Hmm... I tried my best to make this detailed. It seemed like it was when I was writing it, at least. I also tried to work on this as much as possible, but lately I have just been doing a little more than usual. I really want to make some progress on this on the week that I have a 4 day week end, so I might have this next one done a littler faster. I tried to incorporate Spirit and Kami in this one a little more, which is something I think some people will like.

Not Strange, Just Different

Chapter 9 A Bit Drowsy

Stein sat on the floor of his bathroom with a large mirror propped in front of him. He would have been standing, but the pain was so great that his knees would have just gave way. He was dazed from a lack of sleep, and the pounding, stinging pain. The madness that was mixed in with that didn't help much.

There was so much blood everywhere; it was just completely covering the floor. He didn't mind, though. He was used to the sight of blood, and if anything, he liked to see it. This time was different, though. It was his own blood.

He had never actually experimented on himself before, so this was fairly new to him. This was his first time, and it had to be a successful one. With what he was doing, failure could result in the death of himself or someone else.

He could tell that he was on the verge of passing out, but he pushed to stay conscious. He picked up the scalpel that was completely covered in blood, including the handle, which he had recently dropped from losing his grip; he was fairly weak at this point, so he was having trouble holding stuff.

He was almost done, though, and he could not have been any more thankful for that than actually being done. The pain afterward will most likely be just as bad, but not this much. It can't be. If it is, oh dear Death. Let's just hope.

It was almost in place, which had taken several tries to do. He couldn't quite get it, for a sharp pain running through your entire body is sure to distract you to at least some degree; and it won't be much easier to preform detailed procedures like he was. Not many kids would even half the slightest clue what was even going on, let alone be able to carry it out on their own without out the aid of another person.

Drop. Drop. If only there wasn't so much blood dripping to the ground. The sight of it just reminded him of what was going on and intensified the pain from concentrating on it. If he wasn't thinking about it, it wouldn't be nearly as bad.

He was making an incision, and the scalpel just about slipped out of his hands from being covered in the red liquid. Let's just say that if it would have slipped, this story would not continue on forth. He shook. Sat for a minute and let his nerves settle. Then he tried again. It didn't slip.

It was in place. Now he just had to rearrange the organ so everything would work properly, as right now the current positioning of it made it so he was partially paralyzed. He couldn't move his legs or feet or toes. Like mentioned before, he really couldn't be standing for this.

He started to arrange it to the proper form, and if this didn't work either, he wouldn't be able to walk anymore. He finished, and just had to try moving. He was a little scared of what would happen next. Oh Death, please let it work. He wiggled his toes, then circled his feet and next moved his legs. It worked.

This kid is a genius. Most kids wouldn't be in their bathroom at 6:27 on a Sunday morning, making themselves paralyzed, and basically preforming an operation on themselves. No. They would be lying in bed sleeping, dreaming. Even if Stein was asleep, he still wouldn't be like them.

The pain that came when rearranging things was excruciating; it was beyond belief. He even screamed sometimes, and the rest of the time he had to try his best not to. He had tears in his eyes, some running down his face. They were those involuntary tears you get at times, the ones that only a few certain things caused.

A few drops of blood fell to the floor again, making an audible drop when doing so. He grabbed the large cotton ball and cleaned some of the blood out of the area, wincing in pain when the cotton touched him. It hurt so badly. He wouldn't have even bothered if it wasn't necessary.

Now that it was in place and he could move his legs again, he started double checking that everything else was in place, too. He knew how little concentration and focus he would have towards the end, so before he began he made a check list of things to do. It was taped to the upper left corner of the huge mirror.

Everything went blurry. The scalpel dropped to the ground, making a loud clinging noise when it hit the tile. He knew why he couldn't see properly; his consciousness was slipping again. He just tried to keep himself up, and waited for a few minutes. It would be very risky if he were to continue working like this, even deadly, so he had to wait until he knew he was going to remain conscious.

His vision started to clear up, so he looked in through the mirror, seeing drops of blood run down his face. He grabbed a cotton ball and wiped it off, making sure to get it all and also clean up the area it was overflowing from. It was painful, yet again. He looked at himself one final time before picking the scalpel up off the floor, sighing as he did so.

He started working again, and after many winces, many cotton balls, and struggles to remain conscious, he put the scalpel down; it was by choice this time, though. He could start to finish up, and would be done very soon.

