***********************************************************
Sugi was admiring Ryu's cute sleeping face contentedly under the moonlight,
while still wondering what terrible things he had done in his past life to
deserve such a "surprise" gift from his first love. And thinking the way
Ryuji laughed and almost choked himself to death when he saw it, "Damn
Ryuji!!" Sugi couldn't help from swearing. But then he grinned evilly at
his smart moves of locking Ryuji up sneakily in the kitchen cupboard, and
showing a sign of a cold to Ryu due to his "monthly sickness", which made
Ryu deeply concerned and suggested, in embarrassment, that they should
sleep in the same bed for warmth.
"Ryu..." Sugi was tenderly stroking the soft hair, which curled subtly at
the end on the pillow. He smiled when he saw the eyelashes curling up with
the same smoothness. He reached out with his hand, so tempted to touch the
eyelashes, but was afraid to disturb their host.
"Ryu...don't you know how I feel towards you...?" Sugi held his hand over
Ryu's face, carefully casting its shadow to trace the eyebrows, the
nose-bridge, the cheekbones...and the lips so full and sweet that Sugi felt
an immense urge to taste them with his own.
"Ryu...I am so in love with you..." Sugi couldn't control himself and
whispered out the feeling which was tormenting him inside. He knew he was
getting dangerously emotional, he knew he had to calm himself down. It took
him a brutally strong willpower to tear his eyes away from Ryu and stare
into the dark room. But it was futile because vivid images of that lovely
face appeared on the walls, on the ceiling...Sugi gave out a sigh. Just
before he closed his eyes and wished for some peace of mind, he noticed
something strange. The room was dark but with the dim light seeping through
the window, he could still see everything clearly. Everything except a dark
corner at the opposite end of the room. Sugi focussed his eyes in that
direction and was certain that patch of pitch-dark was no ordinary. He held
his breath, stayed highly alert, and waited. He didn't wait long.
"Haha..." Giggles came from that corner. "I am sorry to interrupt your
romantic moment with your little boy, but you also interrupted mine a while
ago." The darkness faded and the elegant figure of Prince Atsushi emerged.
He stepped into the moonlight, his lips blood-red and smiling in amusement,
his eyes deep-set and full of shadows.
"What are you doing here?!" Sugi grunted in a low voice and darted a quick
glance at Ryu who was not yet waken up.
Atsushi was approaching as he said casually, "Oh, don't worry, he cannot
hear us now."
"What have you done to him?!!!" Sugi jumped up and started shaking Ryu's
body, but he remained sound asleep.
"Please calm down," Atsushi was already gracefully sitting on the side of
the bed, "I adore this little boy of yours too, I will never harm him. I
swear he will wake up normally."
Sugi hesitated on whether to believe it or not, but Atsushi's voice was
strangely soothing, and his worry was half-gone in an instant. He carefully
laid down Ryu's body on the bed close to himself. Atsushi smiled as if he
didn't see this protective act.
Sugi turned to the Prince finally, "Then what has brought the Prince of the
Dark Side to this lacking room on earth?"
Atsushi looked at Sugi for a long time before he uttered the word, "You."
"Me?" Sugi laughed, "Please don't mock me. Who am I to the Prince but a
servant of your foe?"
Atsushi's dark eyes narrowed, "You don't remember anything between us?"
"Is there anything to remember?" Sugi was mildly surprised.
"Do you remember this?" Atsushi lurched forward and kissed Sugi on the mouth.
Sugi was stunned motionless. He could feel the lips seething hot with
passion pressed on his own. He was deeply stirred by this, but he pushed
away from the Prince.
"Sugi..." Atsushi's voice was soft but eager, "This cold blood of mine
boils for you alone. Without you, I am nothing but a piece of ice, that
will not melt for eternity."
"Do you know what you are saying..." Sugi stammered.
Atsushi advanced forward and started kissing on Sugi's neck, this time
holding Sugi's body tight against his and slowly settling themselves onto
the bed. His soft touch was seducing and his firm embrace was irresistible.
