Yippie! Another chappy! And this is all IN THE NAME OF FLUUUUFF!

Well you know the drill… Enjoy! Oh yea, I'll be going on a train tonight so maybe half of this chapter'll be written on the train. Nice way to spend time, I think. Thankies for everyone who support this fic.

Pardon the typos and…. Enjoy!

Feelings

"So…. ma…?"

The boy's head jerked up, eyes widened, ready to jump out its socket. He couldn't believe what he saw. His endless prayers, wishes, hopes, and dreams, it came true right in front of him. He felt all tension evaporated from his body, replaced with a whole new fear that this was all just his imagination. To make sure it wasn't, he tighten his grip on his beloved's hand and said, "Riitsu? Riitsu?!"

"I…"

"Y-you're awake!" Slowly Soma let go of her hand then rushly stood up, heading out the Sick Bay, yelling panickly. "DAMMIT! I need medic, right now! She's awake!"

Riitsu's head was still all fuzzy that she couldn't really process of what just happened. Why in the world did Soma have to yell like that? Was something wrong? That really wasn't like him at all. And why the hell after he yelled it all Den become panicky as well? God… What was that sound? Why was there suddenly many footsteps coming in to the room? Wh-what? Who're these people? Why were they looking at her with that expression? Some even started to cry all of a sudden. Did she do something bad?

Out of nowhere, a man with very squinty eyes and white hair made his way to her, splitting the crowd. He calmly said, "Okay now. I know everyone's joyful she's awake, but I need to check her up so if you all would kindly leave the room…"

The crowd slowly left the room. Some were silent, some were yelling something like 'Get well soon' or 'After this, we'll go on a mission together, okay?'. It took a while until the crowd dissipated, leaving only two persons with her in the room.

"I thought I asked everyone to leave, Soma," said the older man, half demanding.

"There's no way in hell I'll leave her," Soma snorted.

"How generous of you. Well, do as you please."

After that, the squinty man started to take a stethoscope from Sick Bay's inventory cupboard, and started to examine her. He placed it over her heart, lungs, and stomach. Afterwards, he took a small flashlight and lighted it over her eyes. During the check up, Soma kept looking at her, watching out if something went wrong.

Five minutes or so passed and the doctor finished his job. "Nothing's wrong with her vitals. Digestion, heart, neuro, and respiratory systems all working well but not quite normal yet. And, Soma, I took it you'll be the one who's going to take care of her necessities, are you not?"

Unlike the Soma of many days ago who would've said 'Go get someone else', this Soma faced it head on and with pride, and a bit of possessiveness said, "Damn straight I will."

The white-haired man smiled, proud of what his friends' son had become. He could see his blue eyes were no longer clouded. Soma's eyes were full of determination. "Good. Right now she still have to rest on bed but she need to recover her stamina as well, so give her high glucose but easy-to-digest food. If she's feeling great after a day or two, she'll have to train her muscles again by walking around, and of course, under supervision."

"Got it."

"For her burn treatment, I'll come every day to give her some bias-factor injection. Seeing it was partly my fault for sending you to that mission, I will personally be the one responsible for her treatment." He put the stethoscope and flashlight back to its proper place and walked to the exit. "Well, I'll leave her in your care. Don't tire her out much okay?"

The door was closed now, leaving only two persons in the room. Seeing as how dazed Riitsu was, some took his previous seat by her bed, and gently held her hand again.

Feeling the familiar warmth back to her again, the brunette girl looked over to her hand which he held. One look, everyone would know that she was still disoriented because she seemed so perplexed of her surroundings. With that in mind, Soma tried to talk to her as slow and soft as he could, didn't bother to hide the happiness in his tone. "Hey. How're you feeling?"

"So… ma…? Was that… Doc?" Her voice was just like weak murmur, but Soma understood it anyway.

"Yeah, it was him."

"Wh-where's… everyone…?" asked the girl, her head faintly looking around to search for the rest of her unit. "It… was… dark… And, and… a woman was… crying… Woman… Sakuya…?"

Come to think of it, Sakuya indeed cried one time when she first got out of operation room. Did Riitsu really conscious of her surroundings when she was asleep?

"They're outside. Don't worry, they'll visit you again after you recovered."

After he said that, her face showed a happy expression of some sort, but what she said next broke his heart, making him jealous all over again for something that wasn't even there anymore. "Then… Ren's here…, too…?"

