Chime of Dawn
The hours that followed were the ones our crew used the most. They are checking back, not worrying about their duties with the capable individuals assisting them.
Meeting up the following day and sitting down as if nothing had happened. Most of them, at least.
"So that makes up the last of it. We got Jax on watch." (Makoto)
"Was that a good idea?" (Hotaru)
"Probably not but, it'll be fun for the next person, I'll tell you that." (Hibiki)
"His damn cults" (Makoto)
"Aye, let's be nice here. He only likes giving opportunities after all. No harm in that." (Hibiki)
"Until they succeed." (Kohaku)
"Least corruptions, can't say anything about that." (Hibiki)
"Keeps his family tight-knit." (Kohaku)
"Can't disagree with that." (Hotaru)
*Click*
*Click*
"..." (Hotaru)
"Bitch." Hibiki growled
"Wait, I can still talk about it, right?" A long silence followed that curved the edges of Hotaru's mouth into a wicked grin.
Makoto and Hibiki turned simultaneously to Kohaku. Staring into the pits of his existence until a glimmer of thought appeared behind those eyes.
"Oh." (Kohaku)
"I'm so jealous." (Makoto)
"Mhm." (Hibiki)
"What?!" (Kohaku)
"Mwuahaha, this is going to be fun." (Hotaru)
*Click*
"Calm down, there's no rush." (Miroku)
"Yes. there. is! Those aren't the only ones he made!" (Hotaru)
"... Let's run." (Miroku)
I never thought I'd see the day I'd sprint down a hallway and up a staircase with someone else's mom, silky hair flowing in the wind behind us smelling like roses. We bursted back into the kitchen where the platter that held a dozen onigiri had one left.
Each of those monsters had one in each of their grubby hands, those colorful balls of goodness. He kept us all out of the kitchen but the ones we got to try were to die for so even seeing a smile from Makoto didn't bode well.
I didn't need to look to know but a side-eye glance was mirrored right back at me. My mind ran a mile a minute as we kept an eye on the other, slowly inching forward before we broke out in a sprint and got squished between the door frame.
"I'm getting some first!" (Hotaru)
"Over my dead body!" (Miroku)
"That can be arranged!" (Hotaru)
"I'd love to see you try!" (Miroku)
We finally made our way through and fell.
*THUD*
Hard.
It didn't take a doctor to know that it was gonna leave a mark.
"Oh, dear…" Usami covered her eyes with her paws.
"Get her, mama!" (Shion)
"Ah! Go, Hotaru!" (Makoto)
"Why are you entertaining this?" (Taruho)
In the corner of my eye, I saw Miroku crawling forward so I latched onto her ankle and dragged her back, and was slapped across the face. The room fell to a heavy silence.
"I-I" (Miroku)
All I saw was red and clocked this gorgeous lady in the jaw. Blood dribbled out her nose. Devolving two 'composed' adults into a catfight.
She jumped onto me, and we tumbled onto the floor, bumping into the table and chairs. For how short her nails were they still got the job done. I got up, reached for the nearest thing on the table, and slammed an open bag of flour into her face.
The powder flung into the air making a giant dust cloud. I kept swinging my fist but didn't make any purchase when she tackled me.
"Hag!" (Hotaru)
"That the only insult you got, cow!" Miroku took a carton of cold milk and poured it down my kosode.
"AHHH!" (Hotaru)
"Mhm, you tell her."
"You're gonna need the ER by the time I'm done with your cornstarch crusader ass!" I scrambled for whatever I could and smeared eggs onto the top of her head.
"Mm- so good. You tell her!"
""Huh?!"" (Miroku + Hotaru)
The two of us finally noticed how silent the room got. We tried to help each other up by slipping and grabbing onto the counter to see Hanashi's snake finish the last onigiri. The tuna and rice all over its face.
"Boss is a good cook! Right, Boss?" (Kumo)
"I'd like to hope so if I have people fighting over it. You two will clean this up." (Hanashi)
'I-I don't think that was a question.'
"Y-" (Miroku)
"Out of the respect I have for you, shut up. You will clean this, then we'll talk. Shino is out of the room. You got half an hour before she gets antsy." He stuck his hand out before placing it on the table for a pudgy snake to slither up his arm.
