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<𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓕𝓮𝓪𝓻>

"How many are there?"

Beidou and Itto stood back to back, blocking and deflecting bullets with their claymores while looking for an opening to get away.
"I'm not sure," Itto replied. "But did you hear that gunshot from upstairs? Kazuha and Y/n might be in trouble."
"Kazuha be fine and he'll keep Y/n safe. We need to worry about getting through with these guys first."

Tears filled your eyes and streamed down your face, blurring your vision and mixing with the blood dripping out from the graze on the side of your cheek. Although you doubted you'd have been able to see what had occurred even if you could see clearly.
It seemed like in an instant, Kazuha had moved across the hall. The masked man got two shots before his hand was sliced clean off. His screams were quickly cut off by a choked gasp as Kazuha stabbed him through the chest, blood clogging his throat and spilling out of the airholes of his mask. Kazuha watched, unblinking even as blood splattered across his face.

You watched him sheath his sword before running over to you.
"Are you okay?" He asked, and you nodded, only for your blood to run cold when you saw another masked man behind him.
"Look out!" You screamed. Kazuha knew he'd have been able to dodge the bullet, but you couldn't. He pulled you closer, shielding you from the man and causing the bullet that would've hit you to his his leg.
"Kazuha!" You gasped, as the blonde grit his teeth, biting back a scream as he looked around trying to find a way out of this situation or at least a way to get you out of it.

"Kaedehara Kazuha."
You could hear the man's shotgun click as he reloaded it. "Surrender yourself and Y/n L/n at once, or we will use force."
Kazuha tried to reach for his sword only to cry out in pain as another bullet hitting him in the shoulder to prevent him from using his sword. You sat there, tears streaming down your face as you tried to free yourself from his grasp, which only made him tighten his hold around you despite the pain it now caused him.
"Please be still," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut at the pain. "I don't want you to get hurt." You grit your teeth, a sense of helplessness beginning to wash over you until you noticed a flash of white from down the stairs. Without thinking, you screamed.
"Itto!" You shouted. "Itto, please help us!"

There was a moment of silence, followed by thundering footsteps coming up the stairs. A gust of wind brushed past you, and a shadow loomed over you. You looked up just in time to see Itto jumping over you, claymore raised over his head before bringing it down to slam it on the masked man. Blood poured from the holes on the mask as the impact of the heavily spiked claymore split his skull open. You would've thrown up at the sight if you weren't so worried about Kazuha.
"Itto!" You called, and the male turned to face you, eyes widening when he saw the blood on your hands and face.
"You...you're hurt," he muttered.
"I'm fine, but Kazuha, he's-" you stopped, seeing the male's fist clench, red eyes burning in rage, and pupils dilating until they were almost invisible.

"Itto?" You whispered, gasping as he slammed his claymore down on the man once more, causing a sickening crunch to come from it.
"You bastards..." He slammed it down again. "I'll kill you."
"Itto look out!" You called, seeing another masked man behind him, but he was already on it, dodging the bullet before rushing at him, swinging his claymore as if it were as light as a baseball bat as he hit the man's head, causing it to twist with a disgusting Crack.
"I'll kill you all!" He went further down the hall, where more masked men had climbed inside.

"Beidou!" You tried to stand up, only for a cold hand to grab yours. You looked down to see Kazuha struggling to stay sitting upright. His face was pale, and his whole sleeve was red and soaked with blood. "Stay," he panted weakly. "Please..."

"Kazuha!" You turned to see Beidou rushing up the steps. She kneeled beside him to examine his wounds.
"I think it hit an artery," she said, seeing how much blood was coming from his arm. "How could you allow yourself to get hit?"
"He was shielding me," you explained. "I'm so sorry."
"There's a first aid kit in the basement. Where's Itto? We need to get him down there."
"He went off to fight those men," you said.
"Dammit," Beidou cursed, slamming her claymore down before fishing something out of her pocket. Your eyes widened as she tossed you a gun.
"Do you know how to shoot?" She asked, and you shook your head, watching as she grabbed Kazuha and threw him over her shoulder. "Well, consider this your first lesson," she said as she motioned for you to follow her down the stairs.
"Cover me!" She said. There were still people shooting through the walls downstairs, and you did your best to shoot in the direction the bullets were coming from.

