[A/N]: WHY DO I KEEP FORGETTING TO UPDATE THIS. I'm getting mad with myself for procrastinating unconsciously. Apologies. Though in other news, chapter 13 has been finished! Anyways, I hope you guys like this. From here on out, things are really going to diverge from the original version. Let me know what you think~
Speaking of procrastinating unconsciously, I still need to apply for my master's study next year. Seems so weird, doesn't it? I started this fic back in my last year of high school, and here I am, almost with my bachelor's degree, worrying about my master's and all that. Amazing how stories can stick like this.
Cry for Help
You better pray that there's another way out.
You better pray that someone's listening now and doesn't want to watch you drown,
because when you lie like the Devil himself, no angel's gonna hear your cry for help.
Days passed by like nothing had happened and everyone went on with their lives. Today had begun with dark clouds hanging low in the sky, combined with the smell of wet pavements, and since then the rain had fallen non-stop. It made for a gloomy change compared to the last few sunny days that had passed.
"How is she?" Ayame asked as she and Mikoto entered the bar, both drenched.
Tatara shook his head before he walked over, greeting her by taking her glasses from her nose and starting to clean them for her. In return she began to play with her fingers, fidgeting on the spot as she watched him do so. The boy only smiled slightly at her as he did so.
Mikoto remained silent and instead dropped his bag to the ground before making his way upstairs. While he dried his hair with a towel, he entered their room and found that, just like Tatara had said, she still lay in bed, cheeks flushed and chest rising and falling as she panted softly. The redhead reached for the dried up piece of cloth on her forehead and grabbed another gel pads, gently placing it on her face after wiping away the sweat. Though more of the shrivelled pads covered the rest of her body, he knew, but he refused to intrude into her personal space in such a manner.
A twitch of her body indicated a change of the pattern in which they had seemed to settle. Haru lifted a hand ever so slowly, taking hold of his and keeping those surprisingly fingers where they sat on her forehead.
"She… alive… How…?" she managed, cracking an eye open to look at the redhead.
He had a grim look on his face as he sat beside her on the bed, examining her in silence, wondering whether he should tell her. He himself hadn't liked what he had found out, seeing as how it had meant that Haru had pushed herself too far for nothing.
"She's a Strain. She healed herself," he told her anyway while he gauged her reaction. He doubted that she had even understood what he had said. "That, and the adrenaline helped too. I suppose."
Much to his surprise, the corners of the brunette's chapped lips turned upwards to form a small smile. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes again. Mikoto assumed that she had fallen asleep again and so he got up to leave.
"Did she wake up?" Tatara asked once the King sat down on a stool behind the bar, who only nodded in response.
"Well, her fever had dropped a little this afternoon," Izumo admitted, allowing himself a small smile.
Ayame tugged at a strand of her, not daring to look up from the floor as she asked, "Did you tell her...?"
Mikoto nodded once more, his face blank as he did so. He had done his best not to show how he felt about this whole ordeal. After all, the girl hadn't done it on purpose or anything. Who would go around telling stranger of her Strain powers anyway?
While the rest of her family had no clue of her abilities, her second-oldest brother had figured it out soon enough and had taken it upon himself to protect her from the outside world. His way of handling the situation had taken quite a toll on Ayame, however, which became evident by how her past had rolled off her tongue in sentences long enough to stump even Haru herself. She had found out about it when she had had her first knee-scrape-accident and it had healed up right in front of their eyes, after which her brother had started an almost obsessive hunt for information. It hadn't taken him long to find the word 'Strain', though it had taken her longer to actually come to terms with it.
"I... I'm really sorry," she mumbled, still not lifting her gaze.
What must have made everything worse for the girl was when she had found out that her powers did not truly work when it came to people with auras. She had managed to make the cuts and bruises scattered across Haru's body, but Mikoto had seen how it had broken the girl's heart to see the burn marks and fever remain.
"There is nothing to apologise for," Tatara stated in that calm voice of his. "You'll see. Everything will turn out all right. Haru is stronger than she looks."
