I don’t own Shigeru, Satoshi, Hiroshi, Kasumi, or any other characters mentioned in this story. They are the property of whoever created Pokemon. The story is pretty much mine; I came up with it on my own. Don’t bother me about the fact that it might be a touch over-used. It’s my story, and I’ll over-use whatever plots I want to. So hah!

This is a medieval AU, so it’s not set in the Pokemon universe.

~~~~~~

The sun caught on his hair, and it seemed to glow. I seriously couldn’t figure out how he managed to look so beautiful and pure and yet so incredibly sexy at the same time. A smirk formed on my face as I let my eyes run up and down his slender body before focussing at last on that determined-looking face. Then my gaze was drawn to the play of his muscles as he pulled back the bowstring, an arrow clumsily grasped against it.

Since that first day when Satoshi had come into my life, things had fallen into a basic routine. We argued, fought, and at times went through long periods of cold silence that I think drove us both crazy. At least the arguing was something. And I knew he was still determined to be furious with me, though I rarely saw any kind of hatred in his eyes. Resentment, yes, and irritation – but not hate. I had to try and ignore the fact that my attraction to him had gotten to the point where arguing got me hard and every time I looked at him I wanted to pin him to the ground and make passionate love to him. On mornings like that one, I had to force myself to concentrate on his attempts to draw the bow.

He hadn’t managed to learn the weapon, though I had to admitt that his determination to do so was admirable. I was aware that he’d die before asking for me help, so I offered it. Satoshi was the most stubborn person I’d ever known. He came out to practice every morning on his own, and maintained the position that it didn’t matter if I was there or not. I always came. Seriously, I was half-afraid he’d somehow kill himself if he weren’t properly supervised. He would never acknowledge my presense, but he’d follow my "suggestions". I had never before met an individual so dead-set on being pigheaded.

Watching him, I sighed. Well, he was holding the bow wrong. I’d never been able to explain exactly how in a way that got him to do it right. So I walked around behind him, placed my hands over his, and tried to position them.

Instant retaliation. Satoshi yanked out of my hold abruptly and glared back at me. "I can do it myself!" he snapped.

I sighed again, more irritated that time. "It’s been two weeks and you still can’t hold the bow properly. You’ll never be able to get this right if you won’t let me help you." I reached for the bow.

He jerked back away. "I will so!"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you’re just going to keep playing around like this, I won’t allow you to use our bows any more. They’re not toys." I met his furious gaze steadily. "Let me know when you’re ready to learn."

"I am ready." He faced me, teeth gritted, face flushed with anger. One hand was clenched around the bow and the other balled into a fist around the arrow. If we hadn’t had so many arguments like this before, I’d be almost afraid he might try to stab me with it. "I can do it myself!"

"Impossible." I snorted. "If it wasn’t for my help, you wouldn’t even know which way to hold the arrow."

That did it for Satoshi. Dropping the bow and arrow, he jumped forward and tackled me to the ground, raising his fists to pound my face in. I retaliated, naturally, and before long, we were rolling in the dirt like ten-year-old boys, punching, kicking, and screaming insults.

"Arrogant jerk!" he yelled, and bloodied my nose.

"Stubborn brat!" I shouted back, and blackened his eye.

We went on like that for a few minutes more, and then I felt an iron grip yanking me away from Satoshi. One of Grandfather’s guards. Another similarly held my opponent, and both my sister and grandfather stood right nearby. "It’s a record," Nanami grinned. "You went a total of half an hour without fighting."

"Give us a medal," Satoshi muttered, his angry gaze still fixed on me. His eye was swelling, I noticed, and there was blood trickling down over my lip. I pulled out my handkerchief and dabbed at it, not taking my eyes from my – enemy? love? incredibly-stubborn-but-too-damn-beautiful-prisoner? Well, something like that.

"I think you need to work on your grip, Satoshi," I forced out, trying to sound casual. The last time he caught us physically fighting, Grandfather promised to lock us in a closet together – alone – for exactly an hour. But… the two of us, cramped into that tiny space with nothing to do…? We’d kill each other! "Would you allow me to help you?"

"Of course, Shigeru," Satoshi replied, through clenched teeth. "I’m looking forward to your instructions."

"Well, isn’t that sweet?" Grandfather said sarcastically, eying the two of us with profound skepticism. "What do you think, Nanami?"

She didn’t even bat an eyebrow. "Bullshit."

"We’re nothing but truthful!" I smiled painfully. The prospect of that closet loomed in front of me ominously. "Satoshi and I were just having a… friendly… little… wrestling match!" I looped an arm around his shoulders and dug my fingers into his arm – hard. "See? We’re getting… along… great!"

He forced a smile. "Yes, I must’ve accidentally hit Shigeru in the face and then smacked my eye into his elbow. Whoops!" He graced them with a fake laugh, then brought his hand down – hard – on my shoulder. I fought to keep from wincing.

Nanami glanced at Grandfather and smiled. "All right, Shigeru," he gave in. "You two can continue with your lesson. I’ll just have the guards stay here to supervise you – for your safety, of course." He turned and walked back out of the training grounds, with Nanami at his side. The guards stood a distance away, watching us.

"Thanks a lot," Satoshi grumbled. "Now we’ve got babysitters!"

"Not my fault you decided to attack me," I retorted coolly, picking the bow and arrow up from where he’d dropped them. "But at least now I can teach you to hold these properly. Your lack of skill irritates me."

"Jerk," he muttered, under his breath.

"Brat," I muttered back, just as quietly.

One of the guards cleared his throat and we returned to the lesson.

