CHAPTER 4
The streets were quiet as young Haruka Suzushiro briskly marched towards her destination across town. The Linden Baum was a quaint diner known to be frequented by the students at Fuuka Academy. During Haruka's days at the Academy she had been unable to attend events held at the restaurant as her responsibilities on the Executive Committee consumed most of her time. This didn't bother her as the thought of spending her afternoons at the small diner was too laissez-faire for the Governing Board Member. For Haruka, it was important for a student to be involved in both their education and their educational environment. Personal accomplishment could only be achieved by efficiently running the school and effectively reforming the various delinquents that abounded it.
After rounding the corner to the street the Linden Baum was located on the blond stopped in shock. First, Haruka shook her head and tried to take in the scene in front of her. Not believing that she was seeing things correctly, she then blinked rapidly a few times to see if anything would change. Neither of these actions did the trick and Haruka's eyes finally bulged in recognition of the large monster sitting on what remained of the collapsed roof of the Linden Baum. Filled with the same burning desire that used to overtake her when she was punishing the delinquents at Fuuka Academy, Haruka marched toward the giant creature intent on halting its destructive practices.
All the while the headstrong blond was oblivious to the junior classman following her, who had also seen the giant creature.
Red wires were strewn across what remained of the Linden Baum, covering the room and its occupants like a blanket. While everyone (outside of the orphan) was glad for the life-saving aspect of it, they did wish to remove themselves from the area as the orphan was preparing for a second attack. Unfortunately it looked like Nao wasn't going to retract said wires anytime soon.
Nao for her part was still staring at the twin metal claws on her hands. Mental denial of her powers return didn't seem to be working so her conscious mind was slowly accepting that she was indeed going to be in the same boat as Natsuki, Shizuru and Akira. So unfair. Fortunately for the rest of the group, the red heads attention was again brought back to the present crisis. Mainly, that the ceiling of the Linden Baum had collapsed and the large orphan was attempting to squash members of the group with its massive limbs. Nao looked up to survey which of the himes the orphan had targeted. The creature was currently following Shiho with one of its giant limbs, trying to cut the young student in half. Scratch that, not limbs, claws. GIANT claws. They were indeed giant claws as the orphan appeared to be a cross between a giant blowfish and a crab. Spikes covered the outside of the creature's massively inflated body but instead of arms the orphan had enormous orange claws that were currently snipping at its target.
The phrase "ON" could be heard through the slowly dissipating fog of dust. Akira, who had been most protected due to her close proximity to Nao, had materialized her weapon. Since the remaining active himes were either paralyzed with shock or stuck under the wires of Nao's element, it was up to her to stall the orphan. With her double bladed kunai in hand Akira stealthily approached the offending orphan.
"Get it together Nao," the red head encouraged herself. "You might be in the same situation as the cross-dresser, the lunatic and Kuga…" but it doesn't mean they're you're responsibility. With that assurance in mind Nao slashed at the red wires spread throughout the building. Once they were disposed of Nao dove behind one of the booths in her corner and watched the fight unfold from a safe distance.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Akira had been unable to take the time necessary to evaluate the orphan's weaknesses. Instead she had been forced to jump onto its right claw in order to distract it from snapping Shiho in half. The young student had been backed into a corner and if not for Akira's intervention would surely have no longer been among the living. Taking the opportunity to escape, Shiho dove for safety behind an overturned table.
In a nearby corner lay Yukariko, Akane and Yukino. The three appeared to be watching Akira fight the orphan behind their own booth. Fear was written across Yukariko and Akane's faces. Yukino on the other hand seemed to be looking past the crab-like orphan. The shy girl had a look that appeared to be a cross between curiosity, shock and fear.
"Halt right there!" A booming voice could be heard from outside the diner.
"Haruka!" Yukino piped up in response. Worry laced the young student's voice. "It's an orphan. Run!"
Turning to her closest friend, Haruka smiled. "Fear not Yukino, I will stop this troublemaker." The blond then turned her attention back to the orphan, addressing it. "You are a miscreant on this humble restaurant and the good students of Fuuka Academy. Thus, I will punish you for your misdeeds and destruction of private property!" With that the blonde began sprinting towards the monster. During her sprint, the occupants of the Linden Baum noticed two things. First, that Haruka was able to properly pronounce a complex word. Second, a labrys suddenly appeared in the former head of the executive committees hand as she ran towards her target.
"HEY THAT'S MY ELEMENT" Midori shouted, rising from her hiding spot behind the counter. The crab-like orphan turned and swung its left claw in her direction. Midori retreated back behind the counter.
