Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Cove ❯ Declaration of War and Prelude to the Truth ( Chapter 61 )

Ryuji and Kasumi were about to walk away when they heard someone clapping. The boy turned to is older companion.

"Who's doing that?" he asked.

"What about you talking?" Kasumi asked. Ryuji opened his mouth to speak, but froze when he heard footsteps accompanying the clapping. Karasu stepped out from behind a dead tree.

"Well done," he said. "You saw through my trick earlier." Ryuji jumped in front of Kasumi, sword out.

"You!" he snapped. "You did this!"

"Correct," Karasu said.

"But why?"

The man in voice eyed Kasumi behind him. "Tell him, Kasumi-chan." Ryuji gritted his teeth.

"Just ignore him," he said under his breath. She shook her head.

"I can't hide it anymore," the fighter said. Kasumi lifted her head. "Karasu, leave these people alone! They have nothing to do with us!"

"Sorry," Karasu said. "You know I cannot do that."

"But why?"

Karasu pushed back his hair from his eyes, laughing. "You know why. Don't make me remind you by killing this boy in front you." Ryuji clutched his sword in a death grip.

"No!" Kasumi wailed. "He has nothing to do with us!"

"This is just how it has to be and you know it. Don't bother fighting fate."

"I'm not dying tonight!" Ryuji shouted. He raced forward with a scream. Karasu smirked and shook his head. This poor, stupid boy, he thought. The man in black dodged it without hesitation. Ryuji's eyes widened as he kept running forward. Karasu landed on his back without blinking. The boy fell face down into the mud. Ryuji bit the inside of his mouth as he landed. Karasu eyed Kasumi with a cold smirk.

"Feel free to step in anytime," he said. "We know how this is going to end." For the first time, Kasumi felt something burning within her. She used to be so scared of what her former lover would do to the connections that she would try to form. However, tonight...

"Enough," Kasumi hissed. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" he asked. His former lover glared at him.

"Leave me friends alone!" she yelled.

"But you have no friends."

Kasumi whipped out her sword. "Yes, I do!" She charged at him with the scream of a wounded animal. Karasu leapt back still smirking.

"Oh?" he asked. "This is a welcome change." The black in man dodged Kasumi's every attack. His smirk only served to make her angrier. The warrior woman gritted her teeth.

"Why don't you stay still and fight me like a man?!" she yelled. Kasumi managed to cut at his long black hair. She stood back, panting.

"What happened to you?" she asked. "Why did turn into this?" Karasu shook his head.

"I have seen the truth," he said.

"But that sword isn't yours," she said.

"It called out to me." Karasu drew out his sword and held it out. "It chose me!" Ryuji sat up and tossed his sword at the man in black. Karasu jumped back. The boy breathed in heavily.

"I don't know what's going on," he said. "But if you hurt Kasumi-san, I will kill you!" His attempts to sound tough made the man in black laugh.

"You really care about this woman?" he asked.

"Yes!" Ryuji shouted.

"Even if you don't know about her past?"

The boy gave him a puzzled look. "Her past?"

Karasu whistled as he turned his eyes towards Kasumi. "You didn't tell me? Such a shame. I thought he was your friend." Ryuji turned to looking confused.

"Kasumi-san, what is he talking about?" he asked. The warrior woman lowered her head. Karasu pushed his hair from his forehead.

"I'll let her tell the story," he said. Karasu jumped up into the dark, skyless trees.

"Come back here!" Ryuji shouted.

"You'll see me again," the man in black said. "Meet at the end near the Cove!" His voice disappeared into a squawk of crows before it became silent. Ryuji turned back to Kasumi.

"What does he mean?" he asked. She clenched her fists at her sides.

"Ryuji..." Kasumi said.

"Kasumi-san, what's wrong?"

She lifted her head. "Ryuji-kun, I have to tell you something..." Her somber tone told the boy that this was going to be a long tale.

Chapter Sixty: Declaration of War and Prelude to the Truth