#2 Help


"This way, Ikki!"

She pulled him in as she turned around the corner into a narrow alleyway, and once they were deep enough, they finally stopped running. They struggled for air, huffing and puffing, and drenched in sweat. Then, as if their legs couldn't take it anymore, they both fell on their butts and leaned against the wall opposite each other. The young woman wiped away the sweat on her forehead that made her straight-cut bangs slightly wet, and found that the little boy sitting across her had done the same. Their eyes met, and the girl gave him a small smile.

"You okay, little guy?"

The boy nodded, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion and his legs spread out in front of him. He wasn't breathing as heavily as before, and so was she. The boy slipped his backpack off of his back and placed it beside him so that he could lean more comfortably.

Feeling extremely worn out herself, she took in a deep breath with her eyes closed, her head tilted slightly backwards, and then let out an exasperated sigh. She needed to calm herself down to think. Where could they go next? Where could they go for safety? Who could they go for help?

Wait, no. Nobody could help them. They shouldn't get anybody else involved. She could handle this on her own, like how she had always taken care of herself all her life. But now it's not just about her, is it? She had another life at stake here, and really, if she had to give up her life to keep the boy alive, she wouldn't think twice at all.

"Onee-chan... who were those guys earlier?", Ikki spoke, the same unusual shade of lime green eyes as her own peering at her.

Who were those guys?

And that man. That man who had stood in her way earlier. Why did she felt like she'd seen him before? She racked her brain for a minute, searching in her memories.

"I... don't really know, Ikki"

"They look like they could help us, though"

"No."

"Why not?"

At this, she sighed. "Because, Ikki, do you want them to end up like Ren and the others?" There was a hint of anger in her tone as she said this, her eyes looking down at the filthy ground they were sitting on, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Ikki's eyes widened a bit at her words, feeling the realization hitting him. He looked down at the ground as well with his head hung low.

There was nothing but silence after that as flashbacks of what happened pierced through their minds, as much as they didn't want to be reminded of that horrible incident at all. The girl found herself clenching her fists and her jaw, eyebrow twitching in anger at the memories.

But with one look at her brother, a mix of emotions displayed on his face - guilt, heartbreak, anger, sorrow, generally sadness, the girl immediately soften up, pushing all other thoughts far back in her mind. "Hey", she called, her voice ever so gentle. The boy looked up at her.

"We're gonna get through this, okay? It's just you and me against the world now."

It's us against the world.

Her heart clenched as she remembered those words, only it was not her's but another man's voice. Someone who meant so much to the both of them. Now gone forever. She realized she shouldn't have said that. Anything but that.

But to her relief, Ikki seemed a little brightened up, as if her words had given him courage, and strength. He wiped off the tears at the corners of his eyes, and then gave her a big smile.

That's my boy, she thought to herself, and returned him a proud smile. She then held out her hands for an embrace, and he got up from his spot crashed into her arms. She never thought of herself a good enough sister, since she never really knew how to take care of people, not to say that she never tried. But now, she thought, was probably the best time to fix that. Ikki needed her. And she was all he had left.

He broke the embrace, stretching his hands and placed them on her shoulders. He looked down, and in a surprised and horrified tone he said, "Onee-chan!"

Curious, she looked down as well, only to find a little red patch on her white tank top beneath her favorite army jacket with leather sleeves. She pulled the jacket away a bit, and saw that that red patch was not littleat all. The blood had spread from the left side of her hip, where the blood seemed to come from, to nearly across her waist and back. How could she not realized this any sooner?

She had been shot.

"Onee-chan! Wha... We need to get you fixed!", Ikki looked frantic, his hands were restless as if he didn't where to put them. She suspected he wanted to put them on her wound to stop the bleeding, but she couldn't let his hands get stained by blood. So she did it before he could. Now she realized how much it hurt. Funny how a wound wouldn't hurt until you actually notice it. This was also probably the reason why she felt so worn out. She was losing too much blood by the minute.

"I'm fine, Ikki. I just- agh!", she tried to get to her feet to prove to her brother, but she couldn't even budge because of the pain it caused when she tried to move.

"We need to get you to the hospital!", Ikki looked as if he was about to cry, but you could see how hard he was fighting off those tears from shedding. Since when have you gotten so strong, Ikki?, she couldn't help but smile at that thought.

"What are you smiling about? You're hurt!", the confused yet frantic look on his face was priceless, to be honest, and she had to stiffle a laugh. She was loosing blood by the second and here she was, trying not to laugh.

