Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Through the looking glass	By : walkerofdarkness Category: +G to L > IS: Infinite Stratos Views: 4540 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or the characters from it. I do not make any profit from this story. I do own my OCs though.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Chapter 5

Now it’s time to meet the monster you helped to create.

Song lyrics, Five Finger Death Punch
“YOU!” The single word, spoke with pure vehemence and rage, snapped Chifuyu out of her memories. Looking past her wet hair, Chifuyu saw a slender form in a long raincoat, a slim bundle over one shoulder. There was long hair, somewhat damp from the rain, a slender green and white ribbon peeking out on top.
Chifuyu set a weak smile on her face, trying to keep her voice calm at being disturbed by her brother’s grave site, “Hello Shinonono-chan.”
“How dare you come here,” Houki sneered, her voice glacially cold. “You murderous bitch, what makes you think you can come here today?”
Chifuyu braced one arm lightly on Ichika’s gravestone, barely applying any weight to it as she got to her feet. Pulling her heavy, wet hair away from her face, Chifuyu tried to not put her frustration on display for Houki. “Houki-chan, regardless of whatever else you might think, Ichika was my brother. I know you and Tabane never really got along, but if you HAD you might understand what I’ve gone through.” A shallow breath slowly puffed out her lips, “and maybe, just maybe you’d know what I’m currently going through.”
Houki’s hands slid down to the belt holding her raincoat closed as she stalked forward, her toned form moving with athletic confidence. “You’re right, I don’t know what you’ve been going through. I also couldn’t care about it,” she paused as her coat fell open and her right hand gripped the bundle over her right shoulder. “Four years ago, you killed Ichika. He was your brother, and my best friend.” The bundle came off the shoulder and went to the left hand as Houki’s right hand slid out of the coat sleeve. “Four years ago, at this very spot, I swore to kill you for taking Ichika away from me.” The left hand came out of the sleeve, the coat falling to the ground. Gripping the bundle comfortably, Houki’s right hand worked at the wrapping to reveal a sheathed katana. A quick tug from her left hand pulled the covering clear of the sheath, baring the weapon to Chifuyu.
For her part, Chifuyu stood stoically as Houki produced the weapon before her. Allowing herself a quick glance at the katana, Chifuyu caught several details. The leather on the grips was worn from use; the sheath was smoothly lacquered in a deep brown. Near the top of the sheath, two marks drew Chifuyu’s focus. The first was the symbol of the Emperor, the second was...
“You brought your family’s honor blade to kill me?” Chifuyu asked, shock forcing her voice down to barely a whisper.
Houki only nodded as she gripped the sword comfortably, long years of kendo practice coming to fruition. “I had brought the sword to show Ichika I hadn’t forgotten him, or the promise I made to him here.” A quick tug drew the katana from the sheath, the slightest metallic rasp coming from the oiled blade. “My original plan was to go to the IS academy, getting a suit and killing you with that.” Throwing the sheath away, Houki’s left hand came up to join the right on the hilt, resting by her left hip. Anticipation brought a minor tremor to Houki’s hands, giving the katana a slight tremble. The katana’s chisel-tip came over her right shoulder, the blade set to catch any attack Chifuyu might make.“But when I saw you here, now, I realized that I couldn’t be satisfied that way. I have to kill you with a sword, with my own two hands.”
In the distance, a lone figure waited under a tree, biting a fingernail as the stress built upon them. A single thought screamed in their mind, finally slipping between nearly clenched teeth. “Please don’t do it, Houki...”
Chifuyu eyed the sword in front of her, the aged metal completely free of rust. Her eyes fixed on the gleaming edge pointing towards her, noticing how sharp it appeared even at a distance. Adrenaline started to surge in her blood, tightening up her muscles, pushing her brain faster and faster. Okay, this is getting bad real fast. Houki’s pissed off, got a lethal weapon and the training to use it effectively. I seem to recall her winning at least two of the national championships in the last four years, so she’s really good. A small, defiant voice in her head told her that she’d fought worse situations and won. Her rational mind calmly asked for when and waited for a response. What do I have to work with? She’s in as good as shape as I am, if not better. I’ve got no defense at the moment, and none at all unless I’m prepared to kill her to save myself. But I don’t think I can do that. I do have that hole card of mine, but I don’t think I can bring myself to use it.
