lmfao it took me this long to upload an already prewritten chapter pathetic

also why was this chapter so long what the hell...

what was I thinking back then...

Wheeeeeee filling this with other things is actually kinda fun. n_n Wish I remembered what was originally here, though.

But anyway.

Have fun reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Upstairs

"N, I am going to kill you. I will decapitate you, flay you, and leave your skin out to dry."

He looked absolutely petrified after she said this.

"Stop waking up right in front of me then!" Touko scowled and sat up, feeling a bit satisfied when he shied away from her glare.

"Friends don't do that, okay? It's weird. And unsettling. Don't do it anymore, alright?"

N frowned, but truthfully, he didn't have any intention of stopping. She said the strangest things when she was sleeping. Before she woke up, he thought he heard her mumbling about Ghetsis.

He was sure that that was just his imagination, though.

Probably.

"By the way, I have a question for you." N looked back at her inquisitively. "Why did you come back to my room last night?"

Well, she wasn't supposed to find out about that. But he wasn't going to lie. That just wasn't him.

"I didn't want to leave you alone for too long. My father is out for you and I don't want him being able to hurt you while I'm not around…"

Too late for that.

"… And what if you needed anything? I don't want you having to wait too long to get something."

Touko had to blink and rub her eyes before the image of a lillipup's perky ears and wagging tail on him disappeared. His "Aren't you proud of me?" look had made it harder for it to vanish.

"I see you're learning. Friends are around whenever their friend isn't well."

There went that vision again.

"Uhm, Touko, does friendship also involve being patted on the head sometimes too?"

Whoops.

She hadn't even realized that she took that picture seriously. "Sometimes," she answered with a nervous chuckle. She said that just to cover her ass, but it was true. Kind of.

"Give me a second." She freed herself from the machines and made her way over to the curtain.

"Should I step out?" N was slowly getting out of the chair, not wanting a repeat of yesterday's events.

The memory was still fresh, so she knew why he asked. "No, I just need to freshen up." She scowled and mentally cheered to herself when she successfully suppressed her blush.

Once she emerged from the curtain, she sat down on the edge of the bed, back facing him. Suddenly, she turned around and asked, "Can I leave the room?"

"For? Do you need anything?" She saw the lillipup ears perk up.

"No, not right now, calm yourself. I want to walk around. Being bedridden for too long isn't good for me. It isn't good for anyone, really." She went to the large bag near the curtain and fished out a pair of slippers. Now that they were on her feet, she headed for the door.

"W-wait! That's not safe! You're supposed to keep your friends from danger, right?" He dashed after her.

"Then come along then!" She walked briskly, her normal walking speed. It wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow. And it kept her heart from going crazy from strenuous effort.

"What about the heart monitor and the IV?" She wasn't supposed to stay away from those for extended periods of time.

"They're too bothersome to carry around! I can't walk around with them. They're bulky." She waved him off as she started to walk aimlessly, making observations about where she was.

"At least let me lead you. You're going to get lost if you just go wherever you please." N didn't realize that having a friend came with additional stress.

But it was worth it.

"You know, I don't doubt that. It might be better if you did that, actually." She stopped and smiled sheepishly at him.

Once he was leading Touko, he asked her, "Did you have anywhere in particular you wanted to go?"

"Nope, I just want to explore. How about you give me a tour of the rest of this place? That would make more sense than just strolling around for no apparent reason."

N grinned at this suggestion and nodded, starting to walk a little faster. His strides were long, so for Touko, she had to practically jog to keep up.

"N, slow down!" She was starting to pant a little, a hand over her heart.

"Hm?" He glanced over his shoulder and saw her trying to match his pace. "Sorry." He stopped and waited for her to reach him, walking at her pace once she was next to him. His eyebrows furrowed in concern, pointing to his own chest, referring to hers.

"My heart's fine, just a little upset with me." She chuckled. "Don't do that again. I just might collapse next time." She punched his arm playfully.

He stared at her in confusion, wondering about what just happened. He was hit, but it didn't hurt like his father's.

Why?

Touko, upon seeing his puzzlement, shook her head. "What I did is what you'd call a 'playful punch'. It's not supposed to inflict pain. You use it when you're joking around with a pal. Got it?"

