魔女HiME

Witch-type Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment

Mai-MAJO

C H A P T E R O N E

“Phantom Battle! Natsuki and Kitada Trapped in Desperate Situations!”

Six Years Ago…

The room that her mother had taken her to was dark, lit only by five flickering candles that sat spaced evenly apart on a small, silver tray. The dim light wavered along the length of wall that she could see in such a way that it seemed as if the shadows themselves were dancing. Under her feet, the tatami mat floor felt so soft the green-eyed girl believed that it would swallow her if she tried to move across it. The entire room gave her an eerie feeling. She couldn’t be too sure, but Kuga Natsuki was almost sure that there was something else in there besides herself and her mom. Something that was watching her.

“There’s no reason to be afraid, Natsuki,” a calm and loving voice said gently from behind. A moment later, a pair of delicate hands lightly encircled her shoulders. But even they could not ease her feelings of reservation.

“D-Do I have to…” Natsuki found herself pausing as she sensed a slight chill run through her body. It felt as though someone ice cold had just brushed up against her! There was something in the room! She was sure of it! And it was something that she couldn’t see! Natsuki found herself gulping twice before she could summon up the courage to finish her original words. “Mommy, d-do I have to? I don’t like…I don’t like this room. Th-there’s something…wrong with it.”

A delicate laugh came from the rear of her.

“It’s funny you should say that,” the elder Kuga spoke tenderly, with just a trace of humor edging her voice. “Because when I was your age, I felt exactly the same way. I didn’t like this room either. In fact, I remember that your grandmother had to carry me in against my will. But, I don’t want to force you to do anything that you don’t want to, Natsuki.”

Natsuki’s green eyes widened as she slowly turned around to face her mother, who crouched down to meet her daughter’s expressive gaze. “You didn’t? You won’t? Then…Then why did you bring me here?”

Her mother, Saeko, just gave her a warm smile and closed her eyes behind her large, somewhat rectangular glasses for a moment as she cocked her head to the left.

“Because there’s something I want to show you, something that I intend to be yours someday. But, you can’t be afraid of it. And I don’t want to make you afraid of it by trying to force you. I want you to go at your own pace, Natsuki. Although, if you do decide to come into the room, you can’t be scared. You have to be brave for me, okay?”

Natsuki could feel her heart begin to pound in her small chest. So, there really was something in the room! It hadn’t just been her imagination! She knew she had been right! Even at eleven, she had learned how to trust her instincts. She felt herself shiver from the slight chill running through her small body as her mind tried to figure out the meaning in her mother’s words. Couldn’t be afraid? Didn’t want to force her? Had to be brave? Just what was it her mother wanted to show her?

“Brave,” she questioned uncertainly, gazing into her mother’s smooth, round face. “You mean like when Daddy left?”

Kuga Saeko’s eyes opened up slowly and sadly at the words that had innocently came from Natsuki’s mouth. Some old wounds and pains never went away, no matter how long they were left to heal.

“Yes Natsuki,” she responded evenly, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. “I want you to be brave just like that.”

For a moment, Natsuki wondered why her mother’s face seemed so much sadder than before. It brought a question to her lips.

“Mommy,” she asked quietly. “Are you going to cry about Daddy leaving again?”

Her mother’s eyes widened slightly behind the clean lenses of her over-sized glasses, and then lowered into an affectionate look that she directed lovingly at Natsuki.

“No dear,” Saeko partially lied. “Your father did what he felt he had to because of…of my job. I’ve cried over him enough now. It’s time I moved on with my life. And you should do the same. When you think you are ready to, that is.”

Natsuki nodded her head slowly, but her green eyes still carried a worried tint about them.

“Okay Mommy, I will.”

Saeko’s lips curved into a big smile as she ran a hand tenderly over the top Natsuki’s head, long fingers teasing the left pink ribbon of the two that held her cobalt hair in twin pigtails.

“Good. Now, do think you’re ready to meet her?”

Natsuki’s worried face slowly formed into a questioning one. She moved her head slightly to look up into her mother’s smiling face briefly and then turned it to gaze around candlelit room behind her. The muted illumination form the candles danced softly against the walls and the air from the overhead vents made the decorative, paper-made charms and talismans twisted and turn about. But other than that, Natsuki could see nothing else that was in the room.

“Meet who, Mommy,” she said finally, returning her eyes to Saeko. “There’s no one else in there.”

Kuga Saeko rose from her crouching position in front of Natsuki and slowly moved around her daughter to enter the eerie-seeming room. Her bare feet made very little sound as they pressed deeply into the tatami matting.

“Oh,” she replied, reaching the center of the room, stopping and turning around to face Natsuki. “There’s one more person in here besides us, Natsuki. Well, something more than a person actually. But she does have a name. Would you like to know it?”

Natsuki, who had turned around to face her mother and was still rooted in the same spot by her trepidation, only nodded her head. Saeko merely smiled.

“Her name is Kitada and she is my Phantom.”

“What’s a Phantom, Mommy?”

Saeko carefully walked around to other side of the tray holding the candles so she could kneel down and still be facing both it and her daughter.

“Well,” she began with a brief laugh, crossing her ankles and leaning back on them. “That’s a bit hard to explain. I guess you could say that she is a special kind of friend that’s always there for you; one that you can tell all your secrets to and know that she’ll never tell them to anyone else. But then again, she’s also kind of like a guardian angel as well; somebody who can protect you when you get into trouble and can offer you a hand when you need it.”

Natsuki’s emerald eyes broadened questioningly.

“You mean she’s kinda like Duran? Because I tell him all my secrets and he protects me and he’s my special friend too!”

Saeko couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Yes,” she responded in a humor-filled tone. “I guess, in a way, they are somewhat the same. Though if Kitada knew I was comparing her to your pet dog, Natsuki, she probably wouldn’t take it all that well.”

The little cobalt-haired girl just stared at her mother, face suddenly defiant.

“Why not Mommy? I think she should be happy to be like Duran! Because it just mean she’s special like he is! Right?”

The full-faced woman keeling in the center of the room was trying her best to compose an expression that was straight and humorless, but it was becoming a struggle for her to do so.

“Well,” Saeko started to answer, pausing briefly to clear her throat in an effort to at least sound more serious than she appeared. “I suppose so, Natsuki. But, Kitada is also so much more than that. You see, she’s been with our family for a long time; watching over and protecting us. Even though the people I work for call her a Phantom, my mother said that she was a Guardian Spirit and once told me that she had been bound to us since the earliest days of our family’s history. Kitada has been passed down to every generation of women from my bloodline. I was the latest to be guarded by her, but that time is coming to an end. As my only daughter, Natsuki, you are the next in line to inherit Kitada’s guardianship. That is why I have brought you here tonight so you can meet her. But as I said before, only if you think you are ready. A connection will not form between you and my Phantom if you are frightened of her. Do you understand?”

Natsuki nodded her head uncertainly. Though she hadn’t understood nearly any of what her mother had just told her, she knew that the woman kneeling in the room before her would never do anything to harm her. If she said that this Kitada person wouldn’t hurt her, then she would believe it. Hesitantly raising her foot, Natsuki slowly took her first step into her mother’s world.