So he could see how long it was taking him to progress through the different procedures, which he would write down and record later, he stuck a clock next to the mirror. 7:25 A.M. Spirit wouldn't be up for, at least, another couple hours; which was indeed a very good thing.

He felt blood run down his face again as he reached down for the thirtieth cotton ball. He wiped it up, then moved to the source of the blood. As he started cleaning it out, yet another time, he felt the madness come over him. He poked the organ, letting a giggle out while he winced. From the pain, the madness quickly scurried away and let Stein to his business.

He finished cleaning out the area of the wonderful organ, and then got ready to close it up. He got the needle and sutures ready, and started to stitch everything up.

He felt the thread pull through the tissue, in and out, then through another set of tissue, in and out. In and out. In and out. The feeling was weird. He hadn't been conscious the last time there was thread being pulled through his body, so he didn't know what it actually felt like. It was so weird, but he just kept going on.

He grabbed another cotton ball and cleaned up some of the little blood that was coming out of the stitched areas, and a lot from the open incisions. He continued putting in more sutures, feeling how he had to tug at the needle sometimes to get it through. 7:49 A.M.

He wiped up the blood that ran down his face another time, putting the used and tainted cotton ball in the large pile that sat on his right. He also looked at the blood that was on the floor. It was starting to dry now.

He grabbed the bone that had been lying in a tray since 5:43 A.M., and put it back where it belonged. He positioned another layer of tissue, feeling his consciousness threaten to slip again. Everything went blurry, and blackness crept into the corner of his eyes. He sat there for a few minutes with his hand still holding the tissue in place, wincing from the contact of it with his hand.

His vision started to clear up, but went blurry again. He thought for sure he would slip, that he would be out cold. He just waited a little longer for blackness to overtake him, but his vision started to clear, and soon he was working again.

He cleaned up more blood, pulled more sutures through, and saw that it was almost 8:00; he would need to hurry. He went to pull through the last suture for that layer, and it got a little stuck. He had to tug harder than usual, and that sent a shock of pain through him. He clenched his teeth and continued pulling the thread through.

He wiped more blood off his face, another drop falling to the ground as he did so. He was to the last layer: skin. He had to be fairly quick with this one, but he also had to be precise as to prevent the scar from being any worse than it had to be.

He felt it pull smoothly through his skin, and it hurt a lot less than the tissue had. But, nevertheless, it was still fairly excruciating. He finished rather quickly in comparison. He wiped up the remaining blood, feeling his consciousness start to go, once again.

He rested his back against the wall, closing his eyes as he did so. He waited for a second and opened his eyes, looking into the mirror. He saw one final drop of blood roll down his face, but he waited a second before attending to it. He just looked at himself and stared, then looked at the clock. 8:34.

He cleaned the blood off his cheek and set the cotton down on the large pile, making that a total of fifty-five. He took his now repulsive looking scalpel, grabbed a towel and wiped it off. He would need to thoroughly clean it later, but he couldn't do that now. He next used the towel to wipe the sweat off his face, wincing at the feeling of the skin that was joined by sutures pull slightly.

He could already tell, it would be very sore for a while. That didn't matter though; what matters is if he just wasted hours of his time cutting, wiping, wincing, and stitching, all for nothing. He would need to test it. He started feeling anxious. What if it didn't work? What then?

He started to feel a slight wave of madness go over him. This would be the perfect time to try it. He moved his hand up, hesitating slightly. He paused for a second. He felt the wavelength increase slightly, so he went ahead.

He reached up all of the way, grabbed ahold of the cold metal. He felt the shape in his hands; it fit practically perfectly for the size of his hands. He held on for a few seconds, then twisted his wrist. As he did that, the metal object turned with it. He turned it one, two, three times until at the end of the third time it clicked in place, making a louder click than it did the other times.

He instantly felt the madness clear up, and along with that his thoughts became clearer as well. It had worked. It felt bizarre, but it had worked. He was astonished and relieved at the same time. He just relaxed against the wall, feeling slightly dizzy. He closed his eyes again and rested there for about five minutes, feeling just how clear everything was. This would work. He knew it.

He started thinking about what Spirit would say, Marie, Kami, and his teachers as well; about what Lord Death would have done if he would have happened to appear in the mirror when his skull was open and he was moving his brain around. That wouldn't have ended well.

