Hey guys, Caz here with something a little different! I wrote this because I really feel Fuyuhiko needed a little love. Hope you enjoy~

For everyone involved, the outcome of the second trial had been wholly tragic. Not only had Mahiru, the Ultimate photographer and dear friend, been brutally murdered, but, yet again, the murderer was found to be another of their friends. Specifically, Peko Pekoyama. However, this wasn't even the most tragic thing that occurred that day.

After the votes were cast and Peko was revealed as the killer, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; they would not be killed today. However, just before Peko was sent off to be executed, it was revealed that she and Fuyuhiko had known each other long before the events of this murderous game. In fact, Peko was Fuyuhiko's body-guard and hitman, adopted at birth by his family and trained to be nothing but his 'tool'. But, even this shocking revelation couldn't prepare anyone for what happened next.

"Jeez…why don't you get it yet…?"

Fuyuhiko balled up his fists, clenching his teeth hard to stop them chattering. He could feel his eyes brimming with emotion and he knew that if he didn't restrain himself, that emotion would overflow.

"This time, for the Ultimate Swordswoman, Peko Pekoyama…"

The bastard bear just kept talking, his voice filled with delighted malice. At any other time, Fuyuhiko would have gladly punched that mono-chrome mother fucker right in his red, glowing eye, but all he could focus on right now was Peko.

"You stayed by my side… all this time… why don't you get it…?"

Peko, his only friend in the world.

"I've prepared a special punishment for you!"

"I never needed a sword… or a shield…I never needed a tool… S-so…you didn't need to become a tool"

Peko, the one he most admired in the world.

"Let's give it everything we've got!"

"You just…needed to be yourself… I… I never wanted a tool! I wanted you! Only you!"

Peko, the first and last woman he would ever truly love.

"…Young master?"

"Wh-why!? Why couldn't you understand!? We've always been together, ever since we were kids!"

Peko, who was about to be killed in front of his very eyes. Fuyuhiko felt the tears flow from his eyes and down his cheeks.

"Let's go! It's… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!"

"P-please Peko…! Don't go…! I need you! Don't leave me!"

Fuyuhiko never begged, never cried, never showed weakness. However, all of that was falling away like a mask and tears openly flowed from his eyes. Peko was dragged away in the next instant, before he had a chance to say anything more. The moment after he was running after her, as she had ran after him so many times before. He sprinted past the other Ultimates and the childish wooden mannequins who held katanas in their hands. Eventually he found Peko, fighting in the middle of the hoard of mannequins, slicing off limbs and cutting them in half. She was doing incredibly well, considering how anyone else would've fared in this situation, but Fuyuhiko knew that eventually her strikes would slow and she would be overcome.

At that moment, a foolish thought fluttered into his panicking mind. Maybe he could stop this, maybe he could save her. It wasn't against the school rules to save someone from their execution, was it?

He ran further into the crowd without so much as another thought, appearing again only one layer behind the middle of the circle, where Peko was increasingly losing energy.

"Pek-!"

Suddenly, the mannequin in front of him fell into two halves, as if cut by an invisible string, and he felt a searing pain.

"ARRGH!"

When Fuyuhiko awoke again, the first thing he saw was a white, sterile room. Obviously, it wasn't heaven, so the next option was that Fuyuhiko was currently in a hospital room. Which meant he was alive.

Great… he thought. The biting sarcasm surprised even him. He would have thought that he would be happy to be alive, or at least curious as to why he wasn't dead. However, neither of these thoughts occurred to him and instead he focused on why he couldn't seem to open his right eye. He slowly, painfully inched one hand over to the right side of his face and felt the soft, linen bandages that covered it. He growled. Great, now he'd lost Peko and half of his vision and God knows what else.

"Heh, I can't even die like a man…"

Fuyuhiko was distracted from his self-loathing as the door to the room opened, revealing Mikan with a clip-board in hand. The Ultimate Nurse looked more nervous than usual, her body quivering slightly like a tiny terrified animal. However, her eyes were piercing, looking straight into Fuyuhiko's eye before saying, in the softest voice possible,

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake."

Fuyuhiko stayed silent, gazing back at Mikan as if he was looking right through her. Mikan continued to stare at him, before she twitched as if suddenly realizing something. She looked away from him and placed the clip-board down on a nearby counter-top before walking towards the door again, saying,

"I-I'll go and tell the others!"

Mikan ran out the door, leaving Fuyuhiko to his thoughts again. Normally, Fuyuhiko would have preferred to be left alone, but at that moment he felt a strange pang in his body and almost reached his hand out, as if to stop Mikan leaving. But he didn't. Instead, he began thinking to himself again.

Why didn't I die…? Damnit! If I knew I was going to become so weak, I would rather be dead, at least then they wouldn't be able to see me like this!

