Sorry about the confusion the other day. I made a mistake when updating the chapter and stupidly posted the previous one again… silly me. This is the right one.
"Wahh… Kurorin… why does it have to be so early?" Fai rubbed his eyes lazily.
"Shut up." Kurogane glared at him. "Right after the sun comes out is the best time to attack the demons." He returned his glaring red gaze to the bun he was currently holding up by the long ears, right in front of his face. "And you" he hissed. "Stop puuing like an idiot and start talking."
"Puu!"
"Argh!" Kurogane threw Mokona roughly to Syaoran's arms. "What the hell is wrong with it?"
"It seems Mokona can't speak in Cephiro." Syaoran answered frowning a bit. "I wonder why though…"
"Maybe it just doesn't want to?" Fai suggested smiling.
"We should start moving." Ferio came up to the group. "Lantis thinks the demons sense us being here, so we must be swift in finding the feather if it is here."
"Yeah, let's start." Kurogane grinned, clutching the handle of the sword Mokona had already given him. He turned to look over his shoulder. "And I want to see you at all times, got it?" he said to Fai. The Mage smiled sweetly.
"I'll walk right by you all the time, Kuro-pon." And he actually grabbed at Kurogane's arm. The ninja glared fire and tried to break free but the Mage just wouldn't give.
"I can feel it." Sakura whispered, her eyes closed. She opened them and looked at the darkness beyond the columns, where anything and everything could be expected. "The feather… it's definitely here."
"Good." Kurogane grounded roughly pushing the Mage away. "Then let's get it."
Hikaru nodded, a determined look forming in her eyes, and everyone moved forward, in a close group. They couldn't be sure what they would be facing, and they had to be careful.
The group was formidable. Put up with the best warriors Cephiro could offer alongside Kurogane and Syaoran, the possibilities of being thoroughly defeated in the mission were rather thin. The grounds, however, weren't favorable, and seeing as though the place was unfamiliar to them all and they didn't even have an estimate of how many demons took refuge in the dark halls and corners, the balance could be tipped in their way as very well as it could not.
As they moved silently along a hallway, they felt the energy of many creatures fluctuating around them. Kurogane kept a close watch of Fai, that obediently walked by his side, looking around with calculating eyes that didn't match his grin at all. The ninja looked at him.
"What is it?" he asked in a hiss. He had come to know the soft, almost unnoticeable changes in Fai's eyes according to his moods or thoughts, and now he knew the Mage was alert.
It surprised him that Fai didn't even try to deny his concern. "The air is so thin in here, Kurorin." He said, almost out of breath. "There is this huge pressure that constricts me…"
"I don't feel anything."
"It's because you don't have this kind of magic in you." Fai answered. "I can feel the feather close, but there are so many other energies in here it makes it difficult to loate it properly… we might have to run through the whole mountain to find it."
"So? We'll do just that."
"That's hardly a battle strategy, Kurotan."
"Something's coming." Lantis suddenly called. Everyone froze. Syaoran stepped in front of Sakura, grabbing the hilt of his sword. Kurogane grabbed his own hilt, ducking a little to fall into a fight stance. Hikaru, Umi and Fuu listened carefully as Ferio and Ascot fell back with Lafarga, to guard the back of the group.
"Get down!" Hikaru suddenly screamed, stepping back. The wall to their right blew away in dust and pieces of wall that flung everywhere in a dangerously random mess. Fuu immediately formed a shield of wind around them, effectively protecting them.
Once the dust started settling, in front of them appeared a huge troll like figure. The think arms were so long the sharp knuckles were leaning against the floor heavily. Two magnificent fangs erupted from the lower jaw aggressively, as dull golden eyes fixed themselves on the closest figure to them; Umi.
The girl failed to react, but fortunely Lantis didn't. The heavy fist blasted against the light beam blade. Lantis' boots slid an inch on the floor n account of the brutal strength, but he didn't budge. Gritting his teeth, he pushed and released his blade, immediately jumping to attack. With him in the middle, there weren't much anyone else could do, seeing as any movement would result in injuries for him.
He was still in the air when, with an amazing speed, the troll used his other arm to hit him on the side. Lantis disappeared in the other wall, destroying it with the impact. Hikaru screamed, but before she could lunge forward Lafarga's hand was on her shoulder.
"Let's move on! It seems we've been discovered and targeted, we must hurry!"
"But…" Hikaru looked up at him.
"Lantis is strong, he can defeat him. Let's not be in his way. The room is limited as it is." Lafarga insisted.
It was then a powerful beam of light pierced through the troll's shoulder. Blood splattered over Kurogane and Fai, that were behind him. Lantis appeared from the whole on the wall, a slow trickle of blood running down the side of his face, but his eyes were clear and his face determined. Kurogane nodded at him and lunged forward, Syaoran closely behind him. The others followed suit.
