Well, it's been damned well long enough, hasn't it? That's what I thought. My muse left me for another artist, and I've been suffering because of it. But, either she has come back to me, or another came. Either way, I'm typing again!!!!

STITCHES

chapter 5

Understanding

Momo opened her eyes and looked up at Taro. She looked to her right side and saw Lain, her arms wrapped around Arisu. Momo smiled and raised her hand slowly, and held it up to Arisu. It looked like a high five and Arisu rose her own hand. Their hands touched and Momo closed her eyes. Taro blinked and watched Momo drop her hand.

Reika came into the hospitable room and stood next to Taro. "Your dad is here." She whispered. "Tell him I'll be out later." He replied and walked up closer to Momo's bed. Reika shook her head and pushed Taro out of the room.

Momo coughed and opened her eyes again. Bane came running into the room. "What happened?" She asked, panting. Momo smiled at Bane. "It's all right. I'll be out soon. I won't be kicking as much ass as usual, but I'll be back in the game in another couple of days. Bane lifted her hand to hit Momo, but dropped it at her side. "You DOLT!" She cried. Momo looked confused and turned back to Lain.

"Is.....It.....dead?" She asked. Lain took a step back. She couldn't have been asking about the spirit. "Is It dead?" Momo persisted. Lain shrugged. "I think It was all ready dead." Lain whispered.

"Oh. My. GOD!" Bane whispered. "You.....you went up against the voices. They did this to you. I'm so stupid. I should've KNOWN!" Bane said, covering her eyes. "You saw him? You saw him, didn't you? What did he do?" She started crying and Arisu went over and hugged her. "Life ends and life starts back up again." She said. Bane stopped crying and looked at Arisu. "Death saves another's life." Arisu said. Bane gasped and ran out of the room.

Bane sat outside of the hospitable, curled up in a ball. She started weeping and couldn't stop. She knew what happened to Momo. She knew what Momo did. It wasn't right. It was a spirit. She knew that know. It should have been obvious. She should have known, why was she so stupid? She should have known. God, she was stupid.

Sloth was walking up to the hospitable when he heard crying. He looked over and saw the familiar blue hair, worn by the members in his little group. The little ball of leather and `The Swarm' patch was shaking and crying. "Bane, Bane. Bane, what the Hell are you crying for?" He asked taking out his cigarette. "Momo.....she isn't DEAD is she?" He asked, sitting next to her. "No." Bane whispered. Sloth wrapped an arm around Bane, but she shrugged it off. "What's wrong?" He asked. She ignored him and went running off to her bike. She shoved the key in and the motorcycle went flying out of the parking lot.



Taro led Sloth to Momo's room. Lain and Reika had taken Arisu to eat. They promised to smuggle Momo back some food. Sloth smiled at Momo. "You have your Mohawk down, Sloth. I didn't realize your hair is so freaking long." Momo laughed. "I've never seen you with your hair down, either, Momo. How is my little Peach?" He joked back. "Taro, get me my switchblade!" Momo ordered, pointing at Taro.

"Oh, so you ARE talking to me?" He asked and Momo smiled. "Please?" She asked, ignoring his question. Taro shook his head. "Hikari took it." He said. Momo rolled her eyes. Of course. "Has your dad come to see you?" Sloth asked. Momo shrugged. "I only just woke up a couple of minutes ago." She said. "He came over." Taro said. "Then he left. A business meeting." Momo wiped away a tear. "Well, he can't feed me if he isn't at work." She said. "Bull shit." Taro muttered and turned to look out the window. Momo sat up.

"Taro, I woke up at two this morning, and you were sitting here. Why?" Taro didn't turn around. "Because. You saved my life and at two in the morning I try and figure out why." He said. Sloth looked from Momo to Taro. "I'm uhh.....gonna go and get a soda. And maybe hit on that nurse I saw out there." Sloth said, turning for the door. He was gone a second later and Momo was left alone with Taro.

"Are you stupid enough not to know why I did it? I mean, c'mon! It's easy!" Momo said. She was feeling misunderstood, something she was used to, but still didn't like. "No. I don't. All we do is fight and bicker. You almost slapped me the other day. If you hate me so much, why did you save me?" Momo shook her head. "Shit, you're daft. I DON'T HATE YOU!" She hollered. Taro blinked. "I never hated you, Taro. And I never cheated on you!" Taro sneered. "Like Hell you didn't. I saw it myself. You were kissing him."

A tear escaped Momo and she wiped it away. "No, I didn't. He kissed me. I was talking to him, and he leaned over and kissed me. If you would have stayed a second longer, you would have seen me punch him." Momo said, hugging her pillow. Taro looked out the window again. "You called me a bitch when you dumped me." She sobbed. "And you called me an asshole. Then you punched me." He retorted. A second later Taro felt something hit his head. He looked down. Laying on the ground was a ring. A silver ring with an opal on the top.

Taro snapped his head up and looked at Momo. "You kept it?" He whispered. She nodded her head and held up a necklace she had kept in her shirt. "I didn't want to lose you. I always thought that if I kept in near my heart, you would come back. Well, you did. And you almost killed me." Taro picked up the ring. "I thought you threw this away." He muttered. "Why would I throw away the only present that brought so much happiness to my life?" She asked.

