Note from me: Heyo everyone, Jester here with the next exciting chapter of A Dead Arrow. Which took me much longer then I planned to release it, as I was stuck trying to get Saya's personality just right and not throwing her too much out of character. And trying to give the same experience as Takashi and Rei had when they separated from the group while also making a small bonding moment between Saya and Nao which I hope you all enjoy it! Anything else?... no don't think so this chapter was also longer than planned but hope you all like it anyway!

A Dead Arrow

Chapter 4: The Dead Mile

"You actually live around here?"

An annoyed pinkette said as she followed behind her much taller orange haired companion though companion might have been too strong of word for the pair. They were more like two prison inmates who escaped custody and were handcuffed together type of deal, at least that's how Nao looked at it.

Since the pair broke off from the group on the bus, she had been complaining the whole time about him knocking her to the ground. Taking advantage of the situation when they were on the ground, and on the bus when he unintentionally peeked up her skirt. And well he did stare at her legs and chest a little longer then he'd like to admit, so maybe he did deserve that much. But now she was complaining about his neighborhood…

"Sorry we can't all be rich and spoiled enough to have a mansion on the hill." Nao mumbled under his breath hoping she wouldn't hear him but… "What was that?!" No luck, Takagi screamed out behind him. He couldn't help but flinched a bit at her voice. Not because it hurt but because of how much attention she drew to them, though lucky none of Them had made an appearance so far.

"Ya know, for someone who discovered they can't see or feel but hear pretty well you sure are loud." He pointed out, Takagi growled a bit at the teen. She knew he was right but her pride was on the line here, so she quickly stepped in front of him blocking his path just like when they got off the bus not too long ago.

"No! What did you mean by that!?" She demanded, she leaned over a bit in her signature 'Get in your face' type of pose. Which Nao knew from rumors was her way of looking down on people she felt were below her. Though all it did for him was give a small peek of her pink flowered pattern bra, since her large breasts gave a clear line of sight down her sailor uniform.

Nao blinked several times at the show she clearly didn't know she was giving before looking away, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "What's your problem?" Takagi asked, it brought a small thought of the blonde-haired doctor of how clueless the pinkette was at her little display.

But forcing his embarrassment away he glared the girl down, which didn't work as she only glared back at him. "Well not all of us have a rich daddy who gives us what we want like some bitch I know." He answered in a hostile tone of voice, which he didn't mean to let the word 'Bitch' slip out, but he was reaching the end of his patience with her. Takagi looked taken back for a moment before standing up straight crossing her arms under her large bosoms.

A smirk pulled at her lips as she had knowing look on her face "Jealous? Must be tough for someone like you." Nao's brow tensed up as he could feel his anger starting to bubble to the surface. "Someone like me?!" He shouted forgetting it was best to be quiet, Takagi's smirk grew larger as she looked up at him knowing she clearly was getting under his skin.

"Are you so stupid you don't even know what I'm talking about?" She asked, before turning sideways a bit to look like she was the most important person in the world. Nao took a deep breath to try and settle himself, he didn't know how Hirano did it. Stuck with Missy Pissy for so long, was a schoolboy's crush that blind?

"What's the matter stupid? Is your whittle brain broken?" Takagi asked in a condescending tone almost like how a mother would talk to a child, which made a large vain pop in his forehead. 'Don't kill her Nao, don't kill her. Just dump her off with her little boyfriend and run!' The bowman thought as he tried to control his temper, though he was failing.

Inhaling deeply through his nose "I'm not getting into this with you Takagi" He said as he exhaled his breath, it didn't settle his nerves in the least. But this wasn't the time or place to be arguing with her so he pushed past the girl, who looked stunned for a moment. 'No one has ever ignored me like that!' She thought, removing one of her arms from there spot under her boobs she carefully pushed her glasses up. She often did this when preparing for something…

'Sure Komuro ignores my berating but he normally has some short of come back or to just leave him alone. Miyamoto tends to just act like nothing happened but no has ever just brushed me aside like some child!' Takagi felt frustrated at this, no one she knew just treated her like a child aside from her parents but they weren't ever really around.

