Spirit Unbreakable

Riumi was trying desperately not to be distracted from his search for Mikomi, but Eiji’s last words were still ringing in his head. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about everything he had heard. His past was coming at him in a sudden rush and it was more than he had expected. Thinking that there were angels and dragons out there was one thing, but suddenly coming to the realization that he might be in one of those categories was another thing entirely. Riumi had always thought that it was purely cultural differences that had made him so different from everyone around him. It was hard enough being the only white skinned, white haired person at school, but to be an entirely different species? How do I tell Mikomi? Should I tell Mikomi? I don’t even know if anything they said is true. I have no proof. Why scare her more than she already is. Riumi paused at a stop light and tried to concentrate on his surroundings, but his thoughts kept drifting back to his revelations. My mind accepted it all so easily, almost as if I had known all along. Riumi stared absently at his gloved hand, flexing it and turning it, looking at it with a new light. The sudden noise behind him of a honking horn brought him crashing back to reality and he quickly sped through the light and onward in his search for Mikomi.

He found her not far from the orphanage. After the adoption had gone through, Riumi had offered Mikomi to stay with him. She had insisted on first saying goodbye to everyone at the orphanage, as well as grabbing what few possessions she had. Riumi hadn’t thought about being apart from her a bad thing at the time, but he also hadn’t been aware that they had already been discovered by the UNG. He pulled up beside her on the bike and took off his helmet.

“Mikomi, get on,” Riumi said.

Mikomi turned and shook her head. “I can see the entrance to the orphanage, Riumi, so it’s too late to give me a ride.”

“Mikomi I don’t mean to give you a ride to the orphanage.” Riumi grabbed her arm, but she wrenched it from his grasp and glared at him.

“What is with you? I just want to grab my stuff. I’ll come with you when I get it.” Riumi sighed as he watched Mikomi run through the gate to the orphanage. How is this supposed to be easier if she won’t listen to me? Riumi parked the ’Busa and followed after Mikomi. When he reached the front gate, he drew Ichi no Tsubasa and watched Mikomi make it safely to the front door. He listened and scanned his surroundings. The car that he had seen earlier outside of Eiji’s house was not here. Of course, knowing the streets around here better than Shanahan and his crew made it almost certain that they would not be here yet. Eiji didn’t think that they were above using other means. There could be another UNG team here, or worse, they could have employed other Guardians to help them.

After a rather prolonged hesitation, Riumi entered through the gate and followed Mikomi up the stairs and into the building. He had actually never been in the orphanage since he had left it with Ayumi and Eiji years ago and was startled by the sudden silence of it. He had expected the ever present noise of children. It had never been a silent place when he had lived here, which had always been one of the more irritating things about living here. The silence was a sure give away that this was a trap. He thought back to the car and realized that it was probably a flying model. They would surely get here faster than he could. Flying over the streets instead of weaving through them had that affect. Riumi tensed, becoming more alert. He slowed his breathing and listened for Mikomi. She had not been far ahead of him and so he could still hear her footsteps echoing dully in the corridor. She was heading upstairs humming to herself. At least they haven’t gotten to her yet.

He ran silently after her, reaching the stairs and catching site of her just as she reached the next level. Riumi sheathed Ichi no Tsubasa and grabbed Mikomi, putting his hand over her mouth to muffle her inevitable scream.

He pulled her head close to his and whispered in her ear, “Next time listen to me.” Mikomi’s eyes were wide with fear, but relaxed at the sound of Riumi’s voice. Riumi uncovered her mouth slowly and Mikomi turned to look at him.

“You scared me Riumi. Why are we whispering?” Mikomi asked. She glanced around the stairwell suddenly aware of how quiet it was.

“Don’t you think it is unusually quiet in here?” Mikomi nodded and clenched her fists in an attempt to quell the fear inside of her.

