Author's notes:
Triple-Combo. God does that feel good.
Things are heating up. Hitomi challenged Jacqueline, how will that end?
Enjoy!
Chapter 18 - Monsters
Jacqueline was disbelievingly staring at the stump at her arm, where the rest of her left lower arm and hand used to be. All gears in her head were operating at full stretch while she trying to figure out what had happened.
Her thoughts were harshly interrupted as she had to block a vertical strike coming from behind by twirling around on the spot and using her own blade as a shield. During that short moment she had the opportunity to take a deep look into Hitomi's eyes. They were filled not only with earnestness but also newly won confidence. Instantly she shoved Hitomi away, hoping she'd topple over, but the agile warrior leaped backwards a little, just to repeat the move that had cost Jacqueline her left arm. Being prepared that time, however, she managed to get herself away in time.
'Again?' she thought.
While still being in the air from leaping away yet another afterimage of Hitomi ran right through her and a wound going from the top right of her chest across her breastbone right up to the lower end of her rib cage. Making a dull sound the black haired warrior fell to the ground. Her former comrade was calmly standing many meters behind her. Jacqueline slowly got up, seemingly unaffected by the cut on her chest. Rather, it was healing already – while her left hand was as good as new already.
'This is impossible,' Vectra gaped, 'even as a defensive type warrior, such regeneration without the use of Yoki! Is she really still a warrior?' Her gaze wandered towards Hitomi. 'And what's with her? Why did she say it was impossible to defeat Jacqueline and is now doing this well against her? Just what is going on?'
"I don't get it" Jacqueline said while Hitomi was turning around to face her again.
"What might it be you don't get?" Number 5 calmly asked her.
"Your Yoki won't do what I want it to."
"Too bad, isn't it?" Hitomi answered. "You should see, Jacqueline, now, that your can't make use of your forte anymore, I can fight you on more than equal ground."
Jacqueline closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, before she opened them again and sighed: "Honestly. Weren't you the one telling me to not act high and mighty before I have proven that I am?"
Hitomi puzzledly blinked a few times, before stating: "My, you are right. Let's do this then!"
Yet again Hitomi's after image was to be seen – but this time it did not run through Jacqueline, but Jacqueline's afterimage! A clashing sound that hurt in Vectra's ears could be heard the moment the afterimages ran through each other and seemingly at the same moment two cuts appeared in the soft ground of the forest track they still were on. Jacqueline's and Hitomi's backs were facing each other, the both of them having exchanged positions from before. The tall warrior's face was empty as ever, but shock was written in shorter one's face, clearly to be seen by Vectra. Slowly she turned around to face her opponent again. Slightly stumbling she asked her if she was being serious.
Jacqueline turned around, too. "You see, Hitomi," she began to lecture her serenely, "I cannot manipulate your Yoki due to whatever reason, but don't you make the mistake of thinking that this is the only thing I can do."
"The Invisible Step," Number 5 said with a grim face, and, getting significantly louder, continued, "you just used my technique!"
"Is that so? Didn't you steal it yourself?"
"Ts," Hitomi sizzled, "let's say I got the idea from someone else and improved it notably."
"How so?"
"Listen, this is not a Manga where we explain each others technique's to each other."
"Very well, let's settle this then."
And then two Invisible Steps where clashing with each other again. And again. And again. Every time with the same result: both blades clashed and the sheer speed of the attacks made the clashing so intense that the mere air pressure cut the ground beneath the place the blades clashed.
Vectra could only watch the fight disbelievingly. Though watch might not be the right word, because she barely even saw what was happening. 'These are Number 5 and former Number 6. And here I am, the current Number 2, unable to even see what is going on. How... did I get mixed up with these... monsters?'
The both of them, after approximately two hundred consecutive Invisible Steps from both sides, suddenly stopped, facing each other with their backs. Vectra was about to wonder why they had paused their actions, as Hitomi turned around an sheathed her blade, but did not let go of it's hilt. Jacqueline turned around, too.
"So you are going to use that?" she asked her former comrade. "Aren't you afraid that I just copy it, too?"
Hitomi's eyes widened as she understood. Jacqueline had simply read the flow of Yoki in Hitomi's body and, based on that, learned how the attack worked – and reproduced it. The same would of course happen, if Hitomi was to use her Soundcutter. 'How troublesome,' she thought, 'it's good that she can't control my Yoki if I just focus enough on what I do myself, but that, as seen, does not keep her from reading it. She still knows what I'll do and when. Probably caught her by surprise with my speed.' That's when Hitomi understood how she might still defeat her. Jacqueline was, concerning her raw abilities, way slower than Hitomi. She first had to adjust to the speed of the Invisible Step – in other words, while using that enormously fast technique she probably had to lay all her focus on executing it correctly to not mess up. 'If that is the case,' Hitomi concluded, 'she has to think through everything before starting to use it. In other words, if I change something after it has begun...'
Hitomi drew her blade again.
"So you are afraid I'd steal it?"
"It's already pretty annoying that you copied one of my techniques. No need to make that two in a single day. Guess we'll continue until someone screws up." Hitomi proposed.
"As you wish" was the answer she got.
But then things went totally differently from how Jacqueline had expected them to happen. Instead of the attack she had read into Hitomi's Yoki hundreds of slashes hit her all over her body, leading to her landing in the dust in an unpleasant manner. Even though none of the cuts was deep, or even dangerous, she had not read a single one of them in Hitomi's flow of Yoki.
The latter calmly stand between her and Vectra (who seemed puzzled and relieved at the same time) now, turned around, and earnestly looked at her beaten up opponent. Jacqueline stood up, all the small cuts on her body already healing, and knocked of the earth from the ground off her completely torn up cloak and clothes.
She sighed deeply.
"Fine, I got it. I completely got it. You could have minced me now, couldn't you?" she asked, more tensely as always.
"Probably, yeah" Hitomi answered with a stern expression. "And now that you've understood, stop your nonsense and return to the Organization with us. As you have seen there are people who can kill you."
"I apologize to you, Hitomi, for taking you too lightly. But you need to understand that I will not work with the Organization again" she said, earning her a puzzled look from her former comrade.
"D-don't you get it?" Hitomi shouted, "they only asked you to come back because you are strong, other than that they'd have just disposed of you! Know your place already!"
"You don't get it, Hitomi. And no matter what I say, you probably won't" she said and thought for a moment. "Fine then," she said, closed her eyes, and continued" I guess I'll show you instead," before she opened her eyelids to reveal menacingly golden shining eyes, "what terror it is to be near me!"
Author's notes:
Jacqueline sees no other way anymore to make Hitomi understand – but what and why? And what is the terror she is talking about? And why is nobody making sense anymore? Hitomi and Vectra are sure to find out in the next update (which, and that I can say for sure, won't be today ;) )
Stay tuned!
kstefan88