Chapter 15: Death is a permanent thing, unless it isn't, but then it brings problematic questions
Daiki Ito confirmed the hand-writing on the note to be Katsura's, but firmly claimed the information was incorrect. According to him, Takasugi simply wanted the Shinsengumi to have a real chance at wiping Katsura out, even better if he could sneak into the detention facility himself and kill his old comrade. Alma didn't know whether his words had any impact on the situation, but the implicit admission of being a Kiheitai agent all along sealed her adoptive brother's fate in a way Daiki hasn't fully considered it seemed. He was deemed too dangerous to be left alive while the Shinsengumi were busy elsewhere and he was done away with.
Alma hasn't been there to see it, not that anybody expected her to. She has gone on patrol as though nothing happened and spent too long in the Odd Jobs, trying to not feel the overwhelming guilt and something closely resembling panic. She must have failed, because she was offered a camomile tea to calm herself and warm hugs from just about everybody present. Her colleagues, on the other hand, let her be as she knew they would and nobody said anything when she was back an hour later than usual.
She tried to tell herself that Daiki got what he deserved. It was difficult.
It helped that Saturday was approaching fast and plans needed to be made, just in case Katsura wasn't making fun of them, as well as in case he was trying to use an opportunity to take down the Shogun. When Alma asked to be sent with the castle group, Kondo and Hijikata seemed to believe her excuse: she didn't want to do the largely monotonous protection duty that left plenty of time for thinking. Only Hikari shot her a weird look before asking to integrate the castle group as well.
The group was small, because Matsudaira insisted the Shogun needed to be protected more than anything else and the castle had protection of its own. He barely authorized twenty officers to go, under the joint command of Hijikata and Okita. For a while, as they walked down the dark corridors, getting glared at by the castle guards, it seemed like nothing was going to happen. However, just as Okita started to complain about Hijikata having been fooled by Katsura, as though it has been Hijikata's decision alone, they heard distant sounds.
Gun shots. Screams.
Hijikata and Okita shared a grim look before the former yelled at the small unit to move it and they all ran. In the beginning it was difficult to keep track of the direction and run at the same time, because their footsteps were louder than the commotion they were aiming at, but soon they could hear it clearly. The clangs of steel joined the shouts and gun shots, as well as a sound of something heavy hitting a wall, or perhaps the floor.
The Shinsengumi burst into the reception hall, to see a fight going on at the opposite end. It wasn't difficult to guess that the Kiheitai have met with resistance, but it took a moment to realize that there were no castle guards in the brawl. Who the hell-
A pained shout captured Alma's attention and she looked to the side. Katsura, she recognized the screaming person, eyes widening.
A human brain was a marvellous thing. Alma saw Katsura fly limply towards a wall, blood colouring the sleeve of his white haori where the gash inflicted by Okita's bazooka was. She saw a red-haired person jump right behind, one hand ready to strike. In a blink of an eye her brain estimated their trajectories and speed and came to the conclusion that mere seconds would pass between Katsura hitting the wall with stunning impact and the fisted hand of the red-head smashing into his neck, with enough force to crush his windpipe, tear the arteries and very possibly snap his spine before breaking the wall behind.
She was running before her consciousness caught up with the movement. Three steps to gain momentum and she jumped, right foot stretched out and aiming for where she expected the red-head to be half a second before his fist connected with Katsura's neck. She vaguely registered Hijikata's and Okita's shouts of protest.
The red-head was smiling gleefully as he landed on his left foot in the place Alma's brain has estimated as her best chance. As she flew towards him, she saw his fist move towards it target-
He noticed her too late to react. He turned his head minutely a split of a second before Alma's foot connected with his left shoulder, knocking him off course. He started falling and Alma already turned her attention to the space where she should fall, estimating that she had enough space to roll safely before hitting the wall, when she felt a hand grab her right ankle tightly.
She snapped her attention back to the red-head, who was grinning fiercely. He changed his fall into a pirouette mid-air and it was pure instinct that told Alma to kick out with her left foot, sacrificing the safe landing as she felt herself being swung sideways.
Her foot connected with the red-haired head, with force enough to move it to the side, but the grin was not gone and neither was the hand on her ankle. What the hell was that-
She shielded her head with her arm, vaguely aware she has screamed as she collided with the wall, damaging it in the process. Her instincts, honed from countless fights in his childhood and her life before took over again. She was barely aware that, even as she collided and registered the pain, she used her other hand to minimize the impact and forcefully push her away from the wall, ignoring the flare of pain from the wrist broken in the process, facing the opponent.
