The Pink Harlequin
Winner Takes All
For the first time in her life, Crown Princess Mimi Taichikawa was frightened out of her wits. As the two men in front of her eyes dueled viciously, each fighting for possession of her - for different reasons, of course - she only took breaths hesitantly, for fear that she would ruin her hero's concentration. Duke Yamato, however, seemed to be doing fine by himself without Mimi's prayers. He was able to block every one of the Rogue's slashes, but he could never gain the offensive. The Rogue was too quick.
"Remember... when... we... were... both... thirteen...?" The Rogue panted, sweat dripping from his hair down into his eyes. He blinked them away angrily, giving off a snarl as he lunged forward and attacked Yamato. "You won... last... time... but this time I'll kill you... Yamato..."
Yamato moved his head just in time, bringing up his long, narrow French rapier in order to slice the Rogue's arm. A trickle of blood appeared on the brightly colored blouse. Yamato suddenly stepped back and threw down his rapier, announcing, "I've won. You seem rather out of shape... Hiro."
The Rogue, or, rather, Hiro, stared from the duke with the drawn face to the lady whose face had been drained of all color, and finally to his waiting comrades. After a moment's pause, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously, his equally vicious companions joining in.
"Foolish courtier! Do you not know that we rogues are not bound by honor? We do what we like!" Even as he was speaking the final sentence, the enraged young man pulled out a sharp dagger from his boot with his empty hand and hurled himself with immense strength towards Yamato. The duke neatly blocked it with one parry, angling his rapier in the perfect position. Mimi let out the breath that she had been holding for quite a long time. She would be saved... would she not?
"You thought I was tired, didn't you, Yamato?" Hiro flung his dagger directly towards Yamato's stomach. Yamato flattened himself down to the ground. The golden dagger became lodged in the unfortunate gullet of a villain from the Rogue's crew. All the others, upon seeing that their leader had no qualms against killing his own if he were to exterminate his archenemy, backed up against each other fearfully.
"You're determined to kill me, aren't you, Hiro?" Yamato yet again parried several more slashes of the Rogue. Hiro did not answer the question, but instead aimed a sharp jab at Yamato's neck. Yamato twisted his neck just in time, but he failed to twist it far enough. A thick line of crimson blood started to drip and slide from his collarbone, just below his neck. He staggered, wincing at the pain. Hiro took this as an advantage, stabbing at lightning speed. Suddenly Yamato was losing his ground. The Rogue did not land any more slashes on the duke, but despite that little fact, Yamato was not doing as well as he was a mere three minutes ago. Panic took over Mimi again. Just when Yamato was down on the ground, the top half of his shirt stained a sickening scarlet from the wound, with Hiro positioned standing and panting over him, his sword touching the tip of Yamato's neck, a loud cry was heard. Both youths turned their heads towards the source of the sound.
It was Mimi, struggling with a heavyweight bloke who looked as if he had not bathed for a century. Mimi was cursing in a horrible way, as was the bloke. Both of them were fighting for possession of a slim longbow.
"Don't, Mimi," whispered Yamato with what little strength he had. Hiro narrowed his piercing spring green eyes and commanded his victim to "silence that void in something called a face". Then he continued watching the struggle, amused.
"Let... go... you fat old coot!" Mimi aimed a rapid kick at the stomach of the "fat old coot". Unfortunately for him, Mimi happened to be wearing shoes... with pointed heels. He doubled over, clutching his stomach in excruciating agony, and thus, letting go of his grip on the longbow at the same time. Triumphant, but not showing it due to the urgency of the situation, Mimi swiped an arrow from the quiver of a shocked thief and drew it on the bow, aiming for the Rogue. She closed her left eye while speedily taking aim. Immediately, she let the barbed arrow fly at the astonished Hiro, who had no time to react. It was almost as if his mind left his skull altogether. All he could do was stare in horror at the Spanish Crown Princess. Yamato, too, was taken aback by Mimi's action.
"You just saved my life..." He breathed. "Mimi..."
"Damn it, she killed Hiro!" One of the vandals cried, brandishing his saber. "Let's kill off the two of them!"
"What now...?!" Mimi quailed, her nerves failing her. She shot ten of the villains rushing towards her, but she knew that now or later her arms would fail her and that Yamato would soon faint from loss of blood. Yamato had recovered from the surprise that earlier froze him, but he was up and running the Rogue's band through with his rapier. A new strength was controlling him, most likely after seeing what Mimi had done. He was nearly going mad. Power of the sword flowed from his arms and fingertips. His teeth were gritted ruthlessly and Mimi could see that his eyes were frenzied. However, she knew that the wild vigor would not last for too long. Duke Yamato's face was already deadly white, with the tiniest tint of a flush on his cheeks. His sword hand's knuckles were colorless except for the lines of blood that had been formed there from successful slashes of the rogues.
