Post by Shinku on Aug 6, 2014 20:00:27 GMT -5
The moon vanished behind the clouds and the surroundings got darker, the shadows hazier. Between the boxes the darkness was even deeper. Two silhouettes were lying on the ground. Grunts and other little noises could be heard from them, but they didn’t move, not much at least apart from a wince here or a twitch there.
It seemed like an eternity before one of the silhouettes, the small and lean one, stirred, slowly getting on his knees, one hand pressing against the opposite shoulder as if trying to hold something back. For a moment it looked as if the other hand that was holding up the body’s weight would buckle and cave in, but it held. In true it had only been a few seconds since the fall. A fall on which both of the men had hit hard against the boxes, that restricted them from falling too far to any side, before hitting the ground. Kyou had hit himself on the back of his head. The same spot he had bumped earlier when he arrived with the kite. The world seemed to be far away and for some reason it was spinning. It took him two or three more seconds to focus and to remember where he was and what he was doing. He started to feel faint, a feeling he knew well by now. Surely he couldn’t have lost that much blood already? The hit on his head must have been affecting him.
The second figure rose directly to his feet. The fall had surprised and disarranged him as well, but the archer did not get hurt by it, nor had he prior wounds to deal with. He still had his bow clenched in his hand and the quiver on his back. Some arrows had spilt out during the fall but some still remained inside. On had to admit to his favor that he was clever enough not to reach for an arrow but to engage in close combat by kicking Kyou who had started to rise in the face. All the boy had time to do was shielding it with his arm, deflecting the biggest part of the impact away from himself. The foot hit the box to his side rather than his face, but it still unbalanced him enough to send Kyou back to the floor. Again Kyou had only time to raise his hand for protection when the archer took his bow and started to strangle him with it. The bow on his throat, his back pressed against the archer’s legs and one hand pinched between the bow and his neck, moving was as hard as breathing. There was still one free arm he could move and he used it to ram his fingers into the other man, just beneath his ribs. The man gave out a yelp and the pressure against his throat lessened enough for Kyou to push away the bow and let himself drop to the floor. He didn’t stay there however but pressed his back hard against it and pushed off with one leg bringing himself into a handstand to kick his enemy’s chin hard from below. His shoulder ached and his head got dizzy again from the sudden change of direction, but he forced himself to spin around half a turn and landed on his feet, only to step forward again faking a punch against his enemy’s head, which the man avoided by dodging to the side, while adding a kick to the bend of the knee and turned his punch into a sidewise push into the face to force the man to topple over. It succeeded. The man felt and before he reached the floor, Kyou had drawn his sword and swung it against the back of the man’s head, knocking him down to the ground, where he laid still.
All this had happened far too fast to think in between the action, but now that he got a breather his sword felt painfully heavy. It wasn’t the swords own weight, but something entirely different. His mind on the other hand felt completely clear. It was just one of these moments. The fatigue and the dizziness got pushed back into a corner where they stayed until he allowed them to come back. In the meantime they were replaced by an odd determination. And a numbness that shut out all of the other feelings.
The man stirred. In Kyou’s hand the wood was rough and a splint pricked into his skin. Slowly he took a small step forward, and then another one. For a moment he towered over the man that was lying on the floor, clenching his sword and looking down on his beaten enemy. In the darkness his hair looked more red than darkish pink and there was blood in it, dark and ominous marks. He raised the sword, and then tucked it away.
His feet were bare. From the beginning he hadn’t had any socks to go with the shoes he had now lost. Kyou bent down and pulled off the man’s shoes and then his socks. The shoes were too big for him but he could use the socks. With the first one he gagged the man, so he wouldn’t be able to scream and alert the others and with the other sock he bound together the man’s hands on his back. It was a bit improvised but it would do. The man’s coat was dirty, but his shirt looked clean or at least clean enough. Kyou opened the coat and ripped up the shirt into long bits of cloths and began to bandage his wounds as good as was possible in such a situation. Which wasn’t much, but still better than nothing.
Then he left the shadows of the boxes. He stopped when he saw Bat Boy watching him from a safe distance.
“…”
For a moment he stood there without moving, then he turned and began walking away. Ignoring the boy seemed the best course of action.
He didn’t get farther than a few steps when the rain started pouring down. It was cold and each drop felt like a little cold needle on his skin. In a short time he was drenched.