Playing with Fire(DM)

Spotlights streaked the sky, sirens shrieked until silence, scenery unfounded, and the buildings grounded.

--Bagdad, Iraq--

Junko was in a Humvee, doing fucking patrols, day in, day out, same bastards trying to kill her, plus a few. The city stretched for miles, low buildings, sanding buildings, and the heat... oh that damn heat, trying to burn a hole straight through to the other end of the earth. Junko didn't mind much, except for the problem of being essentially in a gigai, a non suppression model, as Junko didn't want her power waning and getting jumped by Soul Society.

The rest of her squad was in the Humvee, and they had quickly figured out that Junko should never be their driver, "Unless you have a death wish". Bastards. She lived, ate, drank *coughheavilycough*, and fought with them, but they had been casualty less, not even a hangnail to their names. Almost a year in... Junko almost forgot what the rest of the world is, not a hellhole like this, not even worth fighting for.

They were back to base, lead car, sort of their units lucky charm. And what do lucky charms do when they drive over land mines? Explode of course...

Junko's Humvee exploded, rocketing 10 feet in the air, straight up, and straight onto another mine, sending shrapnel through the entire vehicle, though the armor plating, and through the tired squad...

--Later--

Gunfire chattered, and Junko tried to climb out of her seat, her eyesight blackened with every movement. But she struggled out of the blown out window, and she felt her eyes grow heavy, and she in her last though of conciousness bit her collar...

-Even more Later-

Junko was away from the battle, Hostiles bombed her whole convoy simultaniously, and then opened fire. If she had stayed alive and moving, she probably would have been captured, dressed up for one of those videos, and killed...

Thankfully, popping out of her body immitated death, however, the hollow that prey battlefields now would have a clean shot at her.

She was wounded, shrapenel through the leg, through and through though, just abit of bleeding, and the minor issue her head and arm wounds... All bleeding, but all banadaged...

Now only to avoid detection till she could recover the Gigai...

"Drink up, Sumiko." Tatsuya tossed a bottle of water her way. "Don't want you getting dehydrated." He smiled as Sumiko caught the bottle. "How many have you drank?" She opened it and took a swig. "Today? None. I've been giving you all of mine." Tatsuya grinned as they walked around the base. "Huh?! Oh that's right, we've been in a cooler climate for so long, I had forgotten about your tolerance for heat. She drank some more water. "Still, when Zamoreus had told us we would be going some place warm for a meeting, I didn't think he meant this sun baked patch of scorched earth." She looked up at Tatsuya who started to laugh. "It's not so bad. I kinda of like it." He reached over and brought Sumiko closer to him. "Yeah, you would like it" She pushed away from him trying to stay cool, not like it helped with the hot air blowing in the breeze.

Off in the distance a loud explosion could be heard, and more soon followed. A siren sounded in the base. "A unit is under attack." Tatsuya began to quickly walk back to Zamoreus' armed convoy. They approached four black SUVs with eighteen men hovering around them. The men were all dressed in black tactical gear designed to stop just about anything short of a .50 caliber round and carried sophisticated plasma pulse rifles: Zamoreus' own private security team. "Are we tapped in?" Tatsuya approached one of the men. "Yes sir." The man looked up at Tatsuya. "Sit Rep." Tatsuya patiently waited for his reply. "A military convoy has been intercepted and is currently under heavy attack. Patrol units have been ordered to provide support, but are more than ten minutes away." The man calmly informed Tatsuya. "Air support?" Deployed to a battle in Al-Najaf, Sir. The man quickly replied. "How close are we? "Sir? The man was surprised by the question. "How close?" Tatsuya annoyed that he had to repeat himself. "No more than five minutes." The man replied knowing what was coming next. "Good let's go." Tatsuya walked to one of the SUVs and opened the door. "Zamoreus is in the middle of a military base, I know nothing will happen while we're gone. Plus we have better equipment then the troops here." Tatsuya turned to the men, who were a bit hesitant before Tatsuya explained.

