Death Through Love
After getting Natsumi's weapons, Daisuke takes the girls back to the roof,
never being caught or seen by the other guards.
"Well this place should keep use safe for a bit..." Daisuke says as he peaks around a corner, eyeing the place a bit, "No one knows we're here so that's good..." He looks around to Natasha, who Natasha looks over at Natsumi, seeming a bit sad.
"Natsumi....?" Natasha raised a brow, going over to her, "Are you all right?"
"I feel like a total fool...."
"Natsumi...."
"He tricked me into believing that I could trust him... I feel like a fool... I told him where the stone is... and then he left me there..." She brushes her fingers through her hair a bit, though the bangs still fall upon her saddened expression, "And the worst part is... I was falling for him..."
Natasha puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her a weak smile to try and cheer her up, "It's not that bad Natsumi... We still have one stone... We'll get that one back, along with the other one."
"You don't have to worry about anything Natsumi," Daisuke says, walking over to her and putting a hand on her head, rubbing it a bit as a smirk forms on his face, "Satoshi has a crush on you also." Natsumi looks up at Daisuke, you stupid moron written all over her expression to him. "It's true. I saw him when he was coming up to his room, and his cheeks were redder than the skin on an apple."
Natsumi blushes a bit, pushing Daisuke's hand off her head, trying to hide her reddening cheeks under her long onyx bangs, "He is handsome... and his killer instinct is very... interesting..."
Natasha gets up, helping Natsumi to her feet, the smile on her face being normal again, "Come on; let's go home. I think we're still in danger here..."
"I'll go with you two. Just in case."
"But what about your lord?"
"What about him?" Daisuke shrugs a bit, not seeming to care at all.
Natasha chuckles to his answer, her smile curling into a smirk, "Correct answer." Natsumi looks back and forth between Daisuke and Natasha, confusion filling her face. She looks up to the sky for a moment, a finger to her chin as she thinks, and then smiles, pointing to both of them.
"You two like each other don't you?" Natsumi's question marks a long silence from the laughter. Both Natasha's and Daisuke's cheeks are bright red, as they try to answer her question, stuttering madly.
"Well... I..."
"Um..."
Natsumi grins widely, rubbing her chin as she asks Natasha sarcastically, "So what kind of flowers are we going to have at the wedding Natasha?"
"Natsumi!" Natasha screams at Natsumi, grabbing the collar of her kimono and holds her as she holds her off the ground a bit, "Would you shut up!?"
Natsumi chuckles to herself a bit, and goes to the end of the roof, looking back to Natasha and Daisuke with a childish grin, "Come on, we heading home or what?" She then jumps off the side, disappearing from view of Natasha and Daisuke.
"She is very stubborn..." Daisuke says, slumped over a bit as a sweat drop forms on the side of his head.
"Tell me about it..." Natasha sighs a bit, shaking her head as her black bangs dangle from each end. She heads to the edge of the roof, looking down from the tall tower. "Well... We better follow after her or she'll get in trouble," Natasha says under her breath as she holds her head, shaking it once again. She does not notice the oncoming Daisuke, as he comes behind her, and brings his arms under her legs and swoops her into his arms. Natasha blushes like hell as she's brought surprisingly into his arms, not being able to control it as she stutters to make words, "Da... Daisuke?"
"Lets go shall we?" Without giving her a chance to say anything further, Daisuke jumps off the roof after Natsumi, still holding Natasha that has her arms wrapped around his head for dear life.
***
A few hours later Natsumi arrives back at home, looking upon the temple that has been cleaned of it's dead guards. She sighs loudly, bowing her head in discomfort of being in this place as she walks inside. All the halls seem empty as her father and the others have escaped to hide from enemy attack. Natsumi made her way into the garden, looking around the desolate place, seeming ugly at night without the fireflies, flying around every blossom. The smell of death had seemed to frighten everything away. She walks down the stone path, stopping at a certain spot, and lifting a small flat stone to find that jewel was still there. She picks it up and looks at it, twirling the round, clear gem in her fingers.
