Chapter 9

"Haru!" Momiji cried out. Tumbling across the hard wood floor, Haru's bruised face contorted into a snarl of agony as he slammed into the wall. Kyou was next to go flying, his injured wrist hitting the floor before the rest of him and sending a splitting pain coursing through his whole body.

"AAUGH!" Kyou screamed, writhing as he couldn't take the pain. Haru staggered to his feet, swaying unevenly as he stuttered, "You…you bastard…come and…get some!" Hatori didn't dignify his taunting with an answer as he waited patiently for Haru to come charging toward him. With a swinging kick, Haru tried to knock Hatori out with his heavily soled boots. But Hatori ducked, thrusting his fist upward into Haru's gut, causing him to lose his breakfast. Crumpled to the floor, Haru fell over on his side and let out one final groan before ceasing movement. Straightening up and dusting off his vest, Hatori turned his attention to Kyou who was again standing but holding his wrist protectively.

"You don't have to continue, Kyou, you can concede defeat." Hatori said, not really wanting to cause them such injury since he figured he'd be the one to fix it later.

"Go to hell!" Kyou screamed, staggering toward him with fire burning in his eyes.

"I didn't want this to happen…why has it come to this!" Jesi cried, shaking her head and holding her face in her hands. Yuki touched her shaking shoulder and said, "There was no other choice…"

"But he doesn't even know me! Why…why is he…" She couldn't continue, leaning on Yuki as she sobbed, feeling helpless as Kyou fought to save her memories. Landing a couple blows to Hatori's back and side, Kyou dodged a broad-sided kick only to catch Hatori's fist in his jaw. Blood went flying from his split lip and he stumbled backward, tripping over Haru's leg and falling down. Hatori waited to see if either would move again before reeling around and facing the three teenagers still left conscious.

"Run, you guys!" Momiji said to Yuki and Jesi, jumping to his feet and running to hold Hatori off as long as he could, which, unfortunately, wasn't very long. As soon as Momiji stuck Hatori with his fist, he took a blow to the side and went sprawling, a weak cry echoing in the building before silence reigned again.

"Yuki…" Jesi whimpered, her heart racing in her chest as Hatori slowly drew closer.

"It'll be easier on you if you don't put up a fight." Hatori said, pushing his sleeves back up after they had slipped down from the fitting. Defiantly, Yuki got to his feet, ready to do whatever he had to to stop Hatori from succeeding.

"Yuki, no, you're hurt! Please don't!" Jesi begged him to stop but he smiled down at her and said, "Just because we never met…doesn't mean I didn't 'see' you, Jesi…doesn't mean…I didn't care." Speechless, Jesi watched as Yuki pushed himself to attack Hatori, pushing him back and forcing him to do battle with him. Rising to her feet, Jesi panted in anxiety, afraid that she would be left to fend for herself. Finally, Hatori took one spiteful swing and back handed Yuki's cheek, knocking him to the ground where he slipped his foot under his stomach and gave him a sharp toss across the room.

"YUKI!" Jesi screamed, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. Violently, her eyes flashed to Hatori and she growled, not hesitating to rush at him and fake an attack. He tried to block and found himself swinging at air as Jesi ducked under his arm and waited for him to turn around to take one hard swipe at his face. Ripping through his skin, she sent blood flying as Hatori shrieked in surprise and anguish. He backed away, holding his mutilated cheek and staring at Jesi in shock.

"No one touches Yuki like that and gets away with it…" Jesi hissed, breaking into a run and tackling Hatori to the ground. She pinned him down and lounged forward, sinking her teeth into his neck and drawing blood. Hatori freaked out, trying to kick her off but with every offense he put up, the harder she bit him until he gave up fighting and stared wide eyed at the ceiling as the extreme throbbing took over all his senses.

"J-Jesi-san, stop…don't…kill him…" Yuki wheezed, crawling toward her slowly. Momiji groaned and sat up, rubbing his side and looking around. As soon as he saw the vampiric act taking place, he jumped to his feet and ran to Jesi, trying to pull her off. Hatori screamed, the force of her iron jaws and Momiji's pulling becoming too much for him to bear.