But Nao was here right in front of her, and acting like she was nothing but a nuisance! And God did that piss her off more than anything, more than Shido's cult recruitment, more than Hirano's constant drooling over her and more than the undead bastards that walked around.

But why did it bug her so much? Sure, she knew Nao since the start of the school year, never talked to him once, but she heard her fair share of rumors about him. Most of them flirty girl talk about how he was the only guy in the whole school with emerald green eyes, and a strange shade of messy orange bedhead hair.

But other than that, everything else about him was unknown, he was pretty much a nobody Captain of the Archery Club so why did being brushed off by him bugging her so much? Was it because a nobody loser like him was looking down on here? Or that in all the classes they shared his grades were right on point with hers? She didn't know and it was seriously beginning to piss her of!

Stomping once on the ground she cried out "I just don't get it!" Nao froze several feet away from her glancing back in her direction. "You done with your little outburst?" He casually asked, Takagi glared at him before stomping up to him pointing a finger at his chest.

"Listen here asshole! Don't act like your better than me! I'm smarter than you'll ever be!" She screamed at him, Nao could see her small fang tooth grind against her teeth in anger. It almost reminded him of a small dog he had seen once, the type of dog that would bark and growl at the others but run away when they came after it.

"Boy… if looks could kill." He mumbled, he was now keeping calm as could be. He wasn't going to play her little game, she wanted a rise out of him. And now that she wasn't getting one it was pissing her off royally, which his words weren't helping as she only looked angrier.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" She screamed even louder than before, just like when she snapped in the hallway at Takashi when he confronted her about her attitude. Though as she remembered that her eyes widen in realization…

'Why are you guys being all warm and fuzzy?' That's what she said to them, and right now that's how Nao was being. Well not warm and fuzzy... He was acting like nothing was going on, the car that flew towards them didn't happen, that he didn't try and abandon them at the first sign of trouble. That's what was pissing her off about him, he was being indifferent about the whole situation.

"How?.." Takagi asked, lowering the hand that poked Nao in the chest in defeat she couldn't help but wonder how he was keeping so calm. "How?" He repeated back like a parrot, Takagi grabbed her forearm in frustration as she tried to control her emotions. That strong desire to break down was rearing its ugly head again, but she refused to be seen as weak by some guy she barely knew. Especially after she acted all high and mighty.

"How… can you be so calm about our situation?" She asked, Nao raised an eyebrow in question taking notice that she was falling apart right before his very eyes. But he knew confronting her on it would only make it worse, or even trying to comfort her. She wasn't that type of girl nor was he even close enough to her to try it. She was straight and to the point with things which… he respected about her. He never liked beating around the bush either, she spoke her mind and wasn't afraid of her actions… like him…

"Well…" He started off, rubbing his short messy hair as he tried to pick his words correctly. "I knew a guy once, long time ago don't know where he is now and I don't care either way but…" He said, though Takagi noted the small hint of hate in his tone. But didn't interrupt as he continued. "He told me once when I was a kid when you're in a life or death situation you can either A just roll over and die. B accept it and move on or C come up with a plan and act. So, I chose to come up with a plan and act." Nao answered looking at the small girl who refused to look up at him.

"Isn't accept it, move on, planning and acting all the same thing?" Takagi asked 'She has a point…' Nao thought it did in fact sound the same but there was a difference at the same time. "Let me ask you this Takagi, what did you do when everything went south?" He asked her, Takagi blinked a bit confused where he was going with this.

"I grabbed Hirano and we moved to the workshop. Picked up some tools, and moved to the faculty office for our next course of action." Nao nodded once, made sense to him. After all it was outside the office where he encountered them the first time, which brought him to his next question.

"And what did Hirano want to do?" Takagi finally looked up at the taller teen, her fear of breaking was now replaced with interest. "He wanted to find a teacher to figure out what's going on. We happened to be outside the teachers' lounge when he told me his plan. Some other students had the same idea… didn't turn out well for them. I then ordered him to stick with me." Nao casually smiled at her, earning a small blush from the girl. Though she still didn't get where he was going with this.