"It's still here? But how? And why?" Natsumi pondered for a moment, staring into the jewel, rubbing her chin, "And now that I look at it. Why does it only look like nothing more than a glass ball?" She shook her head a bit, stuffing the jewel into a pouch on her side, patting it a bit, for no certain reason at all. She looked around the garden again, seeing that every stone has been turned over, but the one below her. She raised a brow, her face seeming... discouraged for some reason.
"Those morons must have missed this one since it was so small." Natsumi sighed loudly; lifting her arms as she shook her head, "Go figure..." She sat upon one of the larger stones by the small pond where the Koi swam. She looked up, sighing again, looking through the open ceiling that reveals the starry sky above her. Her face seemed to fade of all tense thoughts, yet, her brown eyes seemed... sad.
"Satoshi... That's his name...?" The image of him fills her mind when he was acting calm and casual, remembering him asking her where the jewel is. Natsumi shook her head again, a palm pressed against her forehead as she looked to the ground.
"I have to get him out of my head..." She said quietly to herself, a tear trickling down the side of her cheek, dropping upon the soft dirt, "He tricked me and used me... And then left me there to get beat up by those guards..." She pulls her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and putting her head on her knees, wishing that all these thoughts would just disappear, like ripples in a pond. "You're falling in love with someone who hates you. You barely know him and he's tricked and deceived you..." Natsumi closes her eyes as she hides her face under her ivory locks, "You're loving a lie... nothing but a lie Natsumi..."
Daisuke and Natasha arrive at the temple, walking down the empty halls to see Natsumi as she held herself inside the garden, trying to stop her falling tears. Natasha leans over to Daisuke, whispering softly in his ear, "We better leave her alone for a bit..."
And with that, Daisuke walks off, still carrying Natasha in his arms. Natsumi looks up, seeing Daisuke and Natasha, her expression becoming even sadder as she watches them walk off, Daisuke carrying Natasha. 'I wish...' She holds her head for a moment, getting up as she walks around the garden. "I'll wake up..." She mutters softly to herself, feeling like a lost child with no one there to guide her, "Soon this nightmare will be over and I'll wake up, and I'll have a hang over from all the alcohol..." She sits herself down on her knees in front of the pond, putting her finger in the water and the Kois nip at her fingers. "Let me wake up soon..."
A few minutes later, Satoshi arrives at the castle, of course unnoticed. After wandering the halls a bit, he looked into the garden, seeing Natsumi sitting by the pond, her fingers twirling around the surface as her tears finally dried, leaving long red marks down her cheeks like small rivers of blood that were left there. Satoshi stays hidden from her though, peaking around the corner at her, drawing his kodachis from his back.
'You must kill Gohda's daughter, she is a pathetic lier, and most likely has the stone with her now. You are to kill her, and leave her bloody corpse on the stairs of the castle for her father and everyone to see, as a warning to all. You will be paid much for this Satoshi...' The voices echo in Satoshi's head as he remembers everything that happened in that dark room.
'Why don't you just send guards to get her My Lord?'
'Even I know that the skill of Natsumi is far greater than that of my normal warriors. And if you see Daisuke, you are to bring him back also in any way you want. He's a traitor also and must be punished. Kill the other girl if needed.'
' Of course... my lord...'
Satoshi peaks around the corner again, looking to Natsumi, who still sits beside the water, trying to wash all her own worries away. "I must do it... He ordered it... I have to..." He slowly walked around the corner, standing just a few yards from Natsumi with his kodachis drawn, both at his side. Natsumi peaks her head up quickly as she hears another step, and turns around, looking with great surprised at him.
"Sa... Satoshi!?" His named stumbled out of her mouth, as a slight smile dawns upon her tear stained face, so happy to see him. But after setting her eyes on his kodachis, her smile fades to an even more surprised expression. "Satoshi... What are you doing here?"
