The Wind will dry my tears!

"RYUUUKO!" Senketsu's eye shoots open and he wraps himself around me so that I'm wearing him like a scarf again. I feel the life fibers within me resonate with his, his very presence both calming and empowering.

I'm whole again.

Now to deal with what separated us. I turn to the person who betrayed me, Kiriuuin Satsuki, my older sister. "Why? Why did you keep him from me?"

Satsuki kept her gun trained on me as I slowly rose to my feet. "You have to understand Ryuuko, it was for the best. It still is. The world is finally free of life fibers! Free from the oppression that has ruled us from the shadows for our entire existence! Senketsu is no longer necessary."

"What about me eh? I'm not human, both Senketsu and me are neither human nor clothing. Or did you forget? You left it out of your museum." I spit at her in contempt. "Also, take that gun out of my face you know it won't stop me."

She lowered her hand but kept her glare raised, "Do you understand the significance of Senketsu's second eye?" I give her a skeptical look, "Senketsu's left eye allows him to see as a human would, its only natural for life fibers to be able to find and devour their prey, it's necessary. His right eye is his connection to the life fiber hive mind. You may have destroyed the original life fiber that that isn't the only life fiber. There are others, all throughout the cosmos, destroying planets just as Ragyo tried to do here." She takes a deep breath, "I wont lie to you anymore Ryuuko, me and Iori were trying to destroy Senketsu. Right now he is more human like than any life fiber, he has the immortality of life fibers, with the thought processes and ingenuity of humans. If life fibers were to ever land on this planet again. Senketsu will turn to them and he will aid them and earth will have no chance. Soon he will evolve to the point where he needs no host. When Matoi created Senketsu he intended for him to die fighting."

I can't believe what I'm hearing, Senketsu, fighting against humanity? Finally Senketsu speaks on his own, "There is some truth to what you say, when my right eye opened I was able to communicate with my own kind. That was the key to defeating Ragyo; it's why Dr. Matoi gave me the ability to absorb life fibers. But I would never fight against humanity. My loyalties lie with Ryuuko" I feel more than I see his eye narrow at Satsuki. "Also if what you say is true then surely Ryuuko is more dangerous than I?"

I don't say anything, its true, plus I want to see what Satsuki has to say about this. "You are correct." I'm not surprised, Satsuki always has the answers. "That was the second goal of Iori's research. Finding A way to return Ryuuko to her human form."

I look at Satsuki, really look at her for the first time. Ever since she was a child her father told her of life fibers and she's lived her entire life in fear of a future of being subjugated by life fibers and spent her entire life fighting against them. She could never truly accept me, not with the way I am. I walk past her and step through the doorway I made. "You realize I can't let you go right? For the sake of humanity I will eliminate the life fiber threat. Having family ties didn't stop me before.

"We both know that you don't have the means to stop me." I sigh. I don't want to do this, I want to run to her, throw my arms around her and change her mind. But I know that will never happen.

"I may not be able to stop you now, but I will hunt you down with the full strength of the Kiriuuin conglomerate behind me." She stops for a moment, looking remorseful. "Its not to late, you can give me Senketsu and come back to humanity."

I can't describe how depressing, the thought of Satsuki my older Sister once again becoming my enemy makes me. I look down and see Senketsu's own eye staring back at me. The idea of losing Senketsu who was always at my side, and accepts me for me, is far worse. I can't go through that again. "You know me better than that. I'm gonna to miss ya sis. I'll be out of here as soon as I can, just give me a head start."

I'm about to make my way out of the museum when Senketsu speaks up, "Ryuuko, aren't you forgetting something?" Forgetting? Oh right. I walk back to my fathers exhibit. The alarm goes off when I smash the glass and walk out with the rending scissors before shrinking them down and putting them in my jacket pocket.

I talk with Senketsu as I walk back towards the apartment. "Ryuuko, shouldn't you be more worried? Satsuki Kiriuuin is a dangerous enemy it is unlikely that she would consider giving you a head start. Even without a kamui she can still prove troublesome."

