A Butterfly Under the Sunken Moon

7|The Endless Tide

The large man spoke up, his tone disgusting Shinobu, "Good job! You brought in a real beauty. I might even keep her for myself!" Now came the part the petite girl was most worried about; she needed Tomioka to speak, but it seems she worried for nothing. "...I'm not giving her away for free..." he said, and Kochō was relieved, but she didn't let that show. Luckily for them that small provocation worked and the boss stood up angrily. "You work for me!" he said while grabbing the Full Moon's 'leash' as he roughly pulled her to him, causing her to choke a little in the process, "I'm not paying shit!

In doing this the yakuzan had stepped out of position and his guards were no longer in an ideal position to protect him, and so the leashed woman struck. She slipped the leash off and then elegantly leapt over him while dropping the loop over his head and securing it. Shinobu saw Giyū fighting the guards as she did so but she had dropped her guard a little at the wrong time as she felt a large hand punch her delicate face.

It wasn't the first time she'd been punched there, nor would it be the last but it sure as hell pissed her off and stunned her for a moment. The woman was now just a touch angrier than usual and that didn't bode well for her opponent.

The Ocean Moon wasn't having too hard of a time himself as he blocked both swords with his own repeatedly. He wasn't really focused on the fight and that wasn't the best of ideas as he felt a bit of pain in his abdomen: one of the guards had slashed him in the side. Tomioka remembered what he was supposed to be doing and immediately retaliated with a more controlled strike to the man's chest as his opponent sagged to the floor, bleeding a lot as he coughed up some blood.

The other guard rushed towards the crying man on the floor. Giyū felt awful, he didn't like killing but it was necessary since they couldn't have two more live enemies in the room with them. The scene before him reminded him of himself when his best friend had died, so he looked away.

The young man directed his attention to the woman behind him, not wanting to look at the damage he'd caused and would have to repeat later. She seemed just fine for the most part, just a bruised cheek and her target was tied up on the floor in front of her. His companion didn't seem too happy about something as she was standing with one foot pressing hard into the man's back, between his shoulder blades.

Suddenly, the Moon heard an anguished cry behind him as he found the remaining guard charging at him, driven solely by emotion. The blue-eyed man wanted to finish this quickly, so he stepped to the right to swing his sword around to slash his opponent's neck from behind. He moved like a flowing river, and endless tide, not a movement wasted as he removed the man's head from his shoulders in one clean movement.

He heard Kochō gasp in shock at the elegant brutality and the boss shout in rage, knowing he'd lost. As soon as everything had gone still, there was a commotion from outside the door as Giyū dragged the yakuzan to his knees and held his sword to the larger man's neck. He was just in time as the doors burst open to reveal what looked to be the rest of the mob but they all froze when they saw the scene before them:

There was a large blood spatter on the opposite wall from the first man's head being removed, the stump of his neck was still bleeding. The second man was lying dead on the floor with his ribs and a bit of his lung clearly visible. Their boss kneeling in the middle of the room with a sword to his neck was the centerpiece as Tomioka's cold eyes made it feel like the temperature in the room had dropped exponentially. His female companion was standing off to the side with a dagger in her hand to make it all seem just a bit more menacing.

However, on the inside Shinobu was shocked to her core but she couldn't let that show. Meanwhile Giyū was deep in thought, hating himself for his actions, and this whole damned situation. He still remembered his mission and stood up, dragging the boss with him. The Butterfly Moon walked behind the Ocean Moon, giving everyone who looked like they might interfere her scariest smile yet.

Once they had reached the exist Tomioka dumped the man in the trunk so they could 'reform' him later and Shinobu turned around one more time to threaten the rest: "Oh my! Looks like it only took two of us to take you down! I'm so sorry about that, maybe rethink stealing our business next time, okay?" She said it all with a smile that sent shivers down the yakuza's backs as she waved and got into the car next to her partner as they drove off.

On the way back to base she decided to try to get Giyū to talk or say something since he was looking somehow even more depressed than usual. "Tomioka, why do you look so scary? You do realize this is why nobody likes you, right?" she refrained from poking him, not wanting to distract him too much. Shinobu was never very good at comforting people and she had a feeling that killing two people probably shocked him just as much as it did her.

The man was somewhat annoyed but also thankful to be dragged out of his thoughts, he just wished she could find any other way to do it. He decided to speak, even if he didn't quite believe the words coming out of his mouth, "I'm not disliked by people."

"Oh my, so, you haven't realized yet? I'm so sorry," she said her usual response while covering her smile with a hand, trying to get some normality back to their situation.

The friendly banter worked to calm them both down a little but it'd be a while before they forgot the day's events, another nightmare to add to the list.

"The strong scent of blood dyed the blue Moon red."

"As did it taint the Butterfly's purple wings."

"Both soaked with the memories of the past."

"They dance the night away 'till all is forgotten."

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Taishō secret: Every Full Moon has a giant tattoo on their backs.

-The Ocean Moon has a dragon dancing with the swirling tide.

-The Sonic Moon has a roaring dragon.

-The Blazing Moon has a dragon surrounded by flames.

-The Earthen Moon has a more robust looking dragon perched on a mountain, blending into it a bit.

-The Misty Moon has a dragon sleeping elegantly among clouds of mist.

-The Love Moon has two gracefully dancing dragons, intertwined.

-The Serpentine Moon has a dragon with large venomous fangs, poised to strike.

-The Butterfly Moon's tattoo will be a dragon surrounded by flowers and butterflies. However, she has yet to get it at the moment.

-The Windy Moon has an angry dragon surrounded by clouds.