Board Fighters 2 Prequal  The Two Flames: Through the Rain - Chapter 5
Wellwisher Written by Animenadie  
 
 
-Yoshikawa Hospital, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan-

Amidst the fluorescent interior of Yoshikawa Hospital, mainly filled with busied doctors and nurses, he naturally stood out. With a gentle gait, he paced up and down the hallways in search of Jin's room, where he had been placed last night. After coming close to losing his way a few times, he finally found it, pushing open the doorway to enter.

Apart from his chest, which slowly heaved up and down with rhythmic breaths, Jin laid still on his hospital bed, garbed in a white hospital gown. A series of white bandages, partially covered by his hair, were wrapped around his forehead, the only indication of his injuries. Being more accustomed to seeing the courier draped in far darker colours, the image of him in white certainly made for a sight. In fact, it even seemed to suit him, he suddenly found himself noting.

Just as he wondered whether to wake Jin up or come back some time later, Kushina's body stirred slightly, followed by his eyelids cracking open to gaze at the intruder.

Astaroth met Jin's gaze with a friendly stare. "Donnai de ka?" (How's it going?)

Jin gave what appeared to be a casual shrug, recognising the Osaka dialect of his native language and responding in kind. "Bochi bochi, denna." (Okay, I guess)

==

The Two Flames
Chapter V: Wellwisher

==

Several minutes later, after the necessary procedures were done, Jin was allowed to leave the hospital. Without a shirt to wear, however - the doctors had cut up his shirt last night, and Astaroth had failed to bring a replacement - the courier had been forced to wear the hospital gown over his trousers to compensate. With the bandages still wrapped around his forehead, the overall combination had won him some curious glances from various passers-by, but with Jin lacking enough money to buy a temporary replacement - and Astaroth only having brought enough money for the cab-ride back - he didn't exactly have a choice. At least he could take some comfort in the fact that the colour white seemed to suit him - a point Astaroth had brought up to him earlier, and a point he surprisingly found himself in agreement with.
For the first ten minutes of the cab journey back to the apartment not much passed between the pair, their slack in conversation replaced by the lyrics of a Japanese rock band that busted out through the vehicle's sound-system. Just before the song began to close out Jin recalled the band's name: L'Arc en Ciel. It was also around that time when Astaroth chose to break the silence.

"Nat was still sleeping when I left to get you," he spoke. "If she's up now, she must be suffering one hell of a hangover."

Jin gave a small grunt of acknowledgement, inclined to put one hand to his temple until the pain sharpened at the touch. Taking his hand away, he sighed and watched the city pass by.

"Next time, let's not encourage her to drink so much. Or at all. She got a little..."

"Unpredictable?"

"Yeah."

Astaroth smirked, "You could have just let her take care of the guy, once she realized what she was doing. I don't think he'd have smashed a beer bottle over her head."

"Things would have gotten out of hand, I can guarantee that," Jin said, defending his actions. The guy who made the mistake of striking him probably wouldn't have relented easily, and he didn't doubt Natalie would have turned to aggression. She'd already begun to when he convinced her to let it go.

His friend sighed quietly. "If you say so. Thanks for sticking up for her, though," he said, though Astaroth was unsure whether Jin stopped the scene out of concern for her, jealousy, or something else.

"It was nothing," Jin's replied. "Too bad it ended up ruining your date."

"It's no big deal, there'll be plenty more," Astaroth said with a dismissive wave. "Actually, if it wasn't for her, things might have been worse."

"Hmm?"

"Taka was the one who saw you attacking that guy," he replied. "When you passed out, I had her call an ambulance while I tried to reduce your blood loss."

"Oh, okay," Jin's reply came out a bit mumbled. He seemed a little distracted, so David guessed that the painkillers were wearing off. He let the conversation slip back into silence for the rest of the trip.


==


"Oh God," Natalie groaned, leaning over the porcelain bowl and emptying out whatever was in her stomach that she didn't even remember eating. Her abdomen was sore from retching, her eyes refused to open all the way and her head felt like it had a hatchet buried into her skull. This was only the second hangover she'd ever had... and it beat the last one three times over.

"I'm never getting drunk again!" she swore, prayed, vowed or any combination thereof, as she pulled herself into a standing position, steadied on the counter. Her gaze fell on the mirror, to the messy hair and puffy eyes and sickly pallor, and determined she looked almost half as bad as she felt. "Never. Again," she mumbled, reaching for the mouthwash.