N nodded, but he didn't quite understand that.

Oh, she had so much to teach him.

"I'll go into detail about this later. I think I should get you some self-help books to read when you're not busy watching me like a Braviary. Seriously." She shook her head and chuckled to herself. "Anywhere, where are we going first?"

He thought for a moment. "It's the morning, so you should probably eat breakfast."

Her stomach growled right on cue.

He laughed and she smacked his arm this time, glaring at him, though a smirk tugged at her lips.

"Was that another one of those playful hits? That one kind of hurt though." He rubbed his arm and frowned slightly.

"Yes. Sometimes they'll hurt if the person that hit you didn't really enjoy what you did or said. It stings a little for a bit, but it's harmless for the most part."

He looked at her skeptically, but she was the one he asked to teach him about how all of this worked. If this was the price for that, then so be it.

. - . - .

Once Touko scarfed down her breakfast with N watching in horror and wonder at how much she could eat, he began the tour of the castle.

Whenever a Team Plasma member came past, they would bow to him and not question what he was doing walking around with her. She was sure they would object to it, but there was no response from anyone.

"Are they usually this silent?" She asked when yet another walked by. "Don't they not like me?"

"They've been taught not to speak out of line. I'm completely different from my father, and they know this, but they don't take any chances." He looked a little gloomy, but it was soon dispelled.

As the tour continued, the amount of walking that Touko was doing was getting to her. When N could audibly hear her wheezing, he stopped walking, becoming concerned. "Touko, maybe we should go back to your room."

She immediately shook her head no. "I'll be fine, let's keep moving."

But when she took a few steps forward, she was brought down onto her hands and knees.

"Okay, so maybe I'm a little tired." She slowly stood up and dragged herself to one of the walls of the hallway, leaning back and sliding down on it. He joined her at the wall, sitting next to her.

"I'm going to use you as a pillow," she declared, putting her head on his shoulder. "Friends sometimes use each other as pillows if there's no other adequate replacement for one."

And she didn't want to admit it, but N was a pretty damn comfortable pillow.

She was just starting to relax when they heard voices coming from down the hall. And one of them was recognizable to her.

Instantly, Touko scrambled to her feet and started to panic, afraid of being caught. N himself started to get a feeling of dread, since the Pokémon trainer herself was right there, vulnerable and ready for preying on.

He grabbed her hand and they sped further down the hall, turning a corner. The voices were a bit louder now and they sounded like they were coming closer.

If they ran now, they would be heard.

Touko couldn't really recognize any of the voices but one, but N knew all of them as well as which one belonged to whom.

The Sages.

They had gotten together for a meeting and he had forgotten that they were having that meeting today.

That would have been totally fine if it weren't for the fact that this was the wing that meetings were held.

They were doomed.

She started to shake involuntarily and he felt it since he was holding her hand. He pulled her over and held her waist for comfort, trying to calm her down. When more speech was heard, he peeked around the corner, watching the seven carefully.

"N…" Her heart had already been hammering in her chest and with him holding her like this, it wasn't helping in the slightest.

"Shh," he breathed in her ear. "They're close."

Oh, they were close alright.

A little too close in her opinion.

Touko could feel her face heat up.

"Wait, this isn't the way to the throne room," one of them said, turning around. "It's still easy to get lost in this blasted castle, even after being in it for so long."

The Sages turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

After he heard the elevator open and close and he peeked the corner to make sure, N let go of her.

Touko could feel her little Pidove heart beat out of control.

"The tour's going to have to continue some other time. We were too close to getting caught." She nodded in agreement and started to walk. He grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"You're tired, I can tell." She was a trooper, but she was going to kill herself if she kept overworking herself like this. "I have an idea." He turned so that his back was facing her and he knelt down.

Wait, was he offering to carry her?

"I'll be fine, N, really."

"Touko…" He looked over at her and made a pleading face.

The tail and ears that she envisioned stopped wagging and folded themselves down respectively.

And those eyes.

Those damn eyes which seemed to have the power to persuade her to do anything.

"Fine," she said reluctantly, swallowing her pride and putting her arms around his neck. He stood up and hooked his arms around and under her legs.

