Chapter 3: Nagusami
A/N: In this chapter, for those of you who are getting sick of the endless fluff, I have tried to insert a few hints of plot. Many thanks to GypsyxSilent for your guidance in this. But actually I ended up just boring myself. Anyway, we've got what I believed to be my kawaiiest PxL moment ever...back when I wrote it, in July or thereabouts...
WOW, that was a long time ago!
P.S. I'm talking about July LAST YEAR.
I have been obsessed with this pairing for way too long.
'I'm docking your pay. Now get this mess cleaned up and make sure you turn up on time for the rest of the week.'
Ryou turned away from the spluttering Ichigo and stalked across the café. He kept it together just long enough to close the staff door quietly behind him, then stormed down the corridor to the basement, flinging the door open so hard that it bounced off the wall and nearly hit him in the back of the head. Not bothering to switch on the lights, he strode further into the hot darkness of the computer lab, slumped into his swivel chair and hit his head on the desk.
Ow. That had hurt more than he'd intended.
It was at times like this that he could really empathise with Kish – and empathising with the enemy was not good. Just another entry to add to the stack of problems that Momomiya Ichigo had brought on him.
That stupid girl. She wouldn't even stop for a moment to think of anything outside her precious Aoyama, and he completely understood Kish's frustration, which must be born out of his own conflict and guilt mixed with the knowledge that he would never be in with a fair chance, because Ichigo would never properly consider it. Ryou himself didn't have the guilt, and his feelings were hard enough to contend with as it was. Ridiculous, self-centred girl...but no matter how easily the scornful words came, he knew he was no freer of his love for her. That was what frightened him: that he could be so close to despising someone and still want them...
'Why did I have to be her boss?' he muttered miserably to himself. 'All I ever get the chance to do is order her around and send her into danger. But couldn't she at least try to do her job properly? She doesn't even attempt to get along with me.'
'Shirogane-san?' The door opened a crack and Lettuce peered round, the soft, nervous tone of her voice rubbing him up exactly the wrong way.
'What?' he snarled, spinning the chair round. Lettuce flinched backwards, her eyes startled behind their glasses.
'Gomen, Shirogane-san. Akasaka-san wanted to ask you where you filed the recipes for American-style brownies...'
Suddenly Ryou felt the anger drain out of him, to be replaced by weariness. He wasn't being fair. Of all the people in the café, Lettuce was probably the one who least deserved to be shouted at for no reason, and the one least able to stand up to it as well. Especially from him. He remembered what Keiichiro had said a few days before. 'You must be aware that Lettuce-san has feelings for you... Ryou...you must have known that, surely?'
'I'm sorry, Lettuce-san,' he said. Why couldn't he have decided to like her instead of Ichigo? At least she knew a thing or two about common decency, and would have turned him down gently. 'Uuuh...I think I had that book out, making a few annotations...it should be in my desk drawer. Wait a moment.' He heard her walking across the room towards him as he rummaged around, lifting papers and finally coming up with a heavy volume which canvassed the preparation of American-style chocolate cakes, biscuits and other deserts at a level of specialisation that only Keiichiro would have thought worthwhile.
'Arigatou, Shirogane-san,' Lettuce smiled, taking it from him. Ryou breathed out slowly, enjoying the sensation of just being sincerely thanked for something for once. He looked up at Lettuce, and she met his eyes with a look that was much more direct than normal. Usually she would have been blushing and ducking her head, making herself invisible. He found that he rather liked this new, subtle confidence. It inspired trust, without being any less gentle than her normal manner. He found himself smiling back, a little of his stress melting away.
'Try not to let Ichigo-san bother you,' Lettuce said suddenly. 'I know it's hard, but I really don't think she hates you. It's just a stressful time for all of us, and she's very young to have so much to worry about –'
'You're not much older,' Ryou put in, 'and you don't go crazy over the slightest thing.'
'No,' Lettuce grinned, straightening up. 'But I'm special. Thank you for the recipes, Shirogane-san.'
'Ryou. Call me Ryou.' The words came tumbling out almost before he'd thought them, born of some unconscious desire to draw some kind of distinction between her and the other Mews, to show that they drove him mad and she didn't. To make this feeling of having someone on his side last longer, basically.
'Ano...' Lettuce stammered, blushing to the roots of her hair. 'O-okay, Sh – Ryou-san. Thank you.' With one last smile she turned and slipped out of the room, pausing at the door to send one last smile over her shoulder.
