"How did this happen?"
"I don't know. He just attacked Kotaro."
"Where did you see him attack him?"
"On his side."
"Shit. It got his stomach wound."
I slightly open my heavy eyelids and look up to see Goemon cradling me in his arms as he quickly makes his way into the house. Wakana and Goemon frantically spoke back and forth, but I couldn't pick up on what they were saying. I felt pain in my gut as Goemon places me on the futon.
"Goemon-" I call out to him in a weak voice.
"Hey. Looks like you're still alive." He replies before placing the back of his hand on my forehead. "Shit. He has a sudden fever." He tells Wakana. "Get some cold water and some herbs."
Wakana nods and leaves the room.
"Listen to me; you are not gonna die on us. Not from that brat, and not from the fever. We'll fix it."
"You saw the whole thing." I tell him.
"Yeah. But I didn't know it was gonna end like this." Before I could say anything else, i lost my consciousness once again and faded into the dark.
~ Push Me Away ~
I woke up again to look around to see the room darkened, lighted by a lantern on top of the dresser. It was already dark out from the looks of it but I couldn't tell how long I was out. Several hours maybe?
Looking down at myself, I see a fresh bandage around my torso but there was still some blood still on my body. I suppose that's why I felt weak, it was because I was losing an excessive amount of blood.
Attempting to get up, I grunt in pain just from sitting up from the futon. Getting up from the futon finally, I slowly made my way out of the room and down the hall before I began to hear voices from the dining room.
"Wait, you were actually jealous of Kotaro when you first became a ninja?" I hear Wakana ask in surprise.
"I know this story."
I say to myself as I shook my head.
"Oh yeah. When I was younger, I always saw myself as the most handsome guy around. Still am. But when I first saw Kotaro, I just thought to myself; 'Wow. He looks so perfect.'. And that was when I competed with him. He was the silent type. Barely spoke. And some girls saw that as hot. And this competing went on for several years. It was more one-sided than between us two. He saw that I was competing with him but he just ignored it. Didn't care."
"So what made you two friends?"
"Six years ago; when he first met Shizuka. I met her once and she caught my eye. But she paid her attention to Kotaro more than me so I gave up on trying. Leaving for my mission a few days later, I got a letter from Hanzo saying that the village Kotaro stayed in had the water tampered with and everyone died within a few days. I was the one who dragged his ass out of the village; covered in blood and wrapped in a hard shell of loneliness. I couldn't leave him broken like that, so I became the shoulder he needed to lean on. And since than, we have progressed. We consider each other brothers and watch each other's back." I listen to Goemon as I leaned against a wall and remembered how he changed.
"Thank you for being there; now and then."
I mentally tell him before revealing myself from around the corner. Wakana looks up at me in surprise and quickly stood up to support me.
"What are you doing out of bed?" She asks me.
"Well it looks like you two were waiting for me to wake up anyway." I reply with a small smile before smacking the back of Goemon's head.
"Hey!" He whines.
"Thank you." I say with a smile.
"Don't die on us."