PoT Fic: Recombinant Chapter 5
Gah, LJ's new "look" is driving me nuts, I can't seem to highlight text to copy it when I'm making or editing journal entries. Grr.
And here's another update, this one with some action in it! Hope you guys like it. ^_^
Title: Recombinant
Author: Dolly (universal_doll)
Rating: PG to PG-13
Characters: Echizen, Tezuka, Fuji (primary); Tachibana An, Tachibana Kippei, Momoshiro (secondary); and the rest of Seigaku.
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, AU (or rather, Alternate History/Timeline)
Summary: “Why couldn't you have been magical girls?”
Full Story Notes & Previous Chapters
New Chapter:
Chapter 5
“Wow, that was a great sale! I can't wait to try out my new shoes on the courts,” Eiji said happily as he and Fuji stepped out of the sporting goods shop. “Thanks for helping me pick them out, Fujiko! It's so hard to decide.”
“I don't mind at all,” Fuji said with a smile. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, but he had played enough tennis during the week. And he found his classmate's bouncy personality and frequent enthusiastic outbursts to be rather entertaining, so he'd been quite happy to accompany Eiji on his quest for new tennis shoes.
“Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat next,” Eiji suggested.
“Sure,” Fuji said agreeably. “Some cake would be good now.”
“Nya, Fuji, you like sweets too much! But we could . . .” Eiji chattered on about the merits of the various bakeries nearby, and Fuji listened only peripherally. But suddenly, Eiji went quiet, and Fuji turned to see his friend staring wide-eyed and slack jawed at something across the street. The quiet didn't last long, though, and before Fuji had a chance to say anything Eiji burst out, “Iiya! Fuji, did you see it, did you? Its a girl with wings!”
Fuji's eyes slitted open in interest as he scanned the crowd. “No, but I would very much like to. Tell me, what did she look like?”
“I told you, she had wings! Glowing ones, and pretty long hair.” Oblivious to Fuji's intense gaze, Eiji gestured urgently and pulled the unresisting Fuji around the corner. “There! Do you see? Oh please tell me you see her and I'm not imagining things,” he pleaded.
“I see her.” Fuji's eyes locked on the small figure of the girl, who was walking rather quickly down the crowded street. She was nothing short of stunning with her fair skin, golden eyes, and long wavy hair; but that was what not made her noticeable to Fuji. It was the transparent wing-like structure that seemed to shimmer in and out of view around her that he found so captivating. Obviously, they were not real wings, or they would have gotten in her way. And judging by other people's lack of reaction, they were only visible to him and Eiji anyway. “I wonder if that's what an aura looks like,” he murmured thoughtfully. “Saa, Eiji, let's go say hello,” Fuji suggested calmly.
“Eh?” Eiji said disbelievingly. “We don't even know her! Why would we do that?”
“Why not?”
~*~
It had been a fine Sunday for Ryoma; that is, until that snake thing had showed up.
At first, Ryoma had thought he was imagining things when the air nearby seemed to whirl together to form some sort of serpent, but when the thing had come at him with an impossibly wide open mouth that idea had gone straight out the window. Whatever it was, the snake-like creature had gone straight for his face, and Ryoma had instinctively put up his arms in defense. Small, needle-like teeth had sunk into his left forearm, and Ryoma shook his arm and shouted furiously at the creature in an attempt to scare it off. To Ryoma's relief and surprise, the creature had writhed as if in pain, and then dissolved back into the air from which it had come. But he had not missed the too-familiar tingling feeling that had coursed through his body, and Ryoma had looked down at himself with dread.
He had turned into a girl again.
Grudgingly, Ryoma had headed to the locker rooms of a nearby public sports club and had changed into his 'girl clothes'. Though he had been adamantly against the idea when An had pushed it on him, he had eventually admitted that it would be a good idea to carry a set of girl's clothing with him as a disguise, just in case. Getting discovered was the last thing he wanted.
He had drawn the line at underwear, though.
Almost happily, An had supplied him with her old school uniform from the year before, and he had wrapped it up tightly in a black plastic bag before stuffing it in the very bottom of his bag that morning. And fortunately, the bag he had taken was not one that he used often, so no one would recognize it as his.
Though he knew on some level that he didn't look it, Ryoma still felt absolutely ridiculous walking around in a girl's school uniform. What he really wanted to do was call An and see if he could meet her, and he blew his breath out in frustration as he remembered that he'd forgotten to bring his cell phone with him. So he set out on a mission to find a pay phone, which was no easy task in a city where everyone seemed to have a cell phone.
