Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Tragic Angel Tsurugi ( Chapter 21 )

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 21: Tragic Angel Tsurugi

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The group of mismatched people stood before a giant forest. It was lush and the trees were tall, with branches only at the very most tops, creating a type of canopy above that only allowed a little light to shine through to the forest floor. Everyone gazed at their surroundings, each one with different thoughts running through their heads about the place laid out before them.

Chichiri's features turned to those of unamusement. "More plants? How could I have guessed?" The blonde sighed to himself in dismay. He really didn't like the idea of seeing yet another plant.

"Well, we are fighting against a plant goddess," Ko pointed out.

"This is the Forest of Illusion. If we make it through here, we'll be able to find Flora," Musashi informed the group.

Tsurugi was a bit detached from the group. His form was draped over in pain and his broken and bent wings tried their best to stay perky, but the bones were exposed and feathers were missing. They could no longer retain their dark beauty. They were shattered beyond comparison from the chains of despair which surrounded him and threatened to cut off his flight. Blood dripped on to the green grass below, remnants of his pain.

"Tsurugi…" Ko said lowly and sympathetically as a concerned expression crossed her face.

A few moments later, the angel's wobbly legs gave in and his form went crashing down upon its knees. He sat there, shoulders slumped and head down. He was panting a little and he felt cold from blood loss. "…I need a rest," he replied in almost a whisper of exhaustion.

Hiroshima tore his gaze from the suffering dark angel.

"Perfectly understandable," Musashi told him gently. "I am so sorry about that."

"No…I had it coming for a while."

"Hey," Keiji's voice interrupted, strong and seeming slightly irritated about something. This caused the Wind Cavern and the dark angel to pay their attention to the drummer standing before them.

"Tell me about these curses. No hiding things. You got that? The more secretive we are, the more suspicions everyone gets," Keiji told the two as Fife looked down a few feet behind him. He seemed ashamed of something unspoken.

"I used to be so pure…My wings were white and my heart kind," Tsurugi began to explain, his features looking sorrowful as his mind flooded with nostalgia. "I could dance on-air and my feet were never allowed to touch the ground- for I would kill a small blade of grass. My eyes were clear and reflected the skies of heaven."

An image of himself, sprawled out over the ground, as if he'd fallen from the sky crept its way into his mind with striking detail. White feathers everywhere, blood coming from one of his wings and seeping out on to the ground. His white and gold robes disheveled as well as his blonde locks.

"But thankfully, I had not killed anything and I was surrounded by people," the angel spoke on, recalling the image of a girl with long black hair, who dressed in a red Lolita dress, a maid with a side-ponytail, a beautiful woman with long, brown wavy hair and Hiroshima, dressed in a tight-fitting sleeveless black shirt and a red cloth belt with black pants and a headband, which was tied in the back with two long pieces of material hanging down from it.

"Princess Teruna's group…" Azmy said to herself, barely above a whisper.

"Yes, I became surrounded by these strange people. They wore kind faces, despite their sorrow and they were very kind to me. But there was one who constantly evaded me. He was a tall and strong fellow who always held a piercing gaze. His eyes were clear, alert and haunting to stare into. It almost seemed that they possessed the ability to pierce souls. He was a ninja and assassin. His presence was unlike that of anyone I'd ever felt. It was absolutely demonic and his aura could literally make the air itself snap."

After that was said, Keiji's green eyes widened in both realization and fright- he knew this being all too well. He'd felt this snapping and unrestrained energy before. The darkened figure appeared in his mind once again, its eyes were wild and feral and it was hunched over in a demonic and predatory manner. The figure had small wings on its back and its head slowly turned to look over its shoulder.

'I would run if I were you.'

'That's the same aura that I felt that day…' The stoic teen reminisced as an image of Hiroshima's form, seated on the hanging post in Saesugawa crept into his mind. 'Him…'

"It scared me. I couldn't help but be drawn to it. However, I could not let myself be too close to this man. He was so tainted and corrupt and I knew that I had to stay pure if I wanted to return to heaven," Tsurugi continued. "We traveled together and I was soon accustomed to death and destruction. It was grim and depressing…Innocent people being murdered as they are now."

The shy girl gaze him a sympathetic look, her eyes shined with the mix of emotion she felt.

"And yet, "Tsurugi paused momentarily, "that same man was laughing and enjoying himself."

With that sentence a whirlwind of flashbacks plagued the angel's mind, filling him with the events of long ago. The days when he and Hiroshima had fought on the same team, and were just beginning in their journeys. He remembered how it was to fight alongside of Hiroshima as he was when he initially met him.

The spiky-haired assassin laughed sinisterly as he mercilessly tore through his enemies with the Crimson Blade, flinging blood and innards every which way. He didn't care about bathing in his enemies' blood; in fact, it was a great thrill to be doing so and gave him an adrenaline rush like no other. The yells of his victims could be heard echoing through the landscape. The haunting blood-curdling screams, signifying a life cut short.

