Chapter 35 : Your Heart
A/N: Wow! We've reached +200 stones with only one chaps and 6 blank days! Thanks a lot guys, thanks too the the regular people giving stones and keeping this fic alive! Keep 'em coming
Here's the awaited 35th chap, and pic of the week heh...
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'Where is she?' Kurai got his human form back but he immediately acivited the second stage: the half-cat, half-human one.
Mainly because it was the transformation giving him the best settings for his senses.
'There.' That's how he found her tracks.
Ryuko actually managed to contain her emotions in front of everyone, just like he suggested to her. Unfortunately she had to let it out somewhere, she wasn't an emotionless machine after all.
She mostly felt guilty about what happened to Rumi, she was the one who accepted to do that challenge in the end, and she was also the one promising them security.
Fortunately he was there to lessen her guilt… God only knows what would've happened if Rumi did really die.
Thinking like that, Ryuko's tears resumed stronger than before, her eyes were swollen red and her hands were forever shaking.
Coincidentally, it was at this very moment that she heard some rustling in the bushes behind her.
She quickly wiped off her tears and stood up, on guard.
Even though she was mentally exhausted and close to breaking down, Ryuko was raised in those mountains and therefore didn't forget how scary they were.
"Wowow! Calm down!" She heard a very familiar voice and silhouette coming out, it was someone she really came to respect and admire those last few days.
Letting her arms fall down, Ryuko cried out to him, "Kurai?!"
"What are you doing here?" She observed him, trying to look as natural as possible.
Kurai, seeing that, scratched his cheek, "I just came to check up on you."
"Check up on me…?" Ryuko was at loss for words.
'Did he really come all the way here just for that?' She couldn't help but doubt his words but then she shook his head for thinking that way about him.
"Yes, everyone needs a shoulder which they can rely on, even the strongest." He continued to say, approaching the meek Ryuko.
"Everyone, are you sure?" She asked, slowly looking down.
Though, she sneaked a glance and murmured the last part, "Even you?"
Kurai smiled, maybe she wanted to be heard, or maybe not after seeing her blush, but he nonetheless answered her truthfully, "Yes, even me…"
Figures from his past life flashed briefly in his mind before he decided to close the distance between them both.
After putting his hands on her shoulder, Kurai deeply looked at her yellow slits with his own.
"Look, I really respect your sense of duty and responsibility. It's very honorable and humble of you…"
Ryuko was shaking her head from left to right, trying to deny his praises because she was fuming too much but sadly Kurai didn't let her.
"That's a nice quality… But damn man…! Will you take responsibility if a lightning strikes me too? Or if a coconut falls on someone's head?"
Ryuko momentarily paused, though the hot headed cat continued.
"No! Because life's too unpredictable! Nothing goes your way, and nothing will."
Hearing him, and understanding his words, shame washed over her.
"That's why you only have 2 choices." Kurai lifted her chin up with his fingers, making her look up at him.
At the moment, she truly looked vulnerable, nothing like the noble and confident dragon she showed previously.
"You either become strong enough to not care about life's twists and turns or you chew on your gum and try to adapt and overcome the next tribulations the best you can."
Biting her lower lips, Ryuko engraved his words deeply.
"Good." Kurai showed her a gentle smile and hugged her, rubbing her back.
At that time, Ryuko let out all the water in her body, until she wetted all his shirt but she really felt good after recovering, although she only wanted to forget this embarrassing moment the fastest she could…
"Look I gotta go now…" After a while Kurai interrupted her, he had left her alone to settle her thoughts, unfortunately she still couldn't look him in the eyes.
After hearing him, Ryuko showed genuine sadness but quickly caught herself and hid her face in her knees again.
"I-i see! T-tanks!"
A powerful blush spread across her cheeks after hearing him laugh at her misspelling.
Ryuko got up and shouted with her eyes closed and fists balled on the side, "P-please forget about this!" Seeing her teary eyes like this, Kurai's sadistic side made his heart miss a beat.
