection and she felt that white-hot pain for only a second. This feeling of pain stopped, however, as she saw dark fur fly out towards her along with blood that was not hers.
Duran let out a surprised wheeze as he slowly but surely retracted due to the sudden influx of pain despite trying to shoulder most of the blow for his medium. Kagustuchi's eyes remained unresponsive and the fiery claw remained embedded into the human form. But Natsuki simply clamped her hands around Mai's wrist even as those claws buried themselves even deeper into her when she pulled herself forward. She grasped onto that red scarf and reared her other fist back, crashing it into the side of Mai's jaw. This sent Mai careening into the floor and bouncing several times before finally settling down on solid ground for the first time in a while. Natsuki slid off those claws with a pained grunt as she flew through the air in the opposite direction. She finally slid to a stop on the cold ground as well.
... So this is how it will end.
For the first time, this was not a comfortable cold that she felt underneath her. Ice was never something she was afraid of even before she met Duran, but now her fingertips felt numb and she failed to restore warmth to them despite the overabundance of warmth near her stomach. The fears from earlier tried to return to combat the sluggish acceptance pouring down from her defeated self. No, she couldn't die here. She wasn't supposed to die here. Her eyes narrowed even as her breathing grew dangerously shallow.
No... one more time.
Her hand turned and her gloved fingertips shakily gripped the ground. But the blood made it slippery and her breathing became labored as a thick coppery taste filled her mouth.
Try one more time, damn it!
She struggled mightily, managing to get up onto her elbows before her arms gave out on her and she fell right back to that frightening cold.
Shit...
It was growing quiet, now. She managed to let out a hoarse noise of frustration before her body went completely still and the light dimmed in her good eye, finally matching up to its pair after a year apart.
There was silence, accompanied only by the crackling flames.
Shigeru stared at the body of a girl he had come to think of as his own child. With shaking hands he remembered those emerald eyes as they stared into him, the punches they exchanged in that lonely park when he couldn't talk away her sullen mood, and the promise she earnestly meant to keep in his stead. She had her back pushed against the wall and she fought back just as hard as he would have, but now it seemed that all her efforts were all in vain. He nearly wanted to just smash whatever was in front of him but his limbs were curiously unresponsive as he continued to just stand and stare in mild shock. Was this the price to pay for their impudence? He saw movement out the corner of his eye and turned to register his only child as she too stared at the fallen body.
We are cursed... because in the end, everything will amount to nothing.
Shizuru fell to her knees. She stared at Natsuki even as Reito quickly got up and tried to direct her gaze away from her. She was injured, she was losing blood at an alarming pace. She wasn't going to last long if she sat there, staring at the ripped remains of her heart laying there after fighting right down to her last breath... just like how Natsuki would have wanted it.
Today is a good day to die.
No. Natsuki didn't want this. Not right here and most certainly not right now. This wasn't happening. The burning mess at the base of her heart was not from losing her most important person. She wasn't dead. She was going to get up, stomp everyone who had done them wrong to the ground, and live on with those fierce eyes and a ready smirk. Forever, and ever. Shaking fingers pressed against her bleeding stomach until finally all she could utter was a hoarse scream of pain that seemed louder than it really was due to the silence surrounding it. Another followed it, then another, until all she could do was sit there on her knees and scream.
Today is a good day to die.
They say that, you know, but they never mean it.
When they say that today is a good day to die, all they really want to do is survive to see another good day.
AN: My media player went from Britney Spears' "Get back" to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.
It's quiet, now. Stay tuned, though. The volume may pick back up again.
As for who was saying/thinking the last section, I'll leave it up to the readers to decide.
Cheers.
