Fight till Death

"Hikari, thank you," Leyon said to Hikari, looking up at the darkening sky. He stared at her as she shook her head at him. "Come. I'll take you home."

As they walked side by side, Leyon wondered if he should tell Hikari about the things that were bothering him. If he recalled correctly, a lady named Susan showed up at his door two days after his grandmother's death. She told him she had come from the orphanage, and that she wanted to take him away to the city where she worked. There would be better opportunities waiting for him there, she had said, but Leyon wasn't keen on the idea. He had dismissed the so-called woman, but he knew she would come again. She was only doing her job; after all, he was still a child. A child should not be left alone, especially an orphan like him. Leyon shuddered at the thought of his new title.

Leyon's thoughts then wandered to the villagers. The villagers had been kind, to say the least. They had ceremoniously arranged for Claire's funeral, so Leyon didn't have to go through much trouble, and he was also properly taken care of in turn by different families in the village. They were always ready to help if he asked, but Leyon knew he couldn't depend on them forever.

Leyon stole a glance at Hikari as they continued to walk. He didn't know how to repay her for everything she had done for him. It was Hikari who brought him food every day and forced him to eat. She was the reason he continued to cling to hope and refrained from immediately throwing himself off a cliff the next minute. But for how long could he live like this?

The biggest fear Leyon had now was leaving the village, leaving Hikari. Everyone dear to him had been taken away from him. He didn't want to leave; he didn't want to be separated from the last person who he thought was his only source of comfort and happiness. But fate was toying with him again. It didn't give him any break.

Leyon was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't realise they had reached Hikari's house. "We're here I guess," Leyon said. They both stopped a few meters away from Hikari's house. "Hikari? There's something I want to give you." Leyon fumbled in his pants pocket and retrieved the object. "This," said Leyon, taking out a photo. "This was the photo granny took for us that day. Remember?" he said, handing the photo to Hikari.

There they were, standing side by side in the picture, with Hikari flaunting the widest smile she could possibly muster, while Leyon stood aloof next to her. Hikari smiled as she reminisced about those happy moments spent when grandma Claire was still alive and well.

"If I knew this would happen, I would've asked granny to take a picture with us. Now it's too late," Leyon said to Hikari with a saddened expression. "There's only one copy, so you can have this one. I'm giving it to you as a gift."

Hikari smiled at Leyon as she mouthed a small 'thank you ' with her lips. Leyon didn't hear it, but he knew what she said.

"You should go in now. It's getting pretty dark." He smiled back at her.

Nodding her head, Hikari smiled at Leyon for the last time that day and ran off. It was only after Leyon watched Hikari's small body disappear behind the door of her house that he finally turned and started walking back. After taking a few steps, however, Leyon froze, his eyes widening considerably. Leyon spun on his heel and sprinted madly towards Hikari's house.

"Hikari!" Leyon shouted.

The moment a terrified-looking Leyon barged through the door, the first thing he saw was Hikari on the floor, tightly shutting her eyes and curling herself into a ball, with her hands clasped over her ears. Her father towered above her like a terrifying monster. "You bitch," he seethed. "You went out to meet with that boy again, didn't you?" Hikari's father roared. He was too drunk to notice Leyon standing by the door. "You're becoming just like your mother. Now you go seducing boys following her footsteps?" Enraged, he kicked some empty bottles of alcohol on the floor.

Staggering in his footsteps, the drunk father looked around the room, searching for a tool to beat his daughter with. He immediately grabbed a stool lying next to the kitchen and came back to where Hikari was lying curled up on the floor.

Leyon was quick to act. Seeing the oncoming danger, he rushed in and pushed the crazy father away from Hikari right when he was about to strike her. When Hikari's father sloppily got up from the floor to confront the perpetrator who had unceremoniously thrown him on the floor, he saw Leyon glaring viciously at him. Stretching out a protective hand at the side, Leyon moved forward, shielding Hikari from his view.

Hikari's father was taken aback by Leyon's protectiveness and domineering presence. "You," he stated, "you're that boy."

Hikari opened her tightly shut eyes and slowly glanced up to see who her saviour was. A part of her rejoiced at the sight of Leyon, and another part of her became terrified at the thought of what her father would do to him.

Picking up a photo from the floor, Hikari's father pointed it at Leyon. It was the photo that Leyon had handed Hikari to keep. "The boy in this picture is you, right? You're the boy who has no parents. Ah. Now I get it. You must also be the son of a bastard, right? Is that why you always hang out with my daughter?" he taunted, tearing up the photograph in half. He threw it recklessly on the floor and then stepped over it with his foot.

"Apologize," Leyon muttered.

"What did you say?"

"I said apologize... to my parents," Leyon said loudly this time.

"This bastard child got some nerve shouting at me like that. Hey kid, do you want to die?"

Hikari quickly got up and held onto Leyon, her teary eyes pleading with him not to provoke her father any further.

The father turned his attention to Hikari. "This bitch is such an eyesore." He lunged forward and snatched her away from Leyon, threw her on the other side of the floor, and began stomping his foot on her stomach repeatedly.

Leyon watched in complete horror. His mind screamed at him to move, to do something. Hikari dying in front of him would become his worst nightmare, and he knew would never be able to come out of that tragic hole if that happened. Watching Hikari beaten to death by her father almost broke his mind. Such violence, such inhumane acts, such aggressive, murderous nature – Leyon was witnessing it for the very first time.

In a moment of desperation, Leyon grabbed a small flower pot that happened to be sitting atop a table right next to him. He threw the object with all his might, hitting Hikari's father directly on his head.

"You brat." Hikari's father turned to Leyon. He grabbed an empty bottle of alcohol from the floor and rushed forward. Leyon stood paralysed on the spot. Then came the forceful impact as the empty glass bottle collided with his head.

Bits and pieces of glass scattered on the floor. Slowly, blood began to pool around the surface where Leyon fell. He could feel his sense of consciousness slip with each passing second as he found himself unable to move or make a sound.

Horrified at the sight, Hikari immediately ran towards Leyon, shoving her stunned father away. Fear gripped her as she sank to the floor. With trembling hands, she tried to shake Leyon awake but received no response from him. His eyes were wide open but they looked dull and dead. Tears never stopped escaping her eyes as Hikari called him by his name over and over again, shouting at the top of her lungs almost to the point of tearing them apart, yet no sound came out of her lips and reached his ears.

"This is what happens when you mess with me, kid," Hikari's father spat coldly as he walked out the back door touching his aching head.

Hikari knew she needed to act fast or Leyon wouldn't make it. Mustering up her strength, she pulled him up from the floor. She tried her best to support the weight of his body on her left shoulder, bringing one of his arms over her neck and hoisting him up so that his body was attached to her side.

It took everything Hikari had to drag Leyon out of her house and onto the road. She scanned her eyes around the area, searching for a place nearby where Leyon could be taken care of. The village hospital was the only place she could think of. All the while, as she carried him to safety, her eyes overflowed with tears. And as her deranged mind tried to piece back what was left of her sanity together, she kept praying for Leyon to be saved. To whoever was willing to answer her prayers, she was ready to give up everything she had. She would save him no matter the cost; she would save him even if it meant giving up her own life.