The Games Fait

- ni -

I watch Taizo run off a little into the town before turning my attention back to the new boy. He keeps his attention to his hands, ripping up a blade of grass nervously.

"Hey, sorry about him. He's... well..." I try to think of a decent explanation of Taizo, but I can't seem to find the correct words.

"Taizo?" He says quietly, followed by a light laugh. I laugh a little along with him, nodding. "I know who Taizo is," he admits, lifting his gaze to meet my own.

He catches me off guard a little and I lower my bow so it clumps against the tree next to him. I toss my backpack to the ground and sit with my knees up against it. "You know Taizo? How?"

The air is silent for a while. The long grass blows delicately to the east from the wind. I keep my gaze fixed on the boy, but he doesn't seem to move. After what feels like a decade, he speaks up. "What's the most important thing to Taizo? Is it you?"

I laugh at the question, although his voice sounded different. "I guess it is. We don't really have much-"

I'm cut off by him pinning me back, knees in either side of my ribcage. He grabs my bow from beside him, loads it with a sharpened arrow, and draws it at my face. "Taizo took everything from me. Now it's time I take everything from him."

His voice was snarling, beads of sweat dripping down his face and his hands shaking. I start to panic, not knowing how I'm going to get out of this. "I helped you. I don't deserve this. I kept Taizo away from you. Please!" I plead, but he's not having any of it. I have no other resort. "Taizo! Kiko!" I scream at the top of my lungs, louder than I've ever managed to do before.

"Think they're gonna help you? Ha. No chance. Taizo doesn't care about you and Kiko, he hates you." He lowers the bow. "Poor poor baby." He unloads the arrow, laying flat over me now, straddling my waist. He brings the tip of the arrow to just below my eye and pierces the skin, scraping a pattern into my flesh. I scream in agony, blood seeming out my skin and down my face.

"Ivy?" I hear a questioning voice, knowing full well it's Kiko and that I'm screwed. "Ivy! Kaizo!"

I feel a sense of relief as the weight is thrown off my body. My breathing is rapid, but there's no longer the boy covering my body. I roll my head to the side and see Kiko fighting him, trying to control the boy. "Taizo get her away from here!" Kiko shouts out, his alpha traits scaring me. Soft hands grab my face delicately and turn them to face him.

Taizo hovers above me, fear and distraught evident for the first time in his eyes. "It'll be okay Ivy I promise, I'll keep you safe." He manages to stutter, lifting me up gently into his arms and hooking my backpack over his own. He looks back at Kiko, sees he's managed to control the boy's anger a little more, and runs off ahead to the guild lodge.

I peer over Taizo's shoulder, watching the boy's body and face scar and bruise.