Charming Tails

Chapter 3 - From Dusk to Dawn

The wind blows as fast as they run. The cold night whispers a tale of chill on their skin. The moon's light before them follows ahead the asphalt road that leads them to a small compound of buildings. As they ran, a small hail of arrows land behind them.

"Shit. That almost hit us. Seriously, these guys just don't know how to give up." he sarcastically says.

"They'll never give up as long as we don't give up too." she adds.

"Well that's one way of looking at things I suppose. Head to that building over there." he points out.

There was a small warehouse that was near them. They ran towards it and went inside the small, back entrance that was open.

"Hah.. I'm so tired of all this damned running..." he bends as he catches his breath.

"We can't just keep running all night you know!" she scolds him.

"What do you want us to do then?! Surrender?!" he argues.

"Are you stupid? You've been carrying that sword from the start! Why don't you use it against them?"

"What if I get killed in the process huh? I'm not even involved in any of this!"

*Crash crash*

Boxes and metal equipment fall from the upper portion of the warehouse.

"Ssshh.. they're here..." he whispers.

"I know.. they can sense me you know.." she replies.

"What?! What the hell?! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" he whispers again.

"Well, I didn't get the chance to tell you.. hehehe. Sorry." she smiles.

"Geez.. we're screwed then. We need to find a way to defeat them somehow." he leans on the wall.

"If you have that sword, you must know how to use it right?" she asks.

"Of course. But I don't have experience in real combat. Besides, I don't know what the skills our enemies have in their expertise." he peeks out.

"Well, they are experts with ranged and melee weapons. But they've got their limitations too. I'm sure you can defeat them. I believe in you Rouji-kun." she smiles at him.

"I'd rather play it safe. I don't want to take that kind of risk. If I die, you'll die too and I can't let that happen." he looks at her.

Katsune blushes a bit because of what he said. The clouds cleared out and the moonlight entered the transparent part of the warehouse's roof and lit the inside. Rouji immediately identified the enemies that stood on the catwalk of the warehouse. There were three of them armed with bows and swords of some sort and they wore a black suit that covered their entire body except for their faces but they were acknowledgable that they were also human-looking.

"I'm definitely outnumbered. Three to one is a bad ratio. I can't handle them all myself." he said as he looks at them.

Even though I practice a style that specializes in fighting multiple personnel, I can't just throw away the fact that they're probably well-trained.

"Katsune-san. Tell me, how do they sense or track you?" he asks.

"They have a special sense that helps them detect moving targets that they've marked. They marked me as a high value target."

"What? That's so absurd.. how do they even do that?" he scratches his head.

"As long as we don't move from our position, they won't detect us. But they're moving around the warehouse and they'll eventually find us." she explains furthermore.