He grumbled a thousand curses to himself, cursing that he'd ever been born and led the woman he loved into such a situation.

Why can't I die?

Before long, more of his fellow islanders appeared, slowly trickling into the room and staring at him. Most likely they'd been exploring some new part of the island that'd opened up, seeing as that's what'd happened after the first trial. Eventually, everyone gathered in the room (except Komaeda, which Fuyuhiko couldn't say he was sad about), and a conversation started about everyone being happy that Fuyuhiko was alive. Of course, Saionji wasn't happy to see him at all and Fuyuhiko couldn't rightly blame her; after all, her friend had been killed indirectly by him.

Eventually, the topic turned to his injuries and this was when Fuyuhiko began to truly realize his situation. Peko must have been the one who cut him by accident and afterwards she'd protected him with her own body, leaving herself to be torn apart by the hordes of mannequins. Not only had he personally sent Peko to the gallows, but he'd also pulled the lever and watched her dangle. He'd killed his partner, in more ways than one.

"You think so too, right Fuyuhiko? That must've been what you thought. There's no way you can die, right?"

Had he said that? It was true Fuyuhiko had spoken since people started arriving, but his thoughts were so muddled he couldn't even remember what he'd said. He glanced at the group and decided he couldn't take their prying eyes anymore. He turned towards the window on his right side, forcing out only two words between gritted teeth.

"…Who knows…?"

After that, Mikan spoke up, saying that she would stay with Fuyuhiko to monitor him. Fuyuhiko might've protested, if doing so didn't mean that he'd have to speak to the group again. Instead, he simply stayed as he was, looking out over the unfamiliar terrain that must have been the third island.

He almost smiled, though his mouth only twitched downwards slightly. Just his luck that when he was critically injured, they'd get a hospital. Fuyuhiko tuned back into the conversation happening on the other side of the room just as Nekomaru and Akane were talking rather suggestively about 'it'. Meanwhile, the horn-dog Souda sounded absolutely delighted at the prospect of finding out what 'it' was.

Idiots… Fuyuhiko thought, trying not to look back and shout at them to shut up.

Eventually, starting with Nekomaru and Akane, everyone left the hospital room, shouting back at Fuyuhiko to rest and come back when he felt well again. Saionji was the last to leave. She only glared silently at Fuyuhiko. Fuyuhiko watched from the reflection in the window and breathed a minute sigh of relief when everyone left. Everyone except Mikan.

Mikan sighed as well, her shoulders drooping as if some great weight had been lifted off of them. She turned to Fuyuhiko and smiled, seeming to know that he was watching the entire time. Fuyuhiko, flushing with embarrassment at having been caught so easily, averted his eyes from the window and instead stared at the wall, defiantly refusing to turn around even when Mikan began talking to him.

"Fuyuhiko… I'm going to need to remove your robe." What made it worse was that Mikan said this without a hint of hesitation. In fact she seemed almost authoritative. Fuyuhiko turned around so quickly that Mikan recoiled as if shot.

"What…the hell are you saying?!" He exclaimed, a dark flush spanning his cheeks, making his baby-face more pronounced than normal.

"AAAAHHH!" Mikan yelped, her eyes instantly brimming with tears. "I'm sorry, I was just going to re-bandage your wounds! I'm really sorry! I'll leave now!"

Mikan began to dart towards the door. Fuyuhiko thought fast and shouted.

"WAIT!" Mikan froze immediately. Fuyuhiko sighed, rubbing his left temple before speaking again, concentrating on making his voice as even and soft as possible. "I… I misunderstood. Sorry. Just… don't go below the belt, okay?"

Mikan practically span around, the brightest smile on her face as she approached Fuyuhiko again.

"Of course! Now, if you could just sit up for a few moments…"

Fuyuhiko almost smiled, this emotional nurse was just like a tiny rabbit, scared of everything and yet willing to forgive anything.

He sat up slowly, careful not to move too quickly and aggravate his wounds. Mikan stopped him when he was at a suitable level and slowly began her work, first untying the sash that held his robe closed. She carefully averted her eyes upwards, focusing intently on the many bandages that criss-crossed Fuyuhiko's shoulders and torso. After she'd exposed his entire upper-half, she retied the sash to prevent the robe falling further down and then began to undo the various bandages. Fuyuhiko studied her the whole time with his good eye and was surprised to see that she didn't flinch once. Of course she was the Ultimate Nurse, but still, Fuyuhiko couldn't imagine his wounds were exactly a pretty sight.

It didn't take long for her to finish, raising the robe again and then moving her hands towards his face. Fuyuhiko flinched back, before realizing that she was only going to remove the bandage over his eye. He steeled himself and let her touch him again. He hadn't noticed it so much when she was touching his torso, but Mikan's touch was as dainty as silk. It was almost like she was afraid to break his body. He felt the bandage fall away from his right eye and noticed, with a tinge of sadness, that he still couldn't open his eye.

