"Sound of water...?"
"Hello"
Haruka turned, and saw a beautiful woman with purple hair that smiled sadly at her.
"…Who?"
"You know the answer", the woman said, holding her hands, "… What you will do now Haruka? After you see the truth?"
"I…"
"Haruka…"
'Who's calling me?', she looked up as she heard the familiar voice.
Everything was slowly fading, and she felt suddenly tired.
So she closed her eyes.
"Haruka…"
"Hum?", she mumbled, slowly opening her eyes as the rays of sun touched her skin, "Who…"
"It's me, Natsuki"
"What… Happened?"
"I was worried because you didn't return", he explained, "So I took your notes and went straight here to check if you were alright"
"I see…", she nods looking around and noticing that she was home, "Did you bring me home?"
"No", he shook his head looking sad, "I'm not strong enough so Satsuki carried you"
"Is that so?", she blinked before letting a chuckle, "Could you tell him that I said thanks?"
"Ah he can hear you"
"Really?"
"Yes, if we want we can be aware of what the other is doing"
"Oh…", Haruka giggled, trying very hard to not show an amused smile, when she felt a warm touch on her skin, "Hum?"
"Your skin is still cold…", Natsuki said concerned, taking a mug from the small table and handing to her, "Here, take this"
"Ah… Thank you", said Haruka taking a sip of tea, "…It's good… Hum? Natsuki?"
Natsuki put a cover around her and hugged carefully so he wouldn't hit the mug in her hand, touching his forehead on the back of her neck.
"Not tall enough", he mumbled, nuzzling a bit, "I can't fully cover you… I wish I could do that, more than anything…"
"Natsuki…", she whispered softly, putting one of her hands on his, "Thanks. You're very warm"
"Is that so?", he smiled, "Then I'm glad… But I still want to help you… To protect you"
He stopped smiling, looking to the new scratches on her legs and arms.
He wanted so bad to protect her… He didn't want to be useless and scared anymore...
"There must be a way… I can't let you get hurt again…"
"Natsuki…", she breathed, when his body glowed again, "Hum?! What…?!"
Haruka turned, while Natsuki looked at his hands in wonder as the warm golden glow enveloped him.
"You… Grew again!", her eyes widened.
"Yes…", he whispered in awe before looking at her, touching her face slight, "I… I'm almost there… I can look you in the face without needing to look up… We're… Almost at the same size"
He blinked his eyes, his nose almost touching her.
"It seems that you're getting stronger! Congratulations!", she smiled.
"Right… Hum… Maybe now I can help you!"
"Huh?"
"I am a lot stronger now", he chirped happily, " I don't think even Satsuki can deny it now! I won't get in your way!"
"Eh…"
'… I don't think he would agree and… If you get hurt I'm pretty sure that he will kill himself', she sweatdropped.
"Hum? There's any problem?"
"N-No, I trust you, it's just…", she looked uncomfortable, "It wouldn't be better if we ask what's Satsuki's opinion?"
"… He said that he wouldn't help you, even when I begged him he wouldn't agree to do that", Natsuki pouted, "I don't know why, because I can sense that he's worried too"
"…I guess he's just scared", Haruka says with an understanding tone.
"…Why would he would be scared?"
"Because… He…"
"Don't say one word!", said a different voice and Haruka felt being pushed into the bed, a hand muffling her voice.
He glared at her, a dark menacing aura around him.
…But she wasn't scared.
There was nothing to fear.
The one that was… Scared, like a lost child, was him.
"Stop looking like that!"
Haruka stared straight at his eyes, which made him more tense, his heartbeat loudly in his ears.
He couldn't stand looking at her eyes… There was no hate or fear... Just that warm look…
He avoided her gaze, there was no way he could look at her. It made him feel weak.
There was a soft touch on his face, and when he looked he noticed that it was Haruka, which trailed his face down to his shoulder and pulled him.
