holy shit guys did it not take me two months to update the next chapter?! wow, how rare... and it's a longer chapter?! wHaT. actually confused how i got this done so fast, but, hey, enjoy my lovely readers <3

My eyes flew open, my whole body covered in a cold sweat. It dripped down my neck, but my mouth was as dry as sand. I looked down at my hands, both of them trembling over what had just happened; dreams. More memories of my time at the hospital had come back to haunt me. Since the day I had collapsed, every night without Garou just led to worse and worse nightmarish scenes coming back. My wrist prickled uncomfortably and I could feel my veins pulsing rapidly against the skin. I wrapped the blanket around myself, trying to keep the tears from falling. I was absolutely terrified.

Trembling in the sheets, I convinced myself to walk to the kitchen and grab some water because the scratchy thirst that persisted in my throat was becoming unbearable. Slipping out of the covers, my bare feet tip-toed across the cold floors. Using both hands, I grabbed a glass, watching it wobble back and forth in my shaky palms. I set it in the sink and ran some cool water in, picking it back up.

The first sip was blissful; the crisp, clean taste soothed my dry mouth and helped me calm down slightly. Surprisingly, my unsteady hands hadn't spilled any on me either, so that was a plus. I took a few more sips, still scared to go back to bed, knowing that as soon as I closed my eyes, the nightmares would persist. "Maybe I'll just wait for Garou to get back..."

As if on cue, I heard the doorknob rattle softly, followed by the click of it opening. "Garou! You're back already-" I stopped mid-sentence, the glass in my hands falling to the floor, sending broken shards of glass and cold water all over the floor. "Garou? No, no, no, I don't think that I'm Garou. You must have the wrong person." A warped image of a man stood before me; he had long blonde hair and four eyes with a mouth full of sharp fangs. His stature towered over mine, each one of his four arms rippling with muscle. "W-Who... Wha..." I stepped back instinctively, my heart rate picking up again.

"Oh my, how rude of me!" The monster covered his mouth with all four of his hands and chuckling. "Please excuse the intrusion. I'm Ayo from the Monster Association and I've come to take you back to headquarters! Gyoro Gyoro has taken quite the interest in you and she said that if I do well then I can get rewarded!" He laughed again, all too cheerful for how he looked. "So, sweetheart, if you come with me peacefully then there won't be any issues, kay?"

I had backed myself into a wall, my nails practically clawing against it. "S-Stay back!" I brandished a piece of the broken glass out in front of myself. "Oh my, oh my, what fighting spirit! How cute~ Unfortunately for you, doll, I can sense your heartbeat. It's through the roof! And I don't think it's because of my hot body because the fear you're emitting tastes magnificent," He slowly walked toward me, his feet crushing the shards to dust without so much as pricking him.

Panic set in, balling up into a tight knot against my rib cage. I couldn't breathe well; this monster was going to kill me. As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't fight. I wasn't the bad ass woman that you would find in the manga. I was just a nobody who couldn't even sleep by herself. Tears of both fear and shame slipped down my face as I watched the beast raise one of its arms, the hand balled up into a fist. My hands instantly raised themselves to try and protect myself from the blow.

The blow, however, never came. I hesitantly opened my eyes to see the monster, frozen in place with a look of horror in all of it's eyes. It crashed onto the floor, froth pouring out of its mouth. My knees gave out and I pitched forward, heading straight for the floor. Strong arms caught me mid-fall, pulling me back up. "Y/n! Y/n! Y/n, answer me!" A calloused hand touched my face, forcing it to look into a familiar pair of eyes. "Garou..." The whisper escaped my chapped lips as the tears flowed harder.

"Garou!" Realization hit like a ton of bricks and I practically crumpled into him, wailing. "Hey, hey... Are you okay? What happened here?!" I couldn't say anything, my speech rendered useless by my bumbling sobs. Instead I gripped his shirt, trying to get even closer to him. One of his hands rubbed my back while the other stayed in his pocket. After a while of that, I had somewhat regained my speaking functions and so I looked up at him with my puffy eyes.

"That monster... He came... Came into the house... And-And tried to attack me..." My sentence wasn't the most elegant, but it got the point across. "Shh... It's okay now." Garou petting my hair, running his fingers through it. "You're safe now." I nuzzled into him at these words, taking the comfort of touch over guessing where he might have been. The overwhelming scent of blood made my nose wrinkle, but I stayed close to him until I physically couldn't handle it anymore. "Garou..." I lifted my head so that we were looking at one another. "Were you hunting again?"

