It was dark, bleak to the point of suffocation. Black streamed in through nonexistent windows. A cloud of gloom floated down to intoxicate the atmosphere. And in the midst of everything, a little girl called out to the surrounding shadows. "Hello?" she ventured in a fearful, tiny voice.

At first, no one answered.

"Anybody?" she asked one more time.

And out of nowhere, she heard low chuckles reply to her calls, sending shivers up her spine. She shivered, curling up protectively and hugging herself, eyes stretched wide.

The chuckles grew. The little girl looked around frantically, trying to pinpoint where they were coming from. Through the darkness, her eyes discerned some figures approaching her. The voices louder. Closer. Footsteps heavier. Faster.

They loped over to her, sneering and leering. She backed up on her hands, trying to keep out of their grasp. The dark figures extended out their hands towards her, fingers outstretched and still chuckling. As they were about to touch her, the little girl shut her eyes, shaking her head. "Don't come any closer!"

The fingers inched closer. Three inches left. Two. One.

Her eyes flashed open, and she screamed.

"No-!"

Kimiko shot up in her bed, drenched in cold sweat and shaking. She vaguely heard nearing, pounding footsteps, and immediately clutched her blanket to her body.

"No." she panicked. The images resurfaced in her mind; she placed her hands over her ears in some vain attempt to block them out. "NO NO NO!"

Yukimura and Tezuka flung open the door. "Kimiko!" They rushed over to her bedside, Tezuka standing over protectively, Yukimura kneeling down. Yukimura grabbed her shaking hands from her head and held them.

Through a vision blurred from unconsciously spilled tears, Kimiko looked at her best friend and her cousin. She looked down at her hands, Yukimura and Tezuka standing by her, their eyes focusing on her. We're here, they told her without saying a word. Even if Genichirou can't be here, we're here by your side.

She had never really believed in God or any deity really. But if they were the ones that had sent these angels… Thank you, God….

Yukimura glanced at the clock for the twentieth time that hour. His eyes were trained on the teacher, but they were unfocused—his mind was obviously elsewhere.

Kimiko had insisted on going to school (after skipping a day, as demanded by her two friends), despite an obvious lack of sleep. Much to Yukimura's dismay, Tezuka had reluctantly allowed her to, leaving her in his hands.

Absentmindedly staring at the board, Yukimura's forehead wrinkled. Kimiko had clearly forced herself to remember what had happened back then. So, now what?

Sanada was going to find out eventually—Kimiko had to be one of the worst liars on the planet. Not to mention, he had already met Daemon…when he learned of that incident, God knows what he would do…

And speak of the devil, the moment the thought crossed his mind, Yukimura felt a short poke in the middle of his back. He turned his head slightly to look at Sanada sitting behind him. His friend had a deeper-than-usual furrow in his brow and, after a quick look to affirm the teacher was not looking, discreetly flicked a piece of paper into Yukimura's desk.

The captain raised an eyebrow. Sanada passing notes? Reaching into his desk and taking out the cleanly folded paper and opened it apprehensively. His eyes flickered over the few words of neat handwriting and he gave a mental sigh. Now what, indeed.

The bell rang. To Yukimura, that was bad news. Mentally sighing again, he turned around, leaning against his desk and facing Sanada.

"So. You wanted to talk," he stated wearily.

"She was with you yesterday. Skipping class." It was clearly a statement, but Yukimura knew Sanada well enough to realize the question captured within the cold words.

"It's not my place to tell you why, Genichirou," Yukimura gave a rise and fall of his shoulders as a reply.

Sanada held back a growl of frustration. He gave Yukimura one last look, and even his friend was taken aback by the silent animosity in Sanada's eyes. Sanada seemed to open his mouth to say something, but decided against it; he turned on his heel and left Yukimura, who was still slightly stunned.

Because he saw, along with the resentment and sadness in Sanada's eyes, the clear message: why are you hiding things from me?

