Padrino Part 14

Usagi: It's really deep, Chio, this could hurt some. [Usagi said as Chio lied on his back, his shirt off with a fresh, new cut straight down, diagonal across his chest to his lower side.] I'm just glad the bleeding stopped when it did.

The ointment she used stung hard, but over time his wound began to numb over with a very fragile sort of peace that Chio could sustain, so long as he didn't move too much. She finished dabbing his wound, and put the reddened rag in a bowl of warm water beside her. She looked at him, he was somber, straight-faced, and very silent. She couldn't blame him at all. Although none of them had known a great deal about Ricky, he was still a trusted member of this crew, and to have such a fact retracted in that way, it was almost unbearable a thought.

Usagi: You shouldn't need stitches, but it will need time to mend. It looks like you'll need to stay in bed for a couple of days.

Chio: No.

This widened her eyes, and then made them narrow.

Usagi: I don't remember giving you a choice in the matter, Chio. If you move around too much, you run the risk of re-opening the wound, and you cannot do that or it could get infected.

Chio: I will not lay in bed while those bastards run free out there. You heard him, there are more of them, and we have no idea what they're after. If they've gone to this much trouble, we can't let them get it.

Usagi: You have done your part, Chio! One of them is captured on the White Blade's ship, you've done more than you ever could with a gash in your chest periodically bleeding.

Chio: It won't be enough until we take down every single one of those bastards to their very last man!

Usagi: That's the Marines talking!

Chio flinched at this, it was mean, but it was probably the truth. His marine training had a lot to do with his own stubborn ways. Even if he knew there was nothing he could do, it pained him more than the wound if he didn't at least do all that he could. Still, true or not, he started to get up from his resting place, and was met with two hands on his shoulders, holding him back. Usagi looked at him with a very menacing scowl, just daring him to try that again.

He did, this time he grabbed her wrists and pulled them off of him, causing her to fight him in a match of strength to try and push him back down without agitating his new wound. The two of them struggled, and Chio got to a sitting up position in order to push Usagi onto the ground, both of her arms going to either side of her, pinned. She thought that for someone who trained his legs relentlessly, he had such powerful arms as well.

That was when the two of them looked at one another, and Usagi's cheeks began to deepen red. She looked into his sky blue eyes and her heart fluttered uncontrollably. She tried to make anything come to mind, anything at all, anything she could say to break her embarrassment.

Usagi: Chio, I--

His lips met hers.

He pressed his lips tight against hers and held them there, slowly letting go of her wrists and wrapping his arms around her. Her hand came around his neck and held the back of it in a firm grip, as if to not let him escape. His head tilted, getting a better feeling for her very soft lips as they rubbed against his. The air in the room rose at least twenty more degrees in that moment. With her arms free she quickly pulled her hair tie from her pink locks and let her hair fall where it may. It took so long for this to happen, and now neither of them could ever think of it ending.

At a very long perioud of time, they broke the kiss, and they stayed there, looking so deeply into each others eyes that everything around them seemed to have been muted. All that they could hear was their own breath.

That was when Chio looked down as he saw something on her chest. It was a part of her chest that he had never seen. It was just above her stomach, below her breasts. It was a very savage scar that ran straight up from her stomach. Usagi looked down at it and sighed.

Usagi: Yes, you are not the only one. [She sat up, and untied her kimono, letting it fall to the ground to reveal her pale, almost naked body had it not been for the band tied around her groin area.]

Chio's eyes widened, and he saw so many scars. All over her sides, stomach, and outer thighs. She even turned around to show him the six that were on her back. They almost seemed like engravings on an ancient wall, ones that told a very long, and hurtful story.

Chio: Usagi... I didn't kn--

She interrupted him, getting very close to him and putting a finger to his lips.

Usagi: Shhhhhh

-

Link led No Beard down to the many secret chambers of the building. The rest of the men had to stay behind, Link only agreed to allow Sharp Francis see the way into the Red Mafia's most protected secret. All of the other men waited in the conference room, hopefully not getting into any mischief.

Link opened the very last panel on the wall and pressed in a code, No Beard followed him, no expression was on his face as he did so.