*Disclaimer* I don't own Megami Kouhosei at all, nor anything else for that matter. Though, if I'm really good my birthday is coming up... *grins* Naw, Sugisaki Yukiru would never let me have it. That's what dreams are for then.

Rated: PG- still. Shounen ai but not a lot. Very light lime... or more no lime at all. I'm not ready to let my darling Roose grow up yet! Roose is more in character and I tried to make Yamagi in character... but then trying to put the two together means one of them had to be changed. So now it's a battle with Yamagi's mind. *grins* I wrote this after watching this scene one too many times.

Setting: During and slightly after the 6th episode: Pro Ing. Though the majority of the story is basically retelling it in Yamagi's point of view... Gomen ne!

Oyasuminasai --- It had been a while since Yamagi Kushida had last seen Roose. Wrecka Toesing had disappeared with him once they met and the purple-haired candidate couldn't help but be glad that he was gone. As a matter of fact, when Roose had kicked and screamed like a damsel in distress for Yamagi to save him. He didn't even think twice about it and sent his roommate off to his 'doom.'

But now he missed him. He hadn't come back to their room the night before. It was rather odd, and Yamagi was worried. Where was he sleeping then?

Yamagi shifted uneasily at attention. Instructor Hijikata was lecturing them for a brief moment on the Pro Ings. Brief, or course, meant non-stop for about a half an hour.

Zero Enna suddenly fired up and ran to the window, much to Instructor Azuma's dismay. He stopped his mundane lecture and allowed Yamagi and Clay to join Zero at the glass pane.

/That baka, Zero. He's got no respect at all. I should have no problem beating him.../

Yamagi's thoughts were ripped from Roose for a few seconds as he strived to memorize the movements of the Pro Ings, so he would know the correct and best way to defeat his enemy. He made it a goal to beat Zero Enna in everything, even if he hadn't accomplished that goal yet. There could always be hope!

The Pro Ing 05 was winning by a long shot and Yamagi looked after it in awe. He was so perfect! Zero, of course, couldn't keep his excitement underhand.

"Sugoi! Sugoi!" his sweaty palms were plastered to the sides of the glass, never ceasing to say the same word over and over. Yamagi rolled his eyes and stepped back. Candidate 05 had just won. Zero was so wrapped up in being a cheerleader he hardly noticed.

Instructor Azuma took the four of them down towards the docking bay where the pilots of the Pro Ings were just getting out. Zero Enna had a welt on the side of his head for poking fun at Instructor Azuma. Yamagi looked down through the pane at the Pro Ings that were docking while listening to their instructor talk about their next training assignment.

"Erts Vilney Cocteau." Instructor Azuma was explaining as a young arian boy walked past the Pro Ings below. "Candidate number 05. The top candidate to pilot a goddess..." Yamagi's eyes were shining.

/I just have to team up with Erts! I wonder what Roose'll.../

He stopped. Zero had just asked Instuctor Azuma if he could team up with Erts and his permission was granted.

/KISAMA!!/

Yamagi's eye twitched, but before he could say or do anything- was booted into the hallway by their instructor.

"You ladies better shape up for the next test! Get some rest!" The hatch locked and Zero, Clay and Yamagi started down the hallway. Hiido Gner, the rival Yamagi was too scared to beat, went his own way.

Now Yamagi could beat the living daylights out of Zero for taking his best chance at defeating him. "That was a little underhanded, Zero. I wanted to pair up with Erts!"

Zero pulled his hands behind his neck. "First come, first serve."

/That baka./

Yamagi could feel his face heat up and the tension rising. He raised his arm, ready to strike Zero. He was really going to get it this time, the damned fool.

"Say, Yamagi..." his rival suddenly blurted out.

"What now, Zero?" His hands where clenched, ready to fight.

"Did you cut your head?"

The purple haired candidate blinked, apparently taken aback. "No you baka! I cut my hair!" Yamagi had forgotten all about it, and the punch he was about to throw at candidate numer 88's head. So, Zero had noticed it eh?

/I wonder how Roose'll.../

"Come to think of it, I noticed too." Clay Cliff Fortran pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger. "It looks very neat and clean."

Neat and clean? Yamagi almost grinned. Roose would like it. He was a neat nick after all. Yamagi did admit he'd missed the annoying 'Yamagi-kun' every five minutes and the continuous shoulder tapping.

"What can I say? I..."

/...wonder if Roose'll like it.../

"... really don't dislike it." Yamagi finished abrubtly, adlibbing from his original response, and running a shaking hand through his hair, hoping the other two candidates hadn't noticed his pause. Then suddenly, from a few feet behind him, came a voice that made all three of them jump.

