[YokoTsuta]: 250.As the Night Goes On.Round the Corner

Hana's vision was blurring, losing sight of Rath who ran in front of her, glancing nervously behind them. Kaesu hastened to keep up with Rath's quick strides. Backing up the rear of the odd little procession, he gently pushed Hana not to slow down. Their feet pounded the bricks. More feet tapped sharply a ways behind them, gradually gaining ground. Rath's hand tightly clasped Hana's forearm, half-leading, half-dragging her along. She grimaced, forcing her legs to keep one foot going in front of the other, fear and adrenaline racing through her.

Flashes of the Rose Blood rattled around in the back of her head. The door jingled. A vast number of men stormed into the room. The drunks stared stupidly at them, the alcohol greatly dulling their senses. The new group stood still just long enough for Hana to get a look. All wore some kind of dull black uniform, weapons attached to their belts and leg holsters. Without a sound, they moved into action. The newcomers dispersed from their tight group, each rushing towards a drunk. They pounced on the slow-reacting slobs. Screams and hoarse yells erupted from the frightened men. Tables flipped over, wine and feasts tumbling to the floor. One by one the candles died, casting the room in darkness. Yellow eyes flashed all over the room, scared and nervous. They scrambled for the door, leaping over tables and even stepping on others in their haste.

Hana took her eyes away from the chaos to look at Rath and Kaesu. Rath bent over the table and quickly blew the candle out. Their bodies seemed to disappear with the light. Both their eyes were glowing softly with that strange yellow glow.

Rath calmly took Hana’s hand and led the way to a small door, partially covered with an old, rough sheet. He nudged the door open with his shoulder and paused in the doorway to let their eyes adjust to the dark. They continued on into the narrow, musty walkway. Agonized yells leaked through the open door as the last light flickered and sadly died, leaving the three escapees in darkness.

Hana stumbled constantly on the rough path; Rath and Kaesu easily stepping over litter and trash, taking turns to catch her as she fell forward. A crash rang out behind them as someone barreled into the door. All three looked nervously over their shoulders and at each other. Rath eyed the light coming from their destination at the end of the passageway.

“Ready?” He flashed a big, fake smile.

“No.” Kaesu and Hana groaned in unison.

“Well…tough.” Rath looked over his shoulder as muffled footsteps quickly approached. He clasped Hana’s hand in his and started running.

The memories stopped replaying. Hana looked up as they rounded a corner, finally reaching the end of the street. She narrowly avoided a garbage pile and ran flat out into Rath. Kaesu was luckier and swerved, coming to a stop next to him, breathing heavily and holding his sides. Hana clutched a stitch in her side and peered around Rath.

Riku leant against an old light post, one foot up against the base, his arms crossed in front of him. He gazed at them. The tip of his cigarette flared as he took one last drag before dropping it to the ground. He stepped forward, casually shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Rath. Kaesu.” He nodded to each of them in turn, who bowed back, their eyes reverted to the ground uncomfortably. Turning slightly, he eyed Hana, whose legs were covered in dried dirt and litter and hair had a few spider webs in it.

“Well…you’re not dead.” Riku finally said. Hana flushed slightly but kept her mouth shut. He smiled, leant forward, and calmly pulled a spider out of her hair. Riku, Kaesu, and Rath all laughed as Hana’s cheeks turned pink with embarrassment.

“You made her blush,” Kaesu playfully shoved Riku, who fell on his butt.

They all looked at him nervously. He blinked a couple times and slowly started to chuckle, softly at first then expanding into a merry, golden laugh. Rath shook his head, laughing softly, and squatted down in front of him, offering a hand. Riku nodded in thanks and took his hand. The two of them stood; Riku brushing dirt off his pants.

Riku’s laughter abruptly stopped and he quickly looked up. Seven men froze in their tracks as they crept closer to them from around the corner. Rath and Kaesu uncertainly looked to Riku, who calmly set himself in front of them. One of the men in the rear signaled; more black-clad men turned onto the street and quickly joined their comrades.

Riku looked over his shoulder at Rath and Kaesu.

"Protect Hana at all costs." He instructed them.

They moved in front of her, blocking most of her view of Riku. She peered between Rath and Kaesu, trying to see what was going on. She soon had other things to worry about, though, as extra men circled around and attacked them. The duo quickly lost a large amount of ground to the overpowering amount of men, forcing Hana to retreat into the wall.

The two fought for what seemed an endless amount of time. Rath took a shallow blow to the shoulder, temporarily making the arm unusable. Kaesu, smaller in size even than Hana, was quick with his attacks, easily dodging some of the larger and slower men. Rath narrowly avoided a brutal swing from a man with a long bamboo pole, tipped with a blade. He accidentally bumped into Kaesu, who took the short time his attacker paused to stare at Rath’s arm. 

“Isn’t this what you wanted to do when you woke up this morning?” Kaesu smirked, rolling his eyes.

Rath shot him a dirty look. "I have all the big idiots over here. Switch places."

Kaesu shrugged and easily moved around behind Rath. He was immediately targeted by two men. Both of the assailants lashed out at him with worn, short daggers that had been shoddily cleaned of the blood from opponents. Kaesu narrowly dodged one attack but instead was forced into receiving the second. The blade sliced the flesh of his left side, a fine spray of blood issuing from the deep wound.