A guard had stood between the white winged Tsurugi and Hiroshima's blade. With a clean slice, the man took his last breath calling out in pain as blood sprayed from his back, splattering all over the once-white robes of Tsurugi. The frightened angel let out a yelp as his robes were drenched in the red liquid. Splatters of red in an abstract pattern adorned his once gold and white clothes and his hands were bathed in the blood of a man he had not killed. Looking down at his trembling hands with wild fear in his eyes, the angel felt many things at once- sorrow, fear and a rising sickness that could only come from pure dread.

"What's wrong? Afraid of getting a little blood on your hands?" The assassin sneered in a sadistic joy.

"Why?" The angel asked in an upset tone, almost on the threat of crying. "Why would you do this?"

"Because you and your damned little goody two-shoes ways annoy me," Hiroshima frowned, disgusted by the angel's reaction to the blood. "If you're going to be a warrior, you've got to get dirty."

"But I can't do that. I've got to stay pure to return to heaven," he tried to explain to the stubborn man, doubting he would understand his words. After all, they were from two different worlds- he a sinner, corrupted by the blood on his hands and tainted by his urge to kill and Tsurugi a pure and innocent angel who had been in heaven all of his life and only recently known what the mortal world had to offer. "The more blood I am bathed in, the more I'm liked a blood-stained angel and blood stained angels become impure and turn dark. If I'm impure, then I cannot get back in."

"Who the hell wants to go to heaven?"

"Hm?" The angel blinked in confusion. Why would he say something like that? Wasn't it every human's intention to get into a place like heaven? He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to spend time with Lucifer.

"Hell is where the REAL action is! All of that sin and corruption to bathe in," the blood-thirsty man smiled a calm, yet slightly sadistic smile. "I can't wait."

"Those who embrace sin truly have nothing to lose," the angel said solemnly, as if he pitied the man for being such a lost soul.

"Well, no one wants a dead weight on the team. So why don't you stop letting everyone protect you? Nothing pisses me off more than a coward who just sits back and lets everyone protect them," the taller man was irritated with his sympathy towards him.

The blonde angel looked down. "But I can't-"

"You CAN'T or you WON'T? You selfish little bastard," Hiroshima brooded. He called himself an angel? What angel only thinks of himself?

Tsurugi's features lit up in surprise. He'd never been called such a name before.

"How dare you sit back and do nothing but create a pain in the ass for people who are risking their lives to protect you. How selfish."

"I wish you understood…" The blonde tried to defend himself but Hiroshima wasn't about to let him get away with it. He stood firm on his opinion and would not back down for anyone.

"No, YOU understand," the assassin's voice lowered to a calmer yet still-strong tone. "One of these days, you'll be sitting back there uselessly and someone will end up dying for you. All because you don't want to get your little hands dirty. Just remember that."

"Our battles did continue and I would not stain myself. I protected myself at all costs. But him…He had his way of making sure that I became tainted."

A battle had just ended, and several people were standing in a group talking amongst themselves about both the battle and their next movement onward. Tsurugi had been engaged in a conversation with two of his female friends named Atsuko and Miyaka. The three of them laughed a bit before Hiroshima stalked up behind them. He was splattered in blood from head to toe and had his sword hung over his shoulder, the blade was the only thing on him that was clean.

"I hope you like playing the damsel in distress and having your brave knights protect you," he shot a sarcastic and pissy comment and Tsurugi. Atsuko and Miyaka looked to him, being used to the two's constant fights. They knew Hiroshima was angry at Tsurugi for not fighting. Atsuko sympathized with him and Miyaka, as a ninja felt a little torn between sides. She could see the warrior perspective, and she could also see Tsurugi's reasons as well.

The angel frowned.

"As long as your precious purity is saved nothing else matters."

"Not true. I care about everyone here," Tsurugi tried to sound compassionate, but he knew Hiroshima would shoot him down.

"Oh really?" The assassin arched an eyebrow. "But you use them to protect you in battle."

"I will not fight," the blonde angel looked a little guilty when he uttered those words.

Hiroshima smirked sinisterly in response, looking a little crazed. "I hope your happy being pure." He said in a voice all too calm for the situation as he wiped the bloody blade of the Crimson Sword right across one of his white wings, the snowy feathers bathing in the excess blood. "It won't last very long."

"He was absolutely cold to me," Tsurugi didn't mention that the man he was speaking of was, in fact the legend himself.

"What a jerk! I thought he was your team mate," Ko was angry that someone would just treat Tsurugi like dirt.

"He was and at first he supported getting me to heaven or at least he did begrudgingly so. He knew that while he was with Princess Teruna that he wouldn't be prosecuted for what he'd done. He served the princess and for that he knew he was in the clear, but as the times changed so did his motives. He was more than just a self-righteous jerk and a homicidal killer. He had great compassion for his team mates and made plenty of sacrifices for their sake. He turned out to be very noble and had a great sense of honor. He also proved himself right with the advice he'd given me earlier."

Tsurugi paused before continuing. "It was just he and I. We were the only two left and the others we traveled with were incapable of helping. It was he and I battling it out on the field. He had been in battle before and he never had a break from one battle to the next. I could tell he was worn down, despite his normal appearance. He was always so calm and collected with things. However, there was more than one enemy and I was left unguarded."

