Hide and seek, little Ronin

“Why are you backing away?” she asked, in that irresistibly sultry voice. “Come back to me, my sweet Ronin.”

“Right… back to you…”

I took a couple of steps forward before I realised what I was doing. I got my wits back and raised my sword. She gently dropped from the table she was sitting on. The dagger was still in her right hand, and she had a sickeningly sweet smirk as she approached.

“What’s wrong, my love? Why do you resist me so?”

“Stay back- dammit, what’s wrong with me?” My thoughts were hazy. Even though I kept my sword raised, I couldn’t imagine actually bringing it down on her. It was wrong to harm something so breathtaking. That gorgeous face, that jaw-dropping figure, highlighted so beautifully by a short red cheongsam, adorned with pink flowers and a heart-shaped hole over her chest.

It was a look that could kill, worn by a woman who intended to.

She’s dangerous.

She’s wonderful.

She’s a threat.

She’s all I’ve ever wanted.

“Ahhh… I see our problem now, my love…” she got just inches from my face, her lips so close to mine I could almost taste them…

“Toki, what the hell are you doing?!”

I threw myself backwards and crashed through the door I didn’t remember closing. The dagger had just barely missed my right cheek. I had completely given up my range advantage and let her get within breathing distance. It was becoming more and more clear what was happening.

“It’s mind control. Her power manipulates you to stop you from attacking.” I raised my sword again, focusing everything I had on keeping her out of my mind.

“My, what a cruel description, my love. Is it not kinder to simply call me charming?”

“Stow it!” I took a step back. This was a whole different kind of enemy to those I had fought before. Brute force alone couldn’t win this. I have to admit, I was shaken.

“A pity…” she said, running the knife along her tongue as she slowly stepped towards me. “Seems you’re a little more resistant than I had expected. But that’s no matter. I know how to deal with that little… inconvenience.”

It took her a fraction of a second to close the distance I had made. My precognition kicked in, and I leaned back just in time to dodge the swipe aimed at my face. The next came quickly, forcing me to stagger back a step. The third forced a duck. That duck was punished with a knee that bloodied my nose.

“Dammit, Toki, fight back!”

“I’m trying, I swear to god, I just…”

I can’t.

I never hesitated to dodge an attack, but throwing one back was just beyond the pail. As if half of me knew she was a threat while the other half couldn’t bring me to hurt her. Both hands gripped my sword, yet both arms refused to swing.

“Oh, my love… I’m deeply sorry to have hurt you. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?” said the dangerous girl with a deep bow.

“Sure, I’ll forgive you. Just cut your own throat.”

“Oh, dear me. It seems I’ll have to try a little harder to make you see sense. My deepest apologies for what comes next.”

“Bring it, bitch.”

The bravado was genuine. The followup was pathetic.

Again, she closed the distance, and again, I failed to respond in any meaningful way. Her blade skimmed the bridge of my broken nose. I stepped back down the hallway. She cut my right cheek. I stepped back again. She stabbed at my right eye. I turned just in time to watch the dagger pass me by.

I had turned my back in front of a door. That mistake was punished when she roundhouse kicked me through it. My back slammed into a filing cabinet inside the room. One quick look told me it was full of them. There was barely any space to move.

“God, why do magical girls seem to have such a problem with my ribs?”

I got back to my feet, though my midsection ached like hell. She was once again approaching slowly. Every step measured. Every movement threatening. She was trying to intimidate the resistance out of me.

She’s incredible.

Shut up shut up shut up.

My mind couldn’t stop fighting itself for long enough to fight her instead. I was practically watching helplessly as she slowly drew near me yet again.

“My dear sweet Ronin, why must you run? Come to me, make this more pleasurable for the both of us.”

“Shut up!”

Sweat dripped down my face. Even Ryou’s relentless assault hadn’t gotten me this on edge. I was stuck. I had no idea how to fight an enemy like her.

“This doesn’t make sense…”

“Time?” The voice in the earpiece gave me a momentary sliver of hope. If she’d spotted something strange, I could exploit it.

