Hey guys!

I'm so glad because even though I felt unsatisfied with my previous chapter, it was the opposite for you guys. You're so awesome. :)

So anyways, I hate school for putting too much pressure…again. -.- it seems that the teachers enjoy watching us suffer.

I feel so lazy, but I really want to update for you guys. ^^

I own nothing. =.=

Rima's POV

Did I ever mention that I have fear of heights? Well, I do. And stupid purple head chose to leap on high trees rather than on those smaller ones. I think he's doing it to taunt me.

To top it off, he's going on full speed. All you can see is the shadow of everything you pass through. You know, when you're like in a subway and the train is moving non-stop?

"c-can you s-slo-slow d-down?!" I said clutching his shirt tighter.

He didn't look at me but just kept on looking forward. "nope. I like it better this way." He said. I was puzzled. What does he mean? IS HE FINALLY GETTING SENTIMENTAL?! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the greatest achievement ever.

NAGIHIKO FUJISAKI JUST BECAME TOTALLY SERIOUS AND UN-EGOTISTICAL.

"why…?" I asked.

"because it annoys you!"

I hate his guts.

After 45 minutes…

It's long right? Well, my house isn't really that far, purple head just decided on taking the long way. At first…I was afraid. Terrified. But after a few minutes, I felt…secured. And, all of my worries seemed to go away.

Purple head landed with a soft thud and the wings on his shoes disappeared. There was silence for a minute.

"um…" I started. "you can put me down now."

He gently put me down and I fixed and dusted my clothes. "thanks." I muttered.

"excuse me? What was that?" he said.

"I said thanks." I repeated.

He blinked. "come again?"

"I SAID THANKS YOU PIN HEAD!" I shouted. He smiled gently then replied, "you're welcome rima-chan."

I stormed off inside the house and I heard him shout, "I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning Rima-chan!"

What does he mean by that? I pushed the thought at the back of my head and braced myself for whatever's going to happen inside my hell—I mean house.

I opened the door as quietly as possible. I entered the house and saw my mother and father arguing again. Okay, as long as they won't know I'm home already, I won't get into any trouble.

I tiptoed to the stairs hoping not to make any noise. But I tripped and fell down. My parents looked at me and their eyebrows furrowed.

"look! Your daughter's here and you didn't even recognize her!" my mom yelled. I stood up and immediate pain shot through my right ankle. Great, a sprain.

"me?! How about you woman?!!!! You're the mother!" he yelled back. I slowly walked up to them and reached out my hand.

"m-mama…p-papa…" I said.

My dad glared at me. "stay out of this Rima!" he said then pushed me too hard and I hit my head on the corner of our coffee table.

My mom slapped my dad. "don't even dare lay a hand on rima!" she screamed. Uh-oh, my dad's not looking so happy. I was about to stand up again but my head hurts. I held the right side of my head and I felt something.

Something red.

Something that smells like salt and rust.

Blood.

"don't lay a hand on her huh…" he said then walked towards me. "what about this?"

He started kicking and punching me. And let me tell you, IT HURTS LIKE HELL! I winced and yelped in pain.

"stop that!" my mom tried helping me but my father shoved her back. He then threw different things at me like plates, figurines and anything that's fragile and breakable. Ugh, stupid father. I think he's doing it on purpose.

After some time, (when ALL of our glass wares are gone,) he stopped. He took a final look at me and at my unconscious mother then stormed off cursing me and my mother.

"p-papa…" I said a tear falling out of my eye.

Then everything went black.

Beep…beep…beep…

Huh? Where am I?

Beep…beep…beep…

Am I…dead?!

Beep…beep…beep…

I hope not! I still haven't told nagihiko that I lo—that I LOATHE him. Heh.

Beep…beep…beep…

I tried opening my eyes but failed since the lighting in this room is very bright.

Beep…beep…beep…

"Rima?" I heard a voice. "you're awake! I'll call the doctor!" then I heard the door open and close.

Beep…beep…beep…

I blinked a few times and opened my eyes slowly. Huh…I'm in a white room. I looked around and saw a machine with different tubes connected to my right hand and to the different parts of my body.

Beep…beep…beep…

I used my free hand to remove the oxygen mask. I took a minute to look at myself. HOLY GRANOLA! O.o

Um…how do I put this? Okay, I'M IN A REALLY BAD CONDITION! There are bruises, scratches and wounds on my arms, lip, legs, lower part of my neck and a few on my face. I'm guessing it's from the debris of the glass wares that my dad threw at me. =.= I have a sprained ankle and I'm not so sure but I think I have a big, blood-stained bandage wrapped around my forehead.

Beep…beep…beep…

This is so bad! I can't go to school looking like this! By the way, how long was I out?

