chapter twenty

bombs away

From there, everything happened too fast.

Bodies cam flying at us faster than I could think, forcing me to start blindly dealing out blows left right and center, pushing away grown men coming at us from all sides with steel pipes and wooden bats.

I dodged to the left, sinking underneath a two by four wooden plank that came sailing at my head, the plank instead grazing my arm as I kneed the man in the stomach, easily wrapping my arm around his neck to pull him into a headlock and shove him to the ground, where Junji kicked him in the stomach on the way down.

"Sakura!" Yasushi shouted, pushing off the hood of one of the Daruma's cars. "Stick with me, I've got a really stupid idea!"

I rolled my eyes, running over to the boy, who had just doled out four stomach kicks to the Doubt members around him before grabbing a metal pipe and hitting them each over the head like he was playing a round of whack-a-mole.

"Use my back as a springboard." He said, kneeling as I got a running start.

He sunk onto all fours and I placed one Vans-clad foot against his spine before I jumped, feeling his body weight buckle under my foot as I became airbourne, kicking one mercenary in the chest before swivelling my body around to take the rest of them out like bowling pins. We both got back to our feet, and Yasushi and I high fived before turning so we were back to back, fending off Doubt fighters as they tried to get back to their feet, doing our best to keep them down as the stronger and older fighters raged on behind us.

I laced my arms through his, linking at the elbows as he leaned forward, hefting me up so I was lying flush against his back, using the momentum to kick our attackers in the face and neck as 'Sushi spun around. Doubt members fell around us as Yasushi slowed down, placing me back on the ground.

"Your lip is bleeding." He remarked casually, ignoring a bruise forming on his own cheek.

"Yeah, the guys caught me off guard. I'll live."

Another wave of men in black rushed at us, and suddenly I had been isolated from the rest of the crowd, pulled away from my friends at brothers in arms.

They'd picked me out as the weak link, and they'd be right. If it was one on one, I would have been able to hold my own, but there was only so much that I could do with four men coming at me from all sides, swinging metal pipes and kicking me at the same time. I caught a foot to the stomach, falling backwards and hitting pavement so hard that the wind was knocked out of my lungs.

"Sakura!"

"I've got her!" Another voice cut in, one of the Amamiya brothers shoving mercenaries aside before extending his hand. His skin was warm in mine as he helped me back to my feet, not even blinking when I punched another Doubt member square in the jaw, knocking him right back to the ground as the sun began to dip behind the clouds, bathing the battle in a mauve glow.

"Thanks, Masaki?" I hesitated before speaking, worried I had gotten him confused for the wrong brother.

Masaki grinned. "Anytime, kid." He barely batted an eyelash before grabbing a two-by-four from the ground and bashing another Doubt member over the head.

Tsukasa broke away from Fujio, rushing over towards us as we found ourselves surrounded again.

"And I was beginning to think we were outnumbered." I joked, looking over at the blond as I threw another punch, following it up with a series of kicks that sent the man I was fighting to the ground.

But I could sense an air of tiredness in the air from the full-timers. We weren't built for this.

"I don't know how much longer we can hold this up." Tsukasa groaned, doling out another hit. "We just have to grandstand until Katsunari get here."

"If they get here!" Masaki reminded.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to think about what would happen if Ryokou and Nao didn't come through. Nakaoka looked beat, standing back-to-back against Toya Shiratori, both of their faces bloody.

We're going to lose, get out of there while you still can. Save yourself, fuck everybody else.

"Midori-san!" Nakagoshi's horrified shout ripped through the clearing as the boy ducked under arms, scrambling to get to where Midori Yamada was lying on the ground, dazed and with blood running down the side of her face.

I could barely see her from where I was standing, but I wasn't just going to let her fend for herself.

"Go." Masaki nodded, once he caught me taking a few shaky steps towards where Nakagoshi and Yasushi were running. "She needs you more than we do."

I took off, ducking under hits and jumping over jury-rigged Daruma trip wires and dodging a milk crate that one of Norishisa Hyuga's right-hand men were swinging.

Nakagoshi threw his arms out, grabbing the back of the Doubt leader's fur coat and yanking him backwards. The bald man let go of Midori's hair, and I watched helplessly as her body fell back to the pavement, limp and shaken, blood all over her face. The boy in red punched the man in the face, spitting out a clump of blood from a cut on the inside of his cheek.