He bit his lip, averting my brutal eye contact like a child who was being scolded. "Maybe?" I sighed softly, grabbing his wrist and trying to pull his hand from his pocket. "Come on, give it. It's been dripping blood since the moment you got here."

"How can you tell?"

"You're pants are white, so let's start there." I pointed to the increasing blood stain on the creamy colored fabric with a raised brow. "Oh," Garou's face turned a little red from embarrassment and I couldn't help but grin at his expression. He let me pull it out, revealing the golf ball sized hole that went straight through his hand. "Wha..." I had to physically stop myself from asking any questions, knowing that his wounds were a more immediate matter. I held his injured hand, closed my eyes, and let my powers take over.

Tingling warmth grew on my fingertips as I caressed his injury; the broken bones quickly corrected themselves, cementing back into place. The pierced muscle grew back together, each fiber connecting as though nothing had happened. The skin quickly covered up the area, all the delicate capillary work returning to normal without so much as a scar.

Without a word, I ran my hands over his body, my fingers already knowing where each scratch, cut, bruise, and break were. I healed the hole in his leg, every cut on his chest, the bruises on his back, and finally the cut on his cheek. My eyes drifted open sleepily, my fingers still lingering on his blushing face. "Did I miss anywhere?"

There was a brief pause, Garou simply staring at me with wonder. He soon realized his gawking and shook his head, his face even more red than before. "I still remember the first time you did that to me..." His words were so quite; the sentence was simply a thought that had managed to escape through his dazed lips. "What was that?" I teased, leaning  in closer to see if I could rattle him any more. "Nothing!" He snapped in my face, though the rising heat in his face said otherwise.

"Oh, must've been my imagination then," I took the close proximity as a chance to place a small peck on his nose. "I thought that you said something sweet for a second." Garou rubbed the tip of his nose, his eyes practically spinning as blush took over his face, ears, and neck. "Did... Did you just heal that scratch on my nose? With... With a kiss?"

A giggle escaped my magical lips. "I had missed it before, so I thought that I'd take care of it."

"But... But you healed it with you lips?"

His gobsmacked expression made me laugh again. "Don't get any ideas," I winked and he visibly swallowed, averting his yellow eyes. "R-Right..." The tense air was so heavy that it was almost too much to bare; my gaze drifted away from his body to another pressing matter. "What are we gonna do with that?" I pointed to the monster that was laying on the floor, completely unconscious. "Oh, easy," Garou smirked, walking over to the balcony and opening the door. He then went back and grabbed the monster, carrying the huge thing on his shoulder with ease. He walked it outside and smacked it hard on the cheek. "Hey, big guy, wakey wakey."

The monster's eyes halfway opened when Garou hit him in the face again. Now the monster groaned, definitely awake. Garou smirked and hurled him off the edge of the balcony. "Garou!" I practically screamed as the monster fell. "Why would you wake it up?!"

"To get the heroes to take care of it,"

We both leaned over the railing to see the monster crash onto the ground only to quickly get back on it's feet with a deafening roar. People screamed, sprinting away from the surprise monster as it cried out over and over. Before it could do any real damage, though, a lean young man with spiky black hair showed up. "Don't despair! Stinger's here to save the day!" The hero thrusted his bamboo spear in the air in a flashy appearance. "Well, am I technically saving the night? Because it's really not daytime anymore-"

"Stinger, please help!" Someone from the crowd cried out, snapping the hero out of his daze. "Right!" Stinger straightened up with a grin, jumping toward the beast without a seconds hesitation, killing it almost instantly with a shot through the chest. I felt Garou's muscles tense, a slightly crazed grin on his face. I grabbed his bicep, shaking my head in a small plea. "Not now... Please, not in front of me..."

My voice snapped him out of his trance, his gaze softening as it looked back at me. "Okay..." We walked back into the apartment, locking the balcony doors to block out the loud cheers from the crowds below. "I'm going to take a shower," Garou patted me on the head as he walked toward the bathroom. "I'll bandage up your wounds afterwards,"

He nodded and headed down the hallway, leaving me to clean up the water, glass, and blood that littered the floor.

Garou's Point of View

I turned the water on, letting it warm up as I tore off my tattered clothes. The mirror reflected my naked body, all the wounds from my fight completely healed without a trace. Just the thought of Y/n's hands on my bare skin made my face feel uncomfortably hot. "She can heal with her lips..." I mumbled that fact to myself, successfully giving myself an erection in the process. A string of curses tumbled out of my mouth, embarrassed that my body could betray me like this.

