Dance of Blades

Scattering Shards
Rising. Flashing. Scattering. Fading. A burst of light that resembled a firework burst in the air before splitting into two streaks of light that lit the sky on fire before fading.

"...ngh!" Ahatake groaned as he was forced down to the ground in a ball of flame, and noticing that he wasn't alone. Looking to his left, as the pressure mounted, he saw an unconscious Gaikou falling with him. Reaching out quickly, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in, keeping her close and positioning himself so that he would break her fall, right as he crashed hard into the ground.

"What is this kind of pressure!?" Kayla was feeling a massive amount of power pushing down as she and Dohko hurtled toward the ground. Her hair began to extend, reaching out to Dohko. "Dohko, quick, grab my braid!"

Dohko was half-expecting them to shoot into the sunset while screaming some phrase- but thankfully this wasn't some macro. Dohko quickly grabbed onto Kayla's braid like there was no tomorrow- refusing to let go he feared for his life. "If you mess up we'll all die, woman!"

"I'm already dead!" Kayla yelled back, wings erupting from her back as she immediately started to flap furiously, creating a gust of wind that, while it did not stop them, it put out the flames and gradually slowed their fall so that they were able to make a softer landing. Mokin flapped down from Kayla's shoulder, sighing in relief. "You did it. We made it down in one piece."

Gaikou was completely embarrassed by Ahatake saving her life- hiding her face which was tinged with scarlet and utterly shy after he had protected her. Naturally if he had used her as a cushion, his ass would be grass. "...Ah, thanks, Ahatake..." She wasn't really sure how else to respond other than a simple thank you.

"Don't worry about it." Ahatake removed his arms from around her, surprised the shock of the fall had woken her up. "Are you alright?" He looked closely at her. "The force of the propulsion seemed to have knocked you out."

Gaikou rubbed her head. "Egh, yeah. It just scared the hell outta me. Like it all happened in a blink." She quickly picked herself up as she turned away from him, her cheeks flushed red. It seemed that she wouldn't be talking for a bit until she got over the experience.

Ahatake stood up, dusting off his Shihakushō and looked around. "Gaikou, are you sure you're alright?" He spun the girl around, confronted with her beet red face. "You face is red! Are you sick? We'll have to find a place to rest then!"

Gaikou shook her head, trying to break the feeling that she was experiencing. "Ehhhhh! It's nothing, don't worry about it! It's not like I'm thankful or anything!" You'd think that being a tsundere in this situation wouldn't be helpful. "....Ehhh, thanks." She was...really embarrassed.

"Gaikou, stop planning how to best to propose to Ahatake!" Mokin snapped at her, pecking her head. "We're standing wide out in the open, in the middle of enemy territory, we need to get mo-"

"Ara...." A female voice came from above them, surprising Ahatake as he immediately jerked his head upward to see a young woman who could only be described as the girl from that certain horror movie, standing above a building, looking down on them and licking her lips. "What do we have here....I heard there were intruders in the city...and I think we managed to find them, Harutō."

Ahatake then saw a blonde, spiky-haired man appear next to the woman. "Would you look at that." The man sneered. "I didn't expect we'd get quite so lucky."

Gaikou's spiritual aura flared up lightly, in response to these people. From the looks of it, actually, no. It was really damn obvious that the two were about to attack both Gaikou Ryuusei and Ahatake Kurosaki. Any second now. "...So, these are what they sent to kill us? While they do seem powerful, there's something humourous about it. ...And that's blondie's hair. It looks like it could be his ultimate weapon- you should be careful that it doesn't poke your eye out."

"Oooohhhh, scathing." Harutō laughed derisively. "And what about you, woman? Can you even fight without those melons bouncing and obscuring your vision?"

Just as it seemed Gaikou was about to bark back, Ahatake raised a hand. "We can argue with them later..." Ahatake hissed. "Dammit. I hadn't expected an enemy this soon...we could run..." He looked up at the woman, and saw the pure blood-lust on her face, and flinched. "No....they'll catch us...that woman looks like she'd follow us to ends of the earth...but we can't fight in this crowded area, not both of us..." Ahatake's eyes traveled towards Gaikou. "Hey...Gaikou...can you run?"

Gaikou nodded. "...Yeah, why?" She didn't really know what he was getting at here.

"I don't mean run like a coward." Ahatake shook his head, and then jerked it to the blonde. "I mean, lead him away to fight in another area. I can already feel the woman wanting to kill me first. She won't go after you."

Gaikou made a fist-pumping motion. "Yeah, got it!" She pulled a face at the blonde-haired goofball. "What are you waiting for, stupid hairs!? Come on, try and catch me." She had...really, really, friggin' bad insults.

