1.5/3
The cool water made her muscle relaxed. Splashing water blithely, she was enjoying herself. Suddenly, there was a male voice:
"What are you doing here?"
Haruhi froze. She swung her head round to see who was there; standing on the shore was a tall man with dark hair but he wasn't Mori. Even it was a moonlit night; she couldn't see his face clearly. She immediately dipped herself into the water. She wanted to scream but no word was able to leave her throat.
"A-are you a girl?" he grunted his eyes kept gazing at her.
Haruhi panicked. He knew she was a girl. She was in danger. Where were Hani and Mori? They wouldn't rescue her this time. She had to do something, do something quick. She cleared her throat nervously before beginning speaking
"W-would you mind t-turning back? I-I must put my clothes on"
Cautiously, he turned away. Haruhi gazed at him then gingerly swam ashore. Grapping her clothes, she pulled it on quickly. Before putting all her clothes on, she noticed he, still turning his back on her, seemed absent. She thought it was her chance so she ran. When she just took some steps, a strong hand gripped her wrist
"Don't try to escape. Why can a girl like you be here?" He growled in a dangerous voice.
"Let me go" She struggled to get free but it was no use. His grip became tighter
"Answer me" he roared
Her mind was full of dread. She used her free hand to give him a punch on his eyes. It wasn't a strong punch but the shock made him stumble back. She could feel his hold looser. Haruhi bent down a little, picked a stone up in a trice then attacked him on the head. He fell on the ground, became unconscious. As soon as getting free from him, Haruhi ran her best toward the camp.
Despite reaching her tent, Haruhi's heart still beat crazily in her rib cage. Now she was lost in a brainstorm 'He saw me. He knows I'm a girl. Who is he anyway? Is he a soldier? I'm going to be busted. Wait wait, I hit him. Is he dead? Oh no, now I'm a murder. What am I going to do?" She paced up and down nervously
"Haru-chan" Hani's voice made her jump.
"H-hani-senpai" She stuttered
"Haru-chan, are you ok? You look pale. Are you sick?" Hani asked concernedly
"No. I'm fine" She shook her head "I'm totally fine"
"O…k" Hani said doubly then he changed into his cute sweet voice "The General was back. Tomorrow Takashi and I will meet him. Just want to inform you" A wide smile spread across his face.
"Thank you Hani-senpai" Haruhi smiled slightly
"So sleep tight" Hani turned on his heel
"Good night senpai" Haruhi mumbled "Ah, wait" She called him back
"Yes?"
"Um … Do you think there are any robbers wandering around?"
"Don't worry Haru-chan" He said cheerily "This is Royal boot camp, it's near the battlefield. There is not even a civilian. Just our soldiers I'm sure."
She said goodbye to him then soon climbed into her bed. She couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of the man, his voice appeared in her head. She crazily worried all night long. When the sunlight kissed the ground, Haruhi decided to come back to the lake in order to see if that man still was there or not. She stepped quietly behind the trees. On getting the lake, there was no sight of a body. She left out a breath that she kept for a long time.
'At least he's alive. If he was dead, there would be an alarm in the camp. But now he knows I'm a girl, I'll be busted in a short space of time or he didn't see my face clearly or he had amnesia that he forgets everything that happened' She thought while walking back to the camp.
At the medical tent, she didn't find Hani and Mori "Ah, yes. They have to meet Ootori Kyouya. But why does he want to meet them when he has come back? Is he ill? No. If he had been ill, he would have to meet them last night. Are Hani and Mori just normal physicians?" Haruhi confused, she seemed not to think anymore about the accident last night. She began working. While chopping some plants, she heard someone talking outside the tent
"I can't believe the meeting today ends so soon. I mean the latest lasted 3 hours. Do you think Kyouya-senpai is sick?" Said a person.
'Kyouya-senpai? Does he mention Ootori Kyouya?' Haruhi thought. She listened to them carefully.
"His face. Haha. Ok. Think about his face. Haha. I can't help laughing. Haha" the other laughed out loud.
