➹ LEFT TO LOSE ➷ chishiya s.

➸ CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

"It's fine, can't even feel it." You discarded his worries, then proceeded to grunt in pain as he turned your leg over. As if you weren't in enough pain, Niragi sent another bullet somewhere in the air, making you flinch. Of course, Chishiya noticed the sensitivity in your ears, gently tugging your hands away from covering them. It finally saw that you only had one ear, the other being nothing but a swollen hole in your head. Beside your head was your hands, which one was missing two fingers. This time, you didn't bare to look at his reaction to your injuries, afraid of what you don't expect.

Before he spoke, he cupped your face in his palms and made you look at him. This was the first time you both only focused on each other since you showed up with Niragi, completely muting your surroundings. "Banda did that, right?" You hesitated at his response, then nodded in silence. Chishiya's face softened, eyebrows quirking upwards in guilt. "He deserved everything he got and more, then."

Your eyes immediately began to blur from your sudden tears, finally releasing the breath you've been holding since you first saw him. He saw the photo, and yet understood why you did what you did. Banda was a serial killer, he tortured you and many others, all you did was bring them to justice. Though, an eery feeling still sat on the back of your neck; why you enjoyed seeing him in so much pain, wanting him to stay alive longer so you could experiment his pain tolerance more—

Shit. You sound just like him, too.

"Wow, you managed to sneak away from me, Y/N!" The use of your name made you refocus on your surroundings. "Impressive, really." You looked over at Chishiya for help, which he put his hand up to order you to stay put. You watched him stretch his body to peek over the hood of the car, having his gun ready by his side. Niragi noticed the new movement fairly quickly, moving his gun to aim it at the man's head. Chishiya was able to duck down before receiving a bullet to his forehead, sliding down beside you against the car door.

"Oh! So close!" Niragi amused, "Chishiya, why are you protecting someone like her? You think I'm crazy, but she's out of her mind!"

Ashamed, you kept your head hanging low towards the ground, squirming uncomfortably under the gaze of Chishiya. The man in question didn't respond to Niragi's instigation, just checking how many bullets he had left in his handgun.

Niragi also loaded up another bullet, but didn't hesitate to use it the first chance he got. "Do I need to be some stupid fucking girl to get you to stop looking at me with such hatred?!" Niragi fired a shot into the car window, blasting through both the backseat ones. You closed your eyes as glass shattered over your head, a million pieces falling next to you.

And still, Chishiya refused to fuel the man's anger. Instead, he focused on combing the glass out of your hair, picking out the shards carefully even if it pricked his finger tips. "Can he shut up already?" Chishiya murmured, making sure only you could hear. You quirked up a light chuckle, though it was shortly cut off due to the pain in your ribs.

Chishiya finished taking out pieces, but proceeded to comb your hair with his fingers. "Do your ribs hurt?" Of course, the owl noticed your hand hovering over your side, already sniffing through the mystery.

"Geez, can't hide anything from you, huh?" You said breathless, "It's just a few bruises."

Even with your pitiful attempt of fooling Chishiya, he pushed his shoulder off of the car and positioned in front of you. You watched as his hands moved up to the hems of your shirt, gripping it gently. He stopped moving to look up at you, "May I?"

You almost choked on your own spit. Never have you seen Chishiya in this perspective, head down and doe eyes through his long lashes. He waited patiently before you hummed, giving him permission to slightly lift up your shirt. He stopped at the middle of your torso, eyeing your bare stomach and skeleton poking out from your skin. Many shades of purple and red colored you like a blank canvas, the old and new injuries being very apparent in the sunlight. The man's eyebrows furrowed, sinking deep in thought as his finger tips glaze the darker spots. With his hands being cold, your body naturally tensed up at his touch... but that's not the only reason why, of course.

When his two fingers got to your right side, he put slight pressure on the center, testing out just how bad it was. You flinched, muffling your grunts by keeping your lips shut so Niragi wouldn't hear. As soon as you made a noise, Chishiya immediately looked up at you from your injury to check in on you. Once he did, only then did you notice just how close the two of you were. Your back rested against the car as his body hovered over yours, foreheads almost touching. Even with the body temperature difference, he kept his hands ghosting over your skin, which you eventually found yourself leaning into his touch.

It reminded you of a memory that was previously foggy, but now you remember it so clearly. Back in the Jack of Hearts game, when he helped you with your panic attack, only then could you notice all of the beauty marks he has. His eyes were the same, too, top lids hanging low while his lips were ever so slightly parted. He breathed through his mouth, the forced out air brushed against your face. You didn't realize you've been staring at his lips, huff in and out air from the polluted air, until his eyes moved to your own. You both became short on breath, trading puffs of oxygen between one another, making you lean in closer, and closer, and closer—

"Chishiya!" The man in question bobbed his head up at Arisu's interruption, who was looking at something above the two of you. Catching on, you turn your head at the other side of the car and see Niragi walking over to your side, gun aiming straight at you.

"Shit." You ducked back down, rushing to get your hands on Chishiya's gun.

The man in front of you was too scattered-brained in the moment to stop you from snatching it out of his jacket pocket, "Y/N, no."

Not listening, you got a comfortable handle on the weapon, taking a deep breath before doing most likely the dumbest thing you've ever done in the Borderlands. But, it's more risky to wait for Niragi to pop up around the corner and shoot both you and Chishiya, right? This is necessary, shooting Niragi is necessary.

When your heartbeat steadied, you popped up from the car and aimed the gun right in the middle of the man's chest, he who already was in position to aim right back at you. Since you were already out in the open, you can't hesitate your next move, your finger was already on the trigger, all you have to do is—

A gunshot went off. The ringing in your ears returned, making you immediately cover them with your palms. That wasn't you— or at least you don't think so, as you don't remember pulling the trigger yet. Then again, everything happened so fast— What just happened?

You opened up your eyes, surprised to see the sun being blocked from your vision. Not only that, but Niragi was nowhere to be soon too— did you actually shoot him? But wait, where was his body then? In fact, where was the car he stood on top of earlier?

You were too lost in thought to immediately realize something blocking your view. You peered up at it, then saw it fall back towards you. Relying on instinct, you stretched out your arms and caught the barrier, finally seeing what it was. Or... who it was.

Blood poured down his white jacket, he had somehow managed to keep it clean before this moment. His hair strands scattered all across his porcelain face, some covering his eyes. His lips were still slightly parted, but his breaths were even shorter than earlier. A louder gunshot bounced through your ears, followed by a body dropping a few feet away. You didn't care to look up though, as you were still trying to process how the hell Chishiya got shot instead of you?

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