Bandaged Hearts

Chapter 29

"We'll see about that, Hibiki."

With those final words slipping off my tongue, Hibiki lunges at me and I take off at him. His saber clashes against my metal cuffs, that spine chilling sound of metal on metal echoing down the corridor. A jolt of energy shoots up my spine and through my arms. I push Hibiki's sword back with a grunt, watching the man slide back on the heels of his boots. He skids back and regains his balance, grey eyes locking onto my form. Hibiki repositions his footing. I stand with both legs bent and one forward, arms tense by my side.

"This is your last warn-"

"Oh shut the hell up!" I sneer. "If you aren't dead set on fighting for your beliefs and what you're about, don't even bother acting like a righteous hero. It doesn't matter your relationship with me. Fight me for what you believe in."

I can feel my gaze sharpen and pierce into Hibiki's skin. His eyes flit down for a split second, a hurt gaze flashing across his facial features quickly. But that expression of pain runs off as fast as it came. He draws his gaze back up to me, shifting the saber's hilt around in his hand so it stands tall with pride.

"Very well then," he says.

Hibiki's foot takes a step forward, propelling him right at me. I brace myself, pupils trained on him like a missle. His sword aims right at my torso, but I smoothly side step it. With the side step to the left comes a curled right fist to greet Hibiki's open stomach. My knuckles clash with the taller male's gut, a wheeze emitting from his now curled form. I turn to look at the traitor. He curls into himself, blade being held limply in his right hand.

"Now I understand why you almost never talk around Chi or me. You're all bark and little bite," I spit, the aura around me glowing warmly.

Hibiki snaps his angered eyes right at me, right arm swinging carelessly at my open stance. A breath hitches in my throat, feet stumbling backwards from the sudden attack. All of a sudden, it feels a bit breezier and a thin line of pain blossoms onto my skin. I glance down to access the minimal damage done. A thin slash runs diagonally across my once perfect shirt, it now torn open. Beyond the slashed shirt is now a shallow, thin line of beading crimson droplets. I smirk, raising my (e/c) gaze to the blue cladded boy.

"I take back my previous statement. Maybe you aren't just bark. Maybe the puppy has some bite."

With that, the angered male lunges at me with a quicker pace than before. Too bad for him though, I learn from my mistakes, so they never happen again. I dodge Hibiki's multitude of attacks while tracking his body movement with my eyes, letting my body flow on its own. It's almost as if we were dancing.

The blue clansman keeps attacking while I place myself on defense. I notice his movements begin to grow sloppy and rigid, leaving a lot of open windows for me to attack. And I do. I go in and attack Hibiki while he pants hard. With a quick flick of my wrists, the chains bound to my wrist cuffs snap around his silver saber. I yank away from Hibiki with the boosted strength that courses through my blood, saber snapping out of his shaky grasp. It flings down the hallway. Hibiki pants, wheezing and gasping for a full breath. I watch with a cold gaze in my eyes and an apathetic feeling in my chest.

"Do me a favor, Hibiki, and stay away from me. I don't need some blue, coated coward telling me what to do with my life," I hiss.

Our eyes lock for a few seconds before I pull away and start sprinting in the general direction of the two clanmens from earlier.

It's been about twenty minutes since I heard HOMRA was here. Twenty minutes since I knew Yata was here. Twenty minutes for me to process the likely outcome of the battle.