Witness Protection Program
Written by: Fiery Von Bielefield
Chapter 1: The past and the present
The man was sitting comfortably in his office. He was dressed in black from head to toe. His face was hiding behind a white mask, an elegant mask which could also cover the evil smile that was forming on his lips as he read the documents in front of him. There was nothing that he hated more than those that stood in his way, and he would make them suffer for meddling in his jobs. He reached out for the cordless phone on the desk and pressed a button. A woman's voice was heard from the phone almost immediately.
"What do you need, Persona?"
"Luna, tell Fox to come to my office, he has job to do." Persona answered. He was filled with pleasure when he thought of those people, who dared stick their noses in his business, suffered from pain. Suddenly, an idea came to him, this should be the chance for him to analyze his new pawn's abilities. He pressed the button again. When the woman asked him for anything else that he needed, Persona couldn't help a ruthless smile on his face as he said, "You might as well summon the Black Cat here."
Persona didn't have to wait for a long time. About five minutes later, he heard gentle knocks on his room's door. "Come in", he ordered. The door was opened, revealed three people outside. On the right was a woman in her business suit, her dark hair fell on her shoulder. She had a small smile on her face as she stepped inside his office. On the left side of the door was a tall, mousy haired man. He gave off a dangerous impression with the tattoos on his arms and his muscular body. The man had an annoying expression on his face, as if wondering what Persona wanted from him that he could wake him up in the middle of the night. The last person at the door was a boy. He was in his teenage years. The boy had raven hair that looked kind of messy and crimson piercing eyes. He walked inside gracefully without paying any attention to the other three. There was no emotion showed on his face.
"What kind of mission will we receive this time, Persona?" the tall man asked. He wanted to start his job as soon as possible since he was woken up in the middle of the night.
"Now, now, don't be so hasty, Fox", Persona replied. He was enjoying this job more and more, seeing that Fox would be the perfect one to handle those annoying targets. Stood up from his chair, Persona walked towards the window and looked outside. It was pitched black; there was no moon tonight. It was perfect, he thought, perfect. Shifting his gaze back to the people in his office, Persona smirked at Fox's waiting expression, the woman's curious look and the boy's unemotional face.
"Do you remember the man and the woman interfered our mission last time, Fox, those two that helped the ambassador escape your gun?" he questioned although he knew that there was no way Fox could forget them.
"Of course I do, how could I not? Those FBI bastards." Fox muttered, cursing the memory of his failed mission.
"Well, you have your chance of getting back tonight. Snow Wolf has just sent me some information, including their whereabouts." Persona said, knowing that he was raising Fox's interest.
"Is it true? Then hand it over so I can go finish them in place of the stupid ambassador." Fox stated, his voice full of excitement, a murdering excitement.
"I told you, don't be hasty. I will give you the information you need, but before that, there is something that I need to tell you." Persona replied in a warning tone, which made Fox shiver a bit, but he made sure that no one notice. The boy and the woman seemed unaffected, though.
"Alright, what is it?" he asked.
"First of all, remember that your targets are FBIs, they will be hard to handle." Persona slowly stated.
"Not to me", Fox said.
Persona was annoyed that Fox interrupted him, but he continued anyway. "Second, make sure that there is no evidence once you left. Last but not least, you will have our young Black Cat here accompany you."
"What? This is a killing mission. I'm not babysitting him." Fox retorted, looking at the teenage boy beside him with disgust. The boy, on the other hand, just glared at him nonchalantly.
"Don't underestimate him, Fox. Despite his look, Black Cat is well-trained, and he is capable of anything you can do, so he won't get into your way while you're having your 'fun time' with those love birds." Persona said with a smirk on his face.
"OK, but if he gets into any trouble, I'm not responsible", Fox stated.
"Don't worry, if anyone is going to get into trouble, it will be you," the boy spoke up for the first time with a smirk on his face. His voice was as ruthless as Persona's, making Fox feel uneasy. He had a feeling that this little boy was far more dangerous than what he could think of. He then shifted his attention back to Persona, "Well, when can I start my mission?"
Persona handed Fox a piece of paper from the documents on his desk. He gestured the boy to look at it, too. The piece of paper contained photos of three people, a smiling man with messy hair, a woman with long brown hair and a little girl with auburn pig tailed hair. The boy's attention was caught by the girl's smile, a heart-warming smile. He looked at the words next to her picture, it said: "Sakura Mikan, 8 years old". 8 years old, huh, he thought, the same as me when it happened.
