Loveless Fan Fiction ❯ Flawless ❯ Kain Lafayel ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

It was only five AM the next morning when Peaceless left Rozen Kreuz for their own home area of Cabaret, and only seven when Haruka woke Ritsuka up and told him quite simply, that it was time for her to get him home. Hopefully Soubi wouldn't have noticed his absence, and he was not to tell Soubi unless it was necessary. So it was eight-thirty by the time Ritsuka was ready to leave, having showered, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and gotten dressed.
“You don't think Soubi knows, do you?”
“Nah, he has a life of his own, too. He probably hasn't even noticed,” she yawned widely on the way back, weaving her way through the maze of buildings once again and emerging on the city streets. “Yuiko and I are going shopping today, anyway. If Soubi has a problem with me taking you to have some fun for a change, then he can just tell me later.”
“When did you call Yuiko?” He looked confused until she dangled his cell phone in a hand.
“I got her number out of this, and I called her this morning. Her mother said it was alright, and Shinome-sensei also agreed to come along. We're going by tram,” she explained, arriving at Ritsuka's house only moments later. “Here you go. Don't get in trouble with your mom, and go to Soubi if there is any trouble. You can also always call me,” she called, waving. “See you later, Rit-chan!”
“Whatever,” he replied by way of a goodbye.
—-loveless—-
“Oooh! These are good!” While Yuiko squealed over the chocolate treat that Haruka had bought for her, Shinome-sensei was talking to her.
“So you really like Soubi-chan, huh?” She was interested in the older woman and her attraction to the insufferable but kind Sentouki.
“Anou… yes… I mean, no…” She seemed kind of embarassed, so Haruka eased up and gave her a friendly push in the right direction.
“Make up your mind,” Haruka responded good-naturedly. “It's not a sin to like someone, for kami's sake.”
“I suppose I do, then…” She blushed and her ears twitched. “How do you know Agatsuma-san anyway?”
“Through Ritsuka-chan. Ritsuka and I are like siblings, and I've been living at Soubi's house while I'm looking out for the kid. He gets into a lot of trouble outside of school - it's not his fault, either. He always ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, you know?” She took a sip of her smoothie, seeming thoughtful.
“Really? He always seems so polite,” Shinome-sensei remarked.
“Yeah, the kid really is, I gotta hand it to him-” She was abruptly cut off when she felt Ritsuka screaming out for her. She had to come up with an excuse to leave, so she picked her phone up and hurredly began talking into it. “Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there in a minute.” When both females looked at her in question, she explained, “I have to go. One of my friends was in a car crash.” With that, she ran out, worried for Ritsuka. She could feel his pain - someone was attacking him - and she followed the strand of power that was Loveless.
—-loveless—-
“I declare this to be a battle of words.” Ritsuka trembled slightly at her side, cold and hurt from the Zero's unprovoked attack. “Systems ready.”
“We accept,” Lafayel cried, reaching a hand out to order his fighter unit to begin the battle. 
“Our name is Zero.” The fighter was smart enough, it seemed, but Haruka's lips twisted into a grim smile as she assessed the power of the young woman - the girl wasn't powerful enough to worry her.
“Sentouki systems activate. Our name is Loveless.” The landscape was plunged into the black-and-white colours of their powers as Zero and former Zero.
“Bring it on, Lafayel,” she called to him, completely ignoring the fighter. ”I'm fighting itari-auto.”
“I - I can still take damage, Haruka-san,” Ritsuka protested. He didn't know what itari-auto was, but he assumed that it would get her hurt… for him. He remembered Ryougi's words from earlier.
…Every Sentouki save Haruka that Lafayel has controlled has died at his hand for disappointing him… he's most likely trying to hunt Haruka down now, the kill her for leaving him.”
“I know, Rit-chan,” she murmured. “I'm sorry, but just this once… This is my battle.”
“Haruka…” He looked down to the ground, masking tears and hiding his weakness from the woman who had defended him from the moment she came into his life. “I trust you, Haruka.” This was the best he could do for her. “Fight as you want to.” Letting go of the usual restraints he held over her, he had told her to kill Lafayel… or do whatever she wanted. Those five little words meant the world to her, and he knew that there would be a price to pay for it - there always was.
“Do you even know what itari-auto is, Loveless?” Lafayel asked it in the same sing-song tone as always, taking a slight drag on his cigarette. When he received a glare from Haruka, he smiled and leaned forward, smiling cryptically. “It means the pain from our attacks will be amplified all over her body while she fights - that's why it's called itari-, or pain, auto. She's the only one who can do it, too; that's part of why she was so valuable to Nagisa-sensei.”
“Haruka?”
Her jaw set in a determined line, the dark Sentouki grimly replied, “I'm making myself into my own sacrifice and fighting like I have a sacrifice to use. It hurts terribly, but it's the only thing I can do to raise my overall power in order to fight these two. Go on and fight, if you're going to, you fools.”
“A thousand metal shards! Pierce her!” The girl's sudden attack was shouted and immediately deflected when she raised her left arm. “Wha…?”
“Don't get disoriented, Chiyose. She's using her control over the battle zone to project her commands mentally. If you decide to hear them, you will.” As he spoke, splinters of shrapnel soared past their defence and lodged themselves in Lafayel's upper left arm. As soon as they lodged, they revealed themselves to become links in a chain leading to the sacrifice's neck. “You always were one for dramatics, Haru-chan.” Smiling bitterly when his former Sentouki stiffened at the use of the name, he stood from his crouched position and looked at his partner. “Don't worry about me; it's not like I can feel it. I can take care of it… after we bring her back to Nagisa-sensei - dead or alive makes no difference to us.” The last part had been addressed to the Loveless fighter unit.