Letting her eyes wander around without leaving Houki’s form, Chifuyu looked for any possible escape route, any means of taking the fight out of her. Doubt Houki will let me walk away right now, either. If I try to run, she can probably catch up to me and still have enough to put me down. Chifuyu’s eyes caught a shape, a plan forming itself instantly. That has to be about the craziest thing I’ve thought about doing. For certain the guys in the German military would hate it. But it’s my only chance that doesn’t involve Houki dead. Returning her gaze to Houki, Chifuyu sharpened the tone of her voice. “You petty little child. You think you have any honor attacking a person at their brother’s grave while they have no weapon?”
Houki’s eyes widened at the harsh rebuke, her grip on the sword whitening her knuckles. Chifuyu saw both reactions, watched Houki draw a single ragged breath. She’s close, but not there yet. “So you lose your best friend and become nothing more than an assassin.” Pausing a moment, Chifuyu picked the right words for her desired effect, “Ichika must be spinning in his grave right now seeing what scum you’ve become.”
Those words did not even get past Chifuyu’s lips before Houki struck out with the sword. Rattlesnake fast, she brought the sword up high and lunged, a swing that would cleave Chifuyu in two pieces. Chifuyu stepped in close, her left hand racing up to encompass Houki’s as the sword came down. Getting a solid grip, Chifuyu used her height advantage on the younger woman, applying leverage to direct the blade’s path away.
The ancient sword came down fast, the breeze of it’s passing close on Chifuyu’s face as she focused on the next part of her plan. By the time the blade’s edge reached her waist, Chifuyu was moving again, her right hand coming up hard for the younger woman’s stomach.
Houki, her concentration momentarily broken by Chifuyu’s unconventional methods, had only instinct driving her as her body shifted against the new attack. Chifuyu’s punch glanced off her abdomen, muscles that were toned and flat from years of rigorous kendo training resisting her strike. The sword tip lanced into the ground and started to rebound, the killing edge turning towards Chifuyu as it rose.
Chifuyu pushed Houki with her free hand and used the movement to throw herself into a backwards roll. Houki’s katana continued it’s course, the tip grazing Chifuyu’s damp hair as it came up into a high one-handed arc. A clump of black hair danced in the air for an instant before it soundlessly hit the ground.
Holding the somersault for two full revolutions, Chifuyu broke it and smoothly gained her feet. Houki staggered back from the push, her eyes leaving her victim’s form as she glanced down to check her footing. Taking advantage of Houki’s distraction, Chifuyu stripped off her soaked jacket, revealing a short sleeved dress shirt, the wet fabric clinging revealingly to her skin.
Giving the jacket a quick spin by a sleeve, Chifuyu wrapped it once around her left and leaving the bulk of the cloth dangling in front of her. Houki lunged in at Chifuyu, the blade reaching out with a deadly purpose. Chifuyu brought up her improvised flail, the back of the wet cloth slapping at the sword and deflecting it by mere centimeters. The damp cloth started to split from riding the razor sharp edge of the sword.
Houki immediately spun on her heels, bringing the katana around in a wide sweeping blow. Chifuyu grabbed the open end of her jacket and pulled it taught, catching the sweep across her right side. The jacket ripped from the force of the blow, but it slowed the katana down to a crawl. Houki pulled back on the katana, taking half of the jacket wrapped loosely around the blade. Chifuyu threw the half she had at Houki’s face, hearing a wet whap sound as she dove towards the discarded sheath with an outstretched hand. Her fingertips had just started to close around the wood as she saw a shadow cross behind her.
Houki stabbed downward with her katana, the hilt gripped solidly in both hands. Chifuyu pushed off with one hand, rolling her body lengthwise to the side as the blade barely missed, sinking down into the ground. Scrambling to her feet, Chifuyu put some distance between them as she brought the sheath up into a guard position.
Freeing her blade from the rain soaked mud, Houki glared at Chifuyu, seemingly even more enraged than before. “Look at you,” she snarled, her voice tight. “Once the undisputed IS champion, covered in mud and defending her life with a wooden sheath. How pathetic.”

The words echoed in Chifuyu’s head, conjuring a memory from this same place and a different time. “How pathetic. The undisputed IS champion, now bawling like a baby in the mud,” the voice continued, a cruel parody of her own. “I can’t believe just how fast you fell.”
Chifuyu’s eyes refocused from the brief lapse into memory. The grip on the sheath tightened, the position of the polished wood shifted from guarding to a stance more suited for attack. “You know, you’re right,” a feral glint sharpening Chifuyu’s features as she spoke. “I have been pathetic for a while. But I’m better now.”
