Kaori looks down as she stood at a short distance behind Tai, then turns back around in attempt to face him, quickly realizing that Tai already had his attention fixated on the distant horizon with an aloofness about him. “Did he see me crying? How embarrassing,” She feels her face become warm with embarrassment, causing her to hold her head low as means to hide it.
“Guess Breeze was playing dress up with you earlier,” he remarks nonchalantly, his tone devoid of any discernable emotion.
“I enjoyed it,” she replies softly, being careful to properly contain her emotions. “She told me that if I couldn’t find my home then I could stay here.”
His eyes narrow, showing a hint of suspicion in his expression. “Do whatever you want. Just don’t cry around me anymore it’s annoying.”
“I’m sorry. It just came out,” she says looking more irritated with herself than anything. “I thought coming out here would make it stop.” Her fingers fidget nervously in front of her as she continued on. “Guess it didn’t work.”
“Have you ever seen the sunrise before?” he asks indifferently, abruptly changing the subject.
“That’s a weird thing to ask so suddenly.” She shakes her head, her gaze still lowered. “Not from a place like this I think. Do you watch the horizon often?”
“No... But I saw you come up here on my way back and had to make sure you didn’t do anything stupid like jump ship,” Tai replies matter-of-factly.
“Do you really think I’d do such a thing?” she asks with palpable disappointment in her voice at his remark.
“You’re the idiot who ran into the forest alone and nearly died, so I wouldn’t put it past you,” he quickly retorts.
“His words are harsh, but I guess it’s his way of showing he cares?” She feels a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, realizing the hidden warmth and concern behind his unsympathetic tone.
He stands at her side silently, both looking out at the sunrise silently over what seemed to be water in the far-off distance.
“Thank you,” she says peacefully, her eyes seeming calmer than they were earlier.
“For what?” he asks in response, yet not seeming to care whether she answered or not.
She starts to say something but is stopped by what sounded like Keiji, his voice distant and somewhat muffled.
“Have you got your report this morning?” Keiji’s voice says steadily.
Tai rolls his eyes in irritation, looking away from the sunrise. “You do know when I’m ignoring you right?” he asks crossly.
“Were you?” Keiji’s voice asks innocently. “Mind coming down to the Control Room? And if you see Miss Kaori on your way, please escort her as well. Breeze said she wasn’t in her room,” Keiji’s usual calm tone hinting at a touch of playfulness and understanding as he spoke.
“Fine.” He touches his collar lightly then starts leaving down the steps, turning to Kaori as he noticed she wasn’t following. “Captain’s orders.”
She sighs with a tinge of disappointment, then turns and follows after Tai, walking at a slow pace with him down the quietly creaking halls.
Tai opens the door to the control room as they reached it, walking in with Kaori right behind him, subtly ensuring the door stayed open for her before turning to look at Keiji.
Keiji turns from the window seeing Kaori for the first time since she’s changed clothes. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” she responds politely.
“I see Breeze convinced you to change. Are you comfortable?” Keiji asks with genuine interest in his kind eyes.
“Yes, I am,” she says with a nod.
Keiji smiles in return to her answer. “Good. It suits you as well.” He turns his attention to Tai. “Have you found anything?”
Tai takes a small pouch from his belt and tosses it toward Keiji, who in turn caught it gracefully. “Only an uproar about Akiko. Rumors are spreading that she was kidnapped by Yaban, wanted by the New Reform. Temple isn’t too pleased, and it’s only a matter of time before the Emperor finds out. Nothing really all that new.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less,” Keiji says with a calm smile. “Seems they believed Miss Kaori here to really be Akiko.”
She places her hands in front of her, entangling her fingers nervously as she looked down, barely able to properly pay attention to them.
Keiji looks at the door as it swung open showing Breeze walking in and cleaning off the blood from a small cut on her cheek.
“I’ve got someone in the engine room demanding to see Akiko,” Breeze says in slight annoyance, noticing the hateful stare from Tai glares as if he knew what she was talking about. “Don’t you give me that look,” Breeze says returning his same expression as she scolded Tai. “It was either bring them here or he would go to the Temple and tell them where the Homeland was,” she says seriously. “I’m not risking lives like that.”
Tai crosses his arms and looks over at Keiji. “We should just throw him off ship now, he wouldn’t survive a fall into the ocean.”
