A/N: Hey guys, apologies for not updating this story regularly, I've had many personal issues, no time to actually do anything, and just no real motivation. A few answers first, I apologize to those wanting to see Yukari kick some Asura tail, but if she were to enact her grand plan when he first awakens, we wouldn't have much of a story now would we? And yes, Reimu and Marisa got one-hit by Asura, why?
Because first, Reimu expected this to be a simple incident to what she's used to, same goes for Marisa. No, Nue won't be appearing in this story. However, a certain lavender-haired moon princess WILL, towards the climax that is. Yes, I made Sakuya a weapon and I realize how overpowered that is, but the only time her weapon form will be revealed will be during the assault on Baba Yaga's Castle. Now onto the story.
Sakura Hitomi walked back from the shower in the girl's dormitory as she dried her bright pink hair with the wet towel from the bathing room. A lot had transpired in the past few weeks, the entire academy, and the city by extension of that, had been put on full alert for witches and any Arachnophobia agents. The entire atmosphere during class was tense, especially with an odd white-haired girl with the floating soul next to her, an apparent vampire, a time manipulating maid, and a shinigami that was on the level of Lord Death himself.
Sakura entered her dorm room and stopped, staring agape at who was standing in her room. The white-haired girl, Youmu she believed her name to be, was setting up whatever belongings she seemed to have on the opposite side of the room, with the that other pink haired girl, Kim.
"The hell's the meaning of this?" Sakura promptly walked up to the other pinkette and looked up at her, Sakura herself was a rather short, busty girl of 16 years of age, and didn't quite like anyone teasing her about it.
"Relax Hitomi," Kim said as she turned her attention from the shorter girl to watch Youmu set her stuff up, which included a three tiered sword stand for her personal katana, wakizashi, and a tanto that she keeps under her skirt in case of a last resort weapon, "Youmu's asked to stay here in the dorms, she doesn't trust that the vampire to not drain her of blood."
Sakura blinked incredulously, watching the half-phantom set up shop as if she owned half the damn dorm, Not on MY watch, damn...whatever she is, just 'cause she's here to help with this Kishin mess doesn't mean she can rob me of my dorm!
Youmu, who had been completely tuning out to the conversation, turned and bowed slightly towards the smaller, bustier girl, "Thank you for your hospitality," she said with a sincere smile, "I promise I won't be too much of a burden."
Kim, seeing that her work was essentially done, nodded proudly and silently left without another word. Leaving the poor white-haired, half-dead girl with the simmering little hot-head known as Sakura Hitomi. The shorter girl, upon seeing Kim leave, quickly made her way to the desk on her side of the room and pulled out a massive role of duct tape, at least three inches in diameter, and had begun dividing up according to territory.
Once the dividing had been done, Youmu had noticed that the only kind of "territory" she had once Sakura had finished, was the bed which she slept on. Youmu raised her mouth to say something in protest.
"Uhm...what are you doing?" Youmu asked, a finger raised while staring blankly at the pink-haired girl, who seemed to have a sadistic grin on her face.
"Oh, just making sure which is mine, and which is yours," Sakura started, "since, you know, most of this was mine, I thought it best to at least leave you with the bed, which leaves everything outside your line to me!" She made her way to the sword stand to attempt to pick up the rather large katana, finding she couldn't, she got immensely frustrated.
"The hell is with this thing?!" She exclaimed, her face turning red from all of the exerting, failing to pick it up, she reached for the wakizashi, but her hand immediately burned once it made contact with the hilt. To Sakura, it felt like soul rejection.
"The fuck!? Why is your equipment trying to kill me!"
Youmu sighed softly and gingerly picked up both the wakizashi and katana effortlessly, examined their scabbards, then promptly put them back on display once again.
"It's because, one, you're a normal human, and normal humans can't pick my sword up," The half-ghost stated matter-of-factly, "secondly, the wakizashi can only be wielded my people of my line, which happens to be the Konpaku, of which you seem to not be a part of, judging by the lack of half your soul outside your body. Now, as for this...territory business..."
