Chapter 30

Huntress

The Berrison jailhouse was cold and dark. If it hadn't been for the familiar voices echoing around her, Acsan would have turned around and ran. There were no windows yet air blew through her hair. The stale smell of whatever was in the room grew stronger with every step she took.

She kept her hands running along the steel bars of the many cells that stretched down the end of the walkway.

She walked cautiously and squealed when a small mouse ran passed her foot.

Kiba gasped and Hige lifted his head hearing someone's voice in the distance.

"What the heck was that?" Hige questioned.

Kiba grabbed hold of the bars in his cell. "Acsan!"

"What?!" The girl replied irritated. The faint screech of a rodent was heard and Kiba smiled a little. It was comical to the white wolf. "Where are you?"

"Down here." Kiba called back. "Just come a little closer."

Hige remained soundless listening to the couple's instructive conversation. He couldn't believe that they were still together. Secretly he had hoped the two would go their separate ways. Being with Acsan was still a fantasy and he wasn't giving up on her just yet.

His ears perked seeing the girl appear from the frozen shadows.She seemed different to him.She looked stronger,older,and as beautiful as ever.He watched the redhead as she approached Kiba's cell kneeling down to pick at the lock.

He noticed how in tune the couple was.They touched each other passionately and their eyes filled with tears or relief. The fear of being ignored began to peck at Hige's heart and he cleared his throat.

Like he wished,Acsan turned away from Kiba's lock and her face dropped in shock.

"Hige?"

"Hey."

"You're the wolf Berrison was talking about."

"If you mean the guy that brought me here then, yes."

"I can't believe its you.My God what did they do to you two?" Hige smirked as she crawled over to his cellblock.

"I guess it proves that I can't be away from you."

Acsan's reassuring smile melted having caught what Hige was implying. "Hige,now's not the time to talk about that."

"Why not? We got all day."

"I'm going to find a way to free you two.I don't plan on staying here and netheir will you guys.Even if I disapprove of you."

Hige's eyebrows narrowed. "Why the hell are you even here then?"

"What?"

"If you disapprove of me,then why are you helping me?" Hige raised his voice.

Kiba took offense and leaned further into the cell bars. "She wants to save you,Hige.That should be enough for you."

Hige tilted his head to look at Kiba. "You shut up! Just because I'm being nice to you doesn't mean we're friends again, Kiba! You stole from me."

Acsan exhaled heavily. "Now I'm your property?"

Hige's eyes scanned back to the redhead. "I never said that!"

"Unreal.Here I am trying to save your ass and you complain?" Acsan readjusted her seating position. "Do you want to stay here?"

Hige's eyes lowered to the ground and his hands squeezed the cell bars. "I wouldn't be surprised if you left me here." He mumbled.

"Hige,you can't be serious." Acsan shook her head irritated with the wolf's "depressive" ramblings.

"You said,you disapproved of me."

"Right.I said that I disapproved of you,Hige. I never said that I hated you."

"Yet,you want to be with him." Hige briefly nodded in Kiba's direction.

Acsan looked at Kiba before returning back to the brown wolf. "I love Kiba.I trust him.And that doesn't mean I never trusted you once upon a time.Your vision of how life was going to be with me was far too risky and basically insane.I hate to get sappy but Hige you're a really amazing guy.You're just scary when it comes to intimacy."

"And Kiba's a softy and that's what you like."

"Kiba can be a softy but that's not the reason why I love him."

"Then what is it Ms. Yaiden?"

The threesome looked towards the darkness hearing footsteps.Before Acsan could fully rise to her feet,Romulus entered the area smiling dressed in a different white outfit.

"What do you want?" Acsan asked stubbornly.

"Keep asking questions like that Acsan,and you'll excite me." The doctor chuckled a bit at the girl's uneasy expression.

"I'm impressed you made it this far,Ms. Yaiden."

"You told me where this place was."

"True.True." Berrison took a few steps towards the girl. "But I never took you to try and free them."

As the doctor came closer,Acsan continued to back away until her back hit something rough,perhaps the wall.

"Acsan." Hige randomly called her but the girl didn't here it.

