Ryuko and Mako sat in the waiting room in silence for several minutes, Ryuko glaring hatefully at the door of the operating room, wanting to find whoever had done that to the little boy and beat them bloody.

Mako was whistling a merry tune, until she slowly turned to look at her best friend with a thoughtful look on her face. The thoughtful look turned into a wide grin, and she spoke.

"Adopt him, Ryuko."

Ryuko's head snapped to her friend, her anger momentarily lost in shock by what she just said. "Say what?!" Ryuko yelled in surprise.

Mako smiled as she explained. "Well, you found him hurt, so you dropped everything you were doing to bring him down here so he could get better. When he was sad, you hugged him, and you did it with a big smile on your face. You wanna break the knees of the people who did this to him. You talk to him in one of the most motherly tones I've ever heard, and he's calmer when you're around him. It's obvious you love him, and he loves you, and so you have to adopt him or else he'll he sad and lonely, and you'll feel guilty because the last thing you'll ever see of him is him looking back at you longingly, silently begging you not to leave him, and then you'll never truly get rid of your guilty conscience for giving him up, and that is why you have to adopt him. So he can be happy."

What do you mean with that last part?

Ryuko stared at Mako, then looked down.

"Okay, really? Me? A mom? Come on, Mako, can you really see me raising a kid?" Mako looked at Ryuko as if concentrating intensely, imagining various scenes of her taking care of Harry. Then she smiled.

"Yep! So you have to adopt him!"

Ryuko sighed. "It's not that simple Mako! I'm not ready to take care of a kid." Ryuko tried to explain to her friend, but Mako shook her head and grabbed Ryuko's hands with both of hers.

"Believe me Ryuko! You're more than ready to have kids." Mako told her.

Ryuko looked into her friend's eyes. "What gives you that idea?" Mako smiled, and Ryuko saw no trace of humour or silliness in that smile.

"Ryuko, when I see the two of you together, I can see that there's a little...spark between you two. You wanna help him, and he wants to be loved. The way he reacts to everything, I can tell his life has been pretty bad. He looked so surprised when you hugged him, I think you're the first person who's ever been nice to him. What better mother for someone who's never been loved than the first person who's ever been nice to him? Don't take that away from him, Ryuko. Give it a chance. I just know you'll be a great parent."

Ryuko just stayed silent. 'Is she right? Could I be a good parent?' Ryuko questioned herself as they sat there for another hour before Mako's father came out of the operating room, looking exhausted.

The second Ryuko noticed he was out, she basically warped in front of him. "Is he okay!?" Ryuko demanded to know, scaring Barazo sh*tless.

The large man yelped and fell on his seat.

"Ryuko, are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" He exclaimed as he got up. "Phew...Anyway, the kid had some pretty bad injuries, as you remember, but they actually went away way faster than they should've. It's weird, like some otherworldly force is helping him heal... Anyway, you can go see him if you-" The moment those words left his mouth, Ryuko seemed to vanish. "...Want."

"Where did she go?" Barazo asked in confusion as she sharply looks around. Mako giggled and pointed towards the operating room door, which just closed. Barazo then smiles and chuckles. "She should adopt him." Barazo told his daughter.

Ryuko ran into the room where Harry was located.

Harry sat in the small hospital bed, patiently waiting for whatever was to happen next. He heard the door slam shut, and the loud noise caused him to yelp and cover himself underneath his bedsheets.

Ryuko stepped in the room, and looked around for Harry. She saw a quivering lump underneath one of the blankets.

She cringed as she realized that she made too much noise. "Harry? is that you?" Ryuko said softly as she walked over to the lump while making as little noise as possible. Harry stopped shaking as he recognized the voice.

'I-Is that the pretty lady from earlier?' Harry thought to himself as he slowly peeked from under the covers to see Ryuko's worried face.

Harry blinked, and then smiled slightly.

"You came back." He said, relieved. Ryuko smirked and ruffled his hair.

"Of course I did." She replied. "What, you didn't think I'd just leave you, did I? Now...A promise is a promise. C'mere, little guy." And with that, the young woman fulfilled her promise when Harry had been taken in, and pulled him into an embrace.

Harry eagerly snuggled into her hug and placed his head on her chest, smiling the whole time. Ryuko was smiling as well at how he was reacting to her hug. 'GOD you're such a cute little guy, Harry...You'd think Ragyo would be the only one willing to hurt someone like you...' Ryuko thought, briefly remembering what her sister, Satsuki, told her about what horrible things their mother did to her.

Shaking herself of those thoughts, Ryuko looked at harry. "So how are you feeling Harry? Better I hope."

Harry smiled. "Uh-huh...The doctor made me better...He also gave me this..." He held up a wrapped lollipop. "But I don't know what to do with it..." Ryuko chuckled.

"You eat it, little guy." She gently took the candy from his little hand, and pulled off the wrapping. "Open your mouth." Harry hesitated, then did so. "There we go..." Ryuko gently placed the hard candy in the little boy's mouth.

Harry's eyes widened from the sweet taste of the lollipop. 'It's yummy!' Harry thought to himself as he hummed in delight. Ryuko couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction.

"Tastes good doesn't it?" Ryuko said, causing him to nod.

"It's the best thing I've ever had in my life!" He said happily. Ryuko frowned.

"That little lollipop's the best thing you've ever had? Really?" She asked. Harry nodded. "...Huh...I'll have to fix that at some point..." She mused.

They stayed in this position for awhile. When Harry was done with his lollipop, he looked up at Ryuko. "Um, miss." Harry called out timidly. Ryuko looked down at him.

"What is it, Harry?" Ryuko asked. Harry looked slightly nervous.

"W-Would it be okay if I knew your name?" He asked her.

Ryuko blinked, then laughed.

"I completely forgot to introduce myself! My bad. So, my name's Ryuko. She ruffled the child's hair.

"Hi, Miss Ryuko."

"So...how'd you get in my living room, anyway?"

Harry's eyes widened at the mention of what happened. Harry started to panic. Ryuko looked at him in confusion as his eyes widen. "Hey Harry. Are you ok-" Ryuko started to say before Harry started to tear up.

"I did it again! I did my freak stuff and now he's going to kill me!" Harry said in full panic mode as he started to sob and continuously says "He's going to kill me!".

Ryuko's eyes widened at what he was currently saying.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down little guy..." She whispered softly as she hugged him closer. "Take it easy. No one's gonna hurt ya. Not while I'm around. Now just calm down and tell me why your uncle's gonna kill you." Harry hesitated.

"I...I can't..."

"Why not?"

"Because...I'm not supposed to..." Harry couldn't take it anymore. He broke down crying into her chest right at that moment.

She embraced him again and started to rub the back of his head to calm him down. "It's okay Harry. You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to." Ryuko told him as she continuously rubbed the back of his head. After about twenty minutes, he calmed down and fell asleep.

Ryuko let out a sight of relief, then looked down at the child sadly. "What happened, little buddy?" She asked softly as she moved a lock of messy dark hair out of the child's eyes. Harry's response was to subconsciously wrap his tiny arms around her and snuggle as close into her chest as he possibly could.

She frowned as she thought about what he said over and over again. 'He's going to kill me...'Ryuko played over in her head, causing her to get angry. 'I don't know who this bastard is, but I'm not going to let him touch Harry! NEVER!' Ryuko thought as she finally decided to follow her friend's advice.

She looked down at Harry, and her gaze softened when she saw him sleeping comfortably in her arms. She rubbed the back of his head, and his lips twitched upward in a smile.

That moment of cuteness sealed it for her. He was going to be her son.