In Health We Live

Eien Akagawa

A warmth passed through me as I fought the woman. I began to feel the pain fade away. How was Kizuna doing this? It took at least a few hours for wounds to begin to heal.

I dodged a thrust and another bullet from Sanehisa. He really didn’t care at all that I was up here. I guess from his perspective, I had kidnapped the princess even if that wasn’t the truth. He was doing his job as a peacekeeper. Didn’t mean he wasn’t a bastard about it.

Speaking of, he kicked his horse to go faster as he sheathed his rifle. The horse snorted and sped up, drawing even with the carriage. The woman eyed him and I attacked to distract her. Even if Sanehisa and I weren’t on the same side, that didn’t mean we couldn’t fight a common foe together.

Eien! Hurry up! We have problems!

I dodged another strike from the woman and kicked at her. She leapt above it and sliced her blade downwards at me. My blades flashed to intercept and knocked it aside. She stumbled and looked surprised before hardening her features. She made to grab something in her belt but the carriage shook as Sanahisa landed on it.

I had seen him rise up from the stirrups to stand on the saddle but I didn’t think that he’d manage to keep his balance enough to hop over. His sword was drawn and the woman was trapped between us.

“Both of you surrender,” he growled. “Do so and the law may have mercy on you.”

“Can’t we team up together to take out the assassin?” I asked, keeping my weapons pointed towards her.

“No, you both have broken the peace of Edo. Kidnapping and attempted assassination respectively.” So much for him teaming up with me.

The carriage swerved as something exploded ahead of us. At that moment the woman moved out from the middle. Sanehisa and I moved as one and swung our blades towards her. Somehow she pulled a knife from out of nowhere and held both of us at bay. Our weapons flashed in the sunlight which was quickly becoming obscured by the burning shipyards.

It shouldn’t have been possible. I was at least a decent warrior but Norihisa was a classically trained samurai. She shouldn’t have been able to hold both of us off but somehow she was and even pushed us back.

I kicked at the back of Sanehisa’s knee and with a grunt he fell to one knee. The woman's katana narrowly missed his head and I managed to lock it with my jitte tine. I twisted and she stabbed me in the gut. I grunted in pain and slid my jitte further along the blade. Then I slammed the hilt of my sword into the middle of her katana and it shattered.

Her face twisted in anger and she twisted the knife in my gut. I screamed as the pain overwhelmed me. I tried to swing my sword at her but again it missed her despite her being right in front of me. I fell backwards and somehow I managed to keep the knife inside of me.

Sanehisa roared and cut across the woman's body. His blade passed through her but she stood there unharmed. She grinned and raised what remained of her shattered blade. She swung and he knocked it aside. He barreled forward and wrapped his arms around her waist and they fell off the carriage.

“Hang on Eien!” Norihisa shouted from the driver's seat. “We’re almost there.”

I sheathed my weapons and gripped the knife in my stomach and pulled. With a shout I yanked it out of my gut and blood spilled from my wound. I let go of it and it slid off the carriage and into the dust behind us. I felt the wound rapidly close, the skin stitching itself together. I shut my eyes and I felt a hand on my arm.

I looked over to see Kizuna standing on the side of the carriage and gripping the edge of the roof. Her golden eyes were glowing with power and left trails of light when she moved them. Sprouting from her forehead in place of the brown nub was a stonelike grey horn roughly a foot long with two prongs.

“What have you done?” I whispered to her as the sound of the burning flames and the feeling of the carriage faded away.

“What I had to,” she whispered back. Then she grinned lopsidedly, her hair streaming in the wind. “At least now I understand why you don’t want to know the future.”

“Don’t make light of this.” I made sure my hand was clean of blood before I placed it over hers. “How far have you progressed?”

“If I stay in control, then I can still return to being human.”

“It’s too much of a risk.” I sat up as I felt the wound close fully. The carriage slowed and I turned to look ahead. There was a yacht up ahead. It was a sleek mixture of metal and wood. The flames had yet to get this far but the smell of burning ships hung heavy in the air.

“I wasn’t about to let you die.” The carriage stopped and she hopped off the side onto the ground. She now had golden fur running along the backs of her hand and green scales running down the front of her neck. She was a good head taller now and was easily able to look down on most people.

I got up and slid onto the front seat of the carriage next to Norihisa. He handed me my gun and I put it away. He looked at Kizuna with concern but he got up and followed her to the yacht. I got down as Iroha and Masa got out of the carriage.

“Iroha, can you get the ship ready for takeoff?”

She looked at Kizuna and then at me. “Of course.”

As she walked off I turned to Masa who was staring at the burning skyscraper. “I’m staying behind,” he said. “I have to check on my grandfather.”

“What about the assassins?”

“I’ll be fine. I think the Shinsengumi have that well in hand.” He got onto the front seat of the carriage. “Good luck Eien.”

“Good luck,” I said as he snapped the reins and turned the horses. He rode off and I turned to get onto the yacht. I headed towards the engine room where Iroha was ‘talking’ to the god core floating in its shrine.

We’re good to go, Eien.

“Okay, let's get Kizuna home.” The ship lifted silently and we left the shipyard full of burning ships and ash.