She was so glad the pajama pants were long.

Shame about the short shirt sleeves, though.

Her hands were on his chest, her arms were touching his neck, and when she rested her head, she was on the crook connecting his neck to his shoulder.

She didn't know how many more surprises her little Pidove heart could take in one day.

Though she resisted as much as she could, Touko took a quiet whiff of his scent.

He smelled of berries. Mostly Oran.

Did he go around feeding wild pokémon in his spare time? She didn't know why, but the image popped into her head and she laughed quietly to herself.

Well, wherever he got the scent from, it smelled delicious.

Though you wouldn't ever get her to say that out loud.

It was intoxicating and, coupled with the constant, hypnotic motion of his steps rocking her slightly, and her head resting with her eyes closed, she started to doze off. 'I'm just resting my eyes… I'll open them within thirty seconds…'

While he was walking up a flight of stairs, he said, "Touko?"

No answer.

"Touko?"

Still nothing.

When he turned his head to look at her, he found that she was sleeping.

And she was drooling a little, but that was okay.

A little saliva never hurt anyone.

"Ghetsis, no!" She mumbled, sounding distressed. "You can't do that! Leave him alone!"

He frowned, hearing her nightmare and wishing he could comfort her.

And why was she dreaming about his father anyway?

. - . - .

Touko felt refreshed, stretching out on a nice, fluffy surface.

Wait, what?

She opened her eyes, only slightly less shocked to see N in front of her face.

"N, I meant what I said before."

He looked shamefaced, hanging his head. "Why do you insist on keeping me from being allowed to listen to you?"

"Because I might say the wrong thing." She scowled at him. "Anyway, did you bring me here after I fell asleep? And how long was I out for this time?" She couldn't believe she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep on him. She's only really gotten to know him over the past three days and already she was acting pretty chummy.

'Too fast, Touko. Too fast.'

"Yes and about half an hour. Also, you drooled a little bit on my shoulder, but I changed my shirt."

He really needed to learn when and when not to speak.

Her face flushed and she looked down, muttering a "sorry."

He could see the color on her face and he tilted his head to the side, questioning what that was. "It's alright," he told her. "But why is your face turning red? Is that normal?" He reached out for her face, placing a hand on her cheek.

It was warm.

And it was getting warmer by the second.

Because she had been reconnected to the machines, the heart monitor was going off again.

"Don't do that," she said, brushing his hand off without looking at him. Once his hand was off of her face, the heart monitor slowed down some, but it still continued to beep rapidly.

"What this color on my face is is called blushing. It happens when you're faced with a humiliating situation. You've felt humiliated before, right?"

"Yeah, when you beat Zekrom and me. My father wasn't pleased at all."

Touko frowned and patted his hand, which was on the bed after she brushed it off of her face. "You could have gotten revenge by leaving me there to die."

"What good would that do? You beat me and you turned out to be true hero. As much as I hate pokémon being kept in capsules and being forced to fight, I must abide by the beliefs of the one who won. Killing you off would be illogical." He shook his head and grabbed hold of her hand, smiling slightly.

There went her blush again.

And the heart monitor.

Her heart was just going crazy today, wasn't it?

When he heard the heart monitor go off again, he let go of her to test a theory, to see if the same thing that happened last time would happen this time.

Lo and behold, it did.

He didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing; Touko's heart rate went up whenever he touched her.

"Stop that!" She grumbled, not enjoying being subject to unnecessary physical contact.

She kept her eyes from meeting his, he noticed.

He would have to look up more about this, it seemed.

"Master N?" The intercom called, sounding a bit worried. "Ghetsis and the other six Sages wish to see you." It clicked off and N's face looked stressed, taking off his hat and running a hand through his hair.

"They're probably going to talk about why I shouldn't keep you here and how I failed as king of Team Plasma and…" He trailed off, watching Touko's guilt set in. "It's okay, really. When you're king, you never hear the end of it." He shook his head. "As you heard, I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can."

He put his hat on her head and smiled slightly before leaving the room.

She looked up at the bill of the hat, then pulled it off of her head.

Biting her lip, she watched the door for a minute or so, making sure he wasn't about to come back or that no one was going to come through the door.