As if on cue, Haru's form appeared at the top of the stairs, leaning heavily against the balustrade as she climbed down the stairs on legs that shook visibly.
"Haru-san!" Ayame exclaimed as she saw her waver slightly, but before anybody could do anything, Mikoto had already jumped up the stairs to catch her before she tumbled down the steps.
"Idiot," he muttered under his breath as he carried her to the closest couch.
Tatara kneeled down beside her, wiping her hair out of her eyes.
"I wanted to make sure... Mikoto wasn't lying," the brunette mumbled. She tried to sit up again and again, only for the King to press her back down. Finally she stopped resisting and turned to find Ayame, who stood behind the others, chewing her lip.
"Here, drink this," Izumo said as he held a glass of water up for her. Mikoto now helped her sit up while Tatara found blanket to cover her up with, and when they had tucked her in the bartender helped her take a sip.
As Haru drank from her glass with all eyes on her, she realised that, despite the fact that she felt weak and sick and miserable and that her body hurt all over, she couldn't have felt any safer and more comfortable in that moment.
And letting go of all her boundaries and control, she mustered as much strength as possible for her confession. She wanted to say it now, now that they were all together for a moment. Especially now that she knew what could happen when things went horribly wrong.
"Guys… I… I'm sorry. For what happened… And for... for making you worry so much. I've been a really horrible friend, haven't I? And…" She coughed and took another sip of water before sighing. "I can't control it. Ayame… You might feel guilty, but if it weren't for you..." Her mind was all over the place in that moment, and she caught sight of the red spot on Mikoto's jaw. She reached out to trace it. "I'm so sorry…"
They all watched in silence and Haru realised that she was so lucky to have met these wonderful people. They would do anything for her, so now she should start paying back her debts.
"I… I need your help. I don't want anything like… that happening again. I don't know how... but…" her voice trailed off as her mind suddenly went blank, all words fleeing from her mind. She felt awkward and embarrassed and she hoped that they had understood what she had meant.
"Haru-chan." Izumo sighed and placed a hand on her head. "You don't have to apologise. We're goin' through the exact same thing. Well, all except Tatara, whose aura is almost non-existent."
Haru bit her lip. If he spoke the truth, that meant she had become an egoistical little bitch thinking only of her own problems. If he lied to make her feel better, that only meant that he pitied her. She did not want any pity, not after what she had done.
"Then why does it seem like you two have it all under control?" she asked, finally lifting her eyes to watch Izumo's reaction.
"Because Mikoto is strong. First he only used his strength to fight, but now he uses it to hold back. And I am sure that Mikoto will show you the alley next to the bar when you're feelin' better. The scorch marks on the wall should tell you enough," he responded with a kind smile.
"Though you must add that Haru-chan's aura is more substantial than that of yours, Izumo-kun," Tatara piped up. "Yours is more refined, just like Izumo-kun's personality, while Haru-chan's is wild. Much like King's aura, though with less anger. And even then, King's aura is on a complete different level than all our flames combined."
The brunette gave a nod and realised that she did feel better now that she knew this. She finally dared to look at the redhead and was taken aback by the slight smile playing on his lips. The others noticed it as well.
"Well, seeing as I've got a bar to look after and Tatara will be busy with Ayame-chan, I think it best to let Mikoto in charge of helpin' Haru-chan."
That infamous sly grin of Izumo's appeared, but before anybody could protest, the bartender had turned around and left. Those who remained behind could only share glances before shrugging and doing as they were told.
Waking up, unfortunately, had not automatically made Haru any better, and her body still refused to cooperate. In fact, since she couldn't even climb the stairs by herself, she had to endure being carried up and down by someone – and most of the time Mikoto ended up doing it. That resulted in Haru simply deciding to make sure that it wouldn't have to happen more than twice a day, and she refused to accept any help when it came to navigating through the ground floor of the bar. Her friends had even forbidden her from taking a shower or a bath by herself.
"Are you telling me that I'm supposed to stay like this until I get better?" Haru asked, incredulous.