Taro looked at the ring for a moment. "Why did you do it? Did you know it might kill you?" Taro asked. Looking away from the ring. "I know it might. I did it because I wanted to protect you. And because I still love you." Taro looked back at Momo. Momo bit her lip.

"The food has arrived! We couldn't bare the thought of you choking on the hospitable food!" Reika called. "Oh." She sneered, noticing Taro and Momo staring at each other. Reika pushed Taro over and turned back to Momo. "Well, we didn't know what you'd want. So we grabbed you an American style burger! I hope you like." Reika said, tossing the burger at Momo. "MMM.....Messy American food!" Momo laughed and unwrapped her burger. Taro slipped out the door when Sloth came back in.

"I got the nurse's phone number!" He said, doing a little victory dance. Momo mumbled something through her mouth full of burger. "Huh?" Sloth said, mid-victory dance. Momo swallowed her bite and repeated herself. "Does she have webbed toes?" She asked. Sloth fell over and pretended to cry. "Will you EVER shut up about that?" He asked. "Mmm.....lemme think about that, NO!" Momo said and started laughing. "What are you two going on about?" Reika asked.

Momo wiped the tears from her eyes. "Sloth had been going out with this girl for a month. And when he finally managed to get her in bed..............." Momo couldn't finish because she was laughing so hard. Lain and Reika looked over at Sloth, expecting him to finish the story. He looked at the floor. "She had webbed feet. It killed my horny cause I got the idea of her being half swamp thing, and couldn't stop laughing." He finished.

"And....and.....SHE PUNCHED HIM!!!" Momo exploded, holding her sides. "It's the first time he ever lost his horny!" Reika looked confused. "If you're going to be so mean to your best friend, I'm leaving!" Sloth said, pretending to cry again. "Oh, shut up." Momo said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I need to leave anyways. I never told my mom that I was stopping over here after school." Sloth said. He went over to Momo's bed and kissed her forehead. Momo hugged him and he left.

"Hey, Momo. How are you doing?" Doctor Hikari asked as she walked in her room. "Oh, wow. This is a rare sight." Momo looked up, confused. "Not only is Taro not with you, but you're completely alone." Hikari continued. "I have never seen you lay there without company. Taro's almost all ways next to your bed." Momo glared at her hand. "Why?" Momo looked over at Hikari. "Why?" The doctor repeated. "Why what?" Momo asked, trying to sound like she didn't know.

"Why did you do it? Why did you suffer all that, for him?" Momo sighed. "Because I love him." She said and looked away. A moment later Momo was asleep. Hikari left and the room was silent.

Momo woke up the next morning and saw Taro asleep in the chair next to her bed. She went to push the covers off of her and saw that she was wearing her opal ring. It was on her ring finger, Momo looked over at Taro, who sat there; still asleep.

"I didn't want him in here, you know."

Momo didn't turn to Hikari, she just nodded her head. "You never do. Why do you hate him so much?" Hikari just left the room; it was a conversation she didn't want to have. Momo watched Taro sleep and eventually slipped off herself.

"What? We have Arisu, that's all that matters! Why would you want to go there?" Reika exploded. Even though Taro had been skipping school, and had only come home once to get a change of clothes, a tooth brush, and tooth past, the girls still went to his house as much as they could. Reika sat down on Taro's bed and glared at Lain. Arisu was drawing a picture on Taro's extra paper. Lain stood next to Arisu, and repeated herself.

"We need to find an entrance to the Wired's Hell. We need to stop the Voices from there. It's the only way. When Momo gets out of the hospitable, I'm going to make Taro help me find another entrance." Reika shook her head. "I don't see why, Lain. You're being stupid. We have Arisu, we don't need to go back there. Momo would probably kill herself next time. Or Taro. Hell, I might kill Taro. You might die. THINK ABOUT IT! I might die, you might die, Taro might, Momo. Any of us could DIE!"

Reika stood up and went to leave. Lain held her arm out and stopped Reika. Reika started to push her arm out of the way, but Lain slammed Reika into Taro's bed. "Listen to me, DAMNIT!" Lain hollered. Reika stared up at Lain. She had changed again, it was like at the rental store. Lain glared down on Reika and Arisu stopped her drawing.

"Lain! Lain, don't CHANGE!" Arisu cried and ran to grab Lain. Lain turned and glared at Arisu, who stopped. "Arisu, stay out of this." She said coldly. Arisu started to sob and held her arms out. "Lain...Lain, it's all right. Don't worry." Lain let Arisu hug her. "Go back to the Wired." Arisu whispered and Lain relaxed. Lain wrapped her arms around Arisu. Reika stood up and went over to the two girls.

"That's why we need to go back. There's another side of me, and she's mean." Lain said. Reika looked more confused and Lain put her hands on Reika's shoulders. "I can't let her control me. Please, it's the only way to get rid of her. We need to defeat the Voices. And to do that, we need to go into the wired." Reika closed her eyes and nodded her head. She didn't like the plan, and she felt that Lain was hiding something from her. But, she was ready.

A/N: WOW! That was a bit of a long chapter, I actually cut it short. I had another three paragraphs left, but I felt bad for you people. You don't have all day to sit around and read fan fiction, right? Well, some of you do. But not all.............