Chapter 8: Ch8: After the fight
In the clinic of Cocoyasi Village, there were a few people today. There was the doctor Nako, who together with Genzo the sheriff were talking about the attack that happened yesterday.
On one of the beds Caden was sleeping peacefully, while on the other was sitting down a woman with brown long hair tied into a ponytail and a bandage covering her neck. Next to her sat a man, who Caden would quickly recognize as Bill, husband of Shanon.
Looks like somebody helped her get to the clinic and notified Bill of his wife's situation.
"Nako, will she really be okay?" Asked worried Bill, looking for confirmation from the older doctor.
"Her life isn't in any danger, just let her rest properly for a few days, feed her more nutritious food to replenish the lost blood and everything will be alright." Answered Nako, stopping his talk with Genzo.
"Oh thank you so much, If not for you she could have died!" He said happily, stroking his wife's back while hugging her gently with one hand.
"Honey, you will be alright, I am here with you, don't worry, nobody will harm you anymore." He said quietly to her.
Shanon was still in shock after the attack, while her life wasn't in danger, her mentality was damaged.
Genzo slowly walked closer, starting to talk calmly to the woman.
"I understand that what happened was very traumatic, but could you tell me what happened yesterday Shanon?" He asked, pulling a chair with him to sit and talk with her.
"What happened to that guy?" She asked, looking up at the sheriff.
"Teru found you after hearing the scream about some fire, while going back from the construction site. The attacker was still unconscious while laying down under some planks, so Teru shouted for my subordinate Gary, who apprehended the man and put him into our only cell. Fortunately for him Nako was there at the time, doing our routine monthly check-up, so he managed to save his life." He said, looking at his old friend.
"He got a broken nose and a pretty nasty wound on his head, it might result in some brain damage, but for now I can't make an accurate diagnosis without him being awake and responsive." Added Nako, not looking concerned about the criminal's health.
"I didn't mean him, what happened to the one who saved me?" She asked, this time more forcefully.
"We have no idea. Teru found only you and the criminal on the scene. We guessed that someone else was there, because of the makeshift bandage Nako saw around your neck, but other than some blood on the floor, which we cannot ascertain whose it is, there were only some signs that a fight took place, nothing else." Said Genzo professionally, before continuing.
"What I want to ask you is what do you remember about the attack. What happened, was there only this one man who attacked you, what were you doing in that alley and most importantly, what did the man who saved you look like?"
"Officer, I don't think it's the right time to ask such questions, let my wife rest for some time-" Bill was saying before his wife cut him off.
"It's alright honey, I will tell them." She said, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before talking.
"I will start from how I got there. In the morning I went to my friend's place to help her with a few things, some personal stuff. In the afternoon we finished, so I started going back to the Bakery. On the way back was that alley on the side. Normally there isn't anything there, mostly some junk so I mostly ignore it." She said, sobbing a bit before continuing.
"Unfortunately, It was a very bad move. If I looked there, I might have seen him, standing there and looking at me. As I was near the corner of the building, he took me by the hand and dragged me quickly into the alley. He pushed me into the wall and started talking to me, saying that "If I don't make a sound, he wouldn't kill me." I was shocked, so I listened to him. I am not a very fit woman, not mentioning my complete lack of any fighting experience, I tried to live while he was threatening me and touching my body."
Everybody was listening in silence, with only her husband hugging her tighter with every word.
"As he destroyed my blouse and started going into my pants, I tried to resist, but he pushed the knife into my neck, making me lose strength. In the next moment, I saw that young man, walking slowly behind him, trying to get closer." She said before stopping.
"What happened next? Did you lose consciousness?" Asked Genzo, slowly understanding the situation.
"No, not yet. As he approached, the man didn't notice him at all. He could have easily attacked him at the time. But the world wanted otherwise, making some planks at the entrance fall, alerting the man. The young guy tried to punch him, but he dodged it, throwing his own." Slowly she continued.
"At that moment, I was slowly losing myself there, I thought that I was dying. I fell to the ground, by slowly slipping down the wall before fully laying down on my side, with my wound on the top. Next I only saw as the man dropped his knife, before completely falling asleep." She finished, letting Genzo ask more questions.
"Good, with that being over already, please tell me what that young guy looked like? Do you remember anything?"
"Well, I didn't get much of his looks, he was roughly the size of that child over there, with some similar brown hair." She said, looking closer at sleeping Caden.
"Maybe It was him?" Asked curiously Bill, looking at him.
"No, he has a completely different face. He looks similar, but not the same." She said, having nothing else to add.
"Ok, thank you Shanon. Take care of yourself and Bill, make sure that she gets plenty of rest, got it?" Asked Genzo, getting up and ready to leave.
"Of course Sheriff." He answered, taking his wife under his arm and leaving the clinic first.
"Now Nako, what is Caden doing here?"
"Oh, apparently, he came here yesterday while Nojiko was helping at the desk. It was after I left for the police station." He answered, also looking at the boy.
"Then why is he sleeping here, with some small bruises?" Genzo asked, looking at the child.
