Senran Kagura: Heart of Fire

Chapter 11: Future & Bean Sprouts

Note: Sorry for the long delay between chapters, this one came out now because I live in Puerto Rico and we recently got hit by Hurricane Maria, so please excuse the delay.

Tokei, Rei and Kiriya make it to their destination, a worn-down workshop hidden in the woods. "This is the place." Kiriya says. Tokei and Rei keep looking around as Kiriya knocks on the door. They wait around 10 minutes until someone opened the door. It was a small girl with big cheeks and freckles. Her hair was short and orange and her eyes were blue. "Kiriya, what are you doing here so late? I was getting ready to go to bed, and who are those?" asks the girl. "Karin, we need your help, we need weapons." Kiriya answers. She sighs and looks down, and she tells them to come in. "So, what kind of weapons are we talking about?" Karin asks. As they keep walking Kiriya explains that they needed a sword and a smaller sword, he also asks her that he wanted the best ones she could make. Karin turns around and nods, then asks when he needed those for. Kiriya says, "I need those by morning." Karin looks surprised and then closes her eyes, saying that he is lucky that she knows him well. "If I'm going to work that much this late, I'm gonna need me some coffee." Karin implies, then walks off to the kitchen. The girls outside stay low and waiting, every so often looking through the windows in the workshop. By morning, everyone is sound asleep, even Kiriya. They slept outside the work area, Rei in an old sofa, Tokei in front of that sofa, and Kiriya in a dusty, worn out armchair. Kiriya wakes up alerted, but calms down quickly, he walks towards the work area and opens the door. Karin was sleeping in a chair, resting her head on the table she was working on. Kiriya walks up to her and notices she finished the weapons, they were wrapped around blankets up to the hilt. After seeing those he leaves the room and takes the liberty of going into the kitchen and looking around for something to do for breakfast. Once everyone is awake, Kiriya had prepared a feast out of only scraps and leftovers. Everyone says good morning to each other and sit down to eat. After breakfast, Karin tells everyone to go in the work room to see the finished products. She unveils the weapons by slowly removing the blankets she'd wrap around them. Tokei's was seemingly a normal sword, with an incision along the middle and a bandaged hilt, and Rei's was a shiny dagger with a rather fancy-looking carved hilt. She hands out the weapons to their new respectful owners. "Oh man, I can get used to this." Tokei says. "That's not all there is to it, come over here." Karin replies. They all head outside where Karin had put up a target some feet away. She also drew a line not too far from the exit they just took. "I fit this sword with a voice recognition system, this mode only activates when you say these words: (turns to the target) Raijuu Senkei!" The sword then splits in two, and a purple jewel comes out of the hilt, creating electricity along the middle. The electricity builds up for less than a second, and a purple beam fires from the tip of the sword. Karin is flung backwards from the blast, falling into Kiriya's arms. The beam had created a massive hole that took a lot of the forest and even some of the ground. The girls following the crew are awakened by the blast, and they slowly head to the back to check it out. "The blowback from this thing is ridiculous, unless you wanna dislocate your arm, don't fire it single-handedly." Karin implies. Tokei looks seriously at Karin and then nods. They go back inside, and Kiriya tells them to leave through the front door and wait. They do so, and Rei rests her body on a tree, while Tokei is still inspecting his new sword. Rei senses something and jumps out of the way as a kunai drops in front of her. The girls in hiding look surprised as they see another little girl holding a doll and a pale-looking woman walking towards Tokei and Rei. The other two were in hoodies, and when they take off the hoods it's revealed that it is Akatsukaze Shiruka and the girl who attacked Fujino Sumiko. "Long time no see huh?" says Shiruka with a grin in her face. Tokei and Rei stay quiet while looking at them. "Giving me the cold shoulder? That's mean. I'm sorry to say that Tokei Kuroyoshi shall be coming with us today." Shiruka requests. "As for you, Momioka Rei, you are gonna die here and now you fucking traitor." The other girl angrily speaks. "Well, there wasn't any need for vulgar language, Raki, but it's true." Shiruka explains to the other girl. Rei transforms and gets in a battle stance while Tokei eagerly waits for the first move. "We're not really suited for this fight right now, but let's do this." says Tokei under his breath. Shiruka and Raki transform and dash right at Tokei and Rei, Shiruka with her hair along her left arm and Raki with the tail she grew from her transformation. Tokei gets thrown back while blocking and Rei dodges the attack entirely. She counter attacks by shooting Ash & Raven at Raki but her swift movements allowed her to make Rei miss all of her shots. Tokei and Shiruka continously trade blows, neither one able to land one on the other's body, until Shiruka made her hair slip under Tokei and wrap around his legs to make him fall over, after that he keeps getting covered by Shiruka's hair. Before reaching his chin, the other two girls come out, one with an umbrella and one with a greatsword. "My, my, I'm afraid we can't let this happen, for the Kagura herself has asked us to bring him to her." says the girl with the umbrella. "And who might you be?" Shiruka asks. "Members of the great Crimson Squad, Mirai and Yomi!" Mirai answers. "Oh, it's just a little girl." Shiruka shrugs off. "You're one to talk, but it'd be best for you if you didn't underestimate this 'little girl'." Mirai claims as she looks fiercely into Shiruka's eyes. Mirai points her umbrella at Shiruka and starts firing, forcing Shiruka to leave Tokei and dodge. Mirai leaps forward to go after her and Yomi helps Tokei stand up. "After this, will you please join us and the Kagura, she only wishes to speak with you." mentions Yomi. "At least she asked nicely, sort of." says Tokei, and they both run off after Rei and Mirai. Mirai keeps moving and firing, while Shiruka keeps avoiding getting hit. At a point, Shiruka disappears from Mirai's sights. She jumps out to attack Mirai from the back with her right arm, but Mirai puts her umbrella on her back to block the blow. "It's not gonna be that easy." Mirai claims as she turns around and kicks Shiruka in the stomach. Shiruka falls to her knees and tries to catch her breath. Mirai walks off and Shiruka stops her by grabbing her feet with her hair. "I'm not done, did you seriously think that was it?" exclaims Shiruka. Mirai pulls Shiruka with her legs by her hair and sends her flying. Yomi appears in front of Shiruka and shoots her with her wrist rocket. Once the smoke clears, Shiruka is on the ground, with bruises and burns all over her body. Mirai goes up to her and shoots both her hands and her feet. "Don't worry, you won't die, these bullets do not kill unless I have the intent to do so." explains Mirai. Both Yomi and Mirai keep walking towards Rei and Raki, because Tokei was on his way as well. Rei is on the ground, full of scratches and bruises throughout her body, and Raki had a few holes she was bleeding from. They had moved so much, so fast, they couldn't move their feet anymore. Yomi, Mirai and Tokei make their way to where they were, and Raki tries to stand up and attack them, but Yomi brings out a scroll and utters the words: "Secret Ninja Art: Restraint!" while opening the scroll, and Raki's arms go behind her back on their own, and her vision goes blank. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" Raki exclaims. Mirai picks up Rei and they walk away, and as Yomi turns around, she looks at Raki with a smile on her face and her eyes closed, "Don't worry, the effects will wear off, eventually." she says as she walks away. They all walk back to the workshop and see Kiriya and Karin waiting at the front door with Homura, Hikage and Haruka. "We know, go, I'll talk to Shizuku." Kiriya says.

Homura's Crimson Squad takes Tokei to a shrine, and they tell him that he should go inside. Once he does, he feels his body getting heavier and he starts breathing faster. He looks up and sees Naraku, and she moves out of the way. Then, the Kagura opens her eyes.