"Spirit…" Kami said just above a whisper, her voice cracking. "H-how did this happen to you? Why?"

Of course she was asking these questions to nobody. She wasn't asking Spirit really. How could he answer if he was unconscious? Yes…Spirit had been hurt terribly. He hadn't been ready for the mission he and Stein took on. Now, if he were a death scythe he could have stood against the weapon easily, but right now his blade wasn't strong enough.

"Look at you Spirit…when you came back you were all covered in blood…" she said.

Why? Why was she caring so much? Sure she had known Spirit for about a year now but still, she thought that she half-way hated him. But the situation she was in now would say otherwise. She never imagined herself making such a fuss over an injured Spirit Albarn; in fact with all the stupid flirting he did, she figured she would actually think he deserved it.

"So why am I so miserable?" she asked herself.

"Kami…you ok?" a tender voice said suddenly. Kami jumped a bit and looked behind her.

"Marie…" she said sadly.

Marie smiled. "Don't worry. It'll all work out. He'll get better and then everything will be fine." Marie comforted.

That Marie…she was always so positive. She never gave up.

Kami was about to answer, when another person cut in.

"How's he doing now?" asked Stein.

Kami was instantly filled with rage. She was a nice girl but she could get PISSED sometimes, and when she did it was best to run the opposite way.

"You! It's your damn fault! You took on a mission that was too difficult! You didn't look out for you weapon! What kind of meister are you?" Kami shouted, her fists balling up at her sides.

"Kami!" Marie said, trying to intervene.

Stein's hair hid his eyes, and he said nothing.

"Look at you now! You won't even talk to me! I bet you don't even care because you're so insensitive! It's true isn't it Stein? All you care about it yourself!" Kami shouted before panting heavily.

Stein finally looked up with his dull green eyes.

"You're angry that I won't respond to you? That doesn't seem to make sense. From what I can see, all you want to do is rant and take your anger out on me. You can believe what you want about the situation at hand, because nothing I can say will change your mind." Stein said flatly. Kami's eyes widened.

With that said, Stein turned around and walked out the door.

"Stein, wait!" Marie called after him. Then she turned to Kami, hurt clearly displayed on her face; Kami felt a surge of guilt shoot through her.

"Why would you say that to him…?" Marie whispered before running out the door to catch up with Stein.

Great…now she was crying, Spirit was terribly injured, she had insulted Stein when he did nothing wrong, and her best friend was miserable.

"Could I screw this one up a little more?" Kami said sadly to herself.

She looked at Spirit, the color from his face washed out and as pale as Stein's…

"Spirit…" she whispered again. Though she hated to admit it, she had come to love that name…

She reached out and cleared a few of his crimson bangs from his face. Such soft, smooth hair…she loved it. Loved? Geez…what was happening to her?

Beyond that, never before had she wanted so terribly to look into those aqua-teal eyes once more.

She looked down at his shoulder. The deep gash that went from his shoulder to the space over his heart was now stitched up. Such lovely skin…she couldn't help it…despite her mind telling her otherwise, her heart was louder and she reached out to run her hand over the reddened stitches.

"You're going to be alright aren't you?" she choked.

This was crazy; ugh she hated feeling so weak like this; so helpless. She couldn't help it though…Spirit…she longed to see that goofy smile of his appear before her once again. She wanted to hear his fun, light, and youthful voice again. She wanted to talk with him again! Listen to him again! This was horrible…he needed to wake up!

"Spirit…" she whispered once again. For some reason that name was bringing her comfort; making her feel like he was still there engaging in conversation. Her heart was taking over; her logic was fading as she leaned in toward his face. "Wake up…" she said, her lips getting closer and closer to his face. "Please…." She finished, placing a kiss on his….cheek?

She sighed with closed eyes; wow that wasn't her normal nature….but still, this hurt so much.

"You missed, Kami. A little more to the left." A familiar voice said.

