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Of Butterfly Wings

Chapter Twenty-One: Teamwork

Touya crouched down on the uneven surface of Kagura's feather.

"Can you fly this thing better? I get motion sick!" He growled at the woman. His stomach whirled in disagreement as his head began to throb.

He really hated taking public transportation for this very reason. It was easier for him to just walk everywhere than it was to put up with the motion sickness.

"Don't be such an idiot," Kagura shot back at him. "You can put up with it until the end of the round."

No, he absolutely could not put up with it.

Touya growled beneath his breath. He didn't have time to be arguing right now. He needed to get the drop on the other teams.

"Drop us over the next base. When I use my fire, add your wind to it to create a wall of flames." He commanded, already gathering a large swath of azure fire in his hands. "We drop in from above, seal them in and then snatch their flags when they least expect it."

Kagura rolled her eyes, "Like I wasn't planning that from the beginning!"

He really wished that he could've just teamed up with Kagome alone and been done with it, but beggars couldn't be choosers. So he'd just have to deal with his teammate's terrible personality for the next twelve minutes. Three had already passed since the start of the second round.

Touya's eyes narrowed as they spotted a small makeshift jail cell and a pole with a blue flag attached.

"Now!" He shouted, throwing his flames down at his target. Kagura applied her wind, creating a vortex of blue flames and preventing their opponents from escaping.

Touya leapt off of the feather. He used his quirk to dart forward and snatch the flag from the pole. He paid little heed to the cries of disappointment from the nameless faces around him. He tucked the flag into his pocket and blasted his way back to Kagura's location.

"There's only five teams this round." Kagura explained, "We take enough flags and only our team will be left standing."

His hand grasped the one he'd captured in his pocket, "Kikyou's team won't be that easy to take down. Let's get the others first and knock them out of the way."

Ruby eyes pierced him with a sharp look, "You want her to move onto the next round."

His lips curled up into a vicious smirk, "Like you don't. If she's going to be defeated then I want it to be the most humiliating defeat she could ever possibly experience." His gaze shifted towards her, "So what about you? What'd she do to piss you off?"

The woman's expression hardened, "For Kanna." She pressed on, "Last year Kanna ended up liking a guy from her class. Most people call her creepy because of the way she looks and because of her power, but that guy didn't seem bothered by it at all."

Touya listened as she spoke. Somehow this was all starting to sound familiar.

"Honestly, it was a pretty harmless crush on her side. She didn't even have the courage to confess to him." Her eyes hardened as they come upon their next target. "But Kikyou was dating him and she somehow managed to find out that Kanna liked him. She never even approached him but Kikyou decided that she was going to teach her, her place."

They hovered in the air for a moment, neither of them willing to move.

"The rest of that year Kikyou and all of her lackeys made Kanna's life hell. She stopped talking, shut herself in her room and refused to return to school. It was only by some miracle that I managed to pull her out long enough to take the entrance exam with me." Kagura's voice wavered with the fury she felt. "We were originally assigned to Class A but we managed to convince the teachers to trade our spots out with two students from Class B. So here we are. Still picking up the pieces of Kikyou's bullshit a year later."

His fingers flexed against the soft surface of the feather they were standing on.

"I don't know what happened between Kagome and Kikyou. All I really know is that Kikyou wants her dead." He allowed a large gather of flames to encircle his entire body that time, "Kagome was the only person who accepted me, burns and all. She never called me disgusting or pitied me. So if Kikyou is trying to hurt her, then I'll return that pain a hundred fold. It's as simple as that."

Kagura's lips curled up into a sneer, "You sound like a simp."

Touya shot her a disgruntled look, "Do you have to be so condescending? Besides, I think you've got that backwards."

His teammate gave a hearty laugh, "Oh how you're wrong about that! Besides you did throw her over your back and carry her through the entire first round." Her sneer grew sharper yet, "You do realize that people are going to be talking about that for years to come, right? You two actually have fans now. How nice it must be to know that people actually ship your relationship."

His brow twitched in irritation.

"Just shut up and help me with this!" He leapt off from the feather once more and dove down towards their unsuspecting targets. His face felt unbearably warm as Kagura's words echoed in his head.

People shipped them.

Touya roughly shook the thought from his mind. As with before, he focused his attention on snatching the flag from its pole and returning to the feather.

By the time he'd reached her, Kagura was already in a fit of laughter—teasing him further about the crowd now cheering for his and Kagome's relationship.

"We're heading back to base." Touya growled under his breath.

"What you don't want to go for the third?" Her tone was haughty, taunting him for wanting to return to his girlfriend's side so soon.

"Just think about it. Kikyou's team has probably already snagged that one since it's next to their territory. We've got two extras so it'd be better to play a defensive strategy for the last five minutes." Touya shot back at her.

All of what he said was true but there was also the risk of Kikyou going after Kagome. She could either lay low this round and wait for the final one-on-one battles to get at her, or she would try to knock her out of the fight as early as possible. He didn't want to make the mistake of assuming she'd keep her head down.

"Simp." Kagura insulted him again.

Touya simply rolled his eyes, "At least I got a girl."

That was more than what he could say for her.

The two of them sailed back over the remainder of the course. His heart thundered in his chest as anxiety began to creep into his thoughts.

Had they struck while he and Kagura were gone? Had Kanna been strong enough to protect Kagome if they had? Was she safe right now?

He splayed his palms out behind him as he blasted another large wave of flames, forcing the feather to move at a much faster rate.

There were only five minutes left and he was going to make the most of them.