Wanted! Hydro Arsonist!

Miyuki looked at the blades in her hands, old and terribly cared for. The handles were leather bound, but the leather was peeling and the stitching was coming loose. The blade was littered with gashes from where the previous owner stupidly used it as a shield most likely, and the scabbard was a practically splinters. Still, the small woman, wearing her tattered and beat up dress with burn marks on it took the blades in and decided to call them her own. For now, they would be better than nothing. Meanwhile, Kaede, wearing his brown busted up trousers, worn out boots, and dusty white shirt with the cuts from that dragon's claws looked at a pair of shields. The one he donned on his right arm was a small, circular buckler shield made of wood. It was a bit over a foot in diameter, and he'd already repaired it with several spikes he 'borrowed' from the train tracks. On his left arm, was a massive shield that touched the floor and stopped just below his eyeline. It was wood, with a bit of metal in it for structure. Neither shield looked adequate for combat, but Kaede knew for a fact that he'd be able to manage on his own. "You know... these probably reflect our skill." Kaede said, dismally looking at the back of his trashy shield. "We weren't able to save him... we couldn't save any of them..." Miyuki said in a low, depressed voice as the ghost of her past crept back into her mind. Kaede leaned against the wall of the guard station. "Who's the pessimist now?" he asked, looking at his older sister with dull, sad eyes. "You're the best shieldsman in the world... but I'm..." Miyuki said, turning to a trash can. She kicked it screaming "I'm shit for a blademaster!" causing the bin to fly across the station, smacking an incoming prisoner square in his face. He began swearing at Miyuki, calling her shrimp but stopping as her hazel eyes locked with his own and seemed to be pulling at his throat. She pressed her head against the wall and began crying. Kaede, knowing nothing else to do, pulled her in so she could at least cry on him. The tears soaked his torso, and for some reason felt rather cold despite being fresh. "We've got work to do; supposedly someone from the guild will be with us. If we get stronger, we can find that dragon and make sure it doesn't harm anyone else. And it'd be a bit embarrassing if they thought of you as a cry baby right off the bat, right?" Kaede said calmly. Miyuki nodded, and kept her face buried in her little brother's stomach until their partner, or group leader arrived.

Miyuki spun around, her hazel eyes shifting from sadness to instant anger as the person asked about their guild. Staring at the woman with both blades tightly held in her hands Miyuki started scanning for a sign of her guild, or something she could identify her with. A large shield was placed in front of the extremely tiny girl, her eyes turning to shock as she looked at Kaede. "Recently added... we think. Kaede." the younger, but much taller boy said. He moved his shield and said "My big sister, Miyuki." his voice sounding relaxed, showing no sign of ill intent. Kaede pulled the shield closer in, holding it at the top with his left hand, his expression unchanging. "I don't believe we've met. Your name?" the young man asked respectfully.

Miyuki's expression turned sour, her self hatred peaking as she caught wind of the magic power radiating from the woman. -tch- she clicked her tongue while passing by Hikari, though she didn't quite know exactly who she was; or exactly who she was... To be honest, Miyuki didn't quite care, the only thing she knew is that the woman was beyond her ability... lightyears beyond her ability.

Kaede lifted his shield and walked up to Hika, gently placing it back on the ground as he turned his eyes to meet hers. "We've been through a lot in the past week. She doesn't deal with emotion well... and tom's not her best friend... if you catch my drift." he said calmly, his voice almost monotoned as the words came out. Kaede slid his arm into the hold of his shield and lifted the massive block of wood and steel as though it were a sheet of paper. "She'll get over it." he said while walking forwards. Miyuki was already at the entrance to the sewers where she rammed the tip of one of her swords into the finger holes on the hatch and gave a sharp swing down as though she were pulling, or in the cast pushing a lever. The hatch erupted from its slot, flying high into the air and landing elsewhere in town. A dust cloud shaped like a mushroom was seen rising over the buildings where the hatch landed as Miyuki jumped into the hole. This was accompanied by a shrill voice being not so gracefully heard on the winds saying "MY CABBAGES!!!!" with sheer terror for how its owner would pay for his rent now. In that corner of the town, several people had gathered around the mass of broken wood and cabbage bits. "At least... at least I still have some in storage..." the cabbage seller said while morning the death of 30 or so cabbages. 

Kaede, having already connected the dots without needing to see the destroyed cabbage cart slowly turned his head to look at his guild master with a rather terrified look on his face. "We... we're not gunna have to pay for that... are we?" he asked hesitantly in the wake of their freshly added charge of destruction of public property. Meanwhile down in the sewers Miyuki spotted a massive net filled to the brim with cabbages. 'How disgusting. Who the hell stores food in a sewer? Better'd get rid of it...' she thought and immediately swung her blades, cutting a hole in the bottom of the bag and allowing every last cabbage to flow into the sewage system never to be seen again.

