Log: Complete

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

When; Highschool curse-day 1 (backdated, happens after the other 4-part log)
Rating; R, for violence.
Characters; Archer fireismyblood, Tomoe Hotaru silence_bringer, Uchiha Itachi crimsonmangekyo, Dante Sparda so_not_vergil
Summary; Itachi takes the opportunity to remind Archer just why he ought not go get on his bad side. In the aftermath, Dante and Hotaru intervene.
Log;
Archer wasn't exactly skipping home from his date with Hotaru, but there might have been a little spring in his step. He couldn't believe that she had actually agreed to go to the prom with him. For some reason Archer thought for sure that she would still think this was some sort of trick. Like some sort of horrible high school movie. There was nothing that could dampen his mood now.

As the white-haired young man made his way down the street, a tall figure stepped out in front of him, followed by a few more intimidating shapes. Looming in his way, they were immediately obvious as some of the upperclassmen, the ones that most students steered clear of if they knew what was good for them. As he approached them, several more stepped out of the alleyways behind him, blocking him in.

Archer's body instantly became tense as the figures stepped out in front of him, hemming him in. He knew who they were, even without seeing there faces Archer could have guessed who it was.

"Itachi," he said. "Good to see you. How have you been? You look well."

The object of his comment stepped leisurely out from behind one of the taller boys, sauntering up to stop a few feet in front of Archer as he leveled a crimson gaze at his "victim".

"Emiya Shirou. I'll avoid the pretense of acting as though I am glad to see you and get straight to the point. I warned you to stay away from my sister. You ignored that. Now you will face the consequences of defying my wishes."

He nodded to the others, and one of them stepped forward to slam a fist into Archer's stomach in a vicious uppercut that sent him backwards to the two others who grabbed his arms.

Archer had not expected the blows to come so soon and was caught off guard. The breath rushing out of his lungs. He felt the arms grab him from behind as his vision swam.



"Is that all you got?" he said, spitting blood out to the side. "I felt it more when your sister gave me a kiss on the cheek. This is gonna take a long time, even though I'm not gonna fight back. You sure you don't want to bring a few more of your friends to help you beat up one guy?"

"Hn."

With a quick jerk of his chin, the two holding Archer's arms yanked him back upright as Itachi turned, the group following him.

"I'll shut that smart mouth of yours up once and for all, Emiya."

It didn't take long to get where they were going, underneath a nearby bridge. The two dropped Archer down into a battered chair, one of them pulling out some thick wire cable and binding his hands behind his back.

"Yeah, that's a good idea Itachi," Archer said, a smug smile forming on his lips. He was smart enough to know that there was no way he was going to get out of this without a beating. The man had warned him, but Archer didn't care. He wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of being with her.

"You probably don't have enough guys to hold me down without the cables," he grunted. "Do you think you could hurry though? I've got a tux for prom to pick up as well as a corsage for my girlfriend."

At a gesture from Itachi, a fist slammed into his jaw with a sickening crunch, while another sank into his stomach. Obviously, they weren't playing around. For his part, Itachi simply stood and watched, arms crossed over his chest, eyes never leaving the scene.

Archer heard his jaw crack a split second before he felt it. Pain ripple from the side of his face all the way to the back of his head. He gasped from the pain which only made the pain intensify.

"S'all y'got," Archer mumbled, blood already pooling in his mouth. "I’da thought yu'd be better a' this by now."

A hand grabbed his head, fingers tangling in white hair and yanking his face up to look at his tormentors. Another fist, this one hitting him in the eye as a booted foot impacted with his ribs. The boys snickered at him, obviously enjoying what they were doing, as every punch and kick seemed designed to cause maximum pain, rather then maximum damage.

Despite the pain, Archer clenched his jaw shut, refusing to cry out or give the teens beating him the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. Every time a boot hit his ribs or a fist struck his face the only sound he allowed himself to make was a muffled grunt.

It's worth it, he told himself. It's worth it to be with Hotaru.

He picted the girl's smiling face in his mind and focused on it, much the same way he focused on the bulls eye when he was shooting. He remembered the way she looked and felt in his arms, the way her hair smelled like flower blossoms and how her lips tasted against his. Archer shut out everything that was happening to his body and focused on her.

Itachi watched as the archery captain faced the beating without so much as a whimper. That wouldn't do, of course. He wanted to other man to suffer. And it wasn't even for the obvious reason. Granted, Itachi didn't like anyone taking too much notice of his shy, beautiful little sister, but this man had possessed the audacity to defy him. Him. Uchiha Itachi. And THAT was not a forgivable offense. Striding forward, he stepped behind the chair, fingers taking hold of one of Archer's hands.

