Summary: The first battle is done. The gauntlet is thrown. Now what?

Disclaimer: I don't own Buso Renkin. The Sacred and the Profane did the first AU fic.

Notes: I had to mangle a few ages here. I'll have to tell you that it's harder than it looks to remodel the cast. For now, I've had to push Chi-chin and Sa-chan a year older, to give Tokiko some female classmates (though she has few friends, obviously).

Cleanup Duty

"Muto Kazuki? Tokiko-san, why do you have a boy's name in your cell phone?" Saori innocently asked, holding Tokiko's pink and chrome phone.

Tokiko instantly flushed and snatched the phone away. "Why are you even looking through my log?" Saori only flashed a rather wicked grin, making Tokiko glare.

Class pervert Okakura perked up. "Tokiko-san? The infamous ice princess of class 2-B? A boy's name? Is there hope for any of us?"

Tokiko's eyebrow twitched. "No," she said, deadpan. "Especially not you."

Okakura went to the ground, catatonic in despair.

"Forget it, Okakura," Rokumasu said with a sardonic smile. Tokiko always felt vaguely uneasy about her gray haired classmate; she wasn't precisely scared of him but he had a number of unnerving qualities.

The genial and plump Daihama laughed. "And you should be nicer about Tokiko-san. I don't think she appreciates being called an ice princess." Tokiko considered nominating Daihama for sainthood for a few moments as she tucked her phone into her pocket.

The much shyer Chisato tilted her head. "Tokiko-san, do you really have a boyfriend?" she asked with a slight blush.

Tokiko shook her head violently. "No. He's just an acquaintance." She felt the phone buzz against her hand and she slipped it out again, unsurprised to see that it was Kazuki. Answering, she discreetly went to a corner. Kazuki's warm, good-natured voice said, "Could I see you after school?"

"By the factory? Of course." She turned off her phone, only to face an unholy trio of Okakura, Chisato and Saori.

"A date?" Saori inquired with ominous sweetness.

…

Despite Saori's clingy glee, Tokiko managed to escape her clutches and get out of school to head to the abandoned factory. She paused before the grave mound where the victims of the Homunculi had been buried and murmured a prayer for their souls. Kazuki joined her in prayer silently not long after; she caught him out of the corner of her eyes. He bent down to burn three sticks of incense stuck into the mound and the wind carried away the sweet-thick scent.

"How will their disappearances be explained?" she asked after they both finished their prayers.

Kazuki shrugged. "I'm not in charge of it. But someone will let their families know." A flicker of something sad and just a little frustrated crossed his garnet-red eyes before vanishing.

"We have to stop this," she said fiercely. "Before any more people are killed."

Kazuki turned an ever-present smile at her. "That's the spirit." They headed toward the factory and he said, "We got sixteen of the Homunculi here, which is the usual size of a 'nest' but I think that this was an experimentation place."

In the daylight, the factory didn't seem nearly as ominous but it held the ghosts of long ago death and pain. Tokiko wondered the merits of burning the place down; the very atmosphere gave her an uneasy feeling that wasn't fear but was closely related to it. They headed up to the upper levels and she realized something she had mulled over the night before.

"How did you name your Buso Renkin?" she asked.

He paused. "Someone helped me out with it," he answered honestly. "Someone I trusted a long time ago." Genuine fondness tinged his tone but there was a sudden air of wistful melancholy. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose absently and laughed. "He said that- Well, he said that I seemed happiest in daytime and my lance had the same warm glow as sunlight. And well- this weapon is born from my heart." He placed a hand over his chest and smiled.

Tokiko tilted her head. "So- I can name mine myself?" she inquired.

He nodded. "Well- it's something that comes to you. It's hard to explain. You don't choose the name as much as it chooses you."

"It sounds like something out of a video game," she noted ironically but she took his words to heart.

"If you put it that way…" They got to the second floor and Kazuki instantly became serious as he pointed to a curious set of machinery in the middle of the empty room.

"This is it," he said, considering the machine with extreme distaste. "I found this during clean up. It's a Homunculus body growth machine."

Tokiko stared at it. The entire thing looked like an organic, grimy car engine, with multiple tubes and dials. All in all, the entire contraption was just disturbing enough to make her skin crawl, even without knowing what its dire purpose was.

