Chaotic Waters Act 2, Chapter 7:Familial Reveal and Karma's Countdown.
Oh, betrayal runs deep, like a knife in the soul,
Each secret unturned, leaves me less whole.
Oh, the truth was a weapon, and love was a game,
In the ashes of loyalty, I ignite my pain.
-17 hours before Recompense-
"Are you sure you won't let us go with you?" Mayu asked, the girl's hand resting on Michiru's hip while she tied her birth form's black hair back into her former trademark braid.
"I'm sure...I don't want you two anywhere near there." Finishing up with her hair, she looked down at her, usually, taller girlfriend."Still...I really don't want to back. Nerima...Nerima isn't home anymore. I don't even really want to see anyone there except Konatsu andmaybeUcchan and Ryoga...come to think of it, I wonder how he's doing?"
"Where the hell am I now?!" Ryoga yelled, looking around the room he found himself in. A startled yelp drew his attention to...a short woman with scarlet skin and white hair?
"Who the, how the fuck did you get in here?!" She asked, her words coming out in a harsh, English accent.
"Am I in Cleveland again?"He wondered, turning his attention back to the room he was in.
A normal, everyday living room. Boring wallpaper, generic grey carpet, basic furniture you could find anywhere. There was also a Tv, plants, paintings, a coffee table laden with cheese puffs and empty cans of energy drinks sat on a coffee table sitting in front of the sofa. Completely normal, nothing unusual at all.
Every fiber of his being was telling him he needed to get the hell out of there.
He turned his attention to the woman and blinked were those...horns growing out of her head? And was that a forked tail swishing in annoyance behind her?
"...definitely not Cleveland. Am I back on that weird island with the witches again?"He wondered. "Sorry youn..." He looked closer at her. Despite her attire of a low-cut top, baggy overalls and a hoodie seeming more appropriate for a teenager like him, shedidappear to be in her early 20's...maybe mid 20's if he were being generous.
The cheese puff dust littered across her mouth didn't help her much though.
"Sorry Ma'am." He said, correcting himself. "But can you tell me where I am?"
The woman's eyes narrowed, she'd definitely caught his slip up. She looked him up and down, her nostrils flaring for just a moment.
Was she...smelling the air?
The woman's eyes widened before she tilted her head, her grey-blue eyes regarding him in confusion and...anticipation?
Ok, his being wasscreamingat him to get the fuck away from this woman.
"Riiight, well I'm just gonna g-"
The woman snapped her fingers and he yelped, only for it to be muffled before the sound had completely left his mouth.
Ropes hanging from the ceiling bound him while something made of cloth filed his mouth, leaving him just enough room to breathe but no more.
"Now how did a living human get in my lair?" The woman wondered, looking him over as she chewed on a long, sharp looking black thumbnail. "Did upper management...no they still think my job is useless." She looked him up and down again. "Computer error maybe?"
He flexed his muscles intending to break apart the ropes like wet tissue, but nothing happened. There was no give, it was like the ropes were made of something much stronger than natural fibers. HE tried to yell at her to let him go but only muffled sounds came out, sounds the woman was clearly ignoring.
"Hmmm...wait...what the fuck is that?" The woman drew back before moving closer to him, grasping his face with her hand, turning it left to right as if she saw something on his face. "Lucifer's perfect norks!How in the fuck did you manage to getthiscursed?! Are you a fucking idiot or did you just piss someone off? For Lucifer's sake who even made this thing? Water based transformation via temperature, misfortune attraction, a dead-man's switch in case the thing is cured, and...is that a damned notice of soul placement?!"
He froze. What had she just said about his soul?
"Where is that placement even...are you fucking kidding me?!" She drew back, a disgusted look on her face. "Why would anyone make a curse to send you there when you die? it's so boooring!"
"Send me where you crazy woman?!" He yelled out incoherently past his gag.
"I'm not crazy, I'm a demon, get it right." The woman snapped with a glare.
The skeptical look he gave her spoke volumes about what he thought about her reply...wait how had she understood him when he was gagged?
"Do you not see how I look?!" She exclaimed, gesturing at her body. "Red skin and a fucking tail aren't things you normally see on a woman dumbass! And before you ask, you aren't the first person who's yelled shit at me while gagged."
Ah, that made sense.