Kaede watched as the woman paid the man at inhuman speeds, literally, and then asked about their destination. Figuring that meant she didn't actually read the job, Kaede decided to tell her about it to cover his bases. "Some guy's down there, in the sewers that is, torching anyone who goes in. None of the guards who go in make it out alive, and uncooked so the guards here on the surface weren't able to tell us too much about the situation. We know he's in the sewers, and he's got a flamethrower. Though since none of the guards saw 'him' it's also possible that 'he' is actually a she..." his voice was fairly calm and nonchalant about the whole situation. 

In the manhole, Miyuki walked down the sewage path by herself. She continuously eyed her surroundings, knowing that if it were as easy as jump in a hole and take down a single person, the sheer amount of guards they sent prior to her and her brother would have been enough. The way she figured it, this person would have henchmen, or some sorts of trap... She knew everyone died by fire, or had horrible burns so most likely she would be dealing with fire mages, or people with flamethrowers. That in mind, Miyuki leaned against a wall with her arms crossed, looking at the ground while contemplating the difference between her and 'that woman' who's coming along with them.

Kaede walked behind his guild master, contemplating if he should be the one guarding her with the shield, or if she should be guarding him with her... with her raw power... He wanted to just run in front like a proper shieldsman would do, making sure his shield takes damage before his friends, but he didn't want to offend his guild master. Meanwhile, much farther ahead, Miyuki spotted a rather strange sight coming towards her... A single woman made purely of fire as she floated above the water's surface. Miyuki's eyes flew wide open at the sight, knowing for a fact that she hadn't eaten anything weird because it was days since her last true meal. Grabbing her two swords, she jumped back just as a fireball impacted the area she was once standing in. The thoughts of that woman, the one she didn't know anything about aside from her being much stronger flooded into her mind. Miyuki wanted to run, get back to her brother and fight it together. "She didn't get stronger by running..." Lexa said under her breath. She charged at the being and ran her blades into its heart, or what should be its heart. The being began glowing brightly, immediately letting Miyuki know why it was so easy to hit it. She let out a shrill scream as the explosion went off, sending Miyuki flying across down the path next to the sewer water and sliding to a stop with the top of her head just barely on the walkway, dangling a couple inches from the poop water. Kaede's eyes flew wide open as he heard the voice, bolting past Hika still wielding his massive shield and buckler but running as if they were little more than switch blades. "MIYUKI!!!" he shouted as he turned the corner and saw his sister on the concrete walk way, and ahead of her was a rather large horde...

Kaede watched as a series of fireballs began firing at his sister, his first and only instinct was to jump over her and put up his shield. He grunted, wincing as the blasts slammed into his large square shield causing it to buckle slightly. All of a sudden, the fireballs stopped. Kaede looked over his shield and the fire elementals were being forced to lay off by some attack his guild master was using. His master ordered him to grab his sister and haul ass, an order she didn't need to give; but it was nice to know she wasn't engulfed by the joys of fighting. Kaede took off his large shield and leaned it on the wall to prevent the item from hindering his mobility. He made his way over to Miyuki and gently scooped her up in his arms. Jogging away, down the sidewalk and to a path on the right where the fire elementals wouldn't be a problem; Kaede set Miyuki down to check on her. He made sure she was breathing, frantically placing his ear next to her mouth and staring at her chest. Much to his relief, she was breathing. A touch to the side of her neck confirmed she was alive, just knocked out from the explosion. He got up and ran back around the corner to grab his shield, taking note that the blood that sprayed on the wall soon turned to flames. For now, the enemies decided to pull a tactical retreat; but he knew they'd be back. "She's alive." Kaede said when his guild master asked if Miyuki was alright. "While we have some time I'd like to make sure she didn't break anything. M-may I ask you to find her swords? They should be somewhere around where that explosion went off." Kaede said, slightly hesitant to ask anything of someone he should be taking orders from.

Kaede heard a sizzling sound, immediately spinning around Hika while pulling his body shield up as a being made entirely of water and flames. The being fired a blast of flaming water that for some reason didn't convert to to steam. Hitting the shield, Kaede buckled slightly but kept his body braced against it to prevent his guild master from being hit. Suddenly the blades disappeared from Hika's hands as Miyuki dashed around Kaede with absolute rage in her eyes. A loud, shrill scream of rage was heard as she flew past the two, completely ignoring the natural reaction to just being blown up. The two blades began swinging, the first hit causing the creature to stop firing on Kaede, and a blast began firing from the side facing Miyuki. Adrenaline filling her veins, the attack was seen in slow motion allowing her to react to it by jumping over the attack and spinning with the blades. The weapons continuously slashed the being, entering and exiting its liquid body and sending small napalm balls all over the place. Not wanting the guild master to get hurt, Kaede simply said "Don't try and stop her unless you want her, to make you kill her." with a somewhat disheartened voice in the face of his own uselessness. Before long however, a loud crack was heard coming from the flaming water elemental as a crystal in its head was shattered. The fire on its body went out, and the being fell into the water leaving Miyuki standing there panting with a furious expression.

