1,144Chapter 17: Operation Rescue Chiho or Die Trying
*Tsukiumi*
"So, how'd your 'talk' with Minato go?" Uzume teased from her reposed position on the floor I'd tackled her onto at the conclusion of our chase. "I couldn't help but notice you went straight to the bath afterward. Did you get up to something… dirty~?"
"Wench!" I swat at her thigh, enjoying the sound of both the smack and her yelp. That was… that was… "I'm not some cheap harlot to be wooed so easily! Nor…" I trailed off at the remembrance of the feeling of his breath mixing with mine. The firm pressure of his chest against my own. His presence surrounding me as he leaned over me. I turned away, rising from my own position on the floor and feeling the heat bloom in my cheeks. "Nor would I speak of it should anything have occurred. I am a lady."
"Oh? So something did happen?" Uzume smirked, easily seeing through my attempt at obfuscation, before rolling away from another answering swat. Her phone pinged and, now safely out of the reach of easy retaliation, she pulled it out to check it. "You did get pretty handsy with him this morning. Quite bold of you, to be honest. Perhaps our lady is feeling territorial with Kaze-chan around?"
"That is not… I … He… I'll show you, territorial!" I growled, letting the threat abate some of the heat I felt in my face and chest.
"Mmm… pass." Uzume adjusted herself as she unlocked her phone so that I couldn't see the message when she pulled it up. Her pose doused the rest of the lingering feelings. Her 'Asshole' must be making their demands; she was only this secretive whenever they came calling. "I love you babe, don't get me wrong, but there's only one person I want 'claiming my territory' and it isn't you."
"Hmph!" I sniffed, feigning indignance at her crude misinterpretations, and tried to ignore the dark, angry pit in my stomach at her situation. The disgust, at the very least, I didn't need to fake. "Would you be so lucky. Remind me why are we friends again?"
"My magnetic personality, fun-loving attitude, impeccable fashion sense, and delightful sense of humor." She rambled offhand as her phone pinged again in her hands. She scowled and tossed it across the room. "Plus, you want my rocking body-ie!"
She squealed as I hit her in the side of the head with a fist-sized ball of cold water.
"I'm sure." I deadpanned. For good measure, I tossed her bundled-up top from last night at her too. "Make sure you fold that." I scolded her as she struggled to tear the garment from her face.
For my own part, I placed my (already) meticulously folded clothes on top of my hamper and smothered the warm smile that threatened to pull at my lips. Stupid Ashikabi…
"Slave driver…" Uzume grumbled without heat, folding the garment properly and moving on to the rest. In the corner, her phone pinged again, vibrating noisily and angrily against the floor. Then again. And again. Ugh. Speaking of stupid Ashikabi, couldn't her 'Asshole' take a hint? At least Minato wasn't so persistent or ill-mannered!
"Since Miya-san has been busy lately taking care of Kagari-san, if you'd like to accompany me, I thought we might pick up some supplies from the store for her," I spoke over the buzzing device. "Oh, remember that new boutique we saw yesterday? We can stop there afterward."
Despite my wishes for her to engage with me and leave her phone on read, she turned away and stomped over to it with a huff. Were I a less composed woman, I might have cursed or bitten my thumb. I was, however, so I settled for merely sighing. I did not – possibly even could not – understand how she could profess to love someone she was so clearly derogatory towards. Someone who clearly showed the same lack of respect towards her given their brazen demands at weird hours.
That… must just be the unfortunate fate of a winged Sekirei, I supposed, glad that I had thus far managed to avoid such a fate. Though… were I to choose… I shook my head to disperse the thought.
"Uzume, come help me pick out what to wear," I ordered, magnanimously attempting to distract the other Sekirei from her good-for-nothing Ashikabi. I had refined taste and good judgment, but Uzu-chan's sense of fashion was still somehow much better than my own. Though… that might have been to be expected from the sheer volume of clothes, costumes, and accessories stored in her closet.
I wasn't necessarily shopping for anyone but myself and looking good for my own sake wasn't a crime… so I could not be blamed if my new wardrobe just so happened to catch the eye of the male Sahashi. He should rightfully find my form appealing and I merely refrained from holding such acts against him. Hmm, that was an idea…
"Though I do not share Kaze-chan's sense of impropriety –" and I certainly did not! "–perhaps a nice sundress would be flattering as a change of pace. What do you think…" I trailed off as two, delicate fingers drew down the collar of the back of my blouse, sliding down the nape of my neck to the top of my back. The short-trimmed nails just barely trailed against my skin as they halted right where my activation would have been if I had one.
I recognized the touch instantly.
"Uzume…?" I finished my question with a whisper.
"You aren't marked yet…" Uzume confirmed. Somehow… the way she said that sounded mournful. "I'm sorry, Tsu-chan. I'm so sorry."
Why would she be–
I didn't get the chance to properly form the question as the closet came alive. The blouse in my hand lunged for my face and I barely got an arm up in time as it tried to wrap around my head and neck.
"Uzume?!" It was hard to see with my vision blurring – between fighting off the tears welling up and the animated cloth trying to smother me. The distraction was enough for her to get her hands wrapped around my other arm, using it as leverage to pull me to the ground under her. A pair of jeans bound my ankles, and I couldn't kick them off in time before the bedsheets wound around my legs, binding them. "What are you doing?! I thought we were friends?"
My chest hurt. I tried to shriek, but the fabric slowly constricting me swallowed the noise. I tried to knock her off, but the bubble of water lost cohesion before I could pressurize it as Uzume rolled me across the floor through my building attack.
"We are! Forgive me, Tsu-chan." Her words were broken by an ugly sob. She was attacking me, yet she was the one crying? "I don't want to… but I don't have a choice. Please just… just stop struggling."
"I suppose that's one way to get wet." A voice drawled, freezing Uzume and I mid-struggle. Through the good eye not obscured by the shirt wrapped around my face, I could just barely see Kazehana leaning against the open doorway. "Though, normally the goal is to get clothes off, not put more on."
Kaze-chan!
"I won't say I get what's going on, but you might want to rethink what you're doing." The smirk faded from the single digit's face as Kazehana took a step into the room and closed the door behind her. I could feel the way Uzume tensed at the implied threat.
"I mean, not that you'd get very far to begin with, but you might want to take a look over there." She pointed to the window. Despite being sprawled across the floor, our vantage on the second floor of the Izumo provided just enough line of sight to see a peculiar red dot making its way across the rooftops in a direct and unerring course straight for the inn. "I haven't heard the whole story yet, but what I have heard from Matsu is that going any further would be a bad idea. There might be dumber things to do than attack an unwinged Sekirei in front of that bird out there, but most of them involve tequila."
Bird? Did she mean that red dot was a Sekirei? One that was coming here?
"The Disciplinary Squad?" The question about who or why was answered by Uzume's horrified gasp. The Disciplinary Squad?! "Already? How did they… oh no. Her."
The fabric pulling tight against me slumped, falling slack as Uzume withdrew her powers from the animated clothing. Animated cloth… wait… was she…
"You're the Veiled Sekirei…" I couldn't help but hoarsely whisper as it all clicked into place. The late-night calls. The ignominious nickname. How despite nights of searching, even with Matsu's dubious assistance, we had never encountered the Veiled Sekirei… not when Uzume was searching with us. Her stricken, guilty look only confirmed my suspicion. No! There had to be a reason. Something else! Something like – "Your Ashikabi… it's them, isn't it? They're making you do these things! You… Uzu-chan! You don't have to! You can–"
I didn't get a chance to finish as the – infuriating – girl dove for the window and leapt out of the room! The nerve! I wasn't done with her yet!
"Uzume!" I barked, my body giving chase before I even thought about what I was doing. Was going to do. "You get back here now!" My leap after her was awkward, tangled up as I was, and I less jumped and more fell out the open window – the ground quickly rushed up to meet me and pushed any attempt at thinking even further away.
"Sooooo, are you crazy?" Kazehana sighed as she practically floated next to me, following gently in my wake while I plummeted towards the ground. "I'm not sure what you two consider foreplay, but that looked more like an assault to me. Not my cup of tea – er, booze." Somehow, her seemingly lazy flight both managed to keep up and not spill a drop of her carafe. "But to each their own."
"She… it wasn't like that!" I flipped, getting my feet under me before I crashed headfirst into the ground. "She didn't want to!" I believed that. If Uzume had… she never would have gone along with all of my demands and distractions. She wouldn't have claimed to still be my friend. She wouldn't have held back when she attacked me and… and she wouldn't have been crying as she did so. "It's her reprobate Ashikabi who's making her!" Forcing her to run afoul of the Disciplinary Squad, of all things!