"Oho, melon-chest is is calling me out." Harutō bent forward, leaning on his leg as he looked down on the two. "Hey, Machishi, mind if I take this one?"

"Go ahead!" She was still staring intently at Ahatake. "The boy is mine!"

Ahatake shuddered. "This is probably one fangirl I don't want."

Gaikou snapped back, "Shut up you stupid shōnen reject! Breasts contain hopes and dreams! Your hair is just an eyesore!" At this rate the "fight" was just going to be an insult contest.

"Gaikou, just go!" Ahatake ordered. "And don't get hurt, okay?"

Gaikou nodded in comfirmation. "I'll do my best." Luring the blonde-haired man over, she quickly turned around, beginning to sprint off at full-pelt, making sure the man would be as far away from Ahatake as possible.

"Time to grab me some tail!" Harutō leapt off the building, following Gaikou as she ran. Ahatake, meanwhile, turned his attention to Machishi. "So....just us left now."

Gaikou continued running, not looking back in fear of the man tackling her to the ground and killing her. Gathering spiritual particles at her feet, Gaikou used Hirenkyaku to boost her movements, becoming naught but an azure blur as she was fifty meters away from Ahatake in a split second.

Machishi's blade shone brilliantly- her eyes reflected off the surface definitely displayed her defining characteristic- unbridled bloodlust. "Exactly. Now, be prepared...to be reduced to nothing but a stain upon my blade."

Black Maiden of Combat
"You're off your nut." Ahatake quickly unsheathed his sword, the tip glinting in the moonlight. "And you don't scare me, so fix that face."

Machishi was waving her blade around like a child; as if she were practicing fencing in broad daylight. "....Oh, I don't utterly terrify you? Then allow me to teach you a lesson, boy. Allow me to instill the fear of demons within you." In a flash, Machiishi was already on the offensive, swinging her blade towards Ahatake like a woman possessed.

"She's mad!" Ahatake immediately flipped back, dodging the strike a the blade grazed the air by him; he could hear it cut into the air, and this disturbed him. She'd covered so much ground in just a second. Perhaps he had been wrong to say she didn't terrify him.

Machishi dashed forward the moment Ahatake's feet touched the ground once more, kicking off with her blade thrust outwards, aiming to pierce the Ryoka's neck. "Why won't you attack!? You're draining my excitement, boy."

"We've barely gotten started!" Ahatake ducked, and used the flat side of his blade, set against his wrist, to block the blade, which sparked and clashed across, metal on metal. Ahatake shoved it away, before retaliating with a downward slashing motion, aiming to cut off her arm from the shoulder.

Machishi, absolutely silent, quickly dodged Ahatake's attack, leaping back as she skidded along the ground, before gathering spiritual energy into her blade as she swung forward, unleashing a crescent shaped blast of unrestrained pure power.

"What the!?" Ahatake raised his blade up in front of him to block, the energy blast collided with him, and, much to his surprise, nearly forced him off his feet as it propelled him straight into a wall, causing the building to collapse straight on the boy.

Machishi didn't allow Ahatake any moment to recover- shooting forward like a bullet, she began to flip the building over with a single hand, attempting to attack him viciously. "I've got you now, boy!"

"Son of a-!" Ahatake pushed the rubble off of his body — right at Machishi's face in fact, using the dust and stone as a method with which to blind the woman. "Horah!" Ahatake propelled himself upward, using his head now as a weapon, aiming to headbutt the woman in the gut.

"Urk!" Machishi was knocked back by his headbutt, taking a few steps back. "Cheap shot, though I will applaud you all the same." Regaining her balance, the woman resumed her assault- swinging like a wild animal as she attempted to slice deep into Ahatake's skin.

Ahatake swung his sword up, the metal clanging against metal as they clashed, dancing in a circle around each other, slashing, parrying, repeated motions that looked as if this entire moment could have been rehearsed. "What...the...hell...are...you!?" Ahatake batted away her blade with the flat side of his own, only for her to come in madly again. "You act as if...you enjoy this!"

Machishi pushed forward continuously, swinging wildly like a savage beast. Her style of swordsmanship had no form nor any semblance of subtlety, her psychotic grin all the more apparent. "Fighting and killing...it's a way of life. Nothing more, nothing less. It's how I was born!"

"You're mad!" Ahatake shouted, and it was this which gave Machishi the opening she needed, cutting into his torso, causing blood to spurt out. "S-shit!"

"You're running fast, woman!" Harutō called out. "I'm surprised you can flee this fast, outstripping even my own Shunpō!"

Gaikou glanced back at him momentarily—not wanting to stop out of fear of being caught, the Quincy kept moving forward with her Hirenkyaku, ensuring that he wouldn't catch up. Her goal was to get so far away from this pointy-haired jerk so that Ahatake wouldn't have any problems in destroying the area around him in his fight.