Lifeline

CHAPTER 10

Thus, the fight between Moebius and Toman had begun. Tessa watched as all of Toman charged towards the opposing gang; them doing the same. She watched as the boys practically pummeled each other. She didn't cringe like other girls would in this situation. She was used to it. She was surrounded by fights her whole life.
She noticed a stray Moebius member run towards her with his fists ready. She chuckled as she raised her leg and kicked him in the ribs which caused him to gasp for air and fall to the ground. Just to make sure, she kicked him again so he wouldn't get up. The thing with Tessa was that she never participated in fights unless she wanted to or had to. In this situation, she chose to stay in the back and let the boys handle it. It wasn't that she wasn't a bad fighter. She thought of herself to be pretty average when it came to fights. She did have some help from some of her older sister's buddies growing up while the rest came from just watching the boys. In doing so, she picked up some skills.
As she scanned the area, she noticed a Toman member pinned down by a Moebius member. She figured he was probably new so she decided to help out. As she ran towards him, she used the momentum and adrenaline to spin around and roundhouse kick the guy's face. The Toman member thanked her as the enemy fell to the ground dazed.
Tessa felt a strand of her hair stick to her face due to it still raining and her hair was completely drenched. She peeled it off her face and put it behind her ear to keep it out of her face. Casting her gaze around the brawl area, she saw Takemichi walking amidst the fight, his head whipping in every direction. However, the one thing she noticed was the expression on his face.
Gritted teeth and eyes filled with panic made her stomach form a knot. She walked over to him and as she got closer, his eyes turned to her.
"What's wrong, Takemichi?" she asked him.
"I-I need to find-" Takemichi started but stopped when he saw a familiar face walk by the two. It was Kiyomasa. The same guy who put him through so much hell.
Noticing where his eyes were, Tessa turned too. "What is it..." She stopped her sentence as she saw Kiyomasa was holding a knife. What made it even worse, was the knife was coated in blood; someone's blood.
Immediately, her eyes widened as she whipped her head around to the place where Kiyomasa had come from.
It was like time had stopped completely. The sounds of fighting immediately went away and was replaced with a ringing in her ears.
"Draken," she whispered.
Laying on the ground was Draken with blood pooling around his stomach. Tessa's body moved on it's own as she ran towards her friend. Takemichi followed her quickly as the two dropped next to him.
"Oh my god," Tessa's voice trembled.
"Draken!" Takemichi called out to him. "Draken!"
There was no response.
Takemichi's screaming caught the attention of Mikey as he looked over to where the commotion was.
"What is it, Takemichi?!" Mikey yelled.
Tessa gritted her teeth and replied, "Mikey, Draken's been stabbed!!"
Mikey's eyes widened in fear as he saw Tessa's eyes glazed with unshed tears and Draken's unconscious body. At that moment, desperation took over as he tried to punch his way through the oncoming Moebius members to get to his fallen friend.
"Move!" He punched. "Let me through, dumbass!"
Before he could get any further, he was pushed away. He skidded across the wet pavement and came to a stop. He looked up to see it was Hanma. He couldn't do anything now that Hanma was blocking his path. And he knew for sure Hanma wasn't going to let him go anywhere.
"Takemichi, Tessa!"
The two looked up at Mikey. As they did, a cough came from Draken.
"Mikey, he's still alive!" Takemichi told him with tears in his eyes.
"You two take care of Kenchin!" Mikey ordered as he began his fight with Hanma.
Tessa turned away from Mikey to Takemichi.
"You need to carry him on your back. I'll watch your back to make sure no one follows us." she said.
Takemichi immediately pulled Draken onto his back. It was difficult because Draken is a lot taller than him and heavier, but he could not give up. He needed to get Draken to the hospital and fast.
~~~
Takemichi continued to carry Draken while Tessa lingered behind. Anytime she glanced at Draken, she felt nausea come over her and she would have to squeeze her eyes shut in order for the feeling to go away. She never thought she would see the day where one of her best friends was on death's door and she couldn't do anything but watch.
Blood dripped out of Draken's mouth as he coughed once again. They were running out of time.
"Draken?!" Takemichi glanced at him over his shoulder. "You're gonna be alright. We're taking you to a hospital. I'm going to save you no matter what!"
His knees wobbled as his energy was depleting quickly. He couldn't give up. Not now.
"Takemichi! Tessa!"
Tessa turned and her eyes widened.
"Hina, Emma," she said with surprise.
"We already called an ambulance!" Hina shouted as the two girls ran towards them.
"How's Draken?" Emma asked Tessa as she ran up to her.
Tessa bit her lip as she looked back at him before turning to Emma. "He's still alive."
Tessa watched as tears filled Emma's eyes. It wasn't easy to see the boy she had grown feelings for over the years be critically hurt like this. Tears began to climb back into her eyes but she pushed them back for Emma's sake.
They placed Draken on the ground with his head in Emma's lap. Tessa knelt on the opposite side as she placed her hands over Draken's abdomen to keep pressure on the wound.
"How long 'till the ambulance gets here?" Tessa looked up at Hina.
"I don't know," she answered. "It seems the roads are backed up because of the festival and the rain."
Takemichi glanced at his girlfriend before his eyes caught on to silhouettes heading their way.
'Are you serious? Why are they here?' Takemichi thought.
Slowly creeping towards them was Kiyomasa and behind him were his little cronies.
"Oh he's still alive," one of them taunted with a menacing grin.
Noticing Takemichi, one of them spoke, "Why's 'Take-wimpy doing here?"
Tessa's eyes turned to Kiyomasa who had a grin as he joined in on the taunting.
"Kiyomasa, you bastard," she screamed, not being able to hold back her anger anymore. If her anger looked like water a pot, it was boiling over.
