SailorStar9: Chapter 2 goes up. This is Chapter 3.
Disclaimers: I don't own Sailor Moon and Flame of Recca since if I did own them both, the Planetary Senshi will have equal footing as Sailor Moon and the Domon/Fuuko pairing would be canon. But you don't see that happening do you? However, I do own the pairing, I hope.
Chapter 3: Tears Shed Because of Girl's Hair!!
In the stands....
"What the? She's just an ordinary schoolgirl." the crowd remarked. "Is she really going to fight? Hell of a difference from that last freak."
On the ring side...
"Meno is truly a masterpiece, so allow her to demonstrate." Genjuro chuckled.
In the ring...
Anhara simply sighed and went back to the ring side.
"Excuse me, but the match has already begun." Nemi reminded her.
"Then you can mark it as a loss." Anhara told her.
On the ring side...
"What are you thinking, Kimura?" Recca fumed as the ice welder walked down the ring.
"Even if I wanted to continue, I can't." Anhara told him.
"Ganko, my Restrictor." she told the girl.
"Hai..." Ganko nodded, clasping the armband around Anhara's arm. The wings on the ice wielder's heels returned into their anklet forms as she sank to her knees in exhaustion.
"Kimura!" the Hokage gasped.
"I got her." Mikagami replied, catching the ice wielder.
"It's true that I can fully channel Sui-sei's magic without the Restrictor, but there's a limit to how much magic energy a human body can channel. I've just expired mine." Anhara explained.
"Then the Restrictor...." Mikagami pressed.
"Although the Restrictor caps my power to Level Three, but it allows me to use Sui-sei's power for a longer period of time." Anhara replied.
"I'm sorry! It was because I..." Koganei sobbed.
"Don't worry about it." Anhara gave the worried teen a sisterly ruffle on the hair.
In the ring...
"The match between Meno versus Kimura is Kimura's loss by default." Nemi declared. "now from Team Hokage... Hanabishi Recca!"
In the stands...
"Here comes the Hokage's captain! The man who defeated Kukai!" the crowd roared. "Kill her! Kill her!"
On the ring side...
Don't lose, Recca-kun... Yanagi prayed.
"Don't let your guard down, Hanabishi!" Domon remarked.
In the ring...
"Gotcha!" Recca shot back.
But... he thought. She looks like just a high schoolgirl.
On the ring side...
"I'm confused. That attack didn't look any strong, still one hit was enough to take him down." Fuuko remarked.
Anhara sighed, "That attack works in a different way. Instead of wasting power shooting a beam, I shoot that small ice ball. It still has enough power in it to freeze a building instantly. However, if it touches any living beam, it freezes it's blood."
Fuuko winced, "Damn, what a nasty way to die."
"But this just isn't like you." she looked at her fellow female fighter. "Handing over the fight to Recca."
"Don't tell me it's because you didn't want to fight a girl!" she exclaimed.
"WHAT'D YOU SAY?" Recca hollered. "You dirty bastard, Kimura! I don't want to fight that girl either! You said you couldn't, so ..."
"I'm not saying anything." Anhara shrugged.
"But you're always fighting with Fuuko-san." Mikagami pointed out.
"Don't compare ugly Fuuko to a cutie like that!" Recca retorted.
"He's right, seeing how Fuuko isn't ladylike at all." Domon agreed.
"The three of you just dug your own graves, you know that?" Anhara sighed.
"WHAT did you say?" Fuuko fumed, giving Domon a kick on the face. "So part of me isn't ladylike?"
"That part just now." Domon mumbled.
In the ring...
"Now for Hanabishi versus Meno, begin!" Nemi declared.
******************************************************************************************
On the ring side...
"You understand, don't you, Meno?" Genjuro told her, revealing an hourglass from his coat. "You have ten minutes to kill him."
In the ring....
"Yes." Meno replied after Genjuro placed the hourglass on the ring floor.
On the ring side...
"Hey, look." Domon blinked as Meno's hair started to grow.
"Huh?" Ganko was confused.
"Her aura's different from before." Kondo remarked.
"Her hair..." Yanagi realized. "It's growing so fast."
In the ring...
"What's going on?" Recca wondered.
"Die." Meno remarked, turning her hair into an axe.
On the ring side...
"Move it, Recca-nii-chan!" Koganei warned.
In the ring...
At her command, Meno's hair flew towards Recca who dodged the attack.
"What the heck is that?" Recca wondered as he jumped aside, before leaping to avoid Meno's attack as the girl's hair changed into solidified spears and dived at him.
