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Battle was nothing new for them at this point. They had all gained experience, gotten stronger… but they weren’t the only ones. The stronger they got, the stronger the History Retrograde Army got to compensate… and this time…
This time they were pulling out all the stops.
Imanotsurugi stared down an enemy naginata, panting and holding a wound on his sword arm to keep it from bleeding too much. He had finally dispatched the tantou that was with it… but one lucky hit had landed him in a tough spot. Now his movements were slowed and sluggish and he couldn’t swing his blade at its full strength, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He let out a shout and charged forward, dodging the swing of the large polearm and jumping at his foe… only to be caught on a back swing and thrown into a nearby tree with a sharp cry. Dazed, he struggled to get back to his feet, whimpering in frustration and pain when his legs wouldn't support his weight nor the weight of the impending doom stalking toward him…
Only that killing blow never came.
Instead there was a shout, followed by the sound of broken wood, then a groan as the enemy dissipated into nothing. Imanotsurugi lifted his head to see what had happened, only to be greeted by a flash of sharp teeth and a pair of concerned orange eyes. “I… Iwatooshi?”
“Stay still.” He said gently, kneeling down with one hand still on his naginata as he checked over the wounded tantou.
“What about the others?”
“There’s only one guy left and Yamabushi-” He paused to look over his shoulder when he heard a roar… then that very familiar laugh. He glanced back at Imanotsurugi with a grin. “I think he got it.” Iwatooshi stripped off the top layer of his outfit, tearing the purple cloth into thick strips and bandaging Imanotsurugi to the best of his abilities. He was no Yagen for sure, but it was definitely better than nothing. “Gahahahaha! There! Now we can-”
“Archers!”
Imanotsurugi’s eyes squeezed closed, knowing he had no chance to get away… but again, nothing happened. As the sound of arrows faded and the familiar sound of metal on metal rang out through the air, Imanotsurugi slowly opened his eyes. He was ok.... or rather, he was no more damaged than before, thanks to Iwatooshi, who had pulled him in at the last second after assessing his injuries. He took a slow shaky exhale and nodded to signal he was ok, thinking that the fiery naginata would need to help fend off the second wave of enemies… but to his surprise, Iwatooshi didn't let go.
"Iwatooshi?"
Iwatooshi gave off a weak, pained groan, grip slipping and shoulders slumping slightly.
No...
"Iwatooshi… Are you ok?" When he received no real response, Imanotsurugi scrambled to pull free of the naginata's fading grip to check on him. To his horror, Iwatooshi was still on his knees with his hand on his weapon, back riddled with arrows and white clothes stained red. "IWATOOSHI!!" Tears started to fill his eyes when the man still didn’t respond. He grabbed him by the collar, choking back a sob. “Come on, Iwatooshi! Open your eyes!! PLEASE!” No matter how much he begged or cried, the man never stirred, leaving only ragged breaths to signal that he was not yet gone. However, with each breath growing ever shallower, Imanotsurugi had to do something . “Captain Kiyomitsu!!” He didn’t wait for a response, grabbing Iwatooshi’s hand and forcing his transport device into his palm. He glanced up only after he had his as well, making sure Kashuu had heard him. “Forgive me for this... But I’m taking Iwatooshi home!” And before he could be told no, he hit the button on both devices, whisking he and the injured naginata back to the citadel.
---
As the Saniwa’s door closed in his face, Kashuu sighed. The end of that fight had gotten tough, especially being down two people, but thankfully they had pulled through without losing any one. At least… He hoped they didn’t lose anyone… The way Iwatooshi looked when Imanotsurugi bailed looked bad...
“Kashuu?”
He jumped at the new voice, quickly turning to find Hasebe standing just at the top of the stairs. “Hasebe…”
“Is your report finished?”
“Yeah, it….” Kashuu trailed off, eyes shifting back to the door he had just left then to the floor. “Yeah.”
“Did it not go well?”
