Chapter 37
Kimura took great pleasure in watching Kuraigu frown as the wood smashed into the floor. His sword had torn into Kuraigu's side; he could see a trickle of blood running along the blade down towards his hands. Kuraigu turned to look at Kimura with a furious look. The bespectacled man didn't have time to react as one of Kuraigu's hands smashed into his face, sending him flying along the corridor.
He landed heavily and groaned. Pushing himself up from the floor, he watched as Kuraigu pulled the sword out from his side. The man studied it momentarily, as though bemused, before sliding it along the floor towards Kimura.
"I'll give you that Kimura, you certainly got the drop on me there" said Kuraigu. "A little deeper and I would have been in even more trouble. Unfortunately I'll be able to complete my mission before even thinking about getting treatment."
Kimura groggily leant down to pick up his sword. As he stood back up, he was smashed in the face with the hilt of Kuraigu's sword. He stumbled backwards, falling again, hitting the floor hard.
"I wouldn't normally be one to do things like that, but you did attack me before I'd even drawn my sword" said Kuraigu.
"W-what are you going to do with the girls?" asked Kimura, still groggy.
"That's a secret" said Kuraigu, tutting in an annoying manner.
"Well…" started Kimura.
He was cut short as Kuraigu swung the sword and tore into Kimura's stomach. Kimura gasped out in surprise, his glasses falling to the floor. Kuraigu looked down, staring straight into the injured man's eyes. He gave a large smile.
"Sorry about that" he said, mimicking Kimura.
Kimura slumped down to the floor as the intense burning pain ran throughout his body. Kuraigu placed the tip of his sword on the ground, watching the blood trickle down to the floor. He turned, signalling for the two men who remained to follow him, and bring Yomi and Kagura with them. The marched forwards, shoving the two tied girls forward.
"Well I'm afraid I have to go now" said Kuraigu. "I'd recommend finding some place to hide; another group of my men might come across your weak body. You'd be a very easy kill" stated the man.
"J-just leave the girls unharmed" said Kimura.
"I'm afraid that I can't promise anything. Well apart from the fact that the next few hours are going to be very interesting indeed. Perhaps even more interesting that what has already occurred."
He picked the sword back up and sheathed it. He marched towards the stairways, looking upwards. He barked an order at one of the men who approached Kimura with his sword out.
"Leave him to die here" said Kuraigu. "Follow me up to the roof."
"Yessir!" replied the two men.
Kimura was sprawled across the floor, watching Kuraigu disappear from view. The two men followed, pulling the girls with them. He could just about make out Yomi's concerned look as she vanished from view. That was nice of her, he thought. And then all he could hear was the echoing footsteps as they marched up towards the roof.
Soon it was quiet again; the only noise breaking the silence was Kimura's pained breathing. As he sat in contemplation he heard footsteps again. He wondered if they had decided to come back and finish him off. Well he was finding his second wind…
"Crap!" he called out as he tried to move, sharp pain streaking across his stomach. That second wind appeared to be more of a faint breeze, or possibly a silent fart.
"Kimura sensei!" cried out Tomo as she burst into view, battling to remove cobwebs from her hair. She sat down beside him, looking across at the wound tentatively. "D-does it hurt?" she asked as she placed her weapon on the floor.
"Actually it's like the touch of a red rose to my cheek- of course it hurts!" said Kimura, groaning as he moved.
"What happened?" asked Tomo. She looked over at the bodies of Kimura's former attackers, who had expired from an extended period of blood loss. "Who did this to you?"
"I think…I think it was the leader" replied Kimura. "I stabbed him, but that bastard stabbed me harder. Took off and went to the roof. He left me to die I think."
Tomo looked to the stairway. She paused for a moment.
"Should I go get help?" she said aloud to herself. She was directing the question at herself, not Kimura. The man shifted his head to look at the girl. If only she was wearing a skirt…
"There's one more thing" he said as he pressed down on his wound.
"What's that?" asked Tomo.
"He has…he has Yomi and Kagura" stated Kimura. "And he has two other men with him."