"Ya-ma-gi-kun!"

Yamagi stopped, his hand resting on his head and his heart simply stopped beating. His stomache lurched around inside, doing a sudden flip at the familiarity of the tone. His voice caught as he squeaked out, barely audible. "Y-Yamagi? You're talking to me?"

"Of course!" came the voice from behind him. "Oi, Yamagi-kun. and Zero and Clay too. It's been a long time, ne?"

Yamagi turned around to confirm his accusations. He hadn't noticed how much he'd absentmindedly thought about Roose and actually missed him until just then.

He thought out loud, trying to depict the form behind him. "That real absurd expression..."

"Do you, uh, know that guy?" Zero pointed rudely behind him. Yamagi wanted to punch him again and scream.

/Damnit Zero! It's Roose!/

But instead, he gulped. "Roose-

"-Sawamura?" Clay finished for him. Yamagi boiled with fury once more. Aiming his anger from one candidate to another. It wasn't particularily good to boil up anger. His poor pillow would no doubt get a serious beating tonight. /That's my line!/

Must have made up for him stealing Clay's 'interesting' bit once before. "Come on you guys! You don't remember me?" Roose looked hurt, but continued to smile. /The damn optimist.../

This time Yamagi got a good look at his roommate as Clay examined his marking. He'd certainly lost a lot of weight. His hair stuck out more and his eyes were larger now, more innocent. He did look a little lanky, but his smile didn't change at all. His voice was higher, which was why Yamagi wasn't positive on who he was by first hearing him. He didn't look as tall as before, but still taller than Yamagi himself. And he looked...

/...cute./

Yamagi fought back every urge to hug the changed Roose. It wasn't something he would do on a normal basis. He didn't even hug his mother.

/The old hag. Demo... I guess you don't know what you're missing until it's lost. Damnit! What am I thinking!/

Instead, Yamagi hid his self behind a wall of his own pride and wiped the smile from his face. He would act just as normal he ever had around Roose. Right?

So this is exactly what he came up with. "You're the big fat pig?"

/...Ouch./

For some strange reason, Roose wasn't affected. It saved Yamagi from more guilt than he wanted to deal with. Besides, Zero was barking away with insults.

"How many kilo's did you lose? No way! You were so fat before!" Zero probed around on Roose childishly. Yamagi's eye twitched and be began to feel a sudden protective sense toward his roommate.

He found himself walking behind Roose, grabbing his arms. Even so, the warmth brought a blush to his cheeks and he ran his calloused hands down the green haired candidate's back, subconsciously. Besides, he was doing whatever Zero was, right? He had to do whatever Zero did, only better.

"You're just bones, bones!" Was the only thing Yamagi could possibly say. But when his hands reached the lower portion of Roose's back, the now skinny candidate lurched and straightened out.

"Aw, come on you guys! This is sexual harassment!" he blushed.

Yamagi immediatly backed off and flushed furiously when he'd noticed Zero had already. Had he really gotten that involved...

/...Damnit Yamagi! You baka! What were you thinking?/

"How did you..." Clay was already asking the top question of the moment.

"Well..." Roose looked down and blushed yet again. "It's all thanks to Wrecka's help. Demo... she said it was a secret."

Yamagi scowled, "Then why are you blushing?!" He wouldn't admit it. But was he jealous?

His fingers lingered in the air to touch his roommate again, but he caught himself in time. Zero and Clay were dragging Roose down the hallway, kicking and screaming, to the mess hall.

~*~

Clay was busy blabbering away on how he found all this very 'interesting'. Yamagi rolled his eyes. They were force feeding Roose, and Yamagi was assigned to holding him down.

Roose's skin felt smoother than it was when he was larger. He was easier to grip as well. But Yamagi felt like his roomate was a completely different person now. He was annoying still, sure. But the concept of him eating constantly had diminished.

/What had Wrecka done to him? That onna was deliberately messing with my head, wasn't she?/

Roose stood up to avoid getting oranges shoved down his throat. Zero grinned and grabbed his chin so Clay could shove the spoon in the green haired candidates mouth. Yamagi found himself in a compromising postition behind Roose. It all had happened in such a slpit moment, he found himself blushing..

/My God what is wrong with me? I haven't blushed so much since I walked in on Aracd watching those hentai movies with Force!/

"What's all this ruckus about?" a female voice found it's way through all the noise. Kizna and Ikhny were standing there.

