Notes: Yay! I'm finished all but one university applications, so it looks like I'll have more time on my hands! I'm sorry to keep you all waiting. These slow-down chapters are harder to write for me than I thought. Writer's block + uni + grade 12 general business = no chapter for over a month D: I also feel apologetic that this chapter's on the shorter side and not much actually happens in it. I hope you still enjoy it, and I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the Yukawa x Utsumi opportunities here XD

Warmth

Yukawa awoke to an unfamiliar warm sensation in his hand. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything quite like it… he couldn't place exactly what it was. That was the first thing he noticed, rather than the searing, pulsating ache in his shoulder. He cracked open an eye, and as he'd expected, he saw the vague outlines of what could only be a hospital ward.

There was a muffled noise. A voice – a woman's voice. Yukawa let his eyes travel to his side, where Utsumi Kaoru had obviously made herself at home. There were the remains of an instant noodle cup on the bedside table and some onigiri wrappers, as well as a folded newspaper.

Ah. It's the warmth of another human being.

Her hand, looking so small and fragile, was tightly gripping Yukawa's uninjured one, even as she seemed to be slumbering with her head resting on the bed and against his upper leg. Yukawa noted that it looked like an exceedingly uncomfortable position to be sleeping in. Her head was moving as she muttered more things in her sleep.

Both their palms were damp with perspiration and his fingers were numb – who knew how long Utsumi had been here for, clutching his hand like that.

Yukawa's first instinct was to tense up like how he did during physical interactions that he found uncomfortable – which, for him, was almost always the case. But, remembering how Utsumi's cheek felt under his fingers when she'd saved him from the depths of his own rage – how oddly comforting her touch had been in aftermath of the night – he grudgingly decided that letting her hold his hand couldn't be such a terrible thing after all.

Yukawa relaxed. He let his heavy lids close and drifted off into a blissful drug-induced sleep once more.

Kusanagi noticed that Yukawa was beginning to stir – the anesthetic seemed to be wearing off, as the nurse had told him earlier. Yukawa was frowning, in contrast to the expression of serenity he'd had for the last half hour. Cautiously, Kusanagi called his name.

"They didn't want to drug you up as much as they did last time," Kusanagi said as Yukawa blinked blearily at him. "They said you'd be a bit sore."

Yukawa grimaced and shifted in his bed. "Just a little bit."

"Are you all right? Should I get the nurse?" Kusanagi didn't quite know where to look. He knew that Yukawa wasn't very fond of being stared at, so he settled on fixing his eyes on the fascinatingly patterned blanket Yukawa was under.

"No. No, I'm fine." Kusanagi didn't believe him but he had no intention to deal with the nurses at the moment, either. A moment of silence passed between them. Kusanagi was wondering what he should say – there was so much he wanted to tell his friend but he didn't know how to start without overwhelming him. He realized that Yukawa was looking pointedly at him, and he sighed, knowing that everything on his mind must be showing on his face. "Okay, well, I suppose you want to be updated."

"Actually… no. Not yet." Yukawa startled him by saying this. The physicist simply lay back on his pillow and closed his eyes. "I'm tired."

"Oh… okay." Kusanagi blinked. It was so unlike Yukawa to not be demanding information from him.

"… is Utsumi-kun all right?"

"Yeah. She's fine. She wasn't hurt at all…" Kusanagi trailed off, not wanting to mention Sugiyama's name just yet.

Yukawa nodded slowly. There was more quiet. He finally asked, "How long has it been?"

"Just a couple hours. It's almost midnight."

"Ah."

"You don't need to stay as long, this time, if that's what you're wondering. They said if you're careful – unlike last time – you'll be good to leave in a couple days."

"No, that wasn't what I was thinking. But good to know, all the same. I honestly don't feel so bad…" Yukawa smirked. Kusanagi was glad to see some kind of expression cross his friend's face, even if he was being mocked.

"You look terrible, just so you know."

"I suppose we can't expect otherwise." Yukawa began to shrug but stopped, his face twisting and free hand going to his shoulder, which Kusanagi knew had been quite abused by Sugiyama's knife. The blade had gone almost completely through, and Yukawa pulling it out hadn't helped lessen the damage. 'The damn thing would've prevented all that blood loss if had stayed in there,' Kusanagi remembered the doctors saying. It's so like him to do something like that, the stubborn arse, Kusanagi sighed inwardly.

"Yukawa, don't be stupid and keep still," Kusanagi grumbled, not betraying any of his concern.

Yukawa just muttered something and turned away to look out the window, through which city lights were still streaming in. Kusanagi couldn't have guessed what was going through the physicist's head at the moment. Was he recalling the night's events? Was he thinking of Utsumi Kaoru? Or was his mind on Sugiyama, who had made this case so personal for him?

"Utsumi was here, by the way," Kusanagi tried to inject some conversation back into the room, "and had a little sleepover."

Yukawa gave no visible response, but only said, "I know."

Kusanagi was surprised again. "How?"

In answer, Yukawa just smiled – to Kusanagi, it somehow seemed different from his usual sarcastic grins.

Utsumi hugged the giant teddy bear close to her chest as she pushed her way through the hospital halls. She almost giggled to herself, imagining what sort of face Yukawa might make in response to the thing. For all she knew, there was no scientific explanation for the existence of stuffed animals. Yukawa didn't like anything that couldn't be explained logically… but then Utsumi wondered if that had changed in him at all, since that night. But then, which night, exactly? When he'd first met Sugiyama Kotarou, or their last encounter at her apartment?

