Hey guys, what´s going on?
Even though we´re still stuck in this stupid pandemic, life has been a little stressful for me lately, so I hope you can forgive me for the long wait once again.
Big thanks to the boys and girls from discord for their support!
Here we go, hope you enjoy!
Beastars – Into the Spotlight
Chapter 20 – Two guns, two stories
Warning! This chapter contains detailed description of violence!
POV Kai
It´s been quite a while since I´ve been this deep out in the woods. I used to hate living so far outside the city, but today it seemed rather convenient.
Being alone was much easier here than it was at school, and that really was the only thing I wanted right now.
The last night had just been one continuous nightmare. I couldn´t close an eye, not even calm down a little bit, ever since I´ve found that handgun on the stage. Yesterday was not a good day for me in general, and for today it didn´t seem to get much better.
The audience yesterday had clapped even louder for the second performance than they clapped for the actual premiere on Thursday.
They already clapped just when the wolf entered the stage for the first time, and it had postponed our performance for almost a whole minute. The applause I got the day before that was just pity applause, and that alone had been the ultimate proof of it. I was just a little bug next to him.
I haven't told anybody that I found that pistol. I haven't reported it to the school authorities, I haven't shown it to my parents or grandparents. I just took it home with me in my backpack yesterday and now I had brought it out here into the forest, by the little stream I used to play at when I was a kid.
It had a matt-black finish all around and looked like I could have seen something vaguely related to that in an American crime-movie before, but I was not sure. It had no markings and no text or numbers anywhere on it. Just two initials where carved into the handle, but it didn´t look like it was done very professionally.
After I had made sure the safety-knob on the side was still in its locked position and the trigger still couldn't go off by some stupid mistake, I tried moving the other little lever on the side of the gun and it immediately released the magazine into my hand.
I really was glad I didn´t do this earlier or at a place where somebody could walk in on me, because what I saw actually made my heart skip a beat or two: It was filled to the brim with real bullets.
The magazine on its own had almost the same weight as the rest of the gun, and in that moment it just got to me how brutally real all of this was.
"This guy is involved in real clan-business with real gangsters who have real fucking guns and just plays it off like it was not a big deal! He just like that told me to take over his role, he told us not to worry about him, told us a white lie about those guns being fake and risked his life to save another student!"
I just couldn't get over it right now.
"…and in the meanwhile, the little prick that is me had tried nothing else than stealing his role and his ex-girlfriend."
I felt like the biggest piece of shit that ever existed on this planet right now. I was not worth anything to society. It felt like I had just caused damage and chaos, not doing anything helpful or useful, while the others were at least trying to pull things in the right direction.
"How could I ever think I was anything more than them?" asked myself, "How could I even still look at myself in the mirror?"
POV Legoshi
I looked at myself in the mirror once again, checking my suit and my tie one last time.
I was nervous. This plan Louis made up didn´t seem as bulletproof anymore as it sounded two nights ago, but that meeting was inevitable and just came closer and closer.
I wanted to be far away right now, emotionally just as much as physically. There was just one thing that kept me going, and she looked just as beautiful as ever.
"How about we go for a spot of karaoke tonight?" she chuckled from the doorframe of my bathroom, leaning herself against it in a relaxed pose.
"We are just half an hour away from a really dangerous, probably life-changing clan-meeting and she is thinking about karaoke? Is this her way of dealing with stress?"
It was just as a joyful as it was confusing though, and that attitude was one more thing I really liked about her.
"You´re thinking about Karaoke right now?" I asked with a little smile.
She wordlessly walked towards me and pulled something out of her pocket, presenting it to me and encouraging me to take it.
From the size and shape of it I guessed it could be a cigar-case or something like that, so I naturally was a little puzzled about that at first. I carefully opened it and found five, neatly held in place, dart-shaped, syringe-like things in it. They all seemed to contain some sort of liquid in the middle and I already had a vague idea what they were.
"Those are tranquilizers…" she explained just what I was thinking them to be as well, "…I´m pretty sure you don't need them in the meeting…but you´ll probably need them tonight when I´ll be singing karaoke with you…" she added with an ironic little smirk.
It took me a moment to understand, but then I nodded with a little smile.
"Are you not scared at all?" I asked her in all honesty.
"I´m scared really often…" she said without any shame, "…but I mostly tend to hide it."
I nodded understandingly. "…you´ve caused quite some conversations among the students on Thursday…" I then told her with a little chuckle, looking away from the mirror and right at her once again.
"Conversations about…what exactly?" she chuckled, straightening up the tie I wore a little better.
"About how awesome…and fearless…and strong…"
"I´m acting that out just as much as you…" she told my lowly, "…don't think I-"
"But you are!" I interrupted her, "…I would be long dead without you! Don't be so humble all the time! You´re kind, you´re sweet, you´re pretty and also you´re the most badass person I´ve ever seen…" I listed, looking her right in the eyes while holding her by her shoulders tightly, not letting her stop me from saying it any longer.
"Oh…is that so?" she chuckled ironically.
"Yes" I affirmed, "…and they don't even know half of it! They all just think you´re this hot, badass agent who is just like a machine, but you are so much more than that! You´re courageous, and smart, and…and you´re the only one that keeps me sane…"
"You done now?" she grinned, as I still wasn't releasing her.
"No" I chuckled, "…you´re also really awesome and…and…and you are…"
POV Kai
"…you are such an idiot!" I told myself once again, actually saying it out loud as nobody was around to hear it anyway, "…an idiot and a coward!"
It still went through my head over and over again. Yesterday, during our second performance of ´The Odyssey´, when nobody was looking and I was just waiting for one of my cues in the darkness, I suddenly felt something solid and heavy laying by my feet. It caused somewhat of a metallic rattle when I kicked it slightly, and then just I noticed what it was. I quickly picked it up and hid it behind some cable-bushes by the side of the stage. As the dust was piling up there for years already, I was pretty sure nobody would ever find it there, and it just was like that in the end.
Then I quickly concentrated on my role again and just barely made it to my cue on time.
Later, when everybody had left the building after the show, I went back there to get it, and now I had taken it home with me without anyone knowing about it.
They were pointing real guns at his head. Legoshi got real guns pulled on his head and just acted it off like it was not a big deal. He could easily have gotten shot that day, we all could have gotten injured or killed by one of these guns, and he was just worried about getting the show back on track.
"It was not just about the show! He didn´t want us to worry about him too much! He knew he was in danger, but he didn´t want this to be our problem! That´s how much of a good guy he is, that´s how much of a hero he is!"
I just couldn´t get my head around this. He was one of the very few people who were actually thankful that I took over his role for him in our premiere. He was genuinely thankful for that, even a day later he mentioned it again. And he actually knew that I had fooled around with Juno the evening after the performance. He probably also knew that I wasn´t at all able to satisfy her, but he still wasn´t treating me any differently. He just remained a good teammate and professional actor, not showing any signs of grief or pity towards me.
"Just what is driving you? Who gives you that energy? Why can´t I be that cool and grounded in situations like that? How can you stay so humble? Why can´t I be that fearless?"
POV Legoshi
I was scared. For the first time in quite a while, I was genuinely scared. The location they had picked for this meeting was even worse for us than I had anticipated and the realness of all this hit me a lot harder than I actally thought it would.
It was a strip-club in the middle of the city, and it seemed like people usually went here in the evening rather than in the afternoon, because right now it was pretty much just us in here. There wasn´t even any staff for that matter, it was just a whole bunch of angered looking lions everywhere.