"Ikki, I can't go to the hospital. They'll find me. They probably know I was shot", she realized how tired her voice sounded, and her eyes were getting heavier and heavier.

"What should I do?", his voice was small, as if he was talking to himself.

"You're such a brave boy, Ikki... Just like him", now she was fighting to keep her eyes open, her breathing was heavy.

"Onee-chan... Don't... Don't leave me, too", Ikki's voice seemed so far away, and she couldn't barely hear him sobbing. But she definitely felt him shaking her shoulder to keep her awake. That did the magic, but only for a short moment.

"I-I'll go get help, okay? Just... Just stay awake! Don't sleep, you hear me? DON'T. SLEEP."

Where was he going? Why was he leaving her side?

"Ikki..."

She moved to reach out her hands for him, but found that she had no strength at all. She felt so tired. Her vision was so blurry as she watched her little brother run out and left her. She tried to call out to him, to stop him, to tell him to come back, to warn him about how dangerous it was to run out alone, to tell him everything was okay, or at least, lie to him about that.

Because how could everything be okay right now?

"I'm sorry..."


He was out on the run again. But this time he was running for help.

His sister was dying.

Ikki's eyes were looking everywhere, at everyone for help. But none of them seemed like they could help him at all. He just didn't know who to trust. He didn't know who to turn to. He wanted so much to cry at his helplessness, to beg, but he fought the tears back and refused to let his weak side take over. He refused to give up.

Help! Help! Someone help me, please!

He screamed those words in his mind, but not aloud. Curious looks were thrown his way as he ran past the people walking the streets, but none seemed promising enough.

Isn't there anyone who can help?

His eyes were busy looking anywhere but where he was heading when he ran into someone. He was almost knocked over but was caught in arm before he could fall on his back.

"Watch where you're going, kid!"

Ikki looked up, and saw that it was the teenager from earlier, the one who had flames on his baseball bat and took down two of those bikers with one swift and cool move while on his skateboard. And standing beside him was a big man with a belly and black sunglasses shading his eyes. They were both looking down at him, the teenager with the beanie and red sweater tied around his waist had a pretty fierce look on his face, while the other seemed quite calm.

"Give him a break, Yata-san. He's just a kid.", said the big man.

Suddenly, the look on Yata's face shifted, as if he noticed something. "Eh? Is something wrong, kid? Are you running from a bully? Where is he-"

"Hey... you're the kid from earlier, aren't ya? With the girl being chased by those JOKERS", Yata was interrupted by the big man with shades, pointing at him.

"Hey, you're right, Kamamoto"

"Can you help me?", Ikki practically begged, his gleaming eyes with tears threatening to fall looking up helplessly at the young man.

Yata and Kamamoto exchanged a look. Then, with a serious look on his face, Yata's hazel eyes looked straight into the little boy's lime green orbs and said, "Show the way, kid"


Yata and Kamamoto followed the little boy and ran down the street. Personally, Yata would've just hopped on his skateboard to go faster, but then he wouldn't know where to go with the boy running behind him, so he settled with his feet.

"Told you you should start hitting the gym!", Yata said to his partner, Kamamoto, who was beginning to struggle to keep pace and breathing heavily. He decided not to reply to this, because he was already fighting to breath.

The kid was a a few steps ahead of them, and as he turned around a corner and disappeared, Yata and Kamamoto followed suit and found themselves in an alleyway, only a small gap between two shops.

"Onee-chan!"

The little boy stopped and got down on his knees beside a female, and as they got closer, they realized it was none other than the young woman they had helped fight off the JOKERS earlier that day.

The boy called for his sister again, shaking her shoulder a little harder this time. But no response. Her hand lifelessly dropping from her stomach onto the ground, revealing a big patch of bloody red on her shirt.

"She's hurt!"

Kamamoto crouched down as well to check on her. "She's still breathing. Come on, kid. Let's get her to the hospital", he was ready to pick the girl up, but as he did, the boy stopped him abruptly.

"No! Not the hospital! She said they'd find us there", he said.

The two partners exchanged a look again. "Guess we'll have to take her back to headquarters then. See if Kusanagi-san can do anything about it", and with that, Kamamoto effortlessly picked her up in his hands, and off they went, heading towards HOMRA's headquaters.


AUTHOR'S NOTE / okay this is a bit of a boring chapter, really. but if I keep going it'll probably be too long for your liking .-.

so chapter 3 will probably be coming up real soon!

THANK YOU for following and all the favorites! it means a lot to me because i really don't have much confidence in this story to be honest...

but i'll try my very best to not let you guys down! keep supporting! reviews are always welcomed!