-What The Tyger Claws Saw-
Kazuo watched his commander's Menpo fly through the air and barely be caught by one of his allies. He knew what was about to happen. They all did.
"Komorebi Izuku," his commander introduced himself to the blood-stained girl "I have some stupid nickname that I don't care for."
The man's sword glinted in the neon lights around them, the metal sheen reflecting a myriad of colours, making it look almost magical.
"Motoko Kusanagi," the girl who'd just executed Musashi replied calmly. "I like to go by Ghost in the Shell, but some of the Tyger Claws that know me call me the Onryo, or Yurei I suppose."
That name... Kazuo recognized it. He was over fifty now, and was always more an observer and general assistant to a group than an actual fighter, but he'd kept a look out for rising stars in the Tyger Claws. And the Onryo, sister of the Oni, was one of them. A skilled stealth expert and highly proficient in blades. He'd seen a few pictures of the results of her handiwork, and heard tales of her spars in Fujimura's dojo, but hadn't seen them himself.
It was a shame she was fighting Komorebi. Now he'd never get to see how she fought.
The man in question gazed at the bodies around her. "Heh. Fitting. You certainly are. I'll try not to kill you, but I can't allow you to resist. Those are my orders."
"When I take your life I'll ensure your family know you died with a blade in your hand," the Onryo responded calmly.
Kazuo's breath hitched at that. Either she didn't know who Komorebi was, or was confident she wouldn't be killed in the first blow. No, she had great control over her body, but wasn't deliberately hiding anything. She really didn't know him.
He readied himself to run forwards after the commander struck. She'd need medical attention.
At the same time the two combatants fell into their stances.
The girl kept both her swords in her hands. But not a short and long sword combination, but two full sized katanas. Niten Ichi-ryū? He'd heard she'd used it, but she wasn't entering a- No, she was. Though the swords were at her sides casually, she was prepared for a strike from anywhere in her field of vision. Her reaction would be slowed slightly, but he knew her arms were chrome. The enhanced speed could make up for the extra distance that needed to be covered. The best option would be to feint at her stronger side to provoke a reaction before transitioning to a strike at her weaker side. Of course that assumed they were much closer together.
The commander immediately entered Sha no Kamae, his blade at his side as if simply watching, similar to the Onryo. But the way his feet were positioned... He was going to use it. His famous technique. The one-strike-one-kill.
Kazuo's eyes were always special. Unenhanced by chrome, but his family always possessed an incredible dynamic vision. And it was because of this pride in his body that he was one of the few in the squad without implanted eyes. And it was also why he was the only one who caught what happened next.
In one instant a passing car's lights flashed across the two fighters' bodies, and in the next the concrete around Komorabi's feet cracked as the man exploded forwards, his form not even a blur to the others. Only those with a Sandevistan, Kereznikov, or specially enhanced vision would catch what occured.
The Shutter Cut.
An attack so fast that, to those without eyes like Kazuo's, it would be like someone had taken two pictures. A shot before, and a shot after, with no indication of what happened in between.
Except Kazuo's eyes began to widen in slow motion as, to his shock, the Onryo's arms came up almost as fast as Komorabi's. Not as fast as his, no, but with so little distance she had to cover comparitavely it was more than enough, and the swordmaster's blade was parried, the girl's arm twisting the blade around and upwards. Then the commander himself was forced to dash backwards as the girl's other arm lashed out, the force of the change in momentum cracking the pavement once more as her blade passed mere millimeters from his skin.
Then they both fell back into normal time, and Kazuo's eyes finally finished widening as both sounds of cracking pavement hit him at nearly the same time. For once it was like the sound of two cameras filling the area, instead of just one.
"She blocked it!" he gasped out a few moments before the others caught on and repeated his words in shock. He instantly recategorized her in his mind, and took the fight far more seriously.
Her eyes were enhanced, he could tell, so she didn't have his vision. The increase in speed... A Sandevistan. Lower grade than Komorabi's, but enough to increase her reaction speed. Useful, and dangerous.
And, now that they were closer together and it wouldn't be as much of an equalizer, she entered a proper stance of her own. A modified Chudan for two swords. Heavily defence focused.
