It was as if time had stopped. Tohru at first felt absolute numbness for a split fraction of a second, then she was crumpling onto the ground as her shoulder felt alive and burning in all different sensations. She couldn't move for how great the pain was. She never felt anything so hard, so painful. She felt she was dying. No more than that, she wished she was dead for how greatly it hurt.

Kyo immediately kicked the gun out of the man's hand and delivered a sharp blow into his face. Blood spurted and the man lay on the ground writhing and screaming in pain.

Tohru wasn't screaming. But she wasn't moving either. She lay on the ground motionless and unable to speak. She couldn't even breathe.

Another shot was heard and Momiji shoved Hiyomi against the wall who screamed at the impact. "Kyo! Tohru!"

"I know!"

Another blow was delivered and Hiyomi lay crumpled to the ground. Kyo wiped his mouth which was bleeding and picked up all of the guns laying on the floor and threw them out the window before hurrying over to where Tohru lay.

"K-Kyo what do we-?!" Momiji stammered helping Tohru off the ground.

"Momiji I need you to help me carry Tohru, we need to get out of here."

"But Kyo...Hiyomi...he's dying..!"

The two glanced at Hiyomi who looked as if he had no last breath in him. He had two gun shot wounds in his chest from the earlier havoc and he was breathing rapidly at a fast pace.

As the two watched Hiyomi raised his hands in the air and pointed at Tohru grinning.

Kyo stared at Hiyomi coldly the two unable to move at the spot.

"Monster." Hiyomi finally whispered. And then he was gone. His eyes glazed over and breathing stopped altogether.

It was silent for a moment when finally Momiji broke it.

"Are the other two dead?" He asked trembling. His hands still shook as he clasped his own gun with both of his hands.

"One is. But the other lost consciousness. Momiji I need you to help me, we have to get Tohru out of here."

"R-right."

Together the two hauled Tohru into Kyo's arms who gathered her arms to put her arms around his neck before he took off running. Momiji followed closely behind him making sure the area was clear of other possible threats and dangers. He tightened his hold onto Tohru as he noticed she was bleeding profusely and her blouse was now stained heavily with blood.

As they made their way through the restaurant several people were cowering against the wall in fear. The owner was yelling something angrily in Italian and pointing to the walls that had been damaged with the bullets. It didn't matter. The three left the restaurant in a flash and in a split second were on their way down the alleys of Venice.

"Where are we going?" Momiji asked breathlessly.

"We're going home."

"B-but she needs to go to the hospital!"

"I know!"

The three reached their apartment and Kyo had the door open in a swift movement before they clambered inside. Momiji yanked the door shut locking it behind them.

Kyo set Tohru onto the bed as gently as possible and began to unbutton her shirt.

"K-Kyo." Momiji whispered still shaking at the event. He began to turn a bit red.

"Momiji I need you to focus." Kyo said his voice hard and mechanical. "Get me a bowl of warm water, a towel, and the first aid kid. Get lots of towels."

"Y-yea."

Momiji ran to the bathroom in a flash and scampered to get materials. At the same time Kyo had Tohru's shirt fully unbuttoned and he used his pocket knife to cut it away and threw the shirt next to her before gently picking Tohru up and laying her so that her back was facing him. He swallowed seeing the wound piercing her back. It was extremely red not counting the blood that was overflowing now onto the bed.

"Momiji!"

"Here!" Momiji shoved several white towels into Kyo's hands, who quickly began to stop the blood with the towels.

"Is there antiseptic in there?"

"Y-yea I think? Oh yea! Here!" Momiji shoved the large bottle into Kyo's hands who grabbed Tohru's arm before pouring it onto the wound. Immediately Tohru gasped in the searing pain, but was still unable to move as the pain intensified into a burning heat before subsiding.

"Tohru are you ok? Can you hear me?" Kyo asked.

"Y-yea." Tohru choked out.

"Hold on. We're going to clean your wound up and get the bullet out." He said firmly.

"B-" She felt Kyo clean up the surrounding blood and heard Momiji gasp as he saw the wound clearly for the first time.

"Kyo...the hospital.." He said in a hushed whisper.

"We can't." Kyo said through gritted teeth. "Akito's in Venice. We have to stay put. Momiji give Tohru the two pills in my bag."