"Proud of this arm, aren't you? Archery scholarship, captain of the team...."

With a sickening crack and pop, he applied pressure, grinning slightly as bone snapped and joint dislocated as he bent the finger sideways.

Archer gave a sharp cry as the level of pain spiked. He could tell that his fingers were badly mangled, they would probably never hold the string of a bow again.

"You'd better break the other one too," he gasped. "I'm not sure if you know this, but you can hold a bow either way dumbass."

It was probably not the smartest thing for him to say or do, but Archer didn't care, he just wanted to let Itachi know Archer wasn't going to break.

"Oh don't worry. I plan to, Emiya."

Fingers found purchase on the other hand, punctuating every word with a cruel twisting snap.

"I thought I told you..." *snap* "stay" *crack* "away" *pop* "from my" *crack* "sister."

Having finished his rounds of all the fingers on that hand, he simply shifted his grip to the next set of joints on those same fingers.

The pain was unbearable. Archer couldn't even cry out if he wanted to, it felt like his brain was going to explode and his vision was going to swim. He prayed that he would pass out soon. Archer wouldn't give in and beg for the other boy to stop, but he didn't want to be alert for the rest of this.

"Arg. Still... gonna... take her... to prom," he panted.

"Indeed."

A crook of one finger, and the cables fell loose, one of the other boys stepping forward to take Archer's arms.

"I seem to remember tha it's more then just the fingers that are useful in archery."

One of Itachi's cronies came up beside them, taking Archer's arm and pulling it out from his side. Another hefted a heavy wooden bat, handing it to the ponytailed young man. who took a few practice swings before bringing the bat down in a sharp strike to Archer's forearm.

A muffled scream escape from his lips as the bat cleanly snapped the bones in his arm. He risked a look down and saw one of them actually piercing through his skin. His vision started to blacken.

"And summer," he hissed. "We're gonna hang out all summer. Every... spare... ng... moment."

A wrenching of the arm and he found himself face down on the ground, several feet planted in his back. The injured arm was pulled painfully up behind him, Itachi taking hold of the damaged wrist and planting one foot on the shoulder.

"I think not, Emiya."

Pressing down with his foot, he applied leverage to the arm, bending it back behind Archer's back, feeling the joint strain until it gave way with a crunching pop.

Archer was far past reaction to the pain anymore, his mind had simply shut that part of itself down, unable to handle it anymore. He heard a loud pop and felt a suddenly that his arms didn't feel right anymore. He knew he'd never fire a bow again, but he still counted it all worth it.

"Every... day," he gasped, seeing his own blood pool on the ground below his face. "She works in the... hospital you fucker."

Archer gave short laugh, unable to keep his insane amusement in anymore. "See her now more than usually Itachi. Get her to push me around in a... wheelchair."

"Correction. She volunteers for the school nurse. And seeing as the school nurse is different then the hospital, and you will be spending much of your days in the hospital, I don't think you'll be seeing much of her."

Stepping around, he yanked the other arm up, pressing foot against joint as he ground the heel into Archer's shoulder, feeling the other joint snap like the first.

"Heh, I'm sure she'll start volunteering at the hospital after... Nrrgghh!"

Archer pressed his head against the ground as another shot of pain wracked his body. Never in his life had he imagined anything could hurt so bad.

"Hurts..." Archer panted. "Hurts pretty bad. Still, nnnhhh, worth it though... Still gonna date her..."

"You misunderstand the level of control I have over her. Mark my words, she won't be seeing you again."

Letting go of Archer's useless arms, he placed booted foot on the back of his head, grinding the white-haired man's face into the blood-soaked dirt.

Archer felt his arms flop to his side at odd angles. He tried to move them and even more pain ripped through his body. How could one person hurt so bad? Before today he hadn't thought it was possible.

"You can't control everyone Itachi," Archer panted. "She's stronger than you think. Sooner or later she will defy you."

Aother crushing kick to the ribs, then the foot nudged him over onto his back before a hard heel came down onto his solar plexus, grinding in with all Itachi's weight on it.

"I think not. Hotaru knows very well what happens to people who go against me. I don't think she wishes for that to be her."

Archer felt anger blossom in him, surprised by the fact that he wasn't already angry. A part of him could accept what Itachi was doing. He probably would have done something similar in the red eyed boy's position. But now...