As Tatsuya got into the SUV and closed the door, the door on the other side opened and Sumiko hopped in. "Sumiko stay here." Tatsuya grabbed her hand. "Nope, I'm going. You'll need a field medic for the injured." Sumiko determinedly looked at Tatsuya. "Sir?" The driver waited for Tatsuya's word. Tatsuya looked into Sumiko's eyes and let out a sigh. "Go. Stay close." He ordered the driver then looked back at Sumiko. The convoy of SUVs rushed through the streets of Baghdad, not worrying about anyone who got in their way. "Let them know we're on the way." Tatsuya ordered the front passenger. "Yes sir." The man acknowledged then reached for the radio. "This is Death Dealer to Hot Zone, I repeat Death Dealer to Hot Zone. Friendlies en route. Friendlies en route. Riding four black stallions. Over. The man let go of the radio mic.

*static* *gunfire* "Clear" *static* "Black Stallions" *explosion* *static* "Advising heavy casualties" *gunfire* "Surrounded. Over."

"Get the comm link up between the vehicles." Tatsuya ordered and the man flipped a switch. "Units 2 and 3 rally up with those still fighting and provided covering fire. Unit 4 get out the plasma launchers and hammer the hostiles. Unit 1, we try and gather the injured." Tatsuya relayed orders while the units gave out a unison "Yes sir" over the comm. Tatsuya turned his chair around to face a big black case. When he opened there was some plasma rifles and a large gattling gun. "Just how I showed you." He took one rifle and gave it to Sumiko and then reached for the gattling gun. "Barricade, sir." The driver informed Tatsuya. "Ram through." Tatsuya ordered without hesitation.

Once they were through the barricade, hostile fire immediately headed their way, bouncing off the armor plating. The convoy stopped as it approached the hot zone, and the driver and passenger exited immediately and started firing. The rest of the team followed suit. Tatsuya did the same but stayed close to Sumiko. They were both wearing the same tactical gear as the others; courtesy of Zamoreus. The team met up with the survivors and provided support, fighting off the hostiles, without losing anyone else. Once the other support arrived things went by a lot smoother. The fighting went on for a little over an hour, but with the teams help, not others were lost.

Once the fighting was over, they went searching for soldiers that didn't make it. Sumiko and Tatsuya came across a female body in a mangled Humvee. After they pulled it from the wreckage, Sumiko examined it. What she found out surprised her. "Tatsuya." She called him over as quietly as she could. "What is it?" Tatsuya he walked over to her. "This." Sumiko pointed to the lifeless body. "It's not a body. It's a gigai." She whispered. Tatsuya was genuinely surprised. "Are you sure?" Tatsuya kneeled down besides the body. "Very sure" She replied before removing the gigai's helmet. Tatsuya looked at the face and realized who it was, after a moment. "That's Junko Tenshi's gigai." Tatsuya stated, this time catching Sumiko with a surprise. "The woman you escaped with?" She asked. "That would be the one. We had a morality conflict and decided to go are separate ways. At Least I know she's doing okay, in a manner of speaking." Tatsuya briefly explained. "Oh." Was Sumiko's only reply. "We need to find her. Let's get out of these and start looking for her." Tatsuya reached into his pocket and pulled out a gikongan. Tatsuya swallowed the pill and popped out of his gigai. Sumiko did the same right after. "You two take the body back to the SUV, don't let anyone else near it." He ordered the artificial souls inhabiting his and Sumiko's gigai. "Let's go." He disappeared with flash step and Sumiko followed.

Junko shunpo'ed out of the way of some damnable ice, thoughts racing through her mind, foremost, "How can a freaking ice hollow exist out here?!?!?!". Junko drew her Zanpaktou, she had been making her way back to the crash site when she was attacked, prefuckingdictable. would, on a normal day, step out and kill the hollow in less than a minute, but Junko found it hard to swing a sword with an arm full of holes, and a leg that was less than cooperative to shunpo with.