He was too surprised so he didn't offer any resistance when he fell on her, being too stunned when her arms enveloped him in a hug.
"What do you think you're doing?!", he frowned taking his hand of her mouth in a weak attempt to shove her, but without much success.
"Satsuki… Why do you fear me?"
"Tch, fear you? I don't…!"
"…Please, be honest", she silenced him with a whisper putting his head in the crook of her neck, "…Like I am with you"
"…"
"I won't hurt you"
"Heh… Who would think that a weak looking girl like you would resist that long?", he mumbled trailing the skin of her arm with the tip of his fingers, looking quite calm before his expression darkened as he touched one of the scars in the soft skin, "But you are still frail… Too much troublesome to be worth it"
"… You fear that I will abandon you… Is that right?"
"…"
"Satsuki… I won't abandon either of you, no matter what"
"Hahaha~How can you make a promise that you aren't even sure if you can hold on?", he let a bitter laugh, "It's nothing you have control!"
"Satsuki", Haruka called, which made him fall back to silence, "…What do you feel now?"
"What?"
"What are you feeling right now?"
"… Is that a riddle or something?"
"No…", she shook her head, "Do you feel… Cold? After all, my body was cold before you rescued me right?"
He arched an eyebrow not understanding her question, but decided to shrug and answer anyways.
"… No, your body is kind of warm right now", he replied, "Well, after staying for a while with a blanket and with Natsuki providing body heat it isn't surprising"
"Exactly", she said, "Satsuki, even if I were to die I wouldn't leave you or Natsuki, even if you couldn't feel me I would still be hugging you, to try and make you feel better"
"Pfff… What a bunch of n-"
"I died once"
"…"
"… But I didn't abandon people dear to me", she said softly, "I wouldn't abandon you"
"Heh… How can you say that after I threatened you?"
"When we first meet I was scared of you", Haruka said looking him in the eyes(which he didn't avoid this time), "But After a while… An after you rescued me of that… "Thing" I noticed that you weren't a bad person"
"Heh how can you be sure? I'm the worst part of Natsuki after all"
"…You aren't", she shook her head, "…You're the part that has all of his insecurities"
"…"
"That's the reason of why you have a hard time trusting me", she said.
"Pff… Hehehehe…", he laughed, "HAHAHAHA, well, this means that your efforts are futile, I won't rust you no matter what!"
"…That's not true"
"Hum?"
"You may have been born as the result of Natsuki's feeling but… You are a totally different person, with your own feels"
"…"
"That' why I ask again: Please trust me", she said with confidence, "Let's get out of here together!"
-00-
"It's… The third door", Haruka said looking at the door with a sun painting, "Natsuki… Be careful, it's dangerous"
"There's no problem", Natsuki nodded serious, "And Satsuki will protect both of us if it's needed"
"Ok", she nodded, taking the purple tome.
The room was spacious… And had a lot of weapons stuck on the wall.
"There's… So much weapons… Why's that?", Haruka blinked with a puzzled expression.
"Hey Haruka, there's some writings on the wall maybe…"
"NO!", She said loudly, which made him jump, "S-Sorry for scaring you, it's just that I have a bad experience with these writing on the wall and I know that it activate the game"
"Oh… I see"
"I bet that it's another game of survival so it's better if we choose carefully what weapon would be the best to use"
"Uhum… Well… think I can use any heavy weapon pretty well as Satsuki has enough strange to break walls with his hands"
"Well… In my case I… Lack the strength to use any of these weapons", she sweatdropped, trying to pick the weapons but realizing that mostly was heavy, "… I'm not good with melee weapons but… I think I did a pretty job so far with a key and scissors?"
"Key? Scissors?"
"…It's a long story", she sweatdropped, "Huh… I think I will take this… It's looks pretty sharp and light"
"I will take this lance", he nodded picking the weapon.
She breathed deeply and went to the wall, deciding that they were prepared enough.
