Autumn chocolate.{Open}

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Roxanne watched him nervously as he slammed his shoulder into the wall to reset it, wincing as she heard it snap back into place. As he slumped to the ground holding his arm she reached her hands out, unsure of what to do. She couldn't make him leave as he was now without it weighing on her conscious, but he couldn't stay out in the open like this either.

Crouching in front of him she placed her hands on his arms before speaking "Kuro, no, don't go to sleep, I can't carry you" she said exasperated "I need you to walk upstairs." she had converted the upstairs attic into a living space, and she was someone certain no one would try and look up there. The injured woman hopefully would merit most of their attention. "The paramedics, and police," she looked up momentarily towards the direction of the sirens. "they're going to be here soon, Kuro, you need to move...."

[Kuro Boushi]

Kuro shifted his head a little, then cracked his neck, reaching up to his head with his right arm he pulled the head band off. Then stretching his left arm out he tied the head band tightly over the wound. Pulling it tightly with his teeth and right hand he then looked to the girl. His hair hung loosely in his face, covering most of his eyes, the wound on his cheek had stopped bleeding but his face was still pretty covered. He smiled at the girl, her concern was kinda nice he wasn't all to use to that from someone he barely knew.

He nodded to her, "Alright missy." He said slowly raising himself to his feet leaning on the wall, he went to take a step the fell back into the wall, "Huh, that's not a good sign is it?" he asked softly, whining in pain as he moved his arms and pulling the wounds open on his chest. "Ouch" he sighed again.

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Roxanne looked over at him with wide eyes. "Dear god that looks bad" In a small voice she muttered "You're insane. That's got to be it" She stood there somewhat uncomfortable, not really sure what do before reaching out and grabbed his arm. In all honesty she wasn't sure she could be of much help past maybe helping his balance. Regardless, he needed to get up the stairs and if she could make that processes quicker, than so be it. "Please, you can rest once you get upstairs, I promise" she tugged on his arm looking frantically between the door and him.

[ooc: Eh, sorry it's short, couldn't really think of much else to do >.>]

[Kuro Boushi]

Kuro looked at the panicking girl as she tugged at his arm, she was honestly concerned for his well being. He pushed himself off the wall, taking in a deep breath, then grabbing his wounded on his left arm with his right hand. He with the girl still looking at him he smiled, blood still over his face his right eye closed, "Don't worry about me missy, this is just a scratch compared to some of my other frays." he joked. He then began walking towards the back room, "Stay with her," he said referring to the women on the ground, "Elevate her feet and get her covered, tell the medics that she has lost a good deal of blood and is going into shock." as he reached the counter he looked to the girl.

"Thank you" he said to her, the removed his hand from his arm and giving her a thumbs up as he headed to the back, bloody foot prints trailing behind him. As he reached the stairs he looked to them in a confused stare. "This is gonna suck...." he sighed as he trudged his way up stairs as he reached the top he looked and opened the door to a small room. As he entered he took off his now blood soaked shirt and tossed it to the corner, then ripped the legs off his jeans and began turning it into stripes to wrap his chest wounds, taking the remainder to wrap his arm properly. "That should help some, gonna scar but it will help."

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Roxanne watched him until he made it back into the back room. As soon as he had disappeared she turned her attention back to the woman on the ground. She pulled over one of the chairs in her shop and elevated her feet, as Kuro had asked. Looking around for something to cover her. Seeing that there was nothing in the display room she ran over to the back room and grabbed one of the spare blankets from the makeshift bed Kuro had been lying on earlier.

As she was reentering the display room she looked over to see a couple of police cars pulling up. The police were flooding the streets pointing their guns at the man on the ground. The paramedics arrived shortly after the police, who were continuing to check out the man on the street. She ran over to the door and ushered them in before moving over towards her counter while they rushed to the girl's side.

Seeing her sketchbook was still on the counter she grabbed the book and held it to her chest as they worked to get her stable on on a stretcher and a police officer entered her shop. The officer was careful to avoid the work of the paramedics.

