See I did not leave you hanging for long. Here is the next chapter.
Note: I do not own Skip Beat!
"KUON!" Catherine yelled at the distressed actor as she struck him as hard as she could across the face. The actor's eyes focused on her. Now that she had the man's attention, she needed to work fast. "Turn. Her. Loose." Ren loosened his grip on his love and Catherine removed the girl from his hands to place her on the ground. Ren sat in shock as he watched Catherine check the dead girl's vitals before leaning over and kissing her. A spark of hope cut through his anguish as he watched the woman kiss her again and then moved her hands to press on the girl's chest. His mind whirled until the neurons fired correctly and he realized Catherine was giving his love CPR. It was on the second set of breathes that his world flipped back over when Kyoko coughed and Catherine lightly tapped the girl's cheek.
"Come on honey, wake up Kyoko." Catherine coaxed the girl back to consciousness. Catherine could feel the emotions rolling off the actor as he watched the manager help the young woman to sit up. "We need to take this off so I can check your back." Ren watched as Catherine carefully removed the trench coat from his love. His mind spun on how they young woman could have survived the gunshot wounds to her back. He trembled with desire to take up the love that he was sure he had lost, but was afraid that he would break the spell and find that she was still dead in his arms if he touched her. Catherine carefully removed the heavy coat outer coat before buttoning the school jacket from Kyoko's costume. Catherine cussed as she slipped off the jacket to see a spot of blood on the back of the white shirt.
"I am going to have to take your shirt off so I can check on the bleeding." Catherine spoke gently to the girl. She held the girl's school jacked up so that Kyoko could cover herself as Catherine's hands worked gently to remove the dress shirt. Catherine let out a sigh of relief when she pulled the shirt away and saw it was just a crack in the skin and not an actual gunshot wound. "Give me your handkerchief." Catherine held her hand out to the actor still frozen on the ground. When he did not move, she shook her hand and called his name. "Ren! Now!" This spurred the actor into motion and he pulled out a linin cloth and placed it into Catherine's hand. Catherine placed the material over the cut as Kyoko hissed in pain. "It's ok," she reassured the girl. Catherine reached out and took Ren's outstretched hand and placed it on top of the makeshift bandage. "Hold this in place." The feel of the warm skin of his love finally broke the spell that had settled over Ren and he gathered the injured woman up in his arms and held her against him. The tears that had filled his eyes fell as tears of joy as he rocked the girl in his lap, more for his comfort than hers. Unable to process what just happened, Kyoko buried her face into Ren's chest and cried her fears into his expensive shirt.
Catherine moved back a little from the terrified couple and plopped her butt onto the ground. With her knees bent up in front of her, she placed her hands on the ground behind her and leaned back against them before tilting her head back. The relief washed the adrenalin from her bloodstream as her emotions ran from the corners of her eyes. She nearly passed out when she heard the distant sirens of the emergency vehicle's Yashiro had called from the top of the steps. She hissed in pain as a gentle hand placed something firmly over the bleeding line where the bullet had grazed her arm. Catherine opened her tear-filled eyes to the man tending her wound. He sat on the ground behind her and petted her hair out of her face. She smiled up at the concern that filled his eyes and nodded to let him know that she was alright. Yashiro surveyed the situation. He noted that his love was truly grace under fire before turning his mind to Kyoko. He took in the cuddling actors, Kyoko's savior, and the black coat discarded on the ground.
"How?" He turned his question to Catherine. When he had seen the dark liquid on the ground, he was sure that the young girl would not survive. He had turned away from the scene to call the police as soon as he could fumble in to his gloves. He was able to give the police their location and that they needed an ambulance, but not much more. He had missed Catherine slapping the actor and managed to get over to them as Catherine breathed life into the girl again. Catherine looked up at him again as she processed his question.
"Kevlar." Confusion crossed Yashiro's face at Catherine's words. "There is a sheet of Kevlar sewn in the back of my coat." Enlightenment dawned on Yashiro's face as his eyes fell back to the black coat. It shifted back to confusion as he remembered something from his past.
"It can't be. Kevlar is much thicker and heavier than that." Yashiro tried to convert the heavy Kevlar vest that Ren had once used in a drama to the size of the coat Catherine wore. Yes, the thing was unusually heavy, but it was not that heavy.
"Magic Kevlar?" Catherine grinned up at him. Yashiro gave her a 'be serious' look and Catherine sighed. Yashiro reluctantly let his hand drop away from his handkerchief as she sat up and placed her hand over the cloth to hold it in place. Crossing her legs, Catherine turned so she could better explain things to her audience.
"I have a bother-in-law that works in research and development for a company out in California. They work on things for military applications. They have come up with a way to coat Kevlar strands in a non-Newtonian fluid made from silica dissolved in a polyethylene glycol gel." She knew she had lost him when Yashiro stared at her like a monkey doing a math problem, so she simplified it. "Magic Kevlar. It's lighter than standard Kevlar." Some of the confusion cleared from his face as he thought about it.
"Non-Newtonian fluid?" Yashiro puzzled at the English word.
