Rigel went deathly still at the sound of Kohaku crying. His voice was like steal, “I have been beaten, broken, and abused. She is the only person who will look at that and still accept me.” The knife lifted from his hand, and his breath caught in his throat as he sent it- fast as a bullet, to the man. Rigel would be a murderer.
It jabbed Alex right in the shoulder, inches away from death. He staggered, cursing wildly.
"You're one son-of-a-gun…." Yasu barely helped him to his feet. "And you certainly have the heart of someone who doesn't know the way of the world." She formed a shard of ice with her hand and forced it through the air at Rigel.
Rigel shoved his body into Kohaku’s with the intent of shielding her, and the ice went into his lower side. He cried out, then yanked the metal off of the attackers and welded it into a shield.
Yasu gagged. "What on earth–!?"
Alex half nudged her. "I told you that wouldn't have been a bad idea…"
Kohaku gasped. Is it possible….? She warmed her hands and helped Rigel out, melting the shard in his side. "Y-You can't do this to him!!" She barked, ears folded back.
Rigel let out a groan, trying and failing to push himself up to stand. “Kohaku, r-run, warn the others, I’ll be fine, I can hold them off.” For emphasis, he took a small chunk out of his shield and formed it into a dagger that flew at the woman.
Yasu and Alex dodged the knife that was thrown at them, and glanced at each other. With the weapons they had, they were no match. "Let's get the hell out… And maybe we can find more traditional ways…"
They rushed out of the house, and promised they'd be back.
Kohaku was left with a scar in her mind, a thought that they were out to kill her and Rigel and her entire race. But that girl…. She had… K-Kori??? "Are you okay Rigel?" She said quietly. "I want to know you're okay before I warn the others."
Rigel waved her off, “Go, I’ll be okay for the time being.” He clutched his bleeding side, trying his best to ignore the pain. He felt slightly lightheaded, but it was way more important to warn the others.
A tear bled from Kohaku's eye, but she left nonetheless. She burst into tears as she was caught up by Junichi's lifeless body. Junichi…. You were…. Like a brother to me….. Her throat ached, but she pressed on upstairs where they were chatting about something.
"Kohaku…." Daichi stood, approaching her with open arms. "What's wrong?"
She sobbed, and he hugged her to comfort her. "It's okay… We got the others out as fast as possible…."
"But Junichi…." She choked. They're okay… They heard them and fled quick…. "He's dead…."
Once Kohaku couldn’t see him, he slumped and closed his eyes. Too much pain- too much pain had been inflicted on his in the past week. He just wished he could rest from it- to be able to just pause and breath. The loss of blood was waying him down by the second as his strength was sapped away.
(Oof)
“D-Dead?…..” Daichi motioned away for a second, then exploded. “Those damned humans!!! I knew I had the right idea to shun Rigel, even if this isn’t my own abode…” He grabbed Kohaku’s hand. “We have to go with the others—“
She tugged back. “I want to go and find Naoki first…. Please…?”
“Fine. But be quick.”
She rushed back down into the dining hall, and found Rigel knelt on the floor. “Rigel!”
Rigel looked up, forced a small smile in attempt to hide his pain, “I’m fine, don’t worry.” The blood leaking out of him said differently, though, but he fought against the pain.
"B-But Daichi won't be able to heal you– He's extremely anti-humanist now…. Since those people killed Junichi…." She glanced around and headed into the kitchen. "Naoki!" She called, but there was no answer. "Naoki!" I think he might've gotten away…. "But let's hurry– they'll be back any minute!!" She tried to help him to his feet. "Please, Rigel… Hang in there…."
Rigel could barely stand, but he stopped Kohaku for other reasons. “Kohaku, I’m bleeding a lot,” Rigel swallowed nervously, pressed on his wound. Gosh that hurts… “You need to cauterize it.”
"B-B-But I don't want to if it's just going to… Hurt you even more…." She whimpered. She was no doctor– None of them were. The only one who could heal was Daichi, and there was no way she was going to persuade him to do the job. "E-Even if I did– Oh, gosh!! This is all my fault!!" Kohaku cried.
