Changed mindscape

It took at least one day before Akane arrived on the ship. She had been completely exhausted. Even worse, because she was so exhausted, her body couldn't use a lot of energy and her regeneration had stalled. The bullet wounds were still open and bleeding profusely.

It wasn't strange when she collapsed as soon as she touched the deck of the ship. Her form changed back into her original form.

"Ban, I thought you were looking after the captain? She's riddled with holes you know? Her regeneration isn't as good as yours." Laffitte said as he picked her up and walked towards the medicine cabin.

Once placed on the bed, Lafitte began to disinfect her wounds with alcohol and dressed them with white bandages. Ban scratched his head as he for once didn't exactly know what to say.

"She seemed to enjoy herself a lot, so I didn't want to spoil her fun. How could I know that she wouldn't be able to block the bullets? Normally she would've been able to deflect them easily."

Ban said as he planted himself on a sofa near the wall.

"She's in a childs body. It isn't strange she wouldn't have as much stamina as you. I don't even know if you can run out of stamina." Laffitte retorted. Having finished the first aid, Laffitte washed his hands and sat down beside Ban.

"It seems we need to find ourselves a doctor." Laffitte said as he leaned back.

"Guess so." Ban responded, supressing a yawn. He wasn't that worried about Akane, as he could already see the wounds showing signs of healing. It was slower than usual, sure. But they were healing and she wouldn't die from them.

All they had to do was wait and she would be as good as new. They wouldn't be moving on today anyway, so he might as well cook something nutritious to speed up the healing process.

Ban left the cabin soon after, followed by Laffitte who went towards the captains cabin to look at the maps and eternal poses he had collected so far.

_____________________________________________________________________________

While Ban and Laffitte were minding their own business, Akane was busying herself with other matters. While she had collapsed in exhaustion and from her wounds, she arrived in the mindscape in which her swords used to reside in.

The space surrounding the swords had changed completely from the endless white space, into a serene forest with a moon and a sun shining above it. Lounging near a giant tree in the only clearing, a man with white hair and a woman with black hair were relaxing with their eyes closed.

As if they could feel Akane staring at them, they both opened their eyes and stared back at her, a happy expression appearing on their faces.

""Akane!""

The man and woman both walked towards her and gave her a hug as if she was a long lost relative whom they hadn't seen in ages.

"Etto, who?" Akane said as she looked at the pair in confusion.

"Eh, you don't know? You even called us by our name." The woman said.

Akane stared at her with wide and envious eyes.

The woman was so pretty. The Inkblack hair reached till her lower back, her eyes shaped like almond were a bright gold, her skin was white as snow and small but captivating red lips that were curved in a smile.

She wore a intricate red and black kimono, embroidery depicting the sun and fire on her sleeves and neckline. The thing Akane was most envious about would be her height. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties and was of a perfect height of 5'6 feet. The other thing to be envied was the big rack she had growing on the front.

Next Akane stared at the man who was equally gorgeous.

His white hair reached like the woman's hair, till his lower back. The man had swordlike eyebrows and icy blue eyes that could cause others to shiver when he looked at them. His face had a stern expression, as if it had been frozen.

He wore a white kimono with blue embroidery depicting the moon and snowflakes.

He affectionately patted her head, a slight smile adorning his face and smoothening his stern and cold features.

A sudden thought came to her as she looked at the man and the woman again. The absence of her swords also bothered her a lot as she remained in deep thought.

"Amaterasu? Tsukuyomi?" Akane whispered as if she wasn't sure if she was right.

The woman, Amaterasu, brightened with the mention of her name and resumed the hug.

The man, Tsukuyomi, seemed to be happy as well as his eyes mellowed out a lot, as if the ice was melting and a clear spring remained.

"I'm so glad you remember!" Amaterasu said, as she almost jumped in joy.

"I thought my Katana was called Ryuujin Jakka. I was surprised it changed suddenly."

Amaterasu sneered as she began to pout.

"Why would I want to be called that? I only used that as a template, a base. That form was something from that old guy. I am part of you, just like Tsukuyomi. It isn't strange the name will change." Amaterasu said as she patiently explained.

"Enough talk, Amaterasu. Isn't it time you woke up? You're comrades are waiting for you." Tsukuyomi butted in, reminding Akane of the others.

"I guess you're right. I'll come back when I can." Akane promised as she had already spent a lot of time in her mindscape.

"We'll be waiting." Amaterasu said, a somewhat feral smile on her lips. Tsukuyomi shook his head in exasperation as he just waved at Akane.

Before she left, Akane swore she could seen Tsukuyomi wink at her, a mischievous light shimmering in those blue eyes.

Akane wouldn't know what that light meant until a while after.

The mindscape faded and changed into a slight glimpse of woman with butterfly hair accessories. The scene faded as her eyes slowly opened, her eyelids a bit heavy after having slept for a long time.

What greeted her was a bowl of nutritious soup and a grinning face from Ban.