In his haste, Ryoma almost didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching him from across the street. He nearly bolted when he noticed Eiji and a very intent looking Fuji heading his way, though managed to suppressed that impulse. Instead he picked up his pace, ducking through gaps in the crowded streets that his larger senpai couldn't maneuver through as easily. It took him a good fifteen minutes, but Ryoma was pretty sure that he had finally managed to lose them.
And, even better, he had found a pay phone in the process. Heading into the booth, he picked up the phone and started to dial.
~*~
Tachibana Kippei leaned casually against the door frame of one of the classrooms, waiting patiently for his sister to finish scrubbing the paint off of her fingers. Even though it was a Sunday, many of the members of Fudomine Junior High's sports clubs were preparing for the Athletic Festival later that month. It was getting late, though, and they were starting to finish up for the day.
Finally, An finished drying her hands, and she grabbed her bag off the floor before coming over to him. “Thanks for waiting, oniichan.” She smiled cutely.
Tachibana nodded and gave her a slight smile in greeting. The two then headed out of the school building, but before they exited the main gate they were stopped by a breathless, paint splattered girl running up to them.
“An-senpai!” the girl called out, and Ann turned to look at her quizzically.
“Hiroko-chan?”
“I'm sorry to bother you! But, Mika-chan fell off the ladder and the banner is ruined and . . .” Hiroko then proceeded to explain why they so desperately needed Ann's help, and his sister, being the nice girl that she was, agreed.
“I'll be there in a minute, Hiroko-chan!” she called after the other girl as she ran back towards the school building. “Ah,” An sighed, looking up at him. “They really need my help. I guess I'll see you at home, oniichan.” An raised her hand as if to give him a small wave, but it flew to her face as her eyes widened. “Oh no! I'm supposed to meet Ryo-chan at the train station!” she cried.
“Why don't you just call her?” Tachibana suggested calmly, though his interest piqued at the mention of that strange girl.
“She doesn't have her phone today,” An said, obviously distressed. “And I need to finish up here, but I can't just leave her waiting at the train station all alone for so long!”
Ever since he had first laid eyes on the golden-eyed girl with the wing-like aura, Tachibana had been more than a little curious about her. But she was very quiet, and though he'd thought at first that she was just shy she was actually quite sassy; in the rare event that she could be coaxed into speaking, anyway. Besides that, An was very protective of her new friend, making it nearly impossible for him to get her alone. But now . . .
“You go ahead with your club duties,” Tachibana told her warmly. “I'll meet your friend at the station for you. I know who she is.”
At that, An looked at him warily. “Oniichan! You'd better not be up to something,” she warned, and he could see the internal struggle as it reflected on her face. Which was interesting, and made him wonder just how much An was not telling him about her friend. “I've seen how you're always looking at Ryo-chan!” she waved her finger at him, though he could see something else behind her usual cheerfulness. “But, all right. Go ahead and meet her for me. She'll be waiting by the north entrance,” Ann told him, looking vaguely anxious.
“Should I bring her home with me?”
“Yes.” An nodded, and then reluctantly started back to the school building. “And she's really shy, so don't try to make her talk too much!” she threw over her shoulder, as if as an afterthought.
Tachibana waved goodbye and walked the short distance to the train station, questioning what, exactly, he even hoped to accomplish by getting the girl alone. But some inner sense of his - perhaps that of duty, or even curiosity - compelled him to make further contact with Ryo-chan and find out more about her. There was something very unusual about that girl that he just had to find out, and not only for curiosity's sake.
Entering through the station's north gate, he scanned the crowd until he caught sight of a head of emerald green hair. He strode towards the petite girl purposefully, and she looked up at him and blinked in surprise when he stopped beside her. But then, rather than greeting him, she simply crossed her arms and proceeded to ignore him.
Both annoyed and slightly amused, Tachibana tapped her lightly on the arm to get her attention. “Ryo-chan? An was delayed, and she asked me to meet you instead. You're staying the night, right?”
A look of alarm flashed briefly across her face, then she nodded hesitantly and followed him wordlessly to the platform. They waited for the train in strained silence, which did not ease as they boarded it. Any attempts that he made at conversation, though, were immediately squashed, if not by her stubborn silence than by the hordes of people that packed the train as they headed home after the weekend.
