Chapter 4 Crossing the Second Hurdle; Protection

They traveled for two days until they reached the village on the sea. The four approached cautiously looking at all the destruction around them. Boats had been ravaged and torn by wind and fierce waves where the waters used to always be calm, as Ferio had told them. Trees were torn and few still had leaves, those that did were only scattered about. The sea churned angrily and the sky was dark as if another storm threatened the tiny huts that looked as if they would fall apart with another storm, no matter how small it might be. The houses were simply constructed, made of wood from the forest nearby and patched with straw and bark stripped from the trees. The roofs were made of stripped bark and leaves, but now it looked as if they had seen the worst of life. The roofs had holes and tears; some looked as if they would fall in on themselves at the slightest bit of rain.

Ferio shook his head, "I didn't think that the damage had reached this far yet," he said sadly, as the other three looked around.

"It looks like Pearl Harbor after it was bombed," Hikaru said softly not even realizing how deadly her words were. Fuu scowled but stayed silent if only for respect of the people.

"Where are all the people?" she asked instead trying to move away from the subject. She sensed Umi tense up with the mentioning of the name and didn't want to upset the fragile girl. She would never say anything if she was afraid to talk to them

"I'm not sure," Ferio looked around him trying to spot someone.

"Maybe we should knock on a door and find out?" Hikaru suggested, and they nodded and walked to the nearest door.

Ferio knocked carefully because though the door was made of solid wood it was rotting and ready to fall off the rusted hinges. It swung open and an old man that looked like a fisherman from Japan looked them over, glaring.

"We don't got no food for ourselves. Go away," he began to shut the door, but Ferio stopped him.

"We don't want food good sir, we just want to ask a few questions."

"Don't want to answer no questions neither," he turned and slammed the door as they looked at each other, baffled.

"Maybe we'll have better luck at another door," Fuu said quietly, but Umi stopped them.

"You won't," she said shortly, and they looked at her confused, "These people are starving and regretting their decisions. You won't get them to talk about anything unless there's some kind of reward."

"You sound as if you speak from experience," Ferio said gruffly, and she looked down, kicking her feet in the dirt that would slowly turn to sand the closer to the water they got.

"I do."

They didn't ask anything else of her until they got to the next door. A girl about their age or maybe a bit older answered. She looked skinny and tired, her eyes were hollow, and her skin drooped around her eyes. Umi knew that look, it was the look of hard work, little food and bad sleep. It was the look of worry, pain and depression.

"What do you want?" she snapped as hostile as the man had been, "We don't got nothing, no food, no shelter, no nothing, we don't need no trouble neither. We've had enough of that as you can see."

"We want to offer aid," Umi stopped them from speaking, her voice was smooth, and the girl's ears pricked up.

"Aid?" she looked around, "It don't look like you got no aid."

Umi led her horse over and opened the saddlebag slightly. Inside flashed food left over from their dinner, and the girl's eyes lit up.

"We need news of what has been going on here," Umi continued, but the girl's eyes never left the bag.

"Yes yes of course, come in. You can tie your horses up out there," she motioned to some trees near the house.

They did as she instructed, and they all followed Umi numbly into the house. How had she known that food would have been what they wanted? Why wouldn't it have been gold or promised land?

They sat down at a table across from the girl.

"What did this damage?" Umi asked casually pretending to be uninterested but listening with all her might.

"It was storm after storm after storm," the girl answered eying the saddlebags Umi had discretely placed on the table.

"It doesn't ever storm in Cephiro," Ferio burst out and for the first time the girl's eyes ran over him and the other two.

"Where are you from?" she demanded, "We don't want no trouble you hear?"

"We're not from around here," Umi said quietly, and the girl jumped up.

"Get out! We don't want trouble!"

Umi nodded and emptied the food onto her table, "You never saw us."

The girl nodded, "Quickly now, get out, stay away from our village. We never saw yous gotcha, just leave, please," she was begging them.

Umi grabbed the empty bags and walked out before putting them back on the horse and mounting.

"What was that about?" Ferio demanded storming after her, "We didn't get anything from her! Why did you just leave?!"

"Can't you see?" Umi demanded, her eyes flashing, "We're being chased, something is looking for us, something bad enough to scare that girl enough to the point of turning down the only meal she might get for days. Whatever it is it's not something we want to bring down upon this village. We've got to catch it before it catches us."

They looked at her, suddenly aware of everything that was going on. The girl had known vaguely who they were, enough to want them gone, scared enough to force them out, but she had been begging. She was just as scared of them as she was the one looking for them. There was something terribly wrong in Cephiro, and they had to get to the bottom of it, just as Umi said. They had to find what was chasing them before it found them.

The ride to the water was an awkward silence filled only by the crashing waves as the other two watched the blue haired girl take the lead as her hair whipped in the wind.

Umi looked around her when she felt the horse tense, something unnatural was near. She heard the horses nostrils flare and knew that there was something around that she didn't want to meet. She looked out to the sea and saw a shape emerging in the distance, then looked to the forest and saw something slink across in the shadows. Her eyes darted. They wouldn't be able to escape; they would have to fight.

