Snipe(Part 2)
Honnoji's hall was choked with the black fog a figure moving through it with deadly intent. Sounds of gloved fists meeting skin echoed through the cloud but when a push of air cleared it out no one was there except for Shinko. He glared about to where Ryuko had been standing not a single sign of her anywhere to be seen.
"Damn where'd she go?" he grit staring down at his Kamui which was just as confused as he was.
'This is strange I would have never expected anyone to get a drop on all of us like that. Ryuko is probably in trouble,' Sentokitsu remarked green eyes examining everything trying to see if anyone was there.
'That explosion came from the outside. Must be that sniper again,' he shouted internally before rushing down the hallway. They had just reconciled losing one as vital to his cause as Ryuko would be crushing to say the least.
"You again?" Ryuko rolled across the tiled floor dodging a strike from the musclebound sniper. Her red heels slid up against the wall as he charged again she spun out of the way and twisted the blade backwards her blind stabbed missed and bit into the concrete as a left hand grazed her face, blood spilled from a newly opened wound running down the right side of her rounded face.' Shit that hurt,' she winced avoiding the next strike and preparing a blow with the Scissor Sword.
'He's versatile more so than anyone else we've fought here,' Senketsu informed as her slash was blocked by a short dagger-like blade that had been removed from the commando's left boot just before impact.
"So what he can't dodge forever!" another slash rained down a pressurized blade of air blasting out from the cut but missing by a hair's width. He charged kicking the blade up from its hanging position before drilling Ryuko across the face with another left jab, a red welt forming seconds later. He threw another punch but it was blocked hastily by a sword swing the metal blocking the blow with a swooshing sound.
'This is bad Ryuko. His skill is putting him above our strength,' the Kamui informed his wearer as a right hand met the blade again pushing her dug in heels back through the tiles.
"Then we just have to hit harder!" She brought the blade up closer delivering a powerful kick that hurled the man across the room and into a stall door. The door was busted from its hinges and the man's back had to be aching but Tsumugu Kinagase did not stay down.
"Matoi!" he screamed running through the hallway closest to Mikisugi's room. Kamui activated senses alerted her still could not find anything that even came close to Ryuko. Students stared at him funny as he pushed every classroom door open trying to find her.
'She's not even on this floor anymore. That smoke was only up for a few seconds how far could they have gotten?' Shinko's Kamui deduced as they stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"Down or up?" he questioned staring at the nearest stairway.
'Down it'd be a lot easier to take her down from the side of the building than up it,' Sentokitsu reminded. With a nod Shinko ran off towards the stairs.
"Damn," she hissed spitting a small trail of blood from her mouth as his right boot found its way into her solar plexus. Three needles then were fired into her back as the same boot pressed against the small of it.
'He's precise. Those shots if I were not protecting you probably would have killed you,' Senketsu sounded frustrated as another kick dove into her gut, air pushing from her lungs.
Kinagase hefted her up and began to go to town. Right hands caught her along the face, her best guard was proving ineffective as the strikes blistered out. When she managed to cover up the right side, a left bashed against the corresponding kidney and began to pelt her open side with heavy blows.
'You can't keep taking these hits Ryuko,' Senketsu reminded again as another heavy blow lifted her from the ground.
'Thwam!' a right hand found its way over the Scissor and into Ryuko's face, bashing her against the bathroom wall. The guy was just that good he managed to implement offense with short ranged shots to the back. Senketsu's fortification was fading out fast with each blow.
"You don't get it that Kamui is using you," another right this time it was caught and bent back as a right knee doubled the larger individual over. Kinagase stumbled back a taste of iron filling his mouth in specks. Tsumugu glared up throwing a violent punch forward, it was caught and twisted back behind him while a boot pushed him away into the wall of the bathroom where they were fighting.
"Shut up! You don't know anything!" the red blade raced up ward but a gun was swung horizontally out and stopped it entirely. Ryuko grit as Tsumugu pushed her backwards into one of the stall doors, which was the only thing keeping her from falling down.
'Ryuko, we have to get out of here. You are running out of blood,' the Kamui commented too late as they were kicked through the door by the bottom of a military-style boot.
"Screw that! This punk is trying to hurt us," she leaped up from the tiled floor and threw a right handed punch, it was caught and the gun's barrel flashed the needle digging into Senketsu's left sleeve as they tried to pull away. Ryuko rolled under the next shot and got into the open portion of the bathroom Scissor Sword raised defensively.