~~~~~~

I seriously needed my own private room. Why did mine have to be a part of Shigeru’s, anyway? So I could get to him easily if I decided to give everything up and go be his friend? Fat chance of that happening! Don’t hold your breath, Shigeru.

I shut the door behind me and headed towards the mirror. My good eye caught on the glint from that ruby pommel-stone, which I kept on my shelf. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that thing, actually. I didn’t have a sword or anything… and it wouldn’t fit anywhere on a bow. I’d thought about having Hiroshi take it back to the stand it came from, but I didn’t want him going near that guy with the knife. So it just sat there.

Oh well. I looked up, and the mirror confirmed what I had already suspected: my eye had definitely gone black. In fact, it was swollen almost shut. I ran my fingers gingerly around the swollen area and felt the familiar throbbing of pain. Tender, too. Hiroshi would’ve laughed if he’d seen me nursing it so carefully. Much as I liked to pretend it didn’t matter, though, I did feel pain. Just as well as anyone else, in fact. I didn’t like admitting it.

"Satoshi?"

I whirled around as if I’d been doing something forbidden, and my good eye narrowed at Shigeru. He was holding a jar with some kind of ointment in his hand. "What are you doing in here?"

"Playing the healer," he quipped, moving forward and trapping me in a corner of the room before I could move away. "I have something that should help your eye heal." He dipped his fingers into the salve and reached toward my face. "Just let me…"

I ducked away from his hand. "Help it heal? You’re the one who put it there!" I wanted to take his offers of help and stuff them back down his throat. "And I didn’t ask for your help!"

He sighed. "I’m sorry, all right?" I hadn’t been expecting that, so I just blinked in response. "I hadn’t intended to hurt you. It’s just something you make me feel… it makes me angry because I don’t understand and then you drive me further with your words and your stubbornness. But you never cease to fascinate me, Satoshi. It’s… very strange." His eyes held mine, all stormy blue and grey.

"I’ll bet it is." My words didn’t have as much sting as they might have. "All right, Shigeru," I gave in. Don’t think this wins you anything. It won’t last forever. "You can put your salve on my eye if you really want to help." But it doesn’t mean we’re any closer, I added silently, letting my gaze make that clear.

He nodded, and I knew he understood. "As you wish, Satoshi." With his free hand he reached out and grasped my chin lightly, then used the other to begin rubbing salve in around my wounded eye. His touch was so soft that I barely felt any pain. It felt cool and soothing against my bruised skin. Shigeru’s gaze never once left my own, and I was forced to doubt my earlier thought that this would change nothing. I realized with a start that our verbal wars were really only petty covers. And that one moment, when he stared into my eyes with such intensity, really told me just what battle we were fighting.

It was simple: he wanted me – and I wanted my freedom.

