Heirot

Kyosuke shook his head immediately, realizing that Shinobu had taken his joke a little more seriously than he expected. "There's no guarantee that only two would follow." It would probably look suspicious too, at least if she actually tried to seduce them. He looked around and noted a particularly tall building, one about as tall as the gates themselves, and positioned right next to it. "There. If we go there we can get onto the roof and jump across."

Shinobu followed the motion of his hand. The guards formed a circle, some leaning on the wall, some sitting on the ground. None of them seemed to be paying the streets much mind anymore. "Okay," she nodded. "Now we just need to get there unseen... Lead the way."

Kyosuke looked over at the guards again. Getting over to the other side shouldn't be a problem. The problem was getting to the building. They'd have to chance it. As silently as he could, Kyosuke dashed over to the other side of the street. Thankfully, fortune smiled upon them and they were able to find a set of alleyways that led over to the building in question. When they were there, the door was found to be unlocked and the pair were able to sneak in easily.

Shinobu followed Kyosuke as quickly as she could, even with his wound he was fast. The inside was dark, and smelled like smoke with everything else in town. There was a long hall with a staircase that led upstairs.

"What do we do now?" she asked him softly, peering out a window to watch the cluster of Arken soldiers. She turned and edged up the steps to the second story of the building, not bothering to examine the contents of the shop.

When up stairs she looked out the window again, noting that there were three soldiers breaking off and coming towards them.

Kyosuke saw the soldiers as well. At first, he didn't move, only watching where they went... and then cursed as he saw them stopping in front of the building. "We have to get onto the roof, quickly," he replies. That was the original plan, and Kyosuke was going to wait for them to pass the building before he climbed up, but now they had to hurry up.

For a few moments, Kyosuke's mind raced. He debated whether it would be worth it to lock the door and make it obvious that someone was hiding in the room, or if they should hope they just pass it by and leave it untouched. In the end, Kyosuke figured it would be better to slow them down, even if only by a little, and he grabbed a chair to prop up against the doorknob, then shuffled over to the window. "I'll climb up first and pull you up after me," he whispered, before opening up the window and sliding out. ...Unfortunately, the window was a little more rickety than he anticipated, and shouts from underneath was a good indication that they had been heard and seen.

The samurai had to bite back another curse, pulling himself onto the roof quickly, then reached down and stuck his hand out.

Shinobu looked out the window and then up to Kyosuke's hand. She hoped he had the strength to pull her up. A loud crash came against the door. She jumped, her eyes locking on the wood as it splintered. A few more hits and it wouldn't be there anymore. Swallowing her fear of heights she climbed half-out the window and reached up for Kyosuke's hand.

"Hurry," she breathed, wild eyes looking up at him through strands of long silky black hair.

Kyosuke knew about Shinobu's fear of heights, but this was probably the best way for them to get across. With a reassuring smile, Kyosuke grabbed onto Shinobu's hand and hauled her onto the roof, muscles straining. Thankfully, the feminine looking samurai does swing those heavy swords around one handed, so he's able to pull her up.

Once they're both up there though, they still have to get over the wall. There was enough room to get a running jump, and he moves back. "You should jump first," he said, accounting for a few things. He'd have to cover for her if she messed up, or the guards might catch up before the second person could jump... though they could do the jump at the same time.

Shinobu looked at the distance and then at Kyosuke. "I..." she muttered, frowning as she edged closer. The space kept growing and closing , growing and closing. She shook her head and closed her eyes. "What if I don't make it," she thought aloud.

The sound of the soldiers bursting into the room shook her out of her trance. She panicked, her heart starting to thud wildly. She took a deep breath, and ran for the edge of the roof. She nearly second guessed herself, and she slowed to short. Shinobu jumped, and barely cleared the distance. She slid down the slope of the roof, grabbing the thatching to keep from falling over the edge. Slowly, she pulled herself up to the flattened area at the top.

"Then I'll cover you, and defend you until you can get out," Kyosuke replied, eyes flashing with loyalty and... something more. If she fell, Kyosuke wasn't going to let her die, at least, not without him dying with her.

As soon as Shinobu ran and jumped, he ran after her, just passing over a gauntleted hand reaching for the roof. A couple more seconds and at least one of the guards would be up there with him. Alone and uninjured, he might have stayed and began cutting off arms, but they were trying to escape from the city, and the longer he stayed, the more they risked a group forming outside the gates. And so he landed firmly on the roof, reaching down once again to help Shinobu up. From there it would just be a matter of jumping off the gate and onto the grass outside. ...Hopefully without injuring himself again.

Shinobu clamored behind him. They went to the other side. "How do we get down?" she asked him quickly, wondering if she could force herself to jump, or if she would break anything in the fall. They couldn't afford to be any slower.

"Stop!" A soldier called as he pushed himself to his feet on the roof.

The fire behind him roared high while some of the buildings burned. The wind pushed the fires into other buildings. Embers floated like fireflies in the night sky.

"Jump," Kyosuke replied, affirming Shinobu's fears. "Just make sure to tuck and roll as best as you can at the end." He had injured himself earlier because, in his fit of rage, he had jumped and landed right on his feet. Rolling would help minimize the damage... but if Shinobu still couldn't bring herself to jump off, the samurai would grab her, wrap her up in a hug, then jump off with her, absorbing as much of the fall as he could and rolling to a halt.

Shinobu looked back to the soldier, and then to Kyosuke, and then down below at the ground. "I can't," she muttered, trying so very hard to talk herself into jumping. She moved forward like she meant to, and then froze. "I can't...."

The soldier bounded across the roof they'd come from, drawing his sword. Shinobu focused on her feet, and not on how far down it was. "Push me..."

Instead he grabbed her and went with her. Shinobu was too shocked to scream, and so they rolled across the ground finally coming to a stop.

"Are you mad?" she yelled at him, grabbing his collar. "You could have died... I could have died.... We should run." She couldn't keep track of her thoughts they were coming so frantic.

If she was too scared to jump, Kyosuke didn't want to risk pushing her and having her injure herself if she messed up the fall. As it was, he felt a jolt of pain shooting throughout his body as his body hit first, partially cushioning Shinobu's weight before directing it into a roll. It's tricky, and Kyosuke manages to do it without breaking any bones, but he's in enough pain for a few moments that Shinobu's panicked yells fall on deaf ears. The collar grab, on the other hand, made him grunt in pain, before he could nod and clamber onto his feet. They weren't anyone of importance, at least, not as far as the Arken soldiers would know, so they shouldn't give too much chase. If they were setting fires then clearly the invasion wasn't a complete secret anyway.

Shinobu drew her hands away quickly, knowing she'd hurt him. "I'm sorry," she breathed, cupping his face. "Can you walk? We have to hide..."

The soldier on the roof didn't see them as much of a concern, at least not enough to jump off a roof for them. He simply turned and walked away. The only problem was he just motioned down for the soldiers on the other side, directing them to the escapees.

"Please, I'll help you walk. We'll rest I promise, but we have to get moving now," Shinobu urged gently.

Kyosuke was already nodding and pulling himself up by the time Shinobu started urging him. He limped his way onto his feet, then manage to urk out an "I'm okay, I can run" before starting off in a random direction. The samurai had no idea where they were going at this point, only knowing that, should they hit mountains, to not cross it, lest they enter Arken.