Author's Note: Sorry this took long and a good thing I finished it. Finals are coming.
As each step grew heavier from the weight of the ground clinging unto the ends of his pants and the soles of his shoes, Tsurugi had no choice but to continue forward unless he wanted Tenma to die. He gasped exhaustedly as he was just literally wandering around. He had to locate Tenma as quickly as possible but that would have been much easier if…
"Tch! Where is that little kid?!" Tsurugi silently cursed. The ghost child who had helped him along the way had taken a very fine time to disappear on him and it was the absolute worst time of all. Without him to locate Tenma, time what could have been spent coming closer to ending this whole tragedy slipped little by little into what could be an even greater tragedy. He wouldn't know how to live with himself if something as horrible being raped or beaten happened to Tenma. And if he died in the same agony as all those other people, there would be no possible way of going back and fixing it unlike with all his mistakes in Fifth Sector which now made him second guess if it all could be fixed as fully as he had thought. Most likely, no. If that was the case, then how could he fix this?
"Where could they have gone?!" Tsurugi wondered desperately and then out went a high pop in the air to stop ponders and it sounded exactly like a firecracker but it was something much darker and the boy knew that. Then one more cracked into the air and then another and then another, each appearing more quickly than the last until it became an orchestra of crazed firing that rung in the air. If only at least one had had struck his heart for real, then at least he would know they were meant for him and not for the brunette whose image suddenly faded in his mind in a dark, crimson color as did with fires.
"Have you seen them anywhere?" Aoi asked Shinsuke who shook his head sullen frown and he couldn't find himself able to look at Aoi with his tiny eyes. He just wasn't used to letting a friend down and it wasn't the best of feelings.
"Ugh, why did they suddenly disappear like this?" Aoi wondered nearly to tears. "Tsurugi, the ghost and now Coach too!"
"Hmn…" Shinsuke muttered with a crumple of his body with one question on their mind; where had everyone gone?
Shinsuke did what he could to calm Aoi down as she took a seat to rest in front of Kirino's situated room. They didn't think someone could have overheard their conversation or at least most of it for the only person who could have remained behind the sights of the thick whitewash walls behind them.
As the oldest, Sangoku was the only one everyone could turn to with Coach and their captain gone. Under normal circumstances, they would turn to Kirino, their captain's best friend and most loyal and trusted companion and if Shindou trusted him, they could trust him without any reservation but right now, how could they depend on someone who couldn't even draw a breath without help of a beeping box? And so the heavy burden of responsibility was passed unto their goalkeeper who wasn't feeling so up to the task as he normally would, not with everything that's happened.
He simply kept those thoughts to himself as he watched Kirino's death-like position. He could imagine seeing the flatline any moment. The rest of his teammates had gone off to look for either Coach or Tsurugi while steering clear off the forest, leaving him alone to watch over their friend and praying he just didn't die while he was sitting there.
Outside, Aoi did her best to be strong and wiped away her tears and Shinsuke couldn't have felt more relieved.
"I know they'll be all right! Let's just keep our spirits high!" Shinsuke encouraged happily and Aoi nodded her head with an eased smile.
"Oh well. With that kid following Tsurugi around, at least there'll be someone to keep him in control." Aoi sighed.
It was just then a frantic scream pierced their ears that made them jump. Aoi, startled, quickly got up and ran for the door but it slid open before she could get a hold of the metal pocket and once it slid open, Sangoku stood there and they could here a fraught of coughing and gagging behind him bursting in volumes.
Before they could ask what was happening, Sangoku yelled out to them in a distraught plea, "Go call the doctor!"
Tsurugi ran frantically towards to what he thought was the source of the shots. It was fairly hard not to miss considering how many times it was rapidly firing before going to a cold silence. The sudden stillness in the air made his stomach twist as his worse fears and paranoia began to get the better of his now vulnerable and shaky mind. Thoughts of failing began to materialise vividly in front of his eyes. He could practically see it happening whenever he pushed away a sagging brach or fronds of outstretched leaves, his instincts telling him over and over, "He's dead! He's dead and just just over there is his body!"