Sakura promptly tuned out after Youmu had begun lecturing her on cooperation and being civil, all the while the white-haired girl dismantled all of the duct tape lines she had made. Today was going to be a long, long day.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Meanwhile, in the courtyard near the stairs of the DWMA, Death the Kid was...pondering...or fantasizing, Liz couldn't tell which. But Kid had a gleam of awe in his eyes, one he had ever since he laid eyes on Sakuya Izayoi and Remilia Scarlet, all he could do was stare out into the distance at the crimson-colored mansion that was roughly the size of the academy itself, if not bigger underground.
Liz let out a small sigh as she continued to stare at Kid, "Kid, what do you hope to accomplish by just staring at that mansion?" Liz asked as she gave the shinigami a poke to the cheek.
"I hope to attain how Ms. Scarlet attained the level of perfection that she has in herself and her maid! Oh if only I could get inside that mansion without having to deal with the guard..."
"Didn't your dad specifically tell the students, and by extension, you, to keep out of the mansion for health and safety reasons?"
"I don't care! I must know what she does to attain perfection!"
Liz sighed, this wasn't going to get them anywhere with Kid's daydreaming and fantasizing about his potentially creepy interest in the maid, especially with the death scythes convening to discuss their strategy on how to deal with Arachnophobia.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Speaking of the meeting, the death scythes had already met once after they had arrived. Justin Law, Azusa Yumi, and Marie Mjolnir had arrived from their various parts of the world to meet with and strategize with Lord Death himself, however, they hadn't expected to meet with Yukari's own "Kishin hunting" squad, tensions between the Scarlet Devil and Justin Law had been especially high, Azusa didn't necessarily approve of Lord Death accepting help from Yukari, however, she did give a bit of respect to the white-haired girl Youmu Konpaku, and Marie wasn't amused by the blonde-haired pseudo-witch Marisa, the latter of which had her arm in a cast and sling.
Yukari, Reimu, and Lord death didn't expect meetings to go like this, especially with Komachi not being any help at easing tensions, instead, the pink-haired shinigami had opted for a nap, completely taking herself out of the equation. Luckily, with the threat of having a god-infused shrine maiden putting them all down like rabid dogs, they had settled down, Remilia and Sakuya had opted to not participate due to the potential hostility of Justin Law.
Now, however, things were different, the group had come together once again because of the arise of Arachnophobia, which Remilia had predicted when she arrived.
"It seems that we'll need to being planning an offensive," Remilia started as she sat in her cushy throne that was brought by Sakuya, "I vote we send a recon force into where ever the damn spider is hiding!"
Yukari frowned and turned to look at Remilia, "Unfortunately, little vampire, that's easier said than done, we still need to know where they are exactly," she turned to face Azusa, "I assume you already have a location?"
"Not a location of their main base of operations per say, but rather, a laboratory used for constructing demon tools."
Yukari raised an eyebrow, demon tools meant Eibon's involvement, "Is that so? Then we'll have to get rid of it."
"I have a strike team ready, composed of Sid and myself, Sid will go in quietly and take pictures of whatever it is they're trying to build while I act as a lookout for potential enemy troops."
"Seems like a plan...how is the scythe meister, Maka Albarn, doing? Has she recovered yet?"
"No, she hasn't," Azusa adjusted her glasses as she stared into Yukari's passive violet eyes, "but I don't want any children on this mission, it would jeopardize their life."
"Might I suggest bringing along one of my girls? She's yet to see any kind of action, aside from the sparring sessions with...ah...what's his name? Black-Star?"
"You mean Ms. Konpaku, correct?" Azusa's glasses glinted, noting to herself that the half-dead girl was absent from this meeting.
"I do, she's an incredibly skilled swordswoman, I'd heavily recommend bringing her along."
"We don't need any frontal assault."
"Youmu can specialize in stealth."
"Can she now?"
"Yes."