“Kohaku, I’ll be alright. Only if you cauterize it.” Rigel told her again, wishing he could hold her but he was covered in blood. “You need to focus, I’ve been through worse,” Rigel told he, trying to ignore the screaming pain in his abdomen.
"O-O-Okay…." She quickly heated her hands, completely clueless on the process. "I-I-I– I'm sorry!" Kohaku pressed her hands to the wound, her fur becoming sticky with Rigel's blood. Oh, Ryuu!!! Don't let him die!!! Sge prayed.
Rigel bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood as the pain assaulted him. He gripped at the floor to no avail, barely able to contain his scream of pain for Kohaku’s sake.
She had no idea what she was doing. "I'm sorry!" She tried not to cry out his name for the sake of him. I don't know what I'm doing!!! When she felt like the time was right, she withdrew her hands from him, hands dripping with gooey, oozing red blood. "I'm so sorry!" Kohaku said again, tears leaking from her eyes.
Rigel panted, body relaxing despite the pain. The blood flow had stopped. “I’m okay, Kohaku, I’m okay.” He closed his eyes as he tried to ignore the waves of pain. At least they were subsided.
Kohaku hugged him tight, trying to give him some thermotherapy. "I'm so g-glad you're alright…." She curled her tail around him, giving him as much of her heat as she could– he really needed it….
Rigel wrapped his arms around her, gritting his teeth to ignore the pain in his abdomen. But he knew he needed to put on a strong face, so he mumbled, “We should go, Kohaku, I’ll manage.”
"O-Okay…" She smiled, happy for Rigel. "We'll get going…." Kohaku couldn't help but swipe her tongue across his pale cheek in a canine kiss. "I– I love you Rigel…"
“I love you to Kohaku,” There. Rigel almost broke down at that, but he managed to keep himself together for a his love’s sake. He forced himself to push against the walls and get to his feet, struggling a tiny bit.
Daichi fumbled downstairs, curious as to why Kohaku was taking too long for his liking. He meandered into the dining hall, where he stumbled upon Rigel.
Not only was he just there, but Kohaku was kissing him.
A confused fume coiled up his gut, through his throat. "What. The. Hell??" He ground his teeth with rage.
Rigel blinked wearily at Daichi, défenses kicking in and he stepped in front out Kohaku- even though he didn’t feel 100% at all. But at least he still had the metal from the attackers, so he could use it for defense if he needed.
Daichi was far from happy. "What the hell did I just witness!!?" He roared. "Kohaku!!!"
She gasped, turning to see him. "I-It's not what you think!" She stammered, flushing like crazy.
"Oh, I see what's going on…." He bared his teeth. "I thought I told you to stay away from him!!!"
Kohaku began to cry out of her control. But I love him!! I love him with all my heart!!!
Rigel's temper flared and the metal shifted where it was on the ground, "Leave her alone! This isn't her fault, and I know your grieving but shut the f–k up." Rigel snarled angrily. He balled his hands into fists, and the metal wobbled from where it was on the floor.
Kohaku glared back, watery tears obscuring her view of Daichi. “Don’t… s-s-stop…..” She pleaded.
Daichi only got more angered. “I bet you would’ve been better off suffering with Peter than with my own ‘daughter!!’”
She blurted out, “Stop!!” She barked. “I-I don’t want to be torn!”
“Then you can either stop loving him, or become my worst enemy!!!” He growled, forming a speared rock with his hands.
Daichi’s verbal assault hit him more than it should have, and his eyes darkened. The metal flung up in a barrier between them and Daichi, “Stop shouting at her, she did nothing wrong!”
"You're right…." Daichi snickered. "It isn't her fault– it's yours. It's your fault…. You should've left us when you betrayed us… For good…"
Kohaku just cried, tears bleeding from her eyes. She clung to Rigel, holding his jacket tight.
Daichi shot the rock, creating a deep indent in the steel.
"Just stop!" Kohaku wailed.
