Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. CCS. Clamp does...
A/N: Hi! Sorry for the long update but highschool has been keeping me pretty busy... Anyways enjoy!
Previously:
Sakura screamed out as she saw the kunai nearing Eriol, everything was playing itself out in slow motion, she didn't wanna see Eriol get hurt, but yet he made no movement as if to dodge the kunai and gave no hints as if he were to do it.
Chapter 5: Tathrun and Yens
The kunai was getting closer and closer to Eriol. Two feet away, one foot and six inches away, one foot away, six inches away...
Eriol smiled while jumping just as the kunai was two inches away from him. The kunai sailed through the air where he was standing just moments ago.
The ninja looked over in shock at where Eriol was just standing a moment ago and it was too late before he realized that Eriol was flying through the air towards him. "No!" he screamed as he felt the boy's staff hit against his head and then the consuming darkness that was falling over him.
"Yay! Go Eriol-kun!" Sakura cheered as the ninja fell to the ground unconscious. "That was great, you really had me scared."
Toya walked over to the ninja and glared down at him. "Sakura-chan I believe that Dad had put some rope in your bag for any just in case times, is it still there?" he asked.
"Uhh, I'll check," Sakura said and then took her pack off of her back and began to dig through it. "Found it!"
Eriol took the rope from Sakura and began to wind it around the ninja's body with a bit of Toya's help.
"Once he's conscious we'll interrogate him and find out who he's working for," Toya said while still glaring at the ninja. "I'm certain that he's connected to whomever captured Tomoyo-chan."
"It may be awhile before he's conscious, it may not be wise if we wait. After all aren't we leaving this early as to make good timing," Eriol said while looking over at Sakura. "It's amazing that she's able to hide her aura so well for not knowing how to use her magic," he thought to himself.
"Hey Eriol-kun get your eyes away from my sister!" Toya growled angerly.
"Gomen nasai Toya-kun I didn't mean to be looking at your sister, it's just that she reminds me so of a girl that I used to know and that I love," Eriol said, it wasn't a complete lie, for Sakura did remind him of her, it was just a partial lie.
"So they beat Gathran did they?" thought a masked man while watching the scene below. He had hidden his aura so that he could just watch and not partake in the battle between his partner and the group of three down below. "So then the azure-eyed boy has a good deal of magical ability." He then took a poisoned dart and flung it at his partner's neck, he would be dead in just moments.
Sakura turned her head to the side just in time to see a dart hitting the unconscious ninja's neck. "Uh guys, I don't think that we'll have to worry about deciding wether to wait for him or not any longer," she said.
Eriol and Toya both looked over at him at the same second and saw the dart in his neck.
"I guess that we should leave now then," Toya said.
"Someone had to have thrown that dart, but who?" Eriol thought. "I can't sense anyone and if he could kill him why didn't he take advantage of us and kill us too?" "Yes, we should leave now," he said while the smile that he usually wore faded from his face and changed into a frown. "We don't know who killed him but somebody had to have thrown that dart and it wasn't one of us for sure."
Toya looked at Eriol and nodded his head. "Yeah, we should get out of here right now." And with that the three resumed their journey traveling farther and farther into the wilderness.
They got farther and farther away from the scene of their fight but yet still Eriol didn't let his guard down. He was smiling once again and acting normal but part of his mind was sensing for anymore auras that their may be. He knew that he wasn't as strong as most and that they had fought a weak ninja, but he couldn't count on their luck holding up.
The ninja Tathran ran back to the hideout of his master. "Master, I regret to tell you that Gathrun has died. I watched his battle between him and the azure-eyed boy, the boy has some magic and what he knows how to do he does well. Also, the girl that you wanted and her brother are traveling with him," he said.
"I could care less about the boy and the girl's brother, it's the girl that I want. For all I care the two boys can die in a battle, just make sure that the girl is brought back to me alive," said Tathran's master.
"Yes, my master," responded Tathran.
"And tell me, have you killed the one I ordered you to have dead yet?"
"No master, we are trying but all of our attempts seemed to have failed." Tathran's voice fell into disappointment at this, he had sent some of his best partners out after that boy and still he had yet to die.
"Just make sure that he's dead before he finds us and don't let him end up with the other group, he's deadly enough to us on his own so the last thing we need is him joining up with them."
Tathran bowed to his master silently and then left. "Stupid boy!" he silently cursed. "Why do you have to put me through so much darned trouble." He arrived at a room and walked in without bothering to knock. "Yens," he said to the man in the room, "you are now my knew partner, prepare yourself for battle with the best of the best."
The ninja, now know as Yens, bowed to Tathran. "I am glad you choose me as your partner," he said. "I promise to be stronger and serve you better than Gathrun and the rest. And I need not time to prepare for battle, I am prepared already and always am, I long for a good fight."
"Good," smirked Tathran. "Be better than the rest and serve me as my partner well. If you do so then I can promise you a good fight, after all you are the best suited for this job."
Yens bowed with a smirk upon his face. "I will be better than the rest," he thought. "I will be the best and beat the strongest of opponents."
Tathran looked at Yens skeptically. "Meet me at dusk tonight," he then muttered while leaving the room. "By the way all of my partners thus far have thought that they were the best and so on and all of them have ended up dead."
Yens looked at his partner's form in the doorway and thought, "but I'm not like all of them. I'm stronger."
"Toya-kun, can we stop for supper yet?" Sakura asked. They hadn't eaten since breakfast that day and she had been getting hungry. So far Eriol and Toya didn't want to stop to eat, they were too busy trying to make as much progress as they could before nightfall.