Then she pressed it to her face and took a whiff of it.

She felt like such a creeper.

But as long as no one caught her, it was okay, right?

She hoped so.

After she put the hat back on her head, she disconnected herself from the machines and grabbed the chair N would sit on, bringing it over to the window. Once that was in place, she dug a book out of the bag of items and made herself comfortable in the chair.

. - . - .

Taking a break after reading for a few hours, she put the book down and glanced anxiously at the door, wondering how long this meeting had been going on.

Where was N?

… Not that she was that worried or anything.

So she told herself.

Concordia came in to check on her, so she asked the woman where he was. "He's still at the meeting. He requested that I stop by and check on you if he still hadn't returned after three hours."

Touko nodded and thanked her, not saying anything else after that. She waited until she heard the door shut.

Sighing she faced forward and looked out of the window, seeing a Braviary fly by.

She was then suddenly filled with longing, missing her team.

Maybe she could ask N.

If he ever returned, that is.

. - . - .

N walked into the room quietly, almost silently, and chuckled to himself after the first thing he saw.

Touko was asleep with her head thrown back and the book over her face with his hat on the floor.

Amused, he went over and picked up the hat and carefully took the book off of her face, placing both on the arm on the chair. As gently as he could, he picked her up.

When he did, she stirred and woke up slightly, barely opening her eyes. "A prince?" she muttered, looking a little frustrated because she was trying to figure it out.

"Not quite."

"A king?"

Thinking about this and putting two and two together, it finally clicked and she came to a little more. "N? What time is it? And why are you dressed like that?"

He was wearing a gold crown and a lush, white robe.

"It's about 6pm. And don't you remember? I had a meeting with the Seven Sages." His expression looked a little dark when he brought them up.

"Oh… I want to see my pokémon. I miss them." She yawned a little and closed her eyes, losing the weak grip she had on consciousness.

"You'll be able to see them in due time."

She nodded, just faintly hearing him.

"Let it be soon. I want to…" She passed out and her jaw went slack.

'It's hard to believe she's someone you wouldn't want to battle with as an enemy.' He shook his head with a smirk as he set her down on the bed.

He didn't know how else to describe it, but he had a certain fondness for her.

She was really quite interesting.

. - . - .

Over the next two weeks, N and Touko made it a daily occurrence to go out for a walk in the morning after she woke up.

Well, it was more like she would choose to go out, regardless of his concern, and he would obligingly follow.

On the bright side, he was learning a lot more about how friends worked and he should and shouldn't do around them.

And he learned more about her.

But even though they were getting closer, she still wouldn't let him stay in the room while she showered.

And he still didn't understand why this was unacceptable. But he abided by it.

… Most of the time anyway.

Her singing was too hard to resist.

. - . - .

Putting a hand out without opening her eyes, she pushed his face away from hers. She had gotten used to it because, no matter how often she would tell him to cut it out, he would still do it.

When life gives you Sitrus berries, you make a Sitrus smoothie.

"Can we do something a little different today instead of going for a walk?" he asked her, having gotten used to her pushing his face away.

Sitting up and ruffling her hair with her hand, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Exactly what do you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise. Can we?"

"I don't see why not. Just give me a second."

Once she was ready, she walked to the door, waving him over. When he reached her, she nabbed the hat off of his head and placed it on her own. "So, what are we doing?"

He pulled out a piece of cloth from his pocket. "You're going to have to wait and see."

She scowled and crossed her arms with a huff. "Fine." She trusted him enough at this point.

Now that the blindfold was on her, he led her around, a hand on the small of her back.

He had an amused smirk on his face upon seeing her blush. He had read about what it could mean, but he didn't have a complete understanding of it.

Maybe he'd ask her what it meant to have a "crush" some time. He was sure she would know how to explain it in a way that made more sense.

"I had to pull a lot of strings to make sure that you could be here," N said once they reached their destination. "I'll probably get in trouble for this later, but I'm sure it'll be worth it."

She didn't get what he was saying until the blindfold came off and she saw her team, standing there excitedly, joyed to see her again.