Just when she finished rinsing her mouth, she heard the apartment door open and shut, along with two sets of footsteps. Smoothing her hair down quickly, she poked her head out of the bathroom as the two men walked by. "Jin?"

He stopped, looked at her, and forgot any embarrassment over his odd state of dress when he saw how rough she looked. A horrible hangover indeed...

"Hey..."

"Are you okay?" she asked, and he couldn't help but think maybe she should be asking herself that.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just lost a little too much blood," he said in his usual quiet monotone.

She winced when she looked at the bandages around his head, ignoring the hospital gown he had on for a shirt. "I can fix that..." she started to offer, not realizing how pathetic she looked. She felt terribly guilty over him getting hurt as a result of a mistake on her part.

"Nah, it's alright. Looks like you might need to take care of yourself," came the brief response just before he went to the living room.

Natalie watched him go, feeling rather small, enough that she called out, "I'm sure I'll get over it soon!"

"Hey Nat," she heard her brother call back to her, "I know a perfect cure for a hangover..."

"What?"

"A greasy Philly cheese-steak sandwich with extra onions, rolled in cat litter."

"F--K YOU," she groaned before slamming the door and heading for another round of torture.

"You're unusually cruel today," Jin observed, sitting on the couch. Astaroth simply smirked.

"The quicker she gets it out of her system and the sooner she quits thinking about helping you, the better."

"Wow, thanks," Jin said with a coating of sarcasm, even though he agreed that Natalie needed to worry about herself.

"Don't mention it," David said nonchalantly. "I've seen you handle much worse. If a beer bottle is going to have you down for long, you've lost your edge, my friend."

At that, a ghost of a smile came to Jin's face. "True."


==


By the time Natalie was able to leave the bathroom without any fear of throwing up - she was sure that if anything else came up, it'd be something important, like a lung or her spleen - she found a cup of coffee sitting on the end table on the right side of the couch, two small pills next to it.

"The real cure for a hangover," Jin explained when she sat down. "Your brother found them in a cabinet. Forgot he had any."

Natalie looked at the coffee and felt sick again, but made herself drink it and take the pills. She didn't say anything else to Jin, mostly because she felt stupid ever since last night. She could only remember half of what she said and did, and all of that was an embarrassment. The worst was that he'd found her dancing with some other guy (even if she did think it was him at the time) and had gotten hurt because she hadn't stayed put. He must think I'm an idiot, the pessimistic voice in her head chimed.

Before she could say anything to Jin, he stood up from the couch, saying, "I need a shower." After getting clean clothes from upstairs, he did just that, leaving Natalie to wallow in her internal misery.

"You can't still be that bad," she heard a voice say from behind her. "The pills should be taking effect about now."

Natalie whirled around to face her brother. "This is all your fault, y'know."

Astaroth gave her a blank stare. "How?"

"'You should at least have one real drink,'" she reiterated in a mock-tone of her brother's voice in relation to what he'd said last night. "I shouldn't have listened to you."

"What can I say? Didn't think you'd end up being al lightweight, plus it's only a hangover." David gave a light chuckle.

"That's not the point," Natalie snapped. "Thanks to you, Jin probably thinks I'm nothing more than a blabbering, annoying heap of trouble."

"I think you're overreacting, Na- well, maybe you have a point with the 'annoying' part..." Astaroth only grinned further as Natalie glared at him. Oh, how fun it was to tease his sister sometimes. "Seriously though, don't beat yourself up about it. It's all in the past now."

Natalie was about to respond, but then the sound of the doorbell blared, causing Astaroth to get up and walk towards the door. From the sofa Natalie watched on as her brother opened it only to then lean against the doorway, blocking her from seeing who was at the other side. Based on the tone in his voice it appeared to be someone he knew, but she couldn't deduce anything beyond that. Just as it seemed that David would simply remain in his position, he soon stepped back to let the person in, which allowed Natalie to see who it was.

Her again? She's pretty fast. Natalie commented to herself. In front of her stood Taka Michiko, dressed in a faint pink blouse over a pair of dark-blue jeans, with a small jacket over the former. In her right hand she held some sort of shopping bag, branded with a stylised design of a bird and a series of kanji characters along the bottom. For a fleeting moment, Natalie felt slightly self-conscious of her own outfit: a pair of pyjamas with a giant pair of slippers shaped like wolf paws.

"Natalie-san." Taka gave a small wave with a casual smile, which Natalie returned in kind. After closing the door shut behind him, David walked over towards Michiko and gently reached out to take the bag out of her hand before she could stop him.

"A gift, for me? Aw, you shouldn't have," he said as he peered into the bag.

Taka took it back from him just as quickly. "Baka, it's not for you. I bought this for you to give to Kushina-san when you visit him at the hospital."

With a mock look of disappointment over the gift, David replied, "You can do that yourself, once he's out of the shower."

"He's out already?"

"He had only lost a little too much blood, so it wasn't anything serious," David replied.

"Oh," Taka said, revealing a smile as she sat on the sofa with the gift placed beside her. "I guess I'll wait then."

Sitting on the other side of the couch, Natalie tried not to scrutinize the other woman and compare herself with her. Taka was pretty, rather feminine, shorter than she was, which probably made her look cuter to most men. And she had brought a gift for Jin, something Natalie had been too busy throwing up to even think of.

As Taka and David carried on a conversation in Japanese, the content naturally being lost on Natalie, she felt more and more conscious of her dishevelled state. She couldn't wait to take a shower...

At that moment, the bathroom door opened and Jin stepped out, freshly showered and dressed, still carefully towelling his hair since he hadn't been aware of company being present. The wrap-around bandages were gone, with only a large square one taped to his temple to protect the stitches. When he heard a slightly familiar voice, gold eyes settled on Taka with some surprise.

"Kushina-san! How are you feeling?"

"Alright, all things considered," he answered, taking a moment to toss the towel back into the bathroom behind him. Astaroth frowned as the wet towel landed on the floor, but chose to say nothing. "And you, Michiko-san?"

"I'm good," she said, standing and holding out her hand with the shopping bag in it. "Here, this is for you."

Blinking in surprise, Jin took the bag gingerly, peeking inside to see a bottle of one of the finer brands of sake.

"I noticed you enjoyed sake, so..." she trailed off with a girlish smile.

"Thank you," he said politely, and was about to say she didn't have to do that before he noticed Natalie with a small bundle of clothes in her arms. In fact, he couldn't help noticing her, for she had to get by him to reach the bathroom.

"Gonna get a shower, guys... I'll be out in a little while." Giving everyone a pleasant smile, she shut the door and the look disappeared into a sullen expression. I must look like such an idiot, her mind reiterated as she undressed and turned the shower on.

"Dammit... he used up all the hot water!!"


==


"Well, I'm going to make a sandwich, I'm starving. Would either of you like something?" David asked his guests.

Taka shook her head, "I ate before coming here. Thank you though."

Jin also declined, due to feeling unenthusiastic about eating while his head still ached. David nodded and went to the kitchen, telling Taka to make herself at home. She chose to sit on the couch closer to Jin, who remained standing an arm's length away, bag in hand.

"You didn't have to do this," Jin spoke.

"Why not?" Taka replied. "It's nothing I wouldn't do for an old friend."

"My point exactly, Michiko-san," was all he said.

"Don't be like that, Jin-san," the raven-haired beauty appealed, seemingly unaffected by his apparent edgy attitude. "What happened to the quiet, sweet boy I spoke to all those years ago?" she then asked with what appeared to be an all-knowing smile.

Kushina averted his gaze slightly as his eyes met Taka's. "I guess he grew up."

"That's unfortunate," Michiko responded. "Well, at least he still has those cute golden eyes I liked..."

Taka Michiko watched on as Jin turned to walk into the kitchen without a word, essentially ending the conversation. While a part of her felt bad for teasing him just then, she was glad to see him again. Maybe more so than she'd anticipated ever since last night - although that was a thought she didn't want to entertain right now. He may have grown up, but he hasn't completely changed, came the thought as she reached out for the TV remote. About a half-minute later Jin joined her, followed by the both of them staring at the TV programme in attentive silence. They remained that way for about two more minutes until Jin decided to break the silence.

"Sorry about earlier," he apologised. He paused briefly, as if to let his words sink in, then spoke again. "It's nice to see you again, Taka-san."

Taka returned the comment with a small smile as she turned to face him. "I'm glad, Jin-san."


