55. Dancing with Peril
04-21-2024
A/N: This is entirely an original chapter, which is why this took a little longer to publish :) Yay character development!
Q: What is something that comforts you? It could be anything!
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"It's you right? The mastermind behind the petrification? Kukuku...I've been dying to meet'cha. 3,700 long years, in fact. This is exhilarating!"
.
.
.
"If we find him, maybe we should just kill him."
You were with Haru, explaining the situation once you had returned to the mainland. This so called "Why-Man" had given you the chills through Morse code, and Senku's provocation made it no better now that you've got a bigger problem: an unseen enemy from who-knows-where with the ability to petrify just about anyone. Thus, the first meeting of the Five Wise Generals, consisting of Senku, Gen, Ryusui, Chrome, and Ukyo, was established within the Kingdom of Science. It had ended with the creation of the radar, and the others going out to sea with it.
"And risk getting petrified again? Sure," you scoffed as you held your sword up to them. "And why are you thinking of murder?! We shouldn't result to killing, remember?!"
"It was only a suggestion!" Haru retorted as they swung at you.
Mori, Haru's mother and your teacher, was kneeling on the floor of the newly created "dojo" as she watched the two of you sparring. The dojo just consisted of a massive tarp and smooth, wooden floor next by the seaside. She joined in on the conversation, "It is important to understand their motives first before deciding punishment on them."
"Well, I think turning everyone to stone and destroying society is unjustified!" said the child, striking you from above with their weapon. "Hearing the word 'WHY instead of something like 'who are you' sounds like they wanted all of us dead!"
"But the thing is, we don't know who or where they are. Who knows if this 'Why-Man' will come after us first?" You replied as you parried.
"That is why you must train--to be prepared for the unknown, and to protect the ones closest to you," said Mori. Suddenly, she had gotten up from her spot, meaning that your spar was over for the day. You and Haru sat down on the floor to rest and rehydrate yourselves. The woman gazed directly at your eyes with those grey ones of hers, confusing you. She spoke up in a firm tone, "(Y/N)-san, do you think you're prepared to fight the unknown?"
You thought about it for a second, then looked up at her with a determined expression. "Of course. As long as I have Senku and the others with me, I will win."
All she did was squint her eyes a little as she slightly furrowed her brows. "You wouldn't fight for your own sake?"
"As long as the others are okay, I should be fine," you replied as you looked at Haru.
She then sighed. "Alright. (Y/N)-san, I'd like to see your skills right now. I want to see how far you've grown."
You were bewildered by her sudden request. "Right now?"
"Yes. This will be a test." The woman nodded. She looked at her child and strictly informed them, "Haru, you sit and stay there. No matter what happens, do not interfere."
Whatever she was doing, it got you feeling uncomfortable. Sweat dripped down the side of the kid's head as they heard their mother speak to them like that. Agreeing, they answered, "Yes, mother."
Mori swiftly turned back to you and instructed you firmly, "During this duel, I will determine whether or not you pass. If you do end up passing, I will teach you the family technique and give you a new weapon. Understood?"
"Yes, shishou!" You shouted. Suddenly, you thought, The family technique? She doesn't mean that, right?
With a satisfied smile, she stood up from her spot, motioning the you to stand as well. You did so and prepared your weapon as you saw her walk toward the sword stand underneath the cliff side. You all watched as your teacher had picked up not one, but two bladess from the stand. One was a katana and the other was a wakizashi, a shorter sword that was a little over half its size.
"Oh shit..." you muttered under your breath. You had no idea when she had those blades made, but from the looks of it, they were created properly compared to yours.
Haru gulped. "There's no way she's going to use that technique on you..."
"She's already holding the wakizashi. She's definitely using that technique on me."
Her gentle expression had melted away as she faced you. Her walk back seemed as though it was in slow motion. The smile she wore curved downward into one of stern and steadiness. She had a piercing gaze with those silver eyes of hers--it was as though she had the conviction of taking you down with no mercy. Those were the eyes of a hunter who had locked onto their prey. With each step closer, your heart rate increased by each second.
Then, she stopped just a few feet away from you. The air was still as she pointed her longer blade forward, and kept the shorter one at bay. Her gentle, yet powerful, aura alone could make those who had no confidence crumble to their feet.
This is what your master is truly like.
"She's not gonna hold back." You gripped your sword tightly, firmly planting your feet onto the ground when you looked into her eyes.
Despite Haru only watching from the sidelines, they could feel exactly how you were feeling; sweat was dripping down your heads. There was no doubt that you were afraid. If this weren't a test, you would've already forfeited.
