𝐻𝒶𝒾𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃

“It is a big deal! How can you be so careless?” Ok, Kou knew she was being a little dramatic, but her sister was really the only family (besides their mother) that she had left. Besides the fact Ren often pushed her aside, that was something Kou could easily look past, but her sister getting hurt wasn’t on that list. Ren had a firey personality; and it was going to catch up to her one day.

Feeling the other’s hand rest against her head, Kou already forgot about her argument. A small smile working its way onto her lips instead of a frown, and a laugh escaping the tip of her tongue. “Please, I hardly ever get into trouble. I’m not you.~”

      “Oh yeah, you’re the good one out of us two aren’t you?” She teases. Ren knows she means well, even if sometimes Kou would seemingly come across as a nosy little sister, she did greatly appreciate that the younger shark was concerned about her {even if it tended to get annoying at times.} Seeing her sister relax, the smile coming back to her face, made her feel better as well.  Ren doesn’t regret getting in the slight altercation, but she does hate making Kou worry about her.

The youngest bit her lip, hating how casual her sister was being at a time like this. While it was true that Kou did have stuff to do on her own time, and definitely didn’t have enough to worry about Ren, that didn’t stop her growing worries. “I just don’t want you getting into trouble all the time.”

Feeling the other's hand rest against her head, Kou already forgot about her argument. A small smile working its way onto her lips instead of a frown, and a laugh escaping the tip of her tongue. "Please, I hardly ever get into trouble. I'm not you.~"

For what it was worth, they were lucky to have detected the fire early on. If it weren’t for the smoke, they would have burned alive hidden inside of a dumb closet. No one would even know they were there, either. The walkers would be the only ones still around - but did they even burn? Probably.

Smoke burned her nostrils as it entered her lungs, making it hard to breath. Her eyes began to water, clouding her already vague vision. The zombie that was in their way caused her to freeze - but she noticed that Sousuke was already on top of the matter. Being careful not to be hit by the bat as she saw the end collide with the head of the walker, causing it to fall to the floor. Upon order towards the window, Kou swung her elbow (probably not her smartest idea) at the glass. Shattering it onto the ground and even sure into her skin, but there wasn’t time to worry about that.

The fresh air that rushed into the room seemed to only make the smoke worse, the fire using it as leverage to spread further around the room. Hell, she was scared that Sousuke wouldn’t be behind her as he promised, the wood under her feet nearly breaking due to her weight.

Gasping for air and coughing out the renmants of smoke in her lungs, the grass was definitely a godsend against her skin. The glass in her arm throbbed and no doubt enbedded at this point. Not to mention all the blood, but that wasn’t entirely the main focus. Sousuke. Red hues looked back to the window, the flames and smoke completely engulfed the inside so it was very difficult to see. Yet, when she saw the mop of brown hair, she breathed a huge sigh of relief as she began to help him out.

Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to take a few minutes to just sit among the grass, trying to recover from what transpired. “Next time..let’s not hide in the closet.” She joked, though she was half serious. She was just grateful to be alive. To be breathing, to feel the setting sun on her skin even though it was well past the horizon. To have someone like Sousuke with her..She would have died without him.

It would be a dumb idea to go further to look for their friends, but they needed to find shelter before it got too dark to see. Reaching over, she gently rubbed at his back, giving pats here and there to help him breathe again. “C'mon, we shouldn’t linger around here.”

Landing in the grass was less than perfect, the shattered glass that sat all around them slicing and sinking in wherever it could, but he was alive—they were alive—for a few moments more. They had that much to be grateful for.

Coughing out the smoke from his lungs, he lay beside her, one hand on his bat in his forever vice grip and the rest of him boneless, taking a good moment to adjust to the pain and to the fresh air, grateful for each of her pats and gentle rubs that encouraged him up. “Yeah… But we’re alive, aren’t we? Closet wasn’t that bad,” he replied as he pushed himself up onto his knees, hissing as he noted the shallow slices in his skin from the shattered glass all around.

