It was night now, and the waning moon seemed to glow with melancholy. The enormous glass window in Wren Takimoto's hospital room was wide open, and Krad sat perched on the windowsill, his pearl-white wings glimmering in the moonlight. He sat with one leg folded to his chest and the other hanging inside the room. His left hand combed through his golden locks as his gold orbs stared intently at the sleeping girl.
I know what I must do, He told himself. The girl must die, that I know, but… the angel closed his eyes then looked up at the moon. Why can't I do it? he said angrily. Krad clenched his white-gloved fists in anger and looked back to the girl in the hospital room. A beeping sound came from the machine next to her, indicating that her heart rate had slowed one more point. Krad sighed. Her condition worsens everyday. It would be better to put her out of her misery— Wren stirred ever so slightly, and the angel's gaze softened. Krad closed his eyes again. I can't do this… he said internally. She has hold of my heart, and I have no idea why. I loved Robin because she was beautiful and she understood me. Wren may look like her…but she acts nothing like my Robin. With that, he swung his leg over from inside the room and kicked off backwards from the windowsill, closing it carefully, as not to wake Wren from her slumber.
When Krad turned around, instead of seeing the moon hovering in the sky, two amethyst eyes stared back at him. He blinked once, and then they were gone. Krad smirked as he saw a dark figure land on a building a few rooftops away.
"Dark Mousy," he mused. "It is not at all like you to drop in like this," Krad landed on the side opposite of the same building. "To what do I owe such a glorious visit?"
"I'm not in the mood, Krad," Dark stated harshly.
"Oh? Then what do you want?"
"What do you want with Wren Takimoto?"
The question caught Krad off-guard. "What…" he faltered for only a second, then he regained his composure. "What do you mean?"
"You go to Wren Takimoto's room every single night." Krad held his breath. "I want to know why!"
The angel scowled. "You should get your sources straight, Dark," he growled, gathering up a glowing ball of white energy between his gloved palms and hurled it towards the black-winged being. Dark launched himself into the air, avoiding the attack.
"I didn't come here to fight, Krad!" he yelled at his assailant.
The golden-haired being smirked devilishly. "If you expected to get an answer without a fight, I'm sorry to disappoint you." He flexed his wings and a flock of white feathers flew at Dark, who dodged them just in time.
Dark frowned. "He isn't taking this well," he murmured to Daisuke.
Were you expecting him to take it well? You're going to get us both killed!
"Have some faith, Daisuke—whoa!" Dark narrowly dodged another feather attack from Krad. He then jerked his head up to look at his assailant, but found that Krad and he were already nose-to-nose.
Krad grinned evilly and released another ball of energy, sending the black-winged being hurdling backwards and crashing through a large, glass hospital window.
Dark cringed as he attempted to stand. He reached behind him and pulled out a piece of glass that had pierced his left shoulder.
Dark! Daisuke's voice sounded far away. Dark, are you all right?
"I-I'm fine, Dai…suke." He answered, struggling to his feet. "Geez, that one hurt."
"I would hope so," Dark whipped his head up to see Krad standing before him, perched on the windowsill. "But I doubt it hurts as much as this one will." He gathered up yet another ball of energy in his right hand and was just about to throw it when a small figure stepped between him and his prey.
"Stop it, Krad," Wren's frail voice was heard through the darkness and Krad immediately halted his attack. Wren stood between the two winged beings once more, her sandy-blonde hair gleaming in the moonlight and her aqua-green eyes blaring with determination. As she stood before him, Krad noticed that the moonlight reflected something off of her wrists: blood.
Krad's eyes darted to her hospital bed then back to her bleeding wrists. "You pulled out your own IV and morphine needles…" he said, his voice full of disbelief. Did she really want to save Dark so badly?
As if to answer his internal question, Wren nodded. "I can't let you kill him, Krad." Both men were taken aback.
"Just last week, you wanted Krad to live, and you didn't care about me!" Dark yelled from behind her. "Now you want me to live?"
Wren furrowed her eyebrows in frustration. "I never said I didn't care about you!" she snapped. "I just said that I didn't care what happened while you weren't around me, so SHUT UP! If you WANT me to step aside so he can kill you, by all means—"
"THAT WASN'T WHAT I MEANT—"
"THEN SHUT UP!"
"Enough…" Krad whispered sharply. He walked forward and stood, towering above Wren Takimoto's petite frame.
As she stared up at him, Krad could not sense any hesitation within her. She knew what she was doing, and she wanted to do it. Just when Wren was sure that he would grab her throat again, Krad closed his eyes and turned away from her.
"I could never kill you, Wren," he whispered.
Dark's jaw dropped.
"I have tried many times and many ways, but no matter what I did, I could never bring myself to go through with it." he opened his eyes and looked back at her. "I was in love with Robin, your grandmother, and because you resemble her in both body and in soul…you had firm hold over my heart…and you never even noticed."
Wren frowned and tears began to leak from her aqua-green eyes. She shook her head furiously. "You don't love me…you love her, and I know that I can never be a replacement for Robin. No matter what feelings I may feel for you…you…you will never truly feel the same way about me." She began to sob.
Krad lowered his head and turned away. "Forget you ever saw me," he said quietly. "Forget you ever helped me, and forget you ever knew me." With that, he took off out of the shattered window, leaving Wren and Dark alone in the hospital room.
Suddenly, Wren began to sway.
"Hey!" Dark called out to her as she began to loose her balance. He rushed to her and caught her just as she fell. The girl in his arms moaned as she opened her aqua-green eyes and looked up at him. She frowned and pushed out of his grasp.
