JUST LOVE

Chapter Twenty Three

"No! There's no pulse!! Elena, come on, come on, you've got to live!! You can't leave me just yet!" Ryudo panicked. He checked her pulse again to see if he just imagined that she had none. He placed two trembling fingers on her bleeding right wrist this time and there was still no pulse. "Elena... no.. no... you promised me..." he sobbed silently. Ryudo picked up Elena from the ground and cradled her in his arms. He slapped her cheeks gently to wake her up but her eyes remained closed. "You've got to wake up Elena! Please..."

Skye took off from Ryudo's shoulder. "Ryudo!! Stop panicking!! She's still breathing but barely. She needs help and fast! She's only hanging on by a thread!"

Ryudo tried his best to calm himself down and looked at Elena closely. "She IS still breathing but she'll die soon... if... dammit!! I won't let that happen!" Ryudo took out a Healing Salve and put its contents over Elena's wounds and cuts. The potion had no effects.

"She needs direct medical help! That's stuff won't work! I'll fly to the castle and get a doctor. You carry Elena and bring her inside!" Skye ordered.

"Okay," Ryudo nodded slowly. He stood up from the ground with Elena in his arms. He made a mad dash towards the door but soon stopped dead on his tracks when a boulder in front of him burst to bits.

"Going somewhere?" Nekura chuckled. The Dark Ninja eyed Ryudo and Elena with disgust and hate in his eyes. "I can't believe she's still alive after all of that," he thought.

Millenia and the others ran to Ryudo and stood in front of him protectively. "Ryudo, get inside! We'll cover you!" Millenia suggested.

"Yeah... thanks." The Geohound ran towards the door as fast as he could.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Nekura shouted and threw a shuriken at them but it was intercepted by Roan's Golden Hammer. "Damn! It looks like I'm going to have to get through these rejects first."

"Prepare yourself!" Melfice said. He was about to charge at the enemy but Lance gestured with his hand for him to stop.

Lance glared ice cold daggers at Nekura with raging hell fire burning in his ruby red eyes. "How could you?!" he hissed. "How could you do that to her?!"

Nekura crossed his arms over his chest and ignored Lance's question. "Tell me, who are you?"

"You really don't recognize me, do you?" Lance pulled down his mask to reveal his identity to the enemy. "I am Lance of the Iga Ninja Clan, Shinobi of the Flame! Do you remember me now, huh Nekura?!"

"Lance!! I didn't know you were still alive!!" Nekura gasped.

Millenia, Roan, Tio, and Melfice looked at each other, puzzled, then the two Ninja, and then at each other again. "What? They know each other?!" Roan exclaimed.

"And Lance didn't even tell us!" Melfice remarked.

"What did you expect?!" Millenia scoffed.

"Well Lance, what's it going to be? Are you going to fight me or join me? We always made a great team, didn't we?" Nekura laughed.

"We DID make a great team but that's all over. You're not the Nekura I knew. Why did you fuse yourself with the power of Evil?" Lance demanded.

"It's simple really, I'm going to destroy the source of evil... humans. As long as humans exists, you can NEVER EVER purge evil and hatred from this world," the Dark Ninja answered.

"Have you gone mad? Your motives go against everything we stood and fought for!" Lance said.

"Shyeah... everything we stood and fought for my ass!! Sure we protected the people of Minalin but those simpletons knew nothing of it because we did it from the shadows. We didn't get the praise we deserved! You know what's worse? When the Cathedral Knights attacked Minalin and when we came to help, those fools doubted our help, they feared us even though we were willing to die to save their pathetic lives!"

"Perhaps so but that's the way of the Shinobi. We never fought for fame or praises and we must live our lives in the shadows."

"What do you know!! You're not even a real Ninja! You were just..."

"That's enough!" Lance took out the Falchion. "I'm going to kill you right here, right now!"

"Is this how you would repay me after everything me and the Clan did for you? It's that girl, isn't it? You're going to kill me because of her?"

"Shut up and draw your katana!"

"I've never seen you this mad for a long time. Tsk tsk, don't let rage get the best out of you. Remember our training."

"I really can't stand this guy. Let's all take him out now!" Melfice suggested.

"No! This is my fight," Lance hissed.

"It is my fight too. He killed Elmo and I must avenge her," Tio said.

"Do not count me out either. This man had harmed my country and people!" Roan added.

