Manga notes:
-Nao's original Key was this supaa motto motto takusan ugly, creepy creepy guy who was CUT TO PIECES by either Mai/Tate/Natsuki/Duran/Kagatsuchi. I don't remember. (CORRECTION: It's Miyu as a really cool person was brave enough to check) Then Takeda becomes her Key. The guy Nao's with in D6 tis not Takeda.
- I think there was something that actually was important to the chapter, but I forgot it. Hopefully it'll come to me soon.
Other notes:
-Anchin ish the monk-duude that Kiyohime was in love with, according to the myth. For more info, just google and look around.
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It couldn’t have been more dramatic.
There three woman stood on top of the fifteen-storied department on a warm summer’s afternoon. Two of them stood close together; their green eyes turned towards the third figure with a fixed expression of surprise and fear which no doubt also ran through the rest of their bodies, tingling in their very spines. In their hands they held their respected, formidable weapons.
They had been fighting, these said two women. The rooftop of the building was scarred by their attacks. There lay strands of red wire that had been shot off. There sat a patch of ice that reflected brightly, mercilessly in the noonday sun. It had been a fast-paced battle with both combatants equally matched. The one with the claws had suddenly brought back her arm, ready to shoot it forward and let the wires connected to the nails of her Element slice through anything in its path. The one with the tiny revolvers had hers trained on the other’s head and torso; she had finally saw an opening in her adversary’s defenses. However, all that had fallen from their mind the moment the final figure had suddenly materialized onto the battlefield.
The third woman’s hands were currently bare. No weapon was held in her callous hands. She was deadly calm, cold like the touch of frost upon a soon-dying flower. Her wine-colored eyes were unfocused as if she wasn’t able to see, yet it did not matter to her. Who needed clear sight when one had power?
And then she threw her arm out in a single, earth-shattering movement. The air around her crackled with energy and then came the all-too-familiar sound of an Element appearing. A gleaming, foreboding red naginata appeared in her hands.
This woman then broke the uneasy silence with a single word—a name—that pierced through everything like razor-sharp spear, permeating the very laws of their universe:
“Kiyohime.”
And then, the fourth figure appeared. Her ingression was languid like the movement of an arrogant predator who knew everything would change the moment she appeared. That once she did, the scene would shift and all her prey would rush away, trembling at her mercy. Slowly she emerged from behind the third woman: first came her head framed by a crown of dark purple hair; then her torso; and by the time she had fully surfaced, the two facing her realized how inhuman she was.
No longer was there the pretty but plain face of the ghost of an innkeeper’s retribution seeking daughter. In its place was the face that one could only describe as “monstrous.” Her eyes were pupilless, glowing yellow fully engulfed both eyes. The deathly pale skin covering the ghost took on a light purple tint and became scale-like. The kimono she wore was sprayed out and in tatters, flapping in an invisible wind along with her long hair. Her mouth was elongated; the pointed canines in her mouth had grown tremendously.
From behind the golden brown hair of the naginata-wielding woman, the monster’s glowing eyes bore into the blue haired HiME's and her mouth was curled into a pleased smirk, taunting the other with the prize she had ensnared.
And so, it began.
*~*~*~
Natsuki took a step backwards in disbelief, staring at the woman she had known for most of her life now contorted into someone she couldn’t recognize. The chilling aura, the apathetic expression on Shizuru’s face made her feel distant and unlike the Shizuru who always smiled so warmly at her. Who was this?
And then, that thing behind her…it almost was as frightening as Shizuru in her current state. The way she looked at her made her shiver. Oddly enough, she caught a flicker of hatred in those yellow eyes as if the monster despised her. It, however, soon gave away to a pleased expression. Like she had won something tremendous.
By this time, Nao had snapped back from her shock.
“What the hell?” She snarled, looking back and forth from her to Shizuru. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I want nothing to do with it.”
Shizuru’s head tilted to the side and she smiled calmly. “But Yuuki-san, that is impossible—you are a part of this. You are smart enough to know you would pay the repercussions the moment you touched what is mine.”
