Aigis had matured, in more ways than one and despite initial skepticism, the android was starting to realize how much she had changed in the company of the SEES. She was not upgraded, nor was she further programmed. In fact, she was no longer bound by programming and existed as a soul going through the journey of life. Her body was mechanical but her heart was humanized. She had learned quite a lot during the recent outings with Yukari, Mitsuru and Makoto. However, despite all that she had learned in the previous days, Aigis was unable to determine the best course of action in the current predicament.

The team was ambushed by a plethora of strong shadows. The creatures were getting stronger and increasing in numbers as The Promised Day drew closer to devour the world and so, caught off guard, Aigis and her friends got a fair share of the bruises. For a moment, hope was lost but the leader of the SEES, Makoto Yuki, as usual was the one to set things right and he got his friends through the battle but at the expense of his own health.

Makoto actually baited the shadows away from his friends by summoning his weakest persona and when he was dog-piled by the creatures, a massive expulsion of flames reduced every nearby shadow to ash. Such a tactic was as stupid as it was reckless and while Makoto got the job done, he suffered bruises far more grotesque than the others.

Aigis was the one to carry him back to the dorm and she was well-aware of the full extent of his injuries. His body was mauled and his limbs carried the bulk of the wounds, from his pinky to his shoulder and from his thigh to his toe. As Aigis carried her beloved leader back to the dorm, a certain redheaded senior was matching her every step and she was none too pleased with what had transpired. What that idiot boy had done to himself.

Now, as Aigis found herself in the same room as her two leaders, she was lost. The tension was palpable and the wrath of Mitsuru Kirijo was felt on her metallic body and her processors. Mitsuru was irate and Aigis feared for her leader, Makoto, as she seemed to ready to pounce on the defenseless boy for what he had done. Despite the nauseating amount of tension, the devoted android performed her duty and she maintained a smile for her leader whilst patching his arms with bandages and healing spells.

"You are an absolute moron!" Mitsuru voiced her thoughts whilst pacing around his room. She occasionally stomped the floor to make sure the idiot knew just how displeased she was and if not for Aigis, the same fool would have suffered another bruise across his face.

"I heard you the first ten times." Makoto said, annoyed and hurt as he sat on the bed and Aigis helped him with the pain. Mitsuru had grilled him for almost an hour straight and he was started to lose his composure. He got the job done. Sure he was injured but bruises were a part of his job description and she knew that better than anyone.

Upon that, Mitsuru walked right over to him, arms crossed and a hateful frown on her face, full of scorn for the one she loved. Most of the time she was prepared to forget and forgive Makoto as Makoto held a special place in her heart but enough was enough. She had all but begged him to tone down his recklessness and the fool broke his promise each time, along with her already fractured heart.

"Did you?" Mitsuru interrupted the healing session when stopped next to him on the bed. Aigis withdrew to the side and hoped the tension would cool down. Makoto and Mitsuru were the leaders and a spat between those two was sure to affect the morale of the entire team.

"I did…" Makoto said with a hiss but bottled up his contempt. He was hurting all over and was hardly in the mood for an argument.

"Speak up, you fool." Mitsuru snapped back at him, much to the surprise of Aigis as the android had never seen Mitsuru quite like this.

"I said I heard you." Makoto said with a noticeable increase in volume and pitch. His anger slipped and a series of deep breath did not calm him down. "Seriously, get off my back. This is the last thing I need."

"This is your fault in the first place." Mitsuru scowled at him and she maintained her glare even when Makoto looked up and held her gaze with a frown of his own. "Your stupidity knows no bounds, Makoto. What on earth possessed you to do this?"

"I got the team through the battle." Makoto said with another tired groan, cutting off the bandage at the end-point. He was about to summon a persona but by God, Mitsuru was not letting up one bit.

"At the cost of your own health!" the redhead senior interjected with another hiss directed towards her kohai. She witnessed a flicker of unmistaken rage in his silver orbs but to hell with that. "You can't keep doing this to me, Makoto."

That gave him pause but did little to cool him down. Mitsuru had nothing else to say and her repetition was staring to tick him off. He faced the redheaded female with an even bigger scowl and as pissed as she was at him, Makoto too was almost done with her nagging.