He sat up from the wall, seeing that it was now 8:45 exactly. Spirit would be up at any time now. He grabbed all of the bloody cotton balls and threw them out, stumbling slightly because he was still very weak from it all. He stumbled out of the room, finally getting to his room. Once he got there he sat down at his desk and grabbed a few pieces of paper and a black marker that he had.

He made two signs. The first one was to go on the bathroom door, and said: Spirit, do not enter the bathroom. There is a rather large mess in there, and I promise I will clean it up later. I just feel that you would rather not see it.

The second sign was to go on Stein's door, and said: Do not try to wake me up. I am going to be sleeping for a few hours due to previous experiments, and I will be out to make dinner when I wake up.

At the end of the last sign, his writing wasn't neat like it always was since he was getting dizzy again. The period wasn't exactly a dot, as it was more of a long dash going across the page.

He sat with his head down on his desk for a minute, and then shakily got to his feet. He grabbed a thing of tape and got two pieces, one being for each sign. He stumbled over to his door and hung the sign up half-crooked. He next got over to the bathroom door, shut it, and hung the sign up as well as he could. He lazily got back to his room, grabbing the anesthetic that lay on his desk that he had prepared earlier.

He made it before he began, knowing that it would be impossible for him to do to such a thing afterwards. He wanted to use anesthetics to make sure that he got some sleep, as it is very important after something like this, especially considering he did all of the procedures running on absolutely no sleep.

After properly administering the anesthetic, he dropped into bed, and pulled the covers up. He was asleep within seconds after closing his eyes. That never happened. Ever.

He laid there out cold for about twenty minutes before Spirit got up. He figured Stein would be in his room, so he just went to the living room to watch some TV. He was about halfway through the episode he was watching, and he felt like he had to go to the bathroom. So he got up and walked over to the room, seeing the sign when he got there.

He thought, "What's this?" and pulled it off the door to read it. He read the sign and shook his head, and started to push the door open. He started speaking aloud to himself, saying, "How bad could it-" He got halfway through his sentence when he saw everything still there except for the cotton balls that were now thrown away.

There was blood splashed all over the mirror, a bloody and disgusting scalpel on the floor, a bloody needle and other tools, along with the fact that the floor was completely stained with blood. There was blood everywhere. He could even see footprints made by blood.

He started gagging, and ran to the closest place that he could throw up that wasn't in the bathroom. He threw up a bit; then when he finally finished, he walked over to the bathroom and, looking away, shut the door. He then went over to Stein's room to ask him what that was about.

He knew how he was affected by the madness, so who knows what could have possibly gone wrong in there. He was just naturally worried that he wasn't okay. He got to his partner's door, and saw another sign on it. He tore that one down too, reading it after.

He now knew that he had been cutting into himself, but what he didn't know was how bad it was. He shook his head and said, "Damn it, Stein," before opening the door.

Stein was so tired that he never even bothered to lock the door once he got back, which really said something. The main reason why he wanted to see what was going on was because he said he would be up in time to make dinner; he never sleeps that late. It's just not something he does.

He opened the door and walked in. The first thing he saw was the open vial that lay on the boy's desk. He went over and picked it up, reading what was on the label. At the top it said 'ANESTHETICS' and below it was a bunch of long words that Spirit couldn't pronounce. So he turned to see Stein lying in bed.

The minute he saw his partner, his jaw dropped, eyes widened, and he dropped the vial. It shattered and he just stood there before jumping back screaming. It was almost like a delayed reaction kind of thing. Stein, of course, didn't wake up from this. He was out cold. Spirit got up off the floor and walked over to his partner, looking at him as if he were an alien.

He just looked, and tried to figure out what the heck that thing could possibly do. He was so shocked that he almost went to the bathroom in his room; don't forget, he still hadn't gone from earlier. He wanted to shake his partner over and over again to get him up. But at the same time he didn't want to touch him. He also knew that telling from the vial he had just broke, it wouldn't do him much good anyway.

He just looked and started wondering why he would even want to do that, but then he remembered he was an insane kid that loved science; I am not sure if there needs to be much more of a description than that. Spirit decided that since he wouldn't be up for a while he might as well just let him sleep and do something until he gets up.

"You're going to have some explaining to do," Spirit said this to the unconscious gray-haired boy, although his hair wasn't completely gray. It had quite a lot of blood staining it since he hadn't washed it out yet.

