Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Guardian Children ❯ Goddess of War! A Guardian Appears! ( Chapter 2 )

All right, time for the next chapter. Took me a while to figure out how exactly to plan this thing out. I think I might have this down, now. Anyway, lets get started.

-Kouji Tamino

-----

Legend of the Guardian Children

Book One: The Light of Destiny

Chapter Two: Goddess of War! A Guardian Appears!

“P-princess?” Kiriko stuttered, cowering away. Bully or not, this did not seem to be the same Akito she knew and it scared her. He seemed more feral and unhinged. She squealed as she was suddenly yanked along by the hand and pulled out of the way, Akito rushing towards her and missing. Panting heavily in shock, she glanced at her brother, who had saved her. “Ni-san…”

“Come on, you idiot! We have to get out of here!” Without another word, Kyoji ran, dragging Kiriko along with him. Leaving through the now non-existent room, he only looked back to survey the damage: the rest of the house had been left in tact, interestingly enough. He supposed it was because their room had been added much later in the house’s life, and hadn’t been properly reinforced. Whatever the case, he just knew he had to get his sister away from the maniac chasing them down.

After about half an hour of running, Kiriko’s barefooted-ness began to get the best of her. “Ni-san, I’m tired and my feet hurt…” She had never run this much in her entire life and it was absolutely killing her. She almost felt like stopping and just letting Akito get her. She was surprised to find that her Kyoji had stopped and leaned down, telling her to hurry up and climb on his back. Smiling weakly in relief, she hopped on and wrapped her arms around his neck while he hooked her legs under his arms. “Thank you, ni-san…”

“Aw, shut it…” he muttered, smirking as he continued running. “Talking’ll just make you heavier.” He had made a grab for his house shoes before running off with Kiriko, and now he was wishing that he had brought hers as well. The soles of her feet were scrapped and bloody from the trip and he hoped that he could get them treated before they got infected. Yelping as Akito somehow leapt ahead of them and landed straight in their path, he growled furiously. “Bastard! I don’t know how you did that, but you were just playing with us, weren’t you?”

“Maybe”, Akito replied, crossing his arms. Grinning, he craned his neck, which popped loudly. “Hand over the girl and you’ll be unharmed. She is my only target.” Chasing them had been fun, but he was tired of their little game. Besides, he had a mission to fulfill, as his programming dictated. He had no real hatred for either of them, but apparently he had to kill this girl. He had no idea why, but who was he to argue with what his gut told him?

“Over my dead body”, Kyoji replied darkly, glaring daggers at the younger that dared threaten the life of his baby sister. Setting her down gently, he raised his fists, stepping in front of her protectively. “If you want her, you’ll have to get by me, asshole.”

“Fine by me”, Akito replied, flashing a toothy grin as he moved from one end of the street to the other in almost an instant, striking Kyoji dead center with a closed fist to the gut, sending him flying backwards, hitting a mailbox and bending it into a 45 degree angle. As his head whipped backwards from the force, pain seared all throughout his torso and he groaned noisily in pain, slumping down onto the ground. Coughing, he was petrified by the sight of several specks of blood in his palm. ‘How am I still alive?’ He thought to himself, too pained to speak out. He could only watch as his sister stared in horror, looking back and forth from himself to her pursuer, who was approaching her. As he struggled to get up, he heard a female voice address him.

“If you want to live, I suggest you stay down”, the voice said, its location a mystery.

“Who’s there?” Akito asked angrily, frantically looking around for the source. “Who said that? Show yourself!” He screamed as his command was answered with a flying arrow that whizzed past his head and lodged itself into a nearby telephone poll. “What the--!”

“That was your first and only warning!” The voice shouted, filled with a cold fierceness. “The next one will most definitely make its mark!”

Scowling in annoyance, Akito lingered for a few more moments as if in contemplation before departing, disappearing into the night. He hated to leave before completing his mission, but if he was unable to see his opponent then he was good as dead.