Nekura drew his Zankuro. "Five against one... that's fine with me. Come on, come at me!! All of you!! Give me everything you've got!!!"

"This is for Elmo. Lotus Flower... bloom!" Tio said and threw a pink energy projectile at the Dark Ninja but he managed to dodge it.

"Golden Hammer... crash!" Roan hurled a giant hammer at Nekura but he parried it with his katana.

Purple balls of lightning formed behind Millenia. She spun around and waved her hand towards Nekura. "DEEP FRIED GOODNESS!" she screeched as the balls of lightning flew towards the Dark Ninja. The balls of lightning circled around their target and formed into a huge, electric purple dome. Nekura was trapped inside the dome while shocked by lightning. After awhile, the dome vanished and left the Dark Ninja staggering.

Melfice ran up to Nekura. "Here's a new attack I made just for the likes of you." He jumped a few feet from the ground and held his sword above his head. "Ha! Hell Cry Slash!" Melfice brought his sword down on his descent but the Dark Ninja blocked the attack with his katana.

Lance put his right arm forward and fire emerged from his palm. "You're finished! Dark Flare!" A huge blast of flame flew out of his right palm and knocked away the Zankuro from Nekura's hand.

Nekura back flipped away quickly towards his katana before Melfice had the chance to cut him down. He picked up his katana and eyed his opponents with hate. "Blast! There's too many!" The Dark Ninja threw a purple energy ball on the ground. "It's time to even the odds." A black portal formed on the ground and two Magna Valmar emerged from it. "Minions of the Dark, attack!" he commanded.

The Magna Valmar charged at Melfice and company. Melfice and Millenia took on one of the Magna Valmar while Roan and Tio fought the other and Nekura and Lance stood a few feet from each other face to face.

***

Ryudo lay Elena gently on her bed. He grabbed the chair from her writing table and pulled it up to her bed. He stroked her cheeks softly and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Just hold on Elena, Skye will be here with a doctor." He sat down, held both of her hands, and gave them a light squeeze. "You have to live. You promised that you'd wait for me." Ryudo closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

A single tear formed in his emerald green eye and slowly made its way down his cheek. His heart was torn with raging, conflicting emotions. His heart burned with rage. He wanted to kill Nekura, he wanted to shove the Granasaber Sword down his throat for harming his angel, his fallen angel. At the same time, his heart was plagued with fear, guilt, and pain. He was afraid that he would lose the woman that taught him what love, kindness, and trust was, the one woman that brought him back to the Light. Ryudo's heart was wracked with guilt, he should have stayed with her instead of leaving her all by herself unprotected. Ryudo heard a soft moan and quickly wiped the tear away.

Elena stirred a bit and her eyes slowly opened. "Ry... Ryudo?"

Ryudo felt his heart skip a beat. "Elena! Elena I..."

"Ryudo... I am so sorry... I could not defeat him... he was too strong..." Elena rasped.

"Don't worry about it. My brother and the others are fighting him right now."

Elena's ruby red eyes started to close again. "So tired... it so dark in here Ryudo... I..."

Ryudo held her hands tighter. "No Elena, keep your eyes open. Come on, keep them open."

"Ryudo I am sorry... but I will always lo..." Elena closed her eyes and passed out again.

"Elena! Talk to me! Open your eyes! Please..." Ryudo panicked. Skye, a doctor, and a nurse then entered the room. Ryudo ran up to the doctor and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Doctor! You've got to help Elena, she's dying quickly! You just have to save her!"

The doctor broke away from Ryudo's hold. "I will Lord Ryudo but I am afraid I will have to ask you to leave us while we treat Lady Elena."

"What?! I can't leave Elena, not now. Leaving her all by herself got her into this mess!" Ryudo protested.

"Ryudo! Get a hold of yourself! The doctor and the nurse need to be alone here with Elena so they can treat her better and faster. Come on, let's wait outside," Skye scolded.

Ryudo knew Skye was right. Reluctantly, he strode towards the door with Skye behind him and gave Elena one final look. "Elena, please, you have to stay alive," he pleaded silently and finally left the room.

***

"The ultimate secret! True Dragon Rise!" Roan ran up to the Magna Valmar and slashed it continuously with his Gladius. After fifteen or so hits, he ended the combo in an upper cut.