"I don't know why she felt she needed to lie to me! To us!" That she felt she couldn't come to me… The impact of hitting the ground stung, but I transferred most of the momentum into my next jump as I shoved off in pursuit. "Whether she likes it or not, I'm going to save my friend!"
In order to do that, however, I had to catch her first! Already she was several rooftops away and just a stone's throw from hitting the outskirts of the city. "Even if only to pound into her skull how recklessly foolish she is!"
"Ugh, make that our friend." Kazehana let out a put-upon sigh. "Fine. Let's go rescue her. Though… I think we might have to be quick on the saving part." She pointed ahead, indicating where the red-clad Sekirei's path diverted away from the Izumo and towards – Uzume!
There was no question that she'd been seen – nor as to their target – as the Disciplinary Squad Sekirei's course adjusted to cut off Uzume's flight and put them on a direct intercept. Judging by the way Uzume's pace slowed to a stop on a distant rooftop, she had noticed as well.
Without cover, she couldn't hide. On her own, she couldn't run. She was trapped and she knew it.
No.
If the other Sekirei reached Uzume then… the phantom pain of a sword piercing my belly told me all I needed to know about what would happen to her if she was caught here. I needed to get to her first. If I could get her and drag her back to the Izumo… maybe we could hide her like that red-headed octopus Matsu? Maybe... no, I was certain that Miya-san would know what to do.
"So, what's the plan – oh?" Kazehana started to ask, but I gathered water from the air, swirling it into a massive ball below me. The water churned and frothed as I increased the pressure of the current – and then released! "Tsukiumi!" Kazehana screeched as the geyser or water propelled me ballistically through the air towards Uzume.
"Tsu-chan?" Uzume turned, just in time to lock eyes with me. "Wh–"
"Uzume!" I collided with her, my momentum carrying us both to the ground and rolling across the rooftop. This time, however, I kept hold of her and pinned her under me, unsure if I wanted to hug her or throttle her.
I did both.
"You! You…you idiot! Fool! Stupid! Brainless!" I shook her – in the futile hope that would rattle some sense into her incredibly dense head – raining down blows as she tried to defend herself. "Coward! Moron! Idiot!"
"You said that one already – ow!" I hit her harder. "Stop! Stop hitting me! I'm sorry!" I stopped but held my hand up in the implicit threat that if her words were unsatisfactory I would hit her again. "Tsukiumi … why?" She whispered when I didn't move to strike her. "I betrayed you… attacked you… why did you follow me?"
"Ow!" She yelped as I found her words lacking.
"For reasons I cannot begin to comprehend, you. Are. My. Friend." I spoke slowly so that even one as dimwitted as her could follow. "So… so you need to take some responsibility." I felt my cheeks warm slightly and the urge to throttle her again rose. "I shall not allow you to get off so easily."
"Tsu-chan…" I glared at her until she shut up.
The muted clap of feet landing on the rooftop sounded as Kazehana landed with us. Right. We were on a time limit. I could take my time in exacting my wroth with her once we were safe.
"Kaze-chan, I got her." I looked up. "Let's–" That wasn't Kazehana. Dispassionate – cold – brown eyes surveyed us both. The red-clad Sekirei stared down at us, the long red cloak flaring behind in her wake as she approached with even, measured steps. I noticed – through long exposure to Uzume, no doubt – that the garment clashed horribly with the white and blue kimono-like dress she wore under it. Chains (of all things) fastened together at her collar kept her from displaying herself like a strumpet.
There was a crest – like an activation crest – of a winged bird in flight marking her forehead, half-hidden behind the brown hair that framed her face. Was she… she was! I'd never seen a Scrapped Number before, but the instinctual revulsion wasn't enough to stop me from pushing myself closer, shielding Uzume behind me. Kazehana gently and soundlessly landed next to me, also partially covering Uzume from the Disciplinary Squad agent as well. A chill wind picked up, sending the loose ends of our clothing aflutter.
"Ah…" She opened her mouth, impassively looking at each of us in turn. "You came from the Izumo Inn." A statement, not a question. "Yet you are not Musubi. Which of you is Uzume?"
"No one." I spat. "Your time is wasted here."
"Who's Uzume?" Kazehana instantly backed me up. "Never heard of her."
"I am." That complete and utter idiot spoke up, pulling herself from my grasp and shoving her way in front of Kazehana and I. "I'm Uzume. Whatever you're here for, these two aren't involved."
Those cold, dead eyes slowly trailed over each of us. Whatever thoughts lay hidden behind those eyes remained inscrutable. I tensed. She didn't have backup. Kazehana and I were both single digits and unless the Black Dog was hiding somewhere, we could take her. Nothing was stopping us from rushing her and dragging Uzume to the safety of the Izumo.
So why didn't she look the least bit intimidated? Three on one, yet the sheer indifference she displayed had the hair on the back of my neck rising. I suppressed a shiver as the temperature seemed to plummet as the sun finally set.
"I am here to deliver a message." From the folds of her garish red coat, she retrieved a slip of paper. "Here." She held it out for Uzume to take. I wasn't sure what the note said, but the moment Uzume glanced at it she gasped, raising her free hand to her mouth in shock.
"Uzume!" I tried to catch her as she fell to her knees. "What did you do?" I glared at the Broken Sekirei.
"I have delivered a message." She ignored me before turning her back, dismissing both myself and Kazehana as not a threat. She crouched to leap away – "Ah..." when she paused, looking over her shoulder. "I forgot. I am supposed to tell you: you may come for her if you would like. We will be waiting."
And then she leapt away, heedless of the broken sob that tore from Uzume's (mostly) collapsed form.
"Uzume…" I shook her, to no response. The note in her hand slipped through her fingers and danced in the wind, fluttering across the rooftop. "Uzume! Enough with the waterworks."
"Minato was right… he has her..." Uzume croaked, looking up at me with tear-filled eyes. I didn't like how… hopeless she looked. An updraft caught the fluttering note, carrying it around and spinning it like a falling leaf, until Kazehana snatched it from the air.
"Who? Who has who?" I chided her softly, cupping her cheek. "I'm sure whatever is wrong cannot be as bad as you think."
Uzume didn't respond but to blubber, burying her face into my embrace as she sobbed.
"For the love of – use your words like a big girl." Kazehana snapped, showing much less patience with Uzume, and brought the note to her face. "What could be so bad that – oh… well fuck."
I looked up as Kazehana held the note – no, the photograph – for me to see. In it was an unremarkable girl propped up in a strange chair with wheels, appearing to be sleeping in front of the table. A half-empty cup of tea and a partially eaten small plate of food were placed in front of her. Across the table from her was someone – I couldn't tell as Kazehana's thumb obscured that side of the photograph, but I didn't need to see them to know what Kazehana was talking about…
… because across from the covered figure was one that I did recognize. There, smiling at the other end of the table, eyes crinkled into slits, was none other than the Black Dog of MBI. Karasuba. The bottom of the photograph was signed with neat and precise handwriting.
Chiho is safe with us. We need to talk.
It was also marked with an address.
"Oh… fuck." The swear word spilled from my lips unbidden. No wonder the Broken Number had been so confident: had Uzume tried to run or fight, her Ashikabi would have been executed by that… that… that…
"I have to go..." Uzume croaked, looking up at me. One of her hands fisted at the hem of my dress. "She can't… she doesn't…I have to go save her…" Her broken tone pulled – no, yanked – at my heartstrings. Damn my altruistic nature! Betrayal or not… I could not allow her to go into certain death by herself.
"Not alone." I tightened my grip around her shoulders, trying to half-pull and half-drag her to her feet. "We shall assist you. By my vow, we shall rescue her." Our fight – and I would be getting my well-deserved vengeance on her – could be put on hold for at least that long. For now… for now, I would help my first and best friend rescue her plain-looking abusive 'asshole'.
"Ugh," I paid little heed as Kazehana let the photo slip through her fingers, upon where the wind took it swiftly out of sight. "He looks like his mother."
*Tsukiumi*
"My Ashikabi… My Chiho has health problems." Uzume started now that we were back in the comfort and safety of our room at the Izumo. I tried to ignore the way I so keenly noticed the difference between how she spoke about her Ashikabi now and the way she'd glare at – or sometimes speak into – her phone at night. "I first met her… the little doofus was looking at the sky from the rooftop of her hospital when I passed by. Practically fell out of her chair to grab me when I was about to leap off and almost dragged us both to the ground."
Slowly, as she talked, she disrobed herself of the sporty outfit she had on and began to pull thick sheets of varying lengths from different parts where they were hidden around the room. One of the smaller ones wrapped around her waist to form a skirt, the fabric twisted and folded over itself to make it secure, and another smaller one similarly wrapped around her chest.
