Hello everyone! So since the last chapter was so short, I decided to do a double chapter update for you! Well hope you enjoy!
-Chapter Four-
"Hei what's your status?" Mao's voice came over the radio in his ear. It was a little hard to hear from the steadily pouring rain.
"I'm heading towards the safe house," Hei replied albeit out of breath from behind his mask. He had his hand holding his side where the Contractor he'd been fighting had managed to get in a lucky swipe of his dagger he'd been using across his side. They'd been inside a building fighting so he hadn't had the luck of being able to use the rain to unleash his power and electrocute his target easily. Plus, the guy had been a skilled enough fighter as well and had given him a good run for his time, dodging his knives and cords he'd thrown towards him to try to subdue his target. But in the end, he'd gotten the upper hand and managed to land a blow at his target, taking him out by shocking him to death as usual. That's when the police, Kirihara, and her team had shown up. Kirihara had managed to land a shot from her gun into his upper thigh just as he was jumping out the window. A gust of wind had blown in just as he jumped, causing his coat to go back and unable to shield his leg from the bullet.
Struggling as he stumbled along the darkened road, his side and his leg practically on fire from the pain, he knew he had to get to the safe house and quick. He was losing enough blood as it was and the fight had taken a lot out of him. But as he rounded a corner, the sound of the police sirens in the distance, he stumbled, nearly tripping as he stepped in a small hole in the road. His vision was getting blurry and with the blood loss and pouring rain from above, he was getting colder by the minute. He took a few more steps unsteadily giving a small gasping breath as he stumbled, falling towards the pavement; his vision going black as unconsciousness overtook him. The last thing he heard was Yin's voice calling his name through the radio.
Staring up at the darkened ceiling, Mitsuki lay there in bed unable to sleep as she listened to the sound of the rain coming down steadily outside. She turned her head towards her alarm clock reading well past three in the morning. She knew she needed to get some sleep, but her mind just wasn't having it. It had been almost two weeks since she'd twisted her ankle and she had last seen Hei. She figured as much since it wasn't like she was anyone important to him as an assassin. And her ankle had healed up rather quickly, thanks to her being a Contractor. Somehow, she had noticed since becoming one, her healing time had been practically cut in half. She wondered if that was part of her powers she had as a Contractor or if all Contractors were able to heal that quickly. Obviously she had never asked any other Contractors about it since she didn't want to give away the information that she was one nor did she really know how to tell others were one. After all, they technically didn't exist to the majority of normal human society.
Giving a sigh, she decided to get up and went down her darkened hallway to the living room where she made her way to the slider. Looking out at the night sky clouded over with the steadily pouring rain falling down, she had the strangest feeling yet couldn't place what it might be.
Suddenly, movement caught her eye down on the darkened street below. The figure of someone stumbling along the shadows like he was having a hard time walking caused her to blink. Who would be out in this rain at this hour? The figure suddenly tripped and fell to the pavement. As they did so, the familiar white mask she had seen that night when she first laid eyes on the Black Reaper showed through the downpour.
'Is it...really him?' she thought to herself looking to the black shadow laying visible from where she watched at the slider door. He wasn't moving.
Turning, she ran as quickly and quietly as she could to the door, unlocking it after throwing on her shoes. She didn't care about herself being in her pajamas as she raced down the two flights of stairs, just barely grabbing her keys on the way out so she could get back in the door again.
Flinging the door open, she ran out into the cold, wet night towards the driveway into the parking lot of her apartment building. When she reached the street, she turned and ran down the short distance it took to get to the street that ran behind her building that she had a view from her balcony. Up ahead, she could still see the darkened figure laying there on the ground.
Kneeling down beside him where he lay face down, Mitsuki quickly put a hand to his neck, finding a pulse, but it was weaker than it should be. The sound of police sirens in the distance caught her attention and she realised if she left him here, he either would die or get caught.
Rolling him enough where she could sit him up and drape his limp arm around her shoulders, Mitsuki gritted her teeth a little while wrapping an arm around his waist. She stood back up slowly with a little difficulty. He weighed a bit more than she thought he would. Still, she had to get him out of the rain and into the safety of her apartment. And quickly at that.
