Sorry it took so long from my normal update schedule! Here's chapter 7!
Ch 7
The night was brutally cold as the four figures walked towards their house. Yuki's eyes were bright as he and I conversed, Tohru jumping in at points. Kyo remained unusually silent, and his gaze darted all around, watching even the slightest movement beyond us. His gaze caught mine and I held it.
"What?!" he finally demanded, and Yuki and Tohru fell silent.
"I'm just wondering what the hell is going through your head." I replied stiffly. "You're over there all silent, and it's pissing me off."
"Why would MY silence make you angry?" he said coldly.
"Because we're all being happy but your dampening my mood." I retorted just as coldly. There was a moment of silence where we just glared before I took a deep breath. "Okay Kyo, just calm down and tell me what's wrong before we attack each other in the middle of the street." We were on our way back from shopping, and both boys had been holding bags full of groceries. Kyo, once I had gotten angry, dropped his.
"Look, there's been a lot of crime going on in town, okay?" Kyo said, embarrassed. "I'm just on alert so nothing bad happens... again." he added. I gave him a sympathetic glance, laying a hand on his arm and giving it a comforting squeeze. Yuki, for some reason, stiffened next to me as I did this but I openly ignored him.
"I'll keep my ears open. If anyone comes, I'll hear them far before you all." Kyo sighed and nodded. My eyes widened and I smirked. "Like this guy." Kyo and the others looked up as I ducked, a fist swinging over my head. My leg went straight back, kicking the man in the face. I twisted, landing on my feet. The man had regained balance, and I now saw his full appearance. He wore a tuxedo, a pair of shades covered his eyes. His scent was familiar, like the guys that attacked me in the woods, but it wasn't the same ones. These guys were different, with a different purpose. My eyes narrowed, assessing my enemy as he prepared a second attack. I saw the way that his weight shifted onto his rear foot, and I ducked as his leg swung in a wide arch over my head. My arm snaked up and caught it next to my shoulder. I kicked him in the side and punched him in the face with my free arm and leg. Then, I kicked his knee out and he buckled forward, onto the ground where I placed a foot onto his back. "Who are you?" I hissed, only to hear another man approaching. I jumped on the man's back, giving myself enough leverage for a back flip and avoided the second man's fist.
"Sage!" Yuki and Kyo shouted in unison. Leaving Yuki to watch Tohru, Kyo jumped forward to my side, glaring. "You're the guys that attacked us in the woods!"
"No." I deadpanned. "These guys are different, and they have a different reason for attacking and following us."
"Smart girl." the first man said. "My name is-."
"I could care less about your name." I interrupted, placing a hand in the air. "I just want to know what the hell you're doing attacking us."
"Well, more like getting your asses kicked." Kyo said, and I nodded.
"I'm a friend of your fathers." the first man began.
"Damn." I said, shaking my head and smirking. "You bastards just keep showing up everywhere, don't you?"
"Look, we just wanted to tell you that your father wants to see you." the second man said.
"Well, you can tell my father to kiss my ass." I snapped, my anger overflowing, and Kyo felt it too. He let out a shaky breath and glared at them.
"If you came here just to give information, then why did you attack us?" Kyo spat. The men opened their mouths briefly and then shut them.
"You came here to kidnap." I hissed, rage surging through me which only surged through Kyo too. We were becoming possibly one of the strongest fighting duos and we hadn't even begun to hurt these men yet. I narrowed my eyes and glanced at Kyo. He gave a slight nod and before the men could interpret it, we launched ourselves forward, attacking and fists swinging. My fist collided with the first man's jaw. "You can go back to my father with the bruises I'm about to give you!" I told him, punching him so hard his nose broke with a loud crack! "He'll understand what he's dealing with then." I did a backhand spring to move out of the way of a sloppy punch aimed at nowhere in particular. I landed on my feet, glancing quickly at the wall beside me. I ran over, leaping and taking a few steps up the wall before thrusting myself off and kicking the man in the face while doing a back flip and a 360 simultaneously. Yeah, I did do some hardcore training while in that cell. The man was knocked out and I focused on the second man whom Kyo was fighting. Kyo's cheek looked as though it had been punched, but the other man was much worse. I took a few steps in advancement on the pair to join the fight when a hand grabbed my foot. Startled, I lost balance and fell to the ground. I was hit in the face, hard. Black spots enveloped my vision, and I heard a shout from Yuki and Kyo, and a shriek from Tohru. Once I heard Tohru, I whipped around, kicking my feet in the air randomly in hopes of hitting the man. My feet met their mark, hitting the man right where the sun don't shine, and getting on my knees. Evidently, i hadn't kicked that hard as the man shot forward, head-butting me in the stomach and flattening me to the ground. He straddled me, pinning me underneath him. He placed a hand around my throat, blocking off air from my lungs. I began choking, hiccuping, gasping for oxygen that I was slowly being deprived of. My eyes were wide, and they squeezed shut every time I blinked. Kyo was shouting something to me, but I couldn't hear. The black spots began returning, and my legs began going numb under his tight grip.