"This was… well, I hadn't been on my own too long before this after having finally escaped from the labs." The Labs? I… my Mo– my adjustor lived out in the countryside and seldom made it into the offices and laboratories at MBI's headquarters. One of my first memories was her driving me out of the city to live with her. I had no experience with the labs under the city.
Kusano and Musubi spoke well of their adjustor, the (in)famous 'Takami-mama', but… in my few talks about the subject with Homura, he never spoke positively about his interactions and Uzu-chan used the word escape. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like for them.
"After that… I don't know. Something caught my interest. I wanted to see her smile again. Every day I'd go visit her with some new costume I'd made or gag trick I'd learned just to try and get her to do it again." Ah, my attention had slipped during Uzume's story. "It was…" She smiled, nostalgically, "they send us out with words of meeting our Destined Ones, but they don't prepare us at all for what that means. Or what to do after we find them. I hadn't even been aware that I was so madly in love with her until one night I burst into tears about it at her bedside."
Ah… my instructions had been to drag my husband-to-be for a proper evaluation back home and send daily pictures of the grandchildren – my children that was – and a warning about the impropriety of unprotected hand-holding.
"At least you lot got some introduction." Kazehana took a deeper quaff of her carafe. "We weren't given the luxury of being introduced to the world slowly."
Ah… that was indeed the case. I was young enough that, sheltered as I was from other Sekirei, I'd still heard from my adjustor about the legendary battle on Kamikura island and the founding of Mid Bio Informatics. Stories of how the first five Sekirei – the original Disciplinary Squad – won the freedom of our species. The sense of pride in knowing not just one, but two of those nigh mythical figures of my childhood warred with… well, actually meeting the lazy alcoholic and the chronically perverted shut-in.
"Kaze-chan, are you not going to change into something to fight in?" While Uzume had been making her own preparations, I had likewise changed out of the cute – er, aesthetically pleasing and ergonomic – dress I'd picked out earlier and changed into my own combat attire of my multilayered dress and coat and my tall leather boots.
"Nah." Kazehana let a single chuckle escape her lips as she brushed her hair back over her shoulder – a well-practiced more that she pulled off fabulously – the inky cascade of hair rippling like a waterfall. I was… in no small way both impressed and jealous of the casual and sensual beauty in the act. "I'm already dressed to kill."
…of course, she ruined the illusion by opening her mouth. She sent a blink-and-you'll-miss-it wink trailing after her words. I sniffed, turning back to fasten my last boot. I, for one, wouldn't be caught dead trying to fight in the purple mini-dress Kaze-chan favored.
It had more holes than fabric, for god's sake.
"Now tell me more about your cute Ashikabi!" The raven-haired Sekirei gushed. "Though, how you went from meeting a sweet girl like that to whatever your nightly antics are seems far-fetched to me. Were I so blessed, well…" I had to look away from Kaze-chan as her smile turned absolutely sinful "I might be having late nights but they wouldn't be outside all alone."
"She's mine, find your own." Uzume glared without (much) heat. The final piece of her ensemble – the series of thick interwoven rolls of cloth – winding around her to form a series of drifting and moving 'arms' or 'wings'. "As for how I ended up like this… I wanted to help her. I said before that she has health problems. Her condition has forced her to practically live in a hospital and… well… her family passed away. She's been all alone, trapped in that tiny room of hers for long before I met her and every day since. To make matters worse… her treatment is very expensive."
"Is she… is she extorting you?" I gasped. That! That!
"What? No!" Uaume balked. "She doesn't know anything about this. As far as she knows, her treatments are being provided by a charitable donation. But… the hospital she's in is owned by another Ashikabi: Higa Izumi. He… if I don't do what he wants, he will stop her treatments." That villain! Blackguard! The vile Ashikabi had tricked me into misplacing my righteous anger. "Before, it was just having me target other Ashikabi and Sekirei and knocking them out of the S-plan but… he sent me this earlier."
On her phone was a picture of an empty hospital bed.
Our dear Chiyo's condition has deteriorated. I have her awaiting her surgery.
I will save her if you deliver to me the unwinged Sekirei you live with, Number 07.
For every Sekirei of the Sahashi children you eliminate, I will pay for her treatments for another six months.
Should she survive, that is.
The clock is ticking.
"I… I'm sorry Tsukiumi but… I had to try to save her." Uzume couldn't meet my eyes… nor could I, hers.
"Hate to bring the mood down further but, she's not at the hospital, right? She's been kidnapped by the Disciplinary Squad. Doesn't that put her condition at risk?" Kazehana brought up an important point – as well as a reminder that we were on a time limit before the plain girl's death resulted in Uzume's. "If she really does need treatment, do we have a plan for that once we rescue her?"
"We should ask Minato." As much as it pained me to admit it… he did save me from a similar fate. Had my perspective not been broadened as a result of living with everyone in the Izumo… I couldn't lie to myself; there was a more than fair possibility that the Disciplinary Squad would have come for me as well. "Matsu has been assisting Miya-san in dealing with Kagari's illness… there may be a chance that she could–"
"No." Uzume cut me off. "I don't want Matsu anywhere near Chiho."
Kazehana and I exchanged a confused glance, and in that moment Uzume made her way back to the windowsill.
"I've given it some thought…" Uzume continued, peering out as dusk settled onto the horizon. "There's no reason why Higa would just…let me – and by extension, Chiho – out from under his thumb. Not to the Disciplinary Squad, where any digging might link my breaking of the rules directly back to his organization. That's not a risk he'd be willing to take. The order to capture you and fight my way out… this was Higa tying up loose ends, to keep me from the Disciplinary Squad's hands. I've been very careful not to leave any trail back to Chiho. Unless this Shirou is some kind of super-cop bloodhound hybrid, there's no way he could have tracked Chiho down without finding me first. Hell, until today, not one of you even knew her name."
She was right. She had mentioned once that her Ashikabi was a girl, but if all her conversations with who I thought was her Ashikabi were really with this Higa person, then I'd never seen or heard her interact with her actual Ashikabi in all the time we'd been rooming together.
"Matsu, however, has known about Chiho since I first moved into the Izumo." Her nails scratched into the paint of the windowsill. "She… has also known I was the Veiled Sekirei for some time." I failed to withhold my shocked gasp. Matsu was the one directing our nightly searches though! "She likes to think she's the smartest one in the room," Uzume scoffed, "but she isn't half as subtle as she thinks she is."
And then she leapt into the darkening sky.
"As if dealing with this weren't complicated enough…" Kazehana shrugged and made to follow Uzume, but before she made it past me, she lay a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Ignoring Uzume's hang-ups for a second, I think you've got the right idea. She might hate it, and I can't speak for Matsu's actions, but you're right. When we come back with Chiho we should tell Minato about her."
"When we come back?" I… my desire to help Uzume in rescuing her wayward Ashikabi warred with my desire to avoid drawing the Sahashi siblings and Miya-san into the conflict. Minato I was sure would throw his lot in with me – with us! – but Yukari… I would not risk causing strife between Minato and the rest of his family.
"Yup." Kazehana smiled as she popped the 'p'. "I have it on the best authority that Minato's parents would help. One, at least, is a good and honorable person. If they were made aware of this Chiho girl's state, they'd move heaven and earth to save her." I couldn't help but be infected by her confidence as she tugged me out the window and into the night sky in Uzume's wake. That was just like Minato. It was good to hear that his parents were good people too.
"The other…" I heard the frown in Kazehana's voice as we caught up to Uzume. "Well, they're competent at least. The personality of a particularly vicious shark though. Still don't get why he… anyway! First, we rescue the damsel and then we'll get her cured. Just watch."
"Indeed!" I would place my faith in our strength and Minato's kind determination. He would help because that was the man he was. The other questions I had could wait till we were all back home. "We shall!"
*Karasuba*
"I will not! 'Kitsu-chan, block the door!" Haihane yelled, trying to push Shirou across to the other side of the apartment. Despite her superior strength as a Sekirei, she was having a surprisingly difficult time actually moving the unresisting human any more than he let her. He must have been tapping into the power of his Sekirei blood. The 'magic' that let him physically equal a full-grown Sekirei.
"Ah…" Akitsu stood in front of the hallway leading to the mostly unused side of the apartment.
"Akitsu, belay that! Haihane, please. It's just temporary." Shirou ineffectively tried to reason with the airheaded Sekirei. "Just until we know if the ritual is successful and she's cured."
"Ah…" Akitsu didn't move from her position.
"No. They're. Mine." Haihane growled, ducking low under Shirou's half-hearted attempt to grab her shoulders and tackle herself into his midsection. To her credit, she pushed him back a few paces this time.