Ren. Ren, Ren, and Ren again. Even in her sleep, she was always mumbling his name. Soma thought it was just some sleep talking, but after she said it too when she was awake, Soma knew it wasn't just sleep talk, she was still missing him. "No… Ren's not here."

Her expression darkened and her hazelnut brown eyes dimmed but somehow she knew it was the answer, she was just trying her luck. Was the Ren in her sleep just a figment of her desire, or was it really his soul guiding her out of that deep slumber. How she hoped it would be the latter, because in the end of their parting, he said he loved her. He said they would meet again, and that alone was reason enough to live on. "Yes… of course… he isn't…"

As he toughen up his resolve to keep protecting her and treasure her no matter what happen, Soma stroke Riitsu's forehead, moving some brown locks that covered her eyes. "It's okay now. I got your back, so just rest."

With that said, Riitsu felt the surge of safety and serenity came over her. Softly, slowly, she closed her eyes once more, enjoying the darkness. The last thing she thought about before drifting into dream realm was, 'Was Soma always like this? Was he always this calming? Was his hand always warm like this?'

The Den, Sick Bay, Afternoon

"Leader! We're coming in!" said Alisa cheerly and before her leader even mutter a word, the metal door slide open, revealing a combination of Kota, Alisa, and Sakuya, each carrying a gift for their 'respectful' leader.

"Oh, Doctor. What brings you here?" asked the D-cup black haired woman when she saw Doctor Sakaki on her bed side.

"Well isn't it a crowd here." The stargazer calmly exclaimed and stood as a sign to show the group his respect. "Good afternoon everyone. I'm just giving my patient here her daily dose of my special oracle cells."

Alas all eyes were focused on her, as if looking for a clarification, or at least a sign that the mad techie in front of them were not doing any experiment of the sort to her. Well, of course that Paylor were trustable, but still, having an injured and bed ridden new-type God Eater who had withstood aragami infection and was able of doing miracle by resonating with others was a great opportunity to run some experiment on her. With the girl being weak and helpless, no one would notice or fight back if someone were to inject some unknown substance into her system. That was enough reason for her teammates to worry.

"What's with that look, guys? I'm fine!" The girl declared, waving around her arm to convince her friends.

"As you can see, she is recovering remarkably, considering how powerful the attack she received. Give her another day to rest, and she should be able to do some training to readjust her muscles."

"Whew, that's great to hear." Kota comically swept imaginary sweat off his forehead. "Glad to see you getting better these two days."

"Yes, thank you, Kota. It sucks to be sick. I wanna go kicking some aragami's asses already!" said Riitsu, punching the air in front of her.

"It's good to see you recovering well, Riitsu. And now because I've paid my visit, I'm going to take my leave." Sakuya turned to Kota. "C'mon Kota."

Being a little teaser she was, Riitsu started to grin and playfully said, "My, my… Am I sensing an affair here, Sakuya?"

"Hahaha, you wish. It's just another training session for old-type gunners."

"'Kay then Riitsu! Don't miss me! Just you look, when I finish this training, I'll be three times stronger than you!"

"Oooh is that a challenge? I'll gladly accept it Kota!"

Another playful banter and both gunners took their leave and so did Doctor Sakaki, saying he was pressed in time for another appointment or something, leaving two new-types female God Eaters. Decided to keep her friend company a little more, Alisa took a side by her bed side.

The Russian girl paid attention to Riitsu's burn scar. She smiled at how most of the burns healed without a trace already. "How're you feeling, leader?"

"Bored as hell but better than yesterday. Thanks Alisa." The brunette too, positioned herself to sit up straight, ready to engage in a long conversation with the other girl. "So are you here to entertain me or something else?"

"I see that much sleep didn't cure that frivolous attitude of yours." Alisa chuckled, her sweet laughing voice echoed in the Sick Bay. "I'll take up your offer, I'll entertain you."

"Good, good. A First Unit member should always listen to their leader's order," joked Riitsu, obviously her mood grew better with her friend's visit. "What happened while I was asleep?"

The silver haired girl thought a little. "Nothing extraordinary happened actually. But everything was in uproar when you and Soma were ambushed that day."