Satoshi raises one kodachi up, pointing it towards Natsumi, and she takes a step back, her body trembling as she stairs down the shining blade of his kodachi. "You life ends here... Princess Natsumi..." Without giving her a chance to speak, Satoshi dashes for her, both his arms behind him, his kodachis pointed outward. With no other thought than to survive, Natsumi draws a small white ball, throwing it down hard upon the stony ground, it emitting a smoke into the air, Satoshi running right into it. He stops and begins to cough loudly from the gas, and she makes a run for down the empty halls. After the smoke dies he follows after her, running quickly to try and find her. He turns the corner to see her dashing from a room, and he throws a line of shuriken at her randomly, nailing one in the back of her lower thigh, and she falls from the pain of the shuriken into her leg, falling onto her face. Natsumi quickly pulls the shuriken from her leg, getting up again. Before she can fully get up, Satoshi puts the kodachi to her neck, her body freezing in that position as she feels the metallic blade, pressing against the thin and fragile skin of her throat.
"It's over princess..." Satoshi says in a low, menacing voice.
"No its not..." Natsumi stabs the shuriken backwards into his arm, him pulling back towards her throat, but she backs up herself, going with the kodachi till she has enough room to duck under, loosing a few hairs from her head, but right now the condition of her throat is more important than the condition of her hair. She rolls over, jumping back onto her legs as she ignores the pain, drawing both her kodachis.
"Why are you doing this Satoshi!?" Natsumi screams to him, still keeping a guard up. Satoshi slashes forward with one of his blades, just missing her face as she takes a step back, slashing upward with hers to relay the blade. Satoshi does not answer her as he spins on one foot, his other kodachi stabbing for her head, and she ducks under him, slashing her kodachi up into his arm like a paper cut. He kicks upward, slamming his foot into her jaw, sending her flying backwards into the wall behind her. Natsumi rubs her jaw a bit, whipping the blood from her chin, and he puts the tip of her kodachi to her neck again.
"Why Satoshi...? Why...?" Natsumi asks, her voice seeming small, and fragile, as the tears begin to well in her eyes yet again.
"Because I must..." Satoshi tells her, his voice soft, but still stern, "I'm under orders to kill you and I'm going to do it."
Natsumi's hands fall to her sides, her kodachis hitting the ground as she keeps her head bowed, her whole body giving way as she leaves herself completely open for attack to him. "Then... Kill me..." Satoshi's flinches a bit to what she said, his blade inching back from her throat as he looks a bit in surprise to her. Natsumi raises her head to see him again, crying once more, but a smile on her face. "For some reason... I'd rather die at your hands than anyone else..."
Satoshi closes his eyes, pulling his kodachi back to get ready for a different attack, and quietly from under his breath he mutters, "I'm sorry..." And with that he slashes one kodachi up her chest, the blood from the wound squirting into a line up his chest, and he slashes her throat, the blood smearing in another line across his face. Natsumi gives one last smile, her lips mouthing to say, "I love you..." as the blood stains her now red lips and chin, and she falls over to the ground, laying in a pool of her own blood. Satoshi's head bows, his arms shaking as he holds his bloody kodachis, a single tear falling down his face, though hidden by the shadows for which he had always lived in.
"What have I done...?" Satoshi sheaths his kodachis behind his back, and takes Natsumi's kodachis picking them up and putting them in his belt. He then picks up Natsumi into his arms, getting his arms covered in her blood, but ignores it as he carries her out of the hall into the garden. He lays her body down as he begins to dig a hole, feeling more tears falling down his own cheeks, as if they would never stop, like the falling of the rain. After the hole has been dug, he places Natsumi's body into the pit, taking a few lilies that he picked from the garden and placed them in her hands, putting them across her chest.
"I'm so sorry Natsumi... I... I love you too..." Satoshi puts some bamboo bark over the hole, covering it up, and placing more lilies on top of the grave, along with her kodachis. "I slaughtered her... I slaughtered her for money... for power and fame... Natsumi, please forgive me..."
