Shirin no Kami
Chapter 5: Five Deadly Sins
Trapped, that is what has become of Syaoran. A strategically placed net has caught Syaoran in the grasps of five individuals who surround him, each with a different size and wardrobe. "At last we've caught you Syaoran," a spike haired man said, "You don't know how long we've waited for this." Syaoran gave the guy a quizzical expression, "What are you talking about?" Syaoran snapped, "Who are you?" Syaoran turned his head to the left, turned his head to the right, examining his present situation, "Just what do you guys want?"
"Greed!" the chubby man to the right called out, "Maybe he's lost his memory. After all, it was a pretty hard fall." The spiky haired man, Greed, stood in front of Syaoran, putting his hands into his pockets, "Shut up Glutton," he snapped back, "Memory or not, we have personal issues with this guy…"
Syaoran felt the gritty dirt on the ground. Cautiously feeling around the edges of the net, he managed to touch a loose pin not attached to the ground, "Yes!" he thought to himself, "A way out…" He put his hand on the rope connected to the pin and waited for his opportunity.
The fat man to Syaoran's right, Glutton, began to argue with Greed, putting his fist out and spitting saliva as he yelled, "Listen Greed, I know you want to get rid of the guy but since he's not remembering who we are I think we should take advantage of that." "You fool!" the man on Syaoran's right snapped, "Glutton, you are not the brightest of the Five Deadly Sinners. Don't tell us what to do!"
"Good," Syaoran thought, "They are fighting amongst each other now!" Syaoran pulled the rope in a quick jerking motion, "Now's my chance!" he said, throwing the net right toward the three men arguing in front of him. Syaoran turned around and saw the other two people behind him. One pulled out his pocket knife, attached to a string which was attached to his shirt pocket. He wore a purple coat with matching pants and gave Syaoran a big sick smile. His long black hair was wild, stranding everywhere on his face.
Syaoran saw the other man to the right. He stood tall with a good posture, crossed arms, and noble stare. Syaoran felt a little uneasy because this man's frame was much wider than the other four he has already seen. This noble man donned a black-grey vest and two shackles on his arms. His brown hair slicked back, with a single strand of hair sticking up. His eyes pierced Syaoran; they were sharp and gave a feeling of murderous intent.
Syaoran clenched his left fist, "Out of my way!" he stated, "I don't wish to cause any trouble." The sick sadistic man began to laugh hysterically, Syaoran got peeved. "WELL!?" he shouted, "Get out of my way or I'll remove you!" The noble, strong man smiled a little and gave a humorous, "Hm!" Syaoran could not waste anymore time. While the three men were trapped in the net Syaoran occupied them in, he had to quickly take of the other two men blocking his path of escape, his last recourse is chosen in less than a second.
"Argh!" he yelled as he charged his fist forward at the sadistic looking man, "You're going down!" Syaoran's fist came out fast and powerful, ready to strike the sadistic man in the face. The sadistic man jerked his head to the side, dodging the punch. Syaoran delivered a fast right hook, the sadistic man ducked and turned around his knife in his hand, he gave a vicious smile as he was in position. SLICE! The man sliced the knife right across Syaoran's stomach, ripping to shreds the clothes protecting him and gashing his stomach a bit. Syaoran stumbled back and clutched onto his stomach, falling on one knee and trying to regain his composure.
Syaoran winced in pain and rushed forward toward the man again. First he delivered a right jab, the man dodged that, then a knee to the stomach, deflected that with his hands, swung with the back of his fist, the man caught his arm. Syaoran with his last arm free, delivered a punch to his head, but again, the man dodged it, used his teeth to sink into and grab his arm, and pulled him in close. Syaoran seethed as his teeth sank in his arm and made him drip blood. "He he he…" the man giggled, "We weren't properly introduced," he pulled Syaoran in close enough, showing his dilated pupils to Syaoran, "They call me…Sloth!" Sloth took his free arm and quickly flipped out another knife out from his sleeve. In one quick motion, Sloth stabbed Syaoran to the side of his chest right next to the shoulder.
"AHHHHH!" Syaoran screamed with incredible pain. Sloth still clutching onto his arm twisted it upside down. CRACK! Syaoran screamed some more with his arm dislocating. He got on his knees, seething through his teeth, hearing the screeches in his own squeaking pain. "By the way," Sloth kneeled down to Syaoran's eye level, in his most sinister sadistic tone he said, "My name Sloth is very misleading." Sloth delivered a fast roundhouse to Syaoran's face, knocking him back as he skid in the dirt and created a four foot trail. "Now it's your turn Pride!" Sloth said with a sinister laugh. The noble and muscular man opened his eyes after a brief meditation period. He uncrossed his arms and stomped the ground, making little earthquakes as he approached Syaoran's body.
"Agh!" Syaoran struggled, "Who are these guys?" Syaoran rested his good hand on the knife in his shoulder. With a sudden thrust, he managed to pull out the knife and throw it to the ground. Stained with blood, the knife that was in him was four inches deep, Syaoran arm coursed with streams of blood. Next on Syaoran's priorities was to fix his arm, to do so, he rested his dislocated arm and pushed it one the ground. Using every bit of strength in his arm he had left, he twisted his arm as hard as he could. CRAAAAACK! "Ah!" Syaoran winced as the coursing blood in his arm stopped and his dislocated arm popped back into its socket. He tried to rest a bit, but as soon as he picked up his head, a charging forearm came closer and closer to him by the second.