"Hirano accepted what was going on and moved on, while you came up with a plan and acted no differently than how I handled it." Takagi raised a pink eyebrow at his words until it dawned on her what he was talking about, moving on wasn't acting on something. It was just accepting what was happening didn't mean you planned what to do next.

A small laugh escaped her lips "What do you know there is a brain in that head after all." She said, earning a dumbfounded look from her taller partner. His eyebrow twitched once in annoyance at her before turning on his heels and walking away. The pinkette crossed her arms under her chest as she watched him go for a moment, a small smile pulled at her lips.

'He's…. not so bad to be stuck with.' She thought though it wasn't much of a compliment, her situation could have been much worse. She could have been stuck with Takashi, who'd just mope around about his girlfriend. Hirano would just be doing whatever she ordered him to do, Shido…. A cold shiver ran up her spine at the idea of being alone with the pervy teacher.

"Hell no." She said quietly, so bringing her orange eyes up to her companion her eyes widen in panic as she saw him two blocks away! "HANG ON ASSHOLE!" She screamed after him, though he didn't stop only slowed down for her as she jogged after him.

…

…..

As the two moved several blocks further they still noticed a huge lack of the undead, which was strange Nao thought. There were hundreds at the school, even outside the gates along their way out, and even where they parted from the others. But since then it had been quiet there was even a shortage of living people as well, though it shouldn't be too much of a surprise really.

The people outside of the school had hours to flee before they even knew what was going on, after all this all began for him and Takagi around second period. So, that was… 9:20-10am, and they hadn't escaped the school since sunset meaning 6-30am. Glancing up at the moon, he noted it looked to be around the 8-9 position so people outside the school had close to 12 hours to flee.

So maybe the huge lack of undead wasn't too surprising after all, they would follow the survivors to wherever the closest evacuation point was. Which if memory served was across the river, and they were currently 2 miles away from there. That would mean the numbers around here would be minimal maybe even controllable not that he planned to stick around here long…

"Hey!" Someone screamed out behind Nao bringing his wandering thoughts back to his current company. "Where are we even going, you said your place was close by!" Takagi said, Nao stopped to look at her. He noticed she seemed a bit out of breath, tired looking which given all that had happened he wasn't surprised.

"It's not much further, I just wanted to stop somewhere really quick since it's along the way." Takagi sighed lightly, but didn't argue. 'She's more tired than I thought' Nao frowned a little, he felt a small amount of pity for the girl. It wasn't like she spent a lot of time running around like he did, he was on a sports team after all. Even worked a job outside of school, which was where they were heading.

As they reached the end of the block Nao paused looking across the street at a small store, then looked up and down the streets to make sure it was clear. Which thankfully it was before returning his gaze to the store, the sight brought a look of disappointment to his face.

"I had hoped they would have made it out…" Nao mumbled as his eyes scanned over the broken store, noticing first the shattered windows. From what he could only guess was Them since he could faintly make out drops of blood on a few broken pieces that were in front. The door was gone, completely knocked off its hinges from what looked to be the outside since the door was nowhere in sight out front.

"Stay close." He ordered his short partner, she looked up to him to argue only for him to move quickly across the street without her. "Damn him." She cursed before following, her movements were quiet as she ran across the road. Which Nao took notice she was almost as quiet as he was, glancing back at her he noticed she moved with a strange amount of grace.

"You danced at some point, didn't you?" He asked as they reached the front of the store, Takagi came to a stop beside him. "How did you know that?" She asked with a small amount suspicion in her voice, Nao looked down once again at her legs. He tilted the bow down a bit, her orange eyes trailed down to look at herself.

"You move with a lot of grace, plus you have slim legs." He said almost complimenting her, Takagi's face lit up a bit as she looked to him in a nervous panic but his gaze was back on the store. 'Stupid…' She thought, shaking her head a few times to get rid of her embarrassment she looked past him to the entrance of the store.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, Nao didn't remove his gaze from the doorway of the store. "There was an elderly couple who owned this place… good people. Stay here, I'll be right back." Nao quickly ran from her side before she could argue with him, her hand outstretched to try and grab him but only grasped air.

