Chapter 109 - 'After' Arc- 8

The white flash had blinded Kuroko. She stopped dead, unable to move due to shock and a strange jutsu both. She felt no fear, despite not knowing who it was that was attacking her.

It was a man wearing white, on a white horse. He looked very old, yet did not seem slowed by age in the least. In fact, he stood atop his mount, both feet on the sturdy animal’s back.

“You were chosen by the second incarnation of Heaven’s Temper,” stated the man. Kuroko nodded numbly, sensing that she was here to listen, not to question. Sure enough, the man leapt up- high up, probably a hundred feet in the air- and landed before her with the grace of a cat. All this, despite the fact that the man leaned on a staff. And the staff itself!

The top of the staff was crooked, with a lantern dangling off it. The flames in the lantern felt so warm and familiar, and unlike any firelight that Kuroko had seen or felt before. She broke her gaze with the man in white to stare at it.

The man smiled at this, reaching up to open the lantern. He took the flame in his hand, bringing it close for Kuroko to see.

“You can touch it,” he told her, his voice seeming to come both from his mouth and from all around. “Your blood is in this fire. One of your venerated ancestors drew this fire- and me- to him. Now, the one who has chosen you- rather, the one you also chose to be with- has called me here. This fire is his, and it will also be yours.”

“Wh-who are you? What is your name?” Kuroko stammered, still transfixed by the fire.

“My name? It’s been so long, I’m not certain I remember,” said the old man, making a few handsigns as he spoke. He seemed to speak several different languages, but somehow Kuroko understood them all. “I think it best not to assume any individual identity. This old man will merely forget again. However, my title may mean more. I have been called the ‘Deliverance of Heaven’s Temper’.”

“What does that mean?”

“For you, it means I have come to render aid to your loved one in battle. Listen closely; this is what you must to do free the second Ten no Kishootsu‘s abilities...”
--
--
Yuji was finally face to face with the ‘final boss’ of this group. His clothes were tattered from continuous combat, though none of his own blood was shed. Hiro’s followers had set up ambush after ambush, but none had yet succeeded in even slowing Yuji down.

Hiro was standing atop a small platform. On his left, kneeling subserviently was a man clothed in all black. He look similar to Hiro in terms of body shape and face, except that he had an eye patch over one eye. The parts of his body Yuji could see were covered with scars and burns. The burns sometimes took the shape of a handprint.

Yuji forced himself to look at the other people in the room. The two druid-shinobi from before were standing at a distance from Hiro, but still on the same side of the room. They were chanting in their low tones, voices reacting with each other perfectly. The level of power between just the two of them was amazing.

That power is masking something else in the room. There are four chakras, which there should be.. But one of them feels like it’s…leaking. Or probing somebody. It’s not me. If it was, I could have sent a reaction back along this ‘stream’ of chakra…
Someone is being careful…There!

Yuji drew his sword just in time to parry Kaname’s strike from above. Kaname was spun as his power was deflected, and Yuji took his back, the sword at the base of his neck.

“Don’t move, Kaname. Not yet. You’re going to bare witness to this…”

Yuji sunk the blade of his sword in. Kaname yelped in pain…
And the chakra that Yuji had sensed before evaporated.

“Genjutsu, was it? Good thing I didn’t attack for real…” Yuji murmured, giving his sword a quick shake to sweep Kaname’s blood off it. “Sorry, Kaname.”

Kaname massaged his neck, turning to face Yuji. “You could have just broken it with your chakra, you know!”

Yuji shrugged. “Left over rage from Shiroko picking you?”

“…Fair enough,” Kaname conceded. Then he smiled. “Glad I didn’t kill you.”

“Me, too.”

Hiro didn’t seem to panic, even with his chief henchman now on Yuji’s side. Yuji moved toward Hiro, his sword drawn and held in an attack position. He had every intention of chopping Hiro up if he made the slightest move. He was a cancer, Yuji decided. And cancer had to be cut off before the body could recover.

That was what Yuji thought, but what happened was different. With impossible speed, someone bounded in front of Yuji, ignored the fact that his shoulder should have been cleaved off by Yuji’s sword strike, and hit Yuji had in the sternum with a palm strike, sending Yuji barreling end over end to the opposite side of the enormous room.