"You know, I used to think you were pretty and maybe worth while." the man hissed. With what little strength I had left, I worked up a bit of saliva an spat it at him.
"Pervert." I hissed through gritted teeth. He squeezed on my neck harder, and I stiffened more if it was possible, struggling for air.
Suddenly, the weight and pressure was gone. I lifted my head, gasping and trying to understand what was going on. As I looked up, someone had lifted the man and he kicked me straight in the face. I was knocked back onto the ground, a red cloud surrounding my sight. I turned my head slowly and saw a familiar white-and-black-haired male shoving the man against the wall. Haru! He punched the man in the chest, knocking the wind from him before spinning and delivering a kick so hard it left a crack in the wall behind the man's head. Rin and Tohru were at his side as Yuki and Kyo crouched next to me. The other guy must've run off at the sight of yet another attacker. I saw Haru shove both boys away and pick me up, bridal style. I felt weightless, my head lighter than a feather, and I hurt everywhere. I felt a cut right above my eye where the man had kicked, my lip was busted open, and one of my eyes was swelling shut. I had gotten them pretty good in the beginning, but you win some you lose some. I felt myself just beginning to lose consciousness as Rin spoke to me.
"Stay strong, we'll be home soon." she promised, and her words echoed in my ears. Those same words my mother used to sing in some sort of song to me when I was younger. The same song, the same words, I used to tell myself in that stupid cell. Stay strong.
Stay strong.
"Those men were after her. They were working for her father, all close friends." the voice was explaining. "I'd seen them at the Main House more times than I could count." Someone else muttered something I couldn't catch, but being only half-conscious, I'm surprised I heard anything and remembered it. "No, Shigure sent us after you guys. He said that you were taking too long, something was up. And on top of that, a lot of crime has been occurring in the city lately, he didn't want to be too careful, and Hatori has some information." Again the voice echoed in the background. "No, he said he would share it when she wakes."
"I'm up." I muttered, recognizing Haru's voice as the explaining one. I opened my eyes, my vision slightly blurry, and saw everyone from the night before. My head was resting on Haru's lap as Rin brushed my long hair. Tohru sat next to Kyo, and Yuki was right next to Haru, watching me with brilliant purple eyes.
"You just can't stop pickin' fights, can ya?" Kyo asked, shaking his head with a smile. I smiled at him as he continued. "First it was at the school with those perverts, then with Akito, then with your dad's friends." he shook his head.
"She is troublesome." Haru agreed and I gave him a hurt look.
"I'm not the one that cracked a wall by kicking a guy's head into it." I pointed out.
"No, you broke the guy's nose, gave him a black eye, broke a few ribs, and bruised about every other bone in his body." Haru argued, and I looked away.
"Yeah, well, he pissed me off slighty kind-of sorta a little bit." I mumbled and the room laughed. "So, what information did Hatori need to give us?"
"Just wanted you to know that first, you're fairly stupid for taking those men on by yourself." a voice sounded, causing all heads to turn to the doorway where Hatori stood.
"I wasn't by myself!" I protested. "Kyo and Haru backed me up." Hatori sniffed and walked forward.
"Second," he ignored my protest. "Akito's very upset that you went to such lengths whilse beating up his guards." he glanced around the room.
"Guards?" I inquired.
"He's hired about 10 more. He's saying something about feeling vulnerable, and with your little fiasco last night, it only pushed his decision further. Hire too many guards, he'll get some very bad ideas."
"Bad how?" Tohru asked. Hatori fixed his gaze upon her.
