One and Only

Ch. 7 Home Invasion

Beads of sweat collected on my forehead, my entire being screaming to run as fast as I could. I could still hear Dazai yelling through the speaker of the phone, but I couldn't even process what he was saying. I was so focused on the idea that not only could my sisters be hurt badly, but my entire clan could be wiped out.
"Mai-sama!" Dazais voice broke me out of my thoughts. "Please, return immediately!" My head was racing, I was still at least 3 hours away from the estate if I ran along side everyone, but if I went by myself I could probably get there within 2 hours or less.
"Dazai.. please.. keep her safe," my voice shook with desperation and fear. "Please don't die." I hung up, looking at my now incredibly concerned classmates.
"I-" I choked out, tears threatening to spill. Shoko quickly came to my side and gently rubbed my back, comforting me and encouraging me to tell them what was going on.
"My home.. my family.. they're in danger..! I have to go!" I said quickly.
"Hold on, Mai. Tell us what's happening," Suguru replied in a calm tone. I looked over at Gojo, he was equally as calm. I took a deep breath.
"I just received a call from the emergency line from my home, my clan is being under attack by a curse," my words began to slur together from the panic that was rising in my tone. "My sister, she's fighting the curse. But she's not strong enough! She can barely run more than a mile before she has an asthma attack!" I stared at them, pure panic in my eyes. "She's only 10!" I held my head in my hands, trying to think of the quickest way I could get to them.
"That crash just now, was that your home?" Shoko asked. I nodded.
"Okay, do you know this area of the mountain?" Suguru asked me. I slowly shook my head. I had been in the forests and walked this mountain several times, but I never went out this far before.
"If I start running right now, I could be there in an hour and a half,, or two hours..but that's still too long..!" I let out a frustrated yell. Gojo let out a sigh.
"I could try something, but I haven't exactly mastered it yet.." he said, scratching the back of his head. I looked up at him waiting for him to explain what he meant. "I can teleport, so to say, but like I said I'm not exactly a master at it. I can only go to places I've already seen and been to." My eyes went wide, I quickly shot up next to him.
"The clearing! Where you saw my house! That's a 10 minute run for me!" I nearly shouted at him.
"Then that settles it. Oh, and I can only take 1 person at a time right now, so I'll take Mai first." Gojo held his hand out to me. I was quick to grab it, then he pulled me in to his chest.
"Wait, you're st-!"
One moment, we were by the river and now I can see my house. My brows furrowed in fear and anger. I could see my home, walls and buildings destroyed. A massive tree stood in the middle of the courtyard, it's branches moving rampantly and crashing against the ground.
"Holy sh- hey, wait!" I didn't hesitate, I sprinted down the mountain side. Gojo getting smaller and smaller, I couldn't even hear him yelling at me anymore. I didn't care, I just needed to get down there as quickly as possible.
I used my technique through my feet, giving me longer and faster strides. The closer I got to the estate, the more bodies I saw laying on the ground. Blood splattered the grass and tree trunks, I could smell it getting stronger. I heard screams, the roar of men and women in battle, and the cries of people begging for their life.
I made it to the entrance of the estate, and I completely stopped in my tracks. The lifeless bodies of at least a dozen of my clansmen laid in the courtyard. Rubble from the 2 surroundings buildings of the main house scattered across as well. The main houses roof was almost completely gone, windows shattered. I could see Tatsuya laying, I hoped, unconscious within one of the destroyed windows of the building to the right. Dazai, covered in blood and an arm limp by his side, was standing his ground against the curse. Then I heard a scream. It was so loud and the only thing I could hear in that moment. I saw a body get knocked back by one of the branches, soaring through the sky with blood trailing behind it.
"Himeko!!" I used Push to jump to her, grabbing her and cradling her in my arms. I landed on what little was left of the roof on the left side of the courtyard.
"Mai-sama!"
"Young Mistress!"