"Scorch! Deviant! Bolt! Geisha! Shogun! Courage!" She ran up to them and threw herself at her Reshiram, grabbing his fur while the others crowded around her. "I missed you guys so much." Her vision became blurry with tears, so she closed her eyes, holding tight to Scorch. Her five other pokémon made themselves comfortable around her.

N watched, a tender look on his face. It was hard to believe someone loved pokémon as much as he did, especially if they were sticking them in pokéballs.

But when he let her team out of their pokéballs before he went to get Touko, they sounded content, almost glad, with being in those things. A bit hostile with him at first, but they were happy.

He asked them if they would rather be released. The Reshiram, Liepard, Emolga, Mienshao, Samurott, and Braviary all had the same response: they would rather die than be separated from their beloved trainer. They had an unmatched loyalty for her.

When she finally recovered enough from the high she had gotten after seeing her pokémon, she looked around, finally noticing her surroundings. "Where are we?" She asked him.

The area looked just like the outside world, only, when you looked up, there was a glass ceiling several hundred feet high. Side to side, it was forest as far as the eye could see.

And it was alive. She could hear the cries of pokémon coming from every direction.

"This is an entire wing for pokémon we've… rescued."

"Stolen?"

"Borrowed. I'm trying to see if I can return them to their trainers of they looked perfectly fine when they were taken."

She looked shocked to hear this piece of news.

"What? I've seen that not all trainers hurt their pokémon. They have them fight, but it's to grow stronger and make and strengthen bonds. At least, that's what a lot of the pokémon I asked told me."

After he heard what Touko's team said, he went to see if this held true with the others that were confiscated.

Sure enough, it was.

A good lot of them looked heartbroken from being separated from their trainers. And it hurt him to see them like that.

'This is my fault.'

And he would fix his mistake.

"If you go in certain directions, you'll come across a replicated ocean, desert, plain, and grassland. Each is specifically made to look like their homelands."

She nodded at him, thoroughly impressed. "I'm glad you're learning." She gave him a wide, genuine grin; the first one she's made since she got here.

It was worth a lifetime of troubles from Ghetsis just for the chance to see that grin.

He cleared his throat and looked away from her, a light pink dying his cheeks.

She was too preoccupied with her companions to notice.

. - . - .

"Touko, we need to go. Concordia and Anthea know where to hide your pokémon and they won't tell a soul, but other Plasma members make rounds around here. If they see us, it'll certainly reach Ghetsis."

Everyone had been relaxing around Scorch: Touko was lying against him while the others lounged peacefully when she had been singing to them.

But once N mentioned his father's name, she choked and her face paled, but she really didn't want to go.

Sighing and getting up reluctantly, she told her team, "Sorry, guys, I have to go." They were all roused and they all made a distressed cry, clinging to her tightly.

"C'mon guys. You're making this really hard for me." It took all she had to keep herself from crying. They were sad, but they let go. "I'll see you guys later, okay?" She patted each of their heads.

"Behave, Deviant, okay? Stop picking on Bolt. You know he hates that. And Geisha, I trust you'll keep those two in line. Courage, Shogun, try not to overwork yourselves. Scars are cool, but they're not cool when I have to get you guys healed because you couldn't control yourselves. And Scorch, watch all of them, okay? I know you can do that."

All of them gathered together for a group hug.

As she and N were heading for the exit, she walked backwards, waving at them and blowing kisses.

Right as they got to the door, N stopped and turned around, caught off-guard when he found that she was hugging him. "Thank you. A lot," she said, her voice muffled. He returned the hug and found himself disappointed when she let go.

She wiped at her eyes with her fingers before looking at him. "Okay, ready."

"Unfortunately, I have to blindfold you again. I can't let you know where this wing is just yet."

She nodded with understanding and let herself be blindfolded.

. - . - .

In those two weeks, a doctor came by once each week. The first time, he prescribed her to a disgusting, smelly medicine. Touko was going to throw it away, but N gave her those pleading eyes and she found herself taking it daily as prescribed.

But today, once she was unblindfolded, she neglected to take it.

"Touko, did you take the medicine today? You usually take it after our walks."

"I took it before we left."

There was a staredown.

"You're lying."

How did he do that?