As he bounced off the far wall, Yuji noticed that he couldn’t summon his regular chakra to attack. Another damned seal, he realized. That left him with his weakest weapon- taijutsu.

These aren’t shinobi, he reminded himself. I’m not fighting Lee. I’m fighting largely untrained minions. Hiro can manipulate chakra a little bit, but he’s no master. I can do this.

Yuji got up, narrowly dodging a flying kick from a henchman. His own leg flashed out and caught his assailant in the ribs, causing him to lean to one side. Yuji’s up thrust knee smashed his attacker in the mouth, ending that threat. But instantly, he was surrounded by four more.

Yuji ducked low, scooped up a piece of stone off the wall that he had bounced off of, and threw it. It smacked flatly against the face of one opponent, who immediately sank to the ground. In the same motion, Yuji spun gracefully and snapped his leg out toward an opponent’s knee. He missed, and in return had to dodge a dangerous head-level strike. He did, but he didn’t dodge the sweep that nearly took him off his feet.

One enemy suddenly dropped; assaulted from behind by Kaname.

“Mind if I cut in, Yuji?” Kaname asked, standing back to back with Yuji.

“Geez, first with Shiroko, now this fight? Can’t you let me have anything?!”
But there was a smile in Yuji’s voice. Kaname grinned in return. The two began to fight back-to-back.
--
--

Kuroko ran with Shiroko, following the white specter that only Kuroko could see. The lantern of the ‘White Monk’ led the way to the seal blocking Yuji’s Heaven’s Temper abilities. Around one curve, then another, deeper and deeper into the caverns beneath the main house’s palatial estate ran the two girls. Occasionally, dirt from overhead would be knocked loose by the concussive blasts of the combatants above.

The ‘Monk’ had finally stopped, his staff planted in the ground and the light from his lantern illuminating a section of rock.

“There!” Kuroko shouted, running up to the rock face. She could just see, illuminated by the light of the ‘Monk’s’ lantern (or because of that light specifically?), two hand prints. Remembering the ‘Monk’s’ instructions, Kuroko took Shiroko’s hand.

“We’ve got to touch the rock at the same time and let our chakras mix. The quickest way…”

Shiroko nodded, smiling lightly as she remembered why Kuroko’s voice trailed off. “We haven’t done anything like that since we were children.”

“It’s for an innocent enough reason, really,” murmured Kuroko. “Let’s just do it, okay?”

The two girls leaned in. To share chakra, one had to make a physical bond. The more potent the movement, the better. Sex was one way; mixing blood was another. In this case, a light kiss would be just the right amount of power.

Their lips met, brushing slightly, and their hands found their proper place on the wall. There was a flash of fire as their chakras mixed and freed the Ten no Kishootsu abilities of Yuji Itou.

By the end, Kuroko was standing once again in a trance. The ‘White Monk’ reached out and touched her forehead lightly with his fire-coated hand.

“That is done, and so is my role with you now. Kuroko…Isae, rather. Your real name and it’s meaning ‘blessed with merit’, suit you well. Now then, it is time to allow your real power to show through! Go to his side and support him in this final battle!

A huge blast from above shook loose a boulder-sized chunk of rock from above. Shiroko shouted ‘look out’ and pushed Kuroko away just in time.

“Rima!” Kuroko shouted, using Shiroko’s real name. “No!”

Shiroko’s leg was trapped, and from the angle it was at it was surely broken.

“Go! Leave me here! There’s more at stake!”

“I can’t!” Kuroko shouted back, tears of frustration running down her face, their hot wetness stinging her eyes.

“Yes, you can! And you will!” Shiroko yelled back. “We agreed! This pointless fighting has to end! And I can’t do it! Not me; not you- Yuji! And Yuji needs you! GO!”

Another blast from above reminded Kuroko of what really was at stake. With all the reluctance in the world, she left her best friend; her ‘sister’ trapped beneath the boulder.



FINAL CHAPTER COMING AUGUST 25TH!

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment