Chains Of Pride

"W-Wait…What! What did you just ask me?!"

Kia was sure he didn't hear right, did this pink-haired female with the face that said 'I never learned to move my face as a child' just asked something outrageous?

"I asked you if you like me?" She repeated the same question not missing a beat.

"Why would you ask me that all of a sudden?" he asked.

"Do you always tend to reply to a question with a question?" She courted back.

"I dunno, isn't that what you're doing now?" Kia asked once more, finally spotting the pattern.

"We're going around in circles." She said a little annoyed, but not allowing it to show on her face.

"Fine, we'll end it, but tell me why you just asked me that out of the blue first?" Kia really wanted to know her thought process.

"There's no deep reason, I just sensed deeper within your gaze than basic l.u.s.t. I didn't feel disgusted, so I wanted to know what it was if it was a pure liking or maybe something else. Maybe my question should have been how do you feel about me then? What do you feel when you look at me?"

She pondered a bit when she said this.

"I don't feel much affection nor admiration for you intimately," Kia replied honestly.

"Really?" Ayuki asked a little surprised. She wasn't angry just…well…surprised. She was well aware that most of the men who stared at her (barring one), usually did so with lascivious intent.

There was a hungry d.e.s.i.r.e behind their praises, as for other girls, well. They hid a hint of jealousy that always manages to leak out from beneath their façade, a faint derision that she always managed to sense. This was why she always tended to be as monotonous as she was.

No need to spare much emotion for those who truly wish you the negative of theirs. She didn't have much energy for that, but even so, Kia's blatant refusal still stirred something inside, but only slightly.

"To fully answer your question, what I feel towards you can be described as curiosity," Kia said after thinking about it a bit more.

"Curiosity? Like who I am?" she asked for clarity.

"Well, yeah, I don't normally feel much of anything towards most other people, well, apart from annoyance I guess." He shrugged at this as he continued.

"Apart from the two out there and my family, other people never get me, yet I get them but never want to. You, however, make me curious, and there hasn't been a person who warranted such a feeling in me so I simply wonder, why do you?"

Kia tried his best to answer her question as best as he could.

She thought for a while, before she asked something in that area, "I see, then do you classify it as a passing affection or a flare-up of your emotion in that regard?"

"Unlikely, I'm a demis.e.x.u.a.l, so it doesn't matter what you do, who you are or what you look like, if I don't have an emotional bond with you then you get nothing from me."

"That's quite the archaic term to be honest, but thanks for answering my questions. As for why I make you curious, well, I guess I can only say good luck. You are quite interesting yourself, so I guess it won't be that bad. Now just lie down and allowed the machine to do its work."

While they were conversing, she was calibrating the bed he was lying down on. After a while, it began to light up, a warm glow began to envelop him, making him extremely comfortable. He could feel the injuries that were posing a bit of a problem starting to knit back up again.

She got up and began to walk out of the room, to allow him a chance to peacefully recover. She opened the door and was just about to step out, but before she did, she looked back at him with his eyes closed, basking in the healing light the bed released.

For the first time in a long time, she revealed a slight smile, as she muttered to herself, "…good luck indeed."

Click.

The door quietly closed as time began to drift by as the hours passed.

[Treatment Complete]

The automated speech of the bed announced Kia's recovery as the warm glow began to die down.

"Mhmm…" Kia's eyes slowly opened and allowed himself to adjust a bit before he slowly began to get up.

"Well can we go in now? His name tile just turned blue on your clipboard."

"Why is he even in there so long? I'm pretty sure we all got banged up relatively the same."

"Fine, I'll open the door now."

Kia could hear voices on the other side of the door, if he wasn't mistaken, that was Gero first, Lanzo second and Ayuki last.

The door clicked and was pushed open to reveal the expressionless Ayuki. If Kia wasn't mistaken, he could swear he saw dark circles around her face, though it remained impassive.

Not long after, Gero and Lanzo walked out from behind her.

"Look see, he's fine," Lanzo said after he saw Kia sitting up looking at them in a bit of a daze.

"Of course he's okay you idiot, didn't you see the tile change to a blue that meant that he's fine." Gero snorted when he heard Lanzo's redundant statement.

Kia finally understood where the dark circles came from. These two being in a confined space anywhere is enough to get under anybody's skin.

"Guys, c'mon, pipe down a bit will ya? I got up a bit too fast before and my head's not all the way on my body here," Kia said trying to get them to quiet down a bit to grant the poor girl some reprieve.

"Oh sorry about that, how are you feeling? Can you get your feet under you?" Gero asked no longer bothering himself with Lanzo.

"Give me a minute," he pushed himself off the bed, but his balance wasn't quite there yet, so he was just about to fall over.

Lanzo and Gero were getting ready to help, but Ayuki beat them to the punch as she rushed to support him.

"Thank you," Kia sheepishly said when she extended her help. After a little time, he was sure he could manage. "I think I got it from here, thanks again."

She released him but still remained in a position to help should he keel over, after all, he was her patient, her nice, quiet patient.

"What time is it?" Kia asked when he was sure he had his bearings.

"It's 9:00 PM, that shitty Shepherd called and told us to go meet him when we were all better, so we're heading over, all of us," Gero gestured to everyone in the room.

"All of us?" Kia asked, a bit confused.

"Uh? Yeah, pinky over here is just about finished for the night and is heading to the Shepherd's mansion to put up." Lanzo replied matter of factly.

"My. Name. Is. Not. Pinky. It's Minayatsu Ayuki." She replied tersely. This big oaf started calling her Pinky the minute he woke up and was apparently deaf to her repeated requests to call her by her name.

"Whatever you say Pinky, now c'mon Kia, let's get out of here I hate being cooped up for too long," Lanzo said.

"Ugh." Ayuki stormed out when she heard this.

Kia laughed when he saw this "Hehehe, sure let's go."

Lanzo hurried out since they were leaving, glad they were finally getting out of here.

Gero, on the other hand, fell in stride with Kia. The place was empty now, most of the healers were done for the day.

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Gero asked, "So, what's up with you and Miss Life Fairy? You guys got a thing now? Not gonna lie, I always took you for the oblivious type."

"What are you talking about? I don't have a thing for her, she just asked me how I feel about her, and I told her I don't feel a thing for her in that regard."

Gero looked at him with a contemplative mien, "Ah I get it, you're not oblivious, you're a moron."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just gonna be hella funny watching you two interact from now on," Gero answered as he sidestepped Kia's question.

They finally reached outside where they saw that Lanzo and Ayuki had each brought back a bike so they could get to Takeshi's mansion faster.

Ayuki got off the bike and grabbed Kia's shirt and dragged him to the bike she brought back. "You're riding with me," was all she said as he continued to drag him onwards.

Gero chucked to himself when he saw this, "C'mon you idiot, this is the one time you annoying someone worked out."

Lanzo scratched his head when he heard Gero's remark, but he didn't care. He hopped back on the bike and sped away to catch up with Kia and Ayuki who already took off.