"Quiet, Nishikawa," Kiyomasa spat her last name. "Keep it up and you'll end up like him." His eyes glanced at Draken's state.
Tessa wanted to pop back but she held her tongue. She watched as Takemichi took a step forward, his whole body shaking. But she couldn't tell if it was from the rain or from fear.
"Takemichi," a gravelly voice spoke.
Tessa and Takemichi looked to see Draken awake. He removed Tessa's hands from his wound and replaced it with his own.
"Thanks, Takemichi." Draken sat up slowly. At this point, the pain had practically drained him but he pushed through. A smile formed on his face. "Take Hina and Emma and get out of here." He then turned to Tessa. "You go too, Tessa."
"What? No, I'm not leaving you here by yourself! Are you nuts?!" Tessa protested. There was no way she was going to leave him behind.
"I'm fine. Go."
Tessa looked at him in disbelief. 'No, you're not fine.'
She was jerked out of her mind as she heard Takemichi's scream cut through the air. She looked at him as he wiped his tears.
"Pathetic," he wiped his face. "Hina, stay back." He held his arm out as to get her behind him. He walked towards Kiyomasa and stood in front of him.
"What is it. You wanna die too?" Kiyomasa threatened.
A playful grin formed on his face. "This is revenge. I'm not running away this time."
"Hah?"
"Kiyomasa, we never settled it, did we? Our one-on-one fight at the underground fight club." Takemichi said to him.
"Hah?"
"What are you talking about?! No matter how you look at it, you lost!" a member shouted.
"I didn't lose." Takemichi said.
"Oh."
Tessa looked at Draken who was smirking.
"I bet one hundred million on Takemichi!" Draken proclaimed.
"What?" Takemichi said confused.
"It's just bullshit but whatever." Draken answered.
Tessa getting the idea stood up. "I bet that too!"
Hina and Emma chimed in as well.
Kiyomasa laughed. "These guys have lost their minds."
"No we didn't," Tessa argued. "Takemichi is going to win."
Kiyomasa gawked. All of them had serious faces which meant they weren't joking.
Feeling the surge of confidence from his friends, Takemichi charged towards Kiyomasa. "Let's go Kiyomasa!" He swung a fist at the taller man, but stopped when he felt something go through his hand, something metal. He looked and saw that Kiyomasa had swung the same knife he used on Draken and stabbed it through his hands. Gritting his teeth, he ripped his arm back and held it in his other hand.
"Takemichi!" Tessa shouted at him starting to step forward but was stopped by Draken.
"Let him do this," he said staring forward.
Tessa looked back at Takemichi who was holding his arm in pain. Seeing the knife stick out of his hand made her want to throw up.
"I ain't goin' one-on-one with you." Kiyomasa stepped forward. "This is just an execution, isn't it?"
The rest of Kiyomasa's crew began to laugh loudly.
"I'm gonna kill you, Hanagaki." Kiyomasa grinned menacingly.
Suddenly, Takemichi ripped the knife out of his hand and threw it to the ground behind him. He charged at Kiyomasa again and again, but kept getting pushed back. More and more bruises kept forming on his face the more he got pushed back.
"What's the matter, Hanagaki? You haven't landed a single hit yet." Kiyomasa taunted.
Takemichi sat up. 'For so long, I thought my worthless life was all Kiyomasa's fault, and I had bad luck. But I was wrong.' He stood up on his feet. 'It was my fault.'  He charged at Kiyomasa again and tackled his waist. Once he got him right where he wanted, he climbed up Kiyomasa's back and used his arms to wrap around Kiyomasa's throat and choke him. "It doesn't matter if I can't be Mikey. I'm Hanagaki Takemichi!!!"
"Let go of me!" Kiyomasa grabbed at Takemichi's arms.
"Don't let go, Takemichi!" Draken shouted.
"Come on!" Tessa shouted too.
After a minute, Kiyomasa finally faltered and dropped to the ground.
"Holy shit," Tessa whispered. "He did it." A smiled came to her face.
"Takemichi!" Hina called in worry.
"Stay back, Hina." Takemichi said to her.
Tessa's grin faded as she saw the other members of Kiyomasa's group standing there. 'Great. Now we have to deal with these goons.'
"Hina, take Emma and run." He turned to his girlfriend. "We'll deal with this ourselves."
"Okay," Hina answered and ran off with Emma to safety.
Now, the only ones left were Draken, Tessa, and Takemichi.
Takemichi turned, "Tessa, you should go with them."
Tessa smirked. "Nah, I'll stay here and help you guys. I think you need it." She gestured to the boys stab wounds. "Also," she cracked her knuckles, "they're going to pay for jumping my friend."
Takemichi smiled at Tessa's overprotectivness. "Draken, what do you think Heaven is like?"
Draken huffed as more blood spilled from his mouth. He let out a small chuckle as he stood up slowly. "Dude, you're going to Hell. Tessa's the one that'll go to Heaven."
"Ha," Tessa laughed. "If only."
The three stood there ready for battle as the other members charged at them. One of them had a knife aiming for Tessa but they were stopped by someone coming from the side and punching them. Tessa's eyes widened as she recognized him as one of Takemichi's friends.
"Akkun?" Takemichi said with surprise.
"What? You're gonna cry?" Akkun turned to him with a teasing grin. "You Crybaby Hero."
"Here come the 'Mizo Middle Five'!!" The rest of his friends ran out and did really stupid poses acting like they were trying to intimidate the others.
Tessa looked at them like they were dumb (which they were). However, her mind was focused more on the fight at hand.

A/N: Man it feels so good to write again. I know I kind of went silent but December was a hard month for me (writing wise) so I took a break and now I'm back. The Moebius Arc is almost over and then we can get into the good stuff.