Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Twenty Eight

Flashes of the spades game haunted Takara in her sleep. But out of everything that had happened, one scene kept replaying in her mind. The hot blood dripping onto her face as she took the life of the warden towering over her, how sticky her hand became after she had jammed it into the neck of her opponent. It repeated on a loop, reminding her that she was a killer.

Her dream quickly morphed the warden into another soul who had died at the hands of Takara, Kaiyo. She tried to tell herself she hadn't been responsible for his death, but she had been the one to steal his chance of survival in exchange for her own. Her mind showed her the exact point the life left his eyes as the laser beam shot through his skull, splattering blood onto Takara's face.

If being faced with those two hadn't been enough, her brain tormented her more by showing her the first time she took a life, to save a life. The hunter that had been attacking Daichi, had their back to Takara, in the exact same position as how it first happened. It was like she was reliving the experience, and she had no choice but to carry through with what she had done before. Takara held up the gun, ready to shoot. As she pressed down on the trigger, she awoke with a jolt as the gun sounded.

Takara held her head in her hands, telling herself that it was just a nightmare and trying to regulate her breathing. She pressed her fingers to her face, feeling her skin was slightly damp. She had been crying in her sleep.

This was the first time she experienced a bad dream while being in the Borderlands, and bad was an understatement. It felt so real, and in a way it was, those deaths did happen at the hands of her.

Takara tried to shake the memories from her head, reminding herself of her present state. She looked out of the balcony door, seeing the sun was high in the sky. She had been asleep for so long that it was now well past noon. She wasn't about to beat herself up over it though, she probably needed the sleep.

Slowly, she got out of bed, taking care not to make any big or quick movements. The dull, stabbing pain in her side made sure she didn't forget about her injuries.

She shuffled over to her bathroom, heading straight for her medicine cabinet. Scanning the shelves, Takara picked out some bandages, gauze and some antiseptic fluid. She was about to close the cabinet when she spotted another vial and picked it up too. With her supplies in her hand, she took a few steps over to sit on the edge of her bathtub.

Grimacing, she started to peel away the soiled bandage off of her wound. With the bandage removed, she threw it over into the bin on the other side of the room.

"Now for the worst part" she muttered to herself, grabbing a piece of cloth and the antiseptic bottle.

Takara poured out some of the bottle onto her skin, seething through gritted teeth at the pain. She started to pat at the sewn up wound with her cloth, pouring more antiseptic every now and then.

Now clean, she rubbed some of the ointment Chishiya had given to her before onto her skin. Afterwards she placed some gauze against her side and started to bandage herself up, wrapping the material around her stomach multiple times.

Once she had finished on her dressing, she put away the antiseptic bottle back into her cabinet. She looked in the mirror, admiring her handy work. She was getting pretty good at fixing herself up now.

Takara was about to wash the rest of her body when she heard a light knock on her door. Curious to see who it could be, she headed to her front door.

Opening the door, she was met with Chishiya's intense gaze, their eyes meeting instantly as soon as the door opened.

"Are you busy?" He asked.

"Not particularly" her voice sounded monotone.

Her unenthusiastic tone surprised him, but the events of last night reminded him that she was most likely still exhausted.