Wow, uh, this update has been a LONG time in coming. So, hope it was worth the wait, at least. Enjoy!
He glanced into the falcon's beady eyes. They seemed to be telling him something. Or asking him something.
You horrible person. Did that make you feel any better?
No. He tore his eyes away, turning to the limp form on the bed. He had brought her back. It was his duty to protect her.
A small, cruel smile graced his lips. What nobody seems to realise is that the only thing she needs to be protected from is me.
A soft whimper escaped the girl's lips. She was tossing and turning fitfully in her unconsciousness.
Pitiful. This is where the Mugen-Tenshin clan would have gone? To an innocent young girl who was thrown into the turmoil of bloodshed?
With a loud caw, the falcon flapped off its perch and onto his shoulder, pecking him harder then usual. It seemed that the falcon itself didn't like what he was thinking, either.
He swatted it off angrily with a hand. "I'll get you something to eat later. Although, you are more then capable of getting something yourself,"
After finding it near-dead as an abandoned chick one day, he had hand-raised it in the solitude of his cottage. Not much else to do. Somehow, it had seemed to become attached to him, something he didn't overly like or understand to some extent, but there was little he could do about it now. Besides killing the thing, of course…
"Kasumi, Kasumi, Kasumi," he stood over the young girl's sleeping form. "What will I do with you? Should I kill you? Or should I leave you be?"
No. My promise to myself has been fulfilled. My grudges settled. I can leave her be, and at least nurse her back to health. She shouldn't have taken too much damage.
He examined the wound closely. Simply nothing more then a poorly timed round wound just above the hip bone. Shouldn't do too much lasting damage. He padded the wound, bandaging it as carefully as he could.
A loud and indignant caw interrupted his musings. He turned around to see the somewhat piqued falcon, which had moved to sitting on the table. It cocked its head, looking intently at him. He sighed. "Go and find your own food,"
With one last 'look', the falcon flapped its wings and soared out of the window.
A soft whimper came from the young girl, still sleeping fitfully. He pulled another blanket over her, knowing that there was not much else that he could do to help her.
Kasumi. Please understand.
But deep down in his heart, there was no way to make the act against her he had committed 'legitimate', which made him sober quickly. Revenge is such a reckless act… I thought I had matured beyond that.
And perhaps there was another way. Another way then to take out the anger of that binding promise on her. Never was it her fault that Hayate chose to hunt her down…
Or perhaps it was. All things aside, she should have been killed long ago.
And a promise is a promise.