On the ring side...
"She turned her hair into a blade!" Fuuko realized.
"Exactly like Mokuren's limbs did." Domon added.
"So then she..." Yanagi turned to Kagerō.
"No doubt about it." Kagerō replied. "She must have an madōgu implanted inside her. It must be..."
In the stands...
"Shikigami." Saichō finished the sentence.
"Huh? I thought that was your madōgu?" Fujimaru was puzzled.
"It's pronounced the same, but with different kanji." Saichō explained. "My Shikigami controls paper. Her Shikigami controls hair.""
On the ring side...
"Her Shikigami would make her hair as sharp as knives." Kagerō added. "It's a low-level madōgu. However, once implanted inside the body, its power could increase comparably to a high-level madōgu."
In the ring...
Meno had caught Recca's neck with her hair.
"Die." Meno growled.
On the ring side...
"Recca!" Fuuko exclaimed.
In the ring...
"Saiha!" Recca called forth his flames, slicing himself free with the fire blade.
"Damn, cutting a girls hair..." he growled. "But who cares... if it grows back again, right?"
With that, Meno regrew her hair, sending the spikes at Recca who dived to dodge the attack.
On the ring side...
"What are you doing?" Fuuko fumed as Recca avoided Meno's attacks. "You can't win if you just run away!"
In the ring....
"I know!" Recca shot back.
"Nadare!' he called forth a second fire dragon. "Dan En!"
Meno then twirled her hair around herself to deflect the fire bullets.
"What?" Recca blinked when another thick bundle of Meno's hair emerged from the smoke. The fire caster jumped to avoid the attack.
On the ring side...
"Recca-nii-chan!" Koganei gasped.
In the ring...
Meno continued her assault on Recca, the fire wielder dodging the attacks.
On the ring side...
"Recca-kun!" Yanagi muttered.
"I can't believe it." Kagerō added. "Fusing with that madōgu enhanced its power dramatically."
"As I said," Genjuro chuckled. "Meno is my masterpiece."
In the ring...
"Die. Die. Die. Die." Meno chanted as she attacked the fleeing Recca relentlessly.
In the stands...
"Something is bothering me." Saichō remarked. "What is that hourglass for?"
"That old man ordered her to kill him in ten minutes, right?" Fujimaru noted. "It's probably a timer for that."
"The arena has a clock." Saichō pointed out.
"Maybe he doesn't like digital watches." Fujimaru suggested.
"Anyway, at the bottom of the glass..." Saichō added. "Can you see something moving?"
"Looks like it." Kukai replied.
On the ring side...
"Something's wiggling in there." Kondo noted.
"It's too small for me to see." Ganko remarked.
"It can't be!" Kagerō gasped as she activated her Eikai Kyoku.
"A man!" she exclaimed. "There's someone inside!"
"What?" Koganei gasped.
"What did you say?" Domon demanded.
"Why..." Yanagi muttered. "Why is he so small?"
"Only one madōgu could do that." Kagerō replied.
"The madōgu, Mugen." Anhara supplied.
"It's power is cell size reduction. It can shrink anything. it's very dangerous madōgu." Kagerō added. "I can't believe a man like that has it."
"Stop it... Meno." Yanagi muttered. "Don't worry about me."
"Can you make out what he's saying?" Kagerō asked.
"Yes, but just barely." Yanagi replied. "He's yelling at her frantically."
"Stop fighting." she translated. "Don't worry about father."
"Oh no! That man is her father!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Domon growled.
"No way. The father must be his hostage." Mikagami realized.
In the ring...
Recca dodged another round of Meno's attacks.
If I don't do this, my father will die. Meno thought.
On the ring side...
"Why are you taking so long, Meno? Finish him now." Genjuro demanded.
In the ring...
"Yes." Meno replied, turning her hair into a spear and spiraled it towards Recca.
On the ring side...
"Hanabishi!" Domon shouted.
"Nii-chan!" Koganei exclaimed as Meno's hair took Recca onto the opposing wall.
"Recca-kun!" Yanagi cried.
"Hanabishi!" Domon called out, jumping off the platform.
"Recca!" Fuuko followed suit.
"Nii-chan!" Koganei took off with them.
"Team Hokage!" Nemi stopped them.
"Huh? What?" Domon demanded.
"It's not allowed to assist a fighter during a match." Nemi reminded them. "You'll forfeit because of a violation."
