Must...take...Polairs...down! Hmm, I notice none of you are taking advantage of my little Christmas gift. I wonder why... Well, if you really don't want anything, then that's fine with me, but I was just trying to be nice! Unless you somehow missed that announcement...If you did, go check out chapter 47 of Trapped. The author's note before the chapter has my christmas gift to all of you who have stayed this far with my fics, reading or reading and reviewing, it doesn't matter. So. check it out; the deadline's December 23, which is next Friday! Other than that, enjoy!
Polaris18: Hmm, I don't think it's going anywhere too bad. Well, not in the extremely near future...Once the Hunters figure out Rio's psychic, it could get bad...I won't kill her though, I can assure you at least that much! Hey, you said anything goes, didn't you? Well, that's anything. Thanks for reviewing!
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When Kousuke and Rio got back to Ryoko's room, the latter was sitting up in her bed. Kousuke saw that she was awake, and ran over to her, "Ryoko." he whispered, barely unable to keep himself from pulling her into a hug and never letting go.
At hearing her name, Ryoko looked up to her boyfriend, "Kousuke?" she asked, tears in her eyes. When Kousuke nodded and ran his hand through her hair, she leaned into the touch and sniffed softly, "Kousuke, I'm..." she began.
"Shh." Kousuke cut her off, "Don't apologize to me, Ryoko." he told her, knowing that was what she was about to do. Kousuke sat on the edge of her bed, and gently pulled her to him. She laid her head on his chest, and closed her eyes, "Are you alright?" he asked after a long silence.
She looked up to him, the injuries and lack of sleep had drained the color from her face and the usual spark in her eyes was faded. Still, she smiled softly and nodded, "I'll be fine." she assured him, "They didn't do any major damage, I don't think, and I should be ready to go in a few days."
Kousuke smiled, relieved that no major damage had been done, "Good because I have some good news." Ryoko looked up to him, waiting, "The house we've been waiting for is ready. So, as soon as you feel good enough to go, we can go straight there and not have to deal with the Hunters any longer."
Ryoko had closed her eyes, but when Kousuke finished, her smile widened a little, "That's great news, Kousuke." she said, then looked up, confused, "Are you only waiting on me? What about Kanone?"
"He said he's fine to go, but we're keeping him in the hospital until we're all ready." he informed her, "I think he's just being stubborn, so it's good that we have to wait a little longer anyway." Kousuke had the feeling that Ryoko felt like she was slowing the others down, and he didn't want her to feel like that at all. In all honesty, it wasn't all that true. Sure, they had to wait to move, but at least at the hospital, the rest could keep pretty good tabs on the two injured ones, and the Hunters couldn't exactly just walk into the hospital room and kill them there.
That had obviously been enough to satisfy Ryoko, or maybe she was just exhausted, because when Kousuke glanced back down to her, she was asleep. Rio had been quietly observing the whole conversation, and now spoke, "You're sure she'll be okay?" she asked, feeling immensely guilty that she had left Ryoko down there all alone, "If I had only paid more attention." she thought, angry with herself.
Kousuke nodded, "You heard her, she'll be fine." he looked down at Ryoko, not even sure of his own words, "She'll be fine." he repeated in his head, "She has to be..."
Rio sighed as she nodded, she knew that Ryoko was strong enough, and if she said she would be alright, then she probably would be alright. Still, if anything happened to any of them because they had to stay here longer, she would blame herself for it. She glanced over to the couple to see that Kousuke had closed his eyes as well, and stood up to leave, figuring she might as well let them rest. Exiting the room, she figured there was really nothing else to do then go back and hang out with the boys, so that's where she headed. When she turned down the hallway Kanone's room was in, she saw a very familiar figure, "Nik?" she asked, suprised to see him back there.
He had been standing outside Kanone's room, and was about to knock when Rio called his name. Turning to her, he smiled, "Rio, there you are."
Rio smiled, so he had been looking for her. Not that there would be any other reason for him to be standing outside Kanone's door, right? She closed the distance between them quickly, "What are you doing here?" she asked, excited that he would come all the way down here just to see her.
Nik smiled, "Well, to see you, of course." he replied, "Why else would I be here?" he asked. Rio simply shrugged, which made Nik laugh, "Actually, I came down here to see if you were busy."
Rio thought for a second, "Nope, those four are in there, talking, and Ryoko and Kousuke are in Ryoko's room sleeping." she thought out loud, then looked to Nik, "I'm not busy. Why, what did you have planned?"
Nik completely lost his train of thought, "Wait...Ryoko?" he asked, "No...she couldn't be...No, that's impossible..."
Rio nodded, a bit sadly, "Yeah, Ryoko...got hurt, and had to be taken to the emergency room." she said, not sure how to go about explaining without telling him about the Blade Children and the Hunters. As much as she liked Nik, she wouldn't be that careless. She looked back to the boy, and saw that he had an expression much akin to shock on his face, "Nik?" she asked, wondering what she had said.
Shaking his head, he smiled at her, "Sorry about that." he said, laughing, "I space out sometimes." His smile quickly faded, though, "So, she's still alive. I'll have to take care of that."
Rio smiled brightly, "It's okay, I space out all the time!" she said, a little too proudly.
Nik laughed, "Well, then, I suppose you understand." Rio nodded, still smiling, "So, I came down here to see if you wanted to get some lunch." he offered. He wanted to get in Rio's good graces, and didn't think that he was doing too good of a job with that. The last time he saw her, she was acting quite suspicious of him, and for their plan to work, he had to destroy all of those thoughts.
Rio's smile only grew, "Lunch sounds great!" she told him. If she had ever had any suspicions of him, they were gone now. Rio decided that maybe Nik was just a nice guy that she happened to meet, and who happened to like her. Of course, the thought that he could be baiting her into some kind of trap still lingered in the back of her mind, but she ignored it for now.
"Well, then, shall we go?" he asked, extending his hand so she could take it.
Rio went to grab the outstretched hand, but paused, "Oh, I should probably tell someone I'm leaving." she said, "I don't want them worrying." Nik nodded, he had half hoped that Rio would forget about that. That would make his job a million times easier. If the others didn't know that she had went with him, he could easily kill her and no one would suspect him. Now, though, they would know she was with him, and thier suspicions would immediately turn to him. He couldn't risk that, he already had Ryoko to worry about. He knew she knew that he was the one who had attacked her, but why she hadn't said anything yet to the others, he didn't know. Whatever reason it might have been, he needed to permanently silence her before she told any of the others. Rio poked her head in Kanone's room, "I'm going out." she informed them, then turned to Nik, "Alright, let's go!" she said, taking his hand and leading him outside.
Nik did a double take, did she seriously just say that? She simply told them she was going out, without saying whom she was going with? Nik grinned, this was too perfect.
Ryoko awoke with a gasp, her crimson eyes shooting open with no warning. Kousuke had woken up a great deal earlier, and had been watching her sleep for a while. When her eyes darted open, it startled him so much he nearly fell out of the bed, "Jeez, Ryoko, calm down." he said, regaining his balance, "What's wrong, you have a bad dream or something?"
Ryoko shook her head, and sat up, wincing a little at the pain this caused, "Where's Rio?" she asked, noticing the small girl wasn't in the room.
Kousuke shrugged, "I guess she left after we fell asleep, why?"
"I forgot." she said, shaking her head, "I remember who stabbed me."
"What?" Kosuke asked, ready to kick some serious Hunter ass, "Who was it?"
Ryoko hesitated, "Kousuke, I don't want you to do anything about it until we tell everyone else, okay?" It worried her how impulsive Kousuke was. What scared her even more was that she knew if Kousuke went up against Nik, he wouldn't have a fighting chance. Ryoko had seen Nik coming, he didn't take her by suprise at all. Still, he had been a lot faster than her, and she knew that Kousuke was even slower than her.
Kousuke snickered, "Why do you assume I would do anything?" he asked, making no promises. Ryoko simply looked at him, "Alright, I won't do anything!" he assured her.
"It was Nik." Ryoko told him. Of course, whatever promises Kousuke had made moments before had now vanished when she said that.
"What?" he asked, "Are you serious, Rio's friend?" then another thought entered his head, "She likes him." he stated.
Ryoko nodded, "I'm worried about her, too, Kousuke, but we need to tell Kanone and Eyes about this first. Don't do anything, do you hear me?"
Kousuke nodded, but slipped out of the bed anyway, "I'm going to go find Rio." he said.
Ryoko nodded, "If you can't find her, go and tell Eyes immediately." she told him. Kousuke agreed he would, and headed out of the room.
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Hmm, so now they know it was Nik. Well, they will soon enough anyway. Ooh, but Rio doesn't know, and she's all alone with him. Whatever shall happen? Hey, I only said he wouldn't kill her. He hasn't killed Ryoko yet either, but he's planning on it! Review!