-Ronin's pov-
Konosuke was leaning up against a tree when I found my way back to the clearing.
"Now you have the time to listen, right?" he asked lightly. I wasn't in the mood for another dragged-out battle, so I simply motioned for him to explain everything to me now. "You probably think that I was lying when I gave that whole 'I'll never take a human child's life' speech. No, Takoda. That was the truth. Because she's not dead, is she?"
"No," I snapped. "But her savior isn't too high up on your list."
He either ignored me or didn't understand me. "I purposely stabbed her through the right side of the chest, so not to hit her heart. It would've been simpler to do it through the left side, and I could've injured you more than I did if I had done that. But I spared her, and I still have a chance to kill you. Which I will."
Now I remembered my own injuries, where the long sword had gone into my stomach.
Charna's guts! I forgot all about them until now. Half of the blood on the floor is probably my own…no, maybe more like one fifth of the blood on the floor, it wasn't as bad as Toklata's…but still… Well, who cares, he's only got his left arm anyway.
While yammering to myself, I reached for my sword, whacked my hand on the empty sheath, and realized I'd left it here earlier in all my rush and confusion. Konosuke must have seen my frantic eyes searching for it, as he grinned and swung at me with his own. Still clumsy. This wouldn't be any problem at all.
"So, Takoda, that sword of yours, it was Jaden's, right? You've worked it to the bone. If you were going to survive this encounter, I would suggest getting your ass to Japan and getting a new one."
"I'll use that sword until it shatters to an unfixable degree," I corrected, and the conversation ended there.
I dodged for a while and threw a few punches, getting his already swollen jaw a few times. I've got to admit, I really enjoyed smacking him around. He did manage to knick me a few times, but nothing serious, except for a single lucky thrust that pierced just below my shoulder. (Ouch.) It was like sparring with a man who was both blind and deaf. (Certainly not mute, though, because he was hurling out curses that would've made Jaden blush; and she had lived all her life holed up in that damn Vampire Mountain.)
The sun was just starting to rise, and I caught a glint of the light off of metal from somewhere in the bushes. I was sure I could've grabbed Konosuke's sword from him, but compared to my katana, his tachi (seriously, tachi are huge swords, maybe five feet or more in length) would be heavier and too awkward for me (I had to feel completely in control—yes, it was sort of egotistical). So I ran for my own weapon, where I had noticed the gentle sun rays gleaming off of it, scooped it up, and turned back to him, smiling, with something twisted forming in my head.
With one swift movement, I charged and sent Konosuke hurtling into another tree, preparing a small speech in my head. He attempted to stand back up, but his legs buckled and he collapsed, still clutching that huge sword. Perfect.
"As is Toklata's wish, I won't kill you," I informed him lightly. "But you'll never hold a sword again. Don't worry, I won't cut any limbs off, that always seemed so gross to me. It should hurt quite a bit, though. In fact, I'd be disappointed if it didn't."
Before protest could be offered, I crushed the fingers on both his left and right hands with the dull side of my sword.
--
-Leigh's pov-
"What's wrong with me?" Toklata continued to quietly wail, more to herself than to me. "I feel sick. There's something wrong with me, I just know? Where's Ronin? He could tell what's wrong with me, I bet."
"Toklata, I think you should just try and rest now," I told her gently. "You lost a lot of blood, so maybe you're just feeling the effect of that? Some sleep and something to eat will do you good. Would you like me to fix you something?"
She nodded slowly, like she wasn't completely awake, and mumbled something about milk and cereal. I left to try and find some, wondering faintly if there really was something seriously wrong with her.
Ronin had said she was alive, but I couldn't help but wonder if he was implying that she was alive now, but wouldn't be in a small amount of time. Cursing his obscurity, I turned the kitchen upside down looking for Toklata's requested dish, looking last in a small cupboard above the sink, which, of course, was the one that had the cereal in it.