I wasn’t sure that was entirely accurate, but it seemed to sum things up quite nicely. It was pretty hard not to notice that Shigeru was attracted to me, especially after Hiroshi had pointed it out. Sometimes his gaze felt almost hot; I could sense that his eyes burned over my skin, always watching me. He’d never once brought up the subject, probably because we can’t even look at each other without arguing, but sometimes the way he looked at me – like he enjoyed the view but he’d much rather be there – made my skin shiver with excitement. Still… maybe it was just stubbornness, but I was determined not to give in to him. And there was always this strange voice at the back of my head, telling me that in this war, we’d either both win or both lose.

Whatever that meant.

I blinked and came back to reality. There was more than enough cream around my eye… but… Shigeru was taking outrageous advantage of the opportunity I’d given him. I could almost sense his longing; in that moment, it seemed tangible. His fingers caressed my skin, brushing my cheek… "Um, Shigeru?" Why was I whispering? "That’s not part of my black eye."

"Mmm." He nodded slightly, barely acknowledging the accuracy of my statement. His fingers ghosted across my face, no longer relying on the pretense of rubbing salve on my wound. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but nothing came out. That felt… nice. It was different from how he spoke; his touch at least was soft, gentle…

There was a connection between us I couldn’t understand. I could admitt to myself that I found Shigeru attractive – very much so – and I knew he did me. It was easy to push it off to one side when he made an arrogant comment, but this close, with his eyes telling me I was the most fascinating thing to grace the earth… I didn’t know. He leaned forward, and his breath brushed warmly against my face. I knew what he was going to do – his head tilted and he cupped my cheek. A rush of desire ran through me…

That snapped me abruptly back, as though I’d been doused with cold water. No! I gave Shigeru a sudden, hard shove in the chest with both of my hands, pushing him away. Then a scowl spread on my face. "I didn’t say you could kiss me!" I snapped. "Try another stunt like that and I’ll give you more than just a bloody nose!"

