She remembered being outside the tent Hisoka had entered keeping her guard. She held an unfamiliar yet lethal weapon in her hands, and as Hisoka had put his trust in her to watch his back, she didn't plan to break said trust. She vigilantly stood watch over the surrounding area, and immediately noticed when a group of goblins approached from the forest.

Sadly, she had failed to notice the two goblins sneaking behind her, as she was occupied trying to properly aim at the new targets. The two goblins carefully snuck up behind, her, clubs ready to strike. When they reached striking distance, they brought down the clubs in heavy strikes hitting her hard on the head and the sides.

Having been caught off guard she had little time to react, yet still turned to fire and put one down before she was knocked to the ground by a swift strike to her head. The goblins lurking in the forest saw their opportunity to strike and rushed forward to join in killing the invader.

She was on the ground being beaten, she felt each and every impact shake her, and even felt her ribs cracking. She tried to get her pistol but she couldn't; there were simply too many of them holding her down. She remembered that time... indeed, this was an all too familiar feeling for her.

She continued to struggle to no avail, it only resulted in even more vicious strikes to her body, causing her to yelp in pain.

She was scared. She didn't want to die, especially in such a brutal manner. Goblins were known to leave not much more than the meaty pulp of their victims, and as she had invaded their land they would treat her no differently than the rumors. She clenched her teeth and took the consecutive strikes after losing all hope or ability to struggle.

"YOU FUCKERS!" she faintly heard as she desperately tried to keep conscious.

Blinking in and out of awareness she watched Hisoka storm towards her leaving nothing but corpses in his wake. He had a look of rage on his face and leaked such strong killing intent it made her shudder. She watched as he charged forward pumping rounds into enemies and bashing in the heads of those to close to her. One goblin stood in his way when he had run dry, and he proceeded to hammer it repeatedly bringing down the buttstock to break in its head, before dropping the magazine into his hand and expertly swapping it for a fresh 9 rounds ready to fly downrange.

The goblins noticed the new assailant from a different angle and relinquished assault on her and tried to face this new threat.

Big mistake. Not only did they give her the time she needed to reach for her pistol, but they also gave up their close proximity to Misumi, allowing Hisoka to gun them down relentlessly.

She painfully raised her arm and sighted in on the goblin nearest to her. As her vision blurred and tunneled, threatening to fade out, she painfully raised the weapon and centered the sights center mass on the nearest goblin. She let out 2 rounds sending intense jolts of pain down her battered possibly even fractured arm. She grit her teeth to avoid screaming in pain and managed to repeat the process once more before her strength gave out completely. Her hand unable to hold the weapon any longer dropped it to the grass below. All she could do was lay there and trust that Hisoka would save her.

Hisoka ruthlessly and efficiently blasted the 5 enemies still standing in his path to reach Misumi. Green blood sprayed as their small chest cavities were ripped apart by buckshot. He quickly made his way to Misumi and spoke something to her that she was beyond hearing.

She watched his expression darken, before hardening into unyielding resolve, as he picked her up and moved as quickly yet carefully back to their vehicle. She looked up at his worried face, grave concern carved into his expression. She knew instinctively that she could trust him to help her, and truthfully it wasn't like there was anything she could do anyways as she had exhausted her little remaining strength. Her eyelids became heavy as her world folded into black as she rested in his arms.

~~~

She awoke within a familiar room, feeling minor aches and bruising but not the intense pain she had expected. She glanced around and found that it was her room in the inn that she and Hisoka were staying in.

She slowly rose to a sitting position in the bed and examined her body to the best of her ability. She fully expected to see her skin be a mess of purple and black bruising, perhaps even blood-caked, and was surprised t see minor bruising at worst. Clearly, her wounds had been expertly treated, and she wondered if it was Hisoka himself who had given her aid.

She slowly got out of the bed; her body protesting the movement after being static so long, and gently walked out of the room. She noticed it was late, as the hall candles were lit and the moon shone through the window at the end of the long hallway. She quietly approached the room Hisoka occupied, before gently knocking at the door. She heard movement inside, and after a short wait, the door opened with a solemn-looking Hisoka.

His eyes widened seeing her and he drew her into an embrace. It surprised her, but it wasn't a bad feeling. She returned the embrace as he repeatedly muttered apologies to her.

"I'm sorry, this was my fault. I shouldn't have left you to guard on your own with a weapon you didn't know," he said softly to her.

"If I had only been quicker in dealing with the gobli-"

She held a finger to his lips and stopped his mumbling.

"It's not your fault. Neither of us knew there was a larger group in the forest waiting for us." she softly replied while continuing to bask in his warm embrace.

"What's more is how quickly you came to my rescue," she smiled remembering how he valiantly charged forward to subdue her assailants.

"That makes this the second time you've saved me," she softly spoke reminiscing.

She gently broke off the embrace and looked into his eyes, where worry and guilt still lingered.

"Besides that, now I feel fine. I don't know how exactly you treated me but whatever you did seems to have had a good effect," she moved her limbs to prove that she was fine.

Her face darkened, "I was scared. They surrounded me and they held me down as they continued to club me, I wasn't sure I'd make it. And then you come running blasting them to pieces to save me," she recalled with a light smile on her face.

He lightly blushed and replied, "Of course I would come running, I heard you shooting and then I saw you in that state..."

She gave him a firm look as if she would start to lecture him if he continued to blame himself. He couldn't compete with that face and merely looked down.

"I'm just glad you're ok," he softly spoke.

It was her turn to blush.

The two smiled and Hisoka proposed they get a late dinner.

They left the inn and went down to the usual place where they shared a pleasant meal. As it was rather late there weren't too many other patrons to disturb them and they enjoyed a quiet meal together before they retired to the inn.

As they were about to head to their rooms, Hisoka stopped her and handed her something.

"You had dropped this," he said as he handed her back the P226 which she had used in the battle. He also handed her the SBR.

"I promise you I will properly and thoroughly teach you how to handle it before the next time we have to use our weapons again. show you how to use it before we go anywhere we will need to use it again," he said with firm resolve.

She smiled and received the weapons before retiring to her room.

She lay awake for a while thinking about what had transpired and was left to wonder about this confusing feeling she had for Hisoka.

While she lay contemplating these matters, on the other side of the wall Hisoka was geeking out over ammunition.

~~~