“What’s yours?” Her head snapped back to look at Natsuki and then back to Shizuru in disbelief. “Leave me out of your twisted lover’s quarrel. Speaking of twisted, what is that thing behind you?”
“My, you’ve never seen a Child?” Shizuru said humorlessly.
“Child? You call that thing a Child? Even if it was, you’re not a HiME.”
“Perceptive as always, Yuuki-san. I am not like you or Natsuki. I never was.” There was only a faint echo of bitterness in her otherwise hollow tone. Shizuru turned and touched Kiyohime’s face with her free hand. “I am merely borrowing this one’s power.”
“That still doesn’t make any sense.” Nao said, growing more and more annoyed. This wasn't how she planned to spend her Saturday.
“Does it not?” The other replied nonchalantly with in a voice that no longer sounded human. Like she had transcended the gap, the frequency that the current world operated in, and stood between the planes of the dead and the living.
“Shizuru, what happened to you?” Natsuki said, no longer able to stay silent.
There was a pause as the person in question turned slightly, listening to the whispers of the monster behind her that only she could hear.
“Ara ara, does Natsuki finally care about me?” The other then replied with none of her usual spunk.
Before she could answer, Nao had summoned her Elements again and rushed forward with her claws outstretched.
“I've had enough of this tirade. I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m sick of it,” the other brazenly replied as she ran towards where Shizuru stood.
Natsuki cursed to herself and called forth her tiny revolvers again. If Nao had any weakness, it would be that her impudence that exceeded even her own. To an extent, Natsuki knew when to stop and retreat while Nao, once angered, would keep going even if she was outmatched.
Once Nao had moved into range, Shizuru swept her blade in a quick, horizontal arc. It effectively caused the other to abandon her course and roll to the side in order to avoid being hit. The redhead landed with one of her knees touching the ground and, when she recovered, the younger girl threw herself forward again. This time she was ready. When the Kyoto native swung her naginata again, Nao ducked and reached forward, pulling the shaft down towards her, her elbow colliding with it painfully. It was a risky move and had she timed it wrong, the blade would’ve sliced through her back. However her sacrifice was well used as her other claw, wires out, whipped forward and lashed at the older woman’s face and upper torso.
Unfortunately for Nao, that exact moment Kiyohime appeared in front of Shizuru. The wires collided with her scaly form causing the ghost to hiss and swipe at her. She blocked the surprisingly solid hand and was forced to retreat backwards, losing the advantage she had at a close distance.
Natsuki was about to intervene when she saw the monster turn slowly to face her as Shizuru moved through the ghost and towards Nao. Kiyohime smiled monstrously and she quickly fired in her opponent’s direction. The ghost disappeared and reappeared next to her, face to face. For a moment she was eye to eye with the beast whose hands almost touched Natsuki’s own. This caused her to lower her weapons in surprise. She could feel the cold breath of the “adopted Child” on her face and the pure hatred that radiated from her entire form. She almost shivered. Almost.
Instead she threw a kick at the ghost which passed through the body as if it was air. Kiyohime then moved to the side and swung her arm at Natsuki who promptly blocked it with her left forearm. She continued to trade blows with the monster with little avail though she managed to avoid getting hit. That was until Kiyohime decided she had enough and appeared behind Natsuki, wrapping her powerful arms around her, crushing her with her inhumanly strong hold.
Thinking fast, Natsuki quickly spun her guns so that the muzzle faced behind her and fired rapidly. Those hate-filled eyes widened in shock as Kiyohime was quickly encased in a block of ice.
Natsuki took the time to move away, all the while firing more shots at the currently frozen being. She had to move farther. Part of her wished she could call Duran, but that was impossible. After all, Tate was still in Fuuka. Tate...in this situation he would...
No!
She shook her head, trying to erase the distracting thought, and concentrated on the task at hand. She kept her Elements pointed towards her attacker just as the ice began to crack. She fired more shots at it but they were quickly growing obsolete. The golden eyes grew brighter while steam was emitted from the entirely frozen form. Water dripped down the melting, cracking ice.
