Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Guardian Children ❯ Do Your Best! Kiriko's Fight?! ( Chapter 10 )

Story time, kiddies! Sit down and listen, if you care to. What, you don’t want to? Fine by me, I’ll tell it anyway. So, let’s begin, shall we?

-Kouji Tamino

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Legend of the Guardian Children

Book 1: The Light of Destiny

Chapter 10: Do Your Best! Kiriko’s Fight?!

A few gang members actually wet themselves at the sight of the lizard-man. Domon shook his head in disgust at them. “What are you, men or mice? I didn’t bring you guys into my gang to piss your pants like pussies!” Growling angrily, he rushed forward and threw a punch at the monster, grunting in pain as his fist made contact with the rough scales of the reptile. Wincing, he quickly pulled his hand back and stared at his tattered and bloody knuckle. Sucking in a deep breath through his teeth, he grunted loudly as he suppressed the urge to scream and shout in pain. He stared hatefully at the creature as it picked him up and tossed him out into the open like a rag doll.

As people screamed in shock, Kiriko ran over to him and began to shake him gently. A few short minutes ago, she had discovered an emotionally dead and totally out of it Tsukino. Since then, she had been trying to snap her out of it with no outcome out of it. When she saw Domon crash to the ground, she just had to go see if he was all right. “Mister, are you okay?” Gasping as she realized who it was, she put a hand on her mouth, backing away a little in fear. “Domon?!” she remembered that he had been best friends with her brother, but then beat him to a pulp over Saeko a few years ago. She hadn’t witnessed the fight, but seeing the condition that Kyoji had been in scared the living daylights out of her.

She found it ironic as Kyoji himself and several Red Hawks ran out of the alley to check up on him. Seeing that he wasn’t hurt too badly save his hand, they focused back on the lizard-man as he made his way into the city center, frightening many people. “Kiriko, you’ve gotta get out of here!” Kyoji screamed, not wanting the giant lizard to lay a finger on her.

“I won’t run!” Kiriko replied, frowning. There was no way she was going to abandon them all and leave them alone to face that… thing. “I have to get Tsukino back to normal! She can help!” She was sure of that. If anyone could stop the creature, Tsukino could. The only problem was getting her back into her normal state of mind. “Iincho-san, you have to get over it! Atsuko is fine, she forgives you, and she’s not against our friendship anymore!”

Tsukino wouldn’t hear it. She was still agonizing over the fact that she had hit a normal person like that with her increased strength. She had managed to hold back in her rage at the last second, but seeing the damage that even that had caused her to decide to not make anymore contact with anyone ever again. This meant Kiriko as well. She just didn’t want to hurt anyone ever again. “I’m sorry... I just can’t do this anymore.”

“But you have too, Iincho-san!” Kiriko screamed, her eyes welling up with tears as she shakily walked towards her friend. She was absolutely devastated by the way the normally strong, brave, and confident Tsukino was behaving. When she was strong, it gave her strength as well. How could she even hope to handle what was happening without her? Falling to her knees, she took a quick glance at the scene to see the Red Hawks bravely attempt to defend their leader only to be swatted away. Coming to a decision, she stood up clumsily, wiping her eyes which were red and puffy at this point. “Iincho-san… I know that you’re hurting inside, but I can’t just sit back and watch them all get hurt or even killed. I know that I can’t do much, but I’m tired of not doing anything.” She turned to face her, a solemn expression on her face. “Goodbye, Tsukino Hoshino.”

A bit taken aback by that parting comment, Tsukino watched as Kiriko ran over to the site and stood in front of the lizard monster. She was apparently placing herself in between the creature and Domon in a futile attempt to protect him. Eyes widening, she caught on to the idea. Rushing to her feet, she rushed over to try and stop her from doing something incredibly stupid. Reaching Kiriko and stretching her arm out to grab her, she could only look on in horror as a whopping green, scaly claw came crashing down on her, swiping her violently to the side and splattering blood all over the athlete’s face. “Oh… my… god…” Was all that she could choke out, her heart rate increasing rapidly. What in the world had she done?

Domon wheezed loudly, his eyes bugging out in disbelief over the fact that Kiriko had taken a shot for him, one of her brother’s enemies. He was mortified by the sight of her body soaring through the air and falling to the ground in a heap, but he felt something else… Was it respect? Yes, he now had a lot of respect for the girl as well. That was really dumb of her to do, but it showed guts.

“N-no way…” Ayumi squeaked softly, after having experienced this entire ordeal. She wanted to get Kiriko out of the picture, but she hadn’t wanted anything like this to happen! The poor girl had been maimed by that… that thing. And on top of that, her Hoshino-sama was a complete emotional mess thanks to her aggravating Atsuko’s jealousy and anger. News had already spread throughout the school about what had happened in room 2-A before classes had started. “It’s my fault… This is all my fault…” No longer able to take it, she began to run for her life. She had to get out of here before she ended up like Shimohara.

Taking in a deep breath, Kyoji screamed his lungs out as he ran towards his little sister. “KIRIKO!” Gently picking her up, he nuzzled her unconscious form against his, rocking her slowly. She was losing blood fast, so he tore a sleeve off of his uniform jacket and tied it around her injured to try and clot it a bit. Casting a hateful glare at Tsukino, he snarled. “You… You said that you would keep her safe. Now look at her!” Crying out, he freely let his tears fall, not caring who saw at this point. “You’re not the only one with problems, you know! You had a responsibility and you failed!” Gasping as a hand was planted on his shoulder, he looked up and over his shoulder to see a gloomy Domon giving him a halfhearted comforting smile. “Hey…”

Tsukino felt like running again. She felt like running far, far away and never returning. She had hurt someone again today, this time indirectly through her own negligence. Now there was no way anyone would forgive her now, not even Kiriko and Kyoji. She didn’t want to lose the only two true friends she had ever had. She had lost everything at this point. Sinking back into her depression, she was just about to leave and abandon all that she cared about, when a familiar voice rang out from the distance.

“Hey, Hoshino! Don’t tell me that you’re giving up already?” Everyone that was able to glanced up at the source. Balancing on a power line, arms crossed, was a stern looking Akito. Leaping from his spot, he fell to the ground and crouched as he landed. Standing up straight, he continued talking while walking towards her. “What the hell happened to the balls busting, take no bullshit badass that I remember? Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft on me? I won’t fight a wussy!” Staring at her with a sneer, he sighed in disappointment while shaking his head. “I come back to school and things have all gone to hell. I heard about what happened, but so what if you made a couple mistakes? Are going to let them control you, or are you going to finally stand up and take the bull by the horns?” He yelped as the class rep suddenly grabbed him by the nose. “What the--?”

“Tonomaru-san!” Tsukino shouted, her voice once again carrying that familiar air of confidence and authority. Somehow, hearing Akito put her down like that made something snap inside of her. “As class representative, I cannot allow you to speak to me in such a disrespectful manner.” Although what he had said had peeved her a little, he was right, and she knew it. It was time to stop feeling sorry for herself and kick some ass.

Kyoji, despite the situation, couldn’t help but crack a small smile. Now there was the girl that could protect his sister. That thought made him a little upset, though. Wasn’t the big brother supposed to be the one to protect their younger sibling?. That usually was the case, but unfortunately that was impossible for him to accomplish with the increasingly fantastic threats heading in her direction. The only people that could protect Kiriko were those with strength like Tsukino and Akito. So all he could do was just sit and watch. Taking a deep breath, he took out his cell phone and called for an ambulance for Kiriko. He could at least do that for her.

Tsukino glanced around, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. Even with her strength, she wouldn’t be able to penetrate those tough scales with her bare hands. “Tonomaru-san, could you hold off that beast for a bit while I look for a weapon?”

Nodding with a grin, he raised his fist. “That I can do! Try to hurry, though. That guy looks pretty nasty…” As confident with his physical prowess as he was, he wasn’t very comfortable with going toe to toe with that walking razorblade of a brute. Gulping, he took a few breaths and stepped toward the monster. Tapping it on the back, unable to reach it’s shoulder of course, he tried provoking it into leaving the others alone and focusing on him by talking smack. “Hey! Hey, I’m talking to you! Yeah you, you butt ugly son of a bitch! Yeah, that’s right! I went there!” Laughing heartily, he began hopping from foot to foot, tossing the lizard a cocky smirk, mocking it. “You wanna do something about it?” Stopping, he readied his fists and… ran as far down the street as he could.

Everyone stared off at him with a deadpan face, wondering if he was taking this seriously or not. Nonetheless, it was giving Tsukino plenty of time to look for an object to kill the thing with. Her eyes wandered over the area, scouting out for anything that could prove useful. Whatever it was would have to be pretty sharp and pointy to get past those scales, and she would have to use all of her strength to penetrate it in the first place. In the shows she had seen, usually a good stab at the under belly would do the trick. This creature, however, had obviously evolved past that point due to walking on two legs as it was almost completely covered in scales. Still, she had to try. She looked over to where Akito was to see if he was doing okay.