"Hello ma'm" she looked over at him before holding the book closer to her and muttering

"Bonjour". The officer looked over at the woman being brought out of the shop before looking back over at her, looking her over.

"Ma'm are you ok?" She nodded. "Good, listen, your shop had a clear view of the fight" he looked over to the paramedics with the woman "and it's clear you saw what happened. There were two users fighting, we have one...you wouldn't have happened to see the other one, or where he went." he looked around her shop as he waited for her response.

She looked at him for a moment before studdering a response, "Um, i wasn't really paying attention officer. I was too busy helping that woman." Her french accent was heavier than usually probably because she was a little upset and the the officer just nodded before looking around a little more. Noticing footsteps he looked at her

"Are these your footsteps" her eyes widened looking down at them. Not taking her eyes away from them she spoke.

"Very possible, i had to go upstairs to get the blankets and first aid supplies."

"Whats upstairs?"

"My personal residence. This is my shop and I live above it." she looked back over at him with a straight face as he nodded.

"Well ma'm if you have any troubles with anything, anyone, at all, you call us. Thank you for your time." he nodded at her and she smiled and moved behind her counter and watched nervously as the officer continued to look around her shop before heading outside to talk to the rest of his partners as they hauled away the man.

Moving out from her station behind the counter she looked at the small pools of blood on her floor before moving over to the door and locking it. Moving from the display room she headed to the back and followed the footsteps towards her room. Knocking on the door she opened it and peeked inside.

"Kuro, are you ok..."seeing that he was shirtless she started to leave. "Oh i'm sorry. Um, do you need anything? I can't stay gone for long, i don't want the police to come back asking around, but i can bring you...something....."

[Kuro Boushi]

As Kuro heard the commotion down stairs he tried to keep his whines of pain silent as he pulled the stripes across his chest tight. Pulling the last one tight as he could he looked at his left arm, the headband was now soaked in blood, he sighed thinking of how many times it had been used for this. "Guess you are still watching out for me to a point huh." he smiled slightly.

When he heard the foot steps headed upstairs he thought to get up but applying weight to his left arm blood began to soak through again. He sighed, "Guess I'm caught." he nodded slightly agreeing with himself, wouldn't be the first time, and most likely not the last.

As the door creaked open he raised his hands together to be shackled, but seeing Roxanne open the door he let out a sigh, "Well that is good" he smiled at her. "Just a few cuts and what not, he replied to her, down playing the injuries." "I'm good really, I'll leave soon as the bleeding stops, Sorry about all this missy." he felt bad for doing this to her, "I'll head down and grab my bag in a few to change then I'll head out."

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

As he apologized and spoke about leaving she shook her head looking in the room from the door. "Please don't worry about it." She raised an eyebrow at his current condition. "Even if you weren't as torn us as you are, you're so exhausted, i doubt you'd make it far and don't even try to play that off, i'm not blind. You can stay here for the night"

She held up a hand to show that she wasn't finished talking "and please don't argue, I have a splitting headache. I can't let you go in your condition and not worry. So do me a favor and just stay here and rest."

[Kuro Boushi]

He slouched some against the wall, he hated people worrying over him. "Alright I'll stay for the night," he didn't argue. She was right, he was in pretty bad shape but the big thing was how tired he was, keeping his eyes open alone was near unbearable. He let them fall, "Thank you ma'am" he said cracking one eye and looking over to her, "I'll help you clean up the mess down stairs" he said slowly drifting to sleep.

(O.O.C. Sorry short couldn't come up with much)

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

She shook her head as she spoke. "Not right now you aren't. Just stay up here out of sight. There is a bed over there." she indicted to a queen sized bed with lavender colored sheets tucked away in a corner. "Make yourself comfortable" with that she closed the door and headed back downstairs. The police were still lingering around her shop talking to some people on the street though the paramedics were long gone with the injured women.