"Are you hurt?" she questioned noticing that the needle was still jabbing out of her left bicep. There was no response as the sniper turned and fired another round, it was marksmen accurate, threading through gap of the Scissor Blade and into Ryuko's chest, in the very little fabric that had been there.
'I'll survive but at this rate we'll be too fatigued to go on,' Senketsu remarked as another flare left the end of the handgun and shot forward. It cut across her hand pinning the glove to the brick wall behind her.
Kinagase frowned drawing back a right hand. It hit her square across her face and opened another small wound, the glove had some sort of razor edging to it. Another caught her abdomen the flesh splitting away there as well, a thin red line dribbling down from it. His gun was aimed now at her other arm which was cradling her stomach. It fired with enough accuracy to throw it against the wall as well the red blade hitting the floor with a low 'clang'.
A right hand burned across her other cheek forming a massive welt and leaving a bloody cut across it as another clip loaded into the semi-automatic weapon. The entire clip emptied pinning her to the wall at every available point of Life Fibers. Kinagase grit as she still struggled to get through the needles.
"See what that Kamui is making you do? You shouldn't be fighting me!" Tsumugu tried to defend his actions but Ryuko pushed on arms tensing with veins as her body leaned slightly forward.
"Blow it out your ass! Senketsu means the world to me, he's my friend, and if you are trying to kill him I'm going to fight you until I can't anymore," her teeth were locked together and the words came out muffled but they carried power. Senketsu on the other hand was feeling deathly weak, the needles were jamming the signals within him.
'I'm Ryuko's friend. She's treating me like a friend!' Senketsu though as she pulled within his confines unfortunately the power was worthless as it was blocked before it could get to her.
"It, not he, is eating you! How long do you think you can go before he'll drain your body dry?" Kinagase reeled back and threw another punch Ryuko's head bobbed and it slammed into the wall behind her a crack running along the impact site.' She's still moving so freely even with so many rounds embedded in her what type of will does she have?' he wondered while his mowhawk bobbed.
Ryuko pulled her left arm free but felt faint her energy suddenly cut in half. Senketsu's sole eye was dulling as she tried to free the other, their connection was barely existent." Senketsu help me out here!" she yelled to her ally but the words came across as far away.
'I can barely hear you Ryuko! Please don't fight anymore!' Senketsu yelled but his words also were muffled by the imaginary distance between them. She struggled and he could do nothing but watch as Tsumugu pointed the end of a gun in her forehead.
"I'm sorry but if you continue to fight on like this. I have no choice but to end you as well," Kinagase's face remained stern, his index finger pulled the trigger
"Ryuko!" Shinko was bolting around the building as fast as he could. That explosion was not enough to destroy her entirely but it was enough to stun both of them. His blue eyes traced where he had been but no one was there the only places he had not checked were unreasonable.
'Why else could she be? This building is large but he could not have gotten across the entirety of it in the eighteen seconds we were in the smoke,' Sentokitsu growled sensing the same anger within the blood of his wearer.
"This floor is our best bet. The only place we haven't checked were the bathrooms," Shinko was tiring, running and blood draining tended to do that.
'She's here somewhere. We should try the nearest bathroom and work our way out.' Sentokitsu-ever the voice of reason-stated coldly as they approached the destroyed hallway, the shattered glass laying helpless on the ground.
There was a click that filled the silent air. A trigger was pushed in against the back of the finger hold, it was that of a gun. Everything stopped as time ticked by in slow-motion, there was something thrusting through the air aimed at someone.
'Damn it! Where are you Ryuko!' his thoughts roared out as the sounds of a gun realigning to the normal configuration rang out. Something happened and it must not have been good as no sound resonated from anywhere in the building. His hands gripped tight against the black gloves covering them.
The first bathroom was obviously not the right location. It had to be another on the fifth floor.
Kinagase's needle tore through something but it was not Ryuko's flesh or any vital part of Senketsu. In fact the Kamui had shed itself from the teen and hung there in the air the hole through its left shoulder growing as the round pushed through.
"W-what are you doing Senketsu?" she mumbled weakened by both blood loss and Tsumugu's vicious assault upon her body. Her eyes were partially closed but she could see that her sailor uniform was position atop her covering up her underwear while at the same time preventing the round from getting anywhere near her milk-colored flesh.
