A kaleidoscope of swirling colours hit the young detective in disorientating waves as she tried to pry her heavy eyelids open. Her vision pooled upon opening them, light hues washing into a blur like a water-colour painting in the rain. Just how long had she been out cold? She inferred by the candle sitting on the bedside table that it must be deep in the night. The detective groaned audibly as she strained to get into a sitting position.
"Don't…" came a quiet voice, emanating from just beside her.
The person in question lightly pushed her back by her shoulders, the girl not putting up too much resistance
"…You need your rest Kyoko"
Even with her busy head, Kyoko recognised the softness in the tone.
"Makoto?" The detective called out dumbly, eyes straining to see the brunette in the dimly candle-lit room. Though her vision persisted on being poor, she could now make the boy out. He looked pretty beaten up and tired himself, large dark bags sat under his olive green eyes accompanied by a whole selection of nasty lesions.
"Here" The boy replied as he took a wet cloth to the purple-haired girls forehead.
The detective flinched slightly in surprise when she felt the foreign dampness soothe her pain, becoming accustomed to the slight coolness after a few fleeting moments.
"What happened?" She croaked, voice raspy with dryness.
Noticing this, Makoto snatched his water bottle, tipping it to the detectives lips much to her gratitude and admitted embarrassment which she refused to make visible.
"Well, what do you remember?" The Luckster asked, placing the water bottle on the floor next to his ancient rocking chair.
"I remember being at the garage, then the explosion…" She trailed off, trying to concentrate on piecing together her shattered memories. After a moment of contemplation, the girl sighed with an annoyed cadence. "That's about it"
"I see" The brunette acknowledged,
"So…" Kyoko prompted. "What happened?"
The corners of Makoto's mouth twitched up slightly, his eyes drifting to the pitch-black darkness out of the window partially covered by decrepit and mangy looking net curtains.
"Let's just say… Im glad we've got Mukuro"
XxX
Back in her Fenrir days, back when she was merely a breathing extension of her rifle, Mukuro had quite a few things drilled continuously into her impressionable young mind. One of these tenants of mercenary work was the importance of keeping composed in the face of danger.
She could tell the others were scared stiff, even the big and scary Mondo, but they'd soon learn how to deal with it. Especially considering it was their very lives at stake. That's what she hoped anyways.
While the others stood paralyzed, Mukuro deftly moved in front of Makoto and the now unconscious Kyoko. The soldier glanced down to her side, quickly studying the face of the Luckster.
The boy stared wide-eyed at the source of the explosion, iron-grey smoke pluming out of the door. Mukuro could tell he was shaken up, but now was hardly the time to act idle.
"Makoto…"
The brunette's eyes were unconcentrated, vacant, for a moment before darting up to look at the soldier. Makoto nodded quickly to demonstrate that the soldier was being acknowledged, before looking down at the detective that he was currently supporting. As he suspected, she was completely unconscious. However, she didn't look badly injured which was a relief.
"…Concentrate"
The Brunette smiled demurely before getting a better hold of the detective.
"Mukuro, can you buy us some time?"
"Of course I can" The soldier replied coolly.
If the reply had come from anyone else Makoto might've thought that it sounded rather cocky, but considering who it was coming from he knew it was anything but. Mukuro grabbed a stainless steel spanner (wrench) as she cautiously strode towards the door, shoulders soon hunching over slightly into a more combat-ready stance before leaping into the gun-metal smoke.
"Alright guys! We're going!" The Ex-Luckster called out, fighting off the pain bursting from his wounds as he stood up with the detective slumped over his shoulder.
Makoto looked over his shoulder as he started walking, gazing at the smoke with an unsure frown pulling on his lips. If he was confident about one thing, then it was her skill set. However, that didn't stop him from worrying about the possibility of her biting off more than she could chew, throwing herself into the fray foolhardily to protect them against danger as some sort of penance for her sins. Soon enough; clashing of metal chorused from the corridor, soon supplemented by the grunts of the masked assailants.
Makoto had managed to slump the unconscious girl with Hina in the back of the minivan, who immediately began to look the purple-haired girl over.
"Makoto, you gotta hit the shutter doors!" Mondo shouted, a burly arm hanging out of the window pointed towards a set of large red buttons connected to the wall next to the shutters.
Considering Hiro and Mondo were driving and the two other conscious girls had their hands full as well, it had to be him. Regardless of his wounds, he dashed towards the console. Due to the fact he had no idea what button corresponded with what action, he went with the 'hit and hope' approach of mashing each one once. Thankfully, echoing dull clangs filled the room as the metal plates began to shift with creaking groans.
