Chapter 3

Saki watched from the shadows as Shoko left the hospital. Butterflies in her stomach, she knew there was no turning back now. If she was wrong this could lead to the end of all hope for her; but if she was right. She knew she had to be right. She was betting her life, no her very future existance on it. If he was truly gone, what did she have left to live for?

Saki took her hospital entry as more a mission than a visit. If they were keeping him a secret he wouldn't be easy to find nor would he be easy to get to.

Her first target, the nurse's locker room. She studied the location of the security cameras and the nurses rounds pattern. Sneaking in in ninja-like style. L-elf taught her well. It was just a matter of minutes to secure a nurse's outfit; a matter of seconds to access the patient files. It took no time at all to look through the admissions files. It had been exactly 18 days she recalled. 18 days since she heard his voice. 18 days since she's seen his face. 18 days since she felt his touch. 18 days alone without him.

"16 admissions 18 days ago" Saki thought to herself. "5 pregnancies, 2 cancer patients, 1 heart attack, 7 general admissions...and 1 coma patient". Saki froze thinking to herself "coma. That would explain it". "Room 415" she whispered to herself.

She picked up a clipboard and hid behind it heading toward the hospital lifts.

"This is it" she thought "there's no turning back now". She turned a corner seeing her target in the distance "Room 415" she smiled nervously. She pushed the door handle, her hands shaking more than they ever had. she walked in eyes closed closing the door behind her. "This is it" she thought to herself once again knowing that if she was wrong it was all over. She opened her eyes.

"I knew it!" she almost shouted silencing herself quickly for fear of being discovered. "You're alive" she whispered to him in an almost dreamlike state. She sat on the edge of his bed taking his hand. "I told you I'd always be there to protect you" she whispered to him knowing all too well he couldn't answer "I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere". She softly kissed his lips; cuddled up in bed against him and found the sleep she had been denied these last 18 days; and 17 nights.

Four hours later the door slowly opened.

"I'm back" whispered Shoko expecting to find Haruto alone. The sight before her knocked the wind out of her sails. There beside him, cuddled up tight; "Saki-oneechan?!" she wondered. "The tears in her eyes. The smile on her face" Shoko thought. "What did I miss?!". "Was there something quietly going on between them?" she was confused. If it was anyone else but Saki or Akira she'd be angry; she'd fight.

"Why have I never had those feelings for him?" she thought. "He was my best friend; he was my...friend". She finally realized her feelings for him after all this time. She long saw Haruto as the man she loved, the man she'd marry, the man she'd spend her life with; but now, thinking about her feelings for him. It was never the love of a lover. It was the love of a best friend. Shoko left the room quietly closing the door behind her stopping by the nurses desk on the way out.

"Leaving early tonight, Prime Minister?" the nurse asked of Shoko.

"I won't be around for a bit I'm afraid" Shoko said with a slight smile. "a friend will be watching over him". "Could you do me a big favor?" Shoko asked the nurse.

"For you, of course Prime Minister!"

"Let her sleep. She needs it and she'll need a good breakfast once she wakes up. When you meet her, tell her that Shoko-oneechan said 'he's all yours, now. never let him go'. She'll know what it means".

Shoko left the hospital that day feeling better than she had in a long long time. Still confused, she had to ask around. Akira-chan was lead technician on the Valvrave Units. Surely if something was going on she'd have an idea what was happening.