10 Saving the Damsel

===Twenty-five minutes ago===

Akeno had just left the town. Thinking she was in the clear, she stopped and looked back at the town.

"I really wanted to find someone to trust." Akeno thought aloud. "Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Turning back to the front, Akeno began to walk away. But not even a few steps later, she heard a familiar voice.

"It's a good thing you found a reason to leave, otherwise it would have taken us much longer to find you, daughter of my dear niece."

Snapping her head to the direction from which the voice came, Akeno saw thirty or so people dressed in traditional Shinto attire walking out from a wooded area 160 feet (approx. 49 m) to her left. After noticing them, Akeno scanned her surroundings and could not help but curse.

"Damn, an anti-recognition barrier, I walked into a trap."

"Precisely! To think we would stumble across the shame of the Himejima Clan like this." Said the leader of the priests and shrine maidens in excitement. "Spreading our net of shikigami wide enough led us right to you."

"Himejima Suou!" Akeno roared in anger. "Why did you kill my mother? What have either of us done to deserve this?"

Himejima Suou, the elderly man leading the group of Shinto priests and shrine maidens, and the current head of the Himejima Clan.

"Vile hell spawn, what other reason do we need to purify one such as you?" Replied Suou. "As for your mother, she harbored feelings for an evil being, which could have led to the entire Himejima Clan losing their blessings from the Gods."

Hearing Suou's reasons for the clan's actions, Akeno's eyes opened in shock. "For something like that, you would willingly kill the members of your own family?"

"Ignorant child, do not speak of matters you know nothing about." Replied Suou while raising his right hand, giving his entourage the order to ready their attacks.

As the priests and shrine maidens of the Himejima clan began chanting their spells, Akeno began her own incantation in preparation for the upcoming battle.

"God of the North Seas, God of the South Seas, God of the East Seas, God of the West Seas, and Goddess of the Central Lands, I beseech thee, grant unto your servant the breath of thunder. With your wishes as my will, I shall become all that is good in the world. With my blade as thy mercy, I shall slay all that is evil in the world. Thunder Blade of Judgement! Order!"

With her chant completed, a magic circle manifested under Akeno's feet. Tendrils of thunder wrapped her arms. In this state, Akeno can release thunder from her fingertips and call bolts of thunder down from the sky.

Looking at the group of Himejima clansmen, Akeno could tell they were ready for battle as well. Taking her stance, she looked for the weak point in their formation, as escape was her priority.

At that moment, A wave of attacks made their way toward Akeno.

Raising her left hand, Akeno pointed her index finger at an incoming fire bolt and released thunder to offset the spell. As the two spells dissipated, Akeno called down a thunder bolt on a shrine maiden to her right, simultaneously making a half turn to the left dodging an incoming wind blade in the process.

Akeno continued her spell casting and footwork, dodging spells with dance-like footsteps, counterattacking with thunder called from the heavens, and dissipating those spells she was unable to avoid with the thunder wrapping her arms.

For the first twenty minutes, Akeno was completely unharmed, and she managed to down nearly two thirds of her attackers. Unfortunately, the 'Thunder Blade of Judgement' spell expends substantial amounts of will power and magic energy.

As the battle raged on, Akeno was no longer able to completely avoid incoming spells, only avoiding damage to vital areas.

By the twenty-fifth minute of the battle, Akeno's clothes were ragged, trickles of her own blood covered her body, her breaths were haggard, and her vision was blurring from blood loss.

Seeing Akeno's state, Suou raised his hand, signaling the priests and shrine maidens to halt their attacks.

"For what it is worth, Child, I would rather that things did not have to come to this." Said Suou, without changing his expression. "But the clan must always come first. You and your mother bring instability to the clan."

Akeno felt there was no reason to respond and Suou was not expecting her to. Waiving his hand forward, he gave the order to kill.

The remaining able bodied Himejima clansmen let loose their spells. Akeno, too exhausted to raise any defenses, closed her eyes. Believing this to be her end, she waited for death.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura!"

"Where did that kid come from?"

"What the hell?"

"Are these... Cherry blossoms?"

"Did those flower petals just defend against all our spells?"

With the pain she expected to feel never coming and the panicked voices of the Himejima clansmen, Akeno slowly opened her eyes.