With the two vehicles queuing up to leave, Makoto dashed towards the continuing skirmish.
"Mukuro, we need to leave!"
Mukuro was keeping the assailants at bay, but the smoke had almost fully cleared which meant Makoto could see the seemingly endless amount of enemies pouring in from the outside. To add to their problems, with the shutter doors now open, they might end up getting flanked and trapped between a proverbial rock and hard place. If they were going to escape, they needed to scarper now even if it means turning their backs on the enemy.
"Be there in a second!" She shouted back before placing a jab smartly in between the cartoonish eyes of a masked aggressor.
Before she could engage the next target, a hand grabbed her free hand and pulled her back with a measured amount of force, not enough to throw her completely off balance but enough so that she knew how serious her leader was.
"Now!"
Hearing the urgency in his voice, Mukuro sprung backwards to avoid getting caught by the threats closing in and began to turn towards the car. However, as she backed away from the door with nimble steps, she saw an amber glow in the hands of one of the attackers.
"Fire?" Mukuro thought to herself.
Her question was soon answered when she noticed the object in the other hand. A long bottle with blackened rags spilling out of the top.
"Shit!" Mukuro hissed with short breath.
Makoto hadn't noticed, too concerned with getting away to realise the imminent danger they were in, but Mukuro knew all too well the hazard, especially when she saw the lighter strike against the oiled pieces of cloth.
She had to do to something now, there was no way she was going to risk getting everyone burned alive. With this in mind, she looked down at the bloodied tool still in her hands. It was their chance to eliminate two birds with one stone, their only chance.
Mukuro brung her strong arm right back before whipping it back around and launching the steel instrument into the air straight at the bulky looking man who was preparing to throw the cocktail.
The throw had the desired effect, the spanner crashing straight into the face of the attacker with a dull clang. Due to the amount of force put into the throw, the Molotov that was previously cradled in fingers fell to the floor and erupting in flames as it cracked on the corridor floor. The entryway was rapidly engulfed in a maelstrom of orange blaze, burning all that was in there and blocking anymore from coming in.
Seeing the destruction, the two teens decided not the dilly-dally, bundling themselves into the cars in a panic.
"You guys okay!?" Hiro yelled as he wasted no time in putting the saloon in gear and taking off in pursuit of the now leaving minivan.
Makoto looked down over himself before giving the soldier who had dived into the backseat with him a few fleeting glances. In all honestly, she looked in much better shape than what he imagined he looked like.
"Think so!"
"That was way too close guys" The clairvoyant complained, a hairy hand pacing its way through an even hairier head of dreads.
"Tell me about it" Mukuro and Makoto chorused practically in unison.
"Well, anyways…" Hiro said with an out of place chuckle. "Next stop; the creepy cabin"
XxX
"Honestly, we were lucky. If they had guns we would've been toast…" The Ex-Luckster trailed off with an awkward shrug. "But we got the cars and everyone made it out alive, that's all I can ask for"
"I see…" Kyoko trailed off, bringing a gloved hand to her chin. "Where are we now then?"
"A small suburb on the outskirts of Okaya, Lake Suwa is just outside of the window" Makoto answered, nodding to the window with the drawn curtains.
"We made It quite far then" Kyoko prompted.
"Me and Mukuro decided that we should put enough distance between us and Tokyo as possible, we were running out of fuel though so we decided to take a couple of country roads until we found this little housing estate" Makoto explained, before giving off a strong yawn. He must not have had slept in a while, Kyoko noted.
"Smart decision, hopefully our pursuers will past right by us" She agreed as she rubbed her temples.
"Hopefully, but that will only mean that our progress might be slowed in the future" A frown worked its way onto the boy's lips, becoming distracted for just a moment as he got distracted by his worries. A moment later though, he shook his head softly to clear his mind. "Regardless, it's not like we had a choice. We need supplies and we could do with some time to lick our wounds, de-stress a little"
A slight smile crept unto the Detective's features, a smile that was soon stifled by the iron mask she had grown so attached too. She found it encouraging that they weren't going into things hastily, thinking through things logically.
"Seems like a good start, too much tension would have a negative effect on morale. Of course we can't stay here forever though, I suppose you have a plan?"
The Luckster grinned lightly, bashful and awkward.
"The plan is simple really, gather supplies from the nearby area then make our way towards Kyoto" Makoto answered, the mere mention of Kyoto reminding him off the fact that he might have to come clean with Togami about his family. "However, in the even shorter term, you need your rest"
"I feel fine Makoto" Kyoko assured with confidence. Confidence that soon wavered when she stood up and was hit with a wave of disorientation.