And she was worse off than he. One glance at her arm told him that much as he spied the obvious jagged, reddening edges poking out of her pale skin. “You’re hurt,” he said, reaching out to gently take her hand, assessing the damage…. She’d be lucky if they didn’t get infected. “Tch. We need to take these out.” He let go of her hand, finally agreeing as he stood up, “Let’s find some shelter. Then we can worry about your arm.”

A big fire like that was bound to draw two very dangerous things, after all: walkers and other survivors. If they didn’t find cover soon, they’d likely be swarmed again.

The pain in her arm burned, but it was nothing that she couldn't live with. She could have said she was fine, but who does that? Getting to another location without being followed by survivors or walkings would be ideal, as long as they were quick and quiet about it.

It hurt to move her arm, but that was the least her current worries right now. It'd still be dark for a long while before daylight broke, so the faster they found cover the better. Grabbing his hand with her good one, she pulled herself back onto her feet. Following his guide to the seemingly harmless house. Hopefully, the burning building a couple feet behind them would draw everyone - or everything out. If only for a little while. If not, they would have shelter for a couple hours just to get some sleep and getting the glass out of her arm.

Even then, they weren't that supplied in medical supplies, so she was silently hoping the house they were going into had at least bandages. That is, if no one else lived there or picked the place clean. Luck seemingly wasn't on their side recently..

When light faded completely, it was both a blessing in desiguise but a cruel reality. They couldn’t rely soley on sight anymore, they had to stay low in the darkness, being careful to not being seen. Although the dead had no real sight, just a perception of sound.

Wait a second..Something felt wrong. Yes, the dead Kou could get over, but the smell of something burning was something she didn’t expect in the slightest. Oh no. Something burning only meant one thing.

Panic quickly set in her muscles, she found it more difficult to breathe but thankfully, she had Sousuke for a clutch. Feeling the heavier jacket being placed on her shoulders, one of her hands reached towards the fabric to keep it set on her frame. Thanks to the fire, it served as a distraction for the walkers to go investigate, because obviously there must have been noise associated with it. Reaching for some sort of weapon in the back of the closet, she found what could have been a crowbar. Useful, but it was heavy.

Nodding her head in acknowledgement of Sousuke’s order, she was ready to sprint towards the window. Thanks to her smaller frame it would have been easy, but in practice it was likely that she would panic and freeze in place due to fear. Though, with Sousuke besides her, it would be easy! Right..?

He wished they’d had more time together or even just a moment where he could have expressed how much he cared about her and maybe given her some reassurance that everything was going to be okay and that she was tougher than she thought and that Rin was waiting for them somewhere, but there wasn’t the time. They had to move.

As soon as he threw the door open, he held her hand tightly and followed her toward the window as he quickly assessed the situation in front of them. The fire had spilled into the bedroom through the broken door and was quickly consuming what walkers were left in the house, save for one. Naturally, it was right by the window.

Without hesitation, Sousuke took a step forward to confront it just as it’s dead eyes settled on the pair of them and it quickly shuffled, arms outstretched, in their direction. He lifted his bat and swung right at the side of its head when it got close, knocking it away from the window and down to the floor.

“Go!” he said to her as soon as the walker hit the floor where it clawed to find a way to push itself back up as Sousuke put a heavy boot on its back to keep it down. He gestured toward the window and shouted above the groaning of the wood in the house that seemed about to fall apart any minute. “I’ll be right behind you!”

Then, just to be sure that the walker wouldn’t follow, he took a breath and swung down on it’s head with all of his might, splattering his clothes and the metal bat with dark blood. Then again. He’d have done it thrice if he’d have been able to breathe any better or if the roof hadn’t dangerously sagged in the center of the bedroom, letting him know that now was the time to escape, if he still planned to. 

Smoke burned her nostrils as it entered her lungs, making it hard to breath. Her eyes began to water, clouding her already vague vision. The zombie that was in their way caused her to freeze - but she noticed that Sousuke was already on top of the matter. Being careful not to be hit by the bat as she saw the end collide with the head of the walker, causing it to fall to the floor. Upon order towards the window, Kou swung her elbow (probably not her smartest idea) at the glass. Shattering it onto the ground and even sure into her skin, but there wasn't time to worry about that.

