Library Wars - Out of a Storybook

Chapter 4: A Kidnapping part 2

Sorry I'm late. Iku and Tezuka were fighting the MBC when some woman entered the fray, and she doesn't seem friendly! (Edit: Whoop! Updated the wrong page.)

(By the way, at the time that I first wrote this, I knew nothing about the medical information in this particular update. I was just guessing. I have learned more since then, but not enough. When I edit, I'll look deeper into it.)

"You're really stubborn, you know that,"

You shouldn't have agreed. You could have escaped. She might have left me alive.

Iku pulls me into the car, with blacked out windows that prevent us from looking outside. The woman throws a first aid kit into the back where Iku and I are. Iku thanks her, really? She was the one who shot me in the first place. If it had hit you, you'd be dead.

"Uh ..." Iku stares at the items in the first aid kit with fear and anxiety. "I ... don't know how to do this."

I moan in displeasure. If only I had Dojo instead. At least Iku was intelligent and could learn, but it was hard for me to instruct her when I am bleeding to death. I peer into the first aid kit. Wow. Not a typical first aid kit. I point to a pair of forceps and say, "that ... pull ... ... out the ... bullet."

"O-Okay ..." Iku responds, nervous. She trembles as she moves the forceps to my wound.

My eyes widen and I shake my head violently, "S-steady ... if your ... hands ... shake ... you can ... kill me."

"Then why am I doing this?" Iku cries out, close to tears.

"I ... trust ... you. You have ... more skill ... than you ... know. You ... could be ... better than ... you pretend ... you are." I inform her. "Plus," I add, hoping to see her smile. "You are ... my only ... option here."

Iku's mouth trembles into a smile, signalling my success. She lunges towards me, tackling me into a hug. "Thank you!"

"Ugh," I wince at the pain. "Dying here ... hug later?"

Iku nods and gets to work. She moves her now-steady hand to just above my chest. She lowers her forceps into the wound. I inhale, bracing myself for the pain of dislodging. I grunt involuntarily as the bullet is ripped from the hole, causing a twinge of pain. Iku stares at me in a way I have secretly wished she would for so long. "Are you okay?"

"F-fine," I whisper, embarrassed that this was the way she saw me. Weak and incapable.

"Thanks for believing in me," She whispers.

I stare at her for a heartbeat, "You're welcome,"

"Oh ..." Iku blinks, perhaps sensing something in my words. "Um,"

"Now you put pressure on the wound, to stop it from bleeding." I say, my words tumbling out. I close my eyes so I don't have to see her.

Iku nods, my rough words encouraging her, somehow. Perhaps, perhaps it reminded her of Dojo. "A-Alright."

Her fingers move to my wound and she starts to apply pressure. "More than that,"

Iku nods, and pushes harder, ending up almost on top of me. I close my eyes again, trying to avoid the impulse to kiss her. I couldn't kiss her, she was Dojo's, not mine.

Who am I kidding? Whether she chose Dojo, me, or someone else, Iku Kasahara would always be her own.