She turned away from him and looked around her room. "Might as well have my fun with you before Upper Management or worse, the big boss lady, realizes you're here...now where did I put that car exhaust?"
"I'll be fine." Michiru said, shaking off the errant thought. and giving Mayu a small peck on the lips.
"I never get used to seeing you taller than me." The class president muttered, shaking her head. "Most of the time my girlfriend's all short and cute."
Heat rose to her cheeks as her hand rested on top of Mayu's, giving it a small squeeze. "Not cute." She mumbled before sighing in contentment as a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
"Well we think you are." Haruka whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "Cuteandbeautiful is what we told you...or are you telling us you forgot last night?"
"I don't think I'lleverforget last night."She thought, her face burning just a little more.
While the three of them hadn't done anything...too strenuous, they had spend a good portion of the night before making out with one another.
Every touch, every kiss from her girlfriends had sent shivers down her spine and made her skin tingle. Even now, she could feel the touch of their hands, of their lips all over her body.
Unfortunately, she'd need to be very careful to avoid getting her shirt damaged, otherwise all of Nerima would be able to see the hickeys those two had left on both of her collarbones and all over her breasts."Never thought I'deverfeel comfortable with people touching me there, let alone kissing."She thought with a blush.
Soft lips pressed against her own as her green eyed girlfriend kissed her gently before drawing back with a smile. "For luck."
Feeling another set of lips press against her neck she groaned, that simmering heat building low inside of her once more. "You know..." Haruka began as the blonde ran her hand up Michiru's side. "I think we could convince her to stay here if we're...persuasive enough."
"Haruka...Hibari's waiting for me downstairs." She whined, even as she tilted her head a little to give the blonde better access.
She could practicallyfeelthe blonde's smile as her girlfriend continued to kiss and nibble at her neck.
"I don't know...I think she's got a point." Mayu purred before sliding her hands under Michiru's shirt, slowly dragging her nails down the cursed girl's back.
A needy whine flew from Michiru's lips, drawing a chuckle from both of her partners who stopped teasing her almost in unison. "You two suck." She mumbled only to pout at the twin peals of laughter that followed.
"Here." Haruka whispered, clasping a delicate dark blue chain around Michiru's neck.
"What's this?" She asked, lifting a small yin-yang pendant at the end of the chain."And why does this pendant look so...familiar? Did Haruka have it back when we were kids?"
"Just something from the both of us." Mayu explained, dragging a finger across the chain. "The chain is from me while the pendant is from Haruka...something to remind you that we're with you, even if it's just in spirit."
"You two didn't have to..." Why was her throat and chest so tight? "I didn't ask you to..."
"We know." Haruka murmured, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "We wanted to."
-15 hours before Recompense-
Ku Lon had been suspicious from the first one.
There had been nothing unusual about them, at first she hadn't even known what it was that had set off warning bells in her brain. Everything seemed normal, they looked and acted like any other customer. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing strange, nothing that should have set off her instincts.
And yet something had triggered them all the same.
She had just made the decision to keep an eye this seemingly innocent customer when another one walked in.
The warning in her head grew louder.
One after one they entered her restaurant, looking like just another lunch rush. Some of them laughed with each other, some of them ate by themselves, some were loud, some were quiet, some of them even looked like they were students skipping school.
And every single one of them was a killer.
The phantom stench of blood in the air grew with each new customer until she could barely smell the spices from the kitchen. She was so focused on the scent of blood that she missed a young blonde girl walk in and sit at a table.
Shedidhowever notice when every single one of the customers tensed and their gaze flicked to the newcomer for half a second.
"So she's in charge."She mused, giving the young girl a side glance."Or at least she thinks she is. I'm not about to let some whelp walk all over me."Using her staff as a pogo stick she bounced over to the girl. "How can I help you?"
The girl paused and looked over the menu that had been placed in front of her before looking up at the older woman. "I don't suppose you serve any Shēng Pu'er...do you?"
"How did she..."Her eyes narrowed sharply. While the Nekohanten didn't serve it, she kept a container of the slowly fermented tea for herself, something her mother had shown her how to make when she had been a child. "...Who are you?"
"Straight to business then." The girl sighed and set the menu down on the table...and then she changed. Not physically, her appearance was the same, but how she held herself, how she moved, even her breathing pattern became cold and ruthless.