"Shishishi! They look like Kumo, right boss?" (Kumo)
"Just as pasty and not covered in rice… You make it work though." (Hanashi)
"Ah, really?!" (Kumo)
"C'mon, we got some company to check on." (Hanashi)
"Say it again! Please, boss." (Kumo)
"We also have to clean you up." (Hanashi)
"But, Boss…" (Kumo)
The two of them walked through an open sliding door with powdery sets of footprints going into the hallway.
Chaos. That's how I'd describe the kitchen at first glance.
Two racks of metal bowls and pots had fallen where the kids sat. Perfectly good eggs were cracked about the wooden floor. We had to inch our way out of the milk spill soaking my clothes.
Miroku stared in disbelief. She's been put together since we got here and now, she's staring wide-eyed like a deer caught in headlights.
"We… did this?" (Miroku)
"PFFT! AHAHAHA!" (Hotaru)
"Wha?" (Miroku)
"You look ridiculous!" (Hotaru)
"Look at you!! Ah-" Miroku covered her mouth, and I pursed my lips, barely holding back when the two of us busted out laughing.
"You look like a Geisha!" (Miroku)
"Not the right product but, how do I look?" I flipped my hair and coughed from the flour I scattered more of.
"Like a ghost!" (Miroku)
"You do too!" (Hotaru)
We took some time to get cleaned up and change before grabbing some zoukin to wipe the floor. Dragging them up and down the floor until it was all clean again.
The two of us stood by the sink talking joyously about the whole thing
"I must apologize again." (Miroku)
"I don't see why." (Hotaru)
"You don't?!" (Miroku)
"I'd fight anyone for food any day." (Hotaru)
"I-I see…" (Miroku)
"Heehee. You're more like Makoto than I thought." (Hotaru)
"What's that supposed to mean?" (Miroku)
"I don't know. Both of you just got a vibe." (Hotaru)
"A vibe?" (Miroku)
S: "Hotaru?" (Ella)
(Shhh. You had your turn, it's mine now.)
"Just confirming, you don't have to answer but if you don't mind me asking…" (Hotaru)
"...Go ahead." (Miroku)
"What about this, pisses you off so bad?" (Hotaru)
I couldn't piece it together, all I had were straws to grasp at.
After breakfast, I've been able to talk to everyone even with the system.
Makoto and I felt relaxed when we were in the ruins. More than just the two of us traveling there, and I thought I was doing pretty good.
Certain rooms across the temple weren't something I could interact with or pass through but, it never bothered me.
Lastly, what I ran by Usami.
***
"There's no way, right?" (Usami)
"I'm telling you, it's all over this place." (Hotaru)
"Hmm…" (Usami)
"So?" (Hotaru)
"You may be right. You can't get any closer than this." (Usami)
S: Rabbit knows its stuff. (Ella)
(You think so too?)
B: No doubt, I haven't felt this good in a while. (Jack)
***
"..." (Miroku)
"You don-" (Hotaru)
The smile on her face gave me goosebumps. I hated it, every minute of it. It was like going through the effort to unlock a chest that was already cracked open. She just hid it. Well.
Washing it down the drain like the water from the rag.
My words were caught in my throat and our conversation came to an end. By the time we turned around a smaller tray with two wrapped bundles was left with a small note.
No one gets left behind. Enjoy, I guess.
"I thought there was going to be more to deal with by the time we finished the floor." (Miroku)
She was right by the time we were done with the floor; it was like nothing else happened. No fallen racks, milk spills, or footprints out of the kitchen. Just the flour on the floor.
"Why even be all bossy if he'd just do it himself?" (Hotaru)
Miroku's dreary eyes sparked back with life the longer she kept silent. It was gnawing at me! What does she know that I don't?!
I packed that irritation away like the supplies we returned to the closet. As we walked through the empty halls and onto a pathway paved with stone.
"Hurry, this way!" The mother ran and I wasn't going to be a slouch.
We were like bullet trains, the background just flying by. We stopped in front of a closed-off area with its gates wide open. Shino and Taruho were banging against a barrier, pointing while an open scroll floated above them blank.
Miroku's stare went past them. Pillar after pillar of wood, gashes, and arrows riddled the ground. In the very center of a majestic waterfall, a roiling ball of dark clouds and blue flames encapsulated a shadowed figure, howling.
"CAN YOU DO IT AGAIN?!" Hanashi yelled towards Makoto from the long pillar he stood on.