Her eyes shot open at the sound of his voice. "You…WERE YOU AWAK THIS WHOLE TIME?" she asked, her anger rising by the second.

"Long enough to feel you kiss me." He said playfully.

Oh this bastard. Injured? Yeah right! He was joking as if everything were perfectly fine!

"Spiriiiiiit…." She growled. "I'm out of here. Looks like you can take care of yourself. You're just fine you moron."

As she stood up though, she froze when she felt a hand catch her wrist.

"No, please don't!" he said as loudly as he could in his current condition.

Bad idea. Being so loud had pulled his chest and thus put a strain on his wound, making him cry out in pain.

"Spirit! Hold still!" she said, as instincts took over and her hands moved to his shoulders to hold him steady.

His screams stopped and his body relaxed. "Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah…I'm fine…haha that hurt like hell though." He answered, smiling at her.

How? How could he still manage to smile? And he was smiling for her just after she had basically blown him off.

"Can you stay though, Kami? I really want you to…" he said. He was sincere. He meant it.

Sighing, she allowed herself a smile. "Alright, but don't try anything weird on me ok?"

Spirit winked at her. "You have my word." He said somewhat proudly, but still in a lighthearted manner. Kami laughed. She couldn't help it…even though he was stupid, he always made her laugh.

There was a silence; something unusual for hanging out with Spirit.

"Kami…?" he said finally.

"Um, yeah?"

"Why did you kiss me?" he said looking at her straight in the eyes; he was serious right now.

Kami made a sound of shock. What was she supposed to say?

She shot out the first answer that came to mind; it was a logical one that made perfect sense to her; a good answer for the question. "Because I care about you of course."

"Stein is your friend too. Would you kiss him? You care about him." Spirit said, countering her.

Shit. When did he get smart enough to do this? This was the serious Spirit; yes he existed. Spirit could actually make a whole lot of sense and be quite sensible when he slowed down.

"I…well…" Kami began.

Hell no! She would never kiss Stein! EW! Ugh she didn't hate him but…eeeeew….he was just no. Not her kind of man at all. Wait…what? Was that to say then that SPIRIT was her kind of man? No…that couldn't be it. It was just because she wasn't 100% repulsed by him.

But she wasn't 100% repulsed by Stein either so what was the difference between the two…?

"Are you going to answer me Kami?" Spirit said, trying to move her along.

"Spirit…why does it matter?" she said, trying to end the discussion.

"Why wouldn't it? Don't you think I have the right to know? I think if I kissed you, you'd want to know why." Spirit answered, his eyes narrowing. He was becoming impatient.

"I…look, I don't know." She answered, becoming frustrated. Shit…she couldn't actually be…

Spirit placed his hands against the mattress and began to force himself upward. He clenched his eyes shut and grit his teeth.

"Spirit, lay down! You'll open your wounds…" she said worriedly. She tried to press him back down but he stopped her.

"Kami….do you like me?" he asked, still wincing slightly from the pain but also giving her his full attention.

….what was she supposed to do now?

"Well…yes, of course I do." She said, feeding him yet another ambiguous answer.

"In what way?" he asked.

No! Don't ask me that…

"I don't know…." She said slowly.

"Think about it."

She began to think….and much to her disbelief and awe…she discovered that she did…she did love him. His hair, eyes, skin, body…she thought he was gorgeous. His laugh, smile, lighthearted personality…and even his goofy flirting…she loved that too. She loved Spirit Albarn. She had loved him for so long and hadn't even realized it.

"And now…?" he said finally, after giving her some time.

"…I love you." She finally managed to say.

She had finally said it…she loved Spirit Ablarn. Now…what would he say in return?

(A/N: Yay! Kami likes Spirit! :D I really had a lot of fun writing this chapter ^_^ and I'm looking forward to writing more! It's just so fun! It would be nice if I keep getting reviews, as they are a great encouragement to me, but no pressure. But still…even just leaving me a smiley face would make my day.)