The doors to the van shut quickly, nearly clipping my wing as I tried to fly inside the vehicle after Sinbad. I put my hands onto the tinted windows and watched in horror as they all looked at the almost lifeless boy. One of them, Tyrone if I remember right, was making a big scene out of it. Obviously he knew of Sinbad somehow. The engine started and soon I was left hovering in the air as the van took off, carrying my partner with it.

Winter Break III

By: Satashi

Access flew quickly in the direction of Fin's power source. The area became familiar all at once as he came over the café area that they had been at earlier. He then spotted Maron waving goodbye to her parents. The black winged angel didn't hesitate to land roughly on the table, catching both Fin and Maron's attention. "Big trouble!" He panted out, worn from his pressured flight. "Sinbad's been caught!"

"Caught?" Fin echoed him in disbelief. "Access, calm down, what happened?"

Access took a deep breath to collect himself and spoke up to Maron. "Jeanne, Sinbad was fighting to seal a demon just now," He took another breath. "The demon itself isn't a problem, but the people with it are hardcore. We were fighting them and Sinbad made a mistake that caused his feet to be roped up and a truck dragged him several blocks. Some people found him and took him away; I think they're some kind of rival gang or something!"

Maron didn't answer. She had her hand over her mouth and what appeared to be a shocked face. "That's not all, Fin." Access went on, flying up in front of Maron since her angel was on her shoulder. "I think something's wrong with Jeanne's Petite Clair. We tried calling for help but it couldn't go through or something."

Maron's eyes went wider. "That's…" her voice was a whisper, but Access caught it anyway. He looked at her, concerned. "The clair… It went off…"

"Did something happen here too?" Access looked worriedly over at Fin. "Why couldn't she answer? Did something attack?" he looked around, almost as if he expected something to leap out at him.

"I didn't answer…" Maron's voice was a light whisper. "Because I was talking to my parents…"

Access froze in mid air. Slowly he turned to look up at her. "What… did you say?"

"I didn't want to answer…" Maron repeated, suddenly very scared. "I pushed it in my purse so I couldn't hear it and…" Her head ripped to the side and when she could see Access again, Fin was holding him from behind as he shook in her arms. Maron felt her left cheek start to swell up and realized that Access had struck her with some kind of energy. "Access…I…"

"He was crying…" His voice shook from anger, eyes glaring at the ground. "He was calling out you name…" Slowly he looked up at her, breath rigged and shoulders shaking from the anger cursing through him. "He was asking for help… He was asking for help!" He pulled from Fin and flew up in front of Maron. "He was bleeding to death, asking for help," His voice kept getting louder as he spoke. "And you just didn't answer because you was TALKING?" He pulled his hand up again, making Maron instinctively close her eyes. When the hit didn't come, she slowly opened them again. Access looked straight at her and spoke softly with venom in his words. "If he dies, it's your fault."

Maron fell into a chair, too stunned from his words to be able to stand any longer. "Fin," He turned to speak to her. "I'm going to hone in on his powers and try to find him. I'll contact you when I find out something." She gave him a small nod and when he took off into the air, slowly sank down to Maron, who laid her head down on the table and started to cry.

"You should know better than to bring someone back to base," a man spoke, looking at Sinbad, who was being patched up by Tyrone. "He looks half-dead, what good will he do us?"

"Man you don't know what you're talking about, yo!" Tyrone stood up and turned to his leader. "This here's Sinbad. Sinbad!"

"Like the comedian?" One member of the gang perked up, getting laughs from everyone in the room.

"Oh yeah. Laugh. Laugh now, but just you wait. You'll see." Tyrone pointed to them.

"You're sure about him, then?"

Tyrone turned to his leader. "Michael, I wouldn't be saying this stuff unless I was sure, now would I?"

"Mouse!" The man known as Michael looked around. "Where's Mouse?"

"Right here man," A new voice came up, belonging to a short man with glasses. He Aprently got his name from his looks, as he appeared quite harmless. This clashed violently with the semi automatic weapon on his side. "What's up?"

"I need a background check on someone named 'Sinbad'. I want to know who he is, where he came from, what kind of coffee he drinks, everything!"

"He's from Japan, yo!" Tyrone added in. "Look under the police records there, you'll find him!"

"Coming right up," The man left the room and soon typing could be heard from the area he went off to.