"What is she supposed to do, bleed in the middle of the living room? I don't know how long this will take. Are we supposed to just live around her staked to the floor next to the table like a tent?"
"Yes!" Haihane grunted. "It's my box room, Shirou! How can we return anything if there's blood on the boxes?! Did you even think of that?!"
I rolled my eyes at their asinine antics and returned to refilling Shirou's cup of tea.
"My, they're so lively." Chiho giggled across the table from me. Magnanimously, I refilled her tea as well, only taking her half-eaten biscuit as I did. "Are they always this animated? You must have so much fun together."
"They sure don't shut up." I agreed with the uninvited pest around a mouthful of the treat.
"I hope I'm not causing you any difficulties." She continued under the mistaken impression that I cared or was engaged in the conversation. "If it's too much, I can ask Uzume to take me with her when she gets here."
"That would be–" My eyebrow twitched as Haihane's screeching interrupted me.
"Just stab the floor then Shirou!" She had somehow lost the battle of pushing him away and was now clinging to him with her legs around his middle while her arms braced herself against the walls of the hallway as Shirou staggered under her pulls and jerks. "You burnt a glowing circle into it, how is stabbing it any different? Just conjure up a repairo, magic-man."
"Ah…" Akitsu stood next to both of them, as if unsure which to help, vacillating between each and helping neither.
"I didn't burn a hole in the floor, it's just some powdered silver." Shirou made the mistake of trying to use logic on Haihane. Stupid human, I smirked. "That's not comparable to having a person bleeding at the table. It isn't sanitary nor is it appropriate."
"I really don't want to be a bother…" The bother reiterated.
"You are, but it's hardly your fault." I paused. "No, wait. It is your fault," she looked crestfallen in a way that… was weirdly unpleasant, "but in this case, I'm blaming–" a tingle bloomed into awareness, pulling my attention from the girl and towards the window.
"Karasuba?" Hmph, without even looking at me, the minute shift in my attention was enough to garner Shirou's full and direct attention. Good human.
"Looks like she's on her way." I drawled, enjoying how well his retraining was coming along. The single presence at the edge of my awareness split into three. "With friends. I count three coming our way."
"Three?" Shirou frowned, gently pushing Haihane off him. "I had wondered why she didn't come back with Akitsu…"
"There were two others with her when I delivered the message," Akitsu spoke up. Hm? The tightness in her normally succinct and passive tone highlighted her displeasure. By the tightening of Shirou's eyes, he noticed it as well. "They did not appreciate my presence."
"That's because you don't blink." Not even a month ago, and I would have savagely dug into such an opening with the reminder that she was trash. Garbage. A pale and Scrapped imitation, beneath the notice of true Sekirei. Really twisted the knife in about how she was Broken.
"Ah…" I rolled my eyes as she slowly blinked, mulling over that statement. She didn't have to be smart; she was strong. Strong and followed orders like she was made for it. That… smoothed over her other, obviously glaring defects.
"Karasuba, go make sure it's Uzume?" Shirou requested in response to my raised eyebrow. "If it's someone else…"
He was too polite to say 'and deal with them if it's not', but he didn't need to; he was my Ashikabi. Still, it would do to remind him about ordering me to do anything, regardless of tone. Plus…
"If I go out there, there will be no Sekirei." I challenged him, reminding him exactly who he was dealing with.
"Ah… fair point." He blinked. I wasn't named the Black Dog of MBI without reason – a fact that lesser, weaker Sekirei took an irrational dislike to – right up to the point where I crushed them under my heel. I hid a burgeoning smile of satisfaction behind (his) teacup as he turned away. If those birds weren't strong enough to stand out from under my skirt, they could seethe and despair under my bootheel. "Akitsu, Haihane, would you please go see to our visitors?"
"Ah… yes Ashikabi-sama." Akitsu stiffly – well, more stiffly than usual – walked towards the balcony door.
"This isn't over, Shirou-kun." Haihane followed her partner, walking backwards and making an 'I'm watching you' gesture towards Shirou with her hands the entire way out. "If a single one of my boxes is–"
"I won't touch your boxes without your permission." Shirou's defeated sigh warmed the cockles of my heart as the two slipped out the balcony door. I half expected Haihane to poke her head back through the door to take advantage of Shirou's lapse, but since she didn't…
"As Haihane is not here, allow me to say: phrasing." My comment was rewarded by a scathing glare.
"I'll take that from Haihane, but not from you." I allowed him to snatch his (quite empty) cup out of my hands as he sat heavily down at the table.
I smirked wickedly, opening my mouth to say, "Phras–"
"I know." He interrupted. "I heard it as soon as I said it."
"–ing." I finished anyway, leaning back and swatting away the (failed) attempt to cuff me. Then another after he blocked my retaliatory kick at his ankle. The table rattled, taking a misplaced knee and then an elbow (or several). I threw a biscuit at his head, rolling out from under the table, the treat sailing over his salt-and-cinnamon head as he all but fell over the table after me.
"You two are so cute!" Someone cooed, interrupting us. Ah… the other human was still there. I kneed Shirou in the flank to roll him off me and straightened the creases in my uniform. One of the presences outside was getting closer while the other two (now four) stayed still. The telltale sound of a blender full of gravel going off outside meant that Akitsu was fighting. Either Haihane was coming for backup in the unlikely event she'd leave Akitsu to fight alone, or the target was finally on approach.
Now the fun could begin.
"You're blushing," Shirou whispered as I rose, making me want to kick him again.
"I'll hurt you." I hissed back before walking away. I wasn't retreating, this was merely a pause in the fighting while we had (grudgingly tolerated) company… and, I mused as I grabbed my sword from its resting place, were about to have more.
"Right. I still have a few more things to prepare…" blah blah blah. I tuned out Shirou's droning now that he wasn't doing anything interesting and made my way to the balcony door myself. The still crisp spring night air took the rest of the clinging heat in my neck and face, though did nothing to still the ramping, excited beat of my heart.
A remnant from my near (and assured) victory being interrupted, I told myself, letting the anticipation of the next fight wash through me. One that – judging from how the presence of the incoming Sekirei spiked suddenly – was going to be imminent.
Not that it would really be a fight.
As if summoned, a multi-limbed form crested above the railing, eight bone-white lances reared back as it hung in the air like some horrid flying spider or octopus. Like a gunshot, all eight spears lanced forward and–
My sword cleared its sheath, scything through the bone-white limbs like a thresher through wheat. I didn't care for Iajutsu, leaving that for posers like Mutsu – who thought it made him look 'cool' and 'aloof' – much preferring to swing and put my power into my blows. Still, that arch-bitch Miya had drilled us all in swordsmanship, and my textbook perfect execution cut through all eight limbs in a single blow.
My core pulsed. That same strange stream of energy from the other night followed, coursing through my arms, down my sword, and burst the falling dismembered appendages into clouds of shredded cloth. It was getting easier to conjure – to control – with practice.
Moonlight flashed off the blade as I swung it a second time, just as Uzume – the Veiled Sekirei's veils shorn and tattered – landed on her hands and one knee upon the balcony. She froze, stilling utterly as the blunted back of my blade tickled against the underside of her chin.
Case in point.
"Ah ah ah, little bird." I crooned, smiling at the way her muscles trembled, watching the shiver of fear and disbelief ripple through her. "Breaking into my property? Tut tut. Such blatant disrespect towards the rules leads to… punishments. You don't want to be disciplined, do you?"
"Karasuba." The rule breaker vehemently hissed, but her eyes flickered from me towards the window. Inside, Shirou was gesticulating something to the girl visible through the glass, but with her back turned to it. "If you hurt one hair on her head–"
I twisted the blade, flipping it so the edge cut off her ability to speak lest she open her own throat.
"You would do nothing but die, Number 10." I finished her statement for her. "Make no mistake, you are not here because we want or need you to be. Your presence is only – barely – tolerated because that sad, pathetic little girl asked for you." A slight change in pressure – not enough to break the skin, but enough that she had to painfully tilt her head up towards me if she wanted to keep it that way.
"Your continued existence is only because my Ashikabi has a weakness for sad, pathetic creatures." I let my eyes flick over towards the window. Though I could look into Shirou's eyes as he continued to distract the girl, his gaze held no recognition. We could see in, but they couldn't see out into the darkness. Good. "I do not share that weakness. You will enter through the door, like a proper Sekirei. You will listen to whatever Shirou has to say. You will be respectful." She hissed as the blade dug uncomfortably deeper – just to the point where her flesh shivered but before it parted. "Or this view of your Ashikabi will be your last. Do I make myself clear?"
"I…" That final ember of rebellion died in her eyes as she looked through the window. "Yes. I'll be good."
"You'll be good?" I pressed – though only verbally this time.