"Shit"

Junko dove out of the ice ray, and as cold as it was, it was melting soon after contact with the earth. Junko drew her Zanpaktou, and did what the smart people did, charged... She managed to leap with only 1 foot above the next ice ray, and she split the hollow in two, her broadsword cleaving into the mask of the hollow, and the heated blade melted the poor soul into dust, sending it to Soul Society...

Junko looked around, she felt something... and saw militants, hostiles, what ever the damn enemy was now was fleeing, back to their homes. Junko wanted to pursue, but instead, she limped back towards the convoy, on the lookout for whatever the spiritual presence was that had piqued her senses.

Tatsuya and Sumiko could feel a shinigami's reiatsu in the distance and a hollow's as well. "No surprise there. Where there is death, there are sure to be hollows" Tatsuya stated out loud as they ran towards the reiatsu. As they got closer to Junko, a hollow appeared before them. "I got this, you go on ahead." Tatsuya stopped and unsheathed his zanpakuto. "Don't take too long." Sumiko said before continuing forward; the hollow charged after Sumiko. Tatsuya quickly flash stepped in front of it and blocked it's attack. "Sorry, but I'm first." Tatsuya pushed the humanoid hollow back and charged forward with a one handed slash to its head. The hollow blocked the attack with its heavily armored arm and swung its other arm at Tatsuya. "You're a tough one." Tatsuya commented after he dodged the counter attack. "No matter."

Sumiko could see two figures in the distance, a hollow and a smaller figure; a shinigami. "That must be the woman Tatsuya mentioned." She thought to herself while picking up the pace. Once she arrived close to the two, the shinigami sliced through the hollow. Sumiko noticed she was hurt, and knew Tatsuya would want her to heal Junko. Sumiko casually approached the female shinigami.

Junko gets +1 for looking around... at the wrong moment...

Junko was proceding with caution, down the middle of the road... contrary statement, but the reasoning she could see what was coming if she was in the middle of the road, and if she was in the alleys, she could get jumped by small hollows.

Or she could just get approached by a shinigami... Junko sighed and turned to face her opponent, another woman... familiar even, not from squad 11... she couldn't recall where she would have seen this shinigami...

Even so, Junko didn't underestimate her abilities, she gripped her sword with her right hand, her left arm limp at her side, her wounds still bleeding some, but the puncture marks were mostly cauterized. Junko was in her standard armor, and she did something she hadn't done in awhile... she let loose the caps on her Spiritual Pressure, managing to raise the already burning temperatures to incindiary.

Junko pointed Feniikusu at the shinigami, and waited for a moment, before flash steping forward, executing a simple side to side strike when she landed in front of her opponent...

"Bakudo number ten - Horin." A orange hued tendril flew from Tatsuya's left hand and wrapped around the hollow's neck. Tatsuya jerked the tendril hard slamming the hollow's face into the ground. He quickly used shunpo and appeared above the hollow's head, piercing it straight through with ease. "Like I said... No matter" Tatsuya watched as the hollow disintegrated. Tatsuya then felt the surge of someone's reiatsu. "Sumiko!" Tatsuya quickly disappeared in her direction with shunpo.

Sumiko looked at Junko with a surprised expression as she felt the rise in spiritual pressure. "That heat! It's just like Tatsuya's." She quickly realized what kinda of abilities Junko had, but had yet to realize that they would be directed at her. As quickly as Junko shunpo'd, Sumiko had drawn her zanpakuto. Just in time to deflect one of the strikes. "Hey...Wait!" Sumiko said between slashes. Sumiko let out a short loud scream when she lost her grip of her zanpakuto with one of Junko's strikes. When another strike was aimed at the unarmed Sumiko, Tatsuya quickly appeared between them with a loud clang of metal as he stopped the blade with his own, furiously glaring down at Junko. "That's the second time I've had to stop your blade from striking down the innocent, Junko Tenshi. And it was aimed at the woman I love, no less." He pushed back hard intending to send Junko skidding back.