Beep…beep…beep…

The door opened and my mom with a doctor came hurrying in. mama stayed at one corner and watched the doctor do his stuffs. First, he disconnected the oxygen mask and the wires from my body. At last, the beeping stopped!

He took his stethoscope then checked my breathing, asked me a few questions testing whether I have amnesia or not and wrote something on his clipboard.

"well Mrs. Mashiro," he started. "everything seems to be normal. Except for all the damage done to her physically, she seems fine mentally and emotionally. We've made good progress."

Mama shed a sigh of relief. "I'll leave you two alone." The doctor said.

"thank you doctor." My mother closed the door gently and sat on the chair beside my bed. "how are you feeling Rima?"

"I'm fine. Aside from the pain from the anesthesia and the injections…" I trailed. "mama, what happened?!"

"well you know, after you blacked out, I woke up and saw the damage done by your father. I rushed you immediately here at the hospital." She explained.

"what about you?" she smiled at me. "don't worry about me honey, I'm perfectly fine."

"then…papa…?"

"I don't know where he went. I already reported what happened to the authorities." She said and patted me on the head. "oh yeah, how long was I unconscious?"

"oh, just 3 days that's all." THREE DAYS?! WHAT ABOUT SCHOOL?! WHAT DID SHE TELL MY FRIENDS?! THEY WOULD BE WORRIED SICK!!!

"now rima-chan… I told them that you went to visit your cousins at the next town. But tsukasa knows what really happened so you're excused." Wooh. Thanks mother.

"okay…thanks." I said.

"I'm going to fix your discharge papers. Be right back." Mother stood up abruptly then left the room.

Ugh, how do I hide this?

Upon arriving at our messed-up house, my mom started cleaning right away. I ran to my room and saw kusu-kusu. The moment she saw me, she flew to me and asked me questions.

"uggh, headache! Question overload, uggh!" I said. Heh. It's all an act. "i…I'll go wash up…"

I ran to the bathroom and observed myself. Hmm…the bruise on my arms and legs are already covered, thanks to my uniform. The one on my neck could go unnoticed. I could just cover it with a concealer…same with my face. Maybe…I could hide the bandage around my head using my bangs.

Now my ankle is the problem. They'll notice that there's something wrong.

I practiced walking properly for about 30 minutes but to no avail. I improved though. Okay, I just might pull this off.

The next day…

I walked to school just like I normally do, but this time with a slight limping and wincing every now and then.

I hope I don't see him. I hope I don't see him. I HOPE I DON'T SEE HIM!!! I hope I don't see him. I hope I don't— "good morning Rima-chan!" –see him. Jeez.

I ignored him and continued walking doing my best to walk as normal as possible. I can do it but it terribly hurts. He walked next to me. "what's up?"

"go away." Ouch, ouch, ouch…

He stared at me for a while and observing me. "is there something wrong, Rima-chan?"

I glared at him. "I said, go away." Ouch… I walked faster leaving him behind. But he caught up to me.

"So…how was your trip to the other town?" he asked. My trip…? Oh, the LIE that mother told my friends so that they won't get worried.

"it was…fine.." I lied. "I'm a bit tired that's all. Wait, why am I telling you this?!"

I took a left turn and he didn't even bother talking to me after that.

"stupid thing…" I muttered fixing the bandage on my head. I hate tsukasa-san for asking me to do errands. Ugh.

"rima-chan!" I spun around and saw purple head running to me. I covered the bandage with my bangs and avoided eye contact as possible. "where are you going?"

"I'm going to the planetarium." I replied. "errands."

"okay then…I'm coming with you!"

I death glared at him. "no." wanna know why? Because if he stays with me the whole time, he'll figure out that something's wrong.

"I'll go with you Rima-chan! And I can give you a reason why!" he said smiling.

"okay then…why?"

He held my right arm and I winced. He looked at me abruptly for a second but then shrugged it off. Thank goodness. "because…you're going the wrong way and I can show you the right way!"

I flushed. That was em-ba-ra-ssing! =.=" he's still holding my arm and it hurt. I pulled away. He was surprised for a second and looked away.

It's time for our PE class and we're wearing t-shirts. -.- it's a good thing I have a concealer with me. Ahh…the wonders that make-up can do.

"Okay class! We will be running around the oval today, for 2 laps!" greaaat, above all sports, why track and field?!

"Now, split yourselves into teams." Luckily, I'm not in nagihiko's team but the con is, he'll be observing me the whole time I run. Uggh.

"team 1! Position!" I positioned myself in the middle ignoring the pain I'm feeling on my right ankle. The coach blew his whistle then we ran. At first I managed to pull it off but it started to ache soon after. And I'm just halfway of the first lap!