"Well this place should keep use safe for a bit..." Daisuke says as he peaks around a corner, eyeing the place a bit, "No one knows we're here so that's good..." He looks around to Natasha, who Natasha looks over at Natsumi, seeming a bit sad.
"Natsumi....?" Natasha raised a brow, going over to her, "Are you all right?"
"I feel like a total fool...."
"Natsumi...."
"He tricked me into believing that I could trust him... I feel like a fool... I told him where the stone is... and then he left me there..." She brushes her fingers through her hair a bit, though the bangs still fall upon her saddened expression, "And the worst part is... I was falling for him..."
Natasha puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her a weak smile to try and cheer her up, "It's not that bad Natsumi... We still have one stone... We'll get that one back, along with the other one."
"You don't have to worry about anything Natsumi," Daisuke says, walking over to her and putting a hand on her head, rubbing it a bit as a smirk forms on his face, "Satoshi has a crush on you also." Natsumi looks up at Daisuke, you stupid moron written all over her expression to him. "It's true. I saw him when he was coming up to his room, and his cheeks were redder than the skin on an apple."
Natsumi blushes a bit, pushing Daisuke's hand off her head, trying to hide her reddening cheeks under her long onyx bangs, "He is handsome... and his killer instinct is very... interesting..."
Natasha gets up, helping Natsumi to her feet, the smile on her face being normal again, "Come on; let's go home. I think we're still in danger here..."
"I'll go with you two. Just in case."
"But what about your lord?"
"What about him?" Daisuke shrugs a bit, not seeming to care at all.
Natasha chuckles to his answer, her smile curling into a smirk, "Correct answer." Natsumi looks back and forth between Daisuke and Natasha, confusion filling her face. She looks up to the sky for a moment, a finger to her chin as she thinks, and then smiles, pointing to both of them.
"You two like each other don't you?" Natsumi's question marks a long silence from the laughter. Both Natasha's and Daisuke's cheeks are bright red, as they try to answer her question, stuttering madly.
"Well... I..."
"Um..."
Natsumi grins widely, rubbing her chin as she asks Natasha sarcastically, "So what kind of flowers are we going to have at the wedding Natasha?"
"Natsumi!" Natasha screams at Natsumi, grabbing the collar of her kimono and holds her as she holds her off the ground a bit, "Would you shut up!?"
Natsumi chuckles to herself a bit, and goes to the end of the roof, looking back to Natasha and Daisuke with a childish grin, "Come on, we heading home or what?" She then jumps off the side, disappearing from view of Natasha and Daisuke.
"She is very stubborn..." Daisuke says, slumped over a bit as a sweat drop forms on the side of his head.
"Tell me about it..." Natasha sighs a bit, shaking her head as her black bangs dangle from each end. She heads to the edge of the roof, looking down from the tall tower. "Well... We better follow after her or she'll get in trouble," Natasha says under her breath as she holds her head, shaking it once again. She does not notice the oncoming Daisuke, as he comes behind her, and brings his arms under her legs and swoops her into his arms. Natasha blushes like hell as she's brought surprisingly into his arms, not being able to control it as she stutters to make words, "Da... Daisuke?"
"Lets go shall we?" Without giving her a chance to say anything further, Daisuke jumps off the roof after Natsumi, still holding Natasha that has her arms wrapped around his head for dear life.
***
A few hours later Natsumi arrives back at home, looking upon the temple that has been cleaned of it's dead guards. She sighs loudly, bowing her head in discomfort of being in this place as she walks inside. All the halls seem empty as her father and the others have escaped to hide from enemy attack. Natsumi made her way into the garden, looking around the desolate place, seeming ugly at night without the fireflies, flying around every blossom. The smell of death had seemed to frighten everything away. She walks down the stone path, stopping at a certain spot, and lifting a small flat stone to find that jewel was still there. She picks it up and looks at it, twirling the round, clear gem in her fingers.
