>>Everyone
Ohayou~~~~~~
I'm so sorry for taking so djlaghsldajflasdghklajsdfh long with this update~
I couldn't think of how to get Churi's feelings across (as I have been raging on Twitter about xDDDD)
You'll get what I mean when you guys read it~
So...
School starts on Tuesday!
Yay!
People to harass!
I was starting to get all moldy from lack of harassment during this four weeks holiday~
It's horrifying, I say!
Sucks having a long holiday~~~
Anyway, here's the update!
And really, thank you all for commenting!!!
Seems like many liked my wMatsui OS!
So happy~~~ Fufufu~ (^m^)
The Perfect Bodyguard - Chapter 9
There’s no blood on the outside that Imade could see, but it was obvious that there had been some bleeding inside the skin. With how the leg is swollen and purple red in color, Imade was almost sure that one of the bone pieces must’ve cut the girl’s smaller blood vessels. Imade prepared herself to at least, even though she didn’t want to do it, do as much as she can to reduce the pain for Jurina. She grabbed the two bags by her side and dropped it outside the cell, knowing that they will only take up unnecessary room inside the cell.
“Can you please look after those two bags for now?” Imade asked the guard in a whisper. The guard opened the two bags, looked inside, then nodded. Quietly thanking the guard, Imade returned to her original position by Jurina’s leg and started crushing some of the herbs so that she can quickly make some pain relief ointment.
Airi watched Imade moved away as Rena explained in details about her offer. Squinting her eyes slightly, Airi could just see a little flash coming from inside one of the bags where the items inside the bag caught the light coming from the flicking candle flame on the table above. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized that the items inside the bags were their weapons. Quickly looking away from the bags, Airi turned back her focus to Rena just as the princess finished explaining.
“So, what do you think? Are you two up for it?” Rena asked as she waited patiently for Airi to answer. Rena was glad to be able to finally stop speaking, she had been speaking for slightly too long, making her tongue dry like sand paper.
Airi blinked and then closed her eyes as she tried to remember everything that Rena said. “Okay... So in a shorter form,” Airi spoke slowly with her eyes closed as she tried to recall all the details that the princess spoke off, “You want us to be your bodyguards but you will let us go free anyway, whether or not we accept the offer.” Rena nodded. “If we accept your offer, our job is to protect you.”
“Churi and Kanakana as well,” Rena added as she pointed to her two little sisters by her side.
Airi nodded and continues, “Jurina’s leg is guaranteed to be fixed, we will be counted as a subject of Emperor Yuasa and thus will be protected by his men and we will be paid as well as given somewhere to live inside the palace. Did I miss anything out?”
Rena thought for a while and shook her head, “No. That is about it.”
To be honest, Airi didn’t even know whether it was a good thing or not that she didn’t miss out anything the princess offered because right now, Airi was having trouble figuring out if this was a trap. Was it a trap laid down by Sakae? Did they make the princesses come and stop the torture so that Airi and Jurina would trust them more and perhaps even spill them secrets? Airi wasn’t sure. She really didn’t know.
Airi thought about the good things and the bad things about accepting the offer, disregarding the fact that this might be a trap. ’If we accept, not only will Jurina’s leg be fixed. We will also be free, we will be safe. No more killing and running around. We will even have a better sleeping place inside a palace. A PALACE! Who could’ve thought that we would even get a chance to live INSIDE a palace!?’
However, Airi bit her bottom lip as she looked over to Jurina and thought about the negative points, ’But Jurina’s mother is still with Togasaki, which means that the moment his spies found out we’ve switched to Sakae, Jurina’s mother would be in danger. He did say afterall, that if we betrayed him, then it would not just be our lives on the line. And the thought that we will actually have to betray someone...’
Jurina groaned as she suddenly felt something cold being spread on her sore leg, but her groan quickly turned into a sigh of relief as she focused on the new cold and soothing sensation on her leg. Having heard the whole conversation and realizing that Airi was probably actually thinking about the offer since she was silent, Jurina spoke up. Without turning around, Jurina pushed herself up so she was resting on her two elbows and said in a firm voice, “No.”
Suddenly hearing Jurina’s voice again once again snapped Airi out of her thoughts. “Are you okay?” Airi asked as she attempted to reach over and help the girl up.
Jurina ignored Airi’s helping hand and repeated, “No. We refuse your offer.”
