“Hurry!” Sakura demanded. “Don’t look back! Just move!”
Ivy’s legs burned as she willed herself forward. Even if she wanted to stop, which she without a doubt did, the demon had an unbreakable grasp around her hand and she knew that she’d rather run through the pain than be dragged along the forest floor. She was still trying to process the current chain of events while zigzagging through trees, grasping her books tightly against her chest. One minute Sakura was thirsting for a fight and the next the fox was flinging herself away from the man and snatching her hand, dragging her off as Ren called out behind them. They had fled from the town and into the forest where the girl was now doing her best to swallow down the taste of blood in her mouth as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other.
This was unfamiliar territory for Ivy. It was almost second nature for her to wait patiently for the woman to finish whatever scrap she may or may not have started. The demon took to fighting like a fish to water and she never backed down or lost. At least, not in the six years that the two had spent together.
So why were they running now? The concept filled her with dread. If Sakura was this manic, this desperate to get away from that man, then how dangerous was he? Still, sprinting and leaping over rocks and fallen logs wasn’t in her realm of normal and the girl’s body screamed in protest despite her mind pushing her to continue.
“Please slow down!” Ivy pleaded. “I can’t anymore! Why are we running?”
The fox didn’t seem to hear her. She was focused on what was ahead but also seemed distant, lost in a world far from where they currently were. For a split second, Ivy thought her eyes shined with tears, but it was gone quicker than the thought in her head could finish.
“Sakura! Please!” The girl screamed as her foot lodged into a hole and she crashed face first into the damp leaves and earth, her books shooting out in front of her. It should have been painful but the relief she felt was overwhelming.
Sakura’s hold refused to release during Ivy’s fall and the unexpected, sudden motion caused the woman to jerk back and fall on the arm that was holding the girl’s. She laid there on her back feeling her failure crush down like a boulder on her chest. The girl didn’t so much as twitch, afraid any movement would encourage another mad dash.
“Fuck!” the woman screamed at the sky obscured by swaying tree branches, her breathing heavy and labored. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
The two girls laid there gasping for air, their chests rising and falling erratically. Around them the forest was still and serene. Rays of sunshine peeked through the treetops and danced across the soil. The chattering of birds spilled from the high branches, satisfied with the world around them.
The demon longed to continue their escape but knew the limp body next to her was completely spent and wouldn’t be able to manage going any further. She was going to have to face this head on and she knew it would come faster than she was ready for. She heard the beating of wings long before she saw the shadow block out the sun above her momentarily. It then dropped down a mere stones throw on the ground before them.
“Sakura,” Ivy whispered looking up at the figure. “What’s going on?”
“Fuck,” she spit, making her way to her feet and stepping a fair distance away from the girl. “Let’s get this over with.”
Ivy stared at the man before her. She had seen angels before. They were partial to strutting around with their flawless faces and blonde hair, flaunting the snow-white feathers protruding from their shoulder blades while decked out in fancy Celestial Guard uniforms. She had bear witness to Sakura pummeling more than she could count into the ground with a malice that she seemed to only reserve for God’s special beings. But never had she seen wings so tremendous. Never had they looked like those of a raven.
It now made sense how that man was so stunning.
“You have not been an easy woman to find,” Ren stated, walking towards Sakura with a dazzling smile, his ebony wings folding behind him. “Three years. I’ve been looking for you and you’ve been running for three whole years. I’m surprised I even found you considering you’ve been a dozen steps ahead this whole time.”
A low growl rolled from the fox’s throat as her hand steadily made its way towards the glaive on her back. The angel stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow, his smile faltering.
“Seriously? You’re gonna use Raz’s glaive against me? Again? Back in town was understandable but now you’re just being unreasonable. You know I have no interest in fighting you.”
“Then go away and stop following me around all of Fonentine!” she demanded, her voice a venomous pleading.
Sorrow washed over Ren’s face and his tone dropped. “You don’t really mean that, Sakura.”
Her hands fell from her glaive to the daggers in her thigh holsters. One after another she hastily hurled them at the man who, with the robotic ease of familiarity, captured each blade and limply tossed them on the ground before the woman’s feet.
