"Following that, we'll return to the stage and lie to the remaining lackeys that their buddies are having a good time down in the village. Hmph, being the sex-crazed beasts they are, they'll want to join in the fun too, and will thus blindly rush down the path and into the traps that Ryuki would have had laid out." Suseri plucked at a plant she was fiddling with, watching the tattered leaves fall onto the ground. "Animal traps are meant for animals, after all."
"Your plan does seem logical... But Suseri," worry was etched in the brunette male's frown, "I think that you're underestimating them too much."
"I think so too, oppa!" Nayu nodded fervently. "I mean, surely they can't be-"
"It is the bandits who are underestimating us." The medic declared, utmost certainty in her voice. "They believe that we are spineless pushovers who will not dare to even utter a single word against them. Haven't you noticed that they completely drop their guards when being with us? Heck, I even saw their leader sleep with his full neck exposed when Farmer Jun was standing right next to him with a sickle!
I am simply making use of that." She dropped the mangled weed and dusted her hands. Then with a sharp intake of air, the blonde girl continued her scheme. "So anyway, once we're sure that the lackeys are taken care of, I'll slip a drug into the lead-"
"Then why don't you just drug them all in the first place?" The village belle facing her threw up her arms, shooting Suseri a look that clearly questioned her intelligence.
It was countered with an infuriatingly calm one. "How do you think they would react if they see one of them passing out after taking a sip of our drink?"
Sense grudgingly settled onto Nayu's expression.
"Exactly. Oh, but my drug won't knock the leader out." Suseri chirped almost casually. "Rather, it will cause an adverse reaction in his body with lots of pain and no cure. But of course, I and only I will have the concoction that will keep that 'poison' at bay. And in exchange for that; protection over our village."
The other two took a few moments to process the plan, then-
"Are you really going to poison him...?" Ryuki asked, extremely hesistant about the idea. Even if those hooligans did deserve it, how could she even think of doing such a cruel thing...?
Noticing the concern on his face, Suseri immediately sought to clear her name. "Of course not, oppa! I don't even know how to brew up such a thing! It will just be a small dose of the Doko herb. Nothing fatal, but enough to cause temporary pain just so that he'll believe he's poisoned."
Confidently, she crossed her arms. "He can't possibly know any better, anyway."
Chapter Six:
The Human Heart Has Just Started Pumping
Brown and yellow heads moved through the shrubs, scouring for any visible, give-away signs of the traps laden out in the soil. Finding none, Ryuki and Suseri straightened their backs, looking up at the darkening stretch of sky through the shadowed canopies.
"Well, that should provide some cover too." The blonde medic commented, then directed her gaze to the male beside her. "Oppa, we should go now."
A nod in reply, and they sprinted up the logged path, speeding up and almost crashing across the small neck of clearing with the female screaming dramatically as her entrance.
"Yuna-ssi! Your eldest daughter... The bandits are..." Suseri fell next to the middle-aged woman, clutching at her elbows. "I-I'm sorry, I-I tried to stop them...!"
She barely had time to register the look of devastation washing over the woman's face as one of the bandits strutted over to them. "Goto and the others having fun with them young girlies?"
The young woman nodded slowly, his beady eyes boring into her wide ones. The scoundrel's rough mug started to scrunch up, and Suseri waited anticipatingly for him to start-
Guffawing..? No, why was he...!
"Ah, those stupid idiots! If they controlled themselves a little better then they could be having her King's Concubine by now!" He sauntered back to his previous ground, head thrown back in laughter which struck cold, icy pikes into the blonde girl's heart.
Noticing her frightened confusion, Yuna informed in between heavy sobs: "T-They just brought Nayu to the leader ten minutes ago. H-He said he couldn't wait and forced Hamada-nari to bring h-her out. Only God knows w-what he's d-doing to poor Nayu now!"
Reactions to that were instantaneous; it needed to be. Suseri barely felt the crick in her neck after whipping her head around to face Ryuki, whom having heard the relay, had launched himself onto the nearest bandit in a mad fit.
Like a stone flung into a flock of birds, the villagers rose up in a startled frenzy while the other bandits struggled to contain them. The few who were not hollering and waving their swords over the chaos thundered across to the side to help restrain a thrashing brunette male.
