Marionette ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Fade Away - Part Three

"I'll be back before this fades away."

Sometimes, he could not help but admire Kurenai. The confidence she carried, the sass she possessed but most importantly, her crazy ability to be on his mind constantly. She was right when she said that she would be on his mind when they first met.

Returning to the Beach, Chishiya was walking through the lobby to head to the executive meeting room when he bumped into Kuina. She too, had cleared her game and brought back another card tonight.

"Hey," she said, bumping his shoulder with her fist. "What card did you get?"

Holding his hand up, Chishiya showed her the card. But Kuina was much more interested in the bite mark.

"You got that in the game?"

"No, I did not," he said, pulling his sleeve down and continued walking but Kuina was following close behind. It escaped his mind temporarily, though he did not feel like explaining to her what the mark was. Kuina already had enough of him and Kurenai despite her constant encouragement to pursue the relationship.

"Then how did you get that?" Kuina asked.

As Chishiya sent a glare her way, Kuina was smirking right back at him. Cheeky bastard was teasing him.

It was not hard to guess where he would have gotten a bite mark, and who it was that gave it to him. It was just a lot of fun to tease Chishiya when he was always the one toying with them. Kurenai was like God's gift to them to play him right back.

Arriving at the meeting room, they were about to open the door when someone barged in between them and slammed the door open with their body. It took them a second before they recognised Aguni. And he was carrying someone in his arms.

He was carrying Kurenai.

They rushed into the meeting room to see Aguni putting a barely conscious Kurenai on the table. Without thinking, Chishiya pushed Aguni aside to take a better look.

She was still breathing, but quite battered up. There were several cuts on her face with what looked like a bruise on the corner of her lips. Her hoodie was all scratched up but what concerned Chishiya the most was the makeshift bandage made out of what looked to be someone's shirt around her waist.

The shirt was a deep red colour, but it was originally blue. It was dyed red by her blood.

Taking the bandage and her hoodie off, they could finally see the broken off spike in her right hip.

"She told me not to remove it," Aguni said.

"She was right to tell you so," Chishiya said. "I'm going to need some surgical tools. I believe you have some of those, An?"

"It's in the infirmary downstairs."

Aguni moved, about to lift Kurenai off the table and carry her down when Chishiya stopped him. "We can't risk moving her now. An, I want you to bring me the tools and something to sterilise with. If there isn't any, then boil some water. Get some gloves too. Kuina, I need you to stay and help me."

"But I don't know-"

"Just do as I tell you to."

Kuina nodded.

Never had she ever seen Chishiya like so since she met him. He seemed so calm and collected but at the same time, panicking. He obviously knew what he was doing but there was a look in his eyes, a look that said he was not sure if Kurenai would come out of this alive.

The room was cleared, and only Kuina and An were allowed to stay.

They had to save Kurenai.

--

"You were supposed to kill her."

Standing in a dark room by the window, Hatter spoke without looking at Aguni.

He had been clear with his instructions for Aguni, and not once did he ever disappoint. Tonight was the first.

When Kurenai first joined the Beach, Hatter thought it was interesting to have someone of her stature join. She was a Chuya, not that it meant anything here in Borderland. More importantly, she brought them valuable cards. While Hatter did not know whether or not collecting the cards would really end this nightmare, it was worth a try and Kurenai boosted them.

But her promotion to an executive member caused a buzz within their little community.

Many were impressed with the three high level cards she brought in, and some were starting to worship her as the Queen of games. Keeping morale high was important, especially if he wanted them to continue working for him. Though, he was having problems with the fact that some members were starting to shift their loyalty to her.

Why would they follow him when she was the one who proved her worth?

Night after night, he sent her to games.

Night after night, she returned with more cards.

He thought he could trust Aguni, his good friend, to get rid of this potential threat but even Aguni failed to do so. Why? What was it about her that made everyone want to protect her? Follow her?

"She saved my life," Aguni said.

"So?!" Hatter yelled. "Since when did that ever matter to you? If we keep her alive, pretty soon the Beach will start to fall. The members will believe in her more than they do me, and we will lose the Beach."

"The Beach was never-"

"The Beach is an utopia! We created this utopia, not some prissy rich brat."

Ever since the creation of the Beach, Aguni had seen his friend spiralling out of control. He made up a lie to the members, gathering everyone to what he called utopia, and soon he started to believe in that lie himself. And now he was ordering the death of a woman just because she might be threatening his position?

This was not the Hatter he used to know.

"She gets to live for now, but not for long."

--

Two hours went by, and they finally had Kurenai back in her room, stitched up and sleeping in her bed.

Letting out a sigh, Kuina collapsed onto a chair and looked over to the sleeping Kurenai. Ever since coming to Borderland, she was experiencing things she never thought she would and tonight, she crossed off yet another on the list: performing surgery.

Chishiya was sat by the bed, holding Kurenai's hand and stroking her fingers gently. If he were not a medical student. If they did not meet in Borderland. If he did not have feelings for her, Kurenai would have died tonight.

"She got unlucky tonight," Kuina said softly, careful not to wake Kurenai.

"They planned it."

"Planned it? What do you mean they planned it?" Kuina frowned.

"Hatter's trying to get rid of her."

"Are you serious?"

"We need to start our plan soon. Before they succeed in killing her."