As it was starting to turn dark outside, we left off Susuki safely at her house. She waved us goodbye with an awkward smile, and we retured the gesture. Luckily there weren't any further incidents on the way there.

"After we get to my house I'll disinfect your wounds. We'll have to be quiet of course. My parents likely won't be at home and I doubt my sister will be awake either."

"Mhm... Yeah, that works out."

After our last conversation she seemed to have been deep in thought thinking about something.

"Anything on your mind?"

"A bunch of things. Honestly, I'm not even sure how you're walking at this point... That's only the start of it."

"Well, so am I. I thought that I probably wasn't hurt that badly."

"You're gonna be in for a nasty surprise once your adrenaline wears off."

"Same goes for you, you aren't in the best of shape."

"I'm used to it, not the first time I got into a fight. What about you?"

"Maybe a couple times in elementary school, Chiori wasn't very popular there, so I had to keep people from harassing her."

"Oooh, reliable onii-chan. Makes me kinda jealous of her."

"Reliable is the last thing I'd call myself. It was more just because I wanted to look cool in front of her, I wasn't all that strong."

"Is that so, huh? Oh well~" She said as she latched herself onto my arm, "Onii-san's pretty cool in my book~"

She gave off a delighted smirk as she spoke, but I'm not sure if it's out of genuine enjoyment or not. Sometimes, she has an strange habit to say and do something, but not give off the feeling of doing it.

"The feeling's mutual. I had no clue you were that strong. You've thoroughtly convinced me never to get on your bad side."

"Hmph, are you calling me a musclehead now? That's no way to treat a lady."

"No, no. It's just that looks deceive I suppose."

"Taku, when you see an abandoned puppy on the streets, there is one thing to remember. Dog's can't live off of nothing, it has to survive one way or another. Same goes for you and me, once we're left off to our own device, we have to get by, whatever it takes."

"I assumed you're that cute little puppy?"

"And you're now my owner, woof."

She nuzzles up against my arm as she said that. She is a little bit odd, but I found it more endearing than concerning. By instinct I reached out my free hand and petted her head.

"Uhh, good girl?"

"Woof woof!"

"Wait, could you try meowing?"

"Nyaaa~"

A lazy, deep voiced, drawn out meow came out that befit her usual image. It was way cuter than expected, which made me want to keep petting her. Finally though, I realised that what I was doing was kind of ridiculous, and pulled away my hand, accidentally giving myself a shock of pain by moving so suddenly.

"Aww, I was enjoying it."

She didn't seemed pleased by it, but just shrugged and kept walking.

... with her arm still interlocked with mine.

I was fine with it though, oddly enough. After all we did go through a lot in that short time span.

"Say, Shiro-chan, why did Sasaki hold your backpack so desperately?"

"Hmm... I could tell you why but I don't think you'll understand why. It's not a reason that would make sense to you."

"Least I can do is try."

"Maybe it was less for me, and more for herself. The bag to her was more than a bag, or something like that. It's complicated, and I really don't want to think about it with this headache killing me."

"It's fine. We're almost there anyways, so we should be keeping quiet around here."

Her expression turned more serious as she gestured a finger in front of her mouth.

"I'll follow your lead Takumi."

I grabbed the house key inside my pocket and sneaked towards the front door with Yamatsu in tow. Not a sound could be heard by now, not even a passing car, as the sun had already fully disappeared by now. Quietly, as I reached the front door I kept my hand steady and slowly opened the door...

And nobody was in sight. I heaved a sigh of relief, and gestured for Yamatsu to follow me inside the bathroom upstairs. She took up the hint quickly and followed along without making as much as a sound.

I let her inside and found a bottle of ammonia and some cotton pads for the both of us. As I looked at myself in the mirror I noticed what she meant by what she said before. I looked fucked up to say the least. blood dripping from my nose, cheeks, neck, even a bit from my ear. I could even see a little red on my hair. Suffice to say, it didn't look pretty.

Still, it wasn't broken, despite everything. I only took a couple of hits after all.

I gestured to Yamatsu by putting my hand in front of my mouth.

"This may sting a little." I whispered as quietly as I could.

She did as she was told, leaving me free of worry to fully concentrate on tending to her wounds.

Going from bottom to top, I took off her shoes and saw that her feet had quite a few bruises. 

"...I'll open up a bath soon, should help."

If she stays under the tap it shouldn't make too much noise.

Checking her heels I did see a bit of ripped skin, likely a blister from the fact she isn't wearing socks, or maybe it was the fight that caused it. I lightly dabbled it with ammonia just to be sure that it will be able to heal without issue.

"Taku, Give me one."

I looked up at her, who stretched out an open hand to me. With a bit of confusion, I gave her one of pads with a bit of ammonia, and then continued on with her legs. I gently put my hand on it and lifted it up, and as I did she pushed back my hair and dabbed the pad on my face, sending a sudden tinge of pain.

I kept quiet and just decided to let her do as she pleased. Instead focussing on her badly hurt legs. I assume the blonde asshole struck her with quite a few strong kicks. as some bruises even has small cuts with dried up blood on them.

"..."

She looked angry, almost disgusted even. I wonder what's going through her head. Could be that we're thinking about the same thing. She must hate them a lot more than I do, and even I'm well aware they're pieces of shit.

"Hshhh!"

I heard her hiss through her teeth loudly while I was tapping away absentmindedly at her wound. Looking over at where my hand was, I seemed to have touched up a pretty deep cut.

I was worried someone would hear, but it seems that nothing was coming towards us.

Quickly my tension dissipated, and I started going over her wounds further, this time taking delicate care of her body.

She did the with me, trying not to push to deep into the wounds i had not only on my face, but my arms as well.

When I arrived at the wounds of her chest I checked to see if I could go on. She seemed fine with it, even whispering "go ahead". It isn't a direct touch, so it's shouldn't be that big of a deal I tried to internally reason to myself.

I could see the supple movement through her school uniform, a slight sway whenever I touched it. I can't say it didn't peak my curiosity how  it would feel directly. As I had those thoughts, I tried to suppress them. I shouldn't be thinking these things, it's just that I'm not thinking rationally after all the stuff that happened.

But as I was thinking this, my thoughts got pierced by her soft alluring whisper.

"It's fine to touch them if you want."