THE PRICE OF WAR [Taka x Reader]

IV. Blood, Sweat and Tears

You spread your wings and flew over the area in the dark, getting closer and closer. Your blood pressure rose when you found out who all those torches belonged to. You flew back to the camp as fast as you could while fear began to invade your body.

"Yusuke-senzo!" you screamed as you became human again "Goblins! They're coming!"

"How many?" he asked as he jumped up.

"I counted fifty of them! They'll be here soon!"

"Listen up!" he called all the soldiers "To the horses! Don't waste a single second!"

Everybody in the camp jumped up and began running from side to side preparing their horses and themselves for the battle. You saw Taka also running towards Kahze as he tied up one of his armor's ropes.

"Yumiko! Stay here!" he screamed from his horse's back.

"What?"

"It's an order!" he menaced as he spurred on Kahze.

You stood still, not knowing what to do. But then you felt something hitting you hard on the back of your head, making you fall down and scream in pain.

You opened your eyes. You were lying on the ground, at the campsite. At first you got scared but then you remember the rest had left to fight the goblins. Duymir was standing all alone some steps away, worried. You heavily stood up and remembered something hitting you. It had clearly been someone on purpose. Someone who didn't want you to join the battle. You put your armour on as fast as you could and saddled Duymir. You had to reach Taka and the rest before the goblins arrived.

"Come on, buddy! Let's go!" you spoiled him after you had noticed the warhorse's footprints on the mud.

The more you came closer to the battlefield, the more noticeable the smell of blood and death was. You noticed a dead goblin on the ground with a black arrow through his chest. His little greyish body was covered in blood and his thin fingers still moved slightly. He was carrying an ax in the other hand and his horse run around lost among the trees. You heard screams in the distance, so you spurred on your horse again and and galloped until you reached the last trees of the forest and hid behind them.

84 goblins and 56 men, each one on his horse. It was dark but the moonlight made the battlefield visible enough to fight. They were using swords and arrows, and you just had katanas. Two chariots in the middle were being used as their base. They weren't fast, yet dangerous. Nevertheless, your troop had chances to win. As you analyzed the enemy, one black arrow reached one of your soldier's shoulder. You quickly pulled an arrow from your quiver and tensed it while the goblins' cries kept echoing in your ears. Before you had even noticed, your arrow reached a goblin's neck and fell down. No one had noticed you yet, so you kept shooting arrows from the trees. Two down. Three. Four. The more arrows you shooted, the more you wanted to join the battle. You felt an animal's growl wanting to leave your body. Some goblins noticed you hiding in the forest, so they pulled out their swords and prepared to attack. But what they didn't expect was a beast, a tiger specifically, coming out of the forest at full speed to pounce on them and smash them into pieces in a couple of seconds.

When the goblins saw how that beast killed his companions, many of them run away in despair. But it was too late. The tiger turned around and run towards them, killing some of them on its way. A little further, the leader of the goblin troop watched the scene, terrified from head to toe. When most of the goblins were already gone and your troop was about to win the battle, you turned into your human form again.

"It's the Great Power..." a goblin mumbled. 

And their leader, who had listened it all, turned around and retired with the rest of his troop. Some soldiers applauded your victory while others jumped on one of the goblins' chariot and stole its provisions. But there was no sign of happiness or victory on your face.

"Wow!" Kyria screamed, completely euphoric "That was amazing! You just defeated them with your own hands!"

"Yumiko..." Yusuke-senzo called you as he took off his helmet "I didn't expect less from you. Good job, soldier" he saluted you.

You took his hand and touched his fist with your forehead, but your eyes still showed no emotion.

"Next time leave some for us, alright?" he laughed.

"Sure, senzo..." you murmured as you all left.

"What's wrong?" Kyria asked, but you ignored her.

All the troop was heading back to the campsite when you felt a hand grabbing your shoulder.

"What the fuck did I tell you?" Taka asked, clearly upset.

You stared at him from head to toe and then took off his hand from you.

"Yumiko!" he called you as you got on Duymir. 

But still no response back. Once back in the campsite, he approached you again while you left Duymir grazing.

"I'm talking to you!" he screamed.

"What do you want?" you asked as you took of your mask.

"I told you to stay in the campsite!"

"No, you forced me to stay in the campsite!"

"I did it for you!"

"Oh, for me?"

"Yes, because I love you"

"No, you don't!" you screamed.

He stared at you as he gulped.

"You're not in love. So you better forget about me before Hatsumi notices something is wrong. And let me tell you you'll need more than leaving me unconscious and alone in the middle of a forest for me not to show you all up in front of Yusuke-senzo" you menaced.

Taka bit his lip and clenched his fists.

"And you still have the guts to say you love me..." you shook your head.

You turned around and left to your tent, leaving Taka standing all alone while he looked down full of anger.

"But I do..." he whispered.