Blood still runs

Chapter 3







A week and a half had passed from Mu’ s disappearing and every one was beginning to lose hope. No one wanted to say it but chances to find the Aries Saint alive were getting more scarce day after day. Tension had risen in the Sanctuary and everyone had been alerted, both for researches and to prepare the defence and Kiki had been one of the most active in it. The day after Shaka and Milo brought him back to Sanctuary he was already on his feet and ready to join the researches. They had let him but day after day of failed researches he had begun getting more and more silent , worried like the others and even more.



All the Saints were assembled in the Pope’s temple for one of a thousands meetings and Saori saw how affected each one of them was. Many had stern faces and tired gazes for the forced turns and inability to sleep and those who had been among Mu’ s closest friends were even worse. Camus and Milo looked tired and had dark circles under their eyes. Milo’s always exuberant self seemed to have disappeared and he cast worried looks in Kiki’ s direction where he sat next to the window looking outside. Camus bumped him with his arm and the Scorpio Saint turned to see the Virgo Saint enter the temple at last. Once he would have been the first to arrive there but now he seemed to be so tired that he could barely stand. He had been the one who had done the hardest search turns and even if he still behaved like his usually controlled self it was obvious that he was on the edge.

When Saori saw that they were all there she rose from her throne with Shion at her side. The Pope’ s expression was stern and tense lines had appeared on his usually flawless face.

Milo shook his head slightly and sighed turning his gaze to his Goddess when she spoke.



“Aldebaran, Kanon. Have you found any sign ?” The said Saints stepped forward bowing to the girl. “Unfortunately not, Athena. The last place was empty like the others before it. We are sorry.”

“Do not apologise. We’ll find him sooner or later…” She stopped suddenly and turned toward the window almost running up to it. She stared outside toward the base of the Twelve Houses and her eyes widened when she felt something. The Saints were looking at her surprised but then they felt it too and exchanged determined looks.



“They are here!!” Aioria turned toward the others to seek confirmation and they nodded to him. “There are two of them and… Mu! I feel Mu’ s cosmo!!” Athena turned toward them and quickly walked to the door of the temple followed by her Saints. “They do not seem to be hostile. We’ll hear what they have to say and take Mu back!!”

Shion motioned to the Saints to go first. “Three of you go ahead! Saga, Milo, Camus… Shaka stop!”

The Virgo Saint didn’t even hear him so fast he was running down the stairs toward the base of the Temples and didn’t even hear the other Gold’ s shouts to call him and wait for them. He could feel Mu’ s weakened cosmo and the pain that clung to it. He wasn’t on for politics and the only thing that he could think of was to reach his lover. He followed running as fast as he could and when he finally reached the Aries Temple he stopped at the feet of its stairway. He was panting and trying to feel where Ares’ Warriors were but it was as if they had disappeared. He turned around still keeping his eyes closed and tried to feel them only to cry out in frustration.

“Show yourselves cowards!! Stop running away!!!”



The other three Gold Saints had reached him by now and were searching for the enemies without seeing them.

“Where the hell are they?!” Milo’ s gaze swept along the bare plane in front of the temple trying to distinguish something without managing to. “Where are they!?”

Saori and the others reached them and her gaze fixed on a point in front of them, her eyes widening.

“Show yourselves. Now.”



Laughter filled the air and a whirl of dust rose to sudden and unnatural wind and revealed the two figures of Ares’ Warriors standing a few feet away from them. Deimos stood with his arms crossed and a smug smirk was on Phobos’ face. He bowed mockingly to the Goddess and straightened letting his gaze swept over the assembled Saints which stood protectively around her. “Athena. We are glad to finally meet you.” “Where is Mu?” Phobos stared at the Scorpio Saint and smirked evilly. He lift his hand and waved it in the air, lifting another whirl of wind and Mu’ s figure appeared where he laid unconscious and curled up naked on the ground. The Gold Saints gasped and Saori paled at seeing the conditions Mu was in.

“Let him go immediately!” Phobos bowed to Saori again. “Not before we give you Lord Ares’ message, Goddess Athena. Our great Lord is happy to finally be awake and able to battle against you once again. He says that he’ll be here soon to play a little with you as the two of you did in the days of old.”

Saori’ s small fists clenched and she took a step forward.

“Free him, now!!” “Is he this important to you? To a Goddess?” he lift a foot placing it on Mu’ s unconscious head grinding it hard “He is only a dirty human after all. What does it matter to a God? He isn’t even a strong one.” He laughed at seeing the Saints’ outraged expressions and lift his foot to kick Mu’ s body when a sudden flash of gold sprung from the group and attacked them.

A knot had formed in Shaka’ s throat when he saw Mu’ s limp and broken body laying naked on the ground, wounds still bleeding and being humiliated further by their enemies. He sprung forward charging them but his attack slammed against an invisible barrier around the two Warriors without sorting any effect. Everyone looked startled at the Virgo Saint but there wasn’t one which felt he had done wrong.

Phobos’ snicker however made them all grow even angrier. “This is all you are able of? He wasn’t a single case then. Maybe we overestimated you all.” Shaka didn’t react but the air around him begun to tremble with heat and they could feel his cosmo growing always more and menacing to explode to its full strength. Deimos straightened at that looking interested at the Gold Saint in front of them and had only the time to put a warning hand on his brother’s shoulder that Shaka’ s eyes opened unleashing the entire power of his cosmo.

“Tenbu Horin!!” Phobos was caught fully by the blow and flew away while Deimos managed to avoid it and looked with newly born respect the Virgo Saint which stood with a fierce expression in his incredible blue eyes.



“Shit…” Phobos stood shaking the dust from his armour and walked up to them again. “I’ll kill you for this!!” He prepared to launch his attack when Deimos grasped his wrist in an amazingly strong grip. “What the…” “Not now, brother. They’ll pay for this but we are only messengers… for now…” he turned toward Saori and bowed deeply to her “…Tomorrow at this same hour Lord Ares will be here and will conquer this Sanctuary which stands since the ancient times. This is his message and his will will be respected.”



He turned then in a swish of his black cloak and walked away a few feet to stop at the edge of a deep crevasse. Phobos chuckled and walked up beside his brother turning around at last to stare mockingly at Shaka which was now kneeling at Mu’ s side and trying to gather him into his arms without jostle him too much. “He was truly a good fuck, you know? The tightest I ever had…” Shaka’ s head snapped up at that, his eyes blazing with fire but he didn’t have the time to launch a blow that they had already disappeared leaving a trail of laughter behind themselves. His gaze turned again to Mu’ s bruised face and limp body and he quickly unfastened his cloak wrapping his battered lover in it.



“Make sure they are not still around!” Saori knelt at Mu’ s other side and reached out stroking the long violet dirty hair. “His cosmo is too weak, I can’t almost feel it anymore…” Saori nodded to the Gold Saint and stilled her hand touching the wounded man’s cheek. Her eyes closed and they all turned staring at her when her cosmo swelled wrapping Mu’ s weakened one into her calm and strong one. “He will survive but we need to cure him. Bring him into his Temple.” Shaka bowed his head to the Goddess and stood carefully lifting the limp body into his arms. He turned and walked toward the Aries Temple preceded by a worried looking Shion and followed by Athena. The other Gold Saints watched them disappear up the stairs before leaving to guard the Temple and search for invaders. “I hope he’ll make it…” Milo turned looking at Camus and the expression on the French Saint’s face, even if controlled as always, was one of pure concern. “He will make it, Camus! He’s not one to let himself go. He’ll be back on his feet before we even know it!!” Camus looked sceptically at the Scorpio Saint and took his hand entwining their fingers together surprising the other Gold Saint with the unexpected display of affection. “I hope so. I don’t know what it would do to Shaka losing him a second time… and forever this time.” “You fear what he could become.” “You too saw how he attacked them. I would have done the same but there was something around him… something dark.” “You fear he could become an Ashura instead of a peaceful Buddah.” The Aquarius Saint nodded sighing. “I fear that even Athena would have difficulties stopping him should this happen. Let us hope that Mu’ s well and recovered soon.” Milo smiled sadly squeezing Camus hand. “Yes, I miss him making Shaka blush by simply entering the room .” Camus chuckled too and kissed him quickly on his lips. They separated taking off in different directions to reach guarding posts and waited for the new day.



