Chapter seven
……True to his word, Sorata had woken Arashi just before the detention supervisor came in to release them from their punishment and send them all home. Though, truthfully, it had taken Arashi several minutes to become fully awake.
Always beautiful Sorata thought but there must be something wrong. She slept soundly for nearly an hour in detention and she looks even more tired than she did before.
Finally free to go home, Sorata and Arashi agreed to split up, grab their books from their lockers, and meet up outside the school……
Arashi examined herself in the tiny mirror that was magnetized to the inside of her locker door. She carefully ran a finger across the dark circles under her eyes and sighed. I look horrible she thought wearily. I just don't understand, why I am SO TIRED!?! And why can't I focus? She brought her hands up to rub circles around her temples, starting to feel a little sick. Well, whatever the reason, she was headed home and then she could take a much needed nap!
Taking strength from that thought, Arashi closed her locker door and slowly headed towards the front of the school. Sorata was probably already there waiting….
Stepping out of the school's front double doors, she took in a deep breath of crisp cool fresh air. But to Arashi's surprise, it did nothing to clear the fog she felt clouding her mind. If anything, she felt almost… worse. She continued to make her way forward, starting her descent down the cement steps of the school, when all of a sudden Arashi's vision started to blur. Little dark spots started to swim across her field of view and without warning, she felt her legs buckle beneath her.
Her mind screamed at her that she was falling, and that once she hit the stairs, she'd probably be rolling down them till she came to a stop at the bottom, and that she'd be extremely lucky not to break her neck. And yet, she couldn't get her body to react! All she could do was brace herself for what would undoubtedly be a VERY painful fall.
Just before she hit the stairs Arashi felt strong arms grab her from behind and encircle her waist. She gasped in shock as she heard her name being called and felt herself being lifted carefully away from the staircase and gently set back on her feet. She swayed dizzily but the strong arms still held her securely and tenderly turned her to face her rescuer.
"Arashi! Don't worry, I've got you." A familiar voice reassured anxiously.
"S..Sorata?" she asked shakily, her vision going in and out of focus.
"Yes Arashi, it's me, it's Sorata! What happened!? Are you hurt!? Are you sick!? What's wrong?" He question while checking her over for any injuries.
"I…I'm not sure. I was just walking and then everything went blurry. I got dizzy and started to fall…." She panted, trying to calm her racing heart.
Sorata drew her close to his chest and, holding her upright with one arm, brought his other up to rest his hand gently against her forehead, checking for a fever.
"Have you been sick Nee-chan? You're not running a fever…" He worried, taking note that she was looking very pale.
Arashi couldn't help the rush that went down her spine at Sorata's touch, but was still having difficulty focusing on anything and was suddenly feeling very nauseous.
"Nee-chan?" Sorata questioned again anxiously.
Arashi gasped as her legs buckled again, sending her collapsing against Sorata's chest. Completely shocked, Sorata caught her and brought her over to the edge of the school yard and carefully sat her down on the grass. Kneeling beside her, Sorata tried valiantly to remain calm, but was struggling desperately. What was WRONG with her!?!
"Arashi!?!" He cried, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.
Shaking her head slowly, Arashi couldn't give him the explanation that he was looking for.
"Dizzy." Was all she could manage to get out.
Reaching over, Sorata laid his hand on her back and gently but firmly caused her to lean forward, till her head almost touched her knees. Arashi, though shocked at his touch, felt too weak to resist.
"Just try to relax Nee-chan, and take slow, deep breathes." He said while lightly rubbing steady circles on her back.
Nodding her head, Arashi complied and took slow, deep breathes, trying to relax despite the terror that was welling up inside her. Something was DEFINITELY wrong but she had no idea what was causing it. In all honesty, she couldn't ever remember a time when she had been sick. Not once! The feeling was completely new to her and it was scaring her to death.
They stayed that way for several minutes before Arashi slowly sat up straight.
"Feeling better Nee-chan? Are you alright??" Sorata questioned anxiously, reluctantly removing his hand from her back, but not taking his eyes off her for a second.
Turning to look at him, Arashi slowly nodded. Surprisingly, her dizziness had slowly faded and her vision cleared. Looking at him more closely, she was astonished to see that he looked, not only worried….but frightened. She had NEVER seen him look that way before. Suddenly feeling very guilty and more than just a little embarrassed, she looked away and ran a shaky hand through her hair.
"It's ok Sorata-san. I…I'm alright." She stated quietly, hoping he wouldn't press the issue, but knew he wouldn't let her off that easy.