The boy grabbed the animal by it’s wrist as it attempted to slash him, but holding it back required two arms. He strained against it as it attacked with it’s other hand, nicking him in the side as he barely managed to dodge. Growling under his breath, he suppressed a cry as a stinging pain ran through his ribs. Quickly crouching, he threw an unexpected blow at the back of the monster’s knees, causing it to buckle and fall over. The lizard swung it’s tail wildly, crashing into telephone poles and knocking them over, causing innocent bystanders to dive out of the way. “Shit…” Akito muttered, realizing that he would have to be a little more careful from now on. He was so worried about the people that he failed to notice the long thick tail making it’s way towards him, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying into a building. He smashed through the wall and found himself in the middle of a restaurant. Picking himself up from the rubble, he chuckled sheepishly at the frankly disturbed diners. Dusting himself off, he bowed awkwardly. “Excuse me. Please, continue to enjoy your meals.”

After making his way outside, he found that the reptile had refocused his attention on the Red Hawks. Shaking his head, he ran towards the fiend at top speed, hitting it with a perfectly executed dropkick. “Oh no you don’t! Your fight is with me, at least for now!” He watched in satisfaction as the lizard man fell to the ground and slid across the asphalt. His contentment was short lived though, for the creature quickly made it’s way back to it’s feet, looking angrier than ever. “Oh come on!” He growled as the lizard grabbed him by his throat, it’s long sharp claws threatening to puncture his throat and end his life in an instant. Sweat dripped down his brow as remained still, not wanting to further provoke the bloodthirsty creature as it’s claws grazed against the skin of his neck dangerously. He yelped as it lightly punctured the flesh and drew blood. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the worse… only to fall to the ground as it let go of him and filled his ear with a chilling scream. Reopening his eyes, he looked up to see the being wailing in pain as it held it’s hands to it’s bleeding eye socket, the actual eye itself having been pierced and destroyed by an arrow flying at high speed. Smiling knowingly, he looked in the direction of the source to see a triumphant Tsukino holding her bow, Ayumi hiding behind her. “But how? I thought you didn’t have a weapon!”

Chuckling, she explained. “I didn’t, but this girl here apparently ran all the way back to the school and back here to bring me my bow and arrow!” Turning around, she grinned appreciatively, not knowing that this same girl was somewhat responsible for things getting so out of hand. “Thank you very much, miss… You have no idea how much you’ve helped us.” Turning back to face the reptile, Hoshino missed the guilty expression that formed on Ayumi’s face as she retrieved another arrow from the quiver on her back. Setting it up I her bow, she shot a quick fleeting look to the Shimohara siblings. Kyoji, now considerably less upset, nodded to her with a thumbs up for good luck. Kiriko’s bleeding had thankfully stopped, and she looked like she might be okay if she got medical attention in time. In fact, she could faintly hear the sirens. She had to make this quick. “Now, to finish this… I need to find another weak spot!”

Exploring the body of the lizard with her eyes, she hurriedly searched for another place to shoot it as it staggered towards her. Licking her lips as she found her mark, she held her ground, aiming as it came closer and closer. “I’ve got you now. Just a few more steps, you bastard.” Gritting her teeth as the large lizard stepped forward, raising its hand to strike her, she shot the arrow up into the air, watching as it lodged itself in the soft chin area behind its jaw, one of the only vulnerable areas left. The arrow continued on, piercing the brain and killing the monster instantly. It fell backwards, crashing to the ground with a huge boom. Without another word, she left the scene before the ambulance and police could arrive. Ayumi followed, leaving the Shimohara’s and the Red Hawks to be treated.

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The next day, Tsukino entered a classroom full of a mixture of uneasy, glaring, and gossipy students. Just the other day, such an atmosphere would have made her anxious and jittery. Today, however, she was poised and ready to deal with whatever they threw at her. Atsuko and Kiriko would be out for a while, so she would have to try and ease the tension without them. She felt that she was up to the challenge, though. Planting her hand on a desk, she ignored the stares and catcalls with a strict look on her face. “All right, enough with the acting like little children. I know you’re better than that.” Smirking in satisfaction as the class settled somewhat, she continued. “I know that things got rough yesterday, but I assure that things will not change in this class. I am still class representative, and I promise that I will work hard to earn back your respect and trust whether you care or not.” Taking a deep breath, she sighed. “So, any questions?” As people began to raise their hands, she took their questions one by one. Things were going to be okay.

To Be Continued…

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“Well, now that things are finally calming down, I think I’ll go visit Shimohara-sa-- What are you all doing here?”

“I, Domon Togashi, shall once again fight in the name of JUSTICE!”

“Things will never be like the old days, Kyo-kun… I understand that now.”

“Dear, I think it is time we told them the truth…”

“What?! A family secret kept locked up for years? Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? The next episode of ‘Legend of the Guardian Children’ is called Time of Recovery! The Truth About Your Brother… This is going to be a real tearjerker, so don’t miss it!”