"Jesi, you're killing him! Please stop!" Momiji cried, tears rolling down his cheek as he tried to get her away. Yuki finally reached her and touched her head, saying, "It's over…you can let go…he…he won't hurt anyone anymore." Slowly, Jesi looked up at Yuki, her lips dripping with Hatori's bright red blood and eyes running over with tears. She leaned back and stared at Hatori, realizing what she had done and gasping, fiercely wiping the blood from her face.

"Oh Hatori, I…what have I done!" She wailed, flustered and panicking as the blood flowed out of Hatori's neck into a puddle on the floor. He gasped, looking at her with fear in his eyes as his body got colder and paler, shaking beneath her for a multitude of reasons.

"Ha'ri!" Momiji screamed, bouncing slightly as he felt helpless but wanted to do something, anything.

"I…don't be scared!" Jesi said before taking Hatori's head in her hands and leaning back over his wound. With a gasp, Hatori's body arched up, hands flaying out and clawing at the floor as a rush of unsettling energy flowed through his body making everything tickle as if on fire. They all stared in fright by this reaction and Momiji screamed uncontrollably, gnawing at his balled up fists. As suddenly as the convulsions started, he slowly let his body fall back to the floor, his chest heaving and eyes still bulging with unrest. Jesi leaned back and licked her lips, revealing a mostly clotted and healing wound.

"Woah! What did you do!" Momiji was suddenly fascinated by the miraculous healing, kneeling down next to him and reaching to poke the scab. Jesi stopped his hand and said, "No, you mustn't touch it, it needs to heal."

"How…?" Yuki was astonished as well, staring in awe at what she had done.

"It's another part of the curse, I guess to help ourselves mostly so we could get back to work faster. You see, my body naturally heals faster than normal people and I have the ability to share that healing power by…licking wounds." She almost sounded ashamed by it as she bowed her head.

"Like a dog!" Momiji added.

"Yes…something like that…"

"But will he be alright, he lost a lot of blood…" Yuki asked, looking concerned for the mortified man laying beneath Jesi.

"I'm not sure…he didn't really lose that much, did he? Oh, I can't believe I did that…I saw him strike you like that and just snapped! It…it reminded me of how Akito used to treat you…" She glanced at him and Yuki looked frightened momentarily before he closed his eyes and said, "It's alright, it didn't hurt that badly. I…I wasn't in the best shape…so…any blow would have done me in."

"Oh, Kyou-kun and Haru-kun!" Momiji hurried over to check on the downfallen warriors, leaving Jesi and Yuki to tend to Hatori's wounds.

"Jesi-san…?" Yuki shyly said her name and she blinked, saying, "Yes?"

"Before…I mean, what you did…was it really for me?"

"You mean attacking Hatori?"

"Y-yeah…"

"I guess…"

"But…why? We don't really know each other…why defend me? I mean…you could have just run…"

"Just because we never met, doesn't mean I don't care…" Jesi smiled softly, causing Yuki to smiled back gently.

"Um…I think we should take all of them to the hospital or something…" Momiji interrupted, strolling up to them with his hands clasped behind his back like a little child.

"Yes, there's not much I can do for them now…" Jesi agreed, getting off of Hatori and turning to Momiji.

"But none of us can drive, and the owner of the car out front is…well…" He looked down at Hatori who was still suffering from the shock of being "healed". They all looked at each other and Jesi said, "Um…well…"

((((((((( O )))))))))

"Thank you, doctor, you don't know how much this means to me…" Jesi cried as the 4 boys were wheeled off to various places in the hospital for x-rays, stitches, etc.

"Are you the…um…guardian?" The doctor asked, looking at the bunch curiously and wondering what had happened.

Must be some S and M group or something…The doctor thought.

"N-no, the, uh, the one with the neck wound is…" She looked down shamefully as Momiji held her hand and stood next to her as support.

"Well, we'll need someone to sign for them, I'll need to call their parents."

"Oh, that's okay, I can do that! You see, the two younger boys don't have parents and the older one looks after them-they're related, you see-and he told me to sign for him since he can't." Jesi put on a winning smile and the doctor chuckled.

"Alright, if you're sure you can, young lady." He said, patting her on the head, "Such a cute little girl, you shouldn't be hanging around with such rough housers!" As he walked away, Momiji turned and whispered to her, "Why'd he change his mind so fast?"

"It's all in the smile, Momiji-kun." Jesi said, walking to the desk to receive the papers from the receptionist.

All in the smile…right, Akito? You would know all about that…