9

I don't wanna see you cryin' anymore

Mahito held a victorious smirk on his lips the moment his eyes met the pink-haired sorcerer.

"About time!" He yelled like a maniac causing Nanami to look at his senior.

"You finally showed up, Shizue." Mahito's grin grew wide.

The woman kept a blank gaze as she held onto her battle axe. Shizue only received the intel about the guy who was responsible for the transfigured humans, and Nanami fought him the last time, however he said that his attacks were useless against him. Surprisingly upon arrival, they learned that Yuji managed to injure him which is a good thing.

But how exactly did this curse knew who she was?

The blue haired curse smirks, he gagged until the transfigured humans he stored within his body resurfaced and threw it at blonde's direction. Shizue inhaled another hit of her cigarette, this curse seems a real handful.

"Kill the men," The creatures grew larger and attacked both Nanami and Itadori, leaving Shizue  a one in one fight.

His arms altered into a huge morning star and charged at her with an incredible speed. "Let's have fun, Shizue!"

"Stop addressing me so casually ya' rascal." Shizue immediately shielded herself with her weapon.

She delivered a swift kick that knocked him off balance but then was shocked when his other arm reverted back to its state. She felt his hand come in contact with her torso.

"Don't let him touch you, senpai!" Nanami yelled as he dealt with the slimy creature. Shizue was quick to swing her axe and cut his arm off.

Mahito's blood splattered across the pavement. His brows knotted deeply as he let out a maniac laugh. Geto was not lying.

Shizue grew irritated. "Tsk. This is such a hassle."

She ignored the sting that spread through her waist.  She reformed her axe into a sharp rod and threw it at him before jumping back to expand the distance between them. Mahito saw the up coming hardened blood and bent his back to dodge it but to his surprise, the rod  stopped mid-air just right above him. Shizue's blood reformed into a large tri-dent that stabbed him onto the ground.

A visible tremor surged through the field. Mahito's eyes raged, he was trapped.

"You're not the only one with tricks ya' know." Shizue mocked as she tossed the cigarette butt on the ground and grabbed a new one before lighting it.

The long ravenette haired sorcerer cupped the sand using his palms before shaping it to make a small castle. "There's still one more sorcerer we have to take care of first."

Mahito looks him while lying with arms carefreely rests behind his head. He awaited for Geto's next words. The man took something from his pocket and tossed it at him. It was a picture of a certain pink haired sorcerer, she had pale white skin and a very dark under eyes you could easily mistake her for a sick person.

"That's Shizue Yamada, she originally came from the Kamo clan, so she has the blood manipulation technique." Geto explained.

"Wasn't she banished from the clan? Why would we waste time on her then? she's weak," He mocked. Geto only chuckled.

"Quite the opposite, actually." Mahito shot his eyes at Geto who suddenly had a serious look in his face.

"Shizue's blood manipulation technique is more advanced than any other member of the clan. The only issue is that, the clan found out that she is an illegitimate child. The elders were despondent about her existence. But, that doesn't change the fact that, Shizue Yamada is the strongest blood user of her time."

"Okay one last question. Why do you have that picture of her?"

"oh, It came with the clothes! Haha!"

Mahito struggled to take control of his body after Shizue landed an attack with a huge hammer axe which also destroyed his domain. His desperation to kill her deemed useless against Shizue's continuous assault, the only way he could survive this...is to escape.

He managed to create the perfect diversion. The creature what seemed to be Mahito in child form gave them a devilish smirk before jumping to the sewers with a last irritating sentiment. Our paths will cross again, Shizue. Next time, I'll kill you for sure.

"Bye, Bye!" Nanami smashed his weapon against the metal sewer but it was too late. Mahito got away. He fished out his phone and contacted another sorcerer to hunt down the curse.

"Ino, he escaped in the sewers." Nanami turned to his peers.

"Shizue-senpai, Itadori, we must-"

His eyes widened when he saw Itadori's body go down, luckily, Shizue was fast enough to catch him before he crashed on the cemented ground.

"We need to get him treated." Nanami couldn't help but notice the red stain on her uniform as she held the student in her arms. Nanami took it upon himself to carry Itadori.

"Shizue-senpai, you're injured." He poured her a concerned look. The girl dismissively waved her hand.

"I'll be fine, take care of Yuji first." Shizue ordered while pressing a white cloth against the wound on the side of her upper waist.

---

Hanji stepped out of the car along with Jean, Reiner, and the ravenette captain who were holding tall stack of books in their arms. They all made their way inside the Apollo tower in order to return the books Shizue gave.

"I can't believe not one of those books made any explanation as to why are you guys here, but I'm a bit glad." Hanji chuckled. Jean and Reiner deadpanned at them.

Yes, they were thankful they had someone familiar help them navigate through this world but, this wasn't their home. They experienced great things in this world, the food, the places, the peace, and they have Hanji and the people they met to thank for that. But they still had people in their life they want to get back to, their families, friends.

