Disclaimer: See chapter one
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Chap. 6
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Hospital
Yugo and Kenji were both outside of one of the rooms in the hospital. Both males had their arms folded, but Yugo seemed a little more worried. At that moment, one of the nurses exited the room. Yugo looked up at her.
"So how is she?"
The nurse folded her arms lightly, "Her injuries are healing well, but she's still unconscious."
"Can we see her?"
"Of course."
Yugo nodded and he and Kenji entered the room. There in the bed was a young woman, most likely Kenji's age. Her medium hair was coppery in color and her right arm was bandaged. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing seemed steady. Next to her, another woman was examining the last of her injuries.
"Hey, Ally." Yugo said to the woman. "How is she?"
Alice turned to face the wolf zoanthrope, "Better. She's asleep."
Yugo sighed, "Well, that's a lot better than when we found her."
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*************
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Flashback, Airport...
"Ah, home sweet home."
Alice and Yugo had just returned from their paradise honeymoon in the Bahamas and were standing outside waiting for a taxi.
"I don't know. We could have stayed for a little longer." He grinned wolfishly, "You know, just for fun."
Alice playfully poked him in the ribs, "I think you had too much fun, mister."
His grin turned to light chuckling, "You act like you didn't enjoy it."
Now it was her turn to grin, "Well, that's my little secret then."
Yugo gave a half frown, "Hey that's not fa..."
Suddenly, Alice whirled around and gave him a deep kiss. Yugo was completely caught off-guard and was stunned as she moved away.
"Yeah. I enjoyed it. Now come on, let's..."
Yugo suddenly shot out his daze and grabbed her shoulder, "Wait."
Alice looked back up and saw that her husband's face was one of seriousness.
"What is it?"
Yugo turned his head around, his nose sniffing the air. "It's faint, but..." He sniffed again, "I smell...blood. And..."
He turned in one direction and began to walk, very quickly. Alice followed and they wound up going down three blocks and into an alleyway. There they found...
"Oh my god!"
Lying in a heap of trash was a young girl, badly injured. Blood was seeping out of a nasty gash in her right arm and an equally bad wound in her side. Alice quickly moved to the girl and placed her hand on her neck.
"She's still alive." she exclaimed. Quickly, Alice began to tear strips from her dress.
"Call the hospital quickly. I'll deal with this."
"Alright."
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*************
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"So that's the story."
Alice brushed a hand over the girl's head, "It was horrible. Her whole arm was slashed and she was stabbed in the side. I'm surprised she was able to heal so quickly."
Kenji narrowed his eyes and examined the unconscious girl, "Do you think that she's a zoanthrope."
"I don't know." Yugo shrugged. "It's possible. But I don't sense anything."
I wonder who did this to her?
Well, we can ask when she wakes up.
"Yeah." Yugo then moved behind Alice and lightly wrapped his arms around her. "Some end to a honeymoon, huh?"
The rabbit zoanthrope smiled lightly and reached back to caress his cheek, "Don't worry. I'll make it up later." Pulling away, "But right now, you two have to leave so that she can get her rest."
Yugo smiled and moved to the door, "Alright. See ya..."
"Mmm..."
"Hey, she's waking up."
Yugo and Alice turned at Kenji's remark to see that the woman was stirring. Slowly her eyes opened, showing her equally brown eyes, although one of them seemed darker. Almost red. Alice took it as one of her injuries.
"Where...?"
Alice placed a hand on the rising girl, "Don't try to move. You need to rest your body."
The girl slowly lowered back into the bed, "What...happened?"
"Maybe you could tell us." Yugo questioned. "We found you severely not far from here. You look like you've been in a fight."
The girl shut her eyes tightly, "I...don't know. I remember...a white...something." She shook her head lightly. "I don't know."
Alice gave a light smile, "Well, you're safe now. Just rest."
"Thank you."
"I'm Alice No... She stopped herself, realizing an important fact. "Oh what am I saying? Alice Ohgami." She then motioned to Yugo and Kenji, "This is my husband, Yugo Ohgami and his brother, Kenji."
The girl looked over at the two men and answered, "Nagi. My name is Nagi."
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*********
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"Nagi huh? Will she be alright?"
The following day, Kenji, Uriko, Shin, and Rei were all sitting in cafeteria in school. Kenji had related to them about the mysterious girl that was in the hospital.
"Yeah. Alice just said that she needed to rest now."
Uriko chomped down a spoonful of her food, "Maybe we could visit her, see what kind of person she is."
A knowing frown formed on Kenji's face, "I don't think that's a..."
Uriko cut him off and chirped, "Oh don't be such a stiff, Kenji. We're just showing a little curtesy."
The frown deepened, "Uriko..."
"Come on. It'll be great." Uriko went on. "Who knows? She might even be from this school."
"I doubt it." Kenji answered while taking a sip of his drink. "I didn't recognize her. And there's no one in this school with that name."
This earned him a hardened gaze from Uriko. "How do you know that?"
"I, uhhh...have my sources." he replied nervously.
Uriko blinked at his comment and let it slide (For now). Turning to Shin, "Yeah, anyway we should go meet her, right?"
Shin shook his head, "Sorry Uriko. But Kenji is right. After all, this girl still needs to recover. It wouldn't be good for all of us to just pop in there."
Uriko pouted, "Hmph, men. What do you say, Rei?"
Rei suddenly jumped and blinked hard. "Huh?"
All three at the table looked at her strangely.
"Rei, you alright?" Uriko asked.
Rei just gave a weak smile and waved her hand, "Oh, it's nothing. I was...just daydreaming."
Uriko shrugged while Kenji simply looked back at his lunch. Only Shin continued to look in her direction. Unlike the others, he didn't take her words for truth. He knew her enough to know when she had something on her mind and suspected as much. Her sudden daydream only confirmed his suspicions. Rei noticed his gaze and looked away, further telling him that something was amiss.
'We'll talk later.'
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*******
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Later (Much later)
Shin returned home exhausted and tired from the long day's work. But he didn't let it show as he entered the apartment and looked to see Rei into her homework. Rei lifted her eyes from the book and looked up at him.
"You look tired."
Shin gave a weary smile as he closed the door behind him. "I am. But you're not getting out that easily."
A shy smile formed on her face, "Was I that obvious?"
"Yep." He moved next to her and on the floor.
"So what is it?"
The shy expression faded away, "Saori...saw me the other day."
"She did?'
"Yes. It was strange." Rei slowly looked up at his eyes, "She asked if I...remembered her."
His eyes narrowed, very slightly. "That is strange."
"But what's stranger is that..." She began to struggle for words. Words that might express what she felt then.
"I don't know...I might."
Shin lowered his head for a long while before lifting it up to meet her gaze again, "Rei. You know that this job is probably the only thing that's supporting us right now." He hesitated, "But if there's any reason you think I should leave, any sort of danger, then...I will."
Rei blinked in shock and quickly shook her head, "Please don't. I just wanted you to know." Going in thought, "It's nothing dangerous, just a little weird. It's nothing to be concerned about."
Shin continued to hold his gaze and Rei found herself wanting to look away. But Shin finally turned his head, "Alright. If you are sure, then alright." Looking over at the clock, "You better get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow."
Nodding, Rei moved over to her futon nearby and pulled the covers over herself. As Shin moved away so that she could sleep, she whispered.
"Shin..." She felt she had to say something, but she didn't know what.
"Good night."
Shin nodded, "Good night, Rei."
As Shin left, Rei found herself thinking about what happened. And not just the talk they had, but something else. As she drifted to dreamland, one final thought entered her mind.
'His eyes…I never thought they were…so beautiful…'