Quick heads up, this takes place after the series, it may contain spoilers, the spoilers are going to be from the books and character endings(though I will make some of it up seeing as I can't find a few ends) , if they don't match the anime, that is why. Most of this will be made up by me. I am typically not fond of fanfictions but this came to me and someone asked me to publish it here so I shall lol. I PROBABLY will not write this all in one sitting either so it could go unfinished for some time. I'm not planning to make this explicit but it may go there eventually, if you're reading it for sex, you're in the wrong place lol. Shall we begin?
Chapter 1
After the defeat of the swamp witch, the beautiful warriors were once again able to focus on other things. Tomoe in specific had much to do being the high priestess of Hinomoto. It was a cool summer morning as Tomoe waited on the Bridge looking out over the blooming waterlilies. Just as Tomoe began to grow tired of waiting, a figure in a white summer yokatta with green cranes painted on it approached the bridge. Tomoe was so glad to have reganed her vision after the defeat of the Swamp Witch, though she did not much need it anymore, it was nice being able to enjoy her surroundings. As the figure grew closer, Tomoe pouted, "You said you would be here at sunrise..." Tomoe said in a stern voice. Echidna, in her yokatta smirked replying "I was just taking in the land, it's not everyday I get to come here~". Tomoe sighed "I suppose so...anyways you will recieve payment after the job is done." Tomoe did not want to hire Echidna as a mercenary but she knew it was the only way she could keep her promise to Branwen, bringing her shrine maidens to another raid against Dogura would be cruel after the last time when so many of them were captured, she could not stand to see the fear in their eyes. Tomoe knew that now was the best time to return for Branwen as promised since Nowa had gone back to visit Alleyne, she could not bring Nowa back to that place, it would be too cruel. Tomoe knew she would have to complete this mission on her own but taking on the entire Hinomoto camp would be impossible by herself, she needed to hire an assistant, someone strong, someone she would not have to worry about. Being a priestess, she did not know many mercenaries that met the description, only Echidna came to mind; though she could have asked Leina or one of the other beautiful fighters, she knew they had their own things to deal with, Echidna was the only one who she could ask for help without feeling like a burden.
Knoding, Echidna looked directly into Tomoe's eyes and slid a hand onto Tomoe's back, Tomoe shuttered as Echidna caressed her lower back. "We have a job to do! can you be serious for 5 minutes?!" Tomoe blurted out in a somewhat annoyed tone. Echidna slid her other hand onto Tomoe's back pulling her close, now holding her almost face to face, Echidna let out a small laugh as Tomoe's face turned red. Tomoe almost wished she was blind again so she would not have to see Echidna so closely, Tomoe glared to the side as Echidna gazed into her eyes. "you know, your eyes are really quite lovely, I'm so glad you can see again" Echidna said as she leaned in to lick Tomoe's neck. Tomoe, now becoming very frustrated pushed Echidna off forcibly, Echidna stumbled back a bit and laughed. "So this job you needed me for? what is it?" Echidna said, almost seriously but still flirtacious. "I made a promise to a friend, I told her I would come back for her but I cannot put the one's I care about in such danger again' Tomoe said in a somewhat depressed tone still blushing a bit staring to her left at the ground. "Ah~ So you do not mind putting me in danger?~ how cold~" Echidna said in a playful tone. Tomoe, getting flustered again quickly replied "No, it's not that, I just know you can do the job, do you want the money or not?". "I suppose so, but it would be much nicer now~" Echidna swooned. Tomoe looked sternly at Echidna replying "You will recieve the money after the job is done. That is the deal.". Echidna let out a sigh as she spoke, "Alriiiiiiight" smirking again "but only because you're so cute~". "Then we shall go tonight at sunset, do not be late again" Tomoe replied in a serious tone while still blushing a bit. "You wanted to meet at sunrise then again at sunset in the same day~? Do you not sleep?" Echidna said in a joking manner, Tomoe replied "I can rest afterwards, for the time being I will prepare for the night, I suggest you do the same." Echidna knodded and started to walk past Tomoe, just as Tomoe had thought it was over, she felt a hand slide down her robe. "Say~ you wouldn't mind if I stayed at your temple for a while right~? I could use a place to prepare for this adventure you've set up on such short notice~" Echidna swooned as she groped Tomoe. Tomoe, again red in the face from blushing quickly agreed saying "FINE, please, just go now and prepare." then quickly stormed off. Tomoe walked about 20 yards ahead of Echidna the whole way back to the temple after that.
