"Matte, Okaa-san! Okaa-san!"
A woman wandered past you, her eyes hollow with anguish and staring vacantly at the barren wasteland. "Gomenasai… gomenasai…" She sobbed the muffled word over and over through the hands tightly squeezed over her mouth as she continued to aimlessly limp away from the wailing. The woman –a mother probably- never turned back to help, perhaps knowing it was impossible to get her doomed children out of the rubble.
As the dazed mother stumbled out of sight, you noticed that the shrill cries for help from the children fall into hopeless silence. Maybe they're already dead. Immediately, you regretted the thought as it pierced your heart. It wasn't the fault of innocent lives that caused all of this.
"(name)!"
Hope flared in your chest as you recognized the voice. Praying it wasn't some kind of hallucination, you swept your blurry vision across the desolate ground that was wavering with heat. Not so far away, your eyes focused on a familiar shape.
"Kiku!" Despite your effort to yell, your voice only rose above a strangled croak.
As if he heard your voice, the Japanese man rushed to kneel beside your body. His face as well as his clothes was smeared black with ash and soot. The brown eyes flashed in despair at the sight of you, but nonetheless quickly lifted you up and embraced you tight. You couldn't lift your arms to hug him back.
"Yokatta…" He breathed by your ear while his body trembled with relief. His voice a little steadier, he whispered, "We have to go, (name). I'll get you to a hospital somewhere. Come on."
Kiku swept you up into his arms without hesitation, all complaints about his back pains abandoned. You gasped and winced as he accidentally touched your legs. Though you felt the searing pain in your legs and feet, you never saw how bad it was until now. The skin was either scraped off by the flying debris or burnt and blistering. There were scraps of splinters buried among the cuts and burns, but thankfully none were very big. Glistening trails of blood soaked Kiku's formerly white shirt. You could tell his shirt was the least of his concerns right now as he dashed away in search for aid.
Even though he kept his pace at a fast walk, it tired him quickly. The extra weight of carrying you, the whirling confusion in his mind, and the side effects of being a nation in such a disastrous situation was wearing him out fast.
A drop of liquid hit your head. Water? It's raining? Then you noticed the murky liquid was black. Slowly, it dyed your clothes to black drop by drop as it fell steadily from the sky. You've heard about black rain before but you still thirstily wondered if it was drinkable and opened your mouth to taste at least a drop of that liquid.
"No! Close your mouth! Don't drink it!" Kiku snapped, sounding horrified.
Startled by his strict tone, you slammed your mouth shut just in time before another drop trickled down your chin. "Why?" you whimpered. "Why can't I drink it when others are?" Around you, survivors were trying to catch every drop they can. Some were already on their way to a nearby river, stained black like ink by the strange rain.
"I'll get you water later. I promise." He assured gently, as if apologizing for his previous sharpness.
"Hm…" You gave a small, quiet sigh, feeling something deep in your chest luring your consciousness away. Pressing your ear to his hot, feverish chest, you noticed his panicked heartbeat was pounding wildly but it was more than enough to lull you away to from the cruel, ugly reality.