Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 9
"Wh...what?" Yunari whimpered, watching his eyes carefully. "Why?"
At first, Kaoru didn't reply. Instead, he swam forward with his sword out- stretched, and tried to hit Yunari. She just barely managed to swim out of the way. "Because I can, moron." he finally answered, turning around and swimming back towards her for another shot. "What? Is this some kind of joke?" Yunari wondered aloud, swimming away once more as he tried to cut her. 'But, he's way to serious. Even though Kaoru is kind of mean, he wouldn't attack like this if he weren't serious', she thought to herself.
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" "Because it's ample opportunity!" Kaoru yelled, stopping his attacks. "Now, here, in this cave, near the Escudo..no one else around..It's a great time and place for me to finish off that possessed wolf's work. I only wish I hadn't protected you and your measly little friends...now DIE!" Kaoru finished, swimming towards her and catching her off guard. His weapon managed to cut her ring and middle fingers as she tried to escape. The pure, blue water suddenly acquired a little cloud of red as her fingers spurt blood. The Thunder Knight yelped as she felt the pain, wondering how such a small slice could cause so much pain. "Why does it hurt so much!?" She screamed. Kaoru stopped once again, this time laughing hysterically. "You don't know? You haven't realized yet? Hah! You are so much more daft than I thought!" "What do you mean, Kaoru?" Yunari yelled back at him, biting her lip to subside the pain in her fingers. They felt like they were burning. "My sword is a MAGIC sword. It's similar to the Knights' swords, only much more magical. So, whenever I strike you and cause you to bleed, my magic is sent from me through the sword to the wound and INTO YOU! AND, if you use a sword against me," he added, pointing to a sword Clef had given her, which she was drawing out, "it will assimilate my sword's magic and hit you with it full force! Hah!"
"What!? How is that bad? I could probably just absorb it if it's Thunder or Storm magic!" Yunari yelled again. "Nope. It isn't either of those magic types. It's the most lethal and powerful magic of all!" "And what magic would THAT be!?" Yunari glared at him. "DARK magic, of course. Haven't you heard of it before? I'm sure you want to face off against it to raise your skills..so fight me!"
"No." She muttered densely. "Come on! Get up and battle me! Don't worry about me! I'll be ABSOLUTLEY FINE! Fight me!" "No!" She yelled loudly. "Fight me...Come on! And you call yourself a Magic Knight? Fight me to the death, Yunari! Fight me to the death or DIE!" "No..I won't..I CAN'T!" She screamed abruptly. "Why not? Are you afraid?" "No...but you're a friend of mine. I want to find out what's wrong with you...I want to help...AHHHH!" Yunari was cut off as Kaoru swung his sword through the water and struck her or the arm, letting more blood flow free of her body. The pain that wracked her arm was powerful, and she screamed into the water, Kaoru laughing at her like she was some kind of joke. "What has happened to you, Kaoru? What is wrong?" Yunari asked. "Absolutely nothing," He replied coldly. "Absolutely nothing."
~*~
"The desert has always been here, Lafarga. I ought to know." Lantis told Lafarga determinedly. "No, Lantis, I'm afraid you're wrong. It only appeared recently. Probably because of a monster. And how would you know anyway? Did one of your birds fly up and tell you?" Lafarga returned sarcastically. "No, you idiot! I know because I've been traveling around Cephiro ever since it returned to normal." Lantis shot back. "What for mourning your losses? Or maybe I should say, LOSS?" Lafarga growled low, glancing quickly at Hikaru (who, like the other girls, was completely ignoring the argument) and then back to Lantis. "Are you implying that something was going or IS going on between US!?" Lantis raged, looking very thoroughly annoyed. "YES! As a matter of fact, I AM!" Lafarga sneered. "Maybe I'll go tell everyone else, huh? How about I start that right NOW?!" "HOW ABOUT WE FIGHT RIGHT NOW!?" Lantis implied.
"Damnit!" Would you two bastards shut up and act you age? Or is that not possible?" Kaoru fumed at the two Kailu, glaring angrily. "Must I teach you a lesson on PUNISHMENT? Because TRUST me, I WILL HURT YOU if you don't SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Lantis and Lafarga looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at them, so they both fell silent and walked along without saying a word.
~*~
"Why? Why are you doing this to me? Have you gone insane with your rage?!" Yunari stared at Kaoru in disbelief. In the past ten minutes, he had cut her three times...once on her fingers, once on her arm, and once on her right hand. "No...It's just fun. But don't worry. I'll ensure you that you will have a nice, painful death.." Kaoru laughed again. "Oh, and about my magic? I'm sure your little friends have heard of it. They've fought it before. They won. Once I'm through with you, I'll go fight them. They'll face Dark magic once again. But they won't win this time!"