***



It had already been an hour now that he was sitting outside the Aries Temple private quarters waiting for news. They had not let him in fearing that he would bother the doctor that they had called from the residing quarters of the Sanctuary and he had been pacing restlessly for a half hour. In the end he had sat down on the cold stone floor and tried to meditate but he was still too tense to manage it. Soft footsteps echoed in the huge temple and he didn’t even need to turn to recognize the Leo Saint. The man stopped reaching him and stared at the closed door. “Anything yet?” Shaka shook his head. “Nothing yet… Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be guarding the Sanctuary?” “They’ll not attack before tomorrow. And there are enough of us out there at the moment. I wanted to see how Mu fares.” Shaka said nothing and Aioria silently sat next to him leaning his back against the wall stretching his legs out. A comforting silence fell between them occasionally interrupted by the soft sounds and even softer voices which came from the inside of the room. In the end the door opened and Saori exited followed by the doctor and his help. The two Gold Saints were on their feet instantly and looked worried at their Goddess. “He’ll be well. He only needs rest and time to heal.”

She turned to Shaka “Now you may go see him.” Shaka bowed and silently entered the room walking up to the bed where his fellow Saint and lover was sleeping. Saori turned to Aioria and smiled softly to her Saint. “Go tell the others that there’s nothing to fear. He’ll be well soon.” “Thank you, my lady.” He bowed deeply to her and walked away to reach the other Saints which were waiting for news at their guarding posts. Shaka entered the shadowed room where the only light came from a single candle on the nightstand. Shion was still there sitting on a chair on the other side of the bed and his face was angry as he had never seen it. He schooled his face into a blank expression when the Gold Saint entered the room and stood to leave. “We’ll transfer him to the Pope’s Temple in the morning. It’s too dangerous to keep him here.” Shaka nodded and waited until the Pope exited the room to go and carefully sit on the bed side. He slowly opened his eyes being careful to keep his cosmo in control and his gaze fell on Mu’ s bruised face. They had cleaned and treated his wounds and bruises and washed his once tangled and matted hair. “You are safe now…I feared I had really lost you.” He caressed his sane shoulder through the thick blanket which covered him and noticed the shiver which wracked his battered body. He felt raging inside at the thought of what he had been put through at the hands of their enemies and he couldn’t believe what Phobos had said before teleporting away. He swore to himself that if it was the truth, they were all going to die a very painful death. He was taken from his thoughts when Mu whimpered in his sleep clenching his jaw and his body tensed probably for a nightmare. Shaka’ s hand instantly rose to stroke the wounded man’ s violet hair and he slowly calmed under his touch and calm voice as he spoke nonsense to him. He felt his heart clench at seeing his lover and friend reduced to this but he kept his anger in check for he didn’t want to make him feel, even unconsciously, threatened. He removed his cloth and finally clad in more common clothes he carefully slid into bed with him gently hugging him and burying one hand into his long violet hair.



***



He woke at the first light of morning entering from the window and falling on his face and pillows. He was laying on something soft and warm instead of the humid and cold cell that he had become used to but what startled him even more was that a warm body was laying next to him. Soft arms hug him gently without placing pressure on his broken ribs and shoulder and fingers were moving gently into his hair. He understood he was laying beside Shaka for the unmistakable soft smell of flowers and incense which always clung to him and was just enough to make him feel better. But he couldn’t fool himself. He knew that this had to be a dream for there was no way that he would be laying beside Shaka alive again. He took a deep breath but winched when his broken ribs sent a sharp stab of pain cutting his breath. A soft sound of pain escaped him and the person beside him tensed understanding that he was awake. Tears threatened to escape his closed eyes but he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing him cry. Not again. “Mu?...” That sweet voice brought back a world of pain being sure it was lost to him and he couldn’t keep a stray tear from sliding down his temple and fall into his hair. “Mu? Are you in pain? Wake up, Mu!”



Shaka was getting worried now that Mu was clearly awake but not responding to him. “Please, open your eyes…you are safe now.” He couldn’t believe the voice and he almost laughed at himself. A warm hand touched his cheek and this time his eyes flashed open in fear and he tried to flinch away from the touch. He was blinded by the sudden light which entered the window but he quickly adjusted to it blinking staring at Shaka’ s worried eyes.” S…Sha…ka?”

Shaka smiled to him when he heard him utter his name and cupped his cheek into his warm hand. “Yes. It’s me. You are safe now.” Mu kept staring at him with a disoriented expression blinking slowly at him. “How…?Where…” “You are at the Sanctuary once again. You were brought here by Ares’ men…” He stopped when at the mention of Ares’ warriors Mu paled averting his gaze. He was silent for a while and Shaka could only comfort him with his warm presence.