The two wolves looked on in worriment as the doctor placed his hands on the girl's throat.

"It's so frustrating Ms. Yaiden." He ran a stray finger across the girl's throat and slowly dragged it down her chest. "How can something so beautiful-"

Feeling uncomfortable,Acsan slapped the offending hand away only for it to return to her throat firmly pinning her against the stone wall.

"Have such a negative core." Her body squirmed as she fought to breathe.She turned her head to the side as much as she could squeezing the angered doctor's strong hand in a plea to survive.

Her vision was starting to blur and she felt a sharp pain poking at her leg.Beilieving it was a knife,she kicked it away and a machical sound boomed through the jailhouse.

Electric wires snapped and sparked in blue and purple colors and the two jumped as one detatched from the ceiling. Kiba found his cell door to be rather loose and flashed a quick glance at Hige who grinned with confidence.

"Why do you find them so appealing? How can a mere wolf please a woman of your status? They change you.They destroy you.Only I am worthy of your presence!" The doctor shouted slamming her frail body against the wall.

Acsan had miraculously freed herself from the doctor's choking but not his grip. He remained pinning her against the wall by her arms with a heart filled with frustrastion,lust, and jealousy.

She knew it.Acsan knew it all along that Romulus Berrison was no good.Ever since the first day she met him,she could see that this man was by no means a wonderful person.

Before she realized it,Berrison clasped to the floor after a blunt force was applied to the back of his head. His head lay at Acsan's feet bleeding and motionless.

Hige and Kiba,in troubling unison,grabbed a hold of Acsan's wrists.

Kiba ignored the issue. "We have to leave!"

"I think she knows that Kiba!" Hige retorted.

The loud snapping of electrical wires made it hard to hear anything.

Kiba gave Hige an bothersome glare before the three raced off into the electrical darkness.Inside the house,they rushed down the highly decorated corridor highly award of the alarm system that went off randomly.

They skidded to a stop when they reached the wide marble-floored foyer populated by guards…

And militants.

Hige and Kiba quickly thought of a way out that involved Acsan not getting hurt.Acsan panted as her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

A large military solider raised his gun and aimed at Kiba while the others aimed where they pleased.Acsan stood in the middle of the two boys noticing the lack of red-lasers that she expected to be on her body.

"Miss Acsan Yaiden." The large solider spoke. "You are not expected to be executed here.You may return to-"

"You people are insane!" Acsan interrupted. Her throat hurt and her legs where becoming heavy. "They never did anything! How can you take order from a man as senile as Berrison?! He can't be trusted."

A single shot was fired grazing Kiba but hitting Acsan in the forearm. She stumbled backwards holding her arm and screaming.

The pain was tremendous and she collapsed to the floor watching the blood seep from her arm.

The two wolves turned to find the bullet's origin and only the infamous Doctor Berrison stood.His smile was gone and a look of fury was plastered on his face.He pointed his gun at Kiba watching Acsan writhe on the marble floor.

"Now she has a reason to stay." He muttered to himself. "You wolves have no right to be here.Living amongst society is a gift that only humans are allowed to have."

He fired the gun once again but missed the wolves.The guards still took aim on them however laid in waiting for Berriosn signal.

"Acsan was right.Nothing good could ever come from a man like you.You're the reason I hate humans." Kiba spoke ignoring the many guns surrounding him.

Hige approached Acsan who was still crying and helped her up fighting to hold her.She shuddered staring straight at Berrison biting back the pain.

"Miss Acsan.You can't possibly leave with these wolves in your condition." Berrison chuckled at her pathetic attempt to stand valiantly.

The redhead turned to Hige. They were so close their noses nearly touched. "Hige?" She whispered.

"Yes."

"Make a run for it."

"What?"

"Berrison already shot me once.He won't shoot me again.He knows I'll loose too much blood."

Kiba overheard the conversation but didn't move from his position.

"Acsan you're crazy!"

Hige's eyes widened with the foreign feeling of the girl's lips meeting his.She held him as best she could.

"Acsan."

"You always were like a big teddy bear to me."

"You can't stay here."

"I'm not."

"But you can't escape him.You're hurt."