Half dragging him as best as she could, Mitsuki made her way back to the door, thankful that it was late enough that no one was around to see them. Unlocking it and going inside completely soaked, she shut the door behind her quietly before making her way to the stairs. She silently wished at this moment she lived on the ground floor. But if she had, she wouldn't have seen him due to the fence that blocked off the view in the back from the street.
Managing to make it up the stairs and to her door, she opened it and quickly as possible went inside, making sure no one had seen her before locking the door behind her. Tossing the keys to her little table, they made a small clunking sound before sliding off onto the floor. She didn't care though as she supported his weight while sliding off her shoes and started dragging him down towards her living room, flipping on the lights, and not caring about taking his shoes off. She'd clean up the mess later. What was important was getting him looked at immediately.
Supporting his weight again on one foot, she brought her other up and pushed her coffee table out of the way before lowering him to the floor in front of her couch so he was laying on his back. His mask was still on and she reached up, putting her hand on the edge, hesitating slightly to remove it. Was it really going to be Li under that mask like she thought? She gave a small gulp before she pulled it up off his face to reveal that it indeed was. His eyes were closed and his face looked paler than normal as his black hair clung to his forehead and sides of his face from being soaked.
Quickly setting his mask to the side on the coffee table, she managed to pull off his coat that was soaked thoroughly to reveal the harness strapped around him that held his knives she had felt while he was leaning against her as she dragged him from the street. She had found the little radio piece clipped to his coat with the single headphone in his ear and removed it, turning it off to make sure the mic didn't pick up anything and set it on the table under his mask. His black, long-sleeved shirt was soaked just like the rest of his clothes were. She had to get him out of them quickly since she could already feel him shivering when she had gotten his coat off.
Pulling off his shoes, socks, and gloves, she set them aside then unbuckled his harness holding his knives, and the belt holding the retractable wire and carabineer. She set those aside before pulling off his shirt that clung to him in a slightly form fitting way.
'He's hurt?' she thought as she spotted the red gash in his side that was still bleeding somewhat. It was then she noticed the hole in his pants and the blood spilling out of the wound there.
Quickly pulling off his pants to reveal black boxers underneath, she felt her cheeks get slightly warm. But she couldn't think of that now. She had to get his wounds treated right away. Gathering his soaked clothes, she took them down to the bathroom, dropping them into the tub and set his weapons harness and belt on the bathroom counter. She grabbed some towels and her first aid kit before quickly going back down to him still unconscious. His face and skin had gone a little more pale and he continued to shiver a little more visibly now while his breathing became more raspy and shallow.
Cleaning up the wound on his side while she put a towel with pressure on his leg to try to stop the bleeding there, Mitsuki quickly finished with it, using her power just enough to seal the top couple layers of skin shut with a quick zap of electricity, much like an electrical burn could cause a welt to form across the skin. It was the quickest way to cauterize it but doing so in a way that hopefully it wouldn't leave behind a nasty scar. Then she used a butterfly bandage to pull it closed to lessen the chance of a scar even more and put a piece of gauze on it. Wrapping it with a cloth bandage tightly enough to keep it in place, she made sure it also wasn't too tight to cause more pain. Then she set out dealing with his wound on his thigh.
Grabbing her long tweezers she had, she gave a wince at how much pain he probably had been in from being shot in the leg. Easing the bullet out of his leg gently, she cleaned up the wound like she did with the one on his side. Then, like with the other one, directed her power to seal it shut while getting another butterfly bandage to tape it together, some gauze, and a cloth bandage to wrap around his leg to hold it in place.
Setting the first aid kit to the side after finishing up, she quickly but gently squeezed the excess water from his hair and tried to dry it a little with one of the other clean towels she had sitting to the side. But what she needed to do was to get him out of his soaked boxers as well. She bit her lip in embarrassment for a moment before remembering she had a pair of her brother's old favourite lounging shorts he used to wear all the time packed into a box in her closet that she had saved with a few other things that had meant a lot to him she had kept as mementos.