"Don't ever come near our mother again."

"Or it will be the last thing that you will ever do." Yasushi added, kicking the man square in the back and knocking him off balance.

The two boys looked back at me, stepping away and giving me the opening to finish him off. I stepped forward, grabbing the back of his collar as he tried to get back up. He must have been over forty, clearly a more skilled fighter than everybody else we had taken on.

"Night night." I grinned, slamming his head into the road before I crouched next to his body, fingers still firmly rooted in his coat as he groaned from the ground. I turned to look at Midori who had slowly gotten to her feet with the help of Shida Kenzo, some of the color returning to her face. "Where do you want us?"

"These guys aren't staying down for long. Katsunari should be here soon, but take Shida and see if you can find Kiyoshi. We need you to become the last line of defence."

"Got it." Yasushi panted, kicking a Doubt member in the face as he tried to get up from the ground.

"Hold that thought." I said, nodding towards the other end of the main road, where yellow athletic jackets glowed under the half-light.

The air horn followed soon after, renewed cheers resounding over the group.

"The reinforcements are here."

The army of BMX bikes came flying down the street with a roar of fury as Nao leaped off his bike, the heather-gray hood of his sweater falling down to show off his salmon-colored hair as he swung his bike around, using the back tire to knock a Doubt member out cold. Ryokou was behind him, her black hair Dutch-braided down her shoulders as she used her bike to block an attacker, her leg swinging up underneath the bike to hit the man between the legs.

"We're saved!" Nakaoka cheered, teetering on his feet. "Which is great, because I think I need to go sit down."

"If there's one thing I hate," Nao started, his voice echoing "it's being played like a fool by a bunch of cheap yakuza wannabes. Well guess what, Ice-kun, payback's a bitch!"

With a roar, Katsunari surged forwards, using anything they could get their hands on. There was very little method to Katsunari's madness, and sometimes it was just better to let them to their own thing.

I ran over to Ryokou, somersaulting over her bent body for momentum, taking out another Doubt member. I rolled over, punching him in the side of the head before hastily getting back to my feet. Aside from a small spattering of gravel dust on her cargo pants, Ryokou hadn't broken a sweat at all. Physically, she was stronger and more athletic than me, so I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me was when she clapped me on the shoulder, a thankful smile on her pale, pierced face.

"Thanks for saving my ass, Kobayashi. You're good at this."

"Same could be said for you." I grinned, standing so that my sweat-drenched back was pressed against her school windbreaker. "Ready to kick ass?"

"It gets me out of studying for AP Chem, so if I can get myself out of the exam as well, this is a win." The girl laughed, kicking another one of our attackers in the chest.

Ryokou and I made a good team. We stuck together, working in tandem with a few of Housen's skinheads and a well-plotted play on the Daruma's side using a metal ladder they stole from someone's backyard.

With this renewed burst of energy, fighters who were bursting at the seams to get the good name of their high school back, Doubt were beginning to fall. They were slower to get up, some resigning themselves to staying on the ground as, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Midori Yamada grab the leader of the Mighty Warriors by the collar.

We were winning.

"We just need to posture for a little bit longer!" Fujio shouted, skidding underneath our feet with a steel pipe in hand, rolling to his own feet and whipping the pipe across midsections.

A hit like that was enough to take the victim's breath away, literally.

"How's Midori-san doing?"

Fujio grinned. "She's winning, but not by much."

As Ryokou and I teamed up to take the last guy down, I struggled to get back up. It felt like there was a vise on my chest, and I was struggling to breathe. They were typical panic attack symptoms, but it was enough to knock me to the floor. I looked back over to the cars that were lined up, and I could see Midori. Ryokou stood next to me, not nearly as out of breath, but bruised and winded as she stood with her hands on her hips, breathing through her nose.

"I think she's going to win this whole thing." I mumbled.

"Who is that woman?" Ryokou mused. "She's incredible."

"The founder of the Sato Seven." I answered simply, watching as Midori yanked open the door to a lemon yellow Ferrari, stepping behind the passenger door as Ice lumbered towards her.