Keiji looks down thoughtfully. “Hmm...”
“What do we do? He’s talking about Kaori, but we can’t let her go back with him, can we?” Breeze asks worriedly.
Kaori glances at Keiji noticing his thoughtful expression. “He’s not really considering the other option, is he?”
Keiji nods lightly to himself. “There’s no way for him off this vessel. We can have a talk, but we won’t surrender Miss Kaori unless it’s what she wants.”
Kaori smiles gratefully in return.
Keiji returns a kind smile at Kaori before looking at Tai. “Tai, you’re coming too. It may help if you’re there to reassure him of the difference.”
Tai turns his hateful glare toward Keiji. “He pisses me off and I’ll take care of him myself,” he says angrily as he walked out of the control room first.
Breeze and Kaori stay behind a bit as Keiji went after Tai just as calmly as ever. “This isn’t going to be fun at all,” Breeze mumbles a small pout coming across her face before she turned her attention toward Kaori with slight reassurance. “You don’t have to do anything he wants, okay? If he doesn’t listen, we could always go with Tai’s plan,” she says encouragingly.
“Are you okay though?” Kaori asks worriedly, referencing the injuries on Breeze’s face.
She smiles brightly at Kaori’s worried expression. “No biggie. He won’t do it again, that’s for sure. Let’s go before he irritates Keiji.” She leads the way down the hall and down a set of stairs.
Kaori steps back hearing Vicious yelling angrily behind a door they had stopped at.
“You kidnapped her! I know she’s here don’t tell me she isn’t!!” Vicious yells loudly, the frustration in his tone very apparent.
Breeze kicks open the door dramatically, everyone including Shomei already in the room. “Hey! Didn’t I tell you no yelling?!”
Tai turns just as Breeze had kicked the door open and rolls his eyes at her comment with an irritated sigh.
Vicious stands in silence as he saw Kaori, his eyes wide yet showing relief. “Akiko. You’re alive.”
Kaori looks down, her hair falling over her shoulders gracefully as she avoided eye contact with Vicious while he spoke to her.
Vicious steps over to her looking worried, ignoring everyone else in the room. “Did they hurt you at all?”
“Who do you think you are, judging us like that?” Breeze says angrily while placing her hands on her hips.
“Akiko,” Vicious says cautiously, reaching out to touch Kaori. “It’s okay now, we can go on ahead with your journey now that I’m here.”
Kaori looks up suddenly, pure anger and frustration in her eyes just before she slaps Vicious hard, taking everyone one by surprise; Breeze covering her face in shock, Shomei letting out a slight gasp, Keiji seeming to smile slightly, and Tai’s eyes widening as he turned his gaze toward Kaori.
“K-... Kaori” Breeze stutters in shock.
Kaori stands with her hands clenched at her sides, looking at Vicious with a hard expression in her eyes, yet speaking with very little confidence as her tone wavered. “I’m not Akiko.”
Vicious keeps his head down silently, trying to process what just happened as he slowly placed a hand on his cheek.
“My name is Kaori. I will not go back with you to visit the Shrines. I’m here of my own free will, so whatever else you have to say doesn’t concern me.” She turns away and hurries out of the room quickly, her face red from the surge of emotions she had as she left without saying anything more.
Tai looks toward the door as Kaori left then looks at Keiji with full attention, as if he were talking to him. “Why me?” He asks bitterly.
“Rather stay here?” Keiji asks with a smile.
Tai glares at Keiji for a moment in response before leaving the room.
Shomei quietly steps toward Vicious then looks at Keiji as he had started speaking in a lighthearted tone.
“I told you we didn’t have Akiko here. If you asked for Miss Kaori, we would have been more than happy to tell you she was here,” Keiji says with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
Shomei sighs in tepid frustration at Keiji’s attitude. “Would you mind telling us what happened? How did she get to your ship?”
“Oh, I can answer that!” Breeze says excitedly while raising her hand for attention. “You see Tai found her in Bumi forest about to get killed by a Child of Sorrow’s demon. You know, if you really wanted her around you would have kept a closer eye on her.”
“I think the real problem was lying to her in the first place,” Keiji adds apathetically.
Shomei looks down at Vicious seriously continuing to speak toward Keiji and Breeze. “You know they will not want us to give up hope.”