"No..you won't..you won't get away with this.." Yunari muttered. "I won't let you...I won't..." She suddenly got up off of the cave floor (which she had sunk too), and raised her hand above her, eyes closed. "What the...what in ninety hells are you doing?!" Kaoru demanded, glaring at her angrily. "I now understand that you are not the Kaoru I know. Maybe you're 'drunk' again. Or maybe you're possessed. Or maybe you were always like this and were just hiding it. But it doesn't matter. No matter what your problem is, you seem to be permanently damaged. And that makes you a threat to this world, as far as I can see. That means..." Yunari's eyes suddenly welled up with golden tears (despite the magic water). "That means I have to....to.....destroy you!" She held back her tears, knowing that he wasn't the one she was crying for. "Now, I'm going to introduce you to MY magic! Thunder magic!" Yunari told him, trying to grin without crying. "What? You think it'll work on me? You've gotta be kidding! No way!" Kaoru stared, dumbfounded, as she raised her right arm above her and pointed towards the cave ceiling. "THUNDER..." She began, glowing with a golden-yellow aura. "That glow.." Kaoru mouthed. "She's learned something new! CRAP!" "DAGGERS!" Yunari finished her new spell. But as she waited, nothing came.
"Hah!" Kaoru jeered, pointing at her and smiling evilly. "Nothing happened."
Without warning, a swishing sound was heard, followed by a clap of thunder.
"What is THAT?!" Kaoru muttered. But before he could think about it any longer, at least one hundred thick yellow daggers crashed through the cave wall, instantly bombarding Kaoru. "AHHHHH HELL!" He screamed as the attack ripped at his arms, legs, and left side. He swam to the cave floor, hoping to avoid the next round of daggers that came flying through the now-opened cave entrance.
While Kaoru was busy trying to avoid the attack, Yunari swam over to the Escudo. 'Now's my chance to take the Escudo and get out of here,' she thought, looking at the mineral before her with awe. Looking to see if Kaoru was still busy (which he was), she began to reach out to the ore. But when she finally touched it, it quickly let loose a blast of magic that blew Yunari away from it. "What was THAT?!" She yelped, trying to touch it again. However, she was blasted back once again. This time, it sent her flying to the floor, and she landed hard with a loud SMACK! "What the heck?" She murmured. "There's barely any water left..and what's left is surrounding the Escudo, like some kind of barrier.." What she said was true; the water was swirling around the Escudo, glowing fiercely, protecting it from anything that came near it. She was so busy looking at the magical mineral that she didn't notice that her attack had stopped. However, she finally realized it when she heard Kaoru yelling.
Walking up to him slowly and carefully, she looked down upon him and grinned. "So, Kaoru? Do you like the pain? I'll bet you don't. And this is nothing compared to what you've done to me in the last forty-five minutes. I hope you're sorry for what you did."
"I...am...sorry," Kaoru mumbled through gritted teeth. "I'm serious. I want to.... return to the castle and be better again. Seriously." Yunari just stared at him, dumbstruck. "Do you MEAN it?!" She backed four feet from him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you REALLY mean it?" Kaoru didn't answer for a minute. Then, he coldly responded. "NO." Yunari realized she only had a little time to get the Escudo and escape, so she began to run towards the mineral and the exit. But as she reached the now unprotected Escudo, she gasped as she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her left leg. Looking down, she watched as her right leg was stabbed too. Falling to the hard, cold ground, Yunari screamed loudly, clutching her new wounds. After sitting there and wailing for three minutes, she realized that Kaoru was about to get up and attack, so she drew her sword and braced herself.
"Don't you remember what I told you about my sword, you little wretch? It will hurt you with my wonderful magic!"
"Yes, I remember...quite well. And that's why I won't let my sword ever touch yours," she smirked, yelping from the pain of her wounds. She then let her eyes well up with tears as she remembered what she had to do. "Now, Kaoru; this is the end. I must send you to your grave, or DIE TRYING!" She yelled as he ran forward, full of malice. "And how DARE you even THINK or PLAN of hurting my FRIENDS!" she retorted to his previous threats.
Kaoru came head-on, preparing to slice her head off. He lifted his sword slightly to the side and roared angrily. He almost reached her and was about to stab down into her head when he suddenly stopped and let his sword clatter to the ground. Blood stained his shirt as he backed up. Looking for the source of pain and biting back the urge to scream, he spotted Yunari. She was kneeling on the floor, holding her sword at a diagonal angle, dripping bright red blood from her wounds. Her blood on her hands was stained with a thick black blood, which both she and her sword were covered in.
