She could hear her heart pounding with every footstep she took. Kamiko hadn't cared to notice where she was going. Her body burned as she tripped over a rock.The wind knocked out of her as she struggled to get back to her feet. Panting and gasping heavily, she looked around. Her side burned so much as she forced herself up. Shocked with how far she ran, she tried to stable herself but failed as she fell back to her side. Tears broke through as she pushed her small body back up. She took another good look around as she rose to her knees. All of the houses were destroyed in one way or another. Smoke was coming from one of the houses near her. Loud rustling caught her attention as a Marmod slammed out into the open. She reached behind her out of instinct to grab her trigger. However, she had left it in Kazama's squad-room. Her heart froze as the Marmod started making its way towards her. The roaring sound of blood silenced everything as the Marmod got closer and closer.
It was barely a foot or so away from her when she came back to her senses. A shrilling cry made fear shoot throughout her body as the Marmod prepared it's attack. Two swords slammed right through the soldier. Stopping its movements completely as she turned towards the footsteps behind her. Her breathing started getting worse as she turned to look at the person. A tall man with wild black hair and gold eyes walked up to her. The chills came back even worse when he opened his mouth. "Oi! What the hell are you doing here?!" He shouted. He was about to say something when he stopped and looked up. Her vision went white as she felt pressure against her head and then darkness engulfed her.
Her head throbbed as she tried to wake up. She could feel her face starting to heat up as she faintly heard something making its way towards her. It was starting to feel numb. Something terrible flowed through her mouth as a hand shook her awake. But all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. "Hey. Are you okay?" A soft voice asked.
"Damn it, Zoe!" An angry voice called out as she was lifted off the ground. The wind whipped past her as the disgusting bile in her mouth began to drip down her face. "Shit! She's bleeding. Hurry up, you two!"
Kamiko had barely noticed that she fell asleep. The pain in her head and face had started bothering her. Her body ached even more than before. She couldn't even move because of how much her body ached. She whimpered as she tried to sit up. A gentle hand stopped her as it ran through her hair. She opened her eyes and looked up at the owner of the hand. Despite that faint haziness, she could still see green eyes staring back at her. He looked worried as he slowly sat her up. "Kage, she's awake." He said as the green-eyed boy pulled her close to him. Her body started shaking the moment she saw the man again. She couldn't even stop the tears that decided to run down her face. "Looks like you scared her." The green-eyed boy said as he continued to run his fingers through her hair.
"Well Zoe did blast her while I was trying to ask her a question. So that might've left an impression." The angry man said as he sat beside them. She flinched when the bed dipped but she looked towards the wild haired main. "How's your head? You were bleeding all over the place, runt."
Despite the ache, she lifted her shaking hand and pressed it against her head. Bandages? How long was I out for? She thought as she started to look around. It looked just like the room that she and Kazama were resting in Kiku and Uta. "Am I....back inside....the safe place?" She asked as her hand lowered to her cheek, for some reason the bandages soothed her a bit.
"Safe place?" The green-eyed boy questioned.
"Wait a minute. What's your name kid?" The man asked as he turned towards them. Two others walked into the room when asked that. A small girl and a large man who looked upset.
"I'm....Kamiko. Who are you?" She asked as she moved to sit in the green-eyed boy's lap though hissing in a bit of pain as he helped out.
"Better?" He asked. She nodded and looked up. "I'm Yuzuru Ema." He added as he pointed to the man beside them. "That's my captain, Kageura Masato." Kageura simply nodded as Yuzuru pointed to the girl, who smiled. "Hikari Nire. She's our operator and that's Kitazoe Hiro. That's the one that sent you flying." He added as he pointed to them each other. Kitazoe gave an awkward chuckle as he attempted to bow.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't listen and ended up hurting you." He said as he tried to bow even further.
Kamiko felt a bit bad. If she hadn't gotten scared then maybe she would have been able to dodge it. "I-It's fine. It was my fault for not being quick enough." She said doing her best not to stutter in fear.
Hikari was the first to do anything as she slapped Kitazoe in the back of the head. "See what you did?! You made her feel guilty!" She said as she made her towards her and Yuzuru, who was still rubbing her hair. She handed her a mug and helped her drink the cool water. She thanked her as they heard a knock on the door. Kamiko felt her whole body shake as Kitazoe walked towards the door.
She heard the voices of two girls and felt the shaking come back. Yuzuru wrapped his arms around her as the two walked into the room "Yuzuru! Your friends are here." Ms. Hikari said as the two walked over to him.
"Don't worry they're nice. I promise." he said as he pulled her closer.
"But I'm scared." She whimpered as she buried her face into his stomach.
"Hey Yuzuru." The two girls said as they walked into the area. "Oh? Are you babysitting someone's daughter?" One of the girls asked.
"We found her in the forbidden zone. She's really frightened. I thought it was because she was attacked by a Marmod and was blasted by Zoe. But she might just be easily timid." Yuzuru said as he continued stroking her hair as she started shaking again.
"The runt was there by herself. But I think I heard something about her being with the Kazama unit or something." Kageura said as he stood up from the mattress. "I'll see if Hikari can ask around." He muttered as he walked away.
"Woah, really?" The other girl asked. "She looks so small and beaten up with those bandages."
