Ritsuka was in the middle of a conundrum: either he will remember this night for the rest of his life, or he won't remember anything. Tasting alcohol for the first time was going to leave a mark on him forever though that much was certain. As he tried falling asleep in his tent, his head continued to throb.

"Never again," he groaned to himself. A part of him wanted to step out and get some fresh air, but he was afraid he'd stumble and fall flat on his face or walk into a tree. One or the other. That meant he had to lie there and just try to keep his eyes closed. Well, until he heard the tent flaps flutter.

"Oh, sorry. Were you sleeping?"

…Well, he was feeling troubled but this felt like too much for her to appear again. That being said though, he didn't quite mind.

"Trying to," Ritsuka groaned in response to the soft question as he tried to sit up. He tried to get a look at her to figure out when Fu Hua was from this time, but he was still seeing double. At the very least, her hair was back to a blueish-gray. "Oh hey, there's two of you," he tried to joke but Fu Hua didn't laugh. Instead, she actually looked around frantically.

"Huh? Why did you…" she muttered before shaking her head. "Are you feeling okay, Ritsuka? You don't look so well," she asked in concern as she moved closer and sat down next to him.

"No, I'm not," he grumbled as he laid back down and rubbed his temples. "My head feels like it's going to explode. If this is how it's going to be every time, I swear I'll never so much as take another sip."

"Another… sip?" Fu Hua muttered in confusion before it finally clicked in her mind what was the cause behind all this. "Oh, you're travelling with Francis Drake now, aren't you?"

"Yup…" It wasn't completely her fault, but he wasn't in the mind to think about the nuances. Right now, he was more miffed that Fu Hua was enjoying his suffering by the way she was chuckling.

"I was wondering when I'll see this," she hummed in amusement. "You mentioned a few times before that you had a bad experience once but I assumed you did something embarrassing, not that you were bedridden." Actually, he may or may not have done something but she didn't need to know that…

Either way, he knew he shouldn't be asking, but he just had to know. "Tell me I never drank a bottle again…"

"No, you didn't," Fu Hua reassured him with a smile. He felt her intertwine her fingers with his and give him a firm squeeze. "No matter the occasion, you made sure to stay away from any alcohol."

"Occasion?"

"You know; birthdays, anniversaries, other celebrations like that," she elaborated without missing a beat as she reminisced of her previous meetings with him. "Even the night we got ma— er… you know, times when a little drink is not unwarranted."

"..."

"...Please forget I said anything, I don't think you're supposed to know yet," Fu Hua pleaded in a small embarrassed voice.

Well, he already had assumptions after the Rome incident; she just confirmed them. But to be nice, he'll not mention it and try to flush it out of his head. An easy job considering how hazy the last couple hours were now. "Way ahead of ya."

"..."

"..."

"...So how exactly did that happen? I don't think it's possible for it to be official since all the complications with… this."

"It's the thought that matters," she pouted while averting her gaze. "And please just forget about it. It's better that way for now since… I don't think you actually see me that way."

"No, not really," Ritsuka bluntly replied. "I'll be frank, you're more of a weird confidant right now but who knows? It looks like that'd change in the future. It's more a matter of when."

His answer made Fu Hua crack a small smile again. "You're too accepting of everything," she teased him. "But thank you. I can only ask that when the roles are reversed—"

"I'll try my best to be patient like you." And avoid another Rome incident… Speaking of which— "Hey, Fu Hua?"

"Yes?"

"Have you met me in Rome yet?"

Her reaction was immediate; her face turned as scarlet as her other attire and she struggled to get a word out. "That was—! I—! Ritsuka, please forget about that too! I wasn't thinking straight that night!"

A laugh escaped from Ritsuka this time. "Alright, alright. I won't bring it up again." Not unless he wanted to see such a cute reaction anyway. '...Cute…' he thought again as he felt his eyelids grow heavier. "Sorry, but I think it's time for me to actually sleep.*

Seeing him struggling to keep his eyes open, Fu Hua smiled again. "Sorry for keeping you up so long. Get a restful night's sleep, Ritsuka. You deserve it."

As he closed his eyes and drifted into slumber, he barely registered a soft tap to his forehead. 'Did she…' were his final thoughts before everything went dark.

The mission was successfully completed in the end; Ritsuka could barely remember what happened the night he took his first swig of a bottle. All he could recall was seeing two Mashes and Fu Hua visiting him before he passed out. 'Am I forgetting something else…?' he thought to himself as he returned to his room.

When he passed through the door though, it took a second for him to realize he was not in his room. Instead of seeing his new quarters, he was in the middle of a completely different place. It was still a bedroom, but it was definitely not his. So that meant… 'But when?'

So far, he knew there were about three periods she could come from despite looking mostly the same through it all: her early days as a soldier, her later days undercover at a school, and some undetermined when she wore white and red. He assumed that was later on, but he couldn't be too sure. In any case, he determined he was during Hua's early days. The walls felt… colder is the best way to describe them. Combined with how sparse the room was (there was only a bed, a table, and a wardrobe), Ritsuka felt that was about right.

Either way, that led to the next question: where was she?

There were two doors too: one behind him which presumably led outside, and another in the corner. Chances are, she was through the latt— click —and the door opened. "Oh hey, Hu— aah!?"

"Ritsuka?!"

Ritsuka reacted immediately and spun around. Though he didn't see anything he wasn't supposed to, his face was still burning scarlet. "Just hope she already knows about all this…"

A/N: And that's all the chapters up. Now to wait till I get an idea where to take this story next.