Striking out with renewed purpose, Chifuyu lunged hard, her left hand bracing the bottom of the sheath. The wooden tip rose straight at Houki’s jaw, only to be swept away by her katana. Houki kept the sword inside Chifuyu’s guard, going into a hard thrust, the chisel tip driving straight for the heart.
Shifting the weight on her heels, Chifuyu rolled her right side away from Houki. The blade’s tip passed mere millimeters from Chifuy’s skin, but the razor edge on the sword caressed her ribs just below the curvature of her breasts. Pain flashed spots before Chifuyu’s eyes as she brought the sheath back around to slam against Houki’s left arm, the limb falling limp from the katana’s hilt.
Chifuyu stepped away, dancing through the gravestones to put obstacles between her and Houki. Running a hand delicately across the cut, she quickly probed the wound. Her finger sunk in easily to the first knuckle, the blood hot and wet on her skin. Houki eyed her katana, tracing the edge stained with Chifuyu’s blood. “Your bleeding, bitch. Pretty soon now it’ll soak the ground here, and Ichika will rest at peace.”
Moving around the gravestones, Houki flexed her left arm rhythmically, working blood and feeling back into it. Her body sunk down into a boneless stalk, a big panther coming to take down prey.
Chifuyu found it hard to breathe, the cut along her ribs screaming with every exertion as blood continued to run. Exhaustion ate at her senses, her head started to swim. Feeling light-headed, this can’t be good. Keeping all her focus on Houki, Chifuyu started moving again, trying to keep a headstone between them at all times. As a result of her total focus, Chifuyu felt out the path her feet were taking, never daring to take her eyes off Houki for an instant.
That focus was ultimately her undoing, when Chifuyu's path took her across a low slung headstone. The squat marker failed to budge as she fell backwards over it. Her brain already slowed by blood loss, Chifuyu took the fall badly, crashing her hip against the base of the marker and numbing the leg. Worse still, Chifuyu's hands splayed open to catch her fall, giving the katana's sheath enough momentum to travel several feet in the air as it landed against another grave with a wooden clank.
Houki reacted instantly to the vulnerability, sprinting around a grave marker. Closing the distance, Houki dropped down onto her foe, landing her full weight with both knees on Chifuyu's chest. Chifuyu uttered a single explosive burst of breath as Houki reversed her grip on the katana, holding it dagger-like in both hands, the sword shaking violently in anticipation of the kill. An almost sexual lust flashed in Houki's blue eyes, her lips curling back into a snarl. "It's over now, Chifuyu. Ichika can rest easily from here on."
Chifuyu's mind raced as the blade started to descend at her. NO!   I will not lose here, not to her. But I can't be sure I can use that again. Reflexively her left arm started to rise, the hand starting to hook into a palm strike. Even as her body reacted, Chifuyu knew it was going to be too little to save her life.
Ever so slowly the sword continued it's lethal arc.   Some small part of Chifuyu's mind knew she had only seconds to live, and her life started to flash before her eyes. Every beat of her heart brought a new vision. The times training with Ichika. The day their parents left. Meeting Tabane and Houki. Winning the first Mondo Grosso. The day Ichika died. All those images passed in the instant the blade barely crossed halfway between them. Her mind tried to find one last way, one possible solution. It was a testament to her focus that she perceived the blurring effect right in front of her, directly in front of the sword's path.
The blur resolved itself to be a large chunk of metal with a vaguely familiar design. Houki's katanga bounced off the hardened composite metal without leaving a scratch. The murderous moment passed, and Chifuyu's hand shifted it's target from the sword to rise up to Houki's chin. It landed cleanly, but without the force necessary to do all the work. Stars erupted into Houki's vision, her focus broken for a bare instant. Bracing her working leg against the grave marker, Chifuyu leveraged herself up, throwing the younger woman off.   Houki fell and landed badly, but started to scramble to her feet instantly.
"Houki-chan, stop this at once," a sad, older voice barked out. Houki glanced over at the source of the voice. A voluptuous woman, a few years older than Houki, stood there. She was wearing a long blue dress with a white frilly apron. Two mechanical rabbit ears poked out from her long dark brown hair. Her purple eyes were watery, and the shine of tears could be seen along her rounded cheeks and down the narrow edge of her chin. Her left hand was holding an oversized television remote, the right was held up in an expression of outrage and authority.
Chifuyu glanced over at her benefactor, knowing exactly who it was. "Hey Tabane."
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Through the looking glass