Hours passed quickly and Sinbad was soon finished with the crude first aid, then transferred to a chair, where he was handcuffed down. Ever so slowly he became aware of his surroundings and slowly lifted up his head. People in the room suddenly quit laughing with each other and gave him their attention. "What…"He shifted his hands, feeling cuffs on them. Before he could really understand what was going on, someone sat in front of him.

"Yo, Sinbad, yo! How you feelin' my brother?" Sinbad blinked a few times, wishing he could rub his eyes. Tyrone introduced himself to him before continuing. "So what you doing in America dog? Where you been the past threw months? Laying low? Finally spending the money you got? Come on man, you with family here! Spill it dog!"

"Do all Americans talk like you?" He asked after finally regaining his senses. Several people laughed, but Tyrone didn't seem to be fazed by it.

All at once, Mouse ran into the room. "Michael! Man you're not going to believe this!" he held up a folder that seemed quite thick. "Come check this out!" the people in the room gathered around the man as he threw the papers on the table.

"What did you find, Mouse?" Michael asked, looking over the papers.

"I can't tell you about Sinbad without first mentioning Jeanne," He began, ignoring the confident nodding of Tyrone. "This chick, here." He pointed at a picture of Jeanne as she waved to the police just before going off to commit her crime for the night. "She has single handedly stolen everything she could get her hands on. You name it; she's gotten it at least once. Art, diamonds, statues, everything! And get this man, she sends the police notices ahead of time as to what she's going to steal and the exact time she'll steal it!" He pointed to the copies of Jeanne's notices.

"What's this have to do with him?"

"Easy man, easy." Mouse went on. "Give me some time will you? Anyway, this girl has an entire task force dedicated solely to catching her."

"Like S.W.A.T?"

"No, worse than that. These guy's only paychecks come from trying to track this chick down. They have means of calling in every policeman from ten miles. Trust me, in Japan that's a lot of police. So to review, she sends in notices to alert the police, never fails to show up on the time she mentioned, and makes a fool of the police and the special task force, all ranking officers mind you. Every item that she says will be stolen has been stolen. Next to the estimated value of assessts that she's stolen is the word: 'invaluable'."

Several whistles rang out at the news. "But that doesn't tell us anything about Sinbad." Michael spoke again, telling his friend to get with it.

"That guy over there…" Mouse threw down another folder. "Plays Jeanne for a fool." He pulled out Sinbad's notices and translated them for the group. "I will steal the painting of beauty from Jeanne. I will steal Jeanne's target tonight at nine. I will collect Jeanne's statue tonight at seven sharp."

"So you mean, that guy is better than the chick?"

"Jeanne is the number one top rated crook ever recorded," Mouse confirmed. "And Sinbad plays games with her, stealing her targets."

There was a silence as the information set in.

Finally Michael went over to Sinbad and sat backwards in the chair in front of him. "So what's a thief of your caliber doing over here in American messing around with the Cartion gang?"

"Seemed like fun at the time," He answered easily, eyes drifting to the side, where he saw Access fly in through a busted out window. "How did you get that information?" He felt the handcuffs behind him get slack and then saw his partner go from person to person, tweaking their guns.

"Mouse can hack into anything." Michael answered. "You were after what? Don't play games with us. We're thieves too."

"I want his gun," Sinbad answered them honestly. "I'm going to checkmate it."

"That's what Jeanne calls her thefts," Mouse informed. "Sinbad must have picked it up from her."

"You aren't going to get that gun," Michael leaned back. "We've tried. Ever since that…traitor… got that gun, it's been nothing but deaths and war for territory."

"You're saying it wasn't always like that?" Sinbad looked over at Access, who pointed at a window and nodded. "You're saying ever since he got the gun things started happening?"

"Yeah," Tyrone pulled up a chair and joined in. "We used to just have our own hood. A place to call home, yo. We protected it, man. Made it safe for our brothers to walk to school, you know what I'm saying? The police don't care about the ghetto. That's where we come in dog. We enforce the laws around here."

"So you don't always cause police to block off roads to have a war?"

"We only want our families to walk down the street without being worried they'll be shot at man. We ain't down with that needless killing." Tyrone leaned forward. "Help us out Sinbad. I know that gun's controlling the leader of the Cartion. If we can steal that gun things will go back to the way they were!"

"I will checkmate the gun."

"I still don't see how he will be able to do it." Michel looked at him.

"Thanks for the hospitality. I'll go now." He looked over at Access, who gave a thumbs up. The gang laughed at him until he stood up, free from the binds. Michael and Tyrone took to their feet, only to fall down, realizing that the handcuffs on Sinbad were now connecting their ankles. "Your guns are worthless," Sinbad walked over to the window where his partner was and didn't turn around. "I already disabled them."