“Your knife skills have gotten better,” he sighed with the compliment, running his finger down the ruby encrusted handle of the last one before pressing it to his lips and tucking it away in his own belt next to a large hunting knife. “I’d have been in real trouble if you had actually tried.”
The fox glowered at the angel, semi delirious over her limited options when a snapping twig had her spinning on her heels. She snarled at the red eyed devil that had just walked up and was making his way towards a still fallen Ivy.
“Is this who we’ve been looking for?” he asked past Sakura, sounding bored.
Ren grinned, “Is she everything you imagined?”
Zero observed the ruthless demon with quiet indifference. “I assumed she wouldn’t be so… unpredictable.”
“That’s what makes her so exciting,” the man laughed.
The boy reached where Ivy lay, crouched down and offered his hand. “Are you alright?” he asked softly.
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Sakura wasn’t ignorant to the blush that brightened the girl’s cheeks as she laid her hand in his and was assisted to sitting. “Why do you have a devil?” she snapped at the angel.
“Cause he’s my little buddy,” Ren cooed. “Besides, he’s half devil so no need to worry over your little cherub there. She’s in safe hands.” He gave Ivy a friendly wave and received a shy wiggle of the fingers from her in return.
“There are no half devils. It’s impossible!” the woman protested. She looked back and forth at the angel and devil, not sure whether to believe him or not.
“That’s what we’ve always been told but trust me, you know I wouldn’t lie to you. It’s a long story but one I’m more than happy to discuss. We have a lot of catching up to do, after all,” he smiled, so very pleased with the outcome. “I heard you were traveling with a girl but never imagined that he would have been the one to find her and you would have come right to me.”
Sakura bent over and collected her knives, quickly sliding them back into their places. She was exhausted. The onslaught of one conflicting emotion after another had left her feeling lethargic and in no mood to continue what she knew would be an endless back and forth. “There’s no catching up and I didn’t come to you. I have absolutely no interest in being around you. Go away and leave us alone.”
His smile faded as he shook his head and took another step closer. “Stop, please Sakura. Why are you doing this?”
“Because you left!” The last bit of rage erupted from the fox demon before completely deflating. “You left,” she murmured. “I needed you and you left me.”
The confession stabbed through Ren, fracturing his senses. “That’s not fair,” he tried to argue but it came out a desperate plea.
“Nothing's fair,” Sakura said coldly, completely turning away.
“Wait!” the man grasped wildly for the words. “Let’s make a deal.”
“No.”
“We spar.”
“No.”
“If you win I’ll never bother you again.”
“No.”
“If I win we go with you.”
“No.” She moved to collect the girl on the ground.
“Then I’ll take Ivy!” Ren choked out, surprised at his own threat that absentmindedly spilled from his lips. One look at Ivy’s horrified and Zero’s slightly concerned expressions solidified his immense mistake.
Sakura froze, “What?” She slowly turned back towards the angel, refusing to believe she had heard him correctly. “What did you say?”
Ren steadied himself, already committed to his half-baked plan. “You heard me,” he sounded and held himself confidently all while resisting the urge to throw up. Fake it until you make it, he resolved. “I’ll take Ivy. Then you can run village to village, town to town, city to city chasing me.” This isn’t what he had wanted, but he was backed against a wall, any semblance of a strategy completely thrown out the window.
He couldn’t let her go.
Not again.
The demon stared at him incredulously. Her mouth gaped open and closed, a thousand words to say with nothing coming out. “Are you insane?” Finally spilled from her lips.
“I am,” he unsheathed his sword, his stance prepared to battle. “I’m not leaving without you again.”
It was all too much.
She couldn’t do it anymore.
Running was no longer an option.
So she would fight.
“I guess you won’t be leaving at all then!” The woman shrieked as she rushed forward in an instant, smashing her glaive into the man’s blade. The momentum pushed them back several meters before a barrage of lethal swings exploded. A melody of steel against steel sang out, reverberating from the trees as sparks danced with every blow.
She was manic, out of control, her body twisting and spinning as she slung the weapon at the angel, her legs whipping out to attack the parts of his body that he couldn’t defend. There was no real form or technique or consideration to the way her body moved, merely instinct.