"Worry about your own health." Makoto spat out those words with unmistakable contempt and the amount of hostility made Mitsuru shrunk back for a moment but the next few words were especially hurtful, a painful slap to her face and a blow to an oath she swore. "And leave me alone."

This time, Mitsuru lost her words in the wave of sorrow that flooded her and instead of arguing back and forth, she raised her hand to slap Makoto as hard as she could, make him feel what she felt. Sensing the worsening tension, Aigis finally intervened and she saved Makoto from being on the receiving end of a slap.

"Mitsuru-san." Aigis came in-between the two leaders and Mitsuru lowered her hand but the hurtful look on her face did not falter. However, she hid her face and did not spare another glance at him as she marched out of his room, not willing to stay with the insolent fool a second more.

Aigis left soon after Mitsuru and while she loved Makoto more than anything else, there was a look of disappointment and dejection on her normally stoic face when she glanced back at him on the way out. She closed the door without the usual goodnight and Makoto was left alone. And as soon the two had left, the blue haired boy collapsed into a heap on his bed.

He was aching all over as the battle in Monad had opened up a number of his old wounds. However, the pain did not quell his rage and he was quite annoyed at Mitsuru. Did she not realize that he did this solely to ease the burden that had plagued her family for generations? She was as dense as she was rich.

"Hell with this all." Makoto kicked off his shoes. He stripped out of his jacket and ignored the lashings of pain to sleep as tomorrow was a school day. He also had a student council project to complete as the due date was fast approaching but he was not looking forward to interacting with Mitsuru.

Even early on, before the two started dating; Mitsuru went out of her way to make his life more comfortable. He was a dependable friend and a huge asset in the war against the shadows and she knew that Makoto had faced hardships in his life. His extended family wanted no part of him and so he was thrown around a few foster homes and before his return to Iwatodai, Makoto worked himself dead every night to pay the bills. She knew that upon a glance at his student profile. Remarkably, he had incurred zero debts.

When Mitsuru fell in love with him, Makoto often found his wallet stuffed with cash despite him never asking her for money. The blue haired boy refused to take a single yen but Mitsuru was adamant and she practically bullied him to accept the money or risk an execution. That was by no means a monetary compensation for his work but a gift of love. She swore that along with a series of other personal vows. As long as she was breathing, Makoto would never have to work himself down to exhaustion ever again.

His daily commute to school was managed by Mitsuru as well. A monorail was too cramped and untidy much for a girl like her and so Mitsuru traveled to school on a limo. She then dragged Makoto to accompany her and the boy who had never seen a limousine up close now regularly traveled in one. The school talked about the relationship between the new kid and the Queen, behind her back of course and Makoto found it hot so he admitted that Mitsuru was his sugar mommy.

Currently, however Makoto was headed to school the old-fashioned way, sandwiched between a moron drooling over Yukari and a deeply depraved fan-girl looking to cope a feel of his bruised butt. He was in the monorail as Mitsuru had left without him. Still beaten and weary from the battle last night, Makoto found the walk to the monorail daunting and his battered body protested to every sudden movement, whether due to the monorail or the people around him acting stupid.

Makoto was bitter and very much aware of what this meant. Mitsuru knew very well that he was in pain but she decided to prolong the argument from last night.

Fine then.

Makoto was no stranger to acting like a cold bastard whenever needed as that was his basic defense mechanism to deal with the pity and abuse thrown his way since early childhood. If Mitsuru was trying to prove a point to him then so be it. To hell with whatever goddamn point she was trying to make to him by acting like a spoiled little brat.

Unsurprisingly, he yelled at the girl first when she touched his hip and gave a sinister giggle upon finally doing what she had intended to do to the mysterious and handsome Makoto Yuki of Class 2-F. The drooling Yukari fan that reeked of cheap perfume was a lot more tolerable but Makoto sulked all way to homeroom.

When classes were over, Makoto finally came face to face with Mitsuru in the student council room. The redhead did not throw him a greeting and stiffly ordered him to get to work. The blue haired wild card did not show even the slightest bit of compassion and did his work as he was supposed to do. The two were alone in the room and the project was nothing particularly difficult, just a simple talent show that would take place in the coming weeks. The two worked in complete silence, refusing to look at each other and opting to finish the formalities without consultation.