"At the end you can see their address. Snow Wolf will meet you at their location. Don't fail me this time." Persona stated.
"Got it." Fox smirked. This is going to be fun. I've been waiting for so long to try my new ways of torturing on them. He began to walk out of the room, eager to go. However, he stopped on his track. Fox turned around to see that the boy, Black Cat, was not following him. Instead, he just stood their, lost in his own world. "Oi, aren't you going?" Fox asked, getting annoyed by Black Cat's arrogant manners. The boy stared at him as if judging the opponent. After a few seconds, he shook his head and walked towards Fox; his hands were in his pockets.
"Remember, leave no evidence, or else you'll face the consequences." Persona reminded when the two were already at the door.
"I'm aware of it." Fox replied, and with that, he was out of sight.
**********
The little girl was rolling in her bed. She couldn't sleep. It was half an hour to midnight. Her parents had come to her room three hours ago, kissing her forehead and bidding her good night. When both of them had turned off the lights in her room and left, she shifted herself to a more comfortable position and waited for sleepiness to take over her. However, she couldn't pull herself into a deep slumber like she did every other night. She had an uneasy feeling in her heart; it was like the feeling she had when she went home from school one day and found out that her grand father had passed away due to a heart attack. She remembered crying so hard back then. Her grand father was one of the people she loved so much, yet he wasn't with her anymore. Until now, the pain of losing him was still aching in her heart.
The girl stood up and peeked out of her room's door. Her parents were still awake. They were talking with each other inside their room, careful enough to not wake her up. She walked back to her bed and pulled the cover over her head, feeling safe. As long as her parents were there, nothing could go wrong. With such determination in her head, the little girl soon was sleeping soundly. Many years after, she would always curse herself for falling as sleep so easily. If she had known what would happen, she wouldn't have pushed the uneasy feeling aside.
She always wished that nothing had happened that night, but it was too late.
**********
She was awakened by a loud noise. The little girl opened her sleepy eyes; she has just fallen asleep an hour ago or so. Assuring herself that it was just a dog barking, she turned to her side and was about to go back to sleep when she heard someone scream. It was not just someone's scream.
It was her mother's scream.
The girl suddenly no longer felt sleepy. She jumped out of her bed immediately. Her mother's scream was cut short and everything turned into silence, a dead silence. She clutched her chest; the uneasy feeling she had a while ago had come back, and it was worse this time. She noticed the darkness around her. Her parents never turn off the lights in the corridor since they knew she was afraid of ghosts, yet there was no light flickering under her room's door.
Still had no idea what to do, the little girl opened the door and stepped out of her room. "Okaa-san! Otou-san!" she called.
Silence.
Her parents' room was dark and after going in to check, she was sure that it was also empty. She took a few steps toward the stairs. The light switches were out of her reach, so she continued to walk in the darkness. Although she was afraid of ghosts, she cared about why her parents didn't answer her more, knowing that they wouldn't leave her alone.
Putting her hands on the wall to make sure she was on the right track, the girl took small but careful steps down the stairs. To her surprise, the living room was filled with light. She looked inside and saw her father's grey hair behind the couch. She ran to the couch and called him, feeling relief because she knew that her father would turned back with a gentle smile on his face and asked her what was wrong, she would tell him that she couldn't sleep, then he would picked her up with his strong arms and assured her that everything was alright.
But the smile she expected never came. Her father's head never turned back, as if he was asleep. She strode up to the couch only to find her parents sitting there together with their eyes closed. Something was wrong, her mind told her, something was definitely wrong. Trying to hold back a small sob, her hands found their ways to the man in front of her, shaking him.
"Otou-san, wake up! Wake up! It's me!" When the man neither opened his eyes nor moved his body, she turned to the woman beside him. "Okaa-san, open your eyes! Okaa-san, talk to me, I'm scared!" The little girl cried as her hands stroke her mother's auburn hair; every time she did that, her mother would smile with her and did the same to her. She felt something sticky in her palms. Liquid. She looked at her hands, and horror hit her.
