Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 45

I groaned as I raised a hand to my head, my fingers pushing up into my hair as the limb reached further than I wanted it to. The tips of my fingers hit cold skin, making the ground underneath me flinch a little at the contact before I felt a soft rumble.

"Awake?" Someone with blue hair leaned over me, blocking out the darkening sky as an orange glow cast a gentle light on the person's features. The person was definitely a male, his copper eyes catching the light and reflecting it in a captivating pattern, "You were knocked out for a while. Do you remember what happened, (y/n)?"

"I...think so," I clumsily sat up, finding myself tucked within a large snake tail. Instead of freaking out at the abnormally large creature, I calmly looked back to the man, "Kara...what happened to Ichi?"

"Ichi is alive," Kara gave a reassuring smile as his hands kept me steady while I moved, more of my surroundings coming into view, "Todo was told to keep him comfortable, but he said his own injury was starting to annoy him."

"The gunshot...right," Another groan slipped past my lips as a rush of static cascaded through my skull, Kara's hands tightening on my shoulders as I almost fell backwards, "Damn it..."

"We...uh...tried to remove the thing hanging from your...chest," Kara stammered a little as I looked down, seeing the aforementioned dart still clinging to me through my shirt, "We didn't know how to take it out without hurting you, so we left it in."

"No, that's...fine," I felt my face heat up before I clenched my jaw, gripping the dart tightly and twisting out the barbed needle while pressing my other hand around the skin so it wouldn't have much give. Muttering a pained 'ow' as the barb was ripped free, I tossed the dart away and pressed hard over the small pierce wound to try and stop the inevitable bleeding quickly.

"There's...also something that I was told to not tell you."

Kara's wording caught my attention, drawing my colored hues up to his copper orbs.

"Oso...was stabbed and Choro was shot by one of the hunters," The viper naga glanced away briefly before looking back, "Todo's and Ichi's wounds haven't worsened at all, but I'm...concerned about Oso. The knife went pretty deep."

"I don't have the skills for repairing a knife wound...!" My voice hitched in my throat as I turned to face Kara, crawling off of his coils and viewing him straight on, "Where is he?"

"He's talking with Jyushi," Kara's tongue darted out between his lips, "By the shoreline, but I don't think -- (Y/n), wait!"

I bolted from my spot, running towards the shoreline that was nearby the rocky area. I had seen some of it on my way here, simply following the sound of water hitting the island in the growing dark of evening. Something sounded right behind me before I was swiftly picked up, the blue scales hard to see in the dark.

"(Y/n), stop!" Kara shifted his grip so I couldn't struggle out of his arms, his panicked voice mimicking my own emotions, "Don't go looking for them!"

"You just said that Oso has a deep knife wound and that Choro was shot. Why should I not go running to them?!"

"Because they didn't want to worry you!"

"Of course I'm going to be worried about you guys, even for the smaller things!" I locked eyes with Kara over my shoulder, "I love you all."

The statement made his eyes widen a little before his grip softened as he pressed his forehead against the back of my neck, "I know you do...We love you, too, but give us some room for our pride. To see the one we love running to us in fear and worry is disheartening, especially when we were wounded in order to protect you. The injuries aren't anything that we want to be ashamed of...and seeing you worried makes us fear that we made the wrong choice."