Chapter Text
Chaotic Waters Act 2, Chapter 7: Crimson War and Karma's reward.
Burn, let it burn, the fire’s set free,
An eye for an eye, that’s the price of humanity.
With blood on my hands, and rage in my soul,
These flames of war will make me whole.
---Juban, 900 years later---
A lone figure sat on a ledge of one of Crystal Tokyo's many towers, looking out on her city. Had she been standing, her long, purple hair would have reached nearly to her ankles.
A sharp gust made her grunt as her empty left sleeve and right pant leg flapped in the wind.
"I would have thought you'd've gotten over your aversion to prosthetics by now." She heard her old friend say teasingly from behind her.
Not bothering to look, the woman pulled a cigarette out of her pants pocket and lit it with her ki. "They itch today." She grunted, taking a deep drag from her "cancer stick" as the Guardian of Mercury called them.
"So should we expect rain?" Michiru joked, sitting next to the woman.
Xian Pu glared at her one-time "spouse" and blew out a lungful of smoke in the teal haired-woman's face, making them cough and sputter.
"You know," The Guardian of Neptune began, stopping to cough a bit before she continued. "My daughter worked hard on your arm and leg."
"...I know she did." She said, taking another drag from her cigarette. "...You raised a good kid."
"Was there ever any doubt that I would?"
She just gave the other woman a blank look. "Do I need to remind you that I know what you were like before Haruka and Mayu?"
She watched as the other woman winced and looked away, clearly not wanting to talk about those old days.
"...So why are you up here instead of inside, Miss "Captain of the Guard"?"
"...the squirt." She said, looking back out onto the city.
"And...thinking about the little princess made you need some air?"
"Her being in the past reminds me of..." She trailed off, gripping the spot where her leg ended, just above the halfway point of her calf. "...things."
"It wasn't your fault you know." The teal haired woman said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. "You couldn't have known that she-"
"I don't want to talk about that." She said, cutting off the other woman with a glare.
Even after all this time, her mother was still a sore subject.
"Alright...then what do you want to talk about? You and ██████ still talking about having a kid?"
She stiffened.
"Don't tell me you're still worried about..."
"No." She said, shaking her head. "It's not that, I simply..." Her grip on what was left of her leg tightened. "I'm...worried what I'll do if they ask about...my family."
"Mmm, that makes sense I suppose." The Guardian of Neptune mused, looking up at the sky.
"How did you handle it? Talking about Genma?"
The teal haired woman showed no reaction to hearing the name of her father, she merely stared at the sky as rain slowly began to fall. "...I told the truth." Her old friend said simply after a moment. "I said, "My father was an arrogant fool who didn't care for anyone or anything other than himself and what he wanted. He wouldn't hesitate to do whatever he had to do to get what he wanted and he hurt a lot of people, myself included." The woman shook her head and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm rain sliding down her face. "Most importantly, I said "You can't choose who you share blood with, but you can choose who you share your life with."
"...Family doesn't end in blood eh?" She chuckled, taking another drag before putting out her cigarette on the ledge. "Didn't 'Noe tell you that one?"
"She did." The other woman said with a small giggle. "Claimed she heard it from a "crotchety old drunk who wouldn't stop messing with things he shouldn't"."
"Sounds like someone she would-"
A loud rumble shook the city.
"Again?" The other woman muttered in annoyance, glancing down at the ground. "You'd think they'd have learned by now."
"I'll take care of it." She muttered, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
Before the Guardian of Neptune could say another word, she leaned forward and let herself fall off of the ledge.
Wind whipped around her as she fell, her hair trailing behind her in a waterfall of purple, her eyes locked firmly on the ground as a savage grin grew on her face. Laughing, she began to flip forward, building up speed as she fell.
There, hundreds of feet below her, the ground cracked and bulged before something burst from beneath the road.
Black scales the color of the abyss covered it's snake like body. Each scale was the size of a small car and could take a shot from a tank without flinching.
It wouldn't be enough to stop her.