~*~
"We're here." Kaoru stopped walking and let the girls, Lantis, and Lafarga walk through the opening in the forest. "Nice place...are you OK, Kaoru? You look a little pale.." Lafarga looked upon the younger boy in a concerned manner. . "I'm fine." Kaoru gritted. However, two minutes later... "AHHH!" Kaoru screamed, clutching at his chest around where his lungs were, and falling to the ground. "Kaoru! What's wrong? Did something attack you?" Hikaru frantically talked to him, trying to help subside the pain. "My..my chest..it hurts faintly let sharply..I'm OK..the sudden shock of pain just surprised me, and I had the wind knocked out of me. So don't worry about me girl. " "Are you sure?" Umi looked skeptical. "Yeah, Umi's right; you don't look good," agreed Shira. "And stubborn guys like you ALWAYS say that they're fine when they're really not." Diamond added, smirking. "Seriously," Kaoru said getting up and dusting himself off. "I'm fine." "If you say so," Fuu said. "However, I do think that something might be wrong with Yunari.." Kaoru added, drifting off. "What?" Hikaru ran up to him. "What's wrong?" "I don't know, but I can...feel it..somehow.." 'In my heart and head' he thought. "Well let's find her then, or she may be in more trouble than she can handle, knowing her." Shira urged, rushing them along. "Take it easy, woman! My chest still hurts!" Kaoru complained. "Oh shut up, Kaoru."
~*~
"You..you stupid girl..you damned...Magic Knight..." Kaoru struggled to talk, gasping for air with his punctured lungs and ribs. "I'll come back for you..someday." He fell to the ground, rolling onto his back gasping for breath for a few moments. Then, laying his hands at his sides, he fell limp. The moment her
Yunari kneeled there, and then sat up slowly, careful not to bruise herself anymore. She slowly limped (on both legs) to the Escudo, which was no longer protected by the water. Touching it as Clef said, she was only slightly shocked when it was sucked into her glove jewel. She wanted to leave, but felt something tugging at her insides, and she turned back to Kaoru.
She looked at him and crawled over, looking at his face. Her tears slowly slipped down her face and landed on his closed eyes. Drawing up her courage, she moved next to his head and placed her warm cheek on his cold one.
"It's not fair," she spoke. "It's not fair whatever happened to you. I'll get revenge for you, don't worry. And....I was sort of starting to..enjoy your company as a friend, too..maybe it was getting closer to being something.....something more.."
"Then why don't you JOIN ME!"
Blood erupted out of Yunari's back and stomach as a hole was punched into her. Kaoru, with his last breaths of life, plunged the sword deeper and deeper into her until only the hilt showed from her stomach. Then, he slowly twisted the blade out of her, making sure to do it slowly and roughly, ensuring that the pain she felt was unimaginable. When the blade finally left her body, more blood spilled out of her, but this time, it turned black as it left her.
"The magic is taking it's effect. Maybe you will come with me, and we can spend time together..fighting all eternity..but the point is.........I told you.I'd get........my revenge," Kaoru breathed, speaking his last words of life. This time, as he fell limp, he did not come back. He stayed there, completely dead.
Yunari couldn't do anything. She was still lying nearby him, her cheek still touching his. All she could do for quite awhile was wonder where he went wrong, and how he did it in such a short time. More tears fell off of her face and onto his. This time, they were flowing freely, and they were flowing form both pain and sorrow. "Why did I have to destroy my friend?" She whispered. "WHY!? WHYYYYY??" she yelled again into the glowing cave. She waited for a few more minutes just lying there in a huge pool of blood, wishing her sister, Fuu, and the others were there. The magic water suddenly returned from nowhere as she lay there, and her blood stained it all a deep red. Then, the pain struck hard, and she let loose the loudest scream of agony she had ever let loose in her life. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!".............
~*~
Hikaru lifted her head from the cave she was in. "Raika, come ON! We need your help! We have to find Yunari!" Raika just yawned and shook his head as if to say, "I'm not going to interrupt her task unless it's fully necessary." But right as he lay his head back down, Lantis and Lafarga came running up.
"Hikaru!" "What, is it you guys?" "Look at the lake water!" Hikaru looked at the water near her. "What about it?" "Not there, Hikaru. Over there! Near where the underwater cavern is!" Lantis said, directing her view in the cave's direction. "Didn't Umi and Kaoru go swim there to look in it..Ah! What is that?" Hikaru exclaimed, standing up and looking at the lake water which was slowly turning a deep red color all around. "Hikaru! It's blood!" "There's blood in the lake!" Fuu, Shira and Diamond came running up to Hikaru, Lantis and Lafarga. "What? You mean Umi and Kaoru might be hurt? Are you sure it's blood?" "Yeah look." Fuu held up a small glass bottle with red water in it. "This certainly isn't food dye, Hikaru." "We have to go help theeeeEEMMM!" Hikaru shouted loudly as Raika suddenly burst out of his cave, knocking her over accidentally in the process. "What's your problem, buddy?" she asked him. "GRRRRRRRRRRR...RRRRAAAUURRRRFFF!" Raika growled and barked, pointing his ears towards the cave. "He's seems to hear something," Lantis said. "And now that I think about it, so do I." "Yeah, we do too," the girls said in unison. "It's sounds like someone screaming!" muttered Lafarga. "Maybe we should go check it out." "Agreed." They all said at once. Raika, on that note, automatically jumped in the water, let the girls on his back and the guys hold onto his tail, and swam at turbo speed to the shore above the cave. "Let's take off our armor so we won't get stuck on anything," Lafarga suggested once they were right above the cave (on the shore). But just as they were about to do so, two heads popped out of the water.
