A few opening words: Sorry for putting this off so long. I had to take a break from writing (which was in part to play Halo 3) to let the ideas cook for a bit, and grow in my head. Anyway, they're about well-done now, so time to pull them out of the oven!

Enjoy…

"Go, Kaori! You cannot die here! I'll make sure they don't catch up!" Kaela said. Kaorin tried to find words, but couldn't. She stared Kaela in the eyes, and she could tell Kaela believed that there would be no way out for her. She was going to die for Kaorin's sake. Knowing there wasn't anything she could do, Kaorin ran.

Kaorin threw the quiver over her shoulder and tightened the strap as she ran, and kept the bow at the read in her left arm. She knew a few things about archery, having learned it in a summer camp a while back. But she had never been the best shot. Kaorin turned onto the first street to the left, and followed it until it ended. She was faced with two directions, and she quickly realized that this was the alley they had run down earlier. She turned right and headed down where they had gone earlier. Unfortunately, Kaorin briefly forgot why she and Kaela had had to turn back in the first place. She stopped dead in her tracks, and looked upon the charred bridge before her. The fire had gone out, but there was still a six foot gap in the bridge.

I can do this... she though, backing up in the process. I can't let Kaela's sacrifice go to waste! Kaorin checked the distance, and sprinted at the bridge. Behind her she heard a few yells of guards who had caught up to her. She ignored them, and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. A few more steps and she was on the bridge. Planting her foot as close to the gap as possible, she jumped with all her might. Time seemed to slow as she cleared the gap, landing on the other side of the bridge with a thud. But the bridge, having been weakened by the fire, began to collapse as she landed on it, causing her to stumble forward. Feeling the bridge begin to fall out beneath her, Kaorin let herself fall forward, and tucked her shoulder in, landing in a roll. She rolled off the bridge, and thanks to it being a few steps higher than the stone path, she was able to roll out onto her feet with ease.

Kaorin looked back at what was left of the bridge, which was now, for the most part, floating down the canal. Then she noticed the guards on the far side frantically searching for a way across. Kaorin started to go, before she realized they weren't carrying any ranged weapons. She turned to them, and waved mockingly. One of them called out to her, in his own language, and even though Kaorin couldn't understand what he said, she could tell it was an insult, just by the way he said it. Kaorin turned to go, and as she did, she raised he arm high behind her in a one finger salute. Apparently the gesture had meaning to them as well, as it seemed to enrage them further. Kaorin could hear them calling out angrily after her as she sprinted through the alley, following it hopefully to the edge of the city, and her friends. She followed the passage until it came to a corner. Forgetting how cautious Kaela had been around corners and intersections, she rounded it at full speed, and quickly skidded to a stop.

Up ahead, there was the half open side door in the city walls. Behind it she could see the fields that lay beyond the walls. Blocking her was a sturdy looking guard, and he didn't look happy. Kaorin panicked, and she instinctively brought up the bow. He body seemed to be acting of its own will as she dropped down to one knee. She pulled out an arrow and drew the bowstring back as far as it would go. The guard had just noticed her bow, and started to run at her. Her body still acting before she could think, Kaorin launched the first arrow, and fired off a second before the first connected. Her first shot caught the guard on his left shoulder, the second hitting him low in the abdomen. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, emitting a low painful moan, indicating he was not dead.

Kaorin stood up and ran again, stepping over the incapacitated guard along the way. She reached the door and pushed it open the rest of the way. In front of her lay a wide open field of lush green grass with a few dips and hills here and there, and off in the distance, a wall of tall trees similar to those of the forest they had been transported in. It was a good two kilometers away at least. As Kaorin took all this in, up ahead she saw a small group of people appear over the crest of a small dip. They had been hidden by the depression, and as she looked on, Kaorin saw that there was five of them. As they ran further on, she saw two more, one with a tall sword and another with a sword and shield, both glinting in the sunlight. It was her friends! She was overjoyed to see that they had made it out, but her joy was quickly doused as she saw the two trailing behind, who she identified as Sakaki and Kagura, turn and hold their ground as a pair of guards rushed them from behind, having appeared only moments ago. After quickly dispatching them, Kagura and Sakaki continued running, to Kaorin's relief. But a moment later she saw what looked like a dozen more guards coming out of the depression after the girls, and they weren't far behind. They'll need my help.

