Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue. Blah, blah, blah.

Rating: Pg? Pg-13? I dunno.

Chapter Three: Imaginary Light

Ran's POV

I am able to do nothing. I watch on as the brunette collapses to the floor. His confession had taken me by such surprise that my mind barely registers the fact that my teammate has fallen in the entrance to my cold sanctuary, unmoving aside from shallow intakes of breath.

As reality sets in, I panic, grabbing Ken's muscled body around the waist gently to carry him to safety, cradled in my arms. Since Yohji's room is closest, I try there first.

I knock on the door with my foot, my arms having already been taken, sounding obviously stressed. No answer.

I curse lightly and take the not quite light body of Ken to Omi's door. It seems as if the hallway goes on forever, though really it's rather small. The only sound is my bare feet against the tatami floor.

This time when I knock on the door (still with my foot), Omi answers. I stick the fact that Yohji is sitting on the couch, looking not too happy at me, a disheveled Omi at the door, to the back of my mind for later analysis.

At the sight of an unconscious Ken, though, both seem to forget whatever they had previously been doing and begin asking questions. I simply tell them that Ken was walking past my door to the bathroom when he suddenly fell to the floor. Omi nods, but Yohji gives me a suspicious glare, making me wonder just how much he might know.

We decide to take Ken to a real hospital, since he wasn't injured on a mission or anything that would arouse suspicion. Yohji thinks it's best that we take his car, since I'm in no real condition to be driving, and no one else is allowed to touch my Porsche.

Omi sits up front in the passenger's seat while I sit in back with Ken laying peacefully in my lap. The short trip passes in an uncomfortable silence, the two blondes occasionally stealing glances at the "sleeping" brunette.

All of my thoughts are in a scramble, battling for dominance. The confession… my rejection of him… the form laying helplessly on the floor… but most of all, the sight of Ken's hurt face when… I shake my head to try to clear my dying head. I don't have the slightest clue as to why I'm such a wreck, why this is affecting me so much, why I… care. I'm supposed to be the cold, unfeeling bastard who cares about his sister, and ONLY his sister. But ever since Aya woke up and went off to boarding school, I've been softening up. Maybe too much. Or maybe… not enough.

We pull up to the hospital, and after Yohji's good parking karma gets us a spot up front, I gently lift Ken out of the car, clutching him against my orange sweater. Yohji catches this gesture with his assassin-trained emerald eyes, and a small smirk appears on his lips, but I just glare coldly back at him.

Omi clears his throat loudly, beckoning us to follow him inside the pristine white building of the Magicbus hospital. I push up in front instead of simply following him, leading the way past the front desk of the clinic, to the emergency room.

Yohji takes the brunette from the arms, leaving Omi and I to sit worriedly in uncomfortable hospital chairs as he grabs the attention of some nurses.

My mind blanks slightly, and I barely notice as Yohji sits down beside us with a heavy sigh. We're all prepared to be waiting for a while.

It's about an hour (and much brooding) later that a doctor emerges from room number 142 asking for Ken Hidaka's family, an unsettling expression on his face. I can tell, and I'm sure the others can, too, that the news will not be good.

"The good news is that his life is not in any immediate danger. The bad news is… he's in a coma. We don't know how this happened or when he might wake up, only that it is self-induced, caused by some sort of emotional trauma."

At this, Yohji sends another suspicious glare my way, but I glare right back. There's no way in Hell I'm letting that blonde playboy make me feel guilty. After all, it was Ken's fault… right? We're murderers, we don't have time for trivial things such as love. But no matter how much I try, I can't keep back the feeling that I've done something wrong…

The doctor informs us that it's okay to go see Ken now, and it seems we can't get there fast enough. I keep my calm exterior and indifferent mask in place, but on the inside it feels like all of my organs have turned to jell-o.

After almost running down the hall, trying to be careful though failing miserably, the three of us finally reach Ken's room. Omi hesitantly opens the door and begins to walk inside, as if afraid of what he'll see, but then stops in his tracks. Yohji and I peer over his shoulders to see what's wrong, and the sight of the frail, sickly boy on the bed makes me wonder if we've stepped into the wrong room. He's hooked up to all sorts of different machines to monitor his heart rate, blood pressure, pump fluids into his body, and others whose purposes I can't even begin to guess.