"It's Umi and Kaoru!" Shira jumped up and ran to greet them. "Get out of the WAY!" Kaoru yelled so harshly that even Umi looked slightly disturbed. "What's YOUR problem?" Diamond retorted. "Kaoru, I'll explain. You need to focus on carrying her," Umi directed him.
"Carry..who?" Hikaru wondered. But as Kaoru and Umi walked onto the beach, Hikaru's question was answered, which caused Hikaru, Fuu and Shira to gasp. Diamond just stared sadly, and Lantis and Lafarga frowned angrily.
It was a pale version of Yunari whose legs, right arm and hand, and whole chest/torso was wrapped extremely tight in several red and white splatter- print blankets. Her right left eye also was covered with a cloth. "What happened to her?" Hikaru asked frantically, running up with the other and touching Yunari's forehead. It was ice cold, and it made Hikaru shiver.
"She was attacked by.." Umi paused when she caught Kaoru's eyes ".someone down there while she was getting her Escudo." "Her ESCUDO!?" Fuu and Hikaru jumped up, shocked. "Yeah. I know she was going to get her Escudo because when we found her, she was still conscious, but she was screaming really loudly. After we talked and asked her some things, some of the last words she said were 'I got the Escudo..take me to Clef. He's at Presea's house.'" "Clef must've sent her out to get some because he sensed the coming danger," Lantis murmured. "Huh?" Everybody turned to stare at him. "That wolf possession at the dance wasn't something normal. Possessions as powerful as that are more rare, but more have been happening lately, all over Cephiro. It's all a fore-warning of the coming dangers."
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Fuu, however, broke the silence. "What else did she say when she was conscious? I'm sure that you must've asked her who she was attacked by."
Umi stared hard at Kaoru, almost asking if she could tell them. But before she could, he blurted it out.
"I attacked her. It was apparently ME."
Everyone looked at him, completely shocked.
"She started crying and whimpering in fear when we found her, telling me to stay away and threatening to stab me. I asked her why she would do that and she asked me if I remembered, and 'how did I come back to life?' Then, she noticed that there was..another Kaoru. She was lying near him, but their cheeks were touching. She said she had thought it was me, and that I had been possessed. Then I said it wasn't me, and to 'Get over it wench'. I guess that helped her figure out that that guy was a fake me, because she said she was, uh..glad it wasn't really me. Then she hu....uh....mmm.." Kaoru stuttered, his tan face showing a hint of red. Umi snickered loudly. "Shut up Umi," he growled at her. "What's so funny, Umi?" Hikaru asked, not finding the humor in the situation. "She hugged OW!" She laughed harder as she got the message across, watched everyone smile and laugh at Kaoru (who's tough guy rep. had just been dirtied), and got hit hard on the head by him. When everyone had calmed down and fallen serious again, Kaoru continued, glaring at Umi. "*cough**cough*....*ahem*..Anyway, then, from her loss of blood and the effects of my look-alike's Dark magic, she fell unconscious. So we brought her up here after we wrapped her up with Umi's picnic blanket, which we had to shred..." "Umi's picnic blanket is white!" Shira exclaimed. "She can't possibly have a wound that bad! She's too strong for that!" "Wanna bet? First of all, from what she managed to tell us, he usually surprised her with his attacks and made them un-obvious, and she refused to fight him for the majority of the hour-long battle. Plus, you haven't seen her wounds. If you did, you'd understand, trust me." Kaoru retorted. "Can I see them? Fuu asked. Depending on what kind of injury it is, I might be able to heal her worst wounds." "Go ahead and try, woman. I ain't stopping any of you wenches." "Great." Fuu walked forward, and carefully and gently, (not expecting anything horrible) she removed the bandage around Yunari's torso, where the blood was the darkest. All that the girls could do when the saw the wound was gasp. It was even bigger than it had been when it was inflicted. You could almost see straight through her, and it was a wonder the attack had missed all of her organs though it went clear through her. Fuu examined it carefully, but as she touched the fresh blood on the inside of the blanket, she yelped. It had burned her slightly when she touched it.
"I can't heal this," Fuu said sadly. "We'll have to make haste and get back her over to Presea's house then." Lafarga said, gently picking her up despite the dripping blood. "Hikaru, you have Tataka's whistle from Clef, right?" Hikaru blinked. "Yeah. Do you want me to call him here?" "Exactly." "OK." Hikaru blew the whistle as hard as she could, summoning the creature to her. They only waited one half-hour before he arrived, and hopping on him and Raika, they all headed back for the castle.