“Her fighting style, she aims almost exclusively at your face. Why would she…?”

“What? What’s special about my face?” I replied out loud. To my surprise, the girl in the cheongsam sighed in response.

“Oh dear. We can’t have that. I’ll have to start taking this a tad more seriously.”

“Time!”

The girl’s attacks doubled in their intensity. The first missed my right eye by a hair’s breadth. The second drew blood from my lip. I tried partying the third, only to get a gash cut into my arm. The fourth once again narrowly missed my right eye.

“Your right eye… that’s it, Toki!”

“What? Spit out, quick!” I just barely parried the dagger as she lunged for my throat.

“She keeps staring at you and aiming for your cybernetic eye. She mind controls with direct eye contact! All you have to do is-“

She didn’t have to finish the sentence. I closed my human eye, and as the next attack grazed my ear, I countered.

Blood spewed from her abdomen. The cut was shallow but long, from just above her waist to just below her chest. The poor depth perception prevented a fatal blow, but the message was clear. Her manipulations wouldn’t work on me anymore.

“Ahhh… what a sweet sting.” She put her hand over the centre of the wound, then licked the blood clean from it. Christ, what the hell was wrong with that girl? “You’re more magnificent than I ever expected. Very well, my love. Let’s drop the pretenses.”

She slowly re-sheathed the knife, took a step back, and slammed the barely-hinged door shut behind her. A second later, the lights went out.

“Hide and seek, little Ronin.”

Her steps were light. She disappeared behind a set of filing cabinets on the left of the room, blending in with the darkness. My eyesight in the dark was good, but with one eye closed against a fast opponent and in a room filled with obstacles? Keeping track was impossible.

“Say goodnight, my love.”

Premonition.

I cut the arrow out of the air mere moments before it pierced my throat. I tried to follow the source with my eye, but seconds later another arrow flew past and grazed my cheek.

I barely dodged the third.

The fourth left a cut on my neck.

The fifth struck my sword and narrowly missed my chest.

Trying to follow her movements wasn’t working. By the time I saw her in one place, she was already somewhere else. If it continued at that pace, I’d be dead before I knew what hit me.

I had to gamble.

“Toki, what’s happening? Why did you close your other ey-“

I turned off my earpiece. I couldn’t afford any distractions. There was only one way I was getting out of this alive.

I predicted the arrow to my left and cut it in half.

The next came from my right. I moved my head just enough to let it sail past me.

The third was from directly behind me. I caught it with my bare hand.

I had to focus. I had one chance. A single opportunity for survival.

The next arrow came from near the door. I blocked it with my sword.

I need an opening.

Another arrow from above me. I shielded my head with the sword’s wide edge.

Just give me one opening, dammit.

The next arrow was aimed at my midsection. I turned in time for it to make a shallow cut across my abdomen.

Just one chance…

NOW!

The sound of splitting flesh, followed by the sound of splitting metal, echoed through the room. My hurled sword pierced cleanly through the girl’s shoulder and embedded itself in the filing cabinet behind her. Blood flooded the ground at her feet.

“Ah… incredible…” She looked at the hilt sticking out of her shoulder and smiled. Why the hell was she smiling? How the hell was she smiling? Just what the hell was wrong with her? “You truly are an incredible woman…”

I heard footsteps in the hallway behind me. Not knowing if it was friend or foe, I turned my head for just a split second. The next sound I heard was the sword clattering to the ground.

“We will meet again, my lovely Ronin. Of that, you can be sure.”

I turned my head back in time to see her drop from the window, a trail of blood following her. I had half a mind to follow her. But, knowing I had more important matters to attend to, I sighed and retrieved my sword.

The lights came on, and I turned to see the faces of my two companions. Ryou in her deep purple cloak, Fuji in her new navy blue one.

“Toki! Time sounded a distress call, are you alr-” Fujiko stopped as she saw me, covered in cuts, standing in a pool of blood. “Christ, the hell happened to you?”

“Don’t worry about me, Fuji.” I breathed heavily and wiped the sweat from my forehead, then flicked the fresh blood off my sword. “You should see the other girl.”