Chapter 4: Shoot!

                                    

                                          



Damn it Rin, how in the world did you fracture our ribs?!  Vei mentally exclaimed and was standing up from her bed. A hand pressed against one rib with gritted teeth, as narrowed cat slits focused on her destination. What did she do while I was asleep?! fury laced her words. Vei walked out of the bedroom, after a couple of minutes of getting her hair and everything, fixed up. Every time she'd hurry, her ribs would ache and she'd grunt from the pain.

"How am I supposed to work in this condition?!" Mumbling angrily in question, she grabbed her shotgun while it was in its case from the small closet in the hallway and took her rifle with her that was also in its case. "Don't even have time to eat, because by then when I get done, I'd be late!" She rose her voice and put her boots on, along with a name tag she had stashed in her wallet. The feline rushed out of the door, which was near the kitchen, and her keys locked it with a twist of her hand; the woman did her best not to make the pain worse when she walked.

Several minutes later, probably even over half an hour, she was at the shooting range and her butt was in a chair. At the desk during her work period, an ice pack was on her ribs and she wrote on some paper while a customer stood across from her.

Some money had been laid to the side and when she put the pen down, the money was placed inside the register next to her. "Enjoy your stay,~" A friendly smile, even though the hate for strangers was welling up in her system, was given to the person. With that, the very customer walked away and into the shooting range with a pistol in their hand.

The woman sighed from relief, then knitted her brows from the pain in her side; her hand clenched the ice pack a bit all the while. I'm so lucky to have a forgiving boss... Telling him I tripped and fell on my side was a good idea; but jeez, why do fractured ribs have to hurt so much?! The pen was used to adjust her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and her cat toy-like hair clip, dangled from her movement.

Her slits looked over at the clock and it read twelve o'clock. Sighing through her nose, Vei groaned and leaned back in her chair. "Didn't even get to eat lunch..." she couldn't help but grumble at her missed chance for food, until, her boss wandered over to her.

"No lunch? Well, lucky for you your shift is over, go ahead and head home if you want," It was a plump man in a black leather jacket and a brown beard that went down past his chin. He looked like a biker... On his white T-shirt, though, had a tag on his right peck that said manager, and his name was on it. 

"Sure, thanks-- I'm gonna practice a bit at the range first before I head out. Use my free session while I can," Vei replied rather cranky. Before she got past him, he grasped her shoulder and looked at her from the side. Her hidden slits met brown ones when she looked over.

"Everything ok? Aside from your ribs, you seem grouchy," his question sounded a bit concerned, despite the frown on his lips; he eyed her hand that held the ice pack on her ribs. "Plus, I don't think it'd be wise to practice shooting with you being hurt. The jerk from the guns might make the pain worse, every time you'd shoot," he added, only to have her brush his hand off her shoulder and chuckle.

"Heheh, I've dealt with worse... Try having both your hands broken and being forced to pick things up with your mouth," She sweatdropped and recalled a memory where she was with her tiger parents. Her child self tore apart an animal by the neck with her bare teeth and used her elbows to hold it down.