While pouring it and some milk into a bowl, a thought crossed my mind. Usually when doctors say that a patient had lost a lot of blood, but are alive, the process of saving them usually involved donated blood.
Did Ronin give her some of his blood? And she's having some reaction to it? What's the chance they have the same blood type…and he's a vampire…so her body is just trying to fight of the vampire part…does that even make sense?
I took the bowl to Toklata, and then ran back out to the living room, where I had seen a small bookshelf. There were only a few books on vampires, but I pulled each one out and carried them back to the bathroom, sitting by the sink and skimming the pages of the first book on the pile (which was huge).
"What are you looking at, Leigh?" Toklata asked weakly, putting down the half-eaten bowl of cereal and rearranging herself so that she was lying down.
"Trying to figure out why you're hurting so badly. And more about Ronin. Are you done with your cereal?"
"Yes ma'am," she confirmed, laying her head on the blankets. "I'm surprised that I'm alive. And I'm glad that I passed out, it must have hurt when Ronin sewed me up."
"Oh, so he did sew you up with fishing line?" I chuckled. "That'll be fun to take out. Oh well, you're alive. Now get some rest."
I closed the bath curtain so the bathroom light didn't bother her too much and again picked up the book, checking if it had some easy-reference index.
Well, it didn't. I would be doing this for a while.
--
-Ronin's pov-
"What to do with you now? You're no danger anymore. You'll never be able to hold a sword again, hopefully. With this stupid modern medicine, you never know. But from what I see, there's no repairing your fingers."
He didn't say a thing, only looked up at me with spite-filled eyes, shaking from the pain of the shattered bones in his fingers and all the other injuries I had given him.
I almost felt pity for him. He honestly did have a good reason to hate vampires, and if I had been in his shoes…well, who knows. Now I just had to figure out what to do with him.
I was surprised that my thoughts seemed so clear and rational after just blooding Toklata. It seemed that I was always surprised when I was around her.
"Kill me," Konosuke suddenly demanded. "If you don't, I'll keep coming after you until the day I die."
"That's an empty threat," I snarled. "I'm going to let Toklata decide what to do with you; she can be more merciful than I can, I'm sure."
I attempted to knock him out again and drag him back to Toklata, like some twisted gift, but he caught my hand.
"Kill me," he repeated, struggling to hold my fist back with his left and right palms (he was intelligent enough not to try to move his fingers at all).
"Don't be stubborn. I'm sparing you, even after what you did to Jaden. Actually, you owe the girl a thank you or two; if it truly were up to me, you'd be dying a slow and painful death right now. I'm not gonna give you some mushy speech—I think you deserve to die. But if you need some motivation to live, you can ask Toklata. I'm taking you back to your home. She's there, so don't go kill yourself until after she sees you."
I punched him with my other hand, knocking him out.
-
I saw Leigh waiting on the back steps as I approached the house, looking at some book. The sun was still up, but the house wasn't too far away, even with the unconscious Konosuke slung over my shoulder (a position I never ever want to be in again).
She heard me coming and looked up from the book. She wasn't too happy to see me, apparently. Her face was twisted into an indignant, angry expression, and she was shaking her head slightly at me. She got up and walked towards me, hands curled into fists. I saw what was coming and jumped out of the way as she aimed a punch at me.
"How could you do that to her, Ronin! She had her whole life ahead of her and you just destroyed it! I hate you! You're so goddamn selfish and I hate you!"
I sighed and grabbed a hold of her wrist when she tried to hit me again. "So you figured it out, huh? You're saying you'd rather have seen her die?"
Her arm fell limp and she lowered her gaze. I guess she hadn't thought about that part.
"Leigh, I wouldn't have blooded her even if she had begged me to. It just happened to come down to a life-or-death situation, and I panicked. Better alive as a half-vampire than dead, right?"
"Half?" she echoed, sounding like she wasn't all quite there. I nodded and led her inside gently.
Now that Leigh had figured it out, I just had to break the news to Toklata.