Narasaka's P.O.V
She laid curled up on the couch. Kazama had dragged Miwa to an important meeting that only a few captains were called for. Yoneya and Kodera had left earlier in the evening. He looked at the clock; Four-thirty pm. He sighed as he continued his work. Ten minutes barely passed by when he heard a quiet noise. A whimpering sound. He looked over his shoulder. The small girl was curling into a tighter ball. She was shaking. He sighed and turned towards her.
Kazama's words echoed through his head. 'Apologies if she disturbs you. Recently she's been having a lot of nightmares. She should stay asleep until I come and get her.'
He sighed and pulled out his headphones. He set up his phone to play some soothing music and walked over to the child. He gently put one earbud in and started playing the music. He waited for her to stop shaking before he readjusted the blanket. He sat beside her for some time before going back to his work. He needed to study for his upcoming tests. He didn't have time to waste.
Narasaka didn't notice how long he had been working. Hell, the mountain of papers seemed neverending. A sudden series of vibrations made him jump. Instinctively, he looked towards his leg and noticed Kamiko had pressed his phone to his leg. He sighed as she looked up with tired eyes. She handed him his phone and he answered. "Narasaka here."
"We have emergency defense duty," his captain said.
"Right now?"
"Yeah."
"What about Kamiko?"
"Kazama said it would be wise to start getting her used to Border's way."
"Already huh?" Narasaka said as he spared a glance. "I thought she was supposed to be asleep until he got back."
"Things came up."
"Okay, I'll be there soon."
He hung up and noticed she was staring at him. He stood up and organized his desk. "Put your shoes on, we're going to the restricted zone." He said.
"Why?" She asked and tilted her head.
"We're going on defense duty."
"Okay!" She said and raced to the door. He froze. Something wasn't right. Pain shocked through him. He gripped his arms and crumbled to the ground. His lungs burned as he let out several pained coughs. He felt cold. Wait why was he in pain?! He was just fine. He saw it. He saw them. They weren't in the squad room they had been left?! He blinked.
He was outside. A pool of blood took up most of sight. Near the edges he saw glimpses of Kamiko fighting. 'What happened? Why is she fighting?' He thought, reeling from the memory. He glanced down at himself. His vision beginning to fade he could see that he had been attacked. Fresh wounds littered his torso, arms, and legs.
"Stop fighting and let's go!" A man demanded.
He heard the individual and Kamiko continued fighting. His vision faded again and silence welcomed him. 'What happened?' He heard his thoughts loud and clear.
"Don't you remember?"
'Remember?'
"It's your job to do it." The voice said. The voice was saying it like he was an idiot.
He knew what the voice meant. He and Kamiko were on an emergency defense duty with his captain. His teammates were sent to help others in the zone. They were attacked?
"That's what I would expect from the No. 1 sniper!" The voice laughed.
That's right. He was the No. 1 sniper and was about to be killed. By a sneak attack? Or was it one-on-one? The pain made it too much to remember.
"NARASAKA! HANG ON PLEASE!" Kamiko pleas prodded his thoughts. He faintly felt her small body press against his. "Please wake up! Wake up!" Her urgency and tight grip on his arm made him hiss. His breathing was jagged as he opened his eyes. Teary eyed, Kamiko looked absolutely terrified.
'He must be terribly wounded.'
"Big brother hold on! I'll get you inside a house!" She fretted as she desperately looked around.
"That's too...dangerous," he managed to say. It hurt like hell but she needed her to listen to him. "Can you...see if anyone is...around?"
She nodded and put her hands on the ground. Tears ran down her face at a rapid rate as she searched. "I...I see a group but they're heading away from us," she sobbed.
He gritted his teeth as pain continued to sear through him. His body felt like it was on fire. No, he felt like lava was engulfing him while a blizzard was cooling him off. "Go.....Go after them....they might be able to help," he wheezed.
"A-Are you-"
"Go Kamiko! We need help!" He said with as much energy as he could. "I....I can't make it back to base by myself....please hurry."