"I'll kill you," Archer rasped. "I swear to god you hurt her and I'll kill you Itachi. You hurt Hotaru and you will beg me to go this gentle on me. Do you hear me?"

The foot pressed down harder, a muffled crack sounding as bone gave way beneath it.

"Please. You give my sister too little credit. Hotaru knows very well that I have her best interests at heart. She won't go against my wishes."

It felt like his entire back was on fire, as well as his legs, which Archer took as a good thing. It meant that at least he had use of all his limbs. His arms were so mangled though he wondered if it would even matter for them.

"Just remember I warned you," he grunted between deep, panting breaths. "I'm sure a tough guy like you who needs all his friends to help beat someone up though isn't worried."

Staring down at the bloodied ruin of the other man, Itachi merely shrugged, snapping his fingers at the others. Without a word, they turned and followed him, leaving Archer laying in a pool of his own blood.

Archer waited until Itachi and his gang was out of site before he even tried to move. Even though they were gone now, he refused to whimper or cry out. He would not give them that satisfaction.

He didn't even bother trying to use his arms. His legs were the only thing that remotely worked. He slowly drew them in until he was kneeling and then pressed his head against the ground in and attempt to push himself up. Grunting in pain and straining as hard as he could though, Archer's body no longer had the necessary coherent bone structure for the task. He was stuck here. If someone didn't find him soon, he was going to bleed to death.

"You're such a dumbass, ya know that? The fuck's a goody-good like you doin messin with the Uchiha, anyway? Didn't even fuckin fight back? Retard."

A tall figure, black leather jacket thrown over school uniform and cigarette between his lips sauntered up from the edge of the pathway under the bridge. Leaning down, he regarded Archer with an almost-amused stare.

Archer glanced up with his one good eye at the figure standing before him. It looked to be a student, albeit a very tall and slightly frightening one. Archer's only consolation was that it wasn't like the other guy could hurt him any worse than he already was.

"Heh, does like that I'm dating his sister," Archer said, grinning as much as his shattered jaw would allow. "Didn't want to kick his ass and make her upset. She might not go to prom with me then, heh."

"Uchiha don't like anyone, 'specially anyone he can't intimidate into doin what he wants 'em to."

Pushing white hair out of green eyes, the man smirked, sliding the wooden boken he carried back onto his back. Dante found the battered man to be somewhat amusing, albeit dumb. Anyone who would stick their neck out that far for a girl was a moron. BUT, he did know Itachi's little sister, at least in passing, so he could understand to a degree, why someone would be loath to give up on a piece of ass that sweet. With a chuckle, he bent down and slipped an arm around Archer's torso, hauling the smaller student up to toss him over one broad shoulder.

"Yeah, that don't make you a hero. It makes you fuckin stupid. But, I guess least I can do is drop ya at the hospital."

Archer grunted as the tall man picked him up. He thought the guys name was Dante, remembering him because of his height and white hair, similar to Archer's own.

"I wouldn't want to, argh, inconvenience you," he grunted. "But if we do get to the hospital maybe you could set me on the ground gently. I wouldn't want to break anything when you dropped me."

Dante chuckled, at least this guy had a sense of humor. "Aight, no dropping. But seriously, you're one dumb fuck Emiya."

Turning, he headed towards the hospital.

"It's Archer," he said. "Call me Emiya again and I'll kick your ass Dante. I'm not dating your sister so don't think I won't."

He winced as Dante began to walk more quickly, the movements shooting pain through his body. "Damn, I'm gonna owe you a new coat too. I think I've got a bloody nose that's getting all over this one..."

The white-haired man laughed.

"Pal, if you were dating my sister, we'd have an issue, cuz all I got's a brother. But fine, Archer it is. And don' worry bout the coat. It's got enough blood on it before, a little more won't hurt."

Archer smirked at the man's comment, which brought a new flash of pain to his face. His jaw was definitely broken, and probably several ribs. He was lucky his lungs hadn't been punctured.

"Tell me Dante... how bad is it?" Archer asked. "I'm never going to use my arms again, am I?"

He sighed, growing quiet for a moment. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but Dante had seen injuries like these before. Hell, he'd caused them before, just usually not on guys like Archer. With his free hand, he ran fingers through white hair. Might as well be honest with the guy, he seemed like he could take it.

"No. Probably not. Joints are shattered, and I don't think that's the sorta thing a doctor can heal. Even if they fix ya up, ya'd never be like before."