Spirit shook his head at his partner and went out of his room, shutting the door behind him. He remembered just how badly he had to go to the bathroom. There is no way he would even go into that bathroom, so that is out of the question. He needed somewhere to go unless he wants his pants to end up being that place. He thought of one possibility.

He quickly ran over to the nightstand that sat beside his desk and pulled out a sticky note. He grabbed a pen and wrote: I had to go out to go to the bathroom because of that little mess you left me. If you wake up and I am gone, that is why. I will be back soon. Next he took the note and ran back to Stein's room, sticking it on the boy's forehead before leaving.

He ran out of his room and out of the house, making his way to the nearest store. They had a restroom there, so he could just use that. The thing is that he has to get there in time. The fact of having to walk back in soiled pants was enough motivation to get him moving. Quickly he was at a convenient store. He walked at a fast pace back to the men's room and went.

He then went back out of the store, and walked this time. He just got to the side of the street when he saw a girl walking by. It was a girl that he had been flirting with the other day, and she seemed to have an interest in him. Of course, he had to stop and sweet talk the girl a bit before continuing home. The girl was about to beg him to date her by the time he was done. Like I said before, magic.

He started down their road, and he started thinking about Stein again. He could just imagine all of the looks he was going to get from it. They already thought he was weird before, and that was before he had a screw sticking through his head! He seriously had to ask the kid what he was thinking when he did that.. and how he did it as well. He didn't need fancy details, just a basic description.

He got to the house and opened the door, walking in as he did so. He shut the door and went to see if Stein was up yet or not; which, of course, he wasn't. He walked over and laughed at how he was sleeping with a sticky note on his forehead, especially when he started to snore a bit. He grabbed the sticky note and crumpled it up, throwing it at the trash can like a basketball after he did that. He made it in, and started quietly cheering for himself.

As he pumped his fist and whispered, "Spirit! Spirit! Spirit!" he walked out of his partner's room, shutting the door behind himself. He sat down and started to watch TV, but not long after that he thought about Kami. He decided that he would go visit and surprise her. He got up and went to make another note. It read: I am going to see Kami, be back soon. Then he stuck it to his unconscious forehead once again. He thought this was the best place to put it that would ensure that he read it. I mean, he would see it right when he wakes up.

He started down the road and walked down a couple more, feeling the a breeze blow his hair in his face. He just ran his hands through his hair and kept going. It was still fairly early in the day, but he was sure that Kami would be awake by now. She never really slept in late, so he didn't see any reason why she would all of the sudden.

He got to her road, her house now perceptible. He saw that her father was sitting out on her front porch. That was actually kind of nice since it would be easier to ask to come in that way. He always liked it when her parents would open the door rather than her, to be perfectly honest. This was because then he could make sure he was aloud to go see her. Much like when talking to Stein's mother, he liked to be polite with her parents.

As he walked up towards the porch, Kami's father looked up and said, "Hello, Spirit. How are you doing today?"

"I am going well, thank you for asking. How are you?"

"I am going fairly well myself."

"Glad to hear it. So.. uh, is Kami home?"

"Yeah, she's just in her room."

"Thank you, sir." After Spirit said this he went into her rather large house and went back to the girl's room. He walked in to see her sitting on her bed, painting her nails a light shade of blue. When she saw him she quickly sat the nail polish down on her nightstand and ran up to Spirit. She hugged him in a way as to be careful that she didn't mess up her nails, as they were not even close to being dry yet.

When she hugged him, she said, "What are you doing here?" Spirit smiled at how happy she was to see him. Then he responded.

"Well, I thought of you and figured I could come over and surprise you."

"Well, I am definitely surprised," she said this as she backed up a little bit, keeping her arms around him. She leaned in and gave him a kiss, then pulled away and walked back over to her bed. Spirit was happy about the affection he was getting; you could just tell by the look on his face.

"I guess it worked then," he said this, still being happy about everything.

She grabbed her nail polish and started painting her toenails. "Yep, sure did."

Spirit walked over to her bed and sat down at the end of it, watching what she was doing. He just liked being around her in general, and also liked to watch her do the girly stuff she does. He was glad that he had her and didn't want to lose her, even though he did constantly sweet talk other girls. She didn't want to lose him either, and was extremely happy with what they had.

"So how's the studying going?" Spirit asked this, keeping in mind the fact that the test was tomorrow. She shot him a look, and then responded.

