Gate To The Heart

Chapter 3: Gatekeepers

"..."


"Gate- OPEN!!"

Kumiko's eyes widened and her jaw slacked.

The circles in front of Kirihara suddenly expanded, making their width much large than Kirihara himself. A red glow from the circles cast themselves over Kirihara, giving a bloody red glow to his clothes and skin.

"Kumiko-chan..." Kumiko looked up to Marui upon hearing her name, her eyes still wide with astonishment. "If you're squeamish, close your eyes."

"Eh?"

Kumiko understood why as the next scene played itself to her from across the park.

The creatures, still rapidly approaching Kirihara were suddenly stopped in their tracks, as swords emerged from the circle Kirihara produced. And it wasn't just one sword.

Kumiko watched as at least 30 swords flew out of the circle in rapid succession and lodged themselves into the body of the creatures. Purplish red blood gushed out of them as the swords flew right through them, leaving gaping holes in their wake.

But the swords travels did not end there as they continued flying straight and into the next creature that was behind the former.

Kumiko felt slightly sick with all the blood-like liquid spilling all over the place, splattering themselves onto the soil, dying it red and staining the trees and benches around the place.

Bits and pieces of the creatures showered around the areas, for Kirihara's swords did not cleanly slice through any of them; rather, they butchered them- minced them.

"Ma-Marui-senpai...wh-what exactly is that circle in front of Akaya-kun? Ho-how are swords produced from there?! How are the swords even moving?! " Kumiko's frantic voiced cut into Marui's concentration on Kirihara's battle. Despite being dizzy from the lack of blood in her head at the moment, Kumiko could not help but feel the need to understand what was going on.

'This...this is not logical!!' Was what ran through her mind.

Marui looked at her and gave a grin. "I can explain all these to you since I'm a tensai but I can't answer them right now. It's best for Amon-san to do it."

"A-Amon...?" Kumiko repeated with confusion etched all over her.

"Yes, but for now, its best to think about yours and our safety!!" And suddenly, Marui had one arm across her shoulders and pulled the girl into his chest, his hold on her tight and relentless. He quickly spun around with Kumiko still in his hold so that his back was facing the battle between Kirihara and the creatures.

"Marui-senpai!?" Kumiko called shocked. She looked up at the red-head but found him not looking at her, but backwards to the battle.

Kumiko blinked her eyes rapidly, as if trying to make sure it wasn't an illusion.

'Was that...was that blue circles inside Marui-senpai's eyes?'



Sluuuurps

The coffee flavoured liquid rolled down his parched throat as the blue-haired boy walked leisurely down the street. His yellow eyes scanned the crowded area, in search of a certain flaming red hair.

Crushing the can with one hand, he threw it over his shoulders and into a trash can without looking back. Frowning, he crossed his arms over his chest causing his light blue sleeveless shirt with a purple shark imprint to crinkle.

'He's late...'

A beep caused his eyes to look down towards his waist. There, a red glow emitted from his custom phone, indicating a new message.

Flipping it open, he quickly scanned the new message but frowned upon doing so.

"Tch!" The boy quickly turned and sped down the streets and towards the park with his eyes glued to his phone screen where a map with a blinking red dot was.

Amon: Make your way down to the park immediately. I have already indicated on your GPRS map where to go. Marui has initiated code Yellow.



Kumiko's eyes filled with confusion...as well as little hints of fear. These...these glowing circles...what were they?

How come Akaya can produce them? They were produced by him...wasn't it? Why did Marui-senpai have them in his eyes too? Who...-what are they?!

They can't be human...?

These things are not logical...not normal...not...human.

These thoughts ran around in Kumiko's mind at a rapid pace. They were her friends and she trusted them but...right now, she felt slight fear towards them.

Because they aren't normal? They weren't…the people who she thought they were.

It was in human nature to fear what is not natural to them and no matter how much Kumiko told herself they were her friends and she trusted them, she wasn't exempted from this natural human instinct.

To fear the abnormal.

Marui seemed to have felt the girl tensing in his arms and he looked back down at her. He blinked in slight shock when he saw fear in her eyes...towards him?

His eyes with the circles still glowing inside them softened as he spoke in a whisper. "Don't worry...I...-no, we wont hurt you." His words indicated both him and Kirihara.

Kumiko could smell his apple-flavoured breath as he spoke, vestiges of the bubblegum he had in his mouth. She looked up at him and inwardly slapped herself.

How could she even begin to doubt her own friends? They were the ones who stuck by her side in school and offered to spend their lunch time with her when she was all alone. And, weren't they protecting her right now and placing themselves in danger while doing so?

Marui's whole body covered hers while his was open to the creatures if any chose to attack them, and Kirihara was way out front fighting them off with that power of his, keeping the creatures at bay.

Kumiko looked into Marui's eyes once more, the blue circles with their white orbs reflecting in her own and decided to give her full trust to them, thus eliminating any traces of fear in her eyes. She nodded at him and smiled softly.

"Sorry...for doubting you."

Marui grinned. "Who ever said we blamed you?" And with that, he turned back around with a green bubble growing out of his mouth before popping again.

His eyes suddenly arched downwards in concentration but that playful grin remained on his mouth. "Need some help Kirihara?!" He yelled out.

Kirihara looked back at Marui, his curly hair whipping at his face as he did so. He frowned at him. "I thought you said I can handle them?!"

"Well, you're taking too long!! Gate, Open!!"

"It's been only 3 minutes!!" Kirihara screamed back in protest.

Circles similar to the one previously in front of Kirihara appeared before Marui, only his emitted a soft blue glow. Kumiko had to squint her eyes at the brightness, being at such close distance with it.