What she saw, was the back of a boy who was not much taller than herself. And in front of the boy was a cloud of wafting cherry blossom petals. Judging from the shouts of the priests and shrine maidens, those are what stopped the spells from killing her.

"Who are you?" Asked Akeno in a wary tone. "And why did you save me?"

In response to her questions, the boy looked at her over his shoulder. When he did, the boy, James replied with a big smile, "Well, how about we have that conversation once you're out of danger, okay?"

James' smile sent Akeno into a daze momentarily. Before she was brought back to herself by his next question.

"So, can you tell me who these guys are?" James asked, pausing momentarily before continuing, "I need to know how far I'm allowed to go."

Akeno stared at James in dumbfounded silence. Thinking that the boy in front of her must have watched too much anime.

Getting no response, James scratched his head and said, "Um... I know I'm pretty hot, but could you not stare at me like that? You're gonna make me blush."

Finally noticing how rude her actions were, Akeno answered James' original question. "They are members of the Himejima Clan, the elderly man in the front is the clan head, Himejima Suou."

Nodding his head at the answer, James lowered his head in silence, recalling the information he had on the Himejima Clan.

'The Himejima Clan, one of the Five Principle Clans, blessed by the Shinto pantheon. Contracted to the Suzaku.' James recalled the information quickly. 'I probably shouldn't kill anyone. This is Shinto territory, after all.'

Looked off into the distance, James shouted, "Hey Riri, they're from the Himejima Clan. I'll have to leave them alive. Oh, the clan head is here, too."

"Got it, I'll handle the aftermath." Replied a young female voice from the distance.

Hearing the answer from the distance, James sprouted a battle hungry smile and began walking toward the wall of cherry blossom petals.

"Well, well, well, this isn't going to be very fun for you guys." James said in the direction of the Himejima clansmen. He then addressed Akeno, "Stay here, beautiful, I'm gonna go play with them for a bit."

Taking another step forward, the wall of cherry blossom petals split. Once James stepped through the split, the split closed again to protect Akeno.

When the petals moved, the Himejima Clan was finally able to see the one who hindered their efforts to purge the taint from their bloodline.

Seeing James, Suou nearly exploded with anger, as he exclaimed, "Another child with tainted blood, let us give him salvation and purify his soul."

"Wow, what a rude old man," said James in response. "I was born from a loving union, to call my blood tainted is a bit much, isn't it?"

Hearing James' flippant tone, Suou gave up on dialogue and gave the signal to attack.

James, seeing the Himejima clansmen preparing to attack, flash stepped into the crowd, opting for close quarters combat.

Appearing before his first opponent, James threw a jab, striking the priest on his chin. With his head rocked back, the priest missed James side stepping around to his right, avoiding a fire spell in the process. James then threw a right hook to the priest's diaphragm, which knocked the air out of him. Noticing a thunder spell coming from behind, James grabbed the priest, swinging him into the spell's path.

"Gah!!!"

Taking the full brunt of the thunder spell, the priest fell unconscious. With his meat shield down, James lowered his center of gravity and moved toward his next victim.

Rushing to the right of the nearest shrine maiden, James stomped her foot, causing her to reflexively lean forward, just as he passed, he came to an abrupt stop and threw an elbow strike to the back. With proper control, his elbow strike landed on her lower back. The precise elbow strike only incapacitated the shrine maiden without leaving any lasting damage.

James then appeared between three Himejima clansmen and immediately threw a jump roundhouse kick, aimed at the temple of the three. The first priest was able to dodge, but the other priest and the shrine maiden reacted too slowly. However, before the remaining priest was able to counterattack, James landed then moved in close. He jumped and wrapped his hands behind the priest's head, then simultaneously pulled his hands down and raised his knee to the priest's face. Resulting in another unconscious Himejima clansman, this one with a broken nose.

After seeing half of his remaining forces incapacitated in under a minute, Suou once again ordered his side to cease their attacks.

"Who are you, boy, and why do you interfere in Himejima Clan affairs?" Asked Suou. Anger evident in his gaze.

"Take it easy old man." Replied James casually. Tilting his head in confusion, he then continued "I'm just doing someone a favor. I didn't even kill anyone. So, why do you look so pissed off?"

"And for whom is this favor being done?" Asked Suou sternly.