-OOO-

Present Day…

“Takeda,” Natsuki yelled as she entered the partially lit warehouse, Elements held out in front her. “Takeda! I know you’re in here! So you might as well come out!”

Natsuki’s aggravated voice echoed all throughout the dark confines that lay before her field of vision. But nothing seemed to stir in the barely lit gloom. Behind her, Kitada had come to a stop and, with her eyes closed, appeared to be concentrating. Through their bond with each other, Natsuki could feel what the ghostly girl was doing.

Never taking her eyes away from the darkness in front of her, she asked in a low tone, “Where is he? Can you sense him?”

Kitada tried no to let any hint of growing her annoyance show through either their bond or the look on her youthful face.

“Maaaybeeeeee,” she began in what sounded like a half-asleep voice before it suddenly grew louder and ruder. “If a certain somebody would stop pestering me with stupid questions!”

Natsuki could feel the small vein in her temple pulse dangerously. Gritting her teeth, she focused her frustration – because Kitada was always frustrating! – on the teenaged boy she had been hunting for nearly all of the past two months.

“TAKEDA!” she screamed out louder than before. “TAKEDA!! IDIOT!! GET OUT HERE NOW OR SO HELP ME I”LL – ”

Almost immediately, Kitada’s eyes flashed open and her piercing words found themselves interrupting Natsuki’s angry rant before it really had a chance to begin.

“Natsuki, MOVE!!”

Both words and emotions touched the dark-blue haired girl at exactly the same time. Natsuki only had time to catch a very brief glimpse of some sort of whitish energy as she deftly leapt aside to avoid it. As it crackled past her diving body, she could feel the skin under her tight-fitting riding suit burn hotly. Whatever the energy had been, it hit just behind where Natsuki had been standing only seconds before; bursting into a cascading array of angry, arcing tendrils of electrical force that seared and burned everything that they came in contact with. Landing on her side, she threw her body into a brief roll and pushed herself back up to her feet; Elements held at the ready. She could feel both emotions of relief and outright resentment fly through her bond with Kitada. That came as a comfort to Natsuki. It meant that Kitada had escaped from the odd energy blast as well.

Yet the most obvious question remained in her mind. Who, or what, had fired it off at her? Certainly not Takeda. Even as a SHADE, his MAHO-born abilities could never advance that far. Could they?

Abruptly, Kitada re-materialized beside the crouching Natsuki. Her cream-in-coffee colored eyes were livid. But then, Natsuki had felt that general emotion long before the Phantom had appeared next to her.

“Mazoku,” she stated hotly. Lifting a translucent hand, Kitada extended a single finger and pointed to two specific locations. “There and there. Takeda’s still here but it looks like he’s letting the Mazoku do the fighting for him, the coward!”

Natsuki tried to suppress the torrent of raw feelings that were washing over her mind through the bond. Sometimes, it was a blessing as well as a curse. Focusing on the task at hand, she took a brief moment to raise herself from the crouching position that she had taken and quickly turned to move behind a dusty stack of old crates. As she did, Natsuki cast a momentary glance in the two directions that Kitada had indicated. Mazoku? Just what in the hell did Takeda think he was doing, consorting with scum like that?!

“Dammit,” Natsuki returned louder than she intended, voice on the edge of anger itself. “Calm down, Kitada! Your emotions are too strong right now! I have to concentrate just to keep them out of my head!”

Kitada, who had phased through the crates to return to her side, seemed ready to argue her point, but instead visibly tried to reign in her out-of-control emotions.

“Sorry, Natsuki. It was just…that blast…it could have…I almost let you…”

Natsuki gave her Phantom a sympathetic look as Kitada’s sorrowful feelings flowed into her mind as well. If she had not been trained to deal with this, first by her mother and later by the SEERS Society, she was sure that all the emotions and feelings in her head would have her on the verge of madness by now. It was another aspect of accepting Kitada from her mother that she had been warned about but hadn’t really been able to grasp the concept of until the bond between them had formed.

“Don’t worry about it,” she responded in a more controlled tone, taking her emerald eyes away from the Phantom to peek around the crates. Using a simple technique that her mother had taught her, Natsuki bundled up Kitada’s stray emotions and pushed them to the back of her mind. As long as they weren’t raging like they had been a few moments ago, she could always make them secondary in her head. “Can you tell me where Takeda is?”

The expression of near failure to protect her MAJO was still stapled across Kitada’s face, but she answered, “Yes. He’s about forty or so yards directly to the front of us and slightly left. He’s apparently hiding behind a line of stacked pallets, but I don’t know what he’s waiting for.”

Natsuki felt a glimmer of a smile touch her lips. It also brought on a sickening feeling of what was to come; what she knew she had been ordered to do by the SEERS Society if the wayward MAHO resisted.

“Me. That’s what he’s waiting for. The idiot. Kitada, think you can handle those two Mazoku?”

The pained look that had been on Kitada’s face a moment ago – which itself had been slightly augmented by Natsuki’s feelings toward her Society orders – disappeared quickly. The Phantom’s eyes narrowed knowingly and a look of renewed vigor returned to her almost transparent countenance.

“Like I’d have a problem with them,” she sniffed arrogantly. “They’re only C-Class from what I can sense and that attack earlier was probably their strongest. Honestly Natsuki, don’t you have any faith in my abilities?!”

Natsuki only nodded, a dark look creasing her adolescent face.

“Then I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” she replied, dematerializing the Element in her left hand and hurriedly raising it up to a position right in front of Kitada’s chest. Closing her eyes, she began to recite the Incantation of Release. “‘With the Blessings of Saeko, Yamiko, Totsuki and the Blood that came before mine; may the true strength of she who guards and protects be unsealed to allow her light to shine through the dark. Of thee I beg, release this Phantom from the Dreaming and let her power come forth to be realized!!’”

The invocation finished, a bright blue sphere of eldritch energy sprang to life just beneath the palm of Natsuki’s hand. Wasting no time, she shoved the small globe of azure into the translucent chest of Kitada. The Phantom’s head arched back as a blinding flash of radiance arced over and through her ghostly form. In seconds, Kitada was completely enveloped by the intense luminosity of the unknown energy that was consuming her body. Suddenly, something flew back from the static, human-shaped light; a solid-looking feminine form that was still wrapped in long tendrils of luminescence as she fell, feet-first, to the dirty floor of the warehouse from the suspended height the Phantom had previously been hovering at. Using a lowered hand to slow her momentum as the lines of blue energy – as well as the body-sized, radiant light she had been ejected from – began to dissipate and fade into nothingness, the solid figure of a young woman clad in a variation of Natsuki’s riding suit remained crouched on one knee a few feet away from dark-haired MAJO. Her long, black tresses hung heavily toward the dusty floor; completely enshrouding her bowed head as she flexed the fingers on the hand still held solidly against the ground. Behind the lengthy strands of raven, a pair of moistened lips parted and took in a slow, shuddering breath of the stale, warehouse air. A second later, they closed into a mischievous grin.

“Damn,” Kitada called out in a breathy voice as she pushed herself up from the ground and took in her surroundings. “I forgot how good it feels to be solid!”

Natsuki did her best to shut out the Phantom’s exhilaration at being released from her immaterial state that was rolling into her mind through the bond. As she did, she hastily re-summoning the twin of the odd-shaped pistol held in her other hand after a moment.

