Love Hurts
Part 4: "Spirit of a Fighter, Part 1"
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She tried to hold it back. She truly did, for ChibiUsa's sake.
Futile, really.
The scream still found its way off Usagi's lips as solid ground rushed up at dizzying speed to meet the two. The air, though warm with summer's embrace, felt uncomfortably cold to the blonde. It ripped viciously through her odango and stung her shoulder wound. Yet despite the overwhelming pain, Usagi was able to pull ChibiUsa tighter to her body as they descended. Nothing mattered but keeping her little girl safe.
The impact wasn't as terrible as the fall had been. Usagi was even able to fight back the new jarring sensation to her legs in her relief to feel earth once more, but she could not afford to enjoy it. The sound of a door smashing open from above, unable to protect them any longer, stirred Usagi into action. She stumbled up, gazing around for one wild moment before her periwinkle eyes alighted upon the dark, sprawling forest behind their house.
Yes. Sanctuary.
"USAAAAGI!" Mamoru's angry baritone roared, but his voice grew distant as the former superheroine dashed with renewed haste toward freedom. If only they could reach the forest's edge before he spotted them... it was so close!
Another gunshot, followed by the earsplitting screech of a bullet racing toward its mark. Usagi didn't have to look back to know it was heading straight for her. Without thought, she flung her body into the brush and rolled to the side. The bullet that fired to kill missed by mere inches. The woman couldn't have been more relieved, and yet more terrified, than she was in that moment. A second too late and ChibiUsa would have been motherless - no, worse... she would be back with her abusive, homicidal son of a bitch for a father.
But not now. No, they would be safe - of that, Usagi was almost positive. Mamoru would have no hope of finding the two wayfarers now, under cover of treetop and night. And she didn't intend to give him an opportunity to catch up.
Scrambling off the debris-laden floor and shifting ChibiUsa to underneath her good arm, Usagi ran. She ran so far that time seemed to melt away into oblivion; the only proof that it was passing was the slow and silent dance of the moon. Usagi had no clue how long she fled for, only that ChibiUsa stopped crying and fell asleep when they were perhaps two miles in. Her brain had gone mercifully numb; the adrenaline and pumping of her legs were what pushed Usagi on. She did not even begin to think until a wave of utter fatigue drove the woman to her knees.
That was when it all came back.
Light ChibiUsa suddenly felt like a fifty pound weight. With shuddering arms, Usagi lay her gently onto the mossy ground and leaned her own weak body against a tree, gasping for air. It was a lucky fluke of fate that they somehow succeeded in dodging what had seemed to be a nasty incoming downpour. Usagi supposed, gratefully, that in all her sprinting she'd managed to veer off the path of the storm. For now, she simply relished in the cool bark and slight zephyr, clutching at her throbbing arm while trying to ignore the stitch in her side. The area just under her shoulder was hot and sticky, as both fresh and congealed blood dirtied the fabric of her short-sleeved shirt. It probably needed medical attention.
Well duh, Usagi, the more alert half of her brain snorted in sarcasm.
Another wave of agony pulsed, worse than before. Without the drug of fear racing through her veins, everything seemed so animated... so real. So very, very frighteningly real. Usagi could hardly believe what she'd done; the position she'd just thrust herself and her three year old baby of a daughter into.
A tiny whine escaped Usagi, and she wasn't sure whether it was borne of self-misery or physical discomfort. The sound echoed pitifully through the copse, a cowardly and disgraceful little noise even to her own ears, and the blonde scolded herself.
You can't be weak right now, Usagi. ChibiUsa needs you to be strong. You got her into this mess and now you're going to get her out of it.
But how?
Where could they go?
We'll... check into a hotel somewhere! her brain supplied.
With what money?
True.
Usagi sighed. Obviously they couldn't live the rest of their lives in the woods, on the run. Sticking around Mamoru's, well, why not just put the barrel to her head right now. Of her friends, Rei was the closest, but the temple was definitely not a viable option either. What was she supposed to say? 'I'm running from my rose-wielding, tuxedo-clad protector of a husband, who by the way has developed a mania for drinking and threatening his family with a deadly firearm?' Usagi blushed furiously. The explanation resounded contrite and embarrassing in her mind. It raised too many questions that the girl just did not want to answer... or perhaps admit to herself?
Usagi bit her lip. It stressed her, the lack of a solution to this grim predicament. She could only really focus on the pressing issues of here and now - like how the hell she was going to take care of her daughter with a bullet lodged in her arm, or what they would eat in the morning, or when they might hit civilization. Those, she could handle.
The blonde looked to her other shoulder, the one devoid of blood. She grasped the sleeve gingerly, and ignoring the sharp pain the movement caused her bad arm, ripped it off. With nimble, practiced housewife fingers, Usagi then proceeded to tear the fabric into strips for a makeshift bandage. It took a while to tie around her upper arm, being only one person, but eventually she had it secured.
Now, the food problem. That would be a little harder to solve, but at least there were options, even if the prospect of carrying them out seemed repulsive to the kind, law-abiding young woman.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, a quote Usagi had learned to live by as a Senshi. Though not fond of sacrifice, Usagi knew she had to do what was needed so ChibiUsa would not go hungry.
Even if it meant breaking into a few stores along the way.
Usagi shuddered. The words sounded so terrible, spoken aloud in her mind like that. She was not a criminal - eons from it, more like - but without money, this was the road she must walk. Ratting out Mamoru, seeking refuge with Rei... they were simply out of the question, and to be honest, Usagi was wary of confrontation; of her dark secret coming out. But oh, did she loathe the idea of stealing.
Utterly disgusted with herself, Usagi lay down on her back, with her uninjured arm covering her eyes. Before drifting into the blissful world of dreams - where she could still be warm in her own bed, cuddled against the chest of the man she once used to blindly love - Usagi sent up a prayer to heaven for courage; courage for tomorrow to face down the unknown.
TBC
