Chapter Five

Kat yawned, stretching her arms out in front of her as a doctor stepped in the room, looking at the clipboard he held in one hand. The man looked up from his information when he noticed her movement, smiling softly.
"Good morning, Miss Claire," he said, and it took Kat a moment to remember her alias Sophie Claire. Right. He moved over to where Shay still lay unconscious and unchanged. He had not moved the entire time Kat slept, and she wondered if he was all right. Nothing had started a wail of beeping, so she assumed he was not dying or something. That was what happened, right? She was not sure - she was not a doctor, either, so it did not really matter.
The one who was a doctor, though, seemed to know what he was doing as he checked things on and around Shay; taking a look at the bandages, manually testing the assassin's pulse, opening his eyelids and shining a light in them. Kat wondered what that was about, shining the lights in the eyes. Something about. Diddlation? Sighing softly, she told herself to let the doctor worry about it, and stop thinking about things like that, standing at the metal guardrail of the bed. She placed Shay's hand, one finger clamped in this gray instrument that measured his heartbeat, holding it carefully.
The doctor looked up towards Shay's face, frowning slightly and pushing a bit of blonde hair away from the scarred eye. "How did he manage to get that?" he asked, looking at Kat curiously. She paused a moment, blinking, making up a lie.
"Football accident," she answered. "He's not a very big guy and the others kind of trampled him." The doctor looked at her skeptically, but did not pursue the thought, writing something on his paper.
It was true, though, that Shay would be crushed in football if he were not a professional assassin. He was fast, and he could probably make it through a field of football players from one end to the other, making a touchdown without ever being touched. Assuming he had none of that padding and equipment on, he could probably just vault over the other players without any trouble. The thought almost made Kat laugh, but she cut it off before her face changed, eyes on Shay's frozen face.
Shay's hand moved, grasping Kat's in a light squeeze as he shifted slightly, face twisting in a grimace as he turned it towards the ceiling, gritting his teeth. He opened his eyes, slowly, and they focused on her face, blank.
"What-" he drew a sharp breath, shoulders rising as he moved a hand to his side. The doctor caught his arm and drew it back, earning a sharp glance from the patient. "Where am I? What am I doing here.?"
"It's all right, Shay," Kat said softly, leaning over and putting her hand on his face, brushing back his hair with gentle fingers. "I'm here. You're at a hospital, you were shot in the supermarket, but they helped you."
"I thought his name was Toby." the doctor said slowly, looking at his papers. That was right. Kat had avoided having to do any paperwork for the time being, claiming she could not under the circumstances. They still thought his name was Toby. She raised her head, looking at the doctor with a smile.
"His middle name is Shay," she said. "That's what I call him." The physician nodded slowly.
"Well, I'll come back in a little while," he said, walking to the door. Kat watched him as he closed the door and left them in silence except the sounds of the machines at Shay's head.
"You brought me to a hospital," Shay said after a minute, closing his eyes. Kat shrugged, looking down at him with her head tilted to one side.
"I had to." she said defensively. "You almost died," she added in a soft voice, looking at her hand, and his.
"They'll figure out who I am," he said in a low voice.
"I know, I know." she shook her head. "But I couldn't have told them that you couldn't come to the hospital. They just took you, anyway." Shay nodded, sighing. "But it wouldn't have been good if they hadn't brought you here, anyway. You would have died, without help." Shay's hand loosened on hers, and he did not reply, falling asleep again. Kat sighed, leaning over and planting a soft kiss on his pale cheek before letting go of his hand and walking to the chair, sitting down. She assumed he must need a lot of sleep, now.
Pulling her legs up underneath herself, she shifted through the magazines that sat in a few piles next to the chair, looking for anything of interest. Her mind was not in the task, though, thinking about what to do if they figured out who Shay was, and who she was. She had an emergency method of getting out of trouble, but. She really did not want to use it. Shay would never trust her, then.
She looked up as the door opened again, admitting two uniformed police officers. She wondered if her thoughts had triggered it. Maybe the doctor's note about Shay's scar and her slip of his name. She stood as one of the officers walked to the bed, the other over to her.
"What's going on?" she asked, feigning surprise.
"Miss Claire?" the officer in front of her asked. Well, they did not know her real name, anyway. They only knew what Shay's was. "I need to talk to you about your boyfriend." Tell her that he was a killer? She knew. But she made herself seem startled as he spoke and the other officer handcuffed Shay's arms to either side of the bed.
Kat, personally, thought one arm would do. Maybe they knew a little more of Shay's reputation than she thought. He'd have gotten out of one easily enough - he had this skill with tampering with locks, namely handcuff locks. But if he couldn't reach it.
She turned back to the officer's attempt to tell her things, and his finally demanding an account of what happened in the supermarket.

--

Shay opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling over his head, turning his face towards where he thought Kat would be. The chair was empty, and he stared at the lonely piece of furniture for several moments before moving his hand to feel the bandages around his body.
Something stopped his arm, and he wondered if there was another doctor there, not wanting him to play with the band-aid. A doctor with very thin, very cold fingers, it seemed. Tugging on the resisting force, he heard the tinkle of metal on metal and closed his eyes, head slumping back on the pillow. Sighing, he shook his head, looking through his eyelashes towards the handcuffs on the one side of the bed, then to the pair on the other side. He took a breath to calm himself, closing his eyes again. What could he do to get out of this? He pulled on the cuffs, hard, panic rising in his heart. The metal bit into his wrists even though he could not pull very hard, strength only half of what it usually was.
Tiredness came over him again, and his arms relaxed, letting him fall into a restless sleep once more.