“Really happy for you,” she said dryly, peeking around the stack of crates again, bringing her dual Elements to bear. Oddly enough, there had been no movement or attack during the seconds it had taken her to bring Kitada to physicality. And it was worrying Natsuki. “Seriously. Now, how about you go and do what I summoned you here to do!”

Raising both of her hands up, Kitada flexed them again. A second later, her cream-in-coffee colored eyes tapered as she lifted her head toward one of the directions that she had indicated to Natsuki earlier. A wicked smile further curved her slender lips.

“As you command,” she responded in a low, somewhat mocking voice. “My MAJO.”

Repositioning and extending her hands to where they were facing away from her, Kitada took another deep breath. Her eyes seemed to lose some of their earlier focus and heat, gaze becoming glassy and lost; almost as if she were staring at something unseen and faraway.

“‘Distance,’” she began to chant. “‘Time lost to the Seven Winds. Space consumed by the Twisting Sands. Across the Abyss darker than black. I cry. I scream. I beckon. Come to me, my Mamoru!’”

Without warning, there was an explosion of eldritch energy that was so forceful, it kicked up dust and debris from the floor and toppled a few of the rickety crates that were stacked nearest to Kitada. Fortunately, it didn’t happen to be any of the ones close to Natsuki. Yet, as abruptly as it had occurred, it was over just as quickly; a brief flash of light and pressure that had signified the arrival of a Phantom’s weapon as it tore through the fragile walls that separated the dimensions.

A Reverie Nocturne, that’s what the SEERS Society researchers of the group that Natsuki’s mother had belonged to – the Watchtower – had termed it; a weapon composed of both Aether and High-order Matter that was only wieldable by a fully released Phantom. It was a power unto itself, as they had put it; something that could make a MAJO’s Phantom nearly unbeatable if they knew how to control it correctly. As many of the Watchtower members had stated on numerous occasions, the marriage of Aether and High-order Matter was nothing to scoff at. And the Reverie Nocturne represented the ultimate, natural combination of those two eldritch energies.

As the light in front of Kitada died down, a long, silver object – broken at its center by a large, metal ring that ran through the thick, cylindrical shaft itself and adorned at both ends by wide, serrated spearheads – hovered just before her outstretched hands. Grabbing hold of the cold, metallic spear-ended pole with both hands, Kitada pulled it in close and gaze down at its length for a second or two. All along the Reverie Nocturne, running from one end to another, long, winding lines of an arcane language long since lost to the winds of time marred every inch of the weapon. The silverish metal that comprised the object seemed to shine in the weak light of the abandoned warehouse as if it had been polished. It was ethereal and otherworldy, radiating an aetheric pulse that seemed to resonate through Kitada’s newly released flesh. It brought more than just a smile – and a nasty one at that – to her willowy lips.

In one fluid move, Kitada had gone from where she had been standing after summoning her Reverie Nocturne to being right beside her cobalt-haired MAJO. Taking one hand off of the odd-looking weapon, the materialized Phantom reached over to an unsuspecting Natsuki and wrapped a long arm around her waist. The power that was flooding through her was almost overwhelming! How long had it been since she had last felt like that?!

“Ki…Kitada, what the hell are you doing?!”

The black-haired girl said nothing as she made sure that her MAJO was secured and then crouched down, gathering a surge of strength into her legs.

“Hold on, Natsuki!” was all Kitada said in return, pushing up from the ground with the smallest amount of force that she could manage. Afterall, she didn’t want to put them both through the warehouse’s roof. But then, that was why it was good that the rundown old storage facility had lofty ceilings. Beneath her booted feet, she could feel the concrete crack deeply.

“Wait! Tell me! What are you doiiiiiinnnnnnnngggggggggggg??”

Natsuki found those words trailing her as Kitada launched them both high into the air, well above the cover that she had been ducking behind. The sudden movement had caught Natsuki completely off-guard. It had been so abrupt that it even didn’t register through the bond she shared with Kitada. Then again, much of what Kitada had been feeling since Natsuki had cast the Incantation of Release and materialized her physical form had been reduced to a slow trickle instead of a steady stream. But that was the price of releasing her Phantom’s power; only strong thoughts, feelings and impressions got through now. The lessening of those sensations in a MAJO’s head could be a little disorienting. Plus, it left Natsuki wondering just what Kitada was trying to accomplish. What was going through the girl’s mind? Just what the hell was her Phantom up to?!

“See that stack of crates to your left,” Kitada asked loudly, trying to raise her voice over the musty air pushing against both of them.

Lifting one of the hands still baring her Element, Natsuki tried to brush away the heavy strands of her thick hair that were being blown into her face with the back of it. Finally managing to do so, her emerald eyes narrowed on the lowly piled containers that lay a few good feet below her and her Phantom. There were other crates stacked around them, most none too neatly and not nearly as high. The entire section seemed to be covered in shadows due to the lack of artificial, man-made lighting; only having the pale glow of the Moon supplying any sort of illumination on the spot. But other than that, Natsuki could see nothing else of interest in the area Kitada had indicated.

“Yeah,” she shouted back, fighting to keep her dark-blue hair out of her face. “So what?!”

Kitada used her other arm to raise the Reverie Nocturne to a ready position at her side, light-brown eyes already focusing on something else. It was something that was an old threat to her and Natsuki, one that had nearly caught them by surprise. She wasn’t about to let that happen again.

“Takeda is over that way,” she yelled back, directing another surge of strength; this time into her arm. “I’m going to handle these Mazoku! You take care of him! Happy landings!”

Natsuki’s eyes widened at Kitada’s almost merry-sounding, last two words. She wasn’t! She wouldn’t! Kitada wouldn’t dare throw her around like some kind of…of baseball! It just couldn’t be! She quickly turned her head to direct a menacing glare at Kitada, in an effort to halt the girl’s insane plan, only to find her Phantom’s smirking – smirking! – face. It was then that she knew that everything she had been thinking of just a few seconds ago was oh-so-very wrong! Damned that stupid spell for dulling the bond between them!

“I’ll get you for this,” Natsuki growled as she felt the Phantom’s arm rear back. “You hear me, Kitada! I will pay you back! Count on it!”

The ebon-haired girl’s grin only grew.

“Yeah, I know,” Kitada began impishly as she brought her arm forward and then released her grip on Natsuki’s waist. “But seriously, it’s going to be worth it! I mean, the look on your face right now is absolutely priceless! Besides, with your athletics training, you’ll be just fine!”

In short order, Natsuki found herself flying freely through the stale air of the warehouse, descending feet first. She fought hard to resist the urge to attempt to twist her body around in mid-air so she could shoot Kitada in the face with her Elements. It was a fight she almost lost. But still, she was seething. Wasn’t a MAJO’s Phantom supposed to protect the one they were bound to? What had she said just before she threw her? She’d be just fine?! Athletics training indeed! Natsuki’s face glowered with expectation. Oh yes, she would be just fine! And after everything here was all said and done, Kitada was going to be taught the error of her ways!