Sugi felt light-headed and his body was getting numb, "Wait..." His protest
was not heard as Atsushi dotted his face with gentle kisses, while tenderly
undressing him and caressing his body at the same time. He felt a surge of
desire as Atsushi sucked at his lips with such hunger that he almost felt
pain.
"Are you a fool?" Atsushi whispered, "Don't you see what your beloved Queen
had done to you?" He bit at Sugi's ear and it came pain again.
"I am here to rouse you from the ignorance of your own fate!" After one
long kiss to muffle Sugi's protest, he moved down to devour the naked
shoulder and open chest. Every brush of his long hair against Sugi's bare
skin sent a wave of exhilaration throughout his body, making it quiver
madly. Sugi let out a moan.
"Wait...my...my heart belongs to Ryu..." Sugi struggled.
"Ah, but your body belongs to me!" Atsushi moved up to bite at Sugi's nose.
"Look how hot you are now...and I am on fire too...we are meant for each
other...for passion and for pleasure..." Atsushi laughed lightly, "Your
soul is willing, but your flesh is weak. You cannot resist me, Sugi." But
this caused Sugi to response immediately with a jump, "Let's see who cannot
resist who!!" He pulled on Atsushi's long hair harshly and forced him down
to the bed, while taking over the dominating position himself. Atsushi
laughed merrily at this roughness and opened up his body fully to welcome
him, "Come on now." Without anymore hesitation, Sugi finally bent down and
closed his mouth on Atsushi's.
And it was at this very crucial moment, when Sugi heard a soft gasp from
nearby. It didn't come from Atsushi. Sugi stiffened and his head cleared
up. He turned slightly and saw Ryu, still lying down, but was staring at
them with disbelief.
Shame hit Sugi with a fierce blow that made his heart contract with pain.
He looked away abruptly as he could not bear the sight of Ryu.
"Well," Atsushi was speaking with a cunning smile, "I did say he was going
to wake up normally, did I not?" Sugi turned sharply to Atsushi and
snarled, "You! You are making a fool of me!"
Ryu suddenly sat up and moved away from them. Sugi begged, "Please...I can
explain this..." He stopped as he saw Ryu looking at Atsushi's face with a
fearful expression.
"Ryu! Listen to me!" Sugi caught him by his wrist. But Ryu was staring at
his naked chest this time, "You...you are not a woman." Sugi grimaced at
this. Even though he now had Ryu silently waiting for his explanation, he
couldn't utter a word. Because he knew it would all be excuses.
"I am sorry to have interrupted." Ryu tried to be calm.
"Ha!" Atsushi sneered, "What a good manner!"
Ryu was stung, he shaked loose Sugi's grip and headed for the door.
"Ryu! Wait!" Sugi dashed to follow. But Atsushi held him back, "Are you
leaving me like this?" His voice was cold with anger, so was his body.
"Let go of me! I must find him! I love him!" Sugi was flushing with anger
as well. He pulled himself off from Atsushi and ran towards the door
without a backward glance.
The door banged closed and Atsushi was left behind in the room. Humiliation
was consuming him so devastatingly that he lusted for the destruction of
this whole world in order to get even. He flung his arm and knocked off a
chest of drawers violently.
"Royalties should never lose their grace to temper." A voice came suddenly.
"Who spoke?!!!" Atsushi snapped.
A head gradually came into sight in the mirror hanging on the wall. It had
a distorted face covered with splashes of many bright colours, and was
topped by a hat filled with strangely shaped crystals spiking upward.
"Regards to the Prince of the Dark Side. I am the Magic Welder of Guniw
Tools. Full is my name." The voice spoke inside Atsushi's head as the mouth
on the mirror image did not display any movement.
"Are you another spy of my Guardian?!" Atsushi hissed.
"Haha!! My young Prince, I came to your assistance, that's all you need to
know." Full said.
"Oh?" Atsushi was curious, "You saw what happened here just now?"
"It did not worth your anger." Full replied playfully.
Atsushi fumed, "Do you serve me?!"
