The next day, Akira, Mitsuki, Genzo, Anju and Miki gathered together
just outside of the Kiryu training grounds. It was time, for their
great journey, in which they would travel across Juukumei, from town
to town, in search of the six devils. They knew it wouldn’t be easy,
and there was a good chance that they could die trying, but it didn’t
shake their determination.
Mitsuki was next to Akira, the both of them leaning in on the outer
walls, Anju was next Miki, talking absently to her, whilst they
awaited Genzo’s arrival. After a short wait, the large doors to the
Kiryu training ground opened up. Genzo walked through, and marched up
to Akira. Akira and Mitsuki looked back at him, but his attention was
on Akira.
“Are you ready?” Genzo said firmly. Akira nodded to Genzo.
“Yes sir.”
Genzo nodded and looked across to Miki and Anju.
“We are moving out. First we will leave Zaakumaikyuu, then we will
travel towards Soryu village. There has been a devil sighting there.”
Genzo yelled. Anju just smirked and nudged at Miki.
“So this is it, huh? The lowly mortals take on gods?”
Miki sighed. “If you are not up to it you can just leave. We all know
how loyal a mercenary can be.”
“No way! Somebody has gotta protect the six devils from *you*,
sweetie!”
Frustration took over as Miki scowled at Anju, and walked away in
disapproval. The five then walked away from the Kiryu training ground
and made their way to the outside of Zaakumaikyuu.
**********
The Heaven Slayers went out of the city of Zaakumaikyuu, and were
currently travelling across the Heichi grasslands. These areas were
safe, and many people used to travel across it in the old days, before
the Great Quake. While the group we walking, Mitsuki looked at Akira
with a growing worry. Akira seemed really preoccupied these days.
Mitsuki could understand it, but she really missed talking to Akira
about the little things. That was the closest she ever got to Akira
right now. Bashfully, Mitsuki edged over to Akira, and playfully
tapped her on the shoulder.
Akira looked back at Mitsuki but said nothing, just kept walking, and
let out a small smile at her.
“Is something wrong, Mitsuki?” Akira asked.
“No, um...it’s just, you’ve been...kinda tense and distant these days.
I...think you should be...taking it easier.”
Akira beamed at Mitsuki’s concern for her. She really was a good
friend. And if she had been ignoring Mitsuki, it wasn’t because she
wanted to; it was just that, all of this business with the six
devils...
“I just have had a lot of things to deal with lately. You know, my
knighthood, the journey...I guess I’ve been a little dejected, huh?”
Mitsuki’s face took on a serious note, one that contradicted her
bubbly personality.
“No way Akira! You shouldn’t feel bad about it! You have a lot to
worry about, so somebody as wonderful as you must not feel bad!”
Akira looked confused for a second, but laughed it off.
“Somebody as ‘wonderful’ as me? You sure say some weird things,
Mitsuki.” Akira said playfully.
Mitsuki’s gaze became starry, as she and Akira stopped walking.
“But it’s true...you are wonderful...”
Akira giggled again. “You better watch out, Mitsuki! Keep talking like
that and you’re liable to give Kai the wrong idea!”
As soon as Akira said that, Mitsuki’s starry gaze broke, her sweet
smile transforming into a frown.
“Kai? But wait a minute, I-“
Before Mitsuki could finish, Anju yelled out to the rest of the team.
“Guys, take a look at this.”
Miki, Mitsuki, Akira and Genzo all ran towards Anju to see what it was
that he called them for, and the only thing that could be heard was a
disturbed yelp from Mitsuki, as they had run across a rotting corpse.
Genzo kneeled down and inspected it a bit closer. Its flesh had long
since stared to decompose, and what few rags it had on were torn up
and shredded. Its ribcage had been opened up somehow, and a thick
layer of flies and insects were crawling around inside it, clinging to
the few decaying scraps of the corpse’s intestines.
Genzo took a piece of the dead flesh into his hand and rubbed it
accordingly, as if to judge something.
“Well...he’s been dead for a while. It probably means that the devil
has moved on after feeding for a bit. That means I’ll be near Soryu
village. We need to move quickly.”
Miki looked at the corpse with a growing concern. The Heichi
grasslands were considered safe territory, as safe as the walls of
Zaakumaikyuu.
“So not even the grasslands are safe.” Miki said.
Anju didn’t seem surprised. “That confuses you? These lands are
perfect for them. With all the humans they can feed on and a quick
move east to the mountains as good cover, this is the ideal place for
them.”
“Does that mean, that the people of Soryu village are in danger?”
Mitsuki asked. Akira nodded.
“Yes. We will need to destroy it soon, otherwise more people could end
up like this poor guy.”
Genzo stood up and began to walk again. “Then lets go.”
