Chapter 9: Battle
As we always did, we snuck out of the hotel through the window, leaving the money on the bed, or in this case, a bed. We hopped from rooftop to rooftop with Sakura leading, Karman close behind, Moses by my side, and Lulu tailing behind.
After we exited the almost pitch black village, Moses stopped on one branch and told me to get on his back.
"What?" I said, my face flushing.
The others stopped and turned around to see what all of the commotion was about.
"Hurry up!" Karman shouted.
"Fine!" I pouted.
Moses turned around and bent down, letting me get on. I leaned down, putting my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He instructed for me to keep my head down so I snuggled into his right shoulder. My nose was tickled by the material of his cloak. Then, we started moving.
My eyes were hazy, my hearing was tuned out, all I could sense was smell and touch. Moses' cloak was soft like a pillow and his hair carried a heavenly scent but I couldn't identify it. It was…so good.
This urge to touch him, stroke his hair just once.
I buried my face into arch of his shoulder even more, my nose inhaling his scent. My eyes glanced down. We were flying through the trees at breathtaking speed and I hadn't even noticed.
"Moses…?" I started in almost an unheard voice.
"Hm?" His eyes didn't switch from looking ahead but his attention was towards me and not the scenery.
"Mm, never mind…" I mumbled softly. I buried my face further into his cloak, trying to rest.
Branch, after branch, we flew. The darkness blurred with our speed. Small taps noised when feet hit branches. It was like I was flying, zooming through the forest with large white wings.
A girl with glittering white hair, yellow eyes, flying like an angel, that wasn't me.
"Moses, stay sharp, Chiropteran are coming in from the left," Sakura said, looking back. Her green orbs seemed to glow.
After a split second, Moses stopped on a branch and let me down. He leaned down and took a tight grasp of my shoulders, not shaking them. His deep eyes bored into mine.
"Stay here no matter what, I'll protect you," Moses vowed.
With that, he let go altogether. Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out his scythe, it instantly unfolding, the blade glistening in the light of the moon.
The wind howled, rustling my hair, strands flying in my face. I moved my hand behind my ear, tucking strands away. Taking a gulp, I tried my best to stand up straight.
Two blue lights appeared on both sides of Moses, revealing an armed Lulu and readied Karman. Sakura dashed down to a branch above them.
A loud howl filled the dark air.
The Schiff narrowed their eyes, crouching further.
A Chiropteran emerged from the brush, teeth bared.
It lunged at Sakura who took out her katana and in an instant; the creature was cut in half, falling to the forest floor, out of view.
Another roar and a group of five Chiropterans jumped from the trees above. One pulled out its razor blade claws and aimed at Sakura. Boom! As soon as it landed on the branch, it broke into dust. I shielded my face from the storm of dust. As soon as the dust cleared, Sakura was in tact, holding her katana, a few branches away. The creature was crouched on the vertical branch, having no trouble balancing. Letting out a low growl, the demon pounced yet again and Sakura took a few steps back, avoiding its every strike. It went up on two large legs and continued to claw in vain. Gracefully, Sakura's head moved in both directions her feet helping her back up calmly. After a long amount of relentless strikes, the Chiropteran let out a frustrated howl. Violently, it struck and Sakura didn't dodge.
'I can't look.' I screwed my eyes shut but I never heard a scream and I found myself looking at the scene.
The Chiropteran began to scream, struggling to get its claw out of Sakura's grip. Its claw was pinned to her shoulder, unable to move. Giving a terrifying screech, it struck with its free claw. Quickly letting go, red energy emerged in the form of a hand blade on her hand. She struck, taking off the Chiropteran's left arm. It screeched as crimson splattered everywhere, on the branch, on Sakura's flawless face, on it. The limb fell, rolling a little on the branch near me. The back claw clenched a little and startled, I backed up only to hit a tree trunk lightly with my back. Soon after, I fell to my knees, petrified.
Giving the thing a look of disgust, Sakura took her hand off the Chiropteran to grab her katana nearby. The demon backed away, still on two legs, in pain but Sakura slowly edged near it. Her eyes full of hate.
"Say goodbye." In the blink of an eye, blood splashed everywhere as Sakura took of the head. I swore I saw a single tear drip from its red eye as the head fell to the invisible forest floor. The body swayed a bit, taking a step to only fall. It was son in a pool of its own blood. Moments later, the body and the arm of the beast evaporated into green flames, leaving only a trace of ash.
Moses and the other Schiff were busy with their own battles.
Lulu was bombarded with quick strikes, narrowly avoiding them. One of them hit Lulu's axe, sending her flying into a tree trunk a yard away. With a loud thump, the wind was knocked out of her, rendering her unconscious. As the creature lunged, Karman ceased his own battle by kicking the creature away and rushing to Lulu's aid. The Chiropteran howled as it was about to end the battle. Just as it struck, the claw made a metal thunk, hitting Karman's spearhead.