The fresh air that rushed into the room seemed to only make the smoke worse, the fire using it as leverage to spread further around the room. Hell, she was scared that Sousuke wouldn't be behind her as he promised, the wood under her feet nearly breaking due to her weight.

Gasping for air and coughing out the renmants of smoke in her lungs, the grass was definitely a godsend against her skin. The glass in her arm throbbed and no doubt enbedded at this point. Not to mention all the blood, but that wasn't entirely the main focus. Sousuke. Red hues looked back to the window, the flames and smoke completely engulfed the inside so it was very difficult to see. Yet, when she saw the mop of brown hair, she breathed a huge sigh of relief as she began to help him out.

Figuring it wouldn't hurt to take a few minutes to just sit among the grass, trying to recover from what transpired. "Next time..let's not hide in the closet." She joked, though she was half serious. She was just grateful to be alive. To be breathing, to feel the setting sun on her skin even though it was well past the horizon. To have someone like Sousuke with her..She would have died without him.

Staring up at Sousuke in disbelief, she almost wanted to strangle him. Not only did he put her into a situation where she had no choice but to submit or be punished. Somehow, punishment felt a lot better than being forced into this. With her personal space being invaded, Kou took an initial step back to regain some, but it wasn’t really that successful due to the fact there was a wall behind her. Her cheeks filling with cherry red. It took a lot of effort not to slap the boy in the face, thinking the role of “master” wasn’t suitable for someone like him. To her, this was getting more and more ridiculous.

The fact that Kou knew the carrot top had a huge crush on her, but Kou could never reciprocate those very feelings only made this confrontation 10x worse for her part.

Even with the fact that Sousuke held her secret over her head like some bad memory, it wasn’t enough to suddenly start listening to an idiot. Sousuke, she could handle, Momotarou was a completely different story. It didn’t take much for Kou to realize that Sousuke was just going to manipulate him. It was almost too easy, since he was starstruck with her since they met.

Kou may have not felt the same way about him, but there was no way in hell she would have done something as cruel as this.

At the order, the red head simply crossed her arms. Defiance.

His hand loosened, releasing her face just to delve into the front pocket of his jeans. When it emerged again, seconds later, a small black remote sat ominously in his palm. He let her eye it for a few moments before pressing a red button, signaling the collar around her throat to shock. The electric current was completely silent and he used the punishment as a form of distraction, pulling hard on her chain until she stumbled forward, then pushing her to her knees.

Clutching her teeth as her chin was grabbed, being forced to look those unforgiving teals directly. A shudder ran down Kou's spine at his explanation; her eye closest to the cheek he tugged at in an attempt to show that she was, in fact, in pain. Not that it would have mattered in the slightest to him. When her chin was released, she carefully watched as his hand went hidden inside of his pocket, revealing the little black remote.

An uncomfortable zap shot her nerves, jumping out of her skin from the pain. Since it was soundless, there was no point in complaining. Gasping when her chain was tugged, Kou wasn't aware that she was on the floor in front of the carrot top. Flinching from the pain at the back of her skull as she felt the unforgiving tug at her ponytail.

As much as it killed the red head to suddenly give into the demands of her long time friend - now tormentor, it wasn't like she had much of a choice. 

Staring up at Sousuke in disbelief, she almost wanted to strangle him. Not only did he put her into a situation where she had no choice but to submit or be punished. Somehow, punishment felt a lot better than being forced into this. With her personal space being invaded, Kou took an initial step back to regain some, but it wasn't really that successful due to the fact there was a wall behind her. Her cheeks filling with cherry red. It took a lot of effort not to slap the boy in the face, thinking the role of "master" wasn't suitable for someone like him. To her, this was getting more and more ridiculous.

The fact that Kou knew the carrot top had a huge crush on her, but Kou could never reciprocate those very feelings only made this confrontation 10x worse for her part.

Even with the fact that Sousuke held her secret over her head like some bad memory, it wasn't enough to suddenly start listening to an idiot. Sousuke, she could handle, Momotarou was a completely different story. It didn't take much for Kou to realize that Sousuke was just going to manipulate him. It was almost too easy, since he was starstruck with her since they met.

Kou may have not felt the same way about him, but there was no way in hell she would have done something as cruel as this.