Archer closed his eyes tightly. He had thought that this would be the case but hearing it out loud was disheartening. He would never shoot a bow again. He'd never be able to caress Hotaru, hold her in his arms, dance with her...

"Shit, I guess I should have been a ballerina like my mother wanted," he quipped, trying to forget about his now crippled body. "Gotten a scholarship that way."

Dante simply nodded, he could tell that Archer was trying to lighten his own mood, but he still didn't feel like he could joke about the other man's condition.

"Yeah, guess so."

"Nh, doesn't even hurt much anymore," Archer gasped. "I think that's probably a bad thing. Are we there yet?"

Archer felt black edges creep around his vision. He figured that he would probably pass out fairly soon, which he thought was a blessing.

"Hope they don't think you did this," he said.

"Yeah, just another block or so. And I doubt they will. Only a real dumb guy brings his own ass-kicking victims to the hospital. Yup, here we are."

Pausing for a moment in front of the building, Dante shifted Archer slightly on his shoulder and walked into the lobby, heavy boots impacting on the tiled floor as he looked around.

"Hey, someone wanna get this guy some help?"

Archer tried to call out for help as well but all he could manage was a low moan and a hiss of pain. Apparently he wasn't completely in shock yet.

"Can someone hurry," he managed to rasp. "I have prom soon."

In a flurry of motion and barking orders, he was surrounded by all manner of doctors and nurses and orderlies all rushing to get the obviously critically-injured young man treated. Within a few moments, the white-haired man was being wheeled into surgery in hopes of salvaging his mangled arms. Dante took the opportunity to slip out the door mostly unnoticed. Well, as un-noticed as a 6-foot tall, silver-haired man in a leather jacket could be.

Archer awoke some time later and noticed that his limbs felt very heavy. Heavy lidded eyes fluttered open as he looked about. His entire body from the neck down was in a cast, wires holding his legs and arms up in the air. There was a dull ache over his entire body and he felt distant from everything. He figured it was probably the result of some sort of pain medication.

"H-hello?" he called out. "Anyone there?"

There was a slight movement at the door, the barest small shadows leaning against the doorframe pulling away from the wood to reveal itself not as a shadow, but as a slim black-clad figure, violet eyes red-rimmed and tear-filled in a small pale face as she braced one hand against the doorjamb.

"A..Archer..."

"Hotaru!" Archer called out, instinct prompting him to go to her. The attempted movement caused pain to shoot through his body. His face grimaced in pain until he stopped trying to move and relaxed.

"Hotaru what's wrong? You looked exhausted," he told her. "You need rest."

Her lower lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears once more and she flung herself at him, dropping to her knees beside the bed, head pillowed on his chest as she sobbed.

"You.....you almost....almost died.....It's....all my fault..."

Archer wanted to scream in frustration at not being able to wrap Hotaru in his arms as she sobbed like this. That hurt more than all of his broken and dislocated bones. Well, maybe they hurt the same amount.

"Don't be silly Hotaru," he whispered. "I just fell down some steps."

He was unwilling to accuse her brother of doing this to her face. The young man didn't know what sort of image she had of Itachi, but he wasn't going to tell her that the guy was a monster.

"A really long flight of stairs..."

Raising her face, fire flashed in violet eyes as black brows furrowed.

"Don't lie to me. I hate being lied to. I know Nii-sama a lot better then you do. He's the only one who would do something so horrible."

Despite what some might have thought, Hotaru had no illusions about her older brother. Technically, he wasn't even her real brother, as she'd been adopted at a young age after her real parents died. She had a younger brother out there somewhere, Itachi's real brother, but Sasuke had ran away years ago and she hadn't seen him. But regardless, Hotaru had no illusions about her brother's virtue. While she might not have known in graphic detail, the girl had a good idea of just what sort of things Uchiha Itachi did to those who crossed him. It was like living with the mafia, in a way. Even if you hated it, even if you disagreed with it, the combination of fear and family loyalty kept you bound to it, the way it kept her bound to Itachi.

"I... I'm sorry Hotaru," he said, looking away ashamedly. Hotaru didn't deserve to be lied to. "I won't ever lie to you again, I promise."

Archer gave a sigh, feeling bad that he couldn't physically comfort the girl. And that he wouldn't be able to take her to prom now.

"I'm sorry I can't take you to prom now Hotaru," he said. "But I'll make it up to you somehow. I... my fingers were pretty messed up. I'll never shoot a bow again but maybe I'll be able to hold your hand normally? And hey, no more archery scholarship so I won't be leaving at the end of the summer, so we'll get to spend even more time together."