As resilient as he was, a few groans of pain escaped his mouth as he was working and Mitsuru scoffed. The little exchange finally got the two to look at each other and Makoto matched her rage, face contorting and twisting into a venomous scowl. To Makoto, the little scoff sounded like the huff from someone looking down at a low-life, tainted with a mixture of pity and arrogance.

"Got something to say?" Makoto nearly snapped the pen in his fingers when he addressed her. Mitsuru spared him a glance from the corner of her eye and hissed something out.

"Mind your own business." Mitsuru practically waved him off and focused on the task at hand. She calculated the finances needed to host the show but Makoto was not done and he stomped with his injured foot to gain her attention.

"Stop acting like a goddamn child, Mitsuru." The blue haired boy spat, throwing the pile of papers to the side. This time, Aigis was not around to separate the two and in response to his tantrum, Mitsuru walked right up to him. Makoto did not flinch when she stopped next to his face with another frosty glare aimed at him.

"I said, mind your business you damn fool." Mitsuru continued where she left off. "That is what you said to me last night, did you not?"

"Oh God, let that go already." Makoto fired back, raising his volume with each word. "Stop acting like I am made of glass and worry about your own health."

"You can hardly stand!" Mitsuru almost screeched back. He was wobbling with every step, all because he was too thick in the head and stupid to a fault. "Look at yourself, Makoto. You did this to yourself."

"You know injuries are a part of this." The male responded with a shake of his head. He threw her a cold glance and displayed no remorse while relaying the harsh truth of the war against Shadows and Nyx, as much as she disliked hearing so. "I may very well die in that tower tomorrow and you know it."

Neither had blinked up to this point but the retort from Makoto led to Mitsuru withdrawing from the heated argument, lower lip quivering for he had struck a bitter spot. Her harsh gaze softened to a confused look of agony but she held in the emotion by clenching her jaw and pleading him to stop before he could rip the broken heart out of her chest.

"Do not go there, Makoto…" Mitsuru whispered with a noticeable quiver in her voice, a plea for mercy as the agonizing recent memory devoured her from the inside, melting the ice along with her spirit. Makoto, however, was not done and despite sensing something very wrong with his girlfriend, he went one step ahead and practically screamed in her face that she was weak.

"I expected more from you." Makoto said without mercy, crossing his arms and clicking his tongue in disappointment as he expected much more from the so-called, impervious Ice Queen of Gekkoukan. "You used to be stronger than this, Mitsuru."

Mitsuru walked right towards her boyfriend and slapped him hard across his already bruised face with no remorse and without a second thought. The slap connected with a crack and the impact was vicious enough to knock Makoto onto the desk and he landed right on his head, ears ringing and his cheek aching, further bruised from a slap that he did not see coming. Not from Mitsuru.

Knocked almost stupid from the slap, Makoto held onto the bleeding wound opened across his cheek and rose up from the desk with a lot more to say. Instinct told him to grab the nearby the chair and shattered the goddamn windows as he was pissed to a rare point. Makoto rarely lost composure and gave in to anger or sadness but already suffering the pain of the previous expedition, the slap from Mitsuru was insult to injury and he was just about done.

Makoto held the chair for support and faced his upperclassman, mouth contorted to a hateful scowl and he was prepared to blurt out something way more nasty but one look at Mitsuru halted him. All the anger and rage died down and the pain subsided in the sorrow and Makoto moved ahead without thinking.

"S-Senpai…?" the kohai called out softly, his own voice barely stabilized as the sight was his worst nightmare. Mitsuru had not moved ever since the slap, seemingly a dead body hammered to the floor. Her jaw was hanging slack and her face was drenched with cold sweat but her eyes displayed the worst.

Makoto had seen that look before on the night where she had lost her father and suffered the betrayal of the god-forsaken bastard, Ikutsuki. Her cold eyes were bleached by horror and she looked dead on the inside, much like someone who had their essence devoured by the shadows. The always strong and capable Queen of the Kirijo Group looked bare and without the walls of ice, Mitsuru looked exactly what she was, an 18 year old girl who had suffered far too much for so very long. This time Makoto had no one else to blame and beat up. He had was the cause of her pain this time despite swearing never to let anyone hurt her again.