“It’s not giving up hope if there’s another way. Besides, you’re not even sure if she is a reincarnation of a goddess, so what does it matter?” says Breeze with worry in her eyes.
Vicious looks at Keiji directly, his face still somewhat read where Kaori had hit him. “He knows, doesn’t he?”
“I’ve yet to ask,” Keiji says in a carefree tone. “Even if he does, I’m sure he wouldn’t tell even me. He’s not the type to easily follow orders after all.”
“He’s right. Good luck getting that kind of information out of him,” Breeze adds with a slight scoff and a wave of her hand.
“I don’t understand why you keep someone like him around, and even trust her to be alone with him,” Vicious says, his tone heavy with accusation.
“What do you really want from us?” Breeze asks seriously, changing the subject before she felt herself become angry. “You heard what she said, she’s not going back with you two on your little quest toward human sacrifice.”
“If you throw us off this ship you know what will happen,” Vicious replies ominously.
Keiji’s eyes narrow to an unfamiliar look of seriousness. “Well then, it’s time we talk seriously.”
❀
Tai walks down the hall where the bedrooms were, seeing Kaori’s door slightly open prompting him to walk over and knock on the door lightly.
“I’m not here,” she says quietly.
He opens the door a bit more seeing Kaori sitting on the bed with her knees to her chest and her head down. “Obviously,” he says plainly as he looked at her, letting himself in casually before closing the door behind him with a soft click.
“What do you want?” she mumbles dismissively.
“For some reason Keiji wanted me to check on you.” He crosses his arms lightly and looks away, looking as if he wanted to leave as he noticed her apathy toward him yet ultimately making up his mind to stay and sighs quietly. “I don’t know why you’re sitting here pouting. You’ve done what Breeze has been wanting to do for years.”
“I lost my temper. It’s not something I should feel proud about,” she mumbles solemnly, regret lingering in the air.
“I’m not telling you to feel proud of anything. It was a weak hit anyway,” Tai casually replies.
She lets go of her knees and turns around facing Tai, her expression now agitated. “If you’re going to make fun of me you could leave the room you know”
“I’m not making fun of you; I’m stating a fact. Learn to take criticism for what it is.”
She raises and eyebrow as she stared at him questioningly, trying to decipher his intentions.
“If you really wanted to get your point across you would have hit him with a purpose.”
“What are you...” Her voice trails off, puzzled by his statement.
“A fist you idiot. When you want to get your point across you use your fist. If you’re going to hit someone you need to make a big enough impact to leave a mark. Or else what’s the point?” he adds in frustration as a response to her expression.
She looks at him for a moment unable to suppress a small smile that came across her face. “You’re strange,” she says simply, shaking her head dismissively at his angry glare. “I’ll try to remember that next time.”
He catches her now calm expression and quickly turns away, fixing his gaze elsewhere.
“What?” she asks curiously, noticing his abrupt shift in attention.
“Nothing,” he replies stoically, his attention then drawn to the sound of Keiji’s voice which spoke seemingly distantly.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Please come to the control room. Someone has decided to have a civilized discussion but we would like Miss Kaori’s input. It does pertain to her after all,” Keiji’s voice says in a strangely serious tone.
“Got it,” Tai responds passively, then looks toward Kaori once more.
“Captain’s orders?” She asks softly, following after him as he led the way to the control room as directed and sees everyone already gathered there. She slowly moves her eyes toward Vicious and stares at him before bowing apologetically. “I’m sorry I hit you,” she says suddenly.
“Yeah,” Vicious says rubbing his face a little. “It’s okay I guess,” he mumbles in response.
Keiji walks over to Kaori and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Miss Kaori, we have come up with a proposal for you. We shall take you the city as you wanted. If you happen to find what you’re looking for feel free to stay. However, if you don’t... We would like you to go to the palace to meet the emperor of Lotus City. He has requested your audience, but we will gracefully deny until we are sure you are not from where you believe yourself to be. Of course, the trip to Lotus Empire will also be used to see if you are familiar with that area as well. Is this something you can agree to?”
Kaori looks toward Breeze, seeking reassurance.
“If you’re lucky you might see someone you know some where right?” Breeze offers supportively.
Kaori looks back at Keiji and nods once. “I agree.”
