It was a blur, a terrible sight as he strained his gaze through foggy lenses. His world was tilted, marred, a painting that had been left in the rain. Air no longer in his lungs, smells no longer in his nose, the sense of time coming to a halt as Rin seemed to just move, pushing himself through the crowed, scrambling into the sand that grabbed and twisted his movements. Every faltered step agony as he watched his destination being brought up to a open ambulance. "Kiba!"
His voice was hoard, eyes wide and dilated like a frantic beast when one of the paramedics tried to stop him. "No, no no no! Let me see her, let me in!" He couldn't hear much of what they were saying, muffled voices that fell on deaf ears as he watched her being carted off. His Kiba, the broken body painted in crimson vanishing from his view as they closed the doors behind her. "No, I have to see her! Let me see her!"
Yet no matter how much he screamed, how much he thrashed, they did not listen. Falling to the sand like a puppet finally being freed of it's strings, he began to feel the hot tears that stung the corners of his eyes. Body trembling under the shock of what he had just seen. Her leg, oh god her leg, images of her swimming playing in his mind, the sheer joy she had in the water only to be met with a fate like this. It chilled his soul, creeping over his spine and dancing over his skin, saliva being replaced by sand while he just stared at the path the ambulance was leaving him. Kiba Tachibana, brave, stubborn, stupid, beautiful Tachibana, was in there.
"Senpai!" His head snapped in the direction of the others. The group running after him, as different levels of fear and worry were etched into their faces, Gou meeting him in the sand, she brought a hand to his back. "Come on, we need to go to the hospital." The one of reasoning, Rin only nodded his head, too shocked to even speak as he felt Sousuke help him back to his feet, knees buckling for a moment due to the feeling of static in his legs. Even then, he just looked back, Nitori asking if she was going to be okay, yet he really didn't know. He didn't have an answer.
And it terrified him.
It was quiet, silent, the muffled voice of her own thoughts trying so hard to break through, and yet she felt as though her mind was worlds away from her own body. Worlds away, worlds of blue as she brought a hand to her face, blue, that blue tinge that she loved so much, that peacefulness that she loved so much. Slowly, she let herself drift back, her body just floating through the sea in blissful slumber, bubbles escaping from parted lips as her vision was met with the dancing strands of ebony hair.
This was nice, she could think here. Then again, she didn't have to think did she? She could just stay like this and drift, enjoy the comforting embrace of the warm waters that cradled her with the care a mother would a newborn. Everywhere, and yet no where close to suffocating. There was no thoughts of exams, or races, no stress, no fear, just blue.
A shadow beneath her, eyes snapping downward to see the endless depths. Bottomless, empty beneath her, she felt small, even smaller when she realized again, she was not alone.
Movement to her side she swung her head, the water turning cold, seeping into her veins when she saw the form of her. The way she moved, like a sharpened blade, slowly swaying from side to side in the most elegant display of power. It felt like spiders legs the way the fear crept over her skin, how when it got closer, she began to sense every hair, every bump every detail of her form before she opened her mouth to scream.
Engulfed in a wave of bubbles, her form coming closer, Kiba tried again, yet she was met with silence, tortures mute terror as she tried to get away. Tride to swim, kicking her legs away only to find they won't listen to her. "Come on move!" She all but screamed again, yet they wouldn't listen, they wouldn't obey as they began to feel as heavy as led. Again she tried and again she was met with failure until she looked back down and realized with utter horror, in a blood curling scream that not even she could hear.
Her legs were missing.
Her body jolted up in a painful jerk. Screams escaping her lips as she all but threw herself up, eyes wide, body trembling in a cold sweat. Where was she? What happened? This wasn't her room, this wasn't Rin's room! Where was she?
"Easy, Miss Tachibana easy, it's okay." A calming voice tried to hush her down, warm hands on her amr yet it only caused the girl to yank it away. Eyes settling on the form of a young woman in a plain blue scrub, Kiba began to notice everything around her. The beeping of machines, the white blankets, the plain walls, the semll of bleach. Her fingers were holding her sheets, knuckles white as bone as the woman kept softly talking to her, as though trying to settle the soul of a wild beast. "It's okay, you're fine" she kept saying, each word sounding more irritating then the last.
