Your Protector

Chapter 38

He sighed contently into his boyfriend's shoulder. They were cuddling close underneath the legendary cherry tree behind Akademi, admiring the beautiful, sunny, blue sky. Taro had never been more at peace.

Budo opened his eyes and looked down at his boyfriend, admiring the way he looked with the pink cherry blossom leaves falling around him. He looked so regal.

"You're so beautiful, my love," he spoke softly.

Taro let out a small chuckle as he snuggled closer to Budo. He enjoyed his warmth so much. "I wish we didn't have to go back to class," he whined.

"At least we have it together."

"Yeah..." the boy sighed. He closed his eyes, feeling safe and loved by the man who would protect him from any harm.

The bell then rang for class, but the moment it did, Budo was no longer there, which caused Taro to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He snapped his eyes open and looked around for his boyfriend. "Budo? Where... where are you? Budo?"

He finally looked up towards Akademi, and the once beautiful blue sky was now red, like the color of blood. The black clouds only accentuated the color, and all the trees, including the one he was under, had been removed of all of their leaves. They just looked like skeletons, making everything even more ominous.

Taro began to panic more as he realized no one was around. "Budo!" he cried. He quickly got up and ran to look for somebody, anybody.

He started with the incinerator. "Osoro! Guys?!" he called out to them, but when he turned the corner where the benches were, the delinquents weren't there. "Where is everybody?!"

He rushed into the school. The hallway lights were off; all that illuminated each corridor was the red sky reflecting off the windows. In a panicked state, Taro ran through the hallways, hoping to find someone.

"Budo! Osoro! Osana! Raibaru-Chan!"

He went up the staircase nearest to his classroom, and when he reached the third floor, he spotted a trail of... was that blood? There was something dark smothered onto the floor which led to his classroom.

After swallowing the lump in his throat, Taro cautiously followed the trail. The scent of steel began to rise, confirming his suspicion that it was blood. He got to the door and slowly poked his head inside.

His jaw dropped with horror at what he saw inside. "O-o-osoro... Osana... Raibaru-Chan...? What... what happened to you guys?!" he gasped, horrified. He had to cover his nose from the stench. The trail of blood led to their bodies, all brutally stabbed to death.

Before he could scream for help, a deep, dark chuckle echoed through the halls, causing a cold shiver to run down his spine. He then heard footsteps slowly coming toward him from behind.

He regretted turning around. He didn't notice that standing right behind him, towering over him, was Ayato Aishi. As if that wasn't bad enough, the young man was covered in blood and his eyes looked like he had gone insane!

"A-Aishi-San?" Taro stuttered, taking a few steps back. His eyes began to trail down his body, which was all covered in blood. "Why do you have so much blood–" his voice got caught in his throat when he saw what Ayato held in his hand.

"Budo..." he practically squeaked. Ayato was holding his boyfriend's head by his hair! But where was the rest of his body?

Taro's eyes darted to the trail of blood behind Ayato that had come from Budo's head, and at the end was the horrific sight of his boyfriend's decapitated body. His whole body shook like a leaf, and his eyes cried like a waterfall.