| [Apr. 30th, 2014|05:34 am] |
The support beam had snapped something when it hit Katsuko. Clavicle, judging by the burning agony when she prodded at her collarbone. The break was in almost the same place as last time, when the demon queen had knocked Katsuko flying. Ryouri-sensei was going to have a field day lecturing her on re-breaking just-healed bones.
Stay, Raidou had told Katsuko. Like she was a damn dog.
To hell with Ryouri-sensei. And to hell with Raidou, too. Katsuko staggered to her feet, dropped a concealing veil over her chakra, and followed her captain.
Heat from the fire warmed her back as she shadowed Raidou down to the docks. Around her, Tsurugahama was in chaos. Watchmens’ bells rang like klaxons as firefighting crews barreled towards the Tsuto estate. Dark clouds roiled at the edge of the sky, above the clamor of city lights and panicked civilians, threatening to encroach on the cold glare of the moon and stars.
Raidou’s chakra howled in counterpoint.
The unearthly rage that had claimed her captain back at the mansion still gripped him in its teeth. Katsuko kept a half-step behind Raidou as he tore down to the docks, watching as he homed in on the Kiri ninja’s chakra signature. Mere hours ago, while she’d been running with him down to the coast, she’d thought Raidou had looked like a vengeful ghost.
That version of Raidou, with his calm control and directed purpose, was nothing compared to this revenant with bloody hands and smoke-stained armor.
She hung back and watched, mute witness to the destruction Raidou rained down upon the docks. The green-eyed shinobi shouted something at Raidou over the cacophony of shattering wood and concrete; Raidou responded with a headlong tackle that sent both men catapulting off the docks. They disappeared beneath the waves.
Katsuko twitched forward before she stopped herself. Fighting a Kiri-nin in the ocean would be suicide for anyone without a strong water affinity. Raidou’s chakra pulsed strong and steady, no trace of distress in his signature. She left him to it and ghosted down the quay to where the Tsuto family stood frozen in terror. None of them saw her approach; their attention stayed riveted on the vicious fight between Raidou and the Kiri shinobi. Katsuko melted out of the shadows behind Tsuto Masaaki. |
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