"I'll be fine. I always do well. Besides, I have been studying more lately. How's the studying going for you?"

"Not so well. I swear, I have the attention span of a squirrel."

"Oh, don't worry about it. You always get a fairly decent score even without studying much."

"I guess. I just wish I could do more to prepare. If I do well without studying, just imagine what my score would be if I did."

"If you studied, you would be right behind Stein; I can almost guarantee it," Kami said this, using one of those light reassuring tones.

"I don't know about that. The kid is a genius." After he said this, he thought about Stein and the bathroom. Then he thought, "Yeah, some genius," to himself.

"Anyone would be a genius if all they did was study like he does." She finished painted her last toenail as she finished saying this, and screwed on the cap before sitting it back on her nightstand.

"He sure does study a lot. The kid serious locks himself in his room for hours straight every night, and studies for that exam like his life depends on it."

"He seems like he goes overboard with it; but if that's what he wants to do I'm certainly not going to argue with him about it. That scalpel of his freaks me out."

"I know. I don't get why he carries it everywhere he goes." After Spirit said this, he thought about the way his father looked with his, and then he thought of Stein's scalpel that now lay on the floor covered in blood. He shivered.

"That's something else I don't get about him. Half the time he doesn't even use the thing."

"I think he just likes it being near him."

"Probably," Kami said this as she used one of her magazines as a fan and waved it back and forth over her toenails to dry them.

Spirit had one of those cravings; not like Stein has, but a different kind. A craving for sex. He started thinking of how they could go about this since her father is home, then he thought of just bringing her to his house. Even if they had to sneak out from the back, they would get there. It was still fairly early, so they didn't really need to rush. He just wanted it tonight.

"Hey Kami… I have an idea." She looked up at him, almost instantly knowing what the idea was just by the way he said it. He always had this way about him when he wanted to get her into bed; she was familiar with it by now.

"Oh yeah, let me hear it." So he started explaining.

While Spirit sat on Kami's bed, explaining what was to be done, Stein laid in bed. He still had the sticky note on his head. It would lift up and waver back and forth every time he would breathe out. At this point he was also snoring very loudly, which was unlike him. He had never slept this well, so it was actually kind of good for him. He sure was going to be sore when he woke up, though.

He still needed to record everything, but he would do that once he wakes up. He, of course, still had that huge mess to clean up as well. He still hadn't studied for the exam that was tomorrow. Maybe him getting so much sleep now is a good thing, for he has so much stuff to do that he might not even sleep tonight. On the other hand, he might make himself since he knows he needs it after an experiment like this.

The blood in his hair was more than dried at this time, and he is going to have a heck of a time trying to wash that out, while making sure to be careful about his head. The only downside to this is how careful he will have to be. Even though he wins fights with no problem, he still can't risk it. If he were to get in an accident, something very bad could happen.

He took in a large breath, the sticky note pulling against his face as he did so. He let a huge breath out, along with a very loud snore. This caused the note to push out more than usual, only to come right back down again.

"Alright, we can try it," Kami said this, having heard Spirit's entire plan.

"Saying try makes it seem like it's not going to go well. It'll go well, trust me."

They were going to spend the afternoon talking in Kami's room, making sure to wait until an appropriate to leave. The best time for this would be when football is on, as it is sure to keep her father busy while they climb out her window. Once he was watching football, they would climb out and walk to Spirit's house. There they would have dinner (which Spirit had suggested since in Stein's note he said he would be up to make dinner), then they could get down to business.

So they spent the rest of the afternoon talking just like they had planned, with a few kisses added in every now and then. Kami would complement on how well Spirit kissed, then he would say it was her that was the better kisser, and they would argue back and forth for multiple minutes. They actually used up some time doing this.

They could tell that her dad was watching football now since they could hear the sound of her dad yelling at the T.V. coming from the living room. Now that they knew he was busy, they opened her window. She had a little stepstool standing in front of it to make it easier to climb over the window sill.

First Spirit climbed out, and then he helped Kami get over and held her hand as she jumped from the ledge that was about three feet off the ground. After she landed, they just kept holding each other's hands and started walking down the road. Spirit loved doing this, although he didn't want to get caught and have her parents lose respect for him.

