A/N: Three words.

College.

Is.

BRUTAL!

If you are considering taking five classes in one semester, take my advice-DON'T!

You're classes won't bother coordinating with eachother and each one will give you a new assignment no matter what else you have on your plate.

EVEN IF THEY'VE ALREADY GIVEN YOU STUFF TO DO!

Don't get me wrong, college has its fun points, and the teachers are very interesting.

It just requires you to the stamina of a seasoned triathlon runner in the prime of their carrer.

I think I'm gonna die. TT TT

My problems aside, I apologize for the my updating lately (or lack thereof), but as you can read from above, I've been a bit preoccupied lately as projects begin to snowball.

Anyway, here's chapter six.

Please R&R and thank you for reading.

Chapter Six

Barreling down the highway, Celty could focus on little else besides the fact that the unconscious girl sitting behind her was seriously injured and could die if she didn't get help soon. She could feel Sora's heart beat through her back and prayed every second that it would not stop before she reached Shinra.

'Keep calm, Celty,' the Dullahan thought to herself, 'You need to stay calm and get her to Shinra as fast as you can.'

'Without getting chased by the traffic police!' She quickly added with a slight shiver.

Twenty long, grueling, minutes later, the Headless Rider finally swerved into the parking garage of her building complex.

Stopping her steed, Celty hopped off and picked Sora up once again, bridal style. Nodding a thanks to Shooter for his work, who then proceeded to park himself, the Dullahan ran towards the stairwell, foregoing the elevator altogether.

Taking the steps three and four at a time, Celty bolted passed floors faster than any mere human ever could empty handed, let alone with an unconscious teenager in their arms.

Finally reaching the top floor, the Black Rider dashed down the hall towards the apartment both she and Shinra shared.

'Please let him still be home!' Celty prayed as she leaned Sora against her shoulder while she unlocked and opened the door with her right hand. When the door opened, she quickly dissolved her shoes and ran into the living room to find Shinra sitting on the couch, watching the news.

"Ah, Celty, you're finally bac-!" Turning around to greet his lover, Shinra stopped when he saw that Celty was holding someone in her arms, was breathing hard, and looked positively frantic.

Immediately grasping the situation, the doctor's face turned serious as he said, "Put her on the couch, I'll get my bag."

Doing as she was told as Shinra went to his office to get his kit, Celty placed Sora's still form onto the couch before dashing to the bathroom to get some towels to put under her.

Shinra returned just as the Dullahan had placed Sora on top of the towels. Kneeling down on Celty's left, the doctor pulled on some rubber gloves and said, "Alright, remove the shadows and lets see what the problem is."

As the shadow clothing dissipated, Shinra couldn't help but whistle.

"I haven't seen anyone with this much blood on them since the last time Shizuo-kun was here," he commented, as he looked Sora over. "Huh? Isn't this Shinobu-san? The girl you were getting for Izaya-kun?" he asked looking at Celty.

Celty, who had taken her helmet off by now, put her hands in her lap and fidgeted, before she finally pulled out her cell and began typing.

[Well…that is….it's…kind of a long…well-look! Can you just help her already!] She shoved it in his face for emphasis.

"Hai hai, I'm on it! But you have to explain it to me later, ok?" Shinra said as he smiled and raised his hands.

Not waiting for a reply, his serious face returned and he said, "We need to strip her-UGH!" he cried out as Celty drilled a punch right into his jaw.

Rubbing where the hit connected, Shinra pouted, "I didn't mean that in a perverted way! I just meant that I need to see the wounds and her clothes are in the way that's all!" His face turned all lovey-dovey. "Besides, I only have eyes for you my lov-GAW!"

Shinra groaned as Celty punched him again, this time in his gut and out of embarrassment.

[JUST GET ON WITH IT!]

Holding his stomach as he waved with his right, the young doctor replied, "Ok, ok…could you please remove her clothes then?"

Slightly flustered, the Dullahan nonetheless summoned her shadows, and with a few deft movements, had slits running down the sides of Sora's clothes, allowing them to be pulled off easily. Her bra and underwear were left untouched.

"It's worse than I thought," the doctor murmured as he rummaged through his bag, producing a needle and a vial of anesthetic, which he then injected into Sora's right arm.

With her lacerations and bruises finally visible Shinra got to work, starting with the bullet wound, which was by far the worst.