With nothing more than a mental command, the stump that was once her leg grew as nanites spread out from their containment vessel.
With an impact that would have made the gods of old wary, her prosthetic smashed into the head of the demonic snake with the base of the heel.
Scales cracked and flesh burst under her from the force of her blow, as her savage grin grew larger. No demon had ever lived after coming into her city.
Not one single time since she took over as Captain of the Royal Guard.
---Juban, Present Day---
Two months.
So may things could change in such a short amount of time.
He sat up, running his hand through his short black hair. "How did I even get here?" He wondered. Chuckling lowly to himself he, carefully so as to not wake up the woman sleeping next to him, sat up. "I suppose I should get up, I've spent long enough in bed."
He moved to slide out of bed when an arm wrapped around his waist. "Nooo...cuddles Tatsu." A sleepy whine from his left called.
"I think we've spent enough time "cuddling", don't you?" He whispered, gently pushing a hair out of the woman's eyes.
"No." Even if he had been blind he would have been able to hear the pout in the woman's voice.
Tatsuo laughed, shaking his head before getting comfortable next to his girlfriend. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Cuddle me forever." Was all the woman had for a response. sat overlooking the
A sudden knock from the bedroom door pulled their attention away from each other, as the voice of a young girl called out. "Are...are you two decent?"
Chuckling, he pulled the blanket up to his girlfriends neck, making sure the young girl wouldn't be able to see her mother's breasts if invited in. "We're decent." He called, giving the blushing girl a wave when she opened the door.
"I, uhm..." The girl looked away from him, her face crimson despite the dark blue shirt he wore covering his chest. "I just wanted to remind mom she has that meeting in an hour."
"What?!" His girlfriend shot up, her eyes wide with panic. The blanket he had carefully used to cover her fell away, leaving no room for argument on just what the couple had been up to the night before. The younger girl quickly turned around not wanting to see any more of her own mother than she already had.
The woman's eyes darted to the clock on her nightstand before she shot out of bed, without so much as a stich of clothing on and raced to her bathroom to take a shower. "Shit, shit, shit!" Tatsuo heard her exclaim, pulling a chuckle from the dark haired man.
"Alright," He said, shaking his head and getting out of bed, throwing on a pair of sweatpants. "I'll get lunch going, how's your studies going?" He asked, walking around his girlfriend's daughter.
"G-" The young teenager cleared her throat. "Good, I haven't had any problems with the material."
"That's good! You always were a smart kid." He replied, giving the younger girl a smile. "Hard to believe she's grown up so much." He mused, cracking an egg into a pan. "Now I just need to find my own child...where are you Ranma?"
---Nekohanten, 13 hours before Recompense---
"They...they what?" Michiru couldn't have heard right...was the old ghoul really saying that she-
"Oh come now son-in-law, it's not that strange of a tradition." The old woman stated calmly, as if she were merely talking about the weather, slowly spinning her staff. "Many cultures ceremoniously abandon their childhoods."
"Not like that old hag!" Hibari snarled, her gun aimed at the woman's head. "I highly doubt I could find one single culture that has their children carry around their mother's corpse for years, only to throw their body into a bonfire!"
"Corpse? I assure you child that my great-granddaughter's mother was alive until the night of her coming of age ceremony. She simply could not move or speak under her own power." The old woman frowned, still spinning her staff slowly. "I admit I did feel a moment's pity for the poor girl, but alas I had to punish my fool of a son for turning down Dao Paz." The matriarch's eyes shifted to stare Michiru in the eye. "Now...if you don't mind son-in-law, I have a question of my own for you."
"What is she...?" Michiru's eyes narrowed. "She can't possibly think she can escape can she? If she tries anything, Hibari's men will fill her with lead. Even she can't dodge this many guns from this close of range...I doubt even the old perv could so what could she be thinking?"
"It's a small matter, nothing of any importance really." The matriarch continued, glancing at her great-granddaughter.
"She's up to something, but what? All she's been doing is spinning that staff of hers..."