"For the sake of your ability to feel safe, I'll keep that information to myself." he responded cooly.
"Great, now tell us why you're really here." I said, leaning back onto Haru's lap. Hatori smirked.
"You always have been able to read me to easily." he said. "There have been some complications at the Main House, for a few of the Zodiac. I- I no longer have a place there." The room gasped.
"Judt say that you all opposed Akito directly and tell us who all did." I said, examining a flower Rin was planning on putting in my hair. Hatori glanced at me once more.
"Any idea how she does that?" He asked Haru who shrugged. He sighed and continued. "Yes, some others and I all have defied Akito, as has everyone else living here including Rin and Haru. The others include Hiro and Kisa. As far as I know from the information I gathered before I left, Kureno has considered it, Ritzu is on his way here as we speak to find a place with me, and Ayame has prepared a meeting for his denial to Akito sometimes this week." Hatori sighed. "Which means he and Shigure will be too damn close for comfort."
"You can stay with us." Tohru offered.
"Tohru, your kindness is unwavering, and I appreciate the offer. ButI will be taking up a house just down the road to shelter the rest of us who are rebelling and being kicked out. You're welcome to visit whenever." his gaze fluttered over to me. "And so I can keep a better eye on her, she'll be coming with me. She needs to heal before picking yet another fight." I opened my mouth to object but he swept on. "You hadn't recovered all your strength from shifting into your other form. Then, you went and picked a fight. You could've kicked those guys into next week; I've seen the way you fight. You didn't have enough strength to balance the endurance you needed and you went down far too easily. You WILL stay with me." I glared at him, and he stared back with a serious gaze.
"Hatori, she's been doing fine here." Kyo argued. "Let that damn rat take care of her." This earned a glare from Yuki who also objected, only more politely.
"If I may, Hatori, she has been sleeping with me-."
"What?!" the room demanded and Yuki went red.
"I meant in my room!" he snapped, and the tension softened. My face was red and I buried it in Haru's shirt. "I've been keeping an eye on her."
"So it's your fault for not watching her and letting her escape so Akito could capture her." Hatori said, leaving Yuki dumbfounded.
"Hatori!" I hissed. "I'll go with you if you shut up." He nodded to me.
"Good, go pack." he said. "We leave in 10. Say goodbye." He picked up his jacket and left, leaving me to storm up the stairs.
"Sage." I heard Har groan, and the others watched from the bottom of the stairwell as I went into Yuki's room and slammed the door. I quickly moved my clothes into a small bag when the window opened. I looked over and saw Kyo climbing through, shutting it behind him.
"Hey, you don't have to go ya know." he began, helping me fold my small amount of clothing and shove it in. "And even if you do, I'll come and visit you if you like. I'll bring Haru and that damn rat over too. Plus, you'll get to meet Kisa and Hiro. Hiro's a little brat but Kisa's sweet." I looked over at him and his eyes reflected my own sadness. The Lifelink. He felt it too. I hugged him, and he hugged back.
"Okay, bring Tohru and Yuki. And when I can, I'll come over and stay as long as possible." I vowed. He stopped hugging me as Yuki knocked on the door.
"Sage?" he called. "Can I come in?"
"I wasn't here!" Kyo hissed, retreating to the window and jumping out. I opened the door and returned to my bag, pulling it over my shoulders and walking past him.
"Sage, it isn't so bad." Yuki said as I walked down the stairs. I hugged Tohru, who game me a small bag of cookies. I smiled at her, and then hugged Shigure. He chuckled, hugging me back. I turned to Haru and Rin, hugging them both tightly, and Kyo joined for a group hug. I turned to Yuki with large, sad eyes. He hugged me, and sighed as though he was giving up trying to comfort me. "Stay strong." I stiffened at his words, but nodded. I nodded to everyone before laughing.
"What's so funny?" Kyo asked.
"I must seem so heartless." I said, giggling sadly. "You are all on the verge of tears and I can't even cry."
"Don't worry. If you're good, you can return soon." Hatori promised.
"We'll visit daily." Rin promised; Haru nodded, snaking an arm around her waist. I nodded, following Hatori out the door. We walked up the bluff, and I waved at everyone as they stood outside. They waved back, and I turned to follow Hatori to a new place.
Stay strong.
Well, what did you think? Please review!