Mitsuru saw him reaching out to her and she gathered up the shattered pieces of her heart, putting up those icy walls as a defense because Makoto had crossed the line and went far past forgiveness. Her listless eye regained a speck of scarred life and that was enough for the time. She growled at his advances and slapped his hand to the side nearly collapsing over herself as she was out of breath.

"M-Mitsuru…" Makoto, this time, was the one backing off and he had no one to curse but himself. Just 24 hours ago the two were huddled together and giggling and moaning and he had brought them to this…

"G-Get out." Mitsuru managed to hiss, cancelling out the sob and shooting another deadly glare in the direction of someone she once loved. "N-Now."

Makoto attempted to speak and Mitsuru lashed out when she saw him trying to reach for her again. She screamed at full force and her pitch broke way midway during her demand, her real voice coming out instead, the sound of a broken girl who was so very close to bawling on the spot.

"GET. OUT!"

Makoto hid his face and dashed out of the room before the situation could escalate into something even worse. He heard an absolutely heart-broken sob upon closing the door and he just knew that Mitsuru broke down in a silent cry, refusing to shed tears loudly like the rest of them as that was how she was brought up and raised. The blue haired teenager lost his footing and slumped against the door to the open, his own gray eye now dead and devoid of life.

"What did I do…?"

He did not have Ikutsuki or her bastard fiancé to blame this time. He had no skulls to break open as this time he had broken the heart of Mitsuru.

"I'm a low-life just like them..."

Makoto refused to return to the dorm and hung around the backstreets of Port Island until evening. When he finally worked up the courage to return to the dorm he prayed that Mitsuru would be waiting for him in the lounge. He was ready to eat a slap if that would mean earning her forgiveness. The boy strained to walk the steps of the dorm. His wounds were hardly healed and walking aimlessly in the cold had only aggravated his injuries. Hopefully Mitsuru would kick him in the shin for some more pain.

To his dismay, Mitsuru was not present in the lounge and he gave a sorrowful whimper. He looked at the steps and was prepared to make the trek all the way to the third floor to grab onto her leg and not let go until she had forgiven him but a voice called him from the kitchen and out came Akihiko Sanada, long-time friend of Mitsuru and boy did he look pissed.

Makoto was expecting Akihiko to punch his jaw loose and while the boxing champion had every intention of doing so, a small glance at how pitiful he looked made him reconsider his plans of knocking his junior out. Instead, he spoke very much like a childhood friend of Mitsuru, voice full of barely restrained rage but some definitely leaked out.

"What did you say to her?" The upperclassman had his fist ready but Makoto gave another tired whimper and hunched over, exhausted from earlier but also trying to hide his own face.

"I'm sorry." Makoto did not know what to say and just apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry."

Akihiko yanked him out of his position and Makoto bit his lower lip, struggling to stay on his feet as his legs wobbled, numb due to his own grief. God, he barely looked like the fearless and all-powerful leader he was in Tartarus but Akihiko was not done. He dragged him close and Makoto crumbled further when he reiterated.

"You know what she is going through." Akihiko spat out and then shoved Makoto backwards. The fool managed to stand but his lower-lip started to bleed, his own teeth piercing the soft and dry flesh. "Go apologize to her. This is the last thing she needs, especially from you."

"I will…" Makoto responded but Akihiko did not hide his look of disgust. He jerked his head over to the steps and basically told the younger boy to get lost.

"I-I want you to do me a solid." Makoto said, requesting something of him before he headed up.

"I'm not doing a damn thing for you, Makoto." Akihiko retorted, hostility not easing up at all. "Not until Mitsuru forgives you."

"Punch me in the mouth."

Akihiko stopped. That could be arranged. Luckily, he kept his gloves in his pockets and without wasting time, the boxing champion donned on his gloves and threw a fist for his jaw.

That went a short way in quelling his rage and Makoto marched up the steps with a swollen mouth. Akihiko was relaxed somewhat after almost punching his lights out and the leader of the group dragged his pathetic ass to the third floor. He stood at her doorstep and reached for the knob but relented from doing so, weighing his choices. He had the option to let her know that he was there and guilt trip her into opening as she knew him very well. Other option was to wait and Makoto chose that. Instead of knocking, he sat with his back against the opposite door and waited for her to come out whenever she pleased.