“Very well,” Keiji says lightly then looks at Vicious. “As for you, you’re more than welcome about this airship but you will remain under my command if you choose to do so. As long as Miss Kaori here follows through with her end, you shall never speak of the location for as long as you are alive. If you do... Well, I’m afraid Tai has a hard time listening to orders, especially regarding controlling his behaviors.”
Tai shoots a dangerous and warning glare toward Vicious, his eyes holding a silent threat.
“Fine,” Vicious replies with resignation.
“That takes care of that! On to more pressing matters!” Breeze says lightly, hurrying to a control panel to pull up a holographic screen on the window. “I’ve got good news and bad news about the island. Good news is we arrive tomorrow, bad news is the ship won’t go to the center where the city lies.”
Shomei looks at Breeze curiously. “It’s an airship though.”
“This thing took forever for us to get in the air, do you think we want it shot down?” Breeze asks sarcastically.
“Suppose not,” Shomei mumbles softly in response.
“Please just leave me as close as possible and I can find my own way from there,” Kaori says simply toward Keiji, her tone resolute.
“We can’t, in good conscience, let you go alone. We want you safe after all,” Keiji responds as he moved away toward Breeze.
“That’s very nice of you,” she says kindly. “I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.”
“We’ll be going down there too,” Vicious says suddenly.
Tai looks at him with irritation. “You’ll just be in the way. You might as well stay here.”
“Me being in the way is the least of your worries now. Anywhere she goes I’ll be right behind her to make sure she’s okay. If you don’t like it, you can go back to that waste land,” Vicious says coldly.
Tai balls up his fist, stepping toward Vicious with an intent to hit him until Kaori stepped in the way. “Move,” he says harshly, staring down at her with coldness in his eyes.
Kaori shakes her head, not making direct eye contact with Tai. “No,” she replies in a wavering voice, unsure of herself.
Breeze stops what she was doing to see what was happening, then looks at Keiji with interest for a moment, and back at Tai silently.
Kaori looks up at Tai’s angry expression, the hesitation in her eyes apparent as he glared down at her.
“You’re a real piece of work you know that,” Tai says angrily, then turns his irate expression toward Vicious just before turning to walk out the door, stopping for a second before walking out.
Kaori sighs a little in relief to herself after Tai had left and looks down, her thoughts drowning out everyone else who was talking around her. “What is his problem? How can he be so nice to me one second then so cold the next? I really don’t get his quick changes in character.”
“What do you think Kaori?” Breeze asks curiously, turning back to Kaori, confused as she didn’t answer her. “Kaori?”
“Huh? Oh,” Kaori shakes her head. “Yes?”
Breeze looks at Kaori worriedly. “We were talking about the route there if it’s all clear, we’d like to just get in and out if at all possible.”
“I-” Kaori stops, everyone being caught off guard as the ship jerked so hard that Kaori fell forward on her hands along with Vicious and Shomei while Keiji and Breeze fell forward on the control panel.
“The hell?” Breeze orients herself and quickly pulls up a hologram on the window, Keiji straightening himself out to see what Breeze had pulled up.
Keiji touches the side of his collar with a stern expression as he saw the outline of a long dragon start flying near them. “Hellion. I need you to take her now.”
Shomei gets up and hurries to Kaori’s side worriedly. “Are you alright?” She asks with concern as she helped Kaori stand on her feet.
Kaori nods a little. “What was that?”
“It’s a hellion,” Shomei says seriously. “Freed from the depths of hell to cleanse Noroc.”
“Who would free something like that?” Kaori asks in disbelief, then turns to the door as Tai ran in before her question could be answered.
“Seems like he’s finally found out where she is.” Tai says urgently, locking eyes with Keiji.
“Take her out of here. We need to get the ship somewhere safe,” Keiji asserts firmly addressing Tai.
“Wait a minute-” Vicious says in an attempt to interject.
Breeze shoots an impatient glare at Vicious. “Now’s not the time for an argument Vicious. We only have one escape route, and you knew it was hers.”
“In any event, we will need you here to try and help us hold it off until we reach a safe drop point. If you’re not up to the task you can jump ship now,” Keiji says blatantly.
Vicious lowers his proud gaze down and nods just as the ship jerked hard again. “Fine.”
Keiji turns his attention back to Tai with a nod. “Tai.”
“I’m on it,” Tai says quickly and grabs Kaori by her arm tightly and pulling her with him out of the room, hurrying as fast as he could down the halls with Kaori stumbling behind him with the ship shaking violently from not only several attacks but also from the abrupt turns to avoid further damage.