"What happened?" Her own voice cracking, Kiba waited for the nurse to settle some paperwork before looking back at her. Eyes holding sympathy as she walked back and took a seat beaside the teen. Reaching for her hand, Kiba just yanked it back. "What happened?" Her voice more demanding, a edge to each word, she watched as the woman at her side began to trail her eyes to her legs, before standing again. "I believe the doctor should tell you that. I'll get him."
No! No she didn't need a doctor, she wanted to know what happened and wanted to know now! Yet no matter what she said, the nurse did not respond. Only leaving her to her thoughts as she was left in the deafening silence of her hospital room.
Her breaths came out in greedy gasps, a typhoon of wind through her lips only to force them through her nose as she tried to recall her last memories. She remembered the race, remembered Nitori and her were playing games, how Yuki wanted to know what she was doing, Gou tagging along for the first time, Sousuke and Rin shielding her from view. Rin's smiling face as he challenged her to beat her time just before she hit the water.
The water...
The cold depths of the ocean, the adrenaline, the bubbles, the blinding dark waters that stung every inch of her face. The fear, the cold gripping fear that engulfed her when she breached for the sky, only for a tiger shark to be hot on her tail and drag her back down. The sight of her own blood dancing in the waters, the thrashing, the pain, the white hot searing pain of teeth meeting her skin. Hands dragging her away, Rin running after her only for everything to go black.
She didn't wait, didn't ask any questions before she grabbed her blankets and threw them off her body. White fabric pooling on the ground only to be met with vomit as Kiba immediately heaved whatever was in her stomach onto the floor. Her throat burning, body burning as she shook and coughed, almost throwing herself off the bed into the mess from the pure shock that was thrashing through her body.
It was a mess, threaded and stitched like a doll, of flesh pushing out of wounds from her attack. Her leg was shredded, from her calf, all the way up to the soft meat of her thigh. Yellows, greens and violets staining her skin in a terrible portrait of spilled colors, while the entire thing was laid out in some kind of splint. "Miss Tachibana?"
She shot up, pain engulfing her again as Kiba fell back, eyes wide at the sight of a older man in a doctor's coat. He must have already pieced together what happened as a sigh escaped him before he paged for a cleaning crew as he walked in. Sitting down where the nurse had left her. "I'm Dr Yato, I'm the one in charge of your treatment." He looked down to her leg, filling something out on a clipboard as he kept his voice calm, almost ignoring the wide look of panic that was drawn on her features. "You are very lucky Tachibana, not many survive an attack like this, and this is your second. The bite broke your leg in two places, and almost shredded a vital artery, instead tearing muscle in the process. We needed to make sure your wounds have access to air and treatment to prevent infection before we can put you in a proper cast."
His words were muffled, just like her dreams, voices worlds away as she kept staring at her leg. Was that even her leg? It looked so alien, so wrong to her. "How long will it be when I can swim?" Her own tone quite, the man began to blink, checking to see if he heard her right only for the girl to nod. "You should be asking when you can walk first. Give it a few months and we'll see about physical therapy."
"And when can I race?"
Silence, agonizing silence ticking by as the doctor leaned forward, making sure their eyes met as he pointed at her leg like a stern parent. "Listen here, I seen your case. You're an athlete of a dangerous degree, and I have to say I am very against your life choices right now. Willingly putting yourself in that situation, it's only surprising you haven't come here sooner. So, will you race? We'll see how your physical therapy will get you, but there is a very low chance you'll have a full recovery in comparison to your current physical health. What's good though, is you have youth at your side."
She didn't know what else to do, just ask questions, question after question as he kept nodding his head and writing notes down. When could she walk, how could she get into physical therapy, when could she start swimming as physical therapy?
And yet all that was playing in her head was when could she get out of here. When could she leave and try to prepare for next year. She was grabbing her smock now, eyes never leaving the disgusting mess that was her leg. She told everyone and herself that she would eventually meet this fate, that one day her luck would run out, but actually seeing it? Actually being here, actually having her luck run out? It was disturbing to say the least, like she was in a different body and watching from the side lines, still not fully connected to the idea that this was her. That, this was her leg she was looking at.
As the nurses came back with a new blanket, one looked at her again. Offering a smile and asking if she needed anything before Dr Yato left her. No, she didn't need anything outside of leaving this place, yet the nurse began to tap her pager. "Good, cause you have visitors, lot of people are worried about you, want me to send them in?"
That had to be the guys. In the chaos that was today, she actually forgotten about them. The sound of Rin screaming her name played in her head again, making her insides twist in a knot as she slowly nodded her head. He told her to come back to him in one piece with a better time, now she was a twisted mess stuck In bed. She failed, she lost, and she is now paying a very heavy price that was looming over her very soul.