"W-what?! But Kyo that's.."

Seeming lost for words Momiji seemed to immediately give up protesting and obliged, running off to retrieve the pills. He returned and put it in Tohru's mouth who couldn't even find the strength to swallow.

"Tohru I need you to swallow that. I know it's hard." Kyo encouraged.

Using every ounce of the strength in her mouth Tohru felt tears pouring on her face as she worked to swallow the pills. As they finally went down she felt Kyo moving behind her and gathering materials.

"Get a dish." He ordered.

"Ok."

Finally she felt something small and cold press against her back. She realized with a start that he was going to remove the bullet.

"K-k-Kyo- ahhhh!" Tohru felt Momiji tighten his hold on her arm and cover her mouth with his hands. Whispering soothing words to her Momiji apologized profusely. Kyo held her body down with his free arm, keeping her from moving, tightening his hold on her as he worked to remove the bullet. The medicine was slowly making her feel drowsy but the sharp pain as he inserted the cold tool into her back had her unable to form coherent thoughts. She thrashed on the bed tears pouring down her face. After a long moment of struggling she suddenly felt the medicine take over completely and she couldn't feel anything except for the soothing words next to her ear telling her to stay calm...

...

The next morning Tohru awoke and immediately felt the weight of the pain in her shoulder. Instead of moving she lay completely still and wandered her eyes around the room. She felt fabric which meant either Kyo or Momiji had given her one of their dress shirts, and her shoulder felt heavily patched with materials and gauze.

Blinking she glanced next to her and saw that Momiji was fast asleep on the couch with his arm tossed over his eyes and blood still staining his clothes, however as she glanced to her right, she saw that Kyo was sitting at the foot of the bed, his eyes open and completely still.

"K-Kyo-kun..?" She croaked her voice hoarse and shushed by the fatigue.

He immediately glanced at her registering she was now awake. His eyes looked tired like he hadn't slept at all and his clothes were also stained heavily with blood. He got up and sat next to her. Kneeling over he looked her in the eyes.

"You up?"

"Yea.." She whispered.

"Hold on, I'll get you water. You lost so much blood-"

"Thank you."

He quickly made his way to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. As gently as possible he helped Tohru up slowly and leaned her against his chest. He then held her chin up so that she could drink the water.

Tohru gulped the water thirstily and felt extremely dizzy and numb. She guessed the medicine earlier was still in effect.

When she finished the water, Kyo helped her lay down once more and pulled the covers to cover her more snuggly.

"What was the medicine you gave me?" She whispered as he set the cup down. Kyo simply looked at her his face a bit impassive before answering.

"It was a type of drug used for sleep. It's fairly powerful, but...I gave you an overdose so that you would go unconscious while I got the bullet out."

"Ahh." Tohru replied. She glanced around the room but saw that the bullet and her old shirt were gone.

"We threw it away." Kyo explained.

"I see..."

It was silent for a moment and Kyo slowly sat down next to her, a bit closer than where had been before. He felt her forehead for a moment.

"How's your...shoulder?"

Tohru blinked and smiled weakly to him. "It doesn't hurt as much as yesterday..."

His eyes seemed to shift at her words and he swallowed. "Tohru...you blocked me from getting hit didn't you?" And then his expression changed. He had been paleand blank faced before, but suddenly the underlying implications of what had been bothering him showed through his eyes and voice. He seemed to be shaken, frustrated, guilty, and most of all sad.

Tohru stared at him. They held each other's gazes for a long moment.

Simply she nodded giving him a soft smile.

"You...stupid.." He clenched his teeth and looked down unable to look at her in the eyes.

"Why did you do that?" He whispered fighting his emotions of rage and guilt.

Tohru was silent for a moment contemplating. "It...was the right thing to do." She finally said.

"No...you got hurt really bad Tohru. You almost..." He sighed. "I should never have put you in that situation. I didn't think he would have so many guns on him...but I could have prevented it.."

"No..Kyo-kun it's not your fault." Tohru whispered.

"But you-"

"I'd rather..." At that he looked up and stared at her as she finished her sentence smiling weakly at him. "...it me getting hurt then you Kyo-kun..."