"It's still here? But how? And why?" Natsumi pondered for a moment, staring into the jewel, rubbing her chin, "And now that I look at it. Why does it only look like nothing more than a glass ball?" She shook her head a bit, stuffing the jewel into a pouch on her side, patting it a bit, for no certain reason at all. She looked around the garden again, seeing that every stone has been turned over, but the one below her. She raised a brow, her face seeming... discouraged for some reason.
"Those morons must have missed this one since it was so small." Natsumi sighed loudly; lifting her arms as she shook her head, "Go figure..." She sat upon one of the larger stones by the small pond where the Koi swam. She looked up, sighing again, looking through the open ceiling that reveals the starry sky above her. Her face seemed to fade of all tense thoughts, yet, her brown eyes seemed... sad.
"Satoshi... That's his name...?" The image of him fills her mind when he was acting calm and casual, remembering him asking her where the jewel is. Natsumi shook her head again, a palm pressed against her forehead as she looked to the ground.
"I have to get him out of my head..." She said quietly to herself, a tear trickling down the side of her cheek, dropping upon the soft dirt, "He tricked me and used me... And then left me there to get beat up by those guards..." She pulls her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and putting her head on her knees, wishing that all these thoughts would just disappear, like ripples in a pond. "You're falling in love with someone who hates you. You barely know him and he's tricked and deceived you..." Natsumi closes her eyes as she hides her face under her ivory locks, "You're loving a lie... nothing but a lie Natsumi..."
Daisuke and Natasha arrive at the temple, walking down the empty halls to see Natsumi as she held herself inside the garden, trying to stop her falling tears. Natasha leans over to Daisuke, whispering softly in his ear, "We better leave her alone for a bit..."
And with that, Daisuke walks off, still carrying Natasha in his arms. Natsumi looks up, seeing Daisuke and Natasha, her expression becoming even sadder as she watches them walk off, Daisuke carrying Natasha. 'I wish...' She holds her head for a moment, getting up as she walks around the garden. "I'll wake up..." She mutters softly to herself, feeling like a lost child with no one there to guide her, "Soon this nightmare will be over and I'll wake up, and I'll have a hang over from all the alcohol..." She sits herself down on her knees in front of the pond, putting her finger in the water and the Kois nip at her fingers. "Let me wake up soon..."
A few minutes later, Satoshi arrives at the castle, of course unnoticed. After wandering the halls a bit, he looked into the garden, seeing Natsumi sitting by the pond, her fingers twirling around the surface as her tears finally dried, leaving long red marks down her cheeks like small rivers of blood that were left there. Satoshi stays hidden from her though, peaking around the corner at her, drawing his kodachis from his back.
'You must kill Gohda's daughter, she is a pathetic lier, and most likely has the stone with her now. You are to kill her, and leave her bloody corpse on the stairs of the castle for her father and everyone to see, as a warning to all. You will be paid much for this Satoshi...' The voices echo in Satoshi's head as he remembers everything that happened in that dark room.
'Why don't you just send guards to get her My Lord?'
'Even I know that the skill of Natsumi is far greater than that of my normal warriors. And if you see Daisuke, you are to bring him back also in any way you want. He's a traitor also and must be punished. Kill the other girl if needed.'
' Of course... my lord...'
Satoshi peaks around the corner again, looking to Natsumi, who still sits beside the water, trying to wash all her own worries away. "I must do it... He ordered it... I have to..." He slowly walked around the corner, standing just a few yards from Natsumi with his kodachis drawn, both at his side. Natsumi peaks her head up quickly as she hears another step, and turns around, looking with great surprised at him.
"Sa... Satoshi!?" His named stumbled out of her mouth, as a slight smile dawns upon her tear stained face, so happy to see him. But after setting her eyes on his kodachis, her smile fades to an even more surprised expression. "Satoshi... What are you doing here?"