Running down to her room, she quickly grabbed them and came back. Kneeling beside him, she put a hand to the waistband as her cheeks flushed with warmth of embarrassment again. She looked to the towel she'd used to dry his hair with still sitting there before having an idea come to her. Quickly draping that over him, she reached up underneath, pulling off his boxers while the towel covered him discreetly. After all, he had given her the decency to not take a peek when she had changed into his shirt he let her borrow that night she had stayed from her ankle getting twisted. Nor the next morning when he'd pointed out that the buttons had come undone and revealed her upper chest. Or when she had gotten dressed back in her clothes before he had taken her home again. So she would have the decency to do the same.
Getting him changed into her brother's shorts, she pulled the towel away again and set it aside, catching the view of the rest of him. Now that she wasn't trying to rush and get his wounds cleaned and bandaged, she noticed that there were a few scars across his body. They were faint though, much like the snowflake scar she had on her side; just visible enough to tell a slight difference that it was a tad bit lighter in colour than the rest of his skin. And how well defined his muscles were now that they weren't hidden under his loose fitting clothes he had worn when she'd seen him while portraying his Li alias.
Suddenly, he gave a larger shiver than before and she quickly put her hand up on his forehead then to his cheek and side of his neck, feeling how hot he had become, despite still feeling cold to the touch everywhere else.
'Oh no. He's got a fever,' she thought to herself as she quickly looked around her living room. The couch wouldn't be the best place to put him. There was only one place she knew that he could rest comfortably.
Leaning him up and getting his arm around her shoulders, Mitsuki stood up again. Being careful of his side, she wrapped her arm around his waist and half dragged him down to her room before laying him down in her bed. She covered him up before going to grab a washcloth, getting it wet with cold water, rung out the excess, and came back to put it on his forehead. Giving a small shiver herself still in her wet pajamas from the rain soaking her, she turned to find some dry clothes.
Changing out of them and grabbing a t-shirt and lounge shorts to put on, she took her wet clothes down to the bathroom and plopped them in the tub as well. Then she went back down to the living room, cleaned up the mess she had made, set his shoes by hers at the door, and took the used towels to the laundry area and put them in the empty washer before grabbing a bucket to fill with water and pouring it into the washer so they could soak overnight. She was going to need to bleach those to get the blood out more than likely. But that would have to wait until tomorrow so she didn't wake the neighbours below her.
Going back down to the bathroom after grabbing a few hangers, she hung up all of his wet clothes, knife harness, and belt on the shower curtain rack along with her pajamas. She took the knives she had pulled out of their sheaths and dried them off with another towel and set them down on the bathroom counter. She figured out how to release the carabineer and wire from his belt and pulled it out, hanging it up so it could dry as well. After all, even she knew that water and metal didn't go together well. It was the least she could do to make sure his equipment wasn't going to rust, even if it was used for less than favourable reasons on others.
Finally, she shut off the lights and went back to her room, pausing long enough to flip the wet cloth over. She felt her cheeks get warm again as she knew that she was going to have to try to bring down his fever by laying beside him. So going around and climbing in the other side after shutting her light off, she slid in and cuddled up against his right side since his left leg and side had gotten wounded. She laid her head up by his shoulder and wrapped her arm over his abdomen, careful of his wound. Quietly laying there, she listened as his breathing slowly started to lose its raspy sound as it began to steady a little and deepen. The feeling of his heartbeat against her from his side she was cuddled up against had started to beat a little stronger, though his skin still felt cooler to her, despite hers also being a little cooler from getting soaked. It was only his head and neck that felt hot.
Feeling his shivering starting to slow down, she finally allowed herself to close her eyes and fall into the darkness of sleep hoping that by morning he would be doing much better.
Well that's the chapter. Poor Hei just did not have a good time that night dealing with his target. Glad Mitsuki had woken up and was looking outside when she did. After all, she did say she wanted to repay him back for helping her somehow. Guess she got her chance to. *grins*
Anyway, hope everyone's liking the story so far. I look forward to any comments and reviews like always. *smiles and hands out cookies*