Spikes flew at both of the men, they were about four feet long and would surely kill them if punctured their flesh in the right place. As the needles flew at the two at a fast speed, Tsurugi had been standing a small distance from Hiroshima, out in front of their path.

"Look out!" The assassin shouted as he flung himself in front of the large needles with his sword drawn, poised to attack them and try to deflect them from their original target. He hoped that it would be enough to get them away from the angel.

But he was wrong.

The sound of large objects, piercing flesh multiple times echoed through the once innocent angel's ears. It sent dread running cold through his body. He felt a sensation deep within his stomach that replicated the feeling of free-falling. He wanted badly to turn his gaze, but fear kept it locked on the body before him, which was being used as a human pin-cushion as the needles stabbed him again and again.

Hiroshima's body flung from one side to the other like a limp doll's as he was assaulted. His blood splattered in different places and the angel could feel the warm, sticky substance as it soaked his torso and splattered his legs. By the time it was over, the man before him has three of the needles through one arm, two through the other, three in his torso and one in his right leg. He was slumped over, barely holding his sword and breathing heavily as his blood poured out onto the cold, unmoving ground below him. He turned to the angel, draping a bloody arm around his neck, using him as a rest.

"Hope you're happy…You got your way," the assassin was amazing! He even kept a calm voice when he was sitting on death row, not only that, but the evident pain in his voice was kept to a minimal.

His words hung in the air all around Tsurugi as the two of them were silent momentarily. The only sounds that could be heard was the other man's panting and the dripping of blood. A large wave of sadness overcame the angel, so much so that it made him want to cry for the other man. It was as if he could feel his suffering, his anguish, his torment and distress.

"I didn't want it to be that way," the angel told him, on the verge of tears.

"Well, you can't change that now, can you?" Hiroshima's voice was weary and his body on the verge of collapsing. "You're the only one who hasn't got a scratch on them."

The assassin could feel gentle arms wrap around his slender and toned waist as the angel pulled his body close but not close enough to be pierced by the offending needles protruding from it. "I'm so sorry. You were right. I was selfish by not participating in battles in order to keep my purity…I realize now that this has nothing to do with getting back to heaven, but everything to do with sacrifices…and you all have made far too many for me."

"From that point on, I decided that no one should waste their lives on me. I felt so terrible for what I've done to the people who protected me and laid down their lives so that I could remain pure…Even him…and It was mine…He had been warning me of my ways and the consequences that would befall me if I hadn't changed. He proved himself right, so I had decided at that split second, with my emotional build up at its peak, I acted irrationally…"

A fist balled, shaking with the emotion its owner felt as it surged through his body in powerful waves. The blonde angel looked down; frowning in anger and his long tresses shaded his heavenly eyes, which were releasing their wrath from within the confines of their blonde shroud.

"You don't have to protect me anymore…" A trembling voice spoke smally from behind the shroud of blonde hair.

"What?" Hiroshima looked at him, tired and in tremendous pain.

Tsurugi brought a hand up to his chest, turned palm up. There was blood on it.

Hiroshima's blood.

The blood he wasted on protecting him.

A drop of blood from one of the spikes made contact with it, staining a small portion of his hand. "No one should have to shed any blood for me," his trembling voice turned to one of deep sorrow. "I'm so sorry." He nearly whispered as he could not hold back his emotion any longer. Pure, crystalline tears ran down his race in glistening streams.

"Tsurugi…" The assassin replied in a half-hearted tone, almost as if he felt a little guilty for putting him through the hell that he'd been enduring from him.

"No, I don't deserve your sympathy!" The angel shouted in denial. "I've already put you through so much…" His arm unwrapped from around the injured man's waist and he walked a few paces ahead of him

"What the hell are you doing?" The spiky-haired man replied, staggering a bit to attempt to stop him.

"I'm going to taint myself…and stain my wings with blood."

"But you already did…With my blood."

"And I now embrace it." With that being his final sentence, he spread his two blood-stained wings, no longer white and pure and took off flying at high speed towards the source of the spikes.

"No!" Hiroshima attempted to shout after the fleeting angel, but his anguished voice was lost to the wind. Needles are fired at him at a high speed as the angel gathered winds to his hand in a spherical shape. The winds blew around in a tornadic motion as he spun around and extended his arm, opening his hand, releasing them towards the enemy. Gusts of winds going over speeds of 80 mph swept across the plains.

"Wind Barrier!" He called out, as the spikes were successfully deflected. They bounced off of the winds and flew back towards the enemy. After he deflected them, he charged forward as Hiroshima watched him from the side line. Every once in a while he winced at his wounds.

He hadn't removed the needles from his body, not wanting to lose any more blood then he had lost already. He didn't know what type of injuries he'd taken on, so he decided to play it safe.

"Tsurugi…please…" He said, closing one eye at his apparent pain.

'I will not let anyone else fall for my selfish endeavors,' Tsurugi silently vowed.

To Be Continued…