Curious of what happened to her, and because no one had offered her to elaborate of the recent events, Alisa told her everything, every little bits of detail she remembered. The short sword God Arc wielder explained her leader of how the Den instantly sent their fastest chopper and huge amount of back-up units when Soma panickly informed them that they were ambushed. If Soma were panicked, of all people, then you could tell it really was a grave danger situation.

It supposed to be another twenty minutes before the chopper came to pick them up, but fortunately Lindow was on his way back from his mission when he heard the news from intercom. He was the nearest unit from City of Mercy, only 5 minutes away, so he took a detour and came to the rescue. When Lindow came to the to their side, he saw injured Soma running around with Riitsu in one hand and bloodied God Arc in the other hand. He was desperately avoiding the Corrosive Hannibal's attack. Lindow then faced the the aragami in their stead and ordered the chopper rider to take his injured comrades in the chopper and go back to the Den without him. The chopper rider actually refused to, but after seeing Riitsu having third degree burns all over her body, the chopper took off instantly with two passed out passengers.

"Lindow? Is he okay?" asked Riitsu panickly, and feeling a little bit guilty.

Alisa shushed her, telling her to not cut her before asking questions. She then continued to tell her that Lindow came out of the battle okay. That ex-leader even beat the aragami only by himself, as expected of a man that came back from the land of the dead. After that, Alisa focused on telling her how Soma was lucky, only a few deep scratches with no fatal wound, but that wasn't the case for Riitsu. She suffered grave wounds on her neuro system and third degree burns all over her body because of the divine and blaze attack from the Corrosive Hannibal. The brunette was instantly brought to operation room to treat her wounds and stabilize her oracle cells to speed up her recovery.

"You were very lucky, or strong as a cockroach."

"I'll take that cockroach part as a compliment."

After the operation, Riitsu passed her critical condition, but somehow she kept sleeping. Doctor Sakaki didn't even know why, seeing her vitals and neuro system were back to normal. Indeed her burns weren't completely healed, but that shouldn't be the reason why Riitsu wouldn't wake up. During her slumber, people kept coming to see how she was doing, but out of all those people, there was a person who kept on visiting her every day and stand guard by her bed, only to leave his post for his daily necessities and missions.

"Aw… Really? Who was it? To think I have a sweet comrade like that…"

"Who do you think it was, leader?" Alisa asked, her voice seemed a little bit playful and teasing.

Riitsu frown, thinking, then lift one brow. "Um, you?"

"Wrong guess. I was about to do that, but this person already did it first, so I withdrew."

"OMG, tell me already, Alisa! I'm dying to know!"

Alisa took a deep breath, readying herself to face her antics once the cat out of bag. "It was Soma."

"… Wha?"

"The person who looked after you all this time was Soma, leader."

Riitsu's look after her best friend had said that was like seeing Alisa turned into a handsome Susano'o in front of her very own eyes. The leader's jaw dropped, eyes widen, and some faint blush was seen of her white cheeks. Then again, who wouldn't be surprised to finally live the day when that stoic loner Soma von Shicksal being very affectionate of someone, a girl even more.

Without paying attention to her leader's horrific expression, Alisa continued, "First, the flan event, then that sleeping thing, after that… this happened. I'm quite sure there's something to his… behavior, leader. I'll be blind and stupid if I don't notice something as clear as this."

"Wh-what're you getting to, Alisa?" It was just a rhetorical question, actually. Riitsu would be damned if she didn't understand that pattern of Soma's deed. She had her own quaintness, not stupidity. To put it bluntly, Soma was…

"He's in love with you, leader."

There. Alisa kindly said it. The buster blader was about to give her friend a list of why Soma wasn't in love with her, but somehow it brought back a part of dream from her long slumber.

"So, please… Come back to us, come back to me! I'll become a better man and this time, whether I have you or not, I'll treasure you, I'll protect you! So… Please… Wake up…"

"I… I love you, Riitsu."

Was it… was it really a dream? Why did it feel so real?

It seemed like talk about devil, then he shall appear, except this was Soma they were talking about so he appeared.

"Oh my, would you look at the time? If you'll excuse me leader, I have prior engagement with some Vajratails in Wailing Plains." The Russian girl stood up, heading for the exit behind Soma, flashing a smirk of the sort that screamed like 'Go get her, Tiger' and casually walked out the door.

Riitsu frowned, her face still felt like burning. How dare her best friend left her alone with Soma after knowing that…, that… information? What now?

Well, the fluff's almost there. Be patient fangirls (or boys).