"Okay, so I didn't. One day isn't going to kill me." She waved his comment off. She was in a great mood after seeing her 'mons and she didn't want to ruin it by taking that vile medicine.

"Take it. It's to help your heart. I know it tastes terrible, but it's necessary."

"But I really don't want to."

"Touko…"

She glanced at him and quickly glanced away. Those damn eyes weren't going to get her this time.

"No." She marched over to her bed and flopped down on it.

She closed her eyes.

And reopened them when she felt a heavy weight on her chest.

N was straddling her on her bed.

Certainly a great way to get her heart to stop.

"You need to take it."

"You can't make me."

"Was that a challenge?"

"Maybe it was." The look in her face, despite her racing heart, gave him the proper answer.

He opened the bottle and shook the two pills she was supposed to take daily into his hand.

"What happened to you being nice and kind and respecting my views and personal space?"

"I respect them, but this is for your own good. If you would just take them yourself—"

"Not a chance."

"And this is why I'm forced to do this."

He easily gathered her wrists in one hand, since she was pushing her hands against his chest in attempt to get him off, and pinned them above her head.

A nurse came in to change her sheets, but immediately stepped out.

They were a little too busy to notice.

"Hey, asshole, get off!" She struggled, but she was weak and grew tired easy. Panting a little from her efforts, she glared at him.

"I have the pills right here. I'll let you go if you take them…"

"I'd rather fuck your dad than take those today. You're ruining my happiness."

He grimaced at that. "Why are you being so difficult?" He did his lillipup pout.

She resisted. Her will always dwindled whenever he did things like that, but she was going to fight it this time.

"Then you leave me no choice."

He popped the pills into his mouth and leaned his face in close.

She saw where this was going and her eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare," she growled before she closed her mouth tight, starting to move her head from side to side.

Unfortunately for her, he still had a free hand.

He grabbed her chin with his hand and held her head in place, bringing his lips to hers. He pried her mouth open with his tongue and slid the pills into her mouth.

Her struggle dissolved then and he felt her become weak under him.

Once she swallowed them, their liplock continued a little longer than it should have.

N, realizing this, pulled away. Her face was a furious red and her eyes were shut. When she opened them, there was more ocean blue around her pupil than usual.

Her eyes had dilated.

Noticing that it was over, Touko scowled, hiding her face with a pillow once he let go and rolled off of her.

"I'm… I'm going to leave for a moment. I'll be back."

"You do that."

She kept her face covered even after he left.

One image was burned into her thoughts, no matter how much she tried to think about anything else.

N had been blushing too.

. - . - .

Touko passed out with the pillow still on her face and she became cranky when someone pulled it off, the sun shining right in her face.

She was woken with a sharp, painful, echoing slap to the face.

"Sit up, whore," Ghetsis hissed, sounding pissed off beyond belief.

She had a hand on her cheek where she was hit, tears forming at the corners of her eyes from the sting.

"So, you think you can seduce my son and get him to take you to see your pokémon? Fool. I know where you sleep. Did you forget that during my two week absence?"

He cackled at the hateful glare she was giving him.

"Though I suppose I should also be thanking you. The closer you get to N, the more it will hurt him when you are snatched away from him. I just don't want you trying to become more than 'friends' with him." He sneered upon saying the very word.

She kept quiet, moving her hand off of her cheek and closing her eyes, wishing him away.

WHAP.

"Keep your eyes open while I'm in your presence, whore. That's rude."

He felt deep satisfaction whenever he inflicted pain unto her.

Beat his son and shame Team Plasma, will you?

Then pay for it dearly.

She cried out this time, hanging her head and putting both hands over her injured cheek, unable to keep herself from sobbing. The only consolation from this was the fact that her thick hair hid her face. Her heart was hurting and she felt a cough starting to burn her throat.

"Weak. You may have beaten my son, but you are still just a weak little girl. I should have killed you off when you beat him at the Dragonspiral Tower. You don't deserve the title of 'Hero'." He sneered at the last word as well.

She started coughing then, putting her hand to her mouth.

Blood. She could feel it. Sticky and wet, all over her hand.

She saw dark spots gathering in the corners of her vision.

When her hand fell to the bed, Ghetsis glanced at it.

