dizzy -Part 7-

The cheap lights in the hallway casted eerie shadows on the walls, bouncing back onto us.  Our bodies reciprocated creepiness as we darted down the corridors.  
The hallways shifted like sand, winding eternally like an adder.  Finally, we reached our destination.  

"Oi, Jugo!  I found her."

"Jugo" was sitting in a room filled with weapons, face completely blank.  There was a flicker in his eyes, and then I understood.  It was not blank, but guarded.  It was the same face I would make in a crowded room, making sure I didn't lose it around so much flesh and burning emotions.  

"Found anything?"

Silence, but he moved.  

"Lemme see---oh, helloooo beautiful~" he cooed, pulling out a spear.  My spear, I realized, as the light danced across the wicked blade.  

"Oh, I like this one."  he said, testing it out.  He was swinging it incorrectly.  

"Your stance is wrong."

"Mm?"

"You need to hold it like this.  It's a defensive and offensive weapon.  See?"  I said, letting the spear flow through me, becoming an extension of my arm.  

"How do YOU know, huh?"

"Well..it's mine."

"...Oh."

In a brief moment of playfulness, a flickering greenish light of an emotion, I pointed my spear at him.  

"Draw, Suigetsu-san."

He smirked.  

"I've been wanting to see what you've got, Yari-chan."

Yari-chan.  That's a new one.

He pulled a sword out of a bin.  

"This one's fugly but it'll do."

"I'm not sure the sword would like to hear that."  said the giant in the corner.  It was the first time I'd heard his voice.  It was deep, sad.  But holding back something.  He was like a huge dam, keeping something away from everyone else.  

"Stop when the other gives?"

"Alright."

We both knew it would take a very long time for that to happen.  For me, I had no means to tire anyway, so it wouldn't be me who caved.  

"3.2.1..."

CHARGE!

Dodge.  Parry.  Thrust.  Counter-swipe.  Go for the legs.  Squat and turn in a circular fashion, making a whirl of blades and death.  And things.  

I always imagined that a battle was like a dance, with a bad partner never matching your strides or your style.  He was good.  Very much so, in fact.  

Finally, he started to falter.  

Thwak.  Splort.  Shlugk.  

He grew back each time, but it felt like I had the upper hand.  

Our battle got 'intense', as he put it.  We moved out into the hallways, up on the ceilings, moving back and forth, swaying to counter each other.  

"Fuuu...."  he muttered.  

He was swearing to his God?  Who was this "Fu--" I kept hearing about from him?

It was sudden, a rapid twitch of his sword, and my head flew off.  

"BOOM!  Headshot!"

"AHAHAHA!  Oh...wait.  This isn't good."  said Jugo.  

My new head finally popped out of my neck, and I whipped my hair back out.  

"Knew it!"  

"I would say 'That hurt, you son of a gun', but I don't feel pain, so it wouldn't matter."  I said, lifting my spear.  

"Son of a gun?  Oh dear, your language is making me shake in my boots."  

And this was going to be where he'd get overconfident.  I'd seen fighters like him before.   He'd think that because I didn't care about how many limbs I lost, he'd think that I wouldn't keep my guard up.  Fatal mistake.  

Swat.  Smak.  Splash.  

"As much as I would love to keep watching, we have to go before people find out we're out and about.  Suigetsu, who is your friend's name again?"

"Yari."  

"Alright, Yari.  You're with us, I'm presuming?"

"I suppose so."  

"Let's get out of here."  

Freedom was always a nice thing to have, wasn't it?