• CHAPTER 191 - PURSUIT

    It's everywhere...her blood is everywhere. Everything is being lost; her breath, her heartbeat, her warmth, her life...

    .:{{Kai's Perspective}}:.

    Once I heard Arisa's struggling for precious breath, I pulled back to glance at her. I had assumed I was embracing her too hard but when I saw she continued to struggle, I was panicked. Her chest was lagging up and down in a difficult fashion and her wheezing was terrible. Her eyes were closed and she was gradually losing her warmth.

    "Arisa...?" I stared at her in shock and whispered to her. I lightly shook her and got my face closer to hers. "Arisa!"

    Still no response from her. She had attempted her hardest to keep her eyes open but it was futile; her weakened body had betrayed her stronger will and she had shut her eyes. She was decaying in my arms. She was dying in my arms and I was only sitting there and watching her!

    I caressed her left cheek and panicked, "Arisa, come on, stay with me!" I blustered. "Arisa!"

    I was border-line prepared to lose my sanity and destroy anything. My arms clasped around her body and I buried my face in her neck. I did possess enough sanity to take her to a hospital, but my head was spinning; I couldn't think straight enough to bring my thoughts into actions. I didn't know if it was from the contract breaking and because even I couldn't believe what was occurring or not. I had endured the worst in life, but my current incident was by far the worst. I would much rather endure the pain of a Vampire infection than the pain of losing my lover.

    My eyes closed and I pressed my forehead against Arisa's; I knew what I had to do, and I knew what I wanted to do. What I didn't know was which option to choose. Instead of witnessing Arisa decay in my arms any longer, I mustered up the courage and common sense to teleport outside of the prison near my car. My car wouldn't get me to the hospital quickly enough; the nearest hospital was hours away.

    I averted my attention to Arisa as soon as I heard her wheezing for breath. My hopes were high that she would at least open her eyes but to no avail. My teeth gritted together, "s**t..."

    Unfortunately, we were much too far away to teleport to the nearest hospital. The only way there was to teleport intermittently and that could harm Arisa or possibly kill her since she couldn't prepare herself. I embraced her tightly again and teleported as far as I could--to a field twenty-five miles away. I continued to hold Arisa infallibly close to my chest, paranoid that I would physically lose her.

    "We're almost there, Arisa," I panicked with a shaky voice. I kissed her quickly before preparing myself to teleport again. "Arisa, I love you...I love you so much; please hold in there, please don't give up on me...You're my wife..." I mumbled with tears starting to brim my eyes once more. I pulled myself together and prepared myself.

    After one of my last teleportations to a field, Arisa's breathing ceased.

    I was induced in a full-blown panic; Arisa's breathing had ceased but her heart was barely beating. I was losing my precious Arisa; the next round of teleportation could kill her, but I couldn't risk her survival without a hospital. I teleported one last time down the block from a hospital and I ran into the hospital. I dropped onto my knees with a dying Arisa in my arms.

    "Somebody get a doctor!" I called out with patients averting their eyes to the both of us. "Somebody help her; she's dying!"

    Before any help could arrive, I went with my last resort and plunged my fangs into her neck and injected a sample of my venom into her veins. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but if it would ensure her survival, I would do it. I pulled away from her neck as soon as the nurses rushed over with a stretcher. In an instant, her heart ceased. She was lying in my arms; dead. My precious Arisa died in my arms. My venom was futile. In my panicked rush to get her to the hospital, I slaughtered her life along the way.

    As I was staring at my dead Arisa, there was a folded piece of paper in her pocket and I quickly snatched it away before the nurses berthed her onto the stretcher. I didn't know what the paper held, but it could hopefully assist with something. I longed desperately for her eyes to open but luck was no longer on my side; her heartbeat was absent.

    Once the nurses rolled her away, I glanced down at my blood-drenched hands. Arisa's blood was all over my hands, my face, my clothes, and the floor; how on earth did she survive so long after losing so much blood? The scent was overwhelming; I was tempted to suck every patient in the waiting room dry. The nurses thieved Arisa in a futile attempt to bring her back to life. After a moment, I vocalized my anger and belted my fist into the ground, creating a seven-inch diameter hole in the ground that was three inches deep. I ignored the curious eyes burning into my back; I no longer cared if anybody suspected me of being a Vampire. I had just lost my lover. Not only her, but my child as well.

    I sat for another moment before I took off out of the hospital. Just in time; Kira was running towards the hospital and spotted me along the way. Just as he saw me, I took off in a full sprint but was unable to escape Kira's speed. He caught up with me and ran me into one of the columns of the hospital.