Looking around anxiously for her rescuer, she gasped as she caught sight of someone hopping from building to building with his or her back towards her. She could barely see them, but she could make out the girl’s uniform of her school and oddly enough, a pair of black panties with an image of a white star on the back. “Wow, what an odd pair of underwear…” she said softly. Blushing lightly, she put her hands on her cheeks. “Oh my god, what am I saying?” Suddenly remembering the plight of her older sibling, she gasped, running towards him. “Oh Kyoji, hold on!”

-----

That morning, explaining what happened to their room was a bit difficult. Their father was going absolutely nuts. “What in the hell happened in there?!” Nabuta asked hysterically while at the breakfast table, wondering how in the world an entire room had gone down like that. “Did you two have a fight again? Why can’t you two just get along?”

“No, there was no fight”, Kyoji muttered in annoyance. “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.” Shaking his head, he growled. “And hey, that’s not the point! Why did this room collapse but not the rest of the house? Something is wrong with this picture, old man!”

Strangely enough, Chika didn’t find anything amiss with the way her family was currently acting. She just smiled and nodded, absent-mindedly filling the cups of everyone with juice. “Yes dear, why don’t you tell your children why you were too cheap to get their room properly built when the time came?” she asked, no malice or sarcasm in her voice at all.

Every person at the table except for her immediately stopped whatever it was that they were doing at that moment to stare at her, wondering how she could be so cold yet kind at the same time. This didn’t last long, as a quick glance at his watch sent Kyoji out the door. “Damn, we’ll be late if we don’t go soon! Come on Kiri-bozu, let’s go! We’ll discuss this later, dad!”

“Coming, ni-san!” Kiriko shouted, dashing out of the house and closing the door behind her.

Watching as they departed, Nabuta shook his head in disbelief. “What are we going to do with those two?” Lately they had been acting strangely. He wasn’t even sure if his wife cared anymore but he sure did! He just wished they wouldn’t keep things to themselves.

-----

As they walked to school, well actually, Kyoji was walking to school with Kiriko on his back, to be more correct. “Hey, are you sure you should be going to school with your feet so messed up?” the male Shimohara sibling asked, grunting as he carried the weight of his younger sister with his still aching body.

“I could ask you the same question, ni-san…” Kiriko pouted, ashamed that she had to be carried at her age. Despite all of Kyoji’s teasing and nicknames for her, they were only about a year or so apart, give or take a few months. “You’re injured, aren’t you?”

“Eh, it’s nothing serious”, he gloated. In fact, he couldn’t be further from the truth. His back was killing him, and his abs felt like they were on fire. The single punch that Akito dealt him might have even badly bruised a rib. As it was, he had no business carrying Kiriko, but he felt as though it was partially his fault that her feet were in the state that they were. He had managed to clean them up and bandage them when they got back that night, but no sooner had left the house that morning had she started complaining about her feet hurting. Thus, there they were… Plus, there was no way he was going to let her go to school alone with that maniac Akito in her class.

-----

As usual, it was a fairly uneventful morning… or was it? In Kyoji’s class, 3-A, his best friend Saeko Kumihisha was examining his face. Giggling, she tilted her head. “Why are you wearing make-up, Kyo-kun?” She had always seen Koji put up some big ‘tough-guy’ image. Had he finally gotten in touch with his feminine side? Probing his face again, she gasped, noticing a few cuts a bruises. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Kyo-kun”, she replied softly. “I didn’t know. What happened?” Her expression of sympathy turned into a mischievous grin. “Did you lose another fight with your sister?” She whined as Kyoji replied with a blow to her forehead. “Ow!” Rubbing her cranium, she frowned. “That was mean. You shouldn’t hit girls, you know.”

“Shut up, I’m not in the mood.” He felt a little bad for being so nasty towards her, but he was worried about Kiriko. It was taking all of his willpower to not leave class and go check up on her. Fortunately, he wasn’t hearing the screams of the underclassmen or the collapsing of walls, so she seemed to be okay for the moment.

“Ooh, touchy”, she replied, turning away in disgust. “See if I offer you any of my lunch today.”

-----

Meanwhile, in room 2-A, poor Kiriko was on edge. All she was focused on was looking out for Akito, completely ignoring her best friend unknowingly.

As usual, Atsuko was off in her world of UFOs. “--and so then I told them that it was impossible for what they saw to have been a mere jet plane and they were like-- Hey Kiri-chan, are you listening?”

