Well here's what you've all been waiting for. The final match, Renka Mikagura Vs. Yagyū Mizuhashi. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Senran Kagura characters. I just own the story and a few Ocs.

Warning: Violence, mild sexual content.

Chapter 29: Now of all times

It was finally time. I sat inside the waiting room as I heard the Overseer call out, "It's time for the final match of the Kohana Tournament! Will Renka Mikagura and Yagyū Mizuhashi come on out?"

I stood up and started to head outside and to the arena. Kat still had not awakened, so I couldn't tell her how far I've made it. I took one step after the other, slowly approaching Yagyū and the blonde that was waiting for me.

Yagyū smirked as I approached, a hand on her hip. "I can't believe you actually came. You must not value your own life or something."

I felt a smirk creeping up on my face to mirror hers, "I'm here to win, for both Kat and Naraku!"

Yagyū huffed, "What, those losers?"

All of a sudden, our overseer let out a high pitched squeal that made me wince, "Kyaaaaa! Please direct any and all verbal abuse at me!" Even Yagyū was shoving a finger into her ears as if in an attempt to plug it.

At that point it hit me, this woman was the same person that spoke to Hibari over the radio about my mom the day of the preliminaries. The woman placed her hands behind her body as she closed her heterochromatic eyes. This chick had the same eyes as Ryōbi but reversed. I had to ask, "Excuse me? But do you know overseer Ryōbi?"

The girl looked at me seriously, "That wasn't an insult."

I shook my head, "I can't just insult my elders like that. It isn't right."

The blonde scowled and muttered, "You're no fun." She then sighed then waved her hand dismissively, "My name is Ryona Hikasa. I'm the twin sister of Ryōbi."

I was so surprised that I blurted out the first thought that hit my mind, "Tw-Twins!? But why are your boobs so much bigger than hers!?"

My hand covered my mother so fast and I felt my face burn in embarrassment. 'Why was that the first thing you noticed' Even Yagyū had that look on her face. But my question earned a chuckle from the blonde, "Yeah, it's hard to believe she's related to me. If it wasn't for the eyes no one would know we're related, or the fact that we're twins."

"Are we done playing friendship? I'd like to get the match started this year," Yagyū hissed through her teeth. "Bunch of chattering slowpokes."

We both took a step away from Ryona, away from the noise that emanated from her. I shared a look with her, and for once we seemed to match the same wavelength at how utterly weird that was.

Once she had calmed down from her… er… outburst, Ryona smiled, "I like her. All right! Here we are at the final match of the tournament! Renka Mikagura vs. Yagyū Mizuhashi! The winner of this fight will be promoted to an Elite on the spot!"

I swallowed hard, 'I'm actually here. If I win this one, I'll not only be an Elite, but I'll be the leader among all five of the Elites.'

Ryona suddenly stated, "Also, if you have any insults or animosity, please direct it all at me, awoooooooooohhh!"

My mind went instantly blank, 'Did this chick just howl,'

Ryona with a slightly red tint on her just shook with anticipation, "Renka Mikagura, are you ready?"

I drew my Rei Tei, "Hell ya!"

Ryona looked to Yagyū, "Yagyū Mizuhashi, are you ready?"

Yagyū nodded without a word. Suddenly a bright blush decorated Ryona's face as she offered another howl, "Oh my god! I'm already so wet right now! Let's get this started! The final match, Renka Mikagura Vs. Yagyū Mizuhashi! Begin!"

I got into my battle stance, I needed to be ready to move at a moment's notice with an opponent like Yagyū. She was probably gonna be one of the most intense Shinobi I was ever gonna face. Looking at Yagyu's face for the first time today, I could not only see her confidence but also the exhaustion of having to fight this many times in so many days. From Daisuke to Kat, to Naraku. Yagyū hasn't had it easy that's for sure. So it's only fitting that she'd be tired. Which meant, I may have an opening to defeat Yagyū.