It was blood.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Blood was flowing freely from her mother's temple. She looked back at her father, crimson liquid could be seen flow from his head as well. She gasped in horror and burst out into tear. Her whole body felt weak, and she fell on to her mother's lap. She grabbed their entwined hands in her small ones; her tears were streaming out.
And at that very moment, the house was engulfed by fire.
**********
10 years later
The new school year had started.
Ruka sighed at the idea. He was walking on the school ground, proceeding to the C building, where his first class was; his fingers ran their way through his blond hair unconsciously. It was still early in the morning, not many people were spotted on the school ground. He had always liked the feeling of a brand new day, and he was a morning person. Several books in his arms, his golden hair reflected the sun's rays, his ocean-blue eyes sparkled with delight when he thought about his animal friends he had just left at home, and a gentle expression on his face, Ruka Nogi was the ideal role model for the kind of charming prince any girl would dream of. Ever since he was just a little boy, when he had no idea what were the differences between a boy and a girl, he had his own fan club, which were formed unknowingly to him by almost all members of the female population that had set their eyes on him.
Fan girls, agh. Ruka sighed again as the thought struck him. As far as he knew, luck was still on his side since he hasn't been caught and dragged around by his annoying fan girls, claiming that he was theirs. Thank God for making him a morning person that would wake up early before any of his fan girls does. It was not that he detested women in general, but imagined that everywhere you go, there would be some girls who squealed and drooled whenever they saw you. That would be completely annoying.
He turned at a corner, still deep in his thoughts. He was suddenly caught off guard when someone bumped into him. Startled by the sudden collision, Ruka was pushed backward, but he managed not to fall. The other one wasn't so lucky. The person lost balance and tripped, but Ruka immediately grabbed the person's wrist to prevent that person from crashing down the cold floor.
He bent down to look at that person as he asked, "Are you alright?"
That person looked up, and Ruka unconsciously held his breath in. It was a girl, a quite beautiful one to be exact. She was a petite girl with long auburn hair that was tied into a pony tail. Her bright brown eyes matched her hair perfectly, and she happened to have a heart-warming smile on her lips, one that could soften even the snortiest man's heart.
"I'm okay, sir. You don't have to worry." The girl smiled, reassuring him. Upon realizing that he was still holding the girl's wrist, Ruka reluctantly let go. He darted his gaze at the floor and saw that the girl's bag had been dropped on the floor when she bumped into him; everything inside fell out. He kneeled down to help her pick up her things, the girl smiled again when she saw him do that.
"Here you go. Remember to close your bag next time." Ruka said as he handed her the books; a smile found its way to his lips.
"Thank you, sir. By the way, can I ask you something?" the girl asked. Her voice was soft and sweet, which made Ruka feel pleasant.
"Of course, but don't call me 'sir', my name is Nogi Ruka." Ruka replied.
"Uhm, then Nogi-san, can you show me the way to the C building? This is my first time here and I'm kind of lost." The girl said, a hint of depression was clear in her voice.
"Well, it's also my destination so I guess we can go together." Ruka said. He couldn't help smiling when the girl's face lightened up with joy.
"Are you a new student here? I've never seen you around." Ruka asked as they were walking together.
"Yes, Nogi-san. I'm a freshman of the Medical Department. My name is Mikan Tsukiyomi, but you can call me Mikan." The girl said with a never–ending smile on her face.
"Really? I'm also in the Medical Department, but I'm a junior." Ruka smiled at the information. He was quite surprise, too, to know that there were girls that didn't squeal, drool or scream around him. "I guess you can call me Ruka-senpai then."
"That's great, Ruka-senpai" Mikan replied happily.
The two continued to chat animatedly on their way to class. They found out that they had the same homeroom teacher, Narumi-sensei; therefore, they headed for the same classroom that was located on the third floor. The room was packed with people from different departments and different school years. Ruka soon found himself surrounded by girls of all sizes as soon as he stepped inside. With a thankful wave to him when she noticed he shot her an apologetic look, Mikan turned around to look for a vacant seat in the room.
"Hey, are you freshman?" A girl with pink hair appeared right in front of Mikan with a welcome expression on her face. She was wearing a plain cover-knee white dress with pink ribbons on her hips and matching white sandals.
"Yeah, Medical Department, Mikan Tsukiyomi" Mikan answered with a grin in reply.