Of course, he came to see nothing but it only served to push the hope crushing voice further as it continued whispering into his ear with only a small desperate optimism to keep him going.
As he continued on running through the rocky ground and leafy surroundings, his feet began to grow red from the soaring pain of trekking so messily as he had. His pace began to slow down to the movements of a groggy little garden snail crawling over a line of broken glass and the pain felt about the same.
"Come on! Where are you?!" Tsurugi screamed out, hoping the old timer heard him so at least if Tenma was still alive, maybe he could avert former's attention over to him. He was certainly successful in grabbing someone's attention but it wasn't the old man.
A hiding man who heard him twitched with his shoulders as turned back to from where Tsurugi's voice reverberated. He wrapped his arms tightly around his own white jacket and stepped out from under the small shelter of a thicket of of thorny bushes that tore a bit of from his own clothes as it pierced into his skin without any thinker coating to protect him but he didn't mind.
Tsurugi continued around but now he was starting to worry. He had been yelling and screaming for a while now, long enough for anyone or anything to notice him but absolutely nothing. There were no fires and no one was coming for him. Then what did that mean?! He was practically tearing his brain to nothing but nerves trying to come up with a rational explanation that didn't involve seeing Tenma's corpse or the old man camouflaging himself within a nearby bush training a gun to his head. His fears only took a leap when he finally heard a rushed set of rustling leaves heading his way.
He took out the hunting knife from his pocket which unlike him was clean with a glint sheen from its smooth skin end but it wouldn't be that way for long, he thought to himself with a bloody intention as he hid himself as best as he could, wanting to strike at a weak point before the old man could react and giving himself a decent advantage.
Just meters away, the man stopped, his reliable instincts telling him something was wrong. He set down what he held into a tiny hole made under the roots of a tree probably dug in by some animal or was somehow formed in there naturally. Still, it proved a great hiding place and he quickly pulled some leaves and branches to cover it before continuing on down and he passed some tree when he felt a sharp sting across his other arm and it wasn't pleasant at all. Thanks to his soccer training though, his reaction to these sorts of things were decent. Shaky but enough that instead pushing his attacker away and running, he turned with his right hand balled into a fist with it giving an orange glow and it began to manifest around it. And with that, he screamed the move's name, "Seigi no Tekken!" and then whatever it was the large, glowing, orange fist hit landed about a few feet away upon a thud.
He mentally cursed as he tended his left arm with a huge wide opening which felt too painful to move around but it was better than his shoulders getting brunt of it. He could either thank good old lady luck or sigh in relief that whoever attacked him wasn't really going for a kill or seeking to cause some permanent damage. He turned and ran quickly towards his attacker, ready to dish a second a blow for good measure when he stopped upon his body and realised who it was. "Tsurugi?!" he yelled.
Tsurugi was as shocked to see his Coach and the realisation that he had attacked him. He got up quickly to apologise but Endou then simply came forward and punched him across the shoulder before he could say anything.
"That was for not listening to me." he said with a calm tone ready to explode. "I thought we already discussed what would happen the next you all disobeyed me."
"Nkh-!" Tsurugi muttered without even hiding his fears this time. "I was-"
"Don't say anything. I've a good idea already." said Endou while tying his headband just above his bleeding bleeding wound as a tourniquet. "And I can't believe you did something this stupid! You could've been killed!"
Tsurugi could only get back up while shaking "But if we don't help Tenma-"
"Tenma is already safe. It you who obviously isn't! Just look at yourself!" Endou said as looked at Tsurugi with a gaze one would give out of pity to a dying wild animal and Tsurugi resembled that so much, it scared the older man a bit that he might drop dead there and then.
"I'm fine! It sho-…walt, what?!" Tsurugi said, his eyes jolting up and he ran and grabbed Endou's shirt and clenched the fabric tight. "Tenma's safe?! How-?!"
"Calm down." Endou tried tell him but Tsurugi could only hear his own voice. Everything else had been blocked out completely as he continued shaking him.
"Just tell me where he is!" he yelled frantically and Endou struck his face one more time with the movement of his wide open hand.
