Chapter 14: Saving the Girl

Half an hour before Ryuken detected the battle.

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." Thought Akeno aloud. "Oh well, I guess it was not 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 30 or so people dressed in traditional Shintou attire walking out from a wooded area 50 m (164 feet) 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 web 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 Shintou 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 the blessings of the Gods."

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

"Ignorant child, do not speak of matters that 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 chant 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 and tendrils of thunder wrapped her arms. In this state, Akeno is able to 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 2 spells dissipated, Akeno called down a thunder bolt on a shrine maiden to her right, simultaneously making a half turn to the left in order to dodge an incoming wind blade.

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.

For the first 20 minutes, Akeno was completely unharmed, and she managed to down nearly 2 thirds of her attackers. Unfortunately, the 'Thunder Blade of Judgement' spell expended large amounts of will power and magic energy. As the battle raged on, Akeno was no longer able to completely avoid in coming spells, only able to avoid attacks in critical locations.

By the 25th 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, causing 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 did not expect a response. Waiving his hand forward, he gave the order to kill.

The remaining able bodied Himejima clansmen let loose their spells, and Akeno was too exhausted to put up a defense. Believing this to be her end, Akeno closed her eyes and waited for her death.

"What is this?"

"Are these... Cherry blossoms?"

"Did those flower petals just dissipate 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, Ryuken replied with a big smile, "Well, how about we have that conversation once you're out of danger?"

Ryuken's 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?" Ryuken asked, pausing momentarily before continuing, "I need to know how far I'm allowed to go."

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

Getting no response, Ryuken 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 Ryuken's 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, Ryuken looked off into the distance and shouted, "Hey Riri, they're from the Himejima Clan. The clan head is here, too. How far can I go?"

"No deaths." Replied a young female voice from the distance.

Hearing the answer from the distance, Ryuken 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." He 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 a step forward, the wall of cherry blossom petals split, flowing back 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 Ryuken, 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 Ryuken in response. "I was born from a loving union, to call my blood tainted is a bit much, isn't it?"

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

Ryuken, seeing the Himejima clansmen preparing to attack, rushed into the crowd, opting for close quarters combat over magical combat.

Nearing his 1st opponent, Ryuken threw a jab, striking the man on his chin. With his head rocked back, he missed Ryuken side stepping around to his ride side, avoiding a fire spell in the process. When the priest finally looked back to the front, what greeted him was a right hook to the sternum. Noticing a thunder spell coming from behind, Ryuken grabbed his current opponent, swinging him into the line of the spell.

"Gah!!!"

Taking the full brunt of the thunder spell, the priest fell unconscious. With his meat shiel down, Ryuken lowered his center of gravity and rushed to his next victim.

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

After seeing 2 of those on his side incapacitated without much of a fight, 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 clear in his gaze.

"Take it easy old man." Replied ryuken casually. Tilting his head in confusion, he then continued "I'm only following orders. I didn't even kill anyone, so, why do you look so angry?"

"And whose orders are you following?" Asked Suou sternly.

"Hey Riri," Ryuken shouted off into the distance again, "This old man 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."

"Don't give me that," Ryuken snapped back. "You know I haven't been trained for that yet."

"Ha, and you desire to be the [Queen] of my peerage?" The voice replied again, as a girl with long crimson hair and a non-descript middle-aged man entered the anti-recognition barrier.

"You're right, I'll ask So-tan instead." Replied Ryuken in a huff.

"You dare?" Asked Rias with anger apparent in her tone.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" Asked Ryuken, condescension lacing his tone. "Why would I subject myself to your unreasonable expectations and mood swings?"

"Ryu-Kun! You big idiot!" Screamed Rias.

"I know you are, but what am I." Replied Ryuken in a childish tone.

Seeing the 2 argue, the Himejima clansmen were dumbfounded.

'This childish brat... Would have decimated us alone. There is no justice in this world.' Thought all the Himejima clansman who were still conscious.

Himejima Suou, however, noticed a much more important fact. Even while engaged in an argument with the red head, the barrier of cherry blossom petals didn't waiver.

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 gaze at Ryuken, 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, Ryu-Kun, do it." Ordered Rias.

"Yeah, yeah." Replied Ryuken nonchalantly, as he pulled a bladeless katana hilt from behind his waist.

Once this hilt was visible, the floating cherry blossom petals flew toward it and began forming the missing blade. Once the katana was whole again, Ryuken unsummoned it.

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, Ryuken made his way to Akeno's side.

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

Hearing Ryuken's 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, Ryuken asked, "Can you stand?"

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

Holding the young girl in his arms, Ryuken patted her head. 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 Ryuken 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 Ryuken and Akeno. With a flash of light and the disappearance of the magic circle, Ryuken 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 Ryu-Kun. You better not do anything to that girl." Rias muttered to herself with a dark aura around her. "This was supposed to be a trip for just the 2 of us. Ryu-Kun, you stupid head."

Hearing Rias' murmurings, Heinrich was at a loss.

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

Seeing the leaders of the 2 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 thought, 'Not that there is any chance you will ever get her back.'