Me: Yosh, next chapter! It's a bit shorter than the others, but I wanted a cliffhanger, so yeah! MUHAHAH! Oh, I'm evil :p I don't own Inazuma Eleven yet, but I'm negotiating with level 5... (kidding). Please enjoy!
Shindou was in his tent, thinking about the merman. That was all he ever thought about lately. He sighed. When Kirino had first woken up from his unconscious state, they had been worried for his reaction. Justly, because they were kind of responsible for his capture. And as expected, the merman was furious with them.
They didn't even realize that he was awake before he started talking. "So, you came to laugh a little?" he had said with his eyes closed. When he opened them seconds later, he used them to send nonstop glares at them. "Oh how you must have laughed about me. I was so stupid that I believed every word you told me, it must have been one big joke to you, right? I guess it's true what they say. All a doubletailer ever does is lie." When Shindou wanted to protest, all Kirino did was scoff and turn his back to them. "I should have let you die the moment I saw you."
He resisted against them in any way possible. For instance, he had refused to eat the food they gave him and he had splashed them with the water whenever they came too close to the cage. It were small acts of resistance, but it showed them that Kirino hadn't given up yet.
That was two weeks ago.
Now it was different.
Every day, the Leader came and sent Shindou and the others out of the tent. The following five minutes were filled with painful screams of the merman and when the Leader came out and allowed them to go back in, Kirino laid unconscious at the bottom of the tank. It took a little longer every day before the merman woke up, until he didn't wake up anymore. He was now almost permanently in an unconscious state. He laid on the bottom of the tank, sometimes softly whimpering or talking. During one shift, Shindou heard Kirino softly call for his father, to which tears ran down the brunette's cheeks. What have I done?
Kirino was now chained around his wrists. Every time the Leader came in, Kirino was lifted with the chains and the Leader did what he always did. There were less screams every day, as if Kirino didn't really notice the pain anymore. Shindou was disgusted with the merman's circumstances, but the Leader seemed content. After all, the merman gave him not even half as much trouble as in the beginning.
Shindou sighed and stood up. It was almost time for his shift, so he walked out of this tent. When he passed the Leader's personal tent, he heard screaming. Despite the danger of being caught eavesdropping on the Leader, he stopped and listened.
"I don't care!" he heard the Leader yell. "I will complete it even if it means his death!" Is he talking about Kirino?
"But Leader-sama," a softer, more inferior voice protested. "You will gain more from this if you let him rest more. He needs to regain his energy and-"
"I gave him more than enough time. Why doesn't he recover faster? That other one never took this long!" That other one?
"Leader-sama," a new voice said. The rustling of the canvas told Shindou that this person just came in. "Leader-sama, I've got great news."
"You better do."
"We have found a lead to the next location."
"Is that so?" The Leader sounded interested and Shindou became curious as well. "Alright then, I will travel ahead with twenty men to accompany me. You, whatever your name may be, will assemble the Army to travel after me."
"Hai, Leader-sama." The rustling of the canvas was heard once more as the man exited the tent.
"As for you, prepare my horse. I will go and see the merman one last time before I leave."
"Hai, Leader-sama."
Shindou realized that he had to get out of there, or the Leader might see him. He rushed towards the tent and let his eyes adjust to the dusk. What he saw made his heart sink. Kirino looked absolutely terrible. His shiny tail was dull and even cracked at some points. Shindou didn't know how bad this was, but it didn't look good. The scales on Kirino's face were dull too and he was much skinnier than before. He had sunken cheeks and dark circles underneath his eyes. His hair was dull as well and it looked messy. His eyes were closed and his lips were forming words that were too soft for anyone to hear.
The entrance behind him moved and he saw that the Leader entered. As in trance, he brought his right hand up and saluted to the man. "Leader-sama," he said.
"Ah Shindou, I'm glad that I ran into you. You see, we are moving on."
"Moving on, Leader-sama?"
"Yes, we're done here. We're heading to a new place to gain more power." He always said that, they were always traveling to gain more power for the fight. No one really knew who they were fighting. "Prepare him for the travel, you will leave in two days. I will travel ahead." Shindou nodded.