==


By the time Natalie had finished with her shower and gotten fully dressed, Taka was already on her way out. Before leaving the latter had suggested that the four of them all go out either the next day. To the surprise of no one, Michiko's suggestion had been expressed in her native tongue, causing Astaroth to later inform his sister after Taka left.

Natalie didn't miss her much.

The rest of the day consisted of the three mostly hanging around the house as Jin recovered. Taking over the counter painkillers helped his head some, but not enough to make the dull throbbing go away completely. Natalie offered once more to heal him, which he again declined.

She lapsed into silence after that, preparing dinner while still trying to figure out how to make it up to him. Her brother noticed her continued melancholy and decided to check on her, keeping his voice low.

"Are you still beating yourself up over last night?"

She jumped, startled that his voice came from right over her shoulder. With a scowl at him for sneaking up on her, Natalie replied in snipped, quiet tones. "It doesn't really matter. He's barely said a word to me all day, but he has no problem talking to someone who is a relative stranger." She gave Astaroth a glare that dared him to say otherwise... a challenge he didn't meet. "I don't blame him, either," she added with a sigh. She stopped stirring whatever she was making on the stove. "I'm nothing but trouble, aren't I?"

A gentle hand squeezed her shoulder. "Well, last I checked, 'trouble' doesn't make dinner as well as you..."

She replied without a smile. "Thanks."

"So what are you making?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at the pans on the stove. On the counter was a platter of seared chicken pieces, seemingly set aside.

She looked down at the pan before her and cursed softly, stirring it again. "Chicken Etouffee. I'm working on the roux now," she said, indicating the dark, thick, gravy-like substance she stirred. "Hand me the vegetables, please."

He did as told, handing off a bowl of diced onion and chopped bell peppers, both red and green. He watched her add these to the roux, along with two bay leaves. "I don't think I've ever had etouffee before... that's Cajun, right? Is it spicy?"

"It is if I want it to be," she said, and Astaroth inwardly reminded himself that she was in a foul mood.

"...do you like spicy food?" he asked.

"I once ate chilli so hot it made the guys I was training with cry like they were dying," Natalie answered. "But if the mouth ulcers they got were any indication, they might have felt like they were..." She gave him a brief, sweet smile that looked purely evil. "I love it."

He looked rather worried as she asked for another ingredient, prompting her to add on, "No, I wouldn't cook anything that hot for you or Jin unless you either liked it or really, really deserved it."

With a sigh of relief, Astaroth opened the fridge and blinked as his mind finally registered what she had asked for. "Beer? I don't drink beer..."

Natalie rolled her eyes, "I know. That's why I asked you to buy a dark lager or something similar when I gave you the grocery list."

"...that was for cooking?"

Turquoise eyes narrowed as she turned to look at him. "You did buy it, didn't you?"

"...no."

"What?!"

"I didn't know it was for cooking..."

"You %*+*!%*! If you ruin my roux I'm going to skin you with a potato peeler!"

Hearing them now, Jin looked over his shoulder from his place on the couch to see Astaroth looking a bit helpless under Natalie's glare.

"I'll go get some... there's a store across the street," David said, already heading for the door.

"Get it back here quick!" said Natalie, reducing the heat and continuing to stir.

Ten minutes later, he returned, just in time to save the meal. When Natalie was done adding that and the last ingredients, she put the chicken in and brought it all to a boil.

"There," she said with a sigh of relief. "Now it'll simmer for an hour and fifteen minutes, then I de-bone the chicken, simmer more, and all I'll need is parsley."

The look on David's face was crestfallen. "That wasn't on the list..."

"What?!"

"The grocery list I got from you before... that wasn't on it."

Natalie groaned in despair, but before she could say anything else, David volunteered. "I'll go get some. Anything else while I'm out?"

"Rolls or bread of some kind would be nice," she said with a sigh and a small, apologetic smile. After all, she wouldn't need the parsley for a while.

He nodded and stepped closer to say, "While I'm gone, you should talk to Jin. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think, he's just not feeling great."

She smiled and he left again. As she was checking on the mixture in the pot, another voice spoke over her shoulder, startling her in much the same way David had. "What's for dinner?"

Natalie turned to see Jin standing close enough to look for himself, making him rather close to her. She stirred the contents a little before answering. "Chicken Etouffee."

"Chicken what?"