Junko's brow furrowed, her mind slamming possiblities out of her mind... The first strike nearly killed her opponent, obviously a novice and naive to the possiblilty of an unfriendly shinigami. Junko just had to strike again, this time with a cleave at the blade, not at the body, and it went flying. Junko then moved to press her blade against this idiot's throat, rising on her toes to do so... She would never of expected someone could race into that gap... But Tatsuya never dissapoints in his chivalry.

Of course, thats who it was, Junko recongnized him instantly, but more importantly, she saw the fury in his eyes as the man who had 2 feet on junko pushing away from him. Junko tried to hold, but her injured leg gave out. Junko fell back on her rump, but carried the momentum, rolling backward onto her knees. she needed her other arm to roll to her feet, she rose slowly, part out of caution, part out of physical inablity to rise quickly...

"Lovers... you know, getting her involved in this wasn't exsactly smart of you, now you only put her life in danger... and by the way... nobody is innocent..."

Junko finished the sentence, and said, "Honoo, Fenikkusu no Tenshi!", And her shikai activated, the armor extending into plates, wings folded tightly over her back she chanted with hast, "Bakuto 1 Sai!" targeting Tatsuya's Lover, and finally as a finish to her stratagy she flash stepped so that Tatsuya was between his lover and the tip of her sword, which then let loose a searing red flame.

Tatsuya wasn't completely furious with Junko, he was angry with himself for letting Sumiko continue on alone. He had forgotten Junko would strike down a shinigami without the slightest bit of hesitation. Tatsuya stayed silent as Junko fell to the ground, rising slowly. He ignored her words. He couldn't ignore her when she released her zanpakuto. Tatsuya felt the heat rising around them as Junko cast a kidou spell. Hearing what it was, he thought he was the target, but when he didn't feel anything, he heard a small grunt behind him. His head quickly turned to Sumiko, giving Junko the opportunity to close the distance between them. His head jerked back to Junko, his eyes filled with fury and at the same time disbelief that Junko would attack him. Tatsuya didn't dare try to dodge Junko's sword. "HEAVY SHELL BARRIER!" Sumiko yelled out from behind Tatsuya, hands still constricted behind her. A blue barrier quickly formed between Tatsuya and the oncoming flame, causing them to swirl around the shell shaped barrier. "Glad you don't need your hands to cast, Sumiko." Tatsuya turned towards her inside the barrier as she freed herself. "So am I," she rubbed her wrists and arms. The barrier dissipated on its own after a moment, not carrying the same strength as it would with a full incantation and indication. "I think I'll leave you two to catch up." She glared angrily at Junko; a look that Tatsuya very rarely saw from her. She quickly flash stepped to her grounded zanpakuto, picking it up and once again flash stepping away from the two. "Rise from the ashes, Suzaku," Tatsuya changed his sword to a reverse grip and slid his left hand along the blade, activating his shikai. "I'll communicate with the only way you know how to communicate." His forearms and hands were ablaze inside form fighting metal gauntlets, a blade protruding from above the knuckles, and two smaller blades on the outside of his wrists. He got into a fighting stance.

Junko smirked, "Kido specialist", Junko knew here attack wouldn't connect one way or the other, but the trap had worked, and perhaps she would be able to connect with one of these forks again...

Junko kept that smirk on her face, for Tatsuya, this was life or death, but she kept an attitude that reflected the pleasure of executing petty tricks on her opponents that kept the snide grin on her face. The purpose to exasperate Tatsuya, and perhaps have him misjudge Junko.

Inside of course, in her head, she knew in the little corner that was her conscious, that Tatsuya would kill her if it came to his squeeze or his partner in crime. Junko kept her wings folded tight against her back, as they tend to catch drafts and such when open. And advanced cautiously, keeping her weight on her uninjured leg and her arm limp... waiting for her fellow traitor to make the first move.