Lantis hadn't expected the heavy looking troll to show that much speed. Speed, however, combined with whatever strength a troll could wield, were not sufficient to kill a swordsmanship of his caliber. To dispose of this trash would roughly take a minute.
Lafarga and Kuroagen were running at the head of the group. They were the first ones to arrive to the wide room they encountered. It was vast and round, and it was filled with all kinds of demons ready to attack.
Kurogane grinned and unsheathed his sword. He vaguely sensed the three Magic Knights releasing their own magic swords, but paid no attention to them as a marvelously big spider threw its front legs against him. Easily cutting them off, he jumped and cut it down right in half, immediately moving to the next demon.
In fights, it is always difficult to know whose side it is that it's winning. A warrior never knows if his army won or lost until the battle ends. In the battlefield you must fight for your life, which is difficult enough, and in a room crowded with huge figures, dark and flooded in conflicting energies Kurogane couldn't recognize, the ninja quickly lost track of his companions. Only from time to time did he get a glimpse of Syaoran protecting Sakura, of Ascot's creatures pushing and destroying some enemy, of Lafargs' wind blast or Hikaru's fire, occasionally lighting the room as if it were a torch.
He felt a soft touch, a brush even, to his back, and didn't turn. "How deep do we need to go?"
"Deeper." Fai answered elegantly dodging a dragon's paw. Kurogane turned and severed said offending limb away from its owner.
"Perhaps we should turn back." Fai said. "There's no room to fight properly here!"
"Once you advanced on enemy lands, you never turn back!" Kurogane replied. "Ah, you!" he spotted the wolf like creature that had almost killed Fai the day before and swiftly decapitated it. "You move forward!"
"Forwards where?" Ferio asked briefly as he sliced through a crocodile looking…thing.
"Forwards is anywhere but the road you came from." Kurogane barked decapitating a long necked dragon. "So anywhere is fine!"
"There's a door there!" Umi's water dragon devoured about ten demons and let them all see the black mouth of an opening in the wall, right across the room.
"And so our road is revealed!" Kurogane used his technique to evaporate the closest demons, clearing a room of about twenty feet around Fai and himself. He yanked the mage's wrist and rushed towards the door. A flying dragon the came towards them, but Hikaru's fire quickly disposed of it, and the group reassembled and reached the door.
"This is a death trap!" Ferio complained. "They'll get us crumbled in here and we won't be able to fight!"
Kurogane randomly took a side door and lead the group towards the right. "There's a good thing about figthint in a cramped space." He said over his shoulder. "You enemies will come one at the time!"
"But we all use wide range attacks techniques, Kurogane-san!" Fuu replied. "And if we can't move freely the balance will tip in our disfavor."
"Wanna head back?"
"That's not possible anymore!" Syaoran yelled from the back of the group. "They're coming after us!"
"Let's split!" Kurogane suggested.
"No!" Fai released his wrist and got ahead of Kurogane. "Follow me! I'll find the feather."
"About time!" the ninja spat. He turned to look over his shoulder. "Princess?"
"I'm alright!" Sakura was running behind Hikaru, who held her hand in a tight grasp.
Suddenly there was a light in front of the, a door to some kind of outside… and then they were back at the terrace where they had come from.
"The hell!?" Kurogane barked. "Back to square one?!"
"No…" Fai frowned slightly. "I think we went right across the mountain. Perhaps we turned wrong somewhere…"
"We should've asked for directions." Ferio snorted. "There were a lot of nice folks back there to ask to…"
"Ask them now!" Ascot yelled, jumping back and away from the door as half a dozen of demons burst through it at the same time.
"I'll guess we'll return to where we did the wrong turn." Kurogane grinned manically, the murderous glint on his eyes flaring alive.
The battle began again. This time though, the space was vast and the light abundant. In such terms, Kurogane could easily keep watch of how his companions coped with the pressure. Umi, Hikaru and Fuu kept in a close range of each other, helping one another automatically at any sight of danger. Lafarga preferred fighting lone, while Ferio also coped on his own although never too far from the green dressed girl. Ascot's monsters kept the bigger enemies away from the trio of girls. Syaoran unfolded quite admirably considering he had to constantly watch for Sakura Hime's safety, although Kurogane was pretty much in the same position with Fai. The Mage, however, was an expert at dodging, and quite frequently used this rather unremarkable ability of his against his enemies, making it so that they destroyed each other if they weren't careful. And demon's weren't. This way, the Mage made sure to dispose of his enemies without even acting, because he used the demon's powers to his benefit.
Kurogane though it was a coward way of acting, but he still considered it much of an improvement the fact that he was at least moving in set of numbly staying put to get killed… so as to admit it, the ninja gave him some credit.