It was the right move. Especially with the skill she had.
"Was that a fluke?" one of the men muttered.
"No," Kazuo responded, drawing the group members' eyes to him. "She saw the Shutter Cut coming and responded. And she parried it perfectly. Were it any of us, we'd have been gutted, if not sliced entirely in half."
A few members considered arguing, but they knew he was an authority on this kind of thing. He wasn't a fighter, but he was definitely a 'watcher'.
"They starting," Kazuo said as the two's feet shifted ever so slightly, the other gang members' eyes snapping forwards a moment before the two exploded into a motion.
And then the dance began. Because that was all it could be called.
Unlike with fists, a normal fight with live steel is measured in bare seconds. A fight going over ten may as well be a long distance run. With extensive chrome thrown into the mix, and both sides fighting conservatively, a fight may go as long as twenty seconds. A marathon.
What the group witnessed could only be equated to a death march.
Komorabi's blade swung forwards faster than any in the group had achieved in sparring. The Onryo's blade swung up and forced her opponent's sword to slide up and over her head. At the same time her other katana slashed through the air fast enough the group could hear the whistle it made. However Komorabi's own blade zig-zagged and came back down towards the girl before her own blade could land, and...
What?
"Wh-What?" one of the onlookers choked out, echoing his thought. "Did her blade just phase through him?"
"And the boss's blade hit her!" another pointed out. "I saw it! It cut her head off! But it's..."
"Are we watching ghosts fight?" a third muttered under his breath.
Kazuo could only shake his head. He was shocked as well, but not for the same reason.
"No," Kazuo declared, the men looking to him for guidance. "They both dodged."
"I saw them both cut each other down!" one of the men argued back. "We all saw it!"
"They should have cut each other down," Kazuo corrected, "if it weren't for their simultaneous counterattacks. And frankly I'm not sure which of them was more frightening in that exchange. This isn't a battle we have any place in. We'd be nothing more but a hindrance."
"B-But what happened?" another of the mooks asked.
"Kusanagi's counterattack was meant to kill, but Komorabi forced her back by attacking. In that single moment when Kusanagi's blade was on its way to the commander's neck, the commander swung his sword at her own. However he aimed only the tip of his blade at her trying to dodge down or to the side could have left him enough leeway to readjust his blow, so moving backwards was her only option. And the slight distance created was just enough that her own cut passed a hair's width from his flesh."
"The commander did that in only a moment?" a man whispered. "He's incredible!"
"And yet Kusanagi matched him," Kazuo scoffed to the surprise of the listeners. "Do you think it's easy to dodge a swing to the throat so easily? Komorabi had to tilt his head to create the extra room, but Kusanagi stayed staring forwards the entire time. No, she didn't move her head at all. Instead, she simply relaxed her leg."
"Did you say she relaxed sir?" an underling muttered. "Like she took a break?"
Kazuo shook his head. "No. She simply lessened the tension in her following leg a fraction, and let her body fall along the path of least resistance. A slight tilt in her axis, and the commander's sword passed through where she was. Then, in the moment after it no longer pointed at her, she tensed her leg once more and returned to her previous position. Both actions happened almost simultaneously, close enough it doesn't matter, and the appearance of them being cut was simply them dodging and returning to their original positions in the same moment."
The group stared at the man, and their eyes fell back on the two sword-masters still swinging their blades.
"S-Sir?" one of them finally asked.
"Yes?" Kazuo grunted.
"If that happened in the first coupe of seconds..." the man shuffled in place, "What's been going on while we've talked?"
Kazuo stared forwards, watching impossible action after impossible action happen one after the other. Some things he had seen before, but only in fights with those with even greater chrome or biological enhancements, and some things he straight up hadn't.
"Are any of you recording this?" he asked back.
"I am," one of the men said, staring forwards with glowing eyes.
"We'll talk when we get back to base," he sighed.
"Thank you mister Yamashita," the group bowed as one, just as the two fighters separated, the commander apparently getting a call.
Of course his promise depended on them making it back to base in the first place. Hopefully that wasn't a call for them to swarm her. After all, he was a watcher, not a fighter.