With a leg sweep, he took her down, and raised his blade up to stab her.

It glinted in the moonlight, showcasing its polished glow.
But the blade wasn't Damascus.

If he stabbed her, he would kill the spirit.
But also take Eunchae down with it.

...

Sakura's eyes bulged wide.
She could see the blade clearly and she wasn't going to let that happen.

Grabbing her sword, Sakura parried away their blades, just enough for an opening for her to run through.
She begged her legs to run, she had to save Eunchae.

Just a moment before his blade came down, Sakura threw herself forwards.
And she shielded Eunchae.

If she would die, it wouldn't be in vain.

The blade stabbed into her side, and she let out a pained grunt, coughing up blood.

The man's eyes went wide, and he caught Sakura just before she fell to the ground.

"No- no- WHY?!?" he shouted.

He carried her off to the side, trying to hold the blood in her wound.
"SUNOO- PLEASE!!! HELP HER!" He shouted.

Another one of them who was wearing a black cap, presumably Sunoo, dropped his sword, and ran up to them. He had a black utility belt around his waist, and he took out a small cloth, which was dabbed in some form of honey-coloured substance.

They had all seen something like that before.
It was the same formula that Sakura used on the members, for healing.

Eunchae crawled back onto her feet.
She was breathing heavy at the sight of it.

But there were more people, and she didn't want to hurt any of them.
No more.

She turned, and ran away.
Far away, so she couldn't hurt them when she fully turned.

"SAKURA!" Chaewon screamed.
She saw her comrade on the ground, with the blood around her.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?! YOU MONSTERS!!!" She screeched.

She tried pushing forwards, ignoring the swords pointed at her, but two of them stopped her, holding her back.

Sunghoon was still on the ground, and he had no luck. He was pinned on his front, the other guy behind him, keeping him down.
"You're a feisty one..." he said, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

He had a sort of foreign accent in his voice, and his voice was youthful and clear. He was also taller than Sunghoon, which had given him an advantage in their brawl.

"SAKURA!" Sunghoon shouted.
He had taken a glance over in her direction, and was concerned.

She was bleeding out a lot, and her face was pale.
Sakura had sacrificed everything for all of them, she had nothing left for herself.

"N- no- it wasn't meant for you..." The man next to Sakura said.
He was very apologetic, and he felt bad. Even if it technically was not his fault; Sakura had thrown herself into the danger.

The man in the cap, Sunoo, wringed out some of the substance from the towel onto Sakura's wound. There was so much blood, they couldn't even tell where the substance splashed, other than it fell into her blood.

"Jungwon, it's not your fault... don't worry..." Sunoo told the other guy, patting his shoulder.

Jungwon was literally on the verge of tears, he felt so bad.
He used his sleeve to wipe off the pool of sweat from Sakura's face as a small sign of apology.

"Is she- is she okay?" Jungwon asked Sunoo.

Sunoo curtly nodded back, feeling around for Sakura's pulse. Her pulse was there, and gradually growing stronger, which was a relief.

Jungwon relaxed a bit, letting out a big breath.
He turned back to the others, who were still in a circle, surrounding the members.

"You can bring them here. Just be careful." He told them.

They were hesitant at first, but soon enough, they let their swords down, and broke apart the circle. Jungwon and Sunoo stepped back, to give them some space.

Chaewon reached Sakura first, breathing heavily.
"Sakura..." she mumbled.

Kazuha came up to her, and took her jacket off, and used it as a pillow for Sakura so that she could have a more comfortable place to rest her head.

However, the man with Sunghoon didn't let him go.

That's because Sunghoon was cursing at them.
"YOU- YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!! LET ME GO!" he screeched.

The tall guy still didn't let him. Instead, he was peering at Sunghoon's face, trying to remember something.
Then he looked at Sakura, and his eyes went wide.

"Ja- Jake... aren't those two... didn't we see them before?" He said, pointing at the both of them.
Another one, with striking dyed blonde hair, turned his head, also looking between the two.
He nodded his head slowly. They, in fact, looked very, very familiar.

