Day: Friday.

( Red's POV )

As I woke up, I realized I lay in a bed instead of against that tree. I must've fallen asleep against it, I couldn't remember anything after that. There were all kinds of things attached to me, medical stuff. I had never understood how doctors did what they did, and I didn't know any of the things that were gonna help me recover. The lights were out, but I saw some sunlight through the curtains. I tried to stand up, but I felt a screaming pain in my ribs. So I laid back.

Then the door opened. I tried to look who it was, but that involved me moving my ribs. What the heck had I done with my ribs anyway? The lights switched on. I just kept laying as still as I could. A nurse gave me some food and helped me to sit straight. It was embarrassing that she needed to feed me, but right now, I didn't have a choice. The door opened again. While I was still eating like a baby. I spilled half of it anyway.

The brunette in the doorway smiled awkwardly to the nurse, and sat down on a chair beside me.

"I've got other patients."the nurse said. "Miss, could you please feed your friend in my place?" Leaf faked a smile and nodded.

"Of course."she said after a while. The nurse thanked her by bowing. Then she walked away and got back to her work. Leaf changed the direction of my neck, so that I looked at her. What she didn't realize was that it hurt like hell. But I said nothing. She picked up the fork and gave me some food, gesturing I should open my mouth. I slowly opened my mouth, hesitating a bit. It was even more uncomfortable now that Leaf did it. She opened her own mouth and said, "Look, I know that we haven't been on the best terms lately. And I know that that's my fault. I just... I wanted to thank you for what you did back in Vien Forest." She bit her lip.

"You don't need to thank me."I said softly. "I did what I always do. I can say I hate you, but I won't ever mean it. I love you. And I'm afraid that's never going to change. But I'll be able to get over the fact that you aren't in love with me. By the way, Gary really is a stupid asshole. Tell him that for me. The stupid asshole almost got himself killed."

"Let's not talk about Gary right now, okay?"Leaf asked. Dammit! I was already thinking of how beautiful Leaf was. Those thoughts should be banned. Leaf wasn't ever gonna like me, I shouldn't pretend like she was. I should be happy for her and Gary. I had been so wrong about Gary. He might be an idiot, but he wasn't pretending to love Leaf. He was honest.

"Why not?"I asked annoyed. "What's wrong with talking about Gary? I don't remember you having problems with talking about Gary before." Leaf looked away, at the wall.

"I know our friendship will never be like it used to be, but I do want to try to get it that strong again."Leaf said carefully.

"No, Leaf."I stated. "We won't go back to the way it used to be, and we won't try to. The only thing we can do is move forward, and see where our relationship will lead to in the future." Leaf looked at the ground. Then she shook her head a little and smiled again. Her fake smiles looked so real, but I could still tell the difference. I had known Leaf for long enough to know when she was faking something. She picked up the fork to give me another bite, when I held her arm to stop her. I screamed on the inside, but tried not to show any sign of it on the outside.

"W-what?"Leaf said, a bit taken away by my action. Don't you want to eat?

"I know now this might seem as something impossible."I said slowly. "That we can only be friends in the way it used to be, but we both changed. I don't want to turn my back on a change. I'll have to embrace the fact that I'm different now. You should too." It took an inhuman control in me not to scream. Leaf's other hand touched mine. Her hands were warm, in comparison with my cold hand. She carefully placed my hand back to where it lay on the blanket. Inside, I sighed out of relief. Outside, I didn't change emotion, not even a little.

"The doctor told me you broke quite a few ribs."Leaf informed. "Are you sure you're already capable of moving?" Like hell I was. But I would just ignore the pain. That's what I should be doing.

"It's fine."I reassured Leaf. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"Leaf asked, "'Cause you look like you're in much pain." Could she see that just from looking at me. And I thought I was doing so well at hiding the pain.

"No, no, I'm fine." Leaf rose an eyebrow. I wanted to turn around, but didn't want to put too much pressure on my ribs. So I kept looking at Leaf, not doing anything about the awkward silence. "You can go, if you want to."I said. The most unsubtle thing I had ever said.

"You don't want to eat?" Oh, crap. I totally forgot about the food.

"I do want to eat."I said quickly. "I just don't want to be a bother to you." Leaf smiled.

"Don't worry, you're not a bother to me."she said sweetly, and she picked up the fork to give me another bite. I opened my mouth as if I was a little kid, fed by his mother. The food tasted terrible, but I didn't think I had expected any more from canned hospital food.

Silence fell, yet again.