"Did you really think I taught you the only way to use the Hiryū Shōten Ha?" The old woman asked with a smirk. Like lightning, she whipped her staff to the ground. All she needed to do was make sure it touched the ground, if she did that then the winds that would be whipped up would send all of these pests flying and there would be nothing they could-
The only warning she got was a faint whiff of smoke before a crimson fireball the size of a large beach ball crashed into her and sent her flying into the wall, her staff clattering to the floor uselessly.
"I don't give a fuck what you have to say." The girl who had walked into the restaurant with Michiru growled, heatwaves warped the air around her as the girl's hoodie, no, the girl's entire body burst into flames the same color as the fireball.
The flames scorched the air and ground around the girl, as a blistering, almost primordial, heat slammed into everyone there.
Yet for all the damage those flames were doing to their surroundings, the girl was unharmed. Instead the flames seemed to dance around her, changing the girl's clothes from a grey hoodie and blue jeans into a white leotard and a red skirt, long black hair falling just past her tailbone.
Sailor Mars had revealed herself, and she was pissed.
"Fucking hell, those flames feel like Saffron's!!" Michiru thought with a wince. "They're even hotter than those talismans she threw at me when she attacked me back at her family's shrine!"
It was true, while red normally meant that the flame was cooler than one normally found in a fireplace these flames were different. They practically screamed of a primordial rage, bringing to mind blood-soaked battlefields and warriors clashing blades against one another.
They were the flames of war.
---???---
Many, many miles away it stirred, the ancient consciousness of fire and war. Heat surged upon the land, converging on a single spot as it had thousands of times before.
Slowly the ground bubbled and churned as it melted from the excessive heat. The melted minerals boiled and hissed, glowing a fierce, angry crimson.
The molten metal and rock shifted, condensing in on itself until it form a vague, human shape. Muffled cracking noises sounded across the land as the molten liquid hardened and waited, it's job done.
All that was needed was the Awakening, and the new High Priestess of Mars would come to life.
---
Michiru's vision swam as she looked at the younger girl she had brough with her. For a moment, it seemed as though a grown woman stood in her place holding a large, black, circular shield and a crimson blade, wearing a similar outfit as the girl now wore. Scarlet and golden wings sprouted from the woman's back, not unlike those she had seen on Saffron.
"Andronika." Her mind supplied, before the image shifted and she was staring at the young girl again. "What...what was that?!" Gods, her head was pounding. She looked around, already there was heat damage forming on the tables and chairs, not to mention how every one's clothes were starting to become soaked with sweat, with no signs of the heat going down.
If anything it was just getting hotter.
Her eyes dilated. If she felt hot, then it must be nearly unbearable for the other people in the restaurant. "Hibari, grab Shampoo. All of you need to get out!!" She yelled, looking at Hibari sharply. "NOW!!"
"But what about-"
"-GO!" She snapped, cutting off the yakuza princess. "I'm not going to be able to carry all of you out if you start passing out from the heat!"
Grunting in annoyance, the blonde gestured, to one of her men who picked up Shampoo and threw her over his shoulder. Despite the fact that the girl should have protested such an action, the purple haired girl didn't react in the least, almost like what the man carried was now a doll.
Turning her head back to the shrine maiden she winced. Each step the girl made towards the old matriarch caused the laminated floor beneath her feet to bubble and hiss from the heat. "{Andr-}" She shook her head. "Rei! You need to calm down!" She called.
One step, one single step forward was all she could manage before the head coming off of the girl seemed to double in intensity. "Fuck!"
---
The shrine maiden stood in front of the old matriarch and raised her hand. An intense, crimson light the size of a ten yen coin formed in her palm, growing more and more intense. Smoke hissed from the light as the girl's flesh burned despite the girl's heat resistance surpassing Michiru's own.
Just a little longer and this woman...this demon that had hurt her family would be nothing but ash and-
"Mama?" The sound of a child's voice cut through the rage the shrine maiden felt, as the red cleared from her vision just long enough for her head to snap to the right where she saw a pink haired child staring at her in shock.
Pain ripped through her chest.