The door sliding open to show Nitori first, Kiba found herself forcing a smile as one by one, her friends began to pile in. None of them seeming to know what face to wear as they switched from cheerful, to worry, to concern only to be back to cheerful while moving like they were walking on breaking glass. It was Rin who seemed to not hide too much, walking straight to her bed side and kissing her forehead before resting his brow to hers. The feeling of warmth stretching through her body as she closed her eyes for a moment. "You idiot."
"Yeah, I know" they were quiet, whispers that were whisked away in the still air when Rin finally pulled away. "I'm just happy you're alive Kiba chan." The others nodding in turn, Gou found herself looking at the charts of her treatments before speaking up. "They said you had a great time, coming in second place even though you were taken out of this years running. The story is all over the news right now, if you were in the swim team you'd have pushed them through a lot."
She wasn't fond of the idea that her face was all over the news. Even less so that it was because of a loss, yet a smirk still found itself to her lips. Second place wasn't so bad, even getting chased down by the jaws of death she still came out on top. "And who won?"
"Mori"
And like that, the smile was gone. She could only imagine the smug look on the guys face. The pride that was only won through her own fate of running out of luck. Once again, she slumped her body back into the pillows, pulling the blanket close only to slap Rin's hand away when he reached for it. "You don't want to see it, pretty ugly. Threw up my lunch when I did." A bleak silence fell over the crew before Sousuke came to the rescue, talking about upcoming events and how when everything is smoothed over they should come see the Iwatobi team. The offer causing Gou to brighten up, bragging at how great everyone was getting because she was whipping them into shape.
They just talked, mindless and pointless things for hours. New shows, movies, upcoming tests. Anything to get them off the topic of today, only to find out it was yesterday and that Kiba had been out for way longer then she thought she had. Still, she was happy for her friends, a bitter sweetness overcoming her as she leaned against Rin who had migrated onto her bed. The smell of chlorine causing a calmness to wash over her as he absently stroked the side of her arm without even realizing.
It was all brought back though when Gou asked what the plan was. Conversations dying again, all eyes feel on Kiba. She felt naked, bare under their gazes that they thought were being encouraging as she fiddled with the tooth that was laying in her lap. A deep breath filling her lungs and closing her eyes, not a soul forcing her to continue if she didn't want to. Silence stretched on, moments to minutes as the air grew thicker, high enough that she could cut it with a knife. "It's okay Kiba chan you don't have t-"
She held up a hand, cutting Nitori off as she opened her violet gaze. She did have to, she very much had to. She was Kiba Tachibana, the true survivor, there was only one thing she could do. Sadly, as much as she wanted to, determination was not in her eyes, it was not in her voice as every sound, and every motion she made seemed to pull against her very being. But she had to do it, she had to,s he couldn't turn away like this, not now. Not when she worked so hard for this, not when she was so close in getting a perfect record in a term. She couldn't stop now, she couldn't turn her back, and while her body shook, voice trembling like the quaking earth. She found all attention back on her, listening and capturing every hitch in every word.
"I'm going to heal. I'm going to get out of this place...And I'm going to race again next year."
Holy shit we are doing this
Yep, I'm back. After almost five years. I started this in middle school, since then I graduated high school. Took off, became an adult, trying to start getting an education on one of the fields I wanted to work in. Life just happened, and this was sitting here, I actually came back to this a year ago and saw you guys yelling at me because of how the last chapter ended. Saying how I can't end it like that, I just can't and honestly it wasn't supposed to end like that.
I was supposed to have a total of 13 chapters, and it just kinda, drifted away. Then one night, I just sat in bed after work, ready to sleep and was like. "What if I just wrote the next chapter real quick" and so I did. An hour later and here we are! Yes you heard that right, an hour, I never spent more then two hours writing chapters for this, so I'm really sorry if things don't sound right, or there's spelling mistakes. Feel free to talk to me and tell me if there is something bothering you too much though and I'll see what I can do about it.
Will this happen again? Hopefully, I'd love to finish a story for once and say I actually did it. Till then, if you care coming back after reading this four years ago. Wow, you're amazing, and thank you, thank you so much for coming back cause that really dose mean a lot to me. If you're new here and just read through everything, then sorry for the sudden change in writing styles, it's been a few years.
