16 Enigmatic Reward.

As everything suddenly came to a halt, the group of workers above and the girls down below were left completely flummoxed and speechless.

They could not come to a solid conclusion about what occurred in the prior moments, in such little time, but I assume, you already know the answer.

Moments earlier, as soon as Leon heard the rumbling of the metal, on the concrete floor, he already knew what happened, and the fact that Hina and Gion were now in danger, and similarly to them, he came to the conclusion that the concrete stairs would not hold, even if they were strong enough and sturdy enough to withstand the blow.

Knowing he didn't have the strength to stop the incoming situation, and the dastardly thought of Hina and Gion getting hurt, made his blood boil, and adrenaline rushed through his veins.

He sped off, with every ounce of strength he had, in his yet to mature legs; this is what created the shockwave that flung back the girls earlier.

What Leon didn't know was, the 'heat' that had been building inside him throughout the morning, troubling his mind, heart, and all the place he did not want to be disturbed, had suddenly come together and built up to his legs, without his consult, which made him leap off with such force.

Coming back to Leon, his plan, or 'the lack of it' was to equalize the force, which he alone could not do, for now. So, he came to the idea of crashing into the cannon, currently held by Hina and Gion, from the opposite side with as much force as he could generate, and hitting it a tad before or just in time the incoming metal ball hits its un-moving brethren, from the opposite side, producing enough force to slow down its crushing momentum, essentially making a cannonball of himself, and the rest he figured Hina and Gion could handle their own, and the plan did work!

In that split second, Gion saw Leon appearing before them like a speeding bullet, while Hina could only notice a blur and felt the shockwave and deafening sound after that.

Not only did Leon's attack slow the momentum of the incoming metal ball, but he also hit it so hard that its total momentum was completely canceled, leaving everything in silence.

The only problem was, Leon, underestimated his body's limit which was exponentially increased by the mysterious heat, resulting in a slight change of trajectory, which he at first thought to block the impact with his hands, tucked up like that of a boxer, and instead, hit on it with his bare skull and ended up like that of 'an egg thrown at a rock'.

Of course, there was no time to explain such details to everyone at the moment, by the only person who could -Gion, as she had seen it quite clearly.

"You lot above!" She shouted, referring to the workers above "Stop your gawking and hold the cannon that you let pass, to make us meet our maker!" She was brutal with her words

They came running, confused and afraid of what had just transpired and what would happen to them in the near future.

Sure enough, they held their Cannonball, with all the might of their past ancestors, this time.

Gion looked down, Hina was weeping and patching up the wound just above Leon's forehead, with a make-ship bandage, that she tore from her clothes.

"Hina, quickly take him down, while I clear the way. We have to call his doctor" said she, in a soft yet authoritative voice, for she could see her friend wasn't in her best mind because of Leo's condition.

Hina nodded while gently picking Leon up and tip-toeing carefully to the end, where peach immediately started assisting her. Saya was already in tears, as for Saeko it was a much different horror.

As she saw Leon, bleeding down from his head, a bunch of memory came up, in her mind.

She had seen someone in that condition before, a wound on the head- it was of her father! One night he came, ridden flat on a hospital stretcher, bleeding down from the head, after an excursion on the sea with some pirates… and then- then he left her, and her mom, forever.

She started clutching her little head in pain, as a wild influx of painful memory came crashing into her brain, leaving her wriggling on the ground, crying and screaming in pain.

The situation was bad, this made it dire!

Hina finally came to her senses, while Peach immediately rushed to Saeko, nestling the little girl into her embrace.

Gion, at last, brought the first metal ball down, it was difficult to bring the thing down alone, but instead of picking it up, she just let it roll down the floor, Leon will just have to live without stairs. She settled it to the side and saw what was going on.

Hina now to her senses immediately searched for her jacket, which held her personal Den-Den Mushi, and was just about to dial the emergency number.

"Hina-Chan" called Gion from the side. "Use this..." She threw her Den- Den Mushi over to her. "Dail 20-20-22. It's his personal doctor's number, explain the condition briefly and have him come here, ASAP."

"But, Gion?" She questioned; "How could a regular check-up doctor be enough for this injury? We must rush at once and bring him to the proper medical authorities in the Island's hospital." She was yelling at that point, thinking only of getting Leon out of this hell hole, and bringing him to the hospital, which she already would have, if not for the giant ball still blocking the passage.

"No!" Gion commanded! "He will only be checked by his doctor and no one else! Am I clear?" Asked Gion, suddenly quite serious about the topic.

"But?" Hina was befuddled, unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

"Please do as I say, Hina," Gion repeated, calmly this time as she looked caringly into her weeping eyes. "Do not worry his doctor is very capable and a fast man. Call him now and he might be upon us in 5 minutes or even by the time we bring down the second ball, which will be faster than gunning for the hospital." Gion comforted her once more.

Hina complied with her senior's words, although begrudgingly. She wasted no time and immediately dialed the number and out came a ring from the other side- pru pru pru.