She tries her best to keep up with Tai but falls against the wall as the ship turned hard, and slumps to the floor as it eventually started to lose altitude. She looks down as the ship gave way under her and starts falling to the ground. “No!!” She cries out in fear, her hand outstretched toward Tai as she fell.
He jumps out of the ship toward her without a moment of hesitation as they started closing in on the ocean below. He makes his way toward her, instinctively wrapping his arms around her and turning over in attempt to lessen the impact on Kaori as they both crashed into the water just before they were hit by an orb of darkness that came from the gaping maw of the colossal black dragon. He winces in pain, immediately losing his protective grip on Kaori once the water consumed them.
Kaori feels the air being knocked from her lungs as soon as the water hit her, sharp pain coursing through her entire body from the impact the fall had on her despite Tai’s attempts. “I can’t breathe. My body hurts so much.” She opens her eyes slightly with a grimace of agony seeing a glimpse of Tai at a distance from her, his hand outstretched in attempt to swim toward her with a combination of pain and determination on his face, the air quickly escaping him the closer her got to her. She lets the last breath she held escape her as if calling out to him with her hand weakly attempting to close the distance between them. “I... Can’t reach you...” She closes her eyes lightly, surrendering to the darkness unconsciousness offered her.
❀
Kaori runs through a dimly lit hallway, her heart pounding with fear as she heard the ominous sound of heavy footsteps drawing closer to her.
“Find it now!!” A commanding voice bellows, reverberating through the empty corridors, sending a chill down Kaori’s spine.
Her gaze darts behind her, meeting the silhouette of a looming figure advancing toward her from the shadows. Despite the threat in his voice, there was a haunting calmness to his demeanor.
“There’s nowhere to run,” he says with a soft yet condescending voice as he cornered her at a dead end.
❀
Kaori regains consciousness, feeling the weight of her body pressing down on her as she struggled against the pain. With a grimace she opens her eyes, her vision blurred at first before gradually coming into focus. She notices movement that drew her attention quickly, seeing Tai soaking wet and on his hands and knees, gasping for breath.
Coughing lightly, Tai struggles to his feet on the hard stone ground near a looming cliff close to the ocean. He scans the area before his gaze settled on Kaori and makes his way toward her, holding his side in pain. His messy waterlogged hair drips down his face as he knelt down next to her, looking at her tiredly. “You alright?” he asks, a rough concern barely visible in his expression.
“I think so,” Kaori responds, attempting to sit up, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her arm as she did so. She instinctively grips it in pain, wincing in discomfort, unaware of her own soaking wet appearance.
He immediately notices the blood quickly seeping through Kaori’s clothes, sighing softly. “You must have hit something on the way down. How much does it hurt?”
She shakes her head, forcing a reassuring smile. “I’m fine really,” she insists, her expression failing to hide the pain she was feeling.
“Wait here,” he instructs before disappearing into the darkness of the nearby forest, leaving Kaori alone with her thoughts. He returns moments later with a pile of dried sticks that he tossed nearby between them, kneeling down, and hovering an open palm above the debris, starting a fire within the branches.
She watches the fire for a moment, her attention moving to her arm, the blood now seeping between her fingers. “It’s worse than I thought.” She stares at her hand with an empty expression, only looking up as Tai directed his full attention back to her.
He gets up, moving to kneel at her side, looking at her arm cautiously. “Pull your sleeve down,” he says quietly, making no attempt to touch her.
She unbuttons her jacket and pulls out her arm, wincing in pain as the fabric peeled away from her now obviously seen large, open wound on her bare shoulder just below the thin strap of her black tank top. “What are you going to do?”
“This will hurt for a while,” he says ignoring her question, his eyes carefully examining the severity of her wound.
“What will?”
He takes a small dark blue glass bottle from his pocket and opens it, looking at Kaori directly in the eyes before doing anything. “Fix it. Unless you want to keep bleeding.”
She shakes her head. “No.”
He puts his attention back on Kaori’s wound, tilting the small bottle and letting a few drops of an unknown liquid drip on her skin.
She watches her arm glow and feels a sharp pain as it slowly started healing before her eyes. “It burns,” she says in a shaky tone as she clenched her fists hard, trying her best to ignore the pain. “What is it?”
