For the prompt - knock


5. Sterile and Dark

Hibiki awoke and it was dark. She had rather forgotten how to open her eyes while dying for a while. It was very strange. They felt gummy and sticky and wet. But she could feel and she felt slender fingers on hers, soft and warm and still clenching tight at her ring and pinky figures.

She dozed off with the feel of those fingers on hers.

When she woke again, she could taste dryness in her mouth and hear voices outside. There was also an eerily loud, steady breathing sound. Her throat caught.

Miku. Her sunshine spot. She was here.

That meant she, Hibiki, was alive. How?She had been hit right in the chest.

Don't ever give up on living!

Her eyes shot open and her chest hurt like a giant bruise. Her orange eyes managed to travel about the room until she saw the familiar white ribbon, ragged from days without washing. Hibiki's eyes watered and then she was asleep again.

Where were her parents, she wondered. Their daughter was in the hospital, shouldn't they be here? Fretting, being brave? Her papa was brave, he should be here.

'Mine are long gone and I hate it,' whispered her dreams. For reasons she couldn't understand, Hibiki shuddered.


Watching his niece practice made Genjuuro very grateful he had banned live weapons during training practice. Otherwise he would have had to replace his sandbag five times at this point, five more than normal anyway. Regardless, her bokuto was close to snapping.

He was very glad he had banned her from motorcycles as well.

He saw her tears falling as she swung and swung, as she pretended they weren't there, as she pretended the death would have not happened when she opened her eyes and her best friend would be hugging her from behind and teasing her for being a crybaby and-

It wasn't going to happen.

It couldn't. The Superb Song had done its work and saved one at the cost of another.

Tachibana Hibiki, as of today, had been awake for six hours solid. It was true consciousness. Everything was checking out healthy, as healthy as being skewered alive could. All but for the mark on her wound and the strange dilution of her irises in color.

Genjuuro watched and waited to tell Tsubasa the truth.

It would likely shatter her anyway, but he would let her grieve a little longer.


A partial success.

Well, in theory. It would have been nice to keep them both alive a while longer, or kill them both. That would send the government into a frenzy. But in the end, dreams were not realities simply by dreaming about them.

She knew that very well. A partial success would be enough until she took some time to analyze. Then they could move forward. God was waiting and though he was patient, the human race could not afford to be.