"Ok Arashi," he questioned, using her name as way of getting her attention, "what just happened? And is this the first time that this has happened? Please tell me." He finished softly.
Arashi did turn back to him then, as it wasn't often that he called her by name. Not only that, but the plea behind his questioning made it impossible for her to ignore. But until she, herself found out what was going on, she had no answers to give him…no matter how much she found herself wanting to open up to him.
"I know you want answers Sorata…and after what just happened, I know you deserve them….but please…. can we please just go…home?" she pled, faltering somewhat on the word home. Home to her would always be Ise, it was the only true home she knew and every time she thought of the shrine, a pang of homesickness would course through her.
Sorata drew back in surprise. She had dropped the formality on his name, making her request somewhat personal. It was a request being asked from one friend to another. His resolve to get answers he sought crumbled, and he nodded with a weak smile, stiffly rising to his feet.
Arashi watched him rise and extend his hand to her. Reaching up, she locked hands with his and he smoothly pulled her to her feet, not letting go till he was sure she was steady on her feet.
"Come on Nee-chan. Lets get you home and we'll go from there." He said warmly, walking very closely beside her, ready to catch her in an instant if necessary.
They hadn't gone far before Arashi stopped abruptly, cocking her head as though listening to something. Sorata stopped as well, worried at first that she wasn't feeling well again, but then realized that she was sensing something.
All of a sudden he sensed it as well and both of them jumped away from each other at the same instant that a man in a black suit attacked the place where they had just been standing.
Reacting quickly, Sorata sent a scorching orb of lighting straight at their attacker. Not moving quickly enough, the man in the suit was hit directly in the chest by Sorata's counter attack and shattered into several tiny pieces, then vanished from sight.
Seeking Arashi, Sorata turned to see her several feet away, her sword already drawn and at the ready, her eyes shifting in search of more attackers. As though sensing his gaze, Arashi's eyes found his and nodded slightly, acknowledging to him that she was ok. Sorata nodded back somewhat relieved, but that relief didn't last long as soon as he noticed that they were completely surrounded by more men in black suits like the one he had just dispatched.
All of them looked the same; had the same build, the same suit, the same haircut and color, and all of them wore the same dark sunglasses. Paper spell servants! Sorata mentally cursed. This is not good, but it could be worse. Just because there are paper spell servants creeping about, doesn't necessarily mean that a dragon of earth is around. At least…Sorata prayed that there wasn't. With Arashi having strange lapses in strength at any given moment it was dangerous for her to be in a fight. If she should collapse or lose focus, she could easily be hurt or even killed! And Sorata vowed that he would NOT let that happen!
"Sorata!" Arashi shouted as she stood her ground, her blade at the ready. "We need to draw them further away from people and the school!"
Sorata nodded in agreement. They had walked a short distance from the school before being attacked, and school had been out for a while, but there was always the slim chance that there were still children and teachers nearby. And even though they could put up a barrier field, if either of them were injured and their Kekkai crumbled, innocent young people could be killed.
Both Sorata and Arashi shot into the air and flew over several buildings, trying to put some distance between them and the school. The paper spell servants seemed to shrink and melt into dark puddles on the sidewalk and then disappear. No doubt ready to reappear the moment they stopped.
Truthfully, Sorata was completely confident that he could handle the shikigami if needed, but if there was even the slightest chance that a dragon of earth was around, then there was always a chance that Arashi, in her current state, could become a casualty and that was a chance Sorata wasn't willing to take.
If
we could just reach the mansion, then Arashi wouldn't have to
fight. There'd be enough of the seals there to easily get rid of
those things! Sorata thought to himself, but that hope was short
lived as he realized that they had fled in the opposite direction.
Damn it! Why didn't I think it through!?! He cursed angrily.
Wait! We're headed toward Mr. Aoki's office building! If we
could reach him then we'd be ok.
But Aoki's building was still several miles away and Arashi was starting to fall behind. Sorata immediately slowed and landed on the roof of a tall building and waited for Arashi to join him. Just as she reached his side a breeze picked up and they were suddenly encircled in a shower of shimmering cherry blossoms. Deep and ominous laughter filled the air around them and Sorata instinctually moved closer to Arashi.
She was breathing hard
but she seemed more or less ok. She held tightly to her sword and
scanned the sky, searching for the owner of the laughter that rang
out over the rooftops. This is SO not good! Sorata thought as
he too searched for the one taking enjoyment out of their current
situation.
"Why…Sorata! Fancy meeting you up here! I've honestly been looking forward to the time when we'd see each other again and now here you are! What luck!" a friendly chipper voice surprised them both from behind. Whirling to see who had just spoken, both Sorata and Arashi spotted a man in a pink suit and a long white trench coat perched nonchalantly on a flagpole.