Kazuki went over and plucked out a long-necked bottle from the center of the engine, holding it up to the dim light. "Homunculi start out as living cells from organisms. They're kept in these kinds of bottles because they're very fragile. Without a safe, small environment, they'll die." Tokiko noticed that the bottle was empty. Kazuki's lips tightened. "But once they mature and are introduced to a human… they latch on and destroy their host's brain."

"Then… Mita and Saruwatari…" Tokiko stuttered, eyes going wide.

Kazuki nodded grimly. "They were once human. They were sacrifices and so were all the people that they ate."

"That's horrible!" she burst out, trembling with appalled fury.

"Someone's behind this," he said. "That someone deliberately created these little embryos and infected people with them… as an experiment." He spat the last words with the closest to hatred she'd ever heard from him. It wasn't just hatred; it was the fury of thwarted justice and disgust with anyone with such inhumanity.

And Tokiko could feel a matching disgust and fury rising in her as he silently tossed the bottle away and headed up to the roof.

Once up on the roof, they paused as a spring breeze passed them by playfully. "This is why we have Buso Renkin," Kazuki said at last. "So we can fight these monsters."

Tokiko nodded slowly. Kazuki continued. "We don't know much about the person who's creating these monsters. We don't even have much of a lead.'

"We have to start from somewhere then," she said matter-of-factly. Then she saw a shining dot of silver suddenly flash just behind Kazuki, something that looked like a coiled insect- "Kazuki-san!" Before she realized it, her Buso Renkin had activated and one shining silver blade shot forward, clipping the thing in midair and sending it flying past him. Her blade had either been too fast or the thing itself had caught against him because a thin, bloody scratch opened along the top of his right cheek.

Kazuki didn't notice, instead, he looked to the sky instantly, where an enormous metallic figure soared on wide wings before diving at them at a terrifying speed. "There! Buso Renkin!" His lance materialized into his hand and he barked at her, "Tokiko-san! Hold onto my lance and get ready to attack!"

Before she could think, she had grabbed the slender metal handle and before she realized it, Kazuki had flung the lance, and her, up into the air. She was soaring upwards in a terrifying moment, launched toward a mechanical eagle that became larger and larger as she approached. A man was on the eagles back, a man in a Ginsei High uniform jacket and wearing an odd butterfly mask.

He smiled at her coldly and she launched herself from the lance, sending her blades at him. However, the eagle had to wheel back, startled by the sudden projectile coming at it; more importantly, it recoiled because of Sunlight Heart's scarlet scarf, which was glowing. Tokiko cursed as none of her attacks connected.

"So this is a Buso Renkin," the man murmured just loud enough for her to hear and the eagle retreated, leaving Tokiko to fall back to the earth as the lance lost its momentum. She braced herself, clutching onto the cloth out of instinct. Kazuki was running to catch her but she couldn't let him.

Instinct took over completely as she pushed the lance away and concentrated on landing as safely as possible- and she flinched at the sound of metal digging into tile as she landed ungracefully but safely back into the roof. Kazuki was just about as lucky; Sunlight Heart was embedded two inches away from his toes.

He looked to her worriedly. "Thank god!" he said, looking immensely relieved. "Are you all right, Tokiko-san?"

She nodded, catching her breath. "I think- that might be the man we're looking for?" she said. She took a moment to collect her thoughts then she saw his face. "You're bleeding!"

He lifted a hand to his cheek. "Oh, it's nothing."

"No it isn't!" she snapped, her instant maternal instinct taking over after one too many years of dealing with Gouta's scraped knees and elbows. She pulled out her handkerchief (one of many) and patted at his cheek carefully. It had been a shallow cut, she noticed with some relief but she knew that it should be taken care of. Muttering to herself, she dug into her pockets and was glad to find a spare band-aid, which she methodically applied to his cheek. She didn't meet his eyes exactly but she could feel his skin blush a little. Or was that just from the effort of throwing his weapon?

He smiled at her. "Thank you, Tokiko-san." Then he became serious. "My report said that there were at least twenty. So we have three Homunculi left and that creator."

"He was wearing a butterfly mask," Tokiko volunteered instantly. Her brow furrowed in memory. "And he has dead eyes." She shuddered a little.

"The three left are going to be the strongest," he said finally. "Because they're likely his bodyguards. We'll win though. We must."

She was not normally an optimist but who couldn't believe, at least a little bit, after hearing his conviction? He added, "It's not just about destroying them all. It's making sure that they never take sacrifices!" For all his enthusiasm, he sounded slightly frustrated. From experience?

