Author's note : Told you this chapter would come soon. How are you ? I'm feeling better. Autumn break is going to start on October 19th, which means more time to relax, write, translate, draw, and maaaany other things.~ I'm starting the original version of Chapter 32 right now.

Wait, 20 chapters translated already?! Wow, that's a good number!

Enjoy this one.~

"What did they do
Just when everything looked so dark?"
- Bing Crosby

The evening had been tense. In the morning, Alice didn't even say hello to Kinuyo; Miho had to tell her to do so. The blonde, reluctantly, had done it. The Chihatan commander had kept silent, though. She hadn't been sick a second time during the night, it was already a good point.

They were now back on the road. On the road again. Always on the road. Footsteps, footsteps, and footsteps. That was what made up one day. Getting up, eating, walking, possibly taking a break in case of tiredness, occasionally eating a little when possible, walking, finding a shelter, spending the evening in this refuge, eating and sleeping. A full cycle. All this in a single day. It was as stimulating as monotonous. The landscape weren't always similar: sometimes they were in isolated areas, sometimes in abandoned cities, or in places devastated by an earthquake, as here. It was rare on the northern coast, but they could still occur, and they had. In a country with such seismic risk, it was impossible that there wouldn't be one at a moment. Anyway, the last one had occured three months ago or less. Maybe was it a consequence of the Niigata bomb. Such a violent explosion... the impact was significant.

Miho, along the way, felt a strange sensation. She saw kinds of bright, scintillating arcs, at the corner of her eye. They had started pretty gentle, but were getting more and more present, making her uncomfortable. Her vision wasn't clear, but normal beyond these things' borders: she was struggling to clearly distinguish what was in this flickering zone. She thought it was the light: after all, perhaps her eyes were just hurt by this bright sun? Perhaps the heat had a bad effect on her. She hoped it wasn't a heatstroke ; that'd the last straw! She pressed Kinuyo's hand. Her lover turned her head.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked.

"Can we stop for a while?" Miho murmured. "I've got sight issues..."

"Sight issues?" the brunette said, surprised. "You mean something's wrong with your eyes?"

"I'll explain later", the ginger whispered.

She sat on the ground. Alice joined them, followed by Dogmeat, as usual. He sniffed Miho and licked her face. She gently put a hand on his head.

"Are you okay, Miho?" the blonde questioned.

"It's her eyes that don't seem to work properly", Kinuyo growled, deeply irritated, and starting to lose control of her words. "No doubts, it's another consequence of your bratty behaviour. After turning my stomach, you messed up her sight. Maybe one day you'll cause her a stroke. We'd be two murderers. Are you satisfied?"

"Kinuyo, stop it", Miho sighed. "Don't add fuel to the fire, please... It's useless to fight over that."

The Oarai captain started to feel better. She looked up. Kinuyo stared at her, seeming worried. Alice remained impassive, still with a hand on her dog.

"I'm fine now", she muttered. "We can leave."

"Tell me if anything goes wrong again", the brunette said.

"Don't worry... it's okay..."

Soon, the trio were back on the road. They would soon have to stop. They were walking since the morning. Was it fatigue that had caused these little problems? Miho thought she might need to rest. Neither Alice nor Kinuyo had such problems. Perhaps it was caused by stress as well... After all, her girlfriend was the only one to be sick the night before, and it was all from the anxiety generated by the little girl's deplorable behaviour. Miho felt increasingly powerless. She ended up telling herself she'd have to accept the situation as it was and stop making meaningless efforts. Kinuyo had thrown in the towel, after all... she had ceased believing she'd get along with her one day. Miho was sad to know that the person she loved the most in this world and one of her closest friends weren't as close as she wanted them to be. Alice didn't give Kinuyo a chance. Miho had planned a wonderful future, to finally see that the only things that came out of this idea were stress and multiple conflicts. And what would it be with Maho? The ginger wanted to go in the future to know what Kinuyo would have to do to be accepted by her sister. Maho wasn't the type of person to feel hate, but maybe she'd have a hard time integrating her to the family. The question that was bothering her even more was her mother. Was she still alive? Maybe Chiyo Shimada wasn't... but it was possible that Shiho Nishizumi was. Vault 80 wasn't that far from their home, after all.