“It’s a potion Breeze makes. She creates it based on what type of injury the person has.”
She feels the pain pass, only seeing a bit of blood left over, but her arm completely healed. She looks down for a moment, speaking after Tai had stood up and looked around, checking where they were while she pulled her sleeve back up and buttoned her jacked to where it was before. “Did you...” Her voice fades off a little while she looked down, standing up steadily.
He turns and looks at her as she spoke, waiting for her to finish her thought.
“You jumped off the ship after me, didn’t you?”
“So?” He asks carelessly.
“Why did you do something like that?” Worry seeps into her voice, her concern of him clearly displayed across her face from the gentle glow of the fire before them.
He avoids her gaze, his attention shifting to the crackling fire. “Keiji made it a point that you are to be kept safe no matter what. I’m only following his orders,” he says dismissively, though underlying tension hanging between them.
“Don’t do anything so reckless again,” she says suddenly, her worry conflicting with gratitude. “You don’t know me well enough to risk your life for me.”
His hands find their way into his pockets lightly, his posture relaxed yet tense. “Nothing was risked,” he mumbles, a shadow passing over his features. “Anyway, I let Keiji know where we were,” he adds with a sigh before Kaori could realize what he said.
“Are they alright?” She asks with concern.
“They should be here by morning. Ask them yourself then,” he replies curtly, effectively cutting off the conversation between them.
Her frown deepens as she sighed, feeling a sense of disheartenment was over her. With heavy steps, she walks away from Tai and closer to the shore of the beach, drawn to the calming rhythm of the waves. Seating herself on the ground, she wraps her arms around her knees, her gaze fixated on the tranquil expanse of the ocean stretching out before her. “Things already are getting dangerous. I guess they were right to come along… I can’t say that Keiji and the others are treating me any more special than a normal person though. After all they seem like the type that really value life no matter who’s it is. But they seem to not like Vicious very much. I wonder why that is. Something to do with Akiko I bet.” A gentle breeze ruffles her long hair lightly, offering a moment of solace in the uncertainty she was trying to overcome.
He glances at Kaori for a moment, his attention drawn in the opposite direction at the sound of Keiji’s voice emanating from his unseen communicator from the collar of his jacket.
“How is she?” Asks Keiji’s voice in concern.
Tai takes a few steps further away from Kaori, ensuring his voice didn’t reach her. “I healed her wound, it seems to have reacted quicker than it should have. Other than that, she seems just as quiet.”
“It seems she feels comfortable enough to stay with us for the time being though. I’d say we’ve earned her trust at the very least,” Keiji remarks thoughtfully.
“It’s not something I care about,” Tai responds with little to no interest in continuing the conversation.
“Nonetheless we do need to care for her. Don’t we?” Keiji asks, his tone somewhat questioning.
“Keep your mind in the present,” Tai replies coldly, unaffected by Keiji’s soft laugh on the other end.
“Just be on guard tonight,” Keiji advises cautiously.
Tai looks back at Kaori once more with his usual unreadable expression, until his features shifted where he suddenly seemed more serious, as if he noticed something about her he couldn’t quite place.
She sighs lightly and gets up, going back to sit near the fire silently. “Aren’t you tired?” she asks Tai as he came to join her on the farther side.
“No,” he responds tersely.
She listens to the fire snapping as it burned. “Akiko and Vicious... Were they...” she hesitates, searching for the right words. “Together?” she finally asks, the uncertainty lingering.
“Something like that,” he replies critically.
“What do you mean?”
“From what I heard; they loved one another but she knew she would die in the end so... That’s that,” he explains, his tone showing no emotional response to the situation.
“Oh,” Kaori responds quietly, absorbing Tai’s words with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. She shifts uneasily, feeling the distance between them grow, despite sitting near one another. “Can I ask you, if you know what is it that is so dangerous on this island?”
He slowly looks up and stares at Kaori, not seeming to realize he was making her feel uncomfortable. “The New Reform,” he slowly turns his distant gaze toward the crackling fire. “There is a machine on this island designed to drain powers from those who have it. Keiji wanted you to reconsider in the event you are mistaken for Akiko and killed for no reason by the group called The New Reform; the people who rose up against the Temple’s teachings and believe the only way to attain peace is through war rather than meaningless worship.”
“Do you think I should stop here then?” She asks quietly, looking at him with a worried gaze.
