Media: Kyoya Tategami

My head still felt like it had gone to hell several times and back when someone entered the next day.

"Wake up."

The bed jostled viciously, and I let out a muffled groan in reply, only to let the sheets be torn away from me by a tan hand. "Wha...?"

"Wake up," Kyoya repeated, and pushed the bed to the side in one, quick jerk, only using his foot to push it.

"I'm awake and alive," Pulling myself slowly upright, I winced as the insides of my brain scrambled around. "What do you want?"

"I told you last night, remember? I'm coming in here to see if you can recall words and things correctly. Stupid, yeah, but they're insisting I do it."

With a sigh, he sat down on the edge of my bed. I shifted uncertainly, moving my feet to the side so I wouldn't be touching him. "Well, sorry I don't remember."

His eyes gleamed with something- amusement, maybe? "The medics did say you're going to have trouble remembering recent information, so I guess I can bear with that. And I'm trying to get this over as soon as possible, so I can get back to training."

"So I'm a burden."

Going on without allowing him to reply, I slammed my hand into the railing that supported the bed, hissed, but continued. "I'm worthless as of currently! I can't do anything with stupid damn headache. How much longer am I going to have to be in here?!"

I grabbed the pendant around my neck and tugged relentlessly and uselessly, my other hand curled into a fist that clenched a bundle of the sheets together.

"I hate waiting. I hate being trapped."

When I looked up, cursing the burn in my nose that told me I was close to crying, Kyoya wasn't looking at me. Instead, he had his gaze focused on the notepad he held loosely in his hands, and flipped a page up to reveal a blank sheet of paper.

"At least you have someone you can look forward to returning to."

My mouth opened in a tiny 'o', but all emotion was wiped off of Kyoya's face, a clean mask present on his scarred features.

"What's your favorite color?"

I blinked at the question. He still wasn't looking at me.

"Purple...?"

He scribbled the word down, huffed a small bang of green hair out of his eyes, and asked another question. "Animal?"

"Eagle. I also like red pandas." My answer was more firm this time as I settled into a comfortable position, my knees drawn to my chest.

"What's my Beyblade?"

"Wait, that's a question? Seriously?"

"Just answer it."

Rolling my eyes back in thought, my mind went back to when I first saw him on TV, battling against an orange-haired boy in a tournament called the 'Survival Battle'.

"Leone...? Rock Leone, I think?" I tried.

The barest nod of his head.

"What's your biggest fear?"

"Whoa there, getting personal," I joked, but my mouth fixated in a thin line, debating between lying and telling the truth.

After a few moments, I could feel a heated gaze burn into my lowered head. Peeking out between a thin curtain of golden-brown strands of hair, Kyoya's steady sapphire-eyed glance was almost comforting.

"... people leaving me."

Just for a bit, I could see his lips curl into something resembling a smile. I scowled defiantly, drawing back but leaning forward, attempting to sock him in the arm.

He leaned backwards to avoid the punch, instead nudging my arm away.

"Hey, Tategami!" I barked. "Are you trying to make a fool out of me! Don't laugh at people's fears and insecurities!"

"I wasn't," he smirked, but a serious look flickered over the film of his eyes. "Confidence is silence, you know. Insecurity is loud."

I stopped. Paused. Stared at him.

"Wow, you said something not sarcastic for once."

"Well, what's your piece of advice?" Kyoya huffed.

My lips twitched. "When other people treat you poorly, keep being you. Don't let someone else's bitterness change the person you are."

Cocking his head to the side, Kyoya regarded me with something that seemed like recognition, but not before long, his attention returned back to the paper.

"What do you remember last night?"

"You gave me this pendant thing..."

My hand flew to my neck, as if my body just realized it was there, catching up with my mind. "Um. Concussion. That's about it. As for the details, I don't know."

He made a note on the notepad, then set it aside. "Tch, this is useless."

"Then why don't you go back to training?" I challenged.

"I will, then!" Kyoya snapped back. I blanched at the loud noise.

Whipping around on his heel, he stormed out the door. "What a waste of time!"

"It's not a waste of time if you learned something," I called after him.

"Then what did you learn?" He snapped at me from the hallway, his voice cutting clearly through the air, despite the wall between us.

"I've learned that I have a lot more to learn," I responded.

And just like that, he was gone.

"I still have your necklace," I mumbled, hands playing with the said item.

"Forget it enough that it doesn't pull you down. Remember it enough that you don't make the same mistake again."

That's what Shaun always said.

"Whatever happened this past year, we should be thankful for it. It brought us to where we are now, and that's where we belong in the present."

Shaun's words.

Words, music, flowing around in my brain, linking the forgotten pathways together.

Once the words flowed through my veins and arteries, memories mixed within my bloodstream.

I could see Shaun getting me down from a tree, where I had climbed too high and I had been too scared to come down.

Shaun, pulling out pocket money when I forget about tax while buying a loaf of bread.

Shaun, finally relenting to take a picture with my family (he hated pictures), just before he left with me to go to Japan.

My brother, Shaun Rixen, kidnapped by the damn Dark Nebula, unfairly dragged into this just because I was put on this job to find out the kidnapper of Saki.

When I jolted out of my daze, the hospital was barely lit. I spared a fleeting glance at the clock set just above the door: it was ten forty-five.

Good grief.

The only real light in my  room was the light that filtered in through the window, provided by the street lights rooted along the road.

My vest hung off a coat-rack,  looking at me with melancholy, like, 'when are you going to put me on?'.

Scoffing to myself, I laid back down in the bed, allowing my head to fall upon the pillow.

The last light in the darkness flickered out.

That was my sign to go.

Kicking my legs over the side of the bed, I carefully set my feet on the floor, taking slow steps to ensure that I wouldn't tip over randomly, mid-step.

Balance didn't like me the first few staggering steps, but as I made my way to the coat-rack, taking my vest in my hands, my feet became more accustomed to stumbling around with a headache and my legs feeling like numb jelly.

The comfort in the vest settled over my shoulders caused my lips to twitch in a smile.

"What to do about shoes...?" I wondered out loud, albeit rather quietly.

I found a pair of purple flip flops near the door, and slipped into them. It was as probably as good as it was going to get.

The windows, as I observed earlier, had clasps on either side, and I made my way with teetering footsteps.

Thankfully, they slid over without a sound, and I climbed over, peering over the side. I was on the first floor of the hospital, so it wasn't that hard to swing my legs over and touch the ground. I eased myself off the window, landing on the grass with a soft 'ffmph'.

"Now... Where the hell am I...?"

I didn't know which way the Dark Nebula was, so I guessed I had to walk down the road until I found someone who could tell me.

My feet were already beginning to hurt- because damn, these things are a tow or three sizes too small.

Several minutes of walking passed, but I stopped when I could hear the muffled sound of footsteps behind me. I  stiffened.

"Tess... What the hell are you doing here?"