His body is rigid, as if under a great amount of stress. But this stress is caused by work. He fell into a coma because he was stressed about having to be a part of a group of assassins. Who wouldn't be? Therefore it is not my fault. Not at all. I nod my head slightly to reassure myself, and the nurse gives me a strange look. I don't blame her.

Still standing in the entryway to the room, a tug at the hem of my shirt pulls me out of my silent thoughts. I look down and see a young girl of about 8 years staring up at me with worried brown eyes.

"Is Ken-san going to be all right?" she asks, tears starting to fill her eyes. I notice she is wearing an oversized white and blue soccer jersey, black shorts, and white sneakers, so I surmise that she must be one of the kids that Ken coaches. How did she find out Ken was here?

The girl touches a rare soft spot in my hear, so I kneel down and smile warmly, taking her small hand in one of mine and wiping her tears away with the other.

"Ken will be fine. By the way, what's your name?"

The small girl with pigtailed brown hair (much like Ken's) smiles back. "My name's Kaori!"

Omi and Yohji stare at me the whole time, identical looks of shock covering their faces. I glare right back, then turn to Kaori once more. After seeming to contemplate me for a moment with a serious expression on her face, she grabs my eartails and yanks firmly on them, a smile gracing her face.

I should have gotten angry. With anyone else, I would have. But with this child, I don't find any anger at all hidden in me.

"So, Kaori, is your mother around here? She's probably wondering why you're still in here."

A look of realization crosses her face, and after a quick goodbye, she runs out the door, leaving a bewildered Omi and Yohji to gape at the fact that I said so many words all together in one day.

I stand up, brushing my eartails back into place, and slip on my indifferent mask once more. Yohji turns his attention back to the sickly boy while Omi looks worriedly at all of us.

"Umm, we should probably go. Visiting hours have been over for a while, and there's really no point in staying here… Ken's not going to get any better by us staring at him 24/7," the young blonde declares.

Yohji seems reluctant, staring anxiously at the sleeping figure, but hears the honest truth in Omi's words. Staying here does nothing for Ken, and we all need rest, just in case another mission comes up. A mission… is won't be the same without Ken… uh, because he's useful to our team. Yes. Useful. That's all there is to it.

With one last glance, the three of us reluctantly tread out of the white room, and prepare for the next few days, which will inevitably be some of the longest days of our life.

NyarNyarNyar

Ken's POV

The darkness is overwhelming; I can see nothing else. I have been robbed of all of my senses, and my memory seems to have been wiped clean. Who am I…? Where am I…? What am I…?

I try to take a step forward, but find that I am floating. I panic, trying desperately to move my limbs. Limbs that won't cooperate, won't allow me access to the nerves needed to move.

In a flash, everything comes back to me at once. My life in the J-league… Kase… joining Weiß… my teammates; my only friends… and Ran. Lots of memories of the cold bastard whom I just happened to fall in love with. One who used to live by his sisters name, Aya, for revenge, and nothing else. But his sister is awake and happy, so why can't he try to at least pretend to be normal…?

The memory of my confession… the horrid experience of rejection. The emotions flow from the inner part of whatever I am now. Pain, anguish, bitter, unrequited love…

I feel myself being slowly pulled downward. Or is it down..? Is it up? Or to the side? There's no way of telling. I sink deeper and deeper into the darkness, whichever direction it may be. Wherever, whatever it may be, this place is consuming me from the inside out.

I let it. I let it do everything. Pull me down, tear me up, and rip the torn pieces into oblivion. I have nothing left to live for, so what's the point of struggling?

And yet… something holds me firmly in place, refusing to let go. What is this? This… strange feeling? Is it a new sense? A new emotion? Something that can only be found in times of utter despair? I'm not sure… but I think it might be hope.

TBC!

So, what do you think? Poor Kenken's being awfully angsty… of course, I would be too, if I were in his position. Also, in the series, he seems to be a pretty angsty person, hidden behind his mask of clumsy happiness, so I'm simply portraying what I believe to be the real Kenken. Anyways, R&R! The authoress can't live without her reviews, so please help feed me, won't you? See you in the next chapter!