"SUSERI!" Ryuki screamed as he yanked his arm out of a vice-like grasp, his normally calm disposition contorted by raging desperation. "FIND NAYU NOW! YOU MUST SAVE HER!" A hard punch to his right. "GO, NOW!"
The blonde medic gave a wordless nod, and her eyes ricocheted around the area to find an opening in which can escape through. There, that small gap between the bushes! She wasted no time in darting through it, and had managed to leave undetected by the harrowed bandits.
Her exit was not completely unnoticed, however. Seoki bit down hard at his lip to contain a scream. No matter how smart she is, Suseri will no doubt be decimated by those brutal ruffians if she confronts them alone! His eyes turned towards Ryuki, who was already holding off more than he could, then towards the other village men around himself, all too petrified and subdued by the looming guards standing above them. Then that only leaves with...
"OI! Somebody catch that little brat!" All attention was directed to a flash of brown disappearing through the entrance of the clearing, eliciting yells of fury from the bandits and horrified gasps from the villagers. Seoki bolted down the slope as fast as feet could carry him, adrenaline and fear coursing through every inch of his body and tears stinging at his eyes. He was afraid, very much afraid of the consequences if he was to get caught, but even more so of that if Suseri was the one to be. The orphan briefly looked over his shouder to see two burly men thundering after him, and then-
SNAP!
-everything was suddenly turned upside-down. Sweat was pouring up Seoki's face rather than down as the boy yanked desperately at his roped leg. He had fallen into one of the traps that Suseri and Ryuki had laid out! His two pursuers slowed down, approaching the dangling child and grinning menacingly.
The more bearded one stepped up and cracked his gnarled knuckles. "Hah! That's wh- ARRGHHH!" His sentence was abruptly cut short when a spiked, metal device clamped torturously onto his leg, trapping it. At that moment, Seoki had managed to free his and swung himself to deliver a kick to the other crook while he was distracted by his companion's plight. The boy's lithe form fell to the dirt with a soft thud, and he wasted no time in scrambling up and away to a certain samurai's hut.
The free bandit clutched at his bleeding eye. Though the brat's assault was probably as weak as a slap on the back, his damned toe was shoved into his socket. Vowing to commit all sorts of murder on the boy, he barrelled up the path to call for more men to aid his hunt.
Takasugi actually had no intention to eat the substitence he was provided; he had better standards than that. However, as time dragged on and night drew near, he decided that the annoying pang in his stomach was not going to do any good for his already restless and worsening temper. So here he was, knelt down on the ground and supporting the cold ceramic with a hand, his metal chopsticks poised to pick at stale rice.
"EARTHLING-SSI!"
Normally, the Joi extremist would have ignored it and continue with his meal, but this time, the cry was cracked with desperation of the most urgent level. He watched as a wary and wearied figure crash through the door, his olive eye drawn to the fresh cuts and scrapes that bloodied the adolescent's legs and feet. "Earthling-ssi, please hel-"
"Stupid boy! We've got you surrounded now!" A voice presumably as rough as its speaker barked in Korean from outside, and soon, five bronzed, growling ruffians entered the hut, headed by a bandanna-ed hulk with a bleeding eye. "I'll make sure that I'll kill you in front of your mother, then after that I will kill her myself too! Where ar- Ahh..."
It was as if they only noticed the purple-haired man after they caught sight of the quivering boy crawling behind him. The cockiest of smirks snaking up their scarred mugs, the thugs patted their weapons against the tough hide of their palms and inched closer to the two, looking down on them condescendingly. "What is this? I haven't seen you before. Everybody is supposed to be at the stage as a sign of respect to us!" The wooden floor splintered as a heavy mace was smashed onto it. "You know that!"
"Earthling-ssi..." Seoki whimpered, tugging frantically at the samurai's robes. The boy knew that he could not understand what was being said, but surely the human held enough sense to know what is going on! So how can he still continue eating his rice so calmly and unaffectedly? "Earthling-ssi...! Please...!"
"Hah, what a cute little boy, so scared that he's not even speaking proeprly." The leading crook crackled. "Do you really think that such a skinny, injured man can protect you from us? I bet he can't even protect himself!"