/Thank God for them./

~*~

Roose collapsed on his bed, face down, sighing heavily. Yamagi shuffled in tiredly behind him. After lunch, the five candidates were put through even more vigorous training. Roose was far behind the others. Clay explained that his stamina must have decreased along with his weight. Yamagi wiped his face with a towel and looked down at his roommate. He could tell that the poor guy was wiped out. His face was flushed and he was still gasping for air. Even after eating dinner he was wiped out. Yamagi noted that he only ate half of what he usually had before.

"Y-Yamagi-kun?"

"Nani?"

"Do... do you like me now?" he was sitll laying on this stomache, catching this breath. Yamagi straightened out, his eyes wide open. "And what- do you mean by that?" a tiny sweatdroplet fell down the side of his face.

"Ne, do you like how I am now... you know, Yamagi-kun?" He turned over in his bed, his breath had caught up to him now and the cool air from the vents in the room were taking their toll.

/Oh. He meant 'How do I look to you'... didn't he?/

Yamagi sighed. "Sure Roose." he shrugged and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. For some reason or another, ever since he saw the 'new and improved' Roose, it was getting harder and harder to even talk to him now, let alone go about his old teasing. He'd have to envision the old Roose, the fatter version of his friend, just to throw out a smart remark.

Searching for something to say to perhaps his best friend here, he stepped back into their sleeping quarters. He rarely saw much of Zero or Clay because they were always off getting into trouble and Hiido was just plain creepy.

As far as Tsukasa went, she went out of her way to make him feel as much of a shrimp as she possibly could. She would constantly peer around as if looking for him and he'd have to flail his arms to get her attention. This, of course, was one of her most favorite games. Yamagi wondered if she'd ever lighten up. Therefore, Roose was really his best friend.

Roose had sprawled himself out across his mattress. "Yamagi-kun, I don't feel like myself." "Uh." This was where Yamagi didn't know what to say. He scrunched his face up to keep from blushing and sat on the edge of his bed to take his shoes off. Roose decided to continue anyway.

"The Repairers keep looking at me weird, Yamagi-kun. They used to look at you like that and now they look at me. It makes me uncomfortable, ne Yamagi- kun? Did it make you uncomfortable?"

"Sure."

"And I have trouble walking too. My shoes are a smaller size and I can't get used to it. Everything's so different. I... I don't know if I like it."

Yamagi turned around. "My God, Roose. You just lost a bit of weight. It's not a big deal."

/I should take my own advice.../

Roose grinned, his attitude changing in the blink of an eye. "You're right, Yamagi-kun! I'm glad you can understand."

"Me too."

"Yamagi-kun..." Roose and Yamagi were now sitting on their beds, facing each other and Roose was in an indian style. He looked away. "You're not talking very much. Daijoubu desu?"

Yamagi hadn't realized he was staring at Roose for a long time while he talked and blinked a few times, before laughing. "I'm all right, Roose! Don't worry about me, geez! You worry way too much. I'm just tired alright? Let's get to bed." He crawled under the covers and pulled them all the way up to his chin.

"Hai, Yamagi-kun." Roose turned out the lights.

The purple haired pilot stared at the ceiling for a long time. Roose's breathing was getting slower, but Yamagi couldn't sleep. After his eyes adjusted to the dark, he looked over at Roose with the corner of his eye.

He wasn't sleeping as Yamagi had thought. Instead, his eyes were open, and he was staring at Yamagi with a ridiculous grin on his face. Candidate 86 almost jumped from his bed. "Roose! Can't you sleep?"

"Iie, Yamagi-kun." his face didn't change at all.

/Well you're making me uncomfortable, turn around and go to bed./

"Why not?" Yamagi cursed himself silently. If he didn't sleep now, he'd never wake up in the morning, and be late again.

"Ne, Yamagi-kun. I don't know. Gomen ne, I'll try and sleep."

"Yoshi." Yamagi turned over to face the wall. Anything to get away from the haunting face. The problem was, every time he closed his eyes. There was Roose's shining smile. He found himself making designs on the walls that didn't exist, and trying to think up ways to defeat Zero. But Roose always found his way into Yamagi's head. He curled up into a ball and shut his eyes tight, trying to throw the image of the green haired candidate out.

"Ya-ma-gi-kun!"

"Naniyo!" Yamagi sat boltright up in bed, breathing heavily. The boy was growing on his nerves more than ever before and he wasn't even doing anything. Just his presence was killing him inside.

"Gomen ne, Yamagi-kun... O.. oyasuminasai." Roose stuttered and Yamagi could hear him shift on his mattress again.

Only, the purple haired candidate sighed, a tiny smile escaped his lips in the darkness. He'd cope with this somehow sooner or later.

"Oyasuminasai... Roose-kun."