Chapter 9

Failed Pret

They group paired off. Some were going to be obstacles while others would sit out this first round. They were going to take turns. She had decided to start off slow. She was a little more than anxious about preting with anyone other than her own knights. She was comfortable with her guys. They trusted her and she trusted them. It was going to be difficult to get used to this new team.

She had promised to help and to this day she refused to break a promise that she made. This needed to be done. She doubted that they would allow her and her knights to fight the upcoming battle for them. They needed to do this themselves. So, resigning herself to her word, she approached the knights.

"Ok, I'm not exactly sure how you want to do this. Who wants to pret with me first? We are going to have to get to know each other a little better. Mostly during battle conditions. It is going to take us some time to learn how each other moves and reacts. I guess the best way to do this is to take turns with each of you over the next couple of days. Start slow and then up the ante as we get better."

"Sounds like a plan. I suppose I'll go first." Kazuki stepped forward, reaching out to take her hand.

"She'll pret with me first. Stand aside, Kazuki." Daiskuke ordered.

Himeno stepped back a little. She was fearing this particular pret more than the others. She understood Daisuke's reasons for having such anger and animosity, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't afraid of him in the slightest. He didn't trust her or her knights. That in itself caused her to distrust him. He never smiled, though, she had seen his frown disappear once. He was hiding something and she knew it. He had a closed heart and refused to let anyone in, even his own team. That increased her anxiety towards him.

"I think...I think maybe I should pret with Kazuki first."

He noticed the lack of confidence. Her eyes were shifting from him to Kazuki as if pleading for help. She was afraid of him. After all the fire and tenacity she had shown him so far, never once had he thought she had any kind of fear regarding him. A part of him, mind you a very small part, cringed at the skittish look in her eyes. After a moment, he realized that this was a good thing. She would be so afraid of him that she wouldn't fight him during battle. He would have absolute control over her and she would do as she was told. Fighting with her would be cake. She would be too afraid of angering him to screw up.

He grinned, "No, you and I will pret first."

Sasame had to hold Hayate back. The fear that had crossed their pretear's face was unnerving and Hayate was concerned that she wasn't ready for this. Sasame understood Hayate's feelings, but interfering would not help matters. It was a minor setback and he knew that Himeno would not back down. She would find a way to make it work and overcome her fear. She would make good on her promise to help them.

Hayate glanced back at his friend, silently pleading for him to let go, but he shook his head. Hayate sighed and turned back to watch once more.

"Look, Daisuke, I want to start with...eh? Red snow?" Himeno was surprised by the sudden appearance of red snow falling over the Awayuki grounds. She held out her hand to catch it, but it melted in her hand.

The knights looked around and were immediately on alert. The youngest, Shin, started crying. "It's here. It's here. A demon larve is here."

"Himeno!" Daisuke yelled, and before she could protest, he clasped her hand in his. Their transformation began.

It was nothing like she ever felt before. Darkness enveloped her, surrounding her in shadow. It was the complete opposite to her experience with Kei, the knight of light. She felt cut off from the world, from her friend, even from her own emotions. She didn't feel like herself. The darkness was wrapped around her like a blanket. She felt like she was suffocating. When the shadows dissipated, she opened her eyes again and found herself lying on the ground, a concerned and worried looking Hayate leaning over her.

"Himeno? Are you okay?" Sasame asked, as Hayate looked her over as if expecting to find an injury.

"I was afraid that would happen." Kazuki said, stepping forward cautiously.

"What?" Sasame looked to the knight curiously.

"She resisted Daisuke during their pret. It took far longer than it should have and the power completely overwhelmed her instead of joining seamlessly with her own power." Kazuki and Sasame took a hand and helped her to stand, Sasame brushing the grass off the black pretear outfit she now wore.

"Are you okay, Himeno?" Sasame repeated, refusing to be satisfied until he received an answer.

"Um...yes. It just caught me off guard. That was very different from how I have preted with you guys in the past. I just wasn't ready for it, that's all."

'Enough chat, woman. We have work to do.' Daisuke snapped inside her head.

"Himeno, it's here. It's very close." Mannen said, keeping his senses tuned to their current enemy. He wasn't sure where it was yet, but he would know soon.

"Right. This is going to take some getting used to." She said, looking down at her current outfit.

