The Ones I Love

Tearing myself apart. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Alright, guys, the book is officially coming to an end. The next chapter (Chapter 20) will be the last one. Hope you enjoyed reading the book! 

I don't own the picture above and have only done basic editing. There is also mild use of language.

I know it's pathetic, but I had been sitting in my bedroom for over 3 hours, not even wanting to step out of my room anymore. I hug my knees closer to me and focus on the bedsheet with half-closed eyes. I am taken out of my lonely pity party when I hear glass break downstairs. I assume it is the brothers being clumsy or having a fight because of what Ruki did. 

I guess it is partly because of him that Yui was able to escape. 

I continue ignoring the noise until I hear a frustrated yell followed by a few more glasses being smashed.

This is not a regular fight.

I instantly get off my bed and run downstairs only to dodge just in time a huge body being thrown right in front of me. I look over to see a wolf whimpering against the wall and when I step closer to help it, I hear a yell from behind me.

"Anna! Don't touch it!" I follow the voice to see Yuma dodging a wolf and punching another. Before I can respond, I hear a low growl behind me and turn around to see another wolf protecting the one whimpering while getting ready to lunge at me. I back up and the wolf jumps at me, leaving me no choice but to swing-kick it before it can reach me. 

"What the hell is going on?" I look at all of my brothers trying to fight an army of wolves as they all surround us and dodge another lunging wolf in the meantime. 

"You think we know?! They just came out of nowhere!" Kou says as slams another wolf outside the building through the already broken window. I push away another wolf and focus on kicking all the wolves out before anyone gets injured. 

"We all have to get these wolves out of here, now!"

"Yeah, no shit!" Yuma replies as he dodges another attack. 

"But, please, try not to hurt them too much!" I say as I dodge another wolf but catch it by wrapping my arms around its torso and swinging it outside the window hard enough for it to go tumbling down the hill.

"Are you serious?!" Ruki looks at me but his gaze instantly moves to look behind me with wide eyes. I follow his gaze to see Azusa fighting off a wolf while another one creeps up behind him. Before I can even blink, Ruki has teleported in front of Azusa as he guards him, only to get bitten by the wolf.

"Ruki!" I rush over to him and knee the wolf in the torso in hopes of making it loosen its teeth. Once I feel it do so, I pry the wolf off, seeing Ruki fall to the ground right after. Before I can do anything else, all the wolves run off without another fight, letting me put my attention to Ruki. "Ruki! Ruki!" I call out but once I don't get a response, I look up to my brothers. "Get him to his room; we need to patch him up." I quickly get up and teleport to Ruki's bathroom and begin searching for a medkit. When I find one, I immediately walk out to see Ruki already laying on the now bloody bedsheets. I feel tears sting my eyes at the sight but I blink the liquid away to focus on the task at hand.

"This is all... my fault. If I had... just fought better." I hear Azusa mutter to himself but I reply while taking care of Ruki. 

"Azusa, don't think for one second this is your fault. Ruki did what he thought he needed to do." 

"I know, but I could've... prevented it." I turn around to protest, only to see him gone. 

"Where..." I look around for a second before Kou speaks up.

"He will be okay, Anna. We need to make sure Ruki will make it." Without wasting any more time, I turn back to Ruki and start to disinfect his wound before wrapping it tight enough so the bleeding stops quicker. Once I am done, I kneel on the floor and simply look at him, unmoving.

"Ruki..." I tighten my palm into a fist and slam it against the mattress as I try to hold back my tears as much as I can. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see Kou.

"Look, he's going to be alright. He's stronger than any of us and I'm sure he knew what he was doing when he protected Azusa." I look back at him lying unconscious, no sense of what his actions had resulted. 

"I just wish I had reacted faster, you know? It would've been better for me to be lying here. I'm not contributing much anyway. I'm like a side character in a story that no-one wants to know about, so wouldn't it be better if I were to get hurt?" 

"Are you insane? Do you even hear what you're saying?" Yuma smacks me lightly across the back of my head as I keep my forehead on the mattress. 

"Trust me, I do." I look back up and hold Ruki's hand in mine, ready to wait till he wakes up. 

"Who would do such a thing?" Kou mutters to himself as he walks around the room and finally sits down on the couch in the corner of the room while he rubs his chin in thought. My head turns in his direction as an idea suddenly pops in my head. With a new goal in my mind, I let go of Ruki's hand and stand up with newly lit determination within me. 

"I might have someone in mind." I mutter as I begin walking away when Yuma questions where I am going. "To make sure this never happens again." I grit through my teeth and teleport where I think the Tsukinami brothers would be. I begin walking around the forest, only one objective in mind. 

"Shin! Carla!" I call out loudly as I keep my pace up and look around in attempts of catching a slight glimpse of any movement that would suggest their presence. "Come out, right now!" The only sound I hear is of my ragged breath from anger and the rough leaves crushing under my feet as I trample on them with force. "I know you're there!" When I think I hear something behind me, I turn around to only see the emptiness in the darkness. With a sigh, I turn back around only to be grabbed by my neck and tackled to the ground.