"Never," she echoed softly. She couldn't say anything; she didn't need to say anything else. He'd said everything already.

…

They went back to the grave site for a little longer. She made a note to bring some flowers by later; the incense was good but didn't seem enough. 'Though I never knew you, I pray your spirits find rest.'

They were then rudely interrupted by the people Tokiko least wanted to see. She stifled a groan, seeing Gouta at the front. The boy wore an expression of great irritation and kicked-puppy-dog disappointment. Daihama, Okakura and Rokumasu trailed behind, wearing mixed expressions. Saori was also present and Tokiko felt extremely uneasy at the expression in the other girl's eyes.

"So it's true!" Gouta burst out. "You do have a boyfriend!" He looked between Kazuki and Tokiko with constantly shifting expressions of extreme dislike and great hurt.

Saori squealed. "He is cute! Where did you two meet, Tokiko-san?"

Rokumasu looked disturbingly calculating. "And why are you meeting in a place like this?" he asked mildly.

Daihama laughed in his usual manner and said, "Congratulations to both of you." Okakura on the other hand was dying in the background.

Kazuki looked rather bemused but she could see the back of his neck turning bright red in flustered embarrassment. The corner of her eye twitched and she sent her best ice glare at the lot of them.

"Since when did I say I had a boyfriend?" she snarled, sending all of them quavering and begging for forgiveness.

"Then- what are you exactly?" Daihama asked in polite puzzlement.

"Siblings!" Kazuki said this at the same time she did as they hooked arms. They realized the folly of this too late, which led to a furious but mostly silent conversation that went along the lines of:

"Why did you say that?"

"It was the first thing that came to mind!"

"You didn't think it through then!"

She turned around in time to see Gouta's mental cogs slowly grinding to process that. "But- aren't you an only child?" he managed to say, looking extremely confused and just on the verge of being truly disgruntled about it. Fortunately, several years of acquaintance had taught Tokiko that the best way to get Gouta to do something was to not give him enough time to think about what you were asking him to do.

"It's a long story," Tokiko said, giving him another glare.

Rokumasu was the first to recover from the group confusion as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and coughed. "Why don't we explain things over a drink in town?"

That sufficiently distracted most of the group; Kazuki certainly looked relieved. Tokiko nodded frantically as Saori latched onto the idea and grabbed Gouta by the arm to drag him away. Then- the sight made her heart stop temporarily. Kazuki grasped her elbow; he'd seen it too.

The little silvery dot, a mechanical silver embryo, was coiled in Saori's hair.

'Damn. Why didn't I destroy that?' she thought furiously.

They walked down the hill path at an easy pace, Tokiko and Kazuki just a little behind the larger group. Gouta kept giving them suspicious glances but she glared at him. However, most of her worry was for Saori.

Kazuki said in a low voice, "You're going to have to do this. Sunlight Heart isn't quick enough."

She blanched a little. "But- they'll notice," she hissed.

"It's the only way I can see so far," he pointed out grimly. Then he smiled faintly. "You have better control of your Buso Renkin than I did. I'm sure you can do it."

The Homunculus made their minds for them as it twitched slowly in Saori's pigtail and started to move. Tokiko summoned up her Buso Renkin, sending a blade out to strike it in midair- wait a second- it was heading… towards her?

It was a matter of seconds. Kazuki shouted as she tried to frantically bat it away from her, knowing what it would mean to have it get her- And she went flying. The world went round and round, rocks and tree roots bruising and jostling her even as someone held her tight. And then everything went black.

She opened her eyes and saw the sky was dark and speckled with stars. Kazuki was nearby and he was groaning faintly. She scrambled over to him and spread him out, gently. He was breathing steadily and his body was bruised all over.

"Idiot!" she scolded him, even though she knew he likely couldn't hear her. "I thought Gouta would do something like that- but you?" She railed at him out of sheer hysterical relief at knowing that they were all right. Her fingers checked his heartbeat; it was steady.

His gakuran was battered and she gently got it off him. His shirt was in little better condition. It rode up and she saw something silver glitter in the moonlight.

Her heart froze. The Homunculus was embedded in Kazuki's abdomen.

Then his eyes fluttered open slowly. "Tokiko-san?" he said, blearily.

"Don't move," she ordered, trying to stay calm. "You didn't need to shield me from all that you know." She wasn't prone to babbling but- but-

He managed a tired, pained smile for her. "How could I not?" he asked her quietly. "I had to."

