They’d probably only been walking for 30 minutes, but they had been jogging for about 40, and the pain was starting to get unbearable. Minho didn’t dare mention to ___ that he’d stumbled too roughly and hurt his ankle, so they continued on the long, dark road, steadily walking.

 

They’d ditched the car immediately. It was useless. They weren’t quite sure what they’d hit, but they’d found blood covering the side. __ Was no expert like Taemin, but she was fairly sure it was human blood. They’d both been too busy arguing with each other, and really themselves, to have noticed the bang. Minho had figured it was a sign or post he’d missed while looking over at ___, but that wasn’t the case. They of course were both wondering what had happened to whatever they’d hit. If that much blood had come off onto the car, then surely the thing couldn’t be walking all that quickly? It must be wounded and limping through the woods somewhere. The strange thing was that it’d gotten off the road so quickly.

After their last conversation before realizing that they had clearly hit a person, they both agreed that it’d just be simpler to head back towards the main  highway, where their walkies would have stronger service.

 

“But isn’t the warehouse closer?” Minho had questioned.

 

So despite the pointlessness of arming themselves with intricately named weapons when the ones they kept on themselves were just fine, the two needed to get in contact with the others, and grudgingly agreed to continue on the backroad to the warehouse. The warehouse miles away with crappy walkie service. Miles away from the city.

 

The rain was continuing on its rampage, and they were wet, tired, and in Minho’s case, injured.

The rubbing fabric of his pants on the back of his injured leg kept clouding Minho’s mind. It’s not that bad, is it? All I did was fall over a stump. Calm down. Just keep walking.

 

But it was bad, and it did hurt, and just when ___was about to announce that they should start jogging again to pick up the pace, Minho cries out.

 

“Minho!”

 

He’d started to slip on the wet asphalt , but ___ quickly catches him. She doesn't waste a moment leaning him onto her back and hauling him over to the sopping, dark grass. The worms are celebrating and wiggling about, but __ hardly notices as she sets Minho on the ground and rolls up his left pant leg.

 

“Is it this one?” she says looking up at him. His leg appears to be slightly twisted outward.

He nods, one of his eyes closing a bit from the pain, his dark hair sticking to his forehead from the rain.

 

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me? You know I’m strong enough to carry you!”

 

Minho sighs,"You were underneath the car inspecting the blood when it happened and I just didn’t want to-”

 

“Want to what? Bug me? Trouble me? Burden me? Well that’s bull. We’re a team. We can’t just not let each other know when we’re injured! Now you’re just going to cause me more trouble because you’ve been walking on it-” ___ suddenly stops, then her eyes widen in anger.

 

“Were you jogging on it too? You said it happened while I was under the car…”

She takes her hands off his leg and clenches them tightly before covering her eyes.

 

“Minho. You can’t just do that,” she says dangerously soft, and he knows that she’s upset. When she’s truly upset, her voice can barely be heard, and that was definitely the case, especially with the pounding rain. Maybe his ankle had been fine when he first tripped, but that was over an hour ago now. Since then, he’d been walking and jogging on it non stop. He really was just causing her more trouble now. Why is it so hard to talk to her lately?I always feel like I’m troubling her with everything I say.

 

Why doesn’t he just talk to me the way he used to to? I feel like he doesn’t trust me with anything anymore.

 

What the hell happened? They both wonder in their minds.

 

Minho clears his throat after a moment.

 

“I’m sorry. Really. I know- I know I just keep doing dumb things tonight but seriously, I’m really sorry.”

It feels strange to both of them to have to apologize to each other. They never had to before tonight.

___ shrugs out of her jacket to access the first aid kit she keeps pressed against her vest. Her fingers and toes are numb as she silently places a splint onto the inside of his calf and proceeds to tightly wrap gauze around his toned calf and slim ankle. His sock seems to be slipping down into his shoe, so she quickly pulls it back up to the surface before continuing to wrap.

 

Minho watches intently, and does his best to calm his chest when she fixes his sock. It seemed to him such an innocent, sweet act that he couldn’t help but stare at her as she nonchalantly helped him.  When she finishes, she starts to pull his pants back down his leg, and he doesn’t protest to doing it instead. He likes having the excuse of her warm touch on him. Although it’s all on the uncomfortable side due to the weather and his condition, he’s comforted by it nonetheless.