“ANCHIN!” The inhuman monster screamed, flames dripping from her jaws. The icy prison broke while the ghost floated forward. Her body began to disappear and in its place…
Natsuki gasped as she took a step back out of reflex. There stood a towering purple armored, six-headed, hydra-like beast. All six of the heads turned towards her, snarling at her while twelve—no, fourteen yellow eyes were fixed onto her.
She was so screwed.
*~*~*~
Meanwhile, if an onlooker was to turn and watch the other battle transpiring on the rooftop, he or she would see and battle take place between two women whose style of fighting couldn’t be more dissimilar. One of them moved with practiced grace whose attacks were always quick and purposeful. Each slash with her naginata was executed with perfect precision of one who had mastered the weapon and martial art. The other’s style seemed more like a jumbled mess of different techniques that she had merged to fit her weapon. There one could see her strike out with something one might see from a hard styled karate practitioner followed by block of a softer style, perhaps from jujutsu or aikido. It was obvious that she was an undisciplined fighter who was more accustomed to street brawling than fighting a highly trained adversary.
Both sported a few wounds. Shizuru had, more than once, been surprised by the other’s brutality and the wild attacks. She was used to being pitted against martial artists who usually kept to traditional fighting etiquette and disciplined styles. She preferred to read her opponent’s moves and predict how to counter them. With Nao, however, that proved to be impossible just as the five angry cuts on her right arm along with a few others showed how she was unprepared for an opponent who fought dirty.
Despite this, she faired far better than Nao. The redhead was starting to slightly regret her impulse to attack. Shizuru was setting a tempo that she could barely follow and couldn't change. It was nearly impossible for her to keep up with someone using a weapon with far longer range than her own and she was already worn from her fight with Natsuki. She was exerting more energy trying to duck, dodge, and escape the weapon’s reach than its user did swinging it. And Shizuru had learned from her first attack to force the younger woman to keep her distance, away the range of her claws. Not just that, but she never gave her the time to fully utilize her wires. If she tried to step back and lengthen them—and then she had to aim as well—the golden brown haired woman would use that forever-extending blade to follow her or rush forward and attack.
Just like what she currently was doing.
Yuuki Nao had moved back, trying to steal a few seconds to breathe. Her arms fell to her side; the thin red wires connected to her weapon draped the rooftop surface. Shizuru had pursued.
This time, instead of attacking her head on, Shizuru spun her blade in her hands, changing her grip on the weapon before quickly jabbing the ishizuki (the metal counterweight) end of her weapon at the claw user. The purple tassels connected at the end of the ishizuki were swiped at Nao’s face as the red naginata was turned once more. It was meant to distract the other as the blade slashed upwards in an attack that could cut her opponent in half.
However, Nao was ready. Her wires connected to the pole just as it shot up and she threw the naginata straight up into the air, yanking the blade out of Shizuru’s hands. She shot the other a victorious smirk but was met with a powerful palm strike to her face.
Nao cried out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding, but thankfully not broken nose. When she looked up, she saw the Kyoto native deftly catching the falling weapon and spinning it so that it faced her. She felt the cold blade pressed to her neck.
In the background, she spotted the huge purple Child that the ghost had turned into. She idly wondered whether or not she would want to switch positions with Natsuki. Maybe being torn apart and eaten by a giant snake-squid would be less painful than a death by the psycho naginata wielding woman.
…Nah.
“If I had Julia, I would’ve won.” Nao muttered, trying the control the urge to pout even in her current predicament.
“The outcome would have been the same.”
“Then hurry up and kill me to prove your point, whatever it is.” She retorted, still clutching her nose. Her green eyes glared defiantly at Shizuru’s empty ones.
There was a pause. At the same moment, Kiyohime stopped before her four of her mouths reached Natsuki who had been backed into a corner. Two of the snake heads had been completely frozen by the incessant shots fired by the blue haired woman.