Kaorin pulled the door shut behind her, and ran off after her friends. They had a good kilometer or so of a lead, but as she crested the various hills and depressions, Kaorin saw she was closing the distance fast. Kagura and Sakaki had taken care of another pair of guards, and along with the others, they had almost reached the forest. Kaorin ran a little further, and made it to the top of a hill. There she looked on down at the group of ten guards below her at the bottom of the hill. They were in range of her bow. Kaorin took aim and fired off a volley of arrows, felling a trio of guards. Her friends saw this, and waved frantically. Yomi, Sakaki, and Kagura ran back to fight, now that their odds were better. Before they closed the distance, Kaorin dropped another guard, and wounded another. To her surprise, she didn't feel the remorse or nausea she had felt when she had killed the bandit a few days back. So it gets easier the more often you kill… Despite not feeling what she had before, Kaorin have a lingering feeling of dread. She was a killer now, and whether or not they had deserved it, it didn't sit well with her. But she had to be strong; Kaela had given herself up so that she could live on and fight.

"Kaorin, you're safe!" Sakaki called out. The girls had finished off the remaining guards, and ran over to meet her as she descended the hill. "Where is Kaela-san?" Before Kaorin even answered, she knew Sakaki figured out part of the answer from the look on her own face, which Sakaki took on as well.

"She… stayed back, so that I could escape… She…" Kaorin couldn't finish the sentence. She wasn't crying, but the sentiment was all the same, and everyone felt it. They held a moment of silence for the friend they barely knew, before Sakaki once again took charge.

"Well, we're not being chased anymore, so the way should be clear. Kaela-san said that more Resistance members would be waiting for us in the forest, so we might as well go meet them." Sakaki started out to the forest, and Kaorin quickly followed, the others right behind her. No one spoke, for they were still mourning the loss of Kaela. They entered the forest, and followed Sakaki as she picked her way around a few trees and into a clearing that was covered by the overhanging branches of the tall trees. It looked as though someone had camped here before, by the way the grass was flattened in places, but there was no one there now. The girls gathered at the center of the clearing, and looked around. No Resistance members were anywhere to be seen. Before anyone could say anything, Kaorin heard a rustle of bushes behind them. She quickly raised a hand to silence the others, and stepped forward to get a closer look. Before getting a chance to check out the noise, the answer quickly revealed itself as the girls soon found themselves surrounded by angry looking soldiers. The girls grouped together and formed a circle with Kaorin, Chiyo, and Osaka in the center. Those who would fight held their weapons at the ready.

The girls stared down the soldiers for a few moments before one of the soldiers, probably the captain, raised his hand. A group of five men beside him raised their bows in unison and each notched an arrow. They took aim at the girls in the middle of the clearing. All of a sudden, Kaorin felt a chill in the air around them, and she shivered slightly. She noticed frost forming on the grass below. The captain dropped his arm – the signal to fire. The soldiers promptly followed his order. In the blink of an eye, a wall of ice sprung up and encircled the girls, closing above them in a dome shape. The arrows fired at the now protected girls struck the ice and were deflected off into the air. Kaorin stepped forward and ran her hand over the ice. It was cold, as to be expected, and very smooth. The ice was translucent, and the girls could only make out a few shadows, the forms of the soldiers closing in around them.

Out of nowhere Kaorin saw a blur of motion behind the soldiers as a figure dropped down from the trees above. All at once it was mayhem on the other side of the ice. She heard screams of pain and the clashing of swords, as well as the sounds of a bowstring being pulled and released many times over. Almost before it started, the commotion subsided. The girls looked around, confused. The forms of the soldiers were no longer visible.

"What… just happened?" Kagura questioned. Before anyone could offer an answer, the wall of ice disappeared in a quick gout of fire, leaving behind only a warm mist. There, standing before the girls in the midst of the many dead soldiers, was a single strangely dressed woman with black hair, holding a katana. A second woman dropped down from the trees above, this one with long brown hair, and a short bow in her hand. They met the gaze of the girls, the long haired one with a large grin on her face.

"What, no 'thank you'? We just saved your asses and you just stand there?"

Author's notes: Well there you have it. The girls seem to attract a lot of danger don't they? And who could these new heroes be that saved them? Find out in the next chapter!

Till next time…