I have no excuses for why this is late except that I had severe writers block. Most of it frankly stems from a certain review posted in the middle of last month on the first chapter of this story by a reviewer named tinybird02.
In his review he made a few points about Musubi's character that I both agree and disagree with. He was also a bit... aggressive with his review, I don't mind that. Reviews that discuss things in a reasonable or at least semi-reasonable manner I can easily deal with and discuss it with you. Don't be afraid to leave a review on "Why this sucks" I don't mind those, that just tells me what I'm doing wrong. You can NEVER go wrong trying to improve yourself, even if I don't take the words to heart I still read EACH and EVERY review that's posted. So again, I have no problem with that kind of review.
I DO however have a problem with people spoiling things in a story I was at the time of that review currently reading and not up to that point in the story. If you guys are currently reading Ninth Sekirei Pillar by Arthain then steer clear of tinybird02's review until you've caught up with the story.
In his review he spoiled a certain thing about a certain character in that story and it frankly PISSED ME OFF. DO NOT DO THAT. He made that comment as a suggestion of what to do with Musubi's character in this story, as a possible way to take her character in that direction.
I will say this now, DO NOT SPOIL THINGS LIKE THAT. It actually pissed me off so bad that I DROPPED Ninth Sekirei Pillar and went into a deep writers block because of it. I would have continued reading but he spoiled it in such a way with that specific information that it completely KILLED my fanboner for everything. If I had come across the information in the story I have no doubt I would have kept reading, JUST like I did when I first watched Gurren Lagann. For those of you that know, after episode 8 I was prepared to dump the series, but then I watched the next episode and continued because I liked it. If I had known what happened in episode 8 without watching the first seven episodes I most likely would have never watched Gurren Lagann, you know why? Because of preconception. If I know what's going to happen, the emotional impact is nonexistent and you don't endear to that character or event, it pushes you away rather than drawing you further into the plot. When you know something happens, ESPECIALLY when it's something bad, BEFORE it happens, it just kills immersion and you cant feel for the character.
So I say this again. DON'T SPOIL THINGS. I left tinybird02's comment alone because he was entitled to his opinion and I already warned him once, but if anyone else does this crap I'm flagging it for removal. Spoiling things like that can be construed as a kind of abuse if I read the TOS right, perfectly justifiable in it's removal. Be courteous to your fellow readers or someone's going to get gibsmacked.
On a semi related note, in reparation for my extended absence from this story I've made this chapter longer than normal. No seriously, this chapter is a BIG BITCH. 14K words decked out in glitter and neon. The longest chapter that I've done, EVAR! I just didn't know where to stop really :/ SO ENJOY!
Fic o' the day: To Shape and Change A very interesting story. Just read the summary.
After helplessly watching the murder of his son by the hands of the civilians he had sworn to protect, Minato Namikaze breaks inside. When the god of Death offers the chance to walk among the living once more, he accepts. Only catch is, he has to live in the body of his son, Naruto Uzumaki. How will the world change with the Yellow Flash taking his sons place? ((No pairings.))
The only part of that that I have any problem with is the ((No pairings.)) thing. The author has made several good points on his profile about that, but personally I could see Minato ending up with another woman in Naruto's body. I mean he IS going to be living the rest of Naruto's natural life in that body. And judging by how old Mito Uzumaki lived to be it's safe to say that will be a LOOOOONG time. I think the conservative estimation of Mito's age at the time of her death was like 100 something and she looked just shy of her 70's, I've no doubt Naruto could live longer than that. Hell, he doesn't even have to marry someone, all I'm concerned about is Naruto having a blood legacy since he's one of the last Uzumaki and by extension Senju since those were cousin clans as well.
But that's just me and my opinions nibbling at my ankles I guess...
Song/vid of the day: Hate the Day - Behind the Scenes An interesting song I found watching an AMV. The AMV is called √Bestamvsofalltime ▪ Ash (Пепел) AMV if you wanna look for that as well.
Word/s of the day: Gastromancy - Telling fortune from the rumblings of the stomach. The name actually made me think of something else lulz...
Disclaimer, I don't own Bleach or Sekirei, you should all know this by now.
-ooo-
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashback
Narration/machines talking
"Hollow talking"
'Hollow Thinking'
-ooo-
Chapter 7: Rescue.
Cold, pale moonlight reflected off of the crystalline surface of Shinto Teito's Botanical Gardens, the reflected light casting an ominous glow on the ground in front of the half dozen people staring down on it from one of the buildings surrounding the gardens.
Ichigo stood, clad in a construction of his fullbring which had a similar appearance to the clothing of the Onmitsukidō Punishment Force. It was a trick he picked up during his time working for his less than reputable employers when he needed to do something in a clandestine manner, the cloth itself was made of his black Reiatsu and was similar to his clad type Fullbring when it was still in it's immature stages. The fabric also seemed to shift in the dim light, every so often a tongue of black energy would lick out from an edge like a wisp of smoke.
The Fullbringer scowled as he stared over the edge of the building at the destruction below. Dozens of trenches had been gashed out of the surface of the walkway leading into the gardens and several APC's that had carried MBI soldiers were cut entirely in half. Clearly it was done by some form of blade, but it also showed a severe lack of compassion from whatever Sekirei had done this, the injured soldiers lying in pools of blood around the APC's only drove that point home further.
He then turned to his Sekirei, whom he'd brought with him on this little rescue mission.
Akitsu stood directly behind him, like a second shadow, ready for any orders given. She wore the same blue nightdress she had slept in last night, simply because she didn't have any clothing that would fit her in the house, So the slinky little piece of fabric would have to do until he could get her something more... substantial. At the moment the ice Sekirei had used a small ice blue sash wrapped around her midsection to keep the lacy little number closed in the front, but doing so only lifted her breasts up more and allowed the front of the dress to billow dangerously open if it caught the wind just right. She hadn't considered wearing anything under the dress except underwear, seeing as it was a rather long dress that hung down to her knees. Thankfully, it preserved her modesty...what little she had anyway.
Musubi stood behind him and to his right hopping on the balls of her feet as she tried to contain the excitement she had bottled up since their last fight. She was dressed in her normal Sekirei uniform.
Yashima, she stood behind and to his left holding the giant hammer she had used in her battle against him in a comfortable grip over her shoulder. She also was dressed in her battle casual, except instead of a school girl shirt she had instead chosen to wear a plain white T-shirt. She was also lacking the hairband that she had worn during their battle, letting her bangs hand down in her face slightly, it gave her a more mature look overall.
And while technically not his Sekirei, Homura was standing directly to his right, frowning through the face mask that hid his face from view. Ichigo had been a surprised and a little shocked when the Fire Sekirei had walked out of his room decked out in what could only be considered Matrix-esque. A dark black shirt that swept back into a long coat and dark black skin tight pants that hugged his body like a glove, under the shirt-cloak was a normal white button up shirt but that was the only normal thing about the androgynous man's clothing.
Regardless of what they were wearing, each and every one of them were prepared for battle.
"What's the plan?" Homura asked, glaring down at the destruction.
Well maybe not entirely prepared for battle.
Ichigo glanced over at the flame user. "Seeing as someone already knocked down the front door, I guess we go in through the front, kind of pointless trying to sneak in now." He held out a hand, his Fullbring held with the skull facing outward. "Protectors Honor" he intoned quietly, the handle of the blade coalescing in a small swirl of black Reiatsu while the blade slid out of the metal plate like a spring loaded switchblade. Unlike before however, a small white arm guard formed around the black Reiatsu fabric of his wrist, signifying a greater use of his fullbring. Ichigo turned to smirk at Homura who had stared at the blade in mild shock.
"Why are you so comfortable doing that in front of other people..." Homura shook his head. "I've never even heard of super powered humans being real. Why are you so cavalier about this?"
Ichigo glanced at his sword then back to Homura a couple times before shrugging. "Eh, you're all supernatural aliens who can control the forces of nature, that's about as abnormal as it comes, so it's not like I really gotta hide anything from any of you."
Homura blinked. "You really aren't normal you know that?" The flame Sekirei grumbled.
Ichigo snorted. "Yeah, and I'm damn proud of that, now try to keep up." Ichigo nodded to the three girls behind him. "Let's go." before he disappeared from their sight, a small line of green trailing down towards the ground.
"You heard Ashikabi-sama!" Musubi hooted, hopping off the side of the building and landing in a crouch far below.