Yes, Ryou reflected, Midorikawa Retasu was rather special.
'Hiiiyaaaaaaahhhhh!'
Pudding gave a squeal, diving to the side and dropping her bag of café groceries as a pair of bright red balls whistled past her ear. She rolled to her feet, grabbing her pendant, and looked around for her attacker.
'Taru-taru! What are you doing here, na no da?'
'What does it look like?' the youngest alien demanded, streaking past her and scooping up his weapon. I came to make you cry, because I'm bored.'
'Bored?' Pudding echoed. 'So this isn't a proper attack, na no da?'
'Nah,' Tart said, swinging his clacky-balls again. 'Pai says we're not supposed to attack again until he's finished his latest plot – the one you're not allowed to know about –' He swooped at Pudding, who ducked – 'but whatever. If you ask me, he's been acting strangely ever since he went to kill your fishy friend and came back without his shirt...Kish still won't explain – AARRGGHH!'
He spun clumsily sideways as Pudding fired an attack at him, righted himself and floated quickly up out of reach.
'Hah,' he said. 'It looks like you're no fun after all, so...'
He teleported, very quickly.
'Yes!' Pudding did a little hop on the spot. 'I beat him, na no da!' She bent to pick up her dropped bag, and as she did so her expression turned thoughtful. 'Pudding wonders what he meant about Pai, no da...'
Lettuce hurried down the street towards the shopping complex, huddling her jacket tighter round herself as she did so. At five o'clock on a February evening the sky was already almost dark, but the broad thoroughfare was well-lit with streetlights and bustling with people, and she didn't feel uncomfortable. She had a few things to pick up before she went home: milk, some lunchbox snacks for the week, a packet of biros to replace the ones that were continually going missing around her house. She seemed to be continually losing track and running low in things lately – but she felt that the new confidence, cessation of attacks and all-round happiness that Pai had brought her more than made up for a little lapse in organisation now and then.
The air was not dry and cold as it had been last week when she had Pai had walked in the snow, but damper and more oppressive. It would have been warmer too, but sudden, chilly gusts of wind kept puffing at her from all sides, flapping her jacket and getting down her neck. It felt stormy.
There was a collective gasp from the people around her as a brilliant flash of lighting lashed the horizon. Several seconds later the distant thunder boomed. It might have been frightening, but storms didn't really bother Lettuce any more. They reminded her of Pai.
A raindrop landed on her nose.
Even as she jumped and blinked she heard another one land, and another and another...within seconds the air was full of pattering, and she felt the wetness beginning to soak through the shoulders of her jacket...
'Oh, bother,' she muttered as the heavens opened.
The street she was in was full of designer boutiques, already rolling down their screens to prevent people from trekking rain and mud around their precious clothes. Lettuce ducked her head, wrapped her arms around herself and ran, her eyes fixed on the bright supermarket complex at the next junction. The rain was rapidly turning into a torrent; she had to get undercover before she got completely soaked.
The pavements were full of people pulling out umbrellas, ducking into doorways, or running like she was. People were bound to head for the supermarket, and she lengthened her stride, putting all the fitness from fighting into use, eager to arrive ahead of the crush. As she drew near to the door someone else appeared out of the gloom to her left...someone whose profile in the corner of her eye looked very familiar...
She shot out of the rain into the brilliant light of the mall, and twisted her head to the side without breaking stride.
'Shirogane-sa –'
She skidded sharply on the wet floor, and Ryou dived forwards and caught her.
'Midorikawa-san,' he panted, pulling her upright. 'Thank goodness...we're out...of that! Good to see you.'
Lettuce collapsed against a pillar and began to giggle without quite knowing why. The thunder crashed outside, and Ryou began to chuckle too at her expression. A passer-by threw them a scandalised look and Lettuce laughed even harder, then stopped and sneezed violently.
'I'm f-f-f-freezing.' Her teeth were starting to chatter.
'Yeah.' Ryou jogged on the spot, his arms wrapped around himself, shivering. 'D'you want to get coffee?'
'Th-that would be a g-g-good idea,' Lettuce nodded, shaking her drenched hair out of her eyes. 'I've never met you out before, have I?'
'I don't get out much,' Ryou shrugged.
'Me neither. So what are you out for this evening?'
