I don't own anything from Danball Senki/W/WARS.

Hikari gasped in pain as Muraku wrapped his arms protectively around her as her assailant drew back his spear to stab her again. But he never got his chance as Hana plunged her own blade into his heart. Her eyes met Muraku's and she dashed forward only for Jin to tackle her down.

"Muraku, get to safety!" He yelled.

"No! Get off me!" Hana thrashed about to push Jin off her. "Hikari!"

"Jin!" Muraku half stepped forward when someone roughly smashed the hilt of a dagger into the side of his head and grabbed Hikari's form to his chest before Muraku fell to the ground. Jin's eyes were wide in rage and attempted to jump at Muraku's attacker but Hana spun around and pulled him down.

"Hikaru, take Hikari and run!" Arata told him. Hikaru nodded and gently picked up his twin and ran back into the forest with Arata behind him.

"Hana, let go of me." Jin hissed. Hana glared at him but did as he just said. In response, Jin flipped her over and pinned her hands at her back. She desperately tried to free herself and looked around for her other friends but none of them were to be found.

'They must have already escaped. It doesn't matter now. We have Takeru but…I hope Hikari makes it.' She thought to herself as Jin hauled her to her feet and dragged her over to where Yuuya was still fighting. Mikhail crept over to Muraku and somehow managed to pull him to safety in the forest while avoiding Bandit.

"Yuuya, where are the rest?" Jin demanded.

"They have entered the forest. I doubt that Bandit will follow us inside." He informed him. Jin nodded and took out something from his pocket. Hana could not make it out clearly but she was sure that it was one of the smoke bombs she showed Jin how to make. Her suspicions were confirmed as he threw it on the ground, resulting in a puff of smoke covering the area, allowing them a clean getaway.

Seredy growled as the smoke dispersed revealing a lot of dead bandits and soldiers but no Aidara puppies or the princes. One of the surviving bandits carefully approached him. "My lord, what should we do?"

"We cannot let the princes inform the king of this!" He said with a glare. "Spread out block the roads to the palace! I'll head back to the palace and make sure they don't tell the king of this."

"Yes, my lord!"

"Where's Hana?" Gouda asked his friends as they climbed up the tree to the bridges.

"She was captured by the princes." Kazu said shortly. "Hikaru, take Hikari back and have Ami treat her. The rest of us will watch out for Bandit and the princes. Make the bird sound for Bandit and squirrel for the princes."

"Got it!"

Hikaru shifted Hikari so that she was in a more comfortable position and ran back to their hideout without a second thought. Once they arrived there, he ran over to Ami's tree house and barged in. "Ami, you have to help Hikari!"

Ami immediately stood up from her desk and motioned to the bed. "Lay her down there. I'm going to get my medical supplies. Try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure on it."

Hikaru nodded and pressed his cloak on the wound. "Hikari, why didn't you escape when I told you to?!" He mumbled as tears formed in his eyes. A touch on his hand made him jerk up. "Hikari?"

Hikari smiled weakly at her brother. "I'm sorry."

"What has gotten into you?" He demanded. "Why did you spare Muraku Kaidou when you had the chance to take him down!?"

Hikari's smile dropped and tears fell down her cheeks. "You have changed Hikaru-nii-san. I don't expect you to understand this, but I'm not like you."

Hikaru was speechless at her words. Ami then came in with a small box and pushed Hikaru out. "Wait outside."

Hikaru was too stun to protest and slumped against the door. He did not know how long he had sat there but a touch on his shoulder made him snap out of it. He looked up and his gaze harden at Arata. "What?"

"How long have she been in there?"

"I don't know!" Hikaru snapped. "It's your fault that she's in there now! If you hadn't place her in the fight, she would never would have gotten injured!"

Arata held his gaze for a while and lowered his head. "I regret sending her out the moment I even assigned her the task and I'm sorry."

"Then why?" Hikaru finally broke down. "Why her?"

Arata seemed to hesitate before answering. "She insisted it."

They stayed in silence until the door opened and Ami stepped out.

"How is she?" Hikaru asked.

Ami crouched down slightly so that she could look at Hikaru in the eye. "Hikaru, please promise Hikari this. No matter what happens to her after this, let her go."

Hikaru stared at her in an unfocused manner and gripped her arms tightly. "What happened to her?"

"Theoretically, she should be fine but for some reason, she's dying." Ami told him and stepped aside. "You can see her if you want."

Hikaru did not need to be told twice and ran to his twin's side. "Hikari?"

