red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xxxviii: rage

thwack!

pow!

thud!

"ah, just pass out already." hanma whines, frowning right at the still standing girl. her side's still bleeding, and crimson began to run down her forehead through her left eye.

she looked pretty tired herself, and the winter weather isn't helping her case. the tempting feeling to just let herself fall unconscious in the snow is getting to her, but she's forcing her foggy mind to stay awake.

kazua knew that she'll come across someone who she'll struggle against after being sent lackeys that are too dumb to fight her. she didn't expect that underhanded tricks will come with it too.

if only she wasn't stabbed while distracted, then she would have beaten this bastard down the ground quicker than lightning.

kazua can't perform any high kicks anymore because of the blade still stuck on her side. if she moves too rashly, her insides will be in more danger than they already are.

"i guess it's a good thing senju didn't get that note by now." she chuckled lightly to herself, finding her little note silly now that she thought about it. "ah, i shouldn't have expected. after all, i was trying to protect her all along. why did i even think of asking for her help?"

her knees buckled below her, and before she knew it, she falls down the snow pile with a light thud. the snow crunched below her, droplets of blood slowly contaminating its previous purely white color.

"to die on christmas day..."

"ah, finally giving in?" hanma slowly took a few steps towards her, crouching down to tilt the girl's chin up with a single finger. "my, the sweet princess is about to sleep. don't worry. i'll take good care of you~"

splat!

he gritted his teeth in anger, wiping the blood off of his face after kazua directly spat it towards him. "go fuck yourself." she scowls.

"honey, resisting won't do you any good anymore. if you think anyone's going to save you when you're far too selfless to get any of your puny loved ones involved, then i'm sorry to disappoint." hanma smirked down at her, orbs filled with disdain as he watched the life slowly fade away from her eyes. "you're selfless. that's why you're so weak."

"i...am anything but selfless." she chuckled lightly, blood drooling down the corner of her lips. "i didn't want...to lose anyone else anymore. i keep...coming to their rescue...because i know that i'll crumble without them. i'm the most selfish person you'll ever meet...for wanting to keep them all alive."

hanma hums in amusement, surprised by her way of thinking. anyone would have thought that she would agree being selfless for saving her loved ones, but she continues to beat herself up for everything that she's done.

"maybe this is the way to go." kazua's eyelids got heavier. "i'm keeping them alive, and a supreme being above needs another soul in return. if i bite the dust, will they all be happy?"

she feels silly for trying to communicate with someone she never thought of believing in, wanting reassurance that when she leaves the world, the rest of them will be happier.

"will they all have a happy future? maybe this is the key that takemichi was talking about."

"i'm the key. i need to be sacrificed in return for their future, huh? that sounds nice."

kazua has nothing to lose anymore.

she's all she ever had, and she'd gladly die for their sake.

she had been ready to die any day after she lost everything.

"you really amaze me, kazua~" hanma laughs sadistically. "my, maybe i'd come looking for you in our next life."

"as if...i'd want to be with you." her body numbed. "i'll look for manji...over and over...until my last life."

"manji?"

thwack!

hanma was sent flying towards the other side of the temple, a few meters away from kazua's dying body.

"that's me, you asshole."

"great. i'm hallucinating now." kazua grumbles to herself, falling to her side. the fresh flakes of snow fell on the side of her head delicately, kissing her already numb cheeks. "i'm just gonna...sleep for a bit."

"kazzie?!"

the albino came rushing towards the raven, eyes filled with panic as she checked the knife stuck on her side. she looks up and found mikey crouching on her other side, checking the stab wound with dull hues holding a thousand of thoughts begging to be voiced out.

"senju," he mumbles, "can you take care of hanma?"

"who?"

"that asshole who stabbed her." mikey ripped a piece of his scarf and began to stop the bleeding around the knife. "one of us needs to rush her to the hospital before she loses more blood. i have the same blood type as her, so it's better if—"

"go." senju's entire demeanor darkened, remembering that someone else she doesn't know did this to her best friend. "i'll fucking kill him."

mikey didn't need to hear anything else to know that senju will be able to handle herself just fine. after all, he's been trained alongside her when they were children. he knows what she is capable of doing.

"thank you." 

senju carefully placed kazua on mikey's back when they got to his motorbike, tying the rest of his scarf around both their waist to keep kazua from falling off the vehicle.

"kazzie, please." she begged, tears streaming down her face as she leaned her forehead against the girl's for a quick second. "you're strong. please, be strong one more time."

she takes a step back, and that was mikey's cue to drive away.

vroom!

he drove away quicker than usual, showing his desperation to save the girl from death.

"now, then."

senju turned around, glaring at the man who just got up from the ground with more blood dripping down his head.

"you're dead, asshole."