Chapter 8: The Bewitching Smile Amethyst

A/N: That's right, SHE's in this chapter. I know I'm following the manga plotline, and I know that her G.E.M has a different name, but I like the anime name better so I'm sticking with that one. As always, please enjoy and review! DarkNovelist out.

The following day, the party headed north for Artai. After they had covered about 50 miles, they decided to take a break under an overhanging rock. Miyu left to make a sweep of the area, while the others sat in the shade and recuperated. After a few minutes, Kaia fell asleep.

"Wow, she must have been more exhausted than I thought." Notokishi said quietly.

"It could be those wings of hers, they probably absorb a lot more heat than she's used to, especially since they're black." Verona observed.

"Oh well, let's just let her sleep until Miyu comes back. Then we'll be on our way again."

"Hey, Notokishi, I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

"It's rare we get to be alone like this anymore. We haven't had any 'fun' in a long time."

"Wait, are you saying…"

Verona gave Notokishi a very seductive look. "Shall we? No one's around for miles." she said, leaning close to Notokishi.

"H-Hey! I know how you feel Verona, but now? Kaia's right over there!"

"She won't mind if we're quiet."

"Oh, geez…alright, but if she wakes up and kills us, I'm blaming you."

They pressed their lips together, unaware that someone was watching in the distance. A few minutes later, Miyu came running around the rock formation.

"I have detected hostile movement heading in our direction. Prepare yourselves for-"

Miyu stopped. Notokishi and Verona were sitting in a corner of the shade, kissing. The two stared at Miyu in surprise.

"Um, we can explain!" Notokishi said.

"….please prepare for combat. Enemies are approaching our location." Miyu said with her usual emotionless stare.

"Uh, yeah. Got it!"

Notokishi went to wake up Kaia, while Verona materialized her Robe and shuriken elements.

"Kaia! Wake up! We've got company!"

"Huh…what? Sis, why is your face so red?"

"It's a long story, right now we're under attack!"

Kaia immediately got up and drew her sword. No sooner had she done so, when a large swarm of corrupted warriors came swarming towards them. The clash of steel rang out over the desert. Many warriors were silenced by rapid bursts of gunfire from Miyu's larger model chain-gun arm. But it seemed that for every one soldier the group brought down, five more took its place. Knowing it was only a matter of time before the horde overwhelmed them, Verona flew up and scanned the mass of deformed bodies for the horde's leader. If I can find and kill the leader, they'll lose face and retreat. Now where- her train of thought was interrupted as something long and thin suddenly wrapped around her legs.

"What the?" she said as she was suddenly pulled toward the ground. Verona hit the dirt with a thud. Getting up, she saw a long wire with what looked like segments of a sword blade stretched along it retract in a snake like movement towards something in front of her. Verona looked up to see a scantily clad woman with short white hair holding the hilt of the snake-sword.

"Did…I just get dragged to the ground by a hooker?" Verona thought out loud.

"Hooker? Why does everyone always assume that?" replied the woman.

"Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror?"

"Silence! I am Ivy Valentine, and I will not tolerate your idiotic words!"

"Ivy Valentine? With a name like that, you're not really changing my opinion."

Ivy angrily lashed out with her sword, cutting Verona's arm and leaving a cruel gash across her chest.

"Not so loud now, are you?"

Ivy turned the blade so that it cut across Verona's legs, causing her to fall. Ivy retracted the blade and prepared to deliver a fatal blow. Verona closed her eyes as the blade reached out toward her.

CLANG!

The blade didn't connect. Verona looked up and saw a woman wearing a violet Robe standing in front of her, blocking the attack with what looked like two golden katanas fused at their hilts. The violet otome had long light brown hair with some streaks of grey that showed her age, and looked down at Verona with deep crimson eyes.

"My my, now isn't this a surprise?" the violet otome said.

"M-Ms. Shizuru!" Verona stated in surprise.

"Hello, my lovely little Verona. You just take a break for bit, I'll deal with your opponent. Ok?" Shizuru said cheerfully.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

Shizuru turned towards Ivy.

"That's an interesting outfit you've got there, I'll have to get Natsuki one of those sometime."

"Okay, you people can go straight to hell!" Ivy replied angrily. She extended her snake-sword in a deadly precision strike at the otome. Unfazed, Shizuru dodged the strike with ease, and was instantly standing behind Ivy.

"That weapon of yours is quite unusual. However, it's not the only one of its kind. Please duck, Verona."

"Wait, what?" Ivy said in surprise.

Shizuru's katanas extended three times as far as Ivy's blade. She swung them in a 360˚ arc, cutting down everything in a 40ft radius. Ivy and several soldiers collapsed to the ground, split in half. What soldiers remained immediately ran from the battlefield.

"Verona!" yelled Notokishi as she and the others ran towards the injured otome. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Notokishi, look who's here."

"Ms. Shizuru! What are you doing here?"

"Hello princess Notokishi. Natsuki and I heard about what happened at Chaldea. I'm real sorry about Cassandra."

"It's alright, there was nothing any of us could have done."

"Since you've lost a member of the team, I volunteered to come here as a replacement."

"You mean?"

"That's right, for the rest of your mission, I'll be accompanying you." Shizuru smiled as she said this.

"That's wonderful Ms. Shizuru! Ahk!" Verona said, trying to rise.

"Here, let me help you up."

Shizuru put her arms around Verona, and lifted her up.

"Thank you." Verona let out a small yelp and blushed. Something had pinched her backside very briefly.

Shizuru let out a small giggle. "It was my pleasure."

"Ahem!" Notokishi said, glaring slightly at them. "We'd better get going, Nightmare's bound to send more troops. I'll bring you up to speed as we walk."

"Of course, lead the way princess." Shizuru said, making a bow.

Somehow, I feel like this mission just became a lot harder. Sometime later, Notokishi and Shizuru were walking at the front of the group.

"I see, that does seem like the best place to look." Shizuru said as Notokishi finished catching her up.

"It'll be easier now to deal with any problems like earlier. I appreciate you coming to help us, Shizuru. It must have been difficult to find us out here."

"Actually, it didn't take that long. I came across your camp yesterday."

"Wait, if you found us earlier, why not meet with us then?"

"I was too busy enjoying the show. I had heard you were into some unusual things, princess, but I didn't think incest was one of them."

"Incest? What are you-" then she realized. During her conversation with Kaia the previous night, neither of them had worn any clothing. "Hey! Don't get the wrong idea, Shizuru. I was only talking to her, and nobody wears clothes in a hot spring."

Shizuru giggled again. "Whatever you say. I also saw that little performance between you and Verona earlier today."

"Wha-ughh….okay, I'll admit to that one. But only because I know you're like that as well. However, if you're going to travel with us for the remainder of our journey, I must ask that you respect people's privacy from now on. Are we clear?"

"Of course, princess. Whatever you say." Shizuru had a huge smile on her face as she said this.

"You're not even listening, are you?"

And so, the four had once again become five, and together they resumed their advance toward the frozen lands of the Artai Dukedom.