The plan sprang into action. Research was done, Rui was consulted, maps were drawn, positions were assigned. A trap was set. A prayer was spoken. Yet in the midst of this whirlwind, a tense calm had formed. A young fellow stood before his comrade, blade drawn.
The boy's feet were planted firmly, a shoulder's width apart. His back straight and arms raised slightly before him, hands gripping the blade's hilt with a slight tremble. The young man took a deep breath and, after a decisive moment known only to the two combatants, when the two rivers began to circle one another, the younger's hands stilled.
With the clash of wood on wood a whirlpool seemed to form between them. Giyu's strikes were unrelenting, like waves hitting the cliff side. Each one flowed into the next. He struck down over his head, swung the blade into a horizontal slash, like a quick wind parallel to the water. The Ocean Moon followed the slash with a diagonal cut towards the other's shoulder.
Tanjiro parried some strikes and dodged others before going on the offensive with his own skills. He knew the goal of this battle was not to win, but only to land a blow. Unfortunately his upward strikes were parried. The subsequent slash was dodged. When he decided to try to further close the distance, his strike was blocked again and his gut was met with a shattering kick.
Kamado stumbled for a moment, a cough ripping through his throat, yet his grip on the blade did not falter. Such is the determination, or perhaps desperation, of one with but a single goal. Gravel leapt up around his feet as he leapt away to regain some distance. The boy scanned his surroundings, looking for anything to use to assist him: some high ground to gain leverage or a projectile to throw as a distraction.
As the two fought their way back towards the fountain, Tanjiro noticed a large rock, small enough to pick up, but still about the size of a fist. As Giyu threw him down once more, he threw a hand towards the rock and rolled left, the fountain blocking his retreat backwards. He launched the rock towards Tomioka's neck and it was on target.
The Ocean Moon was forced to do something about the projectile, to either block, dodge or duck. The man decided to flick the rock away with his sword and prepared to parry the strike approaching from the left. In that same moment he remembered which the boy's sword arm was, eyes wide, but it was but a moment too late to change trajectory and his blade met another rock Tanjiro had scraped up off the ground, held in his grip. The older threw his right leg back to attempt at a dodge. However, he was but a second too late and the sword's tip grazed his shin.
It was a hit.
The apprentice passed the master's test. He was bruised and battered somewhat, in contrast to his mostly unscathed opponent, but he had passed. Tanjiro's face broke out into a gleeful smile, eyes staring at the wooden blade in joyful awe. When he stood to bow towards his opponent and then faced the older man, that brilliant smile was truly infectious and the edges of even Tomioka's eyes softened slightly and the corners of his lips even turned a millimetre* upwards.
"I did it!" He announced, mostly to himself, while jumping in the air, fist with rock raised in triumph. However the glory was short-lived and cut that way rather abruptly with a few dry words from a man with composure regained, "It's time to train." Thus the boy was dragged away, smile still stuck to his lips.
Some time later Shinobu gathered everyone in the meeting room once more with a map spread out on the table and a pile of mahjong tiles on standby. The map was a simple but detailed sketch of the area around the school. The place itself was an old one-story building with a skylight on the eastern side of the roof. To the west of the school there was another one-story building: a convenience store, and a one-story home to the west of that. To the east of the school there was a two-story home that shared a wall with the school and further east from that, separated by an alley, there was an old apartment building four stories tall. There was another apartment building of the same height behind the two-story home and to the west of the second apartment there was a one-story restaurant with doors on the north and west sides. West of the restaurant there was a small three-story office building. The southern buildings all had doors on the south side and the school has one back door to the north. One cm on the map was equal to half a metre in reality.
Once everyone had gathered around the table she and the rest of the strategists started their final and most detailed explanation. "We'll have Half Moons guard the area in a circle with about 19 metres** of diameter with a more concentrated force in the northeast of the circle," she spoke after grabbing a compass and quickly marking down the shape. "I'll be positioned on the roof of the two-story home and then when we get the signal I'll jump into the school via the skylight. Then I'll take the kids hostage," Iguro explained while some frowned at the last sentence, though they had all agreed to this kind of thing, "Kocho will enter through the school's backdoor. Tomioka and Tanjiro will go through the front door before us to draw Akaza's attention."
"My flamboyant self, Mitsuri and Shinazugawa will prevent his escape in the four cardinal directions with Hashibira supporting her and Agatsuma flamboyantly supporting me," Uzui added while placing the mahjong tiles to represent all active parties. "We'll crush him," the man spoke and simultaneously placed the final tile, representing Akaza, down in the center of the map with echoing determination.
"This must all be executed without Akaza or his subordinates noticing us setting up," Shinobu stated, "Luckily for us the street to the north is a more popular street; we Full Moons will mingle with the rest of the civilians and discreetly move to our positions while the Half Moons slowly and more obviously approach. This will not be a bloodless battle: Akaza's underlings aren't to be underestimated either, but if we strike quick enough and hard enough, we might just avoid major casualties."
"The Butterfly rose towards the sky"
"The Moon was close behind"
"They challenged the Sun when they dared to fly"
"Them of their past he dared to remind"
*about 0.75 inches
**about 62.3 feet
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Author's note:
I've returned with a fight! Hope you like this slightly more action-packed one! (Though I am more of a poet than an action writer if I do say so myself.) I also hope the lay-out of the map wasn't too boring and that it's clear enough. I might have gotten a bit overzealous in writing what I'd drawn, but I'll let you be the judge of that. If it let you picture the scene then that's enough for me. :>
On another note: Please forgive me for dropping the romaji. When looking back on previous chapters I found it to be distracting, thus I've removed it in favor of the normal English spelling.
If people would like it back just say the word and I'll continue to do my best! Criticism is always most welcome and comments even more so.
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A Butterfly Under the Sunken Moon
FanfictionAfter Kanae's death, Shinobu didn't know what to do with herself. She hated her job; even though she was a policewoman she failed to keep her sister safe. So when she heard rumors about a gang that seemed to be doing a better job than her corrupt or...