"I am worried however, we shouldn't need to worry much for a while. Satsuki never planned on me finding you. If she has plans to stop me I doubt they will work with both of us watching each other's backs. More importantly where is the rest of you?"

His eye closes in concentration before opening again. "I don't know. However I believe this is also nothing to worry about. In my evolution I am becoming more and more like you. After we were separated during our reentrance to the atmosphere the majority of my life fibers were actually scattered rather than destroyed. It took several weeks but using the last reserves of your blood that I had I managed to pull this portion of myself together; I noticed that even some of my destroyed threads had regrown. I have the same regeneration ability that you and Nui had; only I need blood to power me. While I can regrow ordinary life fibers, to become complete it will be necessary to retrieve my lost banshi. Even now I can sense their presence across the country. When Satsuki found me I had just enough awareness to recognize her."

I hesitate to ask, I almost don't want to know. "What did she do to you?"

Senketsu pauses for a moment, collecting his thoughts, "I don't know. Almost immediately upon seeing her my memories stop. The next thing I remember after that is tasting your blood and waking up in my current form I believe however with enough time my body shall regrow if we recover the necessary banshi."

"Then that will be our first priority. In the mean time take as much blood as you need to recover."

"The usual amount is fine, you will need your strength for when Satsuki decides to strike. I wouldn't be surprised if she brings back nudist beach to hunt us down."

I laugh at that, "Those idiots. Let them try."

When I get back to my apartment I grab a backpack and throw food and all my spare cash inside before I head out the door again. "Ryuuko where are we going?"

"For tonight Mako's. We'll leave the city in the morning." When I walk into Mako's apartment I'm surprised to see the lights on. "Mako?" I hear some noise coming from the bedroom so I walk over there.

"Senpai!" That was Mako's voice. Is someone in there with her? As I walk closer and I hear her giggling as I get closer.

"Mako?" All of a sudden the voice gets quiet and I hear frantic shuffling coming from the room. When I grab the doorknob, it's locked. "Mako are you alright? What's going on?"

"Um just give me a minute!" I wait patiently for another minute before Mako opens the door looking slightly ruffled. "Um- hi Ryuuko. I didn't hear you come in. What brings you here?" then after she looks at me for a second "Is that Senketsu!"

"I had a fight with Satsuki, she was hiding Senketsu from me. Apparently she's had him for months. I wanted to see if we could stay here tonight. Is somebody over?" I look behind her and see her open window with the screen missing. I step past Mako into the room. Her bed looks hastily made. "Who is senpai?"

Mako blushed, "Um I was- just having soooooome…" I give her an expectant look, "Alone time." Her face was as red as a tomato.

"What do you mean by- oh, oh you were!" Her reddening face confirms my suspicions. "Oh uh, m-my bad. I can go. Do you want me to come by later?"

"Oh no, uh it's okay."

Silence. If possible I think we both blushed even harder. Thankfully Senketsu chose then to speak. "It is good to see you again Mako. Your family has always taken care of me and Ryuuko. I have always had a great personal respect for you."

Mako still a little red in the face responded to him, "Respect me? For what?"

"You have always stuck with Ryuuko and helped her no matter the circumstances. Remember it was you who fought along side me in freeing Ryuuko from Junketsu. Something I still haven't thanked you for. And I don't doubt that you have been making sure Ryuuko is safe in my absence."

"Oh it's been no problem, Ryuuko chan's been a little difficult since you disappeared, but Ryuuko chan is Ryuuko chan and I would do anything for Ryuuko. My best and first friend! Just remember that you're my friend too Senketsu. I was so worried about you! You guys are welcome to stay here. Satsuki bought me a fancy new dress the other day and I'm sure you'll just love the hangar it came with!"

"Cool, so Ill just sleep on the couch?"