"Tsurugi Kyousuke. Calm down. And breathe." the Coach dictated autocratically in segments as he looked at the boy, holding the boy's shoulder with his undamaged arm and forced him to look at him as he quieted the dismayed child.
"Gnk…" Tsurugi breathed out with a heavy woe.
"It's fine. I can understand why you're acting this way." Endou told him with genuine concernment. "He's a little shaken and blue but he's holding up well. Better than expected actually."
And suddenly, all the weight that slowly mounted on him lightened. He could almost cry there and then but the key word here is almost. He was still out there.
"W-what about the old man?" he asked with a cold tone. Endou's face snapped quickly and he bit his bottom lip with with an angry show as he remembered the violence he had seen earlier.
"Sorry, but please don't ask me." Endou answered as glanced back up into forest. "I was just strolling around when I heard a commotion and… I just got him away from him. But after we ran a far enough distance, I suddenly heard him screaming and then there was a shot then several more and then it turned into a frenzy of fires. I thought it was at us first until I realised that he was screaming at someone to get away from him."
It was the same description of the shots he had heard but the screaming was something new to him most likely because he was too far away to hear it over the shots.
"I'm still not sure if that's what he said but the last I heard of him was after shots stopped. I heard him scream."
"Scream? Scream what?" Tsurugi asked but Endou just shrugged.
"No. Just a regular scream and he sounded terrified." Endou answered but instead of comforting him, it made him more angry and he couldn't understand why. One thing was sure, if he was still alive, he just couldn't let him waltz around free.
"Tsurugi?!" Endou yelled, shocked as Tsurugi got up quickly and pushed him aside and began running up the hill quickly in sprints with sudden bursts of energy. The Coach knew what was going through his mind and got up quickly as he yelled out again, beckoning him to come back.
"Stop! Tsurugi!" he yelled, grabbing him within an eagle's grip. "Will you calm down for a moment?!"
"Let go of me! I've been trying okay!" he yelled back angrily with his voice reverberating out of his shaky body. Endou didn't say anything. Tsurugi stared back as he tried to maintain himself again and Endou sighed.
"You're not in the state to go after him." Endou said finally and all Tsurugi could do was give a tired huff. "Let's pass by somewhere first." Endou then suggested with calm smile. "I left Tenma hiding alone inside a hole. I'll go see what happened with that guy and you stay and keep watch over him."
And suddenly, Tsurugi felt a little more at ease. He sighed and nodded but he kept looking around while fidgeting the knife in his hand. Endou gave Tsurugi a simple look of pity but said nothing more and simply led him to where Tenma was hiding.
"We need to hurry. We need to pass by another place too." Tsurugi said. "It's just over there. Shindou's-"
"Shindou? Say no more." Endou said. "We'll fetch him once we find him. If he's strong enough to stand against you then he'll be fine, I assure you."
"Hmh." Tsurugi found him himself mumbling with a humbled nod.
"Here. This where I hid him." Endou said with a grin and he hurried down to the tree with Tsurugi following as his broken body could but upon arrival, Endou was surprised. The twigs and dead leaves he had pulled over the hole was out of the way and the hole itself was barren.
"Uh-oh." Endou muttered and it didn't go unnoticed by Tsurugi who stopped at the four letters.
"What happened?" he asked when he saw the empty space and all his fears came rushing back. "Where is he?!"
"If I knew that I wouldn't be worrying." Endou answered with an ache in his arm.
"Damn it!" Tsurugi cursed and just when he had thought it was over this had to happen.
"He couldn't have gone far in his state. Let's try looking around." Endou said. Tsurugi cursed as he was about to answer when a very familiar voice spoke up from behind in an ecstatic glee.
"Sword!" the small voice greeted happily behind them as he zipped over quickly before Endou realised that he was there and by the time he turned, there he was right in front of him and it gave him a shock as he stepped back.
"Urk, how long were you there?" Endou asked.
"Um, not long! I just got here." the ghost said but he frowned. "What happened to your arm? It's all drippy with red stuff."
Endou simply pointed towards Tsurugi with a grunt and the ghost quivered.
"What? Sword wouldn't do that!" the ghost said. "Oh, Sword, look at you! You're hurt!"
