They let me go home later that day. I never heard a whole lot from any doctors or nurses or anything. Like I had told Pucca, I had a feeling they'd just try to get rid of me. At least they weren't shoving me out the door, though.

Pucca stayed with me the entire time. The only time she even left the room was because I basically begged her to go eat something. Dada was there for quite a while, too. Mostly for Pucca, I assumed. He only left when he had to get back to the Gohrong, both for his shift, and to let Pucca's uncles know where she was. They never came barreling in to get her away from me, so either Dada lied, which I asked him not too, or they didn't DESPISE the idea of her hanging around me.

Leaving the hospital felt weird. Pucca had no problem being seen with me, but I had so many problems with her being seen with me. It was around 5pm at that point, and the streets were teeming with people. I figured she'd have just gone home, but no, she insisted on making sure I got home okay, even though she still had to use crutches, and I couldn't imagine how sore her arms must be.

"I'm a big boy, you know. I can get home."

"Last time you were home, you got stabbed." She stopped, getting a really serious look on her face, which I admittedly found so cute. "What if something like that happens again, and no one is around to help you?" She said, quite a bit louder than I think most people in town were used to hearing her.

I sighed, and stopped to face her. "Pucca, I really am used to this kind of thing. The ninjas even have code words for it. I think knife wound is... Peanut butter?" She smiled a little. I bet she thought I was joking.

"Look, I have no idea why it happened this time, usually they aren't what I'd call deadly throws, but I really do have plans in place." She made a face. A face that looked both incredibly annoyed, and also a little relieved, maybe? I wasn't sure. "And..." Oh man, it was way too soon for me to say this, "...I'm not willing to let you get hurt, not at my expense."

Her face went from irritated to a little surprised.

"I know that you are WAY more than capable of taking care of yourself. One hundred times more than I am, I'm sure. You are unbelievably strong, and intelligent, and... you know what you're doing. But, I don't want to be the reason you're in harms way in the first place, even if you could handle it. I'd be very happy knowing you were warm and safe at the Gohrong. It's getting cold, you know."

She smiled a little. "Yeah well... Fine. I'm still at least going to the edge of the woods with you." Her face turned a little red as she quickly crutched her way a few steps ahead of me. I had no idea if I had just said something really wrong or really right.

She did just that. Just a few hospital jokes later, and we'd made it to the forest. She smiled. "You know, I can't reach you from all the way down here. I don't know if I had ever really taken in the height difference between the two of us. I was at least a little over a foot taller than her.

"Wha-?"

"Kiss me, you moron." Oh.

Her eyes got wide for a second, and she started rambling "Well! Only if you want to kiss me, obviously you don't HAVE to kiss me, I mean I'd totally understand if you didn't-" I interrupted her the only way I could think to.

I kissed her. She relaxed almost immediately. By the time I pulled away from her, her face was beet red.

"Why on Earth would I not want to kiss you? Have you SEEN you? You've given me an honor and a privilege." I told her.

She smiled a little. "Honor. That's ironic..." She trailed off a little. I cocked an eyebrow. "Obviously, the whole 'Garu crush' thing is over. You know that, right?"

"I mean, I figured when you jumped from the first place bachelor to the last, maybe there had been some fleeting feelings there." I smiled. "Yeah, I know."

"Well, that whole thing left me a little... messed up. I know I was a kid, but Tobe, years of pining after someone like that when they... Well. You saw how he tended to react."

"Pucca, I watched him literally throw you. More than once."

"Yeah! Not good for a girl's self-esteem, you know?" She laughed nervously. "I just. I didn't want you to think that was still a thing. Or that I'd get that way with you, I'm an adult now, and I-"

"Pucca. It's okay. You don't have to justify anything to me, I trust you. To be totally honest with you, I never understood how he was able to say no to you. You're perfect. I mean, you're beautiful, smart, strong, independent... Your smile could light up the whole damn world. I was the ENEMY and I couldn't hate you. I never even disliked you. If anything you always just impressed the hell out of me. I just can't even imagine a world where I could kiss you and want to say no... You were wonderful back then, and I wish I'd gotten to know you then under better circumstances, but I could not be happier that I get to know you now."

She sniffled a little. Oh god, I messed up. I don't know how but I messed up. It's over. I blew it.

"It's not the fire that made me like you, you know. I always thought you were cute. But, I never expected I'd ever get to hear anything THAT sweet come from you."

"I'm not even trying to score another kiss, I actually do mean that. Believe it or not, my cutting board-looking-ass is actually capable of being genuine." She laughed, resting her forehead on my chest. I put my good hand on the back of her head..

"I don't want to mess this up." She muttered.

"Unless you're the one who stabbed me, I can guarantee you, you aren't going to mess anything up. Even then, I'd probably still weigh my options."

"Just tell me if I'm being too Pucca-y, okay?"

"I like Pucca-y." I kissed the top of her head. "It's getting dark. Go get home before you freeze to death. I just got you to like me, you can't die on me now."

She smiled. "Fine. But if you don't text me the second you're home, I will assume you got assassinated."

"I promise not to get assassinated."

"AND?"

"And to tell you that I did not get assassinated."

"Good."

I watched her for a moment as she started heading towards home. I'd feel like a real asshole if she tripped or something and I wasn't around.

As soon as she was back to where I could see people, I turned and went for home. Now that Pucca wasn't around to keep my mind busy, I was really starting to feel how much pain I was really in. I tried my best to play it cool in front of her, but damn, whoever threw that thing got me good. My fingers felt numb. My shoulder, arm and back were on fire. I was so used to getting through things like this without medication, that I had stupidly declined any to take home with me. I couldn't wait to just get home and eat something.

How on earth was I going to cook with only one hand? Shit. Well. I guess it's microwave meals for a while, I wouldn't trust the ninjas within a hundred feet of a stove. I wasn't about to get Pucca to bring me food either, that didn't exactly go well last time...

I spent my entire walk meal planning and quietly swearing to myself. The outside of my house looked normal. No weird bushes. No weird knife notes. Just normal. I told her I wasn't going to be assassinated!

I went inside, immediately realizing how awful I really felt. I sat down carefully on the couch. There was blood on the floor. My brand-new floor. Ugh.

I grabbed my phone and texted Pucca, just like I had promised. She messaged me back really quickly.

"Do you feel okay?" She responded. It's like she knew!

"Do you want the big tough ninja answer or the honest one?"

She responded to that one with just an annoyed-face emoji.

"Ah, big tough ninja man answer it is, I'm totally fine, like nothing happened!"

She sent back the same emoji, three times in a row.

"I want to throw up and die at the same time."

"I DID have medicine when I got home from the hospital and felt like that. Dumby."

"I'll be fine. Just not expecting a super great couple days. I almost welcome the assassin!"

"I'll come by tomorrow to make sure you aren't dead."

"You literally still can't walk."

"And If I don't come, you'll be eating, what, a microwave meal?"

"...touché."

As I hit send on the last message, there was a light knock on my door. I really didn't want to get up, but maybe someone on the other side wanted to kill me, that'd be pretty cool right now.

I got up and opened the door. It was Pucca's friend, Ching. Maybe I WAS going to get killed tonight.

"Uh, Hi, Tobe."