Straight Cougar woke up in a hospital. He wasn't sure why, he had just fallen asleep outside.

Actually, if he admitted the truth to himself, he had passed out, but he wasn't going to admit the truth. He had merely fallen asleep whiling watching Kazuma and Ryuhou battle it out in the sky. He had been envying thier power, and bragging to a group of children about how he was stronger than the guys in the sky.

His mouth felt cottony.

Sitting up, he looked for a glass of water, then noticed that he wasn't really in a hospital. He was lying on a bunk in a make-shift hospital. In other words, someone's home that was packed with people.

Groaning, he stood, but his knees buckled beneath him. He grimaced but held back the cry of pain that rose to his lips when he fell. Instead he just stood again and made his way outside, being careful to grab onto anything that could support him on his way out. His hand rose to shield his eyes from the sunlight, and reflexively he reached for the shades perched atop his head. They weren't there.

A sigh escaped him and he went on ahead, hoping to find someone who could tell him where his shades were.

He was lucky. An older woman ran up to him, one who seemed to recognize him, although he couldn't place her. She had a basket of clothing in her hand.

" Hey..." he began, but she waved him off.

" What are you doing out of bed?" She demanded. His eyebrows rose. Was there somehting wrong with walking?

" Looking for my shades." He replied bluntly. She laughed.

" Those hideous things? I gave them to the children to play with. Good luck finding them...in one piece that is."

Cougar couldn't believe his ears. She had taken his shades? Oh. No. Nobody touched his shades. He scowled at her.

" What gave you the right...?"

" Nothing. I just didn't like them. Oh, and that nasty uniform you were wearing has been burned. Nobody around her likes HOLD, or HOLY for that matter."

For the first time he looked down at what he was wearing. He had on an old, brown, leather jacket, a black tee-shirt and some scuffed blue jeans. They had left his boots on him.

" Who...?"

" My husband. If you were going to ask who changed you. I may be married but I still know what modesty is."

" Oh..."

He was getting ready to ask where the children were when she began to push him towards the house again.

" Now, you need to sleep some more, it's obvious you're exhausted. I'll wake you when it's lunchtime, but until then..."

" Now hold on a damn minute! I want my shades! Who the hell do you think you are!"

" Think of me as your savior. I help the only doctor we have in this place, and he's out on call."

With that said she shoved him back in the house and over to his cot. Grudgingly, he layed down on the cot. He waited thirty minutes before getting up again, then checked to make sure she wasn't around. When he was sure it was safe, he left to find those children she had talked about. After only fifteen minutes of searching he found them. A little purple-haired girl was playing with them by pretending to be a spy. She was shooting an imaginary gun at her friends, who wear shooting imaginary guns back at her. She was the only one not "dying."

Walking up to her her plucked his shades off her head and gave a charmng smile. She glared up at him, fists at her waist.

" Hey, those are mine!" She said petulantly.

" Not anymore." He replied, then walked off to look for Kazuma and Kanami. He knew they were near, he just wasn't sure where they were staying. It wasn't hard to find them. He could hear an argument down the street and headed towards it. Sure enough, there was Ryuhou and Kazuma, yelling at each other over how weak the other was. It was pretty ridiculous, considering they were both heavily bandaged, but they obviously had to fight no matter what.

He tapped Mimori on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned and gave a smile.

" Hey, Cougar. I see you're all better."

" Yes I am Miss Minori..."

" Mimori!"

"...and I was wondering if you'd like to treat me to a bite to eat?"

" Cougar, I'm with Ryuhou. Surely you know that?"

" A guy can hope."

" Hope someplace else then!"

" Hey Kanami..."

" Not there! She's a child!"

" Then feed me."

" You can have lunch with us, but you had better help prepare."

" You mean cook? I can't do that. I dont' know how."

" Time to learn."

The argument ecalated to such an intensity that a crowd began to grow and they stopped speaking. Mimori just shook her head, and Kanami began to walk away. Mimori followed her and took her hand. Cougar stepped up to them just as they began to glow.

" Hey guys, cut the crap. Your women are running away."

Sure enough, that got thier attention, and they stopped glowing. Ryuhou gave a dignified sniff and walked away. Kazuma shouted after him, calling him a coward, but that didn't stop Ryuhou from walking away. Instead, he calmly replied in his permanantly cold voice.

" I have better things to do than fight with an idiot who can't even protect a little girl."

Cougar laughed.

There it was. Three days into her walk and she could finally see some bulidings. Small hovels to be sure, but even in the dusk of nightfall she knew what they meant to her.

Life.

Her throat was dry and scratchy from the lack of water, and her stomach felt as if it had never known food. the berries had ran out the second day due to her underestimating how many she would need. Her "clotes" had dried up the first day, but her nudity no longer bothered her. It was unimportant to a starving person. To someone as dehydrated and sunburned as herself.

Her feet dragged as she struggled to walk faster. She was using up more energy than she needed to to get there, but all Scherise could think of was water. Food. Rest...

Those words played over and over again as she neared the village, stunned that it wasn't a mirage like the last one had been. She could hear people's voices. Children shrieking in joy, men yelling at each other, women gossiping. It was music to her ears, and she loved it all.

She could see someone now. A distinct figure of a man walking towards her, head bowed. He hadn't noticed her yet, and she hoped she could muster up enough energy to cry for help. Her first attempt was a dry whisper. He didn't look up. She tried again.

" He...elp." Still no response. Wetting her chapped lips with her almost entirely dry tonque, she tried once again, forcing her voice to be louder.

" Help!"

He looked up and stopped in his tracks. His hand came up to take his unsual pink shades off, and revealed his wide eyes. He ran to her.

" Scherise!"

How did he know her name? That was her last conscious thought as she fainted in his arms.

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