We already got stopped by two of them when we reached the entrance. They carefully started patting down my legs, searching for guns or other weapons I guessed, but as they didn´t find anything except for my wallet and my keychain, and they haven't even noticed the ´cigar case´ I had in the pocket of my shirt, that was over even quicker than I imagined. A moment later I noticed what they were so distracted by.
"Hey sweetheart…" one of them said to Skye with a careful dirty grin as he noticed her. He had a bandage on his nose, and I also got the feeling she had met him before.
I already wanted to say something about his comment, but I didn´t even need to. She just showed him one of her fists with a quick motion and he already shivered a little. Then it suddenly clicked in my head: He must be one of the guys who had tried to break into her apartment. Now it suddenly made sense to me why he was so afraid of her.
"…I´ll let them mail you the bill for fixing my door" she told him dryly, ignoring them completely with those words while just walking past him. None of them had the guts to even try to pat her down for weaponry. They were too scared of her. I kinda had the feeling she knew about that in advance already.
"Damn I love her so much."
I couldn´t help myself but chuckle about that a little, ignoring the felines as well when I turned around again and followed her deeper inside the building.
Then suddenly, it all was really serious again.
When we arrived at the table we were looking out for, it was nothing like I had been expecting it. They all where there already, but it were completely different circumstances than last time.
The only not taken seat at the big round table was reserved for me pretty obviously. Louis sat on the other side of the table, pretty much like I had expected it, but he already was in handcuffs for some weird reason.
Ten was here as well, but she didn´t get to sit at the table at all this time. Boris was by her side, but he was neither armed nor in any position to hurt anyone either. They just silently watched from a distance, apparently not allowed to take part in this deal.
The rest of the eight seats around the table were taken by Shishigumi-members. Except for one.
"Take a seat, Legoshi…" the lion sitting right next to louis told me dryly, "…we have something to discuss."
I took my time following that order of his, examining the whole situation very carefully. There was a big fancy bottle of scotch in the middle of the table and a few little glasses around it. I was pretty sure that was the drink Louis was talking about when the deal would go down as planned, but now that he was sitting here in handcuffs, I already had doubts his plan with the komodo dragon venom would come into action after all. Maybe they have caught him in the act, trying to put it in, maybe he didn´t even bring that bottle himself. All those "maybe´s" brought me into a really tough situation right now. I had to think of a plan B.
I took a seat and then slowly focussed my attention on the lion with the short haircut, waiting for him to start the conversation again.
But he didn´t actually start the conversation with words right away, he rather just pulled a handgun from somewhere under the table and placed it right before him on the wooden plate slow but distinctively. I didn´t get what that was supposed to mean right now exactly, I was pretty sure they all had guns with them, but I was able to hide my anxiety about that nevertheless. I had a bit of acting-routine in the meanwhile. I didn´t have any doubts about the realness of that gun, but I kept a cool head and displayed that with my expression as well. They would have killed me already if that was their goal, this was not the first time I was in that situation before.
"You´ve threatened me with worth things before, what´s that little gun supposed to achieve?"
POV Kai
This little thing could end all the suffering. Although I didn´t know who made it or who it belonged to, and apart from it being a really deadly thing, it actually was a beautifully made piece of craftsmanship. It felt heavy and durable, precise and reliable and for some reason a lot more exciting than scary to behold right now.
I had removed one of the bullets from the magazine and took a really close look at it. My face reflected on the shiny head of the projectile in a weird distorted way and made me look even more like a clown.
"Congratulations Kai, you´ve played the main role in the show and you´ve fucked the girl of your dreams. Are you happy now? No, you´re not. You´re a loser! You´ve messed up three important tests for this and you´re still worthless! You never were more than a loser!"
This is the worst start of a winter break I´ve ever had in my life. I wasn't excited for Christmas, I wasn´t excited to spend time with my family and I wasn´t excited to meet the friends I had here.
Everything was worthless in the end.
I still tightly gripped the gun in my right hand. Nobody knew where it was or who it originally belonged to, nobody could stop me in time. All the way out here, nobody would ever have the chance to get it again.
I probably should have searched for more of them in dark spots of our stage build and report it to the principal, but I haven't done that. I had brought it here with me. Fully loaded and ready to fire.
"One single pull of that trigger and none of this shit would matter anymore. No more unimportant side-roles, no more annoying tests to study for, no more second places. It was just that easy. There would be nothing more to worry about, I wouldn´t be there to watch it. What would I care what they´d think of me? They´d feel sorry, but I wouldn´t have to mind about it anymore. They could all go fuck themselves!"
POV Skye
"Let´s make this quick, Legoshi…" he announced, "I´m not even gonna pretend we have similar interest here… I believe we´ve all had enough of this bullshit in the meanwhile. So we want to offer you a quick and easy solution..."
Legoshi nodded slowly but didn´t say anything. I guessed he just like me tried to figure out what the hell they had planned here. They obviously didn´t trust Louis anymore, they wouldn´t have gotten him here in handcuffs otherwise, and there was no certainty of that scotch being prepped with Komodo Dragon venom either. I already had the feeling this wouldn´t work out too well in our favour, but now there was no going back anymore.
"We can´t kill a leader of our clan. That´s a rule we´ve had for over 100 years now, and we´re not gonna break it because of two high-school kids" the lion with the gun explained slowly, "So we want to offer you a deal…"
"What is it?" he sighed dryly, apparently not that impressed by that pistol on the table either.
"You kill him" the lion stated quite plainly, "Right here and right now. You just kill him and leave. You won´t become the new leader of the Shishigumi, but we won´t mess with you and Inarigumi anymore either. It´s as easy as that."
Now it suddenly made more sense to me. I hadn't actually been thinking about that before, but as none of them really had a reason to keep that deer alive, that pretty much was a valid option for them as well.
Luckily, Legoshi kept his cool about that as well and didn´t show how not at all he would actually do that.
"Wait" Louis yelled in slight panic after hearing that, "…I´ll resign! I´ll leave the city and-"
"Be quiet!" the lion shut him up loudly, "…you didn´t really believe you would get out of this alive, did you? You´ve been annoying us for far too long already. And you know too much."
"No, please! Don't kill me!" the red deer yelled in fear of his life, looking at Legoshi with begging eyes.
I wasn´t quite sure if he was acting this out as well or if he really was scared, but it sounded kinda believable. Legoshi took that opportunity right away.
"What about Haru" he wanted to know.
"What about her?" the lion asked in slight confusion.
"…she was the reason Louis shot your leader in the first place" he clarified, letting them think about the rest for themselves. They knew exactly what he meant, but they didn´t want that to get in the way right now, obviously.
"…we don't care about the bunny girl anymore. She´s not part of this deal. Kill Louis and fuck off, that´s all there is to it."
Legoshi thought about this for a second, then he nodded slowly.
"Then it´s settled" he agreed without any hesitation, standing up from his chair quite abruptly, "…as I wanted to kill that bastard anyway, this is a deal I can easily life with."
Yet again, I was so fascinated by how straight forward he went into this. He even fletched his teeth now, showing them how angry he was about Louis, and just from their surprised reactions they totally bought that act of his.
"W-what?" Louis now fearfully asked, as the wolf slowly began walking around the table with everyone watching him, "…L…Legoshi…what are you…?"
"You little bitch tried to poison me! You abducted us and brought us to port city! You interrupted my fucking premiere performance! And although I´ve been trying not to, I´m taking this kinda personal in the meanwhile!"
"L-legoshi! Please!"
