Haruka ran out of the corner pharmacy carrying the medical supplies in a bag. She briefly looked up at the sky as she made her way back towards the alley, it was cloudy and the temperature started to drop. She turned the corner again into the alley to see Mamoru missing, only a pool of blood remained where he sat. Haruka swore to herself and ran down the alley turning out into the street again hoping he didn't travel too far. Her first instinct was to return to the alley they parked the bike at about five blocks down. Re adjusting the bag in her hand she started to run as fast as she could.
Haruka entered the next alley and saw the swordsman sitting on the ground against the brick wall, hidden behind the bike from the street view. He was fiddling around with his arm, obviously having a hard time. Haruka ran up to him, knelt down beside him and started to take out sterilizer and bandages. Mamoru stopped and looked at his captive.
"Stupid girl, I've gotten it taken care of. I don't need your help," Mamoru grumbled and kept trying to tighten the self made bandages.
"Hush, I need to take a better look at it. The bullet might still be in your arm," Haruka swatted his hand away and started to take off the half assed bandage job. Mamoru jerked himself away and glared at Haruka angrily.
"I don't need help from someone by the likes of yo-"
"Yes you do!" Haruka grabbed Mamoru's arm again, returning the glare. Mamoru's mouth was firm and angry, and his eyebrows furrowed. She tried looking into his eyes but couldn't get passed the red lenses in his sunglasses, and only saw her own reflection. "I have EMT training and I'm not going to let this wound sit there without doing anything first. Now shut your trap like you usually do and let me do this," Haruka said almost pleading, yet with a firm tone. Mamoru sneered slightly and relaxed against the wall, giving in.
Haruka started to unwrap the messy one-handed job Mamoru started to do and lifted up his sleeve, immediately took a piece of gauze and poured the cleaning solution on it. As soon as she pressed it to the wound Mamoru winced and started to retaliate, causing Haruka to grab onto his arm to keep it still. She removed the now bloody gauze and poured the sterilizer over her hands to closely inspect the wound and his arm around it.
"There's not an exit wound, the bullet is still in there. I'm gonna get it out," Haruka said as she reached into the bag and grabbed a large pair of tweezers, ignoring Mamoru's objections and facial expressions. "Hold as still as you can please, this is going to hurt a lot. Try and keep your arm relaxed,"
As soon as she dug the tweezers into the wound, Mamoru tensed up and gritted his teeth. Growling through his clenched jaw, he bashed his other fist against the ground. Haruka still concentrated on catching the bullet, holding his arm with her other hand having a gauze patch catch as much blood as she could.
Finally she caught it, and slowly started to take it out, lest to Mamoru's ever vulgar curses. Ignoring his threats, she pulled out the bullet, Mamoru letting out a final gasp of breath in relief, and set it on the ground, quickly putting pressure on the would. The swordsman breathed heavily, his face twisted in pain.
"Hold that there, please." Haruka spoke softly yet firm, waiting for Mamoru as he brought his opposite hand up, over lapping Haruka's. She paused and stared at his hand, blushing slightly and frozen in place. She snapped out of her trace and looked at Mamoru, who was now looking at her. This time she could almost see through one of this glasses lenses, his right eye showing and fixed on hers. It was then she noticed the scars on his face more clearly, they reached across his eyes and up to his eyebrows. Slowly she pulled her hand away and brought it closer to her, glanced at her hand and quickly back up at Mamoru one last time, and then took a better look at her hand; blood. His blood.
She opened the sanitizer and poured it over her hands, washing the blood off. As she inspected her hands, snow started to fall. Haruka looked up into the sky, a few flakes falling on her face. She glanced at Mamoru, who was also looking up at the sky.
"Winter must be here... I figured it was getting a bit chillier,"
Haruka was puzzled, "Well yeah... it's the middle of December."
"... So it would seem," Mamoru turned his head down towards Haruka and nudged his shoulder. Haruka snapped out of another deep thought.
"Oh, right. Let me do one more thing," Haruka said as she dug out a fresh gauze patch, "Here... take your hand off slowly..." Mamoru did as she said, Haruka placed the new one on and started wrapping the wound with a fresh bandage. "There, all finished. That's the best I could do with what I had," she collected the supplies and tossed the bloody bandages in the pile next to the wall. When she didn't hear a reply back from him she looked up at him, he had already stood up and walked over to his bike. He opened the compartment for his sword and slid it in.
Haruka stood up and came up behind him slowly. As quietly as she could she reached her hand up towards Mamoru's ear, keeping her breathing steady. Before she could make contact with his glasses, he turned his head towards her.
"What are you doing?" he growled, causing Haruka to freeze in place. She brought her hand back and shook her head.
"N-No... I thought, something was in your hair." Haruka said sheepishly. Mamoru gave her a stern look and swapped his glasses for his helmet. He placed his hand on the seat and swung his leg over positioning himself on the bike.
"Lets go,"
Haruka mimicked Mamoru, and got onto the bike putting her helmet on. She placed her hands on his sides, letting him know that she was ready to go. He started up the engine and revved off into the night.
Haruka had woken up in the middle of the night, another dream; she shook this one off just like all the others, and got up to get a glass of water. She straightened out the large shirt that was graciously given to her so she could wash her other clothes, and made her way through the dark room to the door and slowly opened it out to the living room.