Suddenly I saw Yagyū sneer. The next thing I knew she was right in front of me. Her index finger making its way to my forehead, "I don't need to expend much strength for you."

My only thought was, 'Was this enough to kill me!?' Before I shot backwards like a bullet with purple lightning around me. "Lucky I activated my lightning speed. Now I can dodge your attacks"

Yagyū sighed, "Forgot you could do that for a minute. I was really hoping for an easy match."

I smirked, "Yeah, well fat chance on that."

I could feel the frustration coming off Yagyū in waves. Now was my chance, I needed to strike while she still felt exhausted. I quickly took off again and started to run in circles around her. I could hear Yagyū sighing in exasperation. She's getting tired of this. I can make my move. I broke off from my circle to attack her but she managed to dodge at the last minute. 'Her reaction speed is slow. I need to keep attacking!'

I then made another attempt at striking her, but she managed to dodge that. So I made several more attempts at hitting her. Yagyū seemed to have finally got tired of the constant attempts, summoned her squid, and started to spin it around with it on top of her umbrella, "Sweeping Tentacles!"

I managed to jump around the flying Tentacles and backed off immediately, staying at what I believed to be out of her range. I needed to not let up. At that moment when Yagyū stopped, I launched punch after punch trying to hit Yagyū with intense strength. Yagyū kept blocking and dodging and trying to strike her own hits against me, to which I dodged effectively. Strike for strike, blow for blow, I didn't even let up. All I needed to do was land a single hit and once that happened my electricity could burrow into her!

Yagyū backed off enough to be out of my range, "I didn't think you could fight at this level!"

I scoffed and gave her a smirk, "Yeah, well get ready cause I'm way stronger than you ever gave me credit for!"

Yagyū scoffed herself, "We'll just have to see!"

I raced at her at max speed trying to hit at her as fast as I could. I put as much of my element as I could into this strike, all I needed to do was connect this strike, but Yagyū however, with her eyes widening and her pupils shrinking to the size of pinheads, saw me coming and put up her hand to block. When my fist connected with Yagyu's hand, I was in for the shock of my life, and so was Yagyū. My element coursed through Yagyu's body, causing her to cry out. I backed off and my voice croaked out before I could stop it, "What... the hell... just happened!?"

I saw that Yagyū's recoiling was awfully slow like she was stuck in slow motion or something. I heard Miss R cry out next from the intercom, "Wait, did Mikagura do what I think she just did!?"

Mr. K spoke next, "She did! Mikagura used her electricity to slow down the signals to Mizuhashi's brain. So she's not gonna be able to move normally till Mikagura's electricity wears off."

I knew if what they were saying were true, then I didn't have much time to act. I gathered up my element into my fist but my leg felt so heavy by the time I tried to move that it buckled and when I threw my fist, something shot out and hit Yagyū causing her to scream in pain!

Miss R yelled out, "What the hell!? What that a… purple fist!?"

I looked at my own fist, shocked and thinking, 'Wait, since when could I?'

I stood up and felt something warm going down my leg, but I charged up more of my Ki thinking, 'If I did it once, then I can do it again.'

I felt my Ki surge through my arms and threw my arms forward in Mach punches, and my element shot out and struck Yagyū. Over and over again, punch after punch, each strike that hit Yagyū damaged her more and more till the blood started coming out with each hit. It wasn't enough though. Yagyū needed to feel the pain both Kat and Naraku felt. I wanted her to feel the pain they felt, otherwise it would never be enough!

I felt my legs give out again and I landed on my hands, blood coming down my arms. I needed to get back up, Yagyū needed to feel pain. I got to my feet one last time and charged up my Ki one last time but this last time I felt pain down my arm as my Ki reached my fist and I threw it one last time. It struck Yagyū straight in the abdomen, my element disintegrating the clothes around her midsection like an unraveling of fibers.