"Karasuba… Ma'am." I smiled at the capitulation, my eyes crinkling into pleased slits. The temptation was there to end her anyway, as it always was… but I pulled myself back from the brink… for now.
"Good." I withdrew my sword. "After you – ah… make sure to clean yourself up first." I gestured to her tear-struck face and the… outfit… she was wearing. Torn scraps of cloth and underwear. What, was she trying to steal Haihane's old wardrobe now that she was done with it? If I cut her just a little bit it would complete the look. "We wouldn't want to worry the humans now. That's it."
She rose slowly, wiping her face with the tattered remains of one of her veils before letting it and everything but her bindings fall off her. Eh, good enough. I pushed her through the door first, not quite frog-marching her into the apartment, but the spirit was there.
"Uzume-chan! You're here!" The brat was… Haihane-esc in her excitement as she reached for her Sekirei.
"Chiho!" Uzume rushed forward into her arms, fussing over the little nuisance, and looking her over. It was almost like she didn't trust us or something.
"You good?" Shirou's golden eyes met mine as soon as I stepped back into the light.
"Oh? Were you worried about me?" He wasn't. Though phrased as a question, his tone held not a whiff of concern. Were I weak and desperate like Akitsu or Haihane, I might have preened under the confidence held in his unspoken statement. "I feel all warm and fuzzy."
"That's because you're a demon." He shot back instantly. "And living with you is hell."
"Uzume, I'm fine! I'm fine, see? Stop fussing." The twerp giggled as Uzume looked her over, twisting around her to check and make sure there were no bruises or missing limbs or whatever imagined indignities she may have conjured – all the while glaring at Shirou and myself with the efficacy and intimidation factor of a wet, particularly bedraggled kitten. "Really, I promise."
"I'll be the judge of that." The Sekirei (rightfully) ignored the diminutive Ashikabi, brushing aside the blanket serving as a shawl to see the fresh injection mark on the girl's arm and rounded on us. "What did you do to her? She needs her treatments – medication! If she doesn't get them–"
"Uzume," The girl's tug on Uzume's wrist cut off the annoying tirade, "that's why I asked Mr. Assassin to bring you here."
"Assassin?!" Uzume took a deep – and possibly last – breath, but whatever else the no-longer was about to say was silenced. Not by me, but by her Ashikabi, who – to her credit – pulled Uzume down to her level and turned her head away from Shirou and I before I could remind her of what good manners were. Though…
Huh. As Chiho tucked a lock of stray brown hair behind Uzume's ear, the fight left the rogue Sekirei just as easily as if I'd beaten it out of her.
"Chiho…" I tensed at the timbre of Shirou's sigh, fingers clenching around my scabbard. The quiet creak of the wood went unnoticed.
"Ah, hehehe." The brat giggled nervously. "I meant, Mr. Emiya-san."
"Thank you for that introduction," Shirou said, taking a seat at the kotatsu and gesturing for the rogue Sekirei to take her place across from him. It was only after she was seated that I lounged next to Shirou. On his left, where my draw was uninhibited. "To answer your questions: we no longer have any intention of harming Chiho and are taking great care in trying to manage her condition. To that end, we have secured enough medication to last a few days, and hopefully, in that time one of the treatment options available to us will–"
"Treatment? Chiho belongs in a hospital!" Uzume's hands slammed onto the table, and she was halfway out of her seat before my gaze pierced her just as surely as my sword would. She (wisely) dropped her ass back onto her haunches. "Not practiced on by some back-alley butcher! Or in this case, a mortician!"
"Uzume-chan, stop." Chiho's hand came to rest on top of Uzume's clenched fist. "It's okay. Listen to Mr. Shirou and I… I need to tell you something." Slowly, Uzume's fist uncurled, and her fingers wove around Chiho's, grasping it. "I… I've been keeping something from you. I thought that… that if I didn't tell you about it, it would keep you safe from a side of the world you didn't need to know about." Uzume's breath hitched, and her grip tightened on Chiho's. "The truth about my condition… the reason it's so hard to treat is that it's a curse. Not like that." She interrupted when Uzume opened her mouth to speak. "I mean a literal curse. A magical curse. Magic is real and I am… I was… a Magus." She gave a strange laugh. "Though, with my condition, I doubt I can even claim to be a magic user at this point."
"Magic?" Uzume barked an incredulous laugh. "That's… no. No! Chiho, I've heard this before." Uzume shook her head, turning to glare at Shirou once more. "It's a trick. Instead of doing Higa's dirty work, you'll be the one blackmailing us over Chiho's health? She's a sick girl you mon–"
"Uzume." I didn't even need to raise my voice for her jaw to click audibly shut.
"Thank you, Karasuba." Shirou's golden-brown eyes shone with the promise of violence as they narrowed at Uzume. "Always the hard way then. Alright, allow me a demonstration." Shirou rolled up the sleeve of his right arm to reveal tan skin, touched by the occasional scar. "As you can see, there is nothing up my sleeve. Trace On."
A dagger longer than his forearm flashed into existence, held in the palm of his hand.
"Holy–!" Uzume half-jumped in her seat, rooted only by Chiho's grasp on her arm and my exquisite presence reminding her of her manners. Shirou flipped the dagger, spinning it around his fingers and then his palm in an impressive display of dexterity before letting it vanish in another flash of light.
"Not holy. Magecraft is no miracle." He stated as if that was an explanation. "But it is real. Now then. You mentioned something about Higa." A pleased thrum reverberated through me as Shirou curtly barked the statement. He had his killing voice on. "Explain."
"Uzume." A pale imitation of the switch in demeanor seemed to possess Chiho as well, her eyes snapping fully open, and her voice lost its soft, wispy quality. "How do you know Mr. Izumi?"
The question was punctuated by an ominous silence from outside. I could still sense four Sekirei, so no one had died yet. How peculiar.
"Karasuba." Shirou started, letting his bleeding heart show. "This may be a longer conversation than I expected. Would you please go collect the girls?"
"Tch." I scoffed. He was toeing the line quite a bit tonight. Still, I weighed the options of a quick fight outside or being bored to death by talking now that the magic show had ended and rose. "Fine. The girls should have been done by now. I need to scold them for being so lax."
"Wait, my friends, they're only here because I asked them to help me!" Uzume sent a panicked look my way. When she failed to find what she was looking for in my direction, she turned to Shirou. "They're unwinged. If I just talk to them–"
"I'm afraid that is no longer an option." Shirou interrupted. "We were trying to invite you here clandestinely, but half the Disciplinary Squad fighting in the middle of the city makes that a moot point. There are already two parties that are aware you're the Veiled Sekirei, three if you count MBI."
"Four. My friends outside." Uzume confirmed sheepishly, causing Shirou to nod.
"Four. Given the capabilities that the ones I mentioned have, they know for a fact that you're here meeting with me right now. The moment you entered this apartment alone, you became compromised. If you leave now, they're going to know something is up and start asking questions. They'll come after you and Chiho. More than they already are."
"The other group that wanted to kill me." Chiho's statement drew a sharp inhale from Uzume, who looked over in shock. Shirou nodded.
"Another…?" Uzume trailed off in shock before an impressively furious scowl crossed her face. "Higa. What do we do then?"
"Simple. We play into our reputation." Shirou tapped the table with his finger. "Even if it were smart for you to go convince your friends to stand down, how likely is it that they'd listen after you came and spoke to us alone? While we still held Chiho?" Uzume's silence was predictable and telling. "Exactly. So we're going to do exactly what everyone expects us to do: remove the Veiled Sekirei from the board."
"I…" Uzume looked pained. "If it means Chiho is cured and getting revenge on Higa, then I'm in. I'm used to lying to my friends. Especially for their own good…" She muttered the last part under her breath. "Okay, what do we need to do?"
"Karasuba." My blood thrummed. "Would you please go chase off our guests? Don't hurt them too badly, but make it look good."
"That's really up to them." If they died, they died: I could only hold back so much. "Still, I'll add this to your tab."
"Thank you." His deadpan delivery did nothing to hide his true feelings towards my generosity. "Now then, Uzume. Tell me everything." Shirou said ominously, the dark tone sending a tingle up my spine. The kind that lingered in my sword arm.
*Tsukiumi*
"Heads up girls! Company!" Kazehana called out from ahead of Uzume and I as we leapt across the city skyline. Despite the pace we were traveling, the lazy alcoholic maintained an easy – dare I say gracefully effortless – lead as she barely seemed to need to shift her body at all between kickoffs from rooftops to building sides. Two dots – figures – leapt from the balcony of the high rise we were approaching.