They soon got to Spirit's house, so he unlocked the door and held it open for Kami to go in. He shut it behind himself, seeing how she was looking around at the place. She did it every time she came over even though she was very familiar with how the place looked. Just a habit, he guessed. He thought of Stein and how he should be getting up in a little bit, as it was getting close to 5:30 now. He thought it would be funny to show her the sticky note on his forehead, which he intended to leave exactly where it was even though he was already home; and completely forgot about the thing that was now sticking through the boy's skull.

He brought Kami over to his room, making her be quiet just in case he was starting to wake up. He looked first just to see what he was doing, and he was still lying there snoring. He realized then that she would see, but he figured it was better now when he didn't know she was looking, that way she could stare and ponder it all she wanted to.

She crept around the corner, quietly laughing when she saw the note on his head, but quickly jumped and let out a little yelp when she saw the thing that was going through it. Spirit hushed her, and she pulled him away from the room.

"What is that?" She whispered in those kinds of whispers that are a mix of whispering and yelling.

"I don't even know, to be perfectly honest." Spirit used his regular talking voice, so she did that too from that point on.

"How do you not know? You live with him, for Death's sake!"

"I woke up this morning and had to go to the bathroom," he started explaining, "and when I got there, there was a sign on the door. It said to not come in since there was a mess, but I didn't listen and went in anyway."

"What was so bad about it?"

"That's exactly what I said. But trust me, it's bad. There is literally blood everywhere." As he said the last sentence Kami started walking over to the bathroom.

"Oh come on, you're exaggerating." She started pushing the door open, and she had the exact same reaction as Spirit did. When she was done throwing up, Spirit finished his story.

"After I was done being sick, I went to Stein's room to ask him about it and saw a note on his door as well when I got there. It said that he was going to be sleeping for a while due to an experiment. Naturally, from seeing the blood and reading the sign on Stein's door, I had to see what he had done. I opened the door and when I came in I saw that."

"That is so weird.. Do you know what it's even supposed to do?" She seemed to be thinking of what the answer could be, which is expected.

"I have no clue. I had no idea he was even going to do anything to himself. I am definitely going to ask him about when he wakes up, though." At this point they were back at Stein's room, and Kami was just staring, questions of all sorts floating through her mind. Stein started to move. His hands started to move up towards his face, but his eyes were still closed. Kami and Spirit instantly sprinted out of there as quietly as they could.

Stein said, "Spirit?" as he grabbed the sticky note off his head. He opened his eyes and read: I am going to see Kami, be back soon. He though he was still gone, so he just laid there for a bit. He was still very drowsy and he was very relaxed, as the anesthetics had not worn out completely yet. He felt a stinging around where the incisions had been made, that was dulled by his drowsiness. He could already tell, this was not going to feel very pleasant. He remembered everything he had to do, but still did not get up quite yet. He almost fell asleep a few times while lying there, and jerked away when he would realize it.

Before he could hear something, but it wasn't nearly clear enough to tell what it was. Now he was starting to be able to pick out voices, and realized that Kami was now over here. He wanted to get up and shut his door, but he was too lazy to. He thought of testing it out again, so he did. He reached up and turned it three times, but this time it didn't click on the third turn. So he started again, and after the fifth it did it. He could start to feel his drowsiness start to become less severe, and things seemed clearer than before.

He started to sit up, and instantly felt his head start to throb. He stood up and slowly and lazily walked over to his desk. He slouched down in his chair and started recording everything; just like he planned he would do after waking up. He soon finished with that and remembered the bathroom; oh Death was it a mess.

He got up and sauntered to the bathroom, ignoring how Kami and Spirit were laughing at him for being so tired and looking so sluggish. It's something they didn't see from him often, and it looked kind of funny. Once he got to the bathroom, he opened the door and squeezed his eyes shut once seeing everything. It was one of those moments where you could have face palmed yourself. He walked in and looked at everything, wanting to just curl up in the hall and sleep some more. Instead he cleaned everything up.

He first grabbed his check list off the mirror and threw that out, then wiped the blood off the same mirror. Next he grabbed all of his tools and equipment and dragged himself back to his room. He sat them down at the little place of his room where all of these things were kept, then went to take care of the floor. He grabbed a brush and the proper cleaning chemicals and started scrubbing the floor.

On several occasions he found himself starting to fall asleep, so he knew he would need to sleep more when he was done. After about twenty-five minutes of scrubbing, he finally got all of it off. He put the stuff away as quickly as he could, having his bed on his mind the entire time.