One person pulled the trigger to his gun, only to have it literally fall apart on him. "No way…"

He looked over his shoulder. "Stay out of my way. I'll have the gun soon, and then I'll go back to Japan." A quick flash of his wrist sent several smoke bombs toward them, and by the time they could see again, Sinbad was gone.

"Are you okay? Access flew next to him as he limped down the alleyway and back into the populated area of the city. "Sinbad, don't overdo it."

Chiaki leaned against the side of a building and took out his cell phone. His call was answered on the third ring. "Jack, it's me, Chiaki. I need a ride… Yeah," He looked up at the road sign and then to the building he was standing against. "I'm on first and third, next to the home-style deli… Thanks." He flipped his phone shut and stumbled into the restaurant. "It'll take him about an hour to get here," he informed Access as he sat in a booth. "Man, I'm starving."

"It's already late. You should eat something, I'll go tell Fin you are okay." With that, the Angel flew outside the open door and perched onto the glowing lamp post. A small device came out of his robes and he spoke down into it. "Fin. Fin, are you there?"

A moment later, Fin's face came onto the glass surface of his communications device. "Access? Is everything all right?"

"Kind of. I found Sinbad. He's worn and beat up, but can walk. His driver is on the way to pick him up. Should be smooth from here on out."

"Chiaki? He found Chiaki?" Maron's voice came onto the line. "Access, is he okay?"

Still mad at her, Access told her the truth. "He has lost a lot of blood, beat up, burns over most his body, his magical energy is low, and he limps when he walks, but that's okay. As long as you had a nice conversation."

"Access, that's not fair!" Fin yelled at him, angry. "She just met her parents for the first time in years!"

"I understand that, and I was happy for her, but when someone's life is on the line, nothing else should matter! She can see her parents anytime now, if Sinbad had died…" His voice cut off from being angry and instantly went to being sad. "If Sinbad had died… I don't know what I'd do…"

"Access…"

"Signing out. We'll be back in about three hours, assuming." He turned off his device and looked down through the window at Chiaki, who was eating like his life depended on it. "If I lost my partner, I'd lose it myself… I honestly don't know if I could return to heaven with such a sad heart…"

"Access? Access!" Fin sighed and lowered her device. "He logged off. He said he'll be back in about three hours." Maron looked at the clock next to the bed. Her parents were supposed to pick her up at any moment now to go to dinner. "Maron just go, the chances of him getting here while you are out are slim. Even if you were here, you couldn't do anything…"

A knock came on her door and Maron looked back to Fin, then to the door again. "Fin, I…"

"Just go, Maron. I'll stay here. If anything happens, just contact us."

The knocking came again, and this time Maron ran to the door, opening it up and beaming at her parents. "Dad, Mom, hi!"

"Is your boyfriend not going to come with us?" Her mother asked as Maron grabbed her purse and closed the door. "Should we go to his room?"

A blush went over her face as she stammered "We, um, share a room…" She looked down and blushed harder when her mother gave her a hug and father look a little shocked. "He lives right next door to me at home," she explained, trying to regain some of her dignity. "He took care of me when I needed it." Smiling now, she looked up at them. "You could say he's the only person who really understands me. I love him."

Maron opened the door to her hotel slowly, and closed it silently behind her. Quickly she ran into her room as softly as she could. "Chiaki?" she whispered out, a part of her hoping he was asleep and the other part hoping the opposite. "Are you awake?" She tore off her shoes and gently crawled onto the bed.

"Mmmm…." He rolled over and looked at her. "I was trying to stay up for you, but I guess I fell asleep."

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy." He looked at her in the darkness sleepily. "Did you have fun with your parents?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later…" Her eyes began to water slightly. "Do you need anything? Do you want to take a shower? I'll wash your back, it'll relax you…"

"Already took one. Access helped me…" He was starting to fall asleep again.

"Do you want anything to eat? I brought back something for you?"

"Already ate, thank you though. I'd like it for breakfast…"

"How about I rub your back?" She placed her hand onto his arm, making him wince.

"I am a little sore right now so maybe later?"

"…okay…" Maron slowly slid off the bed and stripped down. A moment later she retrieved one of her large shirts and slid it on before getting in bed. Her body went up against his and she carefully put her arm around him.