"O..onee-san?" I could hear the relief in everyone's voices. I looked down at Himeko, her face and arms covered in scratches and bruises. The side of her shirt ripped and drenched in blood, I could see a large wound just under her ribcage. I ripped off the legs of my pants, turning them into a make shift bandage to try to stop the bleeding. If only I had waited for the others, that way Shoko could heal everyone. I clicked my tongue at my own impatience.
"O..nee-san.." I looked at to my sister.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," I tried to soothe her. "I'm here now, it's okay."
"I'm sorry.." Her eyes full of tears, falling like a steady stream. "I tried to help and keep everyone safe.. but so many are.. they're not moving.. and there's so much blood.." She said through hiccups and pants. My eyes stung as tears threatened to fall. She was still so fragile to the concept of death. After mother and fathers passing, she became so vulnerable to it. This was all too soon for her. I blinked back my tears and comforted her.
"You did so good, Himeko. You didn't have to fight, but you tried your best to protect everyone." I said, pushing her hair out of her tear and blood stained face. "I'm here now, and my friends will be here soon too. You don't have to fight. Get out of here and hide, okay?" I told her, gently picking her up and jumping down into the building. I kicked down at a broken wall to make an exit big enough for Himeko to fit through.
"Go up the hill, stay out of sight. Use your hearing and smell to guide you through it. My friends will meet up with you and they'll help you, can you do that?" I instructed her.
"But.. what about everyone.." She said through her quiet sobs.
"Don't worry, I'll help them." I gently pushed her out of the makeshift exit. "Now go, don't look back, just run." I told her. She limped her way towards the forested path. I watched as her small body got further away. I know she was already at her limit, I just needed her to get as close to Shoko as possible before it was too late. I made my way through the rubble in the building back to the courtyard. The curse sat high on the giant tree, it was smiling at the destruction it caused. My cursed energy was still on a high from the previous fights, I could keep it at a constant 34% for now.. but I knew I would need to drag out more to be able to exorcise this thing. 'Fuck!' I thought, balling my hands into a fist. 'I left my staff back at the river!'
I couldn't even begin to formulate a plan before the curse swung one of its massive branches towards me. I raised my right palm towards it and let out a wave of my technique. The jujutsu itself was enough to knock it back towards the trunk of the tree, but I would need to make actual contact with it with this amount of cursed energy in order to destroy 1 of them.
"Mai-sama.. I'm glad to see you safe.. but how did you get here so quickly?" Dazai asked, running to my side.
"I had a mission in the area, what the fuck happened?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Mafuyu? Is she okay?" I glanced at him through my peripherals.
"Mafuyu-sama was able to escape to the town, along with some of the other retainers. She is being guarded, but I don't know if there are more Curses headed her way." I let out a sigh, we had to take care of this curse quickly. "I don't know what provoked it, but it didn't come alone. There was a water type, we were able to exorcise that one.." we jumped out of the way of another branch. "But this one is much tougher!" He yelled out, throwing a seal at the branch, the seals caused the wood to burn. The branch itself didn't regenerate, so it was more than likely a manipulation of the trees in the area rather than pure curse energy.
I jumped onto an oncoming branch, running up to close the distance between myself and the curse perched at the top. Another 10s of them came swatting at me. I jumped, punched, and kicked my way through the hurdles it set for me. That's when I saw something else coming out from the trees. Humanoid.. things coming out from the massive trunk, moaning and covered in moss, dirt, and leaves. They tried to grab at me but I sent out a front kick full of cursed energy towards them. The fronting humanoid was sent flying back into the other ones, but more and more kept surfacing from the trunk. I grabbed at the daggers I had strapped to my thighs. I had easier access to them since I made that makeshift bandage for Himeko. Thank goodness I decided to equip them before leaving for the mission.