Tatsuya hated that smirk on Junko's face. Both Sumiko and himself were there to help her, but she hungered for battle so much that she was blind to such things. Tatsuya didn't move from his position, even his breathing was nearly undetectable as Junko slowly approached. She looked a little younger now. Tatsuya remembered that happening to her before when she would use her shikai. "I wonder how long she can sustain it." His form unchanging as he thought.

His stance changed as he took a slow step back, dragging his foot along the ground, as Junko got closer. He took another step back, just as slowly as the first. The moment his foot was firmly behind him, he flash stepped forward and appeared on Junko's right side; away from Sumiko. He placed his right hand next to Junko's blade, attempting to grasp it. At the same time threw a his left elbow at her head.

Junko anticipated a shunpo advance from Tatsuya, but she didn't expect to see it... She giving up ground is merely a feint for shinigami, so she expected some blistering((See what i did there)) fast attack sequence that rendered Junko helpless as a kitten.

No? Well she did see the attack, but thats not to say she could do anything about it, she pushed her uninjured leg out, leaping in what seemed like slow motion to her right... Yes, she was tackling the 7'0" tall menace... but at the same time... not... Junko loosened her wings, the feathers ruffling, and then they violently shot outward to her sides, with the armor plates at the top, with the force of a mace, and simulatniously tried to swing her sword at Tatsuya, only to find that it wouldn't budge, she essentially ducked the elbow out of sheer luck... which was now grazing the top of her head...

"Mabye he is that fast after all"

Tatsuya's speed was in fact faster than Junko's. That's where his edge would be in. Still, when Junko stepped in, Tatsuya was a bit surprised. Most people tended to keep their distance when fighting him. His elbow hadn't connected the way he'd hoped; trying to knock her unconscious. Junko's wing connected with his left ribs, sending him flying back through the air spinning to his left. As Tatsuya made the complete turn, he slashed through the air with his right hand sending an arc of fire at Junko from his gauntlet. He landed on the ground with some residual momentum from Junko's attack and jumped back to to keep from falling over. "Those wings are tougher than I thought, Junko." He tightened his stance and his left arm drew closer around his ribs; bruised but not broken.

Junko stumbled abit before she found her balance. Her mind prepared a witty response, to Tatsuya's talking, but when she saw the flash of red from emit from Tatsuya the only word that came to her mind was...

"Paji"

Junko said this, blinked at the flames rolling torwards her and clicked into place...

This was no spar between former friends, she intitiated this out of suspicion, but she knew she couldn't hold back against Tatsuya, this was truely to the death...

Her sword came around in a lightning stroke, a stream of white fire slashed from Junko's blade, in an effort that was almost certain to counter Tatsuya's own fire.

Junko ignored the pain the pain of her leg, and shunpo'ed to Tatusya's left, fire streaming the entire journey, she ended up 6 feet away from him.

"Fenikkusu, Kaen Hoshaki", Junko's flames roared from the end of her blade now, an she slashed at Tatsuya, trying to burn away his soul.

"You'll find im just full of suprises"

Tatsuya's brow arched as he saw Junko's counter, nullifying his attack with one of white fire. Tatsuya watched carefully as Junko flash stepped towards him with an impressive trail of fire in her wake. "You are gonna have to be faster than that to out pace my eyes." He said as Junko appeared in front of him out of his reach. Junko slashed at the air and Tatsuya's eye's shot open in surprise as the torrent of flame shot out from the tip of the blade. Tatsuya was completely engulfed in flames, at least until he jumped out from them with incredible speed right next to Junko. "Kaen Kyuutou" His eyes focused and narrowed as he appeared next to Junko, not so much as a hair singed. A punch flying right towards Junko's stomach.

Junko's flame did not get the pleasure of burning her opponent to a crisp, as "she would need to be faster", but the point was to drive Tatsuya to action, and at least she could see where he was going...