He met her teary gaze. She nodded and dashed off into night. Leaving him all alone. He had to do something to take his mind off the pain. His thoughts drifted to his team and family. Had he disgraced his captain? He was the number two sniper and to meet his fate at the hands of a Neighbor. Nothing but shameful. Nasu would no doubt be disappointed with his death. Would Kodera and Himura be okay without him? Would they surpass him? He was sure they would. Yosuke would look after them.
"Since when did you become a worrier?" The voice scoffed, mocking him.
'Is it a crime to worry?' He thought as he closed his eyes. 'I sent a kid away. I gave her false hope."
"Is that right?"
Narasaka wondered if he was fighting with the grim reaper. He didn't care about the voice as he started falling back into darkness.
"Narasaka!!" Several voices called out to him. The pain had finally started to fade as he heard people cluster around.
"This doesn't look good at all."
"Mr. Narasaka!"
"Big Brother!"
"Come on we need to get him to the Medical ward!"
He groaned as he felt them grip his body. His eyes shot open as his entire body was lifted off the ground. Everything was blurry but he knew that Toma was carrying him by the hairstyle. He looked over and saw the four figures: Ema, Amatori, their friend, and Kamiko. He tried to speak but the wind knocked him back into the darkness. He heard people all around. Shouting and screaming. Beeping and creaking.
Kamiko's P.O.V
'I'm sorry!' Her mind was racing. It was all her fault! All her fault that someone was hurt again! She wasn't fast enough again! And now another person she cared for was going to die! The fight had happened so fast and she wasn't even able to protect him. She was right there! Watching like a stupid cat in the middle of a dog fight! 'He needed help and I hesitated once again!' Her mind hissed at her. Her hands tightly gripped her hair as she curled into a ball. The visions were coming back in droves. Her brother. Her father and mother. And now Narasaka!
She jumped when she felt a hand on hers. She could hardly breath. She couldn't meet their gaze. She couldn't stop shaking.
"Kamiko," Chika said, her voice was gentle. "You need to take deep breaths."
She couldn't do it.
'Every breath you take is a breath you're taking from Narasaka!' Her thoughts hissed as more tears continued to race down her face. It was right wasn't it?! She shouldn't be breathing right now!
"Kamiko?" Chika called as she gently put another hand on her shoulder.
She shouldn't have left with Narasaka! She shouldn't have hesitated then and now! She remembered what happened and still failed! Her face felt so hot as she pushed Chika's hands away. She didn't want to hurt anyone else. What if Izumi got hurt? Or Ema? Amo? Everyone in Border? Her thoughts continued to hiss louder and louder until a cool cloth pressed against her face. She still didn't look up as the cloth ran across one side of her face. Wiping the blood off of her face as she kept crying.
"Are you okay, Kamiko?" A familiar voice asked. It was Kazama.
She couldn't bring herself to speak.
"Kamiko look at me." Kazama demanded softly.
She shook her head and gripped her head.
"Kamiko, I need you to calm down and breath. Narasaka will be fine-"
"No he won't!" She sobbed. She could barely mumble out the words.
"Yes he will. He needs faith. It won't help if you're beating yourself down." He said as he lifted her face up. "You helped save him. Jin said Narasaka will be fine."
"How does he know?" She sobbed as more tears ran down her face.
"He can tell the future. Narasaka's future is safe." Kazama reassured as he pulled her close to him. "Now let's get you out of the clothes. Being covered in blood isn't good when you're covered in cuts, okay?"
She nodded. Sniffling and crying into his shoulder, she clung to the spiky haired captain as he began to pat her back.
"Kamiko?" Chika spoke up but Kazama walked away from her.
She didn't hear him say anything to Chika, but she saw Ema lead her to a nearby sink. Kazama took her to one of the rooms and started tending to her injuries. It stung here and there but she tried her best to not make any noise.
"Are you okay? You don't have many injuries, but I want to know how you feel." He said as he put the rag to the side.
"I'm fine," she said quietly. She still felt ashamed.
Kazama pulled her close to him again. "If you like we can stay here until the morning. Miwa and the rest will come by then-"
"What about Narasaka's family?"
"They've been informed."
"B-But..."
"You want to help. I know you want to say what happened but you need to calm down first. This ordeal has made you exhausted, didn't?"
She looked down and nodded. "Do you think he'll forgive me?"
"I don't see why not."
'I do.' She thought as she shut her eyes.