Desperation.
He watched her; the raise of her elbows, the tilting of her waist, the placement of her feet. He blocked the blade but took the painful blows, noting the extent of force behind each one, adjusting himself to work his way a little further from them and towards gaining the upper hand. He waited, ocean eyes overflowing with elation.
Obsession.
Ivy sat transfixed, barely able to follow their attacks and movements. She had never seen Sakura fight so intensely, frenziedly, freely. The fox was an overwhelming warrior and it was bewitching to witness someone who could keep up with her, matching blow for blow. Still, she worried for the angel.
“Is he going to be okay?” She turned to Zero and was surprised at his blasé demeanor at the struggle not far off.
“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Or he dies. It’s up to him. He won’t hurt her though.”
“Are you sure?”
Zero faced her. “I’m sure,” he reassured.
Ivy melted in the heat of his gaze, feeling herself being devoured mercilessly. She gulped nervously. “Okay,” she managed weakly. “Good.”
“I’m not going to kidnap you,” he stated plainly, startling Ivy back into reality. “Ren’s an idiot.” He turned back towards the fight. “But I hope he wins. It’s nice around you.”
Ivy’s face burned and she quickly looked away. She silently chastised herself for becoming so flustered over the words and looks of some boy she just met. Sakura would be so disappointed by her flightiness. But the flame in her ribs was engulfing and she couldn’t make it stop.
The demon was in the throes of war against the angel, neither so much as showing any hint of surrender. Ren towered above her, forcing his sword down against her glaive as she crouched under its weight.
“Give up!” he growled. “I’m hungry. I know you are, too!”
“You are such a child!” She pushed her arms behind her head, causing the man to lean forward along with his blade. She kicked her right leg up and connected with the hilt of his sword, shooting it from his grip and into the sturdy trunk of a nearby tree. Ren leapt back, barely avoiding her left leg from colliding with his gut.
Oh!
He had misjudged just how much stronger she would be now.
Zero had her figured out at first glance.
The woman was still totally unpredictable.
How he had missed it.
“Huh. Well, that’s unfortunate,” he mused, realizing he didn’t have enough time to retrieve his weapon before the fox would undoubtedly lay the final blow. “Let’s try this.”
Sakura had returned to her feet just as Ren swept his massive wings forward, kicking up the dust and debris on the ground and into her face.
“Seriously?!” she screamed. “You fucking cheater!” Frantically, she tried to clear the cloud of dirt and leaves from her face in order to regain vision. Her meager attempt was cut short as a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and she was launched into the air. The glaive quickly slipped from her loosened grip onto the ground as she floated further and further away.
“Should have established those rules in the beginning,” Ren taunted as his wings pumped around them, pushing them closer to the clouds.
“Fine! I’ll play by your rules!” Dagger like canines ripped through the man’s left bicep and his warm blood ran like rivers down his arm.
“No biting!” he yelped, trying to pull away from the demon’s jaws. She felt his hold go slack and she used the opportunity to wriggle away from his grasp.
She had been here before.
Plenty of times.
But this time was different.
There was a moment of clarity that Sakura had never felt. A simple feeling where everything in herself was clear and free from any outside influence. As she fell, her body weightless and her hair whipping violently in front of her, she noticed Ren getting smaller and realized that she didn’t always make the best decisions in life. And this, this was definitely one of the worse. She had vowed to herself to never put herself in a situation that required her to be saved. And yet, here she was. She reached out, allowing herself to give in for the first time in years.
“Ren!”
The dark-haired angel calmly floated, watching the wild mess of red fall farther and farther from the sun and closer and closer to the ground. He smiled, feeling victorious. “You stubborn, stubborn woman. That was quicker than I thought it’d be,” and he plunged after her.
She felt the earth pulling her near. Her arms opened wide, eyes fluttered closed, and she accepted her defeat.
A familiar hold curled around her waist once again and a strong beating of wings took her back into the sky. Sakura opened her eyes, greeted by blue orbs and a reckless grin.
Ren leaned forward, pressing his lips to her ear, whispering. “I’d have been in real trouble had you actually tried.”