Something To Protect (A Hakuouki Story)

The Man With The Spear

I hadn't been expecting to wake up. No, I'd been certain that I was going to die. But I was most definitely not dead.

The room I woke up in was a strange one. Sitting up slowly, I glanced about. The room was empty except for the bed that I lay on. My katanas were nowhere in sight. Captured by the enemy?

Every one of my wounds were bandaged, so these people must want me alive. They took my swords though, so they are not likely very friendly. There didn't seem to be any sort of guard though. Just who brought me here and what side are they on? Whatever the answer, staying here was risky.

After some struggling, I managed to make it to my feet. My wounds weren't even close to healed, but sitting around wasn't an option for me. Silently slipping out the door, I kept myself out of sight.

As I was sneaking around, I made plans in my mind. Find a sword. Escape this place. Find the twins. Get as far away as possible. Then rest and recover. It may seem wrong to have healing as the last thing on my list, but right now that wasn't important. I will not sit around and wait for my death to come to me.

Something about this place seemed too quiet. When I found a sword just carelessly laying around, I felt even more suspicious. But right now, I didn't have any real options here. It was escape or die. To escape, I would need a weapon.

With my new sword, I began to search for the exit to this place. After a while, it felt like I was only going in circles. Everything looked the same in this place...

"It's not very wise to be running around in your condition," a voice behind me called out. Without thinking, I spun around and drew my sword. While doing so, I pulled at one of my more severe wounds, making me flinch in pain and almost drop my sword. "If you push yourself too hard, you'll never recover."

Looking him over, the source of the voice was the same man I'd fought with before. A red-headed man who fought with a spear.

Anger flared up inside me. "You stay back!" I hissed at him, holding my sword in a defensive position. He didn't have his spear with him, but I could see a sword at his side. "What have you done with the twins?"

"I have done nothing."

Somehow, that answer just angered me more. "Liar!" Using what little strength I had left, I attacked the red-headed man.

Had I been at full strength, I would have at least been a challenge. But this? Right now I was just a pest to him. An annoying little bug that seemed to have a death wish. But as easy as it would be for him to kill me right this second, he wasn't even trying. It was almost as if he were just playing with me.

As was about to lunge at him again, a pain shot through my body. I took a few steps back, gripping my injured side. If I weren't careful, I might rip the wound open again. That is if it hasn't been ripped open already.

"Damn... Just hang in there a bit longer..." I told my body, though I seriously doubted it would hold out much longer. Regardless, I prepared to attack again.

"You're a stubborn one. Even with your body begging you to stop, you still come at me with all you've got."

"Shut that damned mouth of yours!" I shouted at the red-haired man as I saw a few people standing around and watching the very one-sided fight. I struck at him, but he blocked it effortlessly. "Quit playing with me! If you're just going to keep this up until I collapse then just kill me already!"

I was getting worn out. My vision was blurring. There was no way I could do any damage to him. Not with the condition I was in. No doubt my wounds had been ripped back open and I was losing a lot of blood quickly.

Frustrated, I threw the katana at him. Red Head didn't even have to do anything; it missed him by a lot. Defeated, I fell to my knees. "Even after all that training... I'm still just as weak as I was that day..." I mumbled to myself as I started to fall forward.

Before I could hit the ground, someone caught me. Glancing up, I met the face of the red-haired man. "Don't... touch... me..." Pushing him away, I could barely get the words out. "Filthy murderer..."

But even after pushing him away, I still felt someone catch me as I fell to the ground and everything faded to black.