"Hey wait a minute!" She screamed out, but lost sight of him as he ducked into the small store. "What the hell is his problem?" She asked herself before grabbing one of her arms nervously, she removed her eyes from the store to look around quickly. Double checking for any of Them but the coast was clear, she now looked down to her own legs.

Carefully stretching out one of them to inspect it, there was still a few drops of blood from when she killed one of Them earlier. But that wasn't why she was looking them over. "Slim legs…" She whispered silently, a small blush retook her cheeks. True she had danced when she was a kid it was something her mom said she might enjoy, though she didn't stick with it long.

"But that was 8 years ago…" She could barely remember anything about it, the instructors annoyed her, the other girls were stupid, and her parents never showed up to any of her practices. That was about all she remembered about it, but she is a genius after all of course she'd know. And muscle memory tends to stick with someone for life…

'But why did his words bug me?' Takagi wondered as her cheeks warmed up even more, shaking her head a few times to dismiss the thought she returned her eyes to the store. It had been a few minutes since Nao entered the store, and she hadn't heard or seen him during the whole time.

Was he scavenging the store? No, the way he said 'There was an elderly couple who owned this place… good people.' It was almost like he knew the couple, glancing around one more time to make sure the coast was clear she carefully and quietly moved to the entrance of the store taking a peek inside.

"I thought I told you to wait there." Nao said coldly to her, as she saw him on his knees beside a body. "Well I thought you died or something, with how long you were taking." She returned his slightly cold tone with her own, crossing her warms in front of her large chest. Her eyes looked to the body in front of Nao, though she couldn't see much thanks to him being in the way. She could tell it was a woman, from the long skirt the woman worn.

"Who's that?" Takagi asked with little interest, or at least she tried to sound uninterested. Truthfully, she was curious as to why Nao ran into the shop and left her defenseless outside. After all, she knew how talent Nao is with a bow, in all the competitions she attended he never missed once. So, there was no denying he was the best in the whole school with a bow, and he was key to her own survival. Not that she'd say that out of fear of it turning against her…

"She's… She was, Yukiko Yamamoto. She was my boss when I worked here after school." Nao said, Takagi raised an eyebrow. "Having a job is against school rules you know." Nao didn't look at her, or pay much attention to her as he moved his hand to the elderly woman's face. And though Takagi couldn't see what he was doing from her angle she could only assume he was closing her eyes.

Nao then pushed himself to his feet as he carefully stepped over the woman, it was at this moment that Takagi got a look at the old woman's face. Her eyes widen in surprise at what she saw, there wasn't any bite marks only a single hole in the center of the woman's forehead. And her arms were bound behind her back which she was laying on in a strange position as her legs were slightly bent.

"Was she?..." Was all she could get out before Nao cut in from the other side of the store. "Shot execution style, on her knees defenseless…. Must have been painful…" Nao added towards the end as he was now beside an elderly man, who wasn't bound but was laying on his stomach a pool of blood under his frail old body.

"Painful?" Takagi questioned, she watched him carefully turn the old man's body over so he was on his back. "Old man Isao…" Takagi walked towards Nao as he was carefully laying the man on his back, three holes were in the man's chest. And a cane was firmly locked in his right hand as if holding onto it for dear life even in death.

"Must have gone down swinging… wouldn't surprise me." He said, he carefully undid the man's grasp on the cane carefully setting it on the ground when he was done. Then putting his arms under the man's armpits, he dragged it over to his once wife's body gently resting it beside her. He crossed the man's arms over his chest before standing up, his green eyes read nothing but pity and sadness for the two.

What he did next surprised Takagi as he clapped his hands together before closing his eyes, she soon realized what he was doing and copied his movements.

"So, with a boundless heart. Should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world. Upwards towards the sky, downwards towards the depths. Omitting none. May you be happy; may you be at ease. May you be free from danger, and may you be loved…"

He finished before opening his eyes, his hands casually fell to his sides as he glanced at Takagi who placed her hands on her hips. "Thank you." Was all he said before grabbing his bow which was left beside the old woman's body, he then exited the store with Takagi in tow.

The pinkette was a little confused as to how her orange haired protector knew a Buddhist prayer, as he didn't seem the religious type. About why he left the woman bound on the floor but left the man's arms crossed, and finally why he said 'Must have been painful' since he ignored her before. So, she grabbed his forearm bringing him to a stop, which he glanced back at her with interest.