The lions just watched him in pure disbelief as he suddenly grabbed his former classmate by his neck, lifted him out of his chair and then pushed him against the wall behind him with his feet in the air. The chair the deer had been sitting on fell over during that manoeuvre and made it even more intriguing to watch. Then he had another really good idea he could build into his play:
"That´s what you get when you annoy the carnivores too much…" the grey wolf growled at him, fooling the lions even more with that, "…any last words?"
POV Kai
"What would my last words be?"
I asked myself, still looking at the barrel of the gun I held in my hands. For minutes I´ve been standing around here already, not bothered about the time passing by or anything else for that matter.
"Should I write a letter to my parents? Or to my dorm-mates maybe? Would anyone really miss me if I wasn´t there anymore?"
It really was depressing to even just think of it, but I couldn´t help myself. It would just be so easy right now. I was all alone and I had a loaded weapon. I never even imagined being in that situation one day.
"I am all alone and I have a loaded weapon…"
It just came to my mind from another perspective,
"…I could also play a bit of real-life GTA before I end it all! …I could steal a car, cause some chaos and then just shoot myself all when they catch me. I would be unstoppable, no matter how much more I´d fuck up my life. I wouldn't have to mind about it anymore anyway."
Just the thought of that made it feel really cool for a moment. Life was so much more exciting without the consequences.
It felt cool for a few moments, but then I suddenly had doubts about it again and it didn´t feel that easy anymore.
"What if I mess it up? What if I don't have the guts to pull the trigger?"
Now it seemed like a really stupid idea once again. It wouldn't fix anything after all. I would just be remembered as a dumbass and a coward, taking the easy way out.
I wasn't quite sure why that at all mattered to me when I wouldn´t have anything to do with it after I was dead anyway, but it did matter and I just couldn´t shake that feeling.
I took another look at the gun now.
"Does this thing actually work?"
I haven't had an opportunity to test it yet, but this far out here in the woods I was pretty sure nobody would hear if I fired one single bullet. I was at least a mile away from my house, and there was not much else in between either.
I carefully undid the safety-lever and quickly checked my surroundings once again. I still was all alone, nobody was to be seen, nobody was to be heard, I didn´t smell anything either. It was just me, the cold forest around me and that handgun.
Not knowing what else I could shoot at, I aimed both rear and fore-sight at the ground, gripping the handle tightly and with both my hands. I figured nobody would find the bullet under the snow in the near future, and as I didn´t want to leave any other traces either, the seemed to be the best option.
It gave me a little rush of adrenaline as I moved my finger towards the trigger slowly but surely, but then I just shook it off and let it happen. I pulled the trigger without wasting another thought about it, and that suddenly changed everything.
The sheer power and loudness of that explosion immediately made me panic. The recoil of the shot almost had me dropping the gun onto the floor. It was so much more present and violent than I had anticipated. The bang was so loud that everything else felt drowned out for a moment. It was so loud that I immediately started to regret my earlier thinking.
"Fuck! Somebody must have heard that! I´m such an Idiot! What was I thinking?"
The shock about that realisation gave me another rush of adrenaline, my pulse speeded up even more and caused me to panic even harder.
"Fucking shit! What the fuck?! What do I do?"
I needed to get away from this place. Far away. And I needed to get rid of that gun. That was the only thought I had on my mind right now.
Not knowing what else to do, I started running even deeper into the forest now. I didn´t even check where my shot went, I just wanted to get away from here.
"What a stupid fucking Idea!"
POV Legoshi
"Grab the box in my shirt…" I whispered towards him very lowly, "…tranquilizer darts. Throw them."
He quickly took the box from the pocket and hid it behind his back, still pretending I was choking him to death right now. When I was sure he had them, I turned to the right and threw him onto the ground, really trying not to hurt him while still keeping it believable. We had practised it in drama club how to land on the floor in the most comfortable way, and that skill surely came in handy for us right now. Then I growled at him a little louder once again.
My blood was full of adrenaline right now, but I somehow just knew what I had to do. This idea was just about stupid enough to work out.
At first I thought the bullshit I made up right now wouldn´t be believable at all and wouldn't make any sense anymore at some point, but I just worked out fine in the end. Louis landing on the floor like that must still have been quite painful, but it seemed like he was alright and ready to fight if he had to.
"I should just rip you in half and let you bleed out in pain…" I panted with a deep growl, "…but I´ll do you the favour and make it quick!"
I looked towards the lion who suggested the deal earlier, then I just blurted at him: "gun!"
That confused him for a moment. "You´re a wolf, use your claws, stop hiding your-"
"I´m not gonna make a bloodbath in here!" I told him coldly, "We are professionals."
I took a quick look around, then I focussed just on him again with a very serious look, not going easy on him with my faked aggression against Louis, "…now give me a gun!"
Apparently really rather intimidated by that, he actually reached it over to me now, seemingly convinced I was about to shoot the red deer in the face in just a moment.
Nobody in the room moved a muscle. They all just stared at my performance, pretty much like when I was on stage for the drama club.
I pointed the gun straight at Louis´ face now, then I lifted him up with my left arm so he was standing upright once again. For another moment I pointed the gun at his head, then I loudly spoke up, blinking both my eyes him quickly: "…anything you still want to say while you can?"
That was followed a short moment of loaded silence.
"…yeah…" he coughed, taking a quick look behind me, effectively distracting everybody who was watching with that, "…your girlfriend is freaking hot. I would totally have tried to break into her flat as well if I knew that…"
That was just the distraction I needed. The precise moment the lions turned towards Skye with their big, dumb grins, I released Louis, turned around, aimed the gun at the big glass-bottle in the middle of the table and just pulled the trigger. As I never had shot or even aimed a gun at anything before, I just trusted my instincts with this. This was the only chance I would get.
It really was convenient that neither Skye, nor Boris or Ten were sitting at that table right now. I actually hit my target with the first bullet and it had just the effect I was hoping for. Thick shards of glass were flying off in almost every direction and immediately caused chaos and a lot of damage.
A few of the lions actually got hit and injured by the shredders, and before anyone of them could actually react, Louis began throwing the tranquilizer darts at them as hard as he could.
As this was the first ever shot I took with a real handgun, I wasn't really prepared for the recoil that thing had and it actually hurt in my hand a little bit, but it was not too bad in the end. I hadn't expected it to be this powerful, but the adrenaline and the circumstances of the situation now made me forget about it pretty quickly. I couldn't let that distract me, we had to use that advantage as long as we had it.
While the loudness of that shot still numbed my hearing a little, I moved towards the lion who gave the gun to me just a moment ago and smashed it right into his face, sending him off his chair and straight into unconsciousness with that impact.
One of them aimed their gun at me now, but in that precise moment Skye hit him in the face with her feet and slammed his body into the table behind him quite brutally.
But then another gunshot cut through the scene. It wasn´t quite as loud as the one I just had fired, but it was quite present nevertheless. I felt a sharp pain in the side of my stomach, but it was gone just a moment later as the adrenaline made me forget about it almost immediately. I still was on high alert.
I lunged towards the next enemy in line, punching the gun out of his hand and swiping him off his feet as well then. Skye´s training has paid off I just noticed in that moment. My punches where so much more effective, I was a lot quicker and it was even easier to push an animal like a lion onto the floor now. I felt so much stronger and my punches felt so much more violent, I really was a little scared of myself in the meanwhile. But I used it to my advantage and wouldn´t give those lions any mercy anymore. After I had punched the second one unconscious, I finally decided to get rid of the gun I was still holding in my right hand. It hindered me in my fighting-style anyway, so I just threw it away so it would slide under one of the nearby tables. Not bothered about where it would end up in the end, I already charged for the next Shishigumi member who tried attacking Louis now, saving him just in time. Everything was happening so fast. More enemies where coming towards me and I had to use every single trick Skye had taught me in the last few days.