It was as if she had become an entirely different person.
"In a moment," The girl began, looking her in the eye. "my sibling and someone they know is going to walk through those doors." She gestured at the front entrance. "When they come in, they have a couple questions for you, questions youwillanswer truthfully."
"I beg your pardon?" She asked, glaring at thechildin front of her."Who does she think she is?"
{"Great-Grandmother, I'm back from-"} She heard her granddaughter start to say in their native language as she walked into the restaurant from outside, only to get cut off by the sound of a dozen handguns being pulled out of hiding places and aimed at the purple haired girl.
Nearly twice as many were now pointed at her.
Absolute silence filled the room as one of the guests, the one who had arrived just before the young girl had and had ordered tea, set his cup in front of the young lady before returning to his seat and drawing his own weapon.
"Thank you Hiro." The girl said, taking a sip from the tea and letting out a pleased murmur. "Your restaurant makes good tea Elder Ku Lon."
"Who. Are. You?" She hissed.
"Ōzora Hibari." The girl answered before taking another sip of her tea. "Heiress of the Ōzora group."
"...and what questions does the Yakuza have for me?" A better question would be what they did to get the yakuza's attention.
Setting the cup on the table, the yakuza princess trailed her finger over the edge of her cup, feeling her finger slide over it's delicate curve. "A long time ago I had some very close friends. We even shared sake cups back then, not that my friends knew what it meant. I doubt they even remember it to be honest, there was a lot that happened not long after."
"Sakazukigoto." She replied. "I am aware of it's significance...you're saying these friends of yours are members of the clan?"
"No...not entirely." The girl sighed and looked up at the ceiling, mild annoyance passing across her face. "Only one of them is an unofficial member, though in his case it's more that we keep the other groups away from him." She picked up her cup, taking another sip. "I'm afraid the others are all...in no position to join the clan in any real capacity." She waved her hand, as if to swipe away what she'd just said. "However, even if they can't, that doesn't mean I won't treat them as my family." She paused, giving the old woman a glare that turned her blood to ice. "And there is nothing I wouldn't do, no line I wouldn't cross, no sin I wouldn't commit for my family."
"...If these...siblings of yours are not clan members, then why are these men pointing guns at me and my great-granddaughter?" She asked.
The blonde snorted and finished her drink, clasping her hands together. "Simple, even if those siblings of mine aren't clan members,I am. Don't you know that Nerima's been a very dangerous place lately." Hibari turned in her seat, giving the purple haired girl behind her a "come here" gesture with her hand. "Why don't you join your Great-grandmother Xian Pu? So long as she answers my sibling's questions and neither of you do anything to make things...difficult, no-one will get hurt."
{"...Great-Grandmother?"} There was a slight tremble in the purple haired girl's voice.
{"Do as she says...for now."} She ordered, shooting her great granddaughter a hard look before turning her gaze back to the blonde welp. "Ask your questions then girl."
"She was right, you really don't listen." The girl muttered, making her eyes narrow.
She? She who?
"Like I said." The child continued, unaware of her thoughts. "All you have to do is answer my sibling's questions, not mine. Speaking of," She turned to look at her subordinate who had handed her the tea. "Hiro?"
"Of course Ma'am." The man said, standing up and giving the girl a small bow before making his way out of the restaurant.
"...Saito?" Hibari asked, making another young man stand and place a second cup of tea in front of her. "Thank you." The girl watched both amazons with a cold gaze while the young man returned to his seat and trained his weapon back on her with an ease that spoke of many hours of practice.
"They obey her without question...no it's more than that, they respect her enough to do what she asks without hesitating and know her well enough to figure out what she wants with her only saying their names."Her hands tightened their grip on her staff."This girl...she's dangerous."
Taking another sip, the blonde closed her eyes, smiling faintly as two teenagers, one boy and one girl entered the restaurant behind Hiro, the man who had left earlier. They were about the same height, though the girl was just slightly taller, dressed in blue jeans and a baggy grey hoodie with the hood up, blocking her view of their face. Both of their ki felt familiar to her, the boy's more so than the girl's, but that would mean she had met them before...
She didn't like this at all.
The shorter one looked around before turning his head to the yakuza princess sitting in front of her. "A bit overboard don't you think Hibari?"