Chiaki winced anyway, despite her being careful, and pulled away a little. "Maron, I'm really sore…"

"Oh… okay…" She scooted away from him and turned over, tears starting to fall from her eyes. 'You're too nice, Chiaki.' She thought to herself, pulling a pillow close enough to hold onto. 'I'd almost feel better if you yelled at me for not coming instead of being so nice and understanding…' She pushed her face into the pillow deeper when Chiaki moved to lay on his side and grunting a little in pain.

Chiaki sat up in bed slowly, looking around sleepily. He let out a long yawn and moved his feet out of the covers in order to stand up. With a stretch, he winced lightly as his cuts pulled. "Stupid little…" He stretched again to loosen his muscles and padded over to the takeout box that Maron had promised him last night.

The lid opened without complaint and he smiled at what was inside. She had brought him a steak with some fries on the side. He wasted no time in grabbing it and tearing into it without bothering to cut it. His other hand grabbed some fries and he stuffed them into his mouth as well.

He knew he had mana burn, and could feel it deep in his body. His automatic defenses had sucked his magical power almost completely dry in order to help him heal quickly. Although he was glad for it, in order to replenish his supply he needed more energy- which he normally gained in the form of carbohydrates. He ripped into the steak again, trying to fend off the starving sensation in his stomach. A few large meals and he should be okay.

He licked his fingers and wiped them off on the shirt he worse yesterday that was conveniently on the floor. He tossed it across the room in what he declared to be his 'dirty cloths pile'.

"Feeling better, Assuming?" Fin asked him, flying up to his chest and looking him over. Instead of letting him answer, she started to scan his body. "You are healing a lot faster than I thought you would…" Her voice was impressed at him.

A loud yawn got their attention and both looked over at Access, who stood up on his pillow/bed. With a stretch he flew over to his partner and lazily gave him a one-over. "You're healing a little slow," He mused, stopping to pull off a bandage. "I thought these little ones would be gone overnight."

Fin looked a little cross between shocked and very impressed at hearing this, but Chiaki didn't really notice. His attention was on his partner, who he had learned how to trust fully. "How long till I'm ready?"

"Technically, tomorrow." He answers; pulling off another bandage that he thought was no longer needed. "Your body is healing itself by using your mana, but I guess you already knew that?" He got a nod so Access continued his thoughts. "Since you were patched so soon after it happened the cuts sealed off. You'll just be burned for a few days. Sensitive. Fighting at, I'd say, forty percent of your normal power."

"What, that's all?"

"Sinbad, you're magical power will be non-existent for three days at least. You're lucky to be alive. If it was a normal human they would be dead right now."

"He has a shield too?" Fin asked, amazed.

"Sort of," Access crossed his arms. "Jeanne has one that blocks attacks. Sinbad's is more of a… super fast healing time. He knows when to leave a battle so it's really the best thing I could do for him."

"I see…"

The talking awoke Maron who, upon not feeling Chiaki next to her, called out his name. He turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow in a questioning manor. "Are you okay?" She immediately asked him, ignoring the two angels flying around his body. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry?"

"I am kind of hungry." He replied, already feeling the hunger that came from being low on magical energy.

"I brought you something from last night," She crawled to the end of the bed, but got tangled in the sheets as she did so and fell off the end. Groaning, she tried to push herself up, but seemed to be having a hard time of it.

Chiaki looked down at her. Maron's bottom half was still on the bed, while her upper body was currently attempting to push herself up without becoming completely lost inside her covers. His kind and loving mind instantly made him reach down for her… and grab her butt.

"Chiaki!"

"What?" He asked innocently as she scrambled to straighten herself up. When she did so, she sat down on the bed and blushed. "You're cute when you're shy," he told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Mm," She got redder, noticing the angels looking at her. "Chiaki…" She looked up at him, a little sad. "Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere? Seriously?"

"I'm okay, just sore. Don't worry so much."

"Of course I worry!"

He grinned. "Let's get breakfast."

Maron blushed lightly as Chiaki ate at the breakfast buffet their hotel offered for free. One hand was shoveling waffles into his face while the other was trying it's best to stuff bacon and eggs in at the same time. Every now and then he would grab his large glass of milk and chug it down before going back to eating. Maron watched him a little while longer before leaning over to Fin. "Am I… that bad when I get mana burn?"

"Worse." She answered, grinning up at her. "Once you were so mad that Chiaki made the checkmate that you demolished everything in site."

