The fighting ended and the pursuit not yet begun, Sousuke found himself moving a bit slower. Especially as he was carrying Eija Satomi at the moment.
"Is it okay?" Kaname asked hesitantly.
"We're still not safe here, but staying there was impossible," Sousuke answered.
"No, I mean your injury," the blue-haired girl asked, she was still wearing the jacket Sousuke had given her when they came out of the trailer. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Yeah, hold on just a second," the mercenary said moving to a tree and gently laying Eija down. "Miss Chidori, hand me the little packet...in the jacket pocket."
"You mean this first-aid kit looking thing?" Kaname asked. "Hold on, let me do it."
Her resolve faded as she saw the size of the piece of shrapnel stuck in Sousuke's stomach.
"I'm lucky," he said. "It doesn't look too serious."
"But," Kaname said.
"I know."
There was an emphasis to that statement that showed an intensity of purpose that Kaname hadn't seen in anyone before.
Except perhaps the spiky haired lunatic that she had seen before.
"We have to move on."
He rose up in front of her like a bloody specter and held his hand out toward her.
"Hand me the smelling salts."
Perhaps because of the fact that she hadn't really taken in the inhuman abilities of the other people she'd encountered.
Perhaps because despite those abilities they seemed, for all she could tell, basically normal kids.
Perhaps because Sousuke had been keeping up with, even directing those super-powered kids without any special ability of his own that she could see.
Perhaps because looking at him now reminded her most of that man, Gauron that had been running the kidnapping.
But at the moment Sousuke was the scariest thing she could think of.
"Don't! Don't come near me!" she snapped and immediately wished she could take it back.
In the instant she said it, Sousuke had looked so devoid of hope.
"I guess I understand," the other teen said. "People like you have a hard time trusting people like me. But be patient for now. All I care about right now is getting you and Miss Satomi back to Japan safely. You'll never see me after that, so...for now...just trust me."
The intensity didn't fade, but it seemed redirected. As if he was afraid of hurting her by thinking too hard. A sort of gentleness that he wasn't aware of, perhaps wasn't able to express physically, and was all the more poignant because he was standing and bleeding while trying to keep from hurting her.
And the pain wasn't just physical, she could see it in the eyes that turned down and looked like they wanted to tear up but didn't know how.
She'd hurt him with her comment.
She thought back to all the times he'd acted in ways that had seemed quirky or even down right insane.
And she realized.
This is what he'd meant by protecting her. Taking all the pain intended for her onto himself.
"How could I tell him not to come near me?" she thought to herself.
Almost mechanically, she reached into the packet and handed over the smelling salts and bent to check Eija's vitals before holding the smelling salts under her nose.
Eija blinked awake and looked around.
"Where are we?" she asked wearily.
"We've come about three miles away from the base," Sousuke said. "You've been out for about an hour."
"That's about twenty minutes a mile. I slowed you down," Eija commented starting to get to her feet, getting help from Kaname and Sousuke as she did so. "I'm sorry."
"No need," Sousuke said. "But we aren't safe here, are you okay to travel on your own."
"I should be," Eija said.
"Good, but you are a non-combatant from this point," Sousuke insisted. "Your abilities have worn you out too thoroughly."
"Hai," the dark-haired woman said. "I...suppose I should stop suppressing my sight as well."
"If it tires you, yes," Sousuke said.
"We...we'll be fine," Kaname assured Eija quietly.
Eija took the tone to be gentleness as the blue-haired girl let her lean on her shoulder. Most people couldn't bare to touch her when the red of her eyes flooded into the white like she was letting them do now.
"Your abilities seem to come with a heavy price," Sousuke said.
"Not all of them. Just the magic," Eija explained wearily. "My brother and sister rarely use it for that reason. Naiki knows a few elemental spells, mostly water and earth. Deimosu knows parlor tricks, really."
"Weren't they casting spells or something back there?" Kaname asked.
"No, Naiki was using the Kijin Raiju Dan," Eija said. "And Deimosu was using the Moko Takabisha. Both are advanced martial art techniques requiring chi manipulation in different ways. My brother is also electrokinetic, which is a psionic affinity. All tiring, yes, like heavy exercise, but not like magic."
"Is there a reason for it?" Sousuke asked.
"One of our teachers told us we're cursed," the girl explained quietly. "It's like someone hid us from the universe and we have to shout with all our might to get it to hear us. Okaasan is the same way, but I think she...disliked magic before she knew that."
Eija continued to think about chi and magic while Kaname was thinking about anti-virus programming for some reason she wasn't sure of.
She supposed it was easy for the layfolk to mix up things like feng shui and chi blasts for true magic. Both dealt mostly with chi. Magic was different somehow, like having your hand on the codes to reality itself.
