[Mushverse, for the Shinkengers] Well, time for Plan B

[kogarashinomai]

I don't know how the others did it but they got to Takeru, for which I'll need to pay them a visit. Messiah's pissed and shrieking about traitors and revenge but if it thinks I'm going against Takeru it can think again. There are other ways to get the job done that don't involve him; they'll just be a little more complicated, that's all.

I wish I knew I'd be able to count on Nee-san but she's not really herself anymore, she might follow an order to take Takeru down and that's really not part of the plan at all, not that I have much of a plan right now. Still, if Takeru's with the other three then getting him back gives me an in with them and that would work better. There's no-one that can stop us when we're all together.

Comments

[kabukisamurai]

She's preparing to attack, at least I think she is. She's staying ready to, anyway.

"I do the best I can, as ever." I take another step closer to her, lift my Shinkenmaru to a defensive position, and palm my Shodophone into my hand. "I cannot allow you to take him back. And I..." I swallow, ducking my head to peer at her through my eyelashes. My eyes are stinging. What do I do? "I will bring you back, too. Or I'll die trying."

[kogarashinomai]

Crap, not good. "Upping the stakes I see," I say, cold determination taking over as he reaches for his Shodouphone. Sentimentality is all well and good but not at the expense of survival. "Fine, if that's how you want it. I can play by those rules."

I dig my own Shodouphone out of my pocket and flip it open. He escalated this, he can take the consequences.

[kabukisamurai]

Her voice is cold, and it chills me through. "I will do what I must to save you. Chiaki."

I swallow again to steady my voice, take two long strides closer to her and look down into her face, searching for the Chiaki I know. "Come back to us. Please."

[kogarashinomai]

"I don't need saving."

My arm swings up with my Shinkenmaru and while it's only meant as a warning strike to get him to back off, I find I can't even land that. Why can't I do it? Why is it that looking at his stupid face this close makes me hesitate?

[kabukisamurai]

"You do!"

She strikes at me, but it's slow and poorly aimed. She's better than that. I bring my Shinkenmaru around to block the strike well away from either of us, and try to meet her eyes.

She's good, but I am, as ever, better, no matter what Messiah did to her or made her believe. I am the second-in-command to our Lord for a reason.

The opportunity has presented itself, I would be remiss not to grasp it. I force my block, letting my blade skirt the length of hers until it catches at the hilt, and then with a deft twist of my wrist and arm, I send both blades scattering to the ground.

In a real fight, one I intended to win, I wouldn't have lost my own. But I need her back. I don't want to hurt her.

My now free hand grasps her shoulder and I can't help but shake her. "Chiaki! Come back to us! Where you belong!"

[kogarashinomai]

I hiss at that. Damn it, this is what I get for being weak; now I'm completely disarmed.

He grabs my shoulder and shakes me. I move to pull away but I can't, he's holding too tight. Or maybe he isn't and I just don't want to get free as much as I think. Not from him.

"Let go, Ryuunosuke," I say tightly. "I'm exactly where I belong and you'll know it sooner rather than later."

I should take him to Messiah so he can accept the truth he's ignoring, but I'm afraid he'll end up more like Mako than like me. He'd soon die than face this truth, I think.

Sharp pain flares at the back of my skull and I flinch, hands reaching up to the back of my head, trying to ease the pain away. It doesn't work. Messiah will only tolerate my indepence for so long, it seems. Now that Takeru's gone I might end up like Mako myself, let alone Ryuunosuke.

[kabukisamurai]

She nearly struggles, and I know she has the strength to pull away if she wanted to. I have no choice but to assume that she doesn't want to, and my heart beats painfully in my chest as I dare, for even just a fraction of a second, to hope.

"This is where you belong. Chiaki, here, at the mansion. Here, as a Shinkenger. Here, Chiaki, here with us."

I swallow hard when she flinches suddenly, her hands moving up but not to push me away, no. Clutching at the back of her own head. Maybe... is it even possible for me to be making progress.

"Here, Chiaki!" I raise my voice, trying to reach her, the Chiaki I know, the Chiaki I...

Love.

I pull her close, throw my arms around her, and gently hold her against my chest, my face in her hair. "Here with me. Please."

[kogarashinomai]

Blood roars in my ears and I sink into him as the pain in my head doubles. It's hard to breathe past the pounding in my chest and everything's too confusing, I can't make sense of it. Messiah's pulling me in one direction, demanding obedience, and Ryuunosuke's pulling me in another, demanding... nothing, except that I come home.

I let go of my head gingerly - it's not doing any good anyway - and slide my arms around his back, fisting my hands in his shirt.

What can I say, I've never been good at obedience and the more Messiah screams for it the more I rebel. I don't know how long I can hold out for, though, not with this thing in my head.

[kabukisamurai]

She goes slack against me, and for a second I can't breathe, scared that something terrible has happened, that the evil that's taken over her body has gone too far and taken her from me properly, killed her to stem the liability. That can't be. I won't let her go, not now. Please, not now.

But then her arms shift, and she's holding onto my shirt, and I know that she wants to come back.

"Tell me what to do. Chiaki, tell me how to help you!"

[kogarashinomai]

"B-back of m--"

Before I can get the words out, tell him where to look, the chip seiezes control, exerting pressure enough to stop me finishing them and I thump his back in frustration at my failure.