"Release wind." Tio raised her Angle Circle above her head and summoned a huge tornado. The tornado picked up the Magna Valmar and hurled it into the sky. The monster went round and round in the air and slammed back on the ground hard when the tornado vanished.

The monster cried out in pain and struggled to stand up but Roan did not give it a chance. "I will tear you to pieces!" he said and casted a Howlslash to finish it off for good.

The other Magna Valmar swung its gigantic arm at Millenia but she ducked and avoided it. Millenia back away a bit and fired two arrows with her Black Angel Bow at the monster's leg. The Magna Valmar snarled angrily and bashed Millenia with its arms. The powerful blow from the attack sent the red head flying towards a tree.

"Hey, that hurts!" Millenia spat out some blood and tried to get up but had a hard time doing so.

The Magna Valmar growled triumphantly and advanced towards its prey.

"Oh no you don't!" Melfice put an arm forward and summoned several firebirds. "I'll pound you to a pulp!" The firebirds circled around in the sky and then dove at the Magna Valmar. The monster wailed in pain as it was pummelled continuously. The monster slumped forward and panted heavily. Melfice raced to Millenia's side and silently cursed to himself when he realized his Star Egg did not have any healing spells. "You okay Millenia? Can you stand up? Did you break anything?" After he saw what became of Elena, Melfice had become a bit paranoid and had to make sure for himself that Millenia was one hundred and ten percent okay.

"I'm fine, I'm not dead!" Millenia looked up to him and could see the worry in his emerald green eyes. Her heart leapt with joy at that. Millenia took Melfice's hand when he offered it to her and let him help her stand up. The two then turned towards the monster when they heard it growl at them. "Let's finish this thing off." Millenia bent down to her waist and sprouted a pair of black demon wings on her back. "Chew on this baby," Millenia taunted and used Starving Tongue. The attack sucked the life force out of the monster and transferred it to Millenia to heal her injuries.

The monster stumbled backwards and howled in agony. Millenia loaded an arrow on her Black Angel Bow but Melfice stopped her. "Allow me," he smiled and summoned an attack. "Evil Horn Attack!" Several reddish, brown, curved, horn like structures jut out of the ground and surrounded the enemy. Quickly, the horns clamped down on the target, crushing its every skin and bone. "That takes care of it."

Nekura back flipped away from Lance and looked at Millenia. "The red head has wings too? There's three of them now..."

To Lance, Nekura seemed a bit distracted and decided to take advantage of it. He charged towards him and gave him a mighty kick on the face. The Dark Ninja fell backwards and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Lance shook his finger at Nekura mockingly. "Never take your eyes off your opponent because you'll never know what they'll do to you until it's too late."

"Arr..." Nekura got up and took to the sky. "A mistake like that is unforgivable," he scolded himself. He then put both arms forward and shot several purple energy beams at Lance.

Lance avoided the assault effortlessly and looked up to his air borne opponent. "You want to take the fight up there? Fine! I believe the time is now," he thought and started to concentrate.

Millenia narrowed her eyes at her turquoise haired comrade. "The energy that Lance is radiating feels familiar. Hmm... so the Ninja will finally show his true colour to us."

"What is Lance doing? Should we help him out?" Melfice asked.

"No, just wait and watch," Millenia answered.

Lance bent down to his waist and let his black leather trench coat materialize into a pair of black demon wings on his back. The Ninja raised both hands above his head and shot several fireballs into the air. The fireballs flew high in the sky and then stopped when their altitude was higher than Nekura's. The fireballs took the shape of shurikens and started to spin real quick. "You're one step closer to Hell!" Lance brought his hands down to command the fire shurikens to rain on Nekura. "Dark Apocalypse!"

Nekura looked up with terror as the fire shurikens headed straight at him. He shielded himself with his arms and let the fire shurikens bombard him as there was not enough time to avoid it. The heat and the pain from the attack was too much to bear for the Dark Ninja and finally let the merciless assault knock him out of the air. Nekura crashed onto a statue and broke it on the impact. He coughed up some blood and struggled to get up.

Lance narrowed his eyes at Nekura. He spread out his wings and crossed his arms over his chest. A carpet of black bats formed beneath his feet and started to lift him up from the ground. "It's time to die... Dark Illusion!" A huge, black portal appeared beneath Nekura. Dark blue energy bats flew out of the portal and pummelled the enemy continuously. After twenty or so hits, the assault stopped and one final, giant energy bat emerged from the portal and exploded when it made contact with the target. The carpet of bats that carried Lance vanished and he glided safely back to the ground.

