Chapter 5

The Arrival of the Dragon Lord

Azure's point of view

Rikichi, Heihachi, and I made it to the hut in no time. However because we were running so fast in my current state, this really weakened me. As soon as I reached the hut, I leaned against one of it's wooden walls, and starting coughing harshly, as well as wheezing. This worried Heihachi, but I held up a hand to show that I was fine, and he went inside.

I looked up at the sky and saw two, massive birds fly above. One was a silver-blue and the other was an emerald green. Then, I realized something. Birds weren't either blue nor green, so what WAS up there? The creatures circled above me, slowly descending into the forest, as I realized what they truly were. My sapphire blue eyes lit up as I ran into the forest to greet them.

Heihachi's point of view

Poor Azure. I told her we shouldn't have run to the hut in her condition, but she strongly refused and exclaimed defiantly that we were making the others wait and that we had to move. I should probably tell her friend, Terra I think, about this. Or Kambei. Surely, none of them wants Azure to push herself too hard.

Speaking of Azure, where is she? I thought she would've recovered enough strength by now to come back, but so far, she hasn't made an appearance. Just then, the leaves on the trees rustled violently. Strong wind... I thought. Certainly, it was unusual.

Rikichi and I arrived at the room where the others were, as everyone's eyes met ours. "I'm assuming Azure found you?" Kambei asked in his cool tone. I nodded my head. "Yes, she did..." Kambei scanned the room. "If that's the case, then where is she?" He asked, a little stern. A teenage girl stood up, who was sitting next to Kambei, and looked daggers at me. "Where is she?!" She half yelled at me. I paused for a bit before answering. "She's...outside recovering right now. We ran to get here, and I guess she was pushing herself to hard...she was coughing so violently..."

It was silent for a while until the girl ran out of the room and outside. I guess that's Terra... I thought to myself. Man, she has such a hot temper! I guess I better watch what I say around her.

It was dusk, and neither Terra or Azure made it back to the hut. Now I was really starting to freak out until Terra literally broke the door and looked like a ghost. "Azure hasn't returned yet has she?!" She said, her voice quavering. "Nope." replied Shichiroji, who looked relieved that there was finally some action going on. "This isn't good! I haven't found Azure anywhere!" Terra ran back outside. Everyone stood up as Kambei pulled out his katana. "Looks like we need to search for Azure." He said. "Yeah, but, where could she have gone? I wouldn't expect her to move very far when she's this weak." Gorobei pointed out.

Terra's point of view

The greenery of the forest rushed past me as I ran as fast as I could, looking over both my shoulders for any signs of Azure, with the rest of the samurai following close behind me. I made a left and trip over a tree root. It took a little while for me to regain to my feet, as Shichiroji and Heihachi appeared by my side.

Shichiroji offered me a hand and spoke in a teasing tone, "That was a pretty nasty fall. Aren't girls suppose to be crying by now if this happened?"

I smacked his hand away and stood up, grunting in pain as I checked my right knee. Crimson blood was slowly flowing from a big scrape on the patch of skin. Of course it was. It's better to treat these things early. I thought bitterly as I took a spare piece of cloth from my pocket and began to tear into long, fluttery white strips. I bean to tie them around my knee and once again stood up. As soon as I regained my senses, I turned to Shichiroji and Heihachi with a serious expression on my face, my emerald green eyes cold and dull. "Where did the others go?" I asked them sternly. "They split off in different directions. Me, Shichiroji-dono, and you are taking the east. Kambei and Kyuzo-dono are taking the west. Gorobei and Katsushiro-dono are taking the north. And Kikuchuyo-dono and Kirara are taking the south." Heihachi replied simply, however, he carried a worried expression.

I sniffed, and continued running at full speed straight ahead. "Wait! Your wound!" Shichiroji shouted. I ignored him and continued running, my hair flailing with the wind. I didn't care about my wound. It was a just a scratch, unlike Azure. The venom Raknor injected into her system will start to kill off everything in her body: cells, organs, you name it. And it will continue until she dies. And it only takes a matter of days. It takes an extremely strong medicine in order to make her back to normal. I shook my head frantically and continued running. You can't think about that Terra. She's going to be ok. I thought to myself.

The rest of the afternoon flew past, and none of us were able to find her. My group, as well as Kikuchuyo, Kirara, Katsushiro, and Gorobei, met up in a cathedral (A cathedral, in this case, is a big circle of trees with the stump of a tree in the middle) to discuss what happened. "We didn't find her. Kambei and Kyuzo-dono met up with us while we were searching, and apparently they found SOMETHING in the western part of the forest, and went off in that direction." Gorobei stated. Katsushiro nodded when he noticed the wound on my knee. Normally, he would not care about something like this that happened to someone, especially me, but pointed it out anyway. "Terra? What happened?" "I just tripped. That's all. Quit worrying about me, we need to find Azure, and fast, before it gets to dark-"

I was interrupted by the sound of feet crunching the leaves that littered the forest floor. "We found her." Said a deep voice, which I recognized as Kyuzo's. Two shadows emerged from the darkness to reveal Kambei and Kyuzo, along with an unconscious Azure, who was being held in Kyuzo's arms. "Azure!" I screeched as I rushed over to Kyuzo.

"We found her unconscious in a moonlit clearing. Judging from her state, she was wandering around the woods for quite sometime." Kambei analyzed. When everyone gathered around her, they noticed that the black veins had crept up her neck and the rest of her arm, and her skin was starting to turn into a sickly pale color. Her sapphire blue eyes opened a crack and glanced around. "Ayrm...?" She said weakly. She then passed out once more in Kyuzo's arms.

"This is bad..." I kept muttering to myself. "Uh, what's so bad about this? She just passed out." Kikuchuyo said indifferently. "Azure's been suffering from hallucinations." I exclaimed, giving everyone a death glare. "What's so bad about that?" Kambei replied. "Suffering from hallucinations is the first sign that Azure will die very soon."

(Phew! finished! Sorry it took a while, and yes, it is short. No judging.)