Samurai ↔ Nishimura Riki

nine

Hyewon snarls. "I'll show you feisty, you vagrant," she growls. Sidestepping his attack, she launches into her own flurry of moves, slashing viciously at the man. Riki could see her strategy. She was aiming for his weak parts while disguising her moves with a series of feints. Soon enough, his clothes were completely in tatters.

His eyes twitch. "You'll pay for that, you dimwitted girl," he snickers, his eyes flickering to pitch black.

"Hyewon!" Riki yells, "He can control shadows!"

She only casts a brief backwards glance at him before focusing on her opponent. The man sneers. "Keep your mouth shut, boy."

A wisp of black fog drifted over before clamping his mouth shut, muffling the rest of his speech. Unable to handle staying still anymore, he fought against the chains binding him to the ground to no avail.

"Any last words?" The mercenary lazily twirls his fingers, tendrils of black smoke emitting from his hand.

She smiles dangerously. "Screw you."

And once more, she leapt into battle.

As they fought, Riki noticed something strange. Hyewon's sword began to glow. No, she was glowing. He blinks his eyes in surprise, sure that he was hallucinating. How was this possible? He knew that her sword had magical properties, but never had he heard of a sword granting its wield the ability to glow.

However, the light seemed potent against the shadows. Every time the sword was swung, the shadows receded, withering away.

The enemy wasn't too fazed though. "Harnessing the power of Amaterasu? It'll take a lot more than that to defeat me!" he crows.

He lunges, the smoke following his every move. Hyewon blocks with the blade, her eyebrows furrowed as if in deep thought and concentration. She thrusts her sword out far, to Riki's horror, making it easy for her to be disarmed, the blade unbalanced. The mercenary had noticed it too. With one strike, he slapped the sword out of her hand, sending it spinning to the ground, far away from her reach.

"Well," he chuckles, a deep voice resonating through his throat. He grabs her neck. "You're better than I thought. But the best will always be beaten by me. Don't feel too bad."

He raises his sword above Hyewon's head, about to cleave her head in two. Riki could only stare in shock. He couldn't bear to see it, but somehow, he couldn't make himself turn away. There was no hope now. As soon as the mercenary finished her off, his death would follow. They were going to die.

Oddly enough, Riki notices the air shimmering as if heat waves were rising from the ground. He frowns.

"Foul thing."

Hyewon's figure rippled, fading, leaving the mercenary holding nothing but air. Her sword dissipated, no trace of its existence to be found.

"Lesson one, keep your guard up."

(A/N: has a brief mention of blood, nothing to gory. skip if you feel uncomfy.)

The real Hyewon stood behind him, smiling as she pulled out a familiar knife. Beforr Riki realized what she was about to do, she stabbed the mercenary, burying the katana on his left hip.

Blood spilled from the wound, seeping into his clothes. "How?" The mercenary gasps, staring in shock at the hilt protruding from his waist. "I didn't sense you at all? What kind of witchery is this?"

She shrugs nonchalantly. "Hard to admit that you've been fooled by a girl, hm? Don't worry, it isn't poisoned. Only magicked to draw out your energy." She grabs her weapon by the hilt and yanks it out. Not caring that her knife was speckled with blood, Hyewon simply wiped it against the man's shirt. She begins to walk towards Riki.

The mercenary staggers, struggling to remain standing while fighting the pain. "You. You're one of them, aren't you? No one else could've-" he collapses, writhing in pain.

She visibly stiffens before relaxing her shoulders. She looks back, scanning him with an unreadable expression. "Perhaps. That is for me to know and you to not find out."

Hyewon bends down and inspects Riki. The shadow shackles had disappeared. "Can you walk?"

No mention of his leaving of the palace. Nothing about how his parents were going to kill him if they found out. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be thankful or worried.

He rolls his eyes before lifting his chest from the ground. "Gee, I can most definitely walk with a wound cutting deep in my skin on my leg." he remarks sarcastically. "Of course I can't!"

She made no retort to his surprise and nodded. "Stay still. This might hurt."

Gingerly, she pours out water from her canteen, washing away the blood. Riki winces, but no sound escapes from his mouth. He watches as she takes out a small container, dipping her fingers into what he assumed to be a salve. As gentle as possible, she rubs it over the wound, muttering a few chants under her breath. Hyewon easily rips a chunk of her tunic before wrapping it around the wound. She stands up. "Try now."

He was hesitant to stand up, not wanting to feel the sharp pain rush through his leg. But nonetheless, he eases himself to get to his feet, preparing himself for some major pain, only to feel a slight, minor sting, nothing more. Riki waited. How was this possible?

"No medicine could've been this potent after applying," he frowns. He looks at her. "You're a healer, aren't you? You have magical talent. But that doesn't explain how you created that illusion... healers are of earth magic. And Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun, not earth."

He hoped that she would provide, at the very least, a shake or nod of her head to provide indication whether or not his guess was right. Or an explanation, which would be ideal. But to his dismay, she ignores him, putting the salve back into her satchel.

"You came on a horse right?" she asks.

"Erm... yeah." Another question to put on his list. How did she find out that came riding on Bisco?

A groan rattled in the passage, interrupting his line of thought.

"Is- is he going to be okay?" Riki wasn't so sure why he was so... well not worried but slightly concerned about the mercenary's fate. Especially after considering that he had just tried to kill both of them.

Hyewon glances at the man with disdain. "He'll live." she replies dismissively. "If he found you, there are probably other thugs like him in town. Best to get going."

Her tone suggested that he should keep his mouth shut from now on. Riki knew she wasn't going to answer his questions, no matter how much he would pester her. And remembering how she had single-handedly taken down the mercenary, he wasn't keen on making her angry. He decided to zip his mouth.

But who was she really? He was starting to believe that she was more than a mere guard his parents had assigned to protect him. The mercenary had said that she was one of 'them'. Who were 'them'? And how was she associated with them?

These were questions he had to ask her another day.

A/N: got another niki story idea and my impulse is to drop everything to write it- i feel like the story's getting a bit boring, im used to writing modern time and highschool au. I NEED MORE IDEAS FOR THE PLOTLINE AHDLENHSJSNNWBS lowkey miss school. have a good day!