-Hunting-
-You may pick only one weapon and it's the only one allowed, and you aren't allowed to switch, I'm hungry, and I want a specific meal!-
-Four birds on the sky, black, amethyst, gold, sun-
"There's a big hole on wall… With some… Fangs?"
"…Ah… Maybe it would be better if we read it first", she facepalmed.
'Tch, what a great start', said Satsuki with sarcasm.
'Satsuki!', Natsuki scolded mentally.
"Hum… It's better if we go outside…", said Haruka opening the door only to be taken be a fast shadow.
"Haruka!", Natsuki screamed, rushing outside, his eyes widening when he saw the sky covered with giant birds.
"What is that?!", he blinked several times until the saw one of the giant birds carrying Haruka, "Haruka!"
"W-Wow that's pretty high!", she shrieked looking down, struggling to be free, "I need to do something before I am killed by this bird!"
She gripped the knife in her hands and waited as the bird flew higher and higher until it was above the buildings.
"Now!", she stabbed the bird's wing.
The thing let a high pitched growl before they both dropped on the top of one of the buildings, Haruka rolling on the floor with the sudden impact.
"Ouch!"
"Haruka!"
"I'm fine!", she screamed, waving her hand, which made Natsuki sigh in relief before he saw a group of giant birds flying in her direction.
"WATCH OUT!"
"Ah!", she dodged.
'Natsuki, they are flying on our direction too'
"I know", he said, holding his lance.
'Let me assume, I can kill it'
"…I have a better idea"
Haruka wanted to go to the stairs and escape the birds, but they are attacking constantly and she could barely dodge the assaults.
"Ugh….!", Haruka squeaked when she was head butted by one of the birds.
"Haruka!"
"Hum? Natsuki?"
Natsuki was mounting one of the birds, holding the neck of it to the point that the thing flailed and gasped like crazy while he pierced one of the creatures that were close to her.
"I mounted one of these things so it would be easier to get here", he grinned, "Let's go!"
Natsuki used the flat part of the lance to hit the head of one of the birds and hold it in place, nodding to Haruka that understood the message and mounted it, using the bag as an improvised strap.
"We need to bring birds of the color black, purple, yellow and yellow again!"
"Well, you already crippled a yellow bird that's hopping there so… We need to find the rest", Natsuki nodded.
"But there's so many birds of different colors flying everywhere! It will be hard to find one that matches the needed color!", said Haruka looking around.
"Well, let's see for another angle!", he replied nudging the bird to go up.
Natsuki flew to one of the small windows and the bird crashed into it, breaking the glass, but because the bird was too big to fit there he clumsily flew back and Natsuki took the opportunity to jump and land inside the building.
"What's your plan?", she asked climbing the stairs.
"Huh? You landed on the ground floor?"
"Ah… Yes, I can't pull the same stunt as you", she replied a bit sheepish.
"Hehehe", he laughed, before looking outside, "These birds can't enter the building as they are too big, but I won't be surprised if they tried to throw themselves on it so we can use the opportunity to pick the ones that fall with the effort"
"…Natsuki, it's kind of scary the way you say that"
"Well, they aren't real birds and they look quite horrific", he blinked, "…Because if they were real I wouldn't do that as birds are very cute!
'…'
"… Ok?"
Haruka decided to help and observe as the birds made a big circle around the building, flying at high speeds until they hit the side of it, making a… Lot of mess.
"Ugh!", she felt sick and decided to look away.
"Haru-chan, are you alright?"
"I will be after we finish this", she said hearing another loud thud.
The sounds were constant, Natsuki took Haruka's hand and they both climbed down, being careful to not fall and to pay attention if any bird managed to break the walls.
"It's starting to get dangerous… This building could collapse at any moment"
"I know", he nodded looking through the window, "We need to go to the nearest building"
There was a lot feathers falling, so they took the opportunity, when the last batch hit the wall, to make a mad dash to the nearest building.