Chapter 2
As the night approached, Echidna sat in the bathhouse with a few of the shrine maidens. "It's been a while since I've been able to take a nice bath like this~" Echidna sighed. "I really~ appreciate everything you've all told me today, come Kelten." As Echidna stood up and walked out into the courtyard stark naked, a snake slithered out of the water following her; causing a few of the otherwise relaxed maidens to squeel in shock. As she opened the door to her room, she noticed Tomoe was sitting on her cott waiting. "Good, you're here, are you ready to leave?" Tomoe seemed a bit impatient, as if excited but still serious. Echidna, totally ignoring the mood, just walked in and proceeded to slide her yokatta back on. "Actually, we aren't going tonight" Echidna said. Tomoe's eyes widened with shock. "WHAT? I hired you for this tonight! You agreed this morning! We have to go now!" Tomoe said looking a rather flustered. "Relax, I am more than capable of saving that person on my own, I'll do the job still, just not tonight" Echidna said. This was not the news Tomoe had wanted to hear, "Why not?! Why the sudden change?! You'll need my help and we have to do this before Nowa comes back!". "Nowa? I believe I've met her before" Echidna chuckled a bit "why does it matter if she is here or not?". Tomoe blurted out "Because she'll want to come with and I cannot risk letting her get captured again!" calming down a bit to an almost depressed tone, Tomoe said "I just can't put her through that twice." Echidna calmly announced "Relax, I CAN do the job more than easily enough on my own, I am the best right? I've been talking to some of the other shrine maidens who had also been captured today and I've decided I would like to investigate it a bit more first." putting her arm against the wall behind Tomoe, Kelten slid up Echidna's leg to take his place. "Tomorrow I will begin my investigations, tonight, I'm just going to drink some sake and have fun, you're more than welcome to join me if you'd like~" Echidna laughed. Tomoe, red in the face, quickly got up and walked out of the room, both upset and embaraced, but she knew she couldn't take the entire place down alone and save Branwen at the same time. By the time she could wipe out the gaurds, Dogura and Branwen would be long gone to a safer location, or Branwen would attack her again.
Though Branwen on her own would not be the worst opponent but with all the other gaurds also poking at her, it might be a bit of a problem. She knew she had to trust Echidna and let it go for tonight, besides, Nowa may stay for a while with Alleyne. Neither Nowa nor Tomoe knew much of what had gone on with Alleyne since they last saw her and Nowa never really said when or if she'd be back. Tomoe just wanted to hurry in case. It still seemed rude of Echidna to change her mind at the last minute. Tomoe became a bit flustered at the thought as she walked to her room, she had prepared all day for nothing. She knew getting angry would not fix it but it was still a bit annoying. This was her plan and now it seemed like Echidna was in charge, but as long as it got done, Tomoe didn't care too much how.
