tampered | log; ongoing

When; NOW. :D
Rating; Uhh. PG-13 for bloodiness? :B
Characters; Otae (

mafiaphobic)
Summary; Otae comes with the intent to save a life, but whether or not she does is the question.
Log;

The fact that Otae wasn't a samurai had never been clearer before this day.

If she was a true samurai, she'd be able to do more. Say more. To fight in order to protect people amidst the chaos that was currently overtaking the City. As things stood, however, despite how fervently Otae left the apartment in an attempt to help, she knew that she was outclassed, that coming out and into the open was probably just asking for trouble.

Nevertheless, the City had a tendency to wear away certain degrees of inhibition. Knowing that no matter how many times she 'died,' Otae would still be able to come back in some form, had the effect of injecting courage in her veins, for the possible gains far outweighed the ultimate cost, from her point of view. What did it matter if she died in the process of saving others? What did it matter for a single person like her to be confined to the City when she had the potential of saving many others from that very fate?

The bloody hand which emerged from the rubble only cemented that belief.

"I'm here!" she called out, coughing as she breathed in what felt like ash and soot. "Hold on!"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Ears still ringing from the explosion, Tsuna almost missed that confirmation that he had been seen. His fingers flexed and clenched, pain shooting down his arm with each shift of muscle, but it did not stop him from trying to push away the debris that still lay in part over him, and more over Basil.

Tsuna tried to lift his head and see the source of the voice, craning his neck to see without straying from Basil's body as though he could somehow protect it now, after his friend had done everything to protect him.

"I-It's not me!" he protested, hands scrambling back to the broken body by his side, nails scratched and fingertips bleeding from trying to dig Basil out. Tsuna had not realised much since waking in the aftermath of the explosion, his mind racing too face and frantically to realise that the body he had desperately called out to had not answered, and would not answer until the City breathed life back into it.

A quick glance in the direction of the corpse's body was all that it took for Otae to realize that the boy was fighting a losing battle. The objective at hand, now, was to pull the boy away from the debris before it caved and injured him--or, worse yet, before a second explosion. Biting her lower lip, Otae quickly clambered through the rubble, occasionally losing footing before finally coming within arm's length of the young boy, who was still tugging desperately at the lifeless limb nearest him.

"Leave it!" Otae snapped, feeling a whiplash of emotion sting upon realizing that she couldn't even determine the gender of the person who'd just passed. "There's no point in hauling bodies right now; we need to get you somewhere safe." One hand wrapped around the boy's thin wrist, hoping that he would be capable of walking on his own, but not rushing ahead for fear that such wasn't the case.

Tsuna stopped his frantic scrambling to get Basil free at the sharp order in those first two words. Amber eyes blinked and stared at what remained of his friend, flesh crisped and burned, chest not moving with even the shallowest hints of life. He reached out, hand shaking as he touched fingers to features that were difficult to recognise, sight blurring as the reality struck him and tears welled in his eyes.

"N-No, he can't be just a b-b-body," he tried. Tsuna shook his head and wanted to resume, but the hand on his wrist startled him to look up at the woman looking intently down at him. He did not recognise her, but with so many people in the City, it had to be expected.

The last thing he desired to do was leave the body behind -- his thoughts faltered over thinking of it as a corpse -- but the pull on his hands and her words were true. Tsuna hesitated, then twisted his hand to grip her wrist while within her grasp to help as he tried to pull himself out. A sharp yelp betrayed that it was not painless, but it had been Basil's last act to ensure the injuries sustained were minimal and it showed by the fewer burns and cuts, bruises instead being the worst of his injury.

Flinching slightly at the boy's cry--Otae never did like it when others were in pain, even if she dealt it often enough--the young woman quickly turned and bent down to help clear away some of the rubble, sharp edges in the debris occasionally scratching and cutting into her skin, although the pain wasn't quite felt in light of everything else. There was a burning sensation at the corners of her eyes despite Otae's firm resolve, and it wasn't just the type drawn out by smoke.

"They'll be back," Otae reassured the boy, voice wavering as more smoke stung at her throat. "You know how the City works, right? You'll see the person real soon. Now we just need to get you to a safe place."

Once she'd cleared out a makeshift path, Otae's gaze over the child's body, making sure that there were no severe injuries that needed attending to.

"Can you walk...?" she asked hesitantly.

The logic of the City made no sense, even at this moment when Tsuna's mind was vulnerable to the suggestion of return. Reality dictated that Basil would not open his eyes and breathe again and it took some long moments before he registered what Otae had said. That Basil would return seemed against all principles, but part of him latched onto the idea, a part that did not want to leave the body behind to wake up in this mess.

Tsuna had given her one hand in his first try to rise, the other still clinging tightly to Basil's body. "W-We can't--" His fingers clenched tightly on the remains and his attempt to pull his friend free did not go far. Tsuna tried again, but his hand began to shake as he realised he could not retrieve Basil, that he would have to leave him.

Tears slipped down his cheeks and he tried to let go, but it took his other hand prying away the fingers to release Basil finally. Tsuna bit his lip hard through the process, to hold back what he could.

"I'm f-fine," he said, quietly around the harsh lump reality instilled in his throat. Tsuna put his hands to the ground and tried to draw himself to his feet, trying not -- and failing -- make a sound when a burn rubbed abrasively or a deep cut made itself known. They were minor injuries, thanks to Basil, but to think of the exchange made them hurt all the more. Tsuna reached out for his rescuer's arm again, unsteady on his feet as tear-lined amber eyes turned to face her.

log; ongoing

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