So, it really is gone, huh?

Mikan must have noticed some change in his expression.

"You'll still be pretty."
"W-what?" He stuttered, his cheeks threatening to redden again.

"Ah! I'm sorry! In the movies, when the main gets seriously wounded, he'll say to the doctor 'Will I still be pretty?'" She paused, "I think."

"You think? What, don't you know?"

"Uhm… well, I never really got… taken to the movies…" She said sadly, looking off to the side.

Fuyuhiko suddenly realized that Mikan had been trying to cheer him up. Now, he'd ruined it by making her relive something she clearly didn't want to remember.

"I-it don't matter anyway… Thanks, I guess. Though don't call me 'pretty'." The last part didn't have enough bite to be taken too seriously, though Mikan nodded her head and made a non-committal sound of acceptance.

A few minutes later, another bandage replaced the previous one around his eye and Fuyuhiko laid down again, looking up at Mikan as she slowly drifted towards the door again.

"I'm just going to be outside so rest for now, okay? Call for me if you need anything."

"Yeah, alright."

And with another small smile, Mikan left the room, taking with her any distraction from Fuyuhiko's thoughts.

Fuyuhiko forced his eyes to shut, consciously blocking out his own thoughts. He didn't want to think of anything right now.

Maybe… if I sleep… they'll go away.

He slowly began to drift off. He'd hoped rest would provide him with an escape. It only ended up trapping him.

Fuyuhiko collapsed to the ground, his legs suddenly giving out under his weight. He was dimly aware that he should stop his head from hitting the ground and tried to turn away from the floor. He didn't need to, however, as strong yet soft arms embraced him, stopping his fall. He cracked open his left eye (finding that he couldn't open his right).

He could only see her silhouette, as the artificial lights of the execution stage shone directly behind her, but he knew that it was Peko.

"Pe…ko…" He mumbled, his body slowly losing all strength.

"I'm here, young master, I'm here." Her voice sounded sad, as if she was trying not to cry.

"St…op"

"Stop what, Master?"

"Call…me… by my name." He forced the words out between gritted teeth. The shock was dissipating and pain was replacing it. He realized that he was going to die here, in Peko's arms. And he realized it wasn't such a bad way to go.

"Mas- I mean… Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu…" Peko stumbled on the name, the syllables alien to her. Fuyuhiko tried to offer some encouragement to her, but only came up with a grimace as he felt himself slowly bleed out.

"You'll…get better. Keep practicing."

Peko smiled, "I'm afraid I won't be able to. This is where we part ways."

"Hey… don't joke, bastard. I'm gonna die here and so are you."

She shook her head. "No."

She softly laid him down on the floor and then went rigid, placing her hands either side of his head, making her body into a shield. To Fuyuhiko, the ground, though hard, dusty and cold, was the softest bed in the world. His felt his eye closing.

"I'm going to give you my life. I hope it'll make up for my ignorance, though probably not. My final gift to you; a chance to live again."

That was when the first sword pierced her.

"PEKO!"

Fuyuhiko bolted up in bed as he yelled. He could hear blood pumping in his head and he was overtaken by a dizzy spell. He fell back onto the hospital bed, pain contracting every muscle and burning every nerve. He tried to scream out, but found his vocal cords had stopped moving. Mute, in pain and paralyzed, he lay in his hospital bed, helpless and alone.

Suddenly, a light clicked on and at this point Fuyuhiko realized it was now night-time. He looked over to the door and saw Mikan standing in its frame, holding a small white case in one hand with her other hand on the light-switch.

Fuyuhiko looked away, feeling motion returning to his body again, trying to look like he hadn't said a word. He hoped that Mikan hadn't heard him.

"You must be in pain again. Here, I've got some morphine for you." Her tone was soft but forceful and Fuyuhiko sighed. She hadn't noticed, or, at least, she wasn't saying anything if she had.

He slowly turned around again, looking up at Mikan as she took a syringe out from the white case and filled it with morphine, which was held in a small bottle also in the case, along with some anti-septic and swabs.

"Please sit up."

Her tone was so straight-forward that Fuyuhiko couldn't refuse, slowly inching himself into a sitting position. Mikan smiled at him, offering him encouragement as she slowly brought down one sleeve of his robe, swabbing his arm with anti-septic before moving the syringe to his arm. The sting barely registered to Fuyuhiko after what he'd just experienced and he stayed absolutely still, letting Mikan finish the injection. She then slowly retracted the needle, putting it back in its case again and setting it on the side. She placed a swab to the puncture mark.

Slowly, she moved her eyes up to meet his.

"There we go! Now, you may start to feel a bit drowsy, but don't worry I'm sure you'll be fi-" Mikan's voice froze as her eyes met Fuyuhiko's. For a moment Fuyuhiko had no idea why she was staring at him, face aghast.