A harsh wind suddenly picked up at the park, causing the trees to wave madly and bits of soil to rise in the air. Kumiko snapped one eye shut in response to the sudden wind but kept one open so that she could see what was going on. One hand instinctively went to hold down her skirt which was blowing wildly about.

Marui opened his mouth to say something but stopped before anything came out as his eyes widened. The wind which started abruptly stopped just as suddenly.

Kumiko noticed the sudden hesitation and ceasing of the wind. She peeked over Marui's shoulders and a gasp left her mouth.

A sheet of ice and snow lay over the park before her eyes, the creatures completely frozen. Even the swords which were mindlessly flying about slaying them was frozen in mid-air and dropped to the ground.

Kirihara blinked dumbly at the sudden cold spell and when his senses returned, he frowned before shaking his head about like a dog, in an attempt to remove all the flakes from his head, which he was sure, is there.

The frozen swords suddenly dispersed in a red smoke as Kirihara turned and walked towards Marui who still had a hold on Kumiko, who by now, was shaking from the cold.

'W-wow...even though the snow is like feets away from us, I still can feel the cold. It's f-freezing!!'

Kirihara crossed his arms when he stopped in front of them and pouted. "I guess Kurin-senpai is here."

"Hn."

Kirihara jumped at the sudden voice and looked to the left, where a blue haired boy stood. He looked to be about Marui's age.

At the sight of him, Kirihara immediately pointed a finger at him. "Why did you interrupt my fight?! I was just gonna finish them off!!" He demanded.

The boy scoffed. "You were taking too long."

One of Kirihara's eyebrows twitched. "It was just 3 minutes!!"

"It was 3 minutes and 54.9 seconds to be exact." The boy replied. "Too close to 4 minutes. You have to improve your battle time, Kirihara-san."

Kumiko swore Kirihara's eyes went bloodshot for a second before returning to normal. Since the time he fought Fuji in a tennis match, he was constantly improving his control over his violent outbreaks and this overjoyed Kumiko. She really disliked it when Kirihara was violent. In fact, she disliked violence altogether!

The blue haired boy turned his attention to Kumiko who was finally released from Marui's hold though she stayed close by him for she felt uncomfortable with the new presence. And just cause it was damn cold.

"This her?" He asked.

Marui nodded. "Yep.

The boy walked closer to Kumiko and stopped right in front of her. Kumiko looked up at him and resisted swallowing a gulp when she saw how cold his eyes were.

'A warm golden colour but devoid of emotions...' She shuddered mentally.

A shiver ran down her spines when he spoke. When he spoke, it seemed almost as if he was speaking with emotions. The keyword being almost.

Anyone else who heard him speak will be fooled by his voice. But for Kumiko who saw his eyes with such clarity, she found it impossible for him to speak with any feelings.

"I am Fuyu Shiki, but others call me Kurin. I would prefer it if you did so as well, Ishimaru-san." He said, with a small smile on his face.

A bead of sweat ran down Kumiko's face. She found that smile unnerving and incompatible with his hollow eyes.

"N-nice to meet you, Kurin-san." Kumiko replied meekly, feeling no need to introduce herself since he seems to know her name already.

Kurin nodded at her reply. He turned when Kirihara spoke to him.

"Why are you here by yourself anyway? I thought Takibi-senpai was supposed to arrive with you?"

Kurin lifted an eyebrow. "Marui-san here had initiated code Yellow, according to Amon-sama. So I was forced to come here as fast as possible and since Takibi-senpai was late, I decided to come on my own.

"Har? Marui-senpai, why did you initiate code Yellow for?! We could have handled them ourselves without back-up!!" Kirihara said indignantly.

Marui shrugged. "It was just in case." A bubble formed from his mouth.

"Umm..." Three pairs of eyes turned towards the only female in the area. "Wh-what is going on?" Kumiko asked, a sweatdrop running down her head at the sudden attention.

Kirihara scratched his head. "We'll let Amon-san explain it."

Kumiko wanted to slap somebody. 'There with that Amon person again! Who is he anyway?!'

The roaring of a car engine caused all heads to turn towards the source. A sleek red Mazda RX-8 stood there and from the driver seat emerged a person with similar red hair.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late."

"Damn straight you're late!" Kirihara growled.

"What's it to you brat?" The new person retorted.

Kurin suddenly clapped his hands together, producing a sharp sound which ceased all arguments. "Kirihara-san, Takibi-senpai. I would prefer it if you finished with this argument some place else. For now, we must bring Ishimaru-san to Amon-sama."

"Che, whatever." Was Takibi's response before he went back into the driver's seat.

"Let's go, Kumiko-chan." Marui piped up and before Kumiko could say anything, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the car.

"Oi! Kurin-senpai, what about the sno-" Kirihara did not finish his sentence for when he turned back around, he found all the snow gone. "…..You sure work fast…I didn't even see him open the Gate." He mumbled to himself before getting into the backseat of the car and sitting himself next to Kumiko who sat next to Marui.

Kurin opened the passenger seat, and as soon as he closed the door, he commanded Takibi. "Drive."

Takibi rolled his eyes. "Yes, Master."

"Wh-who exactly are you guys?" Kumiko asked tentatively, her attention switching between Marui and Kirihara and then to the two at the front.

"Why, I'm your fellow school student of course! Rikkai's tennis club volley specialist and tensai!" Marui chimed.

"That's not what I meant Marui-senpai..." Kumiko sighed. Sometimes, she wonders about Marui's mentality. He's 15 and yet acts like a 7 year old.

Kurin made eye contact with her through the driver's mirror hanging in the middle at the front of the car.

"We're the Gatekeepers."


AN: As I mentioned before, the Gatekeeper and Gate idea was from the anime Gatekeepers. Quite a nice show if you ignore the ridiculous vehicles and presence of high school fighters.

Reviews are lovely =]