"Shusei are you alright?" Emiko panted as she leaned over him trying her best to shield him with her own body, it was getting difficult to breath and she attributed it to all the physical exertion she was just put through. He stared up at her his face pale, eyes widened and shaking horribly looking like a deer in the head lights, "Shusei?" she asked him again her eyes wide with fright.

Shusei meanwhile was distracted by the blood spreading out on her uniform that the small inspector seemed completely unaware of. He was still reeling from what had just happened, his mind still trying to process what exactly had just happened, the events distorted and confused.

"You could've been killed what were you thinking!" Emiko worriedly scolded him trying to push away the large scrap of metal that was threatening to crush Shusei only moments before. She grunted and heaved with all her might, the metal groaned and crashed on the ground away from the two of them.

She staggered forwards, she suddenly felt extremely weak and her body was heavy and lethargic but she didn't know why. She meant to bend down and pick Shusei up but instead collapsed on top of him, she tried to laugh at her blunder but found herself in agonizing pain instead. Shusei had caught her easily enough when she fell on top of him.

"It hurts." She whimpered, and Shusei bolted upright to hold onto her. He clutched her tightly against his chest protectively unsure of what to do, he didn't have any first aid experience besides minor kitchen injuries.

"It's alright I'm here, I've got you." He assured her panic rising within him but he was too afraid to show his fear in front of Emiko. He glanced around looking for Masaoka knowing that he'd know what to do right now but knew that help wouldn't be coming for some time- he stared down at Emiko instead.

She smiled looking up at him despite her face growing ever paler, "Guess I'm done passing time." She teased followed by weak whimpering from pain that she was trying to muffle by shutting her mouth.

"No don't say that, it's going to be alright." He insisted with her trying to remain optimistic, "We're going to get home, I'll cook you you're favourite spicy curry-I'll even have an enormous serving. And then we'll play soccer together. And you can watch me game as you read like you always do." He rambled on and on his voice shaking and on the verge of cracking at any second.

Emiko smiled and nodded, "It's a date." She laughed and shifted, "I'll do my best to walk you through what you have to do." She said her voice shaky but trying to remain calm, "I need you to apply as much pressure as you can on the wound to stop the bleeding, bandages would help." She instructed in her calmest voice while wincing it was suddenly becoming painful to breathe her chest felt like it was being crushed by an unbearably heavy weight. She didn't notice it but she continued to whimper with every exhale and was trembling, in Shusei's arms she felt extremely delicate like she might shatter if he wans't careful.

"Okay alright I can do this." Shusei breathed to try and calm himself but his panic rising instead, he couldn't understand how calm Emiko was but knew it had something to do with her being in shock and not knowing what her injury looked like. He lay her down as gently as he could and glanced down at the wound, he couldn't see it clearly enough though.

"If you have to rip the shirt do it." Emiko encouraged, her head was beginning to spin and she was suddenly feeling very cold, things were slipping away. Shusei grabbed the bottom of her dress shirt, he growled and all the buttons popped off the shirt tearing open. Her thoughts were becoming disjointed and trying to focus on anything was difficult.

He could see the large incision now where blood was gushing out, it wasn't a steady stream of blood- it was spurting. Shusei didn't know much but knew that meant an artery had been hit. He glanced around himself flailing while searching for bandages and finding none. He glanced down at his jacket and tore it off thrusting it on the wound.

Emiko shrieked in pain at Shusei for slamming his hands down aggressively on her wound causing him to jump in surprise. He went to yank his hands away, "No keep them there!" she ordered sternly causing him to freeze in place.

"L-like this?" he asked her in a shaking voice his nerves getting the best of him he could see his own hands were shaking now.

Her eyelids fluttered, it was getting extremely difficult to stay awake, "Hmm exactly like that you're doing just fine Shusei… h-hang in there." She mumbled, Shusei glanced down concerned, she was as white as a ghost, her lips blue-purple and she was trembling so badly under his hands.

"Emiko are you alright?" he asked her, his voice suddenly sounding extremely small and childish to his own ears.

She weakly nodded her head, "Mmm-hm." She hmmed in response to him, "Just fine." She slurred, her head suddenly lulled back her eyes rolling back as well. Shusei panicked but was unsure of what to do, he wanted to grab Emiko and shake her back awake but she had told him not to move his hands away. He stared at her in complete and utter panic but couldn't make his hands move away from the wound.

Suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder and he glanced up at Masaoka staring down at him with a droid it's lights flashing just behind him, and felt relief wash over him, "Thank God, Masaoka do something please." He pleaded with the senior enforcer.

