AN: A whole week is a long time to wait. I apologize, but I don't see me working any faster in the near future. I have no intention of dropping this, so I hope that at least that is a consolation.

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Slaine woke to the sound of someone entering his room early the next morning. He chose not to really show he'd woken up, and to keep his breathing shallow, and his eyes closed. He could still hear the waves crashing outside the window, and the cries of the gulls as they searched for food. It had been a calming presence his whole time in the new room, and he felt that for once, he had slept quite soundly, without dreams or nightmares. It was a relief; he didn't have any need for either, though he was sure he deserved the nightmares.

It was rather strange that in the constant din of the sea, he could easily pick out the quiet sound of the door opening, and of feet softly padding over to his bedside, but Slaine did not question it. It was a sound out of the norm, and he was well used to years of paying attention to those. Not even the ocean's waves could calm him down enough to ignore that.

He imagined it was one of the nurses. Perhaps Eddelrittuo, or one of the others, though Eddelrittuo seemed to be the most vigil in his care. It wasn't really a comfort, but it did put him at ease just a little. It was a conflict, having her care for him, since he was not entirely interested in getting better. In the same breath, neither was he interested in wasting her hard effort. He hoped that her months of learning, and her choice in placement had not been in direct relation to him, but Eddelrittuo had always been rather transparent with her feelings and intentions. It was selfish to think that she had made such a decision for his sake, but the thought festered in him anyway. He hoped it was not true. The best answer was simply to distance himself, to not pay her the attention she was due, but that was difficult. She didn't deserve such mistreatment.

As the one figure came in, the guard who had been seated in the room, rose to her feet, and left. He had to be watched at all times, but that didn't mean anyone enjoyed the effort. It was common practice that the guards would take any chance they got to simply switch with the hospital staff even if it meant leaving the room for a few moments. It would have been foolish, if he had any intention of using someone in the hospital as a hostage, but Slaine did not. He found the whole idea distasteful. One more victim in the scheme of things wouldn't matter even slightly, but now that he only had his own interests in mind, it seemed impossible. He'd murdered and terrorized millions, all in the name of Princess Asseylum's perfect world; now that he was the only one to gain from such an underhanded effort, it was hardly even worth thinking about. How horrible he was, that he could do such horrible things in her name, yet couldn't even muster the effort to dirty his own hands when it was for himself.

The thought was a bitter one, but it evaporated when a small meow rang over the din of the waves. Slaine blinked his sleepy eyes open, and saw Kaizuka sitting at the chair by his bedside, Anemone in the small carrying case she had been in before. His eyes were drawn to her instantly, and Kaizuka's presence faded into the background. Unashamed, Slaine reached over, and stuck one of his fingers inside the cage. Anemone inspected it for a second as if she was going to bite it, but then decided to lick it instead.

Kaizuka said he would be back in a few days, not the next day. Had his words prompted the change? It was hard to say. Certainly it was more beneficial for Kaizuka if he became much more attached to the kitten, so he wasn't about to give Kaizuka the benefit of any doubt.

With a few swats of his hand, Kaizuka pushed Slaine's hand away from the cage so that he could open it. Obviously anticipating the cage being open, Anemone bounded out of the case, jumping far enough to land squarely on Slaine's bed. She then happily pranced and jumped over to his lap, and started rolling around in the sheets. Slaine watched her with calm interest.

"I brought these." Kaizuka stated plainly. Slaine thought about ignoring him, but opted against it. Even though Kaizuka likely had ulterior motives for returning so quickly, he had brought Anemone back, as Slaine had told him too. That was enough of a reason to offer some form of acknowledgement as a reward.

He looked up, and saw that Inaho was rifling through a canvas bag with the UFE logo on it. He was thinking about how moronic it was to have a military insignia on a shopping bag, when Inaho produced three large balls of yarn, one red, one orange, and one blue. Slaine gazed at the items incredulously, as Inaho shifted his head around, looking for a place to put them. Kaizuka blinked, which might have meant a lot of things. Slaine chose to interpret it as some form of bemusement. "You seem to have acquired a number of things in the past few days." Slaine looked around, and had to admit that Kaizuka had a point.

To the right was the plastic vase the woman had swapped out, with the blue roses in them. Next to that were the three slim books that had been left for him to read. On the right, there was the old beat up CD player, and the CD that accompanied it, and of course, there was a kitten, happily burrowing into the folds of the sheets. His area had become a little cluttered.

"Take the books back." He answered evenly, and nodded his head towards them.