"Oho! Ya know, it doesn't work like this girl…"
Ryuko looked up at him, shocked at his change. She didn't know what happened but she felt like something bad was bound to happen…
Still, she stayed humble and respectfully asked again, "Please!" She even bowed.
"Ummm…" Kurai wasn't swayed that easily, but he still relented, he didn't like to be seen as a little girl's bully.
"Let's do it like that then…"
"?" Ryuko tilted her head on the side.
"Let's fight at full power after the volley-ball tournament, when we don't have any activities anymore." He showed her a feral grin.
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After sealing a deal with the small dragon, Kurai went back to his island with his teammates, they still had to eliminate 5 people tonight… That's why Kurai tried to be more punctual than usual.
Meanwhile on the other island, a certain bunny girl just woke up after being transported by the teachers and falling asleep during her way here.
'Aah.. My head…' Massaging her temples, Rumi got up and sat on her but.
She looked around, trying to find where she was.
The teachers actually transported her in a military tent with a bed until she recovered.
Just then, seemingly hearing her, a teacher came in.
"Oh! Thank God you're awake!"
The teacher smiled, he looked relieved.
"I should thank Kurai instead…" He murmured while approaching Rumi, although his words didn't escape her sensitive ears.
She was confused, 'What happened?'
Seeing her lost look, the teacher, who also was a doctor, started explaining to her the previous event.
"Rumi, it might sound shocking to you but...
The teacher paused to breathe, he actually had difficulties admitting their negligence.
"...You were close to death."
Hearing him, she couldn't believe it… All she remembered was a scene of her hands holding the bar and then… 'Nothing?'
Rumi was holding her head, trying to rack her brain but her memories weren't as vivid as usual…
"Don't worry, the confusion you are feeling is completely normal." The teacher tried to reassure her.
"Still, on the behalf of every teacher… We are very sorry, an accident like this shouldn't ever happen…" The teachers bowed at 90° to Rumi.
Rumi hurriedly shook her hands, trying to make him raise his head, clearly not used to this kind of thing.
"You should really thank Kurai for his help, he was the one doing the CPR like a true expert."
Rumi, being the muscle-head she is, didn't really get what the teacher meant, "Huh?"
For her, from the moment she was holding the bars and the moment she woke up, was like a blackout.
Of course, she was scared knowing that she could've died and glad that she didn't but… that was all… She was starting to get used to it…
Although, she couldn't understand what Kurai had to do with it?
"Ah! Right." The teacher realized that using medical terms with 11 years old kids wasn't the smartest move.
"He reanimated you with a Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It consists of chest compressions often used along with artificial ventilation."
Rumi had her mouth gaping, 'Just how many skills do you still hide?'
"Artificial ventilation?" Though something caught her eyes.
"What is that?"
"Oh, it's just mouth-to-mouth help to breathe properly and keep the brain flooded with oxygen." The teacher answered seriously.
"He d-did w-w-what…?!" Rumi's face was turning beet red very fast, at first she was only murmuring but then when her mind processed the words, she was shouting atop of her lungs.
Holding her soft lips, her mind was in overdrive.
'My f-first kis-sss…'
Under the bewildered gaze of the teacher, she was thinking about thousands of scenarios at the same time. Her brain and her cheeks were close to fuming.
She was so immersed in her thoughts that she wasn't even hearing the teacher speaking to her.
'Why did he do t-that?' Rumi is and will always be a confident girl, but it doesn't mean that she isn't shy, even more so to the matter related to the heart. She was still a young girl wanting to find love like anyone else.
In the end, the teacher left, thinking that she was too shocked after his revelations, leaving her alone.
'That bastard!' Even her violent personality wanted its share of venting out emotions.
She didn't really know why she was making a fuss over it, in the end, he did that to save her life…
'So why?' She stopped trashing on her bed momentarily and gazed up, catching her breath.
