• Air
    Ch. 3 Friend or Foe?
    He lowered himself, as if getting ready to pounce. That's when I got my movement back. As he jumped towards me, I ducked and rolled to the side, running towards the door. His claws were stuck in the wall. I never noticed how strong he was.
    I turned the corner, flew down the stairs, and bursted out the front door. I ran as fast as I could back to the alley where Aki and his friend were. I never stopped or slowed down, but I knew he was coming.
    "Aki! Aki help!" I turned the corner and noticed that he and his friend were gone. I turned around and crashed into someone.
    "Are you alright?" the person asked me as he grabbed my arms, keeping me from falling over.
    I rubbed my head. "Yeah... I think so.."
    "Good." The voice became deep and dark.
    I started trembling as the voice became clear to me. He covered my mouth and pulled me tight to his chest. "Now, be a good little girl let me kill you." His claws wrapped around my throat and began squeezing. I felt his nails digging into my skin. Blood started rolling over his fingers.
    It started getting hard to breathe, and my eye sight was going blurry. I choked over the blood that was flowing out of my mouth, but since his hand was on it, the blood was being pushed back into my mouth. His hand around my throat grew stronger, and my body was getting weaker. I struggled, but nothing I did made this any better. He was too strong for me to handle, let alone break free. I gave up... Death was better than this, this awful pain he was putting me through.
    "Amari!"
    I weakily opened my eyes and saw something running our way. My eye sight was so bad; trying to focus on the figures gave me a headache.
    "Hold on, Amari!"
    Daisuke's grip loosened. I felt him being pushed away from me. Daisuke's nails ripped more of my throat while he was pushed off. The force that hit him was strong; so strong that I was pushed back also. Footsteps ran past me, followed by a gust of wind. Another pair of footsteps stopped by me, carefully holding me.
    "Amari? Amari, can you hear me?"
    Pressure was put on my throat. Trying to stop the bleeding.
    "You're going to be all right. Hang on."
    I blinked repeately. The voice matched perfectly to who I thought it was. "A... Aki..."
    His hand pressed a little harder on my throat. "It's me. I'm here." His voice was soft, comforting.
    Behind him I heard fighting. Yelling and shouting, people getting hit, cussing, all of that. I started trembling. Aki's arm gently pulled me closer to his chest.
    "Ryuu! I'm taking her now! I'll send a signal for everyone else to come and help!" Aki's voice was angry.
    "Nani?!" Ryuu spoke in a way that I've never heard before. Aki answered him in the same language.
    Aki picked me up carefully and ran out of the alley. He pushed his way through the crowd, getting blood on people. "Hang on, Amari. You're going to be okay." He ran faster and faster, the fastest I've ever seen him run. I closed my eyes, not knowing where he was taking me, but I trusted him. I felt my heart beat getting slower and slower. At the same time, I heard Aki's heart beating faster. Was he that afraid of me dieing? Blood was constently being coughed out of my mouth and ran from the huge gash on my throat.
    I heard him pushing his way through a door, yelling. "Someone help me! She's dieing!" he was shouting. I heard people crowding around us, telling him to lay me down carefully. I was laying on what I thought to be a bed, but it was moving fast. The wind rushed past me, making me cold. Then we came to a stop. People where talking to Aki, asking him what happened, while someone else was stabbing me with something sharp in my arm. The person rubbed the spot with a wet towel and walked away. I started to become more dizzy than I already was; becoming tired. I tried to focus as I looked around for Aki. The dizziness was becoming too much for me to handle, so I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep...

    * * *
    I awoke to a bright room. My vision was still blurry, but focusing on things wasn't giving me a headache. I blinked a couple of times, and finally I was able to see clearly. I placed my hand on my head and sat up.
    "You finally woke up, huh."
    I turned to the side and saw a guy leaning against the wall, watching me. He looked very nice, but at the same time, he looked like a fighter: User Image "Who are you?" I asked him.
    "Natsumoto," he replied. He walked towards me. "Hikaru Natsumoto." He sat in the chair next to my bed.
    I stared at him. "Why are you here? I don't know you."
    He chuckled. "I know you don't. Toshiaki sent me here to watch you while he took care of that thing that attacked you. Don't worry about it, kay. Toshiaki and the gang have him captured."
    I looked down at my hands, frowning as I thought about Daisuke. I touched my throat and the frown disappeared; confusion taking its place. Hikaru noticed my expression change. "Those are stitches," he said. "From what I heard, you had a pretty bad injury. Whatever attacked you cut into your throat deep. That must've really hurt."
    I gently rubbed my throat, thinking of Daisuke. At first, I saw a peaceful Daisuke; happy and always talking back to me. But then it would go away. I watched as Daisuke changed into his other side; his dark, evil side.
    I shook the image from my head and layed down carefully. Hikaru was watching me the whole time. "I'm just curious, but do you know what attacked you?" he asked.
    I waited to see if he would add anything else. He didn't, so I answered. "A friend... that turned into my enemy..."