"W-what? You n-never seen an injured m-man before." Fuyuhiko stopped, noticing his voice was quavering with emotion. He looked down at the bed sheets and noticed a small droplet of water fall onto it, darkening it with moisture. Then another, and another and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, the Ultimate Gangster, realized he was crying. All because of a little needle-prick.

He looked back at Mikan, expecting a look of ridicule or pity on her face. A sly smirk or a forced frown; something that would make him mad and snap him out of it. What he found instead was the saddest, if not the most genuine emotion he'd ever seen on anyone's face. Her eyes were clear, looking dead into his left eye without looking away. She wasn't smiling or frowning, but instead kept a straight face. Her entire expression said that she knew Fuyuhiko was upset and that she was willing to let him express his grief without contempt.

Even then, Fuyuhiko could have forced himself to stop, he could have forced himself to be a man and stop crying. However, the last straw came when Mikan raised her arms, silently spreading them outwards. His brain told him not to fall for it, but his body was all too willing to fall into her, openly weeping. He was sobbing now, tears falling in an unceasing river as he cursed and screamed into Mikan's clothes.

"W-why!? Why her!? Dammit, it shoulda been me!"

Mikan nodded silently, completing her embrace. This further encouraged Fuyuhiko to let out the troubles he'd been keeping inside for so long.

"I shoulda died! I'm not even half a man, why should I live instead of her? You all respected her, you all valued her. I made myself an outsider and now I'm gonna die on this stupid mother-fucking island all on my god-damn own and no-one'll miss me!"

"Stop blaming yourself!" The exclamation was so forceful, Fuyuhiko jumped. He continued to cry as Mikan spoke quietly to him, a strength he never thought she'd have behind her words. "You're kind, Fuyuhiko. Peko was right about you. But you need to stop blaming yourself so much. I don't want anything like that to happen again! That's why we all need to work together! So stop using that as an excuse and help everyone."

Fuyuhiko processed what Mikan said.

"B-but, how? Everyone dislikes me and why shouldn't they? I'm no better than a murderer. I never have been."

Mikan chuckled lightly.

"That's not true. I like you, Fuyuhiko, and I bet everyone else can too. You're strong in your own way and so calm and collected. Sure, you're a little hot-headed but that's good too, that means you'll be able to save everyone when they're in trouble."

Fuyuhiko was struck dumb. How could anyone, especially someone like Mikan, possibly like him enough to give him a pep-talk? How could he, the heir to a great Yakuza clan, allow himself to be treated like a poor unfortunate? How come it was working?

Fuyuhiko felt himself relax more and more as Mikan continued on speaking. The morphine was kicking in but he forced himself to stay awake and listen to her.

"How about you start by introducing yourself properly? A first impression works wonders, you know? Then, try and apologize to them in the most sincere way you can and accept whatever response they give you. Then, bit by bit, change yourself and make friends and I'm sure that'll you'll become a great man." She finished on a sad note, "That's what Peko gave her life for, right?"

Fuyuhiko had stopped crying now and slowly slipped off Mikan, falling back onto his bed again. His voice was heavy with fatigue.

"You're a crazy chick, you know that? A great man? Heh." He paused. "I like the sound of that."

Mikan smiled warmly at him and then slowly turned to leave the room. Fuyuhiko came alive again, grabbing her wrist, keeping her in place.

"Could you… sit by me? Just for tonight! I kinda… need a friend right now…"

A small giggle. "Sure."

With that, Mikan found a small stool and sat by Fuyuhiko's bed, letting him hold her hand tightly as he fell asleep. Just when Mikan was convinced Fuyuhiko had finally fallen asleep, she felt him squeeze her hand slightly and mumble a tired,

"Thank you."

Mikan blushed, not responding to what she thought were the ramblings of a sleeping boy- no, he wasn't a boy anymore, he was becoming a man. Mikan hummed quietly when she was sure he was asleep. A jumble of notes which normally would be an incoherent mess. However, on this occasion, they formed a soothing lullaby.

She tried not to look at Fuyuhiko's face, but eventually she failed as she looked down and couldn't help blushing slightly. Fuyuhiko was grabbing her right hand with his own, interlacing his fingers to keep a grip. He was smiling, his head snuggled into their hands, mumbling incoherently. He was dreaming again and this time, Mikan thought, it was probably a happy dream.

I guess I did something useful for once.

She sighed and prepared herself to doze off on the stool, making sure not to leave her patient's side and promising herself she'd help her new friend. She closed her eyes and let the world sink into warm darkness.

*Hope Fragment Complete!*

Yay! This took longer than i thought it would, but i'm happy with what i wrote, I think. Anyway, cya guys later and feel free to comment this story. I really appreciate it!