New chapter after forever. Note: Faust still has legs Note #2: Faust is a lot happier than he usually is for the sake of the story. He'll probably get more depressed later on. Thank you.
In about three minutes of conversation with Manta's father (a very hostile conversation, I might add) Mr. Oyamada had deemed it necessary to pull out a pistol on me. In a moment of panic, I threw one of the (really valuable) knick-knacks on the fireplace at him. Fortunately my aim was really good and he ended up unconscious on the floor, which suited me fine.
"Not good," Yoh said quietly, his face calm and his voice light. Anna shrugged.
"We won't be able to pick Manta up from his house ever again. Oh, well."
At that moment we heard footsteps from the hall and Manta walked in. He looked down at his father, his face registering the shock, then he saw the gun on the floor.
"He tried to shoot you guys?!" Then he saw me and understanding dawned on his face. "Faust, this explains everything. He, er, didn't see Eliza's, uh, body, did he?" I shook my head a little. He sighed in relief.
"Manta," Yoh started. "We should go before anyone else shows up." Manta nodded and we all rushed out.
We trotted down the street at a rather fast pace for the children, but I, with my long legs, walked along comfortably beside them, for it was now raining heavily.
"Looks like we're not going out to eat. Looks like a hurricanes coming." Anna said, which I deemed true because the clouds were twisting in dark circles above us. We ran all the way to Funbari Onsen where the rest of my small circle of friends and acquaintances were crowding around the fire. Horohoro jumped up at the sight of us.
"HEY GUYS!" He shouted at us as we burst into the room. "Glad you weren't caught in that. It's turnin' into one hell of a storm." We all nodded our agreement and hurried to change out of our drenched clothes. I rejoined the others in the living room once I dried my hair a bit, though I stayed back while the others crowded around the fireplace and refused when they offered me drinks and such. They all insisted that I eat more and I humored them to some extent, but eating in general always made me feel ill so I tended to avoid it as long as possible.
"Hey," Yoh said out of the blue. "Where's Tamao?" He was answered by silence and then general panic as people realized she wasn't in the house. Wooden Sword Ryu started crying at the thought of his precious little Tamao out in the hurricane. I waited patiently for everyone to calm down before I spoke up.
"One of us should go out and look for her," I said calmly. Everyone agreed. Ryu even jumped up and offered to go, but I knew Ryu. "You won't last very long," I said to him. He appeared indignant, but I continued. "Then there will be two people lost in the storm." Ryu growled at me.
"You think you could do better?" He snarled. I decided against taking offense, he was just being emotional over worry for the girl.
"When I first came to Japan I was broke and had to live in the street. I've survived a hurricane before." Ryu huffed, but didn't seem satisfied. He was obviously about to argue, but Yoh broke in at just the right moment.
"How about you go first Faust-san and then if you don't come back in two hours Ryu can have his hand at it?" Ryu grumbled an agreement and quickly went to sit by a clock. I donned my heavy jacket and a first aid kit I'd put together for emergencies and left into the storm.
The rain was several times worse than it was when we had arrived at the Onsen. It was very cold and my body shook terribly, but I could take it. I've taken worse.
I ran out into the fields where the girl picked flowers (or whatever it is girls do in fields), keeping a sharp eye out for any clue to her whereabouts. I cursed in my native language as the wind suddenly changed directions wildly, sending freezing water about me from all directions. I cursed again when a thought hit me. How was I supposed to get back to Funbari? I could barely see three feet in front of me and in two hours Ryu would practically walk into his death if the storm didn't let up any. I prayed I'd find Tamao before it was too late. I didn't need more death to deal with. I ran on struggling to move forward as best as I could. Thunder cracked over head and I flinched as lightning struck a close by tree. It caught fire for a fraction of a second before being dowsed by the rain, but I didn't give it much thought because at the moment of the lightning strike I thought I'd heard something else.
I forced myself against the wind toward the strange noise that I couldn't quite make out. The strength of the rain was so fierce that the water felt like small pebbles thrown at my face. I cursed at my unfortunate timing to quit using morphine. I now realized my sole reason for having surviving this kind of weather in the past was having morphine numb the pain and cold.
I had gotten very close to the burnt tree when I saw a patch of pink in the midst of the rain. I ran to it, knowing it was Tamao.
She was curled in a fetal position looking far more miserable than I did. I took off my heavy over coat and wrapped it around her, realizing at this point that she was unconscious because of her lack of reaction. I lifted her into my arms trying to make my overcoat as protective as possible. The rain hit me harder than ever without the protection. I clenched my teeth, both numb and in pain in different parts of my body.
The feeling in my left leg was leaving me, but I pushed on. I felt delirious and dizzy. It was a similar feeling as when I went into a rampage, the difference being the pain. I stumbled forward and then something came into view. Slowly it appeared before me and my hope of reaching the Onsen faded. It was the cliff wall that lay at the other end of the field I was about two miles away from where I was supposed to be and I could barely move. Ryu had probably already come out to search by now. I swallowed hard and began following the cliff wall to find shelter. Tamao still breathed, but it was shallow and I could tell she was going to be seriously ill if we escaped this.
I searched for a while longer before finding anything suitable to protect us. A cave that went deep enough to hide us from the rain. I lay Tamao down at the end and lit some bandages from my pack on fire. They wouldn't burn long, but they'd give me enough time to check for and treat any injuries the girl may have gotten. To my immense relief, she had no open wounds, only some bruising. She also had a high fever, which I gave her some strong medicine for. The fire still burned a little so I took the overcoat and wrung it out close to the cave entrance. Then I lay the girl on it and wrapped it's folds around her. She was far more vulnerable than I. My left leg had lost all it's feeling so I allowed myself to collapse next to her.
I was about to drift off when she stirred. I sat up to look at her. She opened her eyes and started when she saw me. She had always been jittery around me.
"F-Faust-san!" She said, shocked. "What are you doing here?" I tried not to look threatening, but it was a little hard since the dead skin on my chest was showing. I only had my doctors coat on now and I hadn't buttoned it.
"It's all right, Tamao-chan." I told her. "I found you in the storm. You're safe now, but we can't get back to Funbari." She nodded in understanding. "Try to sleep, you need it." My soft voice echoed around the cave. She nodded again still looking drowsy and probably not feeling well from the medicine. I lay back down close to her so she could wake me if anything happened. Normally I only slept lightly, but spending several hours in that tempest exhausted me and I slept soundly through the night.
Okay, Finished with this one. I've had a very long case of writers block and laziness. Who knows when the next one will come. Please review it might make me upload faster. Ja ne.