damned_institute | Nightshift 37: F1-F10 Hallway

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Nightshift 37: F1-F10 Hallway

As far as dinner shifts went, that one had actually been enjoyable. It had been nice to have somebody to talk to, to show off for, and Sen hadn’t seemed to mind all that much. Except for that one teeny-tiny little slip, just after Yuffie’d revealed that she was a ninja…

What was with that?

Yuffie knew that it was a little unorthodox to be quite so ‘open’ about what she did, both back home and here in Landel’s. She had her reasons, though; logical reasons, no matter what anybody else had to say about it. And those reasons had a lot more to them than a simple love of showing off.

Maybe Sen was going to be another one of those who underestimated her, then - the woman had seemed to soak up everything she’d said like a sponge, hadn’t refuted anything, but… Yuffie couldn’t quite shake the feeling that something was off. Sen seemed so normal and, yeah, totally defenseless - but as far as she could tell, Landel had a weird fetish for kidnapping fighters, or people with some kind of ability or significance...

Ugh, maybe this place was just making her paranoid. Besides, now wasn’t the time to be cross-examining and mentally dissecting her roommate! She had places to go, people to see, and a Turk to interrogate! With that in mind, after a quick double-checking of her ’equipment’ - a small bunch of pens tucked away in various places, the gardening claw, and her flashlight - the young thief headed out into the night.

[To here]

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Miku winced, "They're -- ow! -- what I wear at home.." Miku wasn't sure why she'd chosen to wear them, exactly. She gripped her sheets to keep from making any more pain-noises and kept talking, "They were in my closet, too, even my shoes."

Her brows drew together and she eyed Sousuke, deciding that -even though she hurt everywhere, and they were in this ridiculous situation- he was the one in the funnier attire.

Sousuke drew back for a moment when she expressed pain. Had it been something he'd done? He evaluated her wounds again and, seeing that things hadn't changed much, he continued to bandage her, but a little more gently.

"So both of us found clothes we use regularly at home in our closets tonight." Sousuke felt a little strange about that.

Miku gave him a long look before she murmured, "That's regular wear?" She sat up to pull her bloodied over-shirt off and bit the inside of her cheek when it pulled on the marks. The rope burns were all over her arms, as if she'd been wrapped in them, and the feeling of the dirty fabric rubbing over them had bothered her.

"This happened... last week, too, I remember..." Perhaps a little longer than a week ago, but close enough.

"Don't sit up, Miku," Sousuke said, worried. He tried to guide her back down. "I can cut your shirt off, there's no need for you to hurt yourself more."

The sergeant looked at her arms and hands, frowning deeply at the rope burns. How strange. He'd felt a rope around his neck as well.

"Here, are the sleeves bothering you?"

Miku put a hand over his, and looked at him sheepishly. She hadn't meant to worry him. "The shirt is, it's rubbing. It will just be easier to slide off, Sousuke, really," Miku tried to assure him.

Really, she just didn't like the idea of a knife being wielded so closely to her skin. "You don't have to cut it off."

Sousuke didn't like how it pained her, but if she was nervous, he could understand that. Civilians didn't use knives to cut clothing, and while this was an emergency situation, Sousuke didn't need to get it off her in such a great hurry.

"Alright," he moved behind her and lifted her up, trying to support her on his chest. He could slip her out of the shirt more easily that way.

Miku scrunched her face up as Sousuke pulled the shirt off, and her breath stuttered. The parts of her back revealed by the shirt spoke the same story that her arms and upper chest had - as if she'd been wrapped up in the ropes. "Does it look very bad...?" she questioned, staring at her knees.

Sousuke frowned at the marks. It did look very bad, but fortunately, he was in the habit of lying to soldiers. Telling them it didn't look so bad when he knew things were not looking good.

He gently ran his fingers over her back, careful not to hit any bleeding or bruised spots that would hurt terribly bad. "No. You look fine. Very... nice."

Miku turned her head to look at the damage. It felt bad, but... maybe he was right, maybe it wasn't as bad as it felt. Her neck pulled as she tried to peer over her shoulder, and looked at a splotchy mark. Well, it didn't look... terrible.

Her eyes turned from the mark to him, "Promise?"

Sousuke reached around, his hand gently resting on her cheek and trying to turn her head back to a more normal, less painful position.

"You're alive. That's beautiful."

Miku's head moved from side to side, weighing his words, and lifted her hand to place it over his. "I'm just lucky, I guess. I was more worried about you." She felt bad that he kept getting into these undead situations with her.