The red-head was looking at her with equal parts eagerness and curiosity.
'And who might you be, little girl?' he asked in a mocking tone that nevertheless held some of the curiosity she could see on his face. He looked ready to fight, so she changed her footing slightly, to be able to move fast. 'Are you sure you're human?'
'Should you really be the one telling me this?' she asked back through gritted teeth. It fit as her answer to both questions, because she was fairly sure he was younger than her and certainly not much taller if any.
'Draw back, Karma,' Okita snapped sharply before the red-head had the time to reply. He barely glanced towards the Shinsengumi captain and so Alma didn't look away either. Her wrist has mended itself and she adjusted the positions of her hands accordingly. The red-head narrowed his eyes at the movement. 'This isn't an opponent you can win against,' Okita added.
'And you think you can, stupid sadist?' asked a familiar, female voice. This one got a better reaction from the red-head: he turned his head to look at the newcomer, eyes widening for just the shortest split of a second before his smile grew. 'Gin-chan, Takachibi went ahead from the fight, I don't know what he could want,' the girl added.
Sakata and Katsura, Alma thought with alarm. She has forgotten they were there, focused on the immediate danger. Dared she look away from the red-head to check how they were doing?
'There's one viable target in the building, boss,' Okita spoke up suddenly. Alma didn't know whom he was addressing. 'The princess,' he added. Gintoki cursed. 'Me and China will take care of this guy here, Hijikata, why don't you take out the Kiheitai? Karma, go with him.'
'Who do you think you are, ordering me around?' Hijikata yelled angrily. 'Karma, follow me,' he added on the same breath, very obviously going to follow Okita's "orders". Alma stifled a smile.
With the corner of her eye, Alma saw Kagura approach, cracking her knuckles, eyes trained on the red-head. It struck Alma that their hair colour was the same and so were their eyes. Movement on her other side was Okita, katana drawn, eyes also trained on the red-head, who laughed happily, because "so many people wanted a round with him". He didn't appear in the least worried about the situation, but Alma was sure Okita and a girl who was small, but was, after all, a Yato, were not going to go easy on him.
It occurred to her that the red-head was surely a Yato as well.
She stepped away and looked around, breath hitching when she saw Hijikata glare at Katsura, hand on the hilt of his katana. The terrorist was looking back at him with a blank expression, holding on to the obviously reopened gash with his good hand. Wondering if she would have to fight the Shinsengumi now, Alma glanced at the unit.
'I don't have time to deal with you now, Katsura,' Hijikata said, his displeasure clearly audible. Katsura didn't even twitch. 'Be good and stay around after we get a hold of Takasugi, so that I can arrest you as well,' he added and turned away, glaring at the Shinsengumi who were watching him with various levels of surprise. 'You heard the captain, didn't you? What the hell are you waiting for?' he growled. Behind him, Gintoki handed Katsura a katana and they shared a brief, serious look.
'I'm sorry, vice-captain, but you will not be arresting me today,' Katsura spoke in a calm and serious tone. Anger flared in Hijikata's eyes, but he pretended to not hear anything and the next moment he, Katsura and Gintoki were charging towards the battling Kiheitai as though they were allies. Alma didn't hesitate to follow, along with the rest of the unit.
Their attack didn't come unnoticed. Hijikata, who was two steps ahead of everybody, had to stop when a Kiheitai swung his katana at him. Immediately, Alma knew they didn't have the time to hack through the crowd: Takasugi needed to be stopped.
'Duck,' she yelled and jumped at the same time. Miraculously, Katsura and Gintoki listened and she flew above them, jump-kicking the first Kiheitai into another. Unlike the red-head, they followed her predictions and fell and she rolled, clearing a couple more of the enemies by colliding with them and making them stumble left and right. A few moved out of the way on their own. As she stopped in a crouch, Alma saw two shadows jump over her, yelling, katana ready to strike.
Blood splattered and the path was clear. Gintoki and Katsura were already running down the corridor and Alma fluidly moved to get up, ignoring the bruises and scratches that would be gone before they became a nuisance. She made to follow when a hand clamped tightly on her shoulder.
Instinctively, Alma grabbed the offender by the wrist and pulled to get free and toss them aside, but they didn't budge.
'Fight with me, girlie,' she heard before she felt herself being tossed to the side. It wasn't strong enough to cause her any trouble, but it did throw her off her trajectory and Katsura and Gintoki were long gone. 'You're strong and we have a deal with Takasugi. I cannot let you pass,' the person who has stopped her spoke again and she finally looked their direction.