Prodding it gently, Shinra, to himself, commented, "Patient has bullet wound on left side of abdomen. Diameter suggests it was a low caliber handgun." With Celty's help, they pull Sora towards them slightly so that Shinra could inspect her back.

"There is an exit wound, meaning the bullet passed all the way through." They lay Sora back down. "Judging by the locations of both wounds, the bullet passed through the patient's body without hitting any of her ribs or vital organs."

Going through his bag again, Shinra pulled out a thing of cleaning alcohol and wipes, and began to clean the area around the wound. Satisfied it was relatively clean, he then took out a curved needle that had a length of thread attached to it.

Turning to Celty, he said, "I doubt the anesthesia has taken full effect yet, so I need you to hold her down for me, ok?"

Doing her equivalent of a nod, Celty got up and moved to the other side of the couch, so that she could hold Sora down without getting in Shinra's way. Placing her hands on Sora's left hip and just below her left breast, the Dullahan gave the young doctor the ok.

Putting his own left hand aside of the wound, Shinra pinched the opening closed as much as he could before inserting the needle at one end of the slit, curving it beneath the girl's skin, and pushing it out again on the other side of the wound, pulling it until the thread finally ran through.

Sora, who had been still up to this point, flinched as the needle punctured her skin the first time, and jerk evener harder when Shinra started on the second stitch. As the young doctor started on the third, Sora's right arm and leg seemed to have minds of their own as they flew through the air-

Aimed at Shinra's head!

They would have connected too, had Celty not caught them at the last second and held them down with her shadows.

Even though Sora was still unconscious, her body fought the Dullahan every second until the anesthesia finally kicked in, which took nearly four minutes. By the time she had calmed down, Shinra had finished stitching both the entry and exit wound of the bullet hole and had started to work on some of the bigger knife cuts on her stomach.

Finishing up on a three inch long but shallow cut, the doctor noted to Celty, "That was strange wasn't it?"

Worried that Sora might strike at Shinra again, even though she was fully down and out, Celty was still holding her down and couldn't answer, but Shinra could guess that she had asked what was strange?

As he cleaned the area around another cut, the doctor nodded at Sora.

"I'm saying it's strange that it took her four full minutes before she finally succumbed to the drug. Most humans would have been out in less than a minute, especially if they're already unconscious."

'That is strange,' the Dullahan thought.

"Yes it is," Shinra replied to Celty's unvoiced comment, "At any rate, the rest of these wounds aren't nearly as bad as I first thought, and won't really need stitches. Can you give me a hand bandaging them up?"

The headless rider hesitated.

Smiling and waving a blood-covered glove, he said, "Don't worry. She's not gonna wake up for another hour or so, and that's without factoring in how much blood she's lost. You can let go of her now."

Persuaded, but still cautious, Celty stopped holding Sora down and helped Shinra apply dressings to all of her wounds. In total, the strange tourist had seventeen cuts, one on her left cheek and the rest on her arms, legs, and torso (four of which had to be stitched), a through and through bullet wound, and more than two dozen various bruises, more of which were forming every minute.

If it hadn't been for Celty's shadow suit and Shinra's assistance, she would have probably died of blood loss.

When the last piece of gauze was finally placed, Celty and Shinra stood beside the couch to admire their handiwork.

Childish Shinra returned as he hugged the Dullahan around the shoulders and said, "Great job Celty! I'll make a nurse out of you yet! Maybe you'll even quit your courier job and come work with me-GAH!"

Once Shinra had recovered from yet another of Celty's blows, the two strange lovers picked up both ends of the towel beneath Sora and used it as a makeshift gurney to carry her into Celty's room. There, the Dullahan pulled out one of her spare futons for the unconscious girl to lie on while Shinra left to get something.

As Celty tucked Sora under the covers, the young doctor returned with a bag of blood hanging from a pole.

"It's a good thing I always keep a few bags of O- type blood for when Shizuo pays us a visit," he commented as he knelt to insert the IV into Sora's left arm.

Celty brought out her phone, [Why does it matter what type it is?]

Smiling, Shinra responded, "It matters, dear, because if I were to give her the wrong blood type, her body would refuse it and she could die."

[So Sora's blood type is O-?]

"I don't know."

[Then why are you giving her O- blood!] The flustered faerie asked.

Hands held up defensively, Shinra explained, "Calm down Celty. It's because I don't know her blood type that I'm giving her O- type. You see, it's the one blood type that is compatible with all of the other types. So, no matter what type she is, her body won't reject it. Get it?"