"Don't give me that!" She bit her lip in frustration. "I couldn't even destroy the Homunculus!"

He looked down instantly and saw the thing coiled up and quite firmly embedded in his stomach. Then he swore, vividly. He then met her eyes, flushing at his own foul language, and said, attempting to keep calm, "You prevented it from getting to my head at least."

Somehow, that made her feel even worse. He noticed her expression and instantly touched at her hand. "You did your best, Tokiko-san," he said. He winced as he shifted position.

"Even then… I'm sorry," she whispered.

He smiled again. Then he sat up with a groan to her alarm. "Urgh… Don't blame yourself. It could have been a lot worse. If it got to your friends or classmates…" He looked crestfallen even as he managed to meet her eyes steadily. "I've put you in enough danger as is. I would never be able to forgive myself if…" His voice trailed off and he became a bit more matter-of-fact. "We have about a week before this gets up to my brain."

"Is there any way to get rid of it?" she asked worriedly.

He nodded. "Yeah. Kill the three remaining bodyguards and capture the Papillon masked creator. He can make the antidote to this. We only have one week." He looked grim. "If we can't accomplish this by then… you have to kill me before I become a Homunculus."

She recoiled at the thought but then she realized what he meant. If the positions were swapped… she'd be telling him the same thing. "Fine then," she said at last. "We'll do it!"

He got to his feet shakily. The bruising seemed less livid suddenly and Tokiko got to her own feet, realizing that she didn't feel so sore. Kazuki winced, grabbing at his stomach. "Damn thing," he muttered under his breath.

Tokiko's ears itched. "There's something out there," she whispered. And three mechanical frogs jumped out at them. "Kazuki!" Her Buso Renkin activated once more at her instinct and she leapt forward to meet the monsters. She snarled. "Don't you dare touch him!" she shouted and she let her weapon rip all three of them to ribbons in midair.

She turned around and faced Kazuki, who bore an expression of awe. "You mastered silent summoning already," he said, looking surprised. "It took me about three days to learn that." He managed a smile as he raked back his hair with his hands. "It's a start to mastering your Buso Renkin."

She was going to master this weapon, she thought fiercely. She was going to master every bit of it and she was going to get that masked creator!

…

"Gouta!"

She caught the blonde easily, to the shocked but mild interest of the other residents in the male wing of the dormitory. "Tokiko-senpai, where did you go earlier-"

"Can I borrow one of your uniforms?" she asked bluntly.

He blanched. "Why?"

She paused. This was going to take some deviance. "Cosplay," she answered bluntly.

He stared at her. "Since when do you do cosplay?" he asked guardedly.

"Since now. Give me your uniform and I'll buy you lunch for the next week."

Gouta, who was always complaining about his allowance, was mollified by the bribe enough to not ask any embarrassing questions. On the other hand, he only had his PE uniform, which was good enough for her; there was no way Kazuki could fit into hers. She shoved a generous amount of paper bills (there went her savings for the last few weeks) into his hand and ran off with the magenta sweat suit before he could ask any more annoying questions.

Kazuki was sitting in her computer chair when she came back and he was pointedly looking out the window.

"You've never been in a girl's room before?" she asked as she came in.

"Well- yeah," he admitted. She tossed the uniform at his head and he caught it in midair.

"What did you see of the butterfly mask creator?" he asked, becoming serious once more.

She thought to herself. "He was wearing a Ginsei uniform. Green armband, so he's a third year student," she started. She grabbed a notepad and a pencil. "175-180 cm in height. Pale skin and black hair. Very thin." She bit her lip. "Eyes like a rotten pond," she finally said after a moment.

He nodded slowly. "Keep an eye out for him and call me the moment you find him," he told her.

"Try to stay out of sight," she told him back sternly.

"Of course," he grinned. "I'm a ninja."

True to his word, she didn't actually see Kazuki the next day at school. She went through her classes and made notes in the margins of her notebooks, though her results were far from satisfactory. By lunch time, she met with him by one of the cherry trees out of the way. He'd bought lunch for himself, including vegetable juice, to her horror, which he drank with an absent-minded pleasure.

"Well, we have it down to 120 people," he said. "That'll probably take us about three days."

Something was nagging her. "Something doesn't seem right," she said finally.