Pain, burned her soul, burned her skin, and burned away her shields, her armor, and at her stomache, Tatsuya's blade impacted her armor, which did its job only to a point, but she intended for her armor to break at some point in this fight, and then she would be ready for her plan of action.

She didn't intend for Tatsuya to be this fast, after all... "Kaen Kyuuto"... "Flame walk, I see I could never defeat him with my shikai, not by conventional means..."

But Junko hardly fought conventionally, she gritted her teeth, and grabbed Tatsuya's blade, with her "limp" arm( while the injury was real, it was not as debilatating as she had lead her opponents to believe) to keep the blade to keep the blade in her her body, and more importantly, to keep tatsuya right where he was. She didn't have much time before Tatsuya could pull away, so she made her speech short and sweet... "Dodge this", And she stabbed at the middle of Tatsuya's bulky frame.

Junko stood her ground exceptionally well. Tatsuya had intended to at least send her skidding back with his powerful punch. But even so, standing her ground had a better effect when he punched her. She took the full force of his punch standing her ground rather than lessening it by sliding back. Still, her armor plate had stopped his fist from impaling her. Before he could retract his fist, she reached out and grabbed the blade on his fist, stopping him from pulling back. Tatsuya heard her words leave her mouth, but didn't even blink. As the sword closed in, his free hand reached out and grabbed the blade. Sparks flew from the grinding blade and gauntlet as it came to a stop. But not before being pierced an inch deep in his mid-section. "Why dodge?" His index and middle fingers from his grasped bladed fist quickly pointed out at Junko's gut. "Hado number four - Byakurai." He calmly called out, not releasing Junko's blade.

Junko felt the wound she inflicted as her blade caused it. The sicking feeling, the texture even, of a blade cutting through flesh. Junko thought she had won this battle, but she couldn't move her blade any further through Tatsuya's body.

She heard Tatsuya speak quickly, a witty comeback nonetheless, although she was sure he was in pain. "Hado number four..." Junko's mind worked in an instant, calling the simple piercing kido to mind, and she gripped Tatsuya's blade tighter and simply said,"Shit...", preparing for the pain that was to come.

Oh and come it did, the pure energy piercing her upper midsecition through and through piercing the wings that were pinned against her body, cauterizing the wound as it exited her body.

Junko wasn't blinded by the pain... she was enraged... the fire on her blade turning a murderous red, "Die", and she let loose flame, and with the tip still in Tatsuya, she couldn't imagine how she could miss...

Everything moved in slow motion as the kido formed and then fired from the tips of Tatsuya's fingers. Tatsuya knew the fight was over, or so he thought. Even Sumiko was quickly making her way over to the fighters after the kido faded away in the distance; her shikai already released to provide medical attention. Tatsuya waited for the pulling sensation of Junko's sword as she was supposed to step back in pain, but it never came. He didn't like having that thing embedded in his chest, it wasn't the most comfortable feeling. Surely Junko wasn't going to continue fighting after taking that much damage. His eyes focused on the blade as the fire turned a deep crimson red. He sliced through Junko's hand as he tore away from her grip on the blade. He pulled at the blade and jumped back as quickly as he could. Fire now blasted were Tatsuya was and his reiatsu was practically undetectable.

Sumiko felt Junko's reiatsu spike when she was only 20 meters away. "TATSUYA!!" She flash stepped over just behind Junko when she saw the crimson colored flame on her sword. A blue green needle was formed in her hand aimed for the Trapezius muscle, at the base of the neck, 4 mm left of the center of the muscle, 68 degrees south of the base. This point was going to stop all signals to skeletal muscles and make the target go completely limp. But she was too late, the area were Tatsuya was, was engulfed in flames. She stopped only a few inches from placing the needle.