"Wh...what?" Yunari whimpered, watching his eyes carefully. "Why?"
At first, Kaoru didn't reply. Instead, he swam forward with his sword out- stretched, and tried to hit Yunari. She just barely managed to swim out of the way. "Because I can, moron." he finally answered, turning around and swimming back towards her for another shot. "What? Is this some kind of joke?" Yunari wondered aloud, swimming away once more as he tried to cut her. 'But, he's way to serious. Even though Kaoru is kind of mean, he wouldn't attack like this if he weren't serious', she thought to herself.
"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" "Because it's ample opportunity!" Kaoru yelled, stopping his attacks. "Now, here, in this cave, near the Escudo..no one else around..It's a great time and place for me to finish off that possessed wolf's work. I only wish I hadn't protected you and your measly little friends...now DIE!" Kaoru finished, swimming towards her and catching her off guard. His weapon managed to cut her ring and middle fingers as she tried to escape. The pure, blue water suddenly acquired a little cloud of red as her fingers spurt blood. The Thunder Knight yelped as she felt the pain, wondering how such a small slice could cause so much pain. "Why does it hurt so much!?" She screamed. Kaoru stopped once again, this time laughing hysterically. "You don't know? You haven't realized yet? Hah! You are so much more daft than I thought!" "What do you mean, Kaoru?" Yunari yelled back at him, biting her lip to subside the pain in her fingers. They felt like they were burning. "My sword is a MAGIC sword. It's similar to the Knights' swords, only much more magical. So, whenever I strike you and cause you to bleed, my magic is sent from me through the sword to the wound and INTO YOU! AND, if you use a sword against me," he added, pointing to a sword Clef had given her, which she was drawing out, "it will assimilate my sword's magic and hit you with it full force! Hah!"
"What!? How is that bad? I could probably just absorb it if it's Thunder or Storm magic!" Yunari yelled again. "Nope. It isn't either of those magic types. It's the most lethal and powerful magic of all!" "And what magic would THAT be!?" Yunari glared at him. "DARK magic, of course. Haven't you heard of it before? I'm sure you want to face off against it to raise your skills..so fight me!"
"No." She muttered densely. "Come on! Get up and battle me! Don't worry about me! I'll be ABSOLUTLEY FINE! Fight me!" "No!" She yelled loudly. "Fight me...Come on! And you call yourself a Magic Knight? Fight me to the death, Yunari! Fight me to the death or DIE!" "No..I won't..I CAN'T!" She screamed abruptly. "Why not? Are you afraid?" "No...but you're a friend of mine. I want to find out what's wrong with you...I want to help...AHHHH!" Yunari was cut off as Kaoru swung his sword through the water and struck her or the arm, letting more blood flow free of her body. The pain that wracked her arm was powerful, and she screamed into the water, Kaoru laughing at her like she was some kind of joke. "What has happened to you, Kaoru? What is wrong?" Yunari asked. "Absolutely nothing," He replied coldly. "Absolutely nothing."
~*~
"The desert has always been here, Lafarga. I ought to know." Lantis told Lafarga determinedly. "No, Lantis, I'm afraid you're wrong. It only appeared recently. Probably because of a monster. And how would you know anyway? Did one of your birds fly up and tell you?" Lafarga returned sarcastically. "No, you idiot! I know because I've been traveling around Cephiro ever since it returned to normal." Lantis shot back. "What for mourning your losses? Or maybe I should say, LOSS?" Lafarga growled low, glancing quickly at Hikaru (who, like the other girls, was completely ignoring the argument) and then back to Lantis. "Are you implying that something was going or IS going on between US!?" Lantis raged, looking very thoroughly annoyed. "YES! As a matter of fact, I AM!" Lafarga sneered. "Maybe I'll go tell everyone else, huh? How about I start that right NOW?!" "HOW ABOUT WE FIGHT RIGHT NOW!?" Lantis implied.
"Damnit!" Would you two bastards shut up and act you age? Or is that not possible?" Kaoru fumed at the two Kailu, glaring angrily. "Must I teach you a lesson on PUNISHMENT? Because TRUST me, I WILL HURT YOU if you don't SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Lantis and Lafarga looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at them, so they both fell silent and walked along without saying a word.
~*~
"Why? Why are you doing this to me? Have you gone insane with your rage?!" Yunari stared at Kaoru in disbelief. In the past ten minutes, he had cut her three times...once on her fingers, once on her arm, and once on her right hand. "No...It's just fun. But don't worry. I'll ensure you that you will have a nice, painful death.." Kaoru laughed again. "Oh, and about my magic? I'm sure your little friends have heard of it. They've fought it before. They won. Once I'm through with you, I'll go fight them. They'll face Dark magic once again. But they won't win this time!"