“What’s going on?” Mikomi had turned away from Riumi and was striding up the steps again in an attempt to see into the hallway above them. Riumi grabbed her again and she fell backward into his arms giving out a small squeak. In the silence of the place it sounded like an echoing alarm. Riumi barely had time to react before he heard movement ahead of him. He saw a figure appear in the doorway. It was an incursion team member from the UNG dressed from head to toe in black and he had his sonic pulse rod trained on Mikomi. Riumi forced Mikomi behind him as he drew Ichi no Tsubasa once again. He heard the wave fire and slashed the air in front of him with as much force as he could muster in hopes of disrupting the blast. The sonic pulse coming towards him distorted slightly, but still hit him directly. Riumi fell back, knocking Mikomi down the stairs onto the landing below. The blast had been meant for Mikomi and not himself and because of the distortion that Riumi had caused the pulse was not enough to make Riumi fall unconscious. Instead, he felt winded and lightheaded. He dropped Ichi no Tsubasa which clattered down the stairs and fell next to Mikomi. It was her loud cries at the bottom of the stairs that helped Riumi come back to the situation at hand. He looked at the man at the top of the stairs. He was talking on the radio, hesitant to move past Riumi.

“Stand down, Sir,” Riumi said. His voice was smooth as he tried to control the sudden surge of rage that was coursing through him. “I think you know what you are dealing with here.” Riumi tilted his head slightly to show the Guardian tattoo.

The man did not respond, but did lower his weapon. Riumi heard footsteps behind him and realized that others were making their way to their position. The man had seen that Mikomi was far enough from Riumi that it might still be possible to grab her before Riumi could get directly involved. The footsteps were close enough that Riumi had come to the same conclusion. In the seconds it took to form the thought, he was tumbling through the air in a back flip, passing all the stairs between himself and Mikomi in one leap. He landed between Mikomi and the oncoming footsteps grabbing Ichi no Tsubasa as he landed. Mikomi was now sheltered between Riumi and the wall when she finally stood up.

“What’s going on Riumi,” Mikomi said. She was holding her left arm tightly. Riumi looked back at Mikomi and noticed that he shoulder was dislocated. She was grimacing in pain, but he figured adrenaline was keeping her focused on their present predicament. They were surrounded now. Two more UNG members had joined the one at the top of the stairs and there were four more that stood between Riumi and his escape route. They all paused, their pulse rods trained on Riumi.

“I think it would be in your best interests to back off,” Riumi said. His eyes were blazing with anger and his voice was unnaturally calm. When the UNG members did not respond, Riumi tried again: “Do you really want to get involved with Guardian matters? I’m sure you would all be incarcerated for this interference.” His words finally elicited a response and the sonic pulse weapons were lowered. A path was suddenly cleared for Riumi. He gently grabbed Mikomi by her good arm, and holding her close, he moved forward, past the UNG members. Riumi could hear Mikomi’s breathing which was heavy and erratic. It was the first time he had ever seen her scared before. It was also the only time that he had seen her take their situation seriously. Unfortunately, now it was too late to leave her out of this. It was clear she was a target, one that the UNG was not above using.

They walked out of the building and through the gate. Riumi didn’t stop until he was by his bike, then he turned and knelt down to Mikomi’s level.

“How badly are you hurt?” He asked her. He touched her shoulder gently and she tried to stifle a cry.

“Just my shoulder,” Mikomi replied. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. He knew he wouldn’t be able to think rationally if he saw her crying so he looked away from her to way his options.

“We need to get to the Guardian’s outpost. We can get you fixed up there. Get on the bike, if you ride in front of me you shouldn’t fall off.” Mikomi nodded and got on without protest. Riumi got on behind her. As he started the bike, he could feel Mikomi curling into him, laying her head on his chest. He looked down through his helmet at her and saw that she was looking up at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” she whispered.

Riumi just stared at her and pulled the bike out into traffic. His voice almost lost to the noise, he whispered, “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

Shanahan slammed the door on the car shut uttering a string of profanity under his breath. Yul had left almost immediately after their conversation. Shanahan hadn’t realized that he had put something in motion before the entire conversation had happened. He watched as Riumi’s motorcycle disappeared down the street. He was mere moments too late. Worst of all, he knew Riumi was most likely under the assumption that Shanahan had been behind whatever had gone on here.

Shanahan heard movement behind him and he watched as three large vehicles pulled up, clearly marked with the UNG insignia. Yul stepped out of the back of one of them. Shanahan walked across the street, his path angled straight to Yul who had his back to him. He was talking on a communicator. When Yul finally heard Shanahan’s steps coming toward him, he turned, only to put his face in direct contact with Shanahan’s fist. Yul hit the ground nearly as hard as Shanahan first had hit him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Yul shouted. He could already feel the blood rising to a purple bruise on the side of his face. He touched his lip where it has split and looked at the blood on his hand.

