Akira struggled and thought, 'I'm almost out of air.' It was a scary thought but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he tried to get his legs free. He had dropped the throwing knife on accident but hardly noticed. He pulled and his legs slid a bit out but he froze when he saw a small cloud of red rising. He mentally cursed himself as he tried to find the cut and stop the bleeding.

/Meanwhile/

The man had come up and gasped a big breath of air and started coughing up water. The rescuers pulled him up and his wife hugged him and kissed him while crying. Nokoru had coughed up all the water and was sitting by Suoh. Both of them were watching the water for signs of their friend.

Everyone got silent when Nokoru asked the man, "What happened to Akira?"

"I don't know." The man said, "I couldn't see anything. I thought he was right behind me."

A few moments passed in silence before one little girl pointed and said, "Look!" They all looked in hopes of the young teen but many screamed when instead, they saw the fins of sharks heading their way.

Nokoru and Suoh looked at each other worriedly as they saw the sharks go down instead of circling the boat. "He must be bleeding." One of the rescuers said. "Normally they leave this place alone."

"No," Nokoru whispered, "No, please no." Suoh put an arm around Nokoru in an attempt to calm the older teen down.

/Back down in the restaurant/

Akira tried to struggle out from under the big heavy machine again and harder. He felt something scrape his leg again and reached under only to pull out the throwing knife Suoh had given him. It must have gotten caught between the machine and the ground.

He risked a glance up and almost let out the little air he had when he saw two very big sharks swimming his way. Akira's legs were now only caught halfway between his knees and his feet. He kept trying and pushed them out a little further when the fist shark got close and opened its mouth to show him rows of very sharp teeth.

The edges of Akira's vision started to go black but he forced himself to stay conscious as the shark came closer and closer. He used what little strength he had left to give one last big push and was surprised when his legs came free and the machine landed on top of the first shark; crushing it.

He was about to pass out from lack of air when he turned and saw the second shark had just passed him by. He slowly and painfully raised the small throwing knife and mentally thanked Suoh for letting him use it and plunged it up through the shark's head as it came at him with its mouth open.

He didn't even notice the large scrape on his arm from the sharks teeth as he let the blackness take over.

/Up above/

They all waited for about a minute more just to see if by some miracle, Akira would come up before the sharks got to him. Tears started flowing down Nokoru's cheeks and a few down Suoh's and even a few others when they saw a big cloud of red surface.

One of the rescuers put a hand on each Suoh's and Nokoru's shoulder and said quietly, "I'm sorry." Nokoru clutched onto Suoh and started sobbing. Everyone bowed their heads in sadness; even though they hadn't known the boy, they knew he was brave for risking his life for another's.

"Mommy," A little girl (the same one who pointed out the sharks) said and tugged on her mother's shirt.

"Not now sweetie." Her mother said without looking up.

"But mommy, look!" The little girl protested, "The big shark is dead!" Once she said that; everyone quickly looked up and saw that the body of the shark was indeed rising and was dead. There was a small object glinting from its head. Suoh smiled and laughed a little bit to himself when he realized that it was his throwing knife he had let Akira use.

"Then does that mean…" Nokoru trailed off and searched the water with his eyes; trying to locate their friend. Everyone else also looked but sadly, nobody saw any sign of him. After about ten minutes, the rescuers started the boats and everyone headed back to the island in silence.

When they got back to the shore, they saw that everyone who had escaped before it broke was gathered around something and there was an ambulance from the small hospital waiting a little further away.

One of the rescuers pulled a bystander away and asked, "What's happening here?"

"Some kid just washed up on the shore but he's not breathing so they're taking him to the hospital." The guy explained. Nokoru and Suoh looked at each other before they started pushing their way through the crowd.

They ignored the people protesting and when they got to the front, they found some paramedics gently but quickly putting a soaked and bleeding Akira onto a stretcher and also placing a breathing mask over his face to try and get him to start breathing again.

Suoh and Nokoru were allowed in the back of the ambulance as long as they didn't get in the way of the paramedics who were trying to get their friend's heart beating again through electric shocks. Even though it pained them to watch, they made themselves and they knew that they would never forget the sight they were watching right then or the feeling when they thought that he was dead…twice.

When they got to the hospital, Suoh and Nokoru had to wait while they doctors tried to get all the water out of Akira's lungs and get him breathing properly again. During the wait, Suoh and Nokoru were both quiet and lost in their own thoughts.

After what felt like years but was really only around an hour or two, a doctor came out and asked, "Ijyuin Akira?" Suoh and Nokoru both stood up and went forward. The doctor looked at them and asked, "Are you his family?"

"We're his friends. His family is not here." Nokoru explained. "Please, just tell us how he is."

The doctor looked at his pleading expression and nodded with a sigh. "Very well," He said, "We managed to get the water out of his lungs and anywhere else it might have caused damage and we finally got his heart to start up again but we did lose his for a few minutes both on the beach and as we were trying to get the water out. We're not sure how this will affect him and his mind. He is very weak and we have him on life support and the only external injuries he has is the long scrape down his right arm which will leave a scar and we're guessing is from a shark. Also, both his legs were seemingly crushed by something very big."

"Is he…" Nokoru started.

"We're not sure if he will survive the night but we're going to do everything we can to make sure he will." The doctor told them. "For his legs; they will heal but it will take him many months or maybe even a year to walk properly again. Also, it will take about four months until his legs heal enough for him to start; maybe longer."

The doctor still looked uneasy and Suoh asked, "What is it?"

"Well…" The doctor began, "There is a chance that he…that he may never be able to walk again also. We're not sure which will happen yet because there is a fifty percent chance for either." There was silence as the two just stared at the doctor in disbelief. They really didn't want to believe that this was really happening.

"Can we…go see him now?" Nokoru asked; still shocked over the information. The doctor nodded and told them which room he was in. Both of them went in and saw their friend on the bed, his face pale white and almost matching the sheets. He had a bandage wound around one arm and more; they supposed, around his legs. There was an IV in one arm and a breathing mask secured over his face to force him to breathe. They listened to the slow beating of their friend's heart and sat with him; content to wait out the night and pray that he survived it.

Nokoru put his head on the bed and cried while Suoh just rubbed circled on his back absently as he stared at Akira; still not wanting to believe the sight before him. Eventually, Nokoru fell asleep and Suoh covered him with an extra blanket before he sat back down.

Hours passed but Suoh didn't notice as he was lost in his own thoughts. When it was just about an hour or two before dawn, Suoh bowed his head and thought, 'Please, don't take him away from us. Let him walk again. Please; is this how you treat someone who risked his life to save another's? You take away their ability to move about freely? Please, just let him come back to us.'

Suoh jerked a bit when he felt someone's hand covering his own and he looked down only to see that it was Akira's even though said boy was still unconscious. Suoh let a tear roll down his cheek and a smile to grace his face as he took hold of the hand and softly ran his thumb along the back of Akira; taking this as a sign that Akira would come back.

When dawn came, Nokoru woke up to a doctor coming in so he could check on Akira. When he was done, he smiled at Suoh and Nokoru and said, "It looks like your friend is going to stay with us. It may be a few days or weeks before he wakes up though."

Nokoru smiled and Suoh let a little smile show at that. 'Thank you' Suoh thought as he looked at the sunrise and then back at Akira. 'Thank you for not taking him from us.'