The Hinomoto Rebellion (50 page)

Kanjou and Shogun Kunota watched, awestruck, as Aki began to round the corner toward them. Before the brunet
ronin
could leap into action, chips of porcelain suddenly exploded on the back of her head, causing her teal eyes to roll back and the girl to topple over and slide into the wall. They stood there for a moment before Kanjou called out.

“Fushi? Roni?”
“Kanjou!” came an excited voice from around the corner.

A brief moment later, a small girl clad in yellow with purple pigtails came around the corner, followed not far behind by a woman with bright red hair. Both were bruised and bleeding in a few spots, their clothes torn. They both stopped for a moment and stared in disbelief at Kanjou’s bloody arm before running over to him.

“Are you okay!?” exclaimed Roni.

 

“What happened? Oh no, you need a doctor!” Fushi said, her eyes wide with fear.

He smiled weakly. “I’ll be alright. I’m glad you two are safe,” he paused, glancing at the Shogun, “Listen, I have to get Shogun Kunota out of here. Will you two go and help Andrea and D? They’re at Yasakuto’s office.”

The girls nodded. “Sure. Are you going to be okay? That wound looks terrible,” started Fushicho.

 

Kanjou nodded. “I’ll be fine. You two go, I’ll make sure the Shogun gets out safely.”

“Alright, but you’d better not be lying!” Roni pouted. Fushicho followed behind her and they both bowed slightly to the Shogun before continuing down the hall.

The
ronin
and the Shogun watched them for a moment, waiting until they turned the corner at the far end of the hall. As soon as the two girls were out of sight, Kanjou swayed slightly on his feet. Shogun Kunota quickly grabbed on to the tall martial artist, swinging his arm over his shoulder and steadying him.

“Come on, my new friend. Let’s get you someplace where you can get patched up.”

 

Kanjou smiled as they started walking down the hall. “You know, this always worked the other way in my head,” he remarked. The Shogun smiled. “It is a wise man who can accept help when he needs it.”

A smile crossed the tall brunet’s face as he leaned on Kunota as they worked their way toward the stairs. “Well said, Shogun. Well said.”

Chapter Eighteen At What Cost?

Inside the Capitol building the remaining
Kemono
and
ronin
waited while the TK Squads outside shouted for them to surrender. 26 and Deuce crouched at the door with other fighters huddled beside them at the windows and doorways, each set of eyes filled with the same anticipation.

Near the back of the crowd of rebels, a female
Kemono
with the head of a Komodo Dragon and the tail of a fox wondered aloud, “Why are they even bothering to tell us to surrender? Why not just start firing?”

The tall, lithe male martial artist crouching next to her smiled and muttered back a response. “Simple. Power packs cost a lot of money. Laser Heads usually won’t fire unless they absolutely have to. That’s either when they’re trying to intimidate or when a
ronin
is running straight for them.”

The woman smiled. “Well then, maybe they won’t shoot at
Kemono
,” she joked.

26 nodded at the small, sheep-headed
Kemono
standing by the door to the stairs. The signal set off a chain reaction of orders up to the second floor and caused the tension on the first floor to get thicker as they waited.

There was a moment of silence outside as the man with the bull horn paused. After a brief second the second floor windows suddenly exploded outward. Before anyone could react, winged
Kemono
of all sizes and breeds were suddenly among the TK-wielding men, fighting them with table legs, broken bits of wood, statuary, and anything else they could get their hands on.

As the winged fighters were descending, 26 shouted the order for the rest of their force to attack. Some of the
ronin
and
Kemono
had found projectile weapons and threw them out of the blasted doors and windows on the building, but most chose to run out in the wake of the first assault and attack with hand, claw, foot, and tail. The street was a war zone once again as men in body armor went down, firing frantically at their attackers with their advanced weapons. The few seconds of surprise worked in the rebels’ favor though, and it wasn’t long before the
ronin
and
Kemono
had turned the tide in their favor.

From alleys and rooftops, from windows and helicopters in the sky, the bloody battle was being captured in photography and video and broadcast all over the world. Billions watched in horror as Hinomoto seemed to be falling to pieces– an oppressed minority, along with strange creatures that seemed from a nightmare, were finally telling the world that they’d had enough.