Miraculously, the three of you managed to bring the injured fugitive down to the basement.
"Do you know first-aid?" Beidou asked as she set him on the couch, grabbing the first aid kit from under it.
"A little," you said nervously. "But what about Itto?" Crashes and bangs and shouts came from outside, making Beidou curse under her breath.
"Of all the times..." she muttered before turning to you. "I need to go deal with him. I'm leaving him in your hands, Y/n."

Once Beidou was gone, you got to work, finding some alcohol and towels from the cabinets. Kazuha watched you as you moved around before finally sitting down in front of him.
"Th- this is going to hurt," you stuttered as you picked up the glass of alcohol, coating the tweezers you had gotten with it. The bullet that hit is arm was still inside, so you decided to start with that one first. Kazuha nodded, but still could't help but cry out in pain when the tweezers entered his wound. You jumped, hearing him scream, tears filling your eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I-"
"No, it's fine, it's fine," he rasped, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine." You nodded, wiping your face with your sleeves as you grabbed the bullet with the tweezers and pulled it out. You set the tweezers down and picked up a needle and thread, huffing in frustration when your trembling hands prevented you from threading the needle.
"Y/n," Kazuha called, and you finally looked up to meet his eyes, which despite everything, looked relatively calm. "Calm down," he said. "I trust you. You can do it, okay?" You nodded, turning your attention back to the needle, and after a few more failed attempts, you managed to get it in.
"O-okay, just hold still," you said as you slowly inserted the needle into his skin, flinching at the hiss he let out. This was going to take a while.

"Please, please don't kill me! I never wanted to do any of this, I swear!" Itto stood over the boy he had caught attempting to run. The Oni glared at him as he begged for his life, red eyes glaring down at him.
"Itto!" The male glanced over his shoulder to see Beidou standing there. "Leave him be. He's telling the truth." She noticed his grip tighten on his claymore and raised hers.
"Y/n is safe. The wound you saw just grazed her. She's with Kazuha now." Her eyes softened. "She's worried about you."
Itto turned back to glare at the boy, who still sat paralyzed in fear.
"Beat it," he growled, voice so raspy and low that it was almost unrecognizable even to himself. He watched as the boy ran off, waiting until he was out of sight before dropping his claymore, the severity of his wounds finally sinking in. Beidou looked him up and down. He had been shot twice in the stomach, once in the shoulder, and once in his thigh. There were numerous cuts and grazes along his body as well, making Beidou wonder how he was even standing.
"Y/n...Where?" He growled.
"With Kazuha in the basement, but we need to take care of your wounds-" Before she could finish, he had already limped past her and back into the house.

"The shooting stopped," you noted, taking in the quietness of your surroundings. You wiped the area around Kazuha's wound, cleaning the blood and making sure the stitches were right. "Do you think Beidou and Itto are okay?"
"Beidou has survived much worse ambushes than this," Kazuha said tiredly. "And if Itto's reputation proceeds him, he'll be fine as well."
A creak came from upstairs, making the both of you tense. The stairs creaked from each step as the person slowly made their way down. Kazuha grunted as he stood up, gripping his sword as he got into what was supposed to be a defensive stance, but because of his injured leg, he looked off balance.
"Kazuha don't-" he shushed you, pulling you behind him as he looked at the entrance of the stairway. A few more steps, and the person was at the bottom, and you gasped when your eyes landed on the white-haired male in front of you.
"Itto!" You exclaimed as Kazuha sat back down. As much as you wanted to run over to him, you couldn't help but be frightened at his appearance, and the growl he let out when he saw you. The blood on your hands, even though it wasn't yours, made him want to go back and find that kid he let get away, but even as those thoughts played out in his mind, he found himself falling forward. You rushed over, attempting to catch him only to wheeze as his weight almost made you fall. He slumped against you, head resting on your shoulder as he tried to steady his breathing. Just your scent made the adrenaline he felt start to fade.
"I-it's okay," you said. "I can help you." You attempted to pull him towards the nearest chair, but just as you began to collapse under his weight, Beidou grabbed him, slinging his arm around her neck and pulling him off you.
"Don't worry," she said. "I'll handle him." You nodded and instead brought her the things she needed to start working on him.