'Instant coffee. Keiichiro doesn't usually let us run out, but you know. These things happen.'
'Yuh-huh.' Lettuce scanned the shop signs until she found a Starbucks and headed towards it. Ryou watched her as she placed her order.
'You seem pretty adept at this, for someone who doesn't get out much,' he observed.
'Coffee and pastries are my one indulgence. It's cheaper to just make your own, but I like seeing it all laid out and getting to choose...one has to spend one's pocket money on something, ne?'
'Mmm. Of course, living with Keiichiro...he's more than happy to make anything I want to eat –' they both smiled fondly at this analysis of the pastry-chef's character – 'but it's nice to be out with a friend for a change.'
Lettuce blinked in surprise. Of course, Ryou had always been like this: brief moments of sweetness and solidarity, unexpected dark moods, always difficult to read...it had been that that had pulled her into crushing him, before she'd fallen even harder and more hopelessly for Pai – the hope that, beneath his spiky exterior, she might find somebody like herself. And now that she was over her crush, and could bring herself to actually look at him – listen while he talked, and respond to his remarks – she found that she really did like him, very much.
'It was nice to run into you, Lettuce-san,' he said as they finished their coffee and stood.
'Hai,' Lettuce agreed. He smiled at her, more warmly than she had ever seen him do before, and suddenly she felt an urge to blurt out everything that had happened between her and Pai...She restrained it, but her mood was happy and incredibly hopeful as they left the café. Eventually the others would have to know about her and Pai, and she felt that Ryou would be a good person to tell. He would react well. He cared enough about the Mews, the project and the Earth to see that having an alien willing to talk would be a good thing. He was much too intelligent to be blinded by shock or anger...and now, he even seemed to like her.
First Pai and Zakuro, now Shirogane-san, she thought as she waved goodbye to him. All these cold, fearsome people, turning out to be so decent and fun underneath. I never thought I would be brave enough to be around anybody like them, but now...it turns out that Shirogane-san has a really sweet side. He just needs someone to be patient with him, like Akasaka-san is...I'll talk to Ichigo sometime.
Pai sighed and rubbed a hand across his eyes, which were dry and smarting with tiredness. He stared ahead for a moment, and the computer screen glared back. It might help if their base were better lit –
'Pai, you're not still up, are you?'
Pai allowed himself a very quiet groan as Kish's abrasive voice came echoing across the base.
'Seriously, man,' Kish continued, floating to hang upside down between Pai and the computer so that the older alien couldn't possibly ignore him, 'you've been at it for hours. Go to bed.'
What are you, my mother? Pai felt like snapping, but he held back. What might seem like negligible lapses in restraint to him could provide Kish with weeks of ammunition for his teasing, as Pai knew from bitter experience. 'I'm not tired,' he said instead. 'Besides, this work is coming along well.'
'Huh.' Kish pulled himself upright, landed on his feet behind Pai and turned to lean heavily on the back of his chair. 'Blatant lie.'
'Kisshu,' Pai said. 'I will go to bed when my research is complete. And in the meantime, you should follow your own advice.
Kish didn't reply, just folded his arms, slouched on one hip and gave him an insolent stare.
Pai sighed. 'Fine. Well, if you're here, you might as well do something useful. Tell me what you've done today. Anything productive?'
'I made some good progress on our chimeras,' Kish said at once. 'I can't tell exactly when they'll be ready yet, but I don't see any difficulties or dead ends coming up, so we should be able to make consistent advances.'
Pai blinked in surprise. That was the kind of report – and the kind of constructive work – that he normally did. Kish usually had to be ordered and bullied into doing anything useful around the ship.
'Then,' Kish continued, 'well...you said that we should lay off our attacks on the Mews for a few weeks, while we developed a more powerful chimera, but I don't think it's a good idea to let them go about their business entirely unobserved in the meantime. So I spent the late afternoon tailing one of them.'
'Mew Ichigo?' Pai asked.
'No. Mew Lettuce.'
Pai stilled, his stomach lurching briefly, and then struggled with himself, trying to smooth out his face. 'Did you find out anything useful?' he asked as evenly as he could.
'Maybe,' Kish shrugged. Was he watching Pai more carefully than usual, or was Pai just being paranoid? The alien boy's manner was still completely relaxed. 'I followed her to her home, which could be handy to know...she spent most of the day at that café of theirs, just keeping up the cover as far as I could tell, but afterwards she went to a different shop and drank some coffee with Shirogane. I was particularly interested in that.'