Chapter 3
Echidna woke up slowly around noon, the scent of sake still heavy on her breath. The temple was an oddly relaxing place, she was beginning to get comfortable but she knew she had a job to do. She needed to scope out the area before just rushing in, she didn't have much of an idea what she was getting into yet after all. Walking out into the courtyard, she noticed Tomoe leading a prayer with some other shrine maidens. "Hey! let's go to that place now" Echidna barked out loudly, Tomoe, in shock at Echidna's rude behavior, proceeded to pray even louder, her forehead beginning to twitch. Echidna once again called out to her "Hey! you wanted to go right? I have other things I could do ya know~" and proceeded to walk slowly out the gate. Tomoe quickly finished her prayer still speaking loudly and rushed after her, "How could you disrupt me while I'm leading a prayer?!" Tomoe said the moment she caught up to Echidna. "Prayer? that was some kind of daily chant at best~ You humans just haaaave to cram your lives with things to give them meaning don't you~?" Echidna laughed. Tomoe was not pleased, remembering she had just run out as soon as she could, Tomoe felt a bit unprepared too. "So why the sudden decision to go now?" Tomoe could not help but ask. Echidna in an almost smug tone replied "Well, this is not what you think, since you called me to this land on short notice, I had no time to look into this place Although I could find the person you are looking for and bring her back to you, I'd rather scout out the area first, right now, you're just showing me where it is. A description of the girl would also be nice~". Tomoe began to grow even more frustrated, "It's about a day's walk to the north from here, as for the girl, I have no idea what she looks like as I was blind at the time I met her! you'll know her by her power and loyalty to the slave trader Dogura, her name is Branwen." "Oh, I see, and would there be anything else I should be aware of?" Echidna chuckled a bit as she spoke. Tomoe stopped to think for a second as if humoring the idea that there may be more. "I believe there was something about a dragon? That was what bound her to him." "I see, well, I'll be back to the temple later, you can head back now, I no longer need you for this part" Echidna said smugly. Tomoe was not fond of the idea but she was a high priestess, she couldn't leave the temple with no notice for however long Echidna wanted to play around, Echidna was not even talking about rescuing Branwen yet, it made sense to head back like she said so Tomoe headed back for now.
"Where to begin?" Echidna had changed back to her normal attire that morning, though the yokatta was comfortable, it was not practical for combat. She began to approach the camp, it had become suprisingly established, she was suprised to see people and demons alike entering and leaving casually. It appeared as though they were going to some type of show. Sitting in a tree, she could easily see the initial gate they were entering through, there was somewhat of a poor attempt to camoflage it but loud sounds still could be heard from it for at least 30 yards, Echidna laughed thinking about how pooly hidden it was. She knew she would not blend into the crowd in her normal attire so she had no choice but to look around, noticing a rather well dressed noble woman stepping out of her carriage a few feet away, she wasted to time. Echidna quickly jumped down from the tree landing behind the woman and holding one of her throwing daggers to her neck, "Come with me quietly and we won't die your kimono red~" Echidna said in a low voice as she licked the noble woman's face. The Carriage driver began to panic, what a pain, though he was easily silenced by the sight of Kelten. The Driver fainted from fear of the snake, it was pathetic, almost disapointing. Echidna wasted no time sliding into the bushes and taking the woman's clothing she had captured, leaving her own clothin in another tree safely. Walking out of the bushes, a few men noticed her, she brushed herself off and announced "What? you've never seen a woman pee before~?". In shock at her brashness, the men quickly turned back around. She had not problem getting past the first gate, once inside the scene was much more intesting. Neon lights and multicolored fabrics decorated the area, it was starting to look more like a circus than a camp. In the middle was another building, this place was suprisingly large. a goblin at the inner gate was shouting "TICKETS! PLACE YOUR BETS NOW! SEE THE BATTLE! ENJOY THE SCENERY SINCE THE GREAT REBUILD!". The goblin proceeded to repeat this over and over, wondering what battle he spoke of, Echidna walked to the gate. It seemed that she would need some money but that was no problem when in such a crowd, she cassually grabbed a coinpurse from the belt of a man on her way to the gate, dropping the entire thing in the goblin's hands "keep it" she said as she walked in. This was definately an arena, in the center, a large frog like beast was fighting with what looked like another large beast. As she looked around she noticed an elevated seat above the rest, in it a small disgusting goblin was sitting eating grapes next to a beautiful woman with brown hair braided and tossed over her shoulder. What an interesting place this was. Echidna settled back into her seat, she still didn't know who Branwen was or when she would see her, all she could do was wait a bit.