Junko drained herself trying to forced the offending man off her blade, the fire propelling Tatsuya away from her now... "TATSUYA!!"... Junko heard this from behind her, but she was in no shape to continue fighting, hole through her stomache, the smell of burnt flesh reeked from that, Blood still seeped from her leg and arm... If junko could fight before, she couldn't even stand now... She gasped for breath, the world spinning around... Adrenaline wearing off perhaps, or something else, but Junko couldn't turn to see what his aquaintence would do to her... assumingly killing her quickly before healing her love interest. Junko sealed shikai, the burns through her wings didn't dissapear, the converted to burns on her shoulder blades, and her body rapidly changed, shrinking even, due to the Shikai.

She spoke to her probable executioner, although she faced away from her..."Kill me, or save your friend, every...", paused here, coughing, getting the metalic taste of blood for her reward, "second you waste... is a second that Tatsuya might not have." Junko leaned heavily on her sword, and rose to her feet, turning to face her, Junko's 17 year old face ...

"If your going to kill me, I'll make sure your not just..." another cough, this time blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, "an execution..." a grim smile followed her lips, knowing that she had no control of her life.

The needle in Sumiko's hand faded away as she looked at where Tatsuya once stood. The world around her turned to a dull grey color. She felt a pain in her chest that she had never felt before. Even staring at Junko, she wasn't sure she was the one looking at her. Junko sealed her zanpakuto and began to speak, but Sumiko heard nothing. When Junko finally turned around, Sumiko's eyes were unfocused, dull, and distant; in pain, but no tears were being shed. Sumiko only watched Junko, seeing her lips move but not hearing any word exit her mouth. The grim smile that shown across Junko's face sent Sumiko over the edge. Her pupils constricted and her usual up beat and perky appearance were a thing of the past, replaced by a face indescribable pain and torment. Sumiko quickly flashed stepped behind Junko, a blue green needle formed in her hand. Sumiko placed it 3mm above, 45 degrees left of the center of the 3rd cervical vertebrae. With that needle, Sumiko stopped all of Junko's future movements and speech.

"You are going to suffer for as long as I suffer." Sumiko softly whispered in her ear without the slightest bit of remorse. She rested her right hand on Junko's shoulder creating a purple needle. "Kibaku Hari" She held the needle in front of Junko's face before making it explode. The explosion was extremely small and didn't sound all that powerful. It mimicked the snap and sound of those little firecrackers a child would throw on the floor. Sumiko pulled her hand away from Junko's face and formed another purple needle. She was aiming at the first cervical nerve at the base of the skull on the right side of Junko's spine, 2mm to the right of the nerve base. She was going to send all of Junko's pain receptors into overdrive and Junko wouldn't even be able to yell out in agonizing pain. The needle stopped just as the tip made contact with Junko's skin. To their right, Tatsuya was gently but firmly holding onto Sumiko's arm. He had been calling Sumiko, asking her to stop from behind her, but she was oblivious to everything around her. She felt someone grab her arm and turned to see who it was. Tatsuya was unharmed, his speed allowed him to get away from Junko's last attack and his ability allowed him to take the fire head on without being roasted.

Tatsuya's expression was pained with disappointment, he didn't like seeing Sumiko the way she was; in pain. "You can stop now. I'm okay." He pulled Sumiko close and hugged her tightly. It took a moment for everything to sink in and then Sumiko finally broke down. She cried in his arms, happy he was alive and upset over almost doing something unthinkable to Junko, and completely against the type of person she is. "Shh shh shh. Everything is going to be fine." Tatsuya tried to comfort her. This went on for a few moments until she finally calmed down and stopped crying. After a while Tatsuya finally convinced Sumiko to heal Junko. Not a complete healing, but more of a field dressing, heal her enough to keep her alive. Sumiko put Junko to sleep by placing a blue green needle in her neck; 1in north of the center of the Sterno-Hyoideus muscle, and 4mm left of the Superior Belly of the Omo-Hyoideus muscle. As Sumiko healed Junko, Tatsuya went to retrieve her gigai. Once Sumiko healed her, they both left, the needle would fade away after a few minutes of Sumiko leaving, and Junko would wake up as soon as it disappears.