By then, there were only eight of the Rogue's original crew left. Those, sadly, were the most hardy, and they were only still living because they were driven by the determination to avenge their slain leader. Mimi's bow arm was weary, and Yamato seemed to be growing fainter and fainter by the minute. She was amazed at the duke's endurance and the length of time that his madness was lasting. One weapon didn't seem like enough for him.
"Why didn't he hide any?!" She muttered while pinning the arm of a howling rogue to a tree trunk with a well-aimed arrow. Her hands automatically groped for another arrow, when she suddenly realized that the dead man's quiver was empty. Furious, she kicked the dead man who was "supplying" arrows for her. "What am I going to do now?" Then she had an idea. A blade was poking from the scabbard of another slain villain. Mimi rushed over and pulled it out. Once Yamato got close enough to her, she hollered, "Yamato!" and tossed the sword, which was a bit on the rusty side but could still serve the duke's purpose, to him. Yamato did not utter a word of thanks, but Mimi did not expect him to. After all, it is difficult for one to face another and then thank her while fighting off enemies with more than ten painful wounds on his or her body.
Things would have gone badly, but still tolerably... if Yamato didn't faint from fatigue (no, the young man is not a weakling; it's not as if anybody else could have lasted so long with near-fatal injuries everywhere... and with half of his body's blood depleted), that is. Much to Mimi's dismay, he did. He collapsed right in a senseless heap after running through a sword through an opponent's lungs. Then the remaining evildoers advanced towards Mimi, repulsive snarls glued on their faces. Mimi would've shot the lot of them, except that she was ready to collapse like Yamato did.
Now, this would have been the end for our heroes if not for fate. God had decided to spare them.
Just as Mimi could not hold on to consciousness any longer and prepared to faint, gasps came from the six remaining rogues. Mimi craned her head to see a quintet of lean, hard-faced men dressed in the national colors of Spain, with emblems on their backs. They all had drawn bows.
Mimi gasped, "Thank you, Lord!" as she fell in a faint next to Yamato.
Author's note: Yes, I know, I took forever! So sorry! I recently got home from my trip, so it's taken a while... and I've been working on a gazillion other projects as well. ^_^ *apologizes * But I hope it was well worth the wait.
Winner Takes All
For the first time in her life, Crown Princess Mimi Taichikawa was frightened out of her wits. As the two men in front of her eyes dueled viciously, each fighting for possession of her - for different reasons, of course - she only took breaths hesitantly, for fear that she would ruin her hero's concentration. Duke Yamato, however, seemed to be doing fine by himself without Mimi's prayers. He was able to block every one of the Rogue's slashes, but he could never gain the offensive. The Rogue was too quick.
"Remember... when... we... were... both... thirteen...?" The Rogue panted, sweat dripping from his hair down into his eyes. He blinked them away angrily, giving off a snarl as he lunged forward and attacked Yamato. "You won... last... time... but this time I'll kill you... Yamato..."
Yamato moved his head just in time, bringing up his long, narrow French rapier in order to slice the Rogue's arm. A trickle of blood appeared on the brightly colored blouse. Yamato suddenly stepped back and threw down his rapier, announcing, "I've won. You seem rather out of shape... Hiro."
The Rogue, or, rather, Hiro, stared from the duke with the drawn face to the lady whose face had been drained of all color, and finally to his waiting comrades. After a moment's pause, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously, his equally vicious companions joining in.
"Foolish courtier! Do you not know that we rogues are not bound by honor? We do what we like!" Even as he was speaking the final sentence, the enraged young man pulled out a sharp dagger from his boot with his empty hand and hurled himself with immense strength towards Yamato. The duke neatly blocked it with one parry, angling his rapier in the perfect position. Mimi let out the breath that she had been holding for quite a long time. She would be saved... would she not?
"You thought I was tired, didn't you, Yamato?" Hiro flung his dagger directly towards Yamato's stomach. Yamato flattened himself down to the ground. The golden dagger became lodged in the unfortunate gullet of a villain from the Rogue's crew. All the others, upon seeing that their leader had no qualms against killing his own if he were to exterminate his archenemy, backed up against each other fearfully.