A Yato, that much was beyond doubt. He had long, blond hair, but he was pale like the red-head and dressed in the same style. Only this one was tall, his shoulders broad. He smiled at her and it was neither gleeful nor threatening, but his eyes remained cold.
'Humans are so weak, it's boring to fight them,' he said. 'You'll keep me amused, will you not, police officer?' he asked. She had no choice. As he spread his legs a bit, moving his weight to the left, Alma charged without a warning.
She was faster, but her punch barely made him stumble. His, on the other hand, even though she blocked it easily, nearly broke her ulna. He smirked and she gritted her teeth. She jumped away and he jumped forward.
It was the kind of fight in which she didn't need to think. She ducked his punch and kicked out without any need of consulting her brain. He grunted lowly when her knee connected with his stomach, but didn't quite double up as she wanted. Instead, he grabbed her leg and swung her around into the corner between the corridor wall and the hall's wall. She felt her skull crack the tiniest bit and ignored it: if it didn't stop her from moving it was not important.
She ducked lower this time and swung her leg to kick the back of his knees, almost surprised when it worked. Not surprised enough to hamper her instincts. With no conscious decision on her part, she jumped behind him as he was falling, put a hand at the back of his head and pushed as hard as she could.
His head made a small dent in the wooden floor.
Without hesitation, Alma got up and turned to follow Katsura. She didn't need to know whether her opponent was dead or alive. She didn't want a confirmation that she has killed anybody, although she strongly suspected that he was simply knocked out.
A hand grabbing her ankle made her freeze.
'It seems I need to get serious with you, girlie,' said her opponent, clearly amused. Alma's eyes widened as she turned to look. He was moving somewhat sluggishly, but the iron hold on her ankle gave him all the time he wanted. She pulled to free herself, but her leg didn't even budge. She pulled harder, heart racing as she realized the extent of his strength. It seemed that she too took him lightly and she was going to pay for it now.
He tugged hard and she went flying. In the last moment she managed to move her arms and it was her forearm rather than her skull that shattered against the floorboards. She screamed, even as she was flying the other direction already, vaguely aware he was standing now.
Her second forearm shattered against the wall, but he has let go of her ankle this time and Alma didn't hesitate. Barely have her feet touched the ground when she was jumping, the round kick slightly unbalanced because she couldn't quite move her arms like she wanted, but still finding its target.
She felt ribs crack under her heel, but there was no triumph. She felt nothing as she struggled to land, screaming in pain when she needed to lean on her broken arm. But she didn't stop. Blindly, she kicked out in the direction where she thought he should be. A punch in her thigh threw her off balance and she tumbled away, luckily avoiding it when he literally jumped to where her belly has been a second earlier.
When she got up, she had to fight dizziness and realized that she has lost. Her advantage was her speed and with her head spinning it gave him no trouble at all to grab her from behind, one arm around her chest, one hand firmly grabbing her chin. She hasn't even heard him coming. At least she would recover, she thought before he twisted her head sharply.
A burst of pain blinded her and then there was nothing.
When she blinked her eyes open she felt confused for a moment. Shouldn't he be laying on cold tiles, rather than wooden floorboards? Shouldn't the air smell sterile?
'Damn it,' she heard Hijikata yell with frustration over the sounds of a fight and she remembered. She was a Shinsengumi officer and a spy for the leader of a non-violent terrorist faction, currently on a mission in the castle of Edo. She has died, due to a snapped neck, probably not very long ago.
She must have been thrown away, discarded like a broken toy she has been for a while, she realized when she noticed where she was: in the corridor, a good few meters away from the fight going on in the reception hall. Nobody was paying her any attention and thus she got up slowly, tentatively moving her head to left and right. Her neck seemed ok. There was no pain in her arms either and her head was no longer spinning.
Perfect.
She should go back to the fight and help, she supposed, but the thought left her head as fast as it appeared. When she got up, not caring to go slowly, confident that she was fully healed, there was no hesitation before she directed her footsteps down the corridor. That she didn't know the way was no problem, because she could follow the dead guards well enough, taking care to not look at them too much, lest his memories came forward.
She heard and identified the footsteps catching up with her well in advance and that was perhaps why the chilling sound of steel drawn from the sheath surprised her so much. If it wasn't for her instincts, which took over her actions yet again, the swishing sound of air cut by the beautifully sharp blade would have been the prelude to her second death that day.
As things were, she managed to sidestep the threat, turn around and draw her own katana before the unexpected opponent wrenched the blade out from where it embedded itself into the floorboards from the sheer force of the blow. She didn't attack only because this must have been a mistake. Hikari might have been furious about that Odd Jobs' story, but-
'What the hell are you?' the police officer Alma has until recently considered a friend hissed furiously, katana ready to strike again. Alma parried the blow and danced away. 'I saw you die,' Hikari hissed and Alma recoiled.
Of course, she thought numbly, her brain more concerned with the unexpected danger than the consequences of her recent resurrection for the moment. She parried another attack automatically, trying to find words to reply.
'We're on the same side though,' was the only thing that came to her mind. Denying the accusation would lead her nowhere. Hikari snorted coldly.
'Same side, are we?' she mocked and attacked again. Alma parried, wincing when it didn't come as clean as she would have liked to. She truly should have put more effort into the sword fighting lessons. 'Don't make me laugh. You were the one who tipped Katsura about the raids, weren't you?' she asked. Alma winced. She had nothing to say and for a moment they exchanged attacks and parries in silence.
She should kill Hikari, her brain told her in a cold voice that sounded very much like Yuu. It came as such a shock that Alma almost had her arm sliced in two when she faltered in her attack.
'Destroying such a perfect plan,' the other woman hissed. Alma paused: what? 'You were good, you know. I have spent all my free time trying to find the damned leak and I wouldn't have realized if you hadn't jumped back there to save that pathetic excuse of a patriot,' she added and dealt her yet strongest blow, but Alma could deal with strength. She was far stronger than Hikari.
Something about her words was wrong though, Alma thought.
'Now die,' Hikari growled. She attacked with doubled speed and Alma had trouble catching the blade before it reached her. 'I'll kill you as many times as necessary,' she promised and Alma shuddered as memories she never wanted to remember came forward in a rush. She couldn't even see Hikari or the dark corridor and when the burning pain of a blade slashing diagonally across her torso came, she couldn't tell it apart from his memories.
Something clattered on the floor. Numbly, Alma was aware of stumbling back a step or two, until her back collided weakly with something solid. Funny, she thought, there shouldn't have been anything behind, just bodies and blood. And the birthing pits.
'I'll not let you get to Takasugi. And then I'll kill Katsura as well, don't worry,' a female voice whispered and Alma had no time to be confused as to why there was a female voice, because the meaning of the words hit her like a Yato's punch. And she remembered where she was.
She registered the tell-tale swish of air cut with a blade and moved without thinking, grabbing the hand that held the blade even as the sharp edge dug into her shoulder. There was a small, surprised sound and she smiled coldly. And suddenly she was looking into the terrified eyes of Hikari.
'I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to do that,' she said in a flat tone. With ease, she forced the blade up and out of her flesh and then twisted, breaking Hikari's wrist effortlessly. The woman screamed but Alma paid it no heed. Without thinking, without hesitating, she took Hikari's katana before it could fall. And she plunged it into Hikari's stomach.
Hikari's eyes snapped wide open, staring at Alma with something resembling surprise. In a jerky motion, she pulled the blade to the side, tearing her opponent open and then pushed both Hikari and the blade away. She used far too much force and the body pretty much bounced off the opposite wall, landing in a heap in the middle of the corridor.
Suddenly nauseous as she realized that she has killed a person, Alma pressed both hands to her mouth, unable to look away, even as she slowly slid down the wall. She vaguely heard a voice shouting her name and she wondered if she should recognize it or not. Then black dots danced in front of her eyes and she was unable to blink them away.
Somebody shook her gently and she looked into dark, concerned eyes, blurred in the most bizarre manner. When has Hijikata gotten here? She saw his lips move, but she could only hear her own, rushing blood.
She wanted to tell him that Hikari has been Takasugi's spy, but she wasn't sure whether the words really left her mouth or not. And when has she lowered her hands from her mouth anyway?
Hijikata glanced towards the dead woman. He was too blurred for Alma to read his expression. Then he looked to the side and opened his mouth. Vaguely, Alma heard a voice, perhaps his, but she could not understand the words.
She blinked and she was lying flat on the floor, Sakamoto's Mutsu leaning over her with a small frown. It occurred to her that somebody had to stop Hijikata from arresting Katsura and Mutsu's frown deepened, so maybe she has said it out loud. A firm hand on her chest stopped her when she wanted to move and she saw Mutsu's lips move: something about an Elizabeth, but it made no sense. Who even was Elizabeth?
She gasped as her cursed seal kicked in and started healing her injuries. She has forgotten about them, she realized, and now the pain hit her double. She tried to blink back the madly dancing black dots, but they only grew until everything was black. And there was no pain.