Mako turned red again, "Actually the other day I kind of set the couch on fire." I turn around. I didn't notice when I walked in but where the couch used to be is just an empty space with scorched carpet underneath. "If you want you could…. stay in my bed? Its really big so there'll be plenty of room. And we're going out anyway. So it's no problem right?"

I almost giggle at Mako's nervousness. Even before we started going out we would occasionally share the same bed. Now that I think about it, we were a lot closer before we started going out together. I'm sure that's the opposite of what Mako wanted when she asked me on a date. I've tried to live out the life I thought Senketsu would want me to. But eventually my resolve broke and my longing for Senketsu dominated everything else. Even my feelings for Mako.

"Ryuuko."

I sit up as much as I can without waking Mako who's asleep on my arm. Senketsu is tied around a hangar and hanging from Mako's closet door. "What is-"

"Hmm senpai." Mako mutters in her sleep.

I whisper a little quieter, "What is it Senketsu?" I look over at the clock and see that it's only four am.

"The house is surrounded." Wait what? "As I predicted Satsuki isn't one to give 'head starts'" I should have figured.

"How many?"

"Only four." Four? Probably the elite four. I move to get out of bed but I feel Mako still tugging on my arm.

Her eyes open just a crack, "Where are you going, Ryuuko chan?"

I get out of bed and put on my jeans that I left on the nightstand. I slept in my shirt so I just grab my jacket and put my arms through. Mako follows my lead and starts getting dressed as well. "Ryuuko chan?"

I start tying my shoes, "The elite four are here." I finish my right shoe and start tying the left.

"Are they here to-?"

I stand up and grab Senketsu off of the hanger, he wraps himself around my neck. "They're here to fight. They want to destroy Me and Senketsu. Because of what we are." I walk out of the bedroom towards the front door and grab the rending scissors that were leaned against the wall. "You should stay here. They shouldn't bother you."

Mako jumps in front of my hand before I can reach the door knob. "NO! Ryuuko those are our friends out there! Maybe they can be reasoned with. You might not have to fight! Let me go with you we can talk to them, together!"

I sigh and pat her on the head "I don't think that's going to work Mako." I move her out of the way and open the door.

I take a few steps outside and am immediately surrounded. I don't even look up, I know who they are. Nonon speaks first, "Ryuuko. Please. Don't make us do this. It's not too late!"

That makes me angry. I turn to look at her and see her dressed in some sort of strange outfit I've never seen before. It's like a jump suit with bright pink shin guards and arm guards. "Not too late eh? You knew didn't you! You knew what Satsuki was doing! What she was hiding from me!"

Sanageyama talks from my left, wearing a similar outfit but dark green. "You know it isn't like that Ryuuko. Satsuki only wants what's best for humanity!"

"And what about what's best for me! Satsuki want's to change me! Destroy me." I hear Senketsu talking in my head. 'Calm down Ryuuko, your blood is about to boil.' I take a deep breath before speaking again. "Regardless you can't do anything about it. Senketsu and I are the last source of life fibers on the planet. I doubt the four of you would even put up a decent fight." I smirk, earlier Sanageyama couldn't even touch me.

Inumata is behind me, "Don't underestimate human ingenuity. We've perfected the technology your father started working on. Creating Senketsu was a stopgap measure. His true goal was to create a way for humans to fight life fibers without using them." He gestures to his own blue outfit. "These power suits were created by studying the properties of life fibers. Using human technology and by studying Senketsu we were able to recreate the empowering affects of life fibers synthetically."

So that's what they're wearing. Not that I'm worried. I doubt that they could be stronger than us. Before I can reply Gamagoori talks from my right. "You knew we were coming yet you still retreated to Mako! You were willing to put a human life in danger just to satisfy your own selfish desires! It seems you've lost sight of the true enemy here! Even if the academy is no longer functioning I IRA GAMAOORI will defend all former students of Honnoji Gakuen!"

Suspicious, "Never heard you call a student by their first name before." He blushes, even more suspicious. "How did you know I was here? Or do you happen to hang around Mako's apartment often." I frown as his face turns red. "Whatever, are we gonna fight or what?"

