Hey gaiz, back with another chapter for ya. I'm trying to keep a good balance between the action and daily life of the story, although it seems like I'm leaning more into daily life. But nevertheless, I'll be writing more action scenes in the chapters to come.

Anyways, as always I'll try to get these out as quickly as possible. I found a good way to keep pace with my writing. I usually get in around 100 words when I'm waiting for a game of LoL to start, because they can take a while. Just a little fyi to let you know that I'm constantly writing. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Questions, comments, criticisms and the like are always welcome.

R&R and enjoy! (BTW if any of you guys play League, add me ^.^ Copper27 )

Chapter 10 - Senou Household

Natsuru slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness to a pale white ceiling. He blinked a couple times before attempting to sit up in his bed, but stopped from the pain that shot up his body in an attempt to move. His entire body was aching as if he had just gone through a twenty-four hour workout, except he had a hole in his stomach. He remembered that he had been ambushed and stabbed by the White Kampfers with Shousuke and Nanami. Again, Natsuru tried to sit up with the support of his arms, but failed another time as his body felt as if it was depleted of energy. He let out a heavy sigh, looking to his arm where he noticed a connection of morphine. 'That's right,' he thought. 'The ambulance came for me…' He laid there for several more moments as he recalled the events that took place prior to his hospitalization. Then his heart sunk as he thought of Natsume, since he had left her alone back at the house. He looked around for a phone or a service button nearby and caught a glimpse of blue while quickly surveying the room. There was a girl with blue hair who sat next to the bed resting her head next to Natsuru's left arm. She seemed to be sound asleep, with her shoulders oscillating slightly to the rhythm of her breathing.

A feeling of relief swept over Natsuru who was more than happy to see that she was unharmed. The way the light from the sun shone on her made her look all the more peaceful and angelic. He ran his hand through her hair gently, playing with the locks of soft blue fringes that ran through his fingers. Waking up from her short slumber, the girl met his hand with hers and brought it down to her chin where she rested her head on it.

"I was so worried," she finally said as she reached out to embrace Natsuru. He stroked her head as she rested her head under his chin, careful to not make contact with his wound.

"Natsume…I…I'm sorry. None of this would've happened if I had just been honest, and-"

"Who cares about that?! I seriously thought you were going to die!" she said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Natsuru chuckled, "Don't worry, there's no way I'd die from a small wound! But at any rate, a man should always admit when he's wrong, so will you forgive me?"

She looked up at him and made a pouting face. "What did I just say?"

"Haha sorry," said Natsuru. He quickly moved in and gave her a kiss, supporting his advance as he held her with his hand. He promptly retracted away, leaving the two of them with an air of intimacy as they looked into each other's eyes.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" said a voice from the doorway. There stood Shizuku as well as the doctor. She was dressed in her casual attire wearing a noticeable smirk on her face, along with a good sized box wrapped in cloth in her hand.

"N-No! Not at all," said Natsuru as they both jerked away from each other.

"I see," said Shizuku as she walked over to them. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but other than that, I seem to be fine."

"That's good to hear, you gave us quite the scare, you've been out for a while you know?" said the doctor.

"What? How long?" asked Natsuru.

"Two weeks," said Natsume.

"Wow…I must have been in pretty bad shape."

"After losing so much blood, you were on the verge of death," said the doctor. "But luckily we made it on time."

"…Do my parents know about this?" asked Natsuru.

"Ah yes, the hospital let them know. Sorry, but it's a policy we have here to notify any immediate family members," said the doctor.

"Oh no, it's fine. I was just wondering."

"Come to think of it Natsuru, I've never seen your parents," said Shizuku.

"That's because they're never home. They're always out of the country doing whatever."

"So that's why I've never seen them, I always wondered!" said Natsume.

"Well at any rate, you should be good to go by next week," said the doctor.

"Thank you, doctor," said Natsuru.

"Oh right, I brought some food," said Shizuku.

"Yay! Thanks again Shizuku-chan!"

"Food? Awesome, I'm starving," said Natsuru weakly.

"Sorry Senou-kun, but that will have to wait. Now that you're awake, we need to run some tests," said the doctor.

"Ah right, of course!"

"Finally home," said Natsuru as he threw himself onto the couch. He let out a sigh of satisfaction from the feeling of finally being liberated from the hospital room.

"Want something to eat?" asked Natsume from the kitchen.

Natsuru looked over at her in surprise asking, "Since when could you cook?"

"Just recently actually, Shizuku's been teaching me," she replied.

"Seems like you two are getting along pretty well."

"Yeah I know, it was a bit awkward at first, but it turned out okay!" she said with a smile.

Natsuru got up from the couch and walked over to the island counter of the kitchen where the sink was. The stove and oven were across from the sink on the other side along with the refrigerator sitting in the corner. He rested his elbows on the counter and watched Natsume as she rummaged through the refrigerator.

"This feels like a dream…" he said.

She stopped her search and turned to face Natsuru with a big smile, to which Natsuru reciprocated. Then, the sound of the doorbell being rung ran throughout the house.

"Coming!" said Natsuru. He wasn't expecting anyone today, or if anyone was going to come over, they would have called beforehand. He walked over to the door, opening it to face a very familiar couple standing in the porch.

"Hey Natsuru!"

Natsuru stood at the doorway frozen in place, his expression was that of surprise and fear. "Wh…What are you guys doing here?" he said as nonchalantly as possible.