Kaizuka did just that. He grabbed them with one hand, and replaced them with the yarn. He then put them in his lap for a moment, and leafed through their pages. "These are nonsense." Kaizuka stated. "I'll find more suitable material." He then slipped them into the canvas bag.

"It doesn't matter what you bring. If you bring more of those, bring them more frequently, or in larger volume. I read them too fast."

Kaizuka looked up at him, Slaine could tell that much, but he'd turned his attention to the blue ball of yarn, and was not paying attention to Kaizuka. He retrieved it from the bedside table, and placed it in front of Anemone. The kitten stopped what she was doing, and instantly pounced on the thing.

"You read quickly." Slaine only had eyes for Anemone, as she rolled around with the ball of yarn, but he saw Kaizuka pull something else out of his bag, and set it down. A quick glance revealed the thing to be a pink plastic crochet hook. That grabbed Slaine's attention. Next out of Kaizuka's UFE canvas bag came a beginner's book on crochet, which seemed to boast an array of cute little animal patterns. Kaizuka was going to place it on the bedside table, but then seemed to think better of the idea, and instead offered it over to Slaine.

Slaine stared at it as if it was poisonous.

"Did you enjoy them?" It took Slaine a moment to realize Kaizuka had spoken.

He blinked up at Kaizuka with an obvious frown on his face. "What?"

"The books." Kaizuka clarified, still handing the crochet book out towards Slaine. "The romance ones. Did you enjoy them?"

Slaine shook his head at the question, still looking at what was being offered to him. This was ludicrous. None the less, he reached out and took it. "It doesn't matter." Slaine found himself staring at the pink and purple bubble letters of the title 'Crochet Made Easy!' and the 'ages 5+' in the corner. His mind was completely blank.

"That was expensive." Kaizuka said. "Yarn is also not cheap. I expect a carrying case for my phone and tablet when you've figured out the mechanics." Slaine was still staring at the book in bafflement, so as usual Kaizuka went on without needing more prompting. "If you give me an idea of what books you would like to read, you will enjoy them more."

Slaine did not look up, he was too busy looking at the very cute crochet mouse the book had. If he could make the tail longer, it would be a perfect toy for Anemone. "It doesn't matter" he mumbled, not really sure what Kaizuka had said, and still to shocked to really ignore him.

After he'd taken a thorough look at the various projects the book had -he noted that there was a pattern for a phone carrying case- he placed the book down, and looked up at Kaizuka. "What is...this?" Slaine asked, completely mystified. He motioned to the book in his lap, and the balls of yarn.

Kaizuka had since pulled out his tablet, and was tapping away at it. He did not look up at Slaine when he spoke. "You refuse to make choices for yourself that are positive and healthy, so I have made this one for you. I have procured you a hobby, and the means by which you can learn it." Kaizuka did look up just then, his one red eye appraising Slaine, and the kitten still tumbling around in his lap. "Though not a cheap hobby, crochet will allow you to make toys and supplies for Anemone, basic clothes to keep yourself warm, and is a healthy, repetitive task where you are actively creating. Thus, finished products will be useful tools in your everyday life, and also allow you some sense of accomplishment when they are completed. They also take a lot of time, something you do not lack."

Slaine looked down at the book in his lap again. "What if I make a noose for myself?" He inquired, trying to find some way out of this. It was useless, and he wasn't even sure why he was trying, but the question came out of his mouth regardless. This was a decent idea, he had been concerned about being able to get toys for Anemone, and this was a clever solution to that concern. Still, the fact that it had come from Kaizuka was enough to question it, and to resist it, even if it was only thinly so.

Kaizuka gave him a long look, and gave a small puff of air out of his nose. Slaine thought it felt like a sign of irritation. "Crochet works off of patterns. I certainly will not be supplying you with such a pattern in the near future, and it will take you time to figure out how to make something like that on your own. If you really have such intentions, you'd better start practicing."

Slaine frowned. "I could choke myself with the-" He motioned towards the pink plastic hoop. "whatever the hell that is." The actual term escaped him.

"Crochet hook." Kaizuka stated, and looked back down at his tablet. "You could have easily choked yourself on your necklace if you'd really wanted to. You also could have hung yourself with the bed sheets or your clothes ages ago. You did neither, and you will do no such thing now, under suicide watch."

Slaine could only glare. "You..." He couldn't find an appropriate word to finish that statement with. Instead of giving Kaizuka any more of his time, Slaine turned his eyes back down to Anemone. She really was having a lot of fun with the yarn.

"I was not joking. I do expect cases for my phone and tablet."