With those encouraging words, I stalked past him and out the door, not even glancing back once. That had been way too close for my liking.

~~~~~~

I stared after Satoshi, torn between frustration and admiration. Mostly frustration; I had wanted to kiss him, and I knew he’d wanted it too… I’d been so close! Seriously, Satoshi was going to drive me right to the brink of insanity. But, as always, I had to admire his spirit. The more he denied me, the more I wanted him – and, of course, the more I tried to get close to him, the more determined he was to push me away. If I wanted to get anywhere with him, I was going to have to find a way to break free of that dead-end cycle.

Does he have any idea of what he does to me? First he’d drive me wild with his spirit and his beauty – and then he’d shove me away and refuse to co-operate. I’d never been shown that much defiance from a single person ever in my life.

Then again, it wasn’t like I’d ever wanted anyone before – not with that intense need that I did Satoshi. His beautiful face… graceful form… that enchanting, brilliant spirit… If I ever got the chance to have him in my life, I decided, I would want him to throw himself into it with a passion that equalled, if not surpassed, my own. Even when we argued, it was thrilling because he put his whole self into it. I had every bit of his attention. It was a secret pleasure of mine, to argue with him – enough that I’d start one on purpose just for the chance to see that intense awareness of self he had.

Enough daydreaming. I left Satoshi’s room and sank down onto my own bed, grabbing up a book. I’d had enough fights with him in the past where he’d ended them by storming off. Given an hour or two to cool off, he’d be back. He slept there, after all. And then I’d apologize. Because what I’d done had been rude. Trying to kiss him without asking first could be viewed as a terrible insult. And, though I’d insulted him verbally a number of times, this was different.

Ok… so I read my book until he gets back. I glanced down. The book was actually a history of great swordsmen – I’d been through it several times before. I liked it because I could picture myself as one of the swordsmen, fighting a heroic duel for the honor of some lover or a royal figure. Or in a rescue mission… I grinned and opened the book.

I cleaned and sheathed my sword, and then hurried up the stairs to the tower where someone waited for me to rescue them. Satoshi, of course. Beautiful Satoshi, waiting for his knight in shining armor to come up and –

"What are you doing here?"

"I can take care of myself, Shigeru!" he retorted defiantly. "So just… get lost!" The door slammed right in my face.

I started and sat up, woken from the daydream abruptly. After a moment, that initial shock started to fade. Figures. Even in my fantasies, he rejects me!

Movement at the other side of the room caught my attention and I looked up in time to see Satoshi making a dash for his room. That must’ve been the sound of the door slamming I’d heard so clearly in my dream, and it explained why I woke up so suddenly as well.

"Satoshi, wait! I want to apolo – "

The door to his room closed behind him firmly. He hadn’t even looked at me. Oh boy. He must’ve really been angry. I scrambled off the bed and went to knock on his door. "I’m sorry, OK? Satoshi?"

No answer. I heard rustling noises, like he was moving around.

"Would you answer me? I said I was sorry!"

Silence.

I couldn’t take it any more. "Oh, come on!" Exasperrated, I flung the door open. "I apologized; didn’t you hear – ?" I stopped abruptly.

Satoshi turned. "SHIGERU!? What are you DOING!?" He snatched the blanket off his bed and clutched it to his bare chest, turning even redder than he had been after I’d tried to kiss him. This time it spread over his exposed shoulders as well… Oh gods… I was staring…

Well, I might have been frozen, but Satoshi still had full control over his movements. Grabbing a pillow, he threw it at me as hard as he could. "Get OUT!!!"

That got me moving. I bolted from the room, pulling the door closed behind me. Hastily, I tried to think up something that would excuse me from being called a total pervert. "You could’ve locked your door if you were getting changed, you know!"

Immediate response. "Well, how was I supposed to know you were going to come barging on in here? It’s my room!"

"Well, what did you expect?" I was being defensive, even though I really didn’t need to be; after all, it had been an accident, and it definitely wasn’t my fault at all. "You walked in here in a huff and wouldn’t even acknowledge the fact that I apologized for trying to kiss you! Did you honestly think I’d just sit back, say ‘oh well’ and not try to talk to you?"

Silence. I heard shuffling noises. Satoshi was obviously continuing what he’d been doing before I’d burst in on him. I nearly choked and tried to force the image that realization brought with it out of my mind. Damn it, I wasn’t helping myself! Then he finally managed to find a retort. "I honestly thought you’d knock and make sure I said it was OK before you came bursting in here!"

"I did knock!" I retorted angrily. "And you didn’t answer! So what was I suppsed to do?"

"Not invade my privacy?"

"I only wanted an answer, damnit!" I moved away from the door, scowling. "I was ready to admitt that I was wrong; I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you. Can’t you at least accept my apology?"

"Fine. Apology accepted." The words were short. "Now leave me alone."

"You’re so impossible!" I frowned at the door. "I swear, you do this on purpose. It’s like you knew I’d have to come into your room, so you made sure you were half-naked when I did. You’re trying to taunt me or something."

"I am not!" The door flung open, and I nearly choked – again. I swear, Satoshi was going to give me a heart attack or something, with all the surprise he’d given me in just under five minutes. He was wearing tight… fitting… black, and it was sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life. Damn… I could not stop staring. It wasn’t fair… Why did he have to be so gorgeous and so far from my reach at the same time?

"Are you trying to prove me right or something?" The words came out just a bit breathlessly. Gods… I couldn’t take my eyes away from him; I wanted to savour every moment of this vision. "That outfit looks designed to kill me!"

Satoshi’s face was redder than my hair, probably because half of it came from anger and half from embarrassment. "It happens to be from your sister!" he retorted. "And all I’m doing is trying to see if it fits!"

"It fits just fine." I stared some more, and he started to look just faintly nervous. Nervous? A few days earlier, he would’ve punched me out for staring and stormed out the door. But he seemed just a touch indecisive, uncertain, this time. I mean, he was just standing there letting me ogle him. I glanced up at his face, worried. "Satoshi, are you feeling OK? Is something wrong?"

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Of course there’s nothing wrong!" he scoffed. "Just the fact that you’re staring at me!" He scowled at that. "And it’s obvious that your sister picked these clothes out just for you! Don’t think I haven’t seen you watching me, Shigeru, and I knew what’s on your mind! You’re not getting it!"

"Satoshi…" I sighed, and forced myself to be serious just that one time. "It’s true, I want you in my life. I want you to argue with me, to tell me when I’m wrong and when I’m being arrogant. I want to wake up in your arms and see you smile. I want to kiss you, hold you…"

"Sleep with me," he cut in acidly.

"That too." I couldn’t very well deny it; it was the truth, after all. "But that’s just part of it. I don’t know why you can’t see that."

"All I see is you getting all worked up just because of some tight clothes!" He crossed his arms over his chest, and his eyes were as defiant as ever, but I could see in them that I had made an impact, whether he knew it or not. I mean, he was still there and he was listening to me…

"Well, that is one sexy piece of clothing," I smirked – couldn’t help myself. "What did you expect?" All right, so maybe I wanted a reaction…

~~~~~~

I flushed at his words. What exactly was Shigeru trying to prove? First he came in all serious, practically saying he wanted to drag me to the alter like some pretty virgin maiden, and then he suddenly started talking like he’d throw me on the bed and go at me until next week if given the chance.