Distracted in watching the Mage, Kurogane failed to see the black lion form that collided against his side. Not injured, Kurogane still wasn't able to resist the blow, and slide across the tiled, slippery floors towards the edge of the terrace. Inmediately assessing the situation, Kurogane sank his sword in the tiles, stopping his race towards death; but he couldn't snatch it back in time to stop the next collision the lion prepared, and his hands let go of the sword.
Kurogane, much more accostumed to battles in hostile environments that fai, grabbed hold of a demon that was close at hand and used it to stops his sliding. Next he pushed the demon between himself and the attacking lion and retreated back, lunging to recover his sword.
The lion recovered faster than he had anticipated though. Kurogane dodged its attack and grounded his feet. In a position in which he was unable to reach his weapon, he had to manage with his hands at least to gain some time.
The luon attacked head on and he dodged at the last minute. Sinking its claws on the tiles, the lion tried to turn, but couldn't manage, finally finding the edge and falling of it.
But not before hitting Fuu on the way. Hikaru reached for her too late, and Kurogane lunged forward. He caught her wrist and yanked it back, even heard it crack with the sheer aggressiveness of his act, but Fuu fell forward to her knees, safe, and Kurogane didn't have time to worry about her before falling off the edge himself.
He came to a sudden stop and his shoulder suddenly flared with pain, but his pain shouldn't have been nothing compared to the one Fai was feeling, leaning over the edge holding onto his wrist. His frail body was holding onto Kurogane's much bigger, heavier one, accompanied by the impulse of his fall; it had to be under great stress. Fai's face was hidden in the crook of his own shoulder.
Kurogane shifted his wrist and grabbed into Fai's. He lifted himself with his elbow until he reached the edge and hoisted himself up. Once safely on the terrace, he lifted Fai to a sitting position and saw that his shoulder was completely out of place.
"Your bones get off very easily." He grunted.
Fai gasped a choked laugh. "Sorry, but you should consider going on a diet… you're so heavy."
"Breath deep so I pull your shoulder back in place."
"Let Fuu-chan do it…" Fai said a little uneasy.
"The pain will stop if I put it in now, stupid." Kurogane insisted. He gently pried the Mage's fingers away from his shoulder and with carefully fingers grabbed the arm. Fai gasped in pain and closed his eyes.
"Kurogane-san!"
The ninja turned at Syaoran's cry and saw the heavy black lion running to them. He roughly pushed Fai away from him and jumped back. Fai fell to his back, wincing, and the lion, unable to stop his impulse, fell off the edge.
"Finally, he's dead!" Kurogane yelled in exasperation, climbing back to his feet. He walked to Fai and pulled him up from his uninjured arm. "Fine, let's go with Fuu."
"I can go on my…"
Kurogane yanked him out of the way of two wrestling monsters.
"Fucking look around, Fai." The ninja grunted, as he started to walk ahead of the Mage, dragging him by the arm. "This is a battlefield."
"…sorry."
Lantis was suddenly on their side. "We can go on like this for the rest of the day. We have lost our advantage, because the surprise is gone. I advice to finish this attack and retreat back to the Castle to regroup and determine a new plan."
"Have fun." Kurogane replied. "See you there."
"Don't be ridiculous." Lantis glared. "You cannot stay here on your own."
"I won't, the brat and the Mage stay too."
"Is that so…?" Fai asked weakly.
"Where the hell's that girl?" Kurogane stopped to take a look around, trying to spot Fuu in between the mess that surrounded them.
"I do not appreciate to be ignored." Lantis hissed.
"Fine, I'll tell it to your face." Kurogane confronted him. "Now listen and carefully cause I'm not repeating myself. I'm not leaving this mountain without that feather. Do I make myself clear?"
"Stubbornness and sheer physical strength won't make up for your lack of planning, Kurogane."
"You pick the worse times to have a council, guys." Ferio slide past them avoiding what seemed to be a giant bee like creature.
"Kid! Where's Fuu?" Kurogane turned to the green hired boy.
Amber eyes blinked twice at the unexpected question. He looked around uneasily. "Around here… somewhere… why?"
Umi's huge water dragon finished off a spider and the blue haired girl turned to her friends. "Is there anyw ay to get this moving along? It's taking so long…"
"I was thinking just the same, Umi-chan." Fuu said, a little out of breath as she swung her sword to eliminate a snake. "Maybe we could use our powers in some sort of creative way?"
"As in how?"
"I'm still thinking."
"I have an idea!" Hikaru said. She sank her sword in the ground and focused on her inner magic. She searched for that flame within herself she felt flaring everytime she used her fire magic…
"AKAI INAZUMA!" Umi and Fuu gasped as Hikaru's red lightening blazed across the terrace, tearing apart every demon they found on their way in every direction. The power the release held made everyone out of breath out of the terrible pressure it held. As fire blazed through the fighting ground, and burned the enemies, smoke started rising. The columns that held the ceiling cracked under the heat and the pressure, started steaming.