He looked up at her as she considered her uneaten lunch. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. Upon further contemplation, her uneasiness seemed unnecessary. "It's nothing." She then glanced at him. "Are you all right?" she asked him. "You seem tired… and you hold your side a lot."

"Don't worry about me," he said cheerfully. "I'm good. I promise." He peered at her too. "You have dark circles under your eyes… have you been getting enough sleep?"

"I'm fine." She glared, annoyed at the sudden change in topics and his bluntness.

"Well, don't overdo it. Having your heart replaced by a Kakugane isn't an easy procedure. It's hard on the body… let me know if you feel any pain or if you feel ill." Oddly enough, she wasn't as irritated with his worry as much as she would have been with, say, Gouta. Somehow, she knew he genuinely cared (not to invalidate Gouta's feelings) and had good reason to be worried for her.

She sighed a little. "Break's over," she said. "Good luck looking." She headed back to class, only to be nearly hit by a frantic Gouta, who needed his PE uniform.

That night, Tokiko snuck out of the dormitory to the local shrine. She hadn't done aikido in years, even though she'd been one of the better members of her middle school club. While she never would have thought she would try the old but slowly returning katas with blades strapped to her thighs, she found it easier to calm down and collect her thoughts while going through breathing exercises. Her eyes narrowed as she contemplated the targets that she'd set up (salvaged bottles of Ramune and old milk cartons). She summoned up her Buso Renkin and started to train, focusing on her reaction time every time she sent out a blade to destroy a target.

The next few days passed quietly but frantically. She was aware of the time ticking down and she was more frustrated than Kazuki. Not that he was taking it extremely well but he seemed to bear the time limit with a bit more grace than she did.

By the end of the fourth day, Kazuki called a halt to the search on the school grounds. "There's no point," he said in exasperation. "He's not here. We're going to have to get a different approach. Hey… don't look so bad," he added. "At least he hasn't made a move for four days."

He looked over at her. "You still look tired. Go home and get some rest. We can have a fresh start tomorrow."

She was reluctant to leave him. "Are you sure?" she asked.

He nodded. "Don't make me order you," he said playfully. "Go on."

She sighed and shook her head. "Just- take care of yourself," she ordered him.

"I always do," he said with a laugh.

"I wonder sometimes." Still, she smiled for him, somehow charmed by him and started heading back to the dorms. About a block away, she paused. Maybe Kazuki could give her some pointers about her Buso Renkin. The aikido approach was a start but… it wasn't perfect. She turned back around, only to see him bracing himself against a telephone pole, hands clutched around his abdomen and his chest. He was breathing hard before he staggered off slowly, every step obviously in pain.

She could only stare dumbly. "Idiot," she whispered. But she didn't follow him. It was at that moment, a tall, long-haired femme-fatale walked down the road, passing by Kazuki. The woman was busty, easily filling out her crimson silk Chinese-style blouse and her legs seemed to extend endlessly in her tight fitting white slacks and ending with a pair of high-heeled black boots. She didn't even give him a look and he didn't seem to realize her.

The breeze brought with it the scent of rotting roses, sweet and cloying. Pain and sensation spread in Tokiko's chest and she clutched it, her pupils dilating and her irises paling. The woman stopped in front of Tokiko and said in a low, raspy voice, "He's adorable in his own little way, little girl. I'm sure he'll be delicious. Especially because we haven't eaten in four days thanks to you…"

The shorter female clenched her teeth as the disguised Homunculus smirked with rose-red lips.

"Don't you dare touch him," she gritted out. "Or I'll… I'll rip your guts out." Her eyes flared like golden ice.

"Are you challenging me, little girl?"

"You won't get to eat him. And you're going to take me to your creator," Tokiko snapped.

The woman's eyes glowed an unearthly red. "Really now? Do you have the strength to match your big words, kid?" she purred.

Her eyes narrowed in response. "I may not be as experienced as Kazuki-san but I'm going to take you down! Because I'm the only one who can now."

The woman threw back her head and laughed, long and hard, her voice scratching the air like lashes of thorns. "Fine then! And I'll bring back your Kakugane for my master." She smiled and it was a shark's feral grin. "By the river then. Where there aren't any distractions."

Later…

Tokiko collected herself. Fear defeated you before the enemy ever came into sight, she thought. Hanabusa flicked back a bit of her long black hair. "Hand over your kakugane, little girl, and you just may survive," she called lazily.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Tokiko retorted. 'This is my first battle alone… And I'll have to kill her.' The thought didn't bother her nearly as much as she thought it would. Kazuki had made it quite clear that Homunculi lost all of their humanity; they truly became monsters. Besides… this woman had threatened Kazuki; that she could never forgive.