"Grk!?" She coughed, blood dripping out of her mouth the begain to boil before it even hit the floor. Her head slowly turned back to the old woman.
The old woman who currently had her arm sticking through the shrine maiden's chest, even as her wrinkled flesh sizzled and burned from the heat.
A child's scream was the last thing she heard before her vision grew dark.
---
"Shit!" Pushing past the blistering heat, Michiru, raced forward, catching the young girl after the old ghoul threw the girl's body off to the side. "No, no, no! Come on Hino-san, don't you dare die on me!" How had the old ghoul done that trick when she healed her own wound?!
She looked up to demand the woman tell her, but she was gone and so was the pink haired child. "Fuck!" Desperately, she looked around, searching for something, anything that could help.
"Calm down." a mature voice said, pulling her attention to a green haired woman kneeling in front of her wearing an outfit similar to the shrine maiden's, but with a black skirt and two ribbons training from the back.
A woman who had not been there a second ago.
"Who, how-"
"No time to explain." The woman said firmly, looking over the shrine maiden with a critical eye. "Just know I'm a friend of Haruka's and I have the best chance of saving her but I need to get her out of here."
Should she trust this stranger? There was no time to call Haruka and ask if the woman was telling the truth, but if she did nothing than Hino-san would die and it would be all her fault...
"Do it." She ordered, covering her eyes as both the woman and the younger girl disappeared in a flash of purple light.
Crimson flames burned around her while smoke filled her lungs. "I need to get out of here!" She thought, turning around and rushing out the door.
She had barely made it two steps outside when something hit her in the back of the head and she knew no more.
---???, 5 hours before Recompense---
As she had many times in the ten years she could remember. Michiru returned to consciousness after being knocked out with a groan.
"Where....what happened?" She wondered, her hand reaching to the back of her head. She winced as a sharp pain lanced through her skull. "Owwww." She internally whined, feeling dried blood flake off onto her hand. "What was I...Hino-san!!" She shot up, wincing as a flood of nausea overtook her. "Oh fuck, I'm gonna puke!"
Rolling on her side, she hurled, heaving as the bacon and eggs Haruka had made for her came up.
"Oh my!"
Every muscle in her body tensed like a spring while she slowly turned around, her face growing pale as she looked at the person behind her.
Kasumi Tendo was standing behind her.
Kasumi Tendo was standing behind her.
The only way that would make sense would be if she were...
"K...Kasumi, where am I?" She asked, wiping away the traces of her sick from her mouth.
"Why, you're at the dojo of course!" The eldest Tendo sister exclaimed cheerfully. "Mr. Saotome brought you back, he said you were just laying on the ground in front of the Nekohanten!"
"....fuck!"
---
“You seem different.” The eldest Tendo sister said as the brunette helped her down the stairs.
“I am different.” She thought, looking around at what she had once considered her home. “That so?”
Kasumi just nodded before leaning her against the wall and taking a step back to let her recover. “You never would have let me help before.” There was no judgement in the woman's eyes as she watched her collect herself.
“She's right, I would have refused any help back then...gods I was an asshole." She gave the older woman a thankful look, slowly using the wall to gain her balance.
After a moment, she pushed off of the wall, swaying for a second before she caught her balance. "Do I have a concussion? Normally I can shake off being knocked out, but this time..." She shook her head, that wasn't important right now.
She needed to get her head in the game if she wanted to make it back to Juban without all of Nerima on her tail.
---
Slowly, she walked into the living room, barely stopping herself from flinching at the glare she received from her father and Akane. "How did I ever think that was normal?" She wondered, sticking her hands in her pockets so no one would see how her hands were shaking.
"And just where have you been?!" Akane snarled.
"Around." She said. her eyes darting between all of the others in the room.
They looked the same, Mr. Tendo was crying, Akane was angry, Nabiki was looking at her like she was merchandise to sell, and her father...
A shiver raced down her spine as something cold and uncomfortable filled her and left her craving Haruka and Mayu to hold her.
