Snippet #1854747

Mikuo lay slightly curled up on the floor, Raiden's kick had knocked the air from him, as well as making a new bruise on top of many others.
"I...won't...let you...hurt...him...", he choked out in between his gasps for air. The side of his face burned from the slap, not that the feeling was anything unusual for him.
Then Ai started yelling at Raiden, a stupid thing to do.
"Ai...don't. I deserved that...", he somehow said through a fit of coughing, his body trying to breathe in any way it could. Damn, that had hurt...
What puzzled him though, was why on Earth was Ai defending him? When he knew it would only get him hurt? He had taken the hit because Ai had done nlthing wrong, and because Mikuo was in the frame of mind that he deserved any pain he got, simply for being him. It was a theory he had grown up with, that the Cat was evil, and should be punished.