Bonds of Blood : Chapter 4

Sora had trouble focusing on school the next day. He had thought that he had been tired before, but now the room kept blurring. It was really weird - he had had trouble sleeping before, and this had never been an issue. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that his throat wouldn't stop aching. Was he sick or something...?


He couldn't spend too much time thinking about that, because he was too preoccupied worrying about Riku. The other man was completely tense, and kept shifting in his seat and glancing around the room. It was especially weird, because most of the time Riku sat completely still, like a statue. Sora had tried to copy him once, but couldn't stay still for longer than a minute.


"Geez, what's got you so jumpy?" Kairi asked Riku before Sora could beat her to it.


Riku shook his head as if to clear it. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Sora, are you feeling alright?"


Sora hadn't realized that he had been clutching his throat until he heard his friend's worried tone. He quickly let go and smiled as cheerfully as he could. "Huh? I'm fine, see? You worry too much!"


A faint howl sounded from outside, startling the three of them. "I didn't know there were any dogs near here," Kairi commented.


"There aren't," Riku replied, as another howl sounded from right outside the window.


The window exploded as a red wolf crashed through it. Sora barely had time to make this out, before Riku tackled him out of the way of the beast.


Glass rained down on them as the other students and the teacher ran out screaming. Kairi tried to get to Sora and Riku, but she was quickly swept away by the panicked crowd.


Riku grimaced in pain as he brushed the glass shards off of himself. Already, droplets of blood were staining the ground.


The smell of the blood made Sora's head spin as he tried to focus on the matter at hand. The wolf was already turning and charging at them again.


Sora managed to side-step the animal, but the movement caused his legs to give out on him. Riku caught him as he started to collapse. "Sora!" he exclaimed. His expression changed to a glare as the wolf came at them yet again.


Although it was getting harder for Sora to see straight, he saw Riku pull out some kind of knife, and he watched as his friend used it to slash the beast across its muzzle.


The wolf let out a human-like scream of pain, jerking quickly away from the two of them. With only a moment's hesitation, it turned and lept back out the window.


Sora tried to ask Riku what had just happened, but before he could make a sound, everything went black.