“Huh, oh sorry, Atsuko-chan”, Kiriko replied slowly. Looking around with her eyes, a shiver went down her spine as a hand was planted on her shoulder. “Kya!” she screamed, jumping up and turning around. “Akito-san!”

Smiling sadistically, Akito still did not seem like himself. “Hey, sorry about the other night, Shimohara-san…” Chuckling, he squeezed her shoulder harder. “Lets be friends, okay?” He frowned as his wrist was grabbed, turning towards the source of the hand. “Why hello there, Hoshino-san. Protecting your pathetic little girlfriend again, I see.”

Left eyebrow twitching violently, Tsukino twisted his wrist slightly, gritting her teeth. “Tonomaru-san, please remember that harassment is a serious offense. You could get kicked out. Now I won’t warn you again… Leave Shimohara-sama alone!” Gasping as she let that last sentence slip out, she blushed, covering her mouth as the class began to giggle and gossip amongst themselves. “I-It’s not what it sounds like! I swear!” What made that some out? She had been acting strange ever since last night when she, no that was a dream, or at least that’s what she had been telling herself. Turning on her heel, she attempted to make it back to her seat, but instead slipped and fell forwards, flashing the room with her panties as her skirt flipped up.

“Iincho-san, are you okay?” Kiriko asked concernedly, rushing over to help. As she inadvertently got a good look at the panties of Tsukino, she gasped. “The black panties with a star from the other night!” Realizing how suggestive that sounded she screamed, waving her hands in front of her. “No no, it’s not like that!”

Quickly getting back on her feet and straightening her skirt, Tsukino stood tall, one hand behind her back. Her other hand was at her mouth as she cleared her throat. She remained in this stance for several seconds, unsure how to get out of this rather embarrassing predicament. Just as she thought that all hope was lost, the teacher entered the classroom just as the bell began ringing. The familiar setting making her confidence return, she smiled proudly and took her place at the front of the class. “Rise… and bow”, she said, the class following the daily instructions. She was saved… for now.

-----

Later that day, during Japanese Classics, the teacher was giving a lecture on the works of the Taisho Era. Atsuko took this time to lean over and whisper to her friend. “Hey, Kiriko… What was up with you and the class rep earlier, anyway? You both said some pretty strange stuff back there.”

Leaning in as well, Kiriko cautiously replied. “Well you see, I was in trouble yesterday, and I think that Tsukino-san may have been the one who helped me.” To tell the truth, she wasn’t very sure anymore. Sure, they had similar tastes in… clothing, to put it politely, but anyone could have the same pair of panties. Then again, Tsukino had been especially protective of her today. But she was always looking out for everyone. That was just her nature, class rep or not. She remembered seeing her getting down a balloon from a low branch for a little kid. Then again, she did end up scolding him for being so careless. Laughing gently to herself, she wondered if perhaps Tsukino-san was schizophrenic.

“Is something funny, Shimohara-san?” the teacher asked sarcastically, standing next to her. His dark eyes pierced her as he adjusted his glasses. “Would you care to share it with the class?”

“N-no, Tohya-sensei!” Kiriko shouted frantically, whimpering as a majority of the class giggled and snickered at her. “N-nothing’s funny at all! I was thinking and--!”

With the rest of the class preoccupied, Tsukino scanned the room. Sitting at the very back, staring at Kiriko with that same sadistic look in his eyes, was Akito. Furrowing her eyebrows, she snarled dangerously. ‘I don’t trust him at all. I’ll have to keep an eye on him… if I want to keep Shimohara-sama safe…’

To Be Continued…

-----

“I just have to know, Iincho-san… Are you the one that protected me? …Wait, Akito-san? What are you doing here?”

“Ha! I, Akito Tonomaru, challenge you to a duel, Tsukino Hoshino!”

“Idiot.”

“What was that?!”

“I’ll defeat you in one blow. The next episode of ‘Legend of the Guardian Children ’ is titled Death Match Under the Full Moon: Arrow vs. Fist. Don’t miss it.”

“Please, don’t hurt each other anymore!”