Yes. Please remind me that you're probably taller than me. She thought a bit bitterly as she tried to bury her fear from everyone. She remembered what her mother and friends said. How fear was the way anyone could control her. Another hand joined Yuzuru's and she nearly jumped out of his hold as it scared the life out of her even more. Why is she so scared of everything? Border was a safe place. So maybe....
"Maybe it's because she's not used to so many people. That would frighten anyone." The girl, who she vaguely saw had purple eyes, said. Kamiko thought about it for a moment. This had been the first time that so many people were this kind to her without demanding her to do something.
Maybe I'm just on edge? She thought for a moment before flinching again. She decided to look towards the two girls. Her eyes still stung from the crying but she could still see them clearly. One of the girls, the one with the purple eyes, looked to be shorter but a very calm. She had a blue jacket, black shorts and gloves, with a purple emblem on her shoulder. The other girl, a blonde girl, with a white-and-pink outfit and a cat on her head. "W-Who are you?" She sobbed as she desperately tried to sound tough. But that didn't help much as her voice cracked a bit.
"My name is Chika. Chika Amatori." The purple-eyed girl said as she smiled.
"And I'm Izuho Natsume. What's your name kid?" The blonde girl asked.
"Kamiko." She said as she turned a bit more to look at them.
"Now that I think about, where did you come from?" Yuzuru asked as he looked down at her. "You were pretty close to the base when we found you."
Kamiko looked back up at the green-eyed boy. He had a black jacket that was folded to one side. Honestly she felt a bit grateful that the feeling they gave her was turning from cold fear to something a bit warmer. "Kazama brought me. He said I would be safe here...I was with Izumi, Amo, and Yosuke before they left and some guy came in and started screaming. I was scared and ran." She said as she finally wiped the tears off her face.
"So you were with their unit." Kageura said as he walked back into the area. "I guess the idiot you're referring to might be that dumbass Yugia."
"Yugia?" She questioned as she looked towards the tall man. He shrugged and sat down after handing the girls and her a drink.
"Izumi will probably rip that idiot a new one once they get Kazama to come here." The cat-eyed man said. She took a sip with the help of Yuzuru. It was hot coco. It wasn't scalding hot and there was no weird aftertaste.
"Thank you Mr. Kageura." She said as she tried to turn towards him.
"Yeah this is really good! Thank you so much sir!" Izuho said as Chika nodded and said her thank you as well.
"No need for formalities. Not really into those things." He said as he waved his hand as he got comfortable. "Anyway how does your head feel, runt?"
She felt a bit indigent at his comment. "I think i'm fine. I can't really feel anything since I've been out of the infirmary. Also, i'm not a runt." She muttered as she scratched her head.
"Why were you in the infirmary anyway?" Hikari asked as she walked back in with Zoe.
She hesitated for a bit. Everything was still extremely fuzzy and hazy. Though that was probably because she hadn't slept until earlier this morning. Instead of speaking, she lifted up her shirt to show the large bandage on her side. "They said that my injury reopened on it's own since it wasn't taken care of. I'm not too sure about everything else though." She said as she lowered her shirt back down when she started feeling light-headed. Her body started aching a bit as she leaned back into Yuzuru and closed her eyes for a bit as a faint ringing sound started growing louder.
When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was something in her arm and a beeping sound. Sitting up a bit, she looked around. The sun was a lot lower in the sky. Soft snoring also caught her attention. Izuho and Chika were fast asleep on either side of Izumi on one couch while Ms. Hikari and Zoe took another couch, also fast asleep. Yuzuru and Amo were resting their heads on either of the bed with the brunette making some kind of attempt to stay awake despite failing miserably. What happened? She thought as her eyes landed on a button with a piece of paper next to it. She ignored the paper and pressed the button a couple of times. Nothing happened so she kept pressing it. Kikuchihara was the first to walk in the door along with a nurse who sent another weird sense of fear throughout her whole body. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh." Was all she said.
Kazama and several others walked in quietly. Nearly all of them except four, she didn't even know and that sky-rocketed her fear. Kazama sighed as he made his way over and gently ran a hand across my face. "How do you feel?" He asked, panting like he was running. She noticed him and the others looked to be wearing normal clothes so that was a possibility.
"I'm....fine." She said as she looked up to the red-eyed man. "How was your day?"
He gave her a look before sighing and laughing. "You gave just about everyone a heart attack, so let's start there." He said and the others joked as those who were asleep started waking up.
"Oh, you're awake." Izumi said as Chika and Izuho stood up with relief.
"Are you okay?!" Izuho and Chika asked as Amo and Yuzuru woke up. She nodded as the others laughed and giggled.
"Hey Kazama, you still never told us where you found her and why you brought her here?" One of the guys, a blonde man with something hanging out of his mouth, asked as he made his way towards him. "I've been hearing some rumors already."
She was a bit confused as she looked around the room then back to Kazama. "What do you mean, Suwa?"
"I heard that she was your kid. Is that true or not?" The man, Suwa, asked. Everyone waited for Kazama's answer. He was silent for a bit. She grabbed his finger as he spared a glance towards her when she did.
"Something wrong?" He asked. Though she didn't really think about her words as they came out.
"Is something wrong papa? I didn't get you in trouble did I?" She asked and almost immediately regretted how loud Suwa got. Maybe I should've waited for him first.