Whoever this girl may have been she was obviously not used to riding on crowded trains, if her reaction to the wandering hands of a nearby salaryman was any indication. Being the gentleman that he was, Tachibana had mercy on the flustered looking girl and moved in front of her, sandwiching her between him and the door. Strangely, this only seemed to irritate her further, and by the time they reached their station Tachibana had lost almost all hope of engaging her in any sort of useful conversation. Nevermind that he didn't even know what it was that he wanted to find out.
As he walked her back to his house, he was distracted from his dilemma by a subtle but distinct sense of unease that pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind. Unconsciously, he picked up his pace and moved a bit closer to the girl, but at the same time she seemed to be slowing down.
“There's . . . something I need to do near here,” she said distractedly, a faraway look in her eyes. “I'll be at your house by the time An gets home.” Giving no further explanation, she turned and took off at a near run in another direction.
“Wait!” Tachibana called after her, and jogged to catch up with her when she ignored him.
“What do you want?” she asked indifferently, not even pausing.
“An would be very annoyed with me if I lost you,” he said with a wry smile. “And I have a feeling that's a possibility, wherever you're going.”
Ryo-chan shot him a sharp look, but then seemed to forget about his presence entirely as she slowed to near stop as she entered a nearby a park. She seemed to be focusing intently on something just past the rows of trees that bordered it, and Tachibana tried desperately to see what it was that she saw.
Her eyes went wide for a moment, and then narrowed. “Wait here,” she said flatly, and gave no other explanation before she dashed off through the trees. Having given up on trying to get her to listen to him, Tachibana chased after her as he tried to think of what it was that was in the center of this park. Then he remembered, from one of the signs he'd seen before - this wasn't so much a park as it was a historic site that had been preserved as one. The entire place was one giant keyhole shaped tomb of ancient royalty, dating back to the Kofun period (1).
Ryo-chan proved to be incredibly fast; so fast, in fact, that he almost lost her. As he emerged through the final ring of trees in the center of the park, all he could do for a moment was freeze as utter shock coursed through him. Ryo-chan was glowing. But it was not the usual soft white glow of her aura that surrounded her, but an angry pulsing red. And she looked to be in pain, though no sound escaped her lips. Standing at the top of the mound was a scantily clad blonde woman whose hands held spheres of the scarlet light, and it didn't take much deduction on Tachibana's part to figure out that she wasn't friendly.
Just as he was about to try and intervene somehow, though, Ryo-chan staggered to her feet, and as she pushed her hands out in front of her she seemed to be also pushing the redness back towards the woman with what appeared to be great effort. But the woman just smirked.
“It's time you learned what you can and cannot do, little one.” Tachibana watched in horror as she waved her hand and sent a rain of fiery looking blasts at Ryo-chan, who let out a faint cry as the smallest of them began to impact. Unable to stand by and watch any longer, Tachibana impulsively stepped in front of the girl, his first and foremost thought being that he had to save her.
“You . . . idiot . . .” Ryo-chan said breathlessly, looking dazed.
“Leave her alone,” he yelled at the woman, and braced his arms in front of him as the dangerous little balls of energy sped towards them. But when they got within a half meter or so of him, something strange happened. They simply dissolved, as if they had hit a wall.
The smirk all but disappeared from the woman's face then, only to be replaced with a look of interest. Though somehow, Tachibana doubted that her interest was of a friendly sort.
“What's this? Such a young Guardian you are.” She ceased her attacks, and looked directly at him. “And rather inexperienced, by the looks of it. But I really don't want to deal with you now. I didn't come here for that.” She sent a final blast of energy directly into the center of the tomb's mound, and the ground beneath him began to rumble. Slowly, but with great finality, the mound began to implode in a cloud of earth and stone.
“Bring the rest of you next time - maybe then you can actually provide me with a proper challenge,” she said mockingly, and then flickered out of existence.
Tachibana's mind whirled as he desperately tried to piece together what had just happened.
“Ryo-chan?” He said hesitantly, turning to look at the girl who may be his only source of answers. She hadn't said a word since after he'd run in front of her, and she looked utterly exhausted.
“She's gone?” Ryo-chan asked faintly.
“She's gone,” he confirmed, moving over to the girl. “Whatever she was.”
“Good.” Ryo-chan let out a breath, and then, without warning, collapsed. His fast reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the ground, and he swung her up into his arms and held her carefully. She was surprisingly light. Not knowing what else he could do, Tachibana turned and headed home. He needed to think, and he needed to find answers as to what on earth was going on.
But for now, he just wanted to get away from here.
~*~
(1) Kofun Period: time in Japan's history from the early 3rd - 8th century.