"It's that bastard... her." said the one who wasn't Jake.
He pointed at Sakura.
"She punched me. Got a bad one, it hurt for a long time." He said.

"SAKURA- JUST LET ME GO!" Sunghoon demanded.

The memories were flowing back to him.
These two guys had jumped him, and threatened him.

Jungwon turned to him, nodding.
"Niki, let him."

Niki scoffed, but did as told, getting off Sunghoon.
He scrambled to his feet, instantly going over to Sakura. Sunghoon felt her hand, and was relieved.
It was warm again. She was okay.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, practically thanking the gods for letting her live.
He wasn't ready to lose anyone yet.

"Sakura..." Kazuha said, noticing Sakura's eyes starting to flutter open.

Kazuha supported Sakura's head.

"Don't worry... It doesn't hurt... anymore." Sakura mumbled.

Yunjin let out a small scoff.
"You're lying. Stop pretending it doesn't hurt." she said, smiling.

The sides of Sakuras lips curled up as she smiled.
Yunjin was right.
"You got me there..."

Sakura's eyes surveyed the surroundings.
"Eunchae... what about Eunchae...?" She mumbled, worried.

Yunjin stroked Sakura's head, and whispered in her ear.
"Don't worry about her for now. She's safe. I hope. But, we'll find her, one day. I promise."

Sakura nodded. She was relieved. Even if Eunchae wasn't fully safe yet, at least she wasn't dead. And that was all that mattered to her.
She had done all she could do.

Niki walked up to the group, his face a little bit annoyed.
He went up to Sunghoon, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"You're lucky I'm feeling generous today. After I came home with an injured face, I swore to take revenge. But it seems that we're equal now, even if it was by accident." He whispered in the other one's ear.

Equal?
Did he see Sakura's stabbing as a form of revenge? Even more, was he HAPPY about it?

Sunghoon grasped Niki by the collar.
"What the hell did you just say to me?!?" He spat.

He drove Niki up against the wall, pinning him by the collar. Sunghoon didn't even mind the fact that he was weaker, that Niki could've easily just beaten him up then and there. He was blazing.

"Sunghoon, stop-"
Yunjin instantly stood up and went over to the two, trying to break them up.
But they refused to budge, shouting curses at each other.

"YOU'RE WEAK-"

"LET GO OF THE PAST, YOU FREAKING WUSS-"

"I'LL BREAK YOUR FACE THE SAME WAY SHE BROKE MINE!"

"TRY ME!!!"

They were struggling against each other, pushing each other backwards in a return of curses. Yunjin's voice wasn't even heard, as their voices were raised.

Jake joined in, trying to pull Niki away.
"Niki- It's not that deep-"
But Niki swatted him away with his hand, staring Sunghoon right in the face.

"STOP!!! STOP IT, NOW!!!" A voice shouted.
It rung over their voices, so powerful that it stopped the two in their tracks. They stood still, still staring at each other, but not daring to move a muscle.

Yunjin turned.
Her eyes grew wide.

"...Sakura?"

Sakura had tried standing up, using the wall for support. Her eyes were anger-filled, staring straight into both of their souls.
Her legs were shaking, and her arm was showing signs of struggle, practically baring most of her weight.
It was scary. A completely new side of Sakura Sunghoon had never seen before.

And a side of Sakura he never wanted to see again.
Not in his life.

She continued again, pushing words through her overworked and tired vocal chords.
"...stop fighting... it's not helping any of us..."

And her legs gave way, Kazuha having to support her as she was unable to support herself.
"Sakura- please stop. Just relax for a second... you're overworking yourself..." she said.

Kazuha lifted Sakura onto her back, so that she didn't have to walk anymore.
She didn't complain; Sakura could feel her body giving up on her, and her vocal chords felt like they had swollen shut.

Sunoo rushed over to Kazuha.

