The bounty was just as described: a young man, not much older than Tohru, and considerably taller, bigger, and stronger than he was. Tohru scrambled to cover his own ass.
"I was just- leaving- I'm sorry I didn't steal anything yet, I swear!" he cried, raising his hands slightly.
But it wasn't going to work. The bounty knew exactly what he was.
"You bastard, I will take your head and hand it from my doorway as a warning for any others who might try to finish me. I have three other bounty hunters in one of my closets. Surely you'd like to meet them?"
Tohru scowled. "You're disgusting."
He drew one of his knives and charged, but the man was armed too. He easily sidestepped and slashed a hole into Tohru's sleeve, cutting his arm slightly.
He whipped back around and stabbed into the other man’s bicep, but the next few moments were a blur.
A strange rush passed through Tohru's ears like he'd just heard something deafening. A heavy blow passed through his ribcage, as if he'd been punched. But he'd been punched before something was horribly wrong.
When he looked forwards, he saw there was a gun in the man's hand. A real gun, with bullets. Not one of the blasters, which were usually less lethal.
While he still had some control over his body, Tohru sidestepped the gun and knocked the other man’s hand so he dropped it. He seemed surprised at Tohru’s ability to fight back, despite being shot, and the bounty hunter used that to his advantage.
From there, they were engaged in a knife fight. Tohru kept a hand pressed over the bottom left of his ribcage, where the bullet had entered. He kicked the gun his enemy had dropped aside, desperate to keep it away from him.
"You look tired," the bounty observed, "It's only a matter of time before you die here. Give it up gracefully."
"I'm not giving you that honor, you sick fuck," Tohru spat, taking another swing.
After a little more back and forth, and some carelessness on the part of his opponent, Tohru got a good hit in. He stabbed the guy in the belly and pulled downwards with the knife and pulled it free. The bounty was still desparate to fight back, but Tohru had run through his organs. Tohru gave the finishing blow despite his pleas, but he barely had the remaining strength when he did so.
Davin hesitated for what felt like a very long time, taking a deep breath. Then he picked up his phone and called Tohru, praying the other man picked it up. Maybe he wasn't bounty hunting. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding, and Tohru would pick up right away.
Tohru's phone had been turned off during the job, and he initially missed the call. Yet, unsure what to do, he turned it back on and saw that Davin had tried to reach him. He cried out as he moved his body at all to make the call.
Tohru leaned back against the couch, gasping for breath as he waited for Davin to pick up again. He pressed a hand into his wound, trying to stem the blood flow.
"I'm so sorry…" he whispered.
Davin answered the phone as soon as he saw Tohru's name pop up on the screen. "Tohru, please tell me you aren't bounty hunting." he said, his voice soft and pleading.
"I-I'm sorry…" Tohru whispered, "I… was…"
He took a few gasping breaths before continuing, panic rising in his voice.
"I don't know what to do!"
Tohru moved a little bit, trying to grab something to press into the wound, but he couldn't get up. He groaned in pain, nearly dropping the phone.
Davin caught the fact that something seemed wrong, and took a deep breath. "Tohru, what's wrong?" he asked, not wanting to lecture Tohru if there was something wrong.
Tohru ran a bloody hand through his hair.
"I've been shot," he said through gritted teeth, "Gods, I'm so fucking stupid… Bastard had a gun. Bullets. Don't see those around a whole lot these days…"
He exhaled sharply.
"I don’t know if I'm going to make it. And I'm so, so sorry… I'm so much more trouble than-"
He hissed softly, clamping a hand back down over the wound.
Davin hissed faintly, scrambling for the door. "I can…I'll come get you. Where are you?" he asked, sliding his shoes on and only barely remembering to pull on his cloak to hide his horns.
Tohru softly recited the address back to Davin.
"Is that safe?" He asked, "The scene is safe, I don't think anyone will hurt you here, but-"
Tohru stopped to take a few deep breaths.
"Aren't you worried about being caught?"
"I'm coming." was all he said. Sure, it was risky. If Davin got caught, nothing good would happen, but he wanted– needed –to help Tohru get out of there. So he was making his way there as quickly as he could.
Tohru cried out as he tried to get up again. Tears streamed down his face. Yet, he managed to push himself up on the couch, where he grabbed a cushion to hold to his wound.
"Are you- are you sure?" He gasped, "What are you going to do once you get here?"
"I…I grabbed the first aid kit." he replied faintly, unsure what else he could do. "And…if we have to, I'll take you to the hospital. I just can't go in there with you." it was too dangerous for him to go in. He kept moving as quick as possible to get to Tohru.
"I know," Tohru whispered, "Which is why I want to avoid that if possible."
He pressed the cushion into his side tighter.
"The… front door is probably locked? I came in through the back window."
"Alright." he found the address, and circled the building until he spotted an open window in the back. He came in, wrinkling his nose a little. "Shit, smells like death in here." he commented, then winced as he realized that that was not really the best remark to be making. He moved through the rooms until he found Tohru, and hurried over to him.
Tohru was weakly hugging the cushion to his chest still when Davin arrived. He moved slowly, as the energy was drained from his body. He turned his head to Davin, genuine fear and regret swimming in his eyes.
"What now?" He croaked, holding down the cushion so it hurt less to talk.
"But… thank you for sh- ugh…"
He shook his head, unable to finish the sentence.
Davin crouched by Tohru's side, ignoring as best he could the body of the man Tohru had come here for. "Alright, let me see." he gently pulled the pillow away, pulling Tohru's shirt up to reveal the wound. He winced at the sight of it.
Tohru gasped in pain upon Davin touching him. The wound was deep, but the bleeding had slowed at least a little bit since he'd first been shot. He took a few slow, deep breaths again, trying not to cry out and alarm Davin any further.
Davin took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do now. What he could say, or do, or anything, really. "I-I…I need to try and remove the bullet." he said, opening up the first aid kit.
"I'm going to bleed out if you do that," Tohru hissed, "I don't think it hit anything important- y-you can leave it in."
He ran a hand through his hair again.
"I think… I don- I dunno."
"No, I can't…I can't just leave it in there." he replied, pulling on a pair of latex gloves to protect against germs and getting his skin slick with blood.
"Davin-" Tohru murmured, "I-I'm going to die here. What can you possibly do?"
He was panting pretty hard at this point, feeling faint. If he stood, he would pass out for sure. But he wasn't intent on standing anytime soon.
Tohru was losing his nerve.
Davin shook his head. "Take deep breaths, and stop talking like that. You aren't going to die here."
Tohru was tense about the idea of being touched. He was used to caring for his own injuries, and even then, they were never this bad.
He moved a hand up to his shoulder as pain radiated up his right side.
"F-fine… do what you have to," he gasped softly.
Tohru’s face was starting to become very pale and clammy, and his breathing and heart rate sped up ever so slightly.
He pulled out the tweezers, then a strap, sticking it gently into Tohru's mouth. "Bite that." he pulled out a needle, which had some painkillers in it, and injected it into Tohru's bloodstream. "This is going to hurt like all hell."
Tohru winced slightly as the needle went in, but he was less concerned about that than what Davin was about to try to do. He bit down on the strap as he was told and braced himself, panting heavily.
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