Day 2/Prompt: Protect

Title: Regretful Survivor

The sound of gunshots engulfed her ears, forcing her to close her eyes tightly. Around her, she could hear the cries of the people, who just like her, expected

today to be a normal day, never thinking they'd become hostages for a mass shooter. She remained completely still on the ground until the gunshots stopped and the only sounds in the air were soft whimpering, sobs, slow breathing, and the footsteps of the shooter as she walked around.

"You pigs," she heard the shooter sneer loudly, "I'll make sure every single one of you dies today! This will teach society a good fucking lesson!!"

Shots were fired and people began to scream.

Shiho Miyano closed her eyes once more, trying to block the noise as she edged closer to the wall she was facing in an attempt to hide and protect herself from the bullets. As each shot was fired, she felt a jerky motion caused by the child she was expecting. With her eyes still closed, she moved one of her hands and settled it on her engorged stomach where she began to rub the spot where the baby was located.

'Everything will be okay,' she thought to herself, 'The police will hopefully come through, stop this woman, and we'll be out.'

While deep in thought, she realized that she wouldn't even be in this situation if she hadn't stopped by the baby store. At first she had come here to return a dress she had purchased a month before she got pregnant. On the way to find the exit, her attention was caught by the baby store she had been frequently visiting the past couple of months. Counting how much money she had on her person, she didn't find it any harm purchasing a few more clothes for the baby and it was definitely needed since she was due next week.

After finding what she wanted, that's when it started. Coming out of the store, looking over the receipt, when the all-familiar sound of gunshots immediately made her look up just in time to see a man drop dead in front of her feet, several bullet wounds marking his back. People were now running in one single direction, while others were hiding inside the stores as the shooter was making her way, heavily armed and firing a shotgun. People falling after getting fatally shot in the back was the last thing Shiho saw as she ran back inside the store she had just come out of.

She had managed to find shelter under one of the display tables. Luckily for her, she was the only one using it and didn't attract the attention of the shooter when she had decided to take the people hiding as her own hostages. Maternal instincts struck Shiho when she went under the table and the first thing she did was face her whole body towards the wall, to ensure her unborn child would hopefully be out of harm's way. It had worked, but only for the 10 minutes that have just passed.

A sharp kick from inside elicited a low groan from the expectant mother. When the gunfire had ceased, she opened her eyes and looked across from her. The sight she saw quickly made her regret ever looking up.

The body of a slain employee laid on the carpeted floor with at least 4 gunshots to the head and another corpse on top of her. Shiho realized with sheer horror that the dead employee was the same woman who had checked her things in earlier.

With a small gulp, Shiho turned her eyes away. Her phone, which laid a few centimeters away from her, turned on and she hastily snatched it.

There were at least 9 calls from her husband, all starting from the time the shooting happened, which was not too long ago. After the 9th call, he left a text. Carefully, Shiho opened the text and began to read it.

Shinchi: Shiho

Shinichi: I heard about the shooting just now

Shinchi: I'm heading over to the mall

Shinichi: Please, I swear to God, text me if you're outside and doing well

The redhead let out a sigh. She was far from well.

She looked up and saw the shooter meddling with the cash register, too busy pulling out the money and hiding it in her book bag. Shiho quickly took her chance and texted Shinichi back.

Shiho: hey im doing fine

Shiho: unfortuntely im not outside

Shiho: im in the bby store and the girl's here

Shiho: She has all us as hostges

Shiho: pls tell me theyre almost here

Shinichi: Oh fuck

"Hey! What are you doing!? Calling the police!?"

Recognizing the voice, Shiho quickly dropped her phone and covered the back of her head with her hands. The sound of bullets being fired was now deafening, but what made the situation worse was the fact the bullets were hitting her. She felt three hit her shoulders, at least one or two hit her legs, and finally one struck her wrist. The shooter would have continued filling her with lead, but someone stood up and yelled, "Stop! That is it! I won't let you shoot at anymore pregnant women."

Shiho heard the sounds of people gasping and could sense a fight between a male and the female shooter behind her. She took this chance to inspect the bullet that was now lodged on her wrist. The bullets on her shoulders and legs were fine for her, after all she had been trained in the syndicate and training there was gruesome, but this wound, it burned like hell. Her teeth clenched in pain as she used a finger to rub off some of the dark red blood that was dripping from the bulletwound. She gasped as she felt another sharp kick from her baby, which added more to the pain that had flooded her entire body.

Then there was a loud bang and most of the remaining people who were alive cried out. Shiho forced her body to move and was shocked at what she saw.

The man, who had stood up and distracted the shooter from firing more bullets at her, was now dead. His body was slumped against another display table, blood from the bullet wound that killed him was slowly staining the shirt that he was wearing.