'Why?' Pai blurted out the question, trying to keep Kish talking and cover his own thoughts. He stared hard, but Kish's eyes were unreadable – either that or there was nothing to read. But if so, why this sudden interest in Retasu of all people?
'Why what?' Kish asked nonchalantly.
'Why do you find this so interesting? I don't see that these humans' relationships are any concern of ours.'
'Well, it's useful to know who cares for whom, ne?' Kish said. 'If Shirogane-baka has feelings for Mew Lettuce – or vice-versa – we could use it against them sometime. Every little bit of information is important. Or at least, that's what you always said.'
'Maybe so.' Pai took a deep breath, trying to relax the tension in his muscles. 'But I think you're counting your chickens before they're hatched. The fact is unlikely to be of any use to us.'
Kish gave a mutinous pout.
'I will bear it in mind, though,' Pai added diplomatically. 'I agree that it could be useful if we ever decide to try a hostage situation.'
'Okey-dokey!' Kish hopped cross-legged into the air, and Pai dared to hope that he might be going to give it a rest. 'Hey,' he said, leaning forward from his floating posture. 'You look bothered. Too much caffine?'
'Or too much Kish,' Pai countered, swatting half-heartedly at his head. Kish dodged away and zoomed off, coming to rest just outside the exit from the main hall.
'Huh,' he muttered to himself, glancing back. 'Well, whoever he feels like confiding in, it's definitely not me.' He frowned to himself. 'Patronising bastard.'
Back at his computer, Pai breathed out heavily through clenched teeth, rubbing a hand unconsciously back and forth along his jaw. It was ridiculous. Nothing. It wasn't even worth thinking about. Humans met up and socialised and drank coffee with one another all the time...
Not Lettuce, though. She was often on her own. She only drank coffee with him. Him and Shirogane...
Don't think about it! he ordered himself. Think about how happy she looked last time she ran to meet you, and be glad if she's making some other friends as well. You're just not used to this love business, that's all...you're being too possessive...
He shifted his hand to his mouth, stifling a yawn. Kish was right, he was tired, more than tired. Exhausted. But only in mind, not in body, and that was the problem. He was strong, needing a full day's hard work to tire him, and he wasn't used to this planet's mild climate. On his homeworld, one burned most of one's energy just keeping warm. Here it was only after a battle with the Mews that he felt tired enough to sleep quickly, and the rest of the time a mix of excess energy and worry served to keep him awake till the small hours. And of course there were more worries and less fighting now that he had fallen in love.
He didn't want to go to bed. He had tried that already, and spent a torturous hour tossing and turning in the dark, his mind buzzing. He had reached the stage where the tiredness had rendered him too uncomfortable to sleep. He reached for his almost-empty mug of coffee, swigged the dregs and found them stone-cold.
Good grief, how long had he been sitting there?
The cold coffee was bitter and unpleasant, but its aroma was bringing back memories of the first time he had tried the drink, with Lettuce by his side. It was proving a life-saver whenever he felt like pulling an all-nighter, even though he knew deep down that it was probably compounding the problem in the long run. It hadn't been hard to invent a lie for how he had discovered coffee, but explaining why he would willingly make use of a human idea had proved trickier. Kish had spent a worryingly long time needling him about it, a glitter in his eyes that could have been aimless malice or something more perceptive. It had been just a day after he suggested that they lay off the attacks for a few weeks, lulling the Mews into a false sense of security while they produced a more powerful Chimera which could hopefully take them out in one big offensive. That was the story he had told the other two, anyway, but he wasn't sure that Kish had bought it, though he set to work with no more argument than usual. Kish might behave as though he couldn't be bothered, but Pai knew that his careless exterior concealed a mind that thought keenly and missed little.
I should be more careful, he thought. That damn Kish; he lulls me into a false sense of security and then pulls something like this...I can't just expect to get away with disappearing for hours at a time to see human girlfriends... if he hasn't realised yet, he's bound to eventually. But being more careful was the exact opposite of what he wanted. If only he could spend more time with Lettuce – if only he could be there all the time, part of her life, like a human boyfriend. Maybe then he would feel more secure.