She was wearing a short, black, strapless dress that came to her fingertips. There was a knee length, sleeveless, trench coat over top, covering her bare shoulders. The collar was flipped up and the coat remained open, showing off her curves. There were detached black sleeves that started just above her elbow and flared out at her wrist. She wore thigh high black boots with a two inch heel. Every element of her costume was held together by black laces on the outside of each portion: the dress, the sleeves, the boots, exposing her cream colored skin.

Around her neck she donned a simple, black choker. On her right ear was a silver cuff earring and in the left multiple hooped earrings. In her now black hair was a pearl studded headband in place of her usual white one.

Hayate would have thought that look to be utterly sexy if it hadn't been for the fact that she only looked like that because of Daisuke. She was now the Pretear of Death. He had to admit, even though he knew that she was a force of good, in that outfit, she looked anything but. It worried him a bit that the aura that now circled her didn't feel right. It was like Himeno wasn't really standing right there in front of him. She felt like a different person entirely. He didn't like it at all, not one bit.

Suddenly, the leafe around them began to disappear. They looked around and found their target. Hidden among the trees was a large snake looking creature. The demon larve was long and had now sprouted new appendages that were as big around as its torso. It was latching onto everything and anything it could reach, be it another tree, plant or animal.

'Come on, move it girl! Find the core and take it out!'

"I know what I have to do." Himeno said quietly, her voice shaking a bit.

Daisuke took her hesitance the wrong way, 'Don't tell me you're scared of a demon larve? Now is not the time to get cold feet!'

"I'm not afraid of demon larve!" She yelled angrily. She had dealt with this kind of thing before. It wasn't the demon larve she was afraid of.

The knights heard her and knew that she was arguing with Daisuke. If they couldn't work together, using their combined powers would be impossible.

"We'll hold it off and give you time to find the core, Himeno." Sasame and Kazuki assured her, grinning at their ability to think alike.

She nodded her head, "Right. Thanks."

Hayate came close and gave her a reassuring smile, "You can do it, Himeno. I know you can. Show that newbie how it's done."

As he flew off to aid his fellow knights in battle, she smiled. He had known just how to cheer her up. She could do this. This was nothing new to her. It was only the person she preted with that was different. No matter what, she was still the same girl. She was a pretear and she had a job to do. She rose in the air and flew off to circle the sky above the demon larve.

'Sure, you get a handsome smile and everything's just find now. Typical female. You shouldn't be wasting time with idiotic thoughts like that. Just find the damn core and stay out of trouble.'

"Stop yelling at me. I'm looking for the core now. It so long, this might take some time."

She looked around, but couldn't see anything from her postion so she flew down, narrowly dodging the morning star that came flying past her head. She looked around to see Tatsumi zigzagging threw flailing tentacles. He had been using his weapons to defend himself and hadn't know one had gone astray. She would be angry with him later, right now she needed to find that core.

She dove under the creature and started searching from the bottom. She watched as Tsukeida left Ryu and Akira completely wrapped up in the demon larves clutches. What was wrong with these people? Didn't they look out for each other? Tatsumi had managed to escape the previous issue, only to get snagged by the ankle a moment later. This was ridiculous.

She glanced up and saw that Mitsuya and Kazuki were busy helping Mannen and Hajime avoid the creatures attacks. She abandoned her mission to help the others. She flew up and concentrated on her soul. She pulled Daisuke's weapon, the Scythe of Silence. She swung with all her might and slashed the tentacles holding Akira and Ryu to pieces.

"Thanks, Himeno." Red faced with embarrassment at having to be saved by the pretear, they moved on to fight the creature once again.

'That was a complete waste of time. You need to find the core. Go high and stick to the outskirts. Stay out of everyone's way.'

"Look, I don't allow the knights I work with to get hurt okay. Just let me do my job, Daisuke."

The creature suddenly took an interest in her and she moved to dodge out the way, but Daisuke had other plans. He had jumped in the opposite direction, wanting to move up and over its head to come around behind it. Since each soul was planning a different course of action, their movement was stalled. The demon larve bit down on her arm, hurting them both.

