Another chapter, thank God. Seriously, what the heck is going on with me?

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE SCHOOL Q.

Chapter 14: Not More Questions

As she was still in the bathroom, Shizuko asked, "Who was that?" as soon as she heard Ryuu's footsteps come to a stop near the locked door.

"It was just Kinta," the reply came muffled slightly by the door.

"Oh."

Silence.

"Look, Ryuu—" Shizuko started just as Ryuu began, "Shizuko—"

Another awkward pause.

Shizuko stared into her bathwater. At the other side of their barrier, Ryuu propped himself against the door with a quiet sigh.

"What were you going to say?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"…"

"Shizuko."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about everything. You've been a real gentleman through this whole ordeal, and, well, I'm not used to that anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

She shook her head, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "I'm not used to being looked after, since, you know, I had my rebel tendencies. Delinquency back then, well, it kind of turned me into someone who believes that standing on your own two feet means never asking anyone for help. And today, I shattered that concept."

She sighed. "I didn't mean to really push you away, Ryuu. I was just being selfish by not thinking about your good intentions, and ignoring your concern. So, yes…I'm sorry."

With his back still to the door, he turned his head to face it, unsure of his reply to what she'd just said. There was a momentary lapse of silence, then, a simple, "It's okay."

Shizuko found herself staring up at the closed door, wondering how Ryuu could take her statement so lightly. Or rather, the simplicity of his answer.

She finally got up, finishing her bath, and dressing up before she opened the door.

As she pushed it open, she continued, "Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

To her surprise, she was face-to-face with Ryuu, almost a little too close for comfort. She blinked a little to adjust herself to the sudden change in depth perception. His clear gray eyes were all she could see at the moment.

Realizing the abrupt closeness, he inched away. He merely nodded in answer to her question.

She wrinkled her brow, less than convinced, but she sighed and stepped away from the bathroom door to let him have his turn.

With the barrier still between them as he locked the door behind him, he asked, "Do you want me to leave you alone tonight?"

Shizuko sat down on the floor, leaning against the door. "I don't know."

He settled into his bathwater. "Confused?"

"Just a bit. Of course I'm worried that the murderer will come after me a second time. But I guess I'm a little too arrogant, thinking that I'm capable enough to look after myself when it happens again."

Ryuu sighed heavily, sinking underneath the bathwater in order to clean himself properly.

Several minutes of silence, broken only by the muted splashes of water in the bathroom, passed as the two of them mulled over their rather embarrassing situation.

As he rinsed himself off, he shrugged. "I may as well stay. Better safe than sorry…right?"

Shizuko fell silent for a few moments, then, mumbled, "Thanks."

"It's nothing."

As he got out of the bath, he put on the shirt and jeans that Kyu had sent over. After stretching a little, he pulled the door open, taking Shizuko by surprise. She fell backwards into the bathroom.

She would have had a nasty bump on her head if Ryuu hadn't caught her at the last minute.

As he helped her up, she started to thank him, but a second thumping sound caught their attention.

The two of them looked at each other, confused.

Shizuko's look said, "That was not me."

Ryuu's face read, "That wasn't me either."

In unison, their eyes looked towards the bedroom door.

As quietly as possible, they stepped towards the door and opened it abruptly.

(I believe the next part is rather predictable.)

Kinta and Kyu fell face first into the room.

Shizuko crossed her arms. "Looking for anything, guys?"

Kinta blubbered, "We weren't eavesdropping or anything, if that's what you're thinking!"

Kyu chimed in. "Yeah, that's right! We…uh…"

"We were…uhh…we were just…"

"…Eavesdropping," said Ryuu and Shizuko together flatly.

Kinta grabbed at the back of Kyu's shirt. "No, we swear we weren't—really. Anyway we have to go now, I just remembered something important—BYE!"

With that, Kinta ran off at full speed, dragging the struggling form of Kyu behind him.

"For members of Class Q, sometimes those two can act like real idiots. No offense meant," remarked Shizuko as Ryuu closed the door, shaking his head in disapproval.

He looked at his watch. "It's almost 11 o'clock."

"Pretty late," mumbled Shizuko, covering her yawn with her hand.

Ryuu sat down on her desk chair. "Go to bed."

Although she felt like a child obeying his orders, she crawled under the covers. She sat up for a minute. "What about you? Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I probably won't get any," he answered without looking at her.

She frowned at him. "Don't overthink the case. You need rest too."

"I wasn't talking about the case," he mumbled, thinking out loud.

"What was that?" she said.

"Nothing. Go to sleep," he replied, flipping the switch and shrouding the room in darkness.

A moment later though, the bedside lamp flickered on.

"I thought I told you to sleep."

"I can't sleep without a light. Now good night, worrywart."

Ryuu shook his head with a small smile, amused at her response. "Good night."

She turned over in bed and promptly dropped off to sleep.

It was a rather dull vigil for him, and he could hear nothing but Shizuko's steady breathing as she slept into the night. As the clock struck midnight, he felt himself getting groggy. Placing an elbow on her desk, he leaned his chin in his hand, watching her sleep. She was restless for most of the evening, although he chose not to worry about it—she was probably dreaming.

It almost feels nice, watching over her like this…

He immediately shook the thought out of his head. Where did that come from? and why am I thinking this?

…is this really necessary? He thought with a pout.

Oh, just 'fess up, this is because you really—

Agh! What is wrong with me?

You know what I mean. There's something about her, isn't it?

This was getting ridiculous. He didn't need a mental mind wrestle at the moment when he was feeling a bit fatigued and out of his usual character.

Rationalism, Reason, and Logic seemed to have gone AWOL in the organized, almost military precision of the clockwork of his mind.

Oh come on, this isn't a mental mind wrestle, it's a simple question.

Yeah, one that needed a simple answer…

Not again! I must be going paranoid…

He smacked his forehead in exasperation. Lack of sleep and low energy were doing this to him.

Okay, that does it. I am not going to do more arguing with myself tonight.

He buried his face in his arms.

What about keeping watch? His mind interrupted unpleasantly.

He had had enough.

"Shut up," he mumbled. The words echoed back to him.

And with that, thankfully, the voices in his head stopped.

Rants: was this too short for a chapter? Tell me if it was too short.

haha, sorry if that last part kind of freaked you out, but I think every person has an out-of-character moment which is, incidentally, kind of in character. In my opinion, Ryuu has these moments of mental-mind-wrestling, especially when he's worried, or stressed out, or just plain panicked. If anyone remembers the part in the anime after he met Anubis, he did a bit of a monologue in his head, along with the voice of his grandfather and et cetera... That's what gave me the idea for the occasional "voices-in-my-head" moments in my fics.

………okay, FINE, I admit it, it's because I find it highly amusing. On my part.

Haha. Anyway…

PLEASE REVIEW!

EDIT! Oh my God. i'm editing this chapter to tell you all: THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH MY MONITOR. it will take me quite a while to update again, since i am TRYING to delay the deterioration of this old piece of junk. PLEASE understand--i am in great distress as of this very moment. i WANT to update, really, but i have to take things a little more slowly so that this monitor will not conk out on me. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU.

i love you all.