Chapter 7
Shuu felt a mix of excitement and hesitation course through him as he stared up at the dark, cold shrine in front of him. It might not look welcoming, but he could feel both Touma and Ryo inside, so they were definitely going in, and hopefully soon, he'd have reinforcements.
In his arms, Usagi stirred slightly before curling closer to his chest and settling back against him. She slept on, and he let her, no matter how much of a pain in the rear it had been to navigate dark, dangerous, and creepy woods with an armful of girl.
She'd done a great job keeping them both safe, but eventually she'd collapsed, as he'd feared she would. He'd been carrying her since as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Occasionally, she felt feverishly warm, which worried him, but then her body would cool again. He didn't know what it meant, but he didn't like it, and needed to get her back to her friends so they could help.
The shadows around them shifted restlessly, but Shuu paid them no mind. If they were going to attack, then they'd attack, and he'd figure it out. He'd already done it three times. The warrior of Kongo made a beeline for the long and crumbling steps, frowning as he stared at the shrine at the very top.
Man, he kind of hated stairs right now. Why did there have to be so many stairs?
With a heavy sigh, he started up, determination making each step feel a little lighter. By the time he was halfway up, it wasn't even his legs that were squawking, it was his arms. Usagi was pretty light, but man, she was still kind of a dead weight, and carrying something so awkward and still was starting to wear on his muscles. He wasn't putting her down for anything though. He was still worried that she might disappear if he blinked. It'd happened a few times already.
Usagi was a woman that seemed to be stalked by trouble.
And Shuu was the sort of guy that liked to punch stalkers in the face.
They were a perfect pair, he figured, and huffed out a heavy breath as he paused to rest for a moment before moving on.
He was almost to the top and feeling damn good about doing it with an armload of weight in record time, when everything sort of went black for a minute. When he came back, Usagi's limp body was two steps below him, getting dragged downwards by something hideous and dark, with way, way too many limbs and mouths and teeth. Especially teeth. Just…there was too much of everything going on with it, and he wondered why things had to be so damn creepy here. Why couldn't they be normal monsters? Or warlords even? He never thought he'd be wishing for a fight with a bunch of warlords but…yeah, he was wishing for a bunch of warlords about now.
Four limbs, one face, a reasonable number of weapons and a minimal number of nasty surprises. Was that so much to ask?
With a growl, he leapt into the air and straight at the monster, hitting it dead center in the biggest mouth he could find and knocking it back. It was alternately squishy and rock solid, and he had no idea how that even worked. Did it have bones? Some of what he was hitting felt like bones, but completely not in places he'd expect to find bones.
Whatever, he'd just keep hitting it until it stopped getting up. That'd worked well so far.
They tumbled down the steps together, Shuu slamming his fists, knees, elbows, and anything else that he could manage into any available surface of whatever it was he was fighting. It seemed to be working, it was making a lot of noise, and there were a lot of teeth and…other…stuff flying everywhere, so Shuu figured that was a good sign. There was a lot of angry growling and generally threatening roaring too, but he didn't let that bother him.
They hit the base of the steps hard, but thankfully, the monster was on the bottom of their pile. Shuu cast a glance up the stairs toward Usagi, cursing when he saw another strange something with too much of everything advancing towards her still unconscious form where it had landed on the stairs.
He couldn't be in two places at once, dammit.
He tried jumping up, turning to get to her, but the monster beneath him had somehow grown tentacles, and he'd gotten tangled up in them. It yanked and he went easily, despite fighting with everything he had.
He had a final sight of whatever the thing was absorbing Usagi like some kind of blob (what in the hell were all the mouths for then?!), and he let out a roar of frustration as he tried to work free. He was pulled deeper into the monster, which was the opposite of what he was trying to do, and then there was suffocating darkness and the stink of rot. He felt a moment of rage over the fact that he'd been done in by a giant blob monster with too many body parts.
Then he felt a wave of despair wash over him, wondered desperately if this was really the end, after everything he'd been through, and had a moment of absolute terror and depression over not being around to help Usagi or the Troopers anymore.
The darkness went still around him, then shuddered, the monster's roar muffled from its insides.
The black cocoon around him spiderwebbed with cracks. Then shattered. Shuu took a deep, healthy gulp of air and looked up in front of him, dazed, at a glowing ball of energy that reached out with rays of light to dissolve both monsters in a matter of seconds. When the light hit his skin, however, all he felt was an incredible warmth – pure and healing. His aches eased. His tiredness vanished.
But staring at that light, Shuu still had a bad feeling.
As the light began to weaken, he was able to see at its core a familiar slight form, with a strange pig-tailed hairstyle. Her arms were outstretched, cradling the top of a scepter that had a magnificent silver crystal glowing at its center.
This staff wasn't cute and pink with hearts and lights. This staff was long, elegant, and pearlescent. The glow dulled to a thin outline around Usagi and the scepter, and he was able to see that at some point, she'd slipped into a delicate silver princess gown that hung down to the ground, hiding her feet.
Where in the hell had that dress come from?! Had she tucked it in her sweater?
She was floating, her hair caught in an unseen breeze, but even as he watched, she gradually sank to the ground. And then dropped like a rock, the scepter disappearing and the gown fading into the skirt and sweater ensemble Usagi had been wearing before. He bolted up the stairs and made it to her just in time to prevent her from falling down them again.
Her eyes opened, but only slightly, and she smiled at him weakly.
"There you are. I was worried I'd lost you." She whispered.
Shuu's heart thudded hard against his ribs, and he struggled with the awe and anxiety that had washed over him at her display. He swallowed hard and tried to give her his best smile. "Aw hey! It's harder than that to lose me, Tsukino! You're stuck with me!" he bluffed, even though they both knew he'd been inches from not coming back just moments ago. She smiled at him anyway, and his knees kind of melted a bit at the sight.
"I'm really glad." Then her hand dropped and her eyes rolled back. Her skin was nearly ashen and dark smudges of bruising were starting to show. Shuu frowned, cradling her as he launched himself up the remaining stairs towards the entrance of the shrine. He might be oblivious, but he wasn't too stupid to understand that he'd probably just seen that Silver Crystal at work. She might be powerful, but he'd seen what using that power did to Usagi.
He didn't like it at all. The guy that'd brought them here wanted them to use that power to beat their enemies, but Shuu was pretty sure using that Crystal again might actually kill Usagi, so there was no way he was letting anyone touch it. He wondered if this was anything like Kikoutei. When Ryo had first donned the white armor, they'd all been scared about what it had taken from their leader each time he'd worn it.
Gradually, of course, they'd figured things out, but what he'd just seen with Usagi reminded him of those early times when they were all terrified and at the mercy of a power they didn't understand.
He didn't understand the Silver Crystal. Not at all. But he did understand that like any power he'd ever seen, it took. It took without mercy. And he'd be damned if he let it take like that from someone as great as Usagi.