"No..you won't..you won't get away with this.." Yunari muttered. "I won't let you...I won't..." She suddenly got up off of the cave floor (which she had sunk too), and raised her hand above her, eyes closed. "What the...what in ninety hells are you doing?!" Kaoru demanded, glaring at her angrily. "I now understand that you are not the Kaoru I know. Maybe you're 'drunk' again. Or maybe you're possessed. Or maybe you were always like this and were just hiding it. But it doesn't matter. No matter what your problem is, you seem to be permanently damaged. And that makes you a threat to this world, as far as I can see. That means..." Yunari's eyes suddenly welled up with golden tears (despite the magic water). "That means I have to....to.....destroy you!" She held back her tears, knowing that he wasn't the one she was crying for. "Now, I'm going to introduce you to MY magic! Thunder magic!" Yunari told him, trying to grin without crying. "What? You think it'll work on me? You've gotta be kidding! No way!" Kaoru stared, dumbfounded, as she raised her right arm above her and pointed towards the cave ceiling. "THUNDER..." She began, glowing with a golden-yellow aura. "That glow.." Kaoru mouthed. "She's learned something new! CRAP!" "DAGGERS!" Yunari finished her new spell. But as she waited, nothing came.
"Hah!" Kaoru jeered, pointing at her and smiling evilly. "Nothing happened."
Without warning, a swishing sound was heard, followed by a clap of thunder.
"What is THAT?!" Kaoru muttered. But before he could think about it any longer, at least one hundred thick yellow daggers crashed through the cave wall, instantly bombarding Kaoru. "AHHHHH HELL!" He screamed as the attack ripped at his arms, legs, and left side. He swam to the cave floor, hoping to avoid the next round of daggers that came flying through the now-opened cave entrance.
While Kaoru was busy trying to avoid the attack, Yunari swam over to the Escudo. 'Now's my chance to take the Escudo and get out of here,' she thought, looking at the mineral before her with awe. Looking to see if Kaoru was still busy (which he was), she began to reach out to the ore. But when she finally touched it, it quickly let loose a blast of magic that blew Yunari away from it. "What was THAT?!" She yelped, trying to touch it again. However, she was blasted back once again. This time, it sent her flying to the floor, and she landed hard with a loud SMACK! "What the heck?" She murmured. "There's barely any water left..and what's left is surrounding the Escudo, like some kind of barrier.." What she said was true; the water was swirling around the Escudo, glowing fiercely, protecting it from anything that came near it. She was so busy looking at the magical mineral that she didn't notice that her attack had stopped. However, she finally realized it when she heard Kaoru yelling.
Walking up to him slowly and carefully, she looked down upon him and grinned. "So, Kaoru? Do you like the pain? I'll bet you don't. And this is nothing compared to what you've done to me in the last forty-five minutes. I hope you're sorry for what you did."
"I...am...sorry," Kaoru mumbled through gritted teeth. "I'm serious. I want to.... return to the castle and be better again. Seriously." Yunari just stared at him, dumbstruck. "Do you MEAN it?!" She backed four feet from him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you REALLY mean it?" Kaoru didn't answer for a minute. Then, he coldly responded. "NO." Yunari realized she only had a little time to get the Escudo and escape, so she began to run towards the mineral and the exit. But as she reached the now unprotected Escudo, she gasped as she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her left leg. Looking down, she watched as her right leg was stabbed too. Falling to the hard, cold ground, Yunari screamed loudly, clutching her new wounds. After sitting there and wailing for three minutes, she realized that Kaoru was about to get up and attack, so she drew her sword and braced herself.
"Don't you remember what I told you about my sword, you little wretch? It will hurt you with my wonderful magic!"
"Yes, I remember...quite well. And that's why I won't let my sword ever touch yours," she smirked, yelping from the pain of her wounds. She then let her eyes well up with tears as she remembered what she had to do. "Now, Kaoru; this is the end. I must send you to your grave, or DIE TRYING!" She yelled as he ran forward, full of malice. "And how DARE you even THINK or PLAN of hurting my FRIENDS!" she retorted to his previous threats.
Kaoru came head-on, preparing to slice her head off. He lifted his sword slightly to the side and roared angrily. He almost reached her and was about to stab down into her head when he suddenly stopped and let his sword clatter to the ground. Blood stained his shirt as he backed up. Looking for the source of pain and biting back the urge to scream, he spotted Yunari. She was kneeling on the floor, holding her sword at a diagonal angle, dripping bright red blood from her wounds. Her blood on her hands was stained with a thick black blood, which both she and her sword were covered in.
