Steel Heart
The infirmary room was quiet and the only sound came from the occasional beep of a machine. Nagisa sat in a very uncomfortable chair next to the bed staring at the occupant. The dark haired young duman wore a sad expression as she sat with her hands on her lap. In the bed was her friend Kureha suffering from terrible wounds. Nagisa balled her hands into fists and almost wanted to hit herself. As she was contemplating it, the door opened.
"Hey Nagisa," said the young blonde girl. "How is she?"
"No change. She's still unresponsive," answered Nagisa.
"I see. Well the doctors said that they won't know the full extent of her injuries until all the tests come back so maybe you should get some sleep. You've been in here for hours."
"Thank you Emelia but I'm fine. Besides I should be here. This is my fault."
"Oh Nagisa it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," she said gloomily. "If I had been paying attention then that De Ragan wouldn't have got the jump on us and Kureha wouldn't have had to do what she did."
"You can't keep beating yourself up like this Nagisa," Emelia said. "Kureha knew exactly what she was doing and she'll pull through. Trust me. Kureha is way too tough to get killed that easily."
"I hope you're right."
Emelia nodded confidently. "Of course I am. Now promise that will at least eat something soon and get some rest ok?"
Nagisa put on the best smile she could manage and nodded. It seemed to satisfy Emelia so she turned and left the room. Turning her attention back to Kureha, Nagisa kept picturing what happened in her mind.
"Bam! Another one bites the dust!" shouted Kureha as her rifle shot downed another enemy. "Emelia give us some support! Nagisa you take point! I'll back you with cover fire!"
"Got it!" said Nagisa enthusiastically. Gripping her sword tightly, she darted off towards the approaching enemies. Emelia used various technics to attack the ones trying to flank her and Kureha popped off one after another with precise aim. Nagisa herself was effortlessly taking down her enemies with each swing of her sword. After the whole mob of them had been defeated the three girls regrouped and took a break.
"Excellent shooting as always partner!" Emelia said patting Kureha on the back.
"Thanks and you weren't bad yourself Emelia. Did you learn some new technics or something?"
"Maybe," she said beaming.
"Oh and nice sword work Nagisa. I love watching you fight!" said Kureha.
"Oh…thank you. But I was only so carefree and focused because I knew you had my back."
"Ugh…will you stop doing that already! Just take the damn compliment Nagisa. You look so awesome when you fight. I wouldn't mind taking you on myself one day." Kureha chugged the remaining water in her bottle and picked up her rifle. "Well let's get back and report the extermination a success."
"You said it!" Emelia jumped and followed after Kureha and Nagisa, taking her sword did the same.
They walked down the path that they had previously followed until the ship was in sight. Emelia ran ahead excitedly despite Kureha's warning to calm down. Nagisa however was lost in day dreams of the dark haired ranger walking next to her. She had never met anyone like Kureha before. She was always calm and cool, strong yet gentle at the same time. She acted like a big sister to them both always looking out for them and scolding them slightly when they screwed up on something. But she was always understanding in the end. She also showed a little extra amount of attention to Nagisa as Kureha would often go out of her way to make stops by her room and ask her how she was doing and if she needed anything. They would train together and then sit and talk about pretty much everything there was to talk about. She also had to confess that she was quite beautiful as well. Kureha's long dark hair resembled hers and she also had beautiful teal colored eyes. Sometimes Nagisa would catch herself staring at Kureha doing some mundane task such as cleaning or teaching Emelia how to shoot properly and she would think how she seems so natural doing it. Even now as Kureha walked on ahead to catch up with Emelia, Nagisa couldn't help but wish she had the courage to tell Kureha that she thought she was the most wonderful person alive. As she was lost in her fantasies, she felt a bit of warm air on her back and knowing the environment they were in was rather cool this time of the year, she turned around to be face to face with a full grown, angry De Ragan.
"Nagisa!" Kureha's voice screamed from behind her.
