Chapter V

My eyes traced the shape of Kaori's gracefully thin body, curled into a tight ball as she slept. I had no doubt in my mind about it now, as I tended to the fever she'd developed. I was falling for her. Hard.

If it were anyone else in this little room, curled up on the only bed, sick after drinking too much, I'd let them suffer through the fever and vomiting. But this girl was different. I couldn't see her in pain. She was the one who changed my world from the dingy, dark interiors of Underworld to the bright, warm sun of the Wasteland.

She stirred slightly, her eyelids twitching as she mumbled in her sleep. I smiled, unable to hold back a chuckle. She seemed even more innocent when she slept than when she was awake. I'd found out tonight that her character had more depth than I initially thought. At first, she seemed to be purely a pretty face with a happy disposition, but now she was so much more than that.

As I sifted through her backpack in search of medicine, I noticed a few things that caught my eye. I tossed the alcohol she'd bought into a corner, the bottles clanking loudly, but not breaking. I knew all too well how horrific the quality of Azhrukhal's liquor was. He really was quite an evil man, putting things in the drinks to make them more addictive so he could drum up more business.

I looked down at the floor, unenthused about the prospects of sleeping on it. A pale hand then darted its way into my periphery and tugged at my belt once. I turned, "You wish to speak with me?"

"I'm cold and I have the worst effing hangover ever," Kaori whined, her eyes still closed and her face flushed a deeper red than her hair.

"I'll try to find something to help," I replied gently, shaking my head at my own feelings. Rummaging again through her backpack, I found a bottle of pain relievers wrapped inside a note written in neat cursive script.

Freckles, I can smell that hangover coming even from all the way over here. Take these, they might help. Be nice to Charon, he's a great guy.
-Morgan
P.S. Thanks for the watch, honey.

"How did..." I began, rubbing my forehead questioningly.

"What is it?" Kaori moaned, holding her own head, although in pain rather than confusion. I tossed the bottle and note to her, and she caught it with the strange, graceful dexterity she'd shown with the knife earlier. She dry-swallowed two pills and read quickly aloud. She raised one eyebrow. "He's one mysterious guy, huh? Well, he doesn't have to worry about my being nice to you. I do that anyway!" A grin spread across her face, revealing her perfect teeth.

"My treatment is not required to be humane." I retorted, the lines of my contract running through my mind.

Her eyebrows knitted themselves into a broken V, and one eye twitched slightly. She opened her mouth to speak, and the left side of her upper lip pulled itself higher than the right, as if an invisible fishhook were trying to catch her. I smiled a little, and she glared at me. "Something funny there? My face, maybe?"

"Well, your face kind of looks like..." I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, then drew a comical, exaggerated version of it.

She giggled, "Hey, that's pretty good! Looks just like my annoyed face!" She folded the paper and stuck it in her pocket, "I'm keeping this."

I wondered why she'd want to keep something so meaningless at a drawing, then shrugged and decided it was a vault thing. "Very well."

She crossed her arms, "There's that formality again. I have half a mind to destroy your contract right here."

A shiver raced down my spine, my heart took flight and roosted in my throat. For a moment, I felt human. I collected myself swiftly, and looked around the room for that piece of paper I hated so.

"Looking for this?" Kaori asked in a musical voice, pulling a folded but familiar piece of paper from inside her shirt.

I snatched it out of her hand and felt a disturbed look creep across my face, "Where were you keeping this?"

"Oh!" she said, then pointed to her chest, "It was in my bra! Smart thinking, eh?"

My face grew warm and my palms got sweaty, "Not really. I'm still a guy, so..." I cleared my throat.

Kaori rolled her eyes, "You're reacting the same way Butch would." She paused, "Well, he'd probably also then try to collect himself and add a 'If you wanted something of mine in your underwear, all you had to do was ask!'"

"If you don't mind my asking, who exactly was he to you?"

"Oh, he was my secret friend," Kaori laughed, "I would sometimes go to his room to talk past curfew, when everyone else was sleeping. He was Mike's worst enemy, pretty much. And for a few scattered moments throughout my time in there, he was more than a friend."

I put a hand on her shoulder and tried hard to smile despite the multitude of knots in my chest.

Looking down at my contract, I said, "I wonder how he's taking your being gone."

She rubbed her right forearm. "Probably not well."

"Hey, kid..." I said as soothingly as I could manage with my gravelly voice.

She looked back up at me, "Yeah?"

"Tell me about some of the things you guys used to do together. Or even what it was like when you joined his gang and you didn't have to keep your friendship secret." I wasn't that interested, really, but I couldn't just sit there while she looked so sad.

She grinned, and my heart jumped a little, which made me feel ridiculous. "Well, when I was ten, I snuck into the clinic and gave him my sweetroll and said I was sorry and stuff. I was just trying to keep up appearances when I'd hit him." She paused. "You're the only person I've ever told that." She waited for a response, then smiled kindly when I gave none, and continued, "When I was thirteen, I hit a growth spurt, so to speak. I looked a little older than I was. Anyway, that was the first time since I was ten that he'd spoken to me as if I were human."

"How old was he?" I asked, a little concerned.

"He was sixteen," she replied with a shrug.

I nodded in understanding. Age gaps like that were common in relationships. "So what happened?"

"Well, he told me to come see him after curfew, the way I had before. So I did. And he was expecting something very different than what I was. And when he tried something with me, I grabbed his switchblade and pulled the move I did on you yesterday. It was funny. We spent the night talking after that. It was nice."

"Sounds like he had good reason to fear you," I commented, my interest starting to waver. My gaze left her and settled on the cold metal floor before me. Rust delicately edged the grimy steel, and a tiny bug crawled in one of the corners.

A finger poked me in my back from behind, and I started slightly. "Doesn't look inviting, does it?" Kaori said, sitting cross-legged with her hands in her lap.

It took me a moment to realize she was referring to the floor. "I've no complaints, Kaori. If it is where you wish for me to sleep, it is where I shall sleep."

"Ugh. More formalities."

I sighed and began to grumble to myself about her insistence that I have my own free will.

She raised an eyebrow in agitation, her feverish complexion slightly comical, "You don't want any free will, eh?"

I glared at her, "Finally, you get it. Want a medal?"

She glared back intensely. "Then get in this freaking bed right now."

I looked at her questioningly, "You would sleep on the floor?"

She laughed at me, a cruel, yet lovely smile on her face, "Oh no. You won't be that lucky."

I sat on the corner of the bed, and watched as she stood up. I shrugged, lying down on my back and staring at the rusty ceiling.

Without a word, Kaori plopped down next to me. "Scoot over, you've got all the pillow."

I sat bolt upright, my heart racing as all sorts of things she could be implying by sharing this bed with me coursed through my mind. "What are you doing?!"

"Whatever I want. You belong to me." She leaned toward me with her eyes half-lidded and her mouth open wide, sticking her tongue out straight toward me so that it looked like it pointed sharply at the end. She let out a small noise like a breathy hiss.

I jumped off the bed faster than I'd thought my own body was even capable of. "No! A thousand times no!"

Kaori smirked. "It seems you do have free will. Now get in this bed and sleep facing the opposite direction as me."

And I did. Gratefully.