 

___ stands, shoving what’s left of the first aid baggie into her vest, then slipping her black jacket back on. The trees hanging over them sway in the wind, the water from the rain drips downwards from their branches.

 

“It’s okay. You know I just got upset because I was worried about you, but what can you do? We’re all kind of stupid sometimes so I’ll just shut up about it now.”

 

“I-” Minho starts.

 

“You better shut up about it too, or I’ll have to kick your . It’s over,” ___ half smiles in his direction, and he can’t help but smile back.

 

“Okay,” he whispers, studying her features.

 

The two grasp hands to help Minho off of the ground; slippery and wet from the rain. The smell of soil even stronger now, the taste of night and rain on their lips.

 

Realizing her intentions, Minho complains,“You’re planning on carrying me on your back the rest of the way, huh? Can’t I try walking on it?” I hate depending on others.

___ leans forward, urging Minho to get on.

“I know we both hate depending on others, but just think of it like depending on yourself. If we want to get back to the others we’re just going to have to do what we can.”

 

Minho already knew every word she would utter before she even opened ; before he even asked, but he can’t help but groan as he sloppily settles onto her slim back, his ankle screaming at him to quit moving.

___ hoists him up before beginning to walk.

 

“Stop being such a whiny little Minho, I’m the one that has to carry all of your damn muscles. Since when did you start working out so much without me?Jesus, read a book or something.”

 

Minho laughs loudly, “ off you know I read when I can. And I have to work out, otherwise I’d be heavy with all the bread and pasta we eat on our nights off.”

 

But wait.

They both have a sudden realization that it’s been a couple weeks since they’ve had one of those nights where they stay up late talking and binging on grains in different forms. How long has it been? Two weeks? Or two months?

“We haven’t actually made bread or ramen together in a while, huh? All I ever see you drinking or eating is green tea,” __ says back to Minho.

“I never see you eating much either, your shoulders feel skinny, they’re poking my arms,” Minho makes his point by pressing his arms down harder onto onto her thin shoulders.

“And your collarbones…”

 

He silently leans his head closer to hers and traces his fingers over her prominent collar bones. Her wet skin feels cool and smooth on his numb fingertips.

__'s eyes widen, but she does nothing to move his hands away. She is carrying him, after all, it’s not like she could do much anyway.

Or maybe you want his hands there.

 

Her breathing slows as Minho continues to drag his hands up her neck, until they rest on her face, cradling her cheekbones. When did she get so thin? And why haven’t I noticed? Worry suddenly begins to settle in his chest, because he can’t seem to shake the feeling that it’s somehow his fault. His fault for causing her so much stress. But can people really affect each other to that point?

 

His hands continue back down towards her stomach, but stop abruptly at her ribs. The curve of her bones is so clear under his hands that his stomach drops.

 

“___,” he whispers into her ear right beside his lips, “___, what happened? Why are you so thin? And you know I don’t mean that in a bad way, I know you’re pretty small, but, but when? ___, you’ve never been like this since-what’s wrong? Is it your mom? I know Onew was talking about your vest being loose earlier tonight-” His voice trails off, “But it hasn’t been this loose on you since you first joined us…”

 

The two of their minds cloud over with the night everyone in the agency, working on floor one for a case, had heard a car door slam into the night. It had felt as if the force of the person leaving the car was shaking the streets.

 

Minho had lifted his eyes from the pistols he was cleaning, and moved towards the lobby of the building, where cops and other clients entered from.

 

He’d expected to speak to one of the door guards, or even the The Boss’ assistant, who gave the word on anyone who came and left the S.C.I. main building, to ask what the loud noise had been.

But no.

 

He’d turned a hallway and had just begun to click onto the white marble floor of the high-ceilinged lobby, when he’d found all five guards strewn across the marble, unconscious and bloody.

 

The Boss’ assistant was no where to be found.

 

Probably ran for it, he had thought.

 

Needless to say, Minho was firing shots in the direction of the five main entrances  and half-ducking behind the assistant’s counter in a heartbeat, doing his best to see any movement through the chaos.

 

At that point, Taemin, 18 and still in training at the time, had come rushing out of his father’s first floor office gripping a bowl of ramen, his eyes wide and confused.

 

“Taemin get back!” Minho yelled over his own gunshots, his eyes suddenly seeing a spinning movement in the second doorway.

 

Onew had rushed in and run across the endless marble floor, flinging his brother to the ground and away from the commotion, spilling broth across the carpet of the receptionists’ area of the lobby.