Shizuru closed her eyes.
When they opened, the claret hued eyes were focused; she had regained control of herself. Her stance relaxed and her Element moved to her side and vanished. She turned away, unable to look at the younger woman she nearly killed.
“Natsuki is not worth bloodying my hands for.” She said.
Kiyohime turned, hissing at Shizuru. Apparently, the woman understood what the beast was saying because she simply replied:
“It no longer matters. We are leaving, Kiyohime.”
The ghost had no choice but to dip her many heads and fade away. That left Natsuki and Nao on the rooftop, just as wide eyed and shocked as they were when Shizuru first appeared.
*~*~*~
As Shizuru walked down the stairs of the department store, she idly thought that it would be prudent to get rid of the evidence of the fight. No doubt someone in the city had seen Kiyohime in her Child form and word would spread or, even worse, there would be a video. Not just that, if the police got blood samples, they could trace it back to her.
Her family was never above doing a few illegal tactics if they knew they could get away with it. Thus they always had a few clean up crews. She could probably borrow one to deal with what had transpired. Why not; she had her cellphone with her. She dialed a number.
“Hello? Ah Takamori-san, how are you?” She paused, listening to the other’s response.
“Yes, I have a favor to ask you. Would you and your team please clean up the rooftop of…that is correct. Here is the address,” she gave it before continuing. “It would be preferable if you use the same discretion which makes my father highly regard you as always. You may also want look at the emergency stairway because it seems I am bleeding—do not worry. I will be fine. Please hurry. …thank you. I will be in my office if you need me.” She closed her phone before the other could protest.
That being taken care of, she indiscreetly entered a bathroom on the fifth floor that she remembered being close to the stairs. Luckily it was empty. She first washed her hands as Nao’s blood was still on them before accessing her other injuries. Aside from her right arm where four wires left their rather deep imprint on, showing how they had wrapped around her arm, ready to slice the entire appendage off had Shizuru not extended her weapon’s chain-like blade and cut through the wires, there were only a few scrapes on her back she had to deal with. Shizuru was grateful that she had chosen today to wear pants instead of her customary skirt and darker colors.
Chances were if she continued down the stairs, she would find the emergency exit with a broken fire alarm. That was probably how Natsuki and Nao had entered. If not, hopefully she wouldn’t be noticed walking out of the front entrance. She glanced worriedly at her arm. Her entire right sleeve had been cleanly sliced off and the five individual cuts still bled. It would be hard to hide her wounds and now that her adrenaline had stopped, pain had returned full force.
Kiyohime had also disappeared. She knew almost by instinct that the ghost probably would return when she went back to her office. What a predicament.
She sighed deeply.
With a little luck and knowledge of less common pathways, she somehow managed to reach the company building with little trouble. From there she was safe. She didn’t have to go through the main doors and use the common elevators since there was a secret one at the back of the building near the obviously deactivated emergency exit. Her grandfather had it put in as he had a fondness of slipping away from unimportant meetings and paperwork. That same fondness seemed to have been inherited from generation to generation.
When she reached her office, she poured herself a cup of still hot tea. Yasuo probably had set it out for her before he left. Sitting down behind her desk, Shizuru mentally prepared herself. Any second now…
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two…
“Why did you stop?” Kiyohime hissed as she suddenly appeared in her scaly, grotesque form. She paused for a moment when she saw the golden brown haired woman laugh softly (Shizuru was evidently pleased at her prediction) before continuing, glaring angrily at the burgundy eyed woman who had long become immune to such looks. “You had her—you could have made her yours.”
Shizuru didn’t reply immediately. Instead she quietly drank her tea, letting the familiar taste pacify her nerves.
“I probably should have someone look at my injuries,” she said airily, more to herself than to the angry ghost. “Just to make sure Yuuki-san’s weapons were not poisoned. I wonder if our doctor will believe me if I said it was caused by a giant spider.”
She looked up to see the ghost shaking in rage at being ignored with a calm smile on her face. Perhaps she shouldn’t tease a thousand year old being whose powers she didn’t quite understand.