Well, she started blushing again after hearing her own words, "Maybe he just wanted to kiss me?"
"No! He did t-that to save me!"
In the end, she didn't really know why she was so upset.
'Is it because he took my first k-kiss?' She had a hard time keeping her face straight…
Sometimes she had a smile, some other times, she was glaring at the void.
'Or is it because I wasn't conscious…? No! no! Impossible!' She hurriedly denied, shaking her head, she stood up.
"I'll confront that bastard directly! I'll have to teach the perverted cat a lesson!"
She had her hands on her hips and her chip high, but her image was broken because of the ever-present blush dying on her face.
"Argggh! Whatever!" She jumped face first on her bed, spending her whole time at the infirmary thinking about a cat's and a rabbit's love story.
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On the opposite island, the mandatory vote to eliminate 5 members of the yellow team just started.
Normally, for this game, only one person should be eliminated after each loss.
Sadly their trip wasn't long enough to allow something like that, so Ryuko had to tweak it a bit… That's why she chose 5 elimination per night, thinking that the game will go faster that way.
Kurai's team was composed of 16 members, plus Kurai, bringing the count to 17. So after tonight, they'll be 12…
It was definitely a huge blow to them, except for Kurai who didn't care about that, 'It's not like I can't win it all alone.' He thought while looking at one of his camarades' backs going further behind the trees.
Indeed tonight, Ryuko was overseeing the votes, and each participant had to write one name on a parchment and bring it sealed to her. That's also why they were going behind the trees, it was where the vote took place.
Then, after receiving the parchment Ryuko would have to put it in a jar. It's only after receiving all the votes, that she'll mix the jar up and reveal the results. The 5 first kids with more votes will thus be eliminated.
'Aight, my turn… Problem is that I don't know her name… Well whatever… I'll write this instead.' Kurai was the last one to go and vote.
Bringing the closed parchment to Ryuko, he apologized mentally to her for forgetting that girl's name.
"Good , now time for the reveal!" The dragon girl seemed to have found her confidence back, she was openly smiling again.
As she was opening the parchment one by one a certain group of 6 kids had their faces turning white and whitter each time Ryuko was shouting a name out loud.
Those were the 6 that opposed Kurai in the beginning, and were also those who stayed only between themselves.
They weren't even part of the majority, so they were now targeted by everyone. The fact that they weren't that strong, wasn't helping them. Even more so after the whole team compared them to Kurai.
"This is the last vote!" Ryuko showed it to everyone.
She started shouting the name while furrowing her brows, "The whining vegan girl with blond hair?"
She looked around, and after seeing Kurai's helpless face she realized who that was.
"Oh! Alright! Now let me tell you the results…"
In the end, it wasn't without surprise that the girl who confronted Kurai, aka the whining vegan, and her group were banned from the team. Although one guy was left out because they were 6 and the team could only take out 5.
"Good night to everyone! And see you tomorrow for the next challenge!" Ryugo saluted everyone, and felt warm after seeing Kurai's encouraging smile. She really had her confidence back.
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The morning was quite good for the Yellow Team, they had built a sort of camp with leaves thanks to Kurai, so they weren't as bad as Team Red who hadn't done anything.
They weren't neither cold nor drenched, the leaves were protecting them, their bodies heat and fire warming them, so they weren't complaining at all. They even had some left out meat to eat before the next bottle came.
Sadly this time too they still couldn't decipher the enigma behind the bottle, and when one hour passed they were summoned by boats to another island.
It was also where they saw the Red Team's state after one night of 'sleep'.
It was quite sad… They look faminished, tired, sleep-deprived, angry, moddy, and whatever else that could describe their grumpy faces.
"Good morning everyone!" Ryuko's sweet words awoke everyone from their thoughts.
After observing everyone, and seeing the clear advantage the yellows had, even after eliminating 5 of their members, she decided…
"Today's challenge is…!"