I.

What could you do? he wondered. Anybody would've done the same thing in his place.

Which was why he was lying in the back of the nurse's office. He cracked a bloodied grin.

No money? Go get your own.

He knew she always wanted him to take a stand, really.

II.

Baka took a stand today, would be the entry in her diary.

If she'd had a diary, of course.

She smirked with dark satisfaction and washed the blood off in the sink.

Messes were not to be tolerated, certainly not on her hands.

And definitely not from baka, mein Gott.

III.

He was discharged the same day, of course.

His guardian cracked up but turned serious when he said 'I fought back.'

I finally grew a spine were the words he didn't speak.

And the lavender-haired woman knew that was what he meant.

She cracked open another can of beer. Bliss.

IV.

She didn't get punished, and that suited her fine.

The red-haired girl brushed an errant lock of hair out of her eyes.

'I'm home!'

Brown eyes met blue with a clash of sparks.

The poor boy cowered under the table.

It was lavender vs. red as the two fought verbally.

V.

'Why'd you bash the only chance you'll ever get laid?' she spat.

'Him?!'

'Of course, nobody else would put up with you!'

'Kaji-san wo-'

'Kaji doesn't care at all about you!'

'How would-'

'He never gave a crap about me. What chance do you have?'

She grew silent at that.

VI.

The young pilot was lying on the floor. Moving made it hurt more.

It was only a bruise, luckily.

'Hey.'

Painful light shone on his eyes.

'I'm sorry.'

He doesn't believe that. Not for a single moment.

'You enjoyed that, didn't you?'

She hesitates. One wrong move and she's dead.

VII.

Define that, she wants to say.

If he meant 'growing a backbone', then yes.

If he meant 'punching him', then no.

She wants to tell him why. But he'd laugh, and call her stupid.

Or he'd scowl and call her names.

So she sits and stays, then he moves again.

VIII.

He smirks. Knows he's won.

Sits up from the floor. Extends his arms and grasps her tight.

She calls him 'pervert' but there's no real menace.

Doesn't push him away. Just sits and enjoys the warmth.

Of course, she'd never admit that. Not to his face.

He understands it, though.

IX.

Because he's a master of those things. He knows how to say the words you can't say.

And he smiles a genuine smile, a warm smile because he understood her silence for the first time. And she understands his, too.

Enfolded in warmth. Two souls, sharing their troubles at last.

X.

Normally she'd make some smart-ass comment, but this isn't normal.

All she can do is sit on and watch from a distance. Because she was never in control, never pulled the strings like she said she did.

Now the purple-haired woman can only sit back.

And hope it'll work out.

XI.

The corridor seems to stretch out for hours.

Each step reminds the woman that she can't do anything.

It's out of her hands, the echoes say.

As she closes the door there's a final request she makes silently.

Please.

Have something I never had.

She shuts the door and sleeps.

XII.

And so do they, eventually.

With smiles for once.

Going to some place where there are no tears and no blood. Just a mother's comfortable embrace.

When 11 years of mistakes are condensed into a moment of right.

Loneliness and the ravage of time evaporates away.

And there's only this.