"Hajime!"
Not even a second passed--your teacher had already run up to you with both weapons in hand. You quickly blocked her first strike with the katana, but had to move out of the way from her wakizashi. You tried to go for any openings you thought you saw, but it ended up with you needing to parry or block instead. With each strike, you had no way of blocking her second weapon. Even when trying to create distance between both of you, your master would close it.
What the hell... this is insane!
Your usual dance-like movements was sloppy, your fighting technique wasn't swift. It was you going full defensive trying to find a way to strike back. You've never gone against your master at her fullest, let alone seen her use the niten'ichi technique.
This was not like your fight with Haru or Hyoga. This was like fighting the final boss. You thought that if you made one little mistake, you'd die.
"What's wrong, (Y/N)-san? Why aren't you fighting back?" The tone of your master's voice was similar to that of taunting.
You replied in a strained way, "It's not like you're giving me any openings, shishou...!"
"Hmm...is that so?"
Meanwhile, as Haru watched their senior and their mother fight, it was like watching an intense dance. A young bird fighting with a graceful, yet deadly, snake. But the bird was about to get her wings plucked if she wasn't careful... and Haru didn't want the bird to lose her beautiful wings.
"HAHAH, what's going on in there?!" The child heard a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Senku, Ryusui, Chrome, and Gen coming through with food to deliver.
"My, my, this looks dangerous~" Gen commented.
"It's a fight between Mori-san and (Y/N)! That's pretty badass!" Chrome exclaimed with excitement.
"That seems pretty intense for a sparring lesson..." Ryusui mentioned as he crossed his arms, studying the fight.
"You're right... This doesn't look like the usual spar they do," Senku said with a hint of worry for your well-being. He could tell this wasn't normal.
Haru grit their teeth together. "It's not a lesson. This is a test."
"What kind of test?" The sailor instantaneously questioned them as he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"It's supposed to be a test of skill. If senpai passes, then she gets to learn the niten'ichi technique that my mother is using on her right now," they explained. "But... I actually think this is a test whether or not she'll survive..."
"What?! Is your mom trying to kill her then?!" The headband boy frantically queried.
Before they could answer, all of them heard your body slide across the floor as you blocked another attack. They watched as you immediately got up to parry a forward strike from Mori--the sounds of metal clashing together was getting louder and frequent. You were slowly learning to adapt and scanning for any pattern of attack. Fighting Kohaku with her short duel blades was fine because she would strike together at a 1:2 pace, but this was a whole other story. Your teacher was unpredictable with her second blade.
"I know you can do better than this." As your teacher said that, she would nick at your skin with her blade, creating small wounds. "How did you even fight Hyoga-san like this?"
"I didn't fight him alone. Senku and Tsukasa helped me," you replied.
"I see..."
It was starting to be difficult to keep up. Mori would cut you enough to slow you down, but not fatally wound you. The look on her face would show no satisfaction each time you got up, as if you weren't meeting her expectations.
Why does she look at me like that? I'm using everything she taught me, so why does she have the look of disappointment? You thought to yourself. You gripped your sword tighter, though there was blood slowly pouring out of your open cuts.
"She's bleeding now!" Gen cried in distress.
Without batting an eye, Senku answered with a frown, "Since this is a test, she's not going to stop or give up."
"Does this mean she plans to fight till she's out of commission?" Ryusui wondered.
"But, she's hurt..." The young scientist pointed at you. They can clearly see you struggling as the fight continued. "You should do something, Haru!"
The kid widened their eyes as they heard Chrome say their name for the very first time. "I can't! My mother told me not to interfere!"
"Well, what is she going to do if you did?" The sailor argued.
"She'll chop me to pieces! That goes the same for you guys!"
As the group was arguing with each other, Senku thought long and hard to why the fight came to this. This wasn't a science question, no doubt. But he had to figure out why Haru couldn't interfere. Was this a test of endurance? No. Clearly, this wasn't a test of skill because you would've already passed.
Suddenly, Senku saw Mori's eyes flicker over to him, then back to (Y/N). Gen had seemed to notice as well, patting the green-haired boy's shoulder as a sign. Every bone in his scientific body told him to interfere, despite being told not to. He started walking over to the middle of the dojo floor. Haru was held back by Ryusui, much to their dismay. That was when you saw your boyfriend coming over to you.
"Come at me, old hag!" He called out with his hands out like a green starfish.