"That voice!"
The boy lifted his hands and pulled down his hood revealing black hair styled into a braid and the face of her son-in-law.
"Airen!" And there went her great-granddaughter.
"If the stories you told me are anything to go by, I didn't bring enough people." The blonde muttered, taking another sip of her tea. "You were the one who told me she can pull chestnuts out of a campfire without getting her hands burnt. Who's to say she can't do the same when it comes to bullets out of thin air? Better to cast as wide a net as possible."
"You're not helping your case any Hibari."Michiru thought, shaking her head before turning to look at the ancient amazon, sliding her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. "Hey Old Ghoul."
The sound of creaking wood reached her ear as the old amazon tightened her grip on her staff again, her eyes narrowing practically into slits. "What are your questions son-in-law?" The old woman growled.
"I just have three." She said, sitting in the seat next to Hibari. "One, is there a way out of your tribe's Kiss of Marriage and the Kiss of Death?"
Wood splintered under her fingers. "There is."
Annoyance surged throughout her entire body."Of course there was a way out of it. Though judging by the look on Shampoo's face she wasn't aware of that."She mused, seeing the purple haired girl look at her great-grandmother in surprise. "Two. What is the way out of the Kiss of Marriage and the Kiss of Death?"
"Beverycareful son-in law." The matriarch growled.
"Shirou?" The Yakuza princess asked, taking another sip of her tea.
An explosion of sound ripped through the restaurant as one of the paintings on the wall gained a bullet hole right through the head of the person painted.
"...In therareevent of a Kiss of Death recipient receives the Kiss of Marriage, the latter cancels out the former." Ku Lon hissed, giving both Michiru and Hibari a scathing look. "The Kiss of Marriage on the other hand can only be annulled by a great service to the tribe."
"A great service...such as defeating the leaders of two rival tribes?" She asked, annoyance seeping into her voice before she waved her hand. "No, don't answer that, I already know. Consider the Kiss of Marriage annulled by your own laws."
{"Great-Grandmother! He can't-"}
{"-I'd listen to what my sibling says Xian Pu."} Hibari interrupted coldly, speaking in the same dialect Michiru had heard in the amazon village. {"Their third question for your Matriarch involves you."}
"...Why am I not surprised you speak Mandarin?" Michiru asked, giving Hibari a deadpan look.
"Because you're smarter than anyone here gives you credit for." The blonde remarked, taking another sip of tea.
Rolling her yes, Michiru turned her head and regarded the old woman before pulling out a sheet of paper. "...Shampoo, do you know what this is?" She asked, keeping her attention locked onto the elder amazon.
"...Why Airen holding paper?" The purple haired girl muttered in broken japanese. "Should take Xian Pu on date instead yes?"
Ignoring her "wife" for the moment, she stared down the old woman. If things were going to go wrong, it would be here. "I got this paper from my boss at work. Turns out him and some friends of his knew about Jusenkyō from one of their kids getting cursed and decided to do some research into the springs." Carefully she watched for anything, the slightest expression, the smallest twitch of muscle, anything that would give her even a moment's warning if the old ghoul decided to attack. "They even researched people who were cursed, when they were born, when they got cursed, that sort of thing."
Cologne blinked in confusion before her face paled in understanding. Rage erupted across her face as veins bulged on the old woman's forehead.
"Seems she's caught on...no going back now."She mused. "My boss was nice enough to let me go through their findings and I found something...interesting. About 19 years ago, someone fell into the Nyannīchuan just like I did."
Hot, angry ki scorched the air as it ripped out of the old woman, her staff exploded from the force of her grip, sending splinters of the ancient wood flying across the room. The old woman's furious gaze did not leave her eyes, even as she landed on the floor. "Besilentson-in-law. There are some lines even demons are afraid to cross." The woman growled, hatred and fury blazing in her eyes.
{"Great-Grandmother?"}
Michiru just stared back with a calm expression, even as her muscles tensed in anticipation of the old woman's wrath. "That person didn't mind her cursed form that much." She continued, keeping her tone level. "In fact, she even got married to a man in one of the local villages a year after she was cursed...a year after that she was pregnant, and with twins at that. Unfortunately, all three of them died in childbirth."
"What this do with Xian Pu?"
