Disclaimer: If I owned +Anima, Husky and Nana would've gotten together in the first few chapters.

Husky sighed inwardly. He mentally smashed his head into a wall, disciplining himself for letting his mind picture himself leaning down to Nana, and pressing his lips to her own. This time, Husky physically slammed his face into a tree near him. He saw everyone looking at him curiously, probably wondering about his sanity. He ignored their stares, and continued to walk ahead, all the while wondering if Nana thought he was as stupid as he acted sometimes. Husky felt himself walk faster, eager to get away from the accusing eyes. He tried to go as fast as possible without running, but his feet became clumsy and he tripped. Husky fell flat on his face, and stayed there.

"Uh… Husky? Are you okay?" Nana asked, leaning down to him. He could smell her hair, which strangely, smelt like strawberries. He wasn't sure how that was possible, seeing as the only shampoo they had was some cheap hotel crap.

"Mmmf." Husky responded numbly. He felt his face go red. How stupid was he? Nana helped the girlish boy onto his feet, and he could tell she was holding back laughter.

"Uhm, Husky, you're face is all red. And dirty." she giggled.

"Shut up, stupid girl." Husky retorted, turning forward. He began walking again. He could here the group's snickers and Nana's 'Humph!' behind him.

"Husky…" Nana begged, grabbing his sleeve. He put a hand over hers.

"I know. I'm trying." he told her. She looked up to the darkening sky, and then around her at the forest. Fear sliced through her like a knife, and she heard herself whimper. Husky's hand tightened around hers before he let go. She kept hers on his sleeve. She knew that Sasori, El-hime, and Jagger had no idea why she was acting this way, but she wasn't about to explain. She heard Delia turn to them and explain, but tried not to listen to her own past. Nana held tighter still to the piece of cloth, and she heard crickets chirp as the sun disappeared behind the trees, leaving the group in darkness. Nana froze, unable to go any further. She curled up against a tree, and sobbed. She could feel somebody hugging her to themselves. A man. She didn't bother looking to see who it was, but instead tried to block out the dark night that had refused to cease replaying in her head since she was a child. Her whole body shook, and the arms around her tightened protectively. She felt herself turn and bury into the chest of the person holding her. Nana now could tell, facing the figure, that it was Husky. He had a smell of saltwater and pine trees that nobody else did.

"Daddy!" Nana sobbed. "Oh please, no!"

"Shh… no one is here, Nana, just us. Me, you, Senri, and everyone else. All our friends." the deep, husky voice assured her. That was, after all, where Husky got his nickname.

Husky felt himself die inside as the girl he loved cried in his arms. She was in pain, and he couldn't do anything about it. He could feel the stares on his back as he attempted to sooth her, but he ignored them. It wasn't the time to get upset over people's teasing. He stroked her hair, and murmured silent promises in her ear. Husky felt the air hitch in his throat as she let out an ear piercing shriek that broke out into another sob. She must've been remembering when she saw him coming closer as she tripped on the ground. He only knew this because she had told him the story one day when he was being especially kind. Husky forced air to work with his lungs, and held his own sobs. He'd never been one to cry, and he'd felt the pain during this before, but now that he admitted to himself he loved her, the urge to cry with her was tripled. He wondered how his face looked to the others. Twisted with pain? Or cool and calm?

"Please…no…" she whispered, clutching Husky's now soaked shirt. He winced. Husky felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Delia.

"Is it always this bad?" she asked. He shook his head. It had gotten worse than usual.

"I knew it… it's the fact she had relived it when she told me… I'm so sorry…"

"Not your fault." Husky forced out. Did his voice crack? He wasn't sure.

"Do you want me to take over?" Delia suggested. Husky's arms tensed around Nana. Delia took that as a no, shrugged, and awkwardly walked over to the rest of the watching group.

Nana opened her eyes to the lightened trees around her. Her throat hurt, and her eyes were dry. She remembered slightly how horrible she was last night. One thing screamed out to her more than anything, though.

'oh god. Oh god! I let Husky see me in that state? And isn't that his only shirt? What if I shrunk it with my tears? (a/n: LOL.) Oh god..' Nana shrieked in her head. She tried to sit up, but something strong pinned her down. She then noticed the pale skinned arm wrapped around her waist, and heard the heavy breathing in her ear. Her face began to heat up as she realized who she had fallen asleep in the arms of. She then realized he was probably exhausted, staying up even longer than her. She smiled a bit, and closed her eyes, picturing his sleeping face. When she opened her eyes again, two red eyes were staring into hers. She jumped a bit, but the restricting arms made movement difficult.

"You look happy, for someone who spent half the night screaming."

"Yeah, thanks, I guess." she blushed. Sasori grinned.

"You look like you're enjoying that position." the red-head laughed.

"Sure I am."

"You just agreed, you know."

"I was being sarcastic, you know." Nana said in an imitation of Sasori's cheerful voice. The cheetah girl just let out a short burst of laughter.

"Would you like some help out of there?" she asked. Nana shook her head.

"He's a light sleeper. You touch him and he'll wake up." the brunette-blonde lied. Actually, Husky was an extremely heavy sleeper.

"Whatever you say." The redhead walked away, and along with El-hime, dumped a bucket full of what was probably freezing water on Jagger. Nana giggled at the three as Jagger shot up wildly. The grip around her waist tightened, and she was pulled into his warmth. She could feel his muscles beneath his thin shirt, and that made her blush. She was way to close. Any closer and she might make a huge mistake. The girl squirmed in his grip. She then tensed when he yawned, and rolled over. She was now pinned on top of him, inches from his face. It took all her willpower not to close that space and kiss him right there, but she managed it. She narrowed her eyes, and in a last second decision, woke him up the only way she knew would work. She twisted until her mouth was by his left ear, and whispered.