It took her a moment to realize the feeling was fear, she was scared of her father.
"Boy! answer your fiancée!" Her father shouted.
"Ex-fiancée." she muttered before flushing. "Damnit Haruka! Now you've got me saying it too!"
"What was that?!" Her father bellowed.
"Nothing old man!." She snapped, walking to her former place at the table and sitting down. "Calm down, just calm down. You just need to pretend for long enough for you to escape, that's all."
"Watch your tone boy! Have you lost all respect for your father?!"
Something inside of her snapped.
"Respect? Respect?!" She lifted her head and glared up at the bald man. "Why would I have any respect for a man who would take a toddler away from their mother for fifteen years just so they know how to fight?"
"You're my son! You have a responsibility to-"
"I was a child!" She snapped, slamming her hands down on the table. "My only responsibility was to be a child!! You had a responsibility to protect me, to guide me, to teach me how to be a decent fucking human being!"
Her father growled before he stood up, glaring down at her. "A Martial artist's-"
"-Right there!" She snarled, standing up and jabbing a finger into her father's chest. "That's the fucking problem! I. Was. A. Child! Not a fucking martial artist! You were the parent, but you didn't act like one! No, you beat me, starved me, and threw me into a gods-damned pit of starved cats! All of the fucking shit luck I've had the past few years must be because I used up all of it just surviving what you put me through!"
"That's enough!" The older man bellowed, causing the three Tendo sisters to jump slightly. "I did what I did to make you the best and it worked!"
"At what fucking cost old man?!" Fifteen years of abuse and at least ten years of suppressed emotions that she could remember burned in her chest like a wildfire, bursting out of the cage she had locked it away in for so long. "How many times did I ask you, beg you to stop hurting me? How many times did you hear me scream in pain only for you to beat me for it?! How many times did you break me because I wasn't what you wanted?!!" Her chest heaved as she gasped for air, fear and anger swirled inside of her like a tempest while tears streaked down her cheeks.
It was one of the worst possible things her father could have seen.
A thunderous crack rang out, pain exploding onto her cheek as her father back-handed her with his full strength, sending her flying backwards. She grunted as her back slammed into the wall, knocking over a vase of flowers and dumping the water held within all over her, triggering her curse.
"Look at you! You should have been able to block or dodge that! Instead you're on the floor like some weak, pathetic girl!" She heard her father roar.
Water dripped from her hair, mixing with her tears and sliding down her face. A cold, tingling numbness spread across her body as her arms lay limply at her side. "...I am never going to be good enough for you...am I?" She whispered.
"What was that boy?! Has that curse gone to your head?!!" Her father bellowed, stomping towards her.
She should have felt something as her father came closer, each step towards her meant he was another step closer to hurting her again.
She just couldn't bring herself to care anymore.
"I'm sorry Haruka...I'm sorry Mayu....I don't think I'm going to make it back."
The sound of exploding wood ripped throughout the Tendo house, making her eyes snap open and stare at the hallway that lead to the entrance. Footsteps coming from maybe three or four people sounded from down the hall a few seconds before Haruka, Hibari, Mayu, and a familiar looking boy with black hair came running into the room she was in, looking around the room wildly as if searching for something.
"Wha-"
The sound had barely left her lips before all four pairs of eyes locked onto her. For a moment all four teenagers looked relieved before rage overtook their expressions.
"You bastard!" The black haired boy yelled, rushing over to her father in a burst of speed and slamming a fist into the man's jaw.
Before her father could recover , the boy's other fist imbedded itself in her abuser's stomach hard enough for him to gag, lifting the man up off of the ground. Another blow from the boy sent her father flying, crashing into the table and sending food and drink crashing to the floor.
"Hey, look at me." She heard Mayu say from right next to her. When had she gotten that close, even more importantly why were Haruka and her here?! They needed to get out of here before anyone figured out who they were!
"Just a minute! Who are you people!" She heard the Tendo patriarch shout, his face turning purple in anger at the damage to his house.
"Why don't you ask him?" Hibari hissed, glaring down at her father. "He knows who we are!"