"Officer Jenny will come to you too."Leaf said after a while. "She's now busy questioning Gary, I bet you're next." Oh, so that's why she bothered to show up. Well, that explained some things.

"Oh, okay." I wasn't exactly someone who would brighten up the mood. But it didn't matter. "Have you slept well?"I asked, just for the sake of putting up a conversation. It wasn't like I had anything else to talk about. Though I could ask if Leaf could open the curtains, since it was morning. I wasn't gonna stay in the dark forever.

"It was weird to sleep in my own bed again, but I guess I slept well."Leaf replied. "Not that it matches your time. You slept until over twelve. I guess the fight with Derek made you tired." That name again, Derek. It was like she knew something that I didn't.

"Who is Derek?"I asked quickly, before Leaf was gonna ramble about something else.

"Oh, he's the guy that kidnapped me."Leaf said in a rather happy voice. "He's also known as our history teacher. But he fled, and hasn't been seen every since. There is no one registrated as Derek, and his fingerprints don't match anyone. It's a complete mystery. But, he was nice to me. Nobody seems to believe it, but Derek was nice. Sky for that matter wasn't. She didn't care for me when she dropped me back in that old barn."

"Our history teacher?"I asked, and I laid down. This time I couldn't control myself and let out a soft grunt of pain.

"Are you okay?"Leaf asked worriedly and she stood up.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."I assured her. "I just wonder what the hell that guy eats for being so damn strong. I don't believe a normal person can break someone's ribs by throwing him on the ground and punching. Especially since he only punched me in the face."

"That's not the only thing."Leaf admitted. "You're suffering from concussion, almost broke your nose and part of a tooth is punched out. Your injuries aren't to be taken lightly, Red."

"I really am fine."I lied again. "Go worry about someone worth worrying about." In other words, Gary. He hadn't been as bad as I always thought he was. Actually, Gary had quite some good characteristics. The only thing I had really hated about him was that he used to be a player. Meaning, I thought Leaf was just a phase. But he really loved her in every way he could. More. And half of the school disagreed with Leaf and Gary, but I knew it was true love. And I had always laughed at girls for saying they wanted to meet their one true love. I had thought something like that didn't exist. But Gary and Leaf were an example of something grand. They might not always be on the best terms, but so weren't friends. They would always come back to each other.

The door opened again, and this time officer Jenny came in. Great, I had to explain how I got a gun on the rooftop of a building, and actually knew how to shoot with it. And they had proof since those guns were still on the rooftop when I left. And even officer Jenny couldn't be that dumb not to check who's fingerprints were on those weapons.

Leaf stood up, bowing slightly to officer Jenny. Well, I believe the Almia police department did do some actual work this time. So I guess they deserved a little respect. But I couldn't fully respect them yet. After all, we were the one who got down Sky. When officer Jenny went after Derek, he got away. In other words, the police still needed teenagers to do their jobs for them. Respect was something earned, not given. Leaf brought the dishes with her and disappeared so that she wouldn't bother officer Jenny with this.

"Isamu Akai?"officer Jenny asked.

"Most people call me Red, but that's my name, yes."I answered her, and I got a glare in return. I didn't really bother with it. Being rude to an officer was just one more of the thousand reasons why I should at least get punished a bit. I shot a person in the leg and shoulder. It didn't matter that she killed at least five people in just a few weeks, it was illegal.

"Is it true you were the one who shot, with guns, on the rooftop?"

"I don't remember it's possible you can shoot without guns."I mumbled, but became serious once I saw officer Jenny's irritated face. I cleared my throat, and added, "Yes, I did."

"And where did you get that gun?"

Well, what could I say. Guess I should just be honest with the woman that dared to call herself officer. "I stole it from the police. Well, to be exact, my Jolteon did. She's incredibly fast, so it's not strange nobody saw her on the security cameras. I don't really know if you want to make that public though. That just shows how bad the police truly is." Officer Jenny growled.

"How did you know how to shoot?"

"I was taught how to shoot on a fair."I admitted. It was how I started shooting. I had been better than most and got lots of prizes. After that, someone taught me how to shoot with a real gun. But that was information Jenny didn't need to know. "You know, with a water gun. I was extremely good, so I shooted more and more. Farther and farther away from the target. But I kept hitting bull's eye. I just prayed I did just as well with a real gun."

"A real gun is complicated."officer Jenny uttered. "It's impossible to learn how to use it in such a short time. Overall, shooting a bullet will need lots of preparations. I don't believe you could've pulled that off."

"That's why I missed, right?"I explained.

"You did, but even a professional sharpshooter could miss that far away from his target." I needed to come up with some great lie that would change officer Jenny's mind.

