THE SOUND OF YOUR HEARTBEAT

"It soothes me. It excites me. It keeps me awake. It lulls me to sleep."

Soma slowly blinked his eyes open, the sound of mumbling chatter rustling him from his sleep. His first form of rest in two months, he thought. He eyed his surroundings and as the blinding brightness of the ceiling lights finally registered in his brain, he realises that he was in the sick bay.

What was he...?

"Vendetta!" He jolted upright, fully awake. His abrupt movements strained his recently resting muscles and he cringes in pain.

"Careful, you haven't properly rested for two months, you might pull a muscle if you move too much." A motherly voice warned as the curtains slid open, revealing Sakuya and almost everyone in the den overfilling the room. They were chattering happily, clearly excited, it pained Soma's head greatly just trying to register each voice.

"Vendetta." He called out.

"Yeah?" A laid-back reply came immediately and Soma widens his eyes in surprise. So it wasn't a dream, he thought. She was here. She came back.

He stands from his bed, making his way towards the sound of her voice. It didn't take much, though, obviously she was in the centre of where the large group of people gathered. Sakuya tries to get him to rest a bit longer but Lindow stops her, simply shaking his head with a mischievous smile.

As the others moved out to make way for him, there she was, sitting upright in her bed, the very same one where he almost lost her. She sat relaxedly, grinning at the sight of him.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty." She laughs and the others couldn't help but warmly smile at the sound of her laughter, it finally registered in their minds, their leader was home at last. The den finally felt right for the first time in two months.

"Hey." He greeted with a smirk, taking a seat beside her bed. In truth, Soma had wanted to say much more. He wanted her to know everything he's been keeping inside. He wanted to tell her he...but as suddenly as the thought registered, the corner of his eye caught an unpleasant sight.

At the corner of the room, glaring eyes bored holes into him, standing there with his arms crossed, Heinrich silently scorned at him. Soma met his obvious despise head on with a glare of his own.

"What the hell is he doing here?" He spat, looking to Lindow for answers.

"He was the only one who knew how to move her and besides, he insisted." He simply answers, a cheery grin on his face. Lindow knew too well how Heinrich felt for the confused girl before them from the way he gently handled her and he suspected from Soma's reaction that he also had it figured out.

"Oh! That's right! I haven't properly introduced you guys yet, have I? Soma, this is Heinrich and Heinrich, this is Soma." Vendetta introduced them kindly, as if she expected them to be friends and the thought of it made both men click their tongues in irritation.

Vendetta could only laugh dryly at their obvious frustration. What happened while she was asleep? She questioned worriedly.

"We've met, princess." Heinrich explained. 'Though I'm starting to wish we hadn't.' He silently commented at the back of his head.

Soma, on the other hand, was currently trying to keep himself knocking the living daylights out of this man. 'Who's your princess, asshole?' He asked violently, his tongue laced in seething rage but he tried to keep it in, knowing that Vendetta was watching.

If she was happily introducing them like this then she must have trusted this man to some extent. Soma didn't find the notion too pleasing but he didn't want to upset her by running through the bastard with his blade.

"Heinrich, aren't you going to get in trouble for doing this?" She asks, concern etched in her voice. Soma twitched as he tried to keep his calm. 'Why are you calling his name so familiarly?'

Heinrich smirked devilishly at Soma's reaction. He might've admitted defeat but perhaps he could still rock the boat a little bit before jumping off completely, he thought.

"I'll brave through any obstacle if it means I can keep you safe." He explained as a matter of fact. He was provoking Soma but they all knew that his words held absolute truth in them and it pissed Soma off even more.

Vendetta laughs and Soma never felt more frustrated in his life. 'Don't smile for him. Don't laugh for him.' He clenches his fist so tightly, it was starting to lose colour.

"Idiot. You really need to start taking care of yourself." She scolded him gently, genuinely worried for him. Soma stood from his seat beside her and stalked off. If he stayed here any longer, he thought his mind would just snap. As soon as he stood, however, she stopped him in his tracks.

"Ah, Soma. Before you go..." His heart stilled immediately.

"Thank you. For coming to get me. For waking me up." She softly said, a gentle smile on her lips and, taken by surprise, Soma's blood rushed violently towards his face. The others fell silent, shocked by the expression on his face. Lindow laughed merrily. Heinrich clicked his tongue.

"J-just don't go off by yourself again." He stammered, as he turned to look away. Shit, he was starting to look like a total fool. Pulling his hood down to cover the rest of his heated face, Soma stormed out of the room, trying to retain whatever dignity he still had.

As soon as he reached an isolated area, nearby the vending machines, Soma flopped down on the seat close to him, exhaling heavily. His hands reached slowly towards his chest, gripping his shirt tightly, as he tries to calm his rapid heartbeat.

'Damn her.' He thought. One minute, she had him feeling like he wanted to kill a man and another she made him want to reach out to touch her. While he was glad that he didn't actually commit murder, the desire to hold her had been too strong, he was starting to have difficulty breathing.

Was this really all right? For him to want a person so much, to the point of obsession? Wasn't love supposed to be a lot more...gentler? Lindow never seemed to have such problems and Sakuya had been on missions with other men without him there to watch over her countless of times.

Why was it that every time she smiled for another man, laughed for another man, or even accidentally brushed skins with another man, he felt like ripping said 'another man' into pieces? Was he just too immature? Was it alright for him to be so possessive of someone that didn't even belong to him?

He couldn't help it. For the first time in his life, Soma felt like he needed to possess her every being. He felt like he wanted to keep her from the rest of this damned world, to just keep her for himself but at the same time, his conflicting heart didn't want to upset her by being so selfish. At the same time, he wanted her to be happy as well.

Was this normal? He thought. His necklace shone violet in affirmation of his thoughts. He couldn't deny that anymore, Soma Schicksal was in love with an annoying, troublesome, selfless, brave, kind, chatterbox of a woman. He smiled but this love of his worried him.

He wanted to keep her for himself but at the same time, out of respect for her feelings, he didn't.

He wanted her to know how he felt all this while, as he selfishly yearned for her to look at him and no one else and he wanted her to feel the exact same way but at the same time, he wanted to spare her from the emotional torture.

Everything just conflicted with each other and Soma has never been more confused. All this time and he still couldn't make sense of it all.

He concluded then, as his heartbeat still raged inside his ribcage. Thoughts of her fuelling his burning face.

Love was tiring. Love was painful. Love was confusing.

But he never wanted to let go and he never will.

Heheh...Soma's growing up! He's gradually starting to understand just how hard it is to be in love :D So the basic point is that Soma's worried and questions why he's being so possessive since the love he's been exposed to all this time is the warm, gentle kind (I'm just gonna assume that Lindow's mature enough to not get jealous at every man in close proximity to Sakuya, alright?) but Soma, your kind of love is the kind I love the most! The 'stay away from my girl or else' kind! XD Kyaaaah!

Well, still here after all that cheesy fluff? (for the love of god, even writing the word 'love' is making me twitch) Get ready, folks cause I'm not stopping there. The story could only get more cheesy and fluffy from here on so like I said, get a full cup of vinegar and just bask in the pink atmosphere I've got lined up for you...after my exams! Haha, I've got a week left to study, what am I doing here again? D:

P.S: I changed the story's cover art to the drawing that Innoscence Se7en sent me, though, it doesn't show up in my computer...if it doesn't show by tomorrow, I'll do something about it then :D

See ya guys! As always, hope you enjoy this and leave a review to tell me what you guys think! Don't worry, I'm very open to criticism. :3

-FreakishMind-