Disclaimer: See Ch. 1
A groan. Dark reddish auburn eyes drifted slowly open. What had happened? He slowly sat up, noticing his right shoulder was slightly sluggish. Why was that? Then everything came back to him. The gun shot wound to the right shoulder, the long-haired young bartender, and the three assassins chasing after him. He'd have to thank the people here for their hospitality.
Just then, he heard footsteps outside the door. He readied a shuriken just in case. The door opened, revealing the long-haired man from before. He smiled at Hayate, causing him to loosen his grip on the shuriken. "Oh good! Your awake!" "How come my shoulder doesn't hurt?" Hayate asked before he could stop himself. The man before him blushed and suddenly found the floor more interesting to stare at. "Promise me you won't laugh." Hayate blinked in confusion. Why would he laugh? He voiced as much. "Umm...I can do magic..." he mumbled not meeting Hayate's eyes. Hayate's eyes widened in sudden realization. "Your a healer aren't you?" Ryu, expecting laughter, snapped to attention at the question. He simply nodded. "Who are you?" Ryu asked sitting down on a chair not to far from Hayate. In doing so, his waist-length braid fell over his shoulder. "I'm Hayate Jukanin. And you are?" "Ryu Hayabusa." They shook hands.
"Some people stopped by after I healed you." Hayate felt sudden dread in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to kill the man after he just saved his life. He regained his composure and voiced his next question. "What did they look like?" "One was a tall British woman with white hair and the other two were both men who looked like they wanted to kill someone." By the end of Ryu's sentence, Hayate's face was pale and sweaty. 'Oh, God! What if he told them I'm here!' Hayate thought, his mind panicked. He pulled out a shuriken and held it right under Ryu's chin. "W-what are you d-doing?" Fear was prominent in his eyes as well as anger. "What did you tell them?" Hayate growled out.
"I told them that I never seen you before and didn't know who you were. A partial truth at least." "They didn't come inside?" "No, but I got a feeling that they couldn't be trusted so I lied to them." At the beginning of Ryu's sentence, Hayate was certain that he was lying to them, but at the end of it, he was afraid for his safety. Hayate jerked the shuriken back like lightening struck him. He rubbed his temples tiredly.
"Do you know what you've done?" Hayate yelled at him. Ryu blinked at him in slight surprise, before narrowing his eyes at him. "Yeah, I know what I did! I just saved your ass twice by people who are trying to kill you!" Ryu yelled, glaring at him. "Now, they're gonna come after you too for lying to them!" "So?" Ryu said, prompting Hayate to look at him in surprise.
"Look okay. This company named DOATEC is after me, because I gained too much information from Project Epsilon when I got my memories back. That's why Donovan, the new head of the corporation wants me dead. He sent his three best assassins to take care of me." Ryu blinked several times. "And now they want me dead because I helped you?" Hayate nodded sadly. He hadn't meant to get someone else involved in his current situation.
"Right." "So what do we do now?" Ryu asked. "I leave." Ryu tipped his chair over when he jumped to his feet. He was outraged. This guy couldn't possibly be serious! Yet, one look at Hayate's face, told him he was. "Your not going out there! It isn't safe!" he yelled angrily. "And I suppose you think being inside means I'll be safer?" "Weren't you shot outside?" Ryu said fixing him with a piercing look. "Touche." "Now, I'll be going back downstairs to get ready for my shift, and you better not escape through the window or I'll drag your ass back here by your hair!" Ryu said and walked out, his long braid swishing behind him.
The door never closed, and in stepped a platinum grey-haired Chinese man. "When he gets like that, you'd do well to heed his warning. I didn't once and I lost several strands of hair because of it." "But why is he acting like that?" "Because he trusts you and will protect you." Hayate was speechless. He must've looked surprised, because the owner of the bar chuckled at his expression. "Once he trusts you like that, nothing will break it." Hayate nodded awestruck. How could somebody Ryu just met trust him so easily. "He usually doesn't trust with others as quickly as he did you. So, I'd consider yourself lucky to have someone as loyal and dedicated as him as your friend." Brad said and went downstairs, leaving Hayate to his thoughts.