"Yuto…" Arashi heard Sorata murmur to himself as he suddenly looked extremely relaxed, even playful as he took a few steps closer to the strange man.
"I have to admit that I've been looking forward to our next visit too." Sorata chuckled amiably. "But I've been pretty busy lately."
Yuto smiled and nodded and then inclined his head slightly to the side. "It would appear that you've brought a friend with you this time. Who's you're beautiful companion there?"
Arashi blinked in surprise that Sorata seemed to not only know this character but sounded as though they were friends somehow. Before she could say anything though, Sorata casually stepped in front of her, blocking her from the man's view.
"This little missy isn't anyone you need to be concerned about." Sorata said cheerily, "I was walking her home from school when we got a little side tracked. So as you can see, I'm still quite busy. So if you wouldn't mind taking a rain check Yuto-san we can chat again some other time." Sorata smiled while he ever so slowly started to back up and Arashi, though somewhat discontented by the whole situation, followed his lead.
Yuto just laughed and gracefully leapt from the flagpole to land just a few feet in front of Sorata, shaking his head slightly.
"Sorata, Sorata." Yuto tisked disappointedly. "I had hoped that you'd want to stick around; both you AND your pretty friend there. You see…I brought a friend or two of my own today and they were just so excited to play. I'd really hate to disappoint them."
At this news Sorata felt an icy chill run down his spine. This was DEFFINATELY not good! His mind was suddenly racing for ideas on what he could do, how they could get the situation in their favor, but nothing was coming to mind and their current situation was going from bad to incredibly worse!
Dark pools unexpectedly appeared on the rooftops surrounding them and several paper servants then took shape. Sorata and Arashi now found themselves blocked off on all sides by men dark suits and sunglasses with Yuto at their head. There were no possible escape routes and Sorata's heart sank as he realized that there would be no way for them to escape this without a fight.
Feeling something touch his back, Sorata turned slightly to see that Arashi had repositioned herself so that they were back to back. That way she had his back and he had hers and though he wished with everything he had that she were thousands of miles away from the jeopardy they now faced, a part of him was grateful that she was there. There was no one he would rather fight alongside.
The ominous laughter returned as the paper spell servants leapt into the air to attack. At that same moment Yuto lunged at Sorata, his whip cracking loudly as it sought out its target. Arashi and Sorata moved with precision as they both dodged the assaults and fought back with the same intensity. Sorata could hear the slashing of Arashi's blade as it tore into the shikigami left and right, her movements graceful though deadly.
Sorata chanted cryptic mudras and with accompanying hand signs shot pure bolts of energy in Yuto's direction. Yuto barely dodged the fierce attack and sent a torrent of water just as quickly back at Sorata. Diving out of the way, Sorata suddenly felt rather than saw a barrier field suddenly go up and turning back to look at Arashi, he saw that she had indeed put up her kekkai in order to protect the area and the people in it.
Using Sorata's moment of distraction to his advantage, Yuto caught Sorata from behind and dealt him a sharp blow to the back of the head with the butt of his weapon. Completely caught off guard, Sorata dropped like a stone to the ground as his ears rang from the harsh impact. Yuto watched in amusement as the young monk groaned and struggled to get to his hands and knees; trying to get back up. Without pity, Yuto savagely kicked Sorata in the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground again; successfully knocking the wind out of him.
Sorata gasped in pain as Yuto slowly knelt beside him and once again shook his head disapprovingly, "Really Sorata, are you all out of fight so soon? You put up more of a fight on our first encounter. I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed at just how easy getting rid of you is going to be…" And with that said Yuto pulled his whip taunt and wrapped it tightly around Sorata's throat….
Meanwhile Arashi's sword hissed and sang as it slashed and sliced through the shikigami that seemed to come at her from all directions, and though she was holding her own, she felt herself beginning to loose energy fast. I can't keep this up for long she thought to herself as she persistently fought on. However, after what seemed like an eternity she decapitated the last of the paper spell servants and watched at is dissolved and then disappeared from sight. Taking that moment to put up her kekkai, Arashi turned to find and help Sorata, wherever he had gone, when, without warning, several live telephone lines shot themselves with alarming speed straight at her unprotected back….
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Ok
my dear readers…I'm starting to become discouraged. I KNOW there
are several of you out there who are reading this story but aren't
taking the time to review it. Is it worth continuing? Or not? I'm
not afraid of holding this story hostage till I hear from you!!! Lol!
Just kidding……………or am I?.......