But as the road progressed, Miho felt more tired than usual. She was beginning to see these bright spots again. It was weird. What was happening? It didn't feel right to her. Her vision had blurred again. Luckily, they arrived in a city. They'd stop here for this night. Miho looked at a sign. Takahama. It would be their one night home. The city wasn't completely destroyed, unlike a little farther: the epicenter of the earthquake was likely elsewhere. What was mysterious was that half the buildings were still holding up. Miho shook Kinuyo's hand again. They quickly made sure to find the place where they would spend the night. They stopped in a house. Here, no vault flyer: the people there might have had an unhappy ending. In any case, it was deserted and dusty.

The short-haired girl thought she would cry when she walked through the door. Just in front of it, there was the dessicated corpse of a calico she-cat. It wasn't smelly: it was simply completely dry. The animal appeared to have died from starvation. Miho couldn't help but imagine how this poor little one had been left alone, desperately meowing and calling her owners, and had to feel the thirst and hunger killing her slowly... Kinuyo gently stroked her girlfriend's back. She glanced at Alice, then walked into the house. The girl stared at the cat's body on the floor before following them.

Dogmeat played with the dead animal. The blonde told him to go outside with it. Miho felt exhausted. All this affected her greatly ; she found herself crying in one of the rooms. Kinuyo was sitting by her side, feeling that something was wrong. The felt her head starting to ache badly. Very badly. A throbbing and piercing pain. Every second, she felt as if someone was driving a nail in the right side of her skull. She wasn't crying only because of what she had just seen, but also because of the pain. And she felt hot. So hot. Kinuyo was increasingly worried. She laid down beside her, gently stroking her lover's painful head.

"Do you want me to get you something to drink? It's hot, you're probably dehydrated..." she whispered.

Miho didn't answer, too busy bearing the pain that was destroying her head.

"Going to help you", Kinuyo said.

The brunette found a piece of cloth and went into the kitchen downstairs. She passed it under cold water, then went back upstairs with it. She felt her heart racing. What happened to Miho? Was it a heatstroke? A migraine? Too much stress? She didn't know and was more and more scared. What if she was seriously ill? What if she died, like...?

Miho was still on the bed, lying on her stomach, her eyes looking somewhat glassy. She was covered in sweat. Her partner turned her, making her lay on her back, then tilted her head slightly upwards and put the wet cloth on her forehead. She laid down beside her again.

"Kinuyo... what's wrong with me?" the short-haired moaned, unable to calm down.

"How are you feeling?" the brunette whispered, anxious.

"It's like someone is hammering my head...", she whispered. "And I'm hot... Ask Alice to bring me some water, please..."

Kinuyo shivered. She would have to talk to the blonde girl who seemed to hate her so much. She hoped not to feel bad just after because of stress. Still, she wanted her beloved Miho's good. She nodded and stood up, then walked down the stairs.

"Alice!" she called.

"What do you want, Nishi-san?" the younger one mumbled a little farther.

Kinuyo took a deep breath, trying to calm her annoyance.

"It's Miho. She's not feeling well. Can you bring a glass of water upstairs while I take care of her?"

"And can't you do this yourself?"

This was too much for Kinuyo. She approached, grabbed the girl and looked straight into her eyes.

"Alice Shimada, listen to me. It's about Miho's health. She might have a heat stroke, and that kind of thing can be fatal. I can't be everywhere at the same time, so if you want her to live or at least feel better, put in a little of effort and stop thinking you're the queen."

The girl didn't say a word, but seemed to understand. She scowled at the brunette, then found a glass in the cupboard and filled it with water. She went upstairs with it. Kinuyo discreetly followed her and watched what was happening in the room. Alice was in front of the bed and spoke to Miho, who was answering when she could. It was a horrible feeling to see her loved one in such a state. Kinuyo entered the room and went back on the bed. Alice left the room at that time.

Miho seemed to feel less hot, but her head was still hurting. She had drunk a little, though.

"Are you okay? Don't you feel sick?" Kinuyo whispered.

"No... but my head... my head... it's horrible... it's just so painful... can you close the blinds, please?"

The brunette nodded. She closed them and went back to lie down with the one she loved. The redhead still had a hand on her head, but looked a little more comfortable.