"Matoi!" Sanageyama runs at me first a green bamboo sword held high. 'Ryuuko!' He swings, I raise my left arm to block, and the force behind the strike is strong enough to push me back a few inches. I swing my right arm holding the scissors for a counter attack, but he jumps back quickly, too fast for any normal human. Suddenly I feel massive arms around me as Gamagoori bear hugs me from behind. I struggle but his grip is too strong. Inumata is suddenly in front of me, he jabs me three times before I manage to wiggle out of Gamagoori's grip and jump back.

"You weren't joking huh? With those suits it's like your still wearing your Goku uniforms."

'Ryuuko! Behind you!' I turn only fast enough to see the giant pink heart smash into me and slam me into a building. "Don't forget! We're called the elite four because there are four of us!" Nonon, I won't make the mistake of forgetting about her again. "Give up Ryuuko, you never fought all four of us at once before. You can't win."

I almost laugh. "Senketsu, can I synchronize with the life fibers you still have available?"

'Back in Osaka when we tried it was impossible to Synchronize without at least ninety percent of my material.' Damn. 'However with your current power while I don't believe we can achieve true life fiber synchronization, we can synchronize at a lesser level.'

I smile back at the elite four, "Please, we haven't even gotten started yet!" I bite my lip and let the blood drip into Senketsu. Internally all of our fibers begin resonating at the same frequency. "Tei Hin Ittai!" (Low Frequency Syncronization!) The eye on his scarf grows and becomes even more pronounced I feel his power being added to mine. "Why don't you try coming at me again, elite four?"

Again Sanageyama charges me "Men!" I knock his sword to the side with my scissors, he follows his momentum and kicks at my midsection but I grab his foot and throw him over my shoulder. I sense Gamagoori behind me, he throws a massive fist my way so I catch it with my hand. He punches at me with his other arm I quickly release his first arm and run up the length of his other arm and kick him in the face. I use rending scissors to reflect several projectiles from Inumata.

The three of them come at me again, and it's almost funny how big of a difference the little bit of power I get from Senketsu makes. I dodge Sanageyama's sword; throw Gamagoori at inumata; Nonon fires a projectile from the background and I use my free hand to grab it and throw it back. This is almost too easy. 'Ryuuko, try not to enjoy yourself too much.'

"What's the problem Senketu? It's not like we could ever lose to them." I deflect Sanageyama's sword to hit Gamagoori's fist.

'We're working on a limited supply of blood. Without the Seki Teko to provide constant blood flow, I will soon run out of energy.' I spin around Gamagoori to kick Inumata into Nonon.

"Alright I get it, ill finish up soon." I look at the elite four, looking anything but elite, panting in front of me. "Let's get this over with." The full scissor is a little over kill so I separate the blades and put the second half back in my pocket.

Holding the one blade I dash at them; Sanageyama tries to block my initial strike but my blade shatters his and scratches him deeply across the chest. After that Nonon and Inumata charge me at once. I duck under Inumata's kick and bat Nonon' blast back at her. Jumping from a crouched position I slice inumata vertically as I ascend. On the way back down I kick Nonon in the face knocking her out. Three down one to go. Gamagoori glares at me putting his fists up. Like that could stop us. I dash at him scissor blade held high. As I swing the blade down there's a blur in front of me and I stop my strike right before I would have cut down Mako. "Get out of my way Mako."

The look on her face tells me I'm going to be disappointed by her answer. "No Ryuuko chan! I won't let you hurt Senpai! Beca-"

"Senpai?" I take a step back. Mako's eyes go wide. "I think I get it now. No wonder you knew exactly where I was. You were at Mako's when I walked in weren't you." His face is all the answer I need. "How long Mako?"

"When was the last time you cared about me?" Ouch, I guess that's fair though.

"Fine." I shrink my scissor blade down and put it away as I turn around to leave.