"What do you mean? You expect us not to come by when we heard that our son was hospitalized?!"

"N-No Dad, that's…" choked Natsuru.

"Oh I was so worried about you!" said the blue haired woman who threw her arms around Natsuru.

"Thanks Mom…" said Natsuru as he nervously hugged her back.

"It's good to be home again," said Natsuru's dad, patting him on the shoulders and walking into the house.

"Wait! Hang on Dad, don't go in yet!" Natsuru panicked. His dad turned to him with a confused expression. "The house is a mess! Let me clean it first before you go in!"

"What are you talking about? We're already here, and who cares about that stuff anyway?" his dad replied. "I'm home!" The blue haired man took off his shoes and walked into the house, turning into the doorway towards the kitchen. He took a satisfying deep breath and looked around the room with his hands on his hips. His gaze stopped as he spotted Natsume in the kitchen, staring back at him with the same look of confusion.

"…Uhhh, honey? Did we have a daughter?" he asked as he turned his head to the doorway.

"What are you talking about? Of course not!" said Natsuru's mom as she walked in to find the two staring at each other. "…Oh my."

"Alright Natsuru, what's going on?"

The four of them were sitting down on the couch in the living room, with Natsuru and Natsume on and his parents on another. Natsume was eyeing them over, quickly noticing the resemblance with Natsuru. His father had many similar features with Natsuru, with the main difference being his long hair and his sharp furrowed eyes. His stare shot a chill down Natsume's spine as he eyed her over. She made a nervous smile and looked to Natsuru's mother, who was sitting to the left of his father. Her fine blue hair ran all the way down to her lap but had shorter bangs than Natsume. She had a tranquil presence, with her hands folded on her lap and smiling at the two, unlike her husband.

"Well…uh…" said Natsuru. His father shot a glare at him.

"Excuse me, but what is your name?" his mom asked with a kind smile.

"Ah, I'm Natsume, nice to meet you," she said as she stood up and bowed.

"What a beautiful name, and so well-mannered too. You can call me Kotoko. Come now, shouldn't you introduce yourself too?" she said to her husband.

"Hang on Dad, before you say anything just hear me out! Her situation is kind of complicated so I had no choice but to have her stay here and-"

Natsuru stopped his explanation as his father stood and walked to Natsume. He continued to stare at her with his piercing eyes, examining her from head to toe, which made her all the more nervous. He shot back to Natsuru and with a straight face gave him a thumbs up.

"Please call me 'Daddy!'" he finally said.

"Huh?!" said Natsume.

The man was promptly sent flying across the room from a kick to the temple by his wife.

"Please excuse him," said Kotoko. "He can get a little eccentric at times."

Natsuru sighed, "He hasn't changed at all. By the way, his name is Serizawa, but try to avoid him."

"How cruel! How can you say such a thing about your father?" said Serizawa from the floor. "I have decided, as my daughter, she must address me as 'Daddy'!"

"Did you really want a daughter that bad?!" exclaimed Natsuru.

Natsume chuckled nervously, "Um, excuse me…mom?" she said timidly.

Kotoko turned to Natsume, her eyes lit up with happiness. "What is it Natsume-chan?"

"Oh god, Mom not you too…"

"On a serious note," said Serizawa as he took his seat. "What's this about you being hospitalized?"

"Oh right…well…I was stabbed, nothing too serious."

"What?!" his parents said in unison. "Was it those bastards from the east?! They got guts coming onto our turf," said Serizawa in anger

"No no! It wasn't Yakuza related, it was just a guy who tried to rob me."

"Maybe we should assign some bodyguards?" suggested Kotoko.

"No, it's okay. I was just being careless that day."

"It's my fault!" interjected Natsume. "It was my fault that he got hurt. If I'd been there then that never would've happened…"

Natsuru looked at her as a sense of guilt rode up his gut. In actuality, it was all his fault and he knew that. "What are you saying? You didn't do anything wrong, I was being an idiot," said Natsuru.

"But still…"

"At any rate…" said Kotoko as she moved to hug her son. "I'm just glad you're safe now," she said with a big smile. She turned to Natsume, "Don't worry about it, Natsume-chan, so please don't blame yourself. I can already tell that you truly care for him, so please continue to take care of my son."

"Of course!" said Natsume.

"Geez Mom…"

Kotoko chuckled, "Sorry, did I embarrass you in front of your girlfriend?"

Natsuru stuttered, "How did you know she was my girlfriend?!"

"I didn't, but now I do," said Kotoko with a wink. The two of them blushed and turned away from each other, looking down at their feet. Serizawa couldn't help but laugh from their embarrassment.

"Looks like I'm gonna be a young grandfather", said Serizawa.

At this point, both of them had jumped off of the couch in embarrassment.

"Your parents are really nice," said Natsume. The two were sitting on the couch in the living watching television. It was already night time and they had just finished eating dinner.

"You think so?" said Natsuru.

"Of course, I mean your dad looks kind of mean at first, but he's actually very kind. So does your mom, except I have a feeling that can get pretty violent."

"Yeah they're pretty easygoing. They seem to have taken a liking to you already."

"I feel like I'm their daughter," she said with a laugh.

"Well they've always wanted a daughter, but they never really had the time for it."

"I see." Their conversation drifted away as the television filled the silence. "Hey Natsuru, do you think I'll ever…"

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Ah..sorry, just daydreaming, it's nothing."