Akitsu had already disappeared, only a flash of ice and mist signifying her departure. Homura glanced down towards the ground, she could be seen standing in her usual place behind Ichigo who was now down at ground level as well.
Yashima stared down at her Ashikabi then turned slightly to smile somewhat sheepishly at Homura for a moment before leaping after the others.
The flame Sekirei deadpanned for just a moment as he watched the foursome hop off the building without a care in the world. "I'm surrounded by idiots..." A deep sigh echoed into the night. "And I'm one of them." Just before he too joined the others on the ground.
A half minute later and the five had made it to the front gate, Ichigo stopped for a moment to check the pulse's of several of the guards, a frown marring his face. "They're hurt, pretty badly too." He turned back to Homura. "They might be ok If we can get them some help soon."
"MBI sends recovery teams to handle that sort of thing after a fight" He replied. "The quicker we handle this the faster they'll get here."
Ichigo nodded. "Right, lets go."
"Hold on just a second whydoncha?"
Ichigo along with the rest of the group stopped and turned to see who had called out to them.
Twins... or at least that's what they looked like... Surprisingly it wasn't the lightning twins that Ichigo had knocked the stuffing out of before.
They were both girls with blue-grey eyes and long blonde hair done up in pigtails that hung to the side of a heart shaped face. Each was dressed identical as the other with thigh high black stockings covered by black high heels, the black dress they each wore was divided down the center by a bright neon yellow stripe, in fact the only key discerning feature between the two was the weapon that each chose to use.
One carried a bullwhip, the other held strands of... wires? Moonlight flickered across the hair thin metal like a shiny piece of glass as the girl who wielded them walked forward with her sister.
"What do you think Mitsuha?" The one with the wires questioned. "You think we should play with these chumps?"
The twin with the whip smirked at her sister. "Sure, sure Mitsuki." The girl flicked her whip, the head cracking the ground where it struck. "Ashikabi-sama only said to play with a couple of them though."
"Ichigo." Homura glanced out of the corner of his eye at the Fullbringer. "Go on ahead, I can take these two."
Ichigo's sword twitched as his hand moved into a more battle ready position. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." The flame Sekirei grunted, lighting up a pair of small fireballs in his hands. "These two aren't a threat, just go protect Kusano." He started to turn back towards the sisters when a thought struck him. "Oh." His eyes burned for a moment as he glanced over his shoulder at Ichigo. "And don't you dare wing her without her consent, or we'll be having a nice little chat after this is all over."
The Fullbringer nodded. "You don't have to worry about that." He turned on his heel and rushed off into the jungle like atrium, his flock not far behind him.
"Not a threat, eh?" Homura turned back to see the two sisters giving him the evil eye.
"If it's one thing that pisses me off, it's people like you." Mitsuha sneered at the man. "Over protective lions, too big and stupid to know any better." He eyes trailed after the other group. "And that strawberry over there is just as bad."
Homura stiffened when Mitsuki took a step forward, her wires flashing dangerously.
"Try not to die too quickly now." She waved cheerfully, the wires in her hand flashing forward to cut deep troughs in the cement around Homura.
The flame Sekirei leapt back, launching the fireballs he had conjured at the whip twins.
The two barely dodged the attack as it exploded the ground in front of them. They hopped back to their original position, swatting away a few of the small chucks of debris the explosions launched their way. "Nice try matchstick." Mitsuki crowed, taunting the man to attack. "Try something a little stronger why dontcha."
Homura's eyebrow twitched at the unflattering insult as the flames in his hands flared up to encompass the rest of his arms. "Gladly."
-ooo-
Ichigo and his flock continued on past the gate, the distinct sounds of explosions popping off behind them, though they were less concerned about that and more concerned with how thick the vegetation was within the building. The ran in silence for the most part, dodging the vines and low hanging limbs as they made a beeline through the greenery maze.
Surprisingly, after nearly a full five minutes of silence, it was Yashima who spoke up. "D-do you think Homura-san will be alright Ashikabi-sama?" She asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder every so often at the explosions that they had kept to their rear to make sure they were going in the right direction.
"He'll be fine" And he would be, from what he could tell, both of the girls barely registered as a lieutenant each on his ascending scale of threat. "He's alot stronger than both those two combined." The Fullbringer waved over the back of his shoulder calming the girls fears while silently pleased that the girl had opened up a bit to voice her own opinions, it must have been the thrill of the unknown that all of them felt, the adrenaline high, the sheer uncertainty, knowing that you were in an unknown place that had a high probability of combat. That alone had opened her up some.
Then fate just had to piss all over it.
Ichigo's eyes widened as an explosion of noise and light erupted in front of his face, instinctively he strengthened his body with Kōra and flashed back several feet with a bringer jump to protect Yashima and Musubi, idly noting that a thin sheet of ice had formed between him and the bolt of energy.
With a crack of shattered glass the lightning bolt that the attack had apparently been crashed upon the ice wall, blowing it and several unfortunate shrubs nearby to tiny little pieces.
The Fullbringer mouth dropped down to a small line as he stared in the direction the attack had come, that could have easily killed them all if he and Akitsu hadn't reacted as quickly as they had. Now he watched as a strangely familiar set of faces appeared out of the forest ahead of them.
"Damn, so they came out of that without a scratch, huh?" That brought an angry twitch to Ichigo's brow, they were trying to kill them, or at least injure them severely? He stared at the two women and one man who had appeared from the darkness. The two twins (and yes they were twins he idly noticed, seriously what was it with twins tonight? ) were wearing a stripperific set of S&M outfits, one a dull maroonish purple while the other was a dark purple that bordered on black, both were fairly curvy under the spandex-like material.
He also recognized them as the two bimbo's who tried to deactivate Musubi his first day in Shinto Teito.
His hand rose to point in their direction. "Hey, it's you two bimbo's again." Not very subtle, sure, but it got the job done.
Twin angry remarks and pointed fingers returned.
"Ah, It's YOU!"
"You're that BASTARD from before!"
Both girls faces had reddened with anger as a slight hum of energy filled the air.
"Now, now girls." A light slap was heard from behind each of them and their faces drained of color, they turned as one to stare blankly at the man between them, who had slapped and was now cupping their quite generous derrieres.
The two stiffened before glancing at each other, seemingly coming to an agreement as they nodded at the same time. The slight buzz of noise turned into an angry sizzling sound as the pent up electricity coursed down their arms and into the hapless pervert who'd decided that coping a feel on two dangerous and outright lethal Sekirei was a good idea.
"*Cough* Can't say I didn't deserve that one *Cough*" The man let out a comical little puff of soot as he coughed, wiping his clothing off and straightening his frizzled hair. "How you doin?" The man asked casually, waving a bit as he walked closer.
A vein twitched just underneath the Fullbringer skin as the man that had been standing behind the two Sekirei (Who wasn't sizzling and extra crispy for some odd reason) walked forward. He looked vaguely military with the brown military pants and boots, along with the brown aviator jacket he wore over the plain white T-shirt on his chest. True it could have just been a fashion statement but Ichigo had fought military before and the man had this look in his eye, a sharp little glint even though he had a wide comforting smile on his face. The man actually reminded him a bit of Ginjo in his dress and attitude, though there wasn't that underlying threat from the man like he had felt from the sword Fullbringer. True, he was cautious but who wouldn't be in the current situation?
"Fine." Ichigo answered at length when he realized the man truly wanted that kind of answer. "Was doing a lot better before the two strippers behind you tried to fry me and my Sekirei."
The two lightning twins let out an indignant squawk as the the man in front of them grinned, waving off their anger. "Got a sense of humor too." He rubbed a slight bit of scruff on his chin cheekily. "Name's Seo, the girls behind me are Hikari and Hibiki." The man eyed Ichigo for a moment, taking in the overall stance the man held. "So who are you and what brings you to this neck of the woods?" The man's eyes hardened slightly as they took on a calculating gleam. "Besides the obvious of course."
"Ichigo." He spoke evenly, bringing his sword forward threateningly. "I'm here to protect Kusano."
The man's grin dropped into a small frown. "And are you going to try an wing that little girl?"
Ichigo didn't say a word, he could tell that the man in front of him wasn't going to let him pass and his Sekirei were going to be a nuisance as well. Ichigo grit his teeth angrily. He was wasting time, he could feel Kusano not far off and her Reiryoka was fluctuating in such a way to represent panic. "Akitsu." Ichigo ground out as said woman appeared in front of him like a wraith made of ice. "keep them busy, if they flee, let them. If they prove to be a problem, come to me."
