Tampered Mind – Returning Home

Disclaimer: See chapters 1 or 2.

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It was nearly noon the day after Misaki woke up before she was released from the hospital. Oujirou was being the gentlemen he always was and was picking her up from the hospital in his metallic-black Porsche (A/N: Just don't ask. It's the only flashy car I could think of at the moment.). When Misaki saw it, her eyes bugged and her mouth fell straight open. Oujirou laughed at this, but not unkindly.

"It was a birthday gift from my family a few years ago. It seems everyone chipped in." Oujirou said as he loaded Misaki's things (A/N: Meaning everything Shuuko brought to the hospital for her) in the trunk and got in the driver's seat next to Misaki. (A/N: I'm sure you have a mental picture of this too. Black Porsche, Oujirou with sunglasses sitting next to Misaki, and--Oh sorry, back to the story.)

Misaki suddenly feeling as though the car was too good for her to be in it, took to watching the buildings go by. Oujirou, after several minutes, finally becoming aware of the lack of conversation, glanced at the now very uncomfortable looking Misaki.

"Are you okay?" Oujirou asked her. A smile was still on his face.

Misaki turned back to Oujirou, "Yes, I-I'm fine."

He nodded reluctantly, "All right." There was silence for a moment before either of them spoke again.

"Misaki."

"Yes?"

"I want you to know something."

Misaki, having finally settled, was feeling once again a little uncomfortable,

"Uh......yes?"

"When we were in the tournament together, it was nice having someone I could trust to fight with me. Even if your abilities were impaired by that Precision Shield, you still did your best."

"Oh!" Misaki's discomfort disappeared in an instant, only to be replaced by a large smile in which her cheeks turned mysteriously pink. "Well, thank you, but there's no way I could have done it without you. In fact I didn't even know that we won until yesterday. You really are extraordinary when you fight with wizard."

It was Oujirou's turn to blush. This quite surprised Misaki, considering she had never seen him blush before from the time she met him. However, within moments he got control of his expression and managed to give her a courteous smile in its place.

"Thank you, Misaki. That means a lot coming from you," he said sincerely.

Misaki nodded still smiling, as if to say "It was my pleasure."

It was then that they pulled up to Misaki's house. He turned the car off then pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"Well, here we are, Misaki. Shuuko said that she would be home by the time you got here, so you if you need anything she'll be there."

Misaki nodded and opened the door of the Porsche. She was almost sad to be leaving Oujirou's company. Oujirou got out of the Porsche as well and get her things out of the trunk. Misaki offered to take her own stuff, but Oujirou flatly refused. Then with a heavy heart he walked her to the door of the Suzuhara household. Misaki opened the door and walked in with Oujirou right behind her.

"Shuuko we're here!" Oujirou called through the house.

Shuuko came out of the kitchen and smiled at the sight of Misaki and Oujirou, "Misaki! You're home!"

Oujirou set Misaki's things down in her room (A/N: Shuuko had to point him to it.), and whispered something in Misaki's ear that made her turn dark maroon, before he took his leave and drove away. Shuuko looked at Misaki highly amused at how she was staying so dark red.

"What did he say, Misaki?" Shuuko asked, fighting back giggles.

Misaki just turned and started walking away. Then in a very shrill voice she said, "We can talk at dinner, okay, mom." Then Misaki slowly walked into her room and shut the door. Oujirou's words started circling in her head, 'Misaki, I love you, so promise me you won't get hurt again, okay? Bye, Misaki.' She could only remember him saying those three words one other time. After his match against her......but how was it that it still surprised her? She already knew she felt the same way, but she hadn't said a word to him about it. She was always way too shy. However, he never seemed to mind. He just kept on loving her, whether he got an answer to how she felt or not.

Misaki flipped through the pages of a recent Angelic Layer magazine that Shuuko had subscribed to. She was so glad that it was summer, and that homework was so very far away, allowing her time to practice Angelic Layer. 'Angelic Layer!' she thought, 'Oh no! Hikaru!' Panic stricken she started throwing stuff out of her knapsack. Then panicking even more when she reached the bottom, she quickly moved on to her backpack. She unzipped it feverishly, and there, the very first thing she saw, was Hikaru. Misaki took out the note that lay on top of her with one hand and took Hikaru out with the other. She held the note close to her face, easily making out the neat handwriting. It read:

Misaki,

I'm sorry if it scared you to not have Hikaru back for so long. I know I would have been a bit jittery too if I thought I ever lost Wizard. You actually scared me horribly when you blacked out on the Layer. I guess I never really thought much about Hikaru until you were packing up your stuff this morning. Again, very sorry, and I hope to see you soon.

Very sincerely yours,

Oujirou Mihara

Misaki smiled widely. She could tell that things in her life were going to work out even better than she thought. With Oujirou, Shuuko, and all her friends (A/N: Who were strangely all out of town at the moment), she knew that things couldn't get much brighter than this.

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Hey, thank you for reading the entire thing! Again please R&R, and I hope you enjoyed it.