Masaoka was down on his knees next to Shusei in a second, he'd already got the droid to open up revealing all the first aid equipment within the droid. "I'll do my best, she's down but definitely not out." He stated knowing it was true, he'd seen people with injuries worse than this pull back-anyways Emiko was a tough girl despite her appearance.

… Two Days Later…

"Inspector Hara is expected to make a recovery." The nurse informed Inspector Ginoza glancing down at the clipboard in her hand.

The stoic inspector sighed and glanced back at the enforcer who was waiting eagerly at his heels to hear the news, "May you tell me as much as you can on her injuries?" he asked her politely restraining his impatience, he didn't want to be here but he had to be and what seemed like a simple quick errand was a maddening rabbit hole leading him down into a long confusing trail of being passed along nurse to nurse and constantly being told to wait.

"Of course sir." The nurse replied, "Inspector Hara experienced severe trauma to her abdomen, a ruptured spleen most likely caused by blunt force trauma which resulted in internal bleeding, then a severe incision on her abdomen that had a minor artery cut open. She has one broken rib and two cracked ribs. On route to the hospital her heart stopped twice due to blood loss and shock, once for two minutes, the second time for eight minutes." The nurse read off the paper, her voice very calm and collected, she had seen far worse and was for the most part unaffected.

Her eyes dropped down lower on the clipboard, "We've tried examining her brain and everything appears normal despite the circumstances-but we won't know fully until she regains consciousness. We're waiting patiently and will notify you immediately of any changes in her condition." The nurse finished.

Inspector Ginoza nodded his head, "That will be all thank you." The nurse smiled and nodded before taking off down the hall in a clipped pace, he turned to face Shusei, "There are you satisfied?" he asked him.

Shusei nodded his head, "Yeah thanks." He stated his mind flashing back to that awful night two days ago. Masaoka had managed to stop the major bleeding but Emiko had still lost a lot of blood, she was in shock.

Paramedics arrived thirty seconds after her heart stopped the first time, which terrified Shusei. All of a sudden her chest stopped moving, Masaoka shoved him aside and started doing compressions. There was a crack but Masaoka looked unaffected by the sound and Shusei wasn't certain of what it was that had made the cracking sound. Later after Emiko had been taken away Masaoka had explained to him it was her ribs cracking- Shusei was mad until Masaoka explained it was her ribs or her life and he let it go. Almost as soon as Masaoka had started CPR paramedics arrived and took over with an AED on hand bringing her back.

Shusei wasn't allowed to ride in the ambulance-he didn't know that Emiko's heart had stopped a second time. He should have been there with her, it wasn't right for him not to be by her side. He needed to be there with her to help her fight, but he couldn't because he was an enforcer-he was dangerous. That thought made him smirk, sure dangerous he thought to himself only to those around me as they try to protect me.

His ride back to headquarters was stressful and made him extremely anxious, he couldn't stop moving. His legs bounced incessantly and his fingers twiddled. He was thankful that Ginoza didn't ride in the back to see him as a nervous wreck-this was all his fault. Emiko was inexperienced but it wasn't her that had caused this-it was him, he was the one who had messed up.

The second he was back he took off to find Masaoka, he had questions that needed answering. It took him awhile but he managed to track down the seasoned enforcer, "Masaoka! Masaoka!" he called sprinting down the hall and practically barrelling him over, "Look I've got questions for you. I need to understand- the thing is I don't understand-" Shusei started and stopped each time getting to anxious and worked up to finish his questions.

"Emiko's heart stopped twice I don't understand what it has to do with her head!" he blurted out in anger and frustration, it had been mothering him ever since the hospital. Why was the nurse so worked up over Emiko's head when it was her heart that had stopped twice.

"C'mon let's sit down for a bit." Masaoka stated suddenly feeling a fatherly urge, the two enforcers trotted together in silence down the halls to the small patio that they were permitted on. It was surrounded by the building on all four sides so they didn't have a chance to escape-but it did allot them fresh air. The two men found a bench and sat down, Masaoka sat down pulling out a cigarette and a lighter.

"Alright, think of your veins and arteries like a plumbing system or highway for blood to get around the body. The heart is the pump that drives it through the body right?" Masaoka started going all the way back to the basics.

Shusei nodded his head, "yeah I get that but what's the brain got to do with it?" he asked on the verge of impatience.

"The brain needs a constant source of blood, or rather the oxygen in the blood-there are other things but let's focus on the oxygen alright. When the brain gets starved of oxygen it starts to die- it gets starved of oxygen when the heart stops because the blood had stopped." Masaoka explained, "It starts off slow, for the first four minutes there's most likely not going to be any damage at all. Between four and six minutes it's more likely there's damage but not probable. After six minutes it's more than likely the brain is starting to die- and after ten minutes there's irreversible damage." He explained.