"Yes, Ashikabi-sama" The woman stepped forward, a small satisfied smile on her face at her first order from her Ashikabi.
Knowing that the woman would follow his orders to the letter due to the unwavering loyalty he felt through the link, he turned away from the twins and their Ashikabi, Musubi and Yashima following close behind him as they turned to leave.
"Hey, wait a damn minute." Seo approached Ichigo, careful to keep an eye on the blade in Ichigo's hand.
The Fullbringer didn't even dignify the man with an ass beating, he cooly turned to glare at Seo, placing a fairly large amount of Spiritual Pressure squarely on the man's shoulders.
To his credit and Ichigo's surprise, the man actually withstood the energy, but a deep trench formed between his brows as the two tufts of hair nearly met in concentration and a grimace appeared on his face.
"W-wha-t the h-hell are you?" Seo gasped, breath coming in ragged, fearful gasps as he backed away from the sword wielder.
"The real question." Ichigo frowned as he expanded his senses around Seo. "Is 'what are you...'" The Fullbringer eyed the man up and down, feeling the small pool of energy inherent in the man's body. It felt... odd. Something other than a soul reaper, hollow or Quincy and yet it wasn't like his Fullbringer powers either. "Why do you have Reiryoka?" He asked cautiously, in all his years he'd only ever encountered five types of individuals: Humans, Shinigami, Hollow, Fullbringer and Quincy. Now that he had found the Sekirei that added a sixth bullet point to that list. However, Seo didn't seem to fit any of those models since his power appeared to stem from, but was the exact opposite of a Sekirei's. Ichigo preferred to air on the side of caution in such situations.
"L-like it's a-any of your damn business." The man breathed harshly, fighting against the spiritual pressure that was pushing down on him. Not that he had any idea what Reiryoka was but it was the thought that counted.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the man, a small twitch to his eyebrow the only sign of his annoyance. He didn't have time to screw around with this, if Seo was a Ashikabi he'd see the man again eventually. "Musubi, Yashima." The two girls in question appeared behind him, snapping to attention at their Ashikabi's commanding tone. "Let's go." He ordered , never once taking his eyes off of Seo.
Seo on the other hand was doing his best to even keep eye contact with the man... no, 'monster' opposite him. 'It feels like I'm being crushed at the bottom of the ocean' He nearly gagged, pupils shaking to keep eye contact with the Fullbringer until finally, gratefully, Ichigo broke eye contact and ran off into the trees, his two Sekirei following close behind. Seo collapsed to his knees. 'W-what the hell was he?' The man didn't even have time to contemplate the mystery as a Ice shard slammed into the ground near his head, nearly giving the poor man a heart attack as it missed him by inches.
"Seo!" He almost felt relieved when his girls landed next to him, launching several lightning bolts towards Akitsu, who waved her hands, throwing up another wall of ice to block the attack before spines of ice grew from the flat crystal surface, all aimed right towards them.
"Shit!" Seo blanched, pulling his girls behind a tree as Akitsu snapped her fingers, sending several waves of ice shards towards the trio. 'Dammit, if that's how powerful the Ashikabi is, what the hell are his Sekirei made of?' Just then a rather large ice spike cracked through the other side of the tree bark, the razor sharp tip passing between Seo and Hikari's nose.
"I think it's time for a Norito." She spoke dryly, eyeing the ice icicle with a touch of fear.
The Ashikabi nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice, let's do this while we still can."
"What about the girl?" Hibiki asked, throwing another bolt of lightning from behind the cover of the tree, watching as it cracked against another ice shield.
"There's nothing we can do about her now." Seo yelled as another hail of ice shards landed around them. "Best we can hope for is that bastard actually being a nice guy and not forcefully winging her."
The two twins looked at each other solemnly as they grabbed their Ashikabi and pulled him into a rough kiss, his hands curving around to roughly grope their breasts as he did so, which earned him a slap from each of them when they finished.
As soon as their lips left his an aura of electric yellow energy burst from both Sekirei, forming a protective cocoon around the trio as the two girls spoke their chant.
"We're the pledged thunderclap." The two girls clasped their hands together, forming a ring around Seo. "No disaster will hit our Ashikabi" Their lead clasped hands shot forward as their rear hands rose almost like they were preparing a dance, the buildup of electricity around them clearly spoke of other intentions, however.
Akitsu's eye's narrowed a hair as she stared at the giant ball of power forming in the girls' midst. Mist coalesced around the woman's feet, preparing an icy defense or frigid retaliation.
"Take this!" The twins roared, unleashing an absolutely massive bolt of electricity that dwarfed the previous initial bolt by several magnitudes.
The snow woman's narrowed eyes snapped wide, a hand flashing forward, the mist in front of her instantly freezing into a thick wall of ice, the hand then lowered to point at the ground. An icicle wide enough to stand on stuck into the ground. Moving as quickly as a ghost the ice Sekirei stood atop the icy platform which then lifted up like a catapult to launch the woman through the air towards the lightning twins, leaving the bolt to slam into her barrier behind her, punching through it like tissue paper. Apparently where one Sekirei was unable to break through her barrier, two Norito powered Sekirei could.
"Shit, she dodged it!" Hibiki cursed, pulling her hand and her sisters along with it to refocus more energy into a blast. They succeeded in a way, launching of a powerful but substantially weakened bolt before they had to break away from each other in opposite directions, canceling the Norito in the process.
Akitsu raised her hands, a ball of ice forming like an egg shell around her as the construct plowed through the lightning, cracking in several places before it shattered against the ground between the lightning twins, allowing Akitsu to leap free of the debris. Casually flicking both hands out while she was in midair the woman sent several more ice shards in the twins direction. The twins returned in kind with miniature bolts of lightning from their fingertips which exploded against the ice in dozens of miniature sparkling light shows.
"Sis!" Hikari raised a hand and flashed a couple of gestures her way. Hibiki nodded in turn and the two began building energy, the lightning in their hands charging the air between them and subsequently the air around Akitsu which caused the tips of her hair to stand on end.
Feeling the power behind this attack a small frown formed on the ice woman's face. Frost coalesced around her arms quickly, encasing the limbs like gauntlets.
"Karitachi No Ikazuchi!" The energy between the twins rose above Akitsu, flashing once as sound and sight was drowned out in the subsequent thunderclap of the lightning strike.
Seo peeked his head out from behind one of the trees nearby, a tree that had been peppered with ice shards he noted absently as he watched the smoke from the blast rise into the air. "Did that get her?" Another set of ice shards met his question as they struck the tree next to his head. Color drained rapidly as his eyes went from the ice shards to the clearing smoke.
Akitsu stood in the blasted remains of forest the twins had targeted for their aerial strike, hands held above her head almost like she was cupping something... almost like she had blocked the attack with her hands...
That revelation, however wasn't as terrifying as the vicious looking constructs of ice that her hands had become. Each arm was covered from shoulder to fingertip, and where her hands should have been were now large gauntlet-like claws made of clear ice, each finger of which was easily a foot long and razor sharp. If you looked closely enough you could faintly make out the outline of her hands underneath all of the ice.
"What the hell!" "How'd she survive that?" Both twins were gaping in shock, while not their most powerful attack, it was still enough to put down a Sekirei from the teen numbers in one hit. While not as powerful as the single numbers, the teen numbers still had a bit more power than most Sekirei due to their cruder methods of adjustment, it was only around the thirties that the normal level of adjustment became standardized. Though, a few here and there retained a bit more power even up into the triple digits.
To have survived that kind of attack.
"She couldn't be..." Seo backed away slowly, sending a couple of feelers forward, using his own brand of 'power.' What came back stopped him cold, literally. The woman in front of him had power similar to Homura, the fire Sekirei that his girls had run into on more than one occasion. If that was the case then... "A single number?"
Akitsu lowered her claws slowly to her sides. "Number zero seven, Akitsu." She spoke detachedly, like this entire battle was beneath her, and in some ways it kind of was.
"We need to fall back!" Seo yelled, grabbing Hibiki's hand as she flew past him Hikari not far behind the two. The trio heading in the opposite direction of Ichigo's group in the hopes that Akitsu would take her Ashikabi's words to heart and let them go if they retreated. After a few minutes of silence where no dagger-like ice shards followed them, the trio felt safe to hug each other like the little girls they all were.
