Another Drop

“It’s only going to be a week at best, it’s not a lot of time.”

“I’m going to need everything that I can to fight against them. Even with Yuki’s plan, this is still going to leave us with more than our share of demons to fight.” She couldn't say how much the training she got from Saki in their tracking of Masa improved her skills, but it gave her a sense of development. Nothing that she learned from Saki had been put to use yet. The Demon Hunters didn't give her a real chance at it. So the demons would be her first time learning if anything that Saki hammered into her actually worked for her.

More than anything though, what worried her the most was that she never had any formal training like Saki and Yuki did in a dojo. Fighting wasn’t in her blood like it was with them. Everything that she did and used now was learned through fighting. She focused on instinct rather than careful planning like them. Saki tried to get her to undo that nature of her, but it hadn't really been culled out of her yet. She didn't know if it would ever truly leave her. She needed more time being used to such a different way of fighting.

In the middle of the fight, she felt like she would forget all about it. She felt certain she would fall into her usual habits no matter what Saki pounded into her. Yumi knew what she did before wouldn't succeed. She already lost her way. She needed what Saki knew to even stand a chance against them. This was a fight she had to survive.

This couldn't be the end for her.

They were still out there. She wouldn't die until she found them and reclaimed her body and mind for herself.

Saki could see the determination in her eyes. Such a look couldn’t be turned down. ‘Yumi’s changed so much. I remember when she was so meek and afraid of nearly everyone. Now she’s diving straight into the fires of war.’ She still didn't have the same sort of confidence or assurance that Yuki did in fighting. But that was only natural for her. She wasn't used to this sort of thing. The confidence that Yuki built up over years of fighting wouldn't be something that she gained in a few months.

“Very well, but I’m going to be harder on you. Unlike before, we don’t have any time to waste.”

The look in Saki’s stern eyes gave Yumi a momentary pause. She had always been serious with her, but this was a different sort of feeling than before. ‘Do I need to worry?’ Sweat dripped down the side of her head trying to figure out what would happen to her in the next moment.

While Yumi worked on recovering from the shocking scare that Saki gave her, she turned back to Seiji. Yuki and Nerine already had their plans, while she didn't really care too much about the demon’s plans. “What about you, Seiji? What will you do?”

“I’ve got my own plans,” he reassured her.

A crooked pursed stretch of her lips noted her less than convinced reaction to his answer. She crossed her arms, staring at him seriously. “You could use it to train as well.”

“I’m fine, Saki. It’s not natural for you to be worried about my ass.”

“Just remember this battle will be nothing like anything we’ve faced before. More than anything before the odds are against us. So use your time well.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m aware.”

Chapter 433 – Another Drop

Due to the risk of being discovered by the demon hunters, Yumi took Saki’s advice and left the Capital for their training. The fact that Saki wanted them out of the city unnerved Yumi even more than before. Their previous training had just been with the rest of the group. Nothing about them presented any risk to the camp they made. ‘Just what does Saki have in mind for training this time?’

She landed far away from the Capital, leaving it as a backdrop to their grounds. Yumi found a rough bit of unused land that rose up to the mountains near them. Nothing seemed to be growing in the area making it well suited for them to fight. “This should suit our needs,” Yumi said, working up a confident smirk to hide her uncertainty about Saki’s plans.

“It means you won’t be able to run from me,” spoke Saki in an ominous tone.

‘We are training, right?’

Yuki woke up from his sleep to a strange and uneven noise crawling through the mansion. “Is Saki back?” he asked himself with a heavy grog of sleep slowing him down. Through half open eyes, he made it over to the door by the time the sound reached outside. A little nervous, he prepared his Field just in case it was an attack, even though it would be a terrible one if they were going for stealth.

Firmly gripping the handle on the door, he paused for a moment as the noise ceased. Everything went still only making the atmosphere worse. An ominous feeling seeped into his body, not clear what was happening anymore. It almost seemed like he was dreaming or maybe having a nightmare. But he felt that he still needed to see what lay beyond his door.

‘If it’s a nightmare I die and wake up. If it’s real…it’s pretty much not an assassin.’ Giving himself reassurance, he slid open the door to get two bloody corpses falling on top of him once they had enough room to fall. “Nightmare it is!” he yelped, really not expecting such a gruesome surprise on his door.

“Yuki…”

“Zombies!” he muttered with a mixture of delight and fear. However, he didn’t really have a chance to fight back as they grabbed a hold of him and pinned him down. Blood dripped off their darkened faces turning his face blue. Any sort of excitement drained away. He tried to find his Field, but his brain was not correctly focusing.

“…Yuki…”

“The zombies know my name!”