"Oh yeah, I was sick the next day wasn't I?" her cheeks colored a little more and she went back to watching him. Somehow, far back in her mind, she found it rather cute. She knew that he would never let anyone back home see him like this. When she thought about it, she would still be shy about letting him see her eat so much, even if he did know she was doing it to recover her energy.

"Something wrong?" he asked around a mouthful before swallowing and leaning back in his chair. "Oh man, this really hits the spot." He patted his stomach and allowed Access to eat some without fear of being stabbed by a fork. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."

"Do you want to take a nap?" She asked him lightly before eating some more herself.

Chiaki leaned forward a little bit and looked at her. "Maron, what's up with you this morning? You know I've been Sinbad for a long time now and you've never worried about me like this. I 'm not made out of glass you know, a little beat down every now and then is nothing."

Maron's eating slowed down considerably. "It's not that..."

"Then what is it?" He noticed Fin's wings droop a little bit at his question, and Maron looked like she was about to cry on him. "Ah, never mind, it doesn't matter. I want to go to the mall." He pointed over to where the catwalk was. "How about you? Don't you want to go shopping?"

Maron smiled lightly. "Yeah…"

"Then come on!" He pulled her out of her chair and started to drag her along with him. "Let's go!"

"You hate shopping, Sinbad." Access whispered into his ear after perching onto his shoulder. "What gives? You should rest."

"I don't like it when she looks like that," He answered, motioning back to Maron as she stumbled while trying to keep up with him.

Soon Maron forgot about everything other than what was in front of her. Running from shop to shop she squealed about -what Chiaki thought to be the dumbest things- how cute everything was.

Pulling him to another store, she excitedly grabbed several pairs of cloths and shoved him into a chair that faced the changing rooms. Time after time again, the curtain drew back to reveal Maron is different American fashions. She went through everything from formal to things she knew she would never ever wear outside but put on anyway for his amusement. Finally after strutting around him in knee high boots, short shorts that she was about to fall out of and a shirt that tied off under her breast, she blew him a kiss and closed the curtains again to change back into her normal cloths.

Access's mouth was hanging open in shock with a blush across his cheeks while tears rolled down Chiaki's face. Slowly he looked up toward heaven and started thanking the lord for letting him live to see that day. Fin, meanwhile, was crying for a completely different reason. Her pure and innocent partner was lost to her, despite what Maron was trying to tell her.

Several bags later they emerged from the store and back out into the mall. Chiaki had got her all of the cloths she tried on that she was serious about and after much begging and pleading on his part, the last outfit she had worn. It came with a price, though. Not only did he have to buy her everything else, but also was told that she would refuse to wear it unless he went two entire weeks without grabbing/ looking at her in an indecent way in public.

It was a small price to pay, he thought.

Chiaki found a gaming store, which he went around in enthusiastically. To his disappointment, everything on the shelves that was marked 'new!' were things that had been released over in Japan for several months at least now.

Fin dragged them both to a taffy store, where she made them watch an entire batch being made and were rewarded with free samples for their troubles. This, however, made Access realize that he, like Fin, had an abnormal obsession with sweets. Chiaki, not being the one to keep candy at his place unless it was for Maron or Miyako, was forced to buy small ounce size servings of almost everything in the store.

Maron's parents got away from their work long enough to meet them for lunch, where Chiaki kept himself in check although Maron could tell he was wanting to start shoving food into his mouth again. After a reluctant departure on Maron's part, she went back to shopping with him. Of course when the arcade came into view both Access and Chiaki immediately left her side to run into it.

Now it was Maron's turn to wait on him. He had found an American version of his favorite game 'Dance Dance Revolution' and proceeded to play it for about an hour. Fin sat on Maron's shoulder and leaned against her neck while Maron herself chose rather to sit on the floor and watch him.

She was amazed at how badly everyone danced who got on the machine with him. This, of course, lead to a small crowd of squealing girls to form around him. She had to admit, though, he did look just a little cool when he grabbed the back railing on the dance pad and ran across the screen.

She didn't think the girls should start screaming out their love for him, however.

When he was finally starting to look tired, Maron made him stop before he worked up a sweat. The last thing she needed was for him to stink while holding onto his arm. She also didn't want him to get too tired or his wounds wouldn't heal fast enough- even if he barely had any on his legs in the first place.

Maron made a big show of kissing him, shooting the girls a death glare in the process. "Jealous much?" He whispered at her, getting a snort. To please her, Chiaki's hands went around her and spun her around once before pecking her nose.

