That moment felt like it lasted an eternity, and somehow also only for a second. A moment I never expected to happen in a million years. A moment I'd never forget.

She gently pulled her lips away from mine, only by an inch or two. "I was really starting to think I'd have to make the first move, Tobe." She said softly, smiling. "And as I'm sure you know, that hasn't historically gone well for me..." She giggled.

"And I'm... fairly surprised you didn't punch me..." I smirked a little.

"Why'd you risk it, then?" She laughed, pulling back a bit more, her arms still wrapped around me. "Because I could kick your ass, you know this."

"As much as I want to say something cute like 'some risks are worth taking' or something like that, I genuinely don't know. I just moved without thinking, it felt... like what I was supposed to do?"

"Aw, look at you, saying something cute anyway!" She gleamed. "I knew I'd started falling for you for a reason."

I was caught very much by surprise. "You? Fall? Me? For?" I was very eloquent when under pressure, clearly.

She smiled and looked me right in the eye. "Look, Tobe. I know what people would say. I know people are going to say that I'm crazy, or just totally blinded by the whole 'saving me from a fire' thing, but it's... become more than that? I know we've really only been talking for a couple of days, and again, that DOES feel like a very me move, but... I don't know. I've felt the most like myself than I have in a long time, hanging out with you."

I could feel my face turning bright red, and she just laughed at me. I never expected that anyone would ever not hate spending time with me, not to mention enjoy it. "Pucca, I-" I started. Mid-sentence, something immediately felt wrong. I heard a gentle rustle on the trees. But not one so gentle that it could've been a breeze.

Pucca looked over to the tree line, clearly having the same off feeling as I did. From the same spot as last night, another, larger kunai knife was cutting through the air, straight for us. Instinct kicked in, and I grabbed Pucca, turning myself so that my back was to the trees.

It got me. Right in my left shoulder. I gritted my teeth and tried my hardest not to have any kind of reaction. Not my first puncture would, probably wouldn't be my last. With what, I assume, was pure adrenaline, I picked Pucca up, leaving her crutches on the ground, and quickly got both of us inside, locking the door behind me.

I set her down on the couch, barely holding it together. "Are you...okay...?" I managed to get out, relatively straight.

She nodded. "Tobe, why is your place getting knifed so much this... Tobe, you look really pale, are YOU okay?"

Nope. Sure wasn't. The adrenaline was wearing off fast. The pain shot from my shoulder all the way to my fingertips. I slowly dropped to my knees. "Don't freak out." I get out, with quite a bit of effort.

"Don't freak...? TOBE!" She yelled.

"I said... DON'T... freak!"

"How am I supposed to NOT freak, Tobe! There's a KNIFE in your shoulder!"

"I noticed... but thank you."

"Why are you acting like it's totally normal to get STABBED?"

I sighed, still playing on what little sweet, sweet adrenaline I had left. "Have you seen my face, Pucca? The rest of my looks a lot like that, too. I'm kind of...used to it." I reached my other arm back, trying to feel for the knife.

Pucca basically threw herself onto the floor to try to stop me. "OH NO. You are NOT just pulling that out. NOPE."

"I've done it a dozen times at least, I'll be fi-"

"A DOZEN - We will discuss that later. No, you're going to the hospital, Tobe!"

"Pucca. I'm... not exactly well liked, by Sooga. You know that." I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself a little. "What you might not realize, is that a lot of the shitty stuff I did as a teenager has REALLY stuck with me through the years." She raised an eyebrow. "Doctors don't care, at least not beyond what they have to do under oath. They'll make sure I don't die, yeah. But they don't give a damn if I can still move after. Police would never come investigate the fact that someone has thrown two knives at me in the past two days. That's just supposed to be common fare for the 'bad' ninja."

"Oh."

"Yeah, that's... ow. That's why I was so surprised you kept coming around. Think about it, have you ever heard something not awful about me, ever?"

"... Fair point."

I turned myself a bit so that I could lay my head on the couch. "This really ruined the moment, huh?"

"For what it's worth, I do still like you. Even with a knife sticking out of you. I'm still taking you to the hospital, though."

"Over my dead body."

"Dead bodies don't get to kiss me again."

Dang. I couldn't argue with that. "Fine. But good luck, you can't walk, and I will 100% pass out if I try to stand up."

"That's why I texted Dada to send an ambulance over here as fast as he could like, five minutes ago." She half smiled.

"You know, aren't hospitals supposed to be at least a third date thing?" I smiled. Only she could make this experience remotely pleasant.

She laughed a little. "Well, maybe an exploding bike and a mystery knife are enough to keep us OUT of them for a while."

We heard a knock on the door. "Hello?! Paramedics!"

Pucca got up as best she could, hopping over to the door to unlock and open it. She briefly explained what was going on as a bunch of faces I couldn't make out started rushing over to me.

I barely remembered anything that happened after that. I had no idea if they gave me something, or if I just blacked out, or what, but I didn't recall any of the trip to the hospital, or much after.

I woke up in a dark hospital room. I couldn't feel the knife anymore, but I could definitely feel the pain in my shoulder and arm. It was wrapped up in a fairly intense sling-situation, but I could pretty well tell that even without it, moving that arm would be nearly impossible. I didn't typically get stabbed THAT deep. Probably have a fair bit of nerve damage, from that. Cool.

I sat up, looking around a little. The clock on the wall read 1:30am. Yeesh, I'd been out for a good while.

"Tobe?" A raspy voice barely whispered. To the side of me were two chairs. In one, Pucca was asleep, resting her head in her hand. She was so cute when she was asleep... In the other, though, was to my surprise, Dada.

"Yeah, I'm alive." I responded to him.

"I, for sure, would not have been." He half laughed. "Pucca said you're just USED to that kinda thing?"

I smiled. "Might have been putting on a brave face for her sake, but, yeah. Not my first rodeo on the pointy end of a knife or sword."

Pucca started making some sounds, like she was waking up. Of course, me admitting I was trying to be tough would wake her up.

Dada gasped, paying no mind to Pucca. "You've been stabbed by a SWORD?"

"Well, no. Not STABBED by a sword. A sword is what made my face look like a treasure map, though." I laughed a little. "Garu wasn't always a SKILLED ninja, you know."

"...Garu did that?" Pucca asked quietly, but very genuinely, rubbing her eyes as she sat back up. I didn't realize she didn't know that.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah. I kind of always figured he'd have bragged about it before the whole 'vow of silence' thing." Pucca and Dada just stared at me. "We were little kids, playing with swords. I was MAYBE seven? He was, like, five or six. We were just play fighting, and he got me by accident. It didn't bother me at the time, but it made the whole 'rivalry' thing a lot weirder for me." I awkwardly laughed, trying to ease their feelings about the situation. People didn't talk about Garu's mistakes very often, if ever. I wasn't trying to bad talk the guy to her.

"How's your shoulder?" Pucca asked, getting up from the chair and sitting next to me on the bed. "Because I'm FULLY expecting a thank you for making you come here." She smirked.

"On fire, and I absolutely would have lived if we'd stayed at home."

"Yeah, MAYBE with one functional arm!" She smacked my good arm.

I sighed, loudly and obnoxiously. "I GUESS thank you for not letting me try to unstab myself." She and I both smiled.

"That's what I thought." She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Told you that you'd get another one if you came to the hospital."