A/N: Because he wouldn't ever actually say it to his face.


"I remember you saying, 'I'm going to shred your heart!', but I was trying to keep focus on staying conscious back then." Yamamoto sighed, closing his eyes kindly.

"And I don't know if you heard me, but I said something along the lines of, 'Isn't it just one-sided like this?'" His face was solemn as he grinned, shaking his head in a bereaved way. "We continued fighting..." his brows frowned. He pulled on a short sleeve shirt. "And I still don't know the answer to that," Hesitation. "One-sidedness." Yamamoto slipped into a pair of jeans he had worn the previous day.

"But you're not all that bad like you say you are." He pulled on a pair of socks. "I'm glad we can fight along side each other." Yamamoto's soft smile turned into a broad grin when he heard a pair of berated hands beat at the door of the room that was lent to him. "Hurry up, you brat!" Squalo growled impatiently from outside.

"Haha! I'm hurrying, Squalo!" Yamamoto laughed, slipping on a pair of shoes and exiting his room to meet his mentor.

Yes, Squalo wasn't that bad at all.