Izumo grinned in response. "Perhaps someone could help you bathe instead."
It was around dinner time and Masaomi and Yo – Haru had started calling the others their first names as well because it made her feel more like a real clan – entered the bar together just in time to hear the bartender speak those words. They had opened their mouths, most likely to complain about their hunger, but instead they decided to flee while they still could.
The bartender only shook his head at what have must have deemed shameful display before turning back to Mikoto. The redhead shot his friend that look he gave anybody of whom he thought they had just gone crazy – narrowing his eyes yet somehow raising a brow as well.
Izumo countered Mikoto's look with one of his own tantalising smiles which worked on men and women alike. Haru kept looking back and forth between the two men, feeling a headache coming up as she realised that the bartender wanted their King to help her take a bath.
"I can always, oh I don't know, do it myself?" she suggested as she pushed herself from her stool, a hand placed on the bar for support.
"No!" both men exclaimed at the same time, their faces turning towards her in order to give her disapproving looks.
Without further ado, Mikoto got up and made to grab the brunette, but irritation flared inside of her and she yanked her arm out of his grasp. Ignoring the fact that that movement had almost caused her to topple over, she grumbled, "Let me at least walk by myself."
But only three steps later her leg gave in and she would have crashed to the floor if Mikoto hadn't caught her in time. Ignoring the chuckle that left Izumo's throat the redhead went up the steps with ease, pressing Haru against him. Nothing but humiliation remained behind at the thought of having the Red King help her bathe. The look on Mikoto's face suggested that he didn't exactly like the situation either, though.
Once inside the bathroom, he placed her on the side of the tub and turned the tap on. The sound of water filling the bath echoed along the tiled walls, almost deafening the two of them.
Mikoto sat next to the brunette on the edge of the bathtub, investigating the walls and the furniture as if he had never seen this room before. Seeing his own nervousness helped soothe hers, and she grabbed his attention by pressing her hand on top of his. When he saw the smile on her face, he relaxed.
Neither one of them said anything, but time passed by quickly anyway. She had been drowned in her thoughts, and before she knew it Mikoto turned around to turn the tap off, stopping the flow of water with one swift movement.
Without a single word, Mikoto got up and turned his back towards her, an obvious signal that she had to undress herself. She quickly began to discard the clothes she wore, and the amount of effort it took her to do so embarrassed her even further. Then she carefully turned around to face the opposite wall, wrapping her arms around her upper body to hide her breasts from the world. Not that she had ever been particularly self-conscious, but occupying the same room as the King while naked could probably have made even the most confident person feel insecure.
"I'm done," she murmured and looked back just in time to see Mikoto walk towards her.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lowered her into the warm water. She immediately poured half a bottle of foam into the water, mixing it up frantically so that she could hide her naked form under a blanket of bubbles.
In the meantime, Mikoto moved to the closed toilet seat and leaned back to find a relaxing position – thankfully with his eyes closed. It didn't take long before Haru had to ask him to help her with scrubbing her back. Without a word he nodded and kneeled down next to the bathtub before holding his hands out so that she could squeeze some shower gel onto his palms. Then he waited until she had moved her hair out of the way before he began to spread the stuff across the skin of her back. Haru closed her eyes and began to enjoy the touch of his hands; she even had to stop herself from sighing in satisfaction.
Why was he even doing this? If he had really despised the idea of helping her, then he easily could have forced Izumo to do it himself, or Tatara the next time he decided to visit. Her mind began to wander to the past few days, to how Mikoto had been like her personal slave, or so it seemed, willingly helping her with almost everything and anything.
Could he…? No, of course not. She should not speculate about such things. But still…
"Why are you doing this?" she heard herself ask him all of a sudden, and his hands stopped moving for a moment.
He didn't reply at once and instead washed the soap from her back with the water, though he wasn't doing a very good job. Her question had most likely distracted him.
"Because I am your King, and kings have to protect and help their subjects."
Despite the fact that she hadn't had any hopes about what he might respond in the first place, his answer still managed to break her heart a little.