I hadn't even noticed where that gun went, but it was out of my sight and that was all I cared about right now. It had fulfilled its purpose, but I didn´t want to get anyone killed with that thing.
Normal POV
Not giving it a single further thought, the brown furred mongoose threw the gun into the hole he dug into the frozen ground and began shovelling earth and snow back over it once again. It really hurt in his hands, the ground was very hard and the snow was freezing cold, but that wasn´t stopping him.
"I don't have to do this! I deserve to life! I deserve a second chance!"
He really had been thinking about killing himself. But over what? A stupid high-school drama-club performance that got over-shadowed by somebody trying to kill the nice wolf everybody adored? A girl that never had and never will have any feelings for him? About some stupid test he messed up to learn the script of thet lead role?
It just seemed ridiculous now that he thought more clearly about it. He would laugh about all this a few years from now.
"My life has to change. I have to change! I have to step up and show the world that there was more to me than just a little idiot who wants to get into the spotlight."
He leaned himself a nearby tree and let himself sink all the way down until he was sitting in the cold and wet snow underneath it. His pulse now slowed down slowly but surely and his tunnel-visioned view got a little more-clear as well. He still was all alone here.
"Legoshi got surrounded by an entire freaking clan of lions and still kept on fighting. He wanted us to keep the show going, he wanted us to stay strong. He could probably never forgive himself if he found out I killed myself over this bullshit. Be a man about it and fix your life, Kai!"
Legoshi hadn't even noticed that he got shot just a few moments ago. His muscles were stirred up to the maximum when he finally got to use all the moves Skye and Gouhin had taught him in the last few days. Some of the lions had recovered a little from the shards of glass that hit them and at least tried to fight back, but the rage of the wolf was too much for them yet once again. Ten and Boris had joined the fight as well in the meanwhile and even Louis tried to help. The tranquilizers he threw at them just hit one of the lions in the end, but he immediately got knocked out by it at least.
Skye was flying through the air like a bullet once again. Before they could even protect themselves, she smashed her feet into their faces, dodged their swings with skilfully executed flips and charged right for the next one a moment later. All that repressed rage she had been holding in came out right now. She finally didn´t have to hold back anymore.
When Boris looked up from the floor he just got pushed onto, he witnessed with his own eyes how she used her mad skills to knock out another one of them. She had been running across the table, lunged right towards the lion who had just beat him down and absolutely obliterated him. In mid-air she quickly brought one of her legs forwards and before he could even look, smashed her knee into the lion´s head, causing an audible and really disgusting noise with that. The lion was unconscious before he even hit the floor. He just kept on lying there as two of his teeth kept on sliding across the floor and came to a halt a few feet away from him.
"Stop staring, will you?" the white furred vixen asked him beneath her breath while reaching him a hand to help him up quickly.
"Damn that was so fucking hot…"
She just ignored that comment from him and quickly scanned her surroundings. She was a bit out of breath at this point, so she was glad about a quick moment to re-adjust.
But just before she could build up any momentum once again, one of the felines suddenly lunged towards Boris from the side, having a knife in his hands.
"Watch out!" Skye yelled at him, but she wasn´t in any reach to protect him.
But just before the Lion could shank the wolf into the side of his stomach, Legoshi quickly pushed Boris out of the way and saved him from the blade that way. He ended up lying on the floor yet once again, not having landed in the most elegant way possible, but at least he wasn´t getting stabbed.
Legoshi on the other hand couldn't make it past that blade in time and cut himself at the ribs quite badly before he hit the floor.
"Legoshi!" Skye yelled, staring in pure disbelief as she couldn't stop that from happening once again. She had realized that he had injured himself with that, but there wasn't any time to help him right now. That lion with the knife was out for blood. He had no more reasons to give them any mercy. His clan couldn´t recover from that fight, they had lost too many men already, so what he was doing was pure revenge at this point. He wanted to pull them down with him.
She had to keep fighting and she had to win this, there was no other way.
"Goddammit Legoshi, not again!" she sighed lowly, preparing himself for the lion to attack her now.
She really saw him as somewhat of a mentor in the meanwhile, especially after that marvellous acting-performance he just displayed in front of a criminal and heavily armed clan, but there still were these times when she just couldn´t understand him.
"You just keep thinking about the others safety, risking your own life for them! Legoshi, you really need to focus on yourself and your own well-being as well! You cannot save everyone! Please Legoshi, do me the favour! Care about yourself for once!"
"I always cared about myself. Ever since I´ve began highschool, I always just cared about myself! I didn´t care about the problems of my class- or dormmates, I didn´t bother helping anybody with their homework or studying, it was always just me…"
Thinking about his life so far resulted in quite a thick lump building up in his throat.
"Fuck…I was such an asshole to everyone! No wonder nobody took me serious all this time. I´ve just been taking what has been handed to me, but I never returned any favours. I just took everything like I deserved it, but I just didn´t. Did I really need a fucking gun to realize that?"
The mongoose still sat there on the cold floor, leaning himself against the tree behind him. He had tears in his eyes now, probably for the first time in quite a few years. There was this really uncomfortable, sore and cramped feeling pain in the back of his throat, and there just wasn't anything he could do about it. He felt like crying right now, and somehow, he wasn´t even ashamed about doing it right now. It´s been overdue since quite a while. It felt kinda good to be honest with himself for once.
"Maybe Bill cried as well when he was rejected by everybody in the drama-club."
It suddenly came to his mind,
"…he surely tried to look tough and unbothered about it, but he had done even worse things than me in the end… …and I still feel terrible about it what I did."
Bill had really been fighting with Legoshi. He tried to provoke him. He even tried to drug him, not even freaking chocolate stopped him. He paid the price for that in the end, but I still wouldn´t ever had been able to forgive him like that if I was Legoshi. But compared to Bill it wasn´t really that bad what I did. Nobody even complained about anything really.
"Maybe I should talk to him? Ask him how he dealt with it. How he was still able to look at himself in the mirror."
His hands still hurt a little bit from the recoil of that gunshot, and also from digging up the ground to bury it afterwards, but when he looked at them, they didn´t look injured. Just a little dirty. When he tried rubbing the dirt it off his hands, it didn´t really want to move, but making it a little wet with snow did the trick. It still hurt a little bit, but it wouldn't hurt forever.
"I´m not broken. All this will heal. I´m not a bad person, I just have to work on it. I still have reasons to live, I just have to stick to them. I have to stop crying about it, I have stand up and fight for my happiness! Fight for it you moron! Get off your ass and fight!"
POV Skye
I´ve been fighting against quite a lot of scary enemies before, but this right now was really sketchy. He almost managed to get me as well with his knife, and just dodging his swings was close to impossible at this point. It seemed like his mind was totally blurred as well, because if it wasn´t he would have noticed that all his mates were defeated in the meanwhile.
"Come here you little bitch!" he yelled at me in total rage, trying to stab me over and over again, pushing me further and further back into the room. There was a wall behind me and I was getting closer and closer to it, because of his knife not having any chances of fleeing from it.