Yes, even Seo, who happened to grope the two actual girls there, thereby prompting the two girls to shock the crap out of him for being a perverted letch. They then proceeded to snuggle the smoking ball of pain their Ashikabi had become, nearly crying at how close they had come to pissing off a true single number. There would be plenty of "Thank God we're alive sex" after they got back home, the girls would make sure of it... right after they checked to make sure they hadn't inadvertently turned Seo into a girl with that last shock
That scream of pain had been rather girly in their honest opinion...
Meanwhile Akitsu stood back in the clearing from the battle, waiting for any sign of the trio returning. After another minute of silence the woman was satisfied that she had driven the threat off like her Ashikabi had asked of her. With not much else to do the woman turned on her heels and took off in the direction Ichigo had gone, hoping that she could be of more use than just a simple distraction next time.
-ooo-
"Getting real tired of this crap." Homura grumbled, dodging another web of wires that whipped their way around him, his fire barely heating up the strange heat resistant metal.
"Oho? a little sluggish are we 'matchstick?'"
The flame Sekirei's blood boiled again at the annoying nickname. it had been almost fifteen minutes now since Ichigo and his Sekirei had disappeared into the overgrown forest behind him, and in that time he'd had to dodge, feint and outright burn his way through both girls attacks. They were as relentless as they were annoying.
The flame Sekirei ducked, the whip that passed overhead barely missed taking his head from his shoulders before he had to hop back several times as another wave of wires lanced out like snakes to cut through anything between him and their wielder
The man cursed as he built up a large circular ball of fire before launching it directly at his feet as he hopped into the air. The blast exploded only a half dozen feet from him, the pressure of the large beach ball sized fireball pushing him away and giving him some much needed breathing room between him and the two sisters.
"Aww, what's the matter, don't like to play rough?" Again the women taunted him, though they were smart enough to close in on him as a team. Homura glanced down at his hand as it sparked a couple times before flaring to life. If only his powers were more stable he'd have won this fight by now but apparently tonight just wasn't his night and the troubles with his powers were biting him in the ass.
If only he could find his Ashikabi this wouldn't be an issue right now. The flame Sekirei's danger senses blared as he jumped back again as the wire wielder's weapon tore a deep gash where he'd just been standing. 'Fight now, mope later' He focused, pouring far more power than was advisable into his hands.
Turning his attention back to the fight the man's power flared to life around him. "You want me to play rough?" He growled, narrowing his eyes. "Fine then, Enryū!" A conflagration of fire swirled around his legs before taking on the semi solid appearance of a dragon made from red hot flames.
The two girls gulped audibly, though it was drowned out by the roar of fire that built up in front of them.
"Taunt this!" Both hands shot forward, egging the construct of flame onward towards the two women.
"Sis!" The whip user urged.
"Yeah I know!" The other yelled, both turning on their heel to leap behind a nearby damaged ATV and cowering as the flames buffeted against the metal surface. Tires melted, the little glass that was on the large machine cracked under the intense heat and the metal on the side facing Homura glowed white hot.
Finally the deluge of fire ceased, leaving the area insufferably hot and the ground underfoot scorched and cracking like glass. Homura breathed out a small sigh, his shoulders sagging from slight exhaustion from using one of his more powerful attacks.
"Now!" Pale red eyes widened as the fire manipulator leapt back in surprise as the two girls somehow survived the attack that had nearly turned an APC into molten slag. He knew he was on the losing side the moment the girls went on the offensive, his movements were slower from using all of that power at once and he was going to need a minute that he didn't have to catch his second wind, a second wind the two girls were denying him by keeping him on the move with well placed attacks, not only that but a few more of their attack were getting through, he was able to dodge most of them but the whip weapons with graze him just enough to draw blood. A nick here, a scratch there and the small trails of blood were beginning to weaken him.
That was when the wires wrapped around his right arm and leg.
Homura grunted in pain as his backward jump came to a screeching halt midair. He felt the wires go taut and slam him back towards the ground. Thankfully he landed somewhat on his remaining foot that wasn't held down but that advantage was soon lost as the whip of the other sister latched onto his left wrist, yanking that arm out too. Now, basically being pulled like a piece of taffy by two very deadly weapons, Homura was beginning to sweat.
"Oh? So matchstick finally burnt out eh?" The wire wielder taunted, confident in her wires abilities to hold the fire user down. "Maybe all we need to do is remove a bit of the burnt bit to get it going again." She through a cruel little smirk her sisters way. "What do you think Mitsuha?"
The girl shared in her grin. "Yeah, let's take a little off the top."
Homura blanched at the implications of that little conversation, implications that were confirmed when the wire wielder flicked one of her fingers in his general direction and a wire twirled up to wrap around his neck. The fire user gagged as the wire cut off his air, face turning slightly pale as the flow of blood to his brain was cut off. In moment's he would pass out, and in minutes he would probably be terminated. Homura began to sweat in earnest now, steam rose from his skin in small wisps and the moisture in his mouth instantly dried leaving him with cotton mouth.
Homura's power over fire had always been... untamed. It was like a wild animal, predictable in its ferociousness, it could be contained and directed, but never fully under control.
Now, lacking oxygen and blood flow to the brain, that fragile containment shattered.
The sweat evaporated instantly, wires turned red hot, clothing caught fire, body hair began to smolder.
Then all hell broke loose.
-ooo-
"Come on we're almost there." Ichigo called back to Yashima and Musubi. The had run for near to 3 minutes now at full speed, each second passing Kusano's spiritual energy was growing more and more desperate, fluctuating rapidly in fear and it pushed the Fullbringer on faster than even his two Sekirei could follow. They were close when Ichigo's blood froze in his veins. Where once he was able to feel Kusano's presence he could now barely feel it. It felt weakened, he could feel a small amount of pain in the air, as the lingering bits of Kusano's spiritual pressure dropped down to almost zero. The Fullbringer no longer thought , he only moved, his feet flashing green with bringer light as he moved faster than both his Sekirei could see.
He appeared in a clearing, a woman with her back to him, she carried in her hands a large scythe like weapon and wore what appeared to be a white schoolgirl dress and stockings, though the design wasn't one he recognized as it had a dark black design on the front and sides with red lines running down them. He could also make out that she had a bow around her neck and black riding gloves on her hands. Her brown hair hung to the middle of her back and covered most of what he could see of the back of the outfit
"Che," The girl scoffed. "I told you to stop kid, and now look what you made me do dammit." She appeared to bite her finger for a moment staring down at her feet at something. Ichigo felt the bottom of his stomach turn inside out at what the girl was saying.
"Dammit!" She cursed again, sighing as she shouldered her weapon. "If you'd just come along as you were told, but no, you had to attack me." The girl shook her head and turned around, revealing a bleeding Kusano at her feet. As she turned brown eyes met honey gold for a moment as she stared at Ichigo whom had a blank expression on his face. Ichigo's eyes moved slightly to glance down at the woman's feet.
A small girl, bloody and unmoving.
He took a step forward.
"Hey, who the hell are you?" The girl asked, bringing her weapon around in front of her when she noticed the blade in his hand.
Ichigo ignored her and took another step, slowly working his way over to Kusano.
"Hey, don't ignore me." The girl made to strike the Fullbringer with the back of her scythe to get his attention.
She never even saw the fist coming as four iron hard knuckles struck her in the cheek. Ichigo hadn't even broken his stride as he crouched down next to the green girls injured body.
The scythe girl screamed, slamming into a nearby tree which cut her screams short.
Ichigo fell to his knees, next to Kusano's body, noting the large cut across the girls chest from shoulder to waist which still leaked a small amount of blood. He quickly looked for a pulse while stemming the blood flow.
Air sucked through gritted teeth when he didn't feel a single beat in the girls veins. "Dammit!" A fist pounded into the dirt ground, leaving a deep pit. Another hand hit the girls chest in denial, hoping beyond hope that maybe... maybe it would do something... anything.
Nothing happened.
Ichigo pulled the girls body next to him, the warmth of the girl body still felt through skin contact. A single tear fell from his eyes.
"Hmm, such a shame that such a pretty little piece was removed the game, I would have liked her for my collection." Ichigo's blood froze for a second time that night as his head craned in the direction of the voice.
"Mikogami!" The Fullbringer lips pulled back in a snarl exposing every tooth in his mouth as he spat out the name. The boy in question stepped out from the shadows of the forest, the Sekirei that was with him before tagging along just slight one step behind and to the left of his master.
The boy in front of him sneered. "Well it it isn't the little thief come to play again." He eyed Kusano's body. "Humph, I see you took a liking to the girls body? If it wasn't for you stealing what was mine I wouldn't have had to go after this little one here. You have no one to blame but yourself, fool."
Ichigo's body went rigid as he stared at Mikogami. "You were targeting her?" He asked in a toneless voice.
"But of course." Mikogami nodded, tilting his head slightly to regard the girl groaning in pain at the base of the tree next to him. "Get up Yomi." he commanded and the girl rose shakily to her feet, bleeding from several places, including a deep gash in her head from where she struck the tree.
Ichigo's Reiryoka rose slightly as the girl knelt in front of Mikogami.
The arrogant bastard stared down at his Sekirei in contempt. "Look at me Yomi." The girl did and immediately regretted it as a hand struck her face roughly. "I told you to capture the green girl." He snarled. raising a foot to kick the girl in the chest, sending her groaning to the ground, holding her bruised ribs and sore face. "What part of 'capture' did you not understand."
"I'm sorry Mikogami-sama!" She cried pitifully. "I tried but she used her powers when I tried to grab her, if I hadn't cut through her attack it might have killed me." She coughed once, pointing shakily to several roots not far from Ichigo's position that had been cut off from the rest, the tips of which looked like they were honed to a razor sharp point, they could all see the small splatters of blood on one side of the roots where Yomi's scythe had hit.
Mikogami frowned, a scowl still apparent on his face. "You still failed me, You disappoint me Yomi, I don't like being disappointed."
"Y-yes Ashikabi-sama..." The girl swallowed heavily sitting in Seiza in front of her Ashikabi "I'll take any punishment you see fit."
"That you can guarantee." Mikogami spat, making the girl flinch. He turned back to Ichigo who was giving him a stony look.
Ichigo had watched the small altercation between Ashikabi and Sekirei and was finding it a bit harder to hate Yomi for what had happened to Kusano. After all it wasn't her fault that Mikogami had sent her after Kusano. It wasn't her fault that she had to defend herself from an attack, hurting Kuu in the process. And it certainly wasn't her fault that Mikogami was such a bastard to try and force a little girl to be his plaything in the first place. The beating and possible 'punishment' for such a trivial thing left a very, very bad taste in Ichigo's mouth and set his blood boiling.
Unintentionally, the Fullbringer began to leak a dark black miasma of Reiryoka from his body, which swirled around him in an almost invisible cloud, the dark canopy above masking most of the visible traces of the energy, however you couldn't mask the killing intent that was rolling off of Ichigo at that point, making everyone in the clearing uneasy.
An unease that was broken by soft coughing in Ichigo's arms. Ichigo froze in place, before slowly looking down at the girl in his arms.
She was breathing, even more than that the girl seemed to be glowing a faint green in the dark, his spiritual energy seemingly being sucked into the girls body and converted to that green aura which seemed to be sealing the wound on the girls chest at a slow but steady rate.
Thinking quickly Ichigo forced a bit more into the girls body, who's aura then began to grow considerably. Desperate to do something Ichigo poured around a Getsuga's worth of spiritual energy into the girls body, which lit it up enough to cast light out into the shadows several feet from their position. The girls hair took on a light green hue for a moment and several bushes nearby started growing and producing some kind of fruit on their limbs.
"So she isn't actually dead, huh?" Mikogami watched the light show curiously. "Humph, good enough for me." He pointed in Ichigo's direction. "Yomi, bring me the girl after you take care of this thief and I might forgive you for your failures."
"Yes, Ashikabi-sama." The girl agreed quietly, pulling herself shakily to her feet, using her scythe as a crutch.
Ichigo stood as well, pulling Kusano closer to him. "Just try it." He growled, holding his sword in front, blade pointed directly at Yomi. Apprehension filled Ichigo, Kusano was still injured somewhat and he couldn't just set her down anywhere Mikogami could potentially snatch her away from him. It was somewhat of a relief when Musubi and Yashima landed in the clearing beside him.
"Musubi, Yashima. You two take the scythe user." Golden brown eyes glared across the clearing at the man who would dare hurt a small child for his own ends. "Mikogami's mine." as the two girls rushed forward to attack Yomi, Ichigo calmly walked forward.
"You're planning to fight a Sekirei?" The man himself sneered. "You're either crazy or stupid."
"Neither." Ichigo assured him. His eyes flicked to the right as Akitsu landed in the clearing next to him. "Did you take care of the lightning twins?" Akitsu nodded. "Dead or escaped?"
"Escaped." She spoke tonelessly, her own gaze focusing on Mikogami. "Shall I fight them Ashikabi-sama?"
Ichigo shook his head. "No Akitsu, I have something more important for you to do." He handed Kusano over to Akitsu who reluctantly took the little girl in her arms. "Protect her, that's an order." Akitsu stiffened at her Ashikabi's tone, gripping the green girl a bit tighter. She nodded slowly, blushing slightly at how firm Ichigo's command was and took several steps back to stand among the trees for protection.
As Ichigo walked forward the Sekirei next to Mikogami approached to meet him.
"Names Mutsu." The male Sekirei replied calmly, hands comfortably at his side, the sword he carried in his left hand was sheathed and his other hand was a good distance from the hilt but Ichigo thought it better than to get too much closer and stopped several meters from the man.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, I don't suppose you'll to get out of the way, hmm?" Ichigo gripped his sword a little tighter when the man shook his head stiffly.
"No, I don't think I will." His friendly response didn't get a response from the Fullbringer except a small twitch from the man's sword hand. "I don't suppose you'll back off and leave?" hey, he was at least a hopeful Sekirei.
Ichigo shook his head as well, parroting his earlier words. "No, I don't think I will."
"Pity." Mutsu mumbled under his breath, resting a hand on his sword's handle. The Sekirei blinked and immediately felt his instincts tell him to draw his blade, that alone saved his life. Steel met steel sending sparks flying. Mutsu refocused on the face in front of him. All he saw was the golden eyes and the thin line of Ichigo's mouth as he growled in his face.
"Yeah, a real pity."
As the two sword wielders broke away from each other Musubi and Yashima were tag teaming Yomi. Yashima would come in with her hammer and slam down on the girls scythe, either forcing her to block or dodge. The first would numb the girls already numb hands which spoke of her initial attempts to do so. Or second, she would try to dodge the attack, getting sprinkled with shards of dirt or wood depending on what Yashima had slammed the giant weapon down onto in the first place. Then Yomi would have to worry about Musubi capitalizing on Yomi's distracted state to land a punch or two on the girls body or face. The several bruises on the girls face also spoke volumes how effective that tactic had been initially.
However, now that the surprise was fast fading from those tactics, Yomi had instead focused on long distance, using her compressed wind blades sent from her scythe as a projectile weapon, keeping the two melee fighters at a distance.
"Quit dodging dammit!" Yomi howled in annoyance, launching another barrage of wind blades.
Musubi and Yashima split, letting the wind blades pass between them as they rushed Yomi.
"Che!" The scythe user, flicked several wind blades at Musubi to distract as she rushed Yashima, intent on cutting down the slower but stronger of the two.
"Look out Yashima-san!" Musubi cried, trailing behind Yomi.
"Too late." Yomi crowed as she brought her weapon down on Yashima who barely had the chance to raise her heavier weapon in defense.
Yashima cringed as the very tip of Yomi's blade bit into her shoulder, the curved tip passing just over her guard to score a hit. A cry escaped her throat as the blade was tore free along with Yomi when Musubi slugged the woman from behind, sending her off into the tree line.
"Are you alright?" The fist Sekirei asked, staring intently at the wound.
Yashima grimaced slightly in pain. "I-I'm fine." She spoke quietly. "She's too fast for me." The girl admitted. "I don't know why Ashikabi-sama wanted me to help... the best I can do is block her attacks." She glanced over at her wound as it twitched in pain again. "And not very good either."
"Don't worry about it." Musubi patted the girl on the shoulder, being careful to avoid the wound. "We can beat her!"
"How can you be so sure." The girl asked in a whisper, fidgeting slightly under the more bubbly girls exuberance.
"Simple!" She slammed her fist into a palm with a wide grin on her face. "We'll win because of teamwork!"
"T-teamwork?" The hammer Sekirei squeaked.
"Mhmm" The bustier of the two nodded enthusiastically. "Ichigo-sama told us to fight her together so he want's us to work together as a team!" by now Musubi was hopping back and forth on the balls of her feet waiting for Yashima's response.
The girl in question found her shoes to be more interesting at the moment. 'Ichigo-sama...' conflicting thoughts had filled her head ever since she had been 're-winged' by her new Ashikabi, she still hurt, her memories dampened by her newfound love for the man that had killed her old one. Her heart still hurt, but she couldn't help but love Ichigo and he was far kinder than Junichi ever was to her. So kind and so protective...
She stiffened when she felt Musubi's arms around her. "Wha-?"
"Don't worry." Musubi smiled warmly. "I know it must be hard, your heart isn't in this battle, you're confused and anxious, but I know-" The bubbly girl's surprisingly soft voice filled her ears sending tingly little shocks up the hammer Sekirei's spine. "-Don't worry." She repeated, rubbing the girl on the back. "I know you can do it."
Yashima's heart soared at the comfortable touch and the words of encouragement, a small smile reached her lips as she hugged Musubi. "Thank you."
"I'll do anything for my little birds." Musubi whispered, her eyes flashing to Yume's yin-yang symbols for a moment before the bubbly cheerfulness of Musubi came back with a vengeance. "Alllright!" Musubi broke away from the other Sekirei's grasp and turned back to Yomi who was just now clawing her way out of the foliage that Musubi had knocked her into.
"I-" She growled pulling herself from a thorn bush which had covered her head to toe in thick barbs. "Am going-" Each of the barbs stuck painfully into her skin, drawing tiny dots of blood with dripped down her body. "To KILL YOU!" The girl grabbed her scythe and screamed in anger, lashing out at the two Sekirei with an extremely powerful wind blade.
A hammer slammed down in front of Musubi, Yashima's back pressed to the back of it as the wind blade slammed into the face of it. Several nick's appeared on the corners of the hammer but the metal was much much stronger and quite a bit more dense than normal steel so it weathered the attack rather well.
"Teamwork?" Yashima asked with a grimace as she moved the hammer back to it's place on her shoulder.
"Teamwork!" Musubi agreed, giggling happily. "Let's have a good fight!" Musubi charged forward towards Yomi with Yashima not far behind, her hammer trailing behind her, ready to defend Musubi from any of Yomi's attacks.
"Ahg, you two are so annoying" Yomi through a couple more wind blades which were just as effective as the previous one thanks to Yashima's hammer. "Fine then, you want to play that way?" She fired off another large wind blade, but this time followed along behind the attack.
As she predicted Yashima blocked it with her hammer. Yomi's feet slammed into the face of the hammer in a forward drop kick, tipping the hammer over onto Yashima.
The hammer Sekirei's eyes widened in surprise as her weapon pitched forward, taking her along for the ride. Musubi however, saw the attack coming and leapt over the falling weapon and girl.
"I have you now, bitch." Yomi growled, slashing her scythe at Musubi's midsection hoping to bisect the girl right in half.
She wasn't prepared, nor expecting Musubi to duck the attack, nor did she expect her to get a punched in her stomach. Spit and a small amount of blood flew from the girls lips as Musubi's fist ground into her internal organs like a corkscrew, sending her flying back into a tree.
"D-damn y-ou." Yomi gasped, spitting up a bit more blood as she struggled to look ahead. A shadow fell over her and she looked into the face of Yashima, her hammer raised above her head and a determined expression on her face.
"Fu-" She didn't get to finish her words.
As the pair were finishing off Yomi, Ichigo was having his own problems. After their first crossing of blades, Ichigo had found out what made this Sekirei a low class captain in Reiatsu. The bastard was an earth manipulator. The moment they had broken away to get some distance for another attack he had taken his sheath and slammed the thing into the earth sending out shockwave's that split the ground and nearly knocked Ichigo off his feet. It was only quick thinking that kept him from falling into a hole the next time that weapon hit the ground, causing deep fissures to form that split the battlefield in two.
'Damn, haven't fought an earth user before.' Ichigo frowned at how few people to take advantage of such a powerful resource as earth. You pretty much had to walk on the stuff every day and Ichigo had really only encountered maybe two people who actually used the stuff and even then Jackie only used it to blind him when she kicked him in the face with her Dirty Boots, while that Afro headed soul reaper he never got the name of only used it for capturing, impeding or otherwise halting his enemies advance so he could run away.
This Sekirei was also using it to keep him at a distance, but it was more to better utilize his earth powers than to run away. Maybe he wasn't that great with a blade then? Well, if he wanted to play long distance, two could play that game.
Tennis shoes hit solid ground and dug in as the Fullbringer sank into a crouch. 'Let's see how he likes this.' Dark black spiritual energy gathered around Ichigo's arm, coalescing into his blade and holding there while gaining in intensity.
Mutsu watched this process in apprehension. 'What is he up to?' The earth user kept his sheath near the ground in case he had to throw up a quick defense, which proved to be a good thing in his case.
"Getsuga-!" Ichigo swung the small blade forward, releasing the pent up energy in a large arcing burst. "-Tensho!" The black crescent of energy flew like an arrow straight at Mutsu, who slammed his sheath into the ground, the subsequent quake launching a several foot thick slab of earth up to block the attack.
Only for the black energy blade to cut through it like hot butter.
Mutsu's eyes widened again as a frantically half uttered curse escaped his lips. Desperate the man leaned as far back as he was able, the attack slicing a lock of his hair as he fell back onto his ass.
'What the hell was that?" The man thought frantically as he quickly got back to his feet, noting that Ichigo was preparing another Getsuga. 'That looked just like one of Miya's attacks. This kid couldn't be one of her's could it?' The earth Sekirei shook his head. 'No way, she wouldn't have been with anyone but Takehito and he's been long dead... but still...' Snapping back into the fight Mutsu dodged the next Getsuga by leaping over it, only to block a slash from Ichigo who had followed behind the attack.
Blade met blade once again as the two clashed in midair, breaking off as gravity once again took hold to land on either side of the fissure that was formed earlier.
"That attack just now..." Mutsu asked slowly. "Did someone named Miya teach it to you?"
"No." Ichigo replied smugly. "It's one of my original techniques." Technically the black Getsuga was his hollows trick, it was still apart of his fullbring powers as they were based on hollow Reiryoka and he was the original owner of this body so it was still kind of his attack.
Mutsu breathed a sigh of relief, at least he wasn't related to Miya, his presence was similar to hers, as was the color of his power. For a moment there he really thought that Ichigo was Miya's kid... Just the thought of that sent chills down the normally composed Sekirei's spine.
"Getsuga Tensho!" Mutsu snapped to attention, rolling out of the way of the blast and leaping to the side to right himself midair. Ichigo was there in his face a second later, little green lights flickering around his feet all the while. Blades met for the third time. This time there was no room to do anything fancy, now special earth powers or time to charge any powerful Getsuga, it was simply a fight between swordsmen now.
And Ichigo was frankly impressed. You would think a distance fighter would be scared to fight up close. But no, Mutsu fought as well as Miya did when she was holding back, if not better. The Fullbringer held no doubts that Miya could probably wipe the floor with him at full power but at his current ability he was keeping up and dealing genuine damage to him. A cross would be parried low to score a nick on an arm, a block would be pushed, numbing hands and getting a nice slice in the shoulder for the trouble, and several other attacks that would score minor damage.
The two clinched again, sword blades bouncing off each other as they moved in for another attack. Ichigo ducked a horizontal slash before moving in close, raising his shorter blade for an overhead slash which was diverted to the side. Capitalizing on the opening, Mutsu made to slash across Ichigo's exposed back only to catch a foot to the chest as Ichigo planted his blade into the dirt and used it as a pivot to spin around and kick him.
Most people forgot that the Fullbringer was just as skilled with his body as he was with a blade.
"Nice kick." The Earth Sekirei coughed, rubbing the sore spot that was probably going to bruise later. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
Ichigo chuckled at the disarming question. "Karate since I was a brat, a year and a half's worth of sword training when I was sixteen from some of the best around and since then mastered around a half dozen or so other martial art styles."
Mutsu nodded his head respectfully. "Impressive."
"Likewise." Ichigo nodded. "Who taught you?"
Chuckling at the witty banter between them. "Eh, most Sekirei are self taught using gut instinct. Me? I was taught by Miya-san."
Orange eyebrows rose. "You got taught by that crazy landlady?" He snorted, no wonder you like to stay at a distance, she's a demon with a sword."
Mutsu blinked. "You've actually fought that crazy woman? How...?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "We sparred once." The tip of his blade tapped his lips for a moment in thought. "I think she took it easy on me, but then again, so did I."
"You are one crazy bastard." The Earth Sekirei shook his head. "I wouldn't even think about fighting her for real without at least three other Single numbers helping."
Ichigo blinked, was Miya really that powerful? Eh, he could find out later. Right now was fighting time. A flicker of Green gave away his intentions as Mutsu raised his blade to block another attack.
"I really don't want to be fighting you." He grunted, holding back Ichigo's blade.
"Neither do I actually." The orangette agreed. "But you're in the way."
"So are you." Mutsu Shot back.
Ichigo pushed harder against Mutsu's blade. "We're in agreement then!" Black energy build up around the blade of Ichigo's sword "Getsuga-!
Mutsu's eyes widened in panic "Oh crap!" He took one hand off his blade, sacrificing some foot room to slam his sheath into the ground.
"Tenshoooo!" Ichigo's yell was lengthened a bit as the ground underneath him suddenly rose like a carnival ride to launch him up into the air, his Getsuga just missing Mutsu's head by a few inches and sailing off to smack a tree behind him, felling the poor thing and bringing a small sigh of relief from Ichigo's now sweating target.
Ichigo meanwhile was about fifty feet in the air and falling fast. Righting himself midair the Fullbringer 'pulled' on the surrounding atmosphere. Green lines flickered to life around him, one around his mid section, another across his ankles and finally one underneath his feet, all of them curving around him in some way. Landing on a soft cushion of air, Ichigo stared down at the Earth Sekirei and let out a little smirk. "How's the weather down there." He quipped, feeling a bit snarky, after that litte 'ride'
Mikogami who had been watching, gaping like a fish on the sidelines, stared up at Ichigo in awe and slight fear. "He can fly?"
"Mutsu's eyes snapped up to stare blankly at Ichigo. Standing in midair. Like it was solid ground. "You can fly?" He asked dumbly.
A loud crash exploded behind Ichigo, he glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Musubi and Yashima, the latter of which had just slammed her hammer into a now unconscious Yomi. The two of them were now staring up at him, mouths agape. "Ichigo/Ashikabi-sama can fly?"
Akitsu on the sidelines blinked, about as much emotion as she could manage at the moment. "Ah... flying...?"
Ichigo snorted at the combined shock of his audience. "Yeah I fly" Just to prove a point he released the bringer light around his feet, plummeting the forty or so feet to the ground only to stop a foot or two from the surface, green lights flickering around his heels.
"You can fly." Mutsu repeated dumbly, before palming his face. "This is like Kazehana's Schtick all over again." He stared Ichigo in the eye. "Please tell me you're not a habitual drunkard."
A look of confusion crossed Ichigo's face. "No, I hate the stuff, why?"
"...Nothing." The Earth Sekirei glanced over at Yomi who was in a half foot deep crater either unconscious, terminated or dead. None of those options a pleasant thing given that he was now outnumbered three (four including Akitsu) to one. 'Looks like it's about time to make a tactical retreat' He mumbled under his breath, leaping back and grabbing a hold of Mikogami's waist. "We're leaving." He spoke up, informing his Ashikabi to his sudden intentions. The Earth Sekirei's eyes flickered over to Yomi once more. "What should I do about her?"
The bratty Ashikabi glanced over at Yomi for a moment before raising his nose to her. "Leave her, if she survives she'll come back, if not..." He left his answer open.
"You sure." Mutsu asked, wanting to make perfectly sure.
"I do not tolerate failure." He spoke with finality, earning a glare from Ichigo and a sigh from Mutsu.
"Very well." The Earth Sekirei spoke tonelessly, slamming his sheath into the ground raising the earth up between them and Ichigo's team, along with several other openings in the trees that was in their general direction, allowing them to escape unhindered.
"That's that I guess." Ichigo shrugged, twitching slightly when Akitsu appeared behind him.
"Ashikabi-sama." She lifted Kusano like she was going to hand her to him.
"You hold onto her." Ichigo commanded, before a small smile reached his lips. "You did good."
"Ah." Her gaze flicked to the side, a light red blush on her cheeks. "Thank you."
The Fullbringer spun on his heels to face his other two Sekirei. "You all did good" He slapped a hand down on Musubi and Yashima's shoulders reassuringly. He was happy to see that Yashima hadn't flinched at the contact, maybe she was warming up to him after all?
A small whining groan rang out in the clearing. Ichigo's attention flickered to Yomi who was still in the crater a few feet away. The woman's clothing were shredded from that last attack, the power of Yashima's strike pretty much ripping through the fabric like it was nothing, which left the woman's Sekirei crest bare to the world, or what was left of it anyway as it was slowly fading away even as the four watched.
"I...can't... I'm... I'm sorry... M-miko... gami." The girl moaned pitifully, somehow knowing that she'd been abandoned even in a state of unconsciousness as a single tear dripped down her cheek.
Bitter anger flared up in Ichigo's mind, 'How DARE he!' Ichigo's fullbring was almost smoking from the heat coming off of it. His anger and pride reflecting in the emotions his fullbring were feeding on, even his Sekirei were staring at Ichigo apprehensively as they felt his emotions burning through the link like liquid hot rage.
Slowly the anger melted away to be replaced with a cold fury, it wouldn't do to frighten his girls anymore than he had. He had abandoned... no, discarded Yomi like she was so much trash. Even if she was his worst enemy he wouldn't have done that, He hadn't done that to Grimmjow when the victory crazed Arrancar had taken that last battle finishing hit. No he had grabbed his hand and lowered him slowly, respectfully to the ground. This. This was a travesty.
But there was also Kusano to think about. golden eyes settled on the green girls still form. Her breathing was slow and even while she was asleep, the large wound that had nearly killed her was now almost completely gone, the only thing remaining was a nearly transparent scar running from her shoulder to her waist that would likely disappear completely in a year or two.
"Ichigo." The man in question turned to Musubi to see that familiar sight of twin Yin-yang symbols in her eyes. "Are you, or aren't you?" The question was simple. Would he do the same thing to Yomi as he had for Yashima?
Ichigo grit his teeth for a moment in anger as he thought of what could have happened with Kusano... but then the anger bled away when the fact were against him. It hadn't happened, or at least it wasn't permanent. Kusano was fine... and Yomi had been abandoned like trash when all she wanted to do was please her Ashikabi. Frankly this whole Sekirei Ashikabi link was starting to make him sick. If it forced these girls to love a man as despicable as Mikogami... It turned his stomach just thinking about it.
Letting out a deep sigh the Fullbringer nodded. "I'm just too nice." He lowered his hand over what was left of Yomi's crest, hovering just enough for one of Musubi's Yume controlled hands to clasp over the spot the mark should have been as it had nearly completely disappeared while he had been deciding.
Light flared as Ichigo pumped his spiritual energy into Musubi's hand watching intently as the Crest that was completely gone by now reform like before, filling the abandoned woman with energy enough to rouse her from her hammer induced slumber.
"M-miko...gami?" She asked quietly, rising up to sit on her legs. Her voice was full of anxiety as she likely felt the loss of her connection to her Ashikabi due to the crests near total disappearance.
"Sorry about this." Ichigo's voice was solemn, as the girls eyes widened in fear. The Sekirei all around her must have scared her silly, Ichigo mused dryly. Grabbing the woman's shoulders lightly Ichigo pulled her in close.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing?" She asked quickly. "Let me go you bastard I need to go find Mikogami so I can-!" She didn't get to say anymore as Ichigo's lips met hers.
Light flared behind her as the two felt the connection begin to take place. a dozen bright silver wings curved out from behind Yomi, each taking the form of a thin, elongated bat wing that was highly reminiscent of a scythe blade.
Finally the moment was broken, the link made and the two broke the liplock to stare into each other's eyes. Ichigo's held regret and sadness that he basically had to do this yet again to save someone, basically binding them body and soul to him just to survive.
Yomi's held shock, first and foremost, along with a few traces of anger and confusion and finally a tiny drop of sadness that just tore at the heart of the one looking at it.
