CHAPTER 15: VULNERABLE

It was past midnight when Mine returned home from her mission. Sheele and Lubbock said quick goodnights and then they hurried to their rooms, eager to get some rest. This mission had taken a long time to complete, although it had ultimately been a success.

Before Mine reached her room, Najenda found her in one of the hallways. "Good to see you all made it back fine," she said in a friendly manner.

"Right…" Mine replied, wincing still. She was doing her best to conceal the cut she received on her waist side. One of the beasts managed to catch her off guard momentarily, but it had left a mark. Mine wished to keep that detail hidden.

"Get some sleep. Tomorrow, I'll be returning to the revolutionaries to determine new assignments." With that, Najenda made her exit.

Mine was just relieved to finally get away. She limped to her room, wondering why the wound hurt so much. Once she got there, she would have a med kit to patch herself up. Lately, she'd been under more stress than usual. It felt as though she was the weakest member of Night Raid, and she was eager to prove that she was stronger. That meant concealing any traces of shortcomings from the mission.

Just as she reached her room, a familiar figure was already there waiting. "Sanfred," she said in surprise. It was rare for her to be startled like that in her own home.

"Welcome back," he said in a soft voice. "Let's take a look at that cut."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Shh!" she said, holding a finger to her mouth. "How do you know about that?"

"I noticed it right away. You're limping. And there's blood on your dress."

"Ack." She winced upon realizing that the blood would spoil her good dress. But after a few seconds, she also reminded herself that wasn't really what was important.

It was a relief to run into Sanfred now of all times. They both entered her room, and once the door was closed, he began to collect the gear from the med kit. "You tangled with Danger Beasts?"

"Yeah…" she replied. For some reason, the pain in her side was still increasing.

"They sometimes land their lucky blows," he commented, readying a needle with some drugs. "I'm going to give you something for the pain."

"I've never taken anything like that before," Mine insisted.

"I know," he replied with a grin. "This is from my own stash."

"You have a stash?"

He just rolled his eyes. "Explanations later, Rosa." Once he had the needle ready, he brought it to over carefully, making sure it didn't puncture her in the wrong spot by mistake. "Are you ready to undress?"

It felt bizarre responding to a request from a man telling her to undress. But due to the circumstances, and considering it was her man, she really didn't see why it bothered her. As she lifted her arms up, the pain blasted through her, and she let out a little moan.

"Ah," Sanfred said, quickly reaching over with his left hand. "I'll help you. Try to move as little as possible."

"Okay." When she lied down, Sanfred set the needle down and helped by removing Mine's dress. It wasn't easy to do while she was in pain, but he needed to get her settled in before he gave her the drug, since she wouldn't be able to move for a while after. Eventually, she was down to just her underwear, and Sanfred retrieved the needle. "After this, I'm going to cover you up, and get you some water and herbs."

She looked up at him, gritting her teeth… but she felt relieved. Never before had she been willing to reveal vulnerability like this to another person.

While she was looking away for a moment, Sanfred put the needle to work. He injected the painkiller, and then he quickly began wiping the wound with a damp cloth. Once that was done, he pulled some wrap over the spot, making sure to cover it firmly. It didn't take long for him to finish up.

"That was fast," Mine commented. "I don't think I can move. What did you give me?"

He shrugged, unsure of how to explain it. "Well… you see… it's something… that helps."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just tell me, already."

"It helps numb your pain," he finally said.

For some reason, that didn't add up to her. "What? You… are you telling me that you're not naturally tolerant to pain? You've been using drugs this whole time?"

"Eh," he said with a nervous shrug. "I am tolerant to pain. I haven't been using drugs. This is just… something I acquired from past work."

"Why were you being so evasive just now?"

"Because this stuff is bad. I got it from drug dealers. We've probably killed a bunch of the ones responsible on our missions."

At that point, Mine was already losing her concerns over what she was hearing. "I'm tired," she muttered, her body close to accepting fatigue. "Tell me later."

"Yeah," he said as he put the med kit away. "I should stay here with you tonight."

She smiled, looking doped up. "Okay, but… my bed is kind of small."

"I shall make do with the floor," he insisted. "You need the space so that your wound may heal."

"Not the floor, Sanfred," she said, trying to sit up in protest, but unable to while drugged up. "You can fit. Stay here."

He sized the bed up, then finally nodded in acceptance. From there, he climbed in and scooted over on Mine's left, opposite of the injury. "I've never stayed in your room before," he said, unable to fully contain his excitement. "It's pretty girly."

"Don't make me kick you out," she managed to say, even while falling quickly to sleep.

"Fine. I take it back. This is a beautiful room."

Soon after that, silence returned to the room…

… Morning came, but Mine was still sound asleep.

Sanfred glanced up at the ceiling, wondering if he should leave to go prepare breakfast. Ultimately, he refused to leave Mine's side, at least not until she woke up. He was even checking on her breathing, making sure she didn't have other issues from the wound she suffered. Later in the day, he would change the bandages so he could inspect the injury in case it had gotten infected. When he held his hand to her forehead, there was no trace of fever.

It wasn't until two hours later that Mine stirred. When she opened her eyes, Sanfred was sitting up in bed, watching her with a smile. "Meh," she said in greeting.

"That's not any language I know," he replied.

"Gr nuh."

He just squinted in confusion. "Are you possessed?"

"No!" she managed to get out.

Sanfred chuckled in surprise. "Whoa. No more drugs for you."

"Don't give me anything like that again," she warned him. "It was too much."

"Sorry," he said, waving his hands back and forth. "I was just trying to help. You were in pain."

"Thank you," she said, remembering to be grateful. "It definitely helped. But it was too much." With that said, she tried to sit up, but was still feeling the effects of the paralytic pain killer.

"I got ya," he said, coming to her aid. He scooped her up in his arms and brought her legs over the side of the bed. "I'll bring you breakfast."

"What time is it?" she asked, suddenly realizing that the sun was high in the sky.

"Well, it's… twelve."

"In the afternoon?"

He stared at her. "Yes."

Even for Mine, this was a late time to wake up. "I can't remember the last time I slept in so late."

"You did return home late last night. I'm not surprised."

"Did you eat breakfast already?"

Sanfred shrugged his shoulders. "Of course not. I stayed here with you."

When she learned that, she felt guilty. "I don't want you to baby me, Sanfred. We're professional assassins. We live tough lives."

"Yes, we do," he said in agreement.

They both just stared at each other for a long period of silence. Finally, Mine rolled her eyes and sighed in animated fashion. "I'm going to get my revenge on you once I recover."

"Revenge for what?"

"For treating me like a doll."

"Not a doll," he countered. "I am treating you like a lady."

"I don't need to be cuddled," she insisted. "Or babied. Or petted. I am grateful for you looking out for me last night, but I would have been fine."

"Of that, I'm certain."

"Then why did you stay here all night?"

Sanfred looked away. He knew the value in demonstration, as opposed to mere words. "You deserve to know that I will look after you," he explained in his simplest manner.

In the end, she felt kind of rotten for giving him a hard time about it. She also felt bad because she couldn't even walk to the kitchen to get her own food, so she needed Sanfred to bring it to her. Which he did without complaint because he was a good man. The two of them ate some Takoyaki that was left over from lunch. Mine didn't even notice that Sanfred had accidentally left the door to her room cracked open, thus allowing the people outside to overhear the conversations inside.

Eventually, Najenda stomped into sight, urging the spies to leave the two to their peace.