"From what Nojiko told me, he came there looking for me, supposedly very exhausted. She said that after sitting on the bed, he immediately fell asleep, so she moved him into a better sleeping position and left him there after checking if anything was off." Nako answered, before noticing that Caden was starting to wake up.
"Mhmm…" Uttering so, Caden slowly sat up, looking at the two men around his bed.
"Hello there." Greeted Genzo.
"General Kenobi." Quietly uttered Caden, before realizing his mistake.
"Oh, I mean hello Genzo, Nako, what is going on here?" He asked, trying to direct the conversation.
"You tell me. You arrived here yesterday, sporting some bruises, laying down and falling asleep." Told Nako, checking him up and down.
"Oh, I just fell down from a tree on my back earlier, nothing important. I came here because I got worried after having some weird pain there after that." He said, making up an excuse.
"Oh, let me check there, we didn't move you while you were sleeping, so let me look now. Take off your shirt. Also, where are your sleeves?"
"Oh, they were bothering me, so I just tore them off."
After Nako checked his back and found some more bruises that stretched to the side, the same ones he got from being rammed into a wall in the fight, he said that it's nothing major, some rest will be enough.
"In the morning Daddy Dee was here, he looked for you, but left after finding you just sleeping here." Added Nako, finishing his work.
"I understand, what time is it now?"
"It's the afternoon, you wanna go somewhere?" Asked Genzo.
"Yes, I would like to see Nojiko and thank her for her help yesterday, she tried to help me, putting some bandages on my hand." He said, looking at his hand.
"I saw those, I had to change them once, but she did a pretty good job. I didn't see any actual wounds, only some scratches on your fingers." Saying that, he looked them over once more before adding. "You can take them off yourself later today."
"No problem, I will do so." With that he rose up and moved to the door.
"Thank you for your help, bye!" He said, waving and leaving.
"Well, I should leave too, maybe they found out already who that criminal is." Said Genzo, also taking his leave.
Going through the town, Caden was thinking about the situation.
'I need to find Nojiko, only she will know what really happened after I fell asleep.' Thinking so, he made his way to Bellemere's home.
Walking down the streets, he heard some talks about what happened yesterday, with a few people gossiping.
Hurrying up, he reached his destination, entering the house without knocking or anything. He already got close enough with her family, to the point that it was almost his second home.
Coming to the living room, he saw Bellemere laying down on her couch, clearly exhausted, reading some newspapers.
"Hi Bellemere, how are you?" He asked, looking over her shoulder at the papers.
"Oh, hi Caden, I'm good, just resting a bit." She answered, ignoring his head resting on her shoulder.
Caden got much closer to her in these 2 years, she got teased by him many times, also doing it back to him, so she got pretty high tolerance to his actions, accepting almost everything he does.
Getting up and putting his hands on her shoulders, he started slowly massaging her.
"I need something from Nojiko, do you know where she is?" He asked, moving his hands and pushing all the pleasurable spots he could find.
Once when he found Bellemere very exhausted after working on her trees, he offered to give her a massage, which became almost a regular thing between them. Having found where to push to get a desired effect, he managed to convince her into doing many things while massaging her. One of them was giving him her best gun to play with for an entire day.
He spent that day sitting in the forest and shooting at stuff, having fun. Of course, he gave the gun back in the exact condition which it was in earlier.
"I'm not sure, check in the back garden." She said, enjoying his touch.
"Oh thanks, I will." He said, finishing the massage after a few more minutes, before going back to look for Nojiko.
Walking through the trees, he found her sitting on the ground, her back leaning on a tree.
"Hi Nojiko." He greeted, sitting next to the girl.
"Caden! You are ok, I'm so glad!" She said, taking him into a hug.
Right now she was smaller than him, so he put her on his knees.
"Yes, everything is fine." He calmly said, hugging her back and patting her head.
"What about your fingers, are they working normally?" She asked with her face in his chest, still concerned about his well being.
"Absolutely no problems, they work even better than usual." He said, moving them around, showing their mobility.
"That's good. What happened?"
"I will tell you, but first tell me what you did after I fell asleep."
"Well, I took your bloodied sleeves and put them in the disposable trash. Nako puts other bloodied stuff there so it wasn't a problem." She said, recounting what happened.
"I tied the bandage on your hand and moved you to sleep on the bed. Later Nako came back, so I told him you just came looking for him and fell asleep."
"You did very well, thank you for keeping what happened a secret." Caden thanked her, patting her head a few times.
"Also, what were you doing at the clinic?"
"I was walking by, when I saw Nako leaving, so I asked about it, he said he is going to the police station and asked me to keep an eye on his clinic, otherwise he will have to close it."
"So you agreed and sat there."
"Yes and after a while you came and all that stuff happened." Answered Nojiko, burying her face back into his chest.
As she sat there calming down and enjoying his headpats, she asked him again what happened.
"It's a long story." He said.
"Well, we have a lot of time before mommy makes dinner, so.." She countered, looking up into his eyes, her curiosity unstoppable.
"Fine, it went like this.."
The small talk Caden expected turned into a long session of cuddling and talking, ending with Nojiko saying that she will study hard to not be so helpless again when something happens to him or her family, ever again.
~2209 words
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone