Disclaimer: Not mine - I'm just mixing it up a little =)
A/N Sorry again for the long wait - a bit shorter this time though, so hopefully the next chapter won't take too long at all - I already have big plans for it ;) Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, here we have...
Chapter Six
Natsuki's voice rang out harshly, cutting off with a choke as an explosion of light and sudden icy cold tore a scream from Haruka before she could stop it. From the seated position she'd been pushed into, Haruka was thrown on to her back, a haze dancing before her eyes and her ears ringing. Through her daze she heard a howl and a snarl, and then a strange screeching and a crash.
Pushing herself up onto her elbows, unable to move below her cold stomach, the blond sucked in a sharp breath that came out as a ragged pant before cycling quickly to near-hyperventilation. The scene before her was impossible, terrible.
Natsuki was crumpled in a broken heap, surrounded by rubble and plaster, hardly breathing with one of her arms splayed out on the floor at an unnatural angle. Her clothes were shredding with the skin beneath escaping with jagged slashes that were weeping blood but held back her organs. Her face was twisted with pain, her jaw set to stop her whimpering as she trembled, her eyes going in and out of focus as she forced herself to fight the looming dark of unconsciousness that was edging ever closer.
Unable to move, to even speak, she was completely defenceless but for one thing.
Duran.
The metallic looking hound was huge, seeming to fill the room with his fierce presence, and Haruka's head was spinning. She didn't understand how the creature was there, or even what it was...but she could see from her frozen position that it was guarding Natsuki.
The silver wolf was standing rigidly, with what seemed to be two ribbon like tails held stiffly. Its ears were up and it was staring unflinchingly at the Orphan it had thrown from its mistress, making an almost mechanical sounding growl as the monster pulled itself from the wall it had been embedded in.
For one tense moment the two beasts watched each other in stillness.
Then Natsuki coughed.
The Orphan responded immediately, frenzied by the sound of weakness, forgetting or ignoring the Child in the way as it charged, shrieking inhumanly with dagger-like claws whirling in a flurry of knife sharp death, intent on eviscerating the blunette.
Then it shrieked in another way.
Its claws still slashed and tried to tear, but the limbs behind them flailed like the arms of a ragdoll as Duran closed his jaws around the monster's throat. The bladed talons battered against the wolf-Child's body, unable to penetrate the steely hardness of it, but unable to stop, driven by impotent rage and animistic terror, fighting to get at Natsuki and save itself as Duran savaged it with unseen teeth and all the strength of a loyal protector.
"L-load chrome...cartridge."
Haruka's attention was torn from the carnage by Natsuki's voice, barely audible above the noise of the clash, slightly garbled by the blood and phlegm she was starting to bring up, but still unmistakably commanding.
Still firm.
Still the voice of someone who was in charge, who was to be obeyed even on the brink of death so long as she could still be heard.
"Fire..."
Duran listened.
Loading the ammunition on his haunches, Duran flung the monster in his grasp in the direction Natsuki was able to point with her unbroken arm, out the same way it had come in, and fired, the shots resounding with an explosive boom that shook the apartment building. They hit their target squarely, and the Orphan imploded in on the point of impact before dissolving into a shower of green sparks and vanishing.
Natsuki saw it with relieved satisfaction, patting Duran's snout as he lowered his head onto her lap, thanking him as well as she could through the gore in her throat before she let him de-materialize, forcing a smile on to her swollen lips as she struggled to turn her head.
She managed the barest tilt, just able to make out that Haruka was safe, that she hadn't been hurt. It made the smile easier.
Then Natsuki passed out.
Immediately Haruka felt the chill leave her stomach, and she scrabbled to reach Natsuki's side, "Kuga-san! Kuga-san! Natsuki!" repeating the name like it would wake her, shaking her briefly, letting go as the blunette's blood coated her hands. She was unnerved by it, the stickiness so slick between her fingers, the iron in the air, wanting to fall back in disgust as bile rose from her stomach, but unable to leave Natsuki's torn and sundered body the way it was. She hovered indecisively, trembling in a way she never had before. She needed to do something. She didn't know what to do. Natsuki was dying. Right in front of her. She needed to do something!
Fumbling for the back pocket of her jeans, she felt for her phone, pulling it out and forcing her fingers steady enough to tap in a number, mistyping twice before she could manage it. She could already hear sirens wailing closer, but she didn't know if Natsuki had any insurance, or if she'd be able to pay any of what the hospital would say she was responsible for, or if they'd even bother trying when they saw the state of her. Haruka couldn't risk it. Wouldn't risk it.