By the time Beidou had stitched Itto up, it was late in the afternoon. Kazuha had fallen asleep while you were at the bathroom sink, washing off the medical equipment. A knock on the wall caught your attention, and you turned to see Itto standing at the doorway. Beidou had cleaned most of the blood off him, and he was now covered in bandages. His hair was matted with blood.
"I'm guessing you're ready to go back home?" He asked, and you nodded, putting everything on a towel to dry before drying your hands.
"Yeah, let me just say goodbye to-" Just as you moved to walk past him, he grabbed your arm, pulling you into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry..." he muttered. "If I scared you earlier." Your eyes widened at his words. You gently hugged him back, careful of his injuries.
"I-it's fine, I was more surprised and worried than scared," you lied. Itto nodded, reluctantly pulling away, and you lowered your head.
"I'm going to say goodbye to Kazuha and Beidou." You went back into the main room where Beidou sat with Kazuha who was sleeping.

"You leavin' us?" She asked, and you chuckled.
"I think it's past time for me to go," you said. "Are the two of you going to be okay?"
"Kazuha has survived worse than this," Beidou said. "Of course, we'll have to find a new hideout, but we'll be fine."
"That's good," you said as Itto left the bathroom, walking upstairs and motioning you to follow.
"Well, bye," you said. "And tell Kazuha I said thank you for saving my life...again." Beidou nodded and you slowly followed Itto upstairs.

"I'm fine, Y/n," Itto said as you led him into your apartment, having insisted on checking on his wounds. "I'll decide that," you said. "It was my fault you and Kazuha got hurt so I have to make sure you're okay." Itto's eyes widened when he saw the tears in your eyes as you pulled him into the kitchen.
"The least I could do is make sure you're okay." Itto quieted his protests after that, letting you examine his wounds until you were satisfied.

"You should be fine," you concluded.
"And what about you?" You flinched when Itto cupped your face, sharp nails brushing against your cheek as he turned your face to the side to examine the graze.
"You should've said something earlier," he said. "This could've gotten infected."
"Sorry," you muttered, letting him clean the wound, and put a bandaid on it. The whole time, he noticed you glancing around nervously, jumping at every sound.
"What's wrong?" He asked, pulling away in fear that you were still scared of him.
"Oh, it's nothing," you replied. "It's just that whole ordeal was pretty scary." The gang leade wanted to slap himself in the face. Of course, he was used to blood and life-threatening situations, but you weren't. He sighed.
"How about this," he said, going back to his usual cheerful self. "I, Arataki-Numero-Uno-Itto, will stay and guard you tonight." You raised a brow.
"You?" You asked in disbelief.
"Well, who else?" He asked. "Despite what you might think, I take it upon myself to make sure helpless damsels such as yourself are safe."
"Helpless?" You repeated. "Just because I don't go charging into gunfire with nothing but a claymore doesn't mean I'm helpless."
The male was too absorbed in himself to hear you, merely responding with an 'uh-huh, you can thank me later' before standing up, preparing to go into the living room, before a tug on his coat stopped him.
"I hope you're not planning to go sit on my couch with all that blood on you," you said, and the male looked down at himself, letting out a small 'oh' when he saw that he was, indeed, still covered in blood. You sighed, rolling your eyes as you pointed to the bathroom, and the male groaned before going inside. You chuckled at his childishness before going off to find some clothes for him.

So how are yall feeling about the new Sumeru characters? I personally don't like the lack of representation of people of color. At this rate the only Sumeru characters I'm pulling for are Haitham, Dehya and Cyno. What do you guys think?