"I'm sorry." Ichigo mumbled again, still holding the girl at arms length, his head lowered, eyes shadowed by his hair.
*Smack* Ichigo blinked, a light red hand print on his face and a scowling girl in his personal space.
"Don't you dare apologize." She smacked him over the head a second time for good measure. "I heard what that bastard Mikogami said he..." The girls voice turned bitter. "He abandoned me." Hard brown eyes full of anger and tears tore away from Ichigo's to inspect a particularly interesting bush in the opposite direction of all the prying eyes. Pitying eyes in her opinion. She didn't need their damn pity! She flinched when Ichigo's hands clamped down on her shoulders again, this time he pulled her into a tight hug that she tried and failed to break out of 'Just how damn strong is this guy?' She tried to fight it but one by one Ichigo's other Sekirei, starting with Musubi and ending with Akitsu who had to shift Kusano around a bit had joined in the hug.
"I'm sorry." Ichigo mumbled again into her shoulder.
"Che." The scythe wielder tried to look away but she was completely enveloped in bodies now and was forced to stare into the eyes of at least one other person. Finally she just gave up and closed her eyes, snuggling her head into the crook of Ichigo's shoulder and sighing. "Fine..." This was going to be a long hug...
-ooo-
We find Ichigo's group walking out of the Atrium, Kusano still in Akitsu's arms and Yomi hanging onto Ichigo's back piggy back style.
"You don't have to carry me you know." The woman deadpanned.
"I know." Ichigo deadpanned right back. "You're still going to stay right were you are."
"Ugh..."
The Fullbringer was about to make a smart remark on her attitude when a large explosion resounded through the woods, coming from the direction of where Homura and the whip twins had been fighting.
Ichigo was off like a shot, Yomi screaming along for the ride.
It took only a moment to find the source of the explosion and it wasn't a pretty sight.
The whip twins were badly burned, but both were conscious and limping away from the scene, their weapons burnt or melted into so much slag, at the center of the explosion was a nearly unconscious Homura, and fire was completely surrounding him in a wreath of flames, even now he could see the man's clothing beginning to burn away and his hair was already smoldering in places.
Ichigo cursed loudly, handing off Yomi to Musubi for a moment.
"Hey what the hell are you doin?" the Scythe wielder complained, shifting body's for the moment as Ichigo walked closer to the flames.
"Something I haven't done in awhile." Ichigo spoke up watching the flames eat away at the fringes of Homura's coat and pants, he'd never done a fire as big as this before but...
Ichigo dug into the well of his spiritual power, grabbing hold of a large amount and pushed it outside. Immediately a way of spiritual pressure nearly brought all those present to their knee's. Slowly, the pressure eased up and a bright green glow covered the space the flames were occupying. Ichigo pulled on the soul of the flames denying them the fuel they needed to stay aflame. It was something he devised after having too close a run in with a fire wielding Hollow and it worked for all kinds of flames, even those composed of Reishi like Homura's or even Yamamoto's, though the Fullbringer seriously doubted that he could put out the flames of Ryujin Jakka as easily as he had with Homura's
Flames sizzled and crackled before sputtering out like a wet fuse. Then Ichigo fell to his knee's, as using that much spiritual pressure all at once drained him more than it should have... maybe there was too much spiritual energy in that fire after all, ugh...
Struggling back to his feet the Fullbringer approached the downed man, hoping beyond hope that he hadn't been too late and his possible ally wasn't a crispy piece of bacon. With a sigh Ichigo was relieve to see that yes, Homura was alive and yes, he was also relatively fine, just a few minor burns here and there. Although when Ichigo grabbed a hold of him he was surprisingly hot, like he was running a fever, he also noted that the man was curiously light, like a feather almost... Walking over to Akitsu he asked if she could carry the flame Sekirei on a block of ice which she responded with a short nod, handing Kusano over to Musubi who practically squealed at the chance to hold her.
Akitsu spawned a large, floating gurney of ice which Ichigo laid him on, almost immediately the ice started melting with a slight hissing noise, Akitsu frowned slightly before the ice stopped it's noise making and fully solidified under the man. Ichigo meanwhile had reclaimed Yomi as his passenger and the seven made their way back to Masion Izumo. That is until something else unexpected happened...
Ichigo froze. Something was not where it was supposed to be, Something of Yomi's was where it was not supposed to be, her hand specifically was inspecting something that it really shouldn't be inspecting...
"Could you... um... not do that please?" He asked her politely, flinching slightly as he felt her hand move.
"Oh? Why should I?" She purred in his ear. "Everyone knows you need a safety bar to ride on those long, hard rides"
A hard lump went down Ichigo's throat at that along with turning a brilliant shade of scarlet as the woman decided that his handlebar was a nice thing to secure herself with. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that and suppress this in the deepest darkest corner of my soul."
Yomi gave him a funny look. "Whater you gay?"
"Repressing repressi-urk" Apparently Yomi didn't like that very much and had grabbed hold of little Ichigo a bit too hard.
"I wasn't able to do this kind of thing with Mikogami because the bastard's a kid and a prude, two things I don't touch." She squeezed a bit harder eliciting a gasp from Ichigo. "But I promise you." She whispered hungrily in his ear. "We're going to get plenty of mileage out of this thing real soon." She was about to pull away but almost as an afterthought she started stroking his behind sensually. "Whether you like it or not. Oh and before I forget, this is payback for that little group hug earlier."
Ichigo gulped audibly as they continued their march to Maison Izumo, beginning to regret winging the hostile woman, maybe he could convince her of sleeping with Musubi or Yashima? The hope that the overly sexual woman was a carpet muncher died when she grabbed his junk again, twisting it in her hand ever so slightly to cause discomfort. This was going to be a long, frustrating walk...
-ooo
Ain't got much to say but DONNNNNNNNNE with this SHIT FINALLY UGH!
Lot's of juicy fighting this chapter, what are ya'lls thoughts on the fight scenes? Did they turn out ok after my writers block induced absence?
Also since there's been a couple people asking what happened to Minato in this story... well he exists, and he's still related to whom he's related too as was hinted at by Takami in chapter four of this story. BUT he isn't going to play any major roles in this story... at all... why? Because I hate his character archetype. I despise... Uke's *Shudder* ...and the author of Sekirei is mainly a Yaoi author so she does Uke very, very well. and it's mainly the reason why the big, strong Seme characters like Seo, Higa and Homura are all Bishie and aggressive to Minato, because if this were a Yaoi, Minato would have already had half the male cast pining after his ass, while all the girl Sekirei would find the whole thing unbearably -KAWAII-
I think I would rather choke on a cactus than read that kind of thing... Don't get me wrong, I've read yaoi and at times I've even enjoyed a few of them. Having the main character act like a spineless wimp when they are a borderline genius with a bunch of battle harem vixens surrounding them is just plain retarded.
Ok going off on a tangent there, the reasons I'm talking about this is because people wanna know where the hell Minato's at... well, he's getting shipped off on a bus(LITERALLY) to someplace I call Omakeland. Yeah, that's right, A little side story of omakes of Minato's time at his new school are going to be... interesting... Oh and he's actually sixteen instead of nineteen in these omakes, mainly because I said so and he's going to turn seventeen in short order soon enough as it is. Also there really isn't any good college harem anime's so this one is going to be in a highschool, one that you all might find preeeeeety familiar...
-Omake time-
March 31, 2020
'Dear journal
Tomorrow's the day, the day I start my new school, I can't believe I even got in, it's so surreal right now. I even started a new Journal to record it!
I thought I was just going to be some highschool drop out but no, I actually have a chance to become a somebody... here's hoping I don't screw that up too...
It's kind of strange how I got in though, there really wasn't any problems, no overly complicated paperwork, just a few signatures, a tuition paid and that's that... Even the way I found out about this place is unbelievable, to think that weird robed man would just drop this while he's walking along... I'd feel uncomfortable about this if I hadn't already checked it out online. It seems like a nice place; good credentials, good staff, great classes and electives. Everything seems so perfect... a little too perfect...
Ugh, that's just pre-day jitters, I need to go calm down...
...Ok I'm back...
Tomorrows the day, tomorrow I start my new life at highschool, I can't help but feel good about this, like this is going to be a great year.
A great year at Yokai Academy!
Until then.
Minato Sahashi'
-ooo-
I'm evil, I know it.
These journal entries are going to be a thing. It's evil, I know it. It pleases me
Muahahaahahahahahaaaa...