"Okay you, one why did you leave her like that, two where did you learn that prayer and three what was painful?!" She asked loudly, Nao sighed trying to pull free from her but she wasn't going to let him go this time as she tighten her grasp a little. Which surprised the taller boy, despite her small frame she was a little stronger then he thought. So, with a small amount of reluctance he turned to her.

"Yukiko told me it once before, and well… I have a good memory for things like that. Makes it so I don't have to ask something twice, and…" Nao grew quiet as he answered her first question. "Someone handcuffed her, so unless I wanted to break her hand to get her free she was stuck like that." He answered, Takagi's normal scowl was gone as she wasn't sure what to say to his words. She released her grasp on him as she turns back to the store one last time, Nao looked over her to it as well before answering.

"She had horrible arthritis in her knees, couldn't even walk upstairs at closing time. I had to help carry her every night when the shop closed up, so someone had to force her to her knees…" He said in a cold tone before turning away from his once workplace one last time, as he walked away from it Takagi stood there for a moment.

'It must have been torture…' She thought not noticing Nao was leaving her behind, as she turned to look at him finally noticing he was almost twenty feet away she stomped once. "Hey asshole wait for me!" She ordered before taking off after the teen, who didn't bothering holding up for her.

Which turned out to be mistake as heavy steps came up behind Saya, Nao was first to react as he whipped around his bow at the ready. Saya's eyes widen in panic as Nao had his bow aiming in her direction. Though she figured out what was going on as Nao's focus was on something behind her.

Turning around quickly she was greeted by a police officer who came to a stop a few feet from her. His sidearm in his hand aiming right at her face. "F-Freeze!" The officer ordered, though as Nao got a good look at him he noticed blood covering the officer's face. It also colored his once clean blue uniform, like the man had been rolling around in blood.

His face had been twisted in fear, like he was terrified of the two high schoolers. Though his eyes looked deranged, as if he had been through hell and back. It brought a small amount of worry to Nao, the man was clearly unstable even he could see it from here. But Takagi…

"Ah! Officer we need your help!" Saya said sounding relieved to finally see someone who wasn't a threat at least from her point of view. The officer looked to her for a moment before pointing his gun at Nao, who only tighten his finger grip on his bow string as he kept it trained on the man.

"H-Hand over your weapon or I-I'll be forced to shoot!" The officer screamed at Nao completely ignoring Takagi who looked slightly startled by this, almost like she hadn't even spoke to him moments ago. Her gaze moved to Nao who was only staring down the officer ignoring her presence for the time being.

"Not going to happen sir." Nao said defiantly, Saya quickly moved between the two putting her hands up on in the officers way the other in Nao's as if to break it up. "H-Hang on! Brennan lower your bow!" She ordered, Nao still didn't lower his bow but he did adjust his aim a bit to if her needed to fire he wouldn't risk hitting her.

"Takagi get away from him." He calmly said to her, the officer looked to the girl between them for a moment. "T-Takagi?.." He said quietly before charging at the girl while her focus was on Nao. Before Nao could even react, the officer wrap his free arm around the girls neck bring her back to his chest as he aimed the revolver at her head.

"Takagi!" Nao screamed, the girl's eyes widen in panic as she didn't even register what happened for a second. "H-Hey are you stupid!? Do you know who I am!?" She stuttered until the officer pressed the gun right into her skull effectively silencing the girl.

"D-Do you think I give a damn who you are!? You're my hostage right now!" The officer said, Saya's eyes looked in the direction of the gun though she couldn't see it before they snapped right to Nao. Who could easily make out the fear that was starting to spread across her face, as the realization of what was going on was starting to dawn on her.

"Let her go." Nao calmly said as he kept his arrow aimed on the officer, the officer kept the gun pressed against Saya's head. "H-Hand over your weapon kid or I'll blow her head off!" The crazed man ordered once again, though Nao didn't lower his bow.