Once again pitch black greeted her, she wondered how anybody could navigate like that, she couldn't recall many times the lights have actually been on. She put her hand against the wall to her right and made her way along it until she felt cold tile against her bare feet, assuming it to be the kitchen. When she stepped down her foot steps were much more apparent, at this point she didn't care if she woke Mamoru up.
Trying to remember where the sink was, she turned abruptly turned to her left and didn't walk two steps before colliding with something head on, and fell to the floor behind her in retaliation. The next thing she heard was a splash of liquid against the ground and a gruff voice cursing. Haruka rubbed the hip she fell on and looked up, her eyes finally starting to adjust to the darkness. What she saw gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"You mind watching where you're going?" The looming figure in front of her spoke, confirming that it was indeed Mamoru. Haruka immediately forgot about being sincere about everything.
"Well excuse me, sorry I can't see in the dark like you can apparently," Haruka said mockingly, standing up and backing up against the wall close behind her. He could hear his foot steps getting further from her, him chuckling darkly all the while.
"You really haven't caught on yet have you? You're quite naïve for someone on the special task forces," he said as a chair skid across the tile. "If you really need it the light switch should be over to your right against the wall."
Haruka followed his instructions, eventually finding the light switch and flicked it on. She squinted her eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the sudden brightness. Soon she found herself in the same room that their first conversation took place, seeing the table in the middle of the room and Mamoru sitting in a chair right beside it. He was wearing a plain white shirt, complete with a few blood stains on his sleeve from his wound from earlier, and a pair of dirty jeans. He took a sip from the mug of what she assumed was coffee, and it was then she noticed he wasn't wearing his sunglasses.
His hair was a mess in his face, and he never focused on her or anything after the lights went on. The scarring on his face was much more apparent, clear across his eyes, the bridge of his nose and above his brow in almost a splash pattern. Haruka walked up to the table and sat down slowly, still looking at Mamoru. Trying to avoid confrontation and a possible freak out by her captor, she kept her mouth shut until she couldn't hold it in any longer.
"So... you're really-" Haruka started to say until she was cut off.
"Yeah," Mamoru interrupted, startling Haruka slightly at his curtness. She quickly recovered and calmed her nerves as Mamoru took another sip of his coffee.
"How did it happen?" Haruka inquired, expecting him to say nothing but asked anyways. Mamoru finished his drink and placed the mug on the table.
"Why do you need to know?" he said curtly again, getting up and placing his hand on the counter making his way to the coffee maker to pour himself another glass. Haruka's face contorted into a frown.
"I'm just amazed on how you move and fight, it's almost as if you're not-" Haruka started to speak but was cut off once again before she could finish, this time with Mamoru slamming his mug against the counter top.
"Well, I am, so just deal with it and drop it. Go back to bed," Mamoru growled, furrowing his brow and looking in Haruka's direction. In which Haruka stood up quickly, knocking her chair over behind her.
"You don't have to be such an asshole about it! It was just a simple question!" Haruka once again regretted opening her mouth, as Mamoru bashed his fist against the counter top and turned around to face her.
"It's not a 'simple question' when you're the one being asked how something like this happened!" Mamoru roared, "Besides, it's none of your fucking business," He swiped his hand downwards and started walking towards the living room, Haruka getting up quickly and catching his hand.
"Mamoru, wait!"
In retaliation Mamoru lifted his hand up and brought it down to strike Haruka, although was stopped by Haruka's free hand twisting his arm into a hold behind his back with surprising ease. Mamoru was about to make a counter attack when Haruka quickly lifted her over sized shirt to reveal a hand gun on a holster against her leg, taking it out and holding it up to Mamoru's jaw line as his he lifted his head up. He started to chuckle again, as if he had gone off the deep end.
"Go ahead... shoot me. I don't believe you actually can," Mamoru mocked her, having Haruka grit her teeth and put her finger on the trigger. As soon as she started to pull it back Mamoru retaliated and used his weight to lean into Haruka, elbowing her in the stomach and knocking her back, her finger pulling the trigger and sending a bullet into the ceiling before dropping her gun. She let go of Mamoru's arm and fell backwards, his arm wrapped around her torso before she hit the floor again.
Haruka wheezed and coughed, trying to get her circle of air back into her lungs from being winded. She looked up at Mamoru, who had stood her back up and still had his arm around her. He was looking in her direction, his sightless eyes open and brow furrowed, it looked like as if he was trying to think of something to say. She realized that he couldn't see that she was only half dressed, but she felt almost embarrassed being that close to him in this state.
"Would... you mind letting go of me?" Haruka spoke softly, "I can stand up straight now,"
Mamoru did as he was asked and took his hand off, but didn't back away. "Next time you want to pick a fight with me, remember I can easy over power you. I know you're trained in combat but that won't help you next time you anger me. Learn to keep your mouth shut and know your place," he turned around and walked towards the living room and to his door in his room.
Haruka watched as he walked away, her heart beating from the events that just happened. She picked up her gun from the ground and walked back into the room she was assigned to, crawling into bed and attempted to fall asleep.
