Killer was gone longer than you thought he'd be. Longer then the guys thought he'd be actually. As the day wore on to the late evening, Wire started checking the time obsessively until he finally let out a dejected sigh. He then grumpily explained that he was missing out on a date and was going to have to bail on them. You tried telling him it was fine for him to go to that, feeling guilty that he had to stick around for you, but he insisted he had to stay and it wasn't your fault.

Heat was having a hard time staying awake like you after you ate. He did his best to not nod off but the steady, low sounds of the tv and the warmth of three bodies close together proved to much for him. He fell asleep leaning on you, forcing you to lean back on Wire so you wouldn't strain yourself and to keep him of the worst of your bruising.

You and Wire talked quietly to pass the time and keep you from falling asleep as well. It wouldn't have hurt if you did, but you wanted to wait until Killer came back. Still, it was a fight you were losing. Replies came slower and were more mumbled as you tried to keep your eyes open.

When the front door clicked open, you didn't register it at first. Not until there was the steady sound of boots hitting the floor and moving closer. The couch shifted as Killer leaned over the back and you twisted around a bit to get a good look at him. He smiled lightly at you as his hair fell forward over his shoulder. To your surprise, Clover came with him, hopping up into your lap and letting out a couple small meows.

"I thought you were supposed to get some rest." Killer chastised softly, tapping Heat's shoulder to wake him up at the same time.

"I didn't wanna without you here."

"S'true." Heat slurred as he got off of you and stretched. "We couldn't get her to if we tried."

Killer hummed in response as he came around in front of you. "That's fine. Thanks for watching her guys, I'll take it from here."

They took that as their signal to leave and they got up with a few goodbyes. As soon as they were gone, Killer focused back on you.

"I'm going to take a shower and then I'll join you in bed. Does that work or did you want to join me?"

The offer was innocent but you weren't ready for him to see you naked right now. He just got back and you weren't keen on getting him pissed after he probably just finished taking his anger out on Scratchmen.

"I'll go to bed." You yawned and wiggled out from the confines of the blanket tangled around your body. The cat moved to the side, watching you and waiting for a chance to get back in your lap.

"Okay." He murmured as he moved in closer, carefully cupping your face with a hand. "How're you feeling?"

It'd hardly been a full day since you escaped and you were already feeling a strong dislike for that question. You didn't feel great and that much should be expected. Being asked that like it'd change magically made you frown but you could be patient with your lover.

"I'm just tired."

Killer didn't seem to like the answer but he wasn't going to argue either. He moved in for a chaste kiss before pulling away.

"You put up with a lot." He helped you to your feet and walked with you to the bedroom, Clover following after, hell bent on getting time in with you. "I'm not surprised."

"Yeah." You immediately snuggled under the bedding with your furry friend, peering at Killer past pillows and the comforter. "I hope Kid knows I'm not doing something like that again."

"It was unanimously decided by everyone there wouldn't be a repeat of a job like that. It took a dangerous turn that could've ended much worse than it did."

"Everyone?"

He hummed in response as he stripped, tossing his clothes in the laundry basket in the corner of the room. There were flecks of blood covering the shirt and even bigger smears along the front of his jeans, like he'd wiped off his hands or perhaps a blade to clean it. All of this was very reminiscent of the first night you spent here, with you in his bed and him returning from hurting someone that'd hurt you.

"Both of the other crews spoke highly of you and were very keen on keeping you safe." He noted.

"I didn't realize they cared that much."

"They seem to."

You nodded and closed your eyes. It was relieving to hear you wouldn't have to try some undercover-esque job again. An all out assault is more what you were made for and doing anything else at this point would be too scary. It'd leave you vulnerable in a way you didn't think you could ever be.

While no longer hiding what you were had been enjoyable so far, you were starting to see the risks associated with it. Subtle was no longer an option for you. People knew who you were and it wouldn't matter where you went or how carefully you hid yourself. Someone would always recognize you. There were plenty of gangs out there willing to take advantage of you and Scratchmen was your first taste of how that would go. But it'd never happen again, not if you could help it.

You hadn't realized Killer had left the room or that you were dozing off and on until he slipped under the sheets with you. He scoot closer to your back and ran his lips along the nape of your neck.