Using the very last chance I saw, I jumped towards the wall quickly, repelled myself off of it and tried to hit his head with my fists as hard as possible. But he reacted a lot quicker than most of the other guys and dodged my attack just before I could hit him. I felt a sharp pain in my left arm as I flew past him and landed on the hard floor quite uncomfortably.
As it was almost impossible for me to use that arm to lift myself up now, it felt like it was something serious this time. It weakened me too much to get up, and that rage-driven bastards already came closer towards me again.
Before I could react in any way, he brutally stomped onto my stomach with one of his feet, pinning me down to the floor very effectively.
"You´ve been getting on our nerves long enough" he growled, showing me his blood-stained blade once again, bending down now and bringing it really close to my face with that.
POV Legoshi
My mind really was racing now. It had taken me far too long to get onto my feet again and now Skye was not able to move anymore as it seemed. I wasn´t quite sure what had happened to her, but I knew I had to stop that lion with the blade. Losing her was the most-scary thing I could think of.
With the last force I had, and although it was really painful, I began running towards the guy with the knife and lunged at him in the very last moment before he would have used that knife on her. I crashed head first into his torso and swiped him right of his feet and off of Skye with that, but that really was the last thing I was capable of. I didn´t have the energy to get up anymore after that. My body was just at its limit at this point.
The lion however was still able to get back up onto his feet and slowly but surely picked up the knife he had dropped on the floor when I had crashed into him. Then he turned towards us again.
I knew I couldn´t fight that guy anymore, but I still had that one instinct in my head:
"I have to protect her!"
I gathered all the force I had left in my muscles and climbed on top of her quickly, shielding her from whatever that lion wanted to do with his knife.
I was almost certain I would get stabbed, probably even killed right now, but then a really loud noise suddenly ripped through the scene. I assumed it was a gunshot.
It was followed by somebody falling over next to us and then nothing but silence. The knife slid across the floor until it came to a halt right besides us, and when I took a look to my right I knew why its owner had dropped it and why he had collapsed besides us. He had a big, bleeding bullet-hole in his forehead.
"Saved you again…" a familiar voice commented from above with a dry little chuckle.
I took a look to my left and saw Louis standing besides us, still holding the smoking gun in his hands.
"…but now it´s done, the Shishigumi are gone."
It seemed to be true. Boris and Ten were moving towards us as well now, none of the lions seemed to be conscious or in any condition to fight anymore. I didn´t need to know anything more than that.
I just cared about the most important thing in my life, and she was still lying under me.
"Are you alright?" I asked lowly, really concerned since I just noticed she was bleeding from her shoulder.
"You really are a dumbass sometimes, you know that?" she asked weakly, still with that ironic little smirk on her face though.
"Yeah, I know…" I sighed, happy she was still well enough to smile, "…I´m very sorry."
"Can you get off me, please?" she asked lowly, "…you´re heavy."
"Yeah…sorry…" I said, trying to lift my upper body off the ground carefully. It really hurt and it was really exhausting, but eventually I was able to get back up onto my knees.
Then I reached her a hand and helped her up as well. Not having the force to keep herself upright on her own, she put her good arm around my neck and supported herself so she could at least sit upright right now.
Then she just kissed me deeply, not at all bothered that they all were watching us. It had never felt this genuine and this well-earned before. It felt so good, it made me forget about everything else for a moment. It made me forget about the pain in various parts of my body, it made me forget about the dead lion that was lying right next to us, I didn´t even care about the knife he almost killed me with. It was just her and I and all that I ever wanted.
POV Boris
"Told you" I whispered towards her lowly, as she apparently couldn't quite believe her eyes right now either.
It was her who kissed him. She was not faking it and she was not ashamed about showing it either.
Ten just nodded slowly, not saying anything either. We all just stared at them with a mixture of pure awe and respect. It was thanks to them that this thing was a success, they deserved to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet.
The whole place a mess. Unconscious, partly heavily injured Shishigumi-members were lying on the floor, knocked over chairs and shards of glass were spread across the entire room. The blue lights of arriving police cars already reflected in the windows, and in between that, the woman who just saved my life was kissing the guy who just had saved my life as well.
I wasn´t even mad about it anymore. If there was anybody who would deserve to be with her, it was him. Him and no one else.
I just noticed that he was bleeding as well, and it really looked like that both of them would be better off in an ambulance pretty soon.
Police officers now rushed the building, pointed their guns at us and we immediately raised our hands of course. The red-deer quickly dropped the gun he had as well and did the same. Legoshi and Skye remained in their kneeling position though.
"It´s fine!" an unknown voice quickly cleared the situation, "…they are our guys, this is what we had anticipated for!"
A second later he moved through the row of officers and stepped into the middle of the scene. It was a middle-aged, black-furred horse who definitely looked familiar and he was followed by a komodo dragon who I was pretty sure I had seen before as well.
"Alright…" he announced, taking a quick look around, "…what happened here?"
POV Kai
"Where have you been all this time?" my mom asked me with a little chuckle while I quickly shook the snow off my jacket in front of the door so I wouldn't carry it inside. I was glad I finally made it back to the house. As most of my clothing was wet and cold and it also had started snowing pretty heavily on my way back home, a place to warm up was just what I needed right now.
"I needed some time alone" I explained, "…haven´t noticed how far I went…"
My mom now flashed a warm and understanding little smile at me, signalizing me to come in and close the door behind me already.
"…well, you seemed quite exhausted from school when you came home yesterday…" she commented then, "…but there is nothing that a little walk in the forest can´t fix, right?"
I just nodded once again, pulling my shoes off my feet and placing them on the shoe-rack rather neatly for my standards. As she normally complained when I just tossed them somewhere near it, I thought I didn´t have to provoke that right now.
"Yeah…school was kinda messed up in the last few weeks" I told her with a little sigh, and just as expected, she was really interested in me telling her more about it finally.
I didn´t feel like talking about anything yesterday, so it was no wonder she would appreciate if I opened up about that a little more.
"Wanna talk about it?" the hyena now asked with a motivating little smile, pointing at the kitchen, "…the first batch rexmas-cookies should be ready in just a few minutes, I´ll make us some hot tea as well if you want..."
She didn´t have to ask me twice about that. Something warm to eat and drink sounded just fantastic right now.
Sometimes, a mother just does know what´s best, there was no denying it.
I nodded with a contented little smile, then I followed her into the kitchen.
Normal POV
"What a waste of scotch…" Yahya commented dryly, slightly shaking his long head while examining the scene a little closer. The brown liquid was spilled all across the table and in little puddles on the floor, creating a really sticky surface as it was slowly drying out in the meanwhile.
Gosha stood beside him and nodded silently. The police officers and medics were already getting to work removing the unconscious and injured clan-members from the property, outside the building the first reporters and press-photographs had arrived already.
"That kid is going places…" Ten commented dryly, "…this would never have been possible without him. …but he really needs to be protected for now."
"This didn´t go down as planned though, did it?" the black horse asked, "…I was sure he would have used his inherited ability to his advantage…"
"No, it didn´t. But it was pretty clear that that plan would never have worked out. So he improvised. He acted out like he wanted to kill Louis, asked that idiot of a lion for a gun and he actually gave it to him" Ten explained, "…that wolf just has a natural talent."
"But why hasn´t he shot him right in the head and opened fire on the others as well?"
"Because I didn´t raise him to be a killer" Gosha commented that lowly, "…I tried to protect him from this life as well as I could…but…"
"You should have prepared him for something like this" Yahya told him coldly, "I´ve told you that a thousand times before…"
As he had anticipated that already, the komodo dragon ignored that comment and instead picked up one of the guns from the floor. With a trained eye he released the magazine and silently counted the bullets it still inherited.