"When this is said and done, I'll make you some oobleck to explain it." Catherine sighed. Yashiro nodded wondering what oobleck was and turned his mind back to the coat. They could hear the sirens getting closer.
"If it's better, why have I not heard about it?" Yashiro could still not wrap his mind around the coat that saved Kyoko's life.
"It's not better." Catherine explained. "Yes the material is lighter, but it does not have the same stopping power as regular Kevlar does. It's still in the developmental phase. This was a piece from a test batch that 'came up missing'." Catherine did the air quotes thing around the shady words.
"Came up missing?" Yashiro raised an eyebrow.
"My brother-in-law thought it would serve me better than being stuck in a storage room." Catherine chuckled. "He will be happy to know that it worked out." Yashiro gave the woman a very complicated look as he pondered the girl. "Why else would I wear around that blasted thing in the heat of the summer?" Catherine laughed at him "It sure wasn't for style." This brought a smile to the man's face.
The police officer topped the steps to see the four people resting on the ground. This area wasn't heavily traveled at this time of day, so they had not drawn a crowd yet. His eyes hit the dark liquid between the couples and he radioed down for the EMT, as he rushed over to see how many were injured. Yashiro stood to greet the man and let him know that everyone was mostly ok. The officer's eyes dropped skeptically to the pool of liquid on the pavement. Catherine noticed his attention and picked up one of the flatten cups for the office to see.
"Black raspberry chocolate chip milkshakes." She informed him. Yashiro snickered, he had been so absorbed in Catherine's explanation of how the bullets were stopped that he had completely forgotten to ask about the pool of 'blood' on the sidewalk.
Catherine was surprised when the EMTs converged on her before looking to the woman that was hidden in Ren's arms. Her bloodied state hadn't even occurred to her until they dropped to the ground next to her. She tried to wave them off in favor of the more injured woman, but the two men separated so that both girls would have the care they needed. It took the second EMT several tries to separate Ren from the girl in his arms. He was unwilling to relinquish her completely and insisted on holding her hand as they looked her over and decided that she needed to go to the hospital for a more detailed checkup. The first EMT cleaned and dressed Catherine's more superficial wounds.
"Go with her to the hospital, Ren." Yashiro instructed his charger. "I will take care of thing here." Ren did not need to be told twice as he carried Kyoko down the steps to the waiting ambulance. The EMT had taped a bandage over the lightly bleeding cut so she could put her shirt back on. Catherine answered the police officers questions while Yashiro went to find the satchel he had dropped in his flight. Catherine emptied the pockets of her coat so that the office could load the damaged article up in an evidence bag. She only relinquished it when he promised that she could have it back after forensics had removed the bullets from the material. Yashiro laughed at the growing pile of random bits that Catherine pulled from the pockets of the coat. It was amazing that that coat wasn't heavier than it was. He dropped his bag on the ground next to her so she could load her stuff into it. She smiled up at him from where she was sitting and filed the things away in his satchel.
Yashiro spent the next twenty minutes apologizing and explaining to the photographer why his charge would not be there for the photo shoot. Luckily, Jereth remembered how the model acted the last time this particular young woman had a close brush with death and was glad to reschedule the shoot for later. The bespectacled man walked with Catherine back to where the crew was setting up the shoot and found the director. Catherine bowed deeply to him and apologized profusely as she explained what happened to his actress and informed him that she was not going to be here for the scene. After Catherine reassured him that Kyoko was ok, he left the bandaged and blooded woman in her companion's care and went to inform the cast and crew of the development so they could clear the site for the evening.
Yashiro slid his arm around Catherine's waist as she stumbled on the pathway back to her car. The adrenalin had cleared her system leaving her somewhat weak and trembling. She was having a little trouble walking because her legs ached from her flight and she had shattered both of the caps on the heels of her shoes when she had landed on the concrete. She leaned into the man stabilizing her and rested her head on his shoulder as he guided her toward the studio parking lot.
"Thank you." Her soft voice made him smile. He placed a light kiss on the top of her head and sighed his contentment at being able to touch the strong willed woman. They walked a little bit farther before Yashiro couldn't stand the question spinning in him mind anymore.
"What's oobleck?" Catherine giggled at him. Of all the things he could be thinking of, that was the last she had suspected.
Authors Note: See, there was no way I could kill off the main character of the manga, I'm not that evil. :)
I would like to that Hank from the SicShow on youtube for the great information on Non-Newtonian fluids and their possible use with Kevlar. Go check out his stuff, it makes science easy to understand. For those that can't get it or don't want to, here is some explanation of the science in this chapter.
Non-Newtonian fluids are fluids that do not act as you would expect a liquid to when struck. When hit with force the partials in a Non-Newtonian fluid clump together and make the liquid hard for a moment, so that whatever hit it will bounce off. Once the force of the impact has been repelled, the partial separate and flow like a liquid should. The most common example of a Non-Newtonian fluid is something known as oobleck. To make oobleck, you take equal parts cornstarch (some places know it as cornflower) and water and mix them together. Now, go have fun making a mess in the name of science!