"I missed you." He murmured, nuzzling in. One of his hands went to rest at your hip as he tried to get comfortable, only for him to pause when he felt fabric. "Decided to wear your clothes to bed?"

That was technically odd for you. Usually both you and Killer slept with little to no clothing. While you wanted the shirt to stay, not everything had to. It would make him less worried about you hiding something if you took off a few things, so you did.

The pants were kicked off and you removed your bra without taking off your shirt. It was all tossed to the floor before he resumed cuddling against your back.

"The leaders are taking over on things for a bit." It felt like he was filling empty space with words to make himself feel better. He was still very uptight with what had happened the last few days and you doubted he'd be able to relax fully for a while. Not until you healed up better at least. "That means we have some time to take things easy."

"That sounds nice."

"I thought it would."

He quieted down and before you knew it, he was snoring softly. Your lover ended up being just as tired as you were. He must have spent some long nights awake by himself. You did too and the need to make up for that soon won over.

----

A small, discontent whine left you as you felt something squeeze your middle. The tender bruise along your stomach was being pressed in painfully and it forced you awake.

You took a sharp breath in as the pressure increased and you noticed Killer's arms wrapped around you. He was squished up against you, still sound asleep. His grip was entirely too strong for someone completely out of it. Or maybe you were feeling too delicate for the time being. Either way, you had to wiggle out of his hold and make him stop.

The hard part was doing it without waking him up. Your hands fell to his as you tried to loosen his hold and get some space between the two of you. But as you started to unlace his fingers, he squeezed harder, not wanting to budge.

"Ouch!" You winced as your middle throbbed and pain shot up your center. A short gasp left you and you quickly gave up on letting him rest longer. "Killer that hurts."

He jerked up upon hearing your pained noises and released you.

"What?" He blinked hard as he tried to wake up and make sense of what was going on. There was a whole deer in headlights expression stuck on his face that you'd never seen before.

"Nothing." You responded fast, hoping he wouldn't catch what you'd said.

"No." He frowned. "Not nothing. What hurt?"

So much for that.

"I'm fine." You insisted. "Just pinched something is all."

The lie wasn't great and Killer saw right through it. He pushed you onto your back and straddled your hips, making sure he touched you in places he could see weren't hurt. You weren't sure what he was going to do until he nudged your shirt up.

"Hold on–"

"Let me see." He growled.

The demanding tone shut you up and made you hold your breath as you waited, dreading to see his reaction.

The shirt slid up high enough to reveal a sickly shade of deep purple covering your stomach. It looked much worse than yesterday and frankly, you were surprised nothing was broken. At least nothing was swollen or suggested any internal damage past the bruising. But the surface was still very delicate. You couldn't help but shy away from Killer's touch as he brushed his fingertips across your skin.

"Why didn't you show me this?" He whispered.

You met his eyes and felt like crying when you saw the hurt in them. How could you explain that you were afraid of what he'd say if he looked higher? That was something you were going to have to figure out fast. His gaze dropped back down, lingering on the discolored area before he pulled the shirt off of you and threw it over the bed.

All you could do was watch his face and gauge his reaction. His eyes darkened as he took in the marks covering your chest. His brows furrowed, lips pressed together firmly in a straight line, his jaw tensed as he ground his teeth together in growing anger.

"He touched you."

"I'm sorry." The beginnings of tears built up in the corners of your eyes and you were overcome with the need to cover yourself. "I tried to stop him but there was seastone and...."

"(Y/n), no." The tension in his body suddenly left as he pulled you into a hug, very conscious about not touching your many sore spots. "It's okay." He shook his head. "I mean, this isn't. What he did wasn't okay, but it's not your fault."

"You're not mad?" A few tears spilled down your face as you stared up at him in disbelief.

"Not with you." That implied he was with a certain soon to be ex gang leader. "I should be apologizing, I'm sorry we couldn't figure things out fast enough to get you out before any of this happened."

You didn't dare tell him you never planned on them getting to you first. Some habits die hard and the one you struggled with still was believing someone may be there to save you. It may not exactly be bad to have that mindset, but you were sure he wouldn't appreciate it.

"Did he do anything else to you?" Killer asked adamantly.

