Chapter 88

Around her the strange world started to dissolve, Tomo blinking in surprise. She closed her eyes as a bright flash surrounded her, the small demon groaning out behind her. Tomo opened her eyes to find what was once seemingly nothingness was now instead a desert like area, a few trees far away in the distance. The newly arrived sun burnt high in the sky above her, burning intently yet Tomo felt no heat. She stood on the desert but felt no sand.

"Taking the power of a demon won't be easy!" yelled a giant hulking figure as 'he' materialized in front of Tomo. Easily standing at least seven feet tall the tanned muscular figure had tattoos running from his face down onto his chest. Had she been asked to guess, Tomo would have said that his arms were easily thicker than her body in its entirety.

"This is a bit confusing," said Tomo.

"You may have the power of healing girl, but to gain the full strength of the demon you'll have to best me!"

"A-wha?" asked Tomo. She looked from the giant figure to the small demon fragment behind her and back to the giant figure.

"I'm going to fight you and you're going to have to beat me."

"Oh I get it!"

The sounds of commotion from outside caused her to open her door and step out into the hallway. She had been hearing some strange sounds for a while now. Screams, yelling and the occasional explosion. She didn't know that anyone had planned a play for today. She paused for a moment, still feeling slightly odd. She had been recovering well for a long time now, but still occasionally felt an occasional strange twinge in her head.

She continued along the empty hallway, surprised at how empty it was. Normally someone would be walking along, or would have their door open so they could say hello to people passing by. As she approached the large window at the corner of the corridor the sounds of yelling and screaming continued to get louder and clearer. They must really be eager actors she thought to herself.

Finally she reached the window and looked down below. From a few storeys above the ground she watched in surprise as the battle took place below. More screams filled the air, but for now the building she was in remained untouched. As someone's arm was cut off below her she began to doubt that this was actually a play.

"Another attack? Maybe this place has a bad guy magnet in it…" mused Osaka to herself.

"Aw crap this is gonna hurt," groaned Tomo to herself as she flew through the air and smashed into the ground with a great explosion of sand. She closed her eyes for a moment waiting for the onslaught of pain, but nothing came.

"Huh," she said to herself. "It doesn't hurt. Is that good or bad?"

"Auuu~ I'm doing my best to keep you free from pain. But I can't do this forever."

"Oh cool, thanks," asked Tomo. "Forever?"

"Whatever happens in the outside world you won't be able to leave here until you win this fight. But I'm sure you can do it Tomo."

"How do you figure that?" asked Tomo, rubbing her shoulders.

"Like me that guy facing is just part of the demon- you aren't fighting the full force of the demon inside you. That's just the fragment of strength- just like I am the healing component of the demon's power."

"Strength huh?" asked Tomo. "And there was me worrying it would be too easy."

Tomo charged at the figure of strength and promptly caught a fist to the face. She flinched reflexively but again felt no pain. She smiled a bit and caught the demon fragment square in the face. She ducked underneath another punch and smashed a kick into his neck, sending him flying backwards.

"Huh, how did you like-ah crap please don't stand back u-," said Tomo as the figure climbed back to his feet. He smirked and dusted himself down.

"You've grown a lot stronger these last few years," he said. He cracked his neck and soon after his knuckles. "It is nice to see that you've actually trained and improved by yourself, as well as using us when the going got tough."

"But don't I always rely on the power of the demon?" asked Tomo.

"You are a ninja, trained by the best of one of the most prestigious ninja villages in the world," said the figure. "Do you really think everything you've done these last few years has purely been down to our power?"

"Well…maybe," replied Tomo.

Taking another step forwards the figure smirked again. "And besides, look at the power of that punch of yours. Do you really think I'd let you use my strength to hurt me?"

"Well I guess not…," replied Tomo.

"Now, attack again!"

Before them the building stood, not very proudly or remarkably at all. Indeed a few parts of it looked as though a particularly powerful storm could knock the walls down.

"Is that it?" asked an unimpressed Kagesaki.

"Don't forget that this place has not been used in several years," said Sen. "I can't quite remember the last thing the village did with this place."

"It looks like they left it to die," spat Kagesaki.

"It isn't the outside that matters, or indeed even the inside," said Takino. "What matters is what is beneath. That building could have collapsed, could have been burnt, could even have been transformed into a house. All that matters is what is beneath."

"But it does look like it could fall down at any time, so I guess we should be going soon," spoke a voice from behind them.

Takino and Kagesaki turned to face Kline and Shuzo, the newcomers approaching them, their clothing stained slightly red.

"You've got blood on you," said Kagesaki.

"It isn't ours," replied Kline indifferently.

"It may sound simple, but don't become complacent," said Takino. "This isn't just a case of walking down a flight of stairs. There's a myriad of pathways down there, some lead to a dead end, more than one leads to our destination, and for some there is no record of what is found at the end of them."

"Great, so we have to go on a hike underground," said Kagesaki.

"After all we've been through that isn't much of a problem," replied Kline coldly. Shuzo nodded.

"Keep Tomo close Sen, some of the pathways might have a bit of a drop."

"She won't slip from my grasp," replied Sen, his bandages wrapped around the block of ice, effortlessly holding the weight.

"Onwards!" spoke Takino.

"We're almost there now, right?" asked Chidori as the group ran along the pathway, surrounded on either side by surprisingly identical looking buildings. Just behind her ran Kimura who nodded once, and promptly realized she couldn't see him do so.

"Yeah, we should be there very soon," replied Kimura. "And then what are we doing?" asked the teacher.

"I'm not sure at the moment," replied Chidori. "I think we are kind of making this up as we go along."

"That's quite some plan you've got there," called out Yukari, surprising the group. Having found her path blocked by a small army of goons she had decided to return to her former students. "What, surprised to see me?"

She quickly regretted speaking as she struggled to catch her breath again. She couldn't believe she was that out of shape. And it wasn't like she was getting a bit old or anything… To one side she spied Sakaki, running without problems and to the other Fuka keeping up a good pace without any sweat…and she certainly didn't feel any envy towards them. No, none at all towards those young girls who were in better shape than her and hadn't experienced half of the things she had. That's why she was slowing. Ever so slightly.

"I really think we are just making this up as we go along at this point?" asked Fuka.

"Are you sure Tomo didn't come up with this plan?" asked Yomi.

"As long as we stop them all it doesn't matter what kind of plan we had," said Chidori. "Defeating them purely through the power of song would be better than letting those bastards win."

As Chidori finished speaking they turned a corner and promptly ran into a group of the attacking mercenaries. For a few seconds both groups paused as they slowly started to take count of the situation. Yukari was the first to break the silence:

"Oh come on!"