Hikari barely managed to crack her eyes open and smiled when she saw Hikaru. "Yes?"

"Why are you dying?" His voice quivered.

"I don't know myself." Hikari admitted. "But I haven't been well for a while now."

"Why you? You're all I have left." Hikaru held her hand tightly.

"That's not true."

Hikaru looked up at her words. Hikari tried to smile like she usually does but it came out as a small grimace. "You have Arata, Ban, Haruki, Ami, Kazu and Sakuya and everyone else. We may not have felt it, but we were always a family."

"I know." Hikaru blinked away his tears and rest his head on Hikari's arm. "I know."

"So what are we going to do with her?" Yuuya asked after he tied up Hana's hand behind a tree.

"We could leave her here and let her starve to death or be eaten up by animals." Jessica suggested with a slight smirk.

"I'm right here you know." Hana rolled her eyes. "Leaving me here could be your biggest mistake. In case you forgotten, the forest is our turf. You may be safe from Bandit for now, but you're still in enemy zone."

"As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. We have to turn her over to grandfather." Muraku sighed. "How's Vanessa?"

"She's asleep. Luckily there's no nerve damage to her shoulder." Jessica said curtly, still smarted from Hana's words.

"Let's get some rest." Yuuya suggested after a short pause. "Who will take the first guard?"

"I will."Jin volunteered. Everyone was too tired to be surprise or protest and laid down on the forest floor to get some sleep. Jin walked over to Hana and stood over her.

"What?" Hana asked in an irritated tone from being captured.

Jin said nothing but glanced back at his friends and made sure that they were really asleep and wrapped his arms around her and buried his head into the crook of her neck. "I miss you." He whispered huskily.

Hana's irritation died away at his words. "Why did you capture me?"

Jin pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. "Don't talk. I just want to be by your side."

"You don't have to do this." Hana looked at him with pleading eyes. "You don't have to be your grandfather's poster figure. Just leave him and the rebellion will not bother you anymore."

"You know that I cannot do that."

Hana pursed her lips. "Ban believed that you and your brother are more than mere puppets of your grandfather when the others did not. Prove to him that he's right, please."

"I don't see what he has to do with this." Jin said curtly although his grip on her tightened.

"Ban was the first person other than Hikari to believe that you do not have your grandfather's heart."

"I don't want to hear about him now." Jin slammed his fist into the tree trunk just inches away from her face. "Or Aidara. I just want to be with you."

"How is that possible when you are going to turn me to your grandfather and you know that he'll execute me for treason?" Hana hissed.

"I'll think of something." Jin promised.

"How can you when you are already conflicted inside?" She countered. "Don't think that I don't know about it. The reason you captured me is because you want to please your grandfather by presenting me to him, but at the same time, you don't want me to die. Like I said before, he will execute me."

Jin sighed in frustration and pulled away. He knew Hana was right. But he could not do anything about it, could he?

Neither Jin nor Hana knew this, but Muraku had not fallen asleep like Jin initially thought. He stayed up and listened to their conversation and he had to admit that Hana had hit some hard truths about their grandfather. He was a liar, a dictator and worst of all a killer.

Muraku did not dare to mention this to Jin, but he had overheard his grandfather talking with Adviser Gardyne some time back and what he heard shook him to the core.

"Really Gardyne, there's no need to worry about the remaining Yamanos. They will never be able to take the crown away from me." Yoshimitsu chided his adviser when he brought up his concerns about the remaining royal family.

"But they may be the ones leading the rebels, Aidara, for all we know." He replied with a frown. "After what you did to their parents, I wouldn't be surprised if they plan to go after your life."

"I have no fears about that." Yoshimitsu smirked evilly. "Try as they might, they will not bring down everything I worked for years to achieve."

"You killed the former king and queen to become ruler of Aradia. Who would not be angry and hate you for that?" Gardyne questioned before he realized his mistake.

Yoshimitsu turned on him with a murderous glare. "Never mention them again, especially in front of Jin and Muraku, or I will have you executed for treason."

"Y-yes, your highness."

"Good."

Muraku could still remember the intense hatred in Yoshimitsu's eyes. After that, he did not dare to look at him as he once did before. His grandfather had killed people in cold blood and had felt no remorse for it. Now as he listened to Jin and Hana, he fully understood now who are Aidara's leaders and why they did what they did.

'I have to tell Jin about this.' He thought to himself shakily. His thoughts then drifted back to Hikari. 'Is this what she meant all along?'

Man, thinking this up is a whole lot more easier than to write it.