Eriol looked over at Sakura. The girl looked like she was going to fall over from both hunger and exhaustion any minute now. "Perhaps it is time that we stop to eat," he suggested to Toya while pointing over to Sakura who was now lying against a rock exhausted. "She's not gonna make it much more than a few feet farther today," he quietly added so that only Toya could hear.
"Fine, we'll stop here and eat and then I'll decide what we do next," said Toya giving in to Eriol and Sakura's wishes.
Upon hearing that Sakura placed a small blanket on the ground and began to place some stuff from her pack onto it. "Toya-kun, could you go and get some fire wood?" she asked pleadingly. "I can make us a better supper if I have a fire to cook over."
So then Toya set out to go find some sticks and such so that Sakura could have a fire to cook over. "Geez it's not like we need hot food or anything," he grumbled to himself while knocking down a thin tree. "This better be good enough for her for now."
Eriol watched as Toya neared them with what appeared to be a thin tree. He ran to meet him and began to break the branches off and arrange them in a neat order on the ground. After that was done he took some stones and placed them around the pile of sticks and summoned his staff. He then muttered a spell and pointed his staff towards the pile of wood and it caught flame.
"Domo arigato Eriol-kun," Sakura said as she began to place a pot over the fire. "Supper will be ready in about ten minutes if you two want to take a quick nap."
Ten minutes later the three sat around their small fire eating the porridge that Sakura had made.
"This isn't half bad," Toya said while eating his food wholeheartedly.
"It's really quite good, thank you very much Sakura-chan," said Eriol with a smile. "You're quite the cook."
Upon hearing this Sakura began to blush. "I'm not that good really, if you want good you should try Tomoyo-chan's cooking," she said quietly becoming saddened upon the thought of poor Tomoyo.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan we'll find your friend, I promise," said Eriol. "As long as it's not too late we'll find her," he thought, not wanting to mention that part to her.
Tathrun and Yens crept quietly through the woods masking their auras with their magic.
"So who's my target to be?" Yens asked. Patience was something that he had mastered a long time ago but for some reason he couldn't keep down the excitement of his upcoming fight, especially because he was Tathrun's new partner and had a chance to prove himself the best.
Tathrun chose to ignore Yens' question for the moment and continue on in silence, the man could be patient for a bit longer. He stretched out his senses feeling for the trio that he had fought earlier, the weren't far now, just about a mile further from where they were. "Don't fail me like the last ones did Yens, because if you do then you'll end up dead just like them. Besides you're stronger than them making you more valuable and as a bonus just for you if you beat this group that I'll take you to an even stronger and better opponent that would be more worthy of your time."
Yens smiled at this. "So who is my target to be?" he asked again.
"Patience Yens patience, don't get too excited, though I do suppose that it's time to tell you. You're fighting a group of three. The oldest of the group is a tall boy, he shouldn't be too hard to fight. Let's see, yes I believe that there is another boy, one with deep navy hair and azure eyes, he is who your main conflict will be with. His magic isn't the best of the best but he knows all that he can do and what he knows he knows well. And last there is a girl, the oldest's younger sister. She shouldn't be any problem at all, though she did hold off another ninja before so don't underestimate any tricks that she may try to pull."
Eriol looked over at his companions, Toya was almost asleep and his sister was already soundly sleeping her well deserved, hard earned sleep. He was just about to fall asleep himself when he heard a noise off in the near vicinity. He jerked his head upright and in the direction of the sound, did he dare fall asleep? What if it was an enemy, but yet it was true that it could just be an animal of sort. He sat up, his mind preparing for battle, but his body still wanting to rest.
"We'll wait for another ten minutes, let him fall into a safe sense of security thinking that it was just an animal that he heard," Tathrun said, all to late for his partner had just jumped on ahead farther, heedless of his warning.
"Die!" he shouted while jumping from a tree with his sword thrust out, a sword that was ready to pierce through the heart of any who opposed him.
Eriol jumped out of the way and tripped over the form of his sleeping companion who then screamed and woke with a start.
Toya heard a deep male voice shouting something and then his sister screaming and bolted upright instantly. "What the heck is happening!" he shouted, though it mattered little for by this point he already had realized that they were under attack.
Yens held out his sword, ready to attack, and then ran towards the pile made up of the navy haired boy and the girl.
Toya jumped forwards and grabbed onto Yens wrist, he couldn't let the ninja jerk hurt his sister or their new friend, he wasn't as low as to just sit around while some freak started attacking his comrades. "Hey freaky ninja wannabe jerk," he said to the ninja while smirking, "isn't it really cowardly to attack those that are lying helplessly on the ground?"
Tathrun watched as Yens attacked the group. "What an idiot!" he thought. "Sure just go straight for an attack and wake them all up when a sneak attack would have been better, and it didn't help that you shouted 'die' out loud for them all to hear!" He was now in a bad mood, if it weren't for Yens' not so surprise attack they could already be done and back at base with a pleased master. "Fine, this is your battle, just you, all by yourself," he thought angrily.
Toya groaned in pain as Yens kicked him in the gut. Apparently Yens didn't like it when people insulted him or grabbed onto his wrist.
Eriol stood up and slowly walked over towards Yens while summoning his staff. "You, my friend, have taken us too lightly for your own good."
A/N: Yatta! It's done! Please review, after all reviews make me really super happy... The more reviews I get the sooner I'll update and I bet you all just want to know what happens next in the fight and who their other target is, hehe. Well ja ne for now!