"Get off of me…" she ordered sleepily.
"Wren, you need to get back in bed. You're not feeling well at the moment—"
"Stop telling me what I can and can't do!" she snapped, sobbing. "I'm sick and tired of people telling me what to do!"
Dark sighed and held her in his arms.
"I can't forget that I saw him. I can't forget that I helped him. I can't forget that I knew him!" she sobbed. "I just can't!"
Dark…
I know, Daisuke.
But isn't there something that we can do—
Krad chose this for himself. There's nothing that we can do for them. Besides, it was wrong of him to see only Robin in Wren. No one deserves to be treated like a doll: wanted only for how they look.
What about Wren?
Dark shook his head. We can't do anything about that, either. "I think it's best if you sleep now, Wren," Dark said gently. "You need rest. If you want to stay awake though, I'll stay with you."
Wren nodded and climbed back into her bed. "I…I think you should go." she said softly. "I'm going to call for nurses to fix my wrists. It's not good to let them bleed out like this."
Dark nodded and turned to leave, but then—
"Thank you, Dark,"
The black-winged being looked back over his shoulder at the mound in the hospital bed. "What for?"
"For offering to stay with me. Thank you."
Dark smiled out of the corner of his mouth and took off into the night, pausing only to repair the shattered hospital window with a flick of a black feather.
Once he was gone, Wren reached out to the left side of her bed and pressed a black button on the wall.
"Yes, Miss Takimoto?" a scratchy female voice said over the intercom.
"I accidentally pulled out my IV and morphine needles while asleep. Could you please send someone down the hall to put them back in?"
"Of course, Miss Takimoto. Just sit tight for a moment."
"Thank you very much." And the connection was ended. Wren sat back in her bed and stared up at the tiled ceiling. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she recalled that nights happenings. A few seconds later, the door to her room opened, and two nurses shuffled inside to repair her IV and morphine drips.
A phone rang inside the office of Police Chief Hiwatari. The chief sat behind his desk, his glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He lazily picked up the phone and answered, "Hiwatari. Make it quick."
"Sorry to bother you so late, Mr. Hiwatari."
"Ahh, Doctor. No problem at all. How is your end holding up?"
"Just fine, Mr. Hiwatari."
"Very good, Doctor. I trust that you have injected the appropriate amount of carcinogens…"
"Of course, Mr. Hiwatari. Everyday, I inject the protein drip with the leukemia. Her bone marrow is close to gone, so it should not be long until her body gives up."
"That is most pleasing, Doctor. I would be glad to add an extra ten thousand to our agreement, should the girl die within the next week."
"Now hold it one moment, Mr. Hiwatari," the doctor's voice hardened. "I've kept up my end of the bargain for the past three years! I injected Wren with carcinogens when she was young, I followed her from hospital to hospital in Hokkaido, then saw her to Azumano District Hospital. I've kept up my end of the bargain!"
"Yes, but you've also let several things slip through the cracks, Doctor." Hiwatari pointed out skeptically.
"All right, I admit, the girl's parents taking off was not part of the plan, but I made sure that she was taken care of in Hokkaido! And don't forget that it was I who made sure that her insurance expired, thus transferring her closer to you!"
Hiwatari was getting very annoyed with the doctor. "You may have gotten her thus far, but do not forget that transferring Wren closer to me also meant transferring her closer to him. now, because of your little slip-up, he knows of her, and she is affecting his work. That was not part of the plan, am I correct?"
The doctor was silent.
"Was it, Doctor?"
There was a sigh from the other side of the line. "No, Mr. Hiwatari," the doctor admitted. "It was not part of the plan."
"You have gotten her very far in her cancer, but I want the job finished within the week."
"I'm afraid that that can't be done, Mr. Hiwatari."
The Police Chief lifted an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"
"Cancer is a very complicated disease," the doctor tried to explain. "Sometimes it slows down because the host's body is fighting the disease."
"But I thought you said that the radiation therapy was just a fluke?"
"It is—"
"Then I still don't see the problem, Doctor—"
"Wren's body is fighting back on its own!"
Hiwatari was silent for a moment, then, "Then what are you planning to do about it?"
The doctor was taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"What are you planning to do about it? I want Wren Takimoto dead within one week, Doctor, and I want to know how you plan to combat this roadblock."
"I can't just magically make the cancer multiply faster—"
"Then medically make it. Come on, Doctor," Hiwatari was beginning to become bored of the doctor. "This day and age, there isn't anything that can't be done medically. Inject her with more cancer, if you see fit. All that I know is that I want Wren Takimoto dead. I can't have her fooling around with my prime weapon's mind any longer."
"Yes, Mr. Hiwatari."
"Then you will make sure that she is dead within the week?"
"I will try, Mr. Hiwatari."
"Trying is not enough. I would hate to see your little boy suffer just because of you, Doctor."
The doctor'sdemanding tonesuddenly changed into a plea. "Please, Mr. Hiwatari, don't hurt Kazuki—"
"Then have Wren Takimoto's dead body in the morgue by Friday afternoon." And with that, he hung up the phone. "Honestly…you would think that a psychiatrist would know better than to play with my mind than that…"
okay, this is the first time i've introduced Chief Hiwatari's evil plan. MUHWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! he's very evil...>. i dun't like him... and very sorry for all the grammatical errors. i'm not the sharpest crayon in the box, so forgive me if i'm slightly dull...XP ENJOY!
Shadeslayer390