"Stupid bastard," the female shooter growled, "That's what you get for messing with me, a bunch of lead in your heart! Hell, I was planning at killing you next anyway."

Shiho then heard her begin to walk back to where she was hiding. She acted quickly by laying her head down and staying completely still, playing dead. Though her back was turned, she could already imagine what must be happening; the shooter stopping, kneeling down, and looking at her for any signs of life. She then heard a stifled laugh. "Pregnant bitch's dead–Ha! Failed to protect her. Sacrificed himself for nothing." The shooter walked off, giggling to herself.

She was gone and most likely far away, but Shiho did not dare move a muscle, even if her body was aching with pain from the wounds and the horrible kicks in her womb. She would not risk neither her or her unborn child's life at the moment.

Seventeen minutes.

She spent 17 grueling minutes pretending to be dead, wondering when the police will arrive. Through that small period of time, the shooter turned on the T.V. to check the news, played classical music from her playlist, and shot at anyone who was alive, shouting many insults at them as she did so. To Shiho and to the others who were possibly still alive, it felt more than 17 minutes…..It felt like an eternity and as each second passed with more bullets being fired, hope was diminishing.

Shiho closed her eyes. The pain from the bullet wounds was now mild, the only thing that remained hurting badly was the baby's continuous moving and kicking. The stress and fear she was building inside her body was the reason why her child was terribly restless. Shiho tried to calm herself, tried to find her happy place and imagined the armed officers making their way to save them, but all her attempts were futile as her child continued. She gritted her teeth, not in pain but in growing anger. If anything happened to her unborn daughter because of all this, that damned waste of mother's love shooter would have hell to pay.

Shots were fired and a woman's screams of pain filled the store. Another casualty. At this point, she began to feel guilt. If she had a possession of a gun, she would've ended this horrendous nightmare minutes ago, but even if she did, she wouldn't be able to do anything with her engorged belly in the way; carrying a child and entering into motherhood was a splendid experience, one that she had never expected to go through, but it had it's flaws, one being that you're less faster than you once were, because of the extra weight of the baby.

The faint sound of many heavy footsteps coming from outside the shop invaded her ears and of those who were miraculously still breathing. They got louder, signifying they were getting closer.

"Put your hands where I can see them!!!" A man's voice cried out.

The music coming from the shooter's phone was cut off and she jumped off the counter she was sitting in, now making her way towards the SWAT officer, her loaded weapon in hand.

"Put the gun down and your hands up!" The officer shouted again.

A faint chuckle came from the shooter. "What if I don't do as you say?" She asked, tauntingly.

There was a moment of grim silence before the officer finally replied. "Then we'll have no choice but to shoot you dead."

Shiho jumped as the horrible sounds of many bullets and the screams of the surviving customers filled the entire store. Then, a loud thud as the shooter's lifeless body fell to the floor.

Her reign of terror had finally come to an end.

Immediately after shooting her dead, SWAT officers flooded the store and began to escort the ones who were uninjured and the ones capable of walking outside. A SWAT officer had noticed her under the display table and fortunately for her, moved it so she could at least sit up, despite the bullets lodged in both her shoulders and wrist. She was incapable of walking though, with both her legs shot. Upon seeing this, the officer called out for one of the paramedics to bring another stretcher inside the store. With help from the paramedics, she was on the stretcher and being pushed outside. She was thankful to have gotten out of this alive, but at the same time her views changed when she looked at the bodies littering the bloody floor of the store.

They laid there, void of life, eyes either closed or looking blankly into space, and their bodies marked by their own blood and the bullets that killed them. What pained her the most was the bodies of two women who were just like her, expecting mothers. She settled a hand over her stomach as she observed the damage the shooter had inflicted on them; this woman had shown no mercy whatsoever and all of it screamed "hatred" to Shiho. Gunshots not only on the women's faces, but also in the place where their unborn children had been growing. She realized with grim horror that this could've been her and her daughter if that man hadn't stood up and if she hadn't played dead. She knew as they left the store, the bodies of those two women being the last thing she saw of the place, that she would be plague with survivors guilt for the months to come.

Spectators and reporters were crowding the parking lot when she got out of the mall. They were looking intently at her and the other survivors that were coming out. She knew that if given the opportunity, the reporters would go all the way to rush over and begin an interview right now, but police officers were holding everyone back.

But even if they were able to keep them at bay, that didn't stop the flashes, clicks, and zooming lens of their cameras as they recorded and took photos of the wounded and blood-soaked survivors. This terribly bothered Shiho since she wasn't the type to happily drown in the spotlight, unlike her husband. She already had her fair share of fame back in the day when she was put in trial for her involvement with the notorious Black Organization and for creating that drug, along with making the worldwide headlines for being able to turn said poison into a cure. Remains of the syndicate were still at large, including the big boss, and it was risky having her face plastered on the news for she knew deep down in her bones that they still haven't forgotten how she betrayed them and brought all their work down. Thankfully, the FBI has put her under their witness protection program and a certain someone was there to cover her when the media was still buzzing about her.