Full's face was fading out, "Haha!! I serve no one, my arrogant Prince. But
I know what you want done."
**************************************************************
It was raining heavily, but Ryu didn't take notice as he ran and ran, to
where exactly he didn't know. He just wanted to escape, as far as possible.
But his mind was filled with the intimate scene he'd just witnessed. A
scene where Sugi was with another man. The man who attacked him. And Sugi
himself was a man. There were so many questions he wanted to ask. But he
was so afraid of the real answers. He felt cheated, and badly hurt. He
didn't understand why he felt such pain in his heart. Recall of "It's none
of your business" once again rang loudly and repeatedly in his brain. Yes
indeed, he was nobody to Sugi.
He didn't know how long or how far he had run for. But his body was numb
from over-exhaustion. He slowed his pace and gasped madly for air. He
looked up into the sky, "Ah...it is raining...." Rain streamed down on his
face, "No one will know if I cry now..." He closed his eyes, "But why must
I cry?" He never allowed himself to shed tears easily. He turned his head
back to look into the street where he came from, it was pitch-dark and
empty. "What am I expecting...? Who will come after me...?" He sighed. For
a long time he just stood there in the rain. He felt nauseated and his body
was feverishly hot despite of the cold rain. Finally dizziness caught hold
of him and he fainted onto the ground.
"Shall we kill him?" Spy Rika said as he stood over Ryu's collapsed body.
"No! Not without a direct order!" Kazushi objected.
"But he is causing so much trouble." Rika said, "We must bring the Prince
back to the Dark Side for the dancing exam as soon as possible. He must
pass it before the day of Lunar Eclipse when the entire moon is
overshadowed and the Dark power reins in full strength..."
"Hush up!!" Kazushi snapped, "You want to reveal the whole plan here?!"
"You two please..." Shono was pleading, "Calm down..."
Rayzi, who had yet said a word, suddenly snatched up Ryu's body with one
hand and flashed out a blade with another.
"Wait!" Kazushi moved at once to stop him, but Rayzi twisted his wrist and
drove the blade to cut across the air swiftly. The space, where the knife's
sharp edge ran through, yielded to the violence and splitted open. Dark
flames swarmed out like tongues of snakes.
"Let's take him back to the Dark Side," Rayzi tore apart the open slit as
the flames wound around his arm, "Guard Sugi will definitely follow, then
so will our Prince."
The others looked at each other and nodded in consensus. The opening in
space swallowed them and sealed up spontaneously without leaving any
evidence of its brief existence.
****************************************************************
"Damn it! Something is wrong!" Sugi swore under his breath as he caught
another glimpse of Ryu's reflection on the a puddle of water. He had been
chasing after Ryu for an unusually long time. Every time he spotted Ryu
from a distant and immediately dashed to that direction, Ryu was always
gone by the time he reached there. And before he decided to head back, he
would see Ryu's vague image far ahead again. He had been running after a
mirage all along. He should have been able to realize a lot sooner, but he
was too grief-stricken to think clearly. Now he saw again an image of Ryu's
back on a shop-window at side of the street. He threw himself there and
that image disappeared. But this time he didn't turn away, he pulled out
his whip and flung full force at the window. It shattered into thousand
pieces as a burst of laughters came out. "Hahaha!! First Guard Sugi!! I
didn't expect you to be so slow in wit! Hahaha!!!" A face hidden in colour
paints appeared in the glass pieces.
"Who the hell are you?!!! Where is Ryu?!!" Sugi roared. But the face had
disappeared without giving him the answers.
Sugi stood in the rain fuming with anger and frustration, not knowing what
to do. The burglar alarm started to ring loud, but he just stood there and
stared at the reflection of himself in the glass fragments scattered on the
ground. How miserable he looked, drenched in rain. He loathed his own image
so much that he wanted to strangle himself right then and there.
