Description: In the aftermath of Mad Gear's raid on Chinatown, Kentou is forced to examine how bright an idea it was to leap to the defense of his home neighborhood. Was it worth Hotaru getting hurt? Being a good guy is rough stuff. The right thing to do is rarely easy.. or always successful..
This.. worked out differently.. in his head.
"Nng.." A soft, groaning voice fills the stagnant alley air. Aching wounds remind the boy of their existance as Kentou's moan graduates into a full-blown, sprawling mewl of pain. Joints shift as the child's bleary eyes slowly blink open past his tousled bangs. As the world dances to the tune of his splitting headache, the youth tries to sit up from his strangely awkward position.
Which begins to evolve into a moment of struggling panic as his arms are pinned at his sides.. Feeling bounds within a strong rope and pressing against something warm..
"..Hotaru.." The youth blurts out, one eye openning a little further than the other as blood cakes the other half of his face. Looking over his shoulder to see a tell-tale pig-tail looming just at the edge of his vision.. Bound against her, back to back.
In what appears to be an alley.. Memories rush back to him in a flood, bringing with it a new kind of pain. The kind that only shame can bring as he hangs his head slowly..
That.. was not like how he was hoping it would go..
That could have gone better. It could have gone worse too, admittedly. But definitely could have gone better. In spite the odds against them, she was pretty sure she could handle things. She'd fought Katana before and pulverized the self-proclaimed Shogun, after all. But dealing with him while also being kept on her toes by a very capable minion combined with the concern about keeping an eye out for Kentou's well being certainly complicated matters.
Falling back on desperate measures, she had thought she had dealt a decisive enough attack to Katana to turn the tide even when left to face them alone, but he didn't end up being so down for the count after all, managing to strike her viciously with his weapons, batter her against the ground, and line her up for the finishing attacks from Stray. Her body hurts all over. Her face features a nice bruise right in the middle of her forehead, replete with small scabs from the clawed gloves Stray fought with. Her blue vest is shreaded and her white blouse stained with her own blood from the stabs and slashes she suffered toward the end.
"Stop that, Itokatsu..." murmurs the groggy voice of the beaten girl as she slowly comes to. It's no ferret that's licking her cheek, however, but rather mangy, black alley cat, leaning over her face, scraping her cheek with its rough tongue, cleaning Hotaru like it might a kitten. Blue eyes slowly blink open to take in the uncomfortable situation, realizing that not only is she being roused from an afternoon's nap over at the Church Yard, but she's in close contact with someone else at the same time.
It comes back to her slowly as she squints at the furry critter, expression a mixture of surprise and annoyance as she discovers her arms are bound tightly against her sides and that at her back is the young boy who got clonked out before she did. Well, this is certainly a humiliating situation to end up in. But she took her chances when she jumped to her aid, so thus it goes. "H-hey." The pig-tail jostles, flopping over Kentou's head as Hotaru begins to move around a little more, testing the limits of their present constraints. "You all right?"
Kentou erfts slightly, the back of his head bumping against Hotaru's own as she leans back. His eyes crossing comically as he sees the tip of her pigtail flop just over his vision. "..N..never better..." The boy lies with a groan, puffing at her lock a moment as he similarly tests his binds at his sides. "Y..You?"
His own concern a bit higher for her.. That massive Shogun of Mad Gear stabbed her pretty hard a few times. And the youth certainly knows just how nasty those two blades can be. He.. doesn't precisely remember what was going on in her battle with him, beyond that it didn't seem like it was going well. He was.. too focused on that fast, fast man.. Only catching glimpses of battle in his periphery.
After a moment, the boy frowns at the alley cat perched on their collective shoulder, "Shoo..Shoo!" Trying to shoosh it away as he worms his small arms at his sides.
One advantage of the two of them being such relatively small and slender individuals.. Already the ropes begin to loosen juuuust enough for the boy to yank his arm half free with a few pained grunts.
It's pretty clear that the intent of the bindings were just to make sure to keep them from interferring with Mad Gear were they to come to before the gang members had completed their little operation rather than to keep them stuck here indefinitly. As Kentou begins to wriggle more, Hotaru exhales forcefully, sucking in her stomach and trying to squeeze her arms against her sides as tightly as possible. Anything to give him a bit of slack to work with in order to get loose. It'll be easy then.
The cat, fearing the now free arm of the boy, leaps off to the side, only to sit on its haunches and watch the struggle with what might pass for an amused expression for a feline. "Been better," she replies vaguely, sounding rather pained, finally taking a breath once he gets his arm out. That effort on her part aggrivated the wounds she'll be having to deal with as a result of the vicious strikes she suffered from. Yes. Definitely no crazy action from her for a little while.
"What in the world did you think you were doing jumping into that by yourself?" comes the question as she lies perfectly still, letting him work on freeing himself for now it would seem, doing nothing other than shaking her head once to shift her pig-tail such that it flops off of his head and onto his neck instead. "We're lucky they seemed too interested in some sword to waste any further time exacting revenge for prior grievances." the girl mutters dryly.
The boy squirms a little more, shoulders shifting as he takes advantage of the moment of extra slack to pull his arm fully free. Breathing for a moment, Kentou tries to let the pounding in head settle along with the ache in his cuts from that moment of exertion. The pained hiss escaping the girl's lips is enough to draw concern from him once more, looking over his shoulder as best he can with a wide, concerned eye.