When he spoke again his voice was soft and tense. “How long did I…was I away?” “You were missing for eleven days.” Mu’ s eyes closed at that and he leaned his forehead against Shaka’ s strong shoulder. “It seemed months to me…” Shaka’ s grasp on him tightened a little and since he didn’t complain he held the wounded man into his arms. “Mu… I need to ask you something.” The Aries Saint stiffened at that but kept silent. “Mu, did they…”



He couldn’t finish his phrase because the door slowly creaked open and Milo’ s head appeared in the crack . He gave a soft smile when he saw Shaka laying in bed with Mu and he silently entered. Shaka turned to stare at him and saw that Camus and Shion were there too. “We are here to take him upstairs. We must begin with the preparations for the battle.” Shion’ s voice was barely audible but Mu heard it. He lift his head looking at his sensei with green tired eyes and couldn’t keep a small tired smile at the joy he saw into the older man’ s eyes. “You are awake at last. I’m happy to see that you are better.” He reached out and gently touched his forehead , frowning when he felt him hot to the touch. “You have a fever. We should bring you upstairs and put you to bed.” Mu’ s gaze shifted from one to the others’ faces and he saw that despite they were happy to see him awake, they were worried about the imminent attack. “When are they going to attack?” They instantly sobered. “Later today they’ll be here. We’ll take you to the Pope’ s Temple where you’ll be safer.” “They said they were going to attack Sanctuary soon… but I didn’t know when…” He felt Shaka’ s hand into his hair trying to give him comfort and he truly appreciated it.



They begun moving through the room packing some clothes and stuff while Shion and Shaka helped Mu to dress. The welts on his back and legs didn’t allow him to move about much and his broken shoulder and wrist proved to be a nuisance when they tried to make him wear one of his tunics. “Who’ s going to protect the Aries’ Temple?” Shaka wrapped him in a long warm cloak and carefully cradled him into his arms. “I will.” Mu stared astonished at Shaka. “You have the Virgo Temple to protect…” “But I protected the Cancer Temple during the war against Hades. I can do the same now.” Mu shook his head looking away. “You cannot. He’s much too strong…” Shion had observed the exchange and now stepped in seeing that Shaka was ready to keep the banter on. “We’ll decide about that later, now we must go. One last thing, Mu?” “What?” “What has been of your Cloth? We didn’t find it and it wasn’t returned to us.” Mu’ s eyes closed in pain as he remembered what had been of his Gold Cloth. “Destroyed… to dust…” Shion’ s face briefly contorted in rage and sadness but then he put a gentle hand on Mu’ s head. “It wasn’t your fault child. Now rest a little.” Mu didn’t respond and buried his face in Shaka’ s neck as memories assaulted him and he saw again clearly how Ares had crushed his cloth in front of his eyes reducing it to golden dust. He had felt his heart broke at witnessing that and he didn’t know if he would ever forget that.

They went through the Twelve Temples until they reached thirteenth and entered its private quarters preceded by Shion. They reached the bedroom and Shaka lowered the wounded Saint on the soft bed cringing at he pain he saw on his pale face. Mu’ s eyes closed tightly against the pain for a moment but then he opened them looking at the blond.



Camus took Milo’ s elbow and pushed him toward the door . “We’ll wait outside. “ They exited and stared at each other in the eyes . Camus could clearly feel the anger radiating from his fellow Saint and placed a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him a little. “Calm down Milo. It can do you no good to get angry.” “How can I not be angry?! Can’t you see what they did to him? He’s our friend Camus!!” “I’m not saying that I’m not angry. He’s my friend as well and don’t think that I love him less than you do.” Milo shook his head. “I know but… I cannot stay here and do nothing while he suffers so! Being wounded in battle is one thing but this… It’s hideous. I cannot stand it! I swear that if they arrive to my temple I’ll kill them in the most painful way I can think of!!”

Camus couldn’t help but smile to him as he hug the angered Saint to his chest surprising him. “My dear burning Milo. Your soul burns with a fire so strong that even those enemies will not be able to extinguish. Mu’ s lucky to have you as a friend.” Milo’s arms closed around Camus and he tilted his head up to kiss him. They kissed deeply for a while and then Milo’ s hands slid down the Aquarius Saint to cup his buttocks. “Let’s go to my Temple?” Camus stared at him in mock horror. “You are incredible!! Again! You want to do it again!!” Milo smiled seductively to him and pulled him along. Camus yielded easily and followed the other Saint to his Temple, knowing well that it could be their last time togheder.







TBC…



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^-^ New chapter’s up, tell me what you think, please!! ^-^



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