And here we are. The dreaded fluff. No, not even fluff. An angst/fluff hybrid. Gah. What was I on when I wrote this? Thankfully, it's mercifully short.

Surprisingly, I have two more chapters after this one to upload. And I'm working on another. But I doubt I'll upload them very quickly. Unless I get impatient or something. But I'm usually pretty good about those kinds of things. Why shall I not upload them quickly? Because I know you 9 people are watching me (I see you Saiko Senshi! I know you're there!) and that there are a few others who are informally watching me (you stalkers you.) and I'm not getting anything as far as reviews go. I'm not going to hold the chapters ransom of course… but I do enjoy getting reviews. And the more reviews, the faster the chapters get pumped out. –nod-

Cha, but I'm not going to demand reviews. Do what ya want people.

In Shock

'Oh god, oh god….' Ranu thought to himself, sprinting around the halls of the building, pausing to sniff for Kris's scent. It wasn't hard. It reeked of fear.

He had known that Kris's early childhood was bad. He had even been told most of the details. He had known she had been experimented on. But to actually see and hear it, broadcast on television while she just sat there, frozen in place…

That was too much. For both of them.

"Oh god, Kris, why did you run?" he hissed, frustrated that this was taking as long as it was to find her. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he found her. She probably wouldn't want to be touched. He wasn't sure what else he could do besides hold onto her. He couldn't think straight. What was worse was that, as shaken as he was, he knew that it was nothing compared to what Kris was feeling.

'There,' Ranu thought, stopping in front of a bathroom door. 'She's in there…'

He stood there, unsure of what to do now that he found her. He could hear her in there, panting shakily. From what he could gather, it sounded like she was close to having a panic attack. But as stupid as it was, he was reluctant to open the bathroom door while knowing a girl was in there. Blinking, he reminded himself that it didn't really matter at that point, and that it was highly unlikely she had any articles of clothing removed. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

He peeked in, just to make sure. Kris wasn't in sight, so he stepped all the way into the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Hearing a whimper, he turned toward the shower stall.

'What is she doing in the shower?' he thought. Though it was apparent she wasn't taking a shower and still had her clothes on, looking through the distorted glass doors.

"Kris-chan?" he said quietly. No response.

"Kris-chan, it's alright…" He reached to open the shower door.

"Go 'way," came the reply.

He paused once, considering, before frowning and opening the door anyway.

He frowned even more deeply at the sight that greeted him. Kris was curled as tightly as possible in a corner of the stall, tail wrapped so tightly around her ankles he was sure it was cutting off circulation. She shivered at a regular pace, quieted, then shivered again. Her breathing was still erratic.

Ranu kneeled down next to her and reached out with his tail, brushing her arm with it in a comforting manner. After a minute or so of this, her breathing had calmed somewhat, but she still shuddered.

"…Kris-chan… it's alright. I'm right here, see? Look at me, Kris…" Ranu coaxed. She made a choking sound once, before tilting her head slightly, enough to uncover one eye and look warily at him. He knew enough to not move, and stayed completely still, looking back at her. His tail stilled and rested lightly against her arm while he waited for her to give him some kind of response.

And respond she did. She whimpered and started shaking, tears overflowing from her eyes in a shivering stream. And that was enough for him.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her as best he could, considering she had practically plastered herself against the shower wall, and efficiently shielded her from everything with his body, looming over her in a protective manner. She made the same choking sound again and promptly threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest like she was a scared child and sobbed.

He closed his eyes and quietly smelled her hair while she shivered and cried against him. He was shaken too. But…

'I can be strong.' He thought, opening his eyes slightly to look down as his tail draped itself in her lap and tickled her leg with the tip comfortingly. 'Yeah… I can hold together. I'll make sure nothing bad happens. She's not going to have to cry again. I'll be damned if anyone makes her cry again.'

He clung to her more tightly and raised his ki slightly, instinctually responding to her distraught state and awakening possessive traits in himself.

Kris simply clung to his shirt and cried.