Shusei took a moment to digest the information, "The nurse said that her heart stopped for eight minutes… what does that mean. Is she alright?" he asked his voice small and worried.

Masaoka glanced over, he knew better than to make false promises, so he settled for a shrug, "It's different for every brain-she could bounce back just fine or have some minor problems."

Shusei perked up, "She's going to be alright?!" he exclaimed suddenly feeling elated, "You said minor damage-so she's alright, she's okay!" he was suddenly feeling energized and so excited. A weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Masaoka watched the new enforcer with uneasiness in his gut, but was too afraid to intervene for the sake of Shusei's mental wellbeing. He knew that the enforcer was pretty unstable and shaken up right now, he also knew that the new inspector Emiko was going to be pretty banged up. He watched in silence as Shusei trotted off happily, fear growing in his stomach watching the scene play out.

… One Week Later…

Emiko turned and stared up at Shusei, his heart froze in anxious anticipation. He licked his chapped lips and rocked back and forth on his heels eager. But instead of her face alighting with excitement or warm welcome like it always would- her face turned into a look of confusion she stared at him like he was an absolute stranger.

"Who are you?" she asked him looking at him almost as if she were afraid of him, it was clear from her expression she didn't recognize him, "Do-do I know you?" she asked him curling her hair around her fingers and still eyeing him warily.

His heart felt broken at that moment- it wasn't her fault she wasn't purposely being cruel to him. But she didn't remember him at all. She didn't remember all the kind things she'd done for him and all the time they had spent together.

He nodded his head swallowing back the pain and sadness, "Yeah you could say that you did know me at one point." He stated his eyes locked on the floor it was getting too difficult for him to drag his gaze up from the floor.

There was a sniffle from her and he glanced up to see her trying to hold back tears, "I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She apologised to him looking absolutely locked in agony., her hands slowly reached up to clutch the sides of her head, "I-I just… it's just unbearable. I can't remember anything... there've been so many people visiting me and I have no idea who they are. I feel so alone and so stupid."

"I don't remember who I was. How am I supposed to go forwards without knowing what's behind me?" she sobbed, "I'm sorry I can't remember you... I am so, so sorry. You don't understand how badly I want to remember you. You look so kind and nice." She sniffled as she whipped more vigorously at her nose, "I just don't know if I can do this anymore." She whimpered wrapping her arms around herself, Emiko felt chills run down her body like she was drowning in ice water, she honestly felt like she was drowning in emotions and stress right now. She felt like an all-consuming black void was devouring her bit by bit and no one was there to save her.

She was shaking uncontrollably, the tremors racking her body growing worse with every passing second. Shusei meanwhile was staring at her with his mouth agape, he didn't think she'd be so broken by this incident. Emiko had always been a happy optimistic person, for her the idea of a dark or bad side didn't exist… and now all she could see was darkness before her. She had always been the happiest person he'd ever known from the second he met her, he honestly had never thought that she could break from that.

He ran up and grabbed her crushing her in an embrace, her face pressed into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her protectively, he knew she didn't like people being protective of her but knew that's what she needed right now. "It's going to be okay, everything is alright." He said, "If you ever think you aren't strong enough for this, I am here to be strong for you." He assured her.

"Anyways we got a lot of time to pass before we ever have a visit from death." He chuckled, he heard her release a hysterical laugh muffled from his shoulder and she hiccupped a few times as she finished crying herself out.

"What's that even mean?" she asked him her face still hidden from him, she was too embarrassed to lift her face as it was burning from embarrassment and shame. He'd startled her at first when he grabbed her, and she was tense at first, after all she didn't know who this man was. But once he started to comfort her she relaxed, something in her whispered that he was familiar and safe- she decided that some part of her remembered him.

His arms held her gently as if afraid to crush her, he was warm and smelled so nice, she was embarrassed to admit it but she didn't want to be released from this hug. Meanwhile Shusei gently patted her head as he chuckled to himself, "Don't you know? Life's all about passing time till you die." He joked.

Emiko grinned and chuckled, "That's pretty dark you know." And made a move to pull away from the embrace deciding it'd be awkward if she stayed but he held her there. She shifted her chin so it rested on his shoulder but turned her face away from his so he couldn't see the blush on her cheeks, "If it's all about passing time doesn't that make everything you do pointless."

"Well when you put it that way... but you know you can make passing time mean stuff." Shusei responded feeling somewhat embarrassed himself.