"Alright, alright, I get your point. Stop looking at me like that." Hanji raises their hand in defeat.

"Sorry, please don't take this the wrong way Hanji-san." Reiner sighed, an image of his mom flashes within his mind. "But once we get the chance to get out of this place, I'll take it."

"I probably would too." Jean agreed, before his eyes landed on the ravenette male. "What about you captain?"

"What about me." Levi spoke with no interest in his tone.

Jean was still a bit hopeful. "If we finally get a chance to get back home, will you?" He ask. Knowing how important their vice-captain was to him, Levi had a difficult choice. Is he going to stay with her or go back to his life in the military?

"I'll stay." He answered not a second later which surprised them all. Levi had never been so certain in his life.

"Wait, you're serious?!" Hanji was shocked.

Levi kept on walking. He was serious. He chose to prioritize his job over her once, it took him to very difficult places that affected them both. Levi wasn't gonna make that mistake again.

He knocked on Shizue's door the moment they arrived, but no one answered. They waited. After a few moments, Levi raised his hand to knock once more.

Still no answer.

"Maybe she's out?" Says Jean. Levi suddenly steps away for a moment when an unexpected cough erupted from his throat. This earned a curious look from Hanji but then ignores it and turned their attention back to Jean.

"There's an emergency key under the pot, let's just drop that off and go." Hanji informed, the three men looked at them in unison. They were all holding huge stack of books while Hanji was empty handed.

"Right, sorry." The brunette went to grab the keys but to their surprise, the door was not locked. Their brows furrowed confused. "Wait, it's open."

"Shizueee!" Hanji entered the apartment with their booming voice, making the pinkette sigh upon hearing it. They walked around the room looking for the girl.

"We'll go wait in the car." Says Reiner after dropping the books on the table. The two passed the kitchen and unexpectedly saw Shizue leaning against the wall holding the phone near her ears. Their grew wide when they saw the red stain she held on her waist.

Jean panicked, as it reminded him of that night. The girl tried to reason with him but-

"CAAPTAIN! SHIZUE-SAN IS INJURED!" He yelled from the top of his lungs.

Shizue tsk-ed. "I'll call you back later, Nanami."

She glared at Jean. "Snitch." She bitterly scoffed before tossing the cloth to the sink.

Jean was not offended a bit. He had a feeling she wouldn't want to tell the captain about the injury because knowing him,-

Levi's ears perked as he rushed towards the kitchen, bumping against Hanji along the way. His eyes widened when he saw the sight of her blood. "What the hell happened?!"

"It's nothing, just a teeny-"

"And what's this?" He furiously picked it up." Electrical tape?- Don't tell me you're planning to use this on your wound." Levi grew stressed as he pulls a chair for her to sit and took it upon himself to treat the injury.

Shizue couldn't careless. "I ran out of packaging tape."

His eye twitched. "You're not supposed to use tha- You know what? Never mind."

"Oh damn." Hanji chimed when they saw the graze on her waist, it looked painful. It wasn't like the normal injury they usually get from weapons or any other collision. They opened their mouth to speak but immediately closed it, Hanji figured it was best not to lecture her because, She already had him for that.

Shizue couldn't help but notice the grumpy look on his face as he addressed her wound.

"Does this always happen?" He asked.

One of the things she knew about him, is that he could be very protective, too much sometimes. She figured that maybe, he did have some sort of close relationship with her in her past life. Because, why else would he act like this around her? Shizue was conflicted.

"No, it's just a miscalculation." She defended, the girl hissed when the cotton touched her wound. Levi looked up to her before bringing his gaze back to his work. "Sorry,"

"Look, I'm fine really. This probably would heal in the morning." Shizue carefreely insisted.

"You can never think like that Shizue, you're a sorcerer, you're prone to these things, and you don't even know how to address your wounds. You should've come to Shoko." Hanji sermonized with a downcast expression.

"Sure I can! Just put some rubbing alcohol on it then tape some clean cloth on it. Done." She boasted.

"Please stop." Levi shook his head.

Shizue unknowingly flinched when Levi's fingers softly grazed against her back as he wrapped the bandage around her waist.

She felt confused, as to why her heartbeat suddenly increased its pace. Levi didn't seem to mind, his face was unwavering. Was it just her? Maybe it was just her. She convinced herself, and tried to move away because though he was kneeling in front of him, his face was really, really close.

The man furrowed his brows when she saw her scooting away, he thought this was just her being stubborn again. Levi raised his head and saw her looking away. "Can you tell me how I'm supposed to tie your bandages if I can't reach you?"

Shizue slowly leans but still had her head turned to the side to prevent him from seeing her face. Little did she know, her reddened face were so visible it's concerning. He saw it, but chose not to say anything.

Levi lowers his head while hiding a small smile. She's too adorable.

____

A/N: I almost forgot that its Monday. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays! Let me know what you think of the story :)