The Hinomoto Rebellion (49 page)

“I have an idea!” she declared. 26 quickly pointed to a side hallway. “Anyone with wings! Grab anything you can use as a weapon and head down that hall! At the end of it, go up the stairs and come out on the second floor. The rest of us will grab anything we can find that we can throw. Spread out to the front windows and these doors.”

“What are you planning, 26?” Deuce asked.

The teal-haired
Kemono
grinned. “We’re going to do exactly what we did before: attack from the air and the land. If we swarm them, we may stand a chance.”

The end of the gun exploded in fire, sending a bullet whizzing directly past Andrea’s face. A concussive blast slammed into Andrea’s eardrum like a bomb. Her whole world turned white as the blast knocked her off her feet. She barely registered her body hitting the ground, but was painfully aware of the blood coming out of her right ear and the ringing in her head that threatened to drag her down into darkness.

When her world came back into focus, Yasakuto was crouching over her, smiling. The first thing Andrea noticed was that he wasn’t pointing the gun at her.
Of course, idiot. He doesn’t want to kill you.
A strategy flashed into Andrea’s mind as she watched Yasakuto’s lips move, but she heard no distinct sounds. The gunshot so close to her head had deafened her, only temporarily she hoped.

Then she noticed that she had dropped her sword on the way to the floor. A quick glance out of the corner of her eye revealed that it was off to her right. The Tiger laid there a moment, watching the Daimyo’s lips move, and then she raised her legs and kicked him in the face as she rolled to the side.

As Yasakuto went down to the floor, Andrea dove for her katana. She grabbed the hilt and rolled back up to her feet, facing Yasakuto with the blade out, her stance wide and defensive.

The gun-toting Daimyo got up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he stood. He wiped his face on the back of his sleeve and grinned at Andrea. He said something, but she couldn’t hear it clearly. Some sound was starting to come to her, but it was all muffled and distorted. Blood trickled onto her shirt from her ear, staining the collar of her tank top red.

Andrea sprinted back across the room at Yasakuto, raising the blade high above her head as she did so. She thought a war cry escaped her mouth, but the scream that she heard sounded so far away that she wasn’t sure.

As Andrea slashed down, the Damiyo dodged to her right, letting her slash go straight past him. The desk that he had been standing in front of was cleaved in two as the katana, with all of Andrea’s power and momentum behind it, slashed through it. Shogun Kunota and Kanjou, who were still standing behind the desk, quickly moved to Andrea’s left. Andrea saw the Shogun’s mouth moving and saw Kanjou nod as they passed through her field of vision.

The
ronin
turned to follow her enemy, pulling the sword out of the desk just as it collapsed in the middle. Papers and other items sliding down it before they crashed onto the floor. She felt Kanjou and Kunota’s footfalls on the floor as they ran behind her. They had decided to use this opportunity to get out of the office.

Daimyo Yasakuto circled around barely a step in front of Andrea, his gun coming down to swing at her again. The back of the pistol caught her across the face as she turned. She stumbled back and landed on the desk, her face on fire from pain.

The Tiger laid there for a moment on top of the two halves of desk, noting that the hearing in her ear was improving more rapidly. She could feel blood in her mouth from the strike to her cheek. She spat on the desk as she tried to get reoriented, her blood dark against the wood.

“Just give... I’m... win this fight,” she heard. Yasakuto sounded like he was extremely far away. Hearing his voice, however, made Andrea struggle to get back to her feet. He was standing there with a smile on his face.

“I have the advantage here, Andrea. Your weapon is slow, and while it does have reach, mine has so much more range than yours if I need it to.”

The Aka Ryuu glared at him, her cold eyes burning. “I can... take your advantage away.” she gasped out, her breathing heavy and ragged. Before her former friend could respond, she shifted her katana, gripping the hilt so that it was reversed in her hand, the back of the blade running up her forearm. She smirked, then held her arm up defensively, the metal glistening in the brightly lit office.

Daimyo Ran Yasakuto smiled back. “Nicely done. Your sensei trained you well,” he cooed. He rushed at her, his pistol pulled back to strike her.

Roni quickly dove between Aki’s legs, avoiding taking a hit to the skull. She rolled across the floor a few times before leaping to her feet, turning to face Aki just in time to get her hand up and block a shot from the bo. She could already feel the welt raising on her palm from the block as she latched on to the bo with her fingers and yanked, bringing Aki forward into a solid kick to the stomach.