The girl drew herself up to her full, albeit diminutive height, and turned to glance back at the open door. Stepping over, she pushed it shut, maneuvering the small cart by the door underneath the knob, effectively blocking any sort of entrance. Pulling over a chair to sit next to the bed, she climbed up on it and sat on her knees, working fingers underneath the edge of the cast by his neck.

"That's not true....you'll be fine. Once I...get...this...OFF..."

His eyes widened and he grunted as she began tugging at the cast around his neck. Archer was thankful for the pain medication because otherwise the dull ache he was feeling would have been like a thousand tiny needles of pain.

"H-hotaru," he grunted. "What the hell are you doing? I'm like jello right now. I need this on so the bones heal right."

"I can....fix it!"

With an irritated huff, she hopped back down and rummaged in her bag, coming up with what looked to be a small box cutter. Chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip, she settled back into the chair, curling legs under her and drew the short blade along the cast on one arm, pressing down slowly and carefully, making a "window" of sorts in the top of the plaster.

Archer watched with slightly panicked eyes as Hotaru pulled out a box cutter and began to go to work on his cast. And why the hell was she carrying around a box cutter anyways?

"Hotaru-chan," he said. "W-what are you doing? Why do you even have that? You're exhausted, please get some rest and we'll talk about this after that."

Pausing, she set the instrument down, staring at her hands for a moment before she spoke so quietly as to be nearly inaudible.

"Do you trust me, Archer?"

Archer's steel grey eyes locked onto her forehead as she looked down at her hands. As soon as she asked the question he felt foolish. He had already trusted her with his feelings, things far more valuable than his body... and he knew that she would never hurt him.

"Of course Hotaru," he said. "I'm sorry. Do whatever you need to do. I trust you completely."

With a slight nod, she returned her attention to prying off part of the cast on his arm, wincing at the wounds underneath. Biting her lip, she nodded slightly to herself and placed one palm gently over his arm. Concentrating, a warmth grew, spread from her hand, culminating in a soft pale light that bathed wounded body with a slight tingling sensation.

"It...it would be ok if you didn't. I.....never showed this to people. Not...since my last school. It's why....they hated me there. They thought it was gross, unnatural..."

Archer gasped slightly as Hotaru's hand... lit up and he felt a strange tingling sensation move through him. He would have brushed it off as the pain meds, but he could tell that it was coming from Hotaru. That it had her... essence in it.

"W-what's going on?" he asked, curiosity mixed with confusion in his voice. "That... feels nice."

"I can fix what the doctors can't fix. I've....always been able to, since I can remember."

Slowly, her hand moved along his arm, broken bones and injuries repairing themselves as seamlessly as if they had never happened. Reaching his shoulder, the light intensified with her concentration for a moment before puttering out. Hotaru tugged at the cast, ripping the edges of the hole a bit so that it would be wide enough for his arm to lift out of.

"Bend your arm."

Tentatively, Archer experimentally wiggled his fingers before curling his arm at the elbow. Everything worked perfectly fine and there wasn't a hint of pain anywhere in the limb.

"Hotaru that's amazing," Archer gasped. He watched his own hand in amazement as he clenched it into a fist, it responded just like it always had.

Smiling he reached up and cupped his hand on the back of Hotaru's head and pulled her in close, kissing her lovingly.

At his words, her eyes widened, face taking on a look of shock, surprise and something indefinable. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, it was just so....no one had ever responded to her powers that way, it had always been fear, mistrust, or distaste. Never...honest awe and amazement. Lower lip quivering slightly, she allowed herself to be pulled into the kiss, one hand sliding it's way into the white hair at his temple, careful not to rest her weight on his still-injured torso.

He trailed tender kisses along her face and neck, lips brushing away the tears that fell on her cheeks as his good arm ran through her soft hair.

"Thank you," he said softly. "Now I'll be able to properly hold your hand again."

Pulling back, she smiled and nodded before working on the plaster over his chest. Hopefully he wasn't naked underneath all of this, but she supposed that if he was, she'd just deal with the embarrassment.

"Now I'll do the rest.."

“You can do all that?" he asked, still slightly incredulous. "It... doesn't it wear you out or anything? I'm pretty messed up. If you can only do part right can... can you do my chest and arms so that I can hold you while you rest?"

Hotaru shook her head. He was right, it would completely drain all of her resources to heal him entirely, but she didn't have another choice. The blocked door would raise some suspicions, and it wouldn't take long before someone would come to check on him. The only option was to finish it all, and finish it as fast as she could. She smiled at him before returning to her healing.