Azusa adjusted her glasses and let out a sigh, "Very well, she can come along. She'll act as lookout as well," she turned to face Lord Death, "I recommend we bring Spirit along as well."
Lord Death tilted his head, pondering the suggestion, "Hm...very well, but have him wield you in your weapon form Azusa, that way you can provide any kind of backup to Youmu or Sid if the need arises."
Azusa bowed her head, and turned to leave the room to fetch the ghost girl. Yukari smirked behind her fan, knowing that Azusa and Sid would be treated to see just how good the little gardener was.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Youmu let out a small sigh as she came upon the lab of Arachnophobia. After being rudely awoken by Azusa, forcibly told to get dressed, then essentially shoved into a van and driven into the middle of nowhere in a forest. Specifically, a bamboo forest.
Youmu unsheathed her katana and looked at her surroundings, a bamboo forest for miles around, a worn down lab, a weird little small man in a top hat, the van back in the dis- wait. Youmu turned back to look at the small man then jumped back instinctively and got into a combat stance. The man grinned widely and tipped his hat to the girl.
"Hello there darling," he started, "my name is Mosquito, and you're trespassing."
Youmu raised an eyebrow at the man then decided it was at least polite to introduce herself, "Youmu Konpaku, and due to the orders of my superiors, I'm here," she said confidently, her eyes narrowing in suspicion towards Mosquito.
"Is that so? Well then, normally I'd take care of this myself," Mosquito set his hat to the side as a small girl in an odd witch's hat came out of the lab and held the man's hand, "however, I think I'll let my body guard handle this."
Youmu blinked, expecting to cut down what seemed like an innocent child, however, she was slightly relieved to see a man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes exited the lab. He was carrying two massive cases of dozens, if not hundreds, of katanas. Youmu was surprised, to put it lightly, to see so many swords on his person.
"Ah...another child..perhaps I'll use the back of my blades once again," the man said as he seemed to be...bored.
"I'm no child, sir," Youmu frowned, "I'm 65."
The man raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised at this information, "Then perhaps I won't be using my blunt side. You may call me Mifune."
"Youmu Konpaku, and don't worry, I didn't expect you to."
Mifune threw both of the cases up, caution tape wrapping around the immediate vicinity of the pair, seeming to cut them off from escape. The cases that were thrown up clamber around Youmu and Mifune, littering the battlefield with katanas. Mifune grabbed the nearest one and rushed Youmu, swinging it towards her left side.
Youmu, observing what was going on, quickly brought her own blade to bear, blocking the near-killing blow from the other swordsman. She quickly rolled forward and around Mifune, swinging a leg into his back. Mifune countered by grabbing another nearby sword and bringing up to block the blow, the result was a block to Youmu's leg, and a wound on Youmu herself.
Youmu hissed in pain and jumped back, wincing as she landed on her wounded leg, but nevertheless she powered through and swung her blade diagonally. Mifune attempted to counter by bringing one of his swords to bear, but the sword was sliced in two by the girl's sword, which appeared to be glowing white now. Youmu, smirking at seeing the look of surprise on her opponent's face, she decided to follow up and thrusted her sword towards Mifune's shoulder.
Mifune was no fool, he know this girl was a master at her art, though he found it odd that he was noticing several different styles, as if they were molded into their own unique style. But for now he had to worry about avoiding the thrust towards his left shoulder. He side-stepped, seeming to be a mere blur, causing Youmu to stab the after-image he left. Mifune followed up by swinging his blade down towards Youmu's midsection.
Youmu grumbled in irritation and quickly dove forward, avoiding the slash that would have cut her in two then ran towards Mifune's right side and unsheathed her wakizashi and swung in an X formation, intending to severely wound his side.
Mifune wasn't as slow as some would believe, his speed surprised Youmu by grabbing another sword and blocking, then parrying, the X styled attack by the girl. He followed up and did a flip over her to face her back then swung his swords downwards, intending to severely mutilate her. Youmu spun around at lightning speed, bringing her own swords to clash with his.