Fin, thrown off by the sudden inertia, found herself in the arms of Access, who had caught her before she hit one of the arcade machines. She quickly pulled away and blushed. "Um, thank you," she stammered out, making him get a goofy grin on his face. Fin flew back over to Maron while Access stayed where he was.

"Nice catch," Chiaki whispered to him with a smirk. Access gave him a peace sign.

Upon walking out of the arcade, Maron bumped into someone, making her bags drop. "Oh, sorry!" she immediately called out in Japanese, reaching down to start picking up what she dropped.

The person who she bumped into made a rather rude comment to her, which ended up in Chiaki dropping his bags and shoving him up against the wall. "I think that was a little uncalled for there, don't you agree?"

"You know who you're messing with, punk?" Chiaki's eyes flashed over him. He wore red and black. "Yeah that's right. I'm with the Cartion."

Chiaki looked over to the side, where a mall security guard caught his eye and then turned away, leaving them alone despite the small group gathering around them. "He ain't gonna help you." The guy smirked and reared back to hit him.

"I don't need any help." Chiaki caught his fist and rammed his own into his gut, making the gang member double over. "Get out of here." He went to kick him, but another voice made him stop.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Chiaki turned when Maron shrieked. A new person had his arm around her neck in a choker hold. "Make a move and she'll regret it."

Chiaki swallowed. He knew she could easily handle the situation, but could also tell that she was still too confused as to what was going on to do so. His mind raced as the first person started to stand up straight. His plan was about to get relayed to Access for assistance, but a new voice rang up.

"I think you're out of your area, dog." A gun was pulled and placed against the man's head that was holding Maron. "Don't you dare think I'm not below blowing your head off right here and now."

"Hey man, we're cool." He let go of Maron, who stumbled over to her boyfriend. "No harm, just a little chit-chat."

"Didn't look that way, yo." Chiaki recognized the speech as Tyrone. "Scoop up your friend and get out of here. Don't be causing no trouble around our hood." He kicked the man away from him and the two people walked away. Tyrone put his gun in the back of his pants. "Scum everywhere," his eyes found the security guard. "What's your problem, yo! You get paid to do your job, so do it!"

Chiaki noticed that although Tyrone had just pulled a gun, no one ran away from him. In fact most people were giving him an appreciative look. "Thank you," he finally spoke to him, making Tyrone turn.

"Keep yo girl safe man." He replied before turning to walk away. After a few paces he turned. "You Japanese?"

Chiaki didn't flinch, knowing what must be going on in his mind. "Yeah."

"You know anyone named Sinbad?"

"No, sorry."

Tyrone looked at him, judging. "If you do, remind him that he owes me one."

"I don't understand."

"See-ya." With that, he turned and walked away.

"Guess I should explain, huh?" Chiaki asked as the four of them walked into their hotel room. Fin sat down on the night stand while Access chose to sit on Maron's head. The bags were sat down in the floor and Chiaki hopped on the bed, stretching out. "Where to start…"

"How about at the beginning?" Maron suggested, sitting by him and finger combing his hair.

He took a deep breath and retold his experiences from the day before. When he was done, he looked up at Maron, who seemed to be on the verge of crying again. "What's wrong, Maron?"

"I wasn't there…" she told him, looking away. "I was talking to my parents and didn't answer your call…"

"Hey, it's okay. I understand. I mean, your parents."

"It's not okay! I should have answered you! You could have died!"

"Something like that wouldn't have killed me. I made it out just fine, see?" He spread his arms out as if presenting himself to her. "Is that why you've been so attentive today?" She nodded lightly, sniffing. "Hey now, I'd much rather be scolded than to have you put sympathy on me."

"I'm sorry…"

To her surprise he smiled up at her. "I'm glad, Maron."

"About what?" She looked down at him, a tear dripping onto his face.

"You're sad because you know that I would have came running no matter what if you paged me, right?" She nodded lightly, sniffing again. "I'm glad… You learned how to trust in other people… you trust in me." She nodded at him again, a light smile playing on her lips now. "Kiss me?" She let out a cross between a laugh and a sob, nodding a final time before leaning over onto him, making Access fall off her head and onto Chiaki in the process. The mood shattered and Chiaki sat up, throwing his angel off of him.

Maron bit back a laugh, and giggled lightly. "Poor Chiaki, you never catch a break."

A/N: yay for chapter 3! Chapter 4 will be out in 2 days so look forward to it. Please leave a review?