"Sugi!! There you are!!" Ryuji appeared shouting and jumping clumsily
towards him. "Hey! How could you lock me up in the cupboard?! That was so
mean of you!! It was so dark and so cramped inside and I was so afraid to
break those cups and dishes! And what if there were cockroaches and I was
trapped inside with them?! And you didn't even put a proper bed inside for
me! Do you know how cold it was and what if I caught a flu?! Oh poor me! Oh
I am such a poor rabbit! Oh I have nobody to love me! And you know I almost
got killed when someone started throwing stuff around in the room! Luckily
the cupboard lock cracked open and I got away, otherwise I wouldn't have
found out that Atsushi was in the room! But luckily he didn't discover me,
and I went out immediately to look for you and happened to see the Dark
Spies kidnapping Ryu to the Dark Side..."
"Whaaaaaaaat?!!!!!!" Sugi screamed out.
Ryuji ignored him, "Oh dear!!" Ryuji saw the broken glass, "What have you
done?!! And can't you turn off the alarm, it is so noisy. I have enough
torture tonight, oh I am such a poor rabbit...why can't I have a quiet
life..." Ryuji rambled on and on.
Sugi grabbed him up by his neck. Ryuji demanded, "What are you doing?"
"I am going to the Dark Side!" Sugi headed back immediately.
"Then go! And good luck!" Ryuji struggled to get loose.
"You are coming with me!" Sugi squeezed him.
"No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
****************************************************************
The Dark Palace was entirely shielded by a vast veil of darkness which had
never been disturbed by any external light source for eons. Sugi and Ryuji
had reached the entrance of the palace. By the faint starlights, Sugi could
make out an enormous hollow crevice acting as a defense for the only way-in.
"It...it...looks scary..." Ryuji said while shivering on Sugi's shoulder,
"Shall we call for a backup force from the Moon Palace?"
"We don't have time!!" Sugi was getting ready to make a big leap across the
gap.
Suddenly Sugi saw a flash in the sky and something was flying towards him
in extremely high speed. His body instinct reacted without delay as he took
hold of Ryuji and sprang one step backward. The object hit the ground. Sugi
could see it was an arrow. He picked it up and it felt sharp cold. "This is
made of ice..." Sugi was saying this and suddenly the arrow glowed with a
eerie blue light.
"Look! There are words written on it!" Ryuji pointed out.
Sugi scrutinized it, "Are these words? They are not in any languages I know
of..."
"Ah! I know this!" Ryuji shouted, "Whis is the secret encryption code used
by our undercover spies in the Dark Side!"
"Oh? Can you decipher it?" Sugi asked.
"Of course! Haha! See I am not as useless as you think, you should be
really glad that I agreed to come with you, otherwise you will probably be
in a lot of trouble you know...OUCH!!" Sugi was squeezing him into a ball.
"OK! OK! Be a gentleman, would you?!" Ryuji took the arrow, "Aiya! It is
cold! Hmm...let me read...hmm...hmm...oh my god...hmm...I see...aiya...it's
terrible...ah...err...hmm...OUCH!!!!" Sugi was breaking his neck, "OK! OK! It says:
To Queen's First Guard Sugi,
A trap has been set up to prevent you from entering
the Dark Palace. Do not attempt to jump across the cleft,
or you will be sucked by the Dark Force Field into an abyss
where peril awaits. Stay ready until you hear music which will
come and go without pre-warnings. Dance across the gap
according to the music beats with infinite precision,
and try to reach the entrance before the music ends. If you
succeed, we shall meet in the Dark Palace as adversaries.
Please do you reveal my secret, for a conspiracy against the
Moon Kingdom is brewing. I must stay undercover to reveal the
dark plot.
Best of Luck.
xxx Ice Archers of Glay."
The arrow glowed brightly, evaporated into a wisp of smoke, and finally
disappeared completely.
Sugi and Ryuji looked at each other and were both chilled by the fact they
almost jumped headlong into their own grave.
"Sugi...can you dance...?" Ryuji was obviously frightened.
"Haha!! Don't worry! I am an expert in Jazz Dance, Ballroom Dance, Modern
Dance..." While Sugi was boosting his expertise, a faint music echoed
throughout the open space.
"Oh..my god...this is...Swan Lake!!!" Ryuji rolled his eyes.