Nagisa was caught completely by surprise. The beast lunged for her with jaws wide but Kureha managed to grab her by the shirt and pull out of harms way just in time. Getting to her feet quickly, Kureha shot at the beast with her rifle while running away from Nagisa to draw it off. Her shots were doing less than nothing but Emelia realized what was happening and ran down from the ship to help. Jumping up quickly, Nagisa grabbed her sword and took a swing for the De Ragan's tail. Her blade cut clean through it taking off the tip. It roared in pain and turned towards her. Seeing its throat swell up, she immediately ran and dove to the side behind some large rocks as it spewed fire in her direction. She heard more gunshots and sounds of blasts which she figured were Emelia's technics. She looked up to see the De Ragan closing on Kureha who was cornered.
"Kureha hold on I'm coming!" Nagisa yelled leaping into the air and hitting the trigger on her sword. The chambers ignited and propelled the blade and her forward through the air at an impressive speed until it buried itself into the flesh of the monster. Roaring again, it started to thrash about. Nagisa held on to her sword until she saw Emelia and Kureha get clear. Then she pulled it out and leapt up into the air again, before bring the blade down on the beast's neck. It roared one last time then fell to the ground.
"Woah, nice move Nagisa!" Emelia said shocked.
"Damn straight it was. You're definitely good at this," said Kureha.
"Are you two alright?" Nagisa asked.
"Yeah we're good," they both answered.
"Good." Nagisa let her sword disappear in a flash of photons. She looked at the very proud and somewhat impressed look on Kureha's face quickly change to a much more frightened one.
Nagisa turned to see the De Ragan back up and preparing to swing its tail at them. Nagisa had no time to move before she felt a pair of arms grab her and throw her to the ground. Then she saw it. The De Ragan's massive tail swung through the air and slammed into Kureha who, due to getting her out of the way, had no time to dodge. The dark haired ranger was knocked a considerable distance into the same boulder that Nagisa had taken cover behind only minutes before. Once she hit it, her body fell limp and motionless. There was even a splatter of blood on the stone near where her head had hit.
After that, Nagisa couldn't remember much. She recalled Emelia's screams and the roars of the De Ragan but everything else was a white flash. All she could recall was that she had killed the beast; took its head and legs off as well as the tail. Then she remembered cradling Kureha's body on the way back to Clad 6.
"It's all my fault," Nagisa sobbed as tears fell from her eyes and onto her still balled up fists. "I'm so sorry Kureha! I'm so sorry!"
"What are you crying for?"
"What?" Nagisa said looking up.
"I said why do you sound like a babbling brook?" Kureha's eyes were open now and she was looking at Nagisa with her usual smirk.
"K-kureha? You're ok?"
"Hell no I'm not ok! I feel like I got hit by a truck then it backed up again! But…at least you're ok and that's what's important."
"I didn't think you'd wake up again!" cried Nagisa still unable to stop her tears.
"Well thanks for the confidence boost," groaned Kureha as she tried to sit up.
"No, no, no! You need to rest more!" Nagisa said rushing to her side and trying to make her lie back down.
Reluctantly, Kureha let Nagisa push her back down in the bed. After she was comfortable again or as close to comfortable as she was going to get, Nagisa sat back down.
"What happened after I got hammered?" Kureha asked.
"We killed the De Ragan then got you back for treatment as quick as we could." Nagisa looked at up at Kureha. "I'm such a fool. I let that thing get the jump on me. I should have made sure to finish it off! You always confirm your kills! I know that! I'm so stupid! I hate myself!"
"Will you put a sock in it?" said Kureha. "It was an honest mistake Nagisa. You're young. It's going to happen even if you don't want it to. You just have to learn from it that's all. Trust me I've made my fair share of bad decisions too."
"But have any of your bad choices ever endangered the life of the most important person in your life!"
"What?" Kureha looked stunned.