"Hikaru, stop laughing. You shouldn't laugh at his pain like that"
"Haha. Please, Kaoru. Haha. Let me … Haha. You know I tried not to laugh during the meeting. Haha. Look at him. Even the bruise on his eye is behind the glasses but he looks just like a panda. Hahaha" the person called Hikaru said. Haruhi poked her head out of the tent and saw two orange heads. They were twins.
"Can you believe he tripped on a stone and had that bruise?" Kaoru asked
"Who cares? The thing I can't believe is Tono dared to ask him how he had that bruise. I thought he would turned into The Demon Lord and murdered all of us"
"Talk about Tono. See who is coming" One of the twins swung his head at a blond walking straight to them.
"HIKARU. KAORU" the blond cried
"Oh, hello Tono. How are you?" The twins sang in unison
"'How are you?' is all you can say? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY COFFEE?"
"Nothing" they said in an innocent voice but grinned mischievously
"So how do I have these itching red nodules?" The blond showed them his arm "Now, I must have Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai look over them"
"Let me examine them" Haruhi walked out and said to them
Three men turned to Haruhi and stared at her "And who are you?" The blond asked
"I am? Ah, I'm the new trainee of Hani-senpai and Mori-senpai" She smiled warmly
"I think we have new toy, Kaoru" "Yeah" the twins came closer to her, threw their arms over her shoulder "I'm Hitachiin Hikaru" "And I'm Hitachiin Kaoru" "We're General's second-in-commands" They finished together
"What? I'm General's second-in-command" The blond pulled the twins off Haruhi and stood in front of her "Hello rookie, I'm Suoh Tamaki. I'm vice-General and also General's best friend. I know you are envying my beauty. I feel so guilty because God blesses me too much…" He kept blathering something that Haruhi couldn't understand so she interrupted
"Suoh-san, I think you want me to look over your arm"
"Ah, yes" Tamaki stopped talking and rolled his sleeve up. Haruhi touched his nodules. When Tamaki felt the brush of her cool hand on his skin, he blushed. Haruhi noticed it
"Er … Suoh-san, your face reddens. Do you have a fever?"
"N-No" Tamaki turned away to hide his face. The twins chuckled. Haruhi blinked then she walked in the tent to take a bag of medicine
"It's just an allergic reaction. No need to worry. Take this medicine at mealtime and drink a lot of water; your nodules will vanish" She smiled
"T-thanks" Tamaki muttered
"You're welcome, Suoh-san"
"J-just Tamaki" His face became redder, which made the twins laugh loudly. Tamaki gave them a death glare then chased them around.
'They are so strange' Haruhi thought 'They seem very close to Ootori that makes me wonder if he is just like them'
An hour later, Hani and Mori came back to the medical tent. Mori hold some boxes of cake (of course they were for Hani)
"Haru-chan, I heard that you helped Tama-chan with his allergy" Hani said
"Yes, senpai. Is there any problem?"
"No. I just want to say 'Well done'. So Haru-chan" Haruhi stopped and looked at Hani "Kyou-chan was back. Do you have any plan to talk with him?"
"Not yet, senpai. But I think I must tell you something"
Haruhi told Hani and Mori about her accident at the lake. Oddly, Hani and Mori didn't show any emotion. They just exchanged each other some implicit looks. Haruhi thought they knew something she didn't know. However, she didn't bother asking them. When she finished, Hani said
"So, you don't have to worry too much. If he had wanted to bust you, there would be a throughout investigation now"
"Do you think he know me?"
"Maybe yes or maybe not. I don't know. But I'm sure you will be fine" He smiled happily at her.