60 minutes flew by and Makoto crossed his legs, sinking onto his bottom as he was exhausted from the bad day. The wooden frame of the door was comfortable enough for him to sleep on and eventually his eyelids began to flicker, sleep starting to descend upon him. Another 15 minutes later Makoto started to yawn and leaned further back for a little shut eye. Hopefully he would wake up with his head on the lovely lap of his girlfriend who had decided to have pity on him.

"Huh?"

Something happened the next second and Makoto slammed into the ground as the resident of the room opened the door and the boy collapsed backwards as he was damn near passed out against the frame. Half asleep and very tired, the blue haired teenager did not acknowledge what had happened but he did groan lightly when his head hit the ground.

"What the hell!?"

Makoto looked up and groaned. Pink. Figures. There was only one girl in the entire city who would wear pink panties and that was Yukari Takeba. However, why on earth would she pick underwear with cutesy hearts and arrows stitched onto the fabric? Admittedly a lot of students wanted to see those cute panties but Yukari was not the type to flash her assets so why the hearts?

"What are you doing here!?" Yukari said blissfully unaware that Makoto had caught more than a decent glimpse of her garments. The shock of her leader landing right next to her feet was too much for to work through but after committing every detail of her unmentionables to his memory, Makoto stirred and sat on his knees.

"Waiting for my queen and praying that she takes pity on me." Makoto admitted. Akihiko punching him earlier had unloosened a few screws. He was a very pirate person especially in regards to his love life but Makoto blurted out the truth to her as he wanted some consolation.

"Did something happen?" Yukari shook her head to get over the event of Makoto randomly landing next to her feet. God, she was about to step over his cute face and that certainly warranted an execution from her new best friend. "Why is your jaw swollen?"

"Akihiko punched me into a damn coma." Makoto responded, rubbing his cheek. After the slap from Mitsuru and the hook from Akihiko the admittedly handsome boy was starting to resemble a drunken retard who fell on a busy sidewalk.

"Did… Did you say something to Mitsuru?" Yukari arched her brow and Makoto groaned. The girl was more perceptive than she looked. He came clean and a small part of him was hoping that the brunette with knee him in the kisser.

"Y-Yes…" Makoto admitted, rubbing the back of his head almost ripping out a tuft of blue hair when he remembered his stupid choice of words. "We've been arguing over my recklessness and long story short, I… I told her to prepare to see me die any day and she…" The abrupt end said it all and Makoto awaited judgment.

"Are you a moron?" Yukari did not mince words and the harshness in her tone made Makoto flinch. He managed to look at her and the brunette was disgusted at the sight of him. "Really? Did the shadow hit you too hard?"

"I've heard that before." Makoto groaned but the hostile interjection from the brunette warned him to shut up. Yukari was not in the mood and she stomped down hard to stop his nonsense.

"No shut your mouth." The brunette interrupted and pointed her finger at him with another hiss of sheer disgust. "You know what she is going through, you idiot! You know how it feels to lose a parent. We both do!"

Makoto said nothing but he broke eye-contact. However, that did not stop Yukari from yelling at him. She was privy to the argument between Mitsuru and him and she had something to get off her chest as well. He was an even bigger idiot than Junpei at times and he deserved the verbal lashing, and the physical wounds for hurting Mitsuru like that.

"We had time to come to terms but she never had a choice." Yukari continued. She remembered all too well. Mitsuru was a walking corpse during the trip to Kyoto and the idiot boy had reduced her to the same when he was supposed to take care of her. "She was burdened with the group and couldn't even mourn his death and here you are!"

"She's traumatized and you are just too dense to see it!" Yukari spat. "You are just adding to her burden!"

Yukari was not done. She had a lot more to say but she stopped when she heard him… sob? Yes. Makoto, the fearless and always composed leader of a group of shadow busters, let out a low sob during her tirade and that stopped the brunette from tearing into him further. That wail as pitiful as she could remember and Makoto immediately lowered his head to hide his face from her sight.

"Makoto…" Yukari softened her gaze and words guilty for pushing him that far. Makoto was more emotional and vulnerable in the past few months due to some reason but she never expected him to sob like that. He had never displayed a hint to weakness and to think she was the person who made him cry. "I'm sorry. I was too harsh."