I absently wondered how long he really could last.

"This is just more proof for that theory of mine, Satoshi," Shigeru continued, still smirking. "It’s obvious now: you’re trying to turn me on. You do it on purpose so I’m driven to a fit of desire, and then you refuse me." His eyes were so confident… it was absolutely infuriorating! "You’re really nothing but a teasing little minx."

My face flared hot with anger and humiliation. "What did you call me!?" He couldn’t get away with that, the arrogant jerk! He was insufferable… he was pigheaded… he was so damn sexy…

Good gods, I did not think that!

"You heard me." That little smirk on his face was going to drive me wild. "Come on, I’ve discovered your game, so why don’t you just admitt it!"

That was enough to push me over the edge. "I’ll admitt nothing!" And I tackled him to the ground, so hard that we rolled over several times in a jumble of arms and legs before ramming hard against the table leg. I wasn’t paying attention.

"Take that back!" I yelled – several times, I think – all the while trying to smash any free part of Shigeru that I could find with my fists. He was trying to get a hold on me, but I was too quick for his grasping hands and he couldn’t stop the fight just by holding me back until I calmed down. I didn’t want to calm down; I wanted to smash his perfect face until he admitted that I wasn’t a minx, and I didn’t tease him. "Take…it…back!"

Despite my anger, though, this fight really lacked the conviction that the others had had. I didn’t actually want to hurt him; I just wanted him to take back what he’d said about me. And he wasn’t even fighting back, just trying to restrain me. That’s why neither of us was really very hurt by the time another pair of guards separated us.

There was a stormy look on Shigeru’s grandfather’s face… Uh-oh…

"What now?" Nanami asked, looking amused. "Didn’t he like your new clothes, Satoshi?" The look on her face made me flush, and I glared at her.

"This is the final straw, Shigeru," the Lord of Masara district said, face still dark. "I’ve let you off too many times. It’s clear to me that some punishment is in order." He waved at the guards.

"No – wait!" Shigeru’s eyes widened as we were both lifted right off our feet and carted off down the hallway. "It was a mistake! We weren’t really fighting!"

"He’s right!" I added, struggling weakly as I was carried after Shigeru, held up by an arm looped around my waist. "Shigeru was just teaching me some wrestling holds!"

"We’ve heard that one already." Nanami faked a yawn. "Can’t you think up something more original? Whoops!" And she held open the door to our miniscule prison. "Time’s up!" I was abruptly tossed into the cell, with barely enough time to recover from the landing before Shigeru was dropped on top of me.

"See you in an hour!" Nanami said brightly, and the door shut and locked.

There was far too little room… Shigeru pushed himself off me, but we couldn’t seem to sit without remaining somewhat tangled. I didn’t relish the idea of standing for an hour, but… Resolutely, I reached for a shelf to pull myself to my feet. There wasn’t a lot of room up there for standing.

"Oh, sit down!" Shigeru said scornfully. "Standing is just going to be uncomfortable, so why bother trying?"

"Shut up!" I snapped. "It’s your fault I’m here! If it weren’t for you, I’d be planning the next prank I want to pull to get back at Hiroshi for whatever it was he last did to me! So you just keep quiet and let me do things my way – wah!" My legs tangled in Shigeru’s and I lost my balance, toppling forward on top of him.

"Your way worked real well," he commented sarcastically, gripping my elbows to steady me. I was sitting on his lap, though, so I could tell how he reacted to my closeness. I bit back the spiteful remark that immediately came to mind, and backed off of him before my body could realize where I was. He couldn’t help it, and I wasn’t about to say anything, especially since another few seconds might’ve had me affected similarly.

Well, whatever; I wasn’t about to try standing any more.

But that didn’t mean I’d talk to him.