Days went by and there was no sign that anyone knew her secret. She seemed more relaxed. She still helped Hani and Mori at medical tent. Hikaru and Kaoru usually visited her. They were annoying sometimes but now the twins and she became friends. They told her their stories at battlefield. Meanwhile, Tamaki acted ridiculously. He went to the tent to find her for no reason. Sometimes Haruhi saw him shooting at her a sneaky look. Above all, she didn't have any chance to meet Kyouya. All she knew about him was through the twins and Tamaki's stories
"Kyouya-senpai is known as The Shadow King, The demon Lord. He had very bad temper when he is woken up early" Hikaru said
"He is cold, strict, calculating and cunning, always wants to control. Well, he is our General anyways, the best General" Kaoru added
"Everything you two have said just the outside. Inside, he is a caring, thoughtful and sensitive, a person thirsting for love" Tamaki said dreamily
"Thirsting for love?" The twins quoted him "Are you dramatic again, Tono? Do you need any medicine from Haruhi? Maybe love-sick pill or the gayness cure?" The twins teased Tamaki. They always made fun of Tamaki like that and it would end up with chaos. Haruhi rolled her eyes at them
BOOM … BOOM … BOOM
Haruhi startled "What's that noise?" She asked
"It is …", "The alert" The twins answered
"They are going to attack us." Tamaki said seriously then turned to the twins "Let's go, you guys"
"Yes, sir" Then, three of them left hurriedly. Haruhi saw soldiers leaving the camp and didn't notice Mori was running toward her
"We have to prepare" Mori's voice pulled her out of her thought. She nodded to him then together they prepared hot water, clean bandages, stretchers … This was the first time Haruhi had to deal with real injured soldiers. There would be a lot of blood and screams of pain. But the fact was more terrible than her expect. Blood was everywhere. There were even body parts. She strained every nerve to treat them. Suddenly, a soldier burst in on the tent
"Hani-sama, General … General got hurt"
Hani stopped what he was doing, took his emergency kit then turned to Haruhi
"Haru-chan, come with me. Takashi can take care of them"
She immediately ran up to Hani. She had never seen Hani's serious face before. While running to the General's tent, Hani asked the soldier
"Report, Kasanoda-kun "
"He was shot by a sniper. The arrow is still on his chest. There isn't any blood from the wound but he is unconscious" The soldier said nervously
Hani didn't ask any more. As soon as they reached the tent, he examined the wound.
"It isn't bleeding" He stated. His eyes kept looking at Kyouya's injury
"Does that mean …?" Haruhi asked
"Yes, the arrowhead was poisoned" He narrowed his eyes "We must pull the arrow out and then see what kind of poison it is, after that we can know which the best antidote is"
"It'll take time, senpai. What if he can't wait or what if there isn't antidote? He … he gonna d-die?" Her voice trembled
"Don't say nonsense thing." Hani snapped "He will be fine. Give me a bandage"
Haruhi handed him then turned her look from the wound to the unconscious man lying immobile on his bed. In a second, Hani pulled the arrow out from his chest. He whimpered because of the pain. There was a little blood. Hani examined the arrowhead carefully. His face became darker. This seemed bad. Haruhi felt her stomach twisted. She gazed at Hani, waited for his words.
"So?"
"This poison's antidote, I and Takashi have studied it for years"
"And?" Haruhi asked hopefully
"We almost find it out, at this moment there are two options left to experiment. This antidote only works on human. There could be risk and we couldn't find anyone voluntary." Hani's voice was low and depressed
Haruhi's mind couldn't process every word Hani had said. "What will we do now?" She asked in confusion.
"There are two options. Give him the antidote; if it's right he will survive; if it's wrong, he will die. He'll have a fifty-fifty chance. Or experiment it on a volunteer right now because we only have one hour before the poison kills him"
Haruhi was clear. She gazed at the injured man. In her mind now, he wasn't a General, he wasn't her reluctant fiancé, he was a victim shot by a poisoned arrow and he was the dying she wanted to cure.
"Experiment it on me, senpai" she uttered
Hani gave her a confused look "Haru-chan, are you sure? It's a fifty-fifty chance, you may die."
"We can't let him die. He must live for sake of our Kingdom." Haruhi was determined to take risk "Don't worry senpai, I have been lucky since I was in my mother's belly" She smiled slightly. Hani just nodded then prepared for the experiment. Haruhi took the poison then soon she had her antidote injection. She felt dizzy first then it was tender as if she was burnt on fire. She recalled her mother. She was the best clinician but she died when she experimented an antidote on herself just like Haruhi was doing 'Mother in heaven, this is what you felt when you was dying?' She thought then all she knew was everything was blacked out.
Well, I think this story will be longer than my intention. Anyway, thanks for your reading ^^
