I couldn't be more thankful that at the end of that journey, I got to have you... — Florence Joyce
xxxxxx
Mako tried her best to open her eyes as she endured the excruciating pain searing on her right side. All of them decided to fight the moment they learned that a new enemy had been targeting Super Sentai members. But the fight proved to be so much harder than the ones they've dealt with before.
The battle that she and her teammates had handled only separated her from them. That monster, which she knew wasn't an Ayakashi, threw a punch at her and pushed her so far away. She didn't expect to be receiving such an attack. Not to mention, her landing somehow punctured her right side and now she was trying to stop the bleeding.
"I really hate this..." Mako — now in her civilian form — could only mutter in seething teeth as she tried to stand up. She needed to find her friends — or at least, anyone — and be treated.
But with the pain on her side searing with every step she took, she didn't know if she could even leave that area while she was still conscious.
"Mako!"
That call to her name made her turn abruptly to the source of it. To her confusion, she saw Sousuke — with his Go-Onger uniform slightly tattered — running towards her.
"Sousuke? Why are you here?" Despite the pain she continued to endure, she still managed to ask that.
"Who did this to you?" he asked back instead of answering her question. "Was it one of the new monsters?"
Mako could only nod before taking heavy breaths just to help ease the growing pain by the second.
"Come on. Let's get you out of here in the meantime. None of us would be able to fight properly, anyway. Not while we're all separated like this," Sousuke said and assisted her in walking.
"Were you separated from your friends, as well?"
The man nodded. But even with that information, for some reason, he was still smiling cheekily at her. She couldn't help thinking that there must be something wrong with him at the moment for him to do that.
But Mako couldn't pay attention to him any longer. She just wanted to sleep. Her eyes were starting to close, her step dragging.
"It's alright. You can rest for now. I'll carry you until we reach the place," Sousuke assured as soon as they stopped walking.
"But —" There was no way Mako would allow him to do that. Even if it wasn't obvious, he could also be injured underneath that tattered uniform.
Sousuke tapped her head and smiled — a reassuringly gentle one this time. "Don't worry. I still have enough strength left to carry you."
Mako wanted to protest even more, but she couldn't muster any words that she could use to counter that. Not to mention, she knew that she needed to be treated soon. Any longer that she endured her injury and it could be disastrous for her.
Sousuke was still looking at her, waiting for her answer. But she just nodded. With that, she allowed herself to close her eyes and finally lose consciousness.
xxxxxx
Even with all the injuries that he was enduring underneath his tattered uniform, Sousuke was glad that he still had some strength left in him to catch Mako from falling to the ground. She finally stopped insisting to remain awake when her obviously bleeding right side was slowly sapping her strength as they comtinued walking.
"Takeru was right. You really are a stubborn one," he muttered before taking a deep breath and gathered his strength to carry Mako so that they could retreat in the meantime.
The location wasn't too far. But he still needed to make sure that they were safe. To his surprise and confusion, though, he found Bomper there, waiting by the entrance.
"Sousuke! Over here!"
"Bomper! How did you get here? I remember those monsters throwing you away together with Speedor and the others."
"Someone managed to catch me and stopped my fall. He's inside preparing everything we need to tend to your injuries."
He couldn't help frowning at what he said. "He?"
Upon looking up, Sousuke heard the door of the cabin open and smiled upon seeing someone familiar.
"It's been a while, senpai," the young man in yellow greeted with a grin.
"Nagi! What are you doing here?" But before he could even allow Nagi to answer, he proceeded to enter first upon recalling the weight he held on his back.
"The same as everyone else fighting those monsters. We all got separated."
Sousuke nodded and had Nagi help him lay Mako down the futon. Another thing that surprised him was the presence of another person in that room.
"Nice to see you again, Sousuke-san."
"Amy..."
“I was able to get some people together and have them recuperate in various places. I saw Nagi-kun here and Bomper said that you might go here to do the same thing. And so I decided to help him out. But I didn’t realize…”
Despite the explanation, Sousuke couldn’t help smiling. At the time while he was carrying Mako on his back, he wondered how on earth he would be able to tend to her.
“I didn’t expect this, either. In any case, Amy, she’s your priority right now. I’ll have Nagi help me with my own wounds.”
He didn’t need to say more for the young woman to understand what he meant. He took a deep breath before standing up. But for some reason, he stopped and turned to the still unconscious Mako. Before he could even stop himself, his hand went to Mako’s head and caressed it.
“You do your best to recover now, okay?” It was almost a whisper, but it carried so much weight.
Both Nagi and Amy could only look at Sousuke before doing their respective tasks of taking care of their senior Super Sentai members. Whatever else was going on, they would have to think about it later.
For Sousuke, he knew he had to do what he could to recover from his injuries, as well. That way, the next time they would have to fight that monster, he could be there to protect her. Whether or not he was doing it other than the reason that he wanted to protect her since she was a colleague or something more, maybe he would worry about it as soon as they all recovered.
He wanted to fulfill his own promise, after all. A promise that he would mention to Takeru once they see each other again. Since Mako was Takeru’s vassal and also a friend, he needed to make sure he was doing this right, regardless of his exuberant personality.
xxxxxx
(We are back! Yes, after a long while, I know. And I’m sorry for that. But thank you for still reading my written works even with my disappearance. Here we are with another one-shot featuring that mysterious monster again that appeared and attacked Super Sentai members. Maybe I should compile those one-shots in one collection or something just to make sense of it. Of course, they would feature various pairings.)
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