“I could ask you the same thing. Are you trying to have the whole Guardian community come down on us? As much as you are trying to avoid your jail sentence, you are leading yourself to that end anyway. You can’t mess with the Guardians like that Yul. Some things can’t be gotten around,” Shanahan replied. He could feel his anger receding after having released it into Yul’s face.

Yul stood up from the ground. “First of all, I didn’t expect him to come and get her so soon. The whole incursion was formed with the idea that we could get to the girl before he was even aware anything was happening. When we realized he was already involved we backed off. I have another plan in mind,” Yul said. He shoved past Shanahan so that he could jump in to the back of the vehicle. “Now if you would kindly leave, I have business to attend to.”

“I’m ordering you to stop this, Yul. I’m in charge here,” Shanahan shouted.

“Actually Director Johnson is in charge, and seeing as I have authorization from him, I don’t have to listen to anything you have to say. Feel free to try it your way. I don’t mind a challenge,” Yul said. He slammed the door firmly in Shanahan’s face and the vehicle drove off. Shanahan was left standing in the road staring after them. Sira came up to stand next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“What do we do now?” Sira asked.

“I guess the same thing we were trying to do before, get to Riumi before Yul and Hader do.” Shanahan turned and walked back to his car. Sitting in the driver’s seat, he suddenly realized that he had no idea how to do that.

Riumi stopped his bike in front of the Guardian’s Outpost. Mikomi was shaking now. The adrenaline that had been keeping her from feeling the pain in her shoulder was wearing off and her body was entering a state of shock. When he took off his helmet he could hear her whimpering in pain.

“Mikomi, do you think you can move? I need to get you to the Guardian medical centre so that they can take care of your arm,” Riumi said. He was scared to move, worried that it would cause her more pain. Mikomi didn’t reply, but instead just shuffled off the bike, biting her lip to keep back a cry of pain. She was holding her arm gingerly and biting her lip. Riumi got off the bike and guided Mikomi to the entrance of the building.

There was a buzz of activity inside the building. A woman at the front counter looked up when Riumi entered and glanced from Riumi, identifying him as a Guardian, to Mikomi. She hastily finished her conversation and, after whispering to the other woman behind the desk, she rushed over to Mikomi.

“What happened to her?” the woman asked.

“I think she dislocated her shoulder,” Riumi replied.

The woman looked up at him and nodded. Looking down at Mikomi, she said in a soft voice, “Come on Imouto-chan, we’ll get that all fixed up for you.”

The kind words released a flood in Mikomi and she started to cry unabashedly. Riumi shifted uncomfortably, but followed as the woman led Mikomi to the medical centre. He watched as the stranger gave Mikomi comfort and wondered why she hadn’t showed him how much pain she had been in. Why couldn’t he give her comfort like that? Is that something only women can do?

Once in the medical centre, Mikomi received immediate attention. One of the nurses got her settled on a bed and gave her something to ease the pain. Riumi heard them calmly explaining what they had to do. He turned and looked out the window, only listening to the pop as her shoulder went back into place. When he turned back to look at Mikomi, he could already see she was feeling better. She was lying on a stretcher with a glazed look on her face. Riumi walked over to her bedside and she averted her gaze turning away from him. What did I do? He wanted to reach out and touch her, give her comfort like the woman from the front desk had done. When his hand was inches from Mikomi he heard her whispering softly and his hand froze.

“I’m sorry Riumi. I didn’t –” he could hear the hitch in her voice as she tried not to cry.

He meant to tell her that it wasn’t her fault, but instead he found himself angry with her. “Do you understand now? This isn’t some sort of game, Mikomi. You could have been hurt a lot worse than you were. They could have taken you. What would you have done?” What would I have done? I almost lost you.

His anger instilled a palpable silence in the air. He felt her withdrawing from him, but he was so angry with her that he couldn’t control it. He couldn’t control the sudden fear he felt. Too attached. I’m too attached to her. I’m scared of losing her. Doesn’t she realize that? I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her. If I can’t protect her, who will?

Instead of telling her all the thoughts that were going through his head, instead of telling her how much he worried about her, he left, unable to confront his own. Mikomi heard him leave and she cried softly to herself. She was glad that Riumi could not see her tears. She didn’t like crying for disappointing someone that didn’t even care about her.