One of them raised up a hand reaching out to claw out his eyes and crack open his brain. He winced trying to prepare himself for it and the breaking of the nightmare. Caught in his dream, he would escape it soon.

It grabbed his face, squeezing his cheeks tightly pulling him towards them. “I’m not a zombie, dammit, Yuki! Get your fantasies out of your head!”

“Huh?!” He blinked and worked out the sleep from his eyes only to see that it was Saki looking a complete and utter mess. “Saki!? Yumi!?!” Next to her was Yumi looking nearly unconscious and even worse off than Saki. “What the hell is going on, Saki?!”

“Heal first, questions second.”

“R-right!” Now that he knew it was reality, or virtual at least, he sat up properly getting his focus back. Ripples passed over the ground as green glows engulfed the two women. All of their countless wounds closed up and he cleaned their clothes and mended them as well.

A few minutes of healing had the two back on their feet, though still completely exhausted. Yuki looked out the window to remind him what time it was. The sun hadn’t quite started to rise. The city wall prevented him from seeing anything other than a red glow that hinted at the sun. “Damn, you two were out all night fighting?!”

“We sorta got caught up and lost track of time,” Yumi replied sheepishly, not really affected by Yuki’s parental yelling.

“Lost track of time?” He stared down at the two of them. The sight that they were in when they dropped on him was terrible. It looked like they had been through hell in their training. Yuki tried to imagine what Saki might have been doing for their training. “What sort of training were you doing, Saki? It nearly killed Yumi by the looks of it!”

“I stopped before that point,” she answered with little interest in Yuki’s worries. Saki dusted off her attire showing her disinterest despite Yuki’s cleaning having already done the work.

“You stopped? You can’t just be fighting until you’re almost dead and just coming back to me like I’m some magic bean to use whenever you’re injured! What if you died on the way back?”

“I was careful.”

“Careful, come on, Saki!”

“It’s fine, Yuki.” Yumi stepped in between the two trying to calm down Yuki’s mounting concerns for their training methods. She was happy with the results and the way Saki treated her. Once they started she understood what Saki was doing. “You don’t need to worry. Just heal us like you have before. We need to be the strongest possible for the battle.”

Yuki took a step back. “…Yumi…” He didn't expect to see her so demanding of him. The way she stared at him said that she didn't want him to question anything that they were doing. She only wanted his cooperation, or rather his powers to heal her. Their training seemed to have completely consumed her interests.

“There you have it, Yuki. Straight from Yumi’s mouth. You’re not going to complain now are you?”

He ground his teeth being bullied into helping by the two of them. ‘Saki’s using the fact that we put Yumi’s in charge against me. She’s telling me to just fall in line since it’s Yumi’s orders.’ It felt like an abuse of Yumi’s position in their group, but at the same time it was her decision. Saki might be leveraging it against him, but Yumi made the order.

If it was going to be Yumi, he couldn’t really do anything. He wanted her to make the choice and deal with the responsibilities of those choices. Which meant also living with whatever became of this choice. Yuki crossed his arms tightly, not pleased with what this meant for them. “If that’s your choice, I can’t stop you. Just try not to come back dying again. I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“No promises!” Yumi teased with a wide smile on her face as she turned back to the door. She walked out of the room heading off to a place to sleep off her fatigue.

Disbelief stuck around on Yuki’s face, still witnessing Yumi’s transformation. “What sort of training did you do? She’s not acting anything like she has before.”

Saki rubbed the back of her head nodding in agreement with Yuki on the matter of Yumi’s personality shift. Though it wasn't the first time they noticed her being different. “She’s been going through a lot in here. But seemed to be genuinely enjoying the sparring and training with me, continuing to push herself despite fatigue or injuries. I don’t know if she’s noticed it herself, considering what Manekamaru said about her trying to deny it. I haven’t mentioned it yet since I don’t know how she’ll react.”

“Still I didn’t really expect this much of a change from her so quickly. Gives me hope that she might be moving past her bloodlust phase she had going on.”

“Whatever it is, I’m not going to mess with it for now. We need her in a good mindset for the battle. She can’t be doubting herself at a time like this.”

“Just be careful.”

“I am. She’s not going to beat me in martial arts anytime soon.”

“She’s a fast learner.”

“I’ve noticed. Was she always like that or that a benefit of the changes to our bodies?”

“Not sure.”

“Where’s the idiot?” Saki asked, noticing that he wasn’t present in the boy’s room with Yuki. Unlike the two of them, he hadn't gone out to train. And it was still early enough that she doubted that he went out to work or something.

“Seiji left not long after you two did. Said he had something to do. Wasn’t very clear about it.”

“What’s he got turning in his head?”

Within a dark room, a faint aura wrapped around Seiji. Sweat dripped over his bare chest as he focused intently on within. ‘I will conquer this…’