"Husky…Cooro is telling the story about your mermaid dress."

Husky's eyes opened immediately, and he looked extremely angry. She looked down at his face as coolly as possible as he took in their position.

Husky looked at the emerald green eyes inches away from his face. Then he noticed he could feel every curve of a female body around his torso, and that his arm was holding onto something. All anger at Cooro vanished, and Husky immediately jumped to his feet, Nana spilling to the ground. He looked around to see a snickering El-hime and an cheerful Sasori staring at him.

"Nana? What the HELL do you think you're doing?" he said in an extremely high-pitched voice. She sighed.

"Actually, it was you who did this to me." she replied, shrugging. I woke up, and you were holding on to me like your life depended on it." Husky's eyes widened, and he turned away.

"Well, it's not like you gave me a choice last night!" he said, stomping off. Nana ground her teeth, and clenched her fist. She muttered a few cuss words under her breath after him.

"Stupid. Stupid." Husky chanted as he walked away. He looked at the small pond he had arrived at, and jumped into it, morphing into his anima.

'Why am I always acting like this? Can't I do anything right?' fighting with himself in his mind, Husky dove deeper into the pond. It wasn't long until he was at the bottom of the shallow pool of water, skimming along the sand with a few small freshwater fish. His mind was racing, and adrenaline pumped through his veins as he went over the recent scene in his head. His eyes closed while he remembered how it felt to have her so close, neither of them hurting, both of them in a good(ish) mood. He could feel her soft skin through his clothes…

Husky opened his eyes to see blood seeping through the water. He swam upwards, and put is hand to his face. When he pulled it away, fresh blood was dripping from it. Husky felt himself break into a sweat.

"N-nosebleed." he laughed at himself, wishing he had someone that would smack him for thinking perverted thoughts.

"What kind of person have I become?" he asked himself, laughing as blood dribbled into the water.

Nana kept a string of cusses and complaints under her breath as she stalked around the campsite. Husky always had to make things complicated. It's not like she wanted to be tempted to kiss him. Okay, so she was tempted all the time, but the closeness wasn't fair! He'd probably puke if she tried to, anyways. After all, he was horrified the time Sasori made them…

Or was he? Nana couldn't help the hope that the blush on his face wasn't from just humiliation. Her mind wandered, and she stopped walking. Maybe he liked it as much as her? Nana looked ahead of her, now immersed in a daydream. She started walking again, but instead of turning around and pacing, she kept going straight. Somewhere in the back of her mind she noticed that she was heading towards a pond. She stopped when the water's surface broke and a beautiful, silver haired girl stood before her.

Wait, silver haired girl?

Nana blinked, and the 'girl' came into focus. She almost burst into laughter when she noticed that it wasn't a girl, but Husky, dripping with water and running a hand through his slightly shaggy hair.

"Stupid!" Husky said loudly, making Nana jump. She moved backwards and behind a tree, for some reason getting the instinct to stay hidden. Husky's hands ruffled his hair in what she guessed was annoyance as he continued talking to himself. She couldn't make out most of the words, but she caught a few.

"Just…should've….stupid….I can't….Nana!" was what she managed to catch. Her eyebrows raised at the mention of her name.

"What about me?" asked Nana, forgetting her plan to stay hidden. Husky jumped about ten feet in the air.

"N-Nana!" Husky yelled. "How long have you been here?"

"Just about five minutes…Why the freak out?"

"Ergh! No reason." he hastily replied, the pale skin flushing all over. Nana laughed at the redness that probably covered his whole body.

"You were talking to your self about me." she stated. "I heard that much."

"E-eh? No I wasn't!"

"You were. Tell me what you said." she demanded. Husky shook his head.

"You must be hearing things." he told her stubbornly. He wobbled, and Nana realized he was fighting to keep himself above water with his tail like that. She only had a limited amount of time to get it out of him.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Tell!"

"No!"

"Tell! Me!"

"I! Won't!" Husky fought back with a grimace. His face was still red, though, which made him look silly.

"Please?" Nana asked, looking up from under her thick eyelashes. It always worked.

"Err, what?" asked a stunned Husky, who no longer seemed to know what they were talking about.

"Just tell me a little bit…" Nana begged, inching closer. Husky blinked.

"Uhh, I was just saying about how I…"

"How you…?" Nana urged, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I was just talking to myself about how I might as well…uh...what was it?" Husky said, dazed. Nana fought the urge to slap him. 'men. So easily manipulated. Oh god, now I'm sounding like a backwards Husky!' she thought to herself. Nana sighed inwardly, and pursed her lips, making herself look like a pouting model in Husky's eyes.

'How do guys go for this look? I'm sure I look ridiculous.' she said to herself on this inside. Another eyelash flutter.

"I was telling myself to… what was the question?" asked Husky, scratching his head and attempting to look away from Nana.

"What were you saying about me?" Nana said through her teeth, trying to keep the pouting look on her face.

"Oh, yeah. Well, I was saying…"

"Yeeesssss?" begged Nana.

"Well- I… you know what, let me just show you." Husky told her, giving in quickly. Nana's expression turned from pouty to triumphant then to surprise as the silver haired prince leaned down to her.

Authors note: And it ends there. Because I'm evil. And I'm saving the fluffy goodness for the next chapter. I wasn't going to get them together so soon… but I couldn't resist. And anyways, there is still plenty of trials I can put them through to keep it interesting. And we still have Senri and Rose to take care of…. And Husky and Nana wouldn't ever think of actually TELLING anyone of their relationship! …Oops, did I say too much?…. Hehehe…