"Hey you!" Fuuko fumed, turning to Meno. "Your father has been taken hostage, right? Just stop... stop listening to that bastard!"
"It's no use." Genjuro told her, tapping his staff on the hourglass. "Meno can hear no human voice beside my own, as long as the sands flow."
"What have you done to the girl?" Domon demanded.
"I have done nothing." Genjuro replied. "Meno became a fighting machine on her own accord."
"You lie!" Fuuko shot back.
"No, I do not." Genjuro replied. "Shall I tell you? The truth?"
"Three months ago, I was conducting genetic research in Mori-sama's lab." he begun. "There was an experiment I desperately wanted to do. Combining a human with a madōgu!"
"I can't do it." Kazuo told him. "Playing with the life of a stranger... it's unforgivable!"
"The fool who disagreed with me was Sakura Kazuo, Meno's father." Genjuro added. "His sense of justice made me sick."
"Here you go, father. Your lunch." Meno presented the bento box to her father.
"Thanks again, Meno." Kazuo took the wrapped bento.
"What beautiful hair she had." Genjuro reminisced. "The plan was forming the second I saw her."
"Meno, you're such an obedient child." he told her some time later as Meno laid on an operating table. "I'm sure your father will be proud of you."
"Now, let's begin." he told his assistants.
"Yes." one of his aides replied.
"Meno!" Kazuo burst into the operating theater. "You can't... Meno..."
"What are you doing? Let me go!" he demanded and Genjuro's helpers pulled him back.
"You said you didn't want to play with a stranger's life" Genjuro reminded him. "So I chose someone you knew."
"Stop this, please!" Kazuo pleaded. "Meno is all I have left!"
"Your annoyance is disturbing my experiment." Genjuro barked.
Chanting, he activated his madōgu.
"Mugen!" he instructed, shrinking Kazuo.
"Father!" Meno cried.
"Don't worry, he's not dead..." Genjuro chuckled. "But he's in a dangerous situation.."
"What will you do, Meno?" he asked, showing the hourglass he had trapped Kazuo in.
"I'll do anything." Meno replied.
"Yes, Meno herself chose to be implanted with the madōgu." Genjuro concluded.
"In less than ten minutes, every grain of sand will have fallen, suffocating your father" he threatened, in the previous matches. "If you want him to live, then fight. Kill them all in ten minutes. If you do that..."
"NO!" Meno screamed, using her hair to cut down her opponents.
"The result of my surgery that fused the madōgu to her was extraordinary." Genjuro added. "Slowly, Meno was taught to control her emotions. While the sand descends, she becomes a killing machine that will obey only my commands."
"Killing machine? you're joking!" Recca fumed. "Then, why is she crying?"
Everyone else gasped when they realized that Meno was crying.
"Recca-kun!" Yanagi beamed as the flame wielder stood back up.
"Saiha?" Genjuro gasped when he realized Recca had used the fire blade to stab through the hair spear, thus preventing himself from taking the full blow.
"In the bottom of her heart, she doesn't want to fight." Recca reasoned "That's why she's crying!"
"Even if you are right, Meno can do only what I say." Genjuro told him.
"Meno, you had better kill him this time!" he instructed.
"What are you doing?" he demanded the hesitating girl.
"Yes." Meno replied, withdrawing her hair and turning it into an axe.
Recca jumped aside to dodge the attack.
"Stop it, Meno! I don't want to fight you!" Recca tried to wake her up, only to be forced to dodge another attack.
"Isn't there any other way..." Yanagi asked Kagerō. "To help Meno and her father?"
"There is one." Kagerō replied.
"Recca." she called to her son. "Destroy the madōgu, Mugen! If you can, Meno's father will be released from this curse."
"You got it!" Recca replied.
Dashing back into the ring and sidestepping Meno's attacks, he leapt over the girl and headed straight for Genjuro.
"That cane...I gotta destroy it!" he promised, only to be thrown back by an energy barrier.
"What the?" he leapt back to his feet.
On the ring side...
"A barrier!" Koganei exclaimed.
"Damn!" Recca growled, summoning a flame dragon.
"Nadare, Dan En!" he fired his flame balls as the energy barrier.
"Useless!" Genjuro barked as the fireballs bounced off the shield. "Even the power of the Flame Dragons cannot penetrate this barrier."
"Don't underestimate them!" Recca dashed in for another attack.
"Give Saiha a try." Genjuro challenged. "Even if you do, it will not break."
"Well then, how about this?" Recca retorted, punching the barrier.