At the order, the red head simply crossed her arms. Defiance.

But deep down, she knew if she gave up now, her secret would be exposed. And she wouldn’t be the only one affected by the decision. Not objecting to being pulled closer to his body, her lithe fingers clinging to the fabric of his shirt. “..I know.” She gave out a small sigh, tilting her head back in mild pleasure, her bangs sliding over the line of her cheekbones. God. She hated how much such little things could affect her so well.

Putting her head level again once their eyes met. Rubies burning in the light of deep teals. He had high expectations for a girl who was in this predicament. This was more serious, he wasn’t playing games. And as much as Kou wanted to yell, scream, run, nothing was going to change. 

Mikoshiba..? Of all people, it had to be Mikoshiba.

Instantly raising her arms to cover herself, almost trying to make herself seem less indecent. The collar already began to feel tight around her neck, making her uncomfortable. To have Sousuke see her like this almost every day seemed more and more natural as time passed, but someone like Mikoshiba wasn't going to sit well with her.

The tips of her ears burned with embarrassment, anger rising in her veins rather than fear or even shame at this point. Of all people Sousuke could have told, why did it have to be the boy with the biggest mouth in Samezuka?!

"I never agreed to having someone else know about this!" She called out, her voice shaky. 

With that being said, she could only hope that there would be some sort of distraction waiting. Maybe someone knew they were stuck in this tiny closet and needed help? Or maybe someone was stupid enough to come in and not hide themselves all too well. At any rate, it was a lost cause. Kou was simply glad that she wasn’t alone. Gripping the front of Sousuke’s shirt with one of her hands, the other rose to cover her mouth and nose; just to be sure that she wouldn’t be heared breathing or even made a simple noise out of fear.

It was a wonder to the younger that Sousuke could remain absolutely calm in this sort of situation. Yet, she knew that just like her, was scared. Who wouldn’t be? They would have been found if they weren’t careful, and if they were, that’d only be the end of them. With a single walker outside the door, they had to be sure to remain quiet; even if being in the cramped space was getting a little uncomfortable. They could be thankful that the dead weren’t too smart, and only seemed to care about something if there was noise pertruding from the source.

Kou could tell from the light that seeped under the door that it was getting closer to night. Being in the dark would just be as dangerous as being in a single doored closet, but at least they would be safe under the cover of darkness..If they could survive this for however long the dead lingered.

The light from beneath the door got dimmer, Sousuke could see as well as Gou. The sun was almost set, he’d wager, which meant that night was nearly upon them, which could be good or bad. On one hand, they’d be less visible and only traceable by what sounds they made, so if they were silent, in theory, they could get away easily. On the other hand, they couldn’t see as well themselves and flashlights would give away their positions.

All they really needed was a way to get out of the closet… but with that walker right there in front of it for however many hours now and who knew how many walkers still in the room and in the house, they’d need a distraction first.

And after the sun had set and Sousuke was tempted to rest his tired body somehow by sitting in the cramped closet, the distraction finally came, though perhaps not as directly as they’d hoped.

At first, Sousuke thought that perhaps he was imagining things when the faint smell of smoke seeped in with the scent of death that had been lingering in the air around them for hours, but once he heard the increasingly confused and irritated groans and grunts from right outside starting to move away and the smell of smoke made itself more pronounced, he realized that it was no illusion.

The house was on fire.

When light faded completely, it was both a blessing in desiguise but a cruel reality. They couldn't rely soley on sight anymore, they had to stay low in the darkness, being careful to not being seen. Although the dead had no real sight, just a perception of sound.

Wait a second..Something felt wrong. Yes, the dead Kou could get over, but the smell of something burning was something she didn't expect in the slightest. Oh no. Something burning only meant one thing.

Panic quickly set in her muscles, she found it more difficult to breathe but thankfully, she had Sousuke for a clutch. Feeling the heavier jacket being placed on her shoulders, one of her hands reached towards the fabric to keep it set on her frame. Thanks to the fire, it served as a distraction for the walkers to go investigate, because obviously there must have been noise associated with it. Reaching for some sort of weapon in the back of the closet, she found what could have been a crowbar. Useful, but it was heavy.