Thoughts of Sugiyama weighed heavily on her. They had arrested him and interrogated him, but something still felt off. It wasn't that he didn't speak – on the contrary, Sugiyama had confessed and told the police, in detail, of his crimes, given the list of his accomplices and the locations of the people he had kidnapped. Utsumi was ashamed to have forgotten about Sugiyama's other victims entirely, with the psycho seeming to focus so intently on Yukawa Manabu. Sugiyama had indeed been behind those disappearances in Tokyo. After attacking Yukawa, Sugiyama had his henchmen snatch random people off the streets, but strangely enough they were largely unharmed, considering what he did to Yukawa and the animals. That was, with the exception of that poor woman who Sugiyama had used as Utsumi's decoy in that body bag…

Utsumi wondered if Sugiyama had any sort of interest in anyone other than Yukawa. The kidnapping victims had reportedly only been confined and intimidated, but not subject to much else. They probably would all need to consult with psychiatrists, however… Utsumi did recall that Sugiyama was more interested in the psychological aspects of people, and that the only reason he'd gone so far with Yukawa was probably to break him. He'd almost succeeded.

Something about Sugiyama's testimony didn't sit well with Utsumi. She still didn't know why he did what he did to Yukawa. He'd claimed that it was for nothing but for his pleasure. She didn't believe him. What would Yukawa think?

And Terauchi Akiko. She had been taken into custody as well Sugiyama had testified that he had used his mother's house as a storage and workplace – with her knowledge. It was true. Terauchi had seen him and his henchmen carry in all sorts of suspicious objects into her basement, even including captives and a corpse. Of course, she wasn't quite in the right mind, having suffered abuse from both her late husband and son… The court would have to make its judgment.

Deep in her thoughts, Utsumi hadn't realized that her feet had carried her all the way to Yukawa's ward already. She knocked, with some difficulty due to the bear in her arms, and pushed the door open. "Sensei? It's me, Utsumi."

He looked up from what looked like a complex-looking physics textbook. How he could read something like that for leisure when he was hospitalized was beyond her. He'd never change. It made her glad to see this, especially after the moment of vulnerability he'd shown her that night. If he felt differently about himself since then, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it. Neither of them had mentioned it to the other since it happened. "Utsumi-kun?" His arm was in a sling and his face was adorned with several band-aids, and bruises but he looked decent for the most part.

"I brought you something, Sensei!" Utsumi beamed, coming towards him and dumping the bear in his lap. The look that crossed his face made her laugh out loud. He just shook his head but she didn't miss the grin briefly steal over his lips.

He was holding it like he would something he'd concocted in a test tube… this was the image that immediately came to Utsumi's mind, before she remembered that he wasn't a chemist. "And what exactly am I going to use this for?"

Utsumi rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you never had a stuffed teddy bear when you were little."

Yukawa didn't say anything but just pouted, almost like a disgruntled child. Utsumi grinned. "So, Sensei, what are you up to?"

"I would think that would be a more appropriate question for me to ask you, considering I've been stuck here for the past two days." He was still examining the teddy bear, poking at its generously stuffed belly. "I can't even imagine how much you paid for this."

"Oh, you wouldn't want to know." Utsumi said cheerfully. Then she looked down at her feet. "I haven't been doing much since… that night, actually, things have slowed down a lot at Kaizuka."

"Why?" Yukawa raised an eyebrow.

"He won't talk any more to anyone else… but you, or so he says." They both very well knew who 'he' was. It was just that she never wanted to taste that name on her tongue ever again. She hadn't yet told Yukawa everything that had happened after the night. To be honest, even she found it all rather overwhelming. The feeling in her gut when they'd gone to investigate Terauchi's house, and discovered those fridges full of dead animals, right below where she and Yukawa had sat when they visited the old woman… Sugiyama had said that his purpose on doing those was to perfect his so-called 'techniques'. It made Utsumi feel sick to the stomach. He knew a remarkable amount about anatomy and non-fatal methods that inflicted maximum pain. She had to remind herself that if Sugiyama and his henchmen hadn't practiced on those animals, Yukawa would have never survived. It was only after interrogating him that Utsumi realized that Yukawa had been very precisely stabbed so no major organs would be damaged. In Sugiyama's eyes, everything was planned. But what was the master plan exactly?

"Mhm." Yukawa set the bear down next to him. "I suppose I should go see him when I'm better, then." He looked expectantly at her.

"Sensei -" Utsumi began.

"I want to talk to him again."

Utsumi had figured this would be the case. She just nodded. "I'll take you." He deserved to know the truth. If Sugiyama wasn't talking to the police, he would probably talk to Yukawa, whom he obviously held in special regard for whatever reason it was. "But remember, I'm going to closely monitor you and make sure you're following all of our policies – I'm not going to get in trouble with the higher-ups again because of you, remember last time when you…" Utsumi trailed off when she looked over at him again. He'd miraculously fallen asleep in those couple of seconds, when she was trying to talk some sense into him. As per usual, Utsumi sighed.

Though she did have to admit, it was interesting to see the Professor Galileo sleeping with his arm around an oversized teddy bear. She regretted not bringing her camera with her. She could have teased him about this for the next year and a half.