It could do things chi couldn't...
...and she had to admit it was addicting.
"If you're so cut off from it," Kaname said. "Why learn it?"
"I asked her once," Eija said. "She just said we had to be prepared. I...think, sometimes, it might be about our father."
There was a vast uncomfortable silence behind that statement and it seemed obvious to Kaname that the girl didn't particularly like to think about it.
Eija frowned for a moment as she felt herself fading again when she thought back to earlier when she had been considering tools.
Sousuke looked down at Eija, now being carried again between him and Kaname, and realized that her feet were moving almost on automation. He was just deciding to let her sit and rest again as they broke out of the trees to the edge of wide plain leading off toward the horizon.
"Wow," Kaname said.
"It looks like we can't go any further on foot," Sousuke said. "Let's sit down for now."
They laid Eija down first and then Kaname sat down herself.
Sousuke remained quiet as Kaname looked over Eija and rested herself before he finally spoke up.
"Miss Chidori," he said.
"What?" Kaname asked.
She noticed his eyes were closed and there was a quietness about him that seemed worrying.
"We're not in a good situation," Sousuke said. "It's impossible to cross the field with me wounded and Miss Satomi so exhausted. My comm unit has a limited range and the enemy will be closing in on this position as we speak. If we stay here, they'll eventually catch us. Or the fire will move this way and catch us, either way is no good."
"So, I'll stay here as a bait," he said. "And I want you to carry Miss Satomi west and take the comm device with you."
"What?!" Kaname snapped.
"You should be able to contact my comrades by the beach if they're in that area," he continued.
"So, what you're saying is that you are..."
"Don't worry about us," he instructed emphatically. "We're here to protect you. This is the only way you can survive. Now go!"
"...no," Kaname said.
"What?" Sousuke said, uncomprehending of the response.
"I'm not going to leave you here," she said.
"Miss Chidori!" Sousuke responded. "I'm the specialist here. I've considered the situation and this is the only way."
"'The only way!?'" the high school student quoted. "Is that really what you think?"
Sousuke stared at her eyes wide as she took a deep breath and then unloaded.
"Don't tell me you're a specialist! You are just a weapons freak. It's clear as day!! So you're ready to die for me? Spare me the ego trip! How do you think I'd 'survive' knowing the 'only way' you could save me was to sacrifice your own life?! Is your life worth so little? You have to live...you have to want to live. We'll find a way! I'm not going to give up so easily! All three of us are going home alive, okay!!"
"Miss Chidori," Sousuke said, trying to reason with her. "I understand that, but your will isn't enough to change the current situation. So at least you..."
"I said no!!"
The next thing Kaname knew there was a gun pointed at her.
"So, you're gonna shoot me if I don't go?"
"That's correct."
They stared at each other, eyes and faces seeming calm across the small gap until Kanama reached out and moved forward into Sousuke's body.
"I'm not scared," she said. "Because...I believe in you now."
The look on Sousuke's face was shell-shocked as his gun dropped from his hand.
"I was so scared of you a minute ago...because you were acting like a stranger to me, but...when you told me to trust you, I felt I had to pull together and help you as much as I could. I can't lose sight of that now. So we're going to keep fighting...as long as we're still alive!! We're going home together!!"
The shocked expression in Sousuke's face seemed to fade a little, being replaced by one of realization and consideration.
"I really hate to interrupt this shoujo moment," Eija said, sudden a surprised shiver through Kaname and Sousuke who turned slowly around to look at each other. "I mean, I can tell you two are in your own world right now, considering I think you forgot to include me in statements a couple of times..."
"This is not what you think it is!" Kaname sputtered. "I was just..."
"Kaname you want to stop there," Eija said quickly, glancing toward Sousuke's confused face. "But...I might have an idea."
She reached in her pocket and pulled out her scroll.
"We've already established that you can't cast anything in your current state," Sousuke said.
"True," Eija said. "But I think should remember using this on the plane."
"Your brother prepared the message," Sousuke said. "All I did was visualize Sergeant Major Mao and blow on the paper."
In truth, he hadn't even been sure that the message had worked until he'd contacted mithril later and heard that the Sergeant Major had gotten the information in fact.
"It's a tool," Eija said. "We prepare these ahead of time, the magic is already in them."
"If that is true can't you send the message?" Kaname asked.
"But I don't know if Okaasan or my brother and sister are with Sousuke's comrades and I don't think either of us knows many of his companions very well," Eija said. "The only one of us who can strongly visualize someone that would be for sure able to help us is Sousuke."
The mercenary frowned and looked up at the stars briefly now that the clouds were parting.
"Okay, if you'll prepare it, I'll send it," Sousuke said.
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(Posted Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:57)
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