Refocusing her thoughts, Natsuki concentrated on the situation at hand. Though she hated to admit it, Kitada’s idea might actually have some merit to it. If Takeda was hiding somewhere in the gloom that surrounded the highly-piled crates Kitada had oh-so-accurately tossed her towards, Natsuki could probably get the upper-hand on him. If her and Kitada yelling loudly at each other hadn’t alerted him to what the Phantom had planned.

Falling toward the top of stacked crates, Natsuki held her twin Elements out to her side. She tried not to think of everything that could go wrong with Kitada’s hasty plan. As the wooden containers grew ever closer, Natsuki could hear the sounds of battle behind her along with feeling a strong pulse of exhilaration rolling in through the bond. Her face slowly took on a determined look as her feet found the top of the crate. Methods aside, Kitada was performing the job she was supposed to; protect and guard her MAJO.

Feet making solid contact with the crate, it only took Natsuki a second or two to realize that her momentum from Kitada’s toss would carry her over the side. Athletics training taking over, she instinctively bent her knees; keeping her arms suspended to her sides as she leaned back slightly. Beneath her feet, the wooden container wobbled dangerously making it all the more harder to keep her body held steadily atop it. Quickly scanning her surroundings, Natsuki noticed that the other piles and stacks of crates were all just as high or lower than the one she was balancing on. A brief smile touched her lips. Maybe she would go a little easier on Kitada afterall, but not by much.

Straightening out legs, Natsuki mentally traced out her trajectory and finished plotting out her path to the warehouse floor. Taking a deep breath, she flexed her knees and pushed off the unbalanced crate sideways; throwing her body into an aerial cartwheel towards a denser stack of containers. She closed her eyes to keep from becoming disoriented by the acrobatic move. The wide surface of the pile she was aiming for was spacious enough to ensure a safe landing.

Feeling her body returning to an upright position, Natsuki reopened her eyes and extended her arms back out into the air beside her. Landing heavily, the wood beneath booted feet groaned in protest at the additional weight placed on top of it. Heart beating hard in her chest, Natsuki took a few seconds to catch her breath and reposition herself before leaping again; this time toward a group of pallets stacked together four by four. As she did, her emerald gaze caught something skulking about in the shadows just ahead of the pallets. Even in the gloomy, moon-spawned light covering the area, she would always recognize that spiky, black hair. Takeda Masashi.

Not bothering to hide her presence any more than it already was, Natsuki hit the pile of pallets hard and broke into a short run before leaping off again. Before her, the Fuuka OrCHARD uniform-clad teen stopped and swung around. It only made Natsuki smile as she brought her Elements out in front of her and raised them toward him. Pulling the triggers, she fired a quick couple of warning shots at him; icy bullets striking near and around his feet. The boy backpedaled unconsciously, tripping over his own feet as he did. He hit the ground just as Natsuki did, who threw herself into a brief tuck and roll as she landed. When she pushed back up to her feet, Natsuki was kneeling on one knee with both of her Elements raised and pointed at a blank-faced Takeda. The look on her’s was amusement intermixed with determined anger.

“K-Kuga!” the spiky-haired teen managed in a strain, startled voice.

Natsuki’s green eyes narrowed on Takeda as her gloved fingers teased the triggers of her Elements.

“Been a while, hasn’t it Takeda?” she asked wryly, rising from the crouch to her full height while leveling the oddly-shaped pistols at him. “Heard you’ve been a busy man.”

-o-o-o-

Kitada avoided another streak of whitish energy as it whizzed just past her face. Much like the one that had almost struck Natsuki, it seared whatever it touched on contact; in this case, the warehouse’s high ceiling. And much like before, she had no wish to see what it would do to her, whether she wore her immaterial form or the body that her MAJO had materialized her into. Kitada simply had no desire to be beaten by two low-class Mazoku; nor did she have any desire to fail Natsuki. As she had protected Kuga Saeko during her time as a MAJO, she would do the same for her daughter.

Still holding her Reverie Nocturne – Mamoru – with both hands, Kitada instinctively summoned another Step Disc to land on so she could continue her fight in the air. Below her, hovering just above the height of the highest pile of crates in the rickety old building, the Mazoku females just leered up at her. Wispy tendrils of ebon-hued energy leaked from their open-palmed hands and their blood-red eyes weighed and measured her in an attempt to discern her next move before she made it. Just as she had sensed before while her and Natsuki were outside, there had been two Mazoku within the warehouse with Takeda. What she hadn’t counted on, however, was that those two were apparently siblings – obviously sisters. Twins, in fact, with the ability to communicate with each other telepathically. And it was that shared gift between them which was proving annoyingly troublesome for her.

“Oh,” the one on the left called out to her twin. “I think we’re wearing the little ghostling down, sister.”

The Mazoku furthest right allowed a knowing smile to play against her purplish lips as she responded with, “You might be right! Look at her, so lost without her MAJO giving her orders!” The gray-skinned woman bared her fanged teeth as she laughed out, long and heavy tail twitching about as she did. Raising her arms out in front of her, the Mazoku female looked as though she were imitating a begging dog. “Does the poor wittle Phantom missy-wissy her big, bad mistwess? Hmm?” Off to her side, the twin guffawed loudly, trying to do her best not to double over and slap her knee. The one taunting Kitada continued. “Oh don’t worry, wittle doggie! We’ll keep playing with you! In fact…”

The Mazoku who had been doing all the talking dropped her teasing act as she pulled back her left arm and slung it forward, the ebon energy that had been burning there turning a bright white. Her tone and words were now edged with a brutal certainty.

“…We’ll keep playing with you until you’re dematerialized! And even then, we won’t stop!”

The blast of energy that streaked from the Mazoku’s hand was quickly followed by another released by her twin. Kitada’s face was dark with anger as she leapt from the Step Disc to evade the crackling energy that had been directed at her. In fact, she hardly even registered them as a threat. Her mind was literally boiling at what the Mazoku had been saying about her. Wittle doggie?! Miss her mistress?! Very rude and sudden memories popped into her head, images of a night a long time ago where a certain little cobalt-haired girl had compared her to the pet dog that she owned. Saeko had been right when she said that she wouldn’t take it all that well! It had led to her and Natsuki’s very first argument, and pretty much the basis of the bond they shared with each other even now. Wittle doggie?? Obviously, she hadn’t dealt with it all that well then and she knew she wasn’t about to start now!

“Then you have a very long night ahead of you,” she shouted angrily in return. Raising her Reverie Nocturne up, Kitada held it tightly by her left side with both her hands as she screamed, “Ustu!!”

The wide spearhead began to glow fiercely with reddish orange energy for about a second, and then a powerful blast burst forth that tore through the air as it roared down toward the Mazoku to Kitada’s immediate right. The wild-haired woman with a single horn adorning the center of her wide forehead lashed her tail in agitation as she quickly dodged the incoming attack, rolling unerringly to the left of it and shooting herself upward at the descending Phantom. There was a massive explosion under her as the blast from Mamoru struck the stack of containers the Mazoku had been hovering over; sending dust, fiery pieces of burnt wood and other debris in every direction. A contemptful look crawled furiously across her gray face, red eyes burning with rage. Around both of her hands, the blackish energy that was boiling there began to pale and seethe.

