First Blood

Ayumi lay there, beside Yoshiki, thinking about what he said yesterday, ''Please Ayumi, Don't do this to me, feel the air. Into your lungs' He had said, what does he mean, and why did he use my first name…' She thought, thoroughly wrapped up in thought, thinking about how he had saved her. She wanted to tell him that she trusted him, but he seemed to lightly go off on her, saying "It's not important", he seemed to be held up on his words. What was wrong, and why did she feel this way. Suddenly being reminded of the distrust as Yoshiki grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly, reassuring her.

He woke up slowly, yet immediately looking around to make sure that Ayumi was safe, sheltered by the tree. He reached over when she was deep in thought, looking quite concerned about something, and he squeezed her hand trying to reassure her that things were alright, only to have her move away. He knew, or thought he knew, that he stood no chance of being with her, in any way, whether it be plutonic or otherwise. Getting up and moving out from under the tree; he scouted out the area before moving aside to let Ayumi crawl out. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Kishinuma…What did you mean?" Ayumi asked, looking up at him with an insecure look.

"Just drop it, you won't want to hear it…" Yoshiki replied, he was annoyed at her persistence, he knew that she would only reject him.

"Please tell me…" Ayumi continued to pursue.

"No."

"Mochida would tell me," She said under her breath. Not noticing Yoshiki cringe and flinch at his love comparing him to his best friend. He knew that he had to protect her, and her being uneasy wouldn't help.

'I can trust him, come on…but Mochida would be so much nicer…' She thought, not being able to get Satoshi off her mind. "Kishinuma…" She whimpered, causing him to slowly turn his head slightly and give an "Hmmm…"

"I…I want to trust you…." She muttered.

'After all I have done for you, how can you not…' He thought. "You can, I won't do anything, I promise…" He said instead.

"Okay…"

The two walked down the dark road, the trees stretched over them making a sort of tunnel. The two walked in silence, trying to hold in their individual thoughts. 'Yoshiki, I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I've treated you so badly, and I trust you, with my life, you've saved me countless times, I want to know that you will protect me…' Ayumi thought. 'Ayumi, I love you, I don't want to lose you, and I would gladly give my life to protect you and shelter you, dying for you would be a good death, a worthy one…' They walked down the road, wrapped up in their individual thoughts, not noticing the small bandit ambush.

"Surrnde or wes blow you away" The first bandit said.

"Look, Henry, hes got a girl." The second bandit spoke; the first must be named Henry.

"George, yus thunkin what Is thunk." Henry spoke to his friend.

"Yep…"

"Stay away, you wouldn't want to meet a…unfortunate demise." Yoshiki threatened loudly; moving Ayumi behind his back.

"Really, you think you can take two of us on, at once..." Henry spoke hysterically; approaching Ayumi, "Wer gunna rape de shit outta you." Letting out a maniacal laugh.

Pushing Ayumi behind a tree, Yoshiki rushed up, "Shinozaki, don't watch" he ordered, she did though, a little. (A/N: This is where the fun begins and Yoshiki shows the most determination to keep Ayumi safe.) Rushing up, Yoshiki took the axe Henry was wielding, moving with a quick swipe, cutting one of his knees off, then turning to George to cut off his hand, making him drop the tire iron that was in the other, with a second quick swipe, Yoshiki flung the axe straight down the middle of his head, splitting it open letting blood squirt up; then falling over to squirt blood all over Henry, "This is what becomes of anyone trying to hurt Ayumi Shinozaki…" standing angrily over Henry, who was screaming with pain. Yoshiki kicked Henry so he spun around so their faces met, he took his fingers, breaking each and every one of them, then pulling his middle and ring finger out from his hands, pulling the phalanges, carpals, and metacarpals that were connected to the phalanges, and tossing them aside, then taking the hatchet he had, "I have to make sure that you won't harm Shinozaki…", Bringing it down on his groin, lifting it back up to bring it down again. "I will let you live, but spread this message: If anyone has any intentions of harming Ayumi Shinozaki, they better be good at hiding, because I will come for them, and they will hope that this," Gesturing to Henry's sadistic injuries as he spoke, "is all that happens to them…".

Yoshiki wiped off the little blood he got on himself onto the clean parts of George, then returning to Ayumi. "I heard everything…" Ayumi blurted out, "You're not going to do that to me...are you?" She said looking up with scared eyes.

"No, I will only do that to those who try to harm you" Yoshiki answered, "But I don't want you to see what happened." He hid her face in his chest, walking past the bodies and massive blood pool. Letting her push away, Ayumi didn't want to look at the blood bath, making sure she didn't look back; she proceeded in front of Yoshiki. It scared her to see him like this, she knew it was only to defend her, but he was strange ever since coming back from Heavenly Host, always standing up for her, ready to defend her, despite her treating him like crap, he always remained, a Guardian Angel of sorts, except much more violent, but he still defended her. He was a shoulder to lean upon when she felt sad, someone to pick her up when she was weak, a shelter when she was tired, a monolith when she was lost.

She felt the massive amount of walking catch up on her; she started to fall, but felt gentle hands catch her before blacking out. She woke up a while later, her eye's half lidded with exhaust, she felt movement, looking around she saw that she was in Yoshiki's arms once again, him carrying her so gently, she looked up to see him smiling down at her, his eyes closed when he looked down upon her, his slightly silhouetted body made him look once again as a Knight, she fell back asleep soon after.

He stared over at the tranquil sleeping girl that was arms length from him, smiling with love as he kept a watchful eye over her. He poked at the fire he had made, mixing the coals, trying to evenly heat up the can of soup. He thought back to the events earlier that day, he didn't know what had gotten into him, he just knew that the thought of anyone harming Ayumi made a blaze within him, a fire that consumed his pity for the oppressor, making him want them to feel pain, and be removed entirely, but something else dwelled inside of him as well, his love for Ayumi, greater than that of any blaze of his soul or any pain he could endure, he would gladly die for her, and knowing she was alright and with him made him happy, quenching the blaze, calming the storm that existed in him. He looked over to Ayumi as she woke up.

"Sleep well, Shinozaki?" He asked, looking at Ayumi with care.

"More or less, what happened?" She queried as she woke up.

"I got rid of those assholes, then you passed out and I carried you here." He said, looking at the girl start checking to make sure that all her clothes were still intact. She looked at him with caring eyes, she finally knew that she could trust him, he had proved himself worthy, then an epiphany hit her like a train, she could have trusted him this whole time, but she didn't, harming him at every chance, she was terrible to him, but her pride never let her admit it, even now…

"Did you kill them?" She asked humbly.

"One of them, the other I kept alive…" He said, trying not to let her know the storm that dwelled in him.

"Well…you saved me, so that's something…" She stated bluntly, then continuing, "We should get some rest, it's been a long day…" Pulling him to lay down next to her, under a protective tree, she fell asleep…again, but Yoshiki stayed awake as a Sentinel, guarding the girl from all harm.

A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter, this one was mostly to progress their disposition to one another, and to establish that from this point forward, I'm probably going to include as much gore as possible… Sorry for those who don't like it.