Sting
by Autumn Win-Dow
(AoGA House Cup. Words: 1206)
He felt the final blow contact his face, as he fell back, hard, onto the ground.
After not allowing the sergeant to touch the chain around his neck, Kazuya was immediately hit in both the face and the stomach by the much stronger man. He cringed as his head made contact with the old timber of the dining hall, and could vaguely hear the sergeant order the surrounding soldiers to return to the dorms. Not a single observer had helped him up due to fear of being punished equally as badly by the muscled man.
As the lights in the dining hall were switched off and the door closed behind the last soldier to exit, Kazuya groaned at the pain radiating throughout his whole body. He made futile attempts to push himself off the ground, and already he could feel his cheek swelling up.
All he cared about at that moment, however, was protecting the ring which Victorique had given him.
It was one of his only possessions from Saubure which he still held possession of from before he was forced to migrate back to Japan. Realising that getting up on his own was futile, he laid still on the hard floorboards, as he clutched the ring in his fist.
Ten minutes later, he started to hear footsteps. However, unlike the usual stomping sound which the typical boots of a soldier would make, the footsteps he heard were lighter and more careful.
It was then quickly followed by a surprised gasp from a female.
"Oh no! Sir, are you okay?" The female voice panicked as her footsteps approached him at a much faster pace.
Kazuya could feel a pair of thin arms grab hold of his arm carefully and attempt to pull him up from the ground. From the sudden twisting of his torso, he hissed at the pain which shot through his body.
"Sorry!" She breathed as she took more caution in pulling him up. Although his legs were considerably weak, he was able to – with the lady's help – stand up properly, with his arm around her shoulders for support.
Kazuya's vision started to become hazy – he could just grab a glimpse of the woman who had helped him. It was a nurse with strange pink hair – and this fact only reminded him of another girl in his life with unique hair.
"Victorique…" He murmured before losing all consciousness.
Anna brought a bowl of water and a wiping cloth to the bed where the soldier had fallen unconscious. She had often wished that the sergeants weren't so harsh in punishing the soldiers, since their health would deteriorate even before they fought in the war.
The sick bay near the soldiers' dorms was empty except for her and the unconscious soldier. The small light bulb above their heads flickered, but still managed to illuminate the hut. Anna wrung out the excess water out of the now soaked cloth, and wiped the dry blood off his face.
She had become a war nurse in order to save lives and protect those who risked their lives for the country, but she was greatly disappointed when the sergeants and officers weren't thinking the same way.
Anna was about to bandage his wounds when he started to stir awake. She flinched back slightly and moved her hands away from him, placing them on her lap as she watched him for any signs of pain.
As soon as his eyes opened, he drew away from the light above him, and hissed at the sudden pain which shot through his head as he moved away.
"W-What's going on…?" He muttered as he raised his arm to rest over his eyes, in order to block the harsh light.
"You were involved with a brawl, I'm assuming. I just found you on the ground in the dining hall. Don't worry, it's only a few cuts and bruises." Anna reassured him as she helped him sit up straight from the bed.
As she did so, she saw something shiny around his neck, something pulled out of his uniform. It was a thin silver chain – but instead of a pendant, it was a ring. Anna assumed that the ring was the reason why he had gotten involved in a one-sided brawl with the strict sergeant an hour prior.
Perhaps the ring is from someone special in his life…
"That's a beautiful ring," She blurted out, and the soldier shifted away from her – worried but determined.
Instantly understanding the reason why he had acted the way he did, she raised her hands ain reassurance. "Don't worry, I'm not going to take it. I won't tell anyone about it, either. Trust me."
Seeing her completely honest expression, Kazuya relaxed, and returned to his original position on the bed. He could barely recall the happenings before he fell unconscious, but he did remember the nurse hold him up as he collapsed, as well as her vibrant pink hair. A part of him questioned whether she was really a Japanese woman or a foreigner, because of her strange hair.
"So what's your name?" Anna asked him as she cut up pieces of bandage for the cuts on his face.
"Kazuya… Kujo." He hesitantly spoke, concerned about whether she would understand the cultural differences between the Japanese and foreigners in regards to name order.
Anna noticed this easily as she bandaged a now clean scar on his forehead, and laughed breathily. "Kujo Kazuya? That's your name in Japanese right? I'm Umenomiya Anna."
"O-Oh," Kazuya sputtered, embarrassed and ashamed of believing she was a foreigner – the closer he looked, the more Japanese she appeared.
"That ring must be really special. Did someone important give it to you?" She attempted to make conversation as she applied cream on the larger scars and placed more bandages over them.
Kazuya looked down at the ring, hanging from the chain, and he picked it up between his fingers.
"A very good… friend of mine." He murmured, and a reminiscent smile appeared on his face despite the many scars which covered his face.
But somehow, she saw a hint of bitterness in his eyes as he kept his eyes glued to the ring.
Anna knew not to pry. He was only one of many soldiers who had to break away from their loved ones, but she saw that Kazuya Kujo was younger than many of the others.
From personal experience, she knew that separation hurt even more when you were a young person with a friendship – or even a romance – which could last a whole lifetime.
That night, after Kazuya had thanked her and returned to his dorm, she prayed before she went to sleep – just like every other night she spent at the base camp. But that particular night, she added a new prayer to the wishes she hoped for as she kneeled at the side of her bed, with her elbows on the mattress.
Anna prayed that somehow, Kazuya Kujo would survive the war, in order to return to the friend who had given him the ring.
She was smart enough to realise that his feelings for this girl surpassed the bounds of friendship.