“Nice move,” the Mazoku hollered up at Kitada as she reared back her arms. “If it had been a few seconds quicker, you might’ve caught me! Do all you Phantoms suck this bad without your MAJO?!” Purple lips twisting into a mad grin of delight, the Mazoku woman brought her arms forward with all the strength she had and released the power that had been burning there. “If that’s the case, you’re going to be a disappointingly easy kill,” she announced as the blasts streaked away from her hands.

Kitada scowled down at the approaching energy. Was this really the best that the two Mazoku could do? Insult her and fire so-easy-to-avoid-it-was-boring blasts of aetheric power at her? Maybe this wouldn’t take as long as she thought it would. Pulling her left hand away from the cool metal shaft of her Reverie Nocturne, Kitada grasped instead the part of it that was inside the large ring that split the weapon’s center. Tensing her grip on the ethereal weapon’s length with her right, she swung it out from her side with incredible force while yelling, “The only thing ‘disappointingly easy’ around here is you! Usabon!!”

There was the briefest flash of red were the metal ring and the shaft of the weapon met. Suddenly, the entire length of Mamoru that Kitada was slinging away from her body separated itself from the rest of the Reverie Nocturne; attached to a crackling, line of dark-red energy as it lashed out like a whip. In short order, it cut through the incoming blasts like they were nothing, dissipating each long before they could come any closer to her. Guiding the swinging end of Mamoru into a wider arc, Kitada directed it toward the approaching Mazoku.

Gritting her fanged teeth hard, the gray-skinned woman tried to slow her forward momentum enough to avoid the wide spear-end but couldn’t. The blade buried itself about halfway into her side, cutting dangerously close to her spine. She gasped loudly as the cold, eldritch metal of the Phantom’s Reverie Nocturne sent an unnatural chill rampaging through her body. The Mazoku coughed up blackish-red blood as the preternatural strength behind the blow stopped her forward advance completely and pushed her harshly to the right. But even with the large blade embedded within her side and the lower part of her jaw slick with the still-flowing blood coming from her compressed mouth, she still managed to curve lips into a malicious smile. Reaching out with two shuddering hands, the Mazoku woman grabbed the silverish shaft of Mamoru in a death-grip.

“D-Did you th-think that you…you could k-kill me with an…an attack that weak,” she taunted Kitada softly as her eyes flashed passed the Phantom to something behind her. Gathering her strength, the Mazoku woman raised her voice and suddenly screamed, “N-NOW…SISTER!!”

But Kitada was already prepared for what was coming. Not even looking behind her, she removed her hand from the smooth surface of the long spear-end of Mamoru that was held securely against her right side. Placing it swiftly upon the part of the ring just above where her left was holding the section of shaft imprisoned within, Kitada wrapped her hand around the arcane-symbol marked metal and stiffened her grip. Showing no other expression on her face besides a cold certainty of what she was about to do, she opened her mouth a hollered, “Usabon Ujin!!”

There was another flash of red light and then the other end of her Reverie Nocturne shot out from the central ring. It was connected to a similar crackling line of crimson as well as it flew back behind Kitada with frightening speed. The Phantom didn’t need to feel brief, minimal jarring sensation along the metal ring that she held or hear the abrupt, inhuman shriek coming from the Mazoku twin, who had been approaching from the rear, to know that Mamoru had claimed another victim. Unconsciously creating a Step Disc to stand upon, Kitada couldn’t help but feel superior and arrogant.

“And did you think,” she boasted condescendingly to the wounded Mazoku barely remaining airborne beneath her. “That you could catch me off-guard with a maneuver that obvious? Please. Are all you low-level Mazoku this pathetic??”

Feeling a sudden rush of ruthlessness race through her, Kitada tensed the Aether-enhanced muscles in her arms. In one smooth motion, she whipped her Reverie Nocturne in such a way that it viciously ripped out the spear-end imbedded within the Mazoku below her out. A spray of nearly black crimson shot out of the deep gash in the gray-skinned female’s side. The surprise and pain on her face only fed into Kitada’s arrogance. Seconds after that, she pulled Mamoru down hard, yanking the twin of the injured Mazoku from the air above her with incredible speed. She tumbled past Kitada in an out of control descent, lifeless-seeming body falling like a broken doll. At the last minute, the Phantom maneuvered her Reverie Nocturne sharply to the left and snapped it remorselessly. The wide blade suddenly pulled free of the Mazoku’s midsection wetly and retreated in the direction that its mistress had indicated. The abrupt change in momentum had altered the course of the wounded creature’s fall, sending her careening headlong into her still-recovering twin. They both fell heavily and gracelessly to the concrete floor of the warehouse with terrific impact; cratering the rough surface as they hit and releasing a small shockwave that splintered the crates nearest to them. Those furthest away were not spared, being blown back ferociously by the force of the collision between spiraling Mazoku twins and a hard, unforgiving surface of man-made stone. A heavy cloud of dust and debris hung in the air above the impact crater, obscuring all that lay beneath it.

From her perch atop the Step Disc, Kitada’s cream-in-coffee colored eyes scanned scene of destruction that lay under her. For moment, she had been worried that maybe she had gone too far; fearing that her last attack against the Mazoku twins might have injured Natsuki or worse. Seconds after witnessing the devastation she had wrought and hearing the metal infrastructure of the warehouse groan unsteadily, Kitada had begun to curse herself for letting her anger and eagerness to fight get the better of her. When she couldn’t feel her MAJO through their bond, a cold, unsettling emptiness had centered itself in the very core of her being. If she had allowed anything to happen to Natsuki, she would never forgive herself! It was her job to protect the girl! It was part of the promise that she had made to Kuga Saeko, her former MAJO! What would she have done if Natsuki had been killed during that assault?!

Thankfully, though, Kuga Natsuki’s less than savory feelings about what had just happened roared through the bond wickedly; impressions and emotions so strong that Kitada thought the cobalt-haired girl was right beside her. But it was only a brief flaring of sensations, already dissipating as a result of the spell cast to materialize Kitada’s physical body. But what was that noise she had just heard? It sounded suspiciously similar to a... Well, whatever it had been it couldn’t have been anything that endangered Natsuki. Otherwise the emotion coming through the bond wouldn’t be so…intense.

Still, a light smile touched the Phantom’s lips at that notion. The dulling in the bond created by the Incantation of Release only made her feel lonely. It almost seemed as if Natsuki were no longer in her head. She had held that particular bond with Natsuki ever since the first time they had met; that insane argument over the girl comparing her to her pet dog. Duran, if she recalled the name right. At only eleven years old and without the Ritual of Contract binding them to one another, Kuga Natsuki had managed to create a connection of her own with the Phantom. It was something that had not only surprised her mother, Saeko, but the SEERS Society itself. According to their historical records, as well as the research documentation of the Watchtower, they shared one of the strongest bonds to ever be known between MAJO and Phantom. And the strength of that bond had more than served them well over the years.

Bringing herself back to reality, Kitada returned an active gaze down at the slowly dispersing dust cloud. Not that she was expecting any movement with the damage she had dealt to both of the Mazoku – near killing blows as far as she could tell – but it never hurt to remain cautious. But in truth, her eyes were telling her the same thing her senses were; the two Makai girls were dead. She could feel nothing from them, not even the tiniest trickle of aetheric energy. As she had expected the moment they first crashed into the ground, the fight was over.