--

Shay stared at his hands as Kori bound them together with thin rope, tying it securely. He was oddly aware of the birds overhead, all around, as the teacher spoke in a low voice he had to strain to hear.
"You'll learn discipline, and you'll learn endurance," the man said, and Shay's focus was distorted as the man pulled his arms over his head, hooking the rope around a branch above him. "I'll be back in a few days. If you're not here, I'll assume either some animal made a meal of you, or you ran off. For your sake, I hope you'll be in some belly. If I find you somewhere, you'll regret it." Shay swallowed, nodding shortly. He did not want to take punishment from Kori; he was a harsh man when he was angry. And his methods of teaching were questionable, if not cruel, to his students. Such as this; the academy had no idea he did this sort of training with his pupils, and would not be pleased if they did. However, Shay and Mahani would never say anything - they would not dare.
"Be good," Kori said, his face blank as he turned away from Shay, who stood there silent, staring after him.

--

Shay leaned against the tree, shaking his head as mosquitoes attacked his face and neck. His arms were asleep; he had not tried to shake the feeling back into them for a while. It was too tedious, waiting for the pins and needles to go away, and he decided he did not need to do it. Not for a while, anyway - he could wait.
He wondered why Kori would tie him here like this. He would not have wandered off, had he just left Shay alone there. Maybe so he could not sit. Maybe so he would have to deal with the sleeping arms, the pins and needles. Maybe he wanted some animal to come and attack him, leaving him helpless to run away.
He hoped it was not the latter, watching the darkness around him. Unsure why, he could feel panic rising in him as he saw shadows move, thinking about the animals in the forest. He had been told before that there were wolves in the trees that would attack anyone who entered the forest, especially students. They were smaller, and easier prey. What would they think of a student tied up and unable to fight back?
Attempting to shrink in on himself, wondering how he could keep his own smell from permeating the air and calling wolves to him, he quieted his irregular breathing, trying to slow his heart. He thought he heard sounds in the distance. No, not distant. Close. Something was out there. Something big. Something close. It was behind the tree. Shay was sure. It was right there. Something was coming to get him.
Shay whimpered, looking up at the rope. He shook his head, listening. He thought he could still hear it. He could not stand it. He leaned down, pulling hard on the cord. It snapped, easier than he would have expected, but he paid no heed to that as he ran through the trees, hands in front of him in attempt to not run into anything. Ahead, he could see the lights of his hut, where Kori would be. His mentor would keep the bad things away, however much he would be punished for leaving a place he had been told to stay.
Mahani stood on the porch, oddly, and he reached down to help Shay scramble up and into the hut. Kori sat against the opposite wall, watching passively as Shay caught his breath, trying to keep the sobs from becoming audible. He could not stop the tears as they fell down his face. Mahani stepped towards him, bending down, flicking a knife from his belt and cutting Shay's binds. Kori stood as the other student went to him, handing him the rope.
"I told you to stay," Kori said. Shay did not answer, eyes squeezed shut against the outside world. "You didn't do as you were told." He put his hand on Shay's shoulder, and his shaking slowed, he relaxed slightly. "But now you know that I'll protect you." Shay opened his eyes, staring up into Kori's dark brown. There was something of Eso's light there. "You can always come to your master for help. I'll never fail you, and you'll never fail me." Shay sat up slowly, head bowed, staring at the floor.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
"You will not miss your punishment for disobeying me, still," he said.
"Yes, sensei."
"You're still young." he said softly. "It's only been a year you've been with me. You'll lose that fear, though. You'll never be afraid of anything again. Don't worry."

--

Shay woke again, shaking visibly. He shook his head, pulling on the handcuffs in violent tugs, eyes squeezed shut. Why, why did they have to do this to him? Why didn't Kori eliminate his fear? Why was he so afraid? He was so afraid. He did not want to be stuck here, he could not let himself be chained to this bed with no way of getting free, he could not let them do this to him. They'll kill him; he'll die, tied neatly and ready to go to hell with no chance to get out of it. No control over anything-
The door opened. He did not notice it, busy pulling and thoughts streaming similarly without any break. He felt soft hands on his face before seeing Kat above him. She made soothing shushing sounds, telling him it would be all right.
"Calm down, Shay," she said quietly, staring at him with those beautiful eyes. He let his arms relax, dropping beside him, head falling back into the pillow, eyes closed.
"Let me go," he sobbed. "Please, let me go."
"Shhh, it's okay, Shay," Kat said, leaning over, arm around his neck, putting her face close to his. "It's okay," she whispered. "It's okay. I'm here, Shay. I won't leave you." How could she say that, when he had been alone moments before? How could she say that? "I promise, Shay. Believe me. Trust me. I won't let anything happen." He turned his face towards hers, putting his forehead against hers, eyes still closed. He refused to open them, not wanting to see the world, uncaring of the tears down his face.