The world could not turn away as Hinomoto’s Revolution was beamed into their homes and their lives.

 

D’s back hit the wall hard enough to crack the drywall behind him and send up a cloud of dust. A shock of stars appeared in front of his eyes as his head spun from the impact. He slid down the wall and hit the floor, his mind reeling as he tried to get his composure back. Something was dripping down the back of his neck and on to the high collar of his white shirt.

He groaned and rolled his eyes open just as he heard something click in front of his face. His blue and gold eyes opened to stare in to the black void at the end of a pistol. The last of the policemen he’d been fighting was standing over him, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth and a bruise slowly spreading out from his eye. While the rest of the cops had gone down relatively easily, this one had been fighting with D through three hallways, pushing him further and further from where Andrea was fighting Daimyo Yasakuto.

D glared up at the cop, his eyes full of hatred as the man chuckled at him. “
Ochiudo
scum,” he chortled.

A smirk crossed D’s face. “No way you could’ve gotten me to the floor with that watered down Judo crap they teach you guys. Been doing a little studying in the underground, have we?”

Rage crossed the policeman’s black eyes. “You filthy
ochiudo
rat!” His finger tightened slightly on the trigger of the 9mm pistol, but D continued to smile coldly up at him.

“It’s the truth though, or else you wouldn’t be so mad that I noticed. Have to become the thing you hate in order to fight it, huh?” “Shut your-!”

His voice suddenly died, the policeman’s eyes widening. An arrow was buried deep in his chest. The man in the black uniform gurgled and stumbled back a few steps, his gun clattering to the floor as he stared at the wooden shaft protruding from his heart. He looked wide-eyed at D and opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a cascade of blood. His back hit the wall, then he slowly slid down it to the floor opposite D, leaving a trail on the sheet rock as he slumped over, his eyes lifeless.

D stared for another moment, then turned to his left. Standing at the end of the hallway, still holding his bow out, was Ryoku. The black-haired half of D’s soul slowly lowered his bow and smirked, then turned and walked around the corner.

It took the Aka Ryuu a moment to process what had happened, and once his brain caught up with the situation he found the strength to stand. “Ryoku!” D called out as he took off down the hall after the other side of himself, heading further from the office in pursuit of his soul.

Fushi and Roni made their way through the halls toward Daimyo Yasakuto’s office. Some of the halls were still pristine, with expensive carpets and furnishings lining their wide expanses, while others fully showed that there was a war being waged. Broken furniture and drywall riddled with bullet holes in some places provided a perfect backdrop for the occasional bloody and broken body they came across.

“It makes me sad...” said Roni as they moved around the downed bodies of a few policemen.

“What does?” Fushicho replied.
“That so many had to die because of this.”

A small sigh escaped the red-head’s lips. “I know, Roni. But when tyranny and oppression are the norm, you sometimes have to go to extremes to make a change. Do you feel that we’re fighting for what’s right?”

The smaller girl nodded. “I do.”

“And you are the only person you have to answer to.” Fushicho tilted her head to one side. “I hear fighting up ahead... Sounds like metal on metal. Let’s go!”

The two continued along in silence, the sounds of battle growing louder as they moved more swiftly through the corridors toward it.

26 swung at a gunman with a broken curtain rod, nailing him in the chest and sending him back on to the power pack for his laser rifle. She whipped around to face another foe, ramming the end of her makeshift pole-arm into his throat and sending him reeling.

From behind her came the unmistakable sound of the TK’s big brother– the TS-82 Shitai Rifle– charging up to fire. 26 spun, swinging her weapon as she did so. Her wild blow clipped the power cord that attached the main unit of the gun to the power pack. Sparks flew from the damaged cable as 26’s eyes went wide. She shouted a curse as she turned and dove, trying to leap as far away from the damaged cord as she could.
A split second after the Aka Ryuu landed face-first on the asphalt she heard a loud explosion above her head. 26 pulled her limbs in as much as she could and covered her head, bringing her wings in close to her body. Hot debris slammed into her back from the exploding rifle. 26 saw other beings around her get knocked off their feet and heard frantic screams as the smell of burning flesh and fur filled the air.