Hey, sorry I not posted for ages... college and such. Such a pain, and so bloody stressful.

But fun... ish.

Anyways, here's a chappy. Enjoy.

I walked into dads room, saw Hatori shaking mum awake, and walked over to her.

"Come on mum, you need to go get some sleep." I said, heaving her up onto her shaky feet.

"I can sleep here Mai." she said, making to sit down again, but then Kyouya walked through the door to my rescue.

"Saori. Go home." he said, taking her by the arm.

"I don't want to, you can't make me." she snapped, awake now, but now even more able to fight us off if she wanted to.

"Look, since I'm a doctor here, I can say you're suffering from severe exhaustion, and have you placed under house arrest until I think you're better."

"You can't do that."

"I have a police force. Try me."

They glared at one another for a moment, before mum admitted defeat. She sighed, turned, grabbed her coat and started pulling it on.

"Fine. But I'll be back here at six a.m. tomorrow..." she turned to me then, and hugged me, whispering in my ear "If anything happens, phone me right away."

"Okay mum." I whispered back, returning her hug.

I was left on my own as Kyouya took mum and Hatori out to the driver, and I took my time sitting down, pulling my homework books out, and making myself comfortable for a very long night.

I'd just finished long division when Kyouya walked back in to see if I was okay.

"Need help with that?" he asked, pulling up a chair and sitting on it backwards, so he was resting his arms and chin on the back, while facing me.

"Not really... I'm quite good at maths."

"Well, both your parents are brainiacs. It's hardly surprising." he said, with a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Dad's best at maths... mum gets everything else." I said, smiling.

"True... she was always clever." he said.

"... when's dad gonna get better?" I asked.

"I don't know Mai." Kyouya mumbled. "I honestly wish I knew."

"I wish you did too..."

"He's a very sick man." he said quietly.

"What is it he has?" I asked, wishing I hadn't, but wanting to know.

"A brain tumor, like he told you. We didn't know if we could get it out or not... But he also had an Extradural Hemorrhage. It was putting pressure on his brain. But it was lucky you saw blood, instead of him just falling unconscious."

"He would've just looked asleep." I mumbled.

"If he didn't have the hemorrhage, we wouldn't have gotten the tumor out. He probably would've died."

"Don't say that."

"Hmm... Maybe you should talk to him. See if you get a reaction."

He pulled me close, and gave me a kiss on the forehead (like uncles do if they love you enough) and then got up to go. I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes, and had to wonder... was he sad about this because he couldn't fix it? Was it because it was hurting mum and he didn't want to see her sad? … Could it be because she cared more about dad than him?

...No. He loved Lisa. Just 'cos he had a high school crush on her doesn't mean he still likes her.

Duh.

I sighed, and threw my books back into my back, then pulled my chair up right beside the bed.

Dad didn't look like dad. He had wires everywhere, making sure his heart was still pumping. He had some machine that was controlling his breathing, his body temperature... everything.

The only thing that was still dad about him was the blank look on his face... but even that looked different now. He didn't look apathetic, he looked... dead?

Scary thought.

Maybe I should try what Kyouya said, try talking to him.

"Um... dad?"

No response.

"This is pretty stupid, because I don't know if you can hear me or not, or if you can, maybe you don't know who I am. Well, it's Mai. Your daughter. I'm fifteen, but I'll turn sixteen soon, because... you know... it'll be my birthday."

Still no response.

"So much shit has happened. First of all, you're in a comatose state, and no-one is actually sure if you'll wake up, but don't worry, I'm not letting them pull the plug on you. I'll beat the shit out of them before they even get close."

Nothing.

"And... well, I got in a bad relationship at school. This guy called Lee... he kept blackmailing me and trying to get in my pants."

… I swear I saw his finger twitch. Or maybe I'm imagining him trying to make a fist because he'd wanna punch Lee in the balls.

"Don't worry, I beat the crap out of him. He's in intensive care somewhere... but sorry for getting into another fight. I caused a bit of trouble doing that at the beginning of the year."

Nope... nothing.

"Now I'm stuck in a rut. I dumped Lee, and since you've been here, I found out that Amatiro Nekozawa likes me. He's a really good guy... and he's cute, and nice, and I'm only saying this now because you're unconscious and can't give me 'the look'... I kind of like him too. He's been my best guy friend for years, and he's always been there for me, and the past few weeks he's let me talk to him, and vent to him, and everything..."

I sighed, and clung to his hand.

"Dad... I'm in such a muddle. I'm worried about you... I don't know what to do with Amatiro, and everyone if freaking out around me. Mum's not the same, Hatori's not the same... hell, even Kyouya's not the same!"

I felt tears stinging my eyes, and I wiped my face on the back of my hand.

"I'm tired too." I mumbled, than started to laugh, because I was more or less talking to myself.

I let go of his hand, leaned back into my chair, and closed my eyes.

I needed some shut eye.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Sat in a clearing again, cross legged next to dad who was grinning at me.

"What you smiling at?" I grumbled.

"You." he replied, simply. It was then I smiled at him and went to hug him, and he wrapped his arms around me in one of his special hugs that only he could give... one I hadn't felt in weeks.

"Why are you here?" I asked, looking at him. I was well aware that this was only a dream, but everything felt so real. He was warm to the touch, and his eyes twinkled like there were stars reflecting from them... but it was a figment of my imagination. He wasn't there, I was pretending he was.

"You know why. I'm simply your subconscious in the form of someone you love and trust."

Strange as it was still dad talking, not me.

"You, you're me, but you look like dad."

"Yes."

"This is beyond fucked up."

"Don't swear in front of me." he warned... which only made it weirder.

"I can't swear in front of me?" I asked, utterly confused.

"Well, you had to choose me? Could've picked yourself." he said, then in a blink, I was sat in front of myself.

"This only gets weirder" said me, but the other one, not me... the subconscious me.

"You're telling me..." I mumbled.

"Technically, I'm telling me." said my duplicate, then she started to laugh, long and loud.

"I'm fucked up in the head." I mumbled, holding my head in my hands, and when I looked up to see me, I was surprised to see someone else.

"Hey Mai." he smiled.

"Amatiro." I replied, nodding, but I was still conscious of the fact that it was me, I was just seeing him. "What are you doing here now?"

"You were thinking of me." he said simply, his eyes shining.

"Right... why?" I asked, then he flickered back into me.

"Because I'm thinking of people I love and trust." she said, winking at me and basically telling me what I'd known all along.

I trust Amatiro, and he's an awesome guy...

And maybe, after ten years of friendship, I was seeing him in a different way.

I guess it wasn't just in films and fairytales...

And I kne it for ages.

I love him.