Makoto did not go further than a single sob but Yukari crouched down to his level and hugged him tightly. He relaxed in her embrace and Yukari held on until he had calmed down. She then pulled back but held him close to ask one question. This was something on her mind and just today, she discussed this with Junpei of all people.

"Are you hiding something from us, Makoto?" The brunette asked, easing him to answer with a comforting hand on his shoulder but Makoto shook his head.

"No." He replied and inhaled, having calmed down somewhat in the embrace. "Thanks, Yukari. I needed both of those things."

"Just make sure she is okay." Yukari replied and stared at her loafers. She was guilty at one point too as not too long ago she considered Mitsuru a robot more than a person. "This was my mistake too. You think she is perfect but in truth, she is more broken and vulnerable than any of us."

"…"

"Take care of her, Makoto."

"I promise I will…"

Yukari smiled and leaned in for another warm but platonic hug. She had a crush on Makoto and while getting over him took some time, she was proud to call him a very close friend when all was said and done. He basically topped her list of male friends as he was a charismatic and intellectually gifted badass. He was no pervert like Junpei and the many boys that stalked her.

"Cute panties though." Makoto remarked out of nowhere.

Yukari scratched her prior thoughts and thwacked him across the face while screaming about murder, torture and shameful perverts.

Aside from the slap, Makoto emerged from the pink room feeling much better. Despite being irritated at him for peeking up her skirt, Yukari sent him off with more encouraging words and Makoto sighed when he stopped outside Mitsuru's room. Thankfully he did not start snoring against her door but he did seat himself down to wait for her. He stopped counting the minutes after an hour and stretched across the doorway, lying on his back right outside her room.

"Step on me mommy..."

Mitsuru adjusted her bow and grabbed the first-aid kit from the table. She huffed a few times and told herself that this was going to be one hundred percent professional and nothing personal. Makoto was a moron possibly bleeding out on his bed and as her kohai, his safety ultimately fell on her shoulders.

Yes. That would do. After another look at the mirror, the redhead heiress opened the door to her room and marched on to take care of professional business.

"Ouch…" The small whimper of pain led to Mitsuru almost tripping outside her room as she realized that she had stepped on something… or rather… someone. She dropped the medical kit in shock and removed her heel from the stomach of the blue haired boy waiting outside her room.

"Please don't step on me mommy." Makoto muttered, rubbing the new bruise and Mitsuru simply stared incredulously at him. Her next step was going to break his nose. Thank heavens he spoke up before she ruined his admittedly handsome face.

"That was more painful than I was hoping for." Makoto admitted, ticking the activity off his kink list. His empress had finally taken pity on him but upon seeing his face, the resolution she made in the mirror faded away and the redhead senior retreated back into her room. She was not willing to put with Makoto, at least not right now. The wounds were far too deep to heal this quick.

"No, wait. Please, Mitsuru." Makoto jumped as if his life defended on her forgiveness. He blocked the door with his arm and groaned out in pain after Mitsuru kicked it shut to deny him entry. Fortunately, he stopped that from happening but at the expense of his arm as it was caught up in the door. The anger that Mitsuru held for him through the entire day faded when she witnessed his arm getting crushed and she cursed him one more time, as he lay in her doorway holding the same arm.

"Are you insane?" Mitsuru screamed at him. In a span of mere seconds she had stomped on his stomach with her high heel and crushed his arm and this was not counting the wounds he had sustained the night before. He had now entered her room and Mitsuru was already acting to throw him out. However one step and she stopped as Makoto simply laid on his back while struggling to breathe. Her slap from earlier had definitely left a mark for the next few weeks, a nasty bruise and a splat of red on his cheek. His jaw was swollen too, a definite sign that some boxing champion had punched him without holding back.

"You idiot…" Mitsuru lowered her volume and lamented the state Makoto was in. What could she even say to him as he laid whimpering in pain and fatigue?

"I'm sorry." Makoto begged after another hiss of pain and exhaustion. He crawled further into her room and looked up at her, looking as miserable as she did back in school. The memory brought her anger instead of pity but before she could thrown him out she saw something leak from his left eye.

Makoto was crying….?

Makoto cursed at himself for allowing the tear to leak out again. He wiped it off his cheek and hoped to God that Mitsuru had not seen that but she had. While Makoto saw a lost girl back in the student council room, Mitsuru saw a scarred boy who carried the sins of her grandfather and that did more to her than his words did back in school.