Following her, and Saeko who had already calmed down in Peach's embrace and off to a quick nap, Gion immediately went up, where the workers still held their metal ball, although, this time they didn't even think of moving it.

Gion wasn't too pleased seeing their sorry mugs, no, rather she controlled herself from slapping their faces red & blue.

"Mistakes can happen, and for that, I will spare the lot of you for the time being, though, I can't say for the others." She said stoically,

"We truly apologize. One of the workers slipped down the stairs while still holding on to the cannon, leading to the hinge coming loose and then…"

"No need, we will talk about it later." Said Gion, giving them no mind, and slowly started sliding down the big lump of metal, which had its hinges broken, shattered, and flattened at the same time.

The 8 workers did their best to help too, though took care not to go overboard, so as, not to get on her nerves and get a beating of a lifetime.

After a while, Gion and the group finished bringing the metal ball down and went to check up on Leon, who was tended to by Hina. His bleeding seemed to have stopped after Hina had wrapped enough appendages of her coat round and round on Leon's head. His head resembled a pumpkin.

"Gion-san" Voiced Hina with a concerned look, for the doctor had yet to arrive, while Leon's condition could be getting serious. Of course, she could not know that Leon's bleeding had stopped under the mountain of appendages, she applied.

"Don't worry, he must be right about the corner" replied Gion and soon her words turned reality.

A woman in her 30s came running down the broken stairs while wearing an attire resembling that of a doctor; a shirt, a pant, a tie, and a long white coat with a checkered blue scarf on her neck, and a briefcase in her hand.

The group looked at her running towards them, haggard and out of breath, but the biggest question on their mind was…

"He?" They all asked, bewildered.

"He." Reiterated Gion with sincerity.

"He!" They exclaimed while pointing at the obvious women running towards them. Everything, from the way she ran to the way she looked screamed woman to them!

"He," Gion confirmed once more.

Soon the (beautiful woman) -man greeted them "Sorry everyone, I was a bit lost finding this damnable place." She said and immediately started looking at Leon's injury.

"Everyone, this is Mr. Drew. He is Leon's, personal, check-up doctor and handles any & all health-related issues concerning him." Introduced Gion, not minding the stares they gave him. She was the same the 1st time.

…

Later that day...

"Mm, so soft…" mumbled Leon, lying down on the bed, on his backside, with his head on Hina's Lap, as she slowly ran her fingers through his silky hair, towards the end.

He had a (proper)bandage wrapped around his dome this time, from front to back as the injury was just above his forehead.

"What are you whispering in your dream, you little demon!" asked Hina slowly, caringly. She did not know if he could yet hear him but relived she was, nonetheless.

They were currently in Leon's house, as expected. After the treatment, the doctor recommended for Leon be on bedrest and halt whatever he was doing for the day.

The rest followed his direction, they brought Leon home, and of course informed Tsuru about Leon's condition, which she wasn't taking too kindly as her grandson just got out of bed rest today, because of the incident the day before. She would have flipped, if not for Gion handling the situation and explaining the whole ordeal, how the workers made a mistake, and of course, Peach was the one to beg for forgiveness more times than she could count.

Even then, only after the good doctor finally assured her, that his injury wasn't too serious (for Leon's standard), that she finally calmed down.

Bringing us back to the situation at hand, Leon was quite comfortably laying on Hina's lap. During the whole situation, he seemed to be quite fond of her Lap in his unconscious state, and Hina seemed to be still worried about him just the same, so she stayed back looking out for him, as the commotion was happening outside.

"Calling an injured person, a demon is a bit too harsh, don't you think, Hina nee." Leon grinned as he slowly opened his eyes.

Quite comfortable he felt on her soft, soft lap.

"Get healed first, then I will teach you a good, harsh lesson." She spoke with her eyes getting a bit numb.

But of course, soon as Leon came to his senses. He started asking a bunch of questions at once that were plaguing his little mind; "Are you hurt? What about Gion-nee, is she okay? What about Saeko? I imagined that she was crying at some point and screaming too. Saya, is she fine?"

"Shhh…" Hina gently put her finger on his lips; "We are fine, big boy. Everyone is fine, thanks to you, so calm down." She lightly bent forward and left a sweet gentle kiss on his forehead and his right cheek!"

Suddenly, all the trouble in Leon's mind and the many questions he had at the time were gone; Only the 'O so sweet feeling' and the thought of headbutting another cannon, came to his enlightened mind.

The brat did not remember the pain that came with it nor the bed-rest.

"Hina nee." said Leon; "Just like the saying 'One must do their work, properly' there also comes the saying 'One must reward properly'." Saying that he turned his head sideways, leaving his left cheek open for suggestions.

"Hmm… and the enigmatic person, who said that, is?" Asked Hina, smiling at Leo's antics

"It was I, Leo." Said the enigmatic individual.

"Fine" Hina obliged and gave him another kiss on the left cheek, and it was longer too (he counted).