Saikō no Chitsujo

Chapter 3: Part II

"We're back" Hijiri announced as an exhausted Mine shifted her position on his back mumbling.
"You look like a travel mule." Lubbock commented before he was joined in the living room by the rest of the Night raid. Hijiri carefully set the sleeping Mine on a couch before lifting Pumpkin's strap from around his neck.
"What happened?! Are you ok?" Akame enquired as she studied the slumbering Mine and the dust and blood covered Hijiri.
"We're fine, we just ran into one of the Yeagers and a Rakshasa demon. Besides the Rakshasa woman and the Yeager are dead plus the blood's hers even." He waved it off gesturing at his blood splattered torso.
Noticing Lubbock, he raised a brow. "The hell happened to you noodle brain?" He said with a chuckle. "You look horrible." Lubbock ground his teeth in annoyance before waving Hijiri off and heading inside.
"And what about Mine?" Najenda asked.
"She just needs some ointment, bandages and a good bath and she'll be back to normal. She's one tough lady," turning back to the group Hijiri announced. "I'm heading to the bath, I'll scorch anyone who tries to peek." "Who would want to?" Lubbock stuck his head back into the room.
"Well that's a shame but I am pretty confident in my healing ability." Leone winked cheekily.
"Well, I believe I can make an exception" Hijiri responded flirtatiously, leaving the room.
"Don't get so jealous, Tatsumi" Leone said holding down Tatsumi, ruffling his hair as his face reddened in response.

                                  ...
Arata stood in a well lit operating room with an unconcious Seryuu who had different machines attached to her as she continued to breathe slowly.
"Can you save her?" Arata questioned the doctor -a tall slender man with trimmed black hair and spectacles- who studied the patient closely.
"To think Stylish would go this far" The doctor said shaking his head in disappointment. He turned to Arata "There's only so much of her I can fix with mechanics but she won't be able to return to normal...or at least the normal she believes in."
"What do you mean by that ?!" Arata asked concerned. "You worked with Stylish until a year ago, or am I wrong?"
"I do know most of his work inside and out but but when you used your lightning to short-circuit the bomb, a lot of parts were severely damaged, she's quite lucky her brain wasn't destroyed as well." The doctor shoved his hands into his coat pockets as he explained.
"Damn it!" Arata cursed, pacing about.
"If she had a regenerative ability it would have been easier for me to sever the burnt up mechanics from her limbs with a little bit off flesh and let it regenerate but she's basically human, unless..." The doctor rushed to his desk adjusting his lens as he hurriedly began to flip through a large leatherback journal.
"What is it? Do you have an idea?" Arata asked glancing back at Seryuu's slowly breathing form.
"Yes but it's in the theoretical stage so it's quite risky." The physician concluded worried.
"Tell me." Arata stated solemnly.
"Well the theory's that I could do the same thing the four clans who created the Supreme order did and partly fuse her with the only danger beast capable of such high level regeneration." Arata's eyes widened as the doctor ended his statement "Would that not kill her?" He questioned in a grave tone.
"With her form and Stylish's modifications to her body, her survival's rate is higher than none." Arata sighed covering his face with his palm.
"So do you need the danger beasts dead or alive?"
"Even a single limb would be sufficient for the procedure, but I need to tell you this she can go on life for at most five more months." The doctor closed the journal staring at the troubled Arata.
"I will get them to you soon." Arata said turning to leave. "Wait a moment, you do know the only danger beasts capable of such regeneration are the world-class ones? Do you even know where you can find any of them?" The doctor asked concerned.
"No, but do you know doctor?" Arata asked, glancing back at him. Coughing in embarrasment, he replied "No, no I don't."
"Then I can ask someone who does." With those words, the doors shut behind Arata.

                             ...
Surrounding a map placed on the table, the Night raid members memorized their positions in the assasination. "So I'll go over the plan once more. Tatsumi, Susanoo, Leone and I will go through the temple front door drawing as much attention as possible to our sekves while Akame, Lubbock and Mine will play the decoy unit and use the air manta to assasinate Bollick." Najenda paused and looked up. "If they fail to, Hijiri who will be disguised as a guard will move to eliminate Bolick." She turned to Hijiri. "You won't be able to take your sword, will you be ok without it?"
"Ah geez, I don't know. I've never done that before...of course I can eliminate the geezer." Najenda rolled her eyes at his witty comment. Speaking solemnly, Hijiri continued. "But once Bolick's dead, you have pull out immediately while I cause a diversion for you to escape."
"There's a high chance...no, Esdeath will definitely be there as the main obstacle, so you have to be careful " Najenda studied the nonchalant expression Hijiri had and chuckled.
"Ah yes the empire's strongest, how scary." He rolled his eyes and rose from his squat position.
"Ok Night raid, the mission to assasinate Bolick will commence soon" Najenda announced, the resolution of her comrades evident. "I'll head out first to get a uniform my size and though we agreed to keep my existence in Night raid quiet for now I am still you guard, my job is to keep you all alive and that's that." Hijiri commented frankly "So no pulling any stupid shit, especially noodle brain and Tatsumi."
"Huh? What did you say you damn geezer?!" Lubbock yelled while, Tatsumi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Oh and Najenda-san..." She turned to Hijiri who was fending off Lubbock with his right arm.
"Let's get a drink after this mission." Lubbock stuttered angrily while Najenda chuckled at Hijiri's obvious cheekiness. "Let's complete the mission first then we'll talk". Responding to Hijiri and Najenda's exchange, Susanoo smiled as he held back a furious Lubbock, Leone cheered grabbing hold of a flustered Tatsumi while Akame nodded solemnly as Mine blushed turning away.