One red. One black. The two shapes – Sekirei – aligned on the rooftop of a building set where the street widened and turned towards the apartment complex and deeper into the city center. Unfortunately, it was also the best landing point to cross the busy street without having to divert along the far end of the road.
It was a statement. The Sekirei of the Disciplinary Squad were signaling that any further into their territory was forbidden without getting through them first.
"That is as good a confirmation as any that we are at the right place." I grimaced. The only thing more obvious would be if one of them carried a sign. "They seem to have set up quite the welcoming party for us as well." Which was… less than ideal for a peaceful solution to rescuing Uzume's Ashikabi – not that that was much of an option when dealing with Minato-kun's older sibling.
Blackguards like him and the Black Dog of MBI did not obtain their reputation nor their body count for being nice and reasonable. Speaking of…
"Is that…her?" I couldn't help but ask. I'd heard the stories but… I'd never actually seen Number 04. I would not admit it aloud – especially not within Kazehana's earshot, lest she drunkenly blab it to the whole city – but the prospect of facing off against the captain of the Disciplinary Squad was… intimidating.
While the tales of her exploits were… colorful, it was widely acknowledged that she is (for now) the second strongest warrior of all Sekirei. That was, second only to the mysterious, legendary, and unknown Number 01.
She was shorter than I'd imagined, however, with equally shorter gray hair. There was something to be said about heroes and expectations, I suppose… it seemed every member of the legendary first Disciplinary Squad held a disappointing reality to them.
"No, she's too short." Kazehana instantly denied. "Plus, the Karasuba I know would never willingly give up the high ground. Keep your eyes peeled for attacks from above; she's a raptor."
I frowned at the bird pun, no matter how accurate it might be.
"Does it matter?" Uzume snarled, leaping past us to take the lead, and descending towards the rooftop the DS Sekirei were waiting on. "They have Chiho and I want her back."
"It does if we want to live through this," Kazehana muttered, but Uzume was already out of earshot. I shared a look with Kazehana and shrugged before following the winged Sekirei down. We landed across the rooftop from the two Disciplinary Squad Sekirei.
"You finally came?" The Karasuba impersonator spoke as soon as we landed, her voice low and raspy. "Took you long enough. Personally, I was starting to question if you even cared about her. How else could you explain leaving an adorable girl like her waiting?"
"You sick bitch." The veils around Uzume writhed in agitation. The loose ends of all of our clothing rustled in the wind that blew suddenly and cold across the rooftop. "Hiding behind a sick little girl. Where is she? What have you done with her?"
"Served her tea and cookies after saving her life." Tired-looking eyes narrowed as the Disciplinary Squad Sekirei mirrored Uzume's aggression. "And where were you? Palling around with your friends while your Ashikabi's life was in danger? I can smell the alcohol from here."
"Erk." My eyes flickered to where Kazehana looked guiltily at her ceramic carafe.
"Playing…" Uzume's voice was as arctic as the wind whipping around the rooftop.
"That's right. A good Sekirei would have been here earlier." She continued. "Would have been in the hospital with her too, instead of relying on us to do your job for you."
"Rely on?" Uzume snarled. "You kidnapped her and are using her as a human shield."
"Uzume." I pulled her a step back before turning my attention to the grey-haired Sekirei. "Attacking or harming an Ashikabi is against the rules. Rules your Ashikabi put into place and were approved by Professor Minaka. Aren't you breaking your own rules by kidnapping Uzume's Ashikabi?"
"Ah…" The Scrapped Number spoke haltingly. "Izumo. Minato. Yukari-chan."
"That's a great point, 'kitsu. You'd have a pretty good point there, if not for her hiding 'neath the skirts of our Ashikabi's family." The grey-haired Sekirei countered. "Oh? Are you mad someone's calling you out on your true colors, Ms. Kettle?"
"That's not…" I trailed off. I wanted to defend Uzume but… but she had attacked me and she did have orders to attack both Minato and Yukari. "Aren't you being hypocrites? I had expected better of representatives of Mid Bio Informatics. Or perhaps it's your Ashikabi's poor influence on you."
"Hypocrites?" Despite the flippant tone, I caught both Sekirei's eyes narrow at the dig towards their violent Ashikabi. "Who cares? We don't make the rules, we just enforce them."
"Haihane…" The Red-clad Sekirei – Kitsu? – murmured.
"Oh yeah. Akitsu's right." The outspoken one – Haihane? – said, as if the singular name were some kind of revelation. "We do make the rules and enforce them. Looks like it sucks to be you, gyaru. Now this is a private party, and neither you nor Ms. Stripper-Dress are invited. Ms. Kettle here is only allowed through by her Ashikabi's request."
"G-gyaru?!" I sputtered.
"What's wrong with my dress?" Kazehana pulled at the bust of her dress, stretching the tight material impossibly further – as if the window needed to be any larger.
"And if I feel you aren't to be trusted?" Uzume's tassels stilled. "What if I don't want them to leave?"
"If that's how you feel, you're more than welcome to leave with them." Haihane drawled, the raspy quality of her voice did nothing to belie the implied threat. "Truthfully, we wouldn't be sad to see you gone."
"Is that so?" Uzume said. "And exactly what do you mean by that?"
"Yeah." Haihane matched Uzume's tone exactly. "What I mean is that Chiho reminds me a lot of our Shirou." That plain-looking girl? What, was she somehow secretly a murderer too? "Too trusting – too good – for the shit he's involved in. For the things that have happened to him." I didn't bother to withhold my snort of disbelief. "If that girl is anything like he is…" There was a muted ka-chunk as three blades shot out of each of her metal armguards, the fixed blades snapping into place. "Well, I'm just wondering if that cute little girl wouldn't be better off without you–"
The stream of pressurized water caught her by surprise, carrying her off her feet – and then off the rooftop – to plummet to the street far down below.
"Tsuikiumi?!" Uzume alone looked surprised.
"What?" I spoke over the nearly deafening crack of ice sprouting up around the Scrapped Number – Kazehana's howling gale of wind buffeting but not breaching the barrier. "It was a boring conversation anyway. Besides–"
"Snicker-snack!"
"Get down!" Uzume shoved me with the long tassels of her veils, pushing us both aside as silver streaked through the air where both our necks had been a moment ago. A black and silver blur – caught the Sekirei I'd launched off the rooftop mid-air, both pairs of three-bladed claws grinding with the sound of steel against steel as they tried to cut through Uzume's cloth.
"Tch." Haihane tsked only to be flung away – then blown back off the rooftop as Kazehana changed focus, only for another wall of ice to erupt at the edge of the roof. Haihane flipped through the air, surprisingly (and annoyingly) nimbly, landing on the wall with both feet. She landed crouched on the ice, fully perpendicular to the rooftop. Her legs uncoiled and she launched herself back into the fray.
"Uzume, go!" I put myself between the cloth-wielder and our assailant. A torrent of water forced Haihane to duck, abandoning her attack and then rolling aside as a second threatened to sweep her off her feet and back off the rooftop. "We'll keep them pinned here and draw out Karasuba."
"What about you two?" Uzume shouted.
A hail of needle-thin shards of ice answered that question, the attack spackling as Kazehana caught the nearly invisible shards in a vortex and smashed them apart.
"Don't worry about us." Kazehana didn't seem to be ruffled in the slightest as she floated above the roof. "If this is all they've got, we'll be done in no time. You go on ahead and rescue your love. We'll catch up when we're done. Go make sure Chiho is safe."
"Right!" Uzume used the veils curled around her like additional arms, the cloth limbs digging into the rooftop and tensing like springs.
"Shame! All that mass and not a lick of brains or muscle to go with it!" Haihane commented, twisting and diving around the coils of water I sent whipping her way as she tried to circle around towards Uzume but was driven off. "I guess it's true what they say about blondes!"
"Ha!" I laughed as Uzume's fake limbs launched her high into the air, sending her soaring away from the fighting. "A pitiful insult from one clearly outclassed." All the other Sekirei could do was dodge and retreat. "Or is that jealousy I hear?"
"Outclassed? Hardly. You're so swollen and ungainly that I almost died laughing watching you tumble through the air to get here. Besides, you girls have no concept of strategy." The smaller girl abandoned her current track and crouched against the ground, readying herself as if to leap once more. "Or teamwork! Akitsu, swap!"
"What?!" I gasped as a spire of ice shot out from under the black-clad Sekirei, launching her ballistically in Uzume's wake on a direct and unseen attack from above–
"Uzume!" I tried to shout but was forced to roll away as the spire of ice snapped clean at the base and launched itself at me.