"…you raised a really good person" Louis stated, now joining the little circle that had gathered, "…I haven't met anybody more-brave and grounded than him. He just saved my life again and all of us from a massive catastrophe."
They all looked at the red-deer now. Nobody said anything for quite a long moment, mostly because there wasn´t anything to add to that.
"He has…" Boris agreed with him lowly, "…but he also has made himself the biggest target of the city therefore. The black market is going to change now that the lions are gone...quite drastically I´m afraid…"
"He´s definitely proven himself to be worthy of the title…" Yahya commented dryly, "…but I don't think hiding would be a good idea right now. He needs to be the leading force the city needs right now…people need to see he´s alive and people need somebody like him as their inspiration!"
"He has to decide that for himself…" Gosha interrupted him, "…what he needs right now is a vacation."
"He just ended a clan with a 100-year heritage, he can´t just-"
Gosha now shut him up again, this time just by pointing at the spilled scotch on the table, followed by a quick shake of his head, "…first of all: this needs to get cleaned up and properly disposed. There is enough venom in this puddle to paralyze half the city."
"…there is?" Ten asked in slight surprise.
Louis just nodded to that quietly.
Gosha having made his point, he used the moment of silence that gave him and left them all standing there for now, heading for the exit of the building towards the ambulances.
They all knew he probably wanted to check on Legoshi at this point.
Louis was not afraid to immediately follow him. There was not a whole lot more left to do here anyway, and the paramedics should have treated his wounds a little in the meanwhile.
The situation outside all this had caused was quite unnerving. Pedestrians were trying to take pictures or even shoot videos; reporters pointed their microphones at the police officers and repeatedly asked them for quick statements.
They had already secured the scene with a black and yellow ribbon all around the entrance of the club, but with all the ambulances and police cars arriving the place got really crowded in the meanwhile.
When they arrived at the ambulance taking care of Legoshi, Gouhin was already there. The back doors of the car stood open and the grey wolf was sitting upright on the stretcher inside it, being naked on his upper body and having plasters on three different spots on his torso. His condition seemed stable, but he certainly had been in better shape before. His mind seemed to be a bit numb right now, It appeared they had given him some sort of painkillers already.
"How bad is it?" Gosha wanted to know.
"He has two rather deep knife-cuts and a gunshot-graze on the left side. It´ll heal, but he should take it easy for the next few weeks."
Gosha nodded in slight relief. At least he wasn´t too badly injured. That could have ended way worse for him.
Legoshi however didn´t seem to be bothered about that. He had just one thing on his mind:
"What…what about Skye?" he wanted to know, actually trying to get off of the stretcher to look for her. It was clear from the first sight that he was in no condition to walk, probably not even stand right now.
"She will be fine, Legoshi…" Gouhin stopped him, "…don't worry, she won´t die from it. It´s just a deep cut on her upper arm. Her muscles will heal over time."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Legoshi. You saved her!" the panda told him again, "…try to relax, okay? You´ll see her at the hospital later! I promise!"
He nodded shortly, then he let himself sink down onto the stretcher again. It seemed like he had used up all of his energy in the meanwhile, and his body was telling him that as well.
Gosha just smiled with a content little sigh. It was pretty risky what his grandson had done today, but he was still proud of him nevertheless. He still didn´t forget about his values after everything that has been going on.
"How bad is it?" Yahya asked the same question he just asked, joining them by the ambulance now.
"He´ll be alright" Gosha just sighed, "…but he needs to vanish from the media for a while."
The black furred horse actually nodded to that slowly. "…the black market is going to change. I don't know what is going to happen now that the Shishigumi are gone, but we should prepare ourselves for it."
"We can´t use Legoshi as a weapon for everything…" Gosha told him once again, "…he´s gonna be treated like a big threat now. We have to be careful. All that attention will get him killed one day."
"He´ll also be treated like a celebrity by the public…" the horse reminded him, "…don't underestimate that either…"
"I´m not sure that´s just helpful…" he sighed, still shaking his head a little bit.
"That boy has a gift! And he knows how to make use of it…you´ve seen him on stage, you know he´s born to be a star! People look up to him, people trust him!"
The Komodo dragon had to agree with that to some degree, there was just no denying it at this point, but he still wasn´t entirely convinced of the way Yahya wanted to deal with this.
"I raised him to be humble. He´s been nothing but humble about it, and now he´s getting pushed into a direction that is not good for him…" he sighed lowly, slowly turning to leave the ambulance now, as the medics were about to close the doors and drive off to the hospital.
"You´ve seen it for yourself…" the horse said while following him slowly, "…it´s him, and him alone, who deserves that kind of attention. The stage is all his now…"
POV Kai
"…so you were actually on stage in a lead role?" she asked in great excitement.
I nodded slowly. "…he had to leave the stage midway through our performance. He knew that I knew his lines, so he asked me if I could jump in for him."
"Well that must have been exciting…" she chuckled, "…and you took that chance without hesitation?"
I could tell she was proud of hearing it, and it actually was really nice to see her smile right now. It suited her well when she showed her sharp fangs from time to time.
"Made it all the way to the end…" I affirmed with a proud smirk, "…although I probably didn´t have the same level of routine as him…"
"You saved the performance! That´s all that matters!" she said, shrugging her shoulders a little, "…imagine how unsatisfied everybody would have been if you couldn´t have finished the show…"
Her saying that actually surprised me a little. It was true. I never really thought about that, but she was just right about that: It would have sucked even more if I hadn´t finished the show for him. They would have just cancelled the show and sent everybody home without the conclusion.
"Yeah, guess you´re right…" I chuckled in all honesty, as it just came to me once again:
"I am not worthless. And I´m not just a little asshole either… …I worked hard to be able to save that performance and I stepped up to the task! Who were they for judging me with their looks? At least I finished the fucking premiere! I´m not fucking worthless!"
I really enjoyed that thought right now. Just like so often, she was just plain right about that, and it just came to me again that I should listen to her more often in the future.
I helped myself to another one of the still warm raisin-cookies she had baked and took a bite contentedly. They tasted really delicious and sweed and lifted my spirits even a little more right now. The sugar gave me energy and the hot tea warmed me up from the inside really nicely.
"…you have photos?" my mom then asked with an excited little chuckle.
"What of the performance?" I asked, already taking out my phone from my pocket.
Like always after a premiere, Sanu had gathered a lot of photos and videos from our performances from multiple sources and shared them with everyone in the drama-club. The e-mail had arrived last evening already, but I hadn't actually looked at any of the pictures yet. I wasn´t quite sure what exactly awaited me, but I decided to browse through them together with my mom nevertheless. It couldn´t be that bad anyway.
She took a seat on the chair next to me and I opened the link in the email. Quite a big folder opened up and gave a swift preview of the pictures already.
We began browsing them one by one and it actually was quite exciting to see the fruit of our hard labour. It wasn't our best show ever, but it had left us with some really cool and memorable frames nevertheless. There were pictures from all angles, showing the band, the actors, our badass lighting with the smoke on the stage, moments from our dance routines and a really captivated audience.
"…so…that wolf…is he the main actor?" my mom asked after a little while, having guessed that just from his rather superior presence on the stage as it seemed.
"Yeah…" I affirmed, "…that´s Legoshi. He´s the one who got voted this year´s Beastar by the way…"
Just when I was done explaining that, she already swiped to the next picture in the album and a photo of him just in his loin-cloth came up.