The birds didn't notice, that they could tell as when they arrived at the other building they still threw themselves on the other building that was full of holes and cracks.
"… Ah! They finally destroyed the building!"
"And a lot of them fell on the street", he said looking with concentration, "Do you see any of the mentioned birds?"
"Hum… Let's see… Ah! I see 2 yellows, black… Purple… It's all there!"
"Great!"
"Er… But they're kind of big, it will be dangerous and it will take a while until we can get it and go back to the door"
"Don't worry, Satsuki can take care of that!"
"Fine but… I will act as a bait"
"What you're talking? You can barely dodge these birds!", said Satsuki that switched with Natsuki.
"Don't worry, if I run through the narrow corridors between the buildings I can slow them and if I can get at the other door I can pick my bicycle!"
"…"
"Don't worry, it isn't the first time I'm in a dangerous situation"
"…Fine, let's trust your luck", he replied, avoiding looking at her.
'It seems that he's finally trusting me', Haruka smiles and nods.
"Thanks Satsuki, I will be back!"
Haruka went outside and let a loud whistle, which caught the attention of the remaining birds, flailing her arms and running.
The birds stared for a while before they flew after her, with Haruka running as fast as she could in the narrow alleys.
"…Let's do our part", Satsuki eyes narrowed after he confirmed that there wasn't any bird(alive) in the premises and ran to the corpses, surprisingly carrying two of them while heading to the door, "Urgh… These birds sure weight a lot"
-00-
"Ah! They are catching up!", said Haruka looking behind her while the mass of huge birds chased her.
It was a good choice in the end, because she was tiny she could crawl through the places while the birds stumbled and hit everything in the way, and the few that could clumsily get close to her she tried to scare away flinging the small dagger around.
"Ah! Finally! The bicycle!"
Now it would start the mad dash.
"Over here!"
She needed to make the group of salvage beast be as far as possible, at least until Satsuki managed to bring the birds to the door.
Meanwhile, in the door~
"Ugh… It was hard to make these fat birds go through the door", Satsuki cursed, shoving them on the hole on the wall, "Here, stupid mouth, take it"
"Congratulations, now let's go for the next hunt"
-There are four beasts outside, but because it's difficult I will be fair and ask only a piece of them-
"…What?", he blinked several times before he heard a loud roar outside.
…And when he opened the door he saw a giant turtle, tiger, bird and dragon outside.
"… Crap", he cursed.
-00-
Haruka was relieved when she saw that the birds disappeared like dust, but when she heard the loud roar of something, followed by a big flame in the sky she knew that something bad was coming.
"W-What…?!"
There was a big dragon in the sky roaring and destroying things with ease while the turtle broke things in the way.
"…"
There was no way she could fight against that!
"Unless…"
Time to return to the third door again.
"I hope Haruka is ok", gasped Natsuki while running with all of his strength.
'She's far from here, and these monsters are very showy, she would know that it's needed to hide in this situation'
"Yes, But how can we fight against those? They are big and very menacing!"
There was a sudden burst and suddenly a giant turtle fell right in front of him.
'What the…'
"Natsuki!"
"Haru-chan are you ok?", he asked worried.
"Yes but… It won't be safe to stay here", she said nudging him and taking his hand.
"What happened?"
"Remember that creature that always walked at night and stared us?"
"Yes"
"It was imprisoned inside the third door but because I thought that we couldn't defeat the beasts outside then I free it"
'She did WHAT?'
"Haruka, we need a piece of each beast and bring it to the room!"
"I-Is that so?", she stopped in her tracks, "But…"
"Well, I think that part of the turtle we have", he said taking a piece of the cracked shell on the floor, "…Now we need to pick the others parts"
"…Natsuki it's too dangerous to do that! The creature can be only stopped if we put him inside a building and close the door!"
"Well, we survived once, so it's possible to do that again"
"…Ok, I will… Huh?", Haruka said but a hand held her back.