Hikaru let go of the flame and the magic subsided. She was out of breath, but the demons were all gone.
"Talk about creative ways…" Umi blinked.
"She widened the range of attack of her Akai Inazuma. Very smart, Hikaru-chan!" Fuu clapped her hands.
Hikaru gasped and smiled. "Thank you, Fuu-chan."
"Are you alright?" Sakura Hime touched her arm.
Hikaru smiled at her. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you! How about you? I saw Syaoran-kun and you were having some trouble."
"Ascot-san helped us a lot." Syaoran said smiling embarrassed.
"Good job, Ascot-kun!" Umii punched Ascot's shoulder, to which the tall teen reacted blushing furiously.
"I-i-it was n-nothing…" he choked.
"What's wrong with you? You hurt or somethin'?" Ferio arched an eye brow. He knew damn well what was wrong with him, but if he had a chance to mock him about the matter—the matter being Ascot had a tremendous crush on Umi, who just happened to be much more clueless about theses things that one would initially give her credit for…
"Fai-san! You're injured?" Fuu rushed to the pale blonde's side to tend to him.
"It's just a shoulder." Kurogane said. "He's not dying. Hey princess" Sakura turned to him. "You know where that feather is already?"
Sakura's look turned to one full of determination. She nodded. "I know how to get there. I can feel it, and Mokona told me to."
"Then let's get movin'." Kurogane said, going on ahead, not even bothering to sheath his sword.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Lantis lightly touched Hikaru's shoulder. "You shouldn't abuse yourself in that way."
"Thank you for worrying, I am well."
Fai smiled at Fuu after she finished with his shoulder and they rushed to follow the others.
"My pardons, Fai-san." Fuu called politely. "But may I ask, if it is not impolite, why do you wield no weapon?"
Fai paused for e moment. "Well, I'm not strong like Kurochan or Syaoran-kun, so swords wouldn't do me any good…" he lied. He was a good a swordsman as Kurogane, as the ninja had once forced him to demonstrate by attacking him. Though his swords style consisted mostly of avoiding and dodging, he had put Kurogane on the spot more than once in that occasion. Before Kurogane stopped refraining himself that is… "I'm more inclined to long range weapons such as a bow and arrows, but in a situation of his caliber they'd do no one any good…"
"But… aren't you a Magician?"
"Ah…" Fai smiled but didn't look at her.
"My pardons, Fai-san." Fuu-chan apologized. "I shouldn't have asked."
"No… I'm sorry I can't answer you, Fuu-chan."
"It's quite alright." Fuu smiled sweetly at him. "We all have things in our past that we rather not discuss. Surely you have someone who your trust more than me to talk about these things."
Fai smiled at her and nodded. He looked ahead to Kurogane, at the head of the group.
His back was so broad and strong… nothing like Fai's lithe, small back. Kurogane's shoulder were wide and powerful, filled with strength and determination; the shoulders of a warrior. Shoulders that could take on any weight.
Fai's blue eyes widened when the black haired ninja turned to look at him, stare right at him, from over his shoulder. Deep crimson eyes bored into his watery orbs.
"Oh… I see…" Fai whispered. "I might have fallen for him… a long time a go."
"The feather's right ahead!" Sakura said. "We just have to go on straight!"
"There's a wall straight ahead!" Ferio replied.
"No there isn't!" Kurogane replied, thrusting his sword forward as Syaoran did the same.
Such determination… to go on forward at all costs…
"Then find your own will. Until you do, I'll keep you alive, and so will the kid and the princess. Find some will there if you need it, live for them, until you can live for yourself."
"You can't hang around idly and wait for someone to come save you. You have to save yourself. Use your own strength. I hate people like you who wait for someone to save them."
"I protect the people I care about. I won't just let them die."
"I won't let you die."
Fai rushed through the newly made whole in the wall and followed the group closely. He frowned slightly.
"I understand." He whispered to himself. "I know what I must do. If you won't let go. Kurogane… then neither will I."
break++
Next chapter:
"There it is!" Kurogane jumped forward, ignoring the vast well the container was suspended upon, folding his legs by the knees to increase the speed of his fall as he, in an unexpectedly graceful movement, fell to the round platform on his feet and crouched. Grnning in satisfaction, he rose and took a step towards the feather.
Too late did he realize the platform wasn't actually that but a rock plate held up by magic; it flipped when he gave a step and he precipitated to the unseen bottom.
A sudden rush of whirling wind, and the ninja was set safely back on the ground at the others side of the well, away from the group.
"Good call, Fuu-chan!" Ferio smiled at her.
Fuu looked at him quietly. "It wasn't me."
"No… it was me."