**********
The Heaven Slayers made their way through the Heichi grasslands, and
after a while, they reached Soryu village. Apart from the dead body
that they found, there was not indication of a devil nearby. Anju’s
earlier comment about it retreating into the mountains had started to
make sense. They decided that hunting it could wait until tomorrow, so
the gang hired some rooms at Soryu village’s Tsukiyo Inn. Genzo, Miki
and Anju had all chosen separate rooms to sleep in, however Mitsuki
had request that she share a room with Akira. Akira didn’t mind
though, so she allowed it. The two of them were just walking back from
the meal they had had with the others. Akira looked across at Mitsuki
as they neared their room. She was quiet at dinner.
{Seeing that dead body must have shaken her.} Akira thought.
“Mitsuki, are you all right? You seem a little...”
Mitsuki looked up at Akira as she trailed off. Something was bothering
her but she couldn’t let Akira know how she felt about that.
“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Akira smiled gently to herself. “I always do.”
Mitsuki smiled to herself also. “I worry about you a lot too.”
Akira and Mitsuki reached the door for them, no.16, and Akira
carefully opened the door. The room was moderately decorated, with a
few cute figurines on the walls, and a large bed on the far wall.
Mitsuki sighed tiredly and walked over to the bed, collapsing over it
with a badly rendered act of exhaustion. Akira laughed as Mitsuki
yawned noisily.
“You cannot be that tired, can you?”
Mitsuki leaned up and looked at Akira confusedly.
“Are you kidding? We just pulled a six-mile trip from Zaakumaikyuu to
Soryu and yet you ask me if I’m tired?”
Akira laughed at that and slowly began to undo her clothes as she
giggled. Suddenly, the heat in the room seemed to rise and Mitsuki
felt her blood boil. Quickly she looked away from Akira’s now half
naked body, trying desperately to ignore the feverish glow on her
cheeks.
“What are you doing?” Mitsuki asked quickly.
Akira didn’t look back at Mitsuki, rather she continued to undress.
“I’m changing. Did the Order make that illegal?”
The blonde gripped the bed sheets tightly. “No...but...”
After a last strain of effort, Akira pulled off the last of her
clothes, save for her bra and panties, and lay down on the bed, next
to an incredulous Mitsuki.
“You know you can’t sleep like that Mitsuki,” Akira said as she
climbed under the sheets. “You’ll ruin your clothes.”
Mitsuki blushed harder, but she forced herself to ignore Akira’s body.
But was just so hard for the young healer. Akira was always
phenomenally beautiful. Even though she was a warrior, she still
maintained her femininity. The only difference was that Akira was a
little less...discrete with her body then other women.
The blonde sighed nervously again and slowly began to change out of
her clothes. Mitsuki then slipped under the covers and lay down
quietly. This all felt so weird. She thought that it was a good idea
to share a room with Akira, but now it seemed like a mistake. But what
was the big deal? She had seen Akira in that fashion a thousand times,
but now...
Later on that night, neither Akira nor Mitsuki could sleep. Mitsuki
just kept rustling in the bed, occasionally bumping into Akira.
Despite the largeness of the bed, they somehow found a way to be next
to each other. Mitsuki didn’t know if Akira was as uncomfortable as
she was but she got the feeling that Akira didn’t seem to care. After
Mitsuki managed to settle in a good position, Akira said something.
“Are you going to marry Kai?”
Mitsuki’s sapphire eyes widened when Akira said that.
“Where did that come from?” Mitsuki said awkwardly.
“Well...are you?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Do you...love him?”
Mitsuki took caution in answering that. “...No.”
“So why are you-“
“My grandfather wants me to. That’s the only reason.”
Akira didn’t respond immediately. “I see.”
“I hate the way he’s always making my decisions for me.”
Akira chuckled to herself dryly, confusing Mitsuki. Her situation with
Genzo was not a laughing matter.
“You should value master Kiryu.” Akira said.
“Why?”
“Because he is your family. I don’t have any family left.”
Mitsuki gasped when she realized that she might have stuck her foot in
it. Akira didn’t have any family left in the world. Her father had
died in the final battle with the Tenshi-jin so Genzo had taken her
under her wing at Zaakumaikyuu. And here Mitsuki was, complaining
about her own family.
“I’m... sorry Akira.” Mitsuki said apologetically.
“It’s okay.”
“So...what happened to your mother?”
Akira’s voice became distant. “I don’t know. She disappeared thirteen
years ago.”
“...You’ll find her one day.”
Unexpectedly, Akira began to laugh at what Mitsuki just said to her.
“What is so funny?” Mitsuki asked.
“Some would call you naïve Mitsuki, but I think it’s cute.”
Mitsuki smiled to herself again, a faint blush sprinkling across her
cheeks. “You think I’m...cute?”
“Of course.”
This time Mitsuki was not satisfied with just hearing Akira’s voice,
so she turned over to face her.
“...Akira...I think you’re cute too...Akira?”
Akira did not hear Mitsuki at all, because she was asleep. Mitsuki
just sighed and stared at Akira for a bit. She did love Akira, but the
young knight either didn’t care or didn’t notice. She wanted to scream
out to the world that she was in love with Akira Kusagana, but so many
things just stood in the way.
