To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

chapter 60

PREVIOUS TRIVIA: Who came from an orphanage?

Answer: Shin.

Most of you guessed Ryuu, which is understandable considering how messed up he is. But Ryuu did not come from an orphanage and neither did Jiro. On the next couple of chapters Ryuu's backstory will be revealed. Jiro's backstory will come at the very end of book one. Shin's backstory will be at the beginning of the sequel.

~~~~~

"Does it hurt?" A gentle voice rang through my ears.

I looked up to caring hazel eyes and a soft smile. Jiro was sitting at the foot of my bed, his fingers interlacing nervously at his lap as he looked at me. I offered him my brightest smile before pulling myself to a sitting position. Every inch of my body popped and groaned because of the movement and I stretched my limbs out further.

"Nope. I'm just a bit heavy, s'all."

His smile widened, brightening his entire features as he suddenly pulled me into a hug.

His hands gently circled my small frame as he pulled me close, allowing me to inhale the distinct smell of gunpowder that seemed to follow him everywhere. I found the scent calming, allowing my muscles to relax at the familiar contact of Jiro's embrace.

"I was so worried." He whispered against the top of my head. "I can't believe I left you with Ryuu. That idiot can't do anything right." A small laugh escaped his lips as he finally released me.

"Hey, he was the one who cut off Tenri Hiiragi's head, ya know." I laughed along.

"Yeah, only because I put four bullets inside his cranium first."

"Sure, sure, Mr. 'Absent for almost the entire mission'." I rolled my eyes, flicking his forehead.

"Where are the rest, by the way?"

Jiro's head turned back as he pointed at the other end of the room. From the distance I managed to make out the familiar head of lilac hair sitting on the edge of the bed.

I made a move to get up but I was immediately stopped by Jiro who looked at me through worried eyes.

"Emi, your leg is broken. You can't walk like that."

My eyes traveled down as I spotted my leg wrapped around some strange sort of fabric. At either side of it there was a long, wooden plank.

I smiled as I remembered Ryuu and Jiro hovering over my frame, both with an unrecognizable expression in their eyes as they wondered what to do. Ryuu had been in charge of keeping the blood flowing from my wounds at bay while Jiro tried to immobilize the limb without fainting.

He only cried three times, which is a fact we were all proud of.

"I can walk." I reassured the blond, pulling myself to the edge of the bed. "I've been through worse."

The tread to Ryuu's direction was a bit harder than expected, considering I had to wobble my way toward him.

Ryuu looked distracted, a bit desperate even. His soft lilac gaze was trained on the unmoving figure on the bed before him.

Shin was ghostly pale, as expected from all the blood he lost. His shirtless frame was wrapped with bandages from his chest to his stomach, which were already drenched in the crimson liquid oozing from his wound where Tenri had speared him with his kagune. The coal haired boy had yet to wake up since he fainted inside the truck.

The bags under Ryuu's eyes were heavier than ever before, shadows dancing beneath his eyes trained on Shin's figure.

"Ryuu." I whispered cautiously and he jumped, just being aware of my presence. He flickered his lost gaze to me before locking it back on the boy.