Hitting the call button, she could hardly breathe as it rang, her heart pounding hard enough for her to feel and her mouth drying as she waited.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four...
"Hello?"
"Asahi-san! It's Haruka Suzushiro, I need your help immediately!"
"What? What's going on? Where are you?"
"Please, I can't explain right now! I need you to meet me at Fuuka Hospital-"
"-Hospital?! What?!"
"Not me, just meet me there and I'll explain!"
"Suzushiro-san! Wha-"
"Just meet me there!"
Haruka cancelled the call before Asahi could ask any more questions, knowing he'd do what she asked, knowing that she could get Natsuki transferred from the hospital to her family's private physician when he did, knowing she could use that to pressure the paramedics into trying harder to keep Natsuki alive. When they arrived.
If they arrived.
She could hear the sirens louder now, obviously close to the apartment, but she didn't know if they'd know where to come, or if they'd see the blown out wall and just evacuate the rest of the building, instead of checking the apartment for survivors. They might not check until it was too late.
Looking at Natsuki again, her throat constricted tightly at how little the blunette's chest was rising. She had to make sure the emergency responders responded to them first. Had to. Wrenching her eyes away to the gaping hole, she pushed herself to her feet, moving towards it in-spite of all her instincts to the contrary. Near the edge it was dizzying, she hadn't realised how high up Natsuki's apartment was.
Forcing herself to focus on the fact Natsuki needed help, instead of the sheer drop, she took hold of the wall at the edge of the hole with one hand, and leaned out as far as she dared. Made herself look down. Reached out with her free hand, and began to wave as furiously as she could without unbalancing herself – yelling horsely at the people she could see gathered below, desperate to get their attention, only able to feel a twinge of relief where she saw some of them begin pointing up at her.
A twinge more when the ambulance arrived and a small contingent of the pointers rushed to it, directing the paramedics with worried fingers and speculative hand gestures.
When she saw the first responders race into the building, she gratefully backed away from the slightly crumbling brickwork, turning when she felt a safe way away from it so she could run and throw open the door, before returning to Natuki's side. With a hesitant hand she reached out to stroke Natsuki's hair where it was least matted by the blood, feeling the biker's body tremble from the effort of taking breaths that Haruka could hardly perceive. It made her own chest ache so strongly that she had trouble making herself breathe too.
Until she heard them, the people who could save Natsuki, thundering up the stairs, clearly close. When she heard that, Haruka felt her chest loosen and her lungs filled quickly.
"In here! Quickly! In here, she's injured!" she called, trying not to let her voice raise to a shrill pitch. She didn't want to sound hysterical. She needed them to listen.
Two paramedics came in, spotting Natsuki immediately and running over with machinery Haruka didn't recognise, roughly pushing her out of the way to start doing things Haruka didn't understand. All she could do was watch with a fearful sweat on her brow, listening to their chatter for something she could interpret as they fought to stabilise the blunette's condition enough to move her. From what the blonde was hearing, it was a losing battle – almost lost – and they sounded on the verge of giving up. Their movements were starting to slow. One of them looked to Haruka as if to apologise.
She didn't let him.
"What are you doing?! Baka, don't look at me, do your job! Help her!" she snarled, helpless anger seeping into her words, "If you can't do that, at least get her to the hospital where someone else will! My people will! Just get her there!"
The man looked like he had to grit his teeth to keep from saying something extremely unprofessional, but nonetheless he turned back to his task, muttering something to his co-worker who nodded. Carefully in-spite of their annoyance, they shifted Natsuki's ragged body onto a stretcher, lifting it and their equipment with a heave. Hurrying to get everything back to the ambulance, not checking if the mouthy blonde were following. When she demanded to ride with them, they didn't argue, instead focusing on making sure that their mangled patient made it to the hospital.
The sirens wailed, driving cars out of the way as the speeding ambulance passed. Inside, things were just as busy, everything racing. Except Natsuki's heart.
That stopped twice.
They would have given up on her if not for the harridan urging them on, promising and threatening things in equal measure, pushing them to keep resuscitating at least until the injured girl and her keeper were out of their hands. Until then, with a close watch on them kept, they did everything they could to keep the girl alive.
They couldn't be sure it would be enough.
-Omake-
Shizuru: *sharpening knives* Couldn't be sure?
JLE1993: Erm...eh heh...*backing away*
*Shizuru advances, JLE1993 starts running*
JLE1993: They'll know soon...SOOOOOON!