With a deep breath she moved over to change the sign over to closed when she caught her reflection in the window. The white blouse she had been wearing was covered in blood and her hair was in almost complete disarray. Her shoulders sagged with fatigue and she ran a hand through her dark hair before turning to look at the mess in her shop with tired eyes.

Careful to step around the blood she made her way to the back and filled up a bucket of water before grabbing a mop and making her way back to the front room. As she began to mop up the floor she hummed a quiet tune to herself and mumbled the words under her breath.

Dans ma jeunesse
Il y a des rues dangereuses
Dans ma jeunesse
Il y a des villes moroses
Des fugues au creux
De la nuit silencieuse
Dans la jeunesse
Quand on veut le soir
On fait la course
A tous les espoirs
Je danse toute seule
Devant mon miroir
Mais ma jeunesse
Me regarde sérieuse
Elle me dit
Qu'as-tu fait de nos heures
Qu'as-tu fait de nos heures précieuses

It wasn't too long before she had cleaned up most of the blood off the floor. Smiling at her work she pulled the dirty water to the back and emptied it into the sink. Leaving the bucket in the sink she walked over to a closet and rummaged around in the closet for something else to wear. Finding an over sized tea shirt that smelled of hazelnut and cocao beans since she usually just used it when she was mixing chocolate, she pulled the blood stained shirt off and replaced it with the large light blue shirt. It was at least five sizes too big for her and nearly hung off her frame, but it was comfortable, and the smell reminded her of home so she didn't care.

The next task was moving the chocolate back into the refrigerators so it would keep longer. This was always the most tedious part and she was already feeling tired from having to mop the floors twice to get rid of the smell of blood. Deciding to lay down for a little bit she pulled the ballet flats off her feet and curled up in the small bed. just for a minute, then I'll get up and go put those away.

----The next day---

Roxanne's eyes opened slowly. She rolled over and practically fell off the bed catching herself just before she hit the ground. Still sleepy she made her way slowly to the display room looking around with confusion as to why she had been sleeping downstairs. Seeing the bucket in the sink the events of earlier that day started to come back to her and she walked across the room to pick up her sketch book. It was still turned to the picture she had drawn to break the man's knives.

Her eyes wandered down to see the chocolate she had left sitting out all day; it would be fine if she could get it in the refrigerators now. It was dusk now and the sun had set behind the buildings of the city. It was only a matter of time before it was dark and Roxanne placed her fist on her forehead in frustration, she hadn't meant to sleep this long.

The police had left the streets although as she looked out the window, a patrol car idled past. No doubt they were still on the lookout for the other "dangerous" User. The one who was still sleeping in her attic. Sighing she replaced the book to the counter and started to work on moving the chocolate to the large industrial sized refrigerators in the back room.

[Kuro Boushi]

As the girl left the room, Kuro's eyes sank down and he eventually fell asleep on the floor. He back pressed against the wall, while his arm continued to bleed into the red cloth tied around it. As the day passed his wounds began to close up some. They had stopped bleeding by dusk and the bandages had started to come untied and loosened some.

As the sun set he twitched in his sleep, hearing noise coming from down stairs. He pressed his right hand against the floor as he rose to his feet, his chest and arm were still pretty sore and moving caused him to wince in pain. As he progressed towards the door, he thought about the fact that to police could still be looking around. He reached into his bag pulling the last shirt he had in there, and pulled it over his head, the front getting moist from the blood on the bandages. He then grabbed an ace bandage and spent the time to wrap his right arm completely making sure it was completely covered. "Not the best way to hide it but eh it will work." he said to himself as he opened the door.

As he made he was down stairs he checked the halls for Roxanne, as he approached the store front he peered around the corner before just walking out. Only seeing the girl moving things he stepped out, "Howdy" he smiled at her. He waved his right hand at her, somewhat shifting the bandages. "Have you been cleaning this whole time?" he asked.