"Where were you?" Tsurugi asked darkly and the ghost flinched.
"Huh?" the ghost asked.
"I'm asking where you suddenly disappeared off to!" Tsurugi yelled and the ghost yelped and hid behind Endou who was now beginning to worry.
"Tsurugi, is everything all right?" Endou asked.
"No!" Tsurugi said. "He suddenly ran away while I was looking for Tenma!"
"Well, let's keep our heads." Endou said. "Let's hear him out first. He probably had a good reason for leaving you."
"What good reason was there for him to leave?!" Tsurugi yelled. "I couldn't find Tenma because he was gone!"
"Tsurugi-" Endou said to calm him down but he wouldn't listen.
"No! Tenma could have died!" Tsurugi said. "I don't care what excuses he had. The little brat should have stayed!"
"Tsurugi!" Endou said with the ghost behind looking down with a tiny mumble. "I can understand why you're angry but shouting at him won't make things any better? Besides, Tenma didn't die."
"The problem is that it could have happened!" Tsurugi spatted and the ghost clenched Endou shirt tightly.
"I'm really sorry for leaving. Please don't be angry."
"Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't be angry at you!" Tsurugi yelled, walking up angrily at him but Endou quickly moved to keep the ghost safely behind him.
"Mm…" the ghost whimpered shakily.
"That's enough!" Endou said. "Whatever happened we can sort it out later."
"No! There is no later! He shouldn't have run away like a milksop!" Tsurugi said angrily. " Why should he even be scared!? He's a ghost! He's already dead so what reason does he need to even be scared?!"
"Tsurugi...!" Endou said.
"Sword…" the ghost whimpered. softly "I'm sorry. Really. So please, no more yelling. I don't like it."
"Ugh, just shut up for a moment!" Tsurugi snapped angrily, unwittingly striking another cord. "You were the one who said that you would stay by my side! So much for your lies!"
The ghost winced with his words echoing through his mind. "Lie…me? Lie?"
"Liar! You're lying! This is all your fault! Your fault! YOURS!"
"SHUT UP! Just shut up for once you stupid, moronic, spoiled brat! This isn't my fault, you hear!?"
And to the pair's surprise and confusion, the ghost flickered away like a candle flame.
"Hey get back here!" Tsurugi yelled and then another crack sounded through the air but this time it wasn't from any metal striking the gunpowder. Tsurugi staggered with his cheek swelling from the blood rushing into it. The boy turned to face the man who struck him who was glaring back as well with a fury he hadn't felt in very long time since he learned about his friend and Fifth Sector.
"THAT IS ABSOLUTELY ENOUGH!" he yelled.
"What was that?! Tsurugi yelled, unable to notice that Endou had held out just little, failing to see that just seconds before reaching his face it was glowing an enraged burst of red fire. He was still too angry to hear him as he muttered "nekketsu…" contritely to himself.
"I don't care how angry you are!" Endou yelled. "Look me in the eye and give me one decent reason that you had every right to yell at him like that!"
"I never said I did!" he yelled back but Endou did nothing narrow his eyes into him more. "So tell me then as to why you yelled such things at him. He's only eight."
"He's a thousand years-old!" Tsurugi said. "He just looks eight!"
"And thinks like one as well." Endou reminded him.
"Then he has to grow up!" Tsurugi said. "The world isn't all sugar sweet and kind all the time!"
"Perhaps not." Endou said. "He just assumed that his friend would be."
Alas, his words finally stung Tsurugi who suddenly turned cold upon what he meant. Endou needn't say further at how extensive the damage he had caused was, especially since this was the second time for the poor child to be turned on by someone close and the first time, well, he remembered how that ended clearly.
"He's just around. You know him." Tsurugi said quietly with a hung head. He hoped he was right but Endou simply turned and went to look around. It was then the two jolted as they heard a noise of twigs snapping and dead leaves crunching and when they turned; there was a person. Definitely a human being but he was hidden so densely behind the wooden trunks that neither could even make out his age.
"What was that?" Endou wondered.
"Is it him?" Tsurugi said angrily and suddenly bolted up again to Endou's shock and frustration.