"A piece of cake! I learnt ballet since 5 years old!" Sugi took a deep
breath, "Hold tight!!" and heaved his body into the hollow gap.
Ryuji circled his arms around Sugi's neck, closed his eyes and screamed,
"Wahhhhh!!!"
Sugi was bouncing here and there, dancing his way through towards the
entrance.
Ryuji opened his right eye to a slit to look around, he almost fainted when
he peeped at the bottomless gulf right below them. But they were not
falling into it...yet.
Ryuji was desperate to distract himself from the danger beneath them,
"Hey...how come you know how to dance to this?"
"Haha!! When we were small, it was Princess Ino who originally had the role
for Swan Princess, but he ate too much mooncake and couldn't fit into the
dance dress!! So this is not the first time I replace him..." Sugi lifted
both arms over his head and made a 360 degree revolution.
"10 points!! Perfect!! Haha!!" Ryuji clapped his hands, "Wahhhh!" but he
almost fell off. He quickly made a safety-belt out of Sugi's long hair by
tying it around his waist.
Sugi leaped high, straightened his legs and performed a split in the air.
"Wahh!! Bravo!! Bravo!!" Ryuji was dangling in midair and cheering despite
of his dizziness due to the fast swinging motion.
As they were nearing the edge of the cleft, the music was fading out
gradually.
Sugi saw the entrance was in fact a waterfall with thick black liquid
pouring downward into the abyss.
"Hey! The water might be poisonous!" Ryuji shouted a warning.
But Sugi had no time to hesitate, he flipped his body to a somersault, and
plunged right into the waterfall.
"Shittttttttttt!!!!" Ryuji's last scream filled up the sky and completely
covered the last graceful music note of Swan Lake.
*****************************************************************
Ryu woke up with a pounding headache and a terrible nausea. He felt that he
was being carried by someone walking in a quick pace. But it was pitch-dark
and he couldn't see a thing. He moaned slightly.
"Please do not make a sound now," the person carrying him whispered. "I
will take you to the main hall where the First Guard Sugi should show up if
he gets through the trap."
Ryu couldn't hear clearly what was said, but he caught the word "Sugi". He
struggled to speak.
"Listen carefully. You are at the peak of a fever, but I do not know of the
cure for human. Please stay very still. You must not be found by the
others, because I will not be able to save you anymore. Hopefully your
rescue will come soon." the voice said.
"Who...who are you?" Ryu whispered weakly.
"I am Takuro. Now be quiet." He came to a stop and put down Ryu's body on
the ground. Then he was gone. The coldness of the floor eased the heat in
Ryu's body that he was suffering from. He closed his eyes, clinging to that
stranger's word "Sugi", he waited.
*****************************************************************
There was not a single light in the main hall of the Dark Palace. The
Children of Dark Blood could see well in the dark.
"Sir Imai, that brainless First Guard of Queen Shinya must have fallen into
our trap by now." Spy Rika said in an amused tone.
"Hahahaha!!! I always wanted to get rid of him!!!" Imai said in a low
hoarse voice.
"So we can kill that boy from earth now?" Rika asked with a deadly desire
in his eyes.
"Not yet, we must be absolutely sure..." Imai was interrupted by a piercing
cry from outside.
"Oh, yes!! Sugi is dead now!!" Rika cheered, "That boy is mine to kill!!
Rayzi don't you dare to fight with me!!" He was overjoyed with excitement
and was about to head for the prison where Ryu was kept.
"BANG!!!!" The main doors suddenly cracked open with a force so violent
that they were dislodged and were sent hurling forward with splinters
darting in all direction.
"Duck!!!!" Imai shouted as all the people in the main hall quickly dodged
for safety. A figure showed up with a long whip in his hand, a triumphant
grin on his face.
"Sugi!!!!" Imai snarled, "Why are you not dead?!!!!"
"Hahahaha!! Not in a million years!!!" Sugi laughed.
"Who did that cry come from then?" Rika asked angrily.
Another shrieking scream came, "Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!Wrong step again?!!!!!!!"