He took another breath of the coffee scent, and it conjured up images of her behind his eyes. He scowled. Forget Kisshu. He wanted to see her, now. If he could do that, he would feel better. A change of scene might help to settle him, at the very least.
Of course, she would most likely be getting ready for bed, if not already asleep, and in no position to entertain. He would probably find the house in darkness, and that would be lonely and depressing. On the other hand, he might arrive in time to wish her goodnight. Pai hesitated, then got decisively to his feet.
A few seconds he was floating in the air, staring down at Lettuce's house. The entire street was dark and silent, except for the patter of rain and the occasional swish of a passing car. But in the window he knew to be Lettuce's, there was a light.
Lettuce sat at her desk, her hand moving idly over the paper in front of her. For an hour or so she had been working most productively on an essay for school, finding the moment too lucid to waste on sleep, but she was starting to drift and doodle now, which probably meant that it was time for bed.
Uh-oh, now she was reaching for different colours to draw in. That meant she definitely couldn't claim to be working any more. She looked down at what she'd done. Eloquent discussion on the ethics of cloning, then wavering lines which twisted, further down, into a more purposeful pattern, forming eyes, strands of hair, the suggestion of a jaw line, shaded with purple and grey. Lettuce blushed a little, propping her chin on her hand, her eyes far away.
A sharp tap sounded behind her.
Lettuce jumped violently and twisted round, sending a glue stick tumbling to the floor. Stupid, top-heavy things. The tap came again, and this time she recognised what it was. A set of knuckles, rapping against glass.
Pai?
She crossed the room and hauled the window open, letting in a rush of sound from outside. It was tipping with rain. Then her heart leapt. Pai was half-flying, half-hanging beneath her window, his upturned face lit palely by her bedroom light. His fingers were resting on the sill, and she reached out automatically to grasp them as she spoke.
'Pai! Is anything wrong?'
'No,' he reassured her quickly, 'nothing's wrong. I just...wanted to see your face.' He hesitated almost shyly. 'I hope I'm not intruding?'
'Of course not!' Lettuce exclaimed, her face lighting up. 'Come in or you'll be soaked.' She pulled the window open as wide as it would go and stepped aside as he clambered into the room, shaking his dripping hair out of his eyes. He couldn't have been out there for long, as his clothing was still mostly dry, but there were dark patches of wet on his shoulders and raindrops slid down his face and hung from the clean jaw she'd been trying idly to capture before.
'Pai-kun –' she said stepping forward.
'No need to get us both drenched,' Pai said gruffly, holding her at arm's length while he mopped futilely at his face. Lettuce gently reached up and stopped his hand.
'I can get you a towel if you want,' she said. 'Pai-kun, I'm glad to see you.'
'And I you.' His hand closed around hers, holding it to his cheek. His smile was warm, but she thought it seemed less energetic than usual, and looking closer she saw that there were deep purple shadows under his eyes. In a way they made him more handsome – they echoed the indigo of his eyes to perfection – but it was a gaunt sort of beauty. There was something strange in his expression too, something hesitant and longing. Almost sad. She was puzzled. What had brought that on?
'Pai-kun,' are you alright?' she asked.
'Yes. Yes, I'm fine.' It seemed to take him a moment to pull together an answer, and Lettuce noticed the slight droop of his head and shoulders. 'I just came to wish you goodnight. I didn't mean to disturb you; were you going to bed?' He glanced at the neatly folded nightclothes on her bed.
'Well, I was about to, but I don't mind staying up longer. You can sit down if you want to.' Lettuce moved back to her desk and began to pack away her school work, surreptitiously sliding the sketches of Pai out of sight. 'I'm honestly not tired.'
'I wish I could say the same,' Pai muttered ruefully, perching himself on a chair. He rubbed his eyes and Lettuce grimaced in sympathy. She could imagine all too well the aches that must be pricking behind them. She was no stranger to the feeling herself.
'And here you are worrying about keeping me up,' she chided gently. 'You work much too hard. You should go to sleep.'
'I can't sleep,' Pai admitted softly. 'Not tonight.'
'I know exactly what you mean,' Lettuce said. 'Too many ideas.'
'And worries,' Pai added. He felt vulnerable in confessing this to her – all their conversations so far had been about earning her trust, calming her anxieties. But what was the relationship if they couldn't be honest with one another? 'Lettuce, I –'
'Pai-kun?' she asked, stepping towards him with worry in her face.