"Great! My name is Anna Umenomiya. I'm studying in the Economy Department and a freshman, too." The girl told Mikan, and she waved at another girl, gestured her to come over. "This is my cousin, Nonoko Ogasawara. She's new in the Technology Department" the second girl, whose hair was dark blue, beamed at Mikan as a greeting and shook her hand. Mikan couldn't help feeling close to Nonoko since she was wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt and jeans, the type of clothes Mikan would definitely fall for. Her mouth curved up to form a smile.
"Have you found a seat yet, Mikan-chan?" Anna asked.
"Uhm, not yet"
"Then you can sit with us, right here." Nonoko stated as she pulled Mikan towards a vacant seat at the second row, next to hers and Anna's seats.
Once the three of them had settled in their seats and were chatting about stuff, the school bell rang, indicated that homeroom period had started. The door was opened and a man walked in. He had blond hair that reached his shoulder and purple eyes with long beautiful eyelashes that Mikan wished they were hers. The man was wearing, awkward as it seemed, a tux. Everybody was confused, but no one spoke up.
"That must be our homeroom teacher, Narumi-sensei" Anna leaned to her right and mumbled into Mikan's ear. She gave a nod in reply.
"Good morning, my students. I see that you are all energetic after such a long and busy summer. Wow, we have so many new faces this year." The last sentence was indicated on the freshman students sitting on the right side of the class. Narumi-sensei smiled with his students, especially the new ones before he went on. "And now, we will perform our annual selection. Those that are junior this year please step forward to pick up your partner from the box beside me." He gestured towards a box, which were filled with folded paper on his desk. The students sitting on the left stood up in a line and proceeded to the box, each of them picked out a piece of paper and handed it to Narumi-sensei.
"Hey, Ruka-senpai is a junior this year." One of the girls mumbled as the line of juniors slowly proceeded.
"Oh, I'd love to have him as my partner." Another girl stated with dreamy eyes.
"Don't fool yourself, he'd probably pick my name." A girl butted in.
Confused with all the murmurs around her, Mikan turned to Anna and Nonoko with a questioning look on her face, "What are they talking about?"
"Ah, that's a tradition in Narumi-sensei's class. A junior will pair up with a freshman to help them with their works and tutor them when needed." Anna said.
"Yeah, and since Ruka-senpai is a junior this year, he will have to choose his partner. All the girls are expecting him to draw their names out since his ex-partner was a guy and he graduated last year." Nonoko added, she was looking at the juniors. "There he goes" She said as she saw Ruka walked up to Narumi-sensei from his place and picked a name. The three girls turned back to look at the two men; they didn't fail to notice that all the other girls in their class were holding their breath, waiting.
"And Ruka-kun's partner is… Mikan Tsukiyomi." Narumi-sensei happily announced; many girls breathed out then groaned because they were not the one mentioned. "Mikan-chan, please raise your hand." Mikan raised her left hand in the air. Glares from every direction were shot at her made her shiver. Ruka, on the other hand, smiled with her as he saw who his partner was, which increased the intensity of the glares; then, he walked back to his seat.
"Mikan-chan, you're so lucky! Ruka-senpai is the nicest and most handsome guy around." Anna giggled as she saw Ruka's smile.
"Correction, he's ONE of the most handsome guys around." A voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. The three girls turned around and saw a girl with dark green hair and green eyes. She was wearing a white blouse together with a red striped skirt; her hands were on her hips and she was talking with a lecturing tone.
"Ruka-senpai is, indeed, the nicest guy in the whole Alice University. And he's also the sweetest guy you will find in this part of the country. However, he's not the ONLY handsome guy around." She said, "There's always Natsume-senpai for you to expect."
"Eh, who's this Natsume-senpai?" Finding that 'Natsume-senpai' was someone she hadn't heard of before, Mikan couldn't help wondering how this girl knew so much, about Ruka-senpai and all.
To Mikan's surprise, the girl went crazy. She threw her hands in the air, showing that she thought Mikan was unbelievable. She pouted as she looked at Mikan's innocent face. To say that the girl was crazy was an understatement. No, she was furious. "WHAT? Don't tell me that you don't know Natsume-senpai" she sighed as Mikan looked at her with innocent, clueless eyes. "Natsume-senpai, Ruka-senpai's best friend, raven hair, crimson eyes, junior of the Law Department. He was the most handsome and most brilliant student of Alice University."