"I don't think I'll eat anything tonight", she breathed. "I'm not hungry."

"I'll stay beside you, don't worry, darling... Everything will be alright..."

"You have to take care of Alice", Miho murmured. "Give her something to eat, and have some food too..."

"I can't eat with all this anxiety on my mind", Kinuyo whispered. "I refuse to feed myself until you're feeling better."

"Don't starve yourself for me", the ginger replied. "You have to get some strength as well."

"It's not even a matter of will. I won't be able to eat. I will have thrown up in the next 30 minutes if I do. You've seen how stress gets on my guts last evening."

"You really have to get food, Kinuyo... It's not good to deprive yourself this way, especially for me."

The long-haired got up.

"I'm going to ask Alice if she's hungry, and also feed Dogmeat. If something's wrong, call me."

"Yeah..." Miho ended.

Kinuyo went downstairs. She looked at the blonde who was sitting on the couch with the dog lying at her feet. Despite the huge lump she had in her throat, the brunette managed to say:

"Are you hungry, Alice?"

Little turned his gaze.

"Yes, I'm hungry", she answered as coldly as usual.

"I'll see what's available here. Wait here, will you?"

She walked to the supplies bag and mentally listed all the things that were there. The majority of what they had taken during in houses was here. For the dog, there would be some corned beef. And for Alice, she decided to take a can of sardines. After all, she wasn't going to bust her guts cooking for that spoiled and snotty child. She opened the can and put it on the table with a pair of chopsticks.

"Have this, it's your dinner", she said. "If you don't like it, well, so much the worse for you. It's not my problem if we don't h-"

"Let's talk about something else", Alice interrupted. "What's wrong with Miho?"

Kinuyo, shocked, sat down beside her. Maybe it was the beginning of a genuine dialogue...?

"I don't know... Everything makes me think she has a migraine, but it might be a sunstroke... Some people in my surroundings suffered from migraine, their state was similar, except that they weren't feeling so hot."

"But she'll survive, right?" whispered the blonde.

"If I recall good, migraine can't kill you, but heatstroke can... She shall be fine, I think, but I'm staying beside her, just in case."

"And did your friends have this too?"

Kinuyo felt her throat tightening. She swallowed painfully, feeling tears pricking her eyes.

"I...I don't feel like talking about this now", she murmured. "I'll tell you about them later, when I'll have fully got over their death."

"I hope Miho won't kick the bucket soon", Alice said. "If she ever dies, I'd rather go back to the vault than spend more time with you."

Deeply hurt, the brunette didn't say anything. She stood up and went back upstairs. Miho was still lying on the bed. She turned her eyes to her.

"So? Could you talk?"

"Normal conversation, she asked me about what you were suffering from, it went okay until she mentioned my friends and broke me once again", Kinuyo sighed, sitting down next to Miho on the bed. "She told me that if you died, she would rather go back to the vault than stay with me. Of course, I wouldn't be welcome. She prefers to return to that hell instead of supporting me."

"And I told her to be correct with you... I don't know what happens to her. She may be jealous, actually..."

"Jealous? She doesn't love you the same way I do. Or maybe I've missed something."

"Well", said Miho, "I'm not talking about that kind of love. She didn't know, that's true, that we'd end up together before we meet her... I think she's frustrated because she can't have me alone. But I won't leave you because of that... she has to get over her frustration."

"I'm not sure she'd do it", Kinuyo anxiously replied. "If her goal is to push me to my limits to the point I get a nervous breakdown, she's not far from it. But if her actual wish is to see me going away from here, well, I'm not leaving."

"She's only twelve... still a child, you know. Children are sometimes cruel", the ginger sadly answered. "But she means too much to me, and I can't see myself betraying her..."

"I can understand that", her girlfriend replied. "Never do it to anybody. I did... and I regret it. My poor little Fukuda..."

"Try to forget about it, okay? I'll try to get some sleep... maybe my pain will decrease or go away, eventually", Miho said.

"I'll remain here", Kinuyo gently murmured, stroking her lover's copper hair. "Sleep well..."

She gave her a kiss on the lips, delicate as always. Until the ginger fell asleep, she held her hand and caressed her head, then went to put fresh water on the wet cloth before putting it back on her forehead. The night was going to be sleepless for the Chihatan commander.