Chapter 5 Notes:
Nothing to say here, move along! Though if you have any questions or concerns, please do speak up. ;)
As always, feedback is appreciated. ^_~
And here's another update, this one with some action in it! Hope you guys like it. ^_^
Title: Recombinant
Author: Dolly (universal_doll)
Rating: PG to PG-13
Characters: Echizen, Tezuka, Fuji (primary); Tachibana An, Tachibana Kippei, Momoshiro (secondary); and the rest of Seigaku.
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, AU (or rather, Alternate History/Timeline)
Summary: “Why couldn't you have been magical girls?”
Full Story Notes & Previous Chapters
New Chapter:
Chapter 5
“Wow, that was a great sale! I can't wait to try out my new shoes on the courts,” Eiji said happily as he and Fuji stepped out of the sporting goods shop. “Thanks for helping me pick them out, Fujiko! It's so hard to decide.”
“I don't mind at all,” Fuji said with a smile. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, but he had played enough tennis during the week. And he found his classmate's bouncy personality and frequent enthusiastic outbursts to be rather entertaining, so he'd been quite happy to accompany Eiji on his quest for new tennis shoes.
“Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat next,” Eiji suggested.
“Sure,” Fuji said agreeably. “Some cake would be good now.”
“Nya, Fuji, you like sweets too much! But we could . . .” Eiji chattered on about the merits of the various bakeries nearby, and Fuji listened only peripherally. But suddenly, Eiji went quiet, and Fuji turned to see his friend staring wide-eyed and slack jawed at something across the street. The quiet didn't last long, though, and before Fuji had a chance to say anything Eiji burst out, “Iiya! Fuji, did you see it, did you? Its a girl with wings!”
Fuji's eyes slitted open in interest as he scanned the crowd. “No, but I would very much like to. Tell me, what did she look like?”
“I told you, she had wings! Glowing ones, and pretty long hair.” Oblivious to Fuji's intense gaze, Eiji gestured urgently and pulled the unresisting Fuji around the corner. “There! Do you see? Oh please tell me you see her and I'm not imagining things,” he pleaded.
“I see her.” Fuji's eyes locked on the small figure of the girl, who was walking rather quickly down the crowded street. She was nothing short of stunning with her fair skin, golden eyes, and long wavy hair; but that was what not made her noticeable to Fuji. It was the transparent wing-like structure that seemed to shimmer in and out of view around her that he found so captivating. Obviously, they were not real wings, or they would have gotten in her way. And judging by other people's lack of reaction, they were only visible to him and Eiji anyway. “I wonder if that's what an aura looks like,” he murmured thoughtfully. “Saa, Eiji, let's go say hello,” Fuji suggested calmly.
“Eh?” Eiji said disbelievingly. “We don't even know her! Why would we do that?”
“Why not?”
~*~
It had been a fine Sunday for Ryoma; that is, until that snake thing had showed up.
At first, Ryoma had thought he was imagining things when the air nearby seemed to whirl together to form some sort of serpent, but when the thing had come at him with an impossibly wide open mouth that idea had gone straight out the window. Whatever it was, the snake-like creature had gone straight for his face, and Ryoma had instinctively put up his arms in defense. Small, needle-like teeth had sunk into his left forearm, and Ryoma shook his arm and shouted furiously at the creature in an attempt to scare it off. To Ryoma's relief and surprise, the creature had writhed as if in pain, and then dissolved back into the air from which it had come. But he had not missed the too-familiar tingling feeling that had coursed through his body, and Ryoma had looked down at himself with dread.
He had turned into a girl again.
Grudgingly, Ryoma had headed to the locker rooms of a nearby public sports club and had changed into his 'girl clothes'. Though he had been adamantly against the idea when An had pushed it on him, he had eventually admitted that it would be a good idea to carry a set of girl's clothing with him as a disguise, just in case. Getting discovered was the last thing he wanted.
He had drawn the line at underwear, though.
Almost happily, An had supplied him with her old school uniform from the year before, and he had wrapped it up tightly in a black plastic bag before stuffing it in the very bottom of his bag that morning. And fortunately, the bag he had taken was not one that he used often, so no one would recognize it as his.
Though he knew on some level that he didn't look it, Ryoma still felt absolutely ridiculous walking around in a girl's school uniform. What he really wanted to do was call An and see if he could meet her, and he blew his breath out in frustration as he remembered that he'd forgotten to bring his cell phone with him. So he set out on a mission to find a pay phone, which was no easy task in a city where everyone seemed to have a cell phone.