The former head of the executive committee quickly reached the orphan and swung at it with her newly acquired labrys. Unfortunately, the orphans hard outer shell, presumably a result of its crab-like qualities, provided the perfect shield against the sharp ends of the labrys. Pulling the weapon back Haruka was annoyed to discover that her attack inflicted relatively no damage on the creature.
Fortunately, Haruka had provided enough of a distraction for Akira to summon her child Gennai. The large frog emerged from behind a nearby building and was readying the large spotlights on its back to blind the orphan.
"Haruka" Akira called from her position atop Gennai. "Try and call Gakutenoi."
"Huh? Gakutenoi?" Haruka responded, curious as to what kind of person or creature a Gakutenoi was and how she was capable of summoning it. Suddenly a creature the size of a lion but that shared the attributes of an armadillo rounded the corner and sat itself down next to Haruka.
"WHAT?" An upset Midori howled from behind her hiding spot.
Akira used the distraction to have Gennai shine the spotlights on its back at the orphan, effectively blinding it for the time being.
Unsure of what kind of powers this Gakutenoi possessed, but wanting to help, Haruka decided to encourage the creature to take whatever action it deemed best. "Go get 'em!" With that Gakutenoi extended the large blade on its head and began hacking at the shell of the orphan. With every hit by the child, a crack appeared in the crab-like orphan.
Meanwhile, Akira had positioned Gennai for a new attack on the creature. Akira shouted "Jigoku Gama" and the child launched a huge ball out of its mouth straight towards the orphan. Unable to see the attack coming the crab-like orphan failed to block the large spike ball. Upon impact there was a flash of light and after the dust settled the onlookers were able to ascertain that the orphan's shell had been cracked and as a result when Gennai's spike ridden ball had made impact it had squashed what remained of the orphan.
The occupants of the Linden Baum began to emerge from their hiding spots upon seeing the orphan's destruction. They were greeted with the image of one Haruka Suzushiro petting her half-armadillo, half-lion child.
"Gak-ute-noi. Hmm. Ga-ku-ten-oi?" Haruka said as she tried various pronunciations of her child's name. "Gaku-tenoi."
"What are you doing Suzushiro?" Midori angrily queried as she rose from behind the counter. The red head was clearly offended that Gakutenoi was no longer her child.
"Learning how to pronounce this guy's name." Haruka responded, oblivious to the fact that her new child happened to be Midori's former. "Though I'm thinking about just naming him 'The Enforcer'. He'd be a great asset to the University's disciplinary board."
"I need a drink." Midori frowned then leaned over the bar and retrieved her beer. She downed the drink and sat down on the bar stool to her right.
"Haruka!" Yukino, having absorbed the situation, raced over to her best friend to ensure that she was indeed alright. "Are you alright?"
"Of course Yukino."
Midori sat glowering at the two. Her attention then shifted to the red head in the corner.
"Looks like someone took your powers." Nao sneered. "Guess someone's too old to be a hime."
"What? I'm only 17!" Midori cried in response.
"By the way, you're welcome for saving all of you guys back there." Nao declared to the group. "Speaking of saving everyone," Nao turned to Natsuki, "where were you and the kaichou when the fight was going on?"
"What? Umm…" Natsuki looked at Shizuru and then down at her feet. The raven haired girl mentally searched for an appropriate response and when she thought one up she immediately raised her head and glared at Nao. "We were stuck under the debris!"
"Uh huh. Sure Kuga."
"We were!"
Uninterested in her companions conversation, Haruka continued with her assessment of Gakutenoi. Addressing the child, Haruka asked "What other tricks do you have up your sleeve. You'd be a great asset to the disciplinary committee at Fuuka University." In response Gakutenoi gave his master a quizzical look. "Alright, if academia isn't your forte… have you considered a career in law enforcement?"
"Haruka," Yukino intervened "Gauktenoi is your child. You can't go around using Gakutenoi to enforce University discipline."
"But Yukino!" Haruka whined in an uncharacteristic manner.
"Alright everyone," Mai interceded, her assertive voice breaking up the different groups conversations. She waited until all of the rooms occupants attention was directed towards her, then continued. "Despite the fact that no one, other than maybe Haruka, wants to deal with this, it appears that we don't really have a choice. There's something going on and it obviously won't let us ignore it."
"Says who?" Nao challenged.
"Says those red gloves on your hands," Natsuki interrupted, pointing to Nao's element which she still wore on each of her hands.
"Fine." Nao said, glaring. "What should we do? Because I'm definitely not going to go through another one of those carnivals." Nao, remembering the pain from her lost eye, tried to quell her rising anger.
Slightly intoxicated by this point, Midori smiled as she rose from what remained of her shattered bar stool. The older girl figured that some brevity would help the situation and get everyone to the main point of all of this. "This means we should re-form the hime rangers!"
Every person in the room, sans Midori, groaned.
Natsuki closed the door to her dark apartment and retreated to the comfort of her couch. It had been a stressful day for the biker. However, what was truly bothering the raven haired girl wasn't the fact that peoples hime powers had started re-emerging. She wasn't even bothered by non-former himes developing hime powers. Rather, it was her own reaction to the attack at the Linden Baum today that was truly pressing on the young girl.
Natsuki thought back on the paralysis that had overtaken her.
"Shizuru" Natsuki whispered, feeling the weight of the brunette above.
In her peripheral vision Natsuki was able to see an intricate web of red that was slicing the chunks of plaster and wood into tiny pieces as they fell onto the web. All that remained afterwards were small fragments of the former ceiling falling thru the cracks. Rather than focus on the debris falling around her, Natsuki continued staring into the eyes of the brunette on top of her.
"Natsuki." Shizuru's voice was laced with concern as she looked down. Her eyes scanned the face below, looking for assurance that the biker was indeed okay.
Moments turned into minutes as the two continued to silently gaze at each other. Not even the collapse of the red web around them or the presence of the orphan halted their apparent trance. Natsuki's thoughts had drifted to her dream from the other night in which she had lost Shizuru to an orphan attack. The Kyoto girl, who had always held a special place in her life, had vanished in front of her. Now, this same person had risked themselves to save Natsuki from another orphan attack. All Natsuki could think about was how she had let Shizuru slip from her life and that while she was laying here with the Kyoto girl the emptiness that she had felt since she had started her normal life was starting to fade.
Shizuru, for her part, seemed to be in just as deep thought as her companion. Natsuki brought her hand up to touch her friends face, assuring herself that the brunette was actually there and had not vanished from her life. Her thumb began to stroke her cheek.
"Shizuru, I…"
Their reverie was broken by the sound of Haruka Suzushiro.
The sound of Haruka's horrible pronunciation of her child's name was like a blaring alarm clock alerting the biker to her presence in the room and her compromising position. She abruptly pushed Shizuru off of her, stood up, and attempted take stock of her surroundings. No one appeared to have noticed them as everyone was focused on the former head of the executive committee and her new powers.
Thinking back on what happened, she knew that while barely anything was said, Natsuki still hadn't been able to focus on anything other than Shizuru. Her brain hadn't acknowledged the orphan attack, something that it definitely should have. Normally I would have reacted. Natsuki prided herself on her survivor instincts and ability to think quickly in dangerous situations. Whatever was happening between Shizuru and herself had to be sorted.
The Next Day
The raven haired girl parked her motorcycle outside the mansion which housed Fuuka Academy's headmaster Fumi's office. A brunette girl with crimson eyes stood waiting outside the entrance.
"I called ahead to book an appointment with the headmistress but was unable to arrange anything as her secretary did not answer my call." They had agreed that Shizuru would arrange for the meeting with Fumi under the pretext that she wanted to discuss how the school was fairing with the new kaichou.
"That's suspicious." The raven haired girl didn't trust Fumi as she had been working for Mashiro and thus was, in Natsuki's mind, an agent of the First District. Nevertheless, everyone had agreed that determining First District's involvement in recent developments was paramount. "Lets just go in then."
"Ara, what terrible manners Natsuki has to enter another's office without an appointment," Shizuru teased.
"I didn't even want to make an appointment with these people." With that, Natsuki went forward with her original plan and stormed into the mansion. She headed straight towards the headmistresses office. Shizuru followed closely behind. When they reached the desk of Fumi's secretary they found that it was in fact empty. "She's gone."
"I guess that explains why she did not answer my call." Shizuru began casually scanning the contents of the secretary's desk. It was evident from the dust on the tabletop that no one had worked at the desk in quite some time. Meanwhile Natsuki proceeded towards the door to Fumi's office to find that it was unlocked. "Is Natsuki going to enter the headmistresses office? My Natsuki is a naughty student. If I was still Kaichou I would be forced to punish Natsuki."
The raven haired girl ignored the taunts of her companion. "I'm just checking to see if we can get inside. Maybe Fumi knows something." With that the biker opened the door to reveal a ransacked office. The desk had been trashed, the contents of which were strewn across the floor. Fumi's filing cabinets had clearly been exhumed. Chairs were toppled over and ripped apart. "Look! Someone's gone through Fumi's office and trashed it."