'He won't hand her over no matter what I do…' Nao thought, he looked away from his target to Saya. Her eyes were beginning to tear up as she was struggling to try and keep calm, which Nao somehow respected that she hadn't already broken down.

"N-Nao.." She pleaded for a moment before shutting up again as the officer dug the barrel of the gun into her skull. Nao visibly flinched for a moment, he felt a small tinge of fear in his heart as she spoke. He had to do something before she got hurt, but in this situation. There was only one solution and it wasn't handing over his bow…

'I'll… I'll have to kill him…' Nao thought, it was the only way to protect himself and Saya. 'Killing him is the only way to stop him… but can.. can I do it?' He questioned to himself, though as he did a voice reached his ears. But it wasn't the officer before him holding his classmate hostage, it was coming from behind him.

"Killing is easy." The voice said to Nao, who had to resist the urge to turn around because it sounded like it was behind him. But if that was the case the man holding the gun would be looking at the source, but his eyes were locked on Nao. Saya's own orange eyes were stuck on him too, once in a while darting in the direction of the gunman.

"Kill is easy" The voice said again, Nao tensed up a bit recognizing the voice now. 'You.' Nao thought, it was voice he only remember in his memories before all this. A voice of someone he hated with a passion, but he could remember that day what the source of the voice told him that.

"Killing is easy Nao… living with yourself, that's the hard part." The voice said, that's right. Humanity has been killing each other for hundreds of thousands of years, wars, theft, murder, it was second nature in humanities long history. This was no different, this was a war the undead walking around, people trying to survive…

'This had to be done..' Nao confirmed, that's what 'He' told him so long ago. 'Killing is easy, living with myself… killing this man for Saya's sake… I can live with that… I think…' Nao nodded once to himself as he shoved the hint of fear in his heart away, pulling the arrow back a bit further to account for the 20 feet between them.

"Saya, it's going to be okay." Nao told her, though his focus was on the officer he could see in his peripheral vision a small nod from the girl. It gave Nao a small amount of happiness knowing she trusted him in this situation, taking a small breath inward to steady himself he spoke clearly.

"Quite the coward huh?" Nao said, the officer flinched visibly at Nao's words but didn't lower his gun from Saya's head. "Protect and serve but here you are aiming your gun at someone who is of little threat to you." Nao continued, he noticed the man's grip on the gun tighten up.

'Little more…' He thought "Is this what the police are reduced to? Pointing guns at the innocent, God if that's the case this wor-" Nao's words were cut short as the officer tore the gun from Saya's head to aim at him.

"SHUT UP!" He screamed as he pulled the trigger, Nao released his bowstring along with the arrow. The two projectiles flew through the air passing right by each other in a frame of a second, though Nao had the advantage as he didn't have someone to hold but that wasn't much time for him to move a little off to the side as he charged forward with his arrow.

His arm suddenly began to burn as something tore through his skin, though it only grazed him. Thankfully it didn't stop him as the adrenaline kicked into his body, his arrow dug itself into the officer's shoulder. The man threw Saya to the side as his free hand moved to the arrow grasping the shaft as it stuck out of his body.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH I'LL KIL-" But the officers words were silenced as Nao closed the distance, drawing a new arrow from his quiver. He dropped the bow to the ground as he charged towards the officer, his grasp tightening on the arrow as he slammed his body into the officer's chest. And driving the arrow through the man's throat cutting off his voice and his life.

The two men fell to the ground, though Nao had rolled forward off the man a few feet past him from his own momentum. The officer dropped dead as he fell right onto his back, the two arrows standing tall from his body as he laid dead on the ground.

"S-Shit.." Nao cussed as he laid there, the adrenaline already passing out of his system. He grabbed his now bleeding bicep as he laid on his side, his back to Saya who came running towards him. She came to stop beside him kneeling down to grab his hand, forcibly moving it aside.

"I-It's only a graze you idiot!" She said, her hands pressed down hard on the wound to slow the bleed. The red liquid slowly slipping between her fingers, she opened her mouth to only see him glaring down the road. Her own eyes widen in panic as several dozen figures started slowly moving in their direction. Nao with his hand now free him holding his wound pushed himself to a sitting position Saya's hand still holding the wound on his bicep.

"Run…"