Chapter 3 - Finally Awake

Thanks for the review KittyLynne! Really encouraged me to update. So readers, please review? Even if it is about the tiniest thing, I'm already happy. :D

Okay, so nothing's really going to get messy. Kagami was still pacing back and forth in front of the couch, thinking of ways to handle this current predicament. She had called her friends earlier, telling them to go to her place early tomorrow with clothes for fox guy. She also explained that scene in the alley earlier. She would be lying if she didn't say her best friends chewed her out for helping a stranger. That's got to be the hardest half an hour of her life.

Hikaru and Saori gave her tips just in case fox guy woke up without warning. Hikaru told her to run out of her apartment as fast as she could and hide in a janitor's closet while she called the police. That's both a stupid and good idea at the same time. That is, until he said that it's because he didn't want his beautiful friend to get assaulted. He'll get a bruise for that.

Saori's advice was quite simple according to her. The moment fox guy moves even the slightest bit out of place, she'll have to punch him so hard his brain bounced and immediately call them for back up. Then, Saori will whip out her ultimate badass katana sword she got in an auction and do some awesome ninja moves while Hikaru got Kagami to safety. That has to be the stupidest thing she ever heard her friend say.

Which brought her to the current situation now. While she does value her safety, what of fox guy's? He's gonna get sick the longer he lay there. And medicine's kinda expensive, so maybe she'll prevent it before it got worse?

Okay, so maybe it's not a really good idea, but she's stubborn and tired and feeling absolutely cranky right now and wanted nothing more but to sleep until tomorrow. You can't really blame her for trying to wake fox guy up to change his own clothes.

Until she grinned evilly. Yep, no one could possibly stay unconscious after her next move.

But before that, she quickly got up and went to her kitchen, retrieved a frying pan, and went back to the living room, pan clutched tightly in her left hand.

She then knelt beside him again and set her plan into motion. She slowly brought her thumb and forefinger towards his nose, took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve, and pinched it, effectively cutting off his air supply.

She hummed and waited for a few seconds, then minutes, before fox guy suddenly gasped and jolted awake. She quickly removed her fingers and watched sheepishly as he breathed in huge gulps of air. She waited a few more minutes for him to recover, just listening to him cough and breathe heavily, before he finally stopped. His first reaction was to frown and rub soothing circles on his temples, as if he had a terrible headache. Kagami just waited for a chance, frying pan still in hand. Finally, he seemed to notice that he wasn't alone, because his still closed eyes suddenly snapped to her face, his smile when he was asleep gone. She frowned in confusion. Why aren't his eyes opening? He's not blind right?

For a moment, they just stared at each other, fox guy's harsh breathing the only thing sounding in the room. Finally, Kagami decided to break the silence and stood up, fox guy's still closed eyes following her movement. She frowned internally, if he's blind how did he know she stood up?

She took a deep breath, and glared at him. "Alright. I don't know what possessed me to carry you to my place, but now that you're finally awake, you have to answer my questions or you'll get kicked out of my house and back to the rain, understand?"

Fox guy only stared at her and at the frying pan still in her hand, (is it possible to stare with his eyes closed?) and Kagami stared back, making sure to give him a steely look that hopefully screams answer-or-I'll-deck-you-with-my-frying-pan. Their silence was filled with the raging storm outside, cue the thunder and lightning. It seemed to convince him that the last thing he wanted was to be out in that weather and nodded at her. But Kagami wasn't done yet. She hoped he wouldn't know that she didn't know how to defend herself in the slightest. If he suddenly went crazy on her the only thing she could do is to follow Hikaru's plan and run like hell to the janitor's closet.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, first of all, what are you doing sleeping in an alley? Especially outside in the rain?"

Fox guy was still staring at her, and she internally began to feel nervous. What if he saw through her façade? She's doomed!

"I don't know no da."

Kagami blinked. Fox guy's voice was hoarse, like he desperately needed water. But now's not the time to think about it, though she made a mental note to give him some later. And also, he didn't know? What kind of answer is that? Lastly, no da? What the heck does that mean?