After Yagyū finished crying out, I saw her eyes roll into the back of her head, and her bloody body collapsed to the ground. I just stood there, glued to the spot thinking, 'Did I just do what I think I did?'

I waited for Yagyū to move, still high on adrenaline, but she didn't move. Even Ryona looked surprised and let out a whine, "Aw, what!? It can't be over already! That was too short!"

As I waited for a sign for Yagyū to move, suddenly I felt some kind of sickening energy all around me. It made me sick to my stomach. Suddenly massive amounts of dark purple energy surround Yagyū to the point we didn't see her anymore. My mouth went dry as this… this thing was almost swallowing her up in darkness, "What the actual fuck!?"

The dark purple energy took the shape of an orb. I looked over to Ryona, who was also staring with her mouth and eyes wide open. Suddenly, Yagyu's laughter echoed all around us. It was… more like a cackle than laughter, a cackle that evolved into full belly laughter, a tone so dark that made my hair stand on end and gave me goosebumps all at once. The orb dissipated, and Yagyū stood confidently in front of us in some kind of new outfit. A strange symbol above her navel. I stared in awe, "What's… what the f…"

I was too stunned to get any words out. My eyes fixated on that strange symbol, when I heard Ryona whisper out, "The Sea Goat Symbol."

I looked back at Ryona, "The what!? Sea Goat!?"

Ryona looked at me in disbelief, "You don't know!? The Sea Goat symbol is the astrological sign of the horned goat, Capricorn."

It all hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked at the symbol just above Yagyu's navel, "A shadow mark!?"

I couldn't believe it! I had just heard about this only a few days ago, but now I was staring into the eyes of one of its bearers. At that moment, we were surrounded by the rest of the Shinobi Sailors. Mirai, Hibari, Murakumo, and Ryōbi in front of me. I looked at each of them, "Wait, what're you guys doing!?"

Ryona placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle pull, "Mikagura, stand back. She has a Shadow Mark. Which means she's a part of the organization, The Crimson Shadows. You'd best leave this to law enforcement now."

I took a little step forward, which was probably a bad idea with the way my leg was right now, "What about my match!?"

Ryona bent down and her hand pushed my leg back into place, "You won! You won the moment your opponent revealed that she was a shadow mark bearer. Congratulations!"

Suddenly, Yagyū laughed getting everyone's attention. Weapons appeared in all of the Shinobi Sailor's hands. Mirai summoned a black parasol that had a weapon on the end which she aimed at Yagyū. Ryōbi summoned her long gun and took aim at Yagyū. Murakumo summoned a spear in one hand and a meat cleaver in the other. Ryona summoned what looked like two handguns stuck together in each hand, and finally, Hibari got into her battle position getting ready for a fight.

The air turned thick with tension, and I felt that if I did so much as blinked, I'd be dead. Yagyū looked around to the Shinobi Sailors around her and chuckled. Any heat in the surrounding area was sucked up like a vacuum, as some kind of dark purple ooze leaked out onto the ground around Yagyū. "Do you think any of you scare me?"

Ryōbi aims her gun dead center between Yagyu's eyes, "Bitch, you better be!"

Just as Ryōbi was about to squeeze the trigger, Yagyū just laughed as the ooze spread out around her and even the Shinobi Sailors backed off. Ryona picked me up and brought me to a safe area given my leg and deeming I was unfit to be near the fight. Then Yagyū turned all the ooze straight into ice and lifted it high above the stadium. I looked up as I saw Yagyū laughing, "We are the Crimson Shadows! And we are here for two major goals."

Suddenly four more figures appear behind her with one in the middle in front of Yagyū. They had a microphone and held it up to their hood blocking their face. "Hello to the Shinobi of the Kohana Tournament! I hope we aren't interrupting anything! We are the organization, Crimson Shadows, and we're here to change the Shinobi world as you know it."

Mirai sighed, "Great, we have another wack job!"