With wide (E/C) eyes, you started, "Sen--"
You were interrupted when your teacher promptly struck you down, and started going after him instead of you. The fear of him getting hurt rose within you as your body was overflowing with adrenaline. Ignoring your injuries, you got up without any delay and hastily ran over to him to shield him with your blade. Senku put his faith in you the moment you were able to protect him. You were locked in, blocking and parrying now that you had to keep your boyfriend safe from your merciless master. You angrily pushed forward to make sure that her katana and wakizashi was away from him.
"Ah, there you are," your master seemingly gloated as she kept the blades still while you pushed on. "I've seen enough for today."
She shoved you off of her weapons and you tumbled to the floor. Your friends came up to check on you, while Haru just stared. Your partner took this chance to cover any wounds you had with makeshift bandages.
"You failed this test, (Y/N)-san," your shishou bluntly stated as she flicked the blood on her blades off. She then explained, "Until you learn to think about yourself before others, you will find yourself losing every battle. Haru, this applies to you, too."
"Okay..." they replied.
With a hoarse tone, you replied as you sat up, "What...? But you told me to use my skill and strength to help others!"
"I did. But that doesn't mean use all of it just for them. We'll do this again when you figure it out. You'll be ready then," she told you. The older woman turned heel and started walking off to clean her weapons. Her head slightly turned back and a sharp glare was shot toward Senku. "Also, Senku-san, I do believe apologies are in order."
A nervous chill went down his back. He did just call your master an "old hag" after all. The boy put a hand up and sweat dripped down the side of his head, but he kept his cool as he spoke, "Yeah, yeah, sorry, ma'am. I won't call you that again."
As the woman left with a nod, Senku and the others turned back to you.
"We need to get her to the lab to treat her. Don't touch her wounds--" Suddenly, you were lifted by a pair of strong arms. You looked up to see that Ryusui was the one who had picked you up, though Senku wasn't too happy.
The blonde man had a smirk on his face, since he knew that the scientist couldn't do anything about it. You couldn't protest this, since you couldn't really move that well due to pain. You needed to be treated, after all. Ryusui stated, "You don't have to worry about me carrying my dear (Y/N) like this again since I need her consent! The only time I'll do it again is if I ever have to save her life!"
"Thank you, Ryusui-san." You let out a tired sigh, "I'll let it slide just once. Ryusui-san is the only one here who can properly move me."
"And Senku-chan is the only one who can properly treat you, so it makes it even," said Gen, who shrugged his shoulders.
As your group was heading out, Chrome stayed back for a bit. He was looked directly at Haru, who wasn't able to look him in the eye.
"Are you gonna come with us or what?" The brunette asked them.
"I don't know," they replied with a low tone. With furrowed eyebrows, Chrome grit his teeth and stomped over to them. He grabbed them by the waist and held them like a sack of potatoes. This angered the child to extreme levels. "WHAT THE HELL?! LET GO OF ME, IDIOT!"
Chrome responded, "NOT UNTIL WE HAVE A TALK ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE, LITTLE MISS MISTER!"
"WHAT?! YOU'RE IN NO POSITION TO LECTURE ME!"
"I'M OLDER THAN YOU, SO I DO!"
~~~
"If you're gonna sulk, at least sulk with me, slowpoke," said Senku as he saw you sitting on a cliff side with your knees up to your face. "I get you're upset, but you can't just hide here after running away."
You stared at the open water over the cliff, remembering what happened earlier. After Senku had given you new, clean bandages and treating you, you immediately ran out of the lab as if you never gotten those injuries in the first place. Him and the others had to chase you around, until you hid away.
"Look at them. They all look like little ants from up here, running around like that," said Senku as he sat down next to you. "They told me to tell them whenever I found you, but who the hell said I was gonna do that?"
"Senku, you said I'm the strongest person you know, right?" You questioned him so suddenly, ignoring everything else he'd said previously.
"Yeah, you are," he reassured you. "What, you didn't believe me the first time I told you?"
"I'm not sure anymore. I mean I lost terribly against shishou and failed her test," you said with a pout.
He replied, "That's because she's an old woman with at least forty years of experience. Last time I checked, you aren't a forty years old. You're not a big, muscular woman like Tsukasa or have any super powers. You're not invincible. All you got is a slowpoke brain and that you're stubborn to boot."
You looked at him with lidded eyes. "Really, Senku..."
"What? I'm being honest here. You're a slowpoke, but you're my slowpoke. Whatever the heck you are, you're still perfect," he told you as the boy looked into your (E/C) spheres with his crimson ones. "Don't feel beat up for failing a test the first time around. Besides, that test proved that you were the strongest."