"Oh…oh my…" she giggled in slight surprise, taking a slightly closer look at the screen now.
"Oh no…" I just muttered lowly. I had totally forgotten about that bullshit costume. She knew exactly why I reacted that way already.
"Have you been wearing that as well?" she asked with an excited chuckle, and sadly she already had anticipated me trying to steal my phone back out of her hands before she could keep swiping.
"Nonono…" she laughed in excitedly, putting it way out of my reach, "…you can´t hide that from me now!"
"Oh come on…" I told her with a little sigh, "…don't…"
But she already continued browsing and eventually found what she was searching for just a few pictures later.
"Mooom" I sighed, as she just couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably.
"What?" she chuckled, "You look good!"
"Can you stop looking at it?" I complained, trying once more to get the phone back from her.
"…no" she told me with a light hearted giggle, teasingly zooming in on it even closer now.
"Can you please stop? This is embarrassing…"
She just shook her head, still not being able to stop herself from giggling about it happily, and I had to admit that her chuckling actually was a little contagious right now. It felt good to laugh with her right now, I haven't done that in quite a while I just noticed.
"…have you been working out?" she then kept on teasing me with a little smirk, "…you look like you´ve been in the gym quite a lot lately…"
I didn´t know why, but I wasn´t even mad at her for asking that. It´s been a while since I´ve seen her this happy around me, and I really enjoyed it right now.
"…I shouldn't have told you about it" I told her with an ironic sigh, still burying my face in my hands, "…I totally forgot about that costume!"
She just rattled my shoulders a little bit, still being highly amused about it. "How come you haven't found a girlfriend yet?" she asked, "…a handsome young man like you? ...being a lead actor on the stage on top of that!"
I knew she probably said that just to tease me a little more, but it actually made me think about it for a moment:
I never really cared about getting into a relationship. I had a big crush on Juno, but I never even considered having a genuine relationship with her. Probably because I knew I would never have a chance at that anyway.
But just the thought about that made me remember something else right now: I had sex with her. I had sex with her and it has not even been me who talked her into it. I had done what most guys at the school could just dream about. That on its own was quite an achievement already.
In the end, I wasn´t even that bothered about not having a girlfriend yet. It probably was just a matter of time anyway.
"…I´m not quite sure if I´m ready for that yet…" I told my mom with a little sigh, before I lowly added: "…but it´s not like I didn´t get rewarded."
That just left her chuckling a little bit.
"…oh I can´t wait for the day I finally become a grandma" she giggled, "…I hope you don't keep me waiting for too long!"
I had already anticipated her to say something like that right now, this was not the first time she mentioned it, but we both knew she would probably have to wait a few more years for that to happen. I was still in high school after all.
"Yeah, yeah..." I sighed with a little chuckle, quickly swiping to another picture on my phone now, "…you´ll probably become a grandma one day…"
POV Jack
I was sitting in my bedroom in my parent´s house, and I felt sick in my stomach. I had just seen the news on the living-room television when I walked by it just by chance, and it shocked me to the core:
"Newly elected Beastar shot and injured in clan-fight."
It was everywhere. On TV, online, probably on the radio and in tomorrow's news-papers as well. I opened up a browser on my phone and looked for more accurate reports.
"The police captured over fifteen criminal members of the notorious Shishigumi-clan, allegedly wiping it completely off the streets therefore. The eighteen-year old Highschool-student Legoshi, who had been elected a young Beastar this year, had played an important part in this armed clan-deal, but was shot when the situation escalated. Rumor has it he has been hit by a gunshot-graze, but there is no more detailed info on his medical condition at this point…"
This just stressed the hell out of me. Nobody knew anything and I couldn't reach him either. He wasn't answering his phone and nobody at the hospital was allowed to tell me anything.
Almost all of my dorm mates have called or texted me already, asking if I knew something, but I was just as clueless as them. This really scared me right now.
"Oh Legoshi…are you really in that gangster-business now? Is that why you´ve been acting so strange lately?"
I just couldn´t understand any of this. Half a year ago, he was just a regular school-boy like me, now he had been part in taking down a criminal clan. I also couldn't understand why they wouldn´t tell us more about his condition. It seemed like he was alive, but that was all they said in the media. There were press photos of the place it happened at, there were photos of ambulances and police cars, but nothing interesting.
It looked like a strip club or something like that, there was broken glass and fallen over furniture everywhere, they had posted photos of the clan´s logo and the building they had used as their base, but nothing about Legoshi.
I really felt miserable right now. This was the worst start of a winter-break I´ve ever had in my life, being away from Anita and my friends all over sudden, and then those news came in.
Not even my family could cheer me up right now.
I just laid myself down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. There was nothing I could do about this fear of losing a friend.
Even if he survived what happened to him today, I didn´t even want to imagine what the future would be like for him. He was too deep in that world to get out of it anymore. He would probably have to watch out for every single step he took from now on.
As opposed to last week, I didn´t feel like a young adult who has a pretty good life right now, I felt like a scared little kid. I was worried about my friend and there was nothing I could do to help him.
I really wished Anita was here right now. It´s only been a day and I missed her already. At least I could text with her from time to time, but that was not the same. In times like this, I really just needed somebody I could hold on and snuggle myself into. Somebody who would make me forget about all the evil things out there.
I promised to visit her in the winter break, but as she was living pretty far away from my home, it wasn´t actually that easy to get there without a car. I was pretty sure Legoshi would have helped me with that problem as well if I asked nicely, but now he was laying in hospital with a gunshot-wound.
This just couldn´t get any worse at this point. Everything sucked right now.
POV Boris
As the paramedics had to completely cut apart his clothing when they treated his wounds in the ambulance, Ten had me going to his flat once again and pick up something fresh for him to wear when he would leave the Hospital. We had no clear prospect of when that would be exactly, but it was clear that he had to look his best when he did. It seemed like the media had promoted him from a Beastar to a straight up Superhero.
Reporters were still waiting in front of the entrance and just a very few people were even allowed into the hallway his room was in.
I wasn´t even mad about my task right now. There was so much going on in my head, I actually found it quite convenient to have a little time on my own and reflect on all that´s happened.
That kid had saved my life. They both saved my life as I was just standing there, freezing up and not looking out for what was going on around me. They both were in hospital, probably because of me, and I didn´t have a single scratch on me.
"Was it my jealousy that made me zone out like that? Was I getting too old to fight in the meanwhile? I´m just 32 goddammit, how can that kid be so much stronger and faster than me? Was Skye training with him? Was he in fights like that before?"
Searching through his flat now certainly felt a little different than it had earlier. It still was quite tidy here for an eighteen-year-old living here, but there still no doubt about what was going on here most of the time. It was not like I couldn´t understand it though, that undoubtedly was the best way to deal with the stress he must have been going through.
In his closet I quickly found what I was searching for. And added to the fine black business-suits and shoes, his casual clothing and his school uniforms were to be found in here as well in the meanwhile. It seemed like he had entirely switched to this place after all. But maybe it was just for the winter break.
There was one more thing that was by far more interesting though: When I checked out his safe quickly, I found a little cardboard-box on top of it. ´Female Birth control for Canines´ it said on the label, and from the slight bruises on the lid it looked like it had been in use already.
"Does this belong to Skye?"
It was the first thought I had on my mind of course, but then I noticed that it had almost as much dust on top of it as the safe it was standing on. It looked like it hadn´t been touched for a little while, so this either belonged to somebody who used to visit this place more often and thought this was a good place to keep it for the long run, or it really did belong to Skye and she really was set on her future.