“Ireak!” she called out after raising her sectioned Reverie Nocturne up beside her with an outstretched arm. The extended ends of Mamoru suddenly retracted back to the base of her ethereal weapon, reconnecting with solid metal-on-metal sounds; the angry red energy that had been connecting them to the only part of the weapon in her hand dissipating as they did. The wide spearheads at either end were dark with dried Mazoku blood. Kitada felt very little remorse, however, channeling a small surge of Aether into her Reverie Nocturne to burn away the vile ichor of the creatures who had tried to kill Natsuki. It was a mistake for them to have even dared to try; a mistake that had cost them their lives.

Lowering Mamoru, Kitada turned away from the clearing dust beneath her and sharpened her senses to find her MAJO. The small bundle of barely noticeable emotion that was Natsuki revealed itself to her after a moment or two. Smiling, Kitada began to flex the muscles in her legs. But just as she was preparing to leap off the Step Disc in the direction her senses had indicated, a sharp, burning sensation lanced through the skin at the base of her neck. Her light brown eyes widened slightly in shock. One of her Materialization Seals had just vanished! Had ten minutes really gone by?! That quickly?! During the heat of her battle with the twin Mazoku, she hadn’t even been thinking about the fact that she was on a strict time limit! Or noticed, for that matter. One Seal down, only two left. Twenty more minutes before the Incantation of Release ended and her physical body disappeared. Slowly raising a hand to that spot on her neck, Kitada rubbed at it absently. It was a good thing that she had taken care of those two Mazoku, otherwise she –

Suddenly, a raging torrent of aetheric energy sent all of her senses into overload. Snapping her head around promptly toward the spot where she had sent the Mazoku twins crashing, her eyes broadened even more at what she saw. The overhanging dust had nearly cleared from the area of impact, revealing something other than the bodies of two, slain Mazoku sisters. The overwhelming throb of aetheric energy that washed through her was confirming what her mind was refusing to believe. Not only were the two creatures from Makai alive, but the power they were generating wasn’t even that of a C-Class Mazoku! In fact, it was nowhere near the Class of Mazoku that she could handle on her own!

“It…It can’t be possible,” she half-murmured, half-stammered absently to herself, hand tightening around the cold metal of Mamoru. “Th-That aetheric energy! A…An A-Class?!”

As the last remnants of the debris-created dustcloud cleared away, Kitada found herself staring at not two, but one Mazoku – twice the height of the original twins she had fought and overflowing with aetheric energy that was literally oozing out of its body. Four glowing, blood-red eyes stared back at her; two-horned head slowly craning first to the left and then to right, filling the space between them with the sickening sound of popping flesh and bone. The Mazoku’s skin was a darker shade of gray than before, and two additional arms grew from its sides; giving it four new ways to dispense the pain that Kitada knew was coming. A long, thick tail lashed hard against the ruined ground, leaving shattered concrete in its wake. Tight cords of knotted muscle groups twitched and writhed under its skin in anticipation of battle. The Mazoku’s almost black lips parted, bearing a brutal, fanged smile as it held all four arms by its sides and then unexpectedly released an ear-splitting roar that shattered all the windows in the warehouse. Once done, the Mazoku again set its quadruple-eyed glare upon Kitada; all four of them narrowing on her slim form.

“We haven’t finished playing with you yet, little ghost-girl,” it voiced in an indistinct, guttural tone. “Afterall, we promised to keep playing with you…even after we dematerialized you!” The thing licked its lips with a slimy, sickeningly gray tongue as it leered up at her. “Yes, we do like playing with little ghost-girls…”

Kitada only had time to say one more thing as it’s voice trailed off and the hideous-looking Mazoku launched itself at her with almost undetectable speed.

“Oh shi – ”

-o-o-o-

It had all happened so suddenly that Natsuki barely had time to react. One minute, she was baring down on Takeda; who had taken to annoyingly babbling on about how much he loved her. The next, she was being thrown head-over-heels by a powerful shockwave coming from the direction Kitada had been fighting in. For a moment, Natsuki was completely disoriented, totally unaware of where she was or what she had landed on. Just what in the hell had the girl been thinking, delivering an attack like that so close to where her MAJO was positioned! Sometimes, Natsuki found herself wondering about her Phantom’s sanity.

Taking a moment to gather herself and collect her disarrayed thoughts, Natsuki quickly realized two things almost immediately. First, the sudden shockwave had knocked her Elements out of her hands, most likely dematerializing them in the process. But that wasn’t really a problem since she could just summon them up again after she got up from the ground. Second, the force of an explosion that great had been more than enough to send her flying through the air and land her in a heap of arms and legs atop something warm and soft, a good number of feet away from where she had been standing.

But Natsuki felt no real aches or pains running through her body. Whatever she had landed on, it had done a very good job of breaking her fall. But just what had she landed on? And where had Takeda been thrown? Was he unconscious? Or had he managed to escape? And why on Earth did her lips feel so wet and…hot…??

Slowly, her eyes opened. The first thing to greet them were wide circles of green and white. It took Natsuki a moment to realize that she was staring into another pair of similarly colored eyes as her’s. It took her only a second after that to figure out what she had landed on AND why her lips felt so wet and hot! It wasn’t so much a what as it was a who! Her face went bright red with furious anger and embarrassment as she pulled herself up and away from Takeda Masashi’s scarred face. His eyes were wide with vacant-minded happiness. Natsuki’s were fiery and dark with nothing but bad intentions.

“IDIOT!!” she shouted, enraged, lifting her open-palmed hand high above her head.

There was a loud sound of flesh impacting brutally against flesh that echoed through the silence of the warehouse. It took a while for the sound to fade from Natsuki’s ears. But she didn’t care. For all of her, she wished that it would keep on echoing in them! Because hearing it once wasn’t nearly satisfying enough to her!

Lifting herself as fast as she could from Takeda’s body, Natsuki took three steps back from him and raised her hands. The one on her left was still stinging from that wicked slap she had given Takeda for…for…

“GET UP!” she yelled down at him, summoning her Elements again and pointing them directing at him.

Takeda looked dazed and confused, an angry red handprint highlighting the cheek opposite to the one that had the small scar he had earned in a Kendo Tournament a few years back. Seeing the sneering expression that marred the darkened face of the girl holding two, spherical pistols threateningly in his direction made him begin to retreat across the debris-strewn floor.

“K-Kuga,” he managed fearfully, raising a hand toward her in an effort to ward her off. “W-Wait! I-It was an accident! I s-swear! I-I mean, why w-would anyone want to k-kiss you?!”

The expression on Natsuki’s face livid. Her lips were compressed so tight that they hardly seemed to be present on her face. Slowly, one of her dangerously glittering eyes began to twitch. Takeda almost wet himself.

“N-NO! H-Hold on! That…That’s not what I m-meant! O-Of course…of course y-you like kissing people! I-I’m sure you d-do it all th-the time! Y-You’re just that k-kind of –”

There was no warning from Natsuki. Not a shout or a scream. Nothing. Only a quick jerking of the trigger to her Elements. Takeda's empty expression followed the spherical pistols aim and he found himself glancing down at two smoking holes in the ground right between his legs, inches from where his crotch was. The teen’s olive green eyes went wide.