The young healer sighed wistfully, and turned over again to face away
from Akira, and faded away in to a light sleep.
**********
Nothingness.
Emptiness.
{Akira...}
Akira felt herself floating in a ostensibly endless void, no light or
darkness, she was aware of nothing around her, accept a distant but
palpable voice of a mature woman, calling out to her, sharply but in a
weird way, almost...lovingly.
Akira could not see anything. “Who are you?”
{Akira.}
“I said who are you?”
{Ryuma...}
“What?”
{You must beware of Ryuma...}
“Are you insane? Who are you? Answer me!”
{Ryuma is very dangerous, Akira. He will destroy you.}
“Don’t be ridiculous. Ryuma is a great hero. Why should I fear him and
then trust you?”
{I can’t answer your questions here. Come to me...come to Tundrana.}
**********
Akira’s head shot up in blind fear, quickly observing her current
surroundings to make sure that that was only a dream. It was. She was
in her room, in bed, next to a sleeping Mitsuki. The young warrior
eased a bit, taking the time to rub the traces of sweat that were
trickling down her face.
{Ryuma...a danger?} Akira thought.
**********
“We haven’t had much a chance to talk, have we?”
Anju looked across the quietly decorated room to Miki. They really
hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to each other since yesterday. And
they did have a lot to talk about. Anju was anxious to talk out what
was clearly there between the two of them. However Miki was not as
willing.
Miki was at the window, looking out into the starry night sky, her
back to Anju.
“To talk about what?” Miki asked.
Anju sighed and stepped a little closer to Miki. “About us.”
“There is no ‘us’.”
As Miki said that, two arms wound around her slender waist. Anju
pressed up against her back, and a feverish grin accompanied his
actions. Miki blinked at that, her emerald eyes rolling at this
situation.
“There could be...” Anju breathed.
“I am not child anymore. It was a fleeting romance, nothing more.”
Anju held onto Miki tighter, but affectionately, and while maintaining
a cool demeanour, he whispered passionately into Miki’s ear.
“You weren’t saying that the last night we were together in Daito-“
Miki pulled away from Anju before he could finish, and turned to look
at him with a hateful glow in her eyes.
“Are you forgetting what you did?” Miki almost yelled that, and Anju
could sense that she had been holding it back for quite some time.
“I wanna make up for it.” Anju said.
Neither one of them said anything for a few seconds after that, but
Miki quickly stifled a chortle.
“By trying to get me into your bed? By seducing me? Is this how you
intend on making up for what you did?”
Anju smiled at that. “I really just wanna talk to you.”
“You can do that and keep your hands off of me at the same time, you
know.”
Anju ran a hand through his mustard blonde hair, and stepped closer to
the woman across from him, with a calculating look in his eye.
“What’s wrong? Afraid your body might say something your heart can’t?”
Miki narrowed her eyes. “I thought we were just talking.”
“We are.”
“...We cannot let there be anything between us. That was over seven
years ago. We live in a different time now. I have responsibilities
and I don’t...”
Miki cut herself off, and Anju picked up on it.
“You don’t...what? You don’t love me anymore?”
Anju waited for a response but none came. Miki only looked away from
him. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but he felt that she was
still holding back her true feelings. And he had to find a way to open
her up. He had to...if she only knew...
“I see you still find it hard to say the L-word.” Anju said.
Miki looked deeply into Anju’s auburn flamed eyes and spoke flatly.
“I do not...love you.”
“You did once though.”
“...Maybe.”
Anju smiled at that. Despite the situation, he loved that Miki was
more or less the same person as she was all those years ago. Though
she seemed a little icier now, Miki was still Miki.
“You haven’t changed much, Miki Soujumah.”
Miki took a pause and looked at Anju for a second. It seemed like he
was actually serious about something for a change. In the old days,
Anju was a class-A flirt, but now he was a little different. Miki
recalled the days in Daitoshi city, were Anju would chase after any
woman he wanted, and leave them heartbroken when he had his fill. Miki
did her best to avoid that very same fate, but eventually, she too
fell under his spell. But, for some reason, their relationship lasted.
Until she was requested to marry someone from a fellow clan. It was
then, that things got complicated...
Miki stepped closer to Anju, ignoring the situation, and gently
stroked his bangs out of his eye line.
“The same can’t be said for you. You have changed quite a bit.”
“Maybe you’ll wanna know what else has changed about m-“
“AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Miki and Anju jolted to the window when they heard a woman’s
bloodcurdling scream from out in the street. Out on the pebble stoned
road, in the thin shower of rain, was a young woman, kneeling next to
what appeared to be the lifeless body of her husband, his ribcage
opened up, revealing the fresh remains of his bloody entrails.
Miki looked further down the road, to see a powerful, hulking
tiger-like creature inching away from his victim’s carcass and wife,
with a haunting aura of satisfaction surrounding him.
“That evil little son of a bitch. Anju, get the others. We’ve found
the second devil.”
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