There were two things that could seriously drive me crazy, no questions: silence and stillness. I’d been condemned to the latter by the lack of real space, and my own stubbornness forced me to accept the first. There was no way I was going to last an hour with both of them, but I certainly tried. I sat there for what seemed like eternity, staring resolutely at the wall and concentrating on keeping the sound of my breathing out of sync with the sound of Shigeru’s. As for the stillness, though, I had to content myself with fidgeting and squirming.

"Satoshi, please stop," Shigeru begged, finally. "You’re driving me insane."

I stopped. "How much time is left?"

"Damned if I know!" he snapped, then immediately followed up with, "Don’t answer that – I apologize. I really don’t want to get into a fight while we’re in here."

I had to agree with that. "We’d either kill each other or knock out a wall. I guess we should try to avoid that."

"Yeah." We sat in silence for a while, then Shigeru spoke up again. "Satoshi, I’m sorry. The fight really was my fault."

I sighed, and felt suddenly glad he couldn’t see me blush. True, the outfit had come from Nanami and I had only been trying it on, but I couldn’t pretend that I hadn’t relished Shigeru’s reaction, just a little. To make him aroused just by changing by clothing… It made me feel good about my appearance, at least. I found myself wanting to maybe try more things and see what else I could do to turn him on.

"Satoshi?" Shigeru asked. I’d been off in space.

"Oh – uh – sorry." I blushed, only just realizing where my thoughts had been. That attraction of mine was getting out of hand! Somehow, though, while staring at him across a foot or so of dark closet space, I couldn’t even really care. It almost seemed silly when I thought about it. Shigeru was beautiful, witty, and charming, and he wanted me. Would it be so horrible if we got together, just for a little while? It wouldn’t have to be a forever thing like with Hiroshi and Kasumi. But we were both young and attractive – well, he was, and I’d imagine he found me so as well – so what was wrong with maybe a few kisses every now and then? It was harmless, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t have to hop into bed with him…

"Satoshi, what are you thinking about that’s so interesting?" Shigeru asked, almost irritably. "You look like you’re a million miles away."

"No…" I shook my head, clearing it. "I’m still here." I shifted a little more toward him, sliding my legs against his until I sat on my knees just an arm’s length away from him. There was a sort of warmth, this close to him.

Shigeru obviously didn’t quite know what to make of that move, and his breathing quickened. "Y-yes," he stammered out. "You are. Here." He looked directly into my eyes as if searching for answers, and I smiled brightly back up at him. We regarded each other in silence for a moment, just like that. He looked surprised. "Satoshi…?" My name was barely a whisper.

"Yes?" I replied.

Hope was almost tangible in the air around him, but he didn’t dare make a move. I felt sort of lightheaded… I would’ve laughed if it weren’t for the fact that I really didn’t want to scare Shigeru away. This was taking so much of his courage… "Can I… can I…?"

"Can you…?" I prompted, when he seemed unable to continue.

He sighed and looked back into my eyes. "Can I kiss you?" he finally managed to ask, clearly. "You see, I asked this time," he murmured, turning away. I could see him bracing himself for my response.

I smiled sweetly. "That was very nice, Shigeru. How can I say no? Very well, you can kiss me."

He glanced up sharply. "I can?"

My smile widened. "I just said you could, Geru-chan."

He blinked. "What was that you called me?"

"Geru-chan?"

A nod, affirmative. "I like that very much." He surprised me then by reaching out and pulling me onto his lap, sliding his arms around my waist and smiling into my shocked eyes. "I wouldn’t mind if that name became a permanent part of your vocabularly, Sato-chan," he breathed softly. I’d never been called that before…

I opened my mouth to ask just what he thought he was doing, but he took advantage of my parted lips to press that first, sweet kiss to them – and I forgot what I was planning to say.

Shigeru kept it soft for a while, and then I felt his tongue run along my lips… and I couldn’t help but give in – let him taste me, feeling the taste of him so sweet and addictive in turn. His lips felt really soft and warm. It was… wow. I’d never thought it would be like that. He was incredible.

The sound of someone moving around at the closet door interrupted us. I slid off of Shigeru’s lap, parting our lips reluctantly. He looked dazed… I had to resist the urge to snicker and give us away. It was nobody’s business but ours.

And, anyway, no one ever said that anything had to change outside of that closet. If Shigeru thought I’d gone soft, well, he’d best think again…

~~~~~~

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