Her ability needed to go away and never come back, like it had before. Miku pulled his hand down and set it in her lap.

"There's no problem," Sousuke said automatically, resting his hand on top of hers.

These instincts he was having... they were wrong. She was injured, he should be bandaging her. Not thinking about her in that red coat, realizing how close she was, or anything like that. He shouldn't be.

He stared at her knees, drawing her into him, holding her close. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"I am apparently harder to kill than we both thought," she murmured, tone light as she could manage. It had been horrible, those images, those feelings, but even worse had been the absolute terror of watching him attack the ghost not once, but twice.

Miku rested her head against his and sighed, keeping her voice quiet and intimate, "I promised you I wouldn't leave you. I keep my promises."

He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, gently, but firmly enough to convey how possessive he felt--how protective.

"I know. But... tonight has shown me that I am an inadequate source of protection. Especially from the dead." This next part was harder to say--which was strange, considering his biggest fear was being unable to protect her. That had already come true. "You need to train with someone. I trust Sanosuke's judgment. His friend... should train you."

There, he'd said it.

She stiffened, and wrinkled her brow. "Sagara-san wants me to train...?" she wasn't sure just how she felt about physical training. Miku knew her limits - she was slower than people, weaker. That's just the way it was, the only way she outshone anyone was through her abilities, and even that was a dull, sad thing.

"But why? We... we knew that we're powerless against the ghosts." She reached up to find his hand and laced her fingers with his, thankful they were the only parts of her anatomy not suffering. "And I can't hit anything." Was this revenge for hitting him with the slipper?

"Because I can't protect you alone," Sousuke replied, squeezing her hand gently. "We are powerless against the ghosts, it seems, but against more physical threats, you need to be able to defend yourself."

He stroked her cheek absently with one thumb. She seemed as resistant to this idea as he had been. "Not everyone can hit something their first try, but considering the circumstances... I think it is necessary."

"Mm," Miku considered the choice, and finally nodded. "I'll... I'll try. But, if it doesn't work, I am just going to learn to run faster."

She laughed, but it turned into a half-pained gasp. "...R-remind me not to do that." Miku turned her face into his neck, embarrassed.

Sousuke panicked again when she made noises of pain again. He put a hand on her stomach, rubbing it gently. Once he realized his hand was on bare skin, he removed it, blushing terribly.

"A-affirmative."

Miku pulled back to look at him, eyebrows raised. Was he blushing? "Thank you, Sousuke." She kissed his cheek and settled back again, wiggling her toes as though to test them. Her muscles protested and she quit.

If anything, that just made Sousuke blush more--and bring on thoughts of the park. Was he supposed to kiss her back? Wasn't he supposed to ask? Sheena had mentioned that taking her by surprise was okay too, but that the situation had to be right. Was the situation right?

"Do... do I need to get some painkillers from the clinic?"

Miku shook her head gently, "No, it hurts, but I'll be fine." She'd make herself be fine, by God. Even if she had to sleep for days. Miku wondered if she should've given him the opportunity to escape. He was awfully red now, after all.

Her fingers swept back and forth over his knee softly. "I don't like medicines," she admitted.

The small touches were only making him blush even more. There was something so... adorable in her smallness. The delicacy of her hands, her soft words, everything.

"I've taken many of them," Sousuke said. "For injuries and infections and vaccinations. There's nothing to be nervous about."

"I'm not nervous, I... Well, I just dislike them. They're bitter." The herbal medicines she was used to taking had been over a century old, after all. While she'd been living with Rei, Miku hadn't had so much as a sinus problem. She attributed it to good living.

"But, if you insist, I'll take some," Miku offered quietly, and moved her hand to rest on her stomach. She wrinkled her nose that the feeling of stiff, blood-dried fabric at the hem of her top.

Sousuke frowned down at her, almost ready to pull her hand away lest she hurt herself more. But he trusted her to know what would and wouldn't hurt her.

"It's only for your own comfort. If you don't need them, then there isn't a reason to take them," Sousuke said, putting a hand on her forehead to check for fever. "Are you having any vision problems? Is anything numb?"

"Ah.." Miku assessed her wounds, blinking a few times when she realized she had no working knowledge of what she should have been looking for. "I'm just tired, Sousuke." She wondered just how much blood she had lost, and how much more she would lose when she moved in her sleep tonight. Or worse, tomorrow with the constant activity.

"Nothing's numb, but if it was, I wouldn't be able to tell, anyway, would I? Unless I start poking at the wounds..."

Nightshift 37: F1-F10 Hallway

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