"You'll pay for that!"
Karman gave the rod a push, shoving the creature back a few steps and thrust his spear forward. He stabbed the creature's chest and tore his spear downward, tearing the flesh and organs inside. Soon, he yanked his spear out and the creature fell to the ground, bursting into green flames.
A loud clang came from nearby as Moses blocked an upcoming attack. He was fending from two Chiropterans. He jumped into the air and flipped upside down, behind the Chiropteran, aiming his scythe and struck the creature through the chest. It gave a loud screech until Moses landed on the ground and pulled out his scythe. The creature fell and burst into green flames.
Three down…two to go.
For a split second, when Moses' guard was down, the creature came from behind and hit Moses in the back, throwing him in the air. In shock, Moses was wide open. The creature jumped in the air and hit Moses hard in the chest, sending him spiraling down.
With a loud thunk, Moses hit the heavy branch. His back arched as blood spewed from his mouth. Unable to move, Moses laid defenseless. As the creature was about to strike, Karman appeared and blocked its attack with his spear. Karman stumbled back a few steps at the impact, as did his opponent, and then he himself lunged, his spear aimed at the creature's heart.
A loud screech pierced the air as the spear went through the Chiropteran's flesh. Karman realized where he struck and rebounded back, taking his spear quickly out if the body. As its cries faded, the creature stopped in its tracks, than taking a few more slow steps. Moments later, it fell as it disappeared in green flame.
"Thank you," Moses calmly said as he stood up, regaining his composure.
Karman gave a well-earned nod and they both got ready to take out the last Chiropteran.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed.
Karman and Moses' heads whipped to my location.
The Chiropteran, fangs bared, mouth watering, staggered on all fours closer to me.
No matter how fast they ran, the Schiff were too far away to save me. I was going to die. Hiding my tears, I hugged my knees to my chest, awaiting my fate.
The pain didn't come. I opened my eyes to see Moses, blocking the creatures attack.
"Go!" he tried to yell but it came up no more than a whisper.
I did as was told and began to crawl on my knees, scraping them and bleeding. Choking back the tears, I managed passed the beast and then gathering all of my remaining strength to my legs to push them up. Then I was running…for my life. I tripped over my own feet and fell back into a crawl.
There was a loud thump from behind as Moses was thrown into a tree. It looked as if his spine cracked.
I couldn't run because I couldn't get my bloody knees up but I crawled faster. Step by step, it closed in on me. Then, it was behind me.
Suddenly, I felt this searing, blinding pain in my back. It was nothing that I had felt before.
Its claw sunk deeper in my back, touching my spine, and my blood flowed to the ground, all over. The claw pulled out, causing me to scream out in blinding pain. Pain was all I felt, sensed. My vision was hazed, my ears were tuned out, my nose smelled only the smell of copper. Blood. I sat down and looked up, terrified. My hands that were a pale shade of tan were covered in crimson liquid. Moses cut the creature in half and it was already on the forest floor.
Quickly, he bent down by me.
"Aliera! Can you hear me!? Aliera!" he shouted.
My blank eyes looked to his face. All I saw was terror, pure terror. I held up my bloodied hands. Moses, holding back his fear, took them in his own.
His hands…they were ghost white and practically, two times the size of mine.
Gently, Moses put them to my chest, our fingers still intertwined.
"Moses! Aliera!" Then next to Moses, Karman appeared, Lulu at his side. Terror crossed their faces as they bent down. I was in a pool of my own blood.
"Aliera…" Karman whispered, not knowing what to say or what to tell me.
"Ally…" Lulu sobbed.
Just then, Sakura appeared.
"Aliera, can you hear me?" she asked, bending down, showing no sign of fear.
But my vision grew blurry and went to black.
Crimson, the color of love, the color of blood…
White lights filled my mind as my eyes creaked open.
"Lulu…" I muttered, looking to the sobbing girl sitting in a chair by my bedside.
"Ally!" She took no time in waiting to embrace me, cutting off my circulation.
"W-Where am I?" I asked. The room was high class with red painted walls and old fashioned wallpaper. The room was lit by a lamp by Lulu on a nightstand. I was on a large, red sheeted bed in blue pajamas. And I felt like I was swaying.
"Lulu, why do I feel like I'm swaying?" I asked.
"We're on the fairy, you've been out for almost two days," Lulu smiled weakly.
Then, the memories flashed in from before. "How am I alive?" I asked, looking at my now clean hands.
"Sakura healed you. She needed Moses' help though for the hand signs. How long have you known?" Lulu asked.
"Since I met her," I admitted.
"Well, we're happy that you're alive. I'm going to tell the others that you've waken up," Lulu said, getting up and leaving quietly. She seemed…depressed.
I spent what seemed like forever resting. I wasn't even tired.
The brown, wooden door opened and a figure dressed in black stepped in. His ebony locks rested on the sides of his face.
"Moses!" I said a tad too loud, wearing an exuberant smile.