Kyo held her gaze for a long moment seeming unable to answer. His eyes softened into a glimmer as he leaned forward towards her. Tohru sat very still as she felt Kyo shift and his lips gently touch her temple. Her eyes gently fluttered closed at the contact .

"Thank you." He murmured against her forehead. His lips lingered for a long moment before he pulled away and adjusted the blankets once more. "Rest..."

Normally Tohru would have freaked out in this situation, however after all of the events, all she could muster up right now were emotions of gratitude, comfort, and relief. "Kyo-kun you should rest as well...you saved both me and Momiji. You look so tired.." She said softly.

"Worry about yourself first." He nodded to her. "As soon as you're able to move we'll leave. Until then just rest."

...

After Tohru had drifted off a second time, she awoke and noticed the room was quite darker then before. It seemed it was night, and Momiji was awake. Both him and Kyo were talking quietly in whispers at the dining table.

"...What about Hiyomi-kun?" The days events immediately registered in her mind and she listened as the two silently talked.

"I bet the police found his body and the others. Luckily I threw the guns away but its' only a matter of time before they find the guns. We might even get arrested since there's not much evidence of self defense."

"We have to leave right away then." Momiji whispered.

"Yes."

"But Tohru...she's still really weak. I read that people with gun wounds take months to heal...we shouldn't move her..."

"It's dangerous to take her and dangerous to leave her here...unless we can find someone trustworthy to take care of her here. Which isn't likely."

"Do you think Tohru can meet Hatori in Japan? He's trustable."

"Maybe...if we could find a way to stay with Haru. There's no way we can go to a hospital here, they have all the records on file for Akito."

"Even though it's a bit risky, we should do that. Tohru could get seriously worse if she doesn't meet a doctor.."

"I know...it's just really risky to go to Japan of all places." At that Kyo glanced at Tohru who blinked at him. He took in the fact that she was awake and quickly shifted his chair and walked over to her.

"Sleep well?" Kyo asked. He checked her forehead for a temperature before she could reply, and frowned. "You're a bit hotter than yesterday..."

"TOHRU!" Momiji yelled also noticing she was now awake. Momiji immediately got up and practically flew to her side. "Are you ok?! I was worried sick..." He crouched next to her scanning her face for any signs of discomfort.

"I am a bit warm.." Tohru admitted.

Momiji's excited face quickly fell as he took in her weak expression. "You should rest."

"But...we have to get going.." Tohru protested.

"No. Rest." Kyo said firmly. "We'll leave as soon as we can. But for now if you don't take care of your body, you could be put in a dangerous situation."

"Yea!" Momiji agreed nodding vigorously. "Rest up Tohru!"

"But I want to know...what happened to Hiyomi-kun?" She asked.

Both Kyo and Momiji glanced at one another at that, and Kyo sighed running his hand through his hair.

"Yes...I'm sorry you had to see that." He said. " I'll explain details later, but he's dead. We had to kill all of them or else they would have killed us. I knew from the beginning Hiyomi couldn't be trusted, so that was a mistake to drag it out so long.."

"Then...they're all dead?" Tohru's eyes widened.

"Yes. I had to finish off the other one so that he didn't go back to Akito and tell him where we were. He could have followed us here..."

"But...why?"

Kyo's eyes hardened. "Hiyomi was probably told by Akito to trick us. Akito knew of our relationship, but I never guessed he would actually order Hiyomi to kill us. But seeing from the situation, he was only ordered to kill me, and bring Momiji back as his bullets were directed towards me only. And you just happened to stop him."

"Then...we have to go somewhere safe." Tohru's stammered. "What if he lied to us? What if Akito is in the city right now?"

"He might be. That's why we're not safe here..."

"But-"

"I'll be back." Kyo cut across her, and walked across the room to swiftly put on his coat. "I'm going to buy some new clothes for us, and some iron tablets. Tohru lost too much blood. Momiji make sure to consistently give her water."

"Aiyai!" Momiji held up his hands in salute.

He soon left apartment with a loud clang and Tohru and Momiji were silent.

"Tohru...seriously your health is what matters first." Momiji whispered gently squeezing her hand. "Hiyomi could have gotten all of us killed, but luckily Kyo saved us. And you saved him."