“U-Uuhhhh…I…I…”

This time Natsuki did yell at him.

“SHUT UP!!” she hollered, temper gone and left eye about ready to twitch off her face. “Just shut the hell up, Takeda!! I’m sick of playing this game with you! You’re going back to Fuuka even if I have to stuff you in one of these crates! Do you understand me?! It’s over!”

The spiky-haired boy’s eyes lowered dejectedly. “W-Wait! You…You mean you haven’t been chasing me out of a sense of longing and love?”

Natsuki’s face suddenly went very blank. Chasing Takeda Masashi…out of a sense of longing and love?!

“Did I slap the intelligence out of you,” Natsuki questioned incredulously. “Or are you just being an idiot again?!”

Takeda opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off tersely.

“Enough! This isn't about you and me, dumbass! It's about everything you've done! All the people you've hurt because of your SHADE powers! I’m taking you back to the SEERS Society to answer for your –”

Natsuki never finished what she had been about to say. An ear-splitting roar erupted from the direction where Kitada had been fighting. But Natsuki had no time try and feel anything through her bond as all the windows within the warehouse exploded into thousands of glittering shards and fell like razors to the ground. Fortunately, she was nowhere near walls of the storage facility and, therefore, in no discernable danger. But Kitada was. And it wasn’t from any glass that might have been falling near her. The trepidation that was rolling, in waves, through her bond told her as much. And if that wasn’t enough, the burning sensation raging through the Moon Scar on the nape of her neck sure was. The only time it felt like that when there was a Mazoku of incredible power nearby. And by the way it was pulsing with pain, this one was extremely close. It was very obvious that Kitada was going to need her help. She had to hurry if she –

A loud groan of pain coming from Takeda cut into her thoughts and abruptly returned her attention to him. But when her emerald eyes found him, they widened fearfully.

“K-Kuugggaaaa,” he moaned, reaching down with an empty hand and gripping the long sleeve of his academy uniform blazer. Takeda ripped it away effortlessly with a strength that didn’t seem to be human, revealing a blacker-than-black symbol – a hollow circle broken at the top by a curved, triangular horn – on the bottom of his right wrist. But that wasn’t what had unsettled Natsuki. It was what was happening to the symbol, and through it, what was happening to Takeda.

As the symbol seemed to grow blacker than before, all of the veins around the mark darkened along with it. Like a cancerous disease, the black veins spread up Takeda’s arm methodically; all the while he futilely grappled with his limb like a maniac in a useless attempt to stop them from moving any further. But there was no way he could; no way to stop what was happening to him. The blackening veins slowly continued their contaminating climb, disappearing under the remnants of his uniform jacket’s sleeve only to reappear crawling up past the collar of his shirt. The entire right side of his neck became spider-webbed with black, freezing his voice in his throat. He looked up at Natsuki with pleading eyes – even as the one on the right began to become filmy, clouding over with a thick, sickening black oil. They were trying to say with a horrified expression what his mouth would not let him say.

Though she had seen it a number of times, watching the powers of a SHADE emerge was never an easy thing to witness. Especially when it was happening to someone you knew; even if that someone had been a constant thorn in your side since middle school. She looked down at her Elements. They would be useless against him now, even without him materializing an Armor. The only thing she could do was fight him on equal footing. Quickly releasing her twin pistols, Natsuki allowed them fade back into the same nothingness she had summoned them from and readied herself for a fight. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she voiced a silent prayer for her Phantom.

Jumping back immediately, she hastily raised both of her arms up to her sides. “Howling Silver Crys –”

Her words were stopped cold by a hard hand suddenly seizing her throat. Instinctively, Natsuki’s own reached up to wrap themselves around the wrist it was attached to. Dammit! She hadn’t been fast enough! She had hesitated for too long, giving into to her worries over Kitada instead of subduing Takeda before he changed. The steely hold around her neck didn’t lessen, nor did it tense. But she struggled against it anyway.

“No Kuga,” she heard a raspy tone, which sounded like a much more malicious version of Takeda’s normal speaking voice, say. “No Gown for you just yet! Not until it’s decided!”

Barely managing to squeeze any words out of her constricted windpipe, Natsuki glared rigidly into Takeda’s face. She tried hard not to scowl at its appearance, now that his SHADE power had surfaced. Black veins had stretched across the entire right side of it, making it look as though he had a case of deep vein thrombosis. But it wasn’t really the dark webbing of veins that made Natsuki want to grimace; it was that sickening, ebon orb where once white and olive green had been – a blood-red slit slashing across it vertically, giving it the appearance of a fictional dragon’s eye. And it was just as cold.

“M-Moron...! Wh…What…are…y-you…talk…talking…a…a…about,” Natsuki finally pushed out, head swimming dizzily from the effort it took.

The black and red dragon eye narrowed darkly.

“Today,” he declared boldly, voice almost reverting to its earlier stupidity. “We decide the direction of your love! We decide the choice of genders! Me or Fujino!” Without warning, the pressure of Takeda’s strong, nearly unbreakable grip around her throat increased slightly. The crimson slit in that horrible black eye seemed to burn wickedly. And a very dark smile stretched Takeda’s lips thin. When he finally spoke again, his words were full of menace and held promises of pain.

“And this time, Kuga, you’d better make the right choice!”

-OOO-

“It is as I had feared, Shizuru-sama,” Kuroki stated matter-of-factly as she opened her cerulean eyes. “Natsuki-san and Kitada-san have both encountered situations that have grown far beyond their abilities to control. If we are to ensure their safe return to Fuuka OrCHARD and the SEERS Society, we must act now.”

The reddish-brown eyes of Fujino Shizuru had not left the warehouse ever since she had felt that very mild shockwave. Her smooth face had not altered in any way either. But the air about her had changed. Especially when every one of the building’s windows had exploded outward during the piercing roar that had erupted from within. Where it once had been full of playfulness and radiated a serene, composed calm; it now held an abrupt eagerness, an unmistakably sharper edge that carried about it a dangerous mixture of instinct and confidence. A huntress readying herself for the hunt.

Kuroki didn’t need her bond to tell her that Shizuru was more than ready to act.

“We shall,” the chestnut-haired girl said as she finally averted her gaze from the warehouse and took a few long strides away from the boundary of the rooftop. Shizuru's light footsteps carried her toward her waiting Phantom. “But not before we are prepared. If you’re ready, Kuroki.”

The partially transparent woman in a miko’s clothing didn’t bother to look upon the face of her MAJO as she halted before her, bright azure eyes focused into a downward gaze as a show of respect. Her ghostly feet never touching the rough surface of the roof, hovering there instead patiently awaiting the Word of Power she knew was coming. Slowly parting her lips, Kuroki lowly voiced, “I am prepared to receive your blessing, my MAJO.”

Shizuru only nodded as she gracefully raised an outstretched, left hand to her Phantom’s translucent chest and calmly uttered, “Release.”

Instantly, a fist-sized blue orb of eldritch energy sprang into existence just above her palm. Arm moving almost quicker than the eye could follow, Shizuru elegantly pushed the bright sphere of light into Kuroki. She was enveloped in short order by the illumination, and then her physical body was ejected abruptly from the radiance; blue streamers of energy trailing it. The materialized Phantom landed solidly on the gravelly rooftop and raised an arm immediately.

