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1. First Meeting

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Yuna shouted as she bumped into the man on the way out the door. He stumbled and her bag of convenience store food fell to the ground, it's contents scattering. He dismissively waved his hand and continued walking as she blankly glanced after him.

"I said sorry and he can't even say excuse me? Hmpf." She muttered as she bent to pick up her things and put them back in the bag. She reached for the pack of ramen and saw red splotches dotting the side walk. Her brows furrowed as she followed the trail with her eyes to the fading outline of the man.

"This is...blood?" She whispered to herself. Her eyes grew wide at the sudden realization. "HEY!" Her soft voice turned into a shout in an attempt to get his attention. She quickly shoved the rest of her things into the bag and ran after him.

"Hey hey hey hey hey!" She repeated as she caught up to him. She lightly placed a hand on his shoulder as she ran around the side of him. "Are you ok?"

He glared in irritation at her, then flicked his eyes to her hand resting on his shoulder. He shrugged off the contact.

"Sorry." She said as she put her palms in the air, trying to show him she meant no harm. "Um...maybe this is a stupid question but, do you know you're bleeding? Like, a lot." She pointed to the pooling trail of blood behind him.

Her eyes grazed his entire form, trying to assess him in the dark. He wore a hat that was pulled down low, shielding his eyes. He wore a long dark coat, which seemed like he huddled himself into but looking closely she could see his right arm tucked inside, clutching what was likely his bleeding abdomen.

"Yes, I know. It has nothing to do with you so you can leave now." He responded gruffly.

"But you look like you're going to pass out any second. I'll call an ambulance for you, just wait-"

"No!" He shouted before she could finish. "You can't." He said through gritted teeth as he clutched tighter to his side. The sudden jolt from shouting increased his pain exponentially.

"Ok..." She said suspiciously. "Did you just commit a crime or something?" He continued walking without bothering to give a response. "You know what, don't tell me. I don't want to know. Seriously though, even if you're running from something, I really don't think you'll make it much further."

She quickened her pace so she was ahead of him and turned to face him as she held her hands out, lightly pushing his shoulders back, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Let me help you."

He tilted his head back to get a better view of her from beneath the brim of his hat. She was pretty in a plain way, but exuded a stupidly innocent and naive aura. One that was probably bad news all around to get mixed up in. Her big, dark eyes stared unfalteringly at him, waiting for his response.

He felt conflicted, though. He knew he was not far off from collapsing on the sidewalk and bleeding out, but somehow he knew that involving this girl, even for this one thing, could lead to more trouble than he was ready for. Was it worth it though? What if she didn't help him? He wondered. So what if this mess finally caught up to him and killed him? It's not like he was living for anything that dying would matter much. He was a robot, cold and calcualting. Doing what he was told and ignoring the fact that he had his own brain and his own heart. That's what made it easy to get by.

He suddenly felt resolute that his purpose was limited. There's no reason to involve others, he thought. If his time is up then he is getting what he deserves and there's no need to drag anyone else down with him. With his mind made up, he weakly tried to shove her aside.

"I don't need your-" his vision grew fuzzy and his head felt light and dizzy. He wobbled as he tried to take a step and suddenly the pavement came up from beneath him to meet his face.

She blinked at the lifeless figure splayed on the ground and the blood oozing from his side.

"Shit." She sighed.