Andromeda

“Yuki!” Saki screamed as she lost hold of him to the ground. She had been so caught up with Ayumi and what had been happening with the assassin that she had completed forgotten how injured Yuki truly was. The mistake was hers thinking that this was just another bully looking to hurt and push Yuki into the ground. This was much worse than that. It was a life and death struggle between them and Yuki had lost, but against the fantastic powers Saki had seen it did not seem like he even stood a chance.

Yuki was lying on the ground bleeding out into the grass faster now than before as though something had been holding him back before. Saki dropped to the ground next to him panicking quickly over all of the different injures that he had not sure where she should begin. ‘He’s bleeding too fast and too much. I don’t know what to do. I need to do something, but what? What do I do?’ She grabbed his tattered uniform in her arms leaning over him starting to cry a little. “Yuki! What do I do? I was…I was…”

A supportive hand came down on Saki’s shoulder breaking her away for a moment to bring her stare up. Saki could feel a calming strength coming from her that seemed to stop her tears for the time being. However, Ayumi then pushed Saki off Yuki looking stern at her. “You’re in the way.” Ayumi placed her hand on Yuki’s chest, but was interrupted by Saki.

“In the way?! Now listen to me. I don’t care who you are and if you have crazy powers that just saved him. You aren’t touching him. We have to take him to a hospital immediately!” Saki pushed Ayumi away from Yuki and started to slide her arms underneath Yuki to carry him away, but Ayumi grabbed both of her arms before much could be done. “What do you think you’re doing? Yuki’s going to die if nothing is done!”

“Exactly. If you stop the hysterics and let me heal him that won’t happen.”

“Heal him? How? What are you talking about?”

“This is an emergency, but I can create what I need to heal him.” Ayumi let go of Saki seeing that she had her attention for the moment. She folded up her legs underneath her and closed her eyes.

‘Heal? Create? What is going on? Can she really help, Yuki?’ Saki held off from doing anything seeing something from Ayumi’s eyes that spoke to her. She could not understand it anymore than the rest of the things that were happening. So many things were beyond her right now. She had been brought here by Ayumi when she was out searching for Yuki. Now she was dragged into some strange world that she knew nothing of.

Chapter 7 – Death’s First Taste

Saki knew that there was something wrong with him ever since Ayumi had talked to Yuki. She could not hear what they had said and Yuki was too out of it to give her anything when she had reached him. Then he had just run off when Hiroshi arrived distracting her. ‘I’m not leaving it at that.’ She glared at Hiroshi in frustration for making her lose Yuki before she could really talk to him. “Hiroshi!”

She pulled Hiroshi in by his uniform once more looking down at him with a burning anger that was making Hiroshi cry like a baby not to be hurt again. “Hey, hey, HEY! S-Saki!” He did not know what had gotten into her and only hoped to be saved from the pain. “Saki?! What did I do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Saki raised up her free hand preparing to run her fist through his face only making Hiroshi turn blue again. She could not think or restrain herself anymore needing to let go of raging emotions inside her. Hiroshi was the perfect target and her fist was going to be so happy when it reached his face. Her arm let go of the tensed muscles and the fist flew through the air with Hiroshi closing his eyes to avoid seeing it.

Next to Saki, Yumi stepped up quietly looking around the grounds lost and worried. “Where’s Yuki? Wasn’t he with you, Saki?” she said up to Saki in mid swing.

“Huh?” Saki stopped her fist only a split second before hitting Hiroshi and let him go. Her mind finally started to be activate again thinking about what it was she needed to be at that moment. “Yuki!” She looked down at the whimpering ball of jelly called Hiroshi and turned away uninterested. Saki dashed off in the direction that she believed Yuki had gone disappearing before her friends knew what happened.

“Hey, you alright, man?”

Hiroshi could not put together two words leaving his friends a little pale as well. “That’s Saki goes overboard whenever it’s about Yuki. Poor Hiroshi how many times does this make?” One of his friends looked over at the other uncertain what to do with Hiroshi coming to the conclusion that it was best to leave him be.

“I don’t keep track of those things. If she’s so into him she should say something and quit hiding behind her fists.”

“I don’t think it is so straightforward as that.”

“You know something? Those two have been like that since the beginning of the school year.”

“I don’t really know much. Just that they have some history from their last school.”