"Oi, there's a sword here!" One of the bandits moved towards the katana that was leaning against the window, snickering mockingly. An olive eye slit open. "Oooh so this one learns swordplay, eh? How scary!"
He picked up the sheathed blade for closer examination. "Wait a minute, this doesn't look like-"
THUNK!
The others nearly missed the flying glint of metal.
An omnious silence hushed the bandit's unfinished sentence. Heads and eyes slowly, almost fearfully, turned towards the window, only to be greeted with a ghastly sight; a convulsing, rasping body nailed to the wooden framework at the throat.
Nailed by a pair of metal chopsticks.
"Little kids shouldn't see this." Seoki barely had time to register the gore before he was knocked unconscious. A soft shuffling of clothes tore the attention of the crooks away from the horrifying plight of their companion to an even more horrifying vision. Their wide eyes watched as the once indifferent, unassuming purple-haired man drew up to his full height while their whirling minds registered the ascension of a snarling, bloodthirsty demon. His olive eye surveyed the group, and after a brief, tensed moment, the side of his lips quirked up and he spoke in badly-accented tongue.
"Easy."
The battle cries of the brawny gang soon turned into agonized, helpless screams as Takasugi went on a small spree. They could only swing and thrash their weapons blindly in futile attempts to injure him while the Kiheitai leader delivered skillful, devastating blows onto them with his hands. Whatever power their bulky muscles held, the lean human possessed ten times more. Takasugi separated joints, disintegrated bones, lacerated tendons and induced a lot, a lot of bleeding from them.
The only bandit who avoided his wrath was the one nailed to the frame, his thrashing stilled and raucous breath suppressed. The chopsticks had missed his windpipe and impaled only his vocal chords, hence leaving him alive, or as alive as he could be. Though disorientated, he had seen the carnage unfold and decided that the best option for himself now is to be as unnoticeble as possible and wait for that monster to leave.
He watched as one of his companions lumber on distortedly bent knees before falling to the crimson-soaked flooring of the hut, then strained his eyes to the two remaining figures. The purple-clad back of the assailant did not hide the despair prevailant on his friend's face as he looked on pathetically in the face of Death. Takasugi held the bandit up in a vice-like grip by the throat with one hand and placing his other on his victim's paling face. Effortlessly, he crushed and twisted the neck, letting the body drop motionlessly onto the ground.
The sight of the gruesomely mutilated corpses however, did not unnerve the remaining bandit as much as the maniacal grin that was on the one-eyed man's face did. Deliberately, the beast turned around and made his way towards the window. With every step, the trapped Asato writhed and rasped harder and louder, his screams caught in the gurgling of blood in his throat.
Takasugi stopped directly in front, then wiped his crimson-stained hands on his robes before bending down to pick up and unsheathe his sword, running his eye on it as though examining it for any signs of damage.
"This is a katana." He informed almost casually, lightly flicking the metal with his fingernails. "And you," the horrified bandit felt a whole new wave of terror when an olive eye shot its glare towards him.
The blade hovered above. "You will never touch it again."
A perturbing scream resounded into the night, dying off along with the one who delivered it.
Suseri felt like she had been running for an hour straight, but the shade of the sky told her that it was only a little past evening; only ten minutes. Dropping down onto a log and breathing like she had asthma, the blonde girl clamped her eyes shut to dissipate the white flashes in her vision and steady her muddled mind. She had not wanted to rest as time was precious, but her physical abilities could only go so far. Plus, she had to think; how on Asa was she going to find Nayu and the bandit leader when she was given no clue? In addition, how was she going to save her? Deciding to address the former first, Suseri got up and looked around her surroundings.
Since he wanted his way with her... The medic thought hard. He needed a place with cover and soft ground... The instant it appeared in her mind, the Asato was already sprinting off to the clearing that should be nearby. Seeing the familiar shrubs up front, the girl slowed and quietened her footsteps, quickly crouching behind one when she heard the ruffling of grass. Through the leaves, she could see...
A large rat scouring the ground for any insects or edible material. The rodent then dashed away along with Suseri's hopes and morale, and the blonde girl slumped her shoulders in defeat. She was never going to find her. If only she had listened to Halmeoni and stayed docile with the others, Nayu would still be safe and well. How could she have let this happened? Even after what she had promised...