Nekura plunged his sword into the ground and used it as a support to stand up. His purple Ninja gi was torn apart and he looked like a messier mess than Elena. "I under estimated him..." Nekura reached inside his tattered gi shirt and took out a black sphere. He threw it on the ground and the sphere exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"It is a smoke bomb!" Roan exclaimed and started cough violently along with everyone else.

"Now is my chance..." Nekura sheathed the Zankuro and shot up to the sky.

"Where did Nekura go?" Tio asked when the smoke cleared.

"Dammit! He got away!" Millenia growled.

"With his new powers, I thought the guy would be too arrogant to even carry one of those around," Melfice commented.

"I should've expected that... a Ninja never walks around unarmed with smoke bombs," Lance thought and spread out his wings. "He couldn't have gotten very far," he told himself and took to the air.

"Should we try to follow him?" Roan asked.

"No, forget it. He'll be fine. Let's check up on Elena," Millenia suggested.

"I hope you're right." Melfice put his sword back in its sheath and strode towards the door.

"I will go check on Paulk and the others," Roan said and ran off to the other side of the courtyard with Tio.

Millenia looked up to the sky, towards the direction where Lance took off. "So... it really is you." With a sigh, she turned around and followed Melfice.

Melfice and Millenia entered the castle and headed straight towards Elena's room. The two found Ryudo pacing around the hall and Skye perched on a window.

"How is she?" Melfice asked.

"I don't know... the doctor and his nurse are still treating her wounds and stuff," Ryudo answered. "Where are the others?"

"Roan and Tio went to check up on Paulk while Lance went after Nekura," Millenia replied.

"Nekura? That's the enemy's name?" Ryudo clenched his fists. "I'll remember that name."

The doctor then stepped out of the room and into the hallway. He cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "You may now see Lady Elena."

Ryudo did not waste any time. He entered the room and felt daggers strike deep into his heart as he lay his eyes on Elena. Her entire left arm was bandaged. There was a pole to her right with a blood bag, which was connected to her right arm. She also had an oxygen mask to help her breathe easier. "Is she going to be okay?" Ryudo asked hesitantly.

"She lost a lot of blood, her leg injury got worse, she broke two ribs, and also has several fractures on her left arm," the doctor answered. "With time, she'll be back to normal but she'll need all of your support."

Ryudo walked to the side of Elena's bed. "You can count on that. Any idea when she'll wake up?"

"She had really exhausted herself. It is best that you don't disturb her in her sleep right now." The doctor strode towards the study table in the room where his bag and all of his equipment lay like his handy dandy stethoscope. "I am sorry to say this but I have to go now. Many people were injured from the attack and I just received a message that they really need me back at the hospital."

"I understand," Ryudo sighed and watched the doctor and the nurse leave the room. "Thanks for the help."

"She will be okay," the doctor assured the Geohound before he exited the room.

Melfice, Millenia, and Skye entered the room. Melfice and Millenia gave Elena a sympathetic look and then Ryudo. The three were itching to ask how Elena was but decided to wait for Ryudo to speak first.

Ryudo looked at his companions and read their minds. "The doctor said she'll be okay within time." The Geohound punched the wall. "Dammit! This is all my fault! I shouldn't have left her!" he growled to himself.

"Ryudo, it's not your fault," Melfice said.

"It IS his fault," a voice hissed coldly. All heads shot towards the door and saw Lance standing there with his arms crossed, his face blank with emotions, and his black demon wings disguised as a trench coat. The Shinobi of the Flame walked into the room and glared daggers at the Geohound. "How could you let this happen to her? I thought you were suppose to protect her." Lance went to Elena's other side. He put his right hand on her forehead and then quickly took it away. "Don't worry Elena, I won't let anything happen to you again."

Ryudo felt a wave of jealousy. "Get away from her. Who do you think you are?!"

Lance chuckled bitterly and threw several shurikens at the Geohound. The shurikens met their marks before Ryudo could do anything and the next thing he knew, he was pinned to the wall.

"What is this guy doing?" Melfice snarled. He took a step forward to knock out the living daylight out of the Ninja but Millenia stopped him.

Lance crossed the room and stood in front of the Geohound. "I'll tell you who the hell I am. I'm Elena's brother."