 

Minho’s mind clicked and clicked along with the firing of his gun familiarily gripped in his right hand and steadied with his left. What the is out there? It’s dodged every single bullet and taken out all the guards.

 

An angry yelling suddenly sliced through the air, and Jonghyun’s form appeared in the second doorway, his arms flung outward and panicked.

 

“MINHO STOP.”

 

Minho lowered his gun, the screeching of bullets halting and his face molding into one of complete confusion, “Jjong..?” His ears rang with the sudden pressing of silence.

 

Jjong sank to his knees, catching his breath and coughing in the process. He seemed incapable of getting a single word out.

 

Minho moved across the deep room toward Jjong, kneeling beside him.

 

“Jonghyun? I thought The Boss sent you to go pick up the new trainee..?”

 

“She…” Jjong’s voice sputtered and his coughing echoed throughout the lobby, Taemin and Onew’s eyes trained on Jonghyun as well.

“She’s right behind me.”

“What..? She’s..?” Minho’s deep-voiced question echoed in reply.

 

“___. Get. In here. Jesus,” Jjong breathed heavily, gesturing his head toward the arch of the second doorway.

 

Minho’s eyes slowly lifted from Jjong’s exasperated form, and were met immediately with another pair of eyes.

They were dark, but lit up with a spirit that made Minho falter with his words and movements.

She didn’t move any further into the building, but instead remained shrouded in the darkness. The only thing Minho could make out through the black were the shadows of her prominent bones, her long, tangled hair, and her determined eyes.

 

Jonghyun collapsed onto his back and closed his eyes, still attempting to take control of his breathing, “I. told her what The Boss had in mind. That. S-she would train for two years, then we. Would. We would,” his chest rises, “Find a suitable job for her in one of the. Lower. Teams.”

 

Minho hears the figure outside laughing softly, and his eyes squint to see her form more clearly, but he gives up and faces Jjong once again.

 

“And. Then,” Jjong continues, sounding slightly less winded after swallowing and taking a deep breath, “Then she asked me what team I was a part of. And I told her that I was the leader of the Class A team, then she,” Jjong rolls his eyes at this, “She asked me what was so great about me to be able to work in Class A. And well I was really annoyed by that point, so I just told her she’d have to prove to The Boss how good she was. And. And then she ing knocked me into the backseat. We practically crashed like. . And then she pushed her way into the driver’s seat, and next thing I know we’re like wrestling, and then she’s jumping out the car window outside quarters and ing destroying our security. And I’m running, but she like twisted my arm all weird, and then you’re all. Like. Shooting like crazy. And Taemin and Onew are on the ground. And I don’t even know how she didn’t get shot.”

 

“I told you I was raised on a military base in Japan, .”

 

Minho instinctively rises and is holding his gun in front of him at the sudden sound of the new voice, but catches his breath when he realizes it’s her. She’d entered the room and loomed above them.

 

“Minho put the ing gun down,” Jonghyun ordered.

And although not wanting to, Minho obeyed.

 

Her burning eyes met Minho’s, and he swallowed.

 

“It looks like you’re the only one that can keep up with me,” She had said softly, giving Minho a genuine smile.

 

And he found himself slipping a bit out of the sickness of self pity he had always swam in, and grinning back at the sharp edged girl in front of him.

 

“I’m Minho.”

 

“___.”

 

They’d shaken hands then, and both abruptedly burst into laughter for a moment. There were confused and injured people around them, but they couldn’t help but find a bit of dark humor in their strange first encounter.

 

____ had more than proved herself to The Boss that she was in no need of the usual training, and after only a few weeks of learning the way things worked in the agency, she was instructed to stay with Onew until her results for which class she would be placed in were announced.

 

Minho had bitterly gone back to work, wishing that The Boss had let her stay with him, since they naturally worked in sync with one another. It’s just because he’s the oldest, Minho had thought angrily.

 

Onew had taken her under his care, although not really needing to-since she was clearly capable of taking care of herself. Basically it meant to Minho that he had lost the opportunity for her to be another weapons expert. Lost the opportunity for him to spend time with this girl that lifted his head out of his depression for a moment and helped him feel like the things he did weren’t so irrational after all.