Tsumugu Kinagase took a step back in shock. Never in a hundred years would he expect a Kamui or any formation of Life Fibers to leap from its host and defend it. To the commando's eyes it even appeared that the clothing had taken damage, and felt every bit of it. Senketsu's frame bobbed left and then right but never fell over limply instead, his sole eye locked even deeper upon the sniper ad both sleeves reached for the brown skinned man's neck.
'If you dare touch Ryuko again. I will make you pay!' the words even though bonded to Ryuko had a visible effect on Tsumugu. The mowhawked figure stumble back slightly shocked by the defiance of the clothing currently gripped around his collarbones.
He did not say a word as Ryuko stood up carrying the Scissor Blade, in her underwear none the the less. It glimmered as she reeled back with it, a star shone down the end and then a cut of air threw Kinagase away as Senketsu settled back over his host. He shook it off and raised his sewing gun only to find that it had been cut in two pieces by the precise swing of the massive red sword.
"And that goes for Senketsu too! Hurt him and I'll tear you apart," she grimaced before slumping back down to the ground unconscious. Tsumugu winced standing up, the cut had been stopped by his lattice-mesh shirt, but pain was still there afflicting the area.
He drew another gun and aimed it forward at her the barrel flashing with a silver light. This was a low-blow for a warrior for his caliber, especially if the opponent was a seventeen year old girl. For the greater good the barrel began to lower towards the center of the Kamui, neither of the two had enough energy to move out of the way. The damage was too much for them to handle and a single flare of the gun would end the Kamui's reign.
"Don't," a green slash bisected the gun and it shattered to the floor. Over Tsumugu's shoulder he could make out a figure with short spiky black hair and two eyes that glowed a ghostly blue." If you are against Life Fibers you can't just shoot at a downed person. This school is filled with bigger fish than her, running around try and target Satsuki or Gamagori!" Shinko's blade pointed at Kinagase.
"You're right I should but just have this as fair warning. Kamui are bad and you'll see that soon enough," Kinagase pushed by him and strutted down the hallway dully.
'You aren't chasing him?' Sentokitsu asked realizing that Shinko was focusing on Ryuko's downed frame.
"I can't. You know as well as I do that I don't have the blood left to do it," with those words they de-fused becoming just teen and clothing on said teenager. He walked over softly towards his downed friend.' Ryuko's pulse is so low she really got beat on a lot during the fight,' he had checked her neck for the blood flow thankfully there was something there to read.
'We need to get her somewhere safe,' Sentokitsu stated as his weakened host hefted her up from the ground.
"Let's get going. The apartment they gave me should be good enough," he draped her over his shoulders and began to leave. Well until he made it anywhere down the hallway.
"Ryuko! Oh my god what happened?" Mako had broad eyes staring at her best friend currently unconscious across Shinko's back. Her bowl-cut brunette hair bounced as she inspected the unconscious teen with large eyes.
"Your dad is a doctor, right?" Shinko asked a weakness filling his knees from fatigue. He kept a bold face but internally things were not working as well as they had been, it was obvious that Sentokitsu had depleted his reserves of what energy they had.
"Uh-uh," she nodded as Ryuko began to slip off of Shinko's shoulders. The male fell to a knee and left Ryuko drop off into Mako's hands." Come on I can get you both patched up!" with a high pitched squeal she began to race down the hallway.
'Thank god Ryuko has a friend like you,' Shinko mumbled to himself slowly trotting down the hallway in a near-drained stupor. His body had been fatigued from the prolonged fight with the Painting Club head and running down the hall looking for the red-highlighted teen." Can you hold up for me Sento?" he asked his Kamui as they headed out of the building Mako barely visible in front of them.
'Of course I am not the one tired you are. If you need a rest take one,' Sentokitsu responded honestly as they strolled down the long path to the slums.
Elsewhere...
"You could have told me her Kamui could act independent of her," Tsumugu sighed leaning against the back wall of the room body bearing damage from the struggle. Aikuro looked at his ally with a faint smile as his shirt fell away into nothingness or so it seemed.
"I told you that both of them were unique cases when we had our beer the other day. Be glad that things did not go worst for you," Mikisugi remarked making sure that his windows were locked shut and the blind pulled all the way down." Had either of them wanted to you could not have stopped them," Aikuro leaned back in the couch slightly purple light pulsating from his chest.