"I'm sorry, senpai." Makoto bowed his head down still nursing his swollen arm as he agonized in pain next to her feet, a pitiful sight for the highly dependable wild card of the team. "I really am. I don't know what came over me…"

The audacity of him was something else and he had the gall to think that a simple apology would mend her broken heart. But at the same time, Makoto was an exception to her and as she had admittedly so many before, she held a soft spot for him. After all, he was the one to pick the pieces after the betrayal of Ikutsuki and the death of her father and he built her up step by step, into a woman that her late father would be proud of.

Mitsuru sat on the ground next to him and seeing the chance, Makoto lunged at her to wrap his arms around him in a tight hug and he pulled her down so she would not escape this time. The surprise attack made her yelp and the heiress collapsed onto her boyfriend. Makoto took her weight on his aching body but refused to let go and Mitsuru melted in his embrace as he was hanging on for dear life, shivering at the thought of her letting go.

"Moron…" Mitsuru whispered softly and settled on top of him. She relaxed her weight ever so slightly and hugged his head to her chest, willing to forgive the one exception in her miserable life. His erratic heart-beat stabilized upon her gesture and Mitsuru let out a soft sigh on her own, stroking the back of his head as he nuzzled into her, relishing her warmth after the long walk in the cold world outside. "You absolute moron…"

"Guilty as charged." Makoto mumbled against her shoulder, content on staying in the same position for the next week but now that had anger had dissipated, Mitsuru broke the intimate position and Makoto whined softly, silently begging her for another cuddle but the heiress had noticed something off. She cupped his chin and turned his face to the side to see that his jaw was abused.

"Which impudent fool punched you?" Mitsuru demanded to know. A quick glance was all she needed to deduce that some scoundrel had punched her beloved Makoto. Meanwhile, beloved Makoto gulped at the question and tried to laugh it off but to no avail as Mitsuru glared at him to answer.

"Uh… Akihiko?" Makoto mumbled the name and Mitsuru started looking around for her rapier. One ruthless execution coming up for her old friend. "I-It's fine. I needed that. I asked for it."

"I'm sorry for hurting you, senpai." Makoto apologized again this time with a bow of his head.

"I apologize as well." Mitsuru caressed his bruised cheek with left hand, wincing at the sight of the wound left in the wake of her slap. True, Makoto had pushed her to the limit but slapping an already injured boy was something she was deeply ashamed of. "I might have acted a bit too harshly. I knew you were in no condition to walk to the station and yet I left without you…"

"We were both at fault, I guess." Makoto chuckled softly, at peace as the hatchet was buried. On the other hand, the sight of an injured Makoto began to claw at her heartstrings even after making amends and after another painful look at his current condition, Mitsuru began to straddle his lap determined to give the poor boy some respite after an awful day. She slammed the door shut with one hand and caught his lips in a soft kiss of passion and love. The blue haired youth was not expecting her to kiss him while they were on the floor but he was quick to melt into the moment and his tongue rolled into her mouth, exploring her as she did him. After a short minute of sucking on her tongue, his hands began to move across her body, spreading warmth across her cold and needy frame. The heiress moaned into his open mouth when Makoto squeezed her breasts, agitating her further and making her grind her hips on his lap. He hissed the name against her mouth and that was her cue to break the kiss for now. Something else needed her attention.

While Mitsuru had removed her mouth from his, Makoto was not keen on removing his hands from her breasts and he stroked her sensitive spots through the fabric of her dress. Mitsuru arched her back, tempted to rip off her blouse and bra and swap his hands for his warm mouth but as his hardened shaft prodded her inner thigh, Mitsuru changed her mind with a lick of her lips.

Makoto groaned when she slapped his hands from her chest but she moved down, inspiring a great amount of lust in him when she began to remove his belt. Mitsuru graced him a seductive look when she undid his button and pulled his khakis down. Makoto was the dominant partner in bed but Mitsuru was not the shy and awkward girl she used to be. Often times, Makoto would be the one to initiate sexual contact but moments like these, when his girlfriend went into business for herself made him as docile as a virgin staring at a goddess with her legs wide open for him.