Jumping into the shower, I tried to calm myself down in the warm water. When did I ever care about someone else this much? Images of the old man popped inside of my head, which only made me angry. "Like hell I ever cared about him..." I spat out the sentence, trying to convince myself that those words were the truth. My hands flew into my hair, combing through it as I thought of Y/n.

I shouldn't care for her, or for anyone really; I am Garou the monster. Garou the heartless, cold, brutal, ruthless, monster. "Fuck," My heart was throbbing, pain piercing through my chest. It had never hurt like this before and I didn't understand it. A searing heat grew behind my eyes until it felt like boiling water was rolling down my face. My hand flew against my cheek, touching the droplet. I traced it back to my own eyes, my finger feeling a wetness not from the shower.

A dry laugh escaped me as I hung my head, partially stunned at what was happening. It had been so long since I had last felt this in such a way. Pain. Pure, raw, pain. And over what?! Over a stupid girl. I couldn't live like this anymore. She was making me soft.

I turned the water off, pushed my wet hair back, and walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist. "Y/n," She peeked her head out from around the bend of the kitchen, shaking out a fresh towel. "Garou? Is everything okay? You're eyes are a little red," Her delicate hands hung up the towel and her small feet brought her over to me. "I-" I started speaking only to have the words get stuck in my throat.

"I'm leaving."

That's what I tried to say. But something stopped me; it was that pain in my chest. Even worse than before, it stabbed me, twisting the invisible knife deeper and deeper. I opened my mouth again, steeling my nerves, ready to end it once and for all when she touched my face.

Her fingers were so warm that it made my whole body relax. Her brow was cutely crinkled with concern, her pretty face poised in a little pout. "What's wrong?" Those two words almost made me double over in pain. "Please don't leave me, Y/n..."

And there it was; the real reason for that pain. I liked her so much, but was I really allowed to? I'm a monster. Y/n is a girl; a wonderful, beautiful, sweet, perfect girl. Could I really drag her down with me into the darkest parts of the world with me? But, even so, here I was, practically begging her to stay with me; how disgustingly selfish, just like a real monster.

But I felt her hands cupping my face as I hung my head and I felt as though they were healing every doubt that had been bubbling up inside of me since the kiss at the restaurant. "Garou," Her whisper soothed my ears as she placed her forehead against mine. "I promise I'll stay by you forever." A chuckle escaped my lips as I watched water from my wet hair drip onto the floor. "Forever?"

"I mean unless you like kill my best friends because then we're throwing hands. But other than that, yes, forever." This time I actually laughed, pulling my head away from hers. She giggled, a sound that was like candy. I put a hand on her cheek, trying my best to look confident, but I already knew that I was failing miserably. "Can... Can I kiss you?"

"Again? Already?" Y/n raised an eyebrow teasingly, making me click my tongue with red cheeks. "Yes! Again!" She smiled playfully and squeezed my hand. "Okay~"

I leaned toward her, making sure that her body was supported by my arm before I let my lips touch hers. They were soft and almost sweet as I tried to be as gentle with her as possible. I was scared that if I did anything wrong, I would break her like glass. After a while of tenderness, she parted to gasp for breath. Her little pants made my whole body feel hot when I felt it happen again. I practically jumped away from her, turning around quickly knowing that the tightly wrapped towel wouldn't hide it.

"Garou?"

"Don't look!"

I tried to dodge her, practically running for the bathroom when she jumped in front of me. "Tell me what's wrong! Did you not like the kiss?!" My face went red when I thought of how untrue that statement was. "No, it's nothing like that," I tried frantically to better hide my lower half, but my fidgeting only brought her attention toward it. Her eyes went wide and her face went beet red.

Y/n awkwardly moved out of my way, her hands covering her face as she muttered something about being really sorry. I could only nod as I went back into the bathroom to put on some clothes. As I tugged on my shirt, I thought back to that gentle kiss. "How could she like me?" Y/n was almost like an angel; sweet and kind with a touch that warmed up your whole body.

I looked at myself in the mirror. If I smiled, I could see my unusually sharp teeth. If I held up my hand, I could see the callouses that riddled its palm. I could see the strength it had to crush bones. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I could see a monster. But, like how a dragon protects its treasure, I could also be a ferocious beast who protects their treasure.

And I would protect her forever.