"You're determined to kill me, aren't you, Hiro?" Yamato yet again parried several more slashes of the Rogue. Hiro did not answer the question, but instead aimed a sharp jab at Yamato's neck. Yamato twisted his neck just in time, but he failed to twist it far enough. A thick line of crimson blood started to drip and slide from his collarbone, just below his neck. He staggered, wincing at the pain. Hiro took this as an advantage, stabbing at lightning speed. Suddenly Yamato was losing his ground. The Rogue did not land any more slashes on the duke, but despite that little fact, Yamato was not doing as well as he was a mere three minutes ago. Panic took over Mimi again. Just when Yamato was down on the ground, the top half of his shirt stained a sickening scarlet from the wound, with Hiro positioned standing and panting over him, his sword touching the tip of Yamato's neck, a loud cry was heard. Both youths turned their heads towards the source of the sound.
It was Mimi, struggling with a heavyweight bloke who looked as if he had not bathed for a century. Mimi was cursing in a horrible way, as was the bloke. Both of them were fighting for possession of a slim longbow.
"Don't, Mimi," whispered Yamato with what little strength he had. Hiro narrowed his piercing spring green eyes and commanded his victim to "silence that void in something called a face". Then he continued watching the struggle, amused.
"Let... go... you fat old coot!" Mimi aimed a rapid kick at the stomach of the "fat old coot". Unfortunately for him, Mimi happened to be wearing shoes... with pointed heels. He doubled over, clutching his stomach in excruciating agony, and thus, letting go of his grip on the longbow at the same time. Triumphant, but not showing it due to the urgency of the situation, Mimi swiped an arrow from the quiver of a shocked thief and drew it on the bow, aiming for the Rogue. She closed her left eye while speedily taking aim. Immediately, she let the barbed arrow fly at the astonished Hiro, who had no time to react. It was almost as if his mind left his skull altogether. All he could do was stare in horror at the Spanish Crown Princess. Yamato, too, was taken aback by Mimi's action.
"You just saved my life..." He breathed. "Mimi..."
"Damn it, she killed Hiro!" One of the vandals cried, brandishing his saber. "Let's kill off the two of them!"
"What now...?!" Mimi quailed, her nerves failing her. She shot ten of the villains rushing towards her, but she knew that now or later her arms would fail her and that Yamato would soon faint from loss of blood. Yamato had recovered from the surprise that earlier froze him, but he was up and running the Rogue's band through with his rapier. A new strength was controlling him, most likely after seeing what Mimi had done. He was nearly going mad. Power of the sword flowed from his arms and fingertips. His teeth were gritted ruthlessly and Mimi could see that his eyes were frenzied. However, she knew that the wild vigor would not last for too long. Duke Yamato's face was already deadly white, with the tiniest tint of a flush on his cheeks. His sword hand's knuckles were colorless except for the lines of blood that had been formed there from successful slashes of the rogues.
By then, there were only eight of the Rogue's original crew left. Those, sadly, were the most hardy, and they were only still living because they were driven by the determination to avenge their slain leader. Mimi's bow arm was weary, and Yamato seemed to be growing fainter and fainter by the minute. She was amazed at the duke's endurance and the length of time that his madness was lasting. One weapon didn't seem like enough for him.
"Why didn't he hide any?!" She muttered while pinning the arm of a howling rogue to a tree trunk with a well-aimed arrow. Her hands automatically groped for another arrow, when she suddenly realized that the dead man's quiver was empty. Furious, she kicked the dead man who was "supplying" arrows for her. "What am I going to do now?" Then she had an idea. A blade was poking from the scabbard of another slain villain. Mimi rushed over and pulled it out. Once Yamato got close enough to her, she hollered, "Yamato!" and tossed the sword, which was a bit on the rusty side but could still serve the duke's purpose, to him. Yamato did not utter a word of thanks, but Mimi did not expect him to. After all, it is difficult for one to face another and then thank her while fighting off enemies with more than ten painful wounds on his or her body.
Things would have gone badly, but still tolerably... if Yamato didn't faint from fatigue (no, the young man is not a weakling; it's not as if anybody else could have lasted so long with near-fatal injuries everywhere... and with half of his body's blood depleted), that is. Much to Mimi's dismay, he did. He collapsed right in a senseless heap after running through a sword through an opponent's lungs. Then the remaining evildoers advanced towards Mimi, repulsive snarls glued on their faces. Mimi would've shot the lot of them, except that she was ready to collapse like Yamato did.
Now, this would have been the end for our heroes if not for fate. God had decided to spare them.
Just as Mimi could not hold on to consciousness any longer and prepared to faint, gasps came from the six remaining rogues. Mimi craned her head to see a quintet of lean, hard-faced men dressed in the national colors of Spain, with emblems on their backs. They all had drawn bows.
Mimi gasped, "Thank you, Lord!" as she fell in a faint next to Yamato.
Author's note: Yes, I know, I took forever! So sorry! I recently got home from my trip, so it's taken a while... and I've been working on a gazillion other projects as well. ^_^ *apologizes * But I hope it was well worth the wait.