The memory of Scratchmen's hands touching your most personal places invaded your mind and you shuddered.

"(Y/n), did he actually–"

"No. He didn't get that far."

Killer let out a sigh of relief, his body slumping into yours slightly as he cradled you.

"But it was close." Your arms wrapped around his neck and you nestled your head into his bare chest. "I was really scared I wouldn't be able to stop him from going further."

"I'm going to fucking kill him." He snarled in a sudden fit of rage.

Your eyes widened as he started to get off the bed, fully intent on going back to finish the job you yourself couldn't do.

"Wait, don't leave!" You grasped at his arm and hugged it to your chest. "Please don't go."

He paused, body shaking with anger. It was a fight between getting revenge and giving you the company he was sure you needed.

"This can't go unpunished (Y/n)."

"So you're just going to leave again? I don't want Heat or Wire or Hayate here, I want you."

That made his decision easier. Killer begrudgingly laid back down with you, much to your relief. You faced each other, him still looking very unsettled as he wiped your face clean of wet streaks.

"I'll stay then. But he still needs to pay."

You agreed with that. As you wrapped back up in the blankets to hide your body, you blamed Apoo for making you feel so fragile and insecure. It left you in a cloud of emotions you couldn't pick apart and you just wanted to feel okay again. If hurting him did fixed that, you'd be fine with him having more time with whatever torture he'd been going through. It was a twisted thought that didn't phase you.

"I never said he didn't." You answered finally, patting the bed to encourage Clover to join you when you noticed her at the foot of the bed.

She jumped up and made her way between you and Killer, laying down on your lover's chest and batting lightly at his beard. The cute action made you smile a bit.

He held the cat down as he turned a bit to grab his phone from the nightstand, keeping her in place. "If I can't take care of it, Kid can."

"H-he doesn't have to know details." You said quickly. "I don't want him to."

He nodded slowly, understanding your worry. "I won't tell him anything important."

"Thank you." You curled up closer, keeping the bedding held close and scratching Clover's neck until she started purring.

Killer moved an arm under your head and let his hand graze along your side lovingly as he called Kid. The latter picked up after a few rings, grumbling on the other end.

"Why the fuck are you calling?" Kid spat the words out loud enough for you to hear. Or maybe Killer made it so you could hear both sides of the conversation.

"Are you going back today?"

"Yes."

"Fuck him up for me. Tell him he made it personal."

There was a pause on the other end. He was never one to make demands of Kid, being that he technically wasn't in a position to do so, and making one so aggressively caught his friend and boss off guard.

".... I'll do what I can. The others are supposed to be there by noon."

Killer pulled the phone away long enough to check the time before responding. "You've got a couple hours."

Kid groaned. "I wanted to get more time in with him anyway.  There's quite a bit that trash hasn't talked about yet. In the mean time, you and Blue are on house arrest. No going anywhere until I say so."

That was probably meant more for you than anyone else, not like you wanted to go anywhere though. The complex was plenty big enough for you right now, going out was the farthest thing on your mind.

Your lover looked down at you, gaze going from your covered body to move up and linger at your lips, and then rest on your own mismatch eyes.

"I think that's fine with us." He said in return. "She's not in the mood to go out anyway."

He knew you so well.

"Good. Put the others to work doing something, I don't care what just don't let them laze about. I'll be back later." Kid hung up abruptly and you felt a little more at ease knowing he was willing to get up early and do something like this for you.

Sure he enjoyed torturing his enemies, but this was definitely more of a favor. It was nice to see he had gained a bit of a soft spot for you.

Killer leaned over and kissed you on the forehead as he rubbed along your hip. "I'd rather take care of this myself but I guess having Kid do it is a good compromise."

"I just don't want you to go again."

"I know, I'll stay as long as you need."

"Forever." You let a giggle slip out. Seeing how well he took learning the full truth of what happened made you feel so much better. It was silly to think he'd suddenly stop caring about you over something out of your control.

"Forever it is." He smiled back.

It was still going to be a rough few days, but you felt better about tackling them now that you knew he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

(A/n)
I'm not sure how much longer this story is going to be but I don't want to make it so long that it drags on. Point being, I'm going to be planning out the end of this very soon. But no worries, that doesn't mean there's going to be a shortage of chapters~