Saki ran around the school almost completely before she came to a stop to look around. She was breathing lightly still with only her uncertainty speeding up her heart at this point. ‘Yuki’s nowhere in sight. He couldn’t be this far away. But he could be anywhere.’ The school was big and lunch would be ending quickly if she did not find him soon. She had to find out what had happened to Yuki to have him so troubled. “Yuki! Where are you?” It seemed like a futile effort since he did not want to be found, but she could not think of anything else.

“Saki Furukawa!” a voice from behind Saki clearly announced. It was difficult to tell if it was a declaration or a shout for attention. Either way Saki had no choice but to turn and find out what the person wanted.

The moment their eyes met Saki’s features narrowed severely. “Ayumi Nishimura…” she said softly not directing it towards the girl, but more acknowledging her to herself. ‘The new girl. The girl that spoke to Yuki. What did she say to him? I’ll make her speak…’ Saki stepped forward to close the distance between the two slowly not to alarm the girl. At her side Saki’s fist was tightening held back by the need to know what had happened.

Ayumi remained unmoved from her original space looking a little different somehow from what Saki remembered from class and her introduction. It might have only been a few hours, but there was something that was leaving her unsettled. “Saki Furukawa, do you wish to protect him?”

“Protect him? What are you talking?” Saki could not hold her composure any longer now that the new girl had spoken. She stopped walking almost leaning in toward Ayumi from the distance. “What did you say to Yuki?”

“It’s a simply question. Do you wish to protect him?”

“What’s that have to do with anything right now? Answer me! What did you say to him?”

“He’s in danger right now.”

That single sentence was enough to bring a halt to every motion in Saki’s body. Saki did not know what was wrong with Yuki, but there was something else that seemed to be conveyed through to her that gave her sense of dread. It was like she could feel the words. None of it made any sense to her least of all was the heavy weight that suddenly pressed on her, a pressure that pulled at her skin and slowed her movements. There was blood in the air painted with a thick brush almost like death was wrapped around her. ‘Why am I getting this strange feeling from her? It’s almost like I can sense death in the air. It doesn’t make sense.’ Saki pulled back slightly still feeling the cold blade of death at her throat laughing to itself in twisted pleasure. “Where’s Yuki? Who’s hurting him?”

“Follow me…”

Ayumi’s body glowed once more like before releasing a blue wave from where she sat, but there was no snow this time. It seemed that Ayumi was ready opening her eyes once more and lifted up her hands from her lap. As her hands rose up there were glowing specks in the air that gathered together at the over turned palms. Ayumi continued gather these blue particles waiting over Yuki’s body until there had been enough brought together.

The sight before Saki made any reservations that she had disappear in an instant. She could not understand what Ayumi was doing, but it was like before that she had seen. ‘What is this power that she has?’

The blue glowing from Ayumi’s hand passed from her to Yuki’s body surrounding him in a blue aura that ran through every pore of his body. Soon the wounds that he had sustained from the fighting began to glow brightly emitting the same particles that Ayumi had been gathering. Threads of the mysterious energy spun and weaved together becoming visible connected to her fingers. The thin strains played in the wind and turned about diving back inside as the wounds disappeared becoming only shallow pools of blood replacing the dark crimson of the wounds.

Saki did not know what to say at the sight that she saw performed by Ayumi, but she could tell that Yuki was no longer in danger of dying. Once Ayumi pulled back and the blue energy was fading away Saki tempted her right hand to feel Yuki. She placed her hand on his chest where the wound had looked fatal and rubbed the blood away checking the wound. However, all she could do was keep wiping the blood no longer finding any sign that he had even been cut let alone in danger. She looked up to Ayumi who was letting go of a fatigued breath. Saki worked up a relieved smile for her. “Thank you, Ayumi.”

“This isn’t a perfect fix. He’ll still feel tired from the loss of blood and weakness from the mending, but otherwise he’ll be fine in a few days.” Ayumi started to stand up, but was held in place by a hand. The two girls looked down in surprise to see that Yuki had awakened.

“Yuki!” Saki said glad to see him moving again.

“What happened?” he said slowly looking to Ayumi for answers. His mouth felt dry and rough for some reason and his body was stiff, but everything else in his mind seemed a little hazy. He kept a tight hold on her unknowingly.

“You had me worried.”