"Buso Renkin!" Cool metal locked around her thighs and four lethal blades hovered before her.

The woman laughed. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into, little girl." Her body shifted and morphed, until the largest rose bloom Tokiko had ever seen had emerged, with Hanabusa's torso and head sticking out from below the petals, wrapped in thorns. Enormous brambles supported the monstrous rose like misshapen legs.

"He'll become one of us," the woman continued. "And he'll devour you first."

"Never!" Tokiko snarled. "I know Kazuki-san. Even if he did become one of you monsters, he'd kill your bastard creator first!"

The woman's face instantly changed. Pure rage filled the lovely features and contorted them into a grotesque mask. "Disgusting," she muttered. "How disgusting that you pathetic little humans call my glorious master such things!" With the last words rising to an inhuman shriek, Hanabusa attacked, sending rose vines at Tokiko.

She leapt out of the way, but there were simply too many of them. Her Buso Renkin slashed at the ones that tried to get her in mid-dodge. However, Tokiko knew that it was only a matter of time before…

She was soon caught by the thorns which wound inexorably around the legs and blades of her weapon, winding towards her. Hanabusa laughed insanely. "Pathetic little girl!" she gloated. "My rose thorns form a net so tight not even insects can fly through. Now die!"

One last rose vine, tipped with a harpoon like thorn. It flew through the air and right through Tokiko's chest. Her eyes widened and she almost fell backwards. The pain filled her entire body, so painful that she had gone numb. 'Am I- dying again? No… No- I'm not dying… I don't have- a heart there anymore…'

Hanabusa still laughed in the background as blood stained Tokiko's blouse back and front. She couldn't die. Not now. Not ever. Not without saving Kazuki from that- damned embryo. Not without hunting down the rest of the Homunculi. Her body rocked back and forth as the vine was forcibly ripped from her chest again, dripping her blood.

Something whispered to her, and she listened, strained for that quiet but firm little voice.

"Buso Renkin, release!" she roared and she felt the thigh bands unlock from around her legs, leaving Hanabusa only holding the framework of her Buso Renkin. Using strength she never imagined she had, she charged at the still surprised Homunculus and using one of the moves she had been expressively forbidden to use except in most dire self-defense, she gouged out the other's eyes with her bare hands.

The Homunculus shrieked, rocking backwards in pain and surprise. Tokiko reached back as well, throwing aside the mechanical eyes embedded on her fingertips. "Buso Renkin, at hand!" she shouted and soon she felt the thin metal of one of the limbs reach her grip. And with one last burst of effort, she swung her blade and beheaded Hanabusa in one swipe. The top of the Homunculus's screaming head flew off some distance and the rest of the body collapsed in itself. Exhausted, in pain, and suddenly extremely short-sighed, Tokiko collapsed to her knees before fainting, unaware of river bank rocks digging into her back.

…

Kazuki grimaced to himself and forced himself to ignore the pain. It was a sensation best not described but if he had to find the words, he would have said it was rather like having a lot of little mouths gnawing at him, constantly rubbing against his skin and the flesh below. He glanced at the bag that held the uniform that Tokiko had gotten for him and realized that he may as well return it to her.

Under the cover of night, he headed to the dormitories, climbing up the tree closest to her second-story bedroom window. She'd kept it open; it was a warm spring night. With a single, graceful leap, he hopped into the window sill, managing to land with something like grace.

"Tokiko-san- I wanted to return your uniform…" His voice trailed off as he realized that she wasn't there. Where could she be?

He hadn't been in a girl's room before, as he'd admitted. Well- Mahiro's room didn't count. Not really (even if his little sister was the poster child for girliness). He had noted that Tokiko seemed to be a bit Spartan in personality and in taste. No posters or mascots, very few photographs, including older one of a smiling couple, the woman holding a sleeping baby that may have had a passing resemblance to Tokiko. The other photograph was more recent, depicting a disgruntled though faintly smiling Tokiko wearing a pale blue yukata patterned with white flowers, along with her friend Gouta, who was in Western clothing. Only one plushie on the neatly made bed and it didn't show signs of wear and tear; a bunny smiled sunnily at him, white fur still pristine and fluffy.