"No, you don't!" Kazehana cried, flinging herself into the air as well. A crushing visibly churning mass of air slamming into Haihane, knocking her away from Uzume. Somehow, getting spiked down toward the traffic far below still wasn't enough to knock the frustratingly tenacious DS Sekirei out of the fight as it should have. A chunk of ice – conjured and launched by the red-clad Scrapped Number – launched through the air close enough for Haihane to dig her claws in while she flailed. One set of claws found purchase, then the other, her momentum spinning her (and the platform) around a full rotation before she kicked back off, flinging herself back up and toward Kazehana like an angry little rocket.
Only to be buffeted away by another gust of wind.
"If she thinks Kaze-chan will be any easier an opponent than myself or Uzume, she is sorely mistaken." I taunted, turning to face my new opponent. Kazehana clearly had her fight under control, allowing me to put my full focus on the remaining roof-bound enemy. Water welled from the air, curling around me in rivulets and streams. "As shall you be, if you think fighting me will go any better for you."
The Scrapped Number, Akitsu or Kitsu or whatever, didn't bother replying. In fact, she didn't even look my way, her focus completely on where her partner was (or shortly would be) defeated by Kazehana. Her overconfidence (both earlier this afternoon and now) would be her downfall. The water around me churned as I brought it together, the currents forming a pressurized ball, and released!
The high-powered stream cut through the air towards the still unmoving Scrapped Number, freezing halfway towards her and disintegrating under its own momentum into a flurry of snow that fell harmlessly at her feet.
Wha…what?
I tensed as the snow rose, spiraling and re-solidifying into spears of ice. I readied three more separate streams of water and launched them as the spears of ice lanced out into the night… off the rooftop away from me.
My own attacks arced towards the other Sekirei, closing in from three separate angles, hemming her in as they converged. Or… would have if they didn't freeze as soon as they approached within striking distance. Once more, my attacks shattered and reformed – this time into sheets of ice – and were launched away into the city and not at me.
Was she… she was! She was ignoring me, still focused on Kazehana just because she was a lower digit? I stomped my foot. I was a single-digit too!
"You…" I bit my thumb, growling. Fine. Those were just warning shots anyway. It would have been uncouth to show my full power and permanently injure a representative of the company but now… this time I'd wipe her and her insolence from the city, company agent or no!
"If you won't take me seriously, then I'll make you. Let's see how you deal with this." I gathered my focus, streams of water coming together to form a ball. Much like when I launched myself through the air after Uzume, I fed the currents. The ball roiled, frothing white as I condensed it, spiking the pressure even higher. It was – until now – my secret weapon, my trump card with which I planned to beat Homura once and for all. This would be merely a practice run.
"Water Dragon!" I roared. The tsunami burst forth and roared with me, the crest of the wave forming a snarling maw threatening to smash and tear apart the immobile Sekirei with brute crushing force as much as drown her. Frost tried to grow on the edge of the surging dragon, but the raging waters sucked in the shards and ground them away.
Yes! The dragon was too big, too fast for the ice-Sekirei to stop–
CRACK!
–A spike burst out of the side of the dragon, digging into the rooftop with the shriek of tearing concrete. The icicle – a macabre parody of a wing – broke and shattered as it ground against the rooftop, not enough to stop the rampaging deluge… but it was enough to turn it.
The red-clad Sekirei took a single step forward. The Dragon's path curved, dragged by the constantly reforming anchor of ice, and missed its intended target by centimeters. Another wing of ice burst through the dragon's other side as it soared off the rooftop, the crumbling frost and ice ground away from the outside having formed a core in its center.
My stomach dropped as it completed its half circle, water and slush dropping from its form, breaking apart in segments as it froze over and flew towards–
"Kazehana!" I called over the crackling sound of flash-freezing water, looking up at the still-flying Sekirei.
"A little busy!" She called, dropping under a barrage of icy spears trying to impale her from above.
"Swish!" Haihane cried, leaping from under cover of the icy attack, claws extended to catch Kazehana in the middle of her dodge, but Kazehana twirled in mid-air, turning the dip into a wide barrel-roll. "Fuck!" Haihane cursed as her attack went wide and Kazehana rolled to face her. A point black burst of air sent the clawed girl spinning away.
Two chunks of the Dragon split off – one hollowing out and curling around itself like a loop and the other breaking apart in a shower of sharpened spears. Kazehana stabilized in the air and swung one arm wide; a visible current of wind smashing apart the hail of icy death like a backhand from a goddess. One end of the loop caught and swallowed the plummeting Haihane–
"Swish!" Firing her out the other end, using the full force of Kazehana's attack to speed the clawed Sekirei's flight back at Kazehana. For naught, as another burst of air knocked her away. "Dammit!"
"Why don't you stay down!" Kazehana growled, only for the Disciplinary Squad Sekirei pursuing her to land on one of the thin platforms of ice her partner had launched earlier, leaping back into the fight.
"Death!" Haihane cried, stabbing forward and the space between the two airborne Sekirei exploded–
–A shadow in the corner of my eye was all the warning I had. The reflexive curtain of water wasn't enough to deflect the me-sized slab of ice from crashing into my shoulder, however, throwing me to the ground.
"You cannot afford to be distracted." The red-clad bitch chided, not even bothering to look at me even after her attack nearly took my head off. I snarled, straightening from where I'd caught myself against the roof with both hands. The bite of the loose gravel embedded in my palms stung almost as much as her indifference.
How?!
I had to resist the urge to worry my thumbnail. How was she so strong that I, a single digit not only couldn't strike her at all, but she could also support her partner and put another single digit on the backfoot in the terrain of her choice at the same time?! Was it because she was a Scrapped Number? Because she was Broken? Neither of us had an Ashikabi, so that should have put us on the same footing at the very least!
What… what kind of monster was she?
I… despite myself, I wanted that strength. I wanted to be able to stand on my own – to know that my accomplishments, my victories were mine and mine alone. To stand proud and confident… in a way I hadn't for weeks. To no longer feel the trembling in my legs or the sweat pooling in the small of my back. To not feel vulnerable, or weak, or afraid…
Or lonely…
"You look down on me." For the first time in our fight – if it could be called such – she turned to face me. Despite the distance, her emotionless brown eyes locked onto mine. No… no they looked past me. "You think I'm weak." Weak?! What on earth was she talking about? She'd thus far defeated every attempt of mine to hit her without looking! Even now, without taking her eyes away from me, another set of ice chunks rose from the ground, shaping themselves into platforms and spears, and launched off into the sky to assist her partner in harrying Kazehana.
"Because I am unable to fly as high as you are." I rolled away from a simultaneous attack – a line of frost lancing across the rooftop – giving ground as the frost exploded into jagged spears of ice. My high-pressure streams of water were able to deflect them away, but not stop them as completely as they tore at my dress.
It was hard to follow her words, focused more on dodging. As high? Was she… did she think I thought she was weak because she was Broken? Because even if I didn't have an Ashikabi – didn't want one – I still could.
"You are wrong." She continued. I was wrong about a lot of things, apparently! I thought desperately, cutting through a chunk of ice before it could brain me. The almost invisible daggers of ice hidden by the larger attack carved red lines across my arms even as they stripped my sleeves bare as I was forced to shield myself with my arms at the last moment. I had wanted her to take me seriously…
"I can fly as high as anyone." For every step I was forced to cede to her, she took an implacable step forward. She wasn't a Sekirei, she was a force of nature – an inevitable tide of ice, like a living avalanche. "Now that I have found those with whom I belong. Bird."
Bird?
"Ah!" Something smashed into the back of my head, driving me to the ground. I blinked my eyes open, something wet obscuring the vision in my left eye, but my remaining vision let me see the remains of an intricately carved ice sculpture of an owl cracked along the ground next to me.
"Distraction complete." I tried to push myself to my feet – cold! I gasped at the sharp feeling as my hands and feet froze to the ground. All around me, hoarfrost had spread to a thin coating of ice. Ice that was now creeping up my arms and legs from where I was pinned to the ground. I tried to pull myself free, but the ice held fast! The moisture in the air fell down on me before I could shape it, falling onto my back and flash freezing into another growing and thickening layer of ice.
"This is the end." The prison fully swallowed my knees and rounded my shoulders. C-cold. So cold. My breath misted, froze, and fell. It stuck fast to my chest and expanded. I…
I thought, unbidden, of laughing with Uzume as we tried on new clothes. Of playing with Musubi and Yukari in the backyard. Of trying to cover my ears as Matsu tried to corrupt me with unladylike knowledge. Of drinking tea with Miya-san and scolding Kazehana for spiking it when her back was turned. Of braiding Kusano's hair after her bath.
Of Minato's smile…
So… so cold… the ice crept up my neck…
"Got you!" My body jolted, shards of ice flying as Kazehana slammed down onto the roof, breaking my prison like glass and–
"Down A Smash!" The world lurched as she launched us away, just as the spot of the roof we just vacated concaved, a shower of gravel and shards of ice erupting at the impact.