Nobody expected it when Midori kicked the door in, the window crashing into the Mighty Warrior's face and knocking him flat on his back.

"Ice is down!" One of the Daruma Babies shouted, a proclamation met with rowdy cheers as, one by one, our motley army stopped their movements, finally pausing to breathe and asses their injuries.

Ryokou helped me to my feet, and I rested all of my weight on her, although I wasn't sure that I would be able to stand very well on my own.

"We fucking did it!" Yasushi cried, jumping onto the shoulders of someone wearing a Daruma Ikka jacket. "We beat the Mighty Warriors!"

With a lazy smile on his face, Furuya ambled over to where Ryokou and I were standing, bending down slightly and motioning for me to get onto his back. "Good fight, kiddo. Need a hand getting back to Midori's house?"

Sighing in relief, I put my arms around his neck, resting my tried body against the older man's as he got to his feet.

The kids from Katsunari were collecting their bikes, Nao joking with Shibaman and Tsuji as if nothing had changed, as if this was any other day from their previous lives. As if we hadn't just fought alongside major SWORD powers.

I instantly tensed up when I saw Takahide Sena. His tousled hair that I had fallen in love with so fast fell in front of his eyes, barely held back by a scrap of lemon-yellow fabric he was using as a headband. His tiger tattoo was on full display under the rolled up sleeves of his black sweater, the school's logo embroidered on the lapel.

"Dad?" He muttered slowly, knuckles gripping the handles of his bike so tightly they turned white. I turned my head, following the boy's line of sight to a portly older man in a Daruma Ikka jacket, a cigar hanging from his fingers.

It was Ukyo Sena, one of Norihisa Hyuga's right hand men. The rumors were true.

"Takahide." Ukyo said slowly, walking over to Takahide. "You look just like your mother. But you fight like your old man."

"Where have you been dad? It's been years since Fuyu-chan died. Mom needed you. I needed you. Instead you went chasing for wife number three instead of caring about the family that you already had."

Ukyo shook his head. "It's not like that. Can we talk?"

I turned away after that, my heart softening. That wasn't a moment that I wanted to intrude on. But it gave me perspective. Made me wonder why Takahide was the way that he was.

"Hey, does anyone want a beer?" One of the Daruma Babies shouted, the same one who had declared that the fight was over. The Babies were leaning on each other, blood staining the white satin over their shoulders but doing nothing to dull their bright smiles and wide eyes. "We've got a keg in the back!"

"Futa, stop corrupting the children!" Midori shouted, walking hand in hand with Murayama as we made our way back to the Kendou border.

"You brought a keg to a fist fight?" Nakaoka raised his eyebrows. He was sitting on the edge of a truck flatbed with Toya and some of the younger boys, the group recognizing that they had reached their limits. They looked like shit, but the rest of us looked worse.

"We bring a keg everywhere! It's good sportsmanship!" The Baby in tinted sunglasses laughed. He was the one that was friends with Midori, although names meant nothing to me. Even I had learned them before the fight began, I was in no place to remember them.

"Furuya-san." I said quietly, poking him in the back of the neck. "Put me down, I can walk the rest of the way."

The man chuckled as he placed me back on the ground. My legs felt like lead, but I could walk, and that was enough.

"You did good out there."

The voice beside me made me jump, one hand flying up to rest on my chest as I laughed. "Jesus Christ Takajo!"

"Sorry." Tsukasa laughed, settling into step beside me. "Force of habit. How are you feeling? Your first big rumble and all."

"Like I got hit by a bus." I answered honestly. "This whole experience has been . . . surreal."

Tsukasa laughed, looping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. "Yeah, I get that. You're, uh, you're bleeding."

I snorted. "So are you, blondie. I think we all are. When I get home, I'm going to sleep for twelve hours."

"I'm pretty sure that's called entering a coma."

"Sounds wonderful to me." I laughed as we followed the rest of the group into Midori's backyard.

NOTES!!!

One more chapter before act two starts! So excited for the next chapter, because, and not to spoil anything, there will be a MAJOR relationship development between Tsukasa and Sakura as well as a heart to heart with Hyuga Norihisa himself. And then act two is all new material, and the return of some familiar villains :)