She got off the horse and summoned her sword to her hands. They had learned this trick when they had first gotten their swords, and it still amazed her. She looked down and seemed as if she didn't expect the sword to be there but still kept her grip on it when she found it was.

The other three dismounted and brought their horses near in a square as their swords too appeared in their hands.

"Remember what I taught you," Ferio shook his head sadly; Umi would have trouble in this battle. If only she hadn't been so stubborn, if only she had listened to what he had to say.

The monster from the forest was the first they saw. It was dark green and blended in with the trees from afar but when they saw it clearly it was sickening. It was twice as tall as Umi and about three times as round. It was dripping with what looked to be some kind of slime. It looked like a creature from some movie about a swamp monster, and they wanted to be sick as they saw it looking down at them with its four eyes.

Ferio was the first to attack slicing it with his huge blade, but as soon as he did it reshaped itself.

"It appears to be made of that ooze," Fuu pointed out, and the other two shook their heads. Hikaru charged forward and cut off what she thought to be a hand. It simply picked it up and put it back on.

It approached slowly, not in any rush to get to them.

Fuu cowered looking as if she was ready to drop the sword in her hand. Umi felt a tinge of pity for her, and knew that these two could not protect themselves. They weren't very good, they needed her, and Cephiro needed them, so she would protect them with her life.

"Amateurs," she muttered as she jumped up at the monster and hit it in the eye with her sword.

It roared in pain as it threw its arms out trying to reach her. Its other three eyes darted around and followed her as she jumped and ran, always just out of reach. When she had the chance she struck another eye as it groped for her again. She blinded it a third time, and then a fourth and then it was as helpless as a newborn kitten. She jumped up and struck the final blow. She pushed her sword through the mass that looked to be a neck as the head rolled onto the ground, the body not far after it.

They watched her numbly as she turned to the monster that was its counterpart just reaching the beach. This monster had fins instead of feet and hands so it was a lot more clumsy on the sand. She defeated it the same as she had its friend then washed her sword off calmly in the ocean. She cleared it of the ooze that could have been blood stepping over the fallen body and then wiped the salt water off on her shirt. She wasn't sure if this sword was damageable, but she didn't want to test her theory that it couldn't rust; it looked like she would be needing it.

"H…how?" Hikaru managed to stumble, and Umi looked back at her calmly refraining from muttering the word, 'amateur'. Instead of answering she knelt by Fuu who had collapsed in fear on the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked the girl gently, and she nodded, "Good because we kinda need you to save the world and all," she smiled slightly and stood. She found that Hikaru's eyes were so fierce she almost gave the impression that she was towering over her even though the girl was at least half a foot shorter than her.

"We need to get something straight here," Umi said coldly, "I don't answer to anyone besides myself. You can't intimidate me because we all have swords, and I have proven that I can do more with mine than all three of you put together got it?"

Hikaru glared but nodded.

"Now," Umi looked a bit softer, "I learned to fight like that because at home I used to be a champion fencer. End of story."

They nodded and looked back at the horses who's eyes were rolling in fear and neighing helplessly with what had just happened.

"Why didn't they take off?" Fuu asked, and the girls shrugged.

"I Willed them to stay," Ferio said quietly, and they looked at him, "Here in Cephiro everything is determined by your Will, even the actions of others."

They flinched at that, that could become dangerous. Umi broke the awkward silence.

"We need to keep going. We can't have these things sneaking up on us every other minute," she mounted, followed by the other three, and kicked her horse into a gallop across the sand.

Fuu screamed in delight, and Hikaru held onto the horse's mane for dear life. She had never ridden before and was scared to death of falling off. Soon Umi and Fuu were racing across the sand, the other two always just behind them.

"You're good," Fuu commented, and Umi smiled at her then turned her head so she could keep her eyes ahead, scanning the area for more monsters.

"So are you," she responded.

"I should be, I love horses and have been riding for a long time. My father owns a stable and a horse not far from our house, though it's not common in Japan, but then you'd know that," Fuu tried to sneak something in, but Umi just stayed silent.

"I learned to ride at a small farm near home when I was four. I haven't ridden in a long time," she said instead, and Fuu wanted to ask more but knew that it wouldn't be appropriate, "There are lights up ahead," Umi pointed out, and Fuu looked up realizing she had been staring at the girl.

"There are aren't there?" she said absently and looked behind her to the scared girl hanging on the horse for dear life. She laughed, and Umi turned and giggled slightly.

"Having some trouble?" Umi called to her, laughing.

"YES!" Hikaru screamed almost falling off only making the two laugh harder.

*wow I never really thought that anyone would like this fic! I'm so happy that people do! arigato for reading and reviewing. Hey I found out that standardized testing doesn't start for another three weeks so I'm happy! Yey! That means I'll be able to hopefully get well into this fic before having to worry about studying. ^.^ until next chapter!*