The Jade City

Chapter 9: The Forest, Part I

"Get down," he said to me.

I didn't want to take orders from Morro, but I did as I was told. Anything to get away from where he was. With surprising speed, I soon reached the ground.

Not long after, Morro landed next to me, a limp Kai in his arms. Then, with surprising gentleness, set him down on the ground at my feet.

"I'll check on the others." Morro said quickly. I noticed how quietly he spoke.

I looked down at Kai to see the wound and immediately wished I didn't. The gash had stretched to twice its original size, and his ribcage was exposed. Normally I would throw up, but something stuck in my throat prevented that from happening. His flesh was sliced apart, and bright red blood was still oozing out, but it wasn't as fast as it had been while he was in the air. In fact, there was barely any blood coming out anymore. I looked around frantically for something to wrap his wound with, then noticed the bags. Someone had said something about a first aid kit. But there was no time.

Without a second thought, I ripped off my sweatshirt and carefully pulled Kai up into a sitting position, placing it on his chest as I did so. I knotted the sleeves of the sweatshirt behind him so it wouldn't fall off, the whole time barely aware of my heart thumping wildly in my airway. Everything was okay, I told myself, but even inside my head the words sounded feeble. I laid him back down on the ground.

"What are you doing?" someone said from behind. I looked around to see Morro, walking towards me, his expression hard to read.

"Tending to his wounds," my voice trailed off as my breath hitched in my throat, my head throbbing with my pounding heart. I highly doubted what I had done even counted as tending to his wounds. Deep down, I knew my futile attempts weren't working.

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Morro looked up at the branches, still swooping around like great bats, getting dangerously close, but not daring to touch us, and glanced back at the path we'd come from.

"R-Harumi," he said quietly, "Didn't you realize, the blood stopped flowing? And his arteries have..." He couldn't bring himself to say anything else, and only then I realized the sheer look of devastation on his face.

I looked back down at Kai and suddenly felt lightheaded. No. Morro was implying... I didn't believe him. I couldn't.

But the truth slowly sunk in. Kai had lost most, if not all, of his blood. I stared at his lifeless body, wanting to say something, and realized my voice had left me. Pictures of his face flashed through my mind. Though he was mostly a source of negativity and had been complaining for the majority of the trip so far, I suddenly found myself missing his angry outbursts. I never even got to know him.

It was as if all my organs had been torn out by force, leaving behind a void that I didn't know how to feel. I had dragged him into this. It was my fault and he never should have gone through this ridiculous journey. I felt just as I did when I realized I'd never be able to feel the comfort of my parents. And what about the Ninja? What about Nya? What about his parents? They had no idea what just happened. And when they did...

I could've saved him. While Morro was doing whatever he was doing, while the Ninja were being thrown around, I could've done something. Anything. But I didn't. It was my fault. I'd caused enough pain in my life, and it seemed like I wasn't going to stop anytime soon. All those innocent people whose lives I'd destroyed. And now this. Something else to add to my long list of crimes. I should've done something. Shielded him from being attacked more. Saved him from the trees' grasp. But I did nothing. Nothing. I was weak. Weak and helpless. A waste of space.

I knelt beside the Fire Ninja feeling numb. No tears flowed from my eyes, and I didn't expect any to anyway, since none had in years, not since my parents died. My mouth felt dry; my arms hung limply at my sides. Soon, my eyes were simply staring off into empty space, with a strange ringing in my ears that blocked out all other sounds. I couldn't even feel my heartbeat in my chest. Did I even have one?