Syaoran attempted to duck the oncoming forearm, but his reflexes slowed down from the incredible loss of blood. The forearm struck him in the neck, Syaoran held onto the forearm, big mistake. Pride continued to run faster, with Syaoran holding onto his forearm. The tree came into Pride's sights, he only ran faster, until he slammed Syaoran's back onto the tree trunk. The large collision between Syaoran's back and the tree trunk caused his body to react to the hit by splurging out a huge mouthful of blood. Pride backed off a little, taking his forearm off of Syaoran. Syaoran's body got woozy from the impact, as he stepped forward, his footing was crooked. Pride saw this small weakness and used his two massive arms to put a big lock around his stomach. "Enjoy the ride!" Sloth said as Pride delivered a devastating throw. Pride threw Syaoran behind him to make him land on the back of his head (German suplex), hard.
Sloth approached the net that Syaoran threw at the three men and cut it open with his knife. "Doesn't he know he can't beat us yet?" Greed taunted, "That's it! Enough playing around, it's my turn." Pride heard Greed call for Syaoran, who was now bleeding profusely in the forehead, Pride tossed Syaoran in front of Greed. Greed kicked him a bit while he was down and stepped on the back of his head.
Syaoran tried so hard to see what was going on when he opened his eyes. He looked at the ground, seeing the dirt and grass turn into a big haze. He felt the light kicks by Greed, taunting him, each kick making his vision worse by rocking his head. Syaoran tried to pull himself up. He managed to stand up, but his eyes immediately rested on Greed's face.
"Pathetic!" he taunted as he slapped Syaoran across the face making him spin around. Syaoran put his hands on the side of his temples and squeezed his head hard to regain his vision. Slowly, he massaged his head, seeing everything clearer and steadier. He turned around, seeing the other four Deadly Sinners surrounding him in a ring formation. "Alright…" Syaoran turned around to Greed's voice, "Let's make this quick!" Greed took off his black coat, revealing his muscular physique. Syaoran looked at his chest, immediately he saw a Chinese character engraved, almost burned, to his left pectoral. "How do you have that?" Syaoran demanded to know, "What does that brand mean?" Greed put his hands up; apparently ready to fight, "Less talk, more walk!"
The other four sinners pushed Syaoran into Greed, this push made Greed stick his fist out to deliver a punch to Syaoran's gut and a kick to the side of his head. Syaoran stumbled from this hit, but regained his composure and put his arms up to defend another punch going to be delivered to his side. Greed tried to pound Syaoran with an overhead fist, but Syaoran blocked it with both his arms. Without defense on his midsection, Greed kicked him square in the chest. Syaoran stumbled back from the impact, bumping into Glutton provoked the other four, and into the gauntlet of the sinners Syaoran entered.
Syaoran tried to fight off each member one at a time, but they overwhelmed him when he was targeting another member. Finally, Pride grabbed Syaoran by the neck and upper-cut him. The force of the hit sent him flying into Sloth, who took another knife and stabbed him in the knee. Syaoran clutched his knee and tried to limp his way out of the gauntlet and out of the woods, however Glutton charged at his side knocking him over into Envy, who in turn punched him square in his bloody face. Syaoran fell down face first into the ground, soiling his blood drenched face with dirt. Syaoran was tired, beaten, devoid, and isolated; he lay in the ground in hopes that they would just put him out of his misery of the pain he is enduring.
Greed grabbed Syaoran's chestnut-red hair and picked his head up to his eye level, "I don't want you dead Syaoran," he stated, "But one final blow shouldn't hurt." Greed balled up his fist and pulled it back, ready to deliver one final blow.
Suddenly, an arrow snapped right in front of Greed's eyes. Its flight swiftly passed right across Greed's vision and hit right next to his foot. Greed immediately let go and looked around. "Who's there!?" he demanded to know, "Find that person!" he commanded to his fellow sinners. Suddenly, an array of arrows flew right towards the five men. Pride, standing in the front of the arrow's flight path, was hit by four arrows. "They're fake!" he concluded, "These arrows are distractions."
A shady curved figure hid behind a tree and mumbled, "Kasumi, help me…" the feminine voice called forth a fog to cloud the five men. Syaoran felt a light hand pick him up and drag him away. Soon the mist died out and the five could see again. "Syaoran is gone!" Glutton pointed out the obvious. "Spread out!" Greed commanded, "Find Syaoran, he couldn't have gone far."
The shady curved figure kneeled down and cupped Syaoran's chin. "Syaoran," it asked, "Are you okay?" Syaoran slowly opened his functional eye and tried to concentrate on the person before him. "Sakura…" he smiled with a weak voice, "…leave please, you don't have to do this." Sakura, wearing a different set of clothes, ripped off a shred of the bottom of her long brown shirt and tied it around Syaoran's forehead. "Syaoran, we're going to get out of here." Sakura felt a strong choke behind her neck. Pride grabbed Sakura by the back of her neck and started to strangle her. "Little girl!" he said in a serious tone, "No heroics for you." Sakura struggled hard to get out of his massive grip, but her weaker legs could not cause enough pain to knock him down.
"EARTHY!" she shouted as loud as she could. Large golems of earth appeared behind Pride and grabbed him, making him let go of Sakura. Sakura choked a bit from the saliva that she swallowed, relieving herself. She quickly rushed towards Syaoran and pulled him by his arm. "TORI!" she called. In return, a response from the large blue bird cawed, and picked her and Syaoran up before they could be found again.
The earth golems disappeared, releasing Pride and the other men. Greed looked at the fleeing Syaoran and Sakura and he grumbled, "Escape is but a dream compared to your destiny, Syaoran!" His sinister smile foreshadowed his dark intentions, as he gradually laughed away.