"No, it's my turn", he said serious, "You already served as decoy and is tired"
"But…"
"Haru-chan, I'm taller than you", he smiled.
"Yes"
"I'm stronger now", he said, "Thanks to you"
She stared for a few minutes before an understanding and worried smile crept on her face.
"Ok then… I trust you, be careful"
"I will"
-00-
There was fur, feathers and scales everywhere mixed with blood, but the most horrific sight was still the big black monster in the middle, that was bigger than the tallest building, sprouting heads everywhere.
"This will be handful…", whispered Natsuki before he took a long breath, "HEYYYY! Mister shadow!"
The creature turned, still munching the remains of the dragon.
"Follow me!",he said starting to ride at full speed.
"I hope he will be safe…", Haruka mumbled while she got out of her hiding and started picking the scales, feather and fur, feeling sick seeing so much blood on the floor.
"Nice to see you, miss Haruka", breathed a voice.
"Eeek!",she squeaked, "B-Black?!"
"I came here because of a friend of yours", he said opening his hand and putting a small gold coin on her hand, "This is a gift of the dear friend"
"…A gift of a dear friend?", she blinked.
"Yes… He risked being put to an eternal sleep just to protect you", Black replied, "It's a small miracle, be careful when you use that"
"What does this small miracle does?"
"…It stop time for one moment"
"I see…", she said closing her eyes for a second like she was making a prayer, "…Thank you Black, and also give my thanks to Ittoki-kun"
"Huhu~ Clever as ever huh?", he smiled, "Well, Nanami-san I wish you good luck, I hope to meet you soon"
Haruka held the small coin as a lucky charm as she went third door.
"Huh? Natsuki?"
"I lost him, but not for too long, it's better if we hurry!"
She nodded and put the bloodied pieces of the best inside the mouth.
"Congratulations for going so far but… The peril didn't end and the last door… Is opened and must be closed"
"Huh? Last door? Does that mean that the fourth door doesn't need to be open?", she blinked when the hole spate the key to her and the word in the wall glowed.
-The Dark Enemy reveals his true form: Nothing is safe anymore, he can enter and exit any place at his wish and appear wher it satisfies him, the truth of his weakness shall be exposed in the last door, but time is of importance and you must find it before it kills you-
"Oh… No", Haruka gasped when the shadow appeared inside the room.
"Let's run!"
"Right!", she said running outside.
"How can we get to the last door?"
"The coordinates, I already did the calculus, let's go!"
She looked behind, the shadow slowly exited the third door, making a strange noise and a mass of black started to eat the door, slowly expanding to the closest areas.
"It's eating the place!"
They needed to hurry or the city would turn into nothing.
"Natsuki! Ride the bicycle and go ahead!"
"But…"
"We don't have any time to lose! We need to find it's weakness point!"
Natsuki nodded with a bit of reluctance, but agreed in the end as he took the bicycle and the small notebook in Haruka's hand, going straight to the last door.
-00-
…There was nothing in the opened room, only words.
-The final key is the true soul of the being, take it and it dies~ The light can show you, show you where it is~-
The light… What it means?
"It's better if I return, she must be far behind… She looked pretty tired after all"
He returned and like he predicted Haruka was there, gasping as she tried to catch her breath, he legs trembling.
"Haru-chan!"
"N-Natsuki, did you find anything?"
"Yes", he nodded, "The words said that the key is what make it lives and if we take that it will die"
"I see… Anything else?"
"Well, it said something about the light showing where it was"
"Hum… If my previous experience told me something it must mean that we need to use the lantern", she said taking the lantern from her bag, "… I don't think we have much battery left so it must be better if we find the key quickly"
They returned to the place where it was last left, and was very surprised with how, in the place where it had buildings, now had only the black goo.
"Ah… It's bigger than before!", Haruka held the flashlight and pointed at it, flashing everywhere is hopes of seeing the key, but without much success.
