-munches happily on mint cookies and muffins from kiwichan- 'Sank you kiwichan! :)

And I'm glad to see you reviewing danilion! You like Ranu best? So do I. But don't let my other little precious OC know. She would yell at me. Though given her current mental state, I doubt she's much capable of yelling. :P

Alrighty! Sorry it took so long to update. I just got inspired for the next chapter and churned it out so quickly I thought my brain was going to explode. Ooohhh, I have so many ideas ripping through my brain right now… unfortunately, none of them are for this fic. Curse my easily distracted mind. But… I have this idea. It's such a horrible ugly idea, I hate it, but I know I'll have to write it and publish it. I need to, see? You know me. I have to challenge myself or else I get stale. I have to write it, and I don't want to, and I'll have to wait until I can afford to be screwed up for a week before I can get it right. Yes. But, moving on…

The next chapter will be out tomorrow. Because it's my favorite chapter right now. I can't wait that long to share it.

Push To Stop The Bleeding

Kris yawned and shifted a bit, unwilling to open her eyes just then. Her head hurt and her throat felt raw and achy. Her nose wasn't much better…

She slowly cracked open her eyes. Yep. Those hurt too.

'What the hell happened?...' she thought groggily. Her sleepy mind slowly back-tracked… falling asleep… listening to Ranu babble… hiding… wait, why had she been hiding? Now slightly more alert, her brain immediately snapped onto the previous day's news interview.

She inhaled sharply and bolted upright, eyes wide despite how much they protested.

"Uh?" a slurred voice said next to her. She whipped her head around to see Ranu rub at his eyes sleepily and stretch, popping a few joints. Her eyes widened, despite being slightly calmer.

Ranu was there. Everything was alright. It was going to be okay, it had to be, right? They couldn't find her here. They didn't know where she was. Ranu was safe, her uncle was safe, everything was okay…

"Uhn… Kris? What're you…. You okay?"

'Yeah, I'm okay,' she wanted to say. But she couldn't find the will to remember how to work her mouth and vocal chords. All that happened was a scratchy whine, mangled by her tortured throat.

"…it's alright," Ranu said after a minute. He looked at the window and noticed the sliver of light that seeped through the thick curtains he had covered the windows with the day before.

"It's morning," he commented. Kris just looked lost and looked back at him. He smiled a little at her. "How 'bout we go get some breakfast then?"

He didn't even wait for a response this time. If it was up to her, she would never leave the room. Thus, he was taking it into his own hands and dragging her out of it.

She squeaked in protest when he picked her up and set her on her feet, then grabbed her hand and led her out of the room.

She dug her heels into the carpet and clutched at the fibers with her toes as he went to pull her out of the doorway.

"Come on Kris, it's okay," Ranu said, frowning. "We're just going to get some food. We can come back when we're done eating, okay?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes defiantly, pulling backwards into the room. Ranu frowned more deeply and grabbed her arm and pulled. She gave a pathetic sounding squeak and near collapsed and fell on him. He staggered backwards a little but remained upright. Kris didn't move once he was holding her so that she wouldn't collapse onto the floor.

He sighed. They really needed to get some food. They were both getting weak from not having any dinner at all the night before and waking up late. That and he had puked up most of his lunch from the day before, he remembered with a disgusted grimace.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a pair of shaking arms encircling his torso. He looked down and bit his lip, worrying again about Kris's mental state. She hadn't said a word yet, and now she was clinging to him like he would disappear. This wasn't like her at all. She hadn't clung to him since they were children, and only then when she was seriously upset. Was she going to be alright? Had this seriously shaken her so bad that she was going to be permanently damaged?

He shuddered.

'Don't think of that kind of stuff right now,' he thought and mentally shook himself to regain his senses.

"Come on Kris, we have to go get breakfast," he said again. "You're hungry, I know you are. I'm hungry too. Come on,"

Her grip didn't relax in the slightest. He sighed.

"Ah!" he said, getting a sudden idea. "I'll give you a piggy-back ride then, okay? That way you won't have to let go!"

Kris blinked and looked at him. A piggy-back ride? That could work, she supposed…

She nodded slightly.

"Great!" he said happily, and bent down so she could climb on his back. When she did, he grabbed her legs to steady her and make sure she didn't fall off, and stood up slowly. Her grip on his shoulders was slightly painful, but he didn't complain. At least he had gotten her out of the room.

It was a start.