"I-I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Makoto was smacking around his bladeless hilt like it was a dead remote.
"We'll take it from here." (Miroku)
"NO STUN, FREEZE OR CHARM! FIRE! WE NEED FIRE!" (Hanashi)
"Hotaru." (Miroku)
I couldn't get her deal! How could she look at that and just be like "This is fine." IT WASN'T!
"Yhuh?!" (Hotaru)
"I need you to follow my directions, can you do that?" (Miroku)
"Uh, yeah?" (Hotaru)
"Good. Take this and I want you to try sealing the technique they're using." (Miroku)
"The what?!" Could you blame me for speaking my thought out loud?
"Seal the fire, dear. It's just like anything else." (Miroku)
'Just like anything else?! MA'AM, THAT LOOKS LIKE IT'LL KILL ME!'
"CAN THE TWO OF YOU PUSH IT THIS WAY?" She suddenly felt the need to yell when they'd been hearing her fine for some reason.
"I GUESS SO!" (Hanashi)
'YOU GOTTA BE JOKING ME!'
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Bestie's passionate shouting was embodying my thoughts in a way I never could.
Wide-eyed, manic, and with a long trail of red claw marks on his arms.
'THANK YOU!'
"READY?!" (Hanashi)
"Just hold out the scroll." (Miroku)
I've never been more reassured someone had a screw loose, I felt like my brain had a factory reset to just go along with the bullshit.
"Like this?" I gave in and held it in front of me.
"Perfect and just use your chakra to contain it like anything else." (Miroku)
"O-Okay. READY!" (Hotaru)
"KUMO, TAKE OFF!" (Hanashi)
"YES BOSS!" (Kumo)
"AOI!" (Makoto)
"ON IT!" (Aoi)
A streak of light veered off from the prison, hurling it forward.
…
Have you ever had your life flash before your eyes?
I did.
It came in the form of a GIANT SPINNING BALL OF BLUE FIRE COMING TOWARDS ME!
***
"She was wild for leaving you to do that." (Hibiki)
"RIGHT?!" (Hotaru)
"It could be that she trusted you." (Kohaku)
"Thank-" (Hotaru)
"Or that she trusted her work to be easy enough for a dog to use it." (Hibiki)
"HEY!" (Hotaru)
***
Erm-! Back to the miniature sun coming my way
The air quickly grew hot to the point that I thought I was being roasted
M: "Focus up and use the tools available to you."
S: "This is nothing." (Ella)
'You sure about that?!'
B: "Cocky fu- YOU GOT THIS!" (Jack)
'Use the tools? USE THE TOOLS!'
[SUMMONED SOULBOUND]
The book opened in front of me, flipping through blank pages before finally settling.
(We can't take this whole thing at once. Moving and all?)
M: "Nice to see that brain working."
I took a deep breath and let my chakra surge to my eyes.
(...I need your help.)
M: "Hmph, Say the word."
I don't think I've seen something so ramshackle. Fragments of chakra laced together like flimsy metal chains bent in any which way instead of being sewn tight. Parts of it were prepped and just failed to contain what was inside. It was beautiful. Shattered fragments like glass threaded together. It was a first.
Every jutsu I saw had its history behind how well-crafted it was, but this was invigorating. Something made out of necessity. Something that could've gone wrong in so many ways. That didn't bode well for the chakra points all over it, but I found the clearest one being dragged away from the source. I reached out and took it before grabbing 6 more and watched intently as everything unwinded into the scroll.
When the chakra flow would end there would always be another reaching out to attach to the flow.
(Patch up?)
M: "Focus!"
(Sorry!)
The last of it made its way into the scroll between my shaking hands and I collapse to my knees, exhausted from containing something so foreign.
M: "Glad you know something. We got another artisan on our hands."
S: "You could take it easy." (Ella)
M: "And have her at risk, no thanks."
S: "See, you do care." (Ella)
M: "…"
B: "She got you! She got you!" (Jack)
M: "Shut it!"
Their conversation was background noise to what I was watching. The masterful way Miroku moved and weaved the chakra to her will to capture the figure into a small pink orb that fit in her hand.
"Well done, all of you. There are a lot of rough spots but, this is a nice start. So, who's ready to learn?"
""""Ugh…""""
Wait, uhuh.
Kohaku was there?
Sh- He was under the fireball? Fuck!
*Click*