The odd shape sticking out of his boxers warranted a crude joke but Mitsuru simply pulled the garment down to his knees and wrapped her fist around his length, gently stroking him as a start. She watched with delight as Makoto squirmed with every pump and he jerked his head back when she slid her slender finger across the tip, smearing the thick fluid down his length as she traced the shape down to his base.

"S-Senpai…" Makoto moaned out the honorific, his length pulsating in her single hand and she did not leave him alone for a second, determined to give him pleasure until she was done with her beloved Fool. Makoto was contend on just one orgasm and that too by her hand but after a few more strokes, Mitsuru ordered him to look at her as she lowered her head and flicked her tongue across his tip. She worked on the underside thereafter and the blue haired boy moaned into his palm as half of the dorm was fast asleep and here he was, getting oral love from Mitsuru Kirijo after a brutal slap in the afternoon.

Soon enough, Mitsuru filled her mouth with his length and began to bob her head up and down, tongue tasting every inch down to his base. From all the sexual escapades the two had gone through, the making out in the limo to Mitsuru getting pounded in the showers by her junior, the sight of her swallowing his member into her mouth was always surreal for Makoto. The sight was almost hypnotic and this sensation was quick to intoxicate him with lust and obedience as every now and then, Mitsuru would glance at him as she worked her mouth on him, commanding him to look at her whilst she pleasured him.

By the sound of his rampant moaning, Mitsuru figured that her boyfriend was close to losing control and she sucked strongly for the last few moments, her cheeks hollowing in response to the effort. She felt a soft grip around her head followed by a low but satisfied moan of her name and that was her cue to finish him off. She stroked the base one last time and hummed against the top of his length and the pleasure peaked for the final time.

Makoto was pushed over the edge and he came with a hissing moan, his aching body pacified as the onslaught of bliss flooded his nerves and made him release into her mouth. The heiress kept him in her mouth, well after she was done swallowing the last drop. Her tongue massaged his softening length, cleaning up any excess and after one last glance to the satisfied boy, she released him from her mouth and rose to his level, eyes shining with adoration as all was forgotten by this point. The look of rapture over his weary face rekindled the flame of desire and she cupped his cheek, stroking her thumb under his eye as she waited for him to catch his breath.

"Did that feel good to you, Makoto?" Mitsuru asked, now gliding her finger across his swollen lip, courtesy of the bite during the kiss earlier.

"Y-Yeah. Never felt better." Makoto said after regaining his composure. He was praised for his cardiovascular endurance but five minutes with Mitsuru had him gasping for air. "I-I do think I should have my head buried between your legs. This was mostly my fault."

Mitsuru arched her eyebrows upon his suggestion and smirked slightly. "Well…" The heiress reached for the buttons on her skirt as the offer was so very tempting. The kiss, the fellatio and his moaning had led to her arousal soaking her thighs. "If you are offering then I'd be a fool to refuse but Makoto…"

The boy was expecting his senpai to strip down to her panties and then pull his head between her legs but instead she cupped his cheek and gazed into his gray orbs, searching for truth in his soul. Mitsuru pursed her lips when she asked one simple question and her words while soft, demanded honesty.

"Are you hiding something from me…?"

Makoto tightened up upon her question. To Yukari, he had lied with a straight face and never thought much of it but as her crimson orbs bore into him, his teeth clattered and he struggled to lie to her. Trust was the foundation of a relationship and yet.

"No, senpai." Makoto managed to say and he hid his suffering with a broken smile. "I would never lie to you."

The thought of questioning the agony in his eye was replaced by pleasure as Makoto was quick to act. He found the sensitive mass of nerves and rubbed the nub through her panties to swell her mind with nothing but pleasure. But as Mitsuru clung onto him and devoured his lips in another needy kiss, Makoto whispered something under the moans of his senpai riding his fingers.

"I'm sorry, Mitsuru."

Author Note: My heart was BROKEN when I realized how few Makoto x Mitsuru stories we got in the past years. And I thought Makoto x Hamuko was a rare pair. My friend recently blessed me with a collection of cutesy Makoto x Mitsuru pictures and here I am.

Been a while. My writing is rusty as I have been a doing of math but hopefully decent enough to read. Thank you to two unnamed friends who helped me. I said there would be no lemons but I changed my mind! There will be and I am expanding the theme of this story.

Please read and review! I really hope to complete this. THESE TWO DESERVE THE LOVE.