In his haste, Ryoma almost didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching him from across the street. He nearly bolted when he noticed Eiji and a very intent looking Fuji heading his way, though managed to suppressed that impulse. Instead he picked up his pace, ducking through gaps in the crowded streets that his larger senpai couldn't maneuver through as easily. It took him a good fifteen minutes, but Ryoma was pretty sure that he had finally managed to lose them.
And, even better, he had found a pay phone in the process. Heading into the booth, he picked up the phone and started to dial.
~*~
Tachibana Kippei leaned casually against the door frame of one of the classrooms, waiting patiently for his sister to finish scrubbing the paint off of her fingers. Even though it was a Sunday, many of the members of Fudomine Junior High's sports clubs were preparing for the Athletic Festival later that month. It was getting late, though, and they were starting to finish up for the day.
Finally, An finished drying her hands, and she grabbed her bag off the floor before coming over to him. “Thanks for waiting, oniichan.” She smiled cutely.
Tachibana nodded and gave her a slight smile in greeting. The two then headed out of the school building, but before they exited the main gate they were stopped by a breathless, paint splattered girl running up to them.
“An-senpai!” the girl called out, and Ann turned to look at her quizzically.
“Hiroko-chan?”
“I'm sorry to bother you! But, Mika-chan fell off the ladder and the banner is ruined and . . .” Hiroko then proceeded to explain why they so desperately needed Ann's help, and his sister, being the nice girl that she was, agreed.
“I'll be there in a minute, Hiroko-chan!” she called after the other girl as she ran back towards the school building. “Ah,” An sighed, looking up at him. “They really need my help. I guess I'll see you at home, oniichan.” An raised her hand as if to give him a small wave, but it flew to her face as her eyes widened. “Oh no! I'm supposed to meet Ryo-chan at the train station!” she cried.
“Why don't you just call her?” Tachibana suggested calmly, though his interest piqued at the mention of that strange girl.
“She doesn't have her phone today,” An said, obviously distressed. “And I need to finish up here, but I can't just leave her waiting at the train station all alone for so long!”
Ever since he had first laid eyes on the golden-eyed girl with the wing-like aura, Tachibana had been more than a little curious about her. But she was very quiet, and though he'd thought at first that she was just shy she was actually quite sassy; in the rare event that she could be coaxed into speaking, anyway. Besides that, An was very protective of her new friend, making it nearly impossible for him to get her alone. But now . . .
“You go ahead with your club duties,” Tachibana told her warmly. “I'll meet your friend at the station for you. I know who she is.”
At that, An looked at him warily. “Oniichan! You'd better not be up to something,” she warned, and he could see the internal struggle as it reflected on her face. Which was interesting, and made him wonder just how much An was not telling him about her friend. “I've seen how you're always looking at Ryo-chan!” she waved her finger at him, though he could see something else behind her usual cheerfulness. “But, all right. Go ahead and meet her for me. She'll be waiting by the north entrance,” Ann told him, looking vaguely anxious.
“Should I bring her home with me?”
“Yes.” An nodded, and then reluctantly started back to the school building. “And she's really shy, so don't try to make her talk too much!” she threw over her shoulder, as if as an afterthought.
Tachibana waved goodbye and walked the short distance to the train station, questioning what, exactly, he even hoped to accomplish by getting the girl alone. But some inner sense of his - perhaps that of duty, or even curiosity - compelled him to make further contact with Ryo-chan and find out more about her. There was something very unusual about that girl that he just had to find out, and not only for curiosity's sake.
Entering through the station's north gate, he scanned the crowd until he caught sight of a head of emerald green hair. He strode towards the petite girl purposefully, and she looked up at him and blinked in surprise when he stopped beside her. But then, rather than greeting him, she simply crossed her arms and proceeded to ignore him.
Both annoyed and slightly amused, Tachibana tapped her lightly on the arm to get her attention. “Ryo-chan? An was delayed, and she asked me to meet you instead. You're staying the night, right?”
A look of alarm flashed briefly across her face, then she nodded hesitantly and followed him wordlessly to the platform. They waited for the train in strained silence, which did not ease as they boarded it. Any attempts that he made at conversation, though, were immediately squashed, if not by her stubborn silence than by the hordes of people that packed the train as they headed home after the weekend.
Whoever this girl may have been she was obviously not used to riding on crowded trains, if her reaction to the wandering hands of a nearby salaryman was any indication. Being the gentleman that he was, Tachibana had mercy on the flustered looking girl and moved in front of her, sandwiching her between him and the door. Strangely, this only seemed to irritate her further, and by the time they reached their station Tachibana had lost almost all hope of engaging her in any sort of useful conversation. Nevermind that he didn't even know what it was that he wanted to find out.