“It… went better than I thought, but worse than I hoped.” A soft sigh passed his lips, and he looked up with a bit of a tired smile. “Come on. I’ll tell you while I find Imanotsurugi…” When Hasebe nodded his acknowledgement, Kashuu stepped around him and headed down the stairs. “How much do you know?”
“Only that Imanotsurugi came back before the rest of you with Iwatooshi, who was not in a good way.”
“Well, then this won’t take long. After we cleared the area... we suddenly got hit with a second wave of enemies, starting with a barrage of arrows. Imanotsurugi had been injured, that much I knew. And I knew Iwatooshi went to his aide… but I… When that second wave hit it was chaos. I didn’t see what happened to Iwatooshi. But at some point, Imanotsurugi yelled to me that he was going back with Iwatooshi and then bailed before I could answer. I was only able to look back as they were disappearing.”
“Imanotsurugi left the team behind without order…”
“Yeah… but in a case like that?” Kashuu stated, a sense of fierce protectiveness lighting his eyes as he peeked into the kitchen. “I would have done the same thing.”
“Mm... “ Hasebe chose not to comment on it, seeing that look and realizing this was not the time for a lecture on ethics. “So what did the Saniwa have to say?”
“Master was understanding. They wanted to let it go… but Konnosuke insisted some sort of punishment needed to be issued, since it was basically done without my knowledge and that could have jeopardized the rest of the team.” He paused for a moment to ask Gokotai if he had seen Imanotsurugi. He didn’t and it brought a frown to Kashuu's face… but he thanked Gokotai anyway and carried on. “So… Imanotsurugi will not be dispatched again for six weeks, and during that time, he is permanently assigned stable duty.”
Hasebe made a face. “Hmm… could have been worse I suppose…”
“Like I said. Better than I thought.”
“I see… If I see Imanotsurugi, I will send him to you. Make sure you get some rest as well… You look like you need it.”
“Gee thanks.” Kashuu laughed softly, bidding him farewell and walking to the repair board, checking to see if Imanotsurugi was being repaired too… but found that it was only Iwatooshi… and that Iwatooshi would be there for a long time still. “Wow… He really was in a bad way… But hey… At least he’s alive...”
Oh...
Suddenly, he realized where Imanotsurugi probably was, hurrying off down the hall, stopping only once he reached the room Iwatooshi shared with Imanotsurugi. He huffed, catching his breath for a second, then slid the door open to peek inside. Sure enough, he found the tantou in question… but the sight caused his heart to wrench. Imanotsurugi was on the floor, back to the door, curled up as tightly as he could underneath what looked like the bloodstained remains of Iwatooshi’s battle garb. Kashuu had to take a breath, feeling like he had just been run through the gut, before he finally cleared his throat to speak. “Imanotsurugi…?”
“Yes?” He answered softly, not moving.
“I…” Kashuu trailed off. He needed to pass along the Saniwa’s message… but the words died in his throat. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not right now. Instead he just shook his head and looked away. “Have you been to repairs? Or at least seen Yagen?”
“No…”
“Are you going to?” Kashuu waited for an answer… and when he didn’t get one, he sighed. “If I bring Yagen here, will you let him look at you? I don’t want Iwatooshi coming after me when he is done with repairs and you haven’t been taken care of.”
That got a rather unattractive snort out of Imanotsurugi as he turned to look over his shoulder, eyes red and puffy and a sad smile on his face. “He would…”
“I know. And since I’ll have just gotten my nails repainted, I don’t really want to be chased around the citadel with a rake… or deal with the resulting lecture we’ll get from Hasebe.”
Imanotsurugi snickered softly and slowly dragged himself to a sitting position, adjusting the tattered, stained clothes that lay over top of him so that he was wearing at least the hood properly. “Yeah… so Iwatooshi won’t worry... Go get Yagen…”
Kashuu gave him a nod, grinning as he got up to head out the door. “You got it.”