"Just come to the welcome party tonight, you'll see him." Nonoko said when she looked at Mikan's still confusing face.
"Yeah, we can make some new friend at the welcome party as well." Anna added.
"By the way, I'm Mikan Tsukiyomi. I figure that we haven't introduced yet?" Mikan asked the green haired girl in front of her cheerfully.
"My name is Sumire Shouda. I'm a sophomore of the Acting Department." The girl replied with definite self-esteem in her voice.
"Nice to meet you Sumire-senpai. Are you going to the welcome party tonight?" Mikan enquired.
"Of course, especially when Ruka-senpai and Natsume-senpai will be there." Sumire responded with dreamy eyes when she thought of the two guys mentioned.
Just as the girls were about to talk more, the school bell rang again, loud and clear, a sign that homeroom was over. The students packed up their things and followed Narumi-sensei out after saying goodbye to get to their other classes. Mikan pulled her schedule out of her bag. She had no other classes for the whole day, so that meant that she could go home and relax while other people were suffering. She smiled and stood up; Anna, Nonoko and even Sumire had gone before her to their classes. She was walking to the door when she heard someone called out her name. Mikan turned around and found an excited looking Ruka heading her way. She stopped on her track and beamed at him.
"I just want to say that it's great to be your partner. And there's a welcome party tonight at the school hall, will you come?" Ruka said when he finally reached her.
"Uhm, I'm not busy so I guess I'll be coming." Mikan answered, which earned her another smile from Ruka.
"That's great. I'll introduce you to my friends. See you later, then." Ruka waved before he walked back towards his friends who were waiting for him. Mikan began strolling along the path back to her house. She has just moved in a two-bedroom house near her university campus about a week ago. As soon as the landlord showed her the house, she loved it immediately. It was small but cozy. It was painted white and pink, her favorite colors. The landlord even let her rearrange the house, and Mikan had flowers and cactus everywhere in her new home. At first, she was quite confused on which bedroom she would use because both of them were beautifully decorated, but she soon solved it by making a schedule of sleeping in one room on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and in the other on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On Sunday, she would just simply toss a coin to choose which room to sleep. Both rooms had big full-sized mirrors, wardrobes and bathrooms so she didn't have to bother running around from room to room to look for something to wear.
Mikan unlocked the door and stepped inside. The scent of newly bloomed roses greeted her. Mikan closed her eyes and inhaled that scent, how relaxing. She threw her bag on the couch and went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. After all, it was hard for her just to wake up that early in the morning, but she didn't want to give a bad impression on her first day. Now, she was fighting the urge to run back to her comfortable bed and sleep like there was no tomorrow. As Mikan pulled a cup out from the cupboard, the bell rang. She put the cup down then walked towards the door, wondering who would want to visit her this time of day. She didn't have to wait too long to get her answer.
"Mikan-chaaaaaaan", shouted a man with raven hair as soon as the door was opened. He had an enthusiastic expression on his face, and his grin widened when Mikan jumped into his open arms, screaming "TSUBASA". After a minute or two, they both broke apart to look at each other, beaming widely. Mikan let the guy inside her apartment, still wraping her hand around his torso. When he had settled himself on her comfortable sofa, she walked in the kitchen to make another cup of coffee for him.
"This place is just like you, Mikan, simple but friendly and beautiful." Tsubasa commented as he leaned on the sofa, closing his eyes. Mikan smiled, Tsubasa always knew how to get to a woman's heart. She picked up the two cups of coffee and shuffled to the sofa in her slippers. Mikan put the hot cup on Tsubasa's head, which made him startle and open his eyes. He grabbed the cup with ease. Mikan sit down on her side of the couch, sipping her coffee slowly, letting the refreshing scent clear her mind.
"Where did you get that star under your eye, Tsubasa? Last time I met you, I didn't see it." She asked after a few seconds inspecting his familiar face. Tsubasa's lips turned into a boyish grin. "This," he pointed his finger at the star under his left eye, "is what Misaki called her 'sign of victory'. She defeated me in the beer-drinking competition last weekend." Instead of a disappointed voice we usually heard people use when they mentioned their defeats, Tsubasa's cheerful voice showed that he was very proud of his lost to Misaki. Mikan burst out laughing when she heard him. "You still couldn't win after all those years?" she patted his back, "Typical"
"I see that you're as sympathetic as ever, Mikan-chan" Tsubasa sarcastically said, only made Mikan laughed harder.
