Broken
...Second Part: Dark...
"Explain. Now."
Krad was in too much pain to notice her. "Shhh..." I insisted to him again. "Calm down already."
"Dark!" Emiko was getting impatient waiting for him to answer her. "What is Krad doing in my house!?"
"Just hold on a minute!" I said, raising my voice and holding my hand up for her to cool it. I was beginning to get a headache.
Krad was recovering enough to start trying to swallow his sobs, but his eyes were still unfocused and flowing with tears. He gripped his relocated arm with his healthier one, hugging it to his body in a vain attempt to help ease the pain a little.
"Dark –"
"Does he look like a threat to you right now!!" I shouted fiercely. Krad began to choke, startled by my sudden snarl. Emiko was just as shocked. She stood there, stiff as a post. Knowing that Emiko would recover, I turned my attention back to Krad again and pulled him up to a sitting position, holding him to my chest as his wheezing subsided and he passed out again. "Now, what seems to be the problem, Emiko?"
"I asked why Krad is in my house, Dark! I want an answer! And don't you ever raise your voice at me – I am your mother!"
"Emiko," I argued, "I found him naked and dying by a dumpster in a deserted ally! Are you so heartless that you would've had me leave him there?"
"But he's –"
"He's Krad! I know that!" I motioned for her to come over, still holding Krad securely to my chest, pressing his head against my shoulder as if he were a child. "Come here and just look at him for a minute."
A scowl on her face, Emiko walked over to us to examine Krad's once-again-unconscious state. "I admit it – he looks pretty bad," she said quietly. There was reluctance in her voice, but not even she could retain her hate after seeing him like this.
"I'm going to take care of him," I decided. Krad's slender, damaged fingers curled subconsciously into the fabric of my shirt.
"But don't you think –"
"Emiko –"
"You can never trust –"
"Emiko." I put a hand on her arm to silence her. "No risk involved. I promise."
She looked at me skeptically for a while before giving in. But there was a compromise – one that I had expected. "Okay... but you have to do it on your own. I'm not going to help you."
"That's only what I expected," I said, a bit more cheerily.
Emiko sighed, taking in Krad's appearance one more time. "I guess I'll leave you to it, then..." she relented, and patted my knee gently before she left, showing that she at least understood.
"Thanks Emiko."