He went back to his room, hearing more laughter come from the couple that was now sitting on the couch. His eyelids felt so heavy, and his limbs felt like lead. He needed to finish cleaning his tools and get to bed. So that's exactly what he did. He wiped everything off very thoroughly; making sure it all had a nice shine to it. His tools were the only thing he would spend time on right now. When he got to his scalpel, he made sure he cleaned it best of all.

He put everything in their proper place, and then went over to his door. He shut it, but didn't feel like locking it. He couldn't make dinner now, as it would be very likely that he would end up catching something on fire. Spirit and Kami didn't exactly mind; now they could get started sooner. Stein was just glad to be getting back in his bed. His bed had never felt softer than it did at that moment. To him it was seriously heaven.

Quickly his eyes were shut, and he was out cold once again. He started to snore a lot quicker than last time, and when Spirit and Kami could even hear it through his shut door, they knew the fun could begin.

They went back to Spirit's room, and shut the door behind them. The entire way in Spirit was walking forward with his hands around her hips and she was walking backwards with her arms resting on his shoulders, going loosely around his neck. They got to the bed and they were laying down when Kami said, "I love you, Spirit."

Spirit said, "I love you, too." Then they started, and did not stop for quite some time, actually.

In three hours, Stein had begun to wake up again. This time he was less drowsy than before, but his head was just as sore if not worse. It just kept pounding and throbbing, and it felt like it was stinging, too. He turned the screw again, but this time it took four times; one less than the last time. When he did this, he was almost fully awake. He decided that he was aware enough that he could go make dinner. But since he knew Spirit and Kami were basically alone in the house while he slept, he figured they would do their favorite activity. He used soul perception, and his suspicion was correct.

He went out to the kitchen, still walking a little lazily; it still wasn't as bad as it was before. He started to make dinner, and had everything set out when Spirit and Kami came out of the room, finally. He sat down the large bowl that had spaghetti in it, the spaghetti his mom used to make when he still lived with his family. As he did this he looked up at the couple, and saw the look of what looked like suspicion on their face.

Stein just ignored it and sat down in his chair that he had placed there earlier when he had begun making dinner, following was Spirit and Kami. They basically had assigned seats, as every time Kami was over they sat in the same place at the rectangular table. Stein sat at the one end of the width of the table, while Spirit and Kami sat next to each other on the length side of the table.

They got their food, and then there was a long period of silence. It was a rather awkward one; you could just feel it in the air. They were all pretty tense too, almost anxious. They were like this for what felt to be an hour but was actually five minutes, until Spirit finally said something.

"Stein?" Spirit said this as he looked up at his meister, seeing how Stein was kind of trying to avoid looking at him. He really didn't want to have to explain it, as this was certainly not something that needed to be explained often.

"Hm?" Stein said this as he continued looking down at his plate. He tried to act confused, though he already knew what it was about. There was no way it was something else, for it would be very weird of Spirit to not have any questions.

"What exactly does... it... do?" He said this looking at the screw, trying to think of how it could possibly be in there, what it could do, and what possessed Stein to do such a thing. There was a short silence until Stein looked up at his partner to respond.

"It just helps me think, clears the madness." That was true. That's exactly what it did. But what Spirit didn't know was that he had really done it for him. He didn't like thinking that Spirit was in danger of his own partner, that he could possibly do something to him at any given time. He had said it in a way that made it sound as if he thought it was no big deal, which in a way surprised Spirit. But on the other hand, he was used to him treating things that way due to his lack of emotion.

"Oh… How did you do it?" Spirit said this, Kami following him after.

"Yeah, how exactly did you do that?" There was genuine curiosity in their voice, but Stein really didn't have much of an answer for them.

"I am not really sure if you guys would like to hear it. There would be a lot of terms and words that you would not understand, so in the end you may very well end up more confused than when you started off." He said this in a voice that showed that he was still a little tired. He was going to want to sleep more after dinner, but he still needed to study since the exam is tomorrow; which is also a reason why he should sleep, so he doesn't fall asleep when taking the exam. It was something that could go either way.

"Oh, then maybe you better not explain it," said Spirit. He also would have asked why he did it, but the fact that it helped with the madness was basically an explanation to that as well as to what it did.

