A/N - So, all right folks, this is the last chapter I actually have stored. After this, I'm gonna have to actually write them. I most probably am going to finish this fic, because Rain would kill me if I didn't, but I'm not sure if it will ever get finished here. shrug I'm just kinda feeling discouraged about continuing it, I guess.
...So basically, review now or forever hold your peace. >O
Short part today, by the way. They seem to be getting shorter and shorter oO My apologies.
Shigure did understand. Somehow, for some reason, she felt the same as he. From then on, the two treated one another with a distant politeness, not wanting to be involved like before. Still, it wasn't the last time he saw her. For some reason, the two kept bumping into each other, almost at random.
He was walking home from the store, having volunteered for that week's grocery duties (to the surprise of the others). The man wanted to do anything to get out of the house, and hopefully avoid Mii and Tharaide at the same time… though for two very different reasons.
He went home via a different route than usual, through the woods, and came upon a strange sight as he walked along the cliffs. Tharaide was standing completely still, her feet spread in a fighting stance, and in each hand a sword, the two blades crossing each other.
"Tharaide…?"
"Shh!" Tharaide hissed at him to be silent, every muscle in her body tensing.
Suddenly, a creature hurtled out of the trees at her, yowling in a way that made Shigure's hair stand on end. It had a vaguely human shape, covered with scales and feathers, the only defining features its glowing red eyes. A pair of skeletal batlike wings were spread from its back. With two quick strikes, Tharaide cut the thing down, and it collapsed into a pile of ash.
And all at once they were surrounded.
"Defend yourself!" cried Tharaide, and with a fluid movement tossed one of her swords to Shigure.
He flinched, throwing out one hand… and somehow, impossibly, he caught it, deftly grasping the hilt.
Tharaide looked at him with a strange look in her eyes. "Your body will remember its skill, even if your mind does not," she said quietly, then her attention snapped back to the things that surrounded them before Shigure's mind had even processed the words.
"What did you say?" Shigure shouted, but Tharaide shook her head.
"No time for that! There are way too many…" Her voice trailed off in a clash of steel as she began to repel the assault. "Defend yourself, quickly!"
"B-but how…?"
Tharaide paused long enough to give him a disparaging look. "The sword. Swing it!"
Shigure did, feeling incredibly awkward, a feeling that changed swiftly. This was incredible… it was easy. Briefly he wondered if this was how Kyo felt when he fought, and for the first time understood why people like Kazuma or Kyo would devote their lives to learning such a skill. Soon, all thought was forced from his mind and he became completely focused on attacking his assailers and defending his very life.
He and Tharaide found themselves being pressed back to the cliff edge. Standing back to back, they managed to repel the creatures' strikes, but Shigure felt himself making small steps back and knew they couldn't hold their own. Though he didn't look behind him, he knew that the cliff with its sharp drop was just at his back. "We can't hold them off! What do we do?"
Snarling, Tharaide jumped ahead of him and made one slash through the front ranks with her sword, sunlight reflecting brightly off the blade. The effect was blinding and immediate, the first row of creatures collapsing into soot. It took a while for the reflective sword's image to fade from Shigure's retinas. Though had that been reflected sunlight, or…
"There are too many…" Tharaide murmured. Her last assault had left the creatures confused and slightly afraid, but they weren't intelligent enough to be scattered from fear. She looked at Shigure standing next to her, breathing hard, a fearful but fascinated expression in his eyes, and knew she had no choice. He wouldn't rise.
With a sudden movement, Tharaide grabbed Shigure's arm. He looked at her in surprise, but she paid him no attention. Holding tight to her companion, she took a deep breath and leaped off the cliff edge, dragging him with her as a pair of bright golden wings flared from her back. Shigure became rigid with surprise.
"We're not free yet," Tharaide shouted, looking behind her to see a couple of dark figures following close behind, skeletal wings extended. She shifted her grip slightly, grabbing Shigure by both arms, and folded her wings in a dive, straight through the forest canopy. The pair crashed through the foliage and landed sprawled in the undergrowth, panting.