"There!" The wheels of the cart came to a stop and the Asato medic dusted her hands. "Now we await their arrival."
She turned around, expecting to see excitement but only received anxiety on her companions' faces. Their apprehension took the edge off her smile, but nonetheless she still stepped up to them, hands behind her back and smiling assuredly. "Come on, guys! Think about it. Sooner or later our village will be in peace, and we can fully enjoy the fruits of our labour without the fear of oppression!"
"Yes, that would be wonderful," Ryuki exhaled, then brought stern eyes to meet hers, "but have you considered the consequences of your plan backfiring? What if you've severely underestimated them? There are recent rumours of them recruiting a half-Yato. How are we going to deal with that?"
"Rumours will be rumours." The village medic flicked her wrist dismissively, lips quirking up as though to suppress a laugh. "Why would a half-Yato join them? Heck, is there even such a thing as a half-Yato? You're worrying too much, oppa."
Satisfied when he made no retort, Suseri turned to check on the other female and upon seeing her expression, sighed and knelt down in front of the village beauty. "Nayu..."
Brown and green met red and blue before glistening with fearful tears. "Suseri! I'm sorry, but I'm just so afraid! I can't help but think about your plan becoming a flop, and then the bandits will... They will-"
"They won't do anything to you," the blonde female smiled so assuredly that Nayu ceased sobbing.
"I won't let them."
With a sudden surge of adrenaline, Suseri tightened her fist, crushing the dead leaves and grass in her sweating palms. Her shaking form rose and tears rolled down her cheeks. She made a promise. And she was going to keep it, even if she has to search the entire forest for her. Leaping away, she started in the direction of the next clearing when a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the north. An undoubtedly feminine scream.
Nayu.
As fast as a whipcrack the blonde was already flitting through the trees in its direction, swatting away branches and kicking over stones with abandon. It did not matter if her heart was already pounding hard enough to hurt, nor if the various scratches on her legs and arms were bleeding. The only thing that did was getting to wherever Nayu is, but how when she couldn't tell where the scream came from specifically...?
She nearly missed it in a flash; the shrubs on her right, illuminated by a beam of moonlight. The medic stepped towards them, all the while staring at their torn leaves, which looked as though they were grabbed by someone...
Quickening her pace with each step and feeling the weight of relief enveloping her heart, Suseri noted with growing conviction that the soil had been dragged upon by somebody, and there were evidence of a struggle on the mangled bushes. Her walk accelerated into a sprint, and she furiously chased the trail left behind by the captured village beauty until she could hear movements behind a thick hedge. The Asato girl then controlled her footsteps so that they became inaudible.
"Stop struggling, you little wretch! Give it up, nobody is coming to save yo- OUCH!"
"Somebody help me! Please!" The anguish in that familiar cry wrought hard and stabbed pikes into Suseri's heart.
"Let me take care of her."
"NO! You idiot! Hit her anywhere but her face! At least once we're done we can sell her to a brothel."
That line drew the final straw. The blonde medic glanced wildly around her surroundings; the utmost priority right now is to get Nayu out of there. Spotting a thicket of red berries, she grabbed a few of the small spheres of crimson and a crudely jagged-edged rock before stealthily closing in for the rescue.
She will not let them hurt her.
Author's Note: No words can describe how apologetic I am for this long update. I've been incredibly busy for the past months X_X. So I hope that some Takasugi ass-kicking will make up for it (how was this chapter btw? I've been away from writing for so long, I think my quality has dropped...)! And yeah I'm so sorry for all the cliched n00b-bad-guy lines hehehe.
Also, no words/characters/any form of communication can convey the gratitude I have for you reviewers. :') Sorry, little101 and Fiyre, the Yato's not Kamui hehe (why would he (or Kagura for that matter) even be there anyway LOL). But I do have plans of including Kamui in this. I mean, he's KAMUI! 3 But that will most probably happen in the distant future... =w=
As usual, I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews and alerts and favourites (LEAVE ME MORE MUAHAHA). So, until next time (which may take a long time too due to my busy schedule... But as I've said before, rest assured that I will NOT abandon this halfway)! ^3~