~*~
"We're here." Kaoru stopped walking and let the girls, Lantis, and Lafarga walk through the opening in the forest. "Nice place...are you OK, Kaoru? You look a little pale.." Lafarga looked upon the younger boy in a concerned manner. . "I'm fine." Kaoru gritted. However, two minutes later... "AHHH!" Kaoru screamed, clutching at his chest around where his lungs were, and falling to the ground. "Kaoru! What's wrong? Did something attack you?" Hikaru frantically talked to him, trying to help subside the pain. "My..my chest..it hurts faintly let sharply..I'm OK..the sudden shock of pain just surprised me, and I had the wind knocked out of me. So don't worry about me girl. " "Are you sure?" Umi looked skeptical. "Yeah, Umi's right; you don't look good," agreed Shira. "And stubborn guys like you ALWAYS say that they're fine when they're really not." Diamond added, smirking. "Seriously," Kaoru said getting up and dusting himself off. "I'm fine." "If you say so," Fuu said. "However, I do think that something might be wrong with Yunari.." Kaoru added, drifting off. "What?" Hikaru ran up to him. "What's wrong?" "I don't know, but I can...feel it..somehow.." 'In my heart and head' he thought. "Well let's find her then, or she may be in more trouble than she can handle, knowing her." Shira urged, rushing them along. "Take it easy, woman! My chest still hurts!" Kaoru complained. "Oh shut up, Kaoru."
~*~
"You..you stupid girl..you damned...Magic Knight..." Kaoru struggled to talk, gasping for air with his punctured lungs and ribs. "I'll come back for you..someday." He fell to the ground, rolling onto his back gasping for breath for a few moments. Then, laying his hands at his sides, he fell limp. The moment her
Yunari kneeled there, and then sat up slowly, careful not to bruise herself anymore. She slowly limped (on both legs) to the Escudo, which was no longer protected by the water. Touching it as Clef said, she was only slightly shocked when it was sucked into her glove jewel. She wanted to leave, but felt something tugging at her insides, and she turned back to Kaoru.
She looked at him and crawled over, looking at his face. Her tears slowly slipped down her face and landed on his closed eyes. Drawing up her courage, she moved next to his head and placed her warm cheek on his cold one.
"It's not fair," she spoke. "It's not fair whatever happened to you. I'll get revenge for you, don't worry. And....I was sort of starting to..enjoy your company as a friend, too..maybe it was getting closer to being something.....something more.."
"Then why don't you JOIN ME!"
Blood erupted out of Yunari's back and stomach as a hole was punched into her. Kaoru, with his last breaths of life, plunged the sword deeper and deeper into her until only the hilt showed from her stomach. Then, he slowly twisted the blade out of her, making sure to do it slowly and roughly, ensuring that the pain she felt was unimaginable. When the blade finally left her body, more blood spilled out of her, but this time, it turned black as it left her.
"The magic is taking it's effect. Maybe you will come with me, and we can spend time together..fighting all eternity..but the point is.........I told you.I'd get........my revenge," Kaoru breathed, speaking his last words of life. This time, as he fell limp, he did not come back. He stayed there, completely dead.
Yunari couldn't do anything. She was still lying nearby him, her cheek still touching his. All she could do for quite awhile was wonder where he went wrong, and how he did it in such a short time. More tears fell off of her face and onto his. This time, they were flowing freely, and they were flowing form both pain and sorrow. "Why did I have to destroy my friend?" She whispered. "WHY!? WHYYYYY??" she yelled again into the glowing cave. She waited for a few more minutes just lying there in a huge pool of blood, wishing her sister, Fuu, and the others were there. The magic water suddenly returned from nowhere as she lay there, and her blood stained it all a deep red. Then, the pain struck hard, and she let loose the loudest scream of agony she had ever let loose in her life. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!".............
~*~
Hikaru lifted her head from the cave she was in. "Raika, come ON! We need your help! We have to find Yunari!" Raika just yawned and shook his head as if to say, "I'm not going to interrupt her task unless it's fully necessary." But right as he lay his head back down, Lantis and Lafarga came running up.
"Hikaru!" "What, is it you guys?" "Look at the lake water!" Hikaru looked at the water near her. "What about it?" "Not there, Hikaru. Over there! Near where the underwater cavern is!" Lantis said, directing her view in the cave's direction. "Didn't Umi and Kaoru go swim there to look in it..Ah! What is that?" Hikaru exclaimed, standing up and looking at the lake water which was slowly turning a deep red color all around. "Hikaru! It's blood!" "There's blood in the lake!" Fuu, Shira and Diamond came running up to Hikaru, Lantis and Lafarga. "What? You mean Umi and Kaoru might be hurt? Are you sure it's blood?" "Yeah look." Fuu held up a small glass bottle with red water in it. "This certainly isn't food dye, Hikaru." "We have to go help theeeeEEMMM!" Hikaru shouted loudly as Raika suddenly burst out of his cave, knocking her over accidentally in the process. "What's your problem, buddy?" she asked him. "GRRRRRRRRRRR...RRRRAAAUURRRRFFF!" Raika growled and barked, pointing his ears towards the cave. "He's seems to hear something," Lantis said. "And now that I think about it, so do I." "Yeah, we do too," the girls said in unison. "It's sounds like someone screaming!" muttered Lafarga. "Maybe we should go check it out." "Agreed." They all said at once. Raika, on that note, automatically jumped in the water, let the girls on his back and the guys hold onto his tail, and swam at turbo speed to the shore above the cave. "Let's take off our armor so we won't get stuck on anything," Lafarga suggested once they were right above the cave (on the shore). But just as they were about to do so, two heads popped out of the water.