Shizuru walked through the doorway and surveyed the area. "Yes, it appears so." With that the brunette proceeded to the headmistresses desk and began looking through the files therein. Taking the hint, Natsuki followed suit. The two spent a half hour going through the remaining contents of the office trying to find some clue as to either what happened to Fumi or why their powers had re-emerged. They didn't uncover any valuable information as it appeared that whoever had beaten them to the office had taken all of the headmistresses confidential files. However, they were able to extract the hard drive from Fumi's computer, hoping that Yukino would find something of value inside.
When the two exited the building, rather than head towards Natsuki's motorcycle parked in the driveway, Natsuki veered off course. Her brunette companion followed silently behind and soon discovered that they were headed towards the campus gardens where they had first met. When they arrived the two just stood there for a few minutes until Natsuki broke the silence. Natsuki turned to face Shizuru, a serious expression on her face.
"Shizuru, there's something I want to discuss."
"What's that Natsuki?" The Kyoto woman gave a reassuring smile to her companion.
"I need ask you something."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Something has been bothering me ever since yesterday. Given all the attacks I haven't been able to discuss or even absorb it. And I know that we haven't spent a lot of time together lately, really only seeing each other once a month… " Natsuki, starting to ramble, realized she needed to get herself back on track. The reclusive biker didn't often share her innermost thoughts and fears with those around. Now if it came to a strategy to defeat a foe, well then she was more than happy to enlighten her cohorts. But, Natsuki rationalized, if she had learned anything from the previous carnival, she should be honest with those closest to her, lest the same mistakes be made again. This is too important to ignore. A quick flash of Shizuru disappearing into green mist in Natsuki's dream played out in her mind. Natsuki balled her hands into fists and pushed forward. "Anyways, Shizuru, what's going on with us?"
Unused to Natsuki ever being this serious when it came to Shizuru and herself, or ever even bringing the subject up, the brunette was momentarily at a loss for words. She quickly collected herself and answered. "What does Natsuki mean?"
"I mean, well, I had this dream the night my powers re-appeared. And in the dream, well, you were there. I was there. And we were in a battle…" At this point Natsuki had shifted her eyes to the nearby flowers in the garden, not making eye contact with her friend while she tried to put together what exactly it was that she was saying. Natsuki hadn't really intended to bring the dream up. Her mentioning it to Shizuru was a spur of the moment decision. Just tell her! "Okay. In the battle there was this large scorpion. As far as I can remember it was someone's child." Natsuki brought her eyes to meet Shizurus. "We defeated it, but then you disappeared. Whoever's child it was, well, I think you were their most important person."
"Oh." Shizuru was unsure why she would be anyone's most important person, let alone someone other than Natsuki's. However, she did not want her dear Natsuki to worry about such things and decided teasing would help lighten the mood. "Is Natsuki concerned that someone has replaced her? Natsuki is so sweet!"
"Shizuru! I'm being serious. I'm not one to believe in prophetic dreams, but with everything that has been going on I needed to make sure that we were still fine. That our friendship is okay."
"Of course it is." Shizuru was growing concerned over Natsuki's worry. The brunette knew that she had limited her interactions with the biker, but had only done so for her friend's own good. Shizuru still struggled daily with what happened during the carnival. Both what she had done and what had been revealed. Natsuki knew of Shizuru's crimes as well as her true feelings for the biker. Natsuki had nevertheless willingly embraced their friendship in the end. It was Shizuru who had not yet been able to move on.
"So then, do you… have you… become close to anyone since the carnival?" Natsuki recalled the excruciating pain she felt in her chest when her friend disappeared right in front of her during the dream. She didn't want to have to experience that in real life. At that moment she was positive that, despite the distance, Shizuru was still her most important person, her key. "I… I couldn't take it if anything happened to you." Shizuru stood still, absorbing Natsuki's words. "Shizuru, you're still my best friend."
"Natsuki," Shizuru paused, touched by the raven haired girls words. "You have always been my most important person. That has not changed."
"Good. I just needed to know where we stood. That we are still friends." It was a constant internal struggle for her to overcome her tendency to hide her feelings behind a gruff exterior. She again flashed to her dream and Shizuru dying in her arms. She whispered out her next words. "And that you won't leave." Natsuki then threw up her mask of indifference in an effort to control her emotions and the words that had started tumbling out of her mouth. While she was better able to acknowledge her feelings after the carnival, the biker was still not 100% comfortable with expressing said feelings. "Now lets go drop this hard drive off with Yukino."
AN:
Admittedly in the last Chapter I twisted Nao's element's capability. My excuse is that it fit with the story better. As to how I ended the last chapter… I couldn't really think up a better ending and was pressed for time. I feel that Nao is the type of character that will occasionally use cuss words. It fit in my mind. I'll probably go back and edit it sometime in the future. Time to press onward.
Hope everyone is enjoying the story thus far!