"Tsu-Damn it not again!" he cursed. He ran up after him but it was an amazing thing. Despite the state of his body, the boy was actually outrunning him! The ex-captain of their country's national team now in his twenties was falling behind to an injured child. This was one more example of the amazing abilities brought upon by human desperation. But what was he desperate for? Was he hoping it would be the old man, no doubt to seek vengeance. Or was he hoping it was the little ghost to apologise? Or was he hoping it was Tenma whom he was sickly worried about? Endou prayed to the gods that it wasn't the old man or he would be forced to fight Tsurugi for real.
In a span of of a minute, Tsurugi had managed to cover around two hundred meters of the ground soil mound and eventually ran so far ahead, Endou began to lose sight of with the forest's plenty twig arms and it proved more troubling for him as he had to memorise each new step to keep them both from getting lost.
He cursed at the striker tenfold as he wondered if he either really cared about what was happening or was just acting impulsively as a child like he would have ten years ago. Finally managing to arrive at where he had rescued his young protege earlier, he pushed aside leaves to glimpse the end of Tsurugi's strange ponytail-like hairstyle and he knew he finally caught up with him but something wasn't right.
"Tsurugi." Endou said angrily, walking closer and then came to a stop. Now he understood why. There was a peculiar smell in the air; the scent of iron coming from the puddle of red water that was filled with it in every drop, oozing into the ground from an impaled figure in what could be called in a way poetic justice or irony if you're feeling funny but neither wasn't what either one thought.
Everything suddenly turned into a blur for Tsurugi. With the cold steel still at hand, there wasn't much purpose for it now. So much, he began wondering why he had come in the first place.
"Tsurugi." Endou said behind him to snap him out. Tsurugi turned behind to face him, still in a dumbfounded daze. "Let's go back shall we? We still need to find Tenma." the former said without even looking at paled flesh beyond the boy who nodded a bit once he realised that he had been asked a question. He walked down as Endou helped him away and the two left without looking back.
"You okay?" Endou asked. "You're oddly quiet and you were harping complaints at me just a while ago."
Tsurugi frowned at himself, knowing what he was trying to tell him. "…Coach-"
"If it's an apology, save it." Endou said. "I'm used to being cursed and yelled at already. He isn't."
Tsurugi nodded but still feeling ashamed of himself. With that monster dead, it seemed that he had been going around making a jerk of himself for nothing. He was different now. That was what he believed up until then. So profoundly in thought, Tsurugi continued walking, questioning himself before he found himself walking into Endou's back. He looked up at him in surprise and notice how he was staring away intently. Rather than ask more questions, he moved to the side and there he saw, the black silhouette of someone perhaps around his own brother's age. It raised its hand moved the digits in a way that it was asking them to come to it.
After everything they had undergone through, both weren't sure what to make of it but…
"What do you think, Tsurugi?" Endou asked. Tsurugi only shrugged his shoulders, fearing another mistake. Endou looked back and began moving towards the figure. Suddenly, it flickered for a moment and quickly reappeared but a bit farther away. Endou and Tsurugi were surprised but continued on foot, following the strange silhouette as it led them slowly down the forest. Finally, upon reaching a vaguely familiar ground, the silhouette flickered for the last time and disappeared.
"I wonder that was." Endou muttered. Tsurugi looked around with a feeling of deja vu. The surrounding were familiar now. He could see tree with nick on the bark. It was definitely among the one he had marked so he could make his way back to Shindou. …Wait, Shindou!
"Coach, this way here!" he suddenly yelled and the Coach just sighed and began wondering when he began falling behind these kids. He followed suit behind Tsurugi. He pushed away the trees as Tsurugi followed the markings as he best could remember. He pushed away some leaves and then there he saw Shindou, still sitting under the tree in the same thrashed state as he had left him but there was someone else equated down and huddled next to him as a shaky mass was lying quietly asleep but he looked absolutely red with misery as though he had bawled agonisingly until he fell asleep.
"Tsurugi, Coach…?" Shindou said weakly, his mind muddled as his suffocated brain did its best to keep him awake.