Miyuki watched as Hika killed two more fire elementals with ease, not even getting so much as a burn from their flame covered bodies. Kaede decided to ignore that he receive no acknowledgement for having blocked a rather strong attack from hitting her, and focused on the task at hand. His sister quickly ran up to him and dropped a sword, using her free hand to remove Kaede's buckler shield. She quickly fitted it to her wrist and began charging at the army of enemies. Kaede watched as his sister did by far the dumbest thing she could do, and froze in place at just how useless he was. Miyuki jumped over one of the fire elementals just before it exploded from being killed by Hika, and rolled forwards instead of trying to fight the explosion. She charged forward, deflecting an incoming fireball with the buckler she took from Kaede, causing the attack to fizzle out when it hit the water. She jumped and began running on the wall, jumping again over one of the fire elementals. Miyuki spun and rammed the blade in its back and then spun again and stabbed another in its face. She quickly jumped into a roll behind the monster, slashing a couple more enemies as she passed and then quickly used the buckler shield to block some of the damage from the resulting series of explosions.

Soon, all of the monsters were being assaulted by Hika in her wake as she carelessly took down the creatures with little thought to the safety of her subordinates. As the last of the enemies dropped, Kaede, having remembered what happened before, immediately jumped in front of Miyuki as every last opponent glowed red and exploded. The force sent him flying back, slamming into Miyuki where he quickly released his shield and wrapped his arms around his sister. Taking most of the damage from the flames, Kaede also spun himself around and took the damage from impacting the wall with enough force to create a crater. He fell from the wall, landing in a seated position as blood slid out his mouth from a piece of rubble that shot through his ragged clothes and into his left lung, making it hard to breath. "K- Kaede...?" Miyuki said in disbelief, watching as yet another of her brothers began dying right in front of her again. At that moment, a woman stepped out from a different tunnel with a large flame thrower in her hands saying "My god... you people enjoy making too much noise..." with a rather irritated voice. Miyuki stood up, her silvery hair began glowing as well as the crest of Sabertooth beginning to appear in her eyes with a slight greenish-white color. Kaede had blacked out entirely, his body wasn't strong enough to resist so much damage at once. Tears flowing down her face as their target made herself known at the worst time, Miyuki was trying to fight her emotions so as to not compromise the mission, though her nearly dead brother didn't make that easy.

Miyuki began glowing brightly despite her knowing no magic at all, her silky silver hair beginning to float and completely disregard gravity itself. She shut her eyes as the pain set in, ignoring the battle going on behind her while she kneeled over her unconscious brother with a silent hope that he wasn't truly gone. "K- Kaede..." she said, her voice filled with agony that no form of physical torture could being about. She slowly stood up and grabbed the two blades from the ground, her aura taking on the same metallic color as her weapons. She watched as her guild master stood before her, and then flashed past her. Shrilly screaming an enraged howl that would make even the most prideful dragons shit themselves, Miyuki appeared as nothing short of a silver line as she appeared next to their opponent who hadn't expected such a thing to be possible. Miyuki swung the jagged blades once, and the woman's four limbs were severed from her body, allowing only a torso with a head attached to hit the floor. Somehow, the wounds were seared shut and prevented her from bleeding at all. Miyuki turned to Hika, her eyes filled with rage as the outline of a greenish-white sabertooth guild stamp appeared among the hazel orbs, glowing with power. Miyuki began charging at her own guild master screaming "THIS IS YOUR FAULT" while swinging her blades. Miyuki was stopped a few feet shy of her enemy, a distinct sharp pain in her stomach. Looking down, she saw the extended arm of her brother with his buckler shield having struck her stomach. "No... it's yours." he said calmly. Kaede rammed the shield in further, lifting Miyuki higher up before pulling it back and then swinging his leg and kicking her across the sewer into the opposing wall. "You're so damn prideful, so damn unwilling to let someone else show you up, so damn hateful of anyone stronger than you that you rushed into the middle of a horde. If you didn't do that, I wouldn't have needed to protect you." Kaede said, his voice was calm still even when he should be shouting at her. Kaede walked over, wrapping his hand around Miyuki's throat and lifting her off the ground, the small woman grabbing the hand while making a pained expression. "I hold no allegiance to you Miyuki Tachibana... if you intend on assaulting the innocent..." he said just before dropping her. He lifted a leg and swung it again, sending Miyuki back across the sewer and into the wall near Hika. "Are we clear?" he said, his voice was much more menacing now. Miyuki had fully passed out, tears streaming down her face with blood falling from her mouth. "She's not dead ma'am, neither of them are. Thank you for accompanying us, and I apologize for my elder sister's rudeness. Please take care of this city's new prisoner, I must attend to mine." Kaede said respectfully before walking over to Miyuki and slinging her over his shoulder. He kicked his body shield and grabbed the top, lifted it and began walking away.