An unnerving grin crept onto his face.

"But it looks like I may not have to kill you off after all. Your body is already doing it for you."

He laughed cruelly again.

Her world was growing, another body-wracking cough producing blood upon her hand.

"Your days are numbered."

. - . - .

"Touko! Touko! Dear Arceus, what happened!"

She woke to a younger, much kinder Ghetsis, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

"N?"

She heard a deep sigh of relief. And she felt herself being practically crushed against him.

"You coughed blood again," he murmured in her ear with her gathered up in his arms. "What happened while I was gone?"

He grabbed her shoulders again and pulled her away to an arm's distance, looking her over carefully.

There was an angry red hand print on her left cheek.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"It was my father, wasn't it?"

She knew he would ask and she didn't want to trouble him, but there seemed to be no way around it. He already knew, even if she didn't tell him.

"Yes," she murmured reluctantly, contemplating her navel.

When she looked up again, she saw a fury burning in his eyes.

"You can't stay in this room. He was the reason you were upset those two weeks ago, wasn't he? Why didn't you tell me?"

He looked dejected.

It broke her heart.

"I already caused you so many problems; I didn't want to add more." She started to choke up a bit.

"It's never been a problem helping you, Touko. Haven't you realized that already?" He shook his head and touched her injured cheek gently.

She winced.

His anger was ignited once again.

"Are you still tired?"

She could lie again, but she figured once was enough for one day. She nodded truthfully instead.

"Alright. Rest then." He let go of her and she lied back down.

She could swear that he had kissed her forehead before she fell asleep.

. - . - .

'I'm definitely not in my hospital bed anymore.'

The one she felt herself lying on when she was coming to was even more comfortable than the one she had just some time ago.

She wasn't even sure that that was possible.

When her eyes fluttered open, she saw herself in a rather luxurious bed, placed in a huge, beautiful room.

And a particular green-haired fellow staring at her from a chair.

She pushed his face away as usual and rose, inquisitive about where she was. There was still medical equipment near her and on her, but she definitely wasn't in a hospital setting anymore.

"N, where the hell am I?" She already had a guess, but it was better to confirm it.

"… My room. It's the only place my father doesn't check."

She felt a hell of a lot more awkward being in this bed now.

"That's sweet, but what about where you'll sleep? And the doctor. How is he going to visit?"

"I'll figure it out. And Anthea and Concordia will be coming in from now on. They're the only two that I know will keep their word and resist telling Ghetsis anything if he asks about you."

Completely aware now, she saw that the area around his right eye was swollen and bruising.

"Stop getting hurt just to protect me!"

"I'd rather get hurt than having you get hurt."

"Since when the hell were you a martyr! You think you can just take all the pain and it won't hurt me? It hurts me more to see you get beat up for the sake of saving my ass!"

"Touko, calm down."

"No!" She was at a fever pitch now. She wasn't going to stop until she felt like it. "I told you before to just leave me and die, but you don't listen! As much as I like living, it's not worth it if I have to see you get abused in the process! If you think it's just okay to take all the pain, than you're wrong! This hurts me just as much, if not more! If you let me go, I can just go to a hospital in Castelia! I go there all the time! They know what I need! And it would be better for the both of us if I just left! You know this! So why, N! Why do you insist on keeping me here when it's just destroying you and stressing you out!"

"Because you're the only friend I have here. I can't stand seeing you get hurt. If I lose you, I'll have nothing."

Her anger was smothered. "Okay."

She grabbed one of his hands and pressed it to her sore cheek, which had been bandaged up while she was sleeping. "Sorry."

"I am too. I didn't know you felt guilty."

"You still have a lot to learn. I suppose that's why I'm here, isn't it?"

She offered him a slight smile, putting his hand down on the bed, but still holding it.

A/N: Bawwwwww, I'm so sappy. |D

NO THIS IS NOT WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY HERE. Everything after A Brief Respite and before The Saltwater Room is gone and I'm filling it in with nonsense. c:

BECAUSE IT'S FUN THAT'S WHY.

I'm such a spazz.

"Teach me the way
To be humble and good
To be quiet when I should
To be great"
Upstairs - Psapp