"They got Yomi?" asked Tomo. Kimura heard the worry in her voice. "Guess it's up to me to rescue her, make her look bad" she added, trying not to sound afraid.
"I assume you aren't going to wait for help are you?" asked Kimura.
"No" said Tomo standing back up. "I just follow these stone steps right?" she asked.
"Yeah" said Kimura. "Good luck. Don't die up there."
"I won't" said Tomo. "Stay here, I'll be back to help you soon" she stated.
She drew a kunai blade from her weapons pouch and checked it. Needed to have backup weapons. Having rested the small sword Kimura had given her earlier on the floor she picked it back up and charged towards the stairs. Alas stealth had yet to make it into her dictionary. Kimura rested his head back as his student vanished from view.
"She could have got me a bandage before leaving" he grumbled to himself.
Yomi yelled at the men as they shoved her and Kagura into a strange oversized rope mesh net. Both yelled out as they were pushed over the edge of the tall building by one of the grinning henchmen. They jolted to a stop, held in place by a single piece of rope. Yomi couldn't see far down in the darkness, but she knew if they were to fall a splat would be involved.
"Any plans Kagura?" she whispered to the athletic girl leaning on her.
"Try and survive" replied Kagura. "I just don't know how to do that though."
Yomi peered out towards the roof as Kuraigu started to place burning torches into stands, illuminating the roof. He lit the final torch, an interrupted circle of fire surrounding him. He looked towards the stairs with a gleeful look.
"At least he isn't crazy" muttered Yomi to herself. She gripped the rope with one hand as the net swung again. She would much rather be sitting another exam. Or even listening to an extended period of boasting from Tomo. She guessed if she were to survive this, never again would she have to worry about failing exams. Exams would seem like nothing compared to this...she expected.
"What now?" asked one of the men.
"Well first of all I want to know if this fall would be fatal" said Kuraigu.
"How will you find that out?" asked the man. His leader smiled.
The man yelled out as Kuraigu picked him up. He started kicking against the ground as he was dragged towards the edge of the roof. They came to a stop, both men looking down over the edge.
"Ha funny joke sir" said the man.
"If I was joking you'd be laughing" replied Kuraigu, pushing the man off the edge. Yomi turned away as he fell screaming into the darkness. She heard a dull thud from below. Thankfully it was too dark to see anything.
"Are you alive?!" called out Kuraigu. "Call up if you are still breathing!"
No reply came. Kuraigu turned and clapped his hands. He moved away from the precipice as his remaining henchman looked on in shock. The small man moved back slightly as his leader got closer.
"Well I guess that proves it's fatal enough" he said to himself.
"S-so what do we do now?" asked the remaining man.
"We wait of course" replied Kuraigu. "We wait."
"Wait for who?" asked the man, glancing around nervously while trying to keep out of reach.
"Wait for the one person I want to meet very much" said Kuraigu. "Unfortunately I plan on this being a one on one battle" he stated as he threw two shuriken, one to the face and one to the neck. The small man fell to the floor, gurgling and twisting in pain before falling silent.
Kuraigu paid no attention to the dying man, merely turning to face the stairway.
Tomo came to a momentary stop, leaning down and taking in gulps of air. If she'd know there was this many floors she wouldn't have tried sprinting from the start. She coughed and looked upwards. How many more stairs could there be? She'd never been up this high before; many of the higher floors were off limits to students. If it wasn't for the attack she could have time to explore. It never crossed her mind that if there wasn't attack, she wouldn't be here in the first place.
She wondered who it was who was attacking them? And why did they have to take Yomi and Kagura. That jerk! Didn't he know that they were friends of hers! And making her have to go up all these stairs. She grumbled to herself.
"How many more stairs?" she asked aloud.
Two more floors later and she found herself staring at the exit to the roof. She could see a faint orange hue coming from the roof. She gripped the small sword Kimura had given her as she stepped out onto the roof. She saw a body on the floor- her heart raced even as she saw it wasn't Kagura or Yomi. A short distance away a man stood, looking straight at her.
"Welcome Tomo Takino. I've been waiting for you."