Satoshi raises one kodachi up, pointing it towards Natsumi, and she takes a step back, her body trembling as she stairs down the shining blade of his kodachi. "You life ends here... Princess Natsumi..." Without giving her a chance to speak, Satoshi dashes for her, both his arms behind him, his kodachis pointed outward. With no other thought than to survive, Natsumi draws a small white ball, throwing it down hard upon the stony ground, it emitting a smoke into the air, Satoshi running right into it. He stops and begins to cough loudly from the gas, and she makes a run for down the empty halls. After the smoke dies he follows after her, running quickly to try and find her. He turns the corner to see her dashing from a room, and he throws a line of shuriken at her randomly, nailing one in the back of her lower thigh, and she falls from the pain of the shuriken into her leg, falling onto her face. Natsumi quickly pulls the shuriken from her leg, getting up again. Before she can fully get up, Satoshi puts the kodachi to her neck, her body freezing in that position as she feels the metallic blade, pressing against the thin and fragile skin of her throat.
"It's over princess..." Satoshi says in a low, menacing voice.
"No its not..." Natsumi stabs the shuriken backwards into his arm, him pulling back towards her throat, but she backs up herself, going with the kodachi till she has enough room to duck under, loosing a few hairs from her head, but right now the condition of her throat is more important than the condition of her hair. She rolls over, jumping back onto her legs as she ignores the pain, drawing both her kodachis.
"Why are you doing this Satoshi!?" Natsumi screams to him, still keeping a guard up. Satoshi slashes forward with one of his blades, just missing her face as she takes a step back, slashing upward with hers to relay the blade. Satoshi does not answer her as he spins on one foot, his other kodachi stabbing for her head, and she ducks under him, slashing her kodachi up into his arm like a paper cut. He kicks upward, slamming his foot into her jaw, sending her flying backwards into the wall behind her. Natsumi rubs her jaw a bit, whipping the blood from her chin, and he puts the tip of her kodachi to her neck again.
"Why Satoshi...? Why...?" Natsumi asks, her voice seeming small, and fragile, as the tears begin to well in her eyes yet again.
"Because I must..." Satoshi tells her, his voice soft, but still stern, "I'm under orders to kill you and I'm going to do it."
Natsumi's hands fall to her sides, her kodachis hitting the ground as she keeps her head bowed, her whole body giving way as she leaves herself completely open for attack to him. "Then... Kill me..." Satoshi's flinches a bit to what she said, his blade inching back from her throat as he looks a bit in surprise to her. Natsumi raises her head to see him again, crying once more, but a smile on her face. "For some reason... I'd rather die at your hands than anyone else..."
Satoshi closes his eyes, pulling his kodachi back to get ready for a different attack, and quietly from under his breath he mutters, "I'm sorry..." And with that he slashes one kodachi up her chest, the blood from the wound squirting into a line up his chest, and he slashes her throat, the blood smearing in another line across his face. Natsumi gives one last smile, her lips mouthing to say, "I love you..." as the blood stains her now red lips and chin, and she falls over to the ground, laying in a pool of her own blood. Satoshi's head bows, his arms shaking as he holds his bloody kodachis, a single tear falling down his face, though hidden by the shadows for which he had always lived in.
"What have I done...?" Satoshi sheaths his kodachis behind his back, and takes Natsumi's kodachis picking them up and putting them in his belt. He then picks up Natsumi into his arms, getting his arms covered in her blood, but ignores it as he carries her out of the hall into the garden. He lays her body down as he begins to dig a hole, feeling more tears falling down his own cheeks, as if they would never stop, like the falling of the rain. After the hole has been dug, he places Natsumi's body into the pit, taking a few lilies that he picked from the garden and placed them in her hands, putting them across her chest.
"I'm so sorry Natsumi... I... I love you too..." Satoshi puts some bamboo bark over the hole, covering it up, and placing more lilies on top of the grave, along with her kodachis. "I slaughtered her... I slaughtered her for money... for power and fame... Natsumi, please forgive me..."