"Haruka! There!", Natsuki pointed to something shining in the middle of the huge goo, "It may be the key"
"Y-Yes, but… It's in the middle of this black mess… I don't think we can approach it without being swallowed like the buildings!"
"There must be something we can do"
"Perhaps…", she blinked looking at the dagger in her hand, "Natsuki, do you think that you or Satsuki would be able to throw this dagger in the way where's the key?"
"I think so, I have a good aim", said Satsuki switching.
"Please, try!", she nodded giving him the key.
Satsuki took the dagger, while Haruka held the flashlight in position, but when he threw it a part of the mass quickly jumped and swallowed the small dagger.
"… Well, it worked wonderfully", said Satsuki with sarcasm but his face was serious, "Any other ideas? Because we really need it"
"I…", Haruka firmly closed her hand when she felt something, "Huh? What is… A coin?"
'It's a small miracle, use well'
"I know! We can use this!", she said looking at the gold coin.[
"A coin? For what? Throwing it at the creature and seeing it being swallowed again?"
"Maybe yes!", she said, holding the coin, making a wish and throwing it will all of her strength.
As expected, the black goo took the coin, but when it did it, the black goo stopped completely.
"What the…"
"It won't stop for too long, we need to throw something!", She said, "Satsuki, do you still have your lance?"
"No but… I think I will improvise", he said picking the bicycle.
"Wait… Do you have enough strength to throw that?"
"Pff.. I can make holes on the wall with my hands, and you think I can't do it?", he smirked, but this time the smile was friendly, "… But it must be better if you are a bit far, I need to hurl it"
Haruka nodded and stepped back while Satsuki ran as fast as he could and threw the object will all of his strength.
The thing started to recover his movements little by little while it tried to stop the oncoming object.
Their hearts beat loudly in their ears while they saw in slow motion as the bicycle hit the target.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH"
The sound was infernal, but the bright light that came from the purple key made them forget it as the creature stopped moving and disappeared.
"W-Wow, we did it!", she breathed in relief when she picked the purple key on the floor, which made something else shine in her bag, "Huh?"
She took the amethyst tome and the other 3 keys that were glowing bright, opening the page that was glowing the most she saw a space to put the keys.
"What is this?", she said with a puzzled voice.
"Maybe you need to put the keys there"
"Hum… Ok", she nodded, putting one of the key in the book, which made it shine with a purple light pointing somewhere, "It's… Pointing somewhere?"
"…Do you want to go now?"
"I think tomorrow", she smiled putting the keys and the tome back in her bag.
"Huh, wasn't you the one that wanted to be out of here as fast as possible?"
"We need to rest first", she smiled, "…And treat our injuries"
"Ugh", he flinched when she touched one of his wounds.
"Thanks, both of you", she chuckled, "I feel a lot safer now that I can count on you!"
"Humph, I don't feel safe at all with you", he rolled his eyes, but it was clear in his voice that he was joking.
"Haha, sorry"
"… But you did well on your own for a weak looking girl", he mumbled.
"Thanks", she whispered holding his hand to his surprise.
She was tired, but at least there was enough strength for her to walk home this time and sleep in a comfortable bed.
That night she would be in a deep sleep without dreams.
-0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000-
YAYYY! Her designated partner is finally helping her, and Satsuki stopped being a tsundere HAHAHA!
Hehehehe~ But too bad, it won't last and I will be quickly to put him out of commission in the next chapter, the dreaded one that I was talking about MWAHAHSHASH*EVIL LAUGH*
Oh, and thanks for my new followers, I hope you enjoy my crazy story! xD
…
REVIEW TIME!
Brandnewmelody- SOON GIRL, SOON YOU WILL SEE MWHAAHAAHHAA!
GlamGurl17-Yep, everything is dangerous and lol, she finally got a weapon but because I'm not fair of course she would lose it XD