"Never mind. What are you doing here?" Mikan asked as soon as she got out of her laughter.
"Checking on you" he replied, his face turned serious, "My job is to protect you. Beside, I want to see your new place."
"I see" Mikan stated. Memories suddenly loaded her mind, and she could feel herself tremble. Putting her hand on her heart, Mikan tried to calm herself down. She noticed that Tsubasa was observing her carefully.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his hands reached out for her face and caressed it.
"Yeah. It's just that something was on my mind. Don't worry" she smiled and looked away from his jet black eyes. However, he lowered his head so that he could look into her eyes intently.
"You've never been a good liar, Mikan. Anyway, if there's anything that you need to let out, I'll always listen to you" he declared with a small smile on his lips. Mikan smiled again, only this time, it was sincere. "I promise I'll run to you first whenever I'm in trouble", she promised. Tsubasa has been her friend long enough to know that she was telling the truth. He took a deep breath and stood up, looking around for a change of subject.
"Why don't we go out for dinner tonight, to celebrate the beginning of your new school year?" When Tsubasa finally asked, a grin had found its way on his face once again.
Mikan shook her head, "I'm coming to the welcome party tonight. Can we reschedule it to Saturday night?" She looked at him with apologetic eyes; she was afraid that she may hurt Tsubasa's feeling. He laughed out loud upon seeing Mikan do so.
"It's okay, Mikan-chan. It's not like I'll blame you for not going out with me tonight. Saturday night is just fine," he said and he saw Mikan let out a sigh of relief, "I have to go anyway. I need to report to head quarter that you're still alright." He drank all the content of his cup; then, he walked up to the door with Mikan following him.
"I'm going, Mikan-chan. My boss will scold me if I don't hurry up," Tsubasa stated with a little hint of sarcasm.
"You're still mad that Hotaru is younger than you, yet she's your supervisor?" Mikan questioned as she eyed Tsubasa closely, "You're so childish." Just as he was about to protest, his phone rang. Fishing his cell phone out of his pants pocket, Tsubasa looked at the caller's ID and murmured, "Right on time." He put the phone near his ear and cast Mikan a look that said "It's her". She only chuckled silently as a reply.
"Yes, Imai" Tsubasa said.
"You are supposed to call me one minute and forty seconds ago to report about Mikan's condition. May I ask what cause such a delay for you to inform me about her?" A cold and emotionless woman's voice replied. He could feel the deathly warning in the woman's simple statement.
"I was about to call you when you called me. Mikan's fine, nothing is going wrong around here." He stated and handed Mikan his phone. Mikan took it and said, "Hey Hotaru, I'm doing well. It's great to know that you're worrying about me."
"I'm not worrying about you. I'm just doing my job. Who would care about an idiot like you?" Hotaru responded in her forever cold tone. Hotaru Imai was a raven haired girl with amethyst eyes. She was eighteen, just like Mikan. Hotaru was considered the most talented girl in their hometown, and maybe in the whole country. She liked technology and she had invented most of the country's mechanical appliances, which earned her a great amount of money, and hell, she was really satisfied for her favorite thing in the world was money.
"Hotaru, you're such a meanie," Mikan pouted. It was Tsubasa's turn to laugh at her childishness.
"Now that we know you're not in any harm, can you tell the other idiot to get back to the head quarter right away? I have a mission for him," Hotaru continued as if she didn't hear Mikan's statement.
"Okay, I'll tell him that" Mikan answered. And before she could say anything else, the line was cut off. Hotaru had hung up on her.
"She told me to tell you that she had a mission for you and you need to return to the head quarter," she told Tsubasa after looking at his cell phone in disbelief and disappointment for several minutes.
"I'll be going then. See you later, Mikan-chan." Tsubasa said as he put his cell phone back to its place in his pocket. He walked out, waved goodbye and disappeared at a corner. When Tsubasa's figure was out of sight, Mikan stepped back into her house, closed the door and after setting up the alarm clock to wake her up in the afternoon, she snuggled down the cover on her bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Well, caffeine couldn't help her really much.