"Prince Atsushi!!!" The four Dark Spies gasped simultaneously.
"Go save him now!! Go!!" Imai ordered. The Spies thrust towards the open
door in unison to rescue.
Sugi felt them coming and jumped aside to let them pass through.
"Sugi..." Ryuji crawled up from Sugi's back to his shoulder, "I can't
see...where is the light switch...?"
"There is none!!" Imai's shout came with a series of loud firecrackers
sounding in all direction. Sugi immediately felt sharp pain all over his
body. He was attacked by many invisible fires which burned through his
clothes and scorched his skin.
"Waaaa!! It hurts!! Waaaaa!!" Ryuji was not spared either.
"Shit!" Sugi started flinging his whip in circles around him and Ryuji,
making a shield from those deadly fires coming fiercely from everywhere.
Most were fended off but some still got their way through. Sugi knew he
would get tired very soon and they were in deep deep trouble.
"Do something Ryuji!!" Sugi ordered.
"But what?!!!" Ryuji had slipped inside Sugi's shirt to hide and lick at
the burnt on his long ear. Suddenly he felt the pendant hanging on Sugi's
chest in front of him. He grabbed it and started shouting, "Hey! Hey! Come
in!! We need help!!"
After a hiss, a voice came out, "Who is there?!!!"
"Oh, great!" Ryuji cheered, "This is Ryuji!! We are being attacked!! We
need help!!"
"Ryuji?! Ah!! Listen!! There is an emergency here!! I need to get out of
the prison!!" the voice said.
Sugi shouted, "You have called J, you stupid rabbit!! We will be two pieces
of burnt toast by the time he gets his butt off the prison! I need light!!
Ask him to lend me his Pyromaniac power!!"
"Yes yes!!" Ryuji spoke to the pendant, "What is the spell! Tell us now!!"
"But..but!!!" J stammered desperately.
"No but!! We are going to die soon! No more time for your "but"s!!!" Sugi
yelled loud.
J sighed and gave up, "OK OK...listen carefully! The spell is..." Ryuji
immediately jumped out from Sugi's shirt and put the pendant right next to
Sugi's ear.
Sugi stopped circling his whip, bent his legs and sprang into the air. He
flung his whip downward from his great height and yelled at the top of his
lung, "BURN OUT!! MOTHER F**KER!!"
A thundering noise broke out paining all ears as the whip went supersonic,
and a bright fire exploded violently in the air. The entire hall was
lighted up and everyone was blinded at once.
Sugi forced open his eyes and saw five black-clad figures spread around.
One in black robe with a metal mask covering his mouth. His hair was shaved
into strange shapes resembling some magic symbols. "That must be the Royal
Guardian," thought Sugi. The other four were all in black tailored suits.
Sugi could not recognize them.
"So First Guard would prefer to battle in the light!! Hahaha!!" Imai
laughed hysterically, "But what difference does it make?!!" He took off his
metal mask and revealed the two black marks "BT" on his left face, which
now glowed with blue light. Firecracker sounded again and Sugi saw for the
first time many black fire buds emerged and were thrown towards him. But
this time he could see them coming clearly and was able to defend.
"Archers!! Charge now!!" Imai snapped an order.
"Hai!!" The four figures in suits took out their bows and arrows. Sugi saw
immediately that they were made of ice same as the one he received outside
the Dark Palace.
Sugi glanced at Ryuji clinging to his shoulder, afraid that he might say
something stupid, but Ryuji winked back at him and put his finger over his
mouth, "Shhhhhhh."
The arrows coming towards Sugi, as he had expected, appeared to come fast
but were in fact weak in force. And he could deal with them and the fire
buds at the same time. But he knew he could not win by defending alone.
***************************************************************
Ryu woke up again with a start. He was still feverish but his head had
cleared up considerably. Noises and strips of light came from one side. He
reached out with his hands and found something that felt like a big
curtain. He pulled on it and struggled to drag his body up. The exertion
caused his head to reel, but he steadied himself and slowly drew open the
curtain. The bright light was blinding him at first, but he soon spotted
Sugi. He was flinging his whip and fighting with some other figures.
