Author's Note: 'Sup -Dreamers! I've managed to crank out yet another chapter within like a few days of the first one. The truck of inspiration had hit me, and now i'm just a theoretical bug on its windshield! I'm just rolling with it!

I own nothing except my own sh*t, characters, and ideas!

Enjoy -Dreamers!

Siren Ch.2

When I woke up I was numb. I looked up, wondering just how far I had fallen down the bank leading to the raging river coursing beside me. One story? Two? One bandit had pursued me, and panicking, I'd charged blindly ahead, my vision blurred from the sheets of rain hitting me in the face. Or maybe it was loss, I wasn't sure. Leaving me for dead, the bandits had fled into the forest, and I had run towards the river, hoping to cross it if I had to. But no one had pursued me. I noted several pains in my ribs as well. As I tried to get my bearings, another pain flooded through me, this time in my ankle. I cried out in pain, trying in vain to move it, while at the same time praying that no one had heard me.

Someone had.

As he practically flew through the trees, something caught his eye. Stopping for a moment, Obi was surprised to discover a small pack, along with a bow, and some arrows. "Someone had been staked out in this spot," Obi thought. "They could be close."

Slinging the pack and the bow over his shoulder, Obi returned his attention to looking for the girl, deciding not to leave the gear behind for those thugs to find. He was completely drenched in rain, and the temperature was dropping with the last of the day's sunlight. He wanted to just go back, but the image of Shirayuki's worried face at the thought of someone in need kept him motivated.

Eventually, he came across the road that lead into town, and what looked like the scene of the crime. In the mud were abandoned swords and knives, arrows lodged into trees, which had failed to hit their targets. Tracing the trails of muddy footprints, it looked like about five people. It also looked like it had been four on one.

In the center of the chaos was a single puddle of blood. Obi took out his small blade from the strap over his chest, now even more on his guard. Streaks of now rain-diluted blood trailed away from the battle sight, and back into the forest. Obi followed it to a cliff, before it abruptly cut off.

Obi wanted to call out for the girl, to see if he could get some sort of reply to get him to at least look in the right direction, but any sound could alert the bandits as well. It was clear to him that the girl was nearby, and by the amount of blood he found, it was also clear that she was severely hurt.

Just when he was deciding whether or not to risk yelling out or moving on to another area, Obi heard something over the roar of the river.

"AH!"

It sounded like a girl.

The cry had come from below him, crouching down, Obi bent to peer over the slippery edge of the cliff. Strewn before him was a girl with dark hair laying awkwardly across a large boulder. She was clutching at her shoulder, which appeared to be bleeding heavily.

"Hey, hang in there!" Obi called down to her. "I'll be right down!"

But the girl didn't seem too relieved to see him. Instead, she looked terrified. She attempted to sit up, but all the movement did was make her cry out again in pain.

"Stay away from me!" warned the girl as Obi made his way down the steep slope.

"I'm not one of those bandits, and you need help-"

"I can manage just fine on my own!" the girl persisted. "Stay away!"

"Sorry, but I'm actually under orders to help you," Obi explained as he reached the bottom of the slope. "And just so you know, I don't find it at all convincing you can actually make it back up on your own."

"Under orders? Who sent you?" the girl questioned weakly, looking as if she could faint at any moment.

"Wow, you sure have some trust issues don't cha?" Obi stated as he reached her, trying to appear friendly. "So what's your name?"

There was a long silence as the girl debated her options. Eventually though, she gave in.

"Siren. What's yours?"

"I go by Obi these days," Obi told her.

"These days?" Siren questioned suspiciously, but decided to drop it. She no longer had the strength to argue.

"I'm gonna sit you up now, okay? We need to stop the bleeding for now," Obi told her, unwrapping the green scarf from around his neck, which was now sopping wet. "Do you know if you're hurt anywhere else?"

"…My ribs hurt a little, and I'm almost positive my ankle is broken," Siren informed him, not excited about the sitting up part.

"Obi! Where are you?" someone called out in the distance, causing Siren's head to whip around to see where it had come from.

"Don't worry, he's a friend of mine," Obi assured her, after seeing how tense she had become.

Obi called the guy over to them, whose name was apparently Mitsuhide. He secured a rope and lowered it down to them.

"It'll be better if we can stop the bleeding for now," Obi began. "I have a friend that can patch you up a hundred times better than me. She's an herbalist. Think I sit you up now?"

"Without me screaming? No," Siren admitted. "Do it."