While this conversation continued,Berrison waited for the right moment to kill the remaining wolves.

"You two are faster than I am and I know you can take these guys by yourself.But if you run now,I'll follow you and then you can escape.They won't shoot me."

Hige gazed into Acsan's eyes.He truly loved the girl and seeing her blood made his heart churn.

He lifted his head to look at Kiba. "Hey,Kiba."

Kiba stood quietly looking at Hige with a blank face.The two stared at each other and in a blinked of an eye they sprinted off.

"After them!" Berrison shouted. His many guards pushed their way past Acsan and out the front door Hige and Kiba broke through.

Acsan smirked at the boys hearing the doctor's orders being projected over all of the noise.

"Miss Yaiden!"

The girl turned to the doctor as the river of militants past her by.She smiled at her tiredly and just like a feather in the wind, she vanished in the rushing crowd of guards.

Ignoring the sharp pain in her arm,Acsan ran into the courtyard joining the hundreds of guards that surprisingly didn't stop her.

She caught a glimpse of a white and brown wolf leaping of the barbed-wire fence and her heart relaxed a little as long as they were safe nothing else mattered.

Kiba and Hige continued to run until they found a place to hide.They nestled on the side of an weed-filled creek that was empty and contained large amounts of trash.

From where they were positioned they could still see the Berrison's house and the guards completely clueless to where they were.

Kiba's blue eyes scanned the front yard looking for his red-haired angel. "Do you see her?" He breathed heavily.

"There!" Hige cautiously pointed. "Yes!"

They watched as Acsan raced towards the front gate feeling more relaxed now knowing she was going to make it.

When the house emptied out,only Berrison was left searching the yard for the teenage girl he so deeply admired.

But when she was missing and all he saw was that damned white wolf exiting his front yard.He aimed and pulled the trigger.

The world stood still as Kiba and Hige watched Acsan hit the dusty path leading to Berrison's front gate.

She landed on her stomach and rolled a bit on her side. As her lungs constricted,Acsan stared into the gray sky having lost feeling in her arms and legs.

Her ruby hair laid in a mess across her face and a few blackbirds flew over her into the graying sky.

Taking in her last shaky breaths, she heard howling and the world turned black and vanished.

…

Kiba and Hige stood on a yellow hill located just outside New Hope.The boys stood together staring down at a pile of dirt graced with a rose from Dr.Berrison's garden.

Their faces were emotionless as the wind whipped by messing with Kiba's hair and Hige's hoodie.

He had put it over his head feeling cold even tough it was the middle of Spring. He shoved his hands in his pockets watching Kiba make shapes in the dirt.

"Should I say anything?"

"Say what you wish." Kiba's voice was extremely soft.

Hige wrinkle his nose and turned his head away. "I got nothing'."

"Neither do I. What's to be said if she already knows?"

"Do you think Quent will find out?"

Kiba said nothing. He arose from the gravesite and stared at the dirt one last time.

The two abandoned the area and walked along the road that led away from New Hope.

"Paradise, was it?" Hige questioned.

"Hn."

"How long till we get there?"

Aishiteta to nageku ni wa

Amari ni mo toki wa sugi te shimatta

Mada kokoro no hokorobi o

Iyasenumama kaze ga fuiteru

Hitotsu no me de asu o mite

Hitotsu no me de kinou mitsumeteru

Kimi no ai no yurikagode

Mo ichido yasurakani nemuretara

Kawaita hitomi de dareka na itekure

The real folk blues

Honto no kanashimi ga shiritaidake

Doro no kawa ni sukatta jinsei mo warukuwanai

Ichido kiri de owarunara

Kibou ni michita zetsuboto

Wanagashikakerareteru kono chansu

Nani ga yoku te warui no ka

Koin no omoi to kuramitaita

Dore dake ikireba iyasareru no darou

The real folk blues

Honto no yorokopi ga shiritai dake

Hikaru mono no subete ga ougen to wa kagiranai

The real folk blues

Honto no kanashimi ga shiritaidake

Doro no kawa ni sukatta jinsei mo warukuwanai

Ichido kiri de owarunara

-THE END-

"It is better to have loved than to not have loved at all."