tvk | 39: Not the actual Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

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saori nakagawa

39: Not the actual Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

[Video]

[The feed starts out in some street in the business district, but the tilted camera angle from below looks like phone was dropped and forgotten. Saori, with her back towards the camera is seen with someone only those who saw her memories might remember. He's a tall man with his dark green hair pulled back into a braid. Unaware they are being recorded, they're...talking.]

You sure took your time showing up here, Tenjou. Or show I say fake Tenjou?

Oh? You want to get this over with Saori? Fine I can arrange that--

[There's a loud crack as she decks the guy in the face. The copy staggers back but cracks a grin.]

You sure got a lot of damn nerve to show up here, mocking my husband.

Am I? How can you be sure I'm not the real deal?

Your name you should've been in the network, moron. I don't know how guys managed to pull this off, but you just got yourself a death sentence.

[ He laughs then suddenly goes serious. Suddenly he zips around behind her, pining an arm behind her back.]

Sorry sweetheart, but looks like this will be death number four for you now.

[The feed cuts out just as Saori headbutts him and breaks away before charging at him for another attack.]

[Action]

[Some time after the feed, Saori managed to get a cut lip and a few punches. Damn, who would've thought the benefits of being a god plus his innate soul power would've transferred over to him.]

I'm getting tired of this. You're a cakewalk compared to the mononoke back home. Must be because you're no longer a god here. You knew you wouldn't stand a chance and yet were stupid enough to try and face me alone.

[He drops his tonfa but they don't fall to the ground, instead they seem to fly at her, hitting her at high speed and sending her into a wall. There might have been a loud crack of bone breaking. The rubble falls on top of her just as she tries heal herself so the pain would be bearable. Tenjou goes over and pulls her out by her arm. One of the tonfa returns to his hand and he gets ready to land a blow to her head.]

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*And there's the tea house. Margulis carefully sets her on the ground so he can open the door.*

It is tempting, but frequently not a viable option in my situation. I couldn't afford to lose their assistance.

*Either that or they were over a video link. Even in his time, you still can't punch someone over Skype.*

I definitely understand that feeling. That time was a once in a life time opportunity.

[She casts another dia spell on herself one last time. It's not a complete heal but at least she won't be bleeding out too much in the base.]

*He picks her back up once he has the door unlocked and open and starts heading for the back. This time he puts her in one of the chairs while he opens the door to the storeroom and brings the staircase down.*

Well then, I hope that once was all it took to make your point.

Oh yeah, believe me that creeper got canned and his new replacement is ten thousand times better.

[Exhaustion and pain are taking it's toll on her. She tries to shake off the urge to nod off while she waits for Margulis to pick her up again.]

*It doesn't take him long to get the stairs sorted and lift her back out of the chair to head upstairs.*

It's a shame the sources of my frustration were harder to either get rid of or replace.

[She leans against him as she's brought upstairs.]

First-aid kit is in the cabinet across the couch.

Sadly that's true back home too. Gods are stubborn and resistant to change. Tenjou and his father aren't like that thankfully.

*And he'll be laying her down on that couch while he goes to get the first aid kit.*

In my case, one was something of a freelance agent who decided that since I'd rescued him and we had similar goals, he was going to stick around even at some points where direct cooperation was unnecessary. The other had simply made himself invaluable by becoming the closest thing the universe had to an expert on a very important artifact to my organization.

[Saori watches as he gets the kit.]

There should be extra bandages right next to the kit. I think I might need them just in case.

They both sound interesting. Hey, did you ever tell me what was your relation to that Uzuki person the shadow tried to copy?

*He grabs the extra bandages, although there's a flicker of...something on his face when she mentions Uzuki. Something between pain and regret.*

Uzuki is a complicated story. He was my rival and most problematic enemy back in my own universe, but he was also one of the few people I would call a friend. Him, myself and Pelligri shared a teacher in the arts of combat and Ether manipulation in our youths and even after certain...differences in opinion caused our paths to split, we still encountered each other frequently, just on opposite sides of the battlefield.

[Even with slightly blurry vision, she knows a pained face when she sees one.]

A friendly rivalry, huh? Can't say I have one exactly like yours. Most of it my closest friends they're more like my family. It's funny. I thought when I died, the first time anyway, there was nothing left. Both this place and back home have been a blessing in disguise and proved me wrong.