She giggled. "It's Cajun. I think you'll like it. It's usually made with shrimp or crawfish, but I like chicken better."

A slight look of disgust showed on his face when she mentioned shrimp. "That's good," he said.

Natalie put her ladle down and turned to face him, leaning on the counter. "So... how's your head?"

"It's... alright." Obviously, that meant it still hurt now and then.

"Let me see," she said, reaching toward the bandage on his head. He pulled back, as she expected, but she persisted. "Let. Me. See."

The tone was gentle but firm as a mother coaxing a child. Jin frowned slightly but didn't pull away again as she carefully peeled the bandage back. "You have six stitches!" she exclaimed, to which he only gave a very small nod. Guilt washed through her again, showing in her turquoise eyes. "I... I'm so sorry for what happened. It's my fault you got hurt."

"We aren't always able to avoid or control the situations we end up in," Jin spoke in response, adding a rather cryptic edge to his words. Natalie wouldn't realise it, but Jin's sentiment was not so much a means of reassurance, but a fleeting window into his own past and experiences.

"But last night could've been avoided," Natalie pressed on, still feeling sorry for herself.

"It is what it is," he replied dismissively. "It wasn't fatal."

Natalie blinked as she held back a sigh. The least he could do was be mad, upset, or criticising of her actions, or something! Instead he was just... Jin. True, it wasn't like Jin's reclusive, rigid persona was new to her - and even something she was growing used to - yet she could also foresee the strain their relationship might gain as long as things between them remained that way.

A part of Natalie wondered whether he even was as committed to the relationship as she was, only to cut off the thought. She was probably thinking too much into things again. It wasn't fair of her to expect so much from someone like Jin so early into the relationship either, she realised. She was going to do something about that wound, though.

Before Jin could realize what she was doing, her fingertips touched the wound, bathing it in a blue-white glow. He recognized the feeling seconds before the pain disappeared completely.

"There, now we just have to take the stitches out... it shouldn't even leave a mark," she said with a small smile.

Jin tentatively brushed his fingers over the cut, his face now unreadable. In truth, he didn't appreciate the way she'd imposed herself like that, particularly since he'd politely declined her offers to heal him throughout the day. It was only a minor gash - at least, compared to other injuries he'd received before - that would've repaired itself within a few days, so it wasn't exactly something for her to worry about.

Nonetheless, the polite side of Kushina shone through as he expressed some gratitude at the gesture with a word of thanks.

Natalie looked like she would say something, but was then interrupted by the sounds of the pot as its contents threatened to overflow. Once she turned back to face Jin, she only saw his departing form as he headed back towards the sofa.

She merely watched him go, stung with the feeling that in her attempt to help him, she may have made things worse. With a grim silence, she resumed her duties on preparing tonight's meal.


==


By the time David returned, it was almost too late. How in the world did it take so long to get parsley? Naturally, Natalie scolded him for it, but managed to save the meal.

And if this was "saved", then the men wondered what "perfect" might have been.

"This is really good," David said, followed by a nod from Jin.

Natalie smiled a little shyly. "I'm glad you both like it," she said.

For the rest of the meal she was relatively quiet. She picked up the dishes and went to the kitchen to clean up, leaving them to watch television.

David got the distinct impression that things between her and Jin were unresolved at best, or that they'd gotten more complicated at worst. Jin seemed little different... but then, this was Jin.

As Natalie was finishing up putting the dishes away, David announced that he was tired and was going to go to bed early. He said his goodnights, gave his sister a brief one-armed hug and said quietly to her, "If nothing else works, flash him."

"David!"

With a small grin, Astaroth released her and went up stairs, with Jin still sitting on the couch watching TV, none the wiser to what had been said. Quietly, Natalie joined him.

Several minutes passed before she got up the nerve to speak.

"Jin, we need to talk."

Gold eyes stared at her quizzically. "Talk? What about?"

"Last night."

At that Jin was silent, but Natalie took that as an opportunity to elaborate more, which she did.

"Ever since you've come back from the hospital, it's like..." Natalie took a deep breath before speaking on. "It's like you're upset with me. I mean, you have a right to be... considering what I did... but I just get the idea that you don't accept or even care about my attempts to make it up to you for what happened..."