"No, that can´t be true either…what the heck am I thinking right now? This freaking place was used for that by half his school! This could belong to anybody…who knows how many chicks he has nailed here."
As the label just said it was for canines, just thinking about it wouldn't bring me anywhere, so I tried to ignore it for now.
But I couldn´t stop myself from opening the safe out of curiosity, and just like I had been expecting, he still had hardly touched any of the money inside of it.
Now, with him having saved my life, I certainly had a slightly different view on this. I now understood why he didn´t use that money to impress his friends or some pretty girls: He simply didn´t need it. There was nothing he had to prove. They all know who he is and what he had done to achieve it.
I probably knew that earlier already, but I had just been trying to deny it all this time. I had been jealous of the kid, feeling so much smarter than him, but then he really taught me a lesson.
He just was a good guy, there was nothing more to it. He would have sacrificed his own life to save her, and he did the same for me after all.
Having found everything I was supposed to get from his flat, I locked his door behind me and went on my way back to the hospital again.
He deserved a woman like Skye, and there was no point in denying that she deserved a guy like him. She was one lucky girl and I could not judge her for that any longer. They both deserved to be happy, no matter what anyone was thinking. It was a simple as that, and we all had to accept it.
POV Juno
I was feeling sick in my stomach. It started like that in the morning already, but it got even worse when I heard it on the news this afternoon.
Legoshi has been hit by a gunshot in a bloody gang fight. There wasn´t any official information about his status yet, but it filled me with fear nevertheless.
He was still a high-school student after all, and behind that grown-up façade he still was that innocent and likable boy I had fallen in love with when I first met him. I had been picturing myself marrying him one day, having kids with him, spending rexmas-time here at my parent´s house with him and our son we would have called Leon, living a peaceful and happy life together.
And now he was probably fighting for his life, lying in a sterile hospital bed, regretting every single choice he´s ever made in his life.
I knew it probably was a little selfish to think like that right now, but what annoyed and hurt me most about that was that he probably didn´t waste a single thought about me right now.
I was just his friend for hanging out and having sex from time to time, but I never really was a part of his life. He never genuinely said that he loved me, he never wanted to show any emotions towards me in public. He didn´t even care that I fucked Kai in the night after the premiere. He surely noticed it, but he wasn´t bothered at all. That was how little I mattered to him.
I still kept on refreshing the tab in my browser from time to time though. I wanted to know what his condition was and I wanted him to be okay.
To distract myself, I continued watching childhood-movies I really liked, and it sort of did the trick in the end. The time was passing by and the snowstorm outside wasn´t bothering me either.
With so much going wrong these days, this actually made it kinda bearable to be alive right now.
POV Louis
Since there was nowhere else I needed to be at, I found myself waiting for him to wake up yet once again. I had asked the doctors if it was okay to keep an eye on him if I was quiet, and since they all knew I´ve been in that fight as well, they didn´t see a problem with it.
He was all stitched up and had fresh bandages on various places on his torso, but he also had been asleep for almost five hours in the meanwhile. I wasn't quite sure what still kept me here all this time, but I didn´t want to leave him alone. Not after everything he had done for me.
His sleep has been getting a little more unstable now, so I figured he would wake up pretty soon anyway.
Just when I came back from a little trip to the vending-machines, he finally began moving a little bit.
He slowly opened his eyes, raised his head from the pillow a little and carefully scanned his surroundings. It was pretty obvious what he was looking for, and I had surely been anticipating that already. When he noticed me sitting beside his bed, I couldn´t help but flash a little smile at him.
"Has somebody told you that you´re a good actor already?" I asked with a little wink, "…and I mean genuinely good, not just for a drama club actor…"
It took him a short moment to sort those words in his head, then he just humbly nodded with a little sigh. He took it as a compliment, but it wasn't really what he was interested in right now, understandably.
"She is two rooms down the hallway…" I told him the most important information, and that immediately changed his mood.
"Have you seen her?"
I nodded with a little smirk.
"She´s awake, probably waiting for you already."
That was all he wanted to hear, obviously. He took a short look at the infusion needle he had in his left arm, but as it wasn´t connected to anything right now, he just clenched his teeth to cope with the pain and lifted himself up on his palms so he was sitting upright on the matrass.
Then he really tried to stand up, and before I could even react, his feet touched the ground already. At first he used the bedframe to support his weight a little bit, then he noticed he was actually able to stand on his feet all by himself, and although he clearly was in considerable physical pain, he took the first few steps already.
"L-legoshi…you should be care-"
As it should have been clear to me right from the start, he completely ignored me of course, so I quickly decided to get the door for him rather than trying to stop him. I noticed that one of his stitched wounds already had started bleeding a little again, dyeing the bandage red in one spot, but that didn´t slow him down either.
Just before he had reached the door though, he stopped in his tracks for a moment and turned towards me.
"Thanks for saving us, Louis…" he said lowly, taking a step closer towards me and then hugging me without a warning, bare chested as he was.
He didn´t release me for quite a long moment, but it didn't actually feel that awkward right now. At first I thought this was a little too emotional, but then I just remembered that I had actually shot and killed a guy to save him once again. I wasn´t actually that bothered about it, as it wasn´t the first time I had killed one of those lions and he would have tried to kill Legoshi with his knife as well if I hadn´t stopped him, but for him it must have been quite a new experience after all.
Although he was injured and weaker than usual, his body still felt strong and impressive when he had his arms around me. There just was something about this guy that always made my breath a little heavier than usual. It was a mixture of fear, pure respect and also a bit of pride that struck me right now. I wanted him to see me as a friend after all, he was a good guy and he saw me as more than just a weak little herbivore. He always has.
"…you saved me first…" I chuckled lowly, hugging him back a little, "…and you finally managed to end that collection of bastards. It´s been long overdue."
He nodded shortly, then he released me again. That seemed to be all the time he had for me right now, but I was glad about that short moment nevertheless.
"…which room did you say it was?" he asked, stepping out into the hallway already. It seemed like the talk about the aftermath would have to wait for another time, he just wanted to see his girlfriend at this point.
"Room 6.21, it´s to your left…" I told him with a little chuckle, following him slowly.
He wasn´t bothered about the people staring at him in the hallway, just like he wasn't bothered to stay in his bed and take it easy. He knocked at the door when he reached it, then he entered, not even waiting for an answer.
He noticeably relaxed a little bit when he saw the white furred vixen smiling at him, and seeing him this happy just was such a wholesome thing to look at.
"…who let you out of your bed?" she asked with a little chuckle.
He kept on walking towards her slowly but surely, then he just leaned over her matrass and pulled her into a deep and loving kiss.
"I´m so glad you´re okay…" he whispered lowly, "…I don't care if I should be in bed right now."
She nodded with a little smile. "I´m glad you´re okay too. You really gave me a scare earlier…"
"Don't worry about me…" he chuckled weakly, "…we´re alive and that´s all that matters."
She nodded once again, then her grin widened a little bit.
"Well then…" she chuckled weakly but with an ironic little smirk, "…wanna go for some karaoke now?"
A new bonus chapter by RedLiteAlexi comes out tomorrow, it´s really awesome and really cute! Make sure to check that out!
After that, the next thing in line will be an update for my Aggretsuko story though, so don't expect a new chapter here too soon.
In the meantime, say hi on discord if you want, we have all the smut, all the memes and all the nonsense you could ever want. Just add me (Furrwolf#8163) and I´ll personally invite you to the server ?
Stay safe and healthy!
~furr