He looked at her desk and couldn't help but shake his head. She was reading martial arts manuals. Probably to train? He exhaled. "Books are all and good," he murmured. "But Buso Renkin are something else."

"Hey- Tokiko-san-" The door opened and a lean blonde came in, holding two bottles of strawberry milk. They both dropped as Gouta stared at Kazuki.

"What are you doing in here?" he demanded angrily.

Kazuki blinked. "I was returning something to Tokiko-san."

"How'd you get in? Boys aren't allowed in the girls dorms…"

"Then what are you doing in here?" Kazuki pointed out reasonably, making the blonde flush.

"I live here!" he growled. He glared holes into Kazuki. "You've been spending far too much time with Tokiko-san. Where is she? She hasn't even shown up for dinner."

Kazuki's eyes widened. 'No…' He turned sharply and ran, hopping onto her bed and jumping out of the window, to Gouta's squawked surprise.

Landing safely on the ground, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket and started dialing. 'Tokiko-san! I know you're trying your best. I know that you have some sort of experience with martial arts, but Buso Renkin are different! It's a completely different training style… I should be training you in some way.' He prayed to no one in particular. 'Please be safe…'

…

Kawazui licked his lips hungrily. He'd arrived just in time to see the arrogant bitch Hanabusa get slaughtered so viciously by the schoolgirl. Just to be on the safe side, he stayed back, not wanting to be disemboweled. In reality, the frog Homunculus feared the girl and knew the true danger she was, at least unconsciously.

Then- He watched with glee as the young warrior, obviously exhausted, collapsed onto the ground. His master would be pleased once he brought a Buso Renkin back and in the mean time, he'd have dinner. Finally.

His form shifted as he approached. He inhaled her scent and would have licked his lips again.

That was the last thought he ever had.

…

Kazuki stood over the remains of the frog Homunculus, panting. He'd arrived just in time and once he saw the monster posed over a fallen Tokiko- Rage had filled him. He roared as Sunlight Heart shimmered into being in his hand. He didn't even let the monster react; he speared him right through, violently jerking upwards and gutting him.

Vaguely, he could hear a squeal that extended for an odd amount of time. His eyes narrowed and he pinned his lance right between the legs of the little frog that attempted to get away from him unobtrusively. The machine squealed again in pitiful fear.

"Don't hurt me!" the Homunculus whined.

"You threatened Tokiko-san," Kazuki said, his voice dropping in register to an animalistic growl. Rage filled his garnet eyes and lit them with an unholy fire.

"Well- How can I help it, she's there and- Eee! Please don't hurt me!" The tip of Sunlight Heart ground dangerously closer to the frog.

"You're going to show me where the butterfly-masked creator is," Kazuki said with deceptively mild good humor. "Now."

"No."

Kazuki, as well as the frog, looked up instantly. A tall, muscular blonde man with tanned skin and a military bearing had appeared on the river bank.

"W-Washio!" the frog stuttered, eyes widening in fear.

"How dare you consider betraying the master?" the blonde man said in a monotone, but a dangerous tone laced his words.

"I wasn't going to- I promise!" the frog babbled.

"I know you already, you coward. Now do me the favor of dying."

Kazuki only blinked and he could hear the frog's elongated scream, which was cut short. He could only stare as the small Homunculus crumpled apart before him and Washio stood just a few feet away, extended an impressive set of claws over his hand.

"Renkin no senshi," the Homunculus said. "Do not attempt to find my master. Or I will be forced to dispose of you as I did of him."

"As if," Kazuki snarled.

Washio didn't respond. "Then I will send you to the grave," he intoned and vanished.

Kazuki grimaced then he remembered Tokiko. He instantly ran to her side, alarmed at the blood spreading on her uniform. But her heartbeat was steady and she was breathing.

"Thank God," he murmured to himself as he dared to gently brush some hair from her face. "As long as you're safe… Tokiko." He gently picked her up, cradling her against his chest.

Author's Notes: This is a personal project for me more than anything else. It's an exercise in character analysis; I want to see how well I know the characters and how I can modify them under different circumstances. I also swapped the frog Homunculus for Hanabusa, the rose Homunculus because of the gender difference.

Oh, there's not much on Papillon's/Chouno's end or the Homunculi's perspectives for now. I figure that it would be extraneous to do so. But I will cover Papillon later, particularly because he will have to contend with Tokiko primarily.