Second chapter... I had the most terrible time trying to figure out how to continue from the end of the first chapter. All of the scenes were really awkward and out of place, so I gave up and settled with the one that kinda passed haha.
The D: Nobody wants the D. Not you, not me, not the cat either. All recognizable characters belong to Sorachi-Sensei bbz.
"A-Ah, sorry about that." The girl mumbled down at the body she sat upon. "Pets these days, you have to constantly keep them on a leash ya know?"
"..." No sound came from the unconscious body of the Joui leader.
Chuckling awkwardly she patted his face before slowly getting up, slinging the suddenly docile feline over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"I'll just... get out of your hair now and be on my way." She said to the silent Joui and Shinsengumi, all-too aware that every pair of eyes were on her. Not quite sure where to go from this, the girl did a quick jerky bow before trying to get through the crowd of terrorists that blocked the exit.
"Not so fast," scowled one of the Jouishi, blocking her from leaving. "Who the hell do you think you are, dropping on our commander like that?"
As if breaking a spell his comrades collected themselves and their disbelieving stares turned into glowers.
"I-I said sorry didn't I? It's not like I did it on purpose, the last thing I want is... STDs or something." She glanced back at the man laying in a pool of miscellaneous blood and cringed. The terrorists scowled and angry shouts of protest and annoyance erupted from the crowd.
"Hey! How dare you insult our commander like that! There's nothing wrong with being sexually active!" A guy in the back shouted.
"Well, he has been visiting Yoshiwara a lot recently..." The man next to him noted.
"Only ever since Momo left him!"
"I heard the commander left her because she was pregnant..."
"WHAT? He told me that they never did it before!"
"Do you think she cheated on him?"
"I think I saw those two at the hospital yesterday..."
"ENOUGH." Yelled a tall man in the front of the group. The murmurs stopped abruptly at the sound of his voice. "Don't you DARE let some mouthy tramp get in the way of our victory." His terrifying glare swiveled from the Joui to the girl, eyes narrowing to pinpoints. "You..."
She couldn't help but take a step back at the sight of the scar running across his face and the enormous blade sheathed by his side. The man was a full six and something feet of intimidating muscle. He sneered at the action and stepped closer. The cat jumped off her shoulder and darted away, not that either of them paid it any heed.
"You little bitch. Think you're so clever, baiting my men like that? I'm going to kill you myself for the honor of my brother and Edo's patriots." With a sadistic smirk on his face the man drew his weapon and casually rested it against his shoulder.
"Honor?" The girl mumbled, a humorless grimace on her face. "I see no honor in your brother killing a defenseless man, or your so-called 'Patriots' sabotaging his footing." She looked up and shot him an equally terrifying glare. "Do you honestly think you can get away with staining the name of samurai honor with the likes of yourself?"
The girl gingerly picked up a katana who's blade laid in a puddle of blood by the Joui Leader, and with a flick of her wrist the sword flecked a spatter of blood across the giant man's cheek.
"You have some hepatitis on your face," She smirked.
It was silent for a moment as everyone absorbed the three-sixty personality change and then the monster's eyes dilated in anger. With a roar, he brought his sword down on her with a powerful swing. The pavement split, a ten feet crack running all the way to where Hijikata was laying. It snapped him out of his daze and he cursed. Did it hit her?
"Impressive." Said a voice beside him. Hijikata turned and with a jolt he saw the girl standing next to him.
In a blink the girl was in the air, descending on the giant terrorist with her sword raised for a downward slash. The katana was able to make a shallow gash in the man's shoulder before his sword came up to defend.
Hijikata swore again and tore off his pant leg. Taking the fabric he made a temporary tourniquet for his arm, tightening the knot with his teeth. Now wasn't the time to observe the fight.
"Help the girl!" He commanded the Shinsengumi bystanders, only to also trigger a reaction in the Joui. The Shinsengumi and the terrorists shook out of their stupor and clashed again for a fight as Hijikata staggered to his feet, an abandoned wakizashi in his hand. He brought the sword up just in time to parry a terrorist and cutting the man down.
Though he hated to admit it, he was impressed that the girl was actually on par with the giant terrorist.
Her speed kept the man confused as she darted in and out to strike at him, but for some reason her cuts were shallow and none of the wounds were critical. Like a cat against a lion, her agility kept her alive but none of her attacks harmed the beast. Sooner or later her stamina would run out and one of the man's blundering swings would find it's target and send her flying.
Hijikata ducked as the massive sword swung over his head and used the time of it's slow momentum to run forward and slash his sword across the man's chest. The impact sent the man staggering backwards but also sent a painful tremor up Hijikata's good arm, as if he had hit something solid.
There was a cut across the Joui's chest, but like the others it was about as shallow as a paper cut.
"He's a halfling!" The girl laughed, amused at the Vice Commander's shocked expression.
"What?" Hijikata snapped back, jumping away just in time as the sword crashed down on where he once were standing.
"He's a halfling- half human, half Amanto." She yelled, leaping off from one of the roof tops to avoid another heavy blow.
The halfling retracted his weapon and rested the point of his sword blade against the ground.
"Oh? So you noticed?" He asked. "Impressive, but then again, it's my advantage. Out of every one of my battles I've never needed medical help. My skin is as tough as steel."
Hijikata scowled at the smirk on his face. The girl laughed though.
"I don't see how that's anything to boast about. Shouldn't you be more worried about the irony of a half-Amanto working with Joui, people fighting to expel Japan of foreigners like you?"
The halfling gave her a dark look. "My loyalties lie with my brother, he doesn't care that I'm half Amanto as long as the other half is human. I am a samurai, no matter my blood!"
"I wasn't aware that the Bushido allowed samurai to harm women," the girl replied coolly. "Let's stop using the words 'samurai' and 'honor' so carelessly now, shall we?"
She darted forward again and this time instead of slashing, she stabbed the man in the shoulder. The man roared and tried to shake her off, but the sword was stuck and in the hectic moment she forgot how to let go and clung to the katana.
Hijikata snapped forward to help, grabbing the back of her shirt and jumped back just in time as the enormous sword swung again, cutting off a chunk of her dark hair.
The girl quickly collected herself when she was out of harms way and she grabbed a sword out of a Joui's hand before using the butt of the sword to knock him out.
"Thanks," she said to Hijikata as the regained their breath. The halfling was flipping out at the sight of so much of his own blood, an unexpected hemophobic. His panic quickly changed into fury and swiftly set his sight on the smirking girl.
"YOU LITTLE-" He never got to finish his sentence as Hijikata ran his sword through his side and he yelled in pain again.
"Gya gya gya gya, you talk too much." Hijikata drawled. The man had a incredulous expression on his face when he fell with a loud thud against the pavement.
He let out a sigh of wary relief when a cry over the loud din of the battle made Hijikata look up. A rocket was shooting over the fight aiming straight for his head. He cursed and let go of his sword to duck into a roll.
The explosion knocked the Vice Chief back a few paces. When the smoke cleared, the first things he saw was the halfling laying face down in the middle of the explosion's crater and the first division coming to help with the rest of the divisions in tow.
In less than a second the tables were turned and the upper hand went to the Shinsengumi. The police chased after the deserters while the rest of the Jouishi were already being arrested.
The first division captain, Okita Sougo sauntered over to Hijikata as violent arrests were being made around him. A bazooka, the source of the rocket, was casually rested over his shoulder and an expression of disappointment was on his usually emotionless face when he saw that the had rocket missed.
"Sougo, you BASTARD!" Growled Hijikata, coughing at the dust the bazooka's explosion made.
"What's wrong Hijikata-taichou~? I dispatched the enemy for you," Okita deadpanned, not bothering to help the man as he struggled to get to his feet.
"That rocket was obviously aimed for MY head!"
"You were standing right next to the Joui, Taichou~, it was an accident."
"Nothing you do is ever just an accident, it was clearly ON PURPOSE YOU BRAT."
"Taichou~, please stop yelling-"
"Stop calling me Taichou~, since when did you bother with honorifics? It's irritating the way you say it!"
"Tomatoes to-mah-toes, nothing ever pleases old people these days."
"I'M NOT OLD, YOU'RE YOUNGER THAN ME BY ONLY-"
"Taichou!" Yamazaki called. "This Joui says that you..." Hijikata turned and gave him a blood-curdling glare and stalked towards him.
"I-I'm sor-EEK!" Yamazaki cowered as Hijikata raised a hand... only to push him aside.
"Who are you." Hijikata asked the girl that Yamazaki labelled as Joui.
"Sora," she said, staring at him with unnervingly blue eyes. 'Sora' indeed. She scratched the back of her head uncomfortably at the curious looks she got from the policemen around her.
"...Can you help me find my cat?"
lalala. I feel like I butchered the ending of this chapter T.T Ah well, all's well ends well.
How did you guys like the battle scenes? I'm pretty happy with it myself. I find it ironic that most authors have trouble writing fighting but have no problem with dialogue... I'm the exact opposite =.=
~Thanks for reading! :)