Nodding her head in acknowledgement of Sousuke's order, she was ready to sprint towards the window. Thanks to her smaller frame it would have been easy, but in practice it was likely that she would panic and freeze in place due to fear. Though, with Sousuke besides her, it would be easy! Right..?

But deep down, she knew if she gave up now, her secret would be exposed. And she wouldn't be the only one affected by the decision. Not objecting to being pulled closer to his body, her lithe fingers clinging to the fabric of his shirt. "..I know." She gave out a small sigh, tilting her head back in mild pleasure, her bangs sliding over the line of her cheekbones. God. She hated how much such little things could affect her so well.

Putting her head level again once their eyes met. Rubies burning in the light of deep teals. He had high expectations for a girl who was in this predicament. This was more serious, he wasn't playing games. And as much as Kou wanted to yell, scream, run, nothing was going to change. 

@jo-kou

“So lemme get this straight…”– Momotarou’s voice hitched as he spoke into the phone, reiterating Sousuke’s words in a tone that was unbelieving and more than amazed– “You somehow made Gou-san your personal slave and you want me– ME, to come over and help you ‘train’ her?” There was a brief pause as silence filled the receiver, then a husk, almost hum like tone as Sousuke replied. “..Mhm.”

“I’ll be right over!” The line clicked as an excited otter briskly ended the call, leaving the brunet alone with a wide-eyed baby shark. The cell phone disappeared into his jean pocket as he sauntered across the room of his secluded home, all but taunting a bound and naked slave.

“It won’t be long now.” He practically purred. Cool fingers drifted, grazing the warm flesh of her stomach with a lingering finesse. He lifted the chain that graced her collar, staking her to the wall with an iron lock before leaning casually against it.

With Sousuke on the other side of the room making a phone call, a thousand and one thoughts ran through her head; who was he calling? Why was he calling someone? Maybe if the damn chain on the collar she was forced into wearing wasn't hooked to something, she could have found a way out by now. If one existed..

Rubies widened in both fear and mild confusion. It wasn't like him to make abrupt calls. More like if she had gotten hold of his phone, she could have called for help when he wasn't around. Chewing on her lower lip, her hair that usually was held in a pony tail rested against her back and over her shoulders, covering her bare skin. Flinching against his fingertips as they graced her stomach, a frown settled in on her lips as her chain connected to the wall.

Kou should have been used to this by now, but each time, it made her stomach sink and her heart beat in her throat. She hated this. She hated him.

Although it was the beginning of the semester, the red head definitely didn’t wish to skip such an important day.

It more than difficult to contain her excitment as the school day dragged on. Barely making it through any of her classes sitting perfectly still and composed as usual.

When the final bell rang for the day, it didn’t take long for Kou to run out of the building, taking the usual route to Samezuka; where she knew classes were starting to end, too. Although it took the wind out of her lungs, somehow knowing that it would be worth it made all the difference.

Walking past the gate, her eyes wandered around the crowd of wandering students. Looking for a familiar face or at least, for the back of his head. With that in sight, Kou quickly ran over, trying to grab his attention as her hand reached into her bag for a small wrapped box.

“Sousuke-kun!” She shouted, a smile wide on her lips as she came closer. Haulting when she was nearly a few centimeters away, her hand holding out the little box.

Walking out of his latest class, Sousuke was busy untangling his headphones so that he could get into the right mood for swim practice when he heard a girl’s voice calling out his name.  In an private, all-boy’s academy, that got his attention.

“Hm?” he said as he turned around to see who it was only to catch a small girl with flaming red hair dashing through the crowd of men (who might have been gawking at the cute girl running by). He definitely knew this one.

“Gou,” he said with a grin, his mood uplifted in a heartbeat from her presence alone. “Hey. Been a while.” 

Still trying to catch her breath, she was glad that the taller took her present. It made her even happier that he seemed happier to see her, which always seemed to be the case when it came to them. "Of course I did! Your birthday is just as important as anyone else's!"

It wasn't much of a present, but it definitely took a lot of time planning out and deciding what would be better fitting for him. In her opinion, it definitely worked. A small whale shark phone charm, which she doubt he'd ever use, but whatever.