You have no idea how glad and surprised I am at how well that last chapter went. No idea.
Ahaha Szayel's Angel XD
Thelostcullengirl agh I hate that too, I'm really bad with certain noises (like, when someone scratches the car roof like my little brother does because he knows it will leave me in a twitching ball of weirdness -_-)
Banana phone is a song Kriscrable haha, but Starstar might have a yellow phone too x)

*pause* (Sorry, this is a pretty late update for me. Basically Dad shouted upstairs all like 'Hey *child's name*, the Hangover Part II is on, wanna watch it?' and I was like 'pfft yeah' and so I went to watch the Hangover avec ma mere and mon pere, and then ate some toast and enjoyed an hour and three-quarters equal parts creased and embarrassed.. So.. Yeah.. My bad.. [also somebody please send me Bradley Cooper for my birthday. Please.]) *resume*

I know how you feel Rosalia, just after the last upload I suddenly remembered I had to read 80 pages of this book for book club (not nerdy. not at all *shifty eyes*) and so I had to cram read the entire thing, which turned out to be pointless because the teacher wasn't even there -_-
Hope you got your projects sorted though ^_^
Starstar it's cool haha, my iPod's the same sometimes, I'll always know it's you x)
I get the feeling Ayasumi will like this chapter. Just a... an author's hunch ;)

DONE. Also mildly hyper. Much love, munchkins ~nellen :3 xx

"Clive? Clive! I was so worried, are you alright? Did he hurt you? Oh goodness you're bleeding!"

Almost without thinking Flora threw her arms around him, immediately letting go when he winced in pain.
"I-I'm fine," he muttered, "just, bruised. He was about to slip off upstairs when Flora caught hold of his arm again, gently.
"Please, just let me put something on that cut, it's pouring," she whispered, words catching in her throat as she carefully tilted his head for a better view.

It was a fairly small cut, yes, but bleeding profusely, as was another she had only just noticed on his hand.
"Those cuts, I mean, let me put something on those cuts."

Clive sighed as she led him into the kitchen and sat him on one of the chairs.
"D-did he, did he... Are you..."
"I won," he mumbled quietly, cutting off the girl's questions.
The room fell completely silent then, apart from the rustling of Flora searching through the first aid box for bandages of some sort.
"Here," she murmured, gently turning his head again, "this will sting, I'm really sorry."
"It's fine," Clive flashed her a weak smile, "can't hurt more than it did getting them."

There was a pause, and then, "c-can I hold your hand?"

Another pause.

"Wh-what was that?" Flora asked, sure she had misheard.
"Can I hold your hand?" Clive repeated a little firmer, blushing despite the pain in his head, "I-I know it's stupid, but when I was little and I hurt myself my mum used to hold my hand and-"
He fell silent as he felt her slip her fingers through his, and relaxed slightly when she gave them a gentle squeeze.
"You're hurt," she mumbled, "and it's my fault. It's the least I could do."
"It's not your fault, I only gave him what he deserved," came the reply, and another caring hand squeeze.
"But you don't deserve this."
"And you didn't deserve that."
Flora closed her eyes, as his finger gently brushed the fading bruises down the side of her face.
"It is my fault though, if I had just kept quiet and not gotten you involved then-"
"Then you would be in a much worse position than I'm in now, and I would never ever forgive myself for letting that go on and not stopping it," Clive chanced another smile, hissing in pain when she dabbed carefully at the cut.
"It-it's fine," he muttered at her wide eyed jump of alarm, "just stings a bit, like you said it would."

He squeezed her hand again, to reassure himself as well as her, and tried not to flinch as she finished cleaning up.
She found a small bandage, and began wrapping it around the cut, making sure not to tie it too tight. Next came the hands, and the girl followed the same cleaning and covering process that she had for his head, although with no hand to squeeze Clive found himself gritting his teeth a few times to hold back a cry of pain.

"Are there anymore cuts, or is the rest just bruises?" She asked quietly, feeling slightly relieved when the boy shook his head.
"Just bruises mostly," he answered as honestly as he could, "I'm not sure. I could take my shirt off if you wanted."
"I'll get it, it's okay," she whispered, hands shaking as she undid the first few buttons. She eased the top over his head, slightly relieved to see far less bruises and wounds than she'd expected.
"I think you're okay, it's just your face and your hands really," she sighed, running a hand down his chest. "Oh Clive, promise me you won't do anything like this again, not for me. You could have been killed, or sent back to prison!"

Clive just shrugged, "I'd do anything for you. I'd easily go back to prison if I thought it meant you'd be safer or happier. Dying for you wouldn't even need thinking about."
"Clive... Why? Why me? And I don't just mean now, I mean the whole thing," Flora whispered, suddenly overcome with questions, eyes wide as she pleaded for an answer. "Why did you kidnap and no one else?"
He sighed, shrugging, "I... I just... I love you. You know that already, but I don't think you know how much. Ever since I first met you, all shy and cute, I always loved you. I don't even know why, it was like instinct. I kidnapped you to protect you. If I'd hurt you or killed you with that goddamn machine, well, it would have destroyed me."
"But... But if you liked me so much, why did you kidnap me?"
"I just explained didn't I?"

"No, I mean, no," Flora blushed, shaking her head, "I mean, if you did like me, why didn't you just say? I, I think I would have liked you too, but, agh I'm so! I can't!"

"That's kind of why I couldn't just ask you," he chuckled, "I just, I couldn't. Clives and feelings do not work well together. I guess, I mean I know this sounds just so clichéd and stupid, but, when mum and dad, it was like-"
"Like you wouldn't feel anything again? Yeah, when I lost my parents, I just sort of went... Numb," she finished his sentence, Clive nodding his approval.
"Yeah, pretty much. And then I saw you, and how happy you were, and I just wanted to be that happy again too. Kidnapping you was a mistake, sure, but, I guess confused and angsty past Clive thought he could persuade you to be his friend eventually. I'm not really sure, to be honest, I mean my head was, I was in a pretty bad way mentally back then and-"

He stopped, Flora's lips cutting him off when they finally met his own.