[FFML][BlueSeed] Hidden Fires chapter 2

Hidden Fires chapter 2

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Momiji dipped the soft cloth into the basin of ice water and gently wrung out most of the water. Kusanagi's fever was dangerously high, and none of the medications that Matsudaira had given him had been able to lower it any. She was sponging him down with the cold water in a last-ditch effort to lower the fever.

She dipped the end of the rag back into the basin and let the water drip onto his bare chest. The teen watched the droplets roll over his orange skin, tracing the contour of every muscle; she wiped them away just before the water could soak into the bandages that wrapped his torso. Momiji then grabbed another bit of cloth, soaked it in the icy water, and gently draped it over his forehead. He shuddered and moaned softly from the depths of his coma; the teen's heart lit up with hope. "Kusanagi? Can you hear me?"

There was no answer; Momiji sighed and returned to her task.

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*~* The next four years of Kusanagi's life was spent in training underground. The morning of his transformation was but a dim memory in his mind; every waking moment was spent in endless training. Katas, obstacle courses, sparring with his master, all were commonplace. His five-year-old mind was continually infused with blind knowledge of survival tactics and information on modern weaponry and technology. At night, or what passed as night in that underground world, his mind would reel with memories of the past. There was no time for childhood pleasures in this solitary world.

Kusanagi was in training to master the use of his arm blades when he first rebelled against his Aragami masters. The child's mind was blurred from lack of sleep; he barely managed to dodge a flying tentacle before crashing into a craggy stalactite. *Get up and try it again,* Yamata-no-Orochi hissed, it's huge head wavering in front of the boy.

He began to cry softly; his child's body was battered and bruised and near the point of exhaustion. "No!" he sobbed. "I don't wanna!"

*What??* Orochi's eyes narrowed in anger. *You will do as I say, little toy; now get up and fight me!*

"Go to hell!" Kusanagi shouted back through his tears. "I'm not gonna do it!"

*You little bastard....* The Aragami's eyes flashed bright red; suddenly, every mitama on the boy's body began pulsating in an eerie blue light. Daggers of pain shot up his arms and legs; the three mitamas on his chest seemed to sear through his flesh down to the bone. He screamed in agony as wave after wave of spasms ripped through him. The mitamas on his hands blazed into light; twin blades split his forearms and snapped into place. After an eternity, the pain began to fade away and his shrieks died down into helpless sobs.

*Good.* The monster appraised the child, grasping one arm in a slick tentacle and prodding at the sword that jutted out. *Remember this well, and always be prepared to attack with your weapons. Now go and gather your strength for the next exercise.*

Kusanagi struggled to his feet, retracting the blades into his forearms. He wiped away his tears and began to trudge away when his master stopped him.

*Kusanagi?* The child turned; one thick tentacle lashed out and backhanded the five-year-old, knocking him across the cavern. *NEVER even think of disobeying me again, boy," Orochi snarled as the child picked himself back up. He stared up at it, one side of his face swollen to twice its normal size, then turned and fled the cavern.*~*

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"Momiji?" The teen glanced up from her tender ministrations to see Kunikida standing in the doorway. "It's almost midnight; why don't you let me drive you home so you can get some sleep?"

She dropped the washcloth into the basin. "What? But- but I can't just leave him like this! I promised Mrs. Matsudaira that I'd watch over him! Besides," and she fought back the tears, "I can't go... something might happen to him...."

Kunikida sighed. He knew that she would just fall asleep; what purpose would letting her wear herself out serve? Watching her, though, he knew that she would never sleep at home, either; she would just keep herself awake worrying over Kusanagi's condition. "All right, then," the older man conceded, "but you have to promise to try to get some sleep. Making yourself sick won't help him any."

"Thank you, Mr. Kunikida," she whispered, forcing a faint smile. The head of the TAC nodded and stepped outside the infirmary, shutting the door behind him.

"How is she?" Matsudaira asked. The office was now empty except for the two of them. "I sent the rest of the team home; there was nothing else they could do here." Her face was drawn, although she kept her professional demeanor intact.

"She begged to stay here with him." He stripped off his overcoat and plunked himself down at a computer terminal. "I'm going to stay here and get some paperwork done. You need to go home yourself, Matsudaira."

She shook her head. "I've got some cultures developing in my lab that I want to test some medications on. And, Mr. Kunikida.... I told Momiji about Kusanagi's chances for recovery."

"She seems to be taking it well enough, I suppose, though I wish you had waited to tell her." He shuffled a set of papers and filed them away in a folder on his desk. "I just hope that you're wrong about Kusanagi."

"So do I, Mr. Kunikida. So do I."

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Murakumo stepped back to admire his next victim. The king cobra hissed at the Aragami from behind its prison in the zoo; it bared its fangs and struck at him viciously. He laughed and grasped the serpent's head in his fist. A blue light glowed along the snake's body as it began to grow....