"Why do I even bother?" Hijiri donning a full imperial soldier outfit muttered as he adjusted his mask. A loud explosion from the courtyard of the temple got his attention "Now then time to get to work." he strode quickly towards the inner chambers where Bolick was. Sneaking past frantic guards, he hid by a pillar in the hallway just outside the room a raging battle between Esdeath, Tatsumi, Leone, Susanoo and Najenda took place. Another loud crash attracted Hijiri's gaze to the battle where a semi-concious Tatsumi and Leone laid with a heavy breathing Najenda and a tense Susanoo. Sighing, he dashed into the room towards Kurome and Bolick "Susanoo get the others out of her now!!" A sprinting Hijiri hollered surprising Esdeath "Another one?!!". In the blink of an eye, he slammed his fist into Kurome's torso and kicked her aside, a large jagged ice pillar shot up between him and the terrified Bolick but sidestepping to his right he avoided the pillar and dashed away. Hm. Hijiri glanced up noting the rain of light blue feathers, stomping down hard he lifted a part of the ground and used it to shield himself from the attack.
Ducking down, he evaded Esdeath's swing and hopped out of her range. "I'm quite impressed with how nimble you are." Esdeath simpered, adjusting her grip on her sword, frowning as he glanced around noting the Yeagers focused on him, Hijiri took a deep breath. "Now!!" Tatsumi ran fleelty to the unsuspecting Bolick and plunged his spear into his chest.
"Assasination complete!!" Tatsumi yelled, a blow knocking him away from his murdered target, Hijri moving to catch him.
"Oi, you good kid?" Hijiri asked Tatsumi glancing from him to the Yeagers who had him surrounded. "I'm fine." Tatsumi replied gripping his spear and taking a loose fighting stance.
"Get ready to run." Hijiri whispered as he clasped his hands and let out a small black firefly, taking a few steps back.
"Allow me to escort you both to the tortue chamber." Esdeath said with a small smile oblivious to the firefly that flew into the air letting out a bright burst of white light an explosion following afterwards.
"Go." Hijiri sprinted through a hole in the wall, Tatsumi a pace behind.
"Did you think you could escape that easily?" Esdeath called out as chased after the two.
"How is she so fast?" Tatsumi asked panting as he swatted another low hanging branch aside.
"What I really wanna know is why the hell are you so slow?!" Hijiri yelled leaping over a potruding tree root. "Down!" Hijiri and Tatsumi ducked as a volley of icicle daggers lodged themselves in a tree just ahead of them.
"Oi! Want a piggy back ride or something?!" Hijiri yelled exasperated tossing his mask aside, Tatsumi sighed resuming his panting afterwards. The battle with Esdeath had taken a toll on his body. His arms ached and his legs felt like lead, at that point Hijiri's offer for the piggy-back didn't sound so bad.
"It's about time" Hijiri said with a relieved sigh snapping Tatsumi out of his thoughts. "We're almost at a cliff, so get ready to jump." Tatsumi nodded at the statement and kept running.

Just who are these two that are able to evade me for so long. I can't wait to break them or if they're no good I'll just keep them as pets especially with how durable, fast and coordinated they seem to be. Esdeath's lips tilted up in a smile as she rushed after the two. "Now!!" The words echoed as a large hole formed on Esdeath's instinctive pillar. Spinning around just before getting to the cliff, Hijiri shot off a volley of fireballs at Esdeath, an ice wall obstructing its collison with Esdeath an releasing a thick cloud of steam, using this Hijiri and Tatsumi leapt off the cliff crashing into a lake several feet below.
"Bet you didn't see that coming huh Esdeath?" A smug Mine said hopping down from a treee to the awaiting Akame and Lubbock.
"They'll find us soon, let's get going" Akame said cooly scanning the surroundings.
"Tch that pumpkin." Esdeath muttered irritatedly, glancing from the crumbling walls of ice that protected her from her adversaries attacks, to the cliff where the two had jumped off. "So the Night raid have another one?" She muttered gazing at the slowly moving lake noting the absence of the assassins.
Hijiri felt extremely satisfied, he was able to complete his mission without a single casualty on their side and the thrill of easily completing his mission without even summoning much of his power; he didn't want to rely too much on it especially considering it's drawback.
"Aniki, you good?" Tastumi asked noting the subtle change in Hijiri's expression.
"Ani?" Hijiri glanced at Tatsumi, his unmasked face hinting at surprise.
"Of course, or would you prefer Oji-san?" Tatsumi said with a chuckle sheating his sword. "You damn brat!" Hijiri held him in a headlock while aggresively ruffling his hair. Their laughter was met by Mine's cockiness as they entered the hideout "What took you so long ? I thought you had gotten in trouble and I would have had to come save you again." Mine stated her hands on her hips. "We're all alive, Bolick's dead and I successfuly completed my first mission. I think this calls for some drinks." Hijiri said stretching his arms with a smile. "So Najenda, you taking me up on my earlier offer?" He asked with a cheeky smirk.
"Sure why not, let's catch up" Najenda replied with a smile.