Enjoy the Silence ~ Wild Tiger x Blue Rose
Summary: Blue Rose gets seriously hurt in a surprise attack. Kotetsu then rushes her to the hospital, forgetting about the fight, leaving his partner Barnaby and the other heroes to handle it. Blue Rose heals from her wounds, but is not the same afterwards. Will Tiger be able to bring back The Blue Rose he loves, or will he lose her forever to the cold woman she is becoming.
~ Chapter 1 ~
"WELCOME TO HERO TV LIVE" The announcer boomed into his microphone.
"Today we are jumping right into battle, Blue Rose and the duo of Wild Tiger and Barnaby are under attack outside City Hall, after being surpised by a Next who weilds fire. lets take a closer look!"
~Down with the heros~
*Dammit I can't see a thing, the fire and smoke are making breathing difficult too* Tiger thought.
"Bunny! Blue Rose! Can you hear me" Tiger yelled as something bumped into him.
He turned around ready to strike, only to see it was Bunny.
"Geez! Your gonna give this old man a heart attack" Tiger growled.
"Shuddup" Barnaby growled back, "and be serious we need to get this fight over with"
"Yea, but we don't know where Blue Rose is, so we can't go randomly shooting in any direction" Tiger shrugged.
Barnaby raised an eyebrow.
"You not randomly shooting in any direction? What brought about this change?" He said slightly amused.
Barnaby knews of Tiger's secret feelings for Blue Rose, so he already knew the answer to his question.
Tiger glared at him.
"Let's just find her and get this over with" Tiger said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fine with me" Barnaby shrugged, before dashing into the smoke again.
"Wait! That didn't mean you get lost too!" Tiger yelled after him, then sighed.
"No sense of instinct..." He muttered before running after him.
He heard the gun shot before he felt it. Bullets rained down ontop of them like a hailstorm. Barnaby's and his suits could with stand the bullets but not Blue Rose!
He became frantic and started running in all sorts of directions. The smoke was starting to disperse and he could see the other hero's above him. He quick looked around and saw Blue Rose laying just a few yards ahead of him. As he ran to her another round of bullets rained down on them. He laid himself over her, careful not to squish her, to protect her from the bullets.
"Agnes! Blue Rose is seriously hurt!" Tiger yelled into his microphone.
There was silence on the other line.
"Agnes!" He cried.
"Take her to the nearest hospital now, I'll call them to give them a heads up" Agnes finally replied.
"Barnaby" Tiger said again into his microphone.
"I heard. You go, we'll handle this" Barnaby's voice entered his helmet.
Tiger gathered Blue Rose's lifeless body in his arms.
"I'm counting on you guys, bring this bastard down" Tiger growled.
"You can count on us" The heroes all said at once, and with that Tiger fled the scene, with Blue Rose tightly in his arms.
Moments later he bursted into Stern Bild's main hospital, only to be intercepted by a group of doctors, who took Blue Rose from him and laid her down on a stretcher. As they wisked her away, Tiger wanted to go after them, but he was held back by security. They were Next as well, and he didn't feel like blowing up the hospital. He rushed back outside where Saito was waiting for him with the van.
"I'm not going back into battle" Tiger said.
"I know, I brought this so you can take off your suit" Saito said softly.
Tiger was stunned for a second, then quickly stepped inside the chamber, to remove his suit. When he stepped back out, Saito handed him his mask and pointed towards the hospital. Tiger nodded and ran inside, while donning his mask.
"Has anything been updated on Blue Rose?" He asked the receptionist.
She looked up and imedietly blushed. He rolled his eyes and repeated his statement.
"Uhm No there hasn't, Mr...?" She said sweetly.
Mentally, his eye twitched.
"Kaburagi" He said, swiftly.
"I will let you know as soon as there is an update, Mr Kaburagi' she smiled.
"Thanks" He muttered and took a seat in the waiting room.
For what seemed like hours he was sitting, pacing, sitting, pacing.
The other heroes came in to find him, with his head in his hands, in the way back corner.
"Kotetsu" Nathan, put his arm around the older man's shoulders and sitting down next to him, "Come now everything will be alright, don't look so miserable."
"Yea, she's a tough girl she'll be ok" Antonio said patting his friend on the back.
"Here" Barnaby handed him a cup of coffee "You look like you could use it."
Kotetsu accepted the coffee, and peered at it. Looking up at Barnaby with an accusing look, Barnaby raised his eyebrow.