"Boy, shut your damn-" Cologne hissed out, before Michiru cut her off.
"-The twins were posthumously named Pa Fum and Xian Pu." She finished coldly.
Silence.
"What...what Airen say?" The younger amazon whispered before rage took over her expression. "You lie! Mother was great warrior born in tribe! Not spring-woman!"
Wordlessly, she she held out the paper to the purple haired girl, watching the elder amazon start take a step forward an instant before a bullet hole appeared in front of her foot. "Read it yourself, there's a chinese translation on the other side."
Growling, Xian Pu snatched the paper, her eyes hesitating on the picture of a woman who looked just like an older version of her before turning it over. Her eyes danced over the words written there, her face growing paler with each word.
{"Xian Pu, don't believe these li-"}
{"Shut up hag!"} Hibari snapped in annoyance. {"How anyone puts up with the stench of your bullshit amazes me, I've barely spoken to you and I know you're full of it."}
"I might not like you very much right now." Michiru admitted, turning her attention to the purple haired girl. "But I wouldn't hide something like this from you."
"...This say all die. So not Xian Pu." The younger amazon said hesitantly.
"Yeah, that's what I thought at first too...until I remembered that thing you did to Akane with that 411 Shampoo." Michiru stood up, glaring down at the older woman.
"The Xi Fa Xiang Gao!" Horrified, Xian Pu turned to look at her great-grandmother. {"What did you do?!"}
{"..."} The old woman ignored her son's child, her hate filled eyes focused solely on Michiru.
"My third question...What really happened with Shampoo's mother?"
"...I see no reason why that is any concern of you-"
Blood splattered across the floor as a bullet flew through the air and grazed the old woman's cheek.
"Answer the question, or the next one goes through your forehead." Hibari stated coldly, holding out a black handgun, a small wisp of smoke rising from the barrel.
"Fine!" The old woman spat, blood dripping down the side of her face. "When my fool of a son decided to accept that outsider's hand instead of the one offered to him by a warrior who had been the champion every year for nearly fifteen years I was furious! I held no contempt for the spring-woman but my son needed to be punished!"
"What did you do?"
The old woman smiled, a cruel glee shining in her eyes. "Why I turned her into something that could no longer cause problems."
"Turned her into something? She already had a Jusenkyō curse, how could you turn her into anything?" Michiru asked.
"You think the pools of sorrow are the only way to alter someone's form? Idiot boy, you saw another way to do it yourself, when that Tendo girl was stripped of the moisture in her body." Ki sparked to life on the old woman's hand as she slowly ran her index finger across the wound on her face. As if by magic, the wound healed where she touched until the only sign that she had ever been wounded was the blood on her collar.
"O...kay I didn't know she could do that."She thought, a bead of sweat sliding down the side of her face."She might be even more dangerous than I thought."
"At first I was just going to turn her into some animal and leave her out in the wild...and then I found out she was pregnant." Sighing, the old matriarch folded her hands into her sleeves, pulling a staff that was identical to the one she had broken from within.
"Mousse's Hidden Weapons too?!"It made sense if she thought about it, the old womanwasthe matriarch of the Amazons."It makes sense she'd know the majority of their techniques."
"Despite the need to discipline my worthless son, bringing harm to an expecting mother is taboo." The old woman said with a frown. "And so I waited, for nine months, for her to give birth."
"...and once she had?" Every gun in the room was pointed at the old woman now, as every other person in the building, aside from the pink haired girl upstairs that few knew about, hung on the old woman's words.
Ku Lon smiled, malicious glee shining in her eyes. "Why I turned her into a doll and gave her to my granddaughter."
{"You...you what? But Great-Grandmother, the only doll you gave me was...!"} Horror formed on the younger amazon's face. {You don't mean that..."}
"Oh but I do, it's exactly what you think." The old woman replied, grinning mercilessly up at her son's daughter.
An anguished scream rent the air as the purple haired girl fell to her knees, her hands digging into the two buns on either side of her head.
"Shampoo?!"
"Oh don't mind her..." The elder amazon said, twirling her new staff lazily. "She's simply remembering her coming of age ceremony. You see, when a young warrior turns 14, they abandon their childhood." The old woman's cruel grin widened. "They do this... bythrowing their favorite toy into a bonfire."