I glanced at nagihiko and he looks worried and confused. Oh man…

After reaching the finish line, I can't take the pain anymore so I stumbled and I fell. Earning me a loooooooong scratch on the left arm. Just great. And since there are already wounds on that arm, the wound won't stop bleeding!

"mashiro-san!"

"rima!"

"rima-tan!!!"

"rima-chan!"

The guardians and a few other people crowded me. Nagihiko kneeled and looked at my arm. "Rima-chan that's a big bruise." Next he examined my ankle. "and is that a sprain?!"

"okay, what's going on here?!" the coach pushed through the crowd and looked at me. She immediately gasped upon seeing my condition. She knelt next to me and removed the cast on my ankle. "this is badly wrapped…" she muttered.

BADLY WRAPPED?! I'm the one who wrapped that! "Mashiro-san…how long do you have this sprain already? It seems like you've had it for days…"

I didn't reply. "someone take her to the clinic quick!"

Then, I felt myself being lifted up. "I'll take her." Purple head?! I saw coach nod once then went back to teaching the class.

"you didn't have to carry me." I hissed. He didn't answer but I saw a sort of angry-slash-worried-slash-emotionless look.

What's wrong with him?! We entered the clinic and he put me down on the bed and stood on one corner of the room, arms crossed on his chest.

The nurse attended to my needs immediately and fixed the cast on my ankle and applied medicine on my wound.

"Mashiro Rima-san right? Your sprain looks worse. It looks like it wasn't attended to for about a day or two." I gulped and nagihiko narrowed his eyes looking as confused and angry as ever.

The nurse applied alcohol on my bruise. Ta-dah! The concealer wore off revealing all my other wounds that I'm too lazy enough to treat. "my goodness! What happened to you mashiro-san?!"

Purple head's eyes widened. The nurse shook her head while putting betadine and band-aid on my wounds. "there. You're all good now mashiro-san."

I nodded and muttered a 'thank you' to her. She looked at me and purple head back and forth. "well, I'll be leaving you two alone." The nurse went out of the clinic shutting the door behind her gently.

There was silence between us at first. Purple head walked towards me slowly. His hand reached for my arm but with hesitation. Then he grabbed my wrist and looked at the damage. He held my other arm and wiped the concealer off.

He still has the same emotionless and shocked face. I can't look at him straight in the face. "Rima…" he started.

"Rima what…what happened to you?" he asked.

"nothing." I replied silently.

"this is not nothing!" he said sharply.

"yes it is! This is nothing that concerns you!" I mid-screamed.

He swiped my bangs off of my forehead revealing the gauze with a blood stain on it. "why are you keeping it from us?! We're your friends!"

"friends?" I glared at him. "you're anything but my friend!"

"fine. I'm not your friend. But as a classmate and co-guardian, how could you?! How can you lie to my face rima-chan?!"

"why do you care?!" I shouted. "you're nothing but a selfish playboy! You don't care anything about me!"

His bangs covered his eyes. Oops, I might've went too far that time. "i-I'm…" but he immediately stood up.

"don't," he said then turned around. "say anything." He walked briskly out of the door.

End of POV

Nagi's POV

"I-I'm…" she said.

I've had enough. "don't…" I can't take it anymore. "say anything." I walked out of the door and slammed it shut.

I clenched my fists and looked at the floor. Man, how can I actually have feelings for that girl?!

"getting serious are we Nagi?" I looked to my left and saw Kukai leaning on the wall beside the door, his arms crossed across his chest with one foot leaning on the wall.

"no. It's all a bet, remember?" I replied.

"yep. And I'm winning!" he said smirking. Why you--!

I glared. "no. I am Souma."

"I don't think so Fujisaki."

We stood there in silence until Kukai spoke up. "listen, you can't fall for her. We have a reputation and remember what happened before?"

I looked away. "of course I would remember dobe."

"dobe?!" he said lifting his fist in the air.

"yes dobe." I replied.

"why you---! But whatever, how will you win a bet IF mashiro-san and you are mad at each other?"

I groaned. Kukai's right. "Sooner or later you have to say sorry to her."

I paused for a while. "I pick later." I said walking past him. Kukai grabbed my arm.

"very funny nagi." Kukai's a bad influence.

"okay fine. But I'll do it when she heals." He nodded once then walked away with his arms behind his neck.

Yep. Definitely a bad influence.

Done and done! Again, I was NOT satisfied. Well, I bought this new jacket you see and I had mental block. -.-

Okay, a concealer is a type of make-up that is the same color as your skin-tone and hides unwanted things. ~_^

Bengga! What about a review there aye? Comments? Suggestions? No flames, I'm begging! ^^