Special Thanks to:

Umeko-chan: Thanks for reviewing again. Happiness. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I put a lot of effort into it. I hope you enjoy this one as well.

Chapter 3

Umeko blinked her eyes open, or so she thought. She wasn't sure. The room was dark and her body felt heavy. She looked around and slowly things came into vision. She tried to move her hand, but found she couldn't. It felt like something was holding it down. Looking over, she saw Sen sitting there in a chair, grasping onto her hand. His head lay against the bed next to her, eyes closed, sleeping. A small smile made its way on her face, but she found herself wincing, jerking her hand from the man that was holding it.

Sen's eyes shot open, his head flying up as he stared down at Umeko. "Umeko!" he called out. "You shouldn't move so much."

"Sen-san…" She shook her head softly and stared up at the man. "Where…"

"You're at the base. Don't you remember what happened?" He reached over and turned on the light so they could see better. Immediately Umeko covered her eyes, but eventually got used to the light and set her hand back down.

Umeko's eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to remember back to what happened. Slowly images came back to her till finally she let out a loud gasp, moving on instinct, causing herself to wince again from pain, letting out a small cry.

"Umeko!" She felt the man suddenly at her side, both hands resting on each of her shoulders. Lifting one, he ran it through her hair and a small smile appeared. "I thought I told you to be careful."

Umeko smiled. "Gomen." She thought back to everything that had happened, from the moment that Ban… She looked up at Sen. "Where's Ban? Why was he… even here?" She hadn't thought about that when everything had been happening. She had just been coming out of a daze when he was pounding on her door, and then she was shocked into the news that everyone had been caught in an explosion. There was no room to wonder why the man had even been there.

"Oh, Ban." Sen smiled. "You're wondering that now? Well, when we'd first gone out to catch the Alienizer Ban appeared. Seems the Fire Squad had been tracking it down for a while and it led them here on Earth."

"Ah." She nodded. "Is he…?"

"You want me to get him?" He watched as Umeko nodded up at him. "I'll be right back." He smiled down at the girl and brushed a few stray hairs off her face. Standing, he made his way out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

After some time, the door flew open and Ban came flying into the room, immediately taking the seat next to her bed. "Umeko! You're okay!" he said in that loud obnoxious voice of his. Umeko smiled. She had missed the man. "I was so worried. After that explosion you had been buried under the rubble. It took me forever before I finally reached you. I was supposed to leave right after the mission, but I wanted to make sure you were alright first. You were out for a couple of days."

"The Alienizer…"

"Ah, him." Ban grinned. "That was a lucky shot you got!" the man told her. "You hit him, right in the heart. He's gone."

Umeko was relieved. She had gotten the Alienizer just as she had wanted. When she had shot at the Alienizer, she had done it blindly and hadn't really counted on hitting him. Ban was right. That was a lucky shot.

Ban's grin turned into a soft smile as he stared down at the woman. "Well, now that I know you're okay, I have to report back to the Fire Squad. Umeko, you take care of yourself." Standing, he took the woman's hand into his own for a moment and squeezed it reassuringly. Pulling his hand from hers, he turned and left the room. Umeko knew she wasn't going to see him for awhile.

xxx

A couple days later and Umeko was feeling much better. She still couldn't get out of bed, but it didn't hurt as much to move now, and having Sen for company made it that much better. He was always there by her side, taking care of her, despite the fact that he himself was still healing. Finally, the day came where she could get out of bed, although she still couldn't walk. They made her ride around in a wheelchair. No worries though. She had Sen to push her around.

Sen loved watching Umeko. Since she had woken up she'd been full of nothing but smiles, and though she went back to whining all the time, he enjoyed it. This was the real Umeko, and he wouldn't have her any other way. When he first saw her after she had been brought back he had been afraid that he was going to lose the woman. Everyone was. It was really a miracle that she had survived that explosion at all. According to Ban, the explosion happened right next to Umeko and all the walls had just caved in on her, burying her. After Umeko had been brought in, while they were treating her, her heart had stopped beating for a moment. When that had happened, Sen felt his own heart stop as well. He had never been so scared in his life before.

"Ne, Sen-san," Umeko started, looking up at her friend. Sen blinked and stared down at the woman, being pulled from his thoughts. "Can we go on a picnic?"

Sen blinked and then smiled. She was in a wheelchair and she was worried about going on a picnic? "When you get better I promise I'll take you out on a picnic."

"Promise?" she asked him, her eyes gazing up at him innocently.

"Hai. I promise." He blinked when Umeko suddenly held her hand up at him, her pinky sticking out. Smiling, he reached out and wrapped his own pinky around hers. It was childish, but it was an Umeko thing to do.

"This seals our promise then!" she exclaimed. Grinning, she turned away from him, fighting down a blush. "You can't break your promise."

"Hai hai," he answered, patting her on the head and then pushing her towards the infirmary to get a checkup with Swann. It was good to have the old Umeko back.