"I was trying to do the right thing! Sooner or later Ryuko will realize just how screwed up Life Fibers can be," Tsumugu sighed pulling a cigarette from his belt and lighting it upon the lighting in his other hand. A hazy smoke filled the air quickly as he took a breath in and out.
The two friends stared at each other for a minute or so before either spoke up." He said I should be worried about Satsuki Kiryuin any reason?" the mowhawked renegade spoke softly through the cloud of smoke.
"Satsuki Kiryuin has a Kamui as well one that dwarfs Ryuko and her Kamui like night and day. Or was he talking about the legions of students at her command armed with Two Star Goku Uniforms?" Aikuro was joking as he ran a hand through his slightly curly locks of azure.
"I get it. So our predictions were wrong," his head slumped slightly as both gloved fist clenched." How long do you say we have until they decide to come and find us?"
"A couple weeks at most, unfortunately," Aikuro sighed standing up. He reached to an end table drawer and pulled out another gun, the same kind that Shinko shattered with a sword swing. Kinagase accepted it with a faint smile realizing what this meant." Ride around some to the conquered High School rise up some rebels so when the attacks do happen things aren't one sided."
"Really Aikuro? What are going to be doing in that span of time?" Kinagase quickly turned and tucked the weapon into his now empty holster. The undercover teacher smiled grabbing his shirt and buttoning it back up in a swift movement.
"What I've..." his hair was fluffed up into a graying blue afro and a pair of glasses raised up to cover his calm eyes. He cleared his throat a few times, a 'crank' making his back hunch slightly." Been doing this whole time. Keeping those two on the right path and strengthening both of them so that when it does go down we have hope," his voice was squeaky and meek again, Mister Mikisugi's forte.
"I see. One thing is for sure that Kurosaki kid is a lot stronger than he leads you on. His sword batched one of the alloy-coated guns like it was dough," Kinagase flipped a pair of sunglasses out from his belt throwing them over his strong willed purple eyes. Mikisugi smiled as the sniper headed for the door.
"I know. His father taught him well since he was a kid," Mikisugi remarked stretching slightly. Kinagase turned looking at the teacher with a slight raise in his brow." Don't worry he's on our side."
"He better be, his father was a pain in the ass to be trained by," the door was pushed open and Kinagase exited towards a large black motorcycle hidden behind a few piles of sticks and shrubs.
Satsuki's Room...
The queens palatial room atop Honnoji Academy was abuzz with the sounds of disciplinary action as the two beaten Two Stars were berated by their superior. Nonon was tearing both of them a new one, Sanageyama on the other had was approaching her.
"Lady Satsuki the clubs are failing. I'm going to take on both of them myself just to finish this up," Uzu remarked arrogantly of course still bowing before the heiress with respect. She glanced down at him, as did Junketsu, with intrigue.
"Are you implying that you can defeat Ryuko Matoi?" the Student Council President questioned, bushy right eyebrow raised in an arch. Uzu flipped his green hair back slightly with his left hand before looking back up at her.
"Yes, she embarrassed my entire department here and now I want retribution," he remarked a slight blush appearing along his face, he hated admitting that he was wrong. Especially when Jakuzure was in earshot.
"Interesting," Satsuki took note as Sanageyama rose to a vertical base." You have my permission but do realize if you lose your position as the head of the Athletic Committee will be in jeopardy if not outright taken away," she kept a stern face.
Those words however even made Gamagori flinch, barely a micrometer but still it was a flinch. Sanageyama got a cocky grin and bowed once more for dismissal sake, the kendo staff tied at his belt clicking against the tiles as he did so.
"Don't worry there won't be any need for that. Matoi won't beat me," he smirked arrogantly before heading out to the hallway to plan the upcoming battle.
"Lady Satsuki. Do you believe he is going to defeat Matoi?" Gamagori asked humbly, his massive frame slumped over in a respecting bow.
Satsuki did not answer, she however did keep a smirk until the door slammed shut.
Excitement is in the air as the preparations for a true battle are ready to go down. Sanageyama against Ryuko in two chapters, next will be a little different than that it will actually revolve around Shinko and his Fencing Club.
Thanks for reading guys,
~Herodan