The black-haired girl stumbled back a few steps, coughing as she did and unable to catch her breath. Roni gritted her teeth and retained her grip on the wooden staff as Aki moved backwards. The pig-tailed girl tightened the muscles in her arms, using them to flip herself up and over the bo as she kicked Aki twice in the face. As she landed the small
ronin
yanked hard on the wooden staff in an attempt to get it away from her adversary.

Aki felt the bo begin to slide away from her and she quickly tightened her grip, jerking on the bo and sending Roni sprawling to the floor. The girl landed hard on her bruised palm and her shoulder, causing her to see stars as she tumbled. Once her vision cleared, Aki was standing over her. Her boot came down hard on her chest, causing Roni to give a strangled cry. She clawed at the leather boot futilely.

Aki smiled. “You’ll never be able to beat me, you weak, pathetic little girl,” she chuckled. “Andrea couldn’t beat me, what makes you think you can?” She put more of her weight down on her foot as she pulled back the staff. “Now, time to say good-bye, little girl,” she snarled as she grinned menacingly.

Roni’s eyes widened as she scratched at the boot, trying desperately to wiggle out from underneath Aki, but the larger woman’s weight was too much on her chest. She couldn’t move an inch to get out of the way of the blow that was coming.

A blur of red and purple suddenly came between the two fighters. Roni felt Aki’s weight move off her as the black-haired girl was knocked backwards. She let out a yell as she stumbled, her bo coming out of her hand as Fushicho yanked on it.

Fushi let out a yell and brought the staff down on her knee, snapping it in half. Aki gawked at the red-head in shock as she tossed the two halves of the bo away. The pieces of splintered wood clattered against the wall and fell to the floor as Fushi charged forward, ramming her shoulder into Aki and sending her rolling down the hall.

She turned to Roni, a small trickle of blood was congealing on the side of her face. “You okay?” she gasped, out of breath. Roni nodded, her eyes wide as she moved to get up.

Fushi spun back around to see Aki getting to her feet. “Dammit, Aki! Stay down! You can’t win against two of us without your bo!”

Aki glared at the two
ronin
for a brief moment before she quickly turned and ran down the hall, disappearing around a corner before Fushi and Roni could pursue her.

Shogun Kunota gritted his teeth and struggled to remain walking while Kanjou leaned against him for support. The large
ronin
had lost a lot of blood, and he was getting weaker with every hall they went down. A sporadic trail of blood marked their passage through the building as they stepped over downed policemen.

The Shogun adjusted his grip on Kanjou. “Are you going to be able to hold on?” he asked.

 

Kanjou nodded weakly. “Yes. I just hope no one else attacks us... I might not be able to protect you, Shogun...”

 

“Don’t worry about that. You’ve done more than enough for me today.”

 

Kanjou’s head suddenly perked up. “Stop,” he commanded. “I hear running... coming toward us.”

 

Kunota quickly looked around, but the hallway they were in had no doorways or alcoves. “There’s nowhere to go!” he exclaimed.

Kanjou removed his arm from around the Shogun’s neck and widened his stance. “Stand to the side, Shogun Kunota.” he said, his breathing heavy, “Maybe it’s the rest of my team.” His knees were shaking and threatening to drop him to the floor. He remained standing by sheer will alone, locking his knees and refusing to let them give out on him. Kunota stood next to Kanjou, glaring at the corner where the sounds of running were getting closer and closer.

“Shogun, please stand to the side,” began Kanjou. Kunota quickly cut him off.

“Absolutely not. You’ve risked your life for mine too much already. This time, I face the danger with you.” He made a show of straightening his jacket and trying to copy Kanjou’s stance. The
ronin
decided he’d be wasting his energy by arguing and turned his attention back to the other hallway.

Roni and Fushicho were hot on Aki’s heels as they chased her through the building, leaping over objects that Aki was knocking over in her wake to slow them down. Tables bearing antique vases, statues, and even telephones had been hurled in front of them, but they had barely slowed. The Aka Ryuu knew that they had to catch Aki, but her desperate flight seemed to indicate she had misgivings about the idea.

Fushi stumbled over a table leg as Roni leaped over and gained ground on the black-haired ronin. Ahead of her, Aki spun and kicked a table with a porcelain vase in the pig-tailed girl’s way before continuing to race down the hall.

That’s it! I’m fed up with this!
Roni skidded to a stop and snatched the vase off the floor. The lip had a chip in it already from it being man-handled, so Roni didn’t feel bad at all about pulling her arm back and pitching it at Aki’s head with all her might.

The vase hurtled through the air end over end, closing the distance between Aki and Roni. Just as Aki was about to turn left at a corner, the vase smashed into the back of her head, breaking into pieces as the fugitive grunted and tumbled to the floor, rolling limply across the carpet and colliding with the far wall.