"Are you drunk or something?"

Now it was fox guy's turn to blink. Well… as well as he could with closed eyes. "Well… I'm beginning to think it no da, though I really don't like to drink."

Huh? Kagami cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Fox guy only shook his head, but winced at the movement. Wow, he either has a very bad headache, or he IS drunk and hungover. "I don't know… I think my friend forced me to drink sake, though I'm not sure no da. I don't feel drunk at all."

Okay, that was confusing. Kagami decided to let the matter drop and instead raised the question that has been plaguing her. "Aren't you going to do anything to me?"

Fox guy blinked in surprise at her question, as if he couldn't believe she just asked that. "What do you mean? Why would I do anything to you no da?"

Kagami searched for any sign of deception in his strange face, but fox guy just looked totally honest and confused. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and relaxed her stance slightly. "Well, what do you expect me to think? I just carried you to my home without knowing who you are. What if you're a murderer or a rapist or something?"

Fox guy's face slowly showed understanding of what was going on, and she was immediately relieved. It seems fox guy IS telling the truth after all. He's just confused. "I swear to you that I'm not. I'm just a wandering monk no da. I don't have anything with me that can hurt you, so rest assured that you won't be harmed."

Kagami just noticed the lack of 'no das' in his last sentence. His face was really serious but also nervous, and looked like he was kind of pleading with her to believe him. Finally, she relaxed and lowered the frying pan, which she noticed was in a ready-to-hit position aimed at his head. Maybe that's why fox guy's nervous, she giggled inwardly.

"Okay, I believe you. But I still don't trust you, so I'll keep a hold of this pan until its safe."

"Oh, is that what it's called no da?"

Kagami frowned at him. "Of course. Don't you know?"

He shook his head. Kagami was confused. Are monks really behind the times like this one?

"Well it's called a frying pan, and it's used for cooking. And also for giving liars concussions, so you better tell the truth."

Fox guy only gulped so nervously she almost laughed. He looks positively terrified of the pan. Who knew she was good at intimidating? Or was he just playing with her?

"So what's your name? I keep calling you fox guy in my head, and it's a mouthful."

Fox guy suddenly looked offended. "I'm not a fox guy! My name is Chichiri na no da."

"Chichiri? Wow, that's more of a mouthful than fox guy. Can't I just call you fox guy?"

'Chichiri' gave her a look. "Iie no da."

Kagami only grinned. The tension in the air was already dissipating, so she decided to finally bring up the true reason for waking him up. "Sooo… Chichiri-san…" Kagami twiddled her thumbs nervously. Chichiri only raised an eyebrow and nodded at her to continue, so she did. "I really don't plan on waking you up cause you looked so peaceful sleeping there… but I really don't have a choice. Unless you want me to undress you."

At these words, Chichiri's eyebrows rose even higher in his forehead and Kagami quickly realized that that came out VERY wrong. "N-No! What I meant was, I didn't want your already bad fever to worsen, so I thought of taking off your wet clothes. But since, you know… gender difference and all, I just decided to wake you… cause that would've been really uncomfortable…" Kagami stared at fox guy's bewildered face and sighed in defeat, realizing she'd been babbling. "Just get out of those clothes would'ya?"

At this, Chichiri looked down on his clothes, probably realizing what she meant, because his clothes are a dripping mess. He finally seemed to relax and he smiled at her. "Ah, thank you no da. You're right, it would've been terribly uncomfortable no da."

Kagami laughed at this. At least he seemed to have a sense of humor. But her laughter was quickly cut off when she heard him sneeze.

"Daaaaa… I guess taking off my clothes is a good idea na no da…"

She grinned at him, but then soon realized they both forgot one very important thing. "Umm… right. But the thing is… I don't have any guy clothes. I live alone, so.. yeah…." This was becoming so awkward. "I-I do have this blanket though… and a towel to get you dry. We'll hang your clothes near my heater so it'll dry soon. I'll give you some privacy. Just tell me when you're done."

Without waiting for a reply, she immediately darted to her room still with her frying pan and closed the door, leaving fox guy out there to deal with it alone.