He stays silent for a long moment, his eyes locked on the fire but his mind far away in thought. “It would be best to see for yourself at a safe distance. It might be a place you know but not one you’re from.”
She moves to lay down, her back facing Tai. “Where else would I be from...” she mumbles quietly, slowly drifting off to sleep.
He stares at the fire, in deep thought, hearing Kaori had fallen asleep soundly. He gets up after the fire had died down and walks to see a peaceful view of the ocean shore, turning quickly as he heard something in the distance behind him and places a hand on his sword, not able to turn around fast enough, resulting in getting stabbed in the side with a knife by a male dressed in a black jumpsuit and a bandanna hiding his face. He falls to his knees and looks at his hand, seeing his blood was a strange glowing blue color. “What the...”
The man stares at Tai with a cold look in his eyes, speaking in a hollow tone. “Coated in the blood of the innocent, made especially for you. Good luck recovering in time traitor.” He turns as a few people dressed similarly hurried from the darkness of the forest and surrounded Kaori, forcing her up. “We heard you were here but didn’t think the boss was telling the truth.”
Kaori is jolted awake, a new sense of pain and fear overwhelming her as her head was held up by a strong grip of her hair as two people detained her. “What’s going on here?! Let me go!” She tries to pull away hard, stopping all movement as she saw Tai on his knees bleeding badly, causing panic and worry to consume her.
“Let her go. She’s not-...” Tai’s voice strains as he attempted to intervene, falling forward on his hands, the immense pain radiating through him as he used one hand to grip his side tightly.
One of the captors chuckles, a sinister edge to the sound. “Funny how she’s with you isn’t it? You wouldn’t think us prepared but you see, the whole island is under surveillance, and we have been dying to try our newly developed technology on you and your friends. Now that we see it works... Well, we’ve taken care of one of our biggest problems.”
Tai coughs, wincing in pain as blood started to stain his lips. “Kaori...” he groans, his voice barely reaching a whisper, hearing her screams start to become distant. “Don’t...” he says weakly, using every bit of strength he had in an attempt to remain conscious.
“Let go of me!!!” Kaori’s voice echoes with desperation as she struggled against her captors, managing to land a kick and a punch on two of the men holding her before they seized her once more, keeping her from running toward Tai.
“Enough!” the unknown man snaps irritably as he picked Tai up by his collar, locking eyes with him. “She’s ours now,” he declares gravely before hurling a weakened and bloody Tai into the ocean, grinning as he saw a trail of blood wash away with the rough waves, carrying Tai deeper into the water.
“No!!!!” Kaori’s anguished cry echoes around them all as she watched Tai sink into the water, her outstretched hand desperately reaching out toward him as she struggled in the arms of the man restraining her.
“Silence her,” the man commands, followed by the swift action of an electric shock to Kaori’s side.
She feels a searing hot pain radiate through her entire body causing her to gasp just before crumpling to the ground unconscious.
❀
Kaori finds herself standing in a radiant familiar field of glowing flowers, the lights still falling down at a slow pace and placing themselves in an unlit flower. She steps forward slowly, hesitating as she felt a presence behind her. She remains still, a single darkened flower gathering her attention, even as a male spoke in a sullen tone weakly from behind her.
“Don’t,” he whispers desperately.
She keeps her head low, heavy with emotion and tears welling in her eyes. “Someone has to end it.”
“Please...” he pleads, his voice somewhat trembling.
❀
Kaori eyes flutter open slowly, greeted by a heavy darkness. “Where am I?” Confusion clouds her thoughts as she attempted to move, only to discover her hands bound above her head, the cold metal chains digging into her skin as she hung from the wall. She struggles against the restraints, her heart pounding in her ears as the heavy door nearby creaked open. With little light entering the room, she hears the sound of approaching footsteps followed by the deep voice of a man that cut through the silence.
“You surprised us, Akiko. We didn’t think you’d have Yaban with you,” his voice says with a tone of feigned familiarity.
Straining her eyes to adjust to the scarce light filtering into the room, she is able to discern the silhouette of a tall young man with jet-black hair and callous dark brown eyes. Clad entirely in black, a gun, similar to Breeze’s, holstered to his hip catches the faint glimmer of light. With a tremor in her voice, she finally breaks the tense silence. “Who are you?” she asks in a small voice that barely became a whisper.