She wanted desperately to cover her face, but she was so tired and the pain in her body was overwhelming. She felt defenseless as she heard the snaps and clicks of the cameras as they captured this moment. All she could do was mask her face with her auburn bangs, but would that be enough to even protect her from the media?

"Shiho!"

The young woman looked up upon hearing the familiar male voice. What she saw was her husband running towards her with all his might, sweat running down his face and eyes flooded with worry. His arms wrapped themselves around her for a tight hug. She sighed, happy to be safe, but she became tense when she felt the pain from her bullet wounds increase because of his embrace. Shinichi noticed this and let go of his wife, and settled for slowly caressing her cheek.

"Are you okay, Shiho? What happened in there?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just some bullet wounds on my shoulders, legs, and my wrist," she held up her arm to show him, "Everything will be okay though, surgery and plenty of rest afterwards will work for these. About what happened back inside, hell happened."

She watched as her husband's face twisted into shock and then guilt as he silently shook his head.

"Is our baby, okay?" He asked, quietly.

Shiho nodded, resting a hand against her stomach; all that the baby was doing now was softly stretching around. Another hand fell on top of hers and she turned to look at her husband as he began to softly caress her stomach. Not looking at her, he took in a deep breath and began to speak. "Shiho, I'm so sorry. I should've been there to protect you. If I'd accompanied you, then you wouldn't have gotten shot or experience whatever horrors you saw in there. It's all my fault you and our daughter's life were put in danger."

The redhead shook her head. "What difference would it have made, Shinichi?" She began, "Even if you were there, we still would've been caught. I'm happy you weren't with me, because you may have possibly been shot. It's partially my fault that I got hurt…. I should've just returned the dress and go, but instead I stayed behind to buy for more baby clothes, even if we already have a wardrobe full in the nursery!" She broke into a sob, tears beginning to run down her eyes.

She tried to wipe away the tears, once she saw the pain in his eyes at seeing her like this, but it was futile as they continued to pour down. All those bodies….All that blood….That horrible massacre….She'd never imagined she'd witness one again after escaping the organization.

She felt as he gripped her uninjured hand and looked up at him, teary-eyed.

"It's my duty to protect you," he began, "I even promised you. I know you've told me before, that you're able to fend for yourself, but this–this was a time you were unable to. I would've gone inside if they hadn't stopped me at the police line. I wouldn't give a single crap if I got shot to death, Shiho! At least I would know I was able to secure your safety–"

"That's exactly the reason why!!" She exclaimed, angrily. "That's the reason why I told you to not risk your life for me! Can you imagine the burden knowing someone died because they tried to protect you? Well, I felt that today! Someone inside that store got shot multiple times by that bitch because they intervened when she was shooting at me! They tried to protect me and it ended up costing their life! I'm happy that that wasn't you, but it could still be you one of these days."

"You're saying that, but what about the times you risked your life for mine? Huh? You let them shoot you just so I wouldn't get killed!" Shinichi retaliated. "You lost so much blood that I almost lost you that day!"

Shiho stayed silent, firmly looking at him. She finally responded after a few seconds. "Things were different back then," Shiho whispered, "I still had a debt to pay, returning you to Ran in one piece. I was just doing what I had to do."

"And I'm going to do the same, Shiho! I appreciate your strong personality and how you don't let fear get the best of you, but understand there are times you can't get through something on your own. Especially now that we're going to have our first child! Think about her at least."

She felt a strong kick from inside her womb shortly after he said that and she looked down. Deep inside, she knew he was right, there are those harsh times where her strong demeanor is useless and she can't defend herself as she had expected. She didn't want people to lose their lives because of her though, like that man. Imagine if she hadn't been there, there may have been a chance he could've gotten out of there alive. Even though her husband didn't say it, Shiho could understand where he was coming from….she shouldn't be stubborn and risky now that she had a child on the way, a child who deserves a family and childhood she never got. The same though, should apply to Shinichi as well, who was also stubborn, more stubborn than her in fact, and with his heroic persona.

She looked back up at him and through her eyes, she let him know that she understood. "I hope you know that this will also apply to you, Kudo. Our daughter will definitely need her father.", Shiho said, smiling at him. "You'll have to tone down that heroism you have."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I will."

"You better. After our daughter's born, our main objective will be to protect her. No matter the circumstances….I want her to have the life I never got to experience."

A warm smile formed on his face and he lightly rubbed her engorged belly, where he could feel their small future move around.

Froodyie's Afternote: *notices while editing this that this was really Shiho centric* lol