"It's Umi and Kaoru!" Shira jumped up and ran to greet them. "Get out of the WAY!" Kaoru yelled so harshly that even Umi looked slightly disturbed. "What's YOUR problem?" Diamond retorted. "Kaoru, I'll explain. You need to focus on carrying her," Umi directed him.
"Carry..who?" Hikaru wondered. But as Kaoru and Umi walked onto the beach, Hikaru's question was answered, which caused Hikaru, Fuu and Shira to gasp. Diamond just stared sadly, and Lantis and Lafarga frowned angrily.
It was a pale version of Yunari whose legs, right arm and hand, and whole chest/torso was wrapped extremely tight in several red and white splatter- print blankets. Her right left eye also was covered with a cloth. "What happened to her?" Hikaru asked frantically, running up with the other and touching Yunari's forehead. It was ice cold, and it made Hikaru shiver.
"She was attacked by.." Umi paused when she caught Kaoru's eyes ".someone down there while she was getting her Escudo." "Her ESCUDO!?" Fuu and Hikaru jumped up, shocked. "Yeah. I know she was going to get her Escudo because when we found her, she was still conscious, but she was screaming really loudly. After we talked and asked her some things, some of the last words she said were 'I got the Escudo..take me to Clef. He's at Presea's house.'" "Clef must've sent her out to get some because he sensed the coming danger," Lantis murmured. "Huh?" Everybody turned to stare at him. "That wolf possession at the dance wasn't something normal. Possessions as powerful as that are more rare, but more have been happening lately, all over Cephiro. It's all a fore-warning of the coming dangers."
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Fuu, however, broke the silence. "What else did she say when she was conscious? I'm sure that you must've asked her who she was attacked by."
Umi stared hard at Kaoru, almost asking if she could tell them. But before she could, he blurted it out.
"I attacked her. It was apparently ME."
Everyone looked at him, completely shocked.
"She started crying and whimpering in fear when we found her, telling me to stay away and threatening to stab me. I asked her why she would do that and she asked me if I remembered, and 'how did I come back to life?' Then, she noticed that there was..another Kaoru. She was lying near him, but their cheeks were touching. She said she had thought it was me, and that I had been possessed. Then I said it wasn't me, and to 'Get over it wench'. I guess that helped her figure out that that guy was a fake me, because she said she was, uh..glad it wasn't really me. Then she hu....uh....mmm.." Kaoru stuttered, his tan face showing a hint of red. Umi snickered loudly. "Shut up Umi," he growled at her. "What's so funny, Umi?" Hikaru asked, not finding the humor in the situation. "She hugged OW!" She laughed harder as she got the message across, watched everyone smile and laugh at Kaoru (who's tough guy rep. had just been dirtied), and got hit hard on the head by him. When everyone had calmed down and fallen serious again, Kaoru continued, glaring at Umi. "*cough**cough*....*ahem*..Anyway, then, from her loss of blood and the effects of my look-alike's Dark magic, she fell unconscious. So we brought her up here after we wrapped her up with Umi's picnic blanket, which we had to shred..." "Umi's picnic blanket is white!" Shira exclaimed. "She can't possibly have a wound that bad! She's too strong for that!" "Wanna bet? First of all, from what she managed to tell us, he usually surprised her with his attacks and made them un-obvious, and she refused to fight him for the majority of the hour-long battle. Plus, you haven't seen her wounds. If you did, you'd understand, trust me." Kaoru retorted. "Can I see them? Fuu asked. Depending on what kind of injury it is, I might be able to heal her worst wounds." "Go ahead and try, woman. I ain't stopping any of you wenches." "Great." Fuu walked forward, and carefully and gently, (not expecting anything horrible) she removed the bandage around Yunari's torso, where the blood was the darkest. All that the girls could do when the saw the wound was gasp. It was even bigger than it had been when it was inflicted. You could almost see straight through her, and it was a wonder the attack had missed all of her organs though it went clear through her. Fuu examined it carefully, but as she touched the fresh blood on the inside of the blanket, she yelped. It had burned her slightly when she touched it.
"I can't heal this," Fuu said sadly. "We'll have to make haste and get back her over to Presea's house then." Lafarga said, gently picking her up despite the dripping blood. "Hikaru, you have Tataka's whistle from Clef, right?" Hikaru blinked. "Yeah. Do you want me to call him here?" "Exactly." "OK." Hikaru blew the whistle as hard as she could, summoning the creature to her. They only waited one half-hour before he arrived, and hopping on him and Raika, they all headed back for the castle.