• CHAPTER 137 - HOW LONG CAN ONE HOLD ON?

    How much more can you lose before you let go completely? Does one person have to die, or does the apocalypse have to claim you?

    My eyes squeezed shut; maybe, when I open them again, it will have have been another nasty dream. Like the last dream I had, about Kai leaving me in the middle of nowhere. This was just a dream created by Hitoshi, right? Matsuda said Vampires and Werewolves could send dreams. Kira wasn't dying, my ankle wasn't shattered, I was never beaten, Mayura never existed.

    Only in my dreams.

    I felt the barrel of the gun leave my head and I slowly opened my eyes. Mayura's gun was pointed elsewhere--to Ai's head. Poor Ai, she looked so shocked and scared. I hardly had a voice to call out to her, so I only sobbed more. Not only was I losing Kira, but I was going to lose Ai. Should I have let go of everything?

    All within a quarter of a second, the crack of Mayura's gun echoed and Ai was gone--literally. She was nowhere to be seen. After another second, Mayura shot in another direction jus before she was tackled to the ground. She dropped her gun just within my reach. I grabbed her gun and looked over to see Kai holding Mayura down. A growl ripped from his chest; I could almost smell the ominous and violent aura coming from Kai.

    "Despite your good looks, you're quite annoying," Mayura hissed.

    "Tell Hitoshi to release Arisa," Kai demanded in a low voice.

    I couldn't see what gesture Mayura made to Hitoshi, but I knew it wasn't what either Kai or me wanted. Instead, I was being dragged away again. I screamed from both pain and fear, stuck in the role of the horror movie again. Ai reappeared and called out for me, starting to sob. Kai ended up running into Hitoshi and trying to pry his mouth off of my foot. Kai was only using one arm; what happened?

    "Release her," Kai growled. "Release her now."

    Hitoshi merely growled back and bit herder, causing me to shout and sob again. The pain was unbearable; it was penetrating through every muscle, bone, and nerve in my ankle. Kai freely dragged his nails across Hitoshi's eye again, causing him to yelp once more and release me. Ai immediately rushed to my side with tears streaming down her face. I smiled with huge relief, through my pain, that she was okay.

    "You teleported," I cupped her face with one hand and praised with a hoarse voice. "Good job..."

    There was another yelp--more painful-sounding than before--and Ai and me looked over to see Hitoshi missing his left front paw. I immediately shut my eyes and looked away and Ai screamed. Kai ripped Hitoshi's foot off without another thought; that would have been me if Kai never came.

    "Hitoshi!" I heard Mayura cry out.

    I looked behind me and Mayura was charging after Kai, bleeding from the head. I pushed Ai aside and held onto the gun. Mayura didn't seem to care that I had her gun; she was focused on Kai for injuring her lover. She ran by me and I made an usuccessful attempt at tripping her. I fired a bullet and it grazed her leg and she stopped. A hiss seethed in between her teeth and she stepped on my ankle, shattering the broken bone even more. I could have sworn that if anything else happened to my ankle, it would pop off completely.

    "Look at what he's done!" Mayura blustered.

    After releasing my scream of agony, I clenched my jaw; I was beyoned pissed off. Just as Mayura took out her knife to attack Kai, I aimed the gun, shut my eyes, pulled the trigger, and fired a bullet into the back of Mayura's head. She immediately collapsed, dead. Both Kai and Hitoshi stared at her in shock for a moment before Hitoshi cried out.

    "O-oh my God..." I squeaked, dropping the gun.

    "Arisa?" Kai mumbled, shocked.

    Hitoshi cried out again and instead of ripping my head off, he attended to his dead beau. He whined repeatedly, jabbing Mayura with his nose at a futile attempt at waking her. Kai grabbed onto me and kissed my sweaty forehead.

    "Are you okay?" Kai cupped my face. "Arisa, are you listening?"

    The only reason he asked if I was listening was because I wouldn't rip my eyes off of Mayura's carcass. My enemy, the person I was reincarnated from, was dead. I murdered somebody; I flat-out just murdered Mayura.

    "Nana!" Ai called out and ran to us.

    "Arisa, you need to listen to me," Kai ran his thumb against my cheekbone. "Arisa, I need you to tell me where Kira is."

    "Hi-Hitoshi," I squeaked.

    Kai looked behind him at Hitoshi, who was glaring at me with the intention to kill, "Leave," Kai hissed.

    Hitoshi growled and looked back down at Mayura again. He whined and laid down, resting his head on Mayura's back. Kai wrapped one arm around my waist and grabbed Ai with his other hand. I closed my eyes just in time to teleport once more. After I opened my eyes, I started sobbing. In front of me, once more, was a motionless Kira.

    "Kai, he's dead," I sobbed. "Mayura shot him..."

    No words were spoken as Kai rushed over to his older, motionless brother. His eyes were widened with shock at the sight of his brother who used to be so full of life and exuberance. As soon as Kai touched his shoulder, Kira dug his nails into Kai's arm and snapped his eyes open. In another flash, his fangs were fastened into the flesh of Kai's neck and he started swallowing heavily.

    "Kira?" Kai mumbled.

    Kira's shoulders trembled and he ripped his fangs away. He gagged for a moment, covered his mouth, and soon hacked up the blood he had just swallowed. The miasma from the gun was preventing Kira from keeping any blood in his system. Kai rushed over to Ai and me again, grabbed us, and we disappeared. When I opened my eyes again, Matsuda and Orihime were rushing over to me in their living room.

    "Where is Kira?" Matsuda asked Kai.

    "Watch her," Kai advised and left again.

    "Where is he?" Matsuda asked me instead.

    I continued to sob, "He's going to die; Mayura shot him in the stomach with a Necromantic Hunter's gun."

    "And where is Mayura?"

    "Dead," I cried. "I killed her."

    Matsuda glanced at my bloody, grotesque ankle, "We need to fix that,"

    "Uncle Kira!" Ai sobbed.

    All eyes focused on Kira at the same time. Kai had one of Kira's arms around his shoulders and was supporting him as his blood dripped from his shirt and mouth to the clean white carpet. Matsuda beckoned Ai to go into the study room and Orihime blindly rushed over to Kira. She cupped his pale face and looked him in the eye.

    "Kira, I need you to focus," she advised. "I'm going to help you."

    Matsuda lifted me and laid me down on the couch on my stomach, "Kai, get my supplies,"

    Just as Kai was about to, Kira tried to lunge after me; his thirst was consuming him. Kai blocked him off and forced him upstairs with Orihime following. Kai reappeared a few seconds later with an old-fashioned medical box of supplies and a towel.

    "Forgive me, Arisa," Matsuda pleaded and removed my shoe.

    My outburst wasn't enough to express the pain in my foot and ankle, "Kai, Kai..."

    "I'm here, I'm here," Kai brushed my bangs away while gripping onto my shaking hand.

    "Ow!" I cried out and squeezed Kai's hand when Matsuda lifted my foot to put a towel underneath it while adding pillows to elevate it.

    The series of pain would only get worse. Matsuda lightly gripped my ankle and my foot with his gentle hands. There was a warm, blue glow an the shattered remains of my bones were back in place in a snap. Not only that, but he had to cleanse the wounds before he could stitch them.

    "Is Kira going to die?" I asked through my pain.

    Kai looked away grimly and Matsuda appeared the same way, "Likely,"