It was absolute pandemonium.
Her father was laying on the splintered remains of the table, food and drinks strewn about, Akane was turning red, Nabiki was looking around, probably for a camera, and Kasumi...Kasumi was looking at her like she'd seen a ghost.
"I don't know who the hell you all are." Her father growled as he picked himself up off of the floor.
Haruka froze, giving the large man a glare that should have turned him into ash. "Are you really gonna say you don't recognize us, after what you did?"
"Maybe this will help you remember." Hibari growled, tossing a small bag at her father's feet.
Glaring at the yakuza princess in annoyance, Genma bent down and picked up the bag, loosening the draw string before emptying it's contents onto his other hand.
What fell out was the broken remains of an old, pink hairband.
Three things happened all at once.
Her father's eyes widened, Kasumi gasped, and Haruka's fist slammed into her father's face with all the force of a bomb.
The older man flew across the room, crashing into the wall hard enough to implant his large frame into it.
Without saying a word, Haruka turned around and walked to her. Their strong arms lifted her up into a princess carry, causing her to let out a squeak of embarrassment. "We're leaving." She heard Haruka say as they started walking to the door while carrying her.
"What are you-"
"-We're. Leaving." Her sometimes boyfriend repeated, tightening their grip on her as Mayu and her other siblings followed the blonde.
"What the hell are you doing you pervert?!" She heard Akane screech. "Why are you just letting some guy hold you like that?!"
Why was she letting Haruka carry her like this? Guys didn't get carried like this so why did it feel so right? It was almost like she was a-
Her eyes widened.
---Hall of Memories, Chamber of Tiamat---
There was no explosion, no burst of sound, nothing, as the crystal crumbled into dust and the young girl within fell to the floor.
The sound of a single step from Tiamat resounded throughout the entire chamber as the ancient woman nearly warped underneath the falling girl, catching them in her arms.
Finally, the crystal was no more.
---Nerima, Tendo House---
A cool feeling, like a cold glass of water on a hot day, swept through her body as she took in a sharp breath.
It was right there. It had been there all along and she just hadn't seen it. How could she have missed something so important?
She looked up at Haruka (Haru-kun!) and just knew the blonde was a boy right now. "Because I'm his girl." She whispered, not taking her eyes off of the blonde.
She heard both of her partners take in a sharp breath, but neither of them looked away from what was in front of them, their focus solely on getting her out of the Tendo's and back home where she belonged.
---
Muttering angrily to himself, Genma stumbled his way out of the bar he'd been in. After finally finding his son, back in Nerima of all places, he got away again! "The bigger problem is that those freaks have their hooks in him again." Really, how anyone could think that two men loving each other was anything but unnatural was beyond him.
Grumbling, he turned the corner into an alley way and got halfway through it before he suddenly lost his balance and fell on his face. "What the...?" He muttered, and looked down at his feet.
Or rather his remaining foot.
Pain seared throughout his leg as his brain finally registered that his right foot had been cut off, blood spraying from the wound and onto the ground. He howled, reaching for the severed limb when, right before his eyes, his hands disappeared leaving behind two stumps that spurted out crimson liquid just like his leg. "What the fuck?!!" He internally screamed.
The sound of objects hitting the ground pulled his attention to the person standing at the end of the alley he had just come from.
With his mind addled by the alcohol, and now blood loss, it took him a moment to recognize the woman, but when he did his eyes widened.
It was the freak who worked for the okonomiyaki chef, the one who thought of himself as a woman. despite how disgusted he was by this revelation, that didn't distract him from something far more important.
His severed hands and foot were just lying there, in front of the freak.
The fake kunoichi said nothing, just stared at him coldly as the blonde girl from earlier, the one who had thrown the bag containing his son's shame walked around the corner and into the alleyway, slowly drawing a black handgun from a holster at her waist.
"What the hell do you think you're-"
The sound of a gun rang out, and silence was all that could be heard from the alley for the rest of the night.
---Time of Recompense, 1:39 am---