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Hearing a voice she froze and looked up from what she was doing. Kuro was standing there in the doorway. Her eyes scanned over him for a moment. He certainly looked better than he had when she left him upstairs; better than she would have imagined him to look. Shaking her head a bit she continued walking past him with the tray in hand.

"Actually non. I fell asleep." She balanced the tray on her hand as she opened up a large refrigerator and placed it on one of the shelves inside. "I had intended to have all this finished much earlier. I guess I was more tired than I thought. I am surprised you are awake. I had expected you to sleep through till morning." She closed the large door and turned around. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need." she said moving back over to the open display counter to grab another set of trays.

[Kuro Boushi]

Kuro leaned back cracking his back, he felt his chest tighten as the wounds pulled a little, thankfully not opening. "Ah well I can give you a hand if you would like moving this stuff." he smiled offering a helping hand. She had offered him a warm bed, a safe place to sleep, and helped him save someone so he could at least offer to move some chocolate. "And if it helps get you done quicker I am here to help out."

"I'll be here for only a little while longer, don't want to over stay my welcome." he smiled at her. "I gotta head on my way anyways, can't stay here to long don't want to get you caught." He smiled to her.

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Roxanne looked up considering his offer but shook her head instead. "Merci. I appreciate the offer, but i'm fine doing it myself. I run this store all the time on my own, i'm quite used to it." she leaned over and removed two more trays placing them on the counter. "Besides, you are correct. It's dark now, and you shouldn't have any trouble slipping out of the city unseen."

She rested her arm on the counter and smiled softly. "I don't think i have anything as far as a jacket that would help you hide it better than those bandages are doing, but in the dark i doubt anyone will be able to tell all that much." she picked up the chocolate and moved past him motioning with her head towards the cabinets over by the large sink. It was what she used as a makeshift pantry since she used all the larger closets in the room to store the supplies her chocolate needed. It was mostly dried and canned food. She opened the refrigerator door as she talked.

"I can however offer you some food. I don't have much here since it's just me, but i can easily get more so please, take what you need. I hardly use it anyway, I prefer most of my food to be fresh. I have that as a backup though."

[Kuro Boushi]

Kuro smiled at the girl, "Thank you ma'am but you have done more than enough I don't need the food." he said, then feeling his stomach grumble, he still never got to eat anything. He planned on eating much earlier but instead ended up in a fight. "You have been a most gracious host and I appreciate all you have done for me but I can not ask for anything else from you." Kuro leaned down grabbing his bag, it was nearly empty now, he had ran out of food supplies and now he wore the last of his clothing the bag manly had first aid items in it now.

As he lifted the bag over his shoulder he nodded to her, and grabbed a napkin from the counter, "I'm leaving my number, if you ever need anything just call, if I can't get here I will make sure someone does." he smiled at the girl and began walking towards the door, he raised his hand up and wave good bye.

[Roxanne Beauchamp]

Roxanne gave him a flat stare. Stubborn American. With an irritated sigh she walked over to where he was standing and pulled the bag from him before holding it up to his face.

"Where I am from, it is rude to turn down an offer of food. I will not hold it against you because, as an American, I am sure you do not know. Food plays a vital role in french culture. If someone offers you food from their home, whether you want it or not, you take it and you tell them 'Merci'" she turned around and walked back over to the cabinet "I appreciate your 'manners' but you are taking the food regardless. You can throw it out on the street once you leave, it matters not to me. However, I will not have a friend leave my shop hungry."

She opened up the cabinet and pulled down several cans of food and wrapped up a loaf of bread from the bread box on the counter before placing them in the bag and walked back over to Kuro. Holding out the bag she gave it to him before reaching up with her hands to pull his head down and giving him a quick kiss on each cheek, a sign of friendship and farewell, before releasing him.

"Eat the bread soon or else it will spoil. Now, I wish you safe travels. And please don't be a stranger. If you are in the area, do drop bye." she said with a smile.