Nagisa, realizing what she had just said out of frustration, attempted to stand and leave but Kureha grabbed her arm despite how painful it was for her to sit up. "You don't get off that easily!" said the dark haired ranger. "Sit your ass back down."
Nagisa obeyed and sat down again. "Kureha I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"So you don't feel that way about me then?"
"No I do!"
"Then why are you sorry for telling me the truth? To be frank Nagisa you need to learn to be more assertive."
"I…well I just don't know how to say this," said the young duman trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Oh for god's sake Nagisa! Do you like me or not?" Kureha shouted.
"I do! More than you know! In fact it goes beyond that! I love you Kureha! More than anything!" Nagisa cried. "You're so nice to me all the time! You encourage me constantly even when I think I can't do something! When we fight together I can always trust you to watch my back and protect me! Even though I'm a duman you still treat me like everyone else and I absolutely love you for that! You treat me like a real person and I can't express to you how much that means to me! I've never had real friends before until I came to Clad 6! Now I have all of these people who really like me and care about me! I also have you! I feel so happy just to have you look at me because I know I'm more than just a duman in your eyes! I'm somebody to you and all the others! That's why I killed that De Ragan! I cut it pieces because it dared to cause harm to the most important person in my life! The person I love more than anything else! That's also why I stayed here in this room with you since we got back! I haven't left because if you died I wouldn't be able to take it! I love you so much Kureha! Probably more than you will ever know!" Nagisa was standing now and panting heavily after her emotional outburst.
Kureha sat dumbfounded. The expression on her face showed that she had just been blindsided by Nagisa's confession.
"Well? Say something!" said Nagisa impatiently.
Kureha then started laughing. "Wow…what took you so long Nagisa? Damn I must have been dropping hints that I liked you for months! You give dense a whole new meaning!"
"Really?"
"Of course! Why do you think I pay you so much attention? I love seeing you happy Nagisa," said Kureha with a smile. "I love the way you always strive to do the best you can do at everything. You work so hard and I just thought it would be nice if someone showed you some recognition for it."
"Kureha is that true?" asked Nagisa.
"It is. And the reason I did what I did and why I am in this bed instead of you is for the same reason. For me, taking a De Ragan tail swipe to the face was worth it if I could protect you. To be honest I didn't expect to survive but looks like once again I managed to cheat death."
"Once again?"
Kureha nodded. "I technically died once before protecting Emelia in a relic site. Mika saved me that time. I'm sure Emelia told you all about her."
"She did. She talks about her a lot actually," answered Nagisa.
"You know it's funny. Before I came here I was pretty much a bottom feeder. I never committed myself to anything. I did work for temporary pay and had numerous one night stands. But Little Wing and more importantly you and Emelia have changed me," said Kureha. "This was the first time I really put my life on the line for something bigger than myself. Emelia made me think of what it must be like to have a little sister. That's what I see when I look at her. When I look at you Nagisa, I think of what it must be like to have someone who genuinely cares about me. It makes me think of what it must be like to have someone who cares about me not because of what I can do for them, but for who I am as a person. To be honest, I love you for that Nagisa."
"Thank you Kureha," said Nagisa not caring that she was crying again. "Thank you for everything. Now I think I can finally go and get some rest."
Kureha laughed again despite the slight pain it caused. "Go on Nagisa. I'll be fine here."
Nagisa nodded. "I'll be back soon ok? I'll visit you everyday until you get out of here."
"I knew you were going to say that. Not that I'll mind. I love seeing your face," said Kureha.
Nagisa blushed. "Well…be back soon!" she slipped out of the door and headed down the hall with her heart beating a million times a minute. I can't believe it! Kureha loves me too! I can't believe it!
A few days past and Nagisa did exactly what she promised to do and visited the infirmary everyday. After about a week, Kureha was finally released but placed on inactive duty until she fully recovered. She had to have someone help her do things though since her injuries could reopen if she pushed herself so Nagisa was there for her the entire time. From that point on, even after Kureha had recovered, the two of them were inseperable.