"Tsukiumi, are you okay?" My body jolted abruptly as Kazehana caught me, bleeding off our speed and preventing us from tumbling off the rooftop. One arm was curled loosely around my waist, the other gripping the crook of my arm to help me get my feet back under me.
"T-thank you." I groaned. I was sore and shaken, but alive. "But next time, try catching us instead of rolling us." My skin was already red and raw from where the ice burned. The additional road rash hurt. My black coat was likewise little more than a ragged shawl and the less said about my grey and black (formerly white) dress the better.
"You're such a bitch." My savior groused. Unlike myself, she was pristinely free of damage or grime.
"Damn. Missed." Haihane clucked her tongue as her blades retracted with a mechanical sound, allowing her to rise to her feet in the middle of the spider web of cracks denting the roof. She didn't make any move to further pursue us but… somehow we'd ended up in the same positions we were in at the start of the fight. "She's fast."
"Ah…" The shorter Sekirei was joined by her taller, monstrously strong companion. "Frustrating."
Both Disciplinary Sekirei had their focus on Kazehana.
"This isn't working," Kazehana whispered, taking the unexpected lull as an opportunity to regroup and catch our breaths. "We're right back where we started."
"Worse." I groused. "We're down Uzume and the Scrapped Number keeps turning my attacks against me. I've done nothing but give her ammunition against us."
"I noticed." I didn't take my eyes off our opponents to glare, but I wanted to. "That little twerp's aerial game is good. She overextends, but her recovery is good enough that I can't take her out for long. Our only hope is if Uzume got through or–
Down!" Kazehahana screamed, propelling us bodily through the air. Black, blonde, and grey hair flashed in the moonlight…
…and then we landed with all of the grace of tumbleweed, rolling across the roof.
Locks of two of those three colors splayed and blew across the roof in our wake. Two gentle, almost silent footsteps padded down.
"Ah. Kazehana?" Karasuba straightened, feet coming together as she rose from the recovery pose of her decapitation strike – a strike that nearly earned its moniker. "I didn't expect it to be you." The Black Dog of MBI's voice was smooth, deeper than I'd expected, and almost sultry. "Good thing I missed. I'd have hated to cut our reunion short." She smiled, her eyes crinkling shut, as she flipped her long silver ponytail over her shoulder.
"Karasuba…" Kazehana's whisper was half in anger, half in fear. The expression was quickly wiped off her face, replaced with the veneer of confidence as she rose to her full height. What little material held her bust had finally lost its battle, the tattered remains of her dress only hanging on by the bunched-up, skintight fit at her wide hips. Still… her long black hair was noticeably shorter, the tip where her hair curled at the end cut clean off. "Missed, is it? It isn't like you to hide like that. Too afraid of the last time we tangled to have a standup fight?"
Despite her words, I could see the tightness of her eyes and the way her fingers turned white as they clenched.
"Hardly." Karasuba snorted. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again, you know." I didn't need to be next to her to see the way Kazehana flinched. Judging by the widening of Karasuba's smile, I wasn't the only one to notice either. "In fact, I've been making a point to visit all of the old gang lately. Only one left now."
I gasped. Did she mean that… she killed the others and only Kazehana and Matsu were left. The wind – already cold for the height of the building – sent a shiver down my spine as it blew across the back of my neck. My hair, no longer secure in its own ponytail, blew freely and buffeted my face and shoulders.
"Besides," Karasuba drawled, "you and I both know I don't hide, Kazehana. I was merely delayed by a small matter." She flicked her sword up, resting it off her shoulders. It… it had to be a trick of the light – the illumination from the signs of the city – that lit the blade of her sword red. "Something I had to take care of before I could greet you properly."
Something to…
"Uzume…" My stomach dropped, landing somewhere in the streets below. "What did you do to Uzume?!"
It was only Kazehana's ironclad grip on the remains of my dress that kept me from moving forward more than a step. If… If Karasuba hadn't been waiting, then… that meant that Uzume was…
"Oh? Was that her name?" That…that fucking beast smiled. "I didn't know. I don't bother to ask the names of the dead."
"You!" Kazehana sharply pulled me back, a second arm baring itself against my chest holding me back from wiping that expression off that monster's face. Her eyes cracked open just enough for gray eyes to flick my way before immediately dismissing me.
"Tell you what. I'm in a good mood and feeling generous tonight." Despite her words, her teeth flashed with menace. I snarled in response. "Turn around. Flee and go hide under Miya's coattails, and I'll consider you unaffiliated with the Veiled Sekirei. I'll even postpone our chat till later."
"Tsukiumi, we're leaving." Kazehana ground out, pulling me insistently.
"But… but Uzume…" I started but…
"Now." I sagged, letting Kazehana carry me from the rooftop. The last sight of the three Sekirei before the lip of the roof cut off my line of sight was them turning away. The naked contempt didn't – couldn't – cut as deeply as the knowledge that I was leaving my best friend to die. That I… I wasn't there for her when she was cut down.
*Matsu*
I was still awake when Kazehana and Tsukiumi limped their way over the surrounding houses back to the Izumo Inn, looking much worse for wear. The top of Kazehana's dress was missing and the bottom was slit hallway up her left hip, though other than listlessly floating onward she didn't seem to give much notice to the wardrobe malfunction.
She was practically – and in some instances literally – pulling Tsukiumi along back home. Even if I hadn't witnessed the fight, I wouldn't have needed to guess what happened to put them in such a state. They'd left with Uzume and…
"Tsukiumi! Kazehana! Are you alr – umph!" Minato didn't get much out before the water elementalist full body tackled him onto the deck. Even unplugged from the cameras and monitors scattered around the house, I could hear the unwinged Sekirei's body wracking sobs through the floor. The commotion was enough to startle those not yet sleeping and the noise enough to wake those who were. Yet… even as I heard Miya's, Musubi's, and Yukari's voices join the chorus downstairs, I didn't move.
Couldn't.
Instead, I lay on the floor in the dark of my room. My plan had worked. Tsukiumi was clutching onto Minato. Holding him tight. Kazehana was tiredly, patiently explaining to the other girls the story I already knew. The Izumo was safe. Everything had gone exactly as I had planned…
A packet of information bloomed into awareness. I knew the content of the message before my phone even pinged.
Suspect Eliminated.
Two words. Short and to the point. Uzume's bio tracker was dark. Deactivated. Just like she was. Those two words were all that remained of her – the retrieval canceled due to 'lack of material to recover'. It was my plan that she wouldn't return but… it was because of me that now she never could. I closed my eyes, letting the heartbroken – heart-wrenching – sounds Tsukiumi was making wash over me.
I was no stranger to the feeling of blood on my hands…
… so why did it hurt this time…?
*End*
A/N:
It's interesting to write about Akitsu from a POV not in Shirou's little flock. The girl is just shy of a frigid robot and the ice powers do not help. One reviewer quoted Akitsu's own words of "I'm broken, not stupid", so could she have delivered the photo in a less confrontational manner? Yes. Could she have diffused a good chunk of the misunderstanding? Also yes. Did she care? No. She did what she was asked and knows that Shirou isn't exactly fond of Uzume and thus she isn't exactly fond of her either. Were two, unknown unwinged Sekirei not there, maybe things could have gone differently… but in the end none of them mattered enough to Akitsu for her to care.
In other thoughts… about Homura, Akitsu, Yume, and Tsukiumi. The last single digits. Mid Bio Informatics was definitely playing games with these four. Homura got tuned so that his body morphed uncontrollably to someone else's preferences and his powers were strong but generally unstable. He could have – and arguably should have been a Scrapped Number. It's probably only Takami's interference that he wasn't. Akitsu and Yume are both Scrapped Numbers. Akitsu's powers (canonically freezing six Sekirei and a large area around herself solid instantaneously) are ridiculous, and her mentality is clearly damaged in the process. Whether that was because of or due to what happened to her… who knows? Yume, the only other Scrapped Number, was so strong that even Karasuba couldn't touch her in spars.
And then there is Tsukiumi… who was homeschooled. Strong, yes. But not any stronger than the other Non-Scrapped single digits. If anything, she's the weakest single digit next to Matsu (the sole Mind-Type Single Digit). Uzume at Number 10 is just as strong as Tsukiumi and much more stable than the others, so by the time she was made, MBI had worked the major kinks out of the adjustment process. The twins, 11 and 12 are stronger than most (especially together), but not nearly as strong as any single digit. With the twins as data points, the company had what they needed to fine-tune exactly where they wanted the power level for the S-plan since (outside of Kusano and Shiina) the rest of the Sekirei are about the same.