*He comes back over, pulls off his bloody gloves and starts soaking a rag with disinfectant. Despite the clawed tips of the gloves, his nails are completely normal.*

I'm not entirely sure I would term it friendly by this point. There was too much at stake and neither of us was going to concede to the other's way of thinking. Maybe given time we could have settled our differences, if I'd still had the motivation or capability to continue to truly live after learning that the source of those differences was nothing more than a lie.

*He feels that comment should also cover his opinion of whether or not his revival is a blessing. But despite the fact that he's talking about his own death, he stays seemingly completely calm as he grabs the tonfa with one hand.*

Hold still, this is going to hurt.

I wasn't expecting it to be pain free. Just to warn you, I do scream a lot.

[She grabs a nearby couch pillow and clutches it tightly. The main shaft of the tonfa went through her right leg with the tip jutting out near her knee. She was happy that this was going on while it was still dark and not many people around or else some people might get the wrong idea. ]

I'll keep it in mind.

*He braces the back of the hand holding the disinfectant rag against her leg so that it doesn't jerk with the tonfa and then gives the weapon a sharp pull. As soon as it's out of her leg, he lets it fall to the ground to quickly wrap the cloth full of disinfecting liquid around the wound.*

[It took all if her strength not to kick him away as a reflex but the pain spiked up and she hid her face behind the cushion which helped to dampen her screaming. Oh yeah this also confirmed there was a bone broken too. Her eyes stung and we're tearing up. Oh and that disinfectant wasn't helping easing her pain but she knew better than to complain about it.]

*He ignores the scream, but the broken bone causes his frown to deepen. He ties off the disinfectant rag so that it'll stay in place and keep pressure on the wound while he gets another piece of cloth and folds it into a thick strip. Technically, it's designed for cleaning wounds, but it'll do for this.*

Here, bite down on this. I'm going to have to set your leg and we don't need you hurting yourself even more.

...You're going to...

[If she wasn't suffering from blood loss, the color from her face would drained. True she's not stranger to broken bones but it was never a fun experience to deal with. Also there wouldn't be any god benefits that could help accelerate the healing process. She quietly took the cloth and placed it between her teeth. When she was ready she gave him a nod.]

Just do your best to relax. It'll make it easier on both of us.

*She'll have some time to try to relax, since it takes him a little while to figure out how he needs to approach this. He has much more experience setting his own bones than setting other people's, after all. But after a little while, he figures it out. It's over in a matter of seconds, but considering the pain, it might feel like longer.*

[She gives him a look that says "Easier said than done." She wasn't morbidly curious enough to watch and turned her head away. Her body seized from the burst of pain before slumping back onto the couch and blacking out.]

*He's not surprised by that. And it's not necessarily a bad thing, either. It means she won't feel the pain from what he has to do next. He sets the leg carefully on the couch, then snaps a pair of legs off of one of the chairs in the room. That sorted, he removes the disinfectant rag and replaces it with a bandage, first one layer to cover the wound and then another to hold the chair legs as a makeshift splint. It's not perfect, but it should hold.*

[She'll forgive him for the furniture damage when she finds out. She's still out and frankly it's for the best. The pain was starting to be too unbearable in her current condition. If it wasn't for her Persona's healing abilities she might've died from the blood loss. At least now she's safe.]

*With that out of the way, he finally sits down himself in one of the intact chairs and pulls his gloves back on. Saori isn't all that heavy to him, but the exertion of fighting against the wind attack and the immobilization had made his body remember that it was still worn out from his own Shadow. Still, when Dark Hour ends, he picks her up and carries her back to the hotel. Better to do it now, while she can't feel the pain from being moved than after she wakes up.*

[With the Dark Hour gone, Sirius was asleep on one of the lobby couches, waiting for his master. His ears perked up in alarm when he smells blood. A lot of blood from what he can tell. When he saw his master being carried, he let out an alarmed whimper.

He stands up to circle around before leading them to the door to her room.]

*It's not that hard to figure out what the dog is trying to do, and, with a little manoeuvring, he manages to get her inside the room and into her bed. After that, he'll just head off to the kitchen to make some tea for the both of them.*

[While Margulis is away, Sirius makes himself comfy and lies down next to Saori as she sleeps. He whines softly but she doesn't respond just yet. A few minutes later a hand runs through his fur.]

Hey boy, sorry I made you worry like that. Back at the hotel, huh? I owe him big time.

*He comes in at the second half of that comment and hands her one of the cups of tea.*

You can make it up by staying put without issue.

[Saori sits up slightly to take the tea and cracks a smile.]

Right, I'll keep that in mind.

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