His nerve broke. 'It's nothing. I wanted to see you, because...nothing. I'm tired. I thought a change of scene might help.'
Lettuce bit her lip in confusion. She felt that there must be something troubling him, but she couldn't for the life of her think what it was.
'It's horrible when you're tired and you can't sleep,' she said, 'but right now I'm honestly not sleepy at all. So you can stay for a while, if you want.'
'That would be good,' Pai nodded. 'I've had just about all I can take of that place right now.' His voice fell away to a whisper on the last words, and he dropped his head into his hands. Lettuce watched him in consternation. He must be feeling terrible.
She chewed her lip for a moment, then crossed over to her bed and propped the pillows up against the headboard. She settled herself against them and called:
'Pai-kun, come here.'
He looked up, and then teleported across, making her jump. Laughing slightly, she took his shoulders and tugged him gently backwards until his head came to rest in her lap.
'Lettuce?'
'Just relax, Pai-kun,' she said soothingly. 'You need some sleep.' Pai looked up at her for a moment and then closed his eyes.
He felt her unwind the binding on his hair and begin to run her fingers through it, continuing until it was all loose and the slight ache caused by its weight entirely soothed away. She smoothed the tousled strands back from his forehead and began to massage his scalp, sliding her fingers through his hair and down to the nape of his neck. His breathing was growing deeper and more regular, his shoulders slowly unstiffening as she rubbed them in gentle circles with the tips of her fingers.
Then she softly stroked his ears, and he hastily bit back a gasp. His first instinct was to shake her off, but he forced himself to lie quiet and still, and to let her continue, though all she had to do to cause him excruciating pain was to crush one of his ears in her fist...
Did she have any idea how good that felt?
He hadn't even realised he was cold, but her hands felt deliciously warm as they cupped his ears and slid along them from base to tip, erasing the chill of the rain. At the same time she was quieting the anxiety in his heart. He had known that it would be better when she was there with him. His fears were nothing but the product of separation and his own mind. He couldn't believe that there was anything in Kish's story now – not while she was touching him like this.
'Ah,' he sighed, 'Lettuce...'
'Go to sleep,' she whispered, cupping his cheek to draw him closer to her. Pai let his eyes fall shut again and slowly abandoned himself to her touch. It felt unnerving to relinquish control to her – a small part of his mind persisted in reminding him that she was the enemy – and he was afraid to let her attention dwell on any feature that might remind her of his alienness. But this new vulnerability was thrilling as well as frightening. It made him feel more connected to her, hers as she was his. He began to relax more fully, letting her lull him into a dark, peaceful state where all he could feel was her fingers running through his hair and along his ears and down his neck, and where sleep reached gently out to fold him in its arms.
Lettuce heard his breath come out in a deep sigh and felt him slump in her arms. She continued to stroke his face and neck until she was sure that he was fast asleep, and then slid his head very carefully off her lap and stood up, gathering her pyjamas and slipping quietly out of the room.
She showered and brushed her teeth in a daze, unable to think of anything but Pai, his head a warm, heavy weight in her lap, and the way the frustration and tiredness had slowly ebbed out of his face as she soothed him. That was what she wanted to do for him, she realised, every day. Stop him from worrying and hurting, and make him happy. She climbed slowly into her pyjamas, eyes far away. She loved him. Her whole body felt weak and tender with it, and she was suddenly eager to be by his side again.
She ran lightly along the landing and slipped back into her room. Pai was lying exactly as she had left him, stretched out on his back with his eyes closed. His face still looked a little strained. She hoped he would sleep for a long time.
It was only a single bed, but there was room enough for two. Holding her breath, she climbed very carefully over him, settling down on his other side where there was room. She propped herself up on one elbow for a moment to admire him, free for once from the piercing beam of his gaze, which always took a little courage to meet. She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. Pai mumbled something in his sleep and rolled onto his side, curling his whole body around it. His ear twitched a little and then was still.
Lettuce smiled at the unconscious gesture of affection, sliding her other arm through the gap between his neck and the pillow and wrapping it around him. She placed a tender kiss on the nape of his neck and then closed her eyes, letting herself begin to drift slowly off to sleep.
A/N: Yeah, so I edited this chapter with some SCENES in the middle, to try and make my plot work out a bit better. There's another couple of chapters coming right up.