As usual, he and the two boys that were on duty at the moment - Hikaru and Kariya - were sent outside while the Leader stayed with Kirino. They didn't say a word and tried to ignore their feelings of guilt as they waited. When the Leader finally came out, the silver necklace shone in the sun once more. The pink colour of the fourth pendant was a lot more intens than before, almost just as deep as the purple pendant. Shindou couldn't really be bothered by this though, as he was very concerned about Kirino.
He turned around to his juniors and told them to take a break. He would stay with Kirino. The two boys reluctantly agreed and then, Shindou was alone with Kirino. The merman looked even worse than before and Shindou couldn't compose himself anymore.
Staring at the merman's pale face, Shindou cried silently. He kept on murmuring the same thing over and over. "I'm sorry, Kirino. I'm so sorry."
The next day, Shindou walked like a zombie towards the tent. His feelings of guilt kept him awake last night. Again.
The Leader had already left and everywhere in the gigantic camp were signs of their departure in the near future. Tent's were cleared away, heavy objects were stacked on the chariots and the horses were brushed.
All of this commotion disappeared when the thick canvas closed behind him as he entered the tent. Shindou was surprised to find not only Tenma and Hikaru - who had been on duty - but also Kariya and Shinsuke there. They grouped together and stood side by side, opposite him. "Captain," Tenma started. He was probably chosen as spokesman. For a moment he seemed lost for words, but then he said loud and clear: "We don't want to do this anymore, Captain. We don't-"
Shindou quickly shut the boy up by forcefully covering Tenma's mouth with his hand. "Are you insane?" he hissed. "If anyone hears you say those words, you'll be dead." He retrieved his hand and sighed. "I know how you feel and I feel the same way. But disobeying the Leader's orders equals death."
"Tsch, so you are just a coward, aren't you?" Kariya said hatefully. Shindou sent him a stern look until the boy adverted his eyes and muttered: "I'm sorry."
"I thought so too," Shindou said sternly. "As for what I said earlier, disobedience leads to death. That is a risk I won't allow any of you to take. I'm not sure if I should tell you, but I believe that you deserve to know. Tonight, after the moon sets, I'll take Kirino and run from the Army. I will take him to a safer place. You have to tell everybody that I ran, that I attacked you by surprise and overpowered you. When you woke up, Kirino and I were gone. You got that?"
It remained silent for a moment as the information sank in. Then came the protests.
"No way."
"We won't let you do that, Captain."
"We'll help you."
"Stop it!" Shindou hissed again, because the other boys were talking way too loud.
Tenma continued in a softer tone. "We won't just sit back and let you endanger yourself." The determination shone in his eyes.
"And I won't let you risk your life for this," Shindou replied. "You are staying here and that's an order!"
Silence hung in the air as both sides stood there, neither one planning on giving in. The tensed atmosphere was eventually broken by Kariya.
"You're stupid, Captain," Kariya said in a calm tone. Shindou slightly backed away at the younger one's words. "Do you really think that we'll agree with your plan? How were you planning to get past the guards? What will you take with you and what will you leave behind? How are you getting the key to release Kirino?" he continued and Shindou realized that he hadn't even thought of that.
"You're right," he admitted. "Then again, I really want to ask you to reconsider this. None of us might make it out alive."
"I'm in," Shinsuke and Tenma exclaimed in unison and Hikaru nodded in agreement.
"Kariya?" Shindou asked. Up until now, the teal haired boy was the only one that hadn't agreed.
"He saved my life," Kariya muttered in reply. When he looked up, his eyes shone with determination. "I think it's time to return the favor. Besides," he added airily, "you'll need someone to snatch the key from the Leader's tent, ne?"
He smirked and Shindou did the same.
"Yosh, minna. Tonight, we're going to do something that we should've done way earlier. We're gonna get Kirino out of here."
Me: They finally realized! ^^ Anyways, this chapter is less detailed than the ones before, because the story moved on too slow in my opinion. So yeah, not a lot of important stuff happened here... Well, there is one little thing. I'd like to hear your theories about the other one that the Leader mentioned. If anyone can guess it right, then... Yeah, dunno, then you're good at guessing maybe? Oh, and the Leader's necklace is also kinda important (just so you know).
Review please! Bye!