Rena looked at Jurina’s back, her eyes widened, ’Is she crazy? This is the best offer anyone could ask for!? And she is refusing it?’ Rena was just about to say something to convince Jurina to take the offer when Airi spoke up in a much more different tone than the voice she used when talking to her.
“Wait, Jurina,” Airi said in the best convincing tone that she could manage, the tone she usually uses when she is trying to get Jurina to stop starting fights with other children back in the city, “Thinking about, Jurina. It would be a good thing. Your mot-“
“I don’t care,” Jurina said, cutting Airi off. Jurina turned her head around and looked at Airi, “I can’t go back on a promise of loyalty that I made.”
Getting slightly impatient that Jurina refuses to see the good points in this offer, Airi almost shouted at Jurina as she waved her arm around, trying to emphasize her point, “Who cares about the promise! It won’t be the first promise that you break anyway!” The moment those words left Airi’s mouth, she regretted saying them right away because she saw, for the first time in a long time, a slight pained expression in Jurina’s eyes. The pain lasted a few seconds in the girl’s eyes before they turned emotionless again.
As Jurina stayed silent, the atmosphere in the cell became too awkward for Imade to handle. Stopping her work, Imade looked up at Rena, silently asking for Rena to say something to break the silence. Rena looked at Imade, then at the two girls and then back down at Jurina and said, “Uh... We’ll give you two time to think about it. We’ll come back later.” Putting her hands on Kanako’s shoulder, Rena ducked her head as she walked out of the cell, pushing Kanako out with her. As she needed to rejoin the princesses, Imade quickly took the rest of the ointment and applied it onto Jurina’s leg.
Akane didn’t move even when she realized her sisters had both moved out of the cell. The whole time Rena was talking, Akane was looking at Airi. The whole time, Akane was watching as different emotions flashed in Airi’s eyes as the girl listened and spoke and even now, as the girl is deep in thoughts. This was the first time that Akane had ever seen an assassin with so much emotions before. Most of the time, when she sees assassins being led down into the prison here, their eyes are almost identical to Jurina’s, emotionless, with the extra difference that Jurina’s eyes always looked like she was hiding something. However, Akane had never seen an assassin like Airi, an assassin who can still be emotional after killing who knows how many people.
Perhaps it was because that Airi was different, that made Akane take an interest in her in the first place. There was something that Akane saw in Airi’s eyes that night when the girl held the sword against her throat that Akane didn’t quite understand. Akane wasn’t sure, but it almost felt like she saw something similar to guilt or even hopelessness in Airi’s eyes at that moment, just before the girl decided to release her. The only thing that Akane knew right now, was that she really wanted to help Airi. Unlike the other assassins, who have already gotten used to the idea of killing people for a living, Akane knew that if Airi was given the chance to, she would rather choose not to live the life she’s living right now. And Akane knew that because she felt Airi was different. Call it a hunch or whatever, but Akane had never been wrong before about things like these. That being the reason why even her father asks her to help him out with battle plans sometimes. After all, Akane’s strategies always come from those strange feelings inside her that tells her that this is the right way to do things and so far, there has not been one time where Akane’s strategies has failed.
Airi frowned as Rena started to leave. She needed to give an answer now. They may say that they will return, but that doesn’t mean that they actually will. And Airi really didn’t know if the torturer would come back once the princesses leaves. Airi looked at Jurina who was staring at her own leg intensely. ’Should I go with what I want to do? Or should I stick with Jurina to the very end...?’
“Churi? Aren’t you coming?” Rena called out from outside the cell, finding it weird that Akane still hasn’t followed them out.
Airi looked up at Akane only to find the princess staring at her, with eyes that Jurina used to look at her with when she always said to Airi that she wanted her own horse. ’Horses! Was that the reason why Jurina wants to finish this order so badly? Because she had always wanted a horse of her own?’ Unconsciously, Airi bit her bottom lip again as she debated inside her head with which decision to make. Airi didn’t understand why Akane was giving her those eyes, but Airi had always been weak when it comes to eyes like that. Without even knowing why she did so, Airi mumbled, “I’ll do it.”
Rena, who had just realized that Akane was still staring at Airi, turned to Airi with a smile and nodded her head, “Thank you. Your decision helps us a lot.” Poking her head back into the cell, Rena looked at Jurina who was still refusing to look at anyone but her leg, “Jurina? Do you also have an answer as well? Or do you want us to give you more time to think about it?”
Jurina sits up and pulled her leg away from Imade even though the girl was still rubbing the ointment on her leg to make sure it iss fully absorbed. Now that the pain was less, Jurina stood up and dusted her clothes. “I can go get my own leg fixed,” Jurina said out loud to no one in particular. Then walking right up to Airi, Jurina looked at Airi right into the girl’s eyes with an emotion that Airi have never seen before, “It is only because you,” Jurina stabbed a finger at Airi’s chest, “don’t have anything left behind that you care about and therefore, you can take the offer. But I do. I have mother. And there’s Sakiko too. I won’t let my mother or the captain fall into trouble because of a stupid offer.”
Airi stared at Jurina in surprise and said in a tone of voice slightly too loud, “But Sakiko isn’t even one of our own! She works for Toga- She works for him!”
“Not one of our own?” Surprisingly Airi further, Jurina chuckled with that emotionless face of hers, “In my book, Sakiko is counted more as one of my own than you are.”
Airi stared at Jurina and felt like her heart was torn in half by those simple words that Jurina had said. All those years of friendship, those laughter that they went through, those tears that they shared, those fights that they had both fought together... such memories couldn’t even beat a person who worked for someone they had both grown to dislike one way or another.
Seeing that Airi was quiet, Jurina continued, “Sakiko have been more of an older sister to me than you have been.” Taking one step closer to Airi’s shaking body, Jurina whispered, “You had me to comfort you after you took your first kill. But what about me? Where were you after I took my first kill?”
Airi stayed quiet as she thought over Jurina’s words. That night after their first assignment, Airi had been so scared that the moment they received their rewards from the emperor, Airi ran away and hid in the tree that she always climbed onto whenever she needed time on her own. It was a place that was secret to everyone, even Jurina. At that moment, Airi didn’t even think about what was happening to Jurina. All that was on her mind was the face of the dead man and the blood that was covering Jurina’s hands. Now that Airi come to think of it, perhaps that was when their friendship started falling apart. Airi wasn’t there when Jurina needed someone by her side the most.
Stepping away from Airi again, Jurina walked outside the cell and picked up her weapons from the bag. After finish strapping them on, Jurina said without looking back at Airi, “Still want to know how I know not to look at the eyes when I kill someone, Airin?” Jurina paused for a second before continuing, knowing that the use of the girl’s nickname will bring make the girl pay even more attention to her, “Sakiko told me.” With that, not even turning back, Jurina walked off and out of the prison.
Rena and Imade stared at the two girls, shocked. Both were thinking about the same thing. About the person they were talking about. Imade looked at Rena and Rena looked back. Both asking each other the same question silently with their eyes, ’Is the Sakiko they’re talking about, Matsui Sakiko?’ But before Rena could ask Jurina, she realized the girl had already left.
Airi’s legs weakened at the sight of Jurina’s back disappearing into the dark hallway, followed by the guard. She dropped herself to the ground, not knowing why she didn’t run after Jurina. Her eyes felt really hot and for the first time in a very long time, Airi felt something warm rolled down her cheeks. When Airi suddenly felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her, she cried. The tears that she had held back for so long because she didn’t want to break down in front of Jurina, the tears that she had held back because she needed to be strong for Jurina and be someone she can lean on, the very same tears that she had promised herself not to see again when her parents told her to stop crying before they died, poured out of her eyes like a waterfall.
Airi clamped her mouth shut, trying to hold back in her tears but she couldn’t. When a soft voice whispered in her ears, telling her to let it all loose and that she no longer had to hold them back, Airi finally cried out loud. She cried harder when reality started to sink in.
Jurina had left her.
She could no longer protect Jurina.
Jurina no longer needed her.
The friendship between the two of them was gone.
They were enemies now, working for two different factions that are at war with each other.
No more will Airi wake up in the middle of the nights when someone has nightmares.
No more will someone slip into her own blankets and hug her close when the night gets too cold to sleep alone.
She was alone.
Sorry this is quite a short update~
As I said, I couldn't write this part good enough...
Anyway, due to MJSK 3 influence,
I'm starting to faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall in love with Paruru and Yuria~
And yes, I officially declare myself a ParuPeace shipper~
Because of that, yes, rest assure, there WILL be ParuPeace OSs in the future~
Perhaps, when I finally get my hands on the second episode of MJSK 3,
I'll get enough idea to write a ParuPeace OS~
Anyway~
Yay! Finally updated!
Hope you guys liked it!
Topic: Ohayou's Fanfics Collection~ !!RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT!! [4/16] (Read 158517 times)