"You poisoned it, didn't you" Kotetsu said, swishing the liquid around.
"Now why would I do that?" Barnaby looked at Kotetsu as if he grew 3 heads.
"For leaving you in the fight" Kotetsu said, looking at the ground.
"Wha..? Nah! You really think I'm that much of a hard ass?" Barnaby asked.
They all just looked at him.
"Wow, thanks guys" He looked away getting red in the face.
"Mr. Kaburagi?" Everyone looked up at the receptionist.
Her eyes landed on Barnaby and immediately blushed and looked at the ground.
Kotetsu cleared his throat, glaring at the woman.
"Oh right, Blue Rose is stable now, you can go see her" she looked at the wall behind him, embarressed.
Everyone stood and made their way to the door.
"ONLY! Mr. Kaburagi" She stated, stopping everyone in their tracks.
"Call me immediately!" Nathan said, placing his hand on Kotetsu's shoulder.
"Me too!" Antonio and Keith said at the same time.
Pao-ling and Ivan just nodded their heads, while Barnaby said nothing.
"Will do guys" Kotetsu said with a nod before taking off through the double doors.
Entering the ER hallway, he immedietly found Karina's room. It was crawling with Papparazzi. Doctors and Security were trying to hold them at bay. A nurse pulled the curtain shut and Kotetsu pushed his way through the crowd, throwing the annoying pests in all directions.
He pushed open the door, slamming it shut behind him.
"Ah you must be Kotetsu" the nurse said looking over at him.
"How do you know?" he asked, not quite ready to look at Karina yet.
"She keeps murmuring your name" the nurse closed the folder and placed it in the holder at the foot of the bed, "I'll leave you two alone".
She walked over to the door and pushed her way out.
Kotetsu's eyes finally fell onto the girl laying in bed before him. Her costume had been removed and was laying in a bloody heap on the floor. She looked small and fragile in the big hospital bed, bandages covered almost every inch of her body.
He shivered and walked over to the side of her bed. Her heart meter was beeping quietly in the corner, a morphine drip hung next to her, along with a pouch of bloos.
He kneeled down and grabbed her hand with both of his, putting it to his lips. It was cold to the touch.
"I'm so sorry Karina, I let you get hurt. I'm sorry He whispered, eyes starting to brim with tears.
It had been a while shince he had cried. Not since his wife passed away. But here he was again, faced with the possibility of losing someone else he loved.
"Ko-Kotetsu" he heard her say.
"Its alright, I'm here" he whispered back, pressing her hand to his lips again.
At that moment, the door opened and Karina's parents walked in. Kotetsu has met them on numerous occasions, but they still didn't know he was secretly dating their daugther.
"Mr, Mrs. Lyle" he said springing to his feet, and bowing his head.
"Tiger-san" Mr. Lyle nodded in his direction, ad Mrs. Lyle flew to her daughter's side and began crying. Mr. Lyle put his hands on his wife's shoulders and hung his head, so no one could see him crying.
Kotetsu took this moment to exit the room and call the other heroes.
~On the roof~
"She's alright, still uncounscious, but her vital signs are all good" Kotetsu said, leaning against the brick wall.
No answer on the other line.
"Bunny?" He asked.
"Thats good to hear" Barnaby finally answered,
Kotetsu wondered through all of the other phone calls, if he should actually call Barnaby or not. It wasn't like he hated Karina, but Kotetsu knew he thought she was getting in the way of their partnership for the show.
"I know right?" Kotetsu exclaimed, pretending to ignore the lack of happiness in Barnaby's voice.
"Are you gonna come over here tonight? Barnaby asked, switching topics.
"Nah I think I'm gonna stick around here, make sure everything is ok" Kotetsu said warily.
-Silence-
He frowned at his phone. You'd think his friend would understand.
"Suit yourself, Kotetsu" Barnaby suddenly snapped.
"Aw come on Bunny, don't be like that, I'm just worried" Kotetsu whined.
"See you tomorrow at work" Barnaby said.
-Click-
"Stubborn Brat" Kotetsu mumbled to himself before placing his phone back in his pocket.
He walked back down to Karina's room, pleased that the papparazzi finally went home. He opened the door slightly, seeing her parents had left. He walked in, closing the door behin him. He sat in the chair next to the bed, that her mother had probably occupied not to long ago.
He sighed, taking her hand in his again.
"Please wake up soon, Karina" he whispered.