“Anchin was right there! You had him! You should have finished the other and taken Anchin! You—
“Please do not confuse me with yourself. I am not you nor is Natsuki Anchin.” She said, cutting off the ghost before she started ranting. Looking up at the rage-filled being, she continued:
“I think I understand how you exist. You drive your carrier into insanity with your manipulating words. You feed her despair until she is filled with desperation. She kills the one she loves and then herself at your goading. Then you subsist until you can leech off another maiden’s tears.”
The ghost had settled down during her short speech, returning to her most human-like form, and now sat on the edge of Shizuru’s desk.
“Perhaps that is true, Fujino Shizuru. But what are you to do?” She leaned forward with a deceptively sweet smile on her face. “Sooner or later you will go after Anchin again. Lie as much as you want to yourself, but you can not escape the extent of your love for him.”
“Her. Her name is Natsuki.” Shizuru corrected with a false smile before sipping her tea.
“Then you do not deny it. You will go after her again.” Kiyohime leaned closer; her cold breath could be felt on the Vice President’s face.
“As nice as it is to be so close to you, I believe we both agree that my heart belongs only to Natsuki. So please move or else I might get the wrong idea.” She laughed as the purple haired ghost quickly retreated back in surprise.
“You are a strange one.”
“As I have been constantly told,” she countered out of reflex before spinning the chair so she could look outside. She no longer saw the two figures on the rooftop who had put her into an enraged state and coerced the being that now sat near her out of her body.
“Please do not misunderstand me,” she said in her customary polite accent after a minute. “There is a reason why I left her. I have no intention of pursuing Natsuki any longer. Enough of my life has been wasted waiting for her grow up and I have suffered deeply for it. My pain is something you understand, do you not, Kiyohime?”
“You tied too much of yourself to her. Sooner or later, you will pursue her again.” The ghost said stubbornly. “They always do.”
Had she been anyone else, Shizuru would’ve scoffed. Instead she chided mildly: “I am not like your usual prey. Do not take me for your usual, severely love-struck teenager who barely understands how the world works. I am not governed by impulse or leashed to my emotions. I have grown.”
What she didn’t say was that she was lucky Kiyohime had chosen (or was only able) to speak to her now. Had it only been a few years before and after a prolonged exposure, things may have been vastly different.
Kiyohime only smiled mysteriously and replied in her archaic tongue. “Perhaps that is so. But you forget that I have been with you since you were that ‘love-struck teenager.’ I know your inner workings and desires.”
“Then would you please bring the teapot to me? It seems I have finished my cup.” Shizuru said, smiling innocently. She ignored how close the comment had hit her.
The ghost rolled her eyes but did what she was asked. What remained of the innkeeper’s daughter even poured the tea for her.
“Thank you.” She said politely before remarking, “I have been wondering how you do that.”
She was referring to how the ghost could become corporeal.
“Does it truly matter?”
“Not particularly, I was just curious.”
“Then hurry up and make your point. I can sustain this form only for so long.”
“You cannot control me, Kiyohime. You only can whisper in my ears what you want me to do. In truth, you must adhere to my wishes while you share my body. This is because you inhabit the form of an Orphan whom I have adopted as my own Child.” She clutched her left side where her scar was. “If I looked, would I now find the same mark that Natsuki and the others have?”
“Look for yourself; I have never inhabited the body of a non-HiME.” The ghost looked only slightly peeved when she saw the Vice President raise her eyebrow suggestively. That made Shizuru slightly disappointed.
When Kiyohime said nothing more, Shizuru goaded her slightly. “So it seems my assumptions are true since you have not replied.”
“Even if they are, what are you going to do? It seems you can neither take a step back nor forward. What are you going to do now, Fujino Shizuru?” She repeated before vanishing.
Kiyohime's last words echoed through the office. As it did, Shizuru stood up and turned to face the glass wall behind her. With a heavy sigh, she said:
“I do not know.”
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