“You mean nothing to me.” Cold air filled the realm of the battle, though the oxygen near Haruka seemed to crackle with unreleased energy and heat. Ritsuka stayed at her side, no longer shivering as the heat energy surrounded him like a warm blanket.
“Oooh, harsh,” Lafayel replied, turning to Chiyose and silently ordering her to attack with everything she had.
“Wings of fire, break through the ice. We reject your existence and burn it to ashes.” The girl's cool, level voice killed any doubts that he might have had about his new Sentouki. She was talented, smart, and literate, nearly everything a sacrifice wanted in their fighter unit.
“A good spell,” she murmured, casting it away. Seeming to strain to listen, Chiyose apparently had begun to hear her commands echo throughout the space.
—-loveless—-
`Call forth cold Shiva to counter this raging Ifrit, halt the advance of flames with frozen fire in return.'
Chiyose heard the command mentally and shivered inwardly. This Sentouki was stronger than she was, she knew, but she would rather go down fighting then withdraw and die. Lafayel had been her idol, and she would do her best for him. How could this girl have deserted someone as great as the most famous Zero?
`Black night, shroud and blind.'
It came without warning; there was no change in the opponent's stance to warn her of the attack, though she warded it off quickly.
“A blinding flash of light shields us!”
`Even in the darkness there is light. Clever girl.'
“Pale lightning, crash down!” The attack hit her unguarded, though the Sentouki managed to block a bit of it with her silent spells.
“Grrr…” She showed no pain, just annoyance.
“Wha…? That was enough to take down a regular person! Lafayel, is she a Zero like us?”
“No,” he replied, looking at her. “She has a tolerance to pain beyond Agatsuma Soubi's. That alone made her useful to Nagisa-sensei - not even this style of attack was this helpful.”
`Bind this one's insolent mouth.'
She couldn't do anything to stop it, and she knew that she couldn't warn Lafayel in time, so he was bound and muted.
“Are you okay, Lafayel-sama?” He nodded, and then she turned to Haruka, her rage palpable. “You hurt him. You will die here. I don't care about bringing you back alive anymore.”
`As leaves blow and wind whistles, shield me within the razor-tipped edges of each.'
“Fire! Burn the leaves and spread on the wind!”
`Rain, fall upon the infantile flames and spread the smoke and steam in the eyes of my opponent.'
“Spread gasoline on the water and force it to burn, temperature ten thousand degrees. Melt the skin off of her body. Make her blood boil. Go!”
`Even an unnatural fire can be halted by the advancement of a natural river.'
“Bind her! Steal away her mental strength!”
“And in return, steal her ability to move.” It must have hit, Chiyose realized, for the Sentouki was speaking clearly now, rather than in her mental projection.
“Hah! Got you!” she cried, laughing as she sent spell after spell at the bound Sentouki, who was struggling to keep up now that her best technique was gone.
Minutes later, a small explosion rocked the alternate world of black and white, finally signalling the halt of her onslaught. She waited eagerly to see the body of the rebellious Sentouki, but…
She stood there, one arm completely useless and dislocated. Her face was bloodied and decorated with various slashes and cuts. The other arm was bleeding profusely, as was her neck. But her eyes were still bright and awake.
“Hmm. I thought that you were good, but I guess I was imagining things…” Her taunting smirk drove the other fighter unit to desperation.
“You should be dead!”
“Perhaps. I still have something left to do before that comes, though.” Raising a hand wearily and pointing it towards the pair of Zeroes, she murmured a single command phrase into the howling wind of the attacks from mere seconds ago. “Destroy.”
“No!” That was the last thing Chiyose had time to say as the damage from her sacrifice was transferred to her. Blood vessels burst, filling her visage with red blossoms while her muscles strained to hold the breaking body together, tensing just enough to shatter bones in the Sentouki's arms.
“Ugh…” Haruka fell to her knees as the backlash of the spell hit her and did much the same to her body. The damage was still survivable with proper care, though; she had ensured that the Zero Sentouki she had just defeated would never be back to challenge Loveless. “Ritsuka-san, get Soubi…”
And then she passed out, the weight of her injuries finally catching up to her.
“Haruka!” Ritsuka dove forward to the fighter's unconscious body as she fell, Lafayel doing much the same to catch Chiyose as she lay dying. “Stupid!” Ritsuka was frozen there, his subconscious desperately crying out for Soubi as he worried over his Sentouki.
“Finish the mission first,” Chiyose coughed, blood dripping out of her mouth and nostrils. Lafayel nodded, drawing his leg back and kicking his former Sentouki's unmoving body.
“Bitch! Liar! Traitor!” Each syllable uttered translated to another kick to the wounded woman. Finally Ritsuka found the will to move, throwing himself in front of the furious kicks aimed at his Sentouki. “You know Loveless, I'd thought that she was taken away by you and Agatsuma Soubi, but it turns out that I was wrong. I thought that we could bring her back with us, you know? Either way, I've been waiting for this for a while,” he explained, his face twisting into a cruel smile as he lunged forward and closed his hands over his former partner's throat.
“Ritsuka!” Soubi was already there - he'd probably been nearby, waiting on the outcome of this battle. Drawing back and lashing out at Lafayel, Soubi found himself quickly gaining the upper hand, though once the male sacrifice had been effectively beaten, the damage was still done to Haruka. “You. What happened?”
“The backlash… it's killing her. Good thing, too… my mission…” The attractive Zero male coughed blood and laid there, having blacked out.
“She s-said `destroy' and f-fell,” Ritsuka coughed, trying not to cry at the scene of death around him. “That's - that's all I know.” Soubi picked her up surprisingly easily, and toted her to Kio's car.
“Kio. My house, quickly.”
“What happened this time, Sou-cha… whoa! What's wrong with her!?”
“I don't know,” he replied grimly. “That's why we're going to do everything we can to save her.”