"Aliera, are you in any pain? Does your back hurt?" Moses asked as he sat down on the stool by my bedside.
I shook my head, still smiling.
Moses allowed a sigh of relief to escape his lips.
"Thank you, Moses," I smiled from my sitting position on the bed, "For healing me."
"You should be thanking Sakura; she is the one who healed your wound."
"I will."
An awkward pause started. I didn't know really what to say. I almost died, I was on a boat, and two people saved me.
"Aliera, about what you said before…" Moses started, looking at the closed window.
"Huh?"
"…Schiff don't sleep."
"…So you've all been…?" I started.
"Faking? Yes, we agreed to make sure you were trustworthy. We weren't made to sleep," Moses said.
'Well, at least I never said…oh crap. I told Lulu that I liked Moses and if he wasn't asleep…' My face turned a deep shade of red.
"I see…then you heard…?" I started, looking down at the blankets covering me.
"…Yes, but…" My eyes flickered up at him. "I…we can't be any more than friends, I'm sorry," Moses finished, closing his only visible eye.
"…Its okay, really, I completely understand. I mean, who would like a girl who wants to die," I laughed.
My heart felt like it shattered into a thousand shards and that those shards ripped through my chest. It felt as if a thousand needles punctured through me. The pain was unbearable.
Tears fell from my eyes. "Ah." I tried desperately to wipe them away with my sleeve but they kept coming. My shoulders trembled and my nose became runny. Before I knew it, I was sobbing.
"Aliera…" Moses' soft voice pierced my ears and I sobbed harder.
"Y-You s-should g-g-go," I hiccupped.
Moses had a lonely look in his eye, like he was sorry about what he had did but wordlessly, he stood up and went to the door. Just then, Karman came through. Karman noticed that I was crying and sent Moses a glare.
"Moses, what did you do?" Karman growled.
"Karman." Moses then left as quickly as he came.
Still glaring at the empty doorway, Karman closed the door and came to the stool by my bedside.
"What did he do this time?" Karman asked, sounding angry.
"H-He…h-h-he," but I choked before I could get passed the first word. I hiccupped, choked, cried, but this was perhaps one of the worst.
I truly wanted to die.
"Damn him. He thinks what he does is right when it only ends up hurting others in the end. That's what he tried to prevent but he does it anyway," Karman said. His voice was soft as if he was remembering something.
"T-Thank you, Karman," I smiled, the tears still flooding down my cheeks. I could feel my eyes swell as the tears continued to fall from my eyes. I hated this feeling.
After a moment, Karman spoke. "Damn him. I'm going to go talk some sense into him. I'll beat it into him if I have to." Karman stood up abruptly and left, shutting the door gently.
I was left to wallow in my own self pity.
'I should live a solitary life. No one cares and I only get hurt. I hate this. I hate this feeling. Why did God spare me? Why? I'm not happy, I have nothing, and I feel like the scum of the earth.'
"Ally?" Lulu opened the door with her back and slipped in with a tray of food. Setting it on my lap, she sat on the stool with a weak, tired smile. "It's from the buffet table. I figured that you'd be hungry."
Then I realized I was starving. Quickly, I grabbed a fork and dug into the Thanksgiving-like meal.
"Why are you're eyes puffy?" Lulu asked.
I put my spoon down and smiled weakly at her, "I was rejected by the only person I hoped would like me. I'm alone. I will always be alone. No one truly cares."
"That's not true! Sakura cares! Karman cares! Moses cares! I care!" Tears fell from her eyes. Then her eyes widened slightly and she turned her gaze to the closed window. "I wish I could dream so that I could see all of them again," Lulu said softly, looking at the closed window.
"Why did you make me say that? You knew he was awake and yet…why Lulu? I thought you were my friend."
"I-I am! I am your friend!" Lulu shouted.
"Then why did you make me lose the only hope I had left?" I asked, tears falling from my chocolate eyes.
Lulu's eyes widened slightly and she got up and left the room quickly, not shutting the door all the way.
All I felt was hatred and betrayal. My heart was broken, I lost my only friend, and my hope was gone with the moon. If pain had a human form, I would be their form. I was Pain in Human Form.
Knock. Knock.
"Can I come in?" Sakura asked from outside the door.
"Are you here to drag me down even more?" I asked bitterly.
"No, I wanted to tell you something," Sakura said, coming through the door and carefully closing it behind her. She strode gracefully to my bedside, her pink hair trailing swirls of cherry fragrance close behind. She left a pure aroma in the air like a rose and a cherry.
Quietly, she took a seat on the stool and looked at me with sympathetic eyes.
"Well…?" I urged on irritably.
"I wanted to tell you about my life in the Leaf Village," Sakura said in a serious tone.
There was no hint of a smile behind her face. She was serious. I was going to learn about Sakura Haruno, a true ninja warrior, a legend in my eyes. Another being like me. But she was stronger. I was weak.
