Chapter 17

Aki sat down at the soft leather chair, and she heard the rattle of pills from inside the bathroom. Several hours later, he had demanded more painkillers. At first she had ignored him, but the headache had been quite irritating, and since she couldn't concentrate with his complaining she dragged him back to her office to get painkillers.

She heard a gagging and snickered. Hein came back out, looking irritating and holding a glass of water in his hand.

Aki turned to hold back a laugh. "Have fun?"

Hein glowered, but merely replied "Oh yes, lots." Hein sat down in the chair opposite of her, looking down at his watch, seeing the date. "Um, you know… that stupid celebration starts tomorrow night. Wish to join me?"

Aki was taken aback. "Me, go with you?"

"I know, you probably don't want to. I'd just look like a chicken wuss if I couldn't even ask a girl to a party." He smiled at the irony.

Aki shrugged. "Sure, of course I will."

"Great." He ran a hand through his hair, which was no longer wet, and sighed.

Aki grinned, noticing that he was irritated. "Oh come on, it looks good for you to have longer hair."

Hein went back into the bathroom and looked in the mirror again. "It hasn't been cut in about what, eight weeks? Nine weeks, I think. It's getting too long."

"Oh, just leave it."

"You like your hair." Hein came out, crossing his arms.

"If you keep your hair like that then I'll go do something to my hair."

Hein snorted. "Only Teenagers should make those sort of games."

"Games?" Aki asked, grinning. "Oh come on, I like your hair long."

"So?"

Aki sighed, then said, as a last resort, "I'll bleach my hair if you keep your hair long."
Hein gave her a blank look, and then his face slowly broke into a very slight smirk. "Fine, it's a deal. Now go bleach your hair."

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The next day Aki found herself in front of a mirror, applying white goo into her hair.
"This better be worth it." She muttered, squirting more goo onto her scalp. In the mirror she could see it was already turning white through the goo. "This probably was a bad idea."

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Hein sat, teetering slightly on the edge of the bed as he waited for Aki to finish her hair. The caffeine from more aspirin was really starting to get to him, and he couldn't stop smiling, which wasn't very normal since he was used to have the mean, demanding, manipulative glare. He was just completely happy for the first time in many, many years, since Anne, and for some reason he couldn't shake it off. When Anne was still alive, he was always hyper and only serious if he was in training.

Aki stepped out a moment later, hair dry and hanging to the sides of her face. Hein couldn't help be smile more broadly; her hair was pure white except for the tips and the roots, which she had obviously left alone. It actually looked surprisingly stylish. She was wearing a purple dress with a strap going around her neck and it stopping at the ankles. It had a long cloth hanging around her elbows.

Hein couldn't help but stare, finally snapping out of it when she asked. "Is it really that bad?"

Hein blinked incredulously before the question registered. "No, no, of course not. It's…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "It's nice." Beautiful wasn't something that was about to come out of his mouth.

She smiled. "Really? Thanks."

Hein looked at his watch. "We should leave."

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By Severus

WOW! Finally another chapter! I'm sorry, so, so sorry I took so long! Veryvery sorry!

Sorry, Hein can't say hi. He's kind of out to McD's to get some ice cream.

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