Ryōbi then aimed her gun at the leader and fired a shot straight at him, but when it reached its target it disintegrated in an instant. Ryōbi flinched violently, leaning away from her gun and looked at it with an offended look, "How the fuck!?"

The leader looked in Ryobi's direction, "I think you'll find that any and all attacks are useless against me."

Hibari puffed up her cheeks, "But that's impossible."

The leader chuckled, "I believe that you'll find it's quite possible, my dear. For I am the legendary Shinobi from the pages of history! Dōgen Kosugi!"

A collective gasp rang out, deafening amongst the silence. I really didn't get their shock until Hikage-Sensei walked in front of me and pointed at the leader, "That's a load of bullshit and you know it. The real Dōgen Kosugi died hundreds of years ago." Her monotonous voice vibrating overall matter in the stadium.

My jaw dropped, "Whhhaaatttt!?"

The leader, Dōgen, laughed and laid a hand where a heart should be, "I assure you, I am the very one and the same, Dōgen Kosugi. I've come here today, to announce my plan to kill the current Kagura, Sayuri Hanzō!"

I laughed out loud, "Good luck finding her then! Like she'd ever been at dinky proceedings such as these!"

Dōgen chuckled, "On the contrary, Renka Mikagura. She's up there with her granddaughter and her granddaughter's little lover."

I felt my stomach get queasy as I turned and saw Mistress Sayuri with both Asuka and Homura in front of her protecting her. I mentally cursed as Dōgen laughed out loud. Feeling embarrassed, I looked to Hikage-Sensei, "Just who the hell is Dōgen Kosugi anyway?"

Hikage-Sensei glanced my way, "Remember the very first history lesson I gave? About the very first headmaster and Vice headmaster? How they both fought over what type of Shinobi they should teach? Well, Dōgen Kosugi was the very first Vice headmaster that only wanted to teach exclusively evil Shinobi with evil hearts. He's also the founder of the Hebijo house. But he lived over 500 years ago. So there's no way he should be alive today."

I put my finger to my chin, acting like I was in thought. No way was I ever gonna mention that I don't remember the lesson she taught. Suddenly, Hikage-Sensei took off and pulled out her knife from in between her cleavage. Making the leap at Dōgen himself. Hikage-Sensei brought her knife back preparing to make the stab at Dōgen, but Dōgen suddenly lifted his hand into the air, "Now of all times, it begins!"

Suddenly, the air around us filled with heat! This wasn't just any normal heat either with how it clung and moved at the same time, it had to be Ki. Meaning that Dōgen was a fire user. Suddenly, a black fire appeared above Dōgen's hand as he said only one thing, "Hebijo!"

The dark flames took the form of snakes and spun around over the head of its owner. Hikage-Sensei's eyes widened as she saw this, "Impossible."

Hikage-Sensei was heading straight into the black flames until a bird suddenly grabbed Hikage-Sensei and took her off course. A loud whistle came from behind me and the bird was suddenly next to Miss R, or Rin who now had her mask off. Hikage-Sensei stepped into the ground, "Thanks, Rin. I had no way to keep myself from hitting those flames"

Rin sighed holding the upper part of her nose between her eyes, "Yeah I can tell. Please try to be more careful in the future. I'm not always gonna be here to save your ass."

Hikage-Sensei nodded, "Noted."

Rin looked over and took a step forward, "Dōgen is gone!"

I looked up and saw that Rin was right! Dōgen has completely vanished. We were all about to panic until we heard someone yell out, "Asuka!"

We soon found Dōgen choking poor Grand Councilwoman Asuka over near where Mistress Sayuri was. Homura took out her six blades, "Dōgen, release her now you bastard!"

Dōgen lifted Asuka higher and she desperately struggled and choked.

"Dōgen, that's enough!"

We all looked over and saw Mistress Sayuri standing up, her face contorted and glowing with unbridled rage.

Chapter End

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was a lot of fun to type. Get ready for the next three chapters to change things as we know it. Until then, Ayame out!