Crystalline Memoria ( Natsumi's Point of View Part 2 )

I never moved my eyes from the forest where Yuki and Isao ran off to find Den.

My anxiety drove me up a wall in the hopes they were all safe, but that quickly evaporated when I watched them exit the forest with Den beside Isao and Yuki's guardian following behind the three of them.

"There is still demonic energy in the area. But none are attacking us," Cooper said, he was talking to Hiro's guardian. Ryuji?

"It is a bit weird. Those four seem ok too, you'd imagine they'd attack them when they were isolated." Ryuji responded.

"Do you think they're scared of you guys? You guys are stronger than Imps right?" Seina asked curiously.

"Imps are the weakest demons, not beings. Some could still overpower us depending on their skills and ours." Ryuji explained.

"Why would they just observe us? And why can't we see them?" Keiko questioned.

"They're a realm layer above us. They move too fast for human eyes in that layer, but we can still sense them. As to why they're watching us, I have no idea. Unless it's a poorly planned ambush tactic." Ryuji began to walk to Hiro but stopped once the other four finally got close to all of us.

Almost in the blink of an eye a demon formed behind Den and Isao. Its face had the features of a fish, far apart eyes, scales that stood up like spikes, and a large number of sharp teeth. Its eyes glowed a bright green that matched the color of its horns.

I took a step back as I watched its mouth quickly come down to bite into her shoulder. I wanted to move forward, to push myself to help my friends.

But I can't.

I stiffened as it shrieked loudly in anger. Two arms were wrapped around its thin torso to hold it back, preventing it from attacking Den.

Yuki and Kurai were in the back, why did it ignore them for Den? Wouldn't they be easier targets?

I watched as Yuki held onto it the best she could, a sharp scale on its arm cut the side of her eye deeply, barely missing her eyeball as it squirmed.

Kurai was struggling to pierce through the demon's neck with her sword.

When Den and Isao realized the situation Den began to scream and Isao pushed her to the side to stand in front of her.

"Den!" Nyoko called out in a panic, grabbing her to help her up and grabbing the back of Isao's shirt to pull him with them to safety.

I should do something.

I walked to them quickly to help Nyoko give them space from the demon. Den could barely stand as if her legs gave out on her out of fear.

As Den lost her balance the four of us ended up falling, but Isao quickly got up to try and help us, and Nyoko even if on the ground kept trying to pull Den to safety.

I wanted to help them more but it was hard to get my eyes off of the demon that Yuki was using all of her strength to hold.

Ryuji passed us quickly before I could get up to help, a large sword suddenly in hand. He drove the sword quickly into the demon's jowls. He looked as if he was using a lot of strength to pierce through the scales that surrounded the demon's body like heavy armor.

Once the sword was fully through Ryuji tore it out quickly.

Cooper stood in front of all of us to shield us from the blood that erupted from the demon. The blood nearly covered his white and gold suit.

Yuki still held onto it the best she could as it squirmed, an insane amount of blood flowed from its neck like a fountain.

When its body went limp, Yuki finally let go. Ryuji grabbed onto the demon that seemed attached to Yuki and tore it away from her.

She was panting heavily with tears in her eyes, soaked in blood from both herself and the demon. She fell to her knees, staring blankly as if processing the moment.

Her clothing was tattered from the large amount of small stab wounds.

"You ok kid?" Ryuji asked with concern.

Kurai panicked, pushing the demon's corpse aside as if she didn't care if it cut her hands.

Kurai quickly put her hand to Yuki's face checking how deep the wound near her eye was before checking the deep wounds on her arms and torso.

Kurai's eyes began to swell up with tears.

"Is she ok?" I asked worriedly, Isao got up quickly from the ground once the situation became safe and quickly ran to Yuki and Kurai, Hiro quickly following after him.

The rest of us just sat in shock as if our bodies were locked into place.

Kurai mumbled quickly to herself, she looked so scared, so lost. She began to use her bloody sword to cut at her clothes to make gauze out of them, but she struggled to apply them to Yuki.

It wasn't enough material.

"She's bleeding too much," Cooper said softly as if he was breaking painful news.

"What do you mean bleeding too much?! She'll be ok, right? You guys can save her can't you?" Nyoko yelled in disbelief and anger.

"The scales must have punctured her organs. I'm not equipped for healing... I don't think the others are either." Cooper explained.

I slowly walked to Yuki and Kurai. Kurai sobbed as Yuki's bleeding refused to stop.

She was pale and dazed out. She looked weak and didn't move a muscle as if she was a statue.

When Yuki finally collapsed, Kurai froze. She was shakingly rapidly, with her eyes wide. She looked as if she forgot how to breathe as if she didn't want to breathe.

I refused to think, I didn't want to process the moment, and I didn't want to believe it.

"She's ok, she's ok." I heard Isao say, he was acting as if he was trying to calm the others down. But in truth, he was probably trying to calm himself down, he had his hand on her chest as if to check for a heartbeat.

From the look of anger in his eyes, as he bit his lip, I'd assume it was coming to a stop.

I sat down beside Kurai, staring at Yuki feeling nothing but empty. I slowly reached down to caress her cheek, she was still warm. Her breathing was slow and faint as if it was fading oh so steadily, and her eyes were void of all emotion.

Just staring.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I wanted to scream. But would that be of any help?

It hurt. I wasn't ready for this. I could never be ready for this.

Why did I have to go through this?

I began to grow dizzy, almost as if my body was shutting down from everything overworking it.

"Well, dear? Would you like my help now? Or do you still believe they can help themselves?" It was that voice again.