[Sort of.] In actuality, Celty didn't get it all, but she knew if she said that then Shinra would spend all night lecturing her about it, and she was tired enough as is.

Whether he understood this or not, Shinra decided to drop the subject and followed Celty back to the kitchen, leaving their new houseguest to slumber in peace.

Getting himself a drink from the fridge, the young doctor sat down at the kitchen table and said, "So, exactly how did you go from chasing Shinobu-san to bringing her here. And while you're at it, mind explaining how she got all banged up?"

Knowing she had no choice, Celty went and got her laptop. Placing it on the table, she sat down next to Shinra and began to type out what had happened since she had left their apartment.

Some time later, the Dullahan finally neared the end of the tale.

[…I followed the sounds of fighting until I found this warehouse. Opening the garage door, I found Shinobu-san fighting right in the middle of the Silver Spades gang! She was using some wooden weapon that I'm not familiar with. Anyway, I jumped into the fight and helped her finish off the rest of the gang. I was trying to persuade her to come with me quietly when this guy popped out of nowhere and tried to shoot me. Before I could do anything, Shinobu-san barreled into me, got hit by the bullet, and knocked the guy out by throwing one of her weapons at his head. Someone must have called the police, because we heard sirens coming. Shinobu-san agreed to go with me right before she passes out. I grabbed her stuff, put her on my steed and raced back here. You know the rest.]

After over half an hour of typing, Celty gave her fingers a rest as Shinra finished reading what she had wrote.

Apparently finished, he said, "Heh~! So that's what happened! Interesting, I'm not sure what's more unbelievable: that she finally agreed to go with you or that she was still willing to fight you even after being bruised, sliced up, and shot at! Not to mention after she had spent a few hours trying to escape you!" he laughed.

[I know. She's kind of a strange kid.] Celty thought back to when Sora had seen her without her helmet.

[She took me being headless in stride-like it was no different from a weird hair style or something.]

"It's almost like she can't be fazed."

Sora's bloodied face flashed through the Dullahan's "mind".

[No. She can be fazed. At the end, when it seemed like I was going to take her to Izaya and she couldn't run or fight, she looked] hesitating, it was a few moments before Celty finally typed [scared.]

Head in hand, Shinra mused, "So she's afraid of Izaya-kun?"

[I don't think she knows who Izaya is yet. But she seems to be under the impression that going with me will take her back to them.]

"Them who?"

[I don't know. She just kept saying that she'd rather die then go back to them.]

The young doctor twisted in his seat to look at where Celty's face would be. After a moment he said, "Why is this bothering you so much?"

It was a long time before Celty finally started typing again.

[It's just that….you didn't see her Shinra. Didn't see how she determined she was to escape. Didn't see how she fought like she was possessed by a demon at the warehouse….You didn't see how she automatically accepted me and spoke to me without a hint of fear or disgust in her voice.]

'Didn't hear her say she thought I was a nice person after only just meeting me, and not a monster,' the Dullahan thought to herself. 'Although she does call me Shinigami-san,' she added wryly.

[The point is, this girl is a good person, and strong to boot. If there is something, or someone, that could make her look so scared, then whatever it is, it's probably not good.]

Nodding, Shinra replied, "You have a point." After sitting and thinking for a minute, the young doctor finally exclaimed with his usual gusto, "Well! If you think she's a good person, then that's good enough for me, but I have just one question."

[What's that?]

"How are you going to explain this to Izaya?"

If Celty had a head, and therefore a face, she would have face-palmed herself hard enough to leave a mark. In her rush to get Sora some help as fast as possible, the Dullahan had completely forgotten that she had been hired to do a job.

By one of the biggest scum bags in Japan, nonetheless.

As the faerie debated on what to do, Shinra suggested, "For now, let's just let Shinobu-san rest and we'll figure out what to do about Izaya when the time comes."

Thinking it over, Celty silently agreed with Shinra's plan of no-action.

"In the meantime, how's about you and I have shower toge-GUHAH!"

A/N: And that's it for today.

I'd promise to try to update more often, but that sounds like a very empty promise to me, so I won't.

Fortunately, my semester ends sometime in December.

Calm down!

I have no intention of abandoning my fic for months again!

I will update.

Just not as often as I would like.

And deifintely not nearly as often as you would like.

Please bare with me.

And please R&R.