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The fax machine began buzzing and shooting out papers at the same time that the phone began to ring. Kunikida looked up blearily and picked up the phone. "TAC, Kunikida speaking.... What?!? We're on our way!" He shot up out of his seat and grabbed his overcoat. "Matsudaira!" He shook the scientist awake roughly. "There's an Aragami loose outside Tokyo! Go get Momiji; I'll page the others!"

Matsudaira nodded, clearing the sleep-induced fog from her mind, and burst into the infirmary. Momiji had fallen asleep at Kusanagi's bedside. The teenaged princess's head rested on his uninjured shoulder; one arm was flung over his chest in a sleepy embrace. The remnants of tears streaked the man's orange skin. "Momiji! Momiji, wake up!" the older woman barked, shaking the girl.

She bolted awake. "Huh? Wha- what's going on? Is Kusanagi all right?!?"

"It's not that; an Aragami has been sighted just outside of Tokyo! Hurry up!"

Momiji nodded grimly and, taking in one last look at the comatose man beside her, jumped up and reached for her jacket. She paused for a moment. Spying Kusanagi's tattered red trenchcoat hanging on the inside of the infirmary door, she grabbed it and slipped it on. "I'll be right back.... Hang on, Kusanagi," she whispered as she shut the door.

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Momiji huddled in the corner of the van as the TAC raced towards the site, drawing comfort from the coat she was wearing. It had the slightest odor of freshly-mown grass, underlined with a trace of sweat. The ragged edges of the sleeves were stained with his foreign blood. She waited silently, brooding, until the mitama on her chest began to glow slightly. "It's coming," she breathed.

"What?" Takeuchi exclaimed. "Is it close?"

"It's coming towards us.... Mr. Kunikida, stop the van! Stop!"

As the van skidded to a halt outside of a dense forest, the trees began to rustle and bend. A colossal serpent slithered out of the area, hissing maniacally. Gold-tinged venom oozed from its eight foot long fangs; its scales shimmered in the beginning sunrise. The hood around the king cobra's head was ringed with vicious spikes that continued down the sides of its body to end in an immense spike on the tip of its tail. The ground around it was littered with trashed jeeps from the Self-Defense Force and with not a few fresh corpses. Koume leaped out of the van and immediately fired upon it with her bazooka; the charge did little more than knock a few of its scales off. "Damn, that thing's tough!" she shouted.

Yaegashi tumbled out of the van with a huge briefcase, followed by Matsudaira. "Koume, Takeuchi, distract that thing while we get the bio-reactor ready-" A blue ki blast suddenly slammed into Yaegashi, slamming him into the side of the van. "Yaegashi!" She ran to his side.

"Your bio-weapons are useless against this creature," a voice taunted the team. Murakumo hovered in the air above them, watching them contemptuously. "I'll make a deal with you pathetic humans; I'll destroy this Aragami if you'll turn over that traitor Kusanagi."

"No way!" Momiji shouted. She drew her pistol out of one of the trenchcoat's pockets and aimed it at the Aragami.

"So then, princess Kushinada," Murakumo sneered, "you must really want to watch him die." He laughed as sudden comprehension dawned onto the TAC. "That parasite I infected him with will slowly destroy him from the inside. A fitting way for that imperfect soul to die."

Livid with rage, Momiji charged him, firing blindly through her tears. "I'll NEVER let him die, you... you jerk! He won't die! I won't let him!" Two strong arms suddenly pulled her back, restraining her.

"Momiji, no! He'll kill you too!" Kunikida yelled over the din. "Don't fire at him!"

The Aragami laughed again. "I don't have a ceramic field set up here, Kushinada, or you would be dead by now. Think about my offer, humans; if you don't deliver Kusanagi to me within the next twenty-four hours, I'll release this Aragami inside the heart of Tokyo." His sneering laugh echoed through the air as both he and the snake-Aragami vanished.

Behind him, Yaegashi was struggling to his feet; Kunikida turned to the team and snapped, "Let's get back to the office now before he changes his mind."

"Mr. Kunikida, you're not going to turn Kusanagi in to him, are you?" Momiji begged, tears running down her cheeks. "Please..."

The leader of the TAC could only stare back at her.

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Momiji was the first to hear the high-pitched strains of an alarm going off inside the office. She ran for the infirmary and threw open the door-

Kusanagi had somehow tumbled to the floor and was caught in a paroxysm of seizures. The convulsions thrashed his body against the equipment, knocking over several monitors. Blood had soaked through the bandages on his torso and was now seeping onto the floor. The teen dashed to his side, Matsudaira hot on her heels; just before they could reach him, he gave one final gasp and collapsed to the floor.

The alarms began blaring as the heart monitor faded down into a flat line.