"On three. One…two…-" Obi began.

"DO IT!"

His counting cut abruptly short, Obi did as he was told. Siren cried out painfully, before slumping over on Obi and suppressing the unbearable urge to sob uncontrollably.

"Sorry! I wanted to do it fast and-"

"G-get it out!" Siren pleaded.

"Get what out?" Obi asked worriedly, before realizing what she had meant. Lodged in her back was the spear of an arrow.

"Is she alright?" Mitsuhide asked worriedly above them, having to yell over the downpour engulfing them and the roar of the river.

"There's an arrow stuck in her back!" Obi called back. "It looks deep. I don't think I should just rip it out."

"Then let's get her back to the inn," Mitsuhide replied. "We can leave it to Shirayuki."

Obi turned to the girl in his arms, who looked as if she was fighting the pull of unconsciousness.

"I'm gonna carry you up the rocks on my back," Obi informed her, shifting her in his arms so that he could shimmy her onto his back. "I don't see any other way to bring you back up with me." As Obi said this, he used his scarf to tie her to him, doubting she could hold onto him in her current state.

"…Hurry," was all Siren managed to say. She felt extremely dizzy, like she was in a tunnel. Obi was right up against her, and it sounded like he was far, far away.

She felt them going up, and then the arms of another person, probably that Mitsuhide guy, hoisting them over the edge of the cliff, and to safety. Siren could no longer make out what either of them were saying. Then she was being lifted again, onto what felt like a horse. She leaned on what she assumed was Obi, and the bouncing motion of the horse's footsteps lulled her into sleep.

Back at the inn, things had been crazy. Shirayuki was frantic, but kept her composure enough to do what needed to be done. With shaking hands, she had single handedly managed to remove the arrow from Siren's shoulder, and stabilize her, deciding her ankle and ribs were not as serious. Obi, Zen, and Mitsuhide were reluctant to leave the room, but Shirayuki and Kiki had insisted, for obvious reasons.

The innkeeper and his wife were a big help as well, bringing each of them dry sets of clothes and fresh towels, including Siren's. Hearing the commotion, a small crowd of guests had gathered in the hotel's lobby, waiting patiently to hear the news of Siren's fate. The villagers dubbed her a hero, for driving the bandits away from their once quiet town, and all of them prayed she would make a full recovery.

After an intense hour of nervously tapping feet and worry, Kiki finally appeared at the top of the stairs, her face as relieved as it was grim.

"So? What's the verdict?" Zen asked, voicing the thoughts of all who were in the room.

"Shirayuki was able to stabilize all of her injuries," Kiki paused, deciding not to sugarcoat it. "But the arrow was poisoned."

Gasps and muttered curses trickled throughout the room around them. Zen alone comprehended the gravity of the situation better than anyone.

"Was Shirayuki able to determine the type of poison?" Zen asked hopefully, not about to give up on the girl his friends had risked their own lives to save so easily.

"Not yet, and from what Shirayuki told me, the solution is highly concentrated, and extremely potent. However," Kiki trailed off, as if choosing her next words carefully.

"However...?" Obi urged, having just waltzed into the room with a fresh set of clothes, and a towel around his neck.

"From the looks of it, Shirayuki is almost positive that Siren is either relatively immune to the toxins, or like Zen, she's built up a tolerance for certain poisons over time," Kiki concluded.

"Like Master?" Obi asked, the statement catching him off guard. Kiki only nodded, and it was clear now was not the time for that conversation.

Kiki continued, "Siren has a fever now, but from what I could see, she was responding well to Shirayuki's care. Tonight will be crucial."

Saying no more, Zen walked past Kiki, and made his way upstairs, heading for the room. "It's safe to say Shirayuki will undoubtedly be getting absolutely no sleep tonight. I'll stay up with her," Zen offered.

"Yes, we will as well," Kiki agreed.

"Us too," Obi began, but Zen disagreed.

"You and Mitsuhide will be sleeping. I'm certain the two of you must be exhausted after tonight," Zen concluded, his tone final. "No buts."

Obi looked at Mitsuhide, then at Kiki and Zen, a mischievous smile returning.

"So, Master, have you decided on everyone's sleeping arrangements yet?" he said with a wink, a hand on his chin as if stroking some imaginary beard.

Zen glared at him, and Kiki pinched the bridge of her nose as if to suppress a headache. Mitsuhide launched into a lecture on manners and time and place and all that, while everyone downstairs laughed heartily at their banter, trusting the five of them to watch over Siren.