Yes.. she definitely got hurt way worse than he did. .... For saving him. Again.
As her pigtail flops about his neck his head tilts downwards. Downcast eyes roaming the filth-covered Earth as.. That's a very, very good question.
"I.. I.. I'm sorry ... I.. couldn't just.. let them ..." It wasn't supposed to be that way. They were supposed to wipe out the bad guys and everything would have been okay! ... And even if it didn't..
"..It.. it was the.. right thing to do.. wasn't it...?"
"I..." Hotaru begins to reply, her voice hesistant, and not just becaues of the pain she's in; Kentou's necessary movements exacerbating her injuries a little. "I don't really know." She's quiet then, staring at the cat that gazes back at her, slowly starting her normal breathing again. "Did you really think you could take them by yourself?" she finally inquires after a long moment, shuffling a little to shift the ropes up over her shoulder where possible so that they can fall completely losely around her neck.
There's being out of your league by a little. Then there's being /way/ out of your league. And Kentou was definitely the latter with regards to the fight he chose to pick. Even still... "Who knows what might have happened. Other people might have gotten hurt instead of us... I..." She sighs a little, finding her own thoughts on the matter torn. Maybe it was heroic. Or maybe it was idiotic. Or maybe it was a mixture of both, like so many things in life often turn out.
"I don't know. Maybe it was the right thing to do. Maybe it wasn't. At least we're okay." Considering they were left to the mercy of the notorious trouble makers that are the Mad Gang, ending up bound in an alley smelling like old refuse is certainly not the worst thing that could have happened.
"..I.. think. I think.." Kentou mumbles a bit as he works with her now. Voice hushing as he grits his teeth while yanking the rope up and over a wound at his chest. Finally worming from enough of the bindings to lean forwards a little and slip his other arm free..
"..The only thing I was asking myself.." The boy murmurs as his fingers gently grip the rope at his middle. Staring at the woven strands, as if trying to mentally unravel this puzzle along with a different sort of mental puzzle, "..Is if I could live with myself if I didn't do anything.."
In the moments when Kentou WAS thinking, that is.
however, at Hotaru's own confusion on the matter, the youth glances more fully over his shoulder once more. Getting a better look at the poor girl, the shredded vest and painful looking slashes.
..'Okay' may be stretching it in her case,
"..I..I think .. I can go .. call an ambulance..?" Luminous eyes looking over nasty slashmarks from those shortswords and wincing.
There is a quiet sigh at Kentou's answer, an exhale of resignation as if the girl has nothing to say to that. He did what he thought he had to. What do you say to that? That it's better to hide and risk others having to take your blows for you? That it's better to run away, leaving those who would do bad have free reign wherever they please?
With the slack his motions have provided, Hotaru is finally able to lift her arm and shrug the rest of the coils off, rolling onto her hands and knees - a movement that elicits a pained gasp, her mouth agape as she realizes more the extent of her injuries. "I've had worse," Hotaru forces a laugh in spite the agony, an effort made to reduce Kentou's concern. And in truth, she has - the shallow stabs from Katana and Stray pale compared to the deep gouging strikes Kurow had struck her down with months ago.
Slowly she leans back into a kneeling position, hands propping her up behind her before she finally uses the wall next to her to push herself up to her feet. "But I should go to the medical center all the same." she admits. Her injuries need cleaning, and probably stiches in places after all. "You should too if you got any bad cuts," she states, looking over the boy's face, half caked with blood. A bad cut indeed. "Before you get back to your Uncle's shop, that is," she states with a faint, tired smile.
He wants to do what's right, she ponders. He said he wanted to learn how to fight to prove he's the best - but it's more than that... if he had the strength, then would he use it properly? To defend others like when he stalled the destructive android weeks back or challenged the Mad Gear this afternoon? The girl shakes her head slowly, turning to the side as she continues to lean for the moment. Just needs a moment to get her strength so she can make the walk.
It seems so simple.
Courage at all costs. To stand against impossible odds, even if it kills you. Afterall, if you died doing the right thing.. that makes you a hero, right?
At the moment, Kentou isn't so sure how 'heroic' he feels. All charging the Mad Gear did, in the end, was get him beat up about as horribly as he expected.. And the one person who ever really showed him much genuine kindness in.. he doesn't know how long. And they ransacked Chinatown anyway. Its.. just more people geting hurt, and people you care about.
But then he has to ask himself the question. Would he have done the same thing again, given the chance?
As the rope falls free, the boy is not so quick to move from his seated spot. Feeling the girl move from his back, he shifts about just enough to face her. Balancing himself upright on a hand as he turns his glimmering eyes to her.
The boy wears his concern on his face, but does not contradict her. Bowing his head once more as she begins to walk off, "..I..I will.." Heeding her suggestion.
As she leans and slowly begins to move away. Lifting his head and parting his lips to say something.. Only for any words to dissolve away at the tip of his tongue into a meaningless, waivering exhale.
No.. saying your sorry isn't going to be enough this time.. is it?
Log created on 23:11:02 09/07/2007 by Kentou, and last modified on 16:55:51 09/09/2007.