Kaesu clutched at his side. Blood seeped between his fingers as he continued to fight off his opponents. They were gaining more confidence now, becoming surer and stronger in their attacks. Unfortunately, for them at least, overconfidence quickly becomes a problem. Sweeping wide and leaving themselves open for counter-attacks; they swooped in for one last blow, hoping to finish off the injured Kaesu.

A high kick sent the leader of the attack sprawling backwards into his mates. Hana realized what she had done, which only amounted to averting their attention to her. The men chuckled at the rash action of this little girl, whose bravery disappeared as they moved in for an easy victory. Hana glanced behind her at Kaesu. He was doubled over and leant heavily against the wall with his hand clamped down on the wound. He had become noticeably weaker from the great loss of blood. Rath, too, faced difficulty, though not as great. Regaining control of his injured arm, he was making more progress. He had swiped a sword from an opponent’s belt and easily knocked down a good deal of the fighters that came against him.

Hana backed away from the burly men. They teased and hollered at her; daring each other to make a move. Two older men roughly shoved one of the youngest forward, egging him on. His buddies gathered around Hana and the young man. They created a half-circle up against a weathered building streaked with flashy colored paint that stood out against the dark bricks. Hana gasped in surprise, having recognized the little alley. Rath had led them to the same place where Daisuke had attempted an attack. Her attention snapped back to reality as the young fool reached for her waist.

No sooner had the man reached for her than a sword bluntly smacked his hand. He quickly withdrew the said hand and reached towards his own sword. His eyes traveled up the bloodied sword to the pale hand. Hesitantly, he looked up at the flushed face of Riku, who stood there, grinning smugly at his opponent’s shock. Riku brought his sword up under his adversary’s chin, touching his neck, and forced him back. Blood ran down the young man’s neck from the shallow cut of the tip of the sword. He turned the sword in his grip, examining the thin slit in the reflection off the flat side of the blade. He slowly brought the sword away, fixed on the shrinking reflection. Riku glanced at the young man’s face. He stared icily back at Riku; revenge in his eyes, he only thought of impressing the older men by getting Hana. Riku saw a movement in his arm and looked down. The man gripped a small knife in his left hand, caught in the act of drawing it out of the holster. The startled guy brought the weapon forward and swung haphazardly at Riku. Riku reacted before he had started the rash swipe with the knife. Without changing the grip from blunt to sharp, he swung the sword back into the neck of the fighter, unknowingly cutting the soft flesh of his neck with an edge. His opponent flew off to the right, sliding painfully across the rough brick road of the littered alley. The fighters stood in silence and watched the young one’s small, painful movements. He laid face-down in a pile of trash and beer bottles until his motions stopped, not even movement of breathing stirring his body.

All seemed to be frozen in shock. Riku stared gravely at the brick ground, his shoulders sagging as he realized what he had done. Hana gently slipped her hand into his and held it tightly. He didn’t react at first. She watched him, wondering if she had done the wrong thing. She started to let go when Riku took a strong hold of her hand. She smiled to herself. Gathering their wits, the men drifted over to their fallen comrade.

Hana felt a hand touch her shoulder. Rath stood behind her. He had wrapped his arm with a torn piece of his pant leg.

"Kaesu needs help, guys." He looked at the hunched up Kaesu. His head rested on his chest; his breathing rattled and spluttered painfully.

"He looks even worse than you," Riku whispered to Hana, a small smile flickering across his face for a moment, and then disappeared just as quickly. He squatted down on his haunches in front of Kaesu. He gently pried Kaesu's fingers from the wound. Riku glowered slightly. Touching Kaesu's hand had left his whole hand covered with blood. Rath knelt next to Riku, obviously distraught.

"I could use cloth to temporarily bandage his wound. But..." He trailed off, glancing at Riku's shirt. Riku easily caught on.

"You need my shirt." He finished Rath's sentence for him. Rath nodded.

"The jacket for the shirt." Riku glanced nervously at Hana. Rath didn't hesitate, shrugging the coat off his shoulders. He held it on one finger, waiting to receive the shirt in return.

Riku pulled the shirt up a little and tugged at it, pulling his head into it. Uncovered muscles stood out as he finally managed to get the tight shirt off. Scars flashed brilliantly against the white skin, a gaping hole still healing in his upper stomach. The wound, Hana realized, made by Daisuke in this very same alley.

Riku snatched the coat from Rath. He winced slightly, pulling his arms back to get into the jacket. The muscles in his chest stretched; a thin stripe of blood trickled down his stomach from the large hole. He softly muttered curses under his breath and started to wipe the blood up with his hand. Hana gently pressed a handkerchief into his hand. He took it and nodded in thanks. She watched solemnly as he cleared the blood off and quickly buttoned the jacket, concealing the wound. Rath was too involved in his work to notice a thing.

'All three of them suffered injuries,' Hana thought. 'Because of me...'

"Don't just stand there. C'mon!" Riku brought her out of her thoughts. He and Rath stood there, carrying Kaesu between them. Riku easily held his feet while Rath struggled to keep a firm grip on Kaesu's upper half. They were waiting for her near the corner. She unconsciously noticed the fighters had vanished, leaving no evidence of the fight.

"Sorry, not with it today," Hana hastened to catch up. 'They're an odd group....but I finally feel like I fit in somewhere,' Hana thought. A true, happy smile spread across her face as Riku and Rath started an argument over who was the better fighter.