    "Where the Hell are you going, Kai?!" he blustered at me, holding me off of the ground.

    "Get the Hell away from me!" I hissed.

    "You're not leaving!" Kira pulled me back and ran me against the column again, nearly destroying it. "You get your a** back in there and help Arisa!"

    "I can't, Kira, she's dead!"

    Kira's breathing ceased for a moment and he lowered me onto my feet, but kept a firm grip on my shirt, "I don't believe you..."

    "She's dead, Kira! She's ******** dead! She died in my arms!" I continued to shout; I was going blind with all that was happening. I was losing my sanity once more.

    Kira shook his head furiously, "You can't give up hope, Kai! They have the technology to bring her back!"

    "Nothing will save her, you idiot!" I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away. "I injected venom into her and it only ended up killing her!"

    "The venom isn't supposed to do that," Kira breathed in disbelief. "It's supposed to save her."

    "It's all about timing," I clenched my jaw and my fists. "There's a certain point where the venom will only kill her and I hit that mark. I was too late..."

    Kira released his grip on my shirt just as Matsuda and Orihime were rushing over to us. I instantly dropped to the ground and leaned back against the tattered column. Orihime dropped to her knees in front of me and held my face in her hands and forced me to look her in her milky, blind eyes.

    "Kai, don't give up," she declared with a shaky voice. "They have what they need; please stay strong for Arisa."

    "In my arms..." I mumbled in a daze; the shock was finally starting to reach me that Arisa passed away in my arms. I felt her body grow stiff and cold with her last heartbeat.

    "Kai, what's in your hand?" Matsuda asked, glancing down at the paper I took from Arisa that I held in my hand.

    "I...I don't know," I looked down at it; I was almost too afraid to open it.

    Alas, my body went against my will and I slowly started unfolding the paper--which had been folded into a perfect square, a common habit of Arisa's. Once the paper was unfolded, it took me a moment to realize what it was; an ultrasound photo. She had gotten an ultrasound of our child and kept it for herself as a keepsake, probably to retain her sanity in the prison. But...there was something about that photo...

    "What...?" I glanced closer at it.

    There was obviously one fetus in the font of the photo, but there was something else. I started to panic internally, hoping that I was hallucinating; there couldn't be another child in that photo. Arisa couldn't be pregnant with twins; it couldn't be true. Was that the reason why her bump was so large already? Did she ever have any intention of telling me?

    I turned the ultrasound photo over to discover the horrifying news. On the back, in blue ink, were the names "Hiro" and "Yasuko" sketched onto the paper.

    "Twins..." I glanced down and clenched the picture in my hand. "There were two of them..."

    Orihime stared at me blindly, "She never told you?"

    I looked up at Orihime in shock, "She...she told you guys...?" I looked at Matsuda and then over at Kira. "She told everybody but me...?"

    "It was her intention to tell you," Matsuda advised. "Unfortunately, the day came where you took her away. She wanted to tell you, yet she was scared."

    "God..." I lowered my head. "Had I known, I'd have sent her away sooner...I killed them; I killed my children..."

    "Kai, don't think like that," Orihime held my face again with tears brimming her eyes. "You didn't kill them; you didn't kill Arisa."

    Despite my heart being deceased, it started tying into knots and lodged up into my throat. There was an inferno-like pain in my chest and nothing could cause it to go away. I had lost my lover--wife--and now my two children she was carrying. I brought them all to their deaths; I was a murderer. My hands started palpitating while grasping the picture and I bit my bottom lip. For the first time in decades, I released a few tears and, soon enough, I was engulfed in my own sobbing fit.

    There were no more words spoken once my agony was being released. I allowed my tears to freely drop to the ground and my sobs penetrate the grim atmosphere. Orihime pressed her forehead against the top of my head and silently started sobbing as well. Soon enough, I could trace the scent of tears from everybody. I continued to sob, mourning the loss of my wife, my children, and the life we could have lived, but couldn't.

    I dropped the ultrasound picture onto the ground as we all continued to mourn the loss of our loved one. I had never noticed it earlier, but there was more writing on the back. Arisa had our perfect family already planned out...

    Hiro & Yasuko

    In back is the shy Yasuko--she takes on after her mommy.

    At the front is headstrong Hiro--he takes on after his daddy.

    I have the perfect family in mind, but it seems like my vision won't be a reality. But wouldn't that be magical if it could be?