"Here- give her some of this-" he said, pulling out a little wrapped bar out of his belt.

Kazuha stared at it, unwrapping the food.

"Don't be alarmed, it's just chocolate." Sunoo told her.

She quickly pulled it up to Sakura's lips, carefully melting some of the chocolate into her mouth.
"Thanks..." Kazuha mumbled to Sunoo.

He went up, and whispered in Kazuha's ear.
"Also, please don't think Niki's always like that... he's just having a bad day, after nearly losing his tooth because of her... in their first encounter."

Kazuha nodded, taking his words in mind.

"Come on, Sunghoon. Let's go." Yunjin said.

She was finally able to pry Sunghoon away, and Jake pulled Niki. The two didn't resist, but shot each other death glares as they returned back to their comrades.

The two groups stared at each other. Jungwon came forwards.

"You must have a lot of questions, right? We all do." He said.

They nodded their heads.

"Eunchae- I mean- spirits... you can see spirits too, right? Is that why you're here?" Chaewon asked.

"That's right." Jungwon said.

He scratched the back of his head, trying to piece together the confusing situation in his brain.
"And you guys... you're like us, right? You're hunters as well..."

"Yeah..." Kazuha responded.

Jake pushed forwards, adding a question of his own.
"Then who was that? I thought our job was to kill spirits... Why did she end up protecting that one?" He said, pointing at Sakura.

Yunjin huffed under her breath.
The spirit, in question, was Eunchae. But they didn't know that she was one of them. They thought that she was just another spirit.

"Did you guys feel the energy, though? It- it was so strong..." Jungwon muttered.

"It- it's not like that... That spirit- it wasn't just any spirit. It was Eunchae. And she..."
Kazuha trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

So Sunghoon did it for her.
"That spirit you saw, hm- was no goddamn ordinary spirit. She's our family. ITS A GODDAMN HUNTER- AND YOU RUINED IT!!! WE WERE SO CLOSE TO EXORCISING HER!!! SHE COULD'VE SAVED- IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU!!! SHE- Eunchae- she could've..."

Tears started streaming down his face. He was angry, frustrated and furious all at once. If they had not intervened, Eunchae would've been safe with them, and Sakura wouldn't have had to suffer.

"... you- Eunchae... she could've... it could've all been okay... everything could've been okay..."

Tears starting welling up in the member's eyes.
Nothing was going right for them.
Everything, absolutely everything, was going downhill.

First, it felt like they were losing Eunchae.
Now, they felt like they were losing Sakura.

They were afraid. Maybe later, they would lose themselves.

Jungwon bowed his head down in realisation. It was their fault, really. They should've been more observant, then nothing bad would've happened.
He could see that the other group were clearly going through a hard time.
The least they could do for them was to help them.

To fix what they broke.

"Follow us... we'll get her fully treated... our hideout is really close. You guys look in rough shape... maybe it's better if you rest up." Jungwon said.

Some of the heads turned towards him.

"No- Jungwon, you can't..."

"How can we trust them?"

"We're meant to be a secret!"

Nearly all of them were dissatisfied.
All, except for Sunoo and Jungwon.

Jungwon put his hand up, silencing them.
"I know, Niki... you might hate it. And Jake... but, we have to treat her. If she dies... I can't forgive myself for it. Please, just this once." He said, looking at Sakura.

Dried blood lined around her arms and shoulders. Not everything had fully healed, and there was still much improvement needed. Small scratches and cuts were all around her body, which was practically the same for Sunghoon and Kazuha.
The three of them had sustained injuries when fighting Eunchae.

Some of them took pity on the group, while as only Niki seemed displeased, but didn't say anything.

"I think we should help them..." Sunoo said.

He pulled off his hat, showing that the request was sincere.
"Jungwon, let's do it..."

Jungwon nodded.
"Okay. Let's go."

He lead, Jungwon at the front.
Sunoo took his place behind them, making sure there would be no stragglers.
And they set off, down the alleyway.