"Where are you going Ryuuko? Aren't we going to talk about this, we can still be-"

"There isn't anything to talk about Mako. Senketsu and I are leaving, Gamagoori should probably take the pitiful three to a hospital, and I suppose you'll go with your Senpai." Even without looking at her I can tell that her eyes are watering up, I'm pretty sure I just broke her heart. Too bad I can't bring myself to care.

I walk into the garage attached to Mako's apartment complex and grab my bike. I run my hand across the surface feeling the scars and dents that covers made. After everything was settled I found the bike that I used when I went to challenge Nui and Ragyo alone, right before I was forced to wear Junkestu. Never again.

'Ryuuko?'

"What is it?" I see Senketsu looking up at me. "Is someone coming?"

'No it's just,' I sense his hesitation, 'About Mako.'

Oh that's what this is about, "I'm fine, don't worry about me Senketsu. As long as I have you I'll be fine!" I smile down at him trying to be reassuring.

'I may not completely understand human relationships, but aren't you supposed to be upset when you find out your partner has been cheating?'

My smile thins to a grin, "You watched too many soap opera's with Mako's mom hum?" I swing a leg over the bike and begin rifling around my pocket for the keys. "When you were gone all I could think about was you. Mako tried her hardest but it isn't her fault. The fact that she didn't break up with me sooner just shows how kind she is." My eyes soften, and despite what I said earlier I feel my eyes start to water, "I deserved to be cheated on, I was a bad girlfriend and a bad friend. Yet I still felt the need to throw it in her face, to make her cry."

I feel fabric on my eyes and see that Senketsu has stretched himself to dry my tears. 'You can go back to her if you want. It pains me that feelings for me stood in your way. Mako will forgive you if you go back.'

"But I won't." I put the keys in the ignition. "I knew what I was doing. Satsuki is serious about putting an end to us and she's strongest at Honnoji where she controls everything. We can't stay here, and I can't ask Mako to leave her home. If I have to choose, between you or Mako, I choose you. Every time." I rev the bike and we ride out. Letting the wind dry my tears.

[In the Kiriuin Mansion]

Satsuki sits on a hard looking armchair as Nonon, Inumata, and Gamagoori stand before her. All looking worse for wear. Nonon has a black eye and a massive bruise on her forehead, Inumata has bandages covering his chest (thirteen stiches apparently), Gamagoori's right hand is in a cast and his whole left arm is marred with cuts and bruises.

Satsuki speaks addressing the three of them, "Where is Sanageyama."

Gamagoori bows his head as he answers, "He was injured the most during the battle, he had fractured ribs from an earlier encounter with Matoi and now two of his ribs are broken. He is currently at Honnoji medical center."

"And Matoi?"

Nonon answers holding her bruised arm, "She escaped. Even with UPGRADE we weren't enough. Apparently she can still synchronize with Senketsu on some level. Once she synchronized with Senketsu we couldn't defeat her. Forgive us Satsuki sama."

"It is not your fault my elite four, it was expected that her power would have grown since then. Inumata did you find out anything useful during your encounter?"

Inumata pulls a pda out of his pocket and hands it to Satsuki, "when you previously scanned the Kamui while experimenting with Iori Senketsu's total life fiber count was five hundred and forty three." He presses a few buttons on his forearm, "I was able to perform a quick scan during the battle. While I expect this number may be a little smaller than the actual count my scans picked up about five hundred and eighty life fibers active within it."

Satsuki blinks and looks back down at the pda. "You mean that in the four hours that she's been in contact with it the Kamui has regained almost ten percent of it's original fibers?" She stands up and begins walking down the hall with the elite three following her. "At this rate of growth we have a few days at most before he is at full power."

Nonon is handed an ice pack by Satsuki's butler Soroi. "So what happens when Senketsu is complete?"

Satsuki's eyes show the strain of having previously fought in war. The kind of look that lets you know she has no need for another drawn out conflict. "I don't want to find out. Rest my elite four, I'm ending this personally."

Honestly I wasn't planning on having this out for at least another weak, buuut fuck studying am I right? Please review :3