Knights took the responsibility of protecting the pretear as a shield or becoming her weapon of attack. Because their souls were not in tuned and working together as one, the powers were not working to their full potential. She had not wanted him to get hurt, but he hadn't worked with her and now she was injured and she was sure he was as well. Flesh had been torn from her arm and her blood was dripping down to her fingertips.

She winced in pain, but recovered quickly when she heard her knights cry out for her. She forced a smile on her face and dove straight down then looped back up around the back of the creature. She spotted the core and whooped. Sadly, Daisuke wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and missed the tentacle that was whipping toward them.

It slammed into her back, sending her crashing to the ground. Daisuke growled in pain and Himeno screamed. She had been knocked unconscious and Daisuke was helpless to stop her fall. Hayate noticed her decent and caught her before she hit the ground. He patted her face and when she didn't move he bagan to panic.

"Sasame!" He yelled.

Sasame and the others looked to their unspoken leader and appeared at his side. They were extremely concerned. Without the pretear, they couldn't defeat the demon larve, it had already taken root. Himeno was now in no condition to fight.

"Why hasn't she separated from him yet?" Hayate asked.

"I'm not sure."

"She is unconscious and wounded. Until she wakes, they are stuck like that." Tatsumi informed them quickly as he narrowly escaped another attack.

Daisuke was furious. She was useless. 'Wake up! Stupid woman, wake up!'

Himeno stirred and he eyes opened slowly. She sat up and held her wounded arm. Her back ached and a headache was forming behind her eyes. She must have hit her head at some point, or maybe the pain in her arm was just that bad.

"We...we have to finish this." She said weakly.

"We do. Separate from him and pret with me, Himeno. You should be able to..." Hayate started.

"No, I don't think I have it in me to pret again. I'll have to finish it just the way I am. Let's get this done." She said, sounding a lot more confident than she felt.

He helped her to stand, "Did you find the core?"

"Yes. Distract it. I'll take it out in one hit. Anymore than that and I don't think I can defeat it."

Her knights nodded and took off. They threw everything that they had at it and took over the battle. Daisuke's team backed off, sensing the hostility within her seven knights.

"You listen to me, Daisuke. I don't have enough energy to fight you. Just follow my lead and let's get this done."

'Don't tell me what to do! If you had followed my movements and thoughts, this would be over already. How you get anything done is beyond me.'

She shook her head and ignored him. She flew straight for it. She called on the Scythe of Silence once more. She raised it above her head and swung down on the demon larve with every ounce of strength she had left. When the core shattered, the demon larve faded away, the Leafe returning to the world around them. Shin recalled the dimension barrier and her knights surrounded her. Daisuke's team came close as well, panting and clutching their wounds.

Himeno allowed herself to float slowly toward them. As her booted feet touched down, she ripped herself from Daisuke's soul, draining her even more. Once separated, she collapsed to the ground, her knees giving out. Sasame, the closest to her, caught her.

"Himeno? Himeno?"

"Sasame, will she be alright?" Kei asked, noticing that Hayate was at a loss for words.

"We'll take her to the Tree of Light. Her wounds will heal there."

"She shouldn't be wounded!" Hayate yelled, finding his voice. He rounded on Daisuke and clutched him by his collar. "A Leafe Knight's job is to protect the pretear! You were supposed to act as her shield! What the hell happened out there?"

"She wouldn't listen to me! This isn't my fault! Blame her! She should have listened to me and followed my movements. This is her fault, not mine!" Daisuke yelled back, twice as loud.

"You stay away from her! You have no idea how a Leafe Knight and a Pretear do battle. You're going to get her killed! I won't allow that! You stay the hell away from her! All of you!" Hayate had had enough.

"We need her to..." Kazuki started but backpedaled at Hayate's murderous glare.

"We will still help you, because she asked us to. But from now on, she only prets with us. We'll take care of you Princess of Disaster ourselves."

"You can't do that!" Daisuke fumed.

"I just did." Hayate was serious. Daisuke could feel the anger seeping out of him. This man was dangerous as he was now. "Let's go, Sasame. You guys coming?"

His brothers nodded and they all walked through the doorway to Leafenia. Daisuke was left behind, staring angrily after them. His team remained quiet, not entirely sure what to do. They had never seen Daisuke so angry and not once since they arrived had they witnessed Hayate's dangerous side. Things could only get worse now. They didn't look forward to tomorrow at all.