A slightly longer drabble than Toleration if anyone bothered to read that. Once again, not really set in any specific time frame. Enjoy.

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I jerk my hand away again, only to have it yanked back along with an insult shouted in my ear. I don't know how she does it. How she can be trying to help me, yet bitching relentlessly at me at the same time.

I didn't ask for her help. I don't need her help. So, I accidentally got my hand cut in battle. So what? I've had worse, and it's not bleeding that badly... anymore.

I hate being fussed over, and I'm sure she knows it too. But she doesn't care. Has she ever?

No.

I try once again to reclaim my own hand. Unfortunately, Yuya has other plans and forcefully pulls it back into her lap.

I cringe slightly, though I hide it from her. Does she realize that every time she does that, she makes it hurt even more?

Probably.

"Would you hold still!?" she yells. "You're only making it harder on yourself, you know!"

Yeah, I know. I also don't care. I decide to voice my last thought as I pull my hand back again. "I don't care."

For some reason, she stops in the middle of reaching for my hand again, and begins to look really pissed off. She stands up quickly, letting the bandages and wet rage in her lap fall to the floor, and glares down at me.

Geez, now what'd I do? If I was trying to get that frustrated look on her face, I'd understand.

But I wasn't.

So, what isher problem?

I gaze steadily up at her, waiting for her to go into some pointless rant about nothing important.

"You always say that about everything! Nothing ever fazes you! Nothing ever makes you care! You don't care about this! You don't care about that! You don't care about anything! You don't even care about anyone, even yourself!

She breaks eye contact with me now and just glares at the floor. "If you don't care about anything, why do you do anything!? Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you fight? Why do you even bother to live if you don't care!? Life's not worth living if you don't have some sort of ambition!

She looks back at me. "So what do you care about, Kyo? What's your ambition?"

I look back at her, slightly bewildered. Who would've thought that three little words would set her off on such an emotional tirade.

"Well!?" she snaps.

I break out of my daze and turn my head away. "None of you business."

She lets out a little scream of frustration and stomps her foot. "And there's that famous line again! Why don't you just tell me anything!?"

I look back at her and keep my voice calm. "If it wasn't of any real importance, I would tell you. However, that particular bit of information is called a secret."

Her body relaxes and her voice tones down a notch. "Oh..." She thinks a moment. "Is it your body?"

"That's a minor reason."

"Umm... is it..." She hesitates, then decides to be bold. "Is it Sakuya?" She reels back a bit, as if afraid I might bite her head off for mentioning the "forbidden" name.

But I shake my head slightly. "Not as much."

She looks confused now, trying to think of something else I might care about.

"Okuni?"

I snort, giving her my answer.

"Then... what?"

"I told you, it's a secret."

She sighs and kneels back down next to me. "Fine, but in return for not telling me anything, you have to let me take care of that hand!" She grabs it off my lap and picks up her rag.

I let her.

And I just sit and enjoy, for once, the feel of my ambition bandaging my hand.

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–DixieGoddess