He bit his cheek in frustration, staring guiltily out the window at the grey sky. It's not like I want to, either…

She walked out of the gates, cheerfully chattering with some off her classmates, when she heard someone angrily shout her name. "Oh no," she groaned under her breath. She recognized that voice.

"Kimiko!" Sanada shouted once more, charging over to the group. Unaware of the situation, her friends giggled and began walking away, one of them nudging her playfully in the ribs before dashing off to join the departing others. She managed to give them a half-hearted grimace-smile combination before turning to face her boyfriend.

She knew after avoiding him in math and history that he was going to be suspicious, but, for once in her life, she wished school would go on forever, just so she could avoid this conversation.

But she realized that, somewhere in the back of her mind, she always did wonder. She wondered how their relationship would change after this whole mess. If their relationship would change. How Dameon would factor in. What would happen to her? Them?

Sanada stopped his charging like a bull stance and halted in front of Kimiko. She took a few moments to compose herself and then looked up at him with a wide grin. He seemed rather surprised at first, but immediately his eyes turned stern, and he stared at her for a good few minutes—no words, no motions, just silently gazing at her.

And then, in a very un-Sanada-like fashion, he took her faltering grinning cheeks, pinched them, and pulled them outwards until she looked like a circus clown.

"Ow ow ow!" Kimiko pulled at Sanada's hands to make him stop. "Cut it out!"

He let go, her cheeks snapping back into place. As she rubbed her sore jaw, he asked, "What aren't you telling me?"

Kimiko froze visibly before returning to her smile. "What do you mean?"

"You missed school yesterday, you came to school with Seiichi today, you were blatantly avoiding me in math and history class. Don't tell me I'm off the mark, because we've known each other long enough, Kimiko. What is going on?"

She did not say anything for a while, just turned her head upwards to look at the darkening sky and the gathering clouds, contemplating, thinking.

Just as Sanada became fed up with waiting, Kimiko took a step towards him and bowed, causing him to take two steps backward in surprise.

"I'm sorry." Kimiko's voice shook as she apologized.

Sanada was unsure of what to do or say. "Kimiko…" he sighed. "I didn't chase you all the way here just to hear an apology."

She was silent.

"Do you know how worried I was? How worried my family was?"

Still silence.

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her face towards him. "Hey."

She bit her lip and averted her eyes, the feeling of guilt written all over her face.

"Hey," Sanada said in a gentler tone, "look here. Look at me."

Reluctantly, her eyes turned to meet his; but once they had met, she couldn't turn them away. Sanada's eyes were a warm, chocolate brown—filled with a kindness and patience so unlike him that Kimiko could not help but to keep gazing into them.

"I—" Sanada began to speak, breaking the silence. Kimiko looked at him, slightly afraid but slightly curious of his next words.

"I…was so worried after you saw him," the words blew out of his mouth like a rush of wind, as if he was confessing some horrid sin. "I was so confused. I thought that you had left me. I resented you for not telling me anything. Yet, at the same time, I was worried again. I didn't know what to do. I—" Kimiko put her fingers to his lips to stop the oncoming flood of words.

After she took off her finger, Sanada looked at her for a few seconds before bringing her into a warm embrace, his strong arms circling around her and locking her to him. "I love you," he whispered into her ear. "So much."

Kimiko smiled. I bet no one will ever know that off the courts, Sanada can be really insecure. She reached up and took his hat off, putting it on her own head, while gently fluffing up his hat-hair.

And finally, it was her turn. Whether she was ready or not, Sanada deserved to know. As a couple, it is important to be caring, patient, and honest. Sanada had given her all of him; now, it was time for her to return the favor.

She pulled away from Sanada, almost laughing at the deprived-puppy look in his eyes. After placing his hat back on his head, she grasped both of his hands with her smaller ones. She played with his fingers and traced the blisters on his hands. He waited patiently until she quietly asked, "Would you…like to hear a story?"

"Whenever you're ready to tell me, I'm all ears."

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