Yuki looked over finally feeling someone else touching him and seeing that it was Saki’s hand against his chest and her leaning in closely at him. ‘Saki!’ He would have leapt up in surprise if he could get his body to move. “What are you doing here, Saki?”

Relieved or not, it was an insulted to her and Saki could not hold herself back as her left hand moved on its own to punch Yuki in the head.

“What was that for?” Yuki said in shock holding the top of his head in pain feeling like he was suddenly forgetting something important. He looked inquisitively at both girls wanting some answers that were apparently missing.

Saki stood up leaning down over top of him nearly shouting through his ear. “What do you mean ‘What was that for’? What do you mean ‘What are you doing here, Saki?’?” She was breathing heavily after her little tirade on a still confused and puzzled Yuki. It seemed to fall in deaf ears and she dropped to the ground resigning. “You feel alright?”

“Huh?” He pulled up his hand from rubbing his pained head to look at it. Yuki was not completely certain what they were talking about, but it was covered in blood as was the rest of him and the ground. ‘This is mine…what happened here? What am I not remembering?’ Then there was a flash in his mind as the blood seemed to trigger something inside him. ‘I-I was attacked…’ He looked over across the ground to see a body lying in the grass sitting in its own pool of blood. ‘I-I…did I die?’ Yuki pulled himself up letting go of Ayumi, but almost fell over if Saki had not caught him.

“Yuki? You need to take it easy.” Saki pulled his arm over her shoulder to give him support so that he could walk with her. There was a look in his eyes that she could see through telling her that he needed something. “What is it?” She looked back forward seeing where his gaze was held. Saki put her arm around his waist lifting him up a little and began walking forward. Eventually, they came to a stop in front of the body of the assassin that had been trying to kill Yuki.

Yuki remembered everything that had happened with the final piece put in front of him. It had all blurred in his mind with the blood loss and adrenaline that was pumping through him. However, he did not look like that same man that had been attacking him before. The face was the same, but his clothes were not same. The man before them was almost formal looking with what appeared to be fine pressed white dress slacks and a white cloth that tied at the waist on the front and back held at the right shoulder. The cloth at the right shoulder was tied close by a copper clasp with a flat circular disc that looked like an insignia or badge with an outer ring divided into five segments. There were two segments colored red while the remaining three held the plain copper material of the clasp. “Who was he this assassin?” Yuki looked back to Ayumi who finally decided catch up with them.

“An assassin from those that wish you dead.” Ayumi knelt down to look at the body pulling the clasp off the bloodied clothes. She showed it to the two of them. “This was a low ranking soldier from his uniform. Just out of the academy.”

“Low ranking? How do you know just from that?”

Ayumi pointed at the man’s clothes and then back to the clasp that she held. “This is our military uniform. So I know he is from my homeland and this may look like nothing to you, but this metal shows rank. The first red bar means that he would be in the academy and the second you get after graduation. He probably got pulled up quickly for having some talent and sent on this mission. Probably didn’t even know why. So they are sending the pawns first.” Ayumi seemed to get distracted by internal thoughts leaving the others to look at each other still feeling confused.

“Pawns?” Yuki looked down at the body thinking back to the struggle that he had. It was so intense at that moment that he was certain he would die. The man seemed to be so strong and powerful beyond anything that he could even possible hold up against. ‘But this was just a pawn…someone out of the academy…that means there are others even stronger than him. And they all want me dead…’ Yuki could feel a black empty void forming around him as he slowly let the thought sink into him. This was nothing like his manga; this was real. His entire body began to shake and sweat from the fear.

Saki had begun to pick up on Yuki and tried to redirect the focus away from what was troubling him. “Ayumi. What happened to his clothes from before? He wasn’t wearing this when I saw you fighting him.” It seemed to have worked a little on Yuki warming up the distant gaze in his eyes.

Ayumi looked up at Saki still looking partially somewhere else. “Oh, this is what he was actually wearing the entire time. But when he used this power it altered his appearance to what he wanted. Since he is dead that power is gone and the illusion is as well.”

“Oh I see. I remember seeing you do that too. Is that the same thing?”

“Correct.”

“What is this power?”

At the top of the school a dark figure looked down at the three students gathered around a dead body. The sunlight at their back kept their features blinded from view, but they remained knelt down keeping mostly out of sight. “Hmm…he failed. A guardian, huh? This will be more challenging. I’ll have to wait until the guardian is separated…”

To be continued…