“Appear, Fuyuhime,” Kuroki commanded in a controlled tone as she extended out a single hand. There was the briefest moment of explosive light and pressure. When it receded, the ebon-haired, girl was holding a beautifully crafted katana, hidden within an exquisitely lacquered sheath. Kuroki tightened her grip on her Reverie Nocturne as she directed her indigo eyes to Shizuru.

“I am ready, Shizuru-sama.”

The woman wearing the lilac dress with white highlights said nothing as she maneuvered her arm out in front of her at a downward angle. Long, erratic lines of electrical-like energy surged around her briefly as Shizuru’s light-brown hair and clothing flowed as if caught in a strong wind. Her reddish-brown eyes widened slightly as she expectantly moved her arm to her side to grasp hold of a solidifying, red hybrid of a bardiche and a naginata. Wrapping her fingers gracefully around the shaft of the polearm, Shizuru raised her Element and placed its length against her shoulder as she turned to face Kuroki.

“As am I. Now,” she said sternly, eyes burning with an intense light, “let's go and save my Natsuki.”

Shizuru pushed herself rearward with poise and refinement, deftly eluding the burning energy blast that came from the Mazoku with barely any trouble at all. Pulling back on her Element as she did, the long, extended chain-like head of it snapped up and tore itself none-too-kindly from the back of the other Mazoku she had struck with it. Blackish-red blood flew off the end of the blade as it swiftly returned to the top of the long shaft held expertly in Shizuru’s steady hands. She landed a few feet away from where she had been in a low crouch.

“I see,” she stated evenly, with no hint of anger in her even voice. The multi-sectioned head of her Element returned to its original state with a loud, metal-on-metal sound that rang out as each of the segments reconnected. “Even after witnessing your companion’s death, you haven’t learned your lessons. Very well, I shall no longer ‘play around’ with you. This battle is finished.”

Shizuru released her Element and stood up straight. It faded away as if it had never truly been there at all. The chestnut-haired woman smiled lightly, but it was a smile that never touched her eyes. Slowly raising an arm up in front of her, and then swinging it out quickly beside her; she held it vertical and straight. Lifting her head, Shizuru focused her reddish-brown eyes squarely on the last Mazoku standing before her. They were the eyes of a hunter who had targeted her prey and was now preparing to strike.

“Graceful Wicked Amethyst,” she recited elegantly, Kyoto-accented tone never rising any higher than her normal speaking level. “...Realize!”

魔女HiME: Mai-MAJO Next Step!

“Elegant Dance of the Wicked Amethyst!”

Natsuki glared at the tea-sipping Shizuru, green eyes tapered.

“You gave me the wrong answers to that test!”

Shizuru, lowering the cup to the table, brushed a few strands of her brown hair behind an ear.

“Ara, Natsuki should actually study harder and not try to ‘sweet talk’ the answers out of her tutor.”

A bright blush spread across Natsuki’s cheeks, but her face remained as livid as ever.

“That’s not the point, Shizuru! You said that if I did…did that thing, you would give me all the correct answers for the test! You lied to me!”

The girl with chestnut-colored hair only smiled innocently.

“Not really. I just used trickery and misdirection to achieve what I desired. And if I remember correctly, Natsuki did not seem too unwilling to perform the chore that I asked of her. In fact, you were more than enthusiastic. Especially when –”

Natsuki’s face flushed until it was bright red.

“OKAY! You’ve made your point! No need to get into anything that Chie and Aoi can spread around the campus!”

Shizuru’s expression became delighted much to Natsuki’s chagrin.

“Natsuki is so adorable when she is blushing! It was just like when I –”

The cobalt-haired girl on the other side of the table rose up abruptly from her seat.

“No! Don’t you dare say it, Shizuru!”

Shizuru’s face fell into a faux wounded look.

“But, I merely wanted to remind you how much you liked it when I –”

Natsuki’s face reddened again.

“I told you never to bring that up out in public!”

The brown-haired girl raised a lithe hand up to the side of her face and placed it against her cheek, emphasizing the fake look of hurt all the more.

“But, I assumed that Natsuki would be happy when I decided not to use the mayonnaise. I know how allergic to it you are and how it makes you sick. But then, I also remember that you get the most delightful little rash right on your –”

Natsuki raised up both of her hands and summoned her Elements; pointing them directly at Shizuru.

“BE QUIET!! I told you to never to say anything else about that ever again!! Now, I’m going to make you give me the right answers for the make up exam!! You’re going to tell me or I’m going to shoot you!! No more games!!”

Shizuru lowered her hand from her face and smiled wickedly.

“Ara, that’s not what Natsuki said the other night.”

Natsuki fired a warning shot right past Shizuru’s head. Behind the chestnut-haired girl at one of the other tables, Takeda Masashi wore only a blank expression after his hamburger had unexpectedly exploded in his face just as he had gone to bite into it.

“I said no more games!! You’ll tell me what I need to know to ace that stupid exam!!”

Shizuru dropped her smile and merely sighed to herself as she reached down and gracefully took hold of her tea cup.

“Very well, what do you wish to know?”

Natsuki lowered her Elements.

“I want to know what Phantoms are. There’s an entire section about them on that damn test!”

Shizuru arched an eyebrow as her tea cup hovered just before her lips.

“Ara, how could Natsuki be a MAJO and not know what a Phantom is?”

Natsuki took on an embarrassed look.

“Th-That’s beside the point! Are you going to tell me or not?!”

Shizuru took a long sip of her tea. When she lowered the cup, the look in her reddish-brown gaze made Natsuki feel very uncomfortable.

“Of course I will. But first, you have to do something for me.”

Natsuki’s face paled.

“Wh-What?”

A wide smile emerged on the Kyoto-born woman’s face as she reached under the table. It was happy enough to make Natsuki want to cringe. A second later, an uncharacteristically beaming Shizuru held up a leek and began to twirl it around merrily in her hand. A cold shudder ran through Natsuki.

“B-But I don’t have a cold, Shizuru! I’m not sick!”

The chestnut-haired girl only smiled.

“You will be if we use the mayonnaise,” she practically sung.

First off, the inevitable disclaimer. I don’t own anything remotely related to Mai-HiME, Mai-Otome or Mai-HiME Destiny. Secondly, if you don’t understand the end of the omake between Natsuki and Shizuru, please refer Shizuru’s entry on Wikipedia. At the very bottom, in the ‘Miscellaneous’ section, you’ll find your answers.

I appreciate all the views (129 as of now) I got and am stunned by the fact that I was reviewed! As I said before, this story is a bit odd. As such, I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of reviews! LOL! So many thanks to rainee-chan and NSKruger for their kind words. I’d also like to thank the people who added me to their Favorites and Alerts list! It’s really appreciated!

I hope that everyone like this new chapter! As usual, I didn’t have time to do a proper edit so if there are any mistakes found, please tell so I can fix them! Well, with that being said, enjoy Chapter One of Mai-MAJO and please come back for Chapter Two!!

Thank you for your time!

Terryll

PS - I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question about what a Phantom is, rainee-chan! If you still don't understand, just tell me and I'll add a glossary of terms next chapter!