"I can't," I growl. "Damn it."

[kabukisamurai]

She almost gets something out, and I pull her back so I can look at her face, watch the struggle there, the darkness lurking behind her eyes that she's fighting with as much passion as she's ever put into anything.

"Back." I repeat. That's all I've got to go with, and I've got to do something, fast, before this Messiah takes her over completely and makes her turn on me.

I really won't be able to fight her now, not knowing how close to the surface she is, how close I came to almost getting her back.

I grasp one of her wrists and spin her, bringing her arm around her front to pin her against my chest. It might hurt her arm in the long run, if she, or her body anyway, starts struggling, but I need time, whatever little amount of time I can get.

"Where?" I hiss, frustrated. My free hand brushes beneath her hair, across the nape of her neck.

[kogarashinomai]

I would love to make some smart-ass comment about the way he's holding me but it's taking too much effort now to hold off Messiah to do that. My body shifts in place, ready to bolt and I'm losing control of the situation again, he needs to find that chip fast before I have to start fighting him again.

My head jerks back into his hand as I grit my teeth, forcing myself to keep still as long as I can. Come on, Ryuunosuke, find the thing already.

[kabukisamurai]

She starts to struggle, weakly at first but it's only a matter of time before she, no, the thing controlling her, breaks away from me, turns on me, attacks me with the face of a friend.

This has to stop.

Her head twitches at the brushing of my fingers against her neck and it comes to me in a flash, Tono trying not to let on that he was favoring an apparent wound there. I'd dismissed it at the time, but now...

My fingers glide across the back of her neck more intently this time, and I find... something. Something wrong, most definitely, something decidedly inhuman, feeling of metal with a vicious pulse.

It's a chance, a terrible one, but it's a chance I'm willing to take. I seize the offending bit of metal between my fingers and thumb, let the arm holding her drop down to clutch her around the waist just in case, and pull.

[kogarashinomai]

There's a brief moment of relief when he finds it but it doesn't last long. Pain rips through me as he pulls it out and I'm pretty sure I'm screaming with it. Even if this kills me, though, which is a really good chance, at least it'll be as myself, completely myself, not some manipulated puppet who only thinks she has freedom.

[kabukisamurai]

I almost stop when she starts screaming, but I can't now. I have to see this through. Even if... Even if it kills her.

Better that than letting her go on like this.

I tear the tiny thing free from her and I don't even bother to examine it before I throw it to the ground and crush it with my foot, grinding it into fine sparkling bits. It only takes a second, thankfully, and then I can turn her around, take her gently in my arms.

She feels so small. I cup her chin in one hand and tilt her head back, trying to look into her eyes. "Chiaki? Chiaki, can you hear me? Please be okay."

[kogarashinomai]

I tell him exactly what he can do with that extremely unhelpful comment but it comes out as a garbled mumble that I'm not going to repeat. If he didn't get it the first time, too bad.

I am going to lean into his hand, though. Just for a moment and I'll deny it if he ever mentions it to anyone ever but it feels... kinda nice. It'd probably be better if I wasn't feeling so awful otherwise, though.

[kabukisamurai]

Well, she's not screaming anymore, and her response is mumbled past the point of comprehension, but the tone is unmistakably her, the real her, and I clutch her close to my chest and, to hell with anything approaching emotional reserve. I let out a dry sob into her hair.

"You're back."

It occurs to me belatedly that I should probably get her inside, now that I'm fairly certain she's safe. Messiah must be seething at this point, losing two of them.

How ever are we going to get Mako back?

First things first. "Can I carry you inside?" I have to ask, because even if she's half-dead, if she doesn't want me to pick her up, I'll get kicked from here to kingdom come.

[kogarashinomai]

I look up at him, surprised by the hoarse sound in his voice and by the way he's clutching at me, like he never plans to let go. I've never seen him like this over me before. Various shades of aggravated, yes; this kind of desperate relief is new.

"I can walk," I say carefully, gingerly pulling away to stand on my own. Then my legs give way.

[kabukisamurai]

She's back. She's back, that's all that really matters is that she's back.

I relinquish my grip on her reluctantly, but keep a hand on her arm as she insists she can walk under her own power, and promptly proves herself to be lying.

"No, you can't." It's stating the obvious, but I'm too pathetic with relief to care.

I sweep her up into my arms, and manage not to even stagger as I carry her towards the entrance of the mansion.

There are kuroko waiting just inside the door, but even so I almost protest when they move to take her away from me, though I'm sure they're only going to bear her to her rightful room and lay her down to rest.

They're right, of course, even in their silence. I need to go tell the others, and begin planning for how we're going to retrieve Mako.

I do give her another quick crushing hug first, though.

[kogarashinomai]

Well, I thought I could. Way to let the side down, legs. I thump his shoulder in retaliation as he picks me up and carries me back towards the mansion. This is so many kinds of mortifying. And nerve-wracking, because after what happened it doesn't feel right to be back here even though I know none of them are going to blame me.

Ryuunosuke gives me another quick hug before the kuroko take over and head for my room. It's looking a bit empty seeing as it doesn't have all my stuff in it anymore but whatever, it's my room and I'm kinda glad to be back in it, situation aside.