As he walked her back to his house, he was distracted from his dilemma by a subtle but distinct sense of unease that pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind. Unconsciously, he picked up his pace and moved a bit closer to the girl, but at the same time she seemed to be slowing down.
“There's . . . something I need to do near here,” she said distractedly, a faraway look in her eyes. “I'll be at your house by the time An gets home.” Giving no further explanation, she turned and took off at a near run in another direction.
“Wait!” Tachibana called after her, and jogged to catch up with her when she ignored him.
“What do you want?” she asked indifferently, not even pausing.
“An would be very annoyed with me if I lost you,” he said with a wry smile. “And I have a feeling that's a possibility, wherever you're going.”
Ryo-chan shot him a sharp look, but then seemed to forget about his presence entirely as she slowed to near stop as she entered a nearby a park. She seemed to be focusing intently on something just past the rows of trees that bordered it, and Tachibana tried desperately to see what it was that she saw.
Her eyes went wide for a moment, and then narrowed. “Wait here,” she said flatly, and gave no other explanation before she dashed off through the trees. Having given up on trying to get her to listen to him, Tachibana chased after her as he tried to think of what it was that was in the center of this park. Then he remembered, from one of the signs he'd seen before - this wasn't so much a park as it was a historic site that had been preserved as one. The entire place was one giant keyhole shaped tomb of ancient royalty, dating back to the Kofun period (1).
Ryo-chan proved to be incredibly fast; so fast, in fact, that he almost lost her. As he emerged through the final ring of trees in the center of the park, all he could do for a moment was freeze as utter shock coursed through him. Ryo-chan was glowing. But it was not the usual soft white glow of her aura that surrounded her, but an angry pulsing red. And she looked to be in pain, though no sound escaped her lips. Standing at the top of the mound was a scantily clad blonde woman whose hands held spheres of the scarlet light, and it didn't take much deduction on Tachibana's part to figure out that she wasn't friendly.
Just as he was about to try and intervene somehow, though, Ryo-chan staggered to her feet, and as she pushed her hands out in front of her she seemed to be also pushing the redness back towards the woman with what appeared to be great effort. But the woman just smirked.
“It's time you learned what you can and cannot do, little one.” Tachibana watched in horror as she waved her hand and sent a rain of fiery looking blasts at Ryo-chan, who let out a faint cry as the smallest of them began to impact. Unable to stand by and watch any longer, Tachibana impulsively stepped in front of the girl, his first and foremost thought being that he had to save her.
“You . . . idiot . . .” Ryo-chan said breathlessly, looking dazed.
“Leave her alone,” he yelled at the woman, and braced his arms in front of him as the dangerous little balls of energy sped towards them. But when they got within a half meter or so of him, something strange happened. They simply dissolved, as if they had hit a wall.
The smirk all but disappeared from the woman's face then, only to be replaced with a look of interest. Though somehow, Tachibana doubted that her interest was of a friendly sort.
“What's this? Such a young Guardian you are.” She ceased her attacks, and looked directly at him. “And rather inexperienced, by the looks of it. But I really don't want to deal with you now. I didn't come here for that.” She sent a final blast of energy directly into the center of the tomb's mound, and the ground beneath him began to rumble. Slowly, but with great finality, the mound began to implode in a cloud of earth and stone.
“Bring the rest of you next time - maybe then you can actually provide me with a proper challenge,” she said mockingly, and then flickered out of existence.
Tachibana's mind whirled as he desperately tried to piece together what had just happened.
“Ryo-chan?” He said hesitantly, turning to look at the girl who may be his only source of answers. She hadn't said a word since after he'd run in front of her, and she looked utterly exhausted.
“She's gone?” Ryo-chan asked faintly.
“She's gone,” he confirmed, moving over to the girl. “Whatever she was.”
“Good.” Ryo-chan let out a breath, and then, without warning, collapsed. His fast reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the ground, and he swung her up into his arms and held her carefully. She was surprisingly light. Not knowing what else he could do, Tachibana turned and headed home. He needed to think, and he needed to find answers as to what on earth was going on.
But for now, he just wanted to get away from here.
~*~
(1) Kofun Period: time in Japan's history from the early 3rd - 8th century.
Chapter 5 Notes:
Nothing to say here, move along! Though if you have any questions or concerns, please do speak up. ;)
As always, feedback is appreciated. ^_~