"Are you sure about that?" He jested, standing to block her way to the door.
With a sympathetic smile, the Brunette put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know you hate siting still and relaxing, but I don't want to risk you getting hurt worse"
Makoto nearly baulked when he noticed flash of pink steak across the pale face of the detective. The boy quickly retracted his hand, he needed to remember that Kyoko only had retained fragments of her memory and certainly not their time together at school. Fazed, but not deterred from convincing her, he continued.
"Hina and Mukuro both think you'll be fine, but with head injuries you can never be sure. So, with that in mind, I want you to relax for a bit while we keep an eye on you"
Admittedly, he was right on two counts. She wasn't the type to allow inactivity and rushing her recovery wouldn't be a wise move on her part. With that being said, there were plenty of questions that's still needed to be solved and who better to solve them than the Ultimate Detective. However, if they were going to dig in for a couple of days to build strength then she may as well take the time to recover completely. Though Kyoko's natural curiosity urged her to find answer in this confusing world, she reluctantly nodded and took a seat on the side of the bed.
Relieved, Makoto gave a stilted smile to the detective before turning to leave.
"Okay im gonna to leave you to get some rest, either I or someone else will be back in the morning with some breakfast"
A couple of beats of silence except from footsteps muted by the decrepit carpet and Makoto had made it to the door.
"Makoto…" The Detective called out, swivelling her head just a little to look at the boy eye to eye. "Get some rest too, you complain that I look rough but you apparently haven't seen yourself"
Makoto could've sworn he saw a corner of the girl's mouth creep up in a mischievous smirk, a smirk that triggered a warm feeling of nostalgia to blossom in his chest. Before he could answer though, she continued.
"Also… I believe our conversation at the mechanic was interrupted…" The detective awkwardly worded, trying to think about the most diplomatic way of placing her words. Makoto didn't know if it was because he was so exhausted, but he swore he saw a flash of pink come and go like cherry blossoms in the spring. "When you asked me to share after you had told me how you were really feeling about this whole…Everything"
"Y-Yeah sure…" Makoto stammered, itching the back of his head to occupy idle hands. "When we both get some free time then I'd be glad to talk…"
"Thank you"
A slight curving of her lips was enough to coax a wide grin from the Luckster.
"I'll see you later" He chirped as he headed towards, his warm smile accompanied by a small wave.
"Later, Makoto"
A/N
*rolls up on heelies*
Wagwan bruh
So, first things first, i was kinds gone for a while. Since like December. I can't describe how sorry i am for that geezers.
So in January i had practice exams, then i had some family and relationship problems. Relatable tm im sure. I was just drained as fuck and i really had no motivation to write whatsoever. I tried to do some one shots but that didn't help.
Before i knew it, it was my actual exams and i needed to study like a fucking monk or some shit.
Anyways, less about the past and more about the future right?
So i get my results in august and it will cause one of three things
A. I get all the results i want and i get to university.
B. i fail perhaps one subject, i resit the year doing one subject, and i go to uni next year. (the most likely outcome tbh)
C. I fail real bad and i just get an apprenticeship or something?
So all three should mean that i have more time to write which may sound weird but in England at least, sixth form (The type of education im in right now) is considered as way more stressful than university. At University you do one subject super in depth but at sixth form you do 3-4 subjects just in less depth. So you might be doing less complicated stuff but youve got to juggle more types of info and tests etc. TL:DR hopefully ive got more time to write regardless of my test outcomes.
Next item on the itinerary. Yo is anybody still gonna read this? like ive been gone for a while so i get it if people have abandoned the story which is a shame but i get it you know. So please. comment and let me know thats there still interest. Ill write this as long as ive got people reading you know, its for you guys!
Next! Sorry if this chapter is kinda shit. im real rusty. i did this in like a week. please dont hate me.
Next! Kuda? you gonna do anything else you complete degenerate?
YA DAMN RIGHT I AM!
So im gonna finish up all them one shots i tried to do before. Mostly Naegiri. I know i asked on my tumblr for people to suggest stuff and im pretty sure Ramixthered (I think thats the guy anyways?) requested something like a marriage fic i believe and don't worry i aint forgotten, I gotchu fam.
second of all, im thinking about branching out into some Konosuba stuff soon so if you like Konosuba then perhaps you should follow my tumblr or my account *wink wink*
With that outta the way i think im done with this long ass note section.
Its 4:40 am currently. I need sleep.
Alrighty then. hope you enjoyed. please leave some feedback.
stay safe and ill see you next time!