Bewildered by that last sentence, you stood up and waved your arms around. "How? All I did was get my ass beat, which was embarrassing, and you just provoked her like what you did with Why-Man! Why the hell did you even do that, anyways?!"
Senku then informed you, "Because I knew you'd come protect me. And you were able to fight your teacher back just because I did that. Don't you know that? Didn't you see how far you were able push her?"
You just stared at him like he was crazy, but you were beginning to realize that he was right. You created openings for yourself and stood your ground when you could. But now you were thinking... why did your master stop the moment you were able to fight back?
"HAHAH, so this is where you were, my dear (Y/N)!" You heard Ryusui exclaimed from behind the two of you.
"Ryusui-san..." you whispered as you sat back down with your partner. Senku just rolled his eyes at the man's presence and turned his head forward to face the body of water ahead of him.
He grinned. "You know, everyone's looking for the two of you now, but I understand that you need your alone time. But I'm here now, so we're alone too!"
The sailor sat next to you, and the three of you looked over the big, blue ocean together. It was nice having company despite feeling down in the dumps.
"Hey, Ryusui-san, do you think I'm strong?" You asked him.
He turned to you and his honey-colored eyes sparkled with determination. A smirk spread across his face as he replied, "Yes. You have the potential to be the best swordsman across the entire world. A prodigy amongst all! I've known it since the first time I saw you fight!"
Both you and Senku just looked at him with shock or surprise. "Have you seen me fight before?"
"Haha, of course! You looked absolutely amazing when I saw you!" He let out a hearty laugh. The sailor placed his hand under his chin and closed his eyes as he was reminiscing. "We were quite young though...ah, you were like an ugly duckling turning into the beautiful swan!"
"Is that even a compliment...?" Senku muttered as he looked at him with disdain, then turned to you. "I thought you said you were careful about hiding your face! The only reason this guy was acting like a psycho the day we revived him was because he actually saw your real face!"
"I was careful, Senku! I've only ever met him at parties!" You defended yourself, then looked at the sailor, jabbing your finger into his chest, "Unless you're a stalker!"
"I assure you, I'm not! It was an accident, honestly!" He told you.
You placed your face in your hands and sighed, letting out a exasperated laugh, "Ha... oh my god... I'm not even upset about earlier now. This is ridiculous..."
"Well, that's what we're here for. To make sure you're not upset anymore," said Senku as he placed his hand on your back to comfort you.
"Right! You can always rely on your friends for help, (Y/N)!" Ryusui loudly declared. He then stood up and got in between you and Senku to wrap his arms around your necks. Your boyfriend was trying to pry the man's arms off as he spoke, "Besides, Senku is here to give you the love you feel you're lacking! Rely on him instead of running away!"
"I'm surprised that you're fine with my relationship with Senku now," you said as you looked at him.
"I won't admit I lost, but I will admit that I saw the spark between you today," he told you.
Senku grumbled, causing you to giggle a bit, "About damn time. You're not as blind as I thought you were."
The sailor then let go of you. "Now that you're all better, I think you have something to say, (Y/N)!"
"Oh yeah..." you softly explained as you focused on the sun setting in the distance, "I think I understand what she meant by using my strength for myself now. But, I think I can explain it better when I face shishou again. I'm confident that I will pass next time."
A small smile formed on Senku's face as he heard you say that. "I'm glad you figured it out, slowpoke."
"We'll watch you the next time you fight and you'll win this time!" exclaimed Ryusui as he beamed at you.
Your mouth curved upward as you looked at both men with gratitude, as well as a full and confident heart.
"Thank you, Senku, Ryusui-san."
-Meanwhile-
"THIS IS INSANE!" Haru shouted at the top of their lungs as they held on tight to Chrome's shirt.
"See, I told you that you'd feel better doing this!" Chrome shouted with joy.
The two of them were riding along the newly found mineshaft inside of a mine cart. The rails weren't completely done, but the brunette wanted to cheer up the child in the end.
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE, CHROME!" The raven-haired kid cried with complete fear.
The boy looked at them with wide eyes, and a huge toothy grin on their face. "YOU FINALLY SAID MY NAME!"
"SHUT UP!"
All's well that ends well.
-To be Continued-
A/N: Yayyy character development! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I did my best to show the relationship between the MC's master and her students, as well as come up with an event to bring her closer to Senku, as well as Ryusui in a supportive, friendship way.