"I'm telling you the truth, officer."I lied. Well, it was part of the truth. But what could a little lie hurt? It wasn't like she was that good at figuring out who lied anyway.

"Okay."Jenny said, still not convinced. "Then, what did you know about the plans to go to the forest?"

"All I knew was the limited information Gary had given me."I avowed. "That he, Drew, Ash, May and Misty were going to the forest to rescue Leaf, and that they might need backup. He didn't tell me about the killer being there, or what I had to do, just that."

"And why didn't you inform the police?"

"Because the police hasn't come close to being able to even figure out who the killer was. Let stand they could capture her. We had more chance without the police than with. Plus, Gary had entrusted me with that information and I'm not someone who throws away trust. If I earned someones trust, I keep it close to me, and never let it go."

"Why did you randomly attack that man, whoever he is, without a chance of winning?"officer Jenny questioned. I felt like that was a question she wanted to ask me from the very beginning.

"I did whatever needed to be done to protect Leaf. Even if that meant I had a chance of dying."

"You're the most stupid teenager I have ever met."officer Jenny blurted. I guess I was. But to be honest, I didn't really care. As long as my friends were alright. And I had failed at that too.

"By the way, how is Gary?"I questioned.

( Gary's POV )

After that long talk with officer Jenny, I could finally rest. Just then Leaf came in. "Just the one person I don't mind walking in."I said smiling.

"You're lucky you're in a hospital bed, otherwise I'd slap you in the face."Leaf bellowed. I blinked a few times. Leaf came sit next to me on the moving chair and stared at me with crossed arms. I looked back at her, a bit confused.

"What did I do wrong?"I asked carefully.

"What did you do wrong?!"Leaf yelled, stiffening. "In your quest to save me, you got sliced in the back and now you lay in a hospital! And it's because of me, again! How many times have you ended up in the hospital because of me?!" She didn't gave me any time to answer her and already continued, "Three! You got into the hospital to protect me, three times! When are you finally gonna let me take a blow for you?!"

"Shut up before you damage my ears too."I murmured and I tried to get up. My back had been injured severely, but the hospital had done quite a job in keeping me in less pain. Thank Arceus for painkillers. Though Sky seriously knew how to put up a fight. She was stronger than I had expected her to be, but I had kept her on the ground long enough for Red to shoot her.

"No, I won't shut up!"Leaf yelled back at me. "You stupid, dumb, idiotic, self centered jerk!"

"I'm surprised you didn't swear."I said, smiling lightly. Leaf shot me a glare, and I just smirked at her. "Well, at least I know you're okay."

"Die."Leaf growled. I chuckled. "This is no joke, Gary. You could've died out there. And I don't think laying in the hospital with a sliced back is much better. I'd rather have you dead than in pain."

"Too bad."I said, grinning. "I'm not planning to die yet. There's still so much I want to do before that."

"Like what?"Leaf asked annoyed. I smirked at her. She rose an eyebrow in response.

"Like this."I said, and I pulled Leaf closer to me until our lips met. She was surprised, and I felt how she tensed a bit first. But after a few seconds she seemed relaxed, and she kissed me back. Then the door opened, and we heard a groan.

"Why does this always happen with me?"Misty complained. After that we heard the door close and someone screamed, "Tell me when you're done!" I shrugged it off and just continued kissing Leaf. After some time, we finally broke the kiss.

"Arceus, I missed you so much."Leaf said, out of breath.

"Not more than I missed you." Then she kissed me again, and I almost felt bad for Misty, who was forced to wait outside. Almost. When we finally decided kissing should have to wait, she opened the door letting Misty inside. Misty had an awkward smile on her face. She walked on only one leg, while her foot on the other was in plaster cast. But they had clearly cleaned her a bit since the last time I saw her.

"I was just here to check how you were doing, but I guess you're perfectly fine."Misty said, and she looked a bit Leaf's way. I grinned.

"I've never been better."I said. "I somehow seem to heal faster than expected."

"Liar."Leaf protested.

"What liar?"I asked annoyed. "The only injury I had was my back, and they already healed it. I'm probably out of here by today. I'd need some bandages for if it bleeds again, but I'm not injured that badly. For all I know, Red is injured worst of all."

"I have to disagree with that."Misty said softly. She looked down at the tapestry. "The one with the worst injuries is Paul."

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Well, I somehow keep writing this. Next chapter is chapter 45. How am I still not done? I guess this all must be incredibly boring, so I'll make sure to get done with it.

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            -LapisLazulli2-