"Hey Riri," James shouted off into the distance again, "This old guy wants to talk to you, I think."

"That ending is kind of disappointing," the same young female voice from earlier replied. "Just negotiate to get the girl out of here so we can go have fun."

"If I have to negotiate too, I'm taking her for myself." James replied nonchalantly.

"You wouldn't dare!" The voice replied angrily, as a girl with long crimson hair and a non-descript middle-aged man entered the anti-recognition barrier.

"Why wouldn't I?" Asked James in annoyance. "Our deal was for me to make sure she stayed alive, the rest is up to you. That includes convincing her to join your peerage."

"Okay, I get it, just leave me alone." Rias responded in a huff.

"Riri, you really need to do something about that spoiled attitude of yours." James tried to advise.

"I said leave me alone!" Rias growled in reply.

James just shrugged his shoulders.

Seeing the two argue, the Himejima clansmen were dumbfounded.

'That damn brat... Would have decimated us... Just as a favor to this spoiled princess? There's no justice in this world.' Thought all the conscious Himejima clansman.

Himejima Suou, however, noticed a much more important fact. Even while engaged in an argument with the redhead, the barrier of cherry blossom petals never wavered.

With that realization, Suou felt a shiver down his spine.

'Are those flower petals only defensive in nature?'

"*Cough*," Heinrich gathered the attention on himself. "Ojou-Sama, perhaps we should move on to negotiating the girl's release."

Hearing Heinrich's suggestion, Rias threw a fierce glare at James, then asked, "Himejima Clan Head, if he lowers his barrier, are you willing to halt your attacks until our negotiations have concluded?"

"I can agree to that." Replied Suou.

"Very good, James, do it." Ordered Rias.

"Riri, am I your friend or subordinate? Seems like you're forgetting the answer to that question, recently." James said as he pulled a bladeless katana hilt from the sheath on his left hip.

Once this hilt was unsheathed, the floating cherry blossom petals flew toward it and began forming the missing blade. Once the katana was whole again, James sheathed it with a flurrish.

Seeing this, Suou's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

'Those petals were made from a sword blade, there's no way they're defensive in nature.' Suou thought to himself, as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

As the barrier was removed, Akeno could be seen, eyes and mouth wide open, sitting on her butt. Her legs had given out due to fatigue and blood loss.

Ignoring the shock of the onlookers, James made his way to Akeno's side.

"Hey, beautiful, you're safe now." Said James with a big smile on his face.

Hearing James' term of address, combined with his smile, Akeno flushed.

At the same time, the sound of teeth grinding was very noticeable.

Reaching out his hand, James asked Akeno, "Can you stand?"

Hesitating for a while, Akeno finally reached out for James' hand and pulled herself to her feet. As she stood, her weakened legs found now a suitable time to not cooperate, and she fell into James' arms.

Holding the young girl in his arms, James patted her head, and in a soothing voice he told her, "You don't have to rush it, no one will be able to hurt you with us here."

Hearing those words, Akeno relaxed, and said, "Thank you." very softly. With her tension released, the fatigue caught up to her and she fell unconscious.

"Oh, damn. This girl is in worse shape than we first thought. Heinrich-Dono, can you send us back to the mansion? I'll get her medical attention." Said James with some urgency in his tone.

Hearing this, Heinrich looked at the steaming Rias for confirmation. Getting a nod, Heinrich created a magic circle below James and Akeno. With a flash of light and the disappearance of the magic circle, James and Akeno were teleported to the Underworld.

With their disappearance, the only thoughts on Suou's mind were, 'I'm glad that little monster is gone. I won't have to kill Shuri's daughter, either.'

Contrary to Suou's apparent relief, Rias was a bit unhappy with the current situation.

"Stupid James. You better not do anything with that girl. You're mine." Rias muttered to herself with a dark aura around her. "This was supposed to be a trip for just the two of us. James, you stupid head."

Hearing Rias' murmurs, Heinrich was at a loss.

'I have been with you the entire time, right?'

Seeing the leaders of the two sides deep in their own thoughts, Heinrich thought it was time to put an end to this little episode.

"*Cough* If you do not mind, shall we begin the negotiations for that girl's safety."

As these words left his mouth, Heinrich and Rias both had the same thought, 'Not that there is any chance you will ever get her back.'