I ran as fast as I could, hoping for the best but thinking of the worst. As I neared home, I saw flames that reached high up into the skies; its black smoke filling the air. I came to a stop, falling to my knees. I watched helplessly as I watched the only home I ever knew being consumed by the burning inferno. I saw a figure walking out of the fire, feeling the slightest bit of hope shoot throughout my body. As the figure came closer, I realized that it wasn't my mother or father. It was the very person I was afraid of seeing. "K.... Kage...."
He grinned, looking down at my small stature. "Well if it isn't my number one niece.... How nice to see you again." I went wide eyed, crawling backward in fear. He chuckled, taking one step toward me. "I'm completely filled with dread of what happened here. I only wish there was a way I could have stopped such terrible event...." I looked pass Kage to see my first and probably last home burn to the ground. I felt a tear come down my cheek, thinking of my parents suffering in such a hellish place. I looked back at Kage, crawling more and more away from him. It went in vain with every step he took closer to me. My mind went completely blank, the only thing that seemed to make sense to me was getting as far away from this homicidal maniac, no matter what it took. I turned around and stood up, sprinting away from him. No matter how far I grew apart from him, I could still hear his blood curling laugh taunting me.
I came to a cliff, making my heart skip a beat in fear. I came to the very edge, peering over seeing the dark abyss below that waited for me. I turned around and took a few steps forward to find another way out, only to be greeted by Kage's dark red eyes coming from the darkness behind me. He came into full view, chuckling with every step he took. I backed up, taking a step backwards and felt nothing under my foot. I looked over my shoulder, then back at Kage. I couldn't take it. I didn't care what happened anymore. I was paralyzed in fear and wasn't thinking straight. I took a step backwards and fell, yelling out of surprise. I barely caught the edge of the cliff with my right hand, feeling the rocky surface cutting my palm. I saw Kage's feet come next to my hand, looking down at me. He chuckled and reached into his trademark dark leather jacket, pulling out a forearm length blade. He squatted down to get a better view of me, bringing his blade down, tip between my eyes. I slightly shivered, feeling the cool metal so close to my face. He then brought the blade to my exposed right arm near my shoulder. He then dug the tip of the blade deep into my arm. I let out a cry of pain, seeing the blood flowing from my arm. He then brought the blade up to my forearm, blade still deep in my skin. I felt my arm go completely numb from the pain as it started to become weak, blood spewing out. He pulled the blade out of my arm and started back near my shoulder. He dug the blade into my arm again, bringing it up to my forearm, earning another yell from me. He pulled the blood coated blade out of my limp limb, bringing it up to examine my blood dripping down from it.
He let out a wicked laugh as I gasped for air. My hand started to quiver from holding my weight for so long. I saw Kage bring the blade up above his head, ready to swing it across my face. I went wide eyed. I saw Kage swing his blade down towards me, the tip coming closer and closer to my eye. I let go of the edge, bringing my arms infront of my face to protect myself just in time. The blade dug into my right forearm and ran up all the way to my shoulder, blood shooting out. I then began falling downward, back facing the ground. I watched Kage standing on the cliff that I hung on become smaller and smaller in my view, the black colored sky behind him.
The last thing visible was his red eyes staring down at me.
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My eyes shot open as I took in a sharp breath. I slightly shivered, feeling the breeze of the ceiling fan blowing against the cold sweat on my body. My breaths became paced and even, finally calming down. I looked around, not recognizing were I was at all. I sat up, then let out a groan as I felt a sharp pain shoot through my torso. I hunched over, clutching my chest and wincing at the agonizing sensation.
I heard footsteps. "Hey!" The footsteps came rushing over to me. I then felt the person place one hand on my back, and the other on my left shoulder. "You shouldn't move, you're still injured..." The voice belonged to a girl, and was very familiar. I slowly opened my eyes halfway and looked to my right, seeing Symphony's worried face.
"I... It's you...." I barely managed to speak; the pain was beginning to become unbearable.
I felt her move her hand from my shoulder to my cheek. "Don't speak. You need all the energy you can get to heal."
I grunted, turning myself so that my feet were on the floor and I was facing her. She insisted that I lay back down, but I didn't listen. She drew her hands back, not wanting to accidentally hurt me as I moved. I took a deep breath, still slightly hunched. I stayed still for a moment then moved my hands from my chest to let them rest on my lap. I looked at my torso, noticing that my shirt was off. The upper part of my chest was wrapped up in gauze, and there was a small spot of blood were my wound was. I then looked up to see Symphony on her knees infront of me so that we were looking eye to eye. I was about to say something until I realized how close her face was to mine. I must have looked like an idiot; my mouthing being slightly parted with nothing coming out.
"Are you alright?" I snapped back into reality to the sound of Symphony's voice.
"Uh... yeah. Kinda...." I looked around. "Where are we?"
She then shifted herself so that she was now sitting down, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked around. "We're in my apartment. I had my friend help me take you here after you got shot by that.... creep...."
I blinked and looked down, thinking of what she meant. Then a scene of Kage spinning the cartridge of a revolver flashed through my mind. "Oh yeah...." I narrowed my eyes and looked back at Symphony. "Where is he? Did he get away?"
Symphony sighed and looked back at me. "Unfortunately..... He just fell into the water at the docks and.... disappeared...."
"I figured...." I tried to stand up, only to plop back down onto the couch, wincing in pain.
"Hey!" Symphony stood up, moving a bit closer to me. "I told you to relax. You need to."
I shook my head. I took a deep breath and stood up again, this time forcing myself to fight the feeling in my chest. Symphony got up with me, trying to keep me up placing one of her hands on my back, the other holding on of my hands. I finally made it off the couch and was standing on my own two feet. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I'm fine. Just a bit..." I looked down at my left hand to see Symphony's hand tangled in it. I stared at it for a while, then looked at Symphony, who's head was subconsciously leaning on my left shoulder. I rose an eyebrow, then felt a small smile form at the corner of my mouth. "Hey..."
I heard her slightly muffled voice. "Yeah?..."
"Are you.... gonna let go anytime soon?"
She shifted her head so that she was now looking up at me. "Huh?"
I let out a small chuckle. "I said, are you gonna let go anytime soon?"
I then saw her go completely wide eyed, her face completely turning pink. She drew her hands from me and took a few steps back, turning around. "Oh my god, I am so sorry. I had no idea what I was doing." I could tell she was completely embarrassed from the high pitch tone of voice she was now using.
I let out another chuckle. "Hey, I was just kidding. You don't have to beat yourself up."
She then started to mumble her words. I could have sworn her entire body began to turn pink. She stood there for a while, mumbling her words. I then sighed and walked up behind her. "Hey--"
She jumped and gave a small yelp, turning to face me. As she turned she slightly twisted her foot, causing her to fall backwards. I went wide eyed and reached forward, grabbing her hand. I wrapped my other arm around her to prevent her fall. Out of reaction she wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight. She nestled her face into my shoulder, scared to see what happened in that split second. I held her close, making sure she wouldn't slip from my grasp. We stayed there for a moment; her suspended above the ground in my arms. She slowly pried her face from my bare torso to shyly look at me with a pink colored face. I looked back at her, only to start blushing myself. Our faces were barely inches apart. I could feel her warm breaths pressing on me.
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I couldn't believe what was happening. My face turned more and more red as I gazed into Joker's dark red eyes. My mind began to turn blank as everything around me faded away. The only thing that I could see was Joker; the only thing that ran through my mind was how the moment felt right. I knew that I was out of my mind for feeling this way for a person I only met once, but, I couldn't help but become lost. I noticed Joker's face begin to turn pink. A small smile crept on my face. "H.... Hey....."
Joker blinked and drew her head back a little, signifying her coming back to reality. She pulled herself back with me in her arms so that I comfortably stood on my feet again. As we came up, my head slowly found it's way to rest against Joker's chest again. I subconsciously stood there, the feeling of her warm body against my cheek. Joker's arms were still wrapped around me while mine were still wrapped around her neck. I slowly move my head to look up Joker, which to my surprise, was looking back down at me aswell. My face started to heat up again, causing me to look back down. That's when I noticed the blood spot on the gauze wrapped around her chest. I hesitated at first, but curiosity took control. I brought down one of my hands from Joker's neck and let it slide down to her torso, my fingertips resting gently on the wound. The thought of the pain Joker had experienced made me slightly cringe, then a bit sad that out of everyone, she had to go through it.
"Does it still hurt?" I felt Joker shift her head down to look at me examining her wound.
"Nah, this little thing?" I gently traced my finger around the wound.
"I can't imagine what you must have gone through...." Then I felt her move her right arm to place her hand on mine.
"Hey, look at me." I didn't respond. I was just lost in my own thought. She then brought her other hand and placed a finger under my chin. Gently, she lifted my head so that I was looking at her. "It's nothing to worry about, alright? I promise, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry."
I felt myself becoming lost in her eyes again. There just just something about them that I knew was.... special. I knew from the night I first gazed into them. The moon that night brought out her eyes so perfectly, making them appear as a fire's soft blaze. A line of pink appeared across my face once more as a certain thought rushed through my mind. I blinked and looked down, embarrassed by the fact that I could ever think of such a thing.
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I watched as Symphony moved her head down. I slightly tilted my head, wondering what could be going through her mind. As I looked down, I wondered back to my torso. Then a certain question popped to my head. "Hey Symphony." She moved her head back up and looked at me. "Um.... Where's my shirt?"
Her eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh yeah." She gently pulled herself away from me, making me immediately miss her warmth. She made her way down the hallway and peered into another room. She then walked back into the living room and sat on the couch. "It was soaked in, um, blood. So I thought that maybe I could, y'know, wash it for you."
"Oh...." I walked over to the couch and sat on Symphony's right. "Thanks. You didn't have to though. If you uh, didn't know that...." I looked down and scratched my head. I heard her giggle, making me look back at her with a small smile. She was looking at me with one of her hands covering her mouth to hid her smile. I chuckled. "Y'know, you don't really have to hide it. It's kinda.... cute." Symphony's face when completely pink as she stared at me. I blinked and looked away, thinking of how much of an idiot I was. I took this time to actually examine the room I was in. It was the living room, and it was pretty much as bare as my room except for the fact that there was a door. There was a window on each side of the door, showing that the sun was setting on the outside world. I rose an eyebrow. "Hey, how long was I out?"
I heard Symphony shift around on the couch. "You were out ever since yesterday morning if I'm not mistaken."
I went wide eyed and looked at her. "Are you serious?" Symphony nodded her head. I then heard her laughing at my expression, seeing as how my mouth as parted and I just sat there. I blinked then sighed. "Ah damn, Faith is gonna kill me...."
Then I heard Symphony's curious voice. "Faith?"
I looked back at her then at the ground. "Yeah, Faith is one of my friends. She's an ex-runner from about four years ago. She's technically the person I work for."
Symphony nodded. "I see. So I'm guessing she's going to chew you out for not checking in?"
"Pretty much...." I yawned. "Ah geez.... I'm still a little bit tired....." I stretched my arms up only to recline back in pain as a sharp feeling shot through my chest. Symphony moved close to me and placed her hand on my lap in concern.
"I told you that you still needed to rest. Here, lay down." Symphony moved back and brought me down on the couch so that I was laying on my back. She then placed my head on her lap. "Is that better?"
I blushed as I looked up at Symphony's eyes. I then looked to the side. "Y-yeah, that's fine...."
She brushed my hair gently and rubbed my cheek. "Get some more rest, ok?"
I looked back at Symphony. I then sighed and closed my eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll try...." I yawned and easily started drifting into unconsciousness.
---------------------------------------------------
I slipped on my shirt and looked out the window. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon in the distance, signifying that it was still early morning. I looked at Symphony infront of me, watching me get set for take off. "Well, thanks for everything. I'll most likely see you again. That cool?"
Symphony giggled. "Of course. Now, take care of yourself, alright?"
I smirked. "Yeah, I will." I turned and faced the door, but something stopped me from leaving right away. I turned around to look back at Symphony and offered my hand. She looked at my hand then back at me. She smiled then took my hand in hers, shaking it. I then gently pulled her to me and hugged her. I stayed that way for a while with her in my arms. Eventually I felt her move her arms around my neck to hug me back. I looked down at her and smirked. She moved her head to look up at me, pink on her face once more. I smiled, then pulled away from her. She looked at me, her face getting brighter and brighter. I then leaned forward and gently kissed her on the cheek, earning a small gasp. I pulled away to see her slowly bring her hands up to her mouth. I smirked once more. "See you around." I turned to face the door and made my way towards it.
As I layed my hand on the handle, I heard Symphony call out to me. "Wait!"
I turned around to see Symphony walking towards me. "What is it?"
She walked up to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. Slightly bringing me down, she closed her eyes, leaned up to me and kissed me gently on the lips. I went wide eyed, feeling the blood rushing up rapidly to my face. She then slowly pulled away from me and took a few steps back, blushing but smiling aswell. I was leaning against the door, hand still on the handle. My mouth was slightly parted with no words coming out, and my face was completely red. I then accidentally leaned down on the handle, causing it to turn. The door swung open, causing me to stumble backwards. I caught myself before hitting the ground hard just in time. I came back up and looked at Symphony who was standing with her hands covering her mouth, wide eyed. I chuckled and waved. "I'm uh.... I'm fine. She then slowly brought her hands to her chest and smiled. I reached for the door handle, still looking at her. I grabbed ahold of it and slowly began to close the door, smiling like a dork at Symphony. "Um.... Bye."
She giggled and slightly waved back. "Bye."
Ok I have to admit, I really think this was cheesy. Please don't hate me if you dont like this chapter cause honestly, I dont either. I can only do so much, seeing as how I'm a 14 year old high school student that only works on this story if I have time. So I really really hope this wasnt THAT bad. Im gonna try make the next chapter more about action. Hope you review