The Long Road to Freedom 3: Birth of an Empire

Clarifications

***

Previously:

"Jaken," he snipped.

The imp shuffled forward.

"Y-Yes, milord?"

"Tea."

The imp blinked at him for a moment, and Kintsuke's hand paused on the cast iron handle, puzzled.

"Er...sire?"

"Can you not see their cups are empty?"

Jaken looked, finding Kintsuke's, indeed, empty, but Rekkonji's only half-so. The imp said nothing, however, and as Kintsuke relinquished the pot to straighten herself in a poised manner, Jaken glowered livid virulence at the floor and assumed the task she had attempted. While Kintsuke and Rekkonji cast awkward glances here and there, Sesshoumaru simply closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth and flavor of the liquid in his own cup.

Perhaps now, Kintsuke would understand his opinion of her.

***

Sesshoumaru remained with Rekkonji for the next couple of days, drawing out strategy, and they both found great amusement and revelation in the Warmaster's test of the half-breed, a simple sparring match to assess her abilities so as to better incorporate them into the plans.

"Hold nothing back,"

Kintsuke didn't even try to hide her scowl of reservation.

"Are...You sure?"

Rekkonji's firm nod helped her push aside her doubts for the moment. If he wanted to see what she was made of, then he was going to find out. On a plateau, a bit further down the face of the mountain, the four of them set up; Sesshoumaru and Jaken to the side to observe, and Kintsuke and Rekkonji at an appropriate distance across from each other.

They bowed respectfully, Rekkonji's a bit shallower than Kintsuke's, but she didn't mind; he was still deserving of the deference.

He was just as quick as she remembered, coming at her with his favored polearm weapon. While her twin tonfa gave her a bit of an advantage, they prevented her from being able to grapple without abandoning them, and this caused her several issues at the beginning of the fight.

She could block all day, dodge and dance out of the way, but finding an opening proved challenging. Finally, she tucked one of her tonfa away and just grabbed the polearm as Rekkonji gave a thrust. He felt the sparking of her youki and abandoned the weapon a moment before her ravenous green and black flames consumed it, leaving only the warped and melting weapon head to clatter to the earth.

To the side, Sesshoumaru's brow twitched with interest.

The battle continued in such a manner, Kintsuke managing an answer for whatever Rekkonji threw at her, at least for a time. He slipped up, however, allowed her too close, and as her claws raked across his face, splattering his blood across the rocks, the tone of the fight shifted.

Deep in his chest, Rekkonji growled, and Sesshoumaru took quickly to the air to be out of the way as the two combatants clashed again. From there, he watched Rekkonji display every reason he had been the Inu no Taishou's Warmaster for so long, and Kintsuke, in turn, justify all of Sesshoumaru's patience and allowance with her.

It wasn't enough to deflect and dodge, however, and soon enough, the old Jackal drew blood of his own, shredding through Kintsuke's hakama and crushing her cuirass. As his claws buried in her exposed belly, she gripped his hair firmly and ignited them both in her green and black flames. Rekkonji's snarls of pain pleased her, and as he ripped out of her grasp, she gave chase, using the length and angles of her single tonfa, to maintain contact with a part of him.