"I'll be fine, Archer. But thank you for worrying about me."

"Just don't strain yourself on my account," he told her as he watched her begin to remove the cast on his chest.

"I... Hotaru I can accept the healing," Archer said. "But why the hell do you carry around a box cutter with you?"

She giggled slightly, working her way down his other arm.

"I was helping unpack supplies in the nurse's office, that's all. You don't really think I carry it around all the time, do you?"

"Ah, well, I don't know," he sputtered. "I didn't think you could heal injuries either but you do."

Archer watched her at work, delicate fingers prying away at the cast. He remembered other things those fingers were capable of and he couldn't help but smile. His mind shifting its focus he couldn't help but crane his neck forward so that he could lightly kiss along her arm.

"I suppose you're right."

Finishing with his other arm, she frowned for a moment in thought before taking a deep breath and climbing up onto the bed, setting one knee on either side of his plaster-encased torso and dragging the box-cutter carefully down to cut off that part of the cast.

Archer gave a sigh of pleasure as she cut the cast off of his chest. He hadn't realized just how itchy the damn thing had been.

"Oh that's much better," he said, smiling at her. He looked down and saw that his muscular torso was nearly completely purple with bruies, as well as a good number of stitches in a few places.

"Wow, that looks bad."

She nodded slightly, palms resting softly on his skin, the tingling light suffusing it's way through bone, muscle, and tissue. Now that she was working on his chest, he would be able to watch as the bruises simply faded away under her touch, skintone evening as though the ugly marks had never been there.

"It IS bad."

"It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would," he said, his voice slightly hushed as he watched his body knit back to normal. "I just kept thinking about you, picturing you smiling and it was all worth it, all I could think of what how happy you made me."

Shaking her head, she wiped one hand across her forehead, pulling away chunks of plaster to get to wounds underneath. Thankfully there weren't that many any lower then his waist, which she thought might be a good thing, as Archer didn't appear to be wearing much of anything under the cast.

Archer grunted slightly as Hotaru pried away the cast. He was amazed at how strong she was for her size. He wanted to ask her about her power, where she got it, how long she could do it... but he decided it should wait for a better time. Also, she seemed somewhat reluctant to talk about it.

"You can ask me about it, if you want. I can tell you want to, you know..."

True, she was nervous about it, but he seemed, different. So far, at least, she felt she could trust him, that he wasn't going to turn on her or abandon her just because of it.

"I think it's the perfect... ability for you Hotaru," he said. In anyone else, it might be a wasted ability, but he knew that she would use in generously on whoever needed it. "I couldn't imagine a more worthy person to have it. How did you happen to get it?"

"I...I've always had it, since I could remember. I found it when I was little. I found a baby bird that had fallen out of the nest. I was holding, it and wishing it would fly again, and...my hand started to glow and then it flew." Honestly, it felt good to be able to just TALK about it, normally, like any other thing she did every day.

"Wow, my faking my injuries must have seemed ridiculously obvious to you then," he said, suddenly feeling very foolish. "That must be a great feeling... knowing that you can make things feel better... I'm sorry others thought that made you a freak or gross. I think it's a beautiful gift."

Nodding slightly, she continued her work, moving down his last remaining leg, gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the trembling that was creeping up her limbs. She was nearly at the end of her tether, but she wouldn't stop. Not yet. Not until he was healed.

Archer was trying very hard to focus on the wonder sensation of lack of pain that Hotaru was creating, other than the other things she was making him feel. He knew this wasn't really the time or place, but he was 18 years old and his nubile 16 year old girlfriend was crawling over his naked body.

"Hotaru, are you sure you're okay?" he asked. "I'm feeling much better."

Her head nodded, slowly, heavily.

"I'm..O-"

She didn't get the chance to finish, eyes rolling back in her head as the light faded and she slumped down across his lap with a soft sigh, having reached the limits of her own energy.

Archer chuckled as the small girl collapsed as she was just about to tell him that she was okay. He carefully stood up and picked her up in his arms and shifting so that she was laying in the bed.

A quick look around the room revealed nothing in the way of clothes. He figured they most likely had to cut them off. On a hunch he checked in Hotaru's bad and found a pair of shorts and a shirt that would fit well enough. He was amazed how anyone could be so thoughtful.

After quickly pulling them on Archer slung the pack over his shoulder and then pick Hotaru up in his arms. He would take her to his place to rest.