I ran forward, plunging the blades deep into the skulls and necks of the humanoids, they began to disappear one by one. I jumped over them and stabbed at the trunk of the tree, using the daggers as picks to help me climb to the top. Before I could even reach the next section, I could feel arms wrap around my thigh. I looked down and saw one of the Humanoids. I tried to kick it off with my free leg, but failed to notice a branch swinging in from my right. The impact made me cough up blood as I was sent barreling down into the buildings. I could barely hear Dazai scream out to me.
I laid in the pile of rubble I landed on, smoke and dust billowing out from the crash. I was in a daze, but quickly snapped out of it when I saw another branch come swinging down to me. I moved my arms to the front of my body and let out a pained yell. I let my cursed energy flow much stronger, sending out a huge force of it at the branch. The branch was ripped off of the trunk. Tears pricked my eyes as I felt my muscles tear and my bones rattle from the wave I just sent out. I stood up as quickly as I could, my body was screaming in pain. More branches descended towards me, far too many for me to use another big attack like that. I ran, using my technique to give me a jump boost to evade them easier. I was incredibly frustrated with myself for not bringing my staff. The daggers were fine, but the damage wasn't the same.
My foot barely touched one of the branches before a horde of the Humanoids started to grab at me. Before I knew it, one of the Humanoids was climbing terrifyingly fast to me, stepping and throwing any other ones out of its way. It's screech was ear piercing. I couldn't move to clutch and cover my ears, I was too busy hacking away at the Humanoids grabbing at my legs with my daggers. The screeching Humanoid stopped just inches from my face, it's screeching gone silent as well, everything was like a blur. It exploded. The explosion not only harmed me, but the Humanoids that grabbed at my legs. They evaporated away, their hands disintegrated from my legs. My ears were ringing, I was seeing double, and my abdomen and shoulder hurt like a bitch. I felt air rush past me. I was falling again, but I was so much higher this time. I tried to twist my body in the air, so that my front was facing towards the ground. The concrete and rubble were getting closer and closer, I outstretched my arms and let out another wave of my jujutsu to break my fall. I let out another scream of pain as my right shoulder collided with the ground. It wasn't until I clutched it that I noticed the blood that soaked the front and back of my shirt. The explosion from the Humanoid caused 2 tree like spikes to impale me. I clenched my jaw in pain as I pulled the first one out of my shoulder. Then, I let out a strangled cry as I pulled out the one that was pierced through my abdomen. Blood poured onto the ground as I tried to stand back up. I looked around to see that Dazai now laid in a pool of his own blood, the other clansmen who were fighting along side me either dead or knocked out. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and jumped as another branch came crashing onto the ground I was just standing on. I landed on the branch with shaky footing, making my way back up the tree. I lost my daggers after the explosion, the force made me lose my grip so now I was going at this thing barehanded.
I blinked back tears every time I landed a blow on the tree. I was using cursed energy that was well past my limit, but I couldn't stop. Not yet.
"Mai!" I was about to turn to see who was calling my name when my staff pierced into the branch I was standing on. I picked it up and started to swing it around, knocking the other incoming branches away from me. I threw my staff to the curse at the top of the tree, plunging into the curses chest. I gritted my teeth and used Push through my legs, making me jump high enough to the curse. I gripped my staff and let out a yell, yanking the staff upwards through the monsters body and out of its shoulder. Before I was able to crush its head, Gojo came flying out of nowhere. He tore off the curses head and used his cursed energy to completely destroy it. The rest of it began to evaporate and the tree began to shake. It started to crumble beneath our feet. Gojo wrapped his arms around me and teleported us back to the entrance of estate. I watched as branches and leaves shook and fell to the ground, disappearing before they made contact until just a small tree was left in the middle of the rubble and dust. Gojo set me down once the chaos subsided.
"You didn't do too bad, ya know?" He said to me. He gave me a strong pat to my back, making me stagger forward.
"Thank y..o..." I could see Suguru run towards me and Gojo's arms trying to catch me.. I saw the blurry image of Shoko carrying Himeko on her back. I didn't even get to call out to her before my vision went blurry and I landed on the ground with a loud thud.