The two swordsmen grunted in annoyance, despite the lucky hit on Youmu's leg, they had continuted to cancel each other's attacks out. To Mosquito, and Azusa who was watching from the van, their movements were a constant blur of motion. Suddenly, the two flew apart and landed ten feet away from each other, both were breathing heavily as they collected their breaths.
"You're good Mifune-san," Youmu said as she wiped her brow of sweat.
"As are you, Youmu," Mifune grunted in approval as he got back into a stance, "I will be intending to cut you down, no more games. I expect nothing less from you as well."
Youmu frowned, every blow she had swung had been intending to incapacitate her opponent, not wound him, and her blows would continue to be aimed at wounding. She didn't see the point in killing an opponent that could be wounded with one blow. Nevertheless, she charged towards her opponent, swinging a blow towards Mifune's left hand.
Mifune had been surprised, picking up on Youmu's strategy of wounding instead of killing rather quickly, surely, someone of equal, or greater, skill than himself would be aiming to kill. Perhaps the poor girl didn't have the heart to cut someone down. He brought up his sword and swung it with great power, colliding with Youmu's katana and surprisingly sending it flying from the girl's hand.
Youmu panicked slightly, bringing her Wakizashi up to block his next attack, which worked, however, another strong-arm blow swung the wakizashi out of her hands as well. She then resorted to her tanto and promptly thrust downward, towards Mifune's leg, luckily, the thrust struck true and embedded it into his leg. Unfortunately, Mifune's next blow struck true as well, cutting into Youmu's already wounded leg.
The two fell back, both clutching their respective legs in pain. However, Mifune pulled the tanto out of his leg and stood back up, albeit painfully, and hovered over Youmu, his katana raised up to deliver the final blow. He wouldn't hit his target however, because the white formless blob collided into his side with enough force to send him stumbling end over end. Youmu herself got up slowly, wincing in pain as she looked at her leg, her skin paling more than usual, and her head feeling light.
Mosquito was impressed with the girl, she stood her own against Mifune. He could interfere and thusly crush her, but decided not to, their experiments wouldn't be har- BOOM. Mosquito turned to look in the lab, noticing smoke pluming above a hole formed in the building's roof.
"We're done here, Mifune come, it seems our operation was discovered by her comrades...leave her with her wounds, make her think twice about attacking us again."
Mifune got up slowly, grunting in pain as his left side had at least two broken ribs from the attack by the other half of his opponent. He sheathed his sword and glanced at the girl with a look of silent admiration.
"You fought well, next time however, I will not have any more time restraints to fight against."
Youmu nodded slowly up at him and bit her lip in pain, "Wait...why do this? Why work for the ones who want to cause chaos in the world? You...don't seem like an evil being, I don't sense any malice inside you."
Mifune raised an eyebrow at the girl he'd been trying to kill a few moments ago. He glanced at Angela, the little girl who was holding the hand of that...bastard Mosquito. If her life weren't in danger, he'd have cut the little bug down the instant he showed his ugly face. He turned back to face Youmu.
"Because someone I care about is in danger," and with that, he turned and followed Mosquito back into the chaotic lab.
Several minutes passed, Youmu had resorted to using her hair ribbon as a tourniquet for the more serious wound on her upper thigh, which had prompted her to lay against a bamboo tree as her breathing became ragged while waiting for pickup. Suddenly, the blue van she rode up in arrived in front of her and Spirit got out and put her inside and they drove off.
Sid grabbed a first aid kit and began tending to her wounds, starting with the more serious one. Youmu heard Sid say something to her, but she couldn't make out what it was, and promptly blacked out.
A/N: And that's chapter 6! I apologize if it looks like I'm going too fast with certain events, but the manga doesn't start diverging until after going after Brew. The next chapter will probably be filler, Black-Star having a sparring session with our friendly ghost, Komachi wielding Spirit while going on a Kishin Egg hunt, and Patchouli getting a visit from a certin snake.
If you wish to be a possible Beta-reader, please PM me, or email me at Harveyteck .