"Sugi..." The sight of Sugi struck a blow to his heart. He didn't know how
much he had wanted to see this face again.
"Sugi..." Ryu called out and tried to attract his attention. But his voice
was too low. "Had I been kidnapped? Sugi came to save me...?" This thought
made Ryu feel even more feverish.
"I...I must give him a hand." He came out from the curtain and staggered
towards the blackrobed figure who was the nearest to him.
"Ryu!!!!!" Sugi finally noticed him.
Ryuji suddenly shouted, "Watch out!!" The distraction almost got themselves
hit by the whip.
Ryu signalled Sugi to stay silent, and carried on walking towards Imai.
"Focus! Focus!" Ryuji kept shouting to Sugi's ears. But Sugi couldn't help
from looking into Ryu's direction. "Why is his face so red?" Sugi panicked,
"Is he ill?" He was so sickly worried about Ryu that he could hardly see a
fire bud finding its target and hitting right onto his forehead.
"Damn it!!" Sugi swore loudly in pain. "Wahh!" Ruji tugged hard at Sugi's
ear, "You want us both killed?!! Concentrate!! Look! They are coming again!!"
"Argh!! Where the hell do these fire come from?!! They are getting more!!"
Sugi grunted with frustration.
At the other side, Ryu was approaching Imai slowly from behind. Imai was
unaware of the danger as he kept conjuring more fire buds to assault Sugi.
Those archers noticed Ryu but pretended that they didn't see him. Ryu
lifted up his right arm and aimed his fist at Imai.
A boy suddenly appeared out of nowhere and intercepted him, "Stop...stop
it..."
Ryu saw a pale face, with two large black eyes circled in purple eyeshadow,
and a pair of trembling purple lips. He had shoulder length straight hair
also in deep violet, and he was wearing a black school dress with white
collars. His name marked on the collar flap: Pupil Ryutaro.
"Please...don't hit my master..." Ryutaro begged in a timid voice.
Ryu hesitated, but he heard another curse of pain from Sugi and it worried
him.
"Get out of the way...please..." Ryu warned and attempted a threatening look.
"But..but.." Ryutaro flustered, but didn't move.
Ryu bit at his lower lip and punched the boy in the face.
"Ahh..." Ryutaro cried and staggered backward. Tears streamed out from his
big eyes as he sobbed, "It...it hurts..." He covered his cheek as he looked
at Ryu with his vulnerable eyes.
Ryu regretted immediately, "I...am...sorry..." He had lost his resolve and
didn't know what to do.
"Why...why did you hit me...? Did...did I do anything wrong...?" Ryutaro
was still weeping and weeping and got sadder and sadder and was weeping
some more. Ryu totally surrendered.
Suddenly, Imai scolded angrily without turning his head, "Oh shut up!! Who
the hell is crying behind my back?!! Ryurtaro!! Is that you again?!!!"
Ryutaro's face was blank with shock, he stopped crying immediately. He
recoiled one step back, and floods of tears bursted out again from his
already swollen eyes. He glanced at Imai's back, and then covered his face
with his hands as he turned around and ran back to where he came from.
"Hey!! You don't have to shout at him like that!!!" Ryu was very mad with
Imai. He summoned all his remaining strength, and gave him a punch at the
back of his head.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!" Imai fell forward onto the ground and all the fire buds
attacking Sugi disappeared.
Sugi wasted no time and flew straight to Ryu's side at once.
"Ryu...Ryu..." He hugged him tight with both arms. "I've finally found
you!!!" He was on the verge of bursting into tears.
Ryu hid his face in Sugi's chest and felt an emotion so strong so deep that
it rendered him speechless.
"Sugi!" Ryuji tucked at his hair and spoke lowly to his ear, "The Ice
Archers are signalling us to follow!"
Sugi saw Imai's crumbled body had started to stir, he held Ryu by his waist
and ran after the Archers.
**************************************************************
next....
previous....
wish index...
back to zealous