They were silent for a bit, and then Spirit and Kami started talking to each other. They talked for about five minutes, and at this point they were really into the conversation, not noticing what was going on around them. Stein felt the madness wavelengths increase, and the thought that was even disturbing to him crossed his mind. Looks like he would get to test it out again.

He turned it three times, a final and louder click coming at the end. He could instantly hear the noise in his head get quieter, and feel the wavelengths start to retreat. When they heard it, they were quickly draw from their conversation, and Kami jumped a little. Spirit flinched and made a face that looked as if he was wincing. A slight smirk formed on Stein's face when he saw how they had reacted to it.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Spirit asked this, sounding almost concerned about it. Kami just had this kind of look on her face, one that was almost indescribable.

"As of now, yes. Once everything has healed it won't anymore," he said this in a very simple tone, relieving Spirit and Kami slightly. This delighted Stein; not that they were relieved, but because his experiment had been a success and he had got a reaction from Spirit and Kami when proving so. He couldn't wait to see how everyone else would react. He wasn't looking forward to the stares, but the looks of horror when he turned the screw would certainly be entertaining.

They were in silence for the rest of dinner, then Stein wheeled over and brought his plate over to the sink when he finished. He was feeling more awake now, so he figured he actually would study. He left the couple that was now talking about him, and went into his room. Shut his door, and rolled over to his desk. He pulled out a notebook that had material he was studying at the academy in it, then the notebook he had for his latest experiment.

He started looking over the notes for school, and shortly after he started getting more tired. It was natural for him to get tired when just sitting and reading notes, after having basically performed surgery on himself. He started having trouble keeping his eyes open, not matter how hard he tried. His eyes shut again, and his head started to slowly tip down, but then it snapped back up and he woke up.

He started reading again, but then his eyes started closing. His head fell down onto his desk, and he woke up when it hit the surface of it. He knew he would fall asleep soon, but he still wanted to try to get as much done as possible, being a workaholic as usual.

He actually stayed up longer this time and started writing down observations about his experiment, but before long he was asleep with his head rested on his desk. He had his arms hanging down by his side with a pen on the floor below them, and his feet tucked under his chair. He started snoring quietly, and he was out cold once more.

Kami finally left to sneak back into her room, and Spirit went to go see what Stein was doing. He opened the door that he had forgot to lock again, and saw him with his head down on the desk sleeping. He walked over to put the notebooks away for him, and first picked up the one for school. He closed it and stuck it back in the proper place on his shelf. Next he picked up the one for his experiment, and decided to read it to see exactly what this was about.

Stein had written down the effects of the last time he tested it out, and he read what he had wrote. He also saw some of the procedures that he had to do to get it in place, and he winced at the thought of it. He really had respect for this kid's tolerance of pain. He flipped to one of the first pages in the notebook, and saw that he had wrote down the reasoning and planning out of the experiment.

That's what he wanted to know most of all, so he started reading through. He read: I must find a way to clear my thoughts. I also need some way for the madness to be cleared up. I cannot have the thought of my recent nightmare hanging over me constantly, as it could result in something terrible. Just tonight I learned how dangerous it is, and how lucky I am that I didn't get any closer to him. I have to get this thought out of my head, no matter what it takes. I can't dissect Spirit.

When he read the last sentence, shivers ran down his spine. His heart started pounding, and he could feel his pulse start to race. He looked down at the notebook as, aloud to himself, he said, "He did this for my safety?"

He was more than shocked. He quickly shut the notebook and put it back, then looked down at Stein. He could see sutures in a place where his long hair wasn't covering his skin, and he got a little tenser than before. He just walked out of the room and into his, still taking in what he had just learned. He never figured he would do that, as he is a more distant kind of person; the kind of person that wouldn't go through that much trouble for someone else.

Spirit had also seen something unsettling when he was reading through the procedures. He saw that he could have ended up killing himself. He put his own life in that kind of risk; just to try to prevent Spirit's from being in danger. There was that possibility that it wouldn't have worked, but he tried anyway.

Spirit laid down in his already messed up bed, and just looked up at the ceiling. Right then he knew that he had the best partner he could ever imagine having. He knew that if they were to ever get into trouble on a mission, he would try his best to get them out of it. He knew that he would never regret the day when him and Stein were in the cafeteria and he asked him to be his partner.

I don't have much of anything to say but you better review this. If you don't, I will have to go all Franken style on you, and I am fairly certain you would not like it... Anyway, I will get this next one done soon.