San-Li swung herself downward from the ceiling and kicked two guards in the back of the head, effectively knocking them out. She then gave a short whistle and Sam cautiously dropped in from the window.
"Okay," She whispered pulling out a map of the shrine. "I know the Akiraka Ni Suru Fan is somewhere around here but we just have to find out where exactly."
"Well right now we should be here in the Haiden," Sam said pointing to the biggest building of a cluster of buildings. "It's at the forefront of the shrine's main sanctuary. But back here is the Hondon which is the most sacred building of a traditional Shinto shrine."
"Well we can cross the Hondon off our list. Japanese are way too superstitious to defile it with common soldiers." San-Li mumbled. "Maybe we should start-"
"Shin'nyū-sha ko no yō nii!"
The sound of yelling and running footsteps came from down the hall and San-Li swore loudly. Three guards rounded a corner and ran towards them with their rifles pointed directly at them.
"Come on!" She yelled pulling Sam to his feet.
They ran down the hallway with the soldiers thundering footsteps quickly multiplying. Suddenly there was a loud, ear-shattering bang and San-Li gave a hiss of pain, stumbling a little. They rounded a corner and she quickly pulled Sam into a small, side hallway and pushed him against the wall. They waited until the guards ran by and then San-Li groaned and grabbed her upper arm.
"San-Li, are you alright?" Sam asked anxiously.
Shaking, San-Li pulled her hand away from her arm and there was a large, still growing blood stain as well as a tear on the sleeve on her kimono.
"It's alright." San-Li whispered. "The bullet only grazed me."
"How did they know we were here?" Sam whispered. "We were so careful."
San-Li ripped off her damaged sleeve and doubled it up. Hissing more than a little in pain she wrapped it tightly around the bleeding wound.
"I made a mistake." She mumbled. "We can't stay here. Let's keep moving."
"Are you sure?" Sam whispered putting a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe we should stop-"
San-Li whirled on him sharply, pinned him against the wall, and held a knife to his face. "Dont. Finish. That. Sentence."
Sam's stomach rose to his throat, but he made an effort to calm himself down. He swallowed nervously and gently placed his hand over hers. He looked her in the eye and slowly lowered the knife.
"Don't lash out on me." He said in a firm voice. "I"m on your side. You need to learn how to control your temper."
San-Li's lips trembled and she cleared her hard, cold expression with a sigh. There was the sound of running footsteps again and they quickly ran away. They accidentally ran into a different guard and fell to the floor.
The guard spun around with a cry of alarm and pointed his rifle at them. San-Li quickly pushed her pocket watch and the shrine map into Sam's hands and leapt up. The guard hesitated seeing that San-Li was a girl.
San-Li took the opportunity to grab the gun barrel and tried to wrestle it away from the guard. "Sam! Run!"
"I'm not leaving you behind!" Sam yelled.
There was a loud explosion as the gun fired into the ceiling. The guard kicked San-Li in the stomach, knocking her back. He pointed his rifle at her again and fired but she managed to duck under the bullet and ran at him with her sword drawn. The guard blocked her sword with his gun and they struggled, remaining locked together. The guard shouted out and more guards echoed from down the hall.
"I'll find you, I promise." San-Li grunted, sweat dripping down her forehead. "Just...I need you to stay safe. Please, I'm begging you."
Sam opened his mouth to protest when the guards shouting became louder. The guard San-Li was fighting twisted the gun away and hit San-Li in her injured arm with the butt of the gun. She stifled a cry of pain took a stumbled back but ran forward again.
"Sam go! I'll be fine!"
Sam hesitated for a second longer and took off running. Soon enough there was the sound of multiple gunshots and more yelling.
Sam ran and ran until he couldn't breath anymore and stumbled to his knees. He felt sick to his stomach with shame, worry, and fear. He left San-Li to fend for herself against guards carrying rifles. Some boyfriend he was.
He stood up shakily and pulled out the map of the shrine. It look like it had been altered so that there were a set of rooms below the ground floor. One room was bigger than the rest so he figured that it might be a meeting room.
The image of San-Li struggling to fight off fully armed guards flashed through his mind and he almost ran back there to be with her, even if it killed him.
"No Sam, you have to focus." He hissed to himself, running his fingers through his hair. "San-Li said that she can handle herself, you could use this time while the guards are distracted to find the fan. It's the whole reason why she's here."
Sam looked up suddenly as the thought hit him. Could he find the fan? Maybe. He had a pretty good idea where it was. Most likely it would be in one of the new underground rooms right? And when he did find it he could probably use it and the map of the shrine to find San-Li... if she was still alive that is.
"Of course she's alive." Sam shook the thought out of his mind. "She has to be."
He checked the map again and took off running towards the underground rooms.
San-Li yelled and kicked the guard in the chest. He flew back with a cry of pain and slammed into another guard, leaving them both sprawled out unconscious on the floor. Twenty seven other guards laid around in various positions, all in the same state.
Panting heavily, San-Li leaned against the wall to try and catch her breath. Her left cheek and both arms stung horribly from the furrows burnt into her arm from barely dodged bullets. The rest of her was covered with welts and dark blue, almost black bruises from their fists, boots, and butt of their guns beating the crap out of her. A couple of them got in a few good slashes at her with their knives.
San-Li coughed heavily and something red sprayed against out of her mouth. Great, internal bleeding. Probably from a punctured lung.
One of the guards groaned and she kicked him hard in the stomach. She should have killed them all. She should have killed that guard yesterday. Now Sam was wandering around by himself and he could get hurt... or worse.
If something happened to him she would kill herself plain and simple. There was already a bottle of vodka and sleeping pills waiting at home for when she finally avenged her family's slaughter, so why put off the inevitable any longer? Forget the fan, forget everything, just finally die already.
"Stop it." San-Li shook her head vigorously. "He's alive. I'm going to find him and get him home safely. That's top priority right now."
She closed her eyes and instantly recalled the map from memory. Sam would probably notice that there were newly constructed rooms underneath the shrine and head there. The little nerd was probably going to try and find the fan and use it to locate her or something.
"So the basement it is then." San-Li mumbled.
She pulled her sword out of the wall and paused when she saw a flask laying on the ground.
"No," She shook her head and walked past it. "I need to keep my head clear for this. Hold on Sam, I'm coming for you."