Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Painful Miracles ❯ Soon to be there ( Chapter 18 )

Soon to be there

Sakura yawned as she awoke. She stretched, but stopped suddenly as a lump of blankets stirred next to her. Hiro sat up next to her and rubbed his nose.

"You punched me in the nose!" He screamed, trying to stop the bleeding. Sakura laughed a bit before handing him a piece of cloth that she had torn off of the patch work quilt she had been sleeping with.

"I can't believe you broke my nose!" He whined, tossing his head back and pinching his nostrils.

Sakura sighed loudly. "Don't be such a baby! It was an accident! I was stretching and I punched you. Don't sleep so close next time."

Hiro glared at her and laid back down until the bleeding in his nose had finally stopped. "It wasn't intentional I assure you. You were whimpering and screaming all night last night. I thought a wild animal had gotten in here!" Hiro snapped, his voiced sounding stuffy and clogged.

Sakura giggled at his voice and blushed. She had had terrible nightmares all night long. They were worse now that she was getting closer to Midgar or so it seemed. The girls she had seen in her previous nightmare were there again. The blond and the black haired girl fought next to here and protected her like she actually knew them and as far as Sakura knew, she had never met these girls before in her life.

As Sakura thought, Hiro's nose had stopped bleeding and he sat up. He started folding up the two small flannel blankets they had found and stuffed them into a bag. He started to load up the Chocobos and then turned to look at Sakura. She looked deep in thought and had a confused expression on her beautiful face.

"Sakura?" Hiro yelled. "Earth to Sakura! Are you listening! HELLO!"

"Huh? What? Did you say something?" Sakura asked, turning to Hiro, who was waving his hands over his head like a monkey.

"I've only been trying to get your attention for like 5 minutes!" Hiro snapped.

"Sorry. I was spaced." Sakura said apologetically.

"Spaced out on Saturn for sure." Hiro smiled a bit, but then noticed the sad, faraway look in Sakura's deep Mako green eyes. He knew she was deep in thought and very sad about her parents' deaths.

Sakura giggled in fake amusement at Hiro's comment. She was ready to get to Midgar. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could go to Neiblaham and save her mother. Aeris was her only true concern at this point.

Hiro gently tapped Sakura. "Let's get going."

Sakura nodded and Hiro helped her up onto a chocobo. The two set off for Midgar, unaware of the watcher in the woods.

***********

Hiro hummed a simple tune as the two rode quietly, their Chocobos cooing softly beneath them as they walked along. Sakura looked at the scenery quietly listening to Hiro and the song he was humming. He was humming a tune that sounded as if he was making it up as he went along and it was so funny sounding that Sakura started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Hiro asked, looking over at her with a confused look painted on his face.

"You are so tone def it is worth a laugh." She was practically falling off of her chocobo with laughter.

Hiro glared at her, crossing his arms in a fake pout and began to hum louder out of fun. Sakura smiled a bit, returning to the scenery in front of her, listening to the fake hum with amusement. It was nice to laugh, regardless of the clenching pain in her heart.

Then the humming stopped suddenly and it was replaced by a pained gasp. Sakura looked over her shoulder and let out a gasp as well. Hiro was bent over his chocobo, a bit of blood trickling down the golden feathers. Sakura halted her chocobo and then grabbed Hiro's chocobo. She climbed off of her ride and pulled Hiro off of his to rest him on the road.

An arrow was pierced through his left shoulder. The arrow had something dripping off of it. The solution on the arrow was a dark forest green and shimmered with a glow that was almost like Mako energy. She figured a hunter was in the area and the shot was fired at Hiro by accident, maybe mistaking him for a deer.

"Hiro, stay with me! Don't go to sleep, you have to stay awake." Hiro was slipping in and out of consciousness as Sakura slapped his face gently, trying to keep his beautiful blue eyes open. She couldn't understand why a hit to the shoulder would make him act in this strange way. From the scars she had seen on his arms and neck he had most certainly sustained much worse injuries than this. Then her mind raced back to the liquid on the arrowhead. It had to be poisoned. Someone was following them, this was no accident. The shot had been aimed and fired deliberately at Hiro.

She had to do something. The toxins in his body would be sure to kill him before they reached Midgar. She couldn't loss him after he had risked his life to save her from the fire at the reactor.

Her mind snapped back to the first aid training her father had given her. She had to suck the poison out before it reached his major arteries and caused further injury and complications. She laid Hiro down on the road, stuck her finger in the hole in his shirt where the arrow had pierced it and ripped it open. She pulled back her hair and leaned her lips down to his wound. She began to suck the on the wound, nearly gagging at the coppery taste that filled her mouth. The poison had have been made from Mako as it stung her mouth as she spit. She leaned down again, continued the suck and spit action until her task was complete and she was sure she had done all she could without medical aid.

Sakura looked up from Hiro, who was moaning softly in his unconscious state, and scanned the area. She could see no one around, but she could sense the eyes of an enemy upon her. She had to Hiro out of here and to Midgar as fast as she could. She pulled Hiro up from the road and draped him over the saddle of her chocobo, then settled herself behind him. She tied the rains of the other chocobo to hers and clicked her heals in her ride's side. The chocobo took off at the silent command, knowing exactly where to go.

As they road, Sakura looked over her shoulder to see ShinRa soldiers on the specially breeded chocobos made by the ShinRa corporation. Like their soldiers, ShinRa genetically made everything else, or used Materia to make it.

The chocobos the soldiers were on were racing like rockets, almost on their heels. Sakura knew if she pushed her chocobo any farther, it would collapse and she'd never get to Midgar. Hiro's chocobo was suddenly hit with an arrow and now hung limply off of Sakura's. It's dying body dragged on the road, it's blood mixing with the dirt.

The men behind her growled and yelled, calling for her to stop. The fired at her, but Sakura managed to doge them well enough. Her evasion was quit unnatural. She looked down to Hiro, his face was pale, his lips a light shade of purple and the rise and fall of inhaling and exhaling breaths were almost non-existent. He was going to die if they did not get to Midgar soon. The poison in ShinRa's arrows was almost instant....hopefully there was an antidote.

Time was not on their side as Sakura rode on. The Shin-Ra soldiers gave up their chase after about twenty miles, so sure that she would not make it to Midgar before Hiro died. The sun was high in the afternoon sky as Sakura rode. She knew her chocobo was exhausted and straining to go on, but she could see the large corporate buildings of Midgar coming to view and she willed the chocobo on.

She came upon the large iron gates that separated Midgar from the rest of the world. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head, and kept her head down as the gates opened before her. She rode in, surprised they did not stop her to check her bags and such, but instead the gates creaked and clanked closed behind her without worry and the guards went back to sleeping or talking.

Sakura looked about as she rode her chocobo through the streets, trying not to run over anyone as people passed her. She had to get aid somewhere. Hiro was not looking so well. Her mother had always told her to go to the sector 7 slums and there she would find and old church. .:There must be help there:. Sakura thought hopefully. She clicked her heals against the chocobo again and she was off to the slums, unknowing of what awaited her there.