"Recca..." Fuuko stammered.
"Trying to break the barrier with his bare fist?" Koganei was shocked.
"You can't, Recca!" Kagerō warned. "Your hand can't handle it!"
"You're a fool." Genjuro remarked. "Your Flame Dragon can't get through, so how can you expect your fist to do any better?"
"Meno, finish him now." he instructed.
"Unless you don't care what happens to your father!" he threatened.
In the ring...
"Yes." Meno replied changing her hair into a whip and lashed Recca on his back.
"Just you wait." Recca told her, enduring her blows. "I'm going to save your father for you."
"Why?" Meno withdrew her hair.
If I can get one arm through this barrier... Recca thought.
"I must kill him." Meno remarked.
"No, you can't!" her subconscious stopped her.
"Who?" Meno turned to see her other self.
"What are you trying to do?" Meno's subconscious asked.
"I... have... to kill.. that boy." Meno replied. "Or my father... will die."
"You can't. Even your father is saying." Meno's subconscious protested.
"I don't understand." Meno gasped, turning to her drowning father.
On the ring side...
"What are you doing, Meno?" Genjuro demanded. "The sand is running out!"
In the ring...
With a cry, Meno released her hair to attack Recca.
"Stop it, Meno!" her subconscious hugged her.
"Who are you?" Meno asked her other self.
"I'm you. I'm your heart." Meno's subconscious wept.
"My heart?" Meno echoed.
"Please! don't listen to the sand!" Meno's subconscious pleaded. "Listen to our father's voice!"
"Meno!" Kazuo's plea sounded.
"Father!" Meno gasped.
On the ring side...
"Guess that worked." Anhara muttered tiredly, the light of her madōgu dimming.
"Hara-nee!" Koganei turned to the already weakened girl.
"What did you..." Mikagami looked at the ice wielder in his arms.
"Meno's true self... I managed to awaken it..." Anhara replied weakly.
"In your condition..." Mikagami pressed.
"Don't worry." Anhara told him. "With Meno's state of mind right now, I only had to use a Level One spell to get through."
In the ring...
Her true self awakened, Meno plunged the hair spear into the barrier.
"I cannot forgive you..." Meno hissed. "For taking advantage of me! My father is saying, that no matter what happens to us, we cannot take the life of another!"
"No matter what happens to me," she added, helping Recca break the barrier. "I won't let you hurt him anymore."
"You dare betray me, Meno?" Genjuro retorted.
"Mugen, human minimize!" he activated his madōgu.
"That girls' body is..." Domon gasped as Meno's body shrunk.
"Shrinking!" Fuuko finished his sentence.
"I'll send you to hell with your father!" Genjuro told the shrinking Meno.
"I won't let you!" Recca swore.
"What?" Genjuro gasped when the flame wielder's fist pushed through.
"Homura!" Recca called forth his flame dragon inside the barrier.
On the ring side...
"The barrier..." Fuuko gasped as the barrier exploded. "Shattered!"
"Homura did it!" Mikagami realized.
In the ring...
"I won't let you run away!" Recca hissed, his flame still around his arm guard as Genjuro leapt out of the fire and started fleeing.
On the ring side...
"I thought Homura was just a flame that only surrounded your arm." Genjuro remarked, jumping to avoid the fire dragon heading towards him. The flame dragon then shot through his madōgu gem, shattering it.
With the Mugen madōgu gone, the hourglass that held Kazuo prisoner broke and he emerged from the sand timer, relatively unharmed.
In the ring...
"Hey, are you alright?" Recca asked the stunned Meno.
"Recca-san..." Meno turned to him. "I..."
"You did great." Recca told her, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Hey!" Kazuo called out, supported by Fuuko and Domon.
"Meno..." he looked at his daughter.
"Father!" Meno beamed, rushing to her father's side.
"Meno!" Kazuo ran to greet her.
"Father!" Meno jumped off the ring, hugging her father. "I'm sorry, Father. I... I..."
"I'm the one who should be apologizing to you." Kazuo wept. "I've put you through so much."
"How sweet." Fuuko smiled.
Domon nodded in agreement, sniffling.
"Excuse me, but..." Nemi started.
"Yes?" Meno inquired.
"How should I call this match?" Nemi asked.
"Oh yes." Meno turned to her. "I give up."
"For match between Meno versus Hanabishi, Hanabishi is the winner!: Nemi declared over the roaring crowd.
"So then..." Recca turned to Genjuro. "You're the only one left. GENJURO!"
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.