There, she'd said it. Feeling relieved with herself, Natalie dared herself to look at Jin to gauge his reaction. Would he admit that he was still mad at her, or that she should have listened to him in the first place? Would he say anything at all? With the TV screen still blaring in the background, Natalie got a response.

"I'm not mad at you."

Natalie could only blink incredulously. "You're not?"

He shook his head.

"Then... then why were you so against me trying to heal your wound?" she pondered.

"It wasn't your responsibility, but mine," Jin explained. "Especially as I don't blame you for what happened that night."

"Well, me wanting to help you wasn't just because I felt responsible," Natalie admitted. "I wanted to help you because that's what I do for people I care about." It's what any girlfriend in my position would do for her man. "Besides, I figured you'd at least want to get back to work without worrying about those ugly stitches," she finished with a small grin.

Jin appeared to take on a thoughtful gaze. "I understand, and I'm grateful." Natalie smiled and started to speak, but was cut off when Jin unexpectedly added, "but you should have respected my decision to not have you heal me."

She blinked, taken aback momentarily before she recovered with a sigh. So, he had been a little upset. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I just thought it might help, and that you were being stubborn. I won't do it again," she added with a friendly smile.

"You're forgiven," he replied, turning his attention back to the television, much to her chagrin. She leaned back against the cushions.

A moment passed before she spoke. "I don't think I actually thanked you. So... thanks for sticking up for me. Even though I could have handled him..." She added the second part with a smirk, which caused Jin to glance at her.

"Maybe, but if you had 'handled' it, we probably would have had more trouble than me going to the hospital."

She frowned at him, "So you think I'm a lot of trouble, huh?"

Jin blinked and his tone turned slightly defensive. "I didn't say it like that..."

Natalie leaned closer, her frown suddenly disappearing in a giggle. "Maybe not, but whether or not I'm a load of trouble, it was just partially your fault. And not just for helping me get drunk." Now that the apology was out of the way, she was going to tease him a bit.

Jin raised one brow slightly as he inquired, "How so?" He was never quite sure how to act when Natalie had these strangely mercurial swings, and it made him wonder how often it happened.

"You wouldn't dance with me! I only wound up dancing with that guy because I thought it was you."

"I told you to stay at the booth because I didn't think it was a good idea for you to wander, and I was right."

"I wouldn't have wandered," she came back playfully with a finger pointed at him, "if you had just danced with me. But I guess I shouldn't have assumed it was you. You'd never dance like that... if you can dance at all," she teased again with a grin.

"Well," Jin returned smoothly, "you wouldn't know, now would you?"

The frown returned to Natalie's face. "Well, if you won't dance with me, then you're at least going to keep your promise to take me to the arcade, right?"

"Maybe... when do you want to go?" Jin asked, more than ready for a change in topic that didn't include him being on the receiving end of her picking.

She thought for a moment. "Well, since I healed you, you should feel up to going tomorrow, right?"

"Uh, I guess. But didn't Michiko-san want us all to go somewhere then?"

There was that frown again. "Yeah, sometime tomorrow. But what would you rather do, wait around for us to go out with her, or get revenge for me stomping your ass on DDR?"

Jin's response was pretty straightforward. "Can't we do both?"

That wasn't the point, her mind all but screamed. What Natalie did say was completely different, naturally. "We can, sure. If that's what you want."

"Okay," Kushina affirmed his sentiment with a simple nod.

"So, ready to let me take those stitches out?" she asked, leaning against his side as she inspected them.

Jin noticed the way she looked ready to jump on the task, and decided to play against that. "Not tonight."

"Aw, why? They look funny, and it'll only take a minute..."

"Are you always like this, going against people's wishes?" he asked with the slightest hint of a smirk.

"Do you like looking like Frankenstein? A little green paint and some bolts and you'd be set. How are you at creepy groaning?" she shot back immediately.

"I wouldn't know, and no, I'm not going to try."

She grinned and before she considered it, her next statement popped out. "I dunno about creepy, but I bet I could make-" she promptly shut her mouth as her face turned red.

Having no clue what she was about to say, Jin inquired. "Make what?"

"Nothing!" Natalie responded immediately, looking away. "I- I mean... you're no fun." Covering her almost-mistake with sullenness, Natalie left Jin on the couch, as she got ready for bed.

He sat there, baffled as he murmured to himself a phrase he heard once, which seemed quite fitting for this moment.

"Women are crazy."