level 22;

───────

kita shinsuke felt himself hesitate for the first time ever. he loomed over the entrance to the medical ward as he sighed, knocking on the door twice as he saw sakusa immediately open it with a dead look in his eyes.

     "may I help you?"

     "I'm here to retrieve pris—shiori...for her shower", kita stated.

"she currently can't walk right now. you'll have to wheel her there and potentially help her shower", sakusa stated.

     kita nodded, to which sakusa had let the male in as he saw shiori in a loose white gown with bandages wrapped from her arms down to her legs.

     "shiori, may I carry you there?", kita asked.

"commander kita, no need to call me by my name. after all, I'm just a criminal, right?", the girl smiled, lifting her arms up as kita ever so slightly flinched.

the dual-haired male gently coddled shiori, careful not to hurt the girl as she refused to wring her arms around the male's neck like she used to.

     "I'll see you later, omi-omi", the girl chirped as sakusa just nodded, closing the door as he once more brought out the cleaning supplies.

     kita's strides were more slow this time round, making sure to make the girl's trip there as comfortable as possible.

     "shio—"

     "commander kita, why the sudden names? I thought someone like me didn't deserve to be called that?", the girl smiled, to which kita had unconsciously bit the inside of his cheeks as he breathed out an answer.

     "that's not it...shiori..."

     "then what is it? tell me?", shiori questioned, watching as the walls behind kita had turned from stone to a beautiful white tile, meaning that they had arrived at their destination.

kita begrudgingly placed shiori on one of the benches, meanwhile he laid out another white gown that he had gotten from sakusa out for the girl.

"I...I'm sorry we exploited you", kita admitted, avoiding shiori's stare.

     "that's it?"

     shiori scoffed. "you think that a mere apology will just fix everything? you think that exposing me at my weakest is helping me?", the girl lowly questioned, leaning in close to kita's face as the male's breath suddenly got stuck in his throat.

"tell me kita, are you trying to help me, or satirize me?"

kita's dull brown eyes suddenly widened as he choked up, not knowing what to say for the first time ever.

     "what...can we—I do to make it up to you?", kita quietly asked, never thinking that he'd be in such a position.

however, he couldn't help but feel accountable for the misconduct that had taken place. a feeling of sorrow itching at him when he watched the incident happen while he was restraining a feral atsumu.

shiori tilted her head to the side as a smile creeped up to her face.

     "I want you to tell your warden that if he truly feels sorry, he will give me what I desire most: freedom.

     access to every cell, every room. no more classes that force me to talk about my feelings. freedom to play with whoever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want.

     and of course, I hate sleeping alone. your warden should know that, so I want a sleeping buddy every night; my pick of course.

     it's honestly not too much to ask for. to gain my trust back, it's only fair that I expose some of you all too, right?", shiori whispered, to which kita's brows had ever so slightly furrowed.

     "I'll...try, but can I make a request?"

     shiori raised a brow, unamused. "you think you're in the position to state any conditions with me?"

"it's..not much", kita mumbled. "I just...could you call me by my first name?", the boy requested, covering the lower half of his face.

shiori cupped kita's cheeks as the boy's eyes suddenly stared into shiori's bloody red ones.

"when you get the warden to agree to my conditions, I can call you anything you want".

♛

"how was your shower? did the bruises hurt a lot?", sakusa questioned, reorganizing his cabinets of tea leaves as shiori was back on the hospital bed with a medical book—that she had borrowed from sakusa—in her hand.

     the girl ended up wobbling towards the shower as she stripped down and unraveled all her bandages without kita's help.

     after all, she wasn't that easy.

     her plan would've foiled if she had accepted the male's help immediately. some nearly broken ribs and ugly bruises were nothing compared to her ultimate desires.

     essentially, shiori wanted them to feel guilty. she wanted them to feel a dread eating them from inside out. shiori wanted them to know that she was abused.

     she was in charge of letting them figure out her past, but only step by step; only the parts of her past that she allowed.

     she wanted to be in control.

     "you seem to care a lot", shiori stated, flipping a page as this was quite interesting and will be useful in the future.

     "of course. you're my patient", sakusa replied.

     "just because I'm your patient?", shiori asked.

     "mhm. why else?"

     shiori suddenly closed her book, placing it down on the nightstand as she awaited for sakusa to help her lay down.

     sakusa aided the girl as he tucked her in, about to turn off the lights and head to his own room that was nearby until he felt a hand grasp onto his.

"can you stay and talk with me for a bit?", shiori requested, to which sakusa had shook off the girl's grip as he took a seat beside shiori's bedside.

"speak".

shiori slightly smiled as she turned her head towards the male, who wasn't entertained in the slightest.

"can you give me some sleeping pills?"

     "why? they're not exactly healthy for the condition you're in right now", sakusa informed.

"I have plenty of nightmares...sleeping pills will help me sleep with more ease", shiori sighed.

"I honestly don't suggest it, but I suppose I can let you take a pill or two until I think of other ways to help you sleep more smoothly", sakusa muttered as he quickly got up to go grab the said item.

shiori watched as sakusa opened the fourth cabinet from the left, to which the girl continued smiling as sakusa turned back around, grabbing a glass of water along the way.

"thanks, omi-omi".

───────

     author's note: hey lovelies!! thank you so much for all the support in the comments. it literally makes me go BWOSNDKSKS

     anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to vote + comment!! thanks babes <3