Tohru blinked. She had never experienced something so scary, but as she thought about it more she was shocked that she could find no sympathy for the death of the other men who had been next to Hiyomi. The only regret she found was trusting Hiyomi when he had all along planned to get rid of her...

Soon Momiji stopped talking to allow Tohru to rest, but she didn't sleep. She simply thought in her head of the gaping hold she felt about the death of Hiyomi, and the worry she felt for the three, but also how she could heal fast enough to get them out.

After half an hour later, Kyo was back with the materials. He gave tablets to Tohru who swallowed it and Kyo told Momiji to leave the room.

"Huh? Why?" Momiji blinked.

"Tohru has to change." Kyo said simply.

"W-wait but then why are you staying-?"

"She can't change by herself." Kyo said it as if obvious. "And I need to re-bandage her shoulder."

"Oh...ok." Momiji blushed. He stared at Kyo but obliged and left the room occasionally shooting him warning glances.

Tohru felt a bit embarrassed, but the pain in her shoulder took over all other embarrassed worries. Kyo slowly helped Tohru in an upright position and began to unbutton her blouse.

When he noticed her frozen posture he stopped midway and said quietly. "If it's embarrassing you, close your eyes."

"N-no I understand." Tohru stammered, and she shifted her gaze going a bright pink. He nodded and continued to unbutton her blouse downwards.

Tohru averted her eyes trying not to focus on his hands or how approximately close his body was to hers. After removing her shirt he lightly pulled the sleeves down and helped her arms out of them gently, using a feather light touch. Tohru was glad she had a light pink bra on, but wished with embarrassment that she had at least had a camisole to cover her chest. Well it was out of question now..

He then sat behind Tohru and began to remove the bandage on her back. It was heavily taped to her back, so he worked at lightly pulling it off and used a towel with water to lightly clean up dry blood in several areas.

"Does it need to be changed a lot?" Tohru asked feeling herself feel a bit nauseous from sitting up right. She felt her body a bit heated and clammy as well.

Kyo noticed her shortness of breath and raised his hand using the back of it to touch her neck.

"Tohru...are you cold?"

"No...I'm.. feeling really sweaty." Tohru breathed trying to keep herself up. She found the pain in her shoulder heighten at her efforts to stay upright.

Kyo immediately got up and sat in front of her. Using his free hand he pulled her gently to his chest so that her forehead was leaning against his chest and her back was facing outwards. Putting his arm around her he worked on her bandage so that he was supporting her body.

Tohru breathed and felt the warmth of his chest against her cheek and closed her eyes. She felt a bit better, but couldn't concentrate on his hands for how numb she felt. She felt relieved she could simply lean into him instead of using her muscles to keep herself up. She also avoided pressing her chest to his so that he wouldn't transform.

"Tohru this will hurt." Kyo murmured. He pressed something wet against her back and she flinched digging her head into his chest. It stung her wound and made the pain increase until it gently subsided. He rubbed her arms in assurance and removed the medicine placing it away from them.

"We have to make sure it's not infected...but seeing that you're so warm...this is not good." He said quietly. It seemed he was saying this mostly to himself.

Tohru kept her eyes closed but felt him start to gently wrap the gauze around her shoulder and secure it with healing tape. He then reached over and grabbed her shirt and put it around her. Once more he helped her arms through the holes before beginning to button the buttons back up.

Tohru didn't comment but noticed how Kyo averted his eyes and focused solely on the buttons until he had finished working his way up.

Reaching over he felt her forehead once more.

"It's hot.." He murmured seriously. He helped her lay down and pulled the covers around her before going to the kitchen.

When he returned he had towels soaked with cold water. Ringing them out he placed them gently on top of Tohru's head, and she relaxed further by the temperature change.

"If only Hatori was here.." He sighed.

"Who's Hatori?" Tohru murmured feeling a bit drowsy now that she was back to laying down.

"He's our family doctor for the Sohmas'. He's not that close to me, but he's not that close to Akito either.." He sighed and yelled across the room.

"Momiji you can come out now!"

Momiji cracked the door open from the bathroom and blushed a bit. "Tohru...you done?"

"Yea.." Tohru smiled at him. Momiji grinned. "Too bad Kyo's the older one, I wanted to help-"

Kyo immediately threw a pillow at Momiji's face.