He had, and still, just wanted ___ to be by his side. It didn’t make any sense to him at the time, but Minho somehow understood that he had never wanted anyone to be around him that much. He had nights of denial where he grumbled into his pillow that all it was was a little crush. A little bit of a fascination. But he eventually had to accept that what he felt wasn’t even half way romantic in the beginning. He felt this terrible shattering in his chest that someone who was supposed to work beside him, someone who understood the way his mind worked, had been taken away and pushed into a box on an unreachable shelf.

 

It made Minho upset to no end at the fact that his world was abruptly interrupted by another person. That it was a problem he couldn’t kick, scream, or shoot at.

 

Minho had learned that the worst feeling in the universe was that of feeling an issue in his very bloodstream where all he could do was clench his fists and dig his fingernails into his knees.

 

The worst possible feeling is when you don’t understand why you’re so upset in the first place, but still feel sick to your stomach at the thought of it.

 

___ and Onew showed up to work together everyday. Ate lunch together. Trained together. Lived together. And slowly through the weeks of decision and placement, ___ grew healthier and stronger, and Minho grew sicker and more confused.

 

Why am I so attached? Minho had thought endless times.

 

By the time it was announced by The Boss that ___ would be working with Class A, and not only that, but as Minho’s partner, Minho had accepted the fact that he had overreacted at the whole ordeal, I work better by myself anyway, he told himself.

 

The day it was announced that ___ could move out of Onew’s apartment (Taemin would take her place) and begin training and working with Minho, Onew’s spirit had faltered, and Minho’s had grown even more puzzled.

 

From that day on, Minho had decided that he was relieved, no elated to have ____ as his work partner, but he would never, never, intentionally cause Onew to feel the way he himself had during the weeks of decision making.

 

The sickness of uncertainty should never be spread.

 

___ takes a heavy breath, then suddenly forgetting the past awkward occurrences during the month, reaches for one of Minho’s hands cradling her ribs. Their numb hands entangle and it feels reassuring to both of them.

“I was looking at the moon earlier tonight, and it just made me think of my mom. She used to tell me stories about moon fairies and things like that, and the full moon kind of just makes the memories stronger, you know?I keep thinking about things like that. Like things I never got to do and things I’ve always wanted to say but I know I can’t.”

 

Minho squeezes her hand tightly. She can hardly feel the weight of him on her back, and he can hardly feel the pain of his ankle as he rests his free hand in her dark hair; lightly combing his fingers through it. This is familiar. This is what they had both been too nervous to do lately. This was what Minho knew he had been missing during those weeks of decision.

“And-and well. Those things don’t only apply to my mom,” ____ whispers softly.

The upper part of Minho’s arms rest around her leans shoulders, and he leans forward, pressing them around her tightly.

 

__ suddenly halts.

 

“Did you hear that?”

 

A loud rustling in the trees had startled ___. She could hear something was scurrying around about one hundred feet away. It sounded like bare feet pounding around in the mud.

In a single second, both Minho and ___ had shifted their positions, whipping two pistols each out of the most accessible hiding places: The holsters wrapped around their stomachs.

“Don’t get off my back.”

“I know.”

Minho straightens until he towers above ____’s head, both guns directed at the shifting trees. ___ ‘s, below him, hold the same position.

Their eyebrows pull together, their hands tense and ready to shoot.

But the scuffling had ceased.

They wait a moment longer, but when nothing appears, Minho returns one of the pistols back to its holster.

“God dammit it’s hard to hear anything in this rain. It makes it harder to find your target.”

“Do you think it was what we hit? It sounded like it was limping, but that’s just me.”

 

Minho nods, “No, that’s what I thought too. Like one of its legs was dragging around,” He pauses,

“Do you think it could have been Key?”

___ shakes her head.

“He would be wandering around the crime scenes, wouldn’t he? That’s where the police kept spotting him. I’m not sure why he wouldn’t just make a run for it...but there must be a reason; he seems pretty smart. Well we know he’s pretty smart.”

 

___ rolls her shoulders back, then begins walking again, still holding up Minho on her back.

 

“It’s like he’s hiding something,” Minho whispers into her hair.

 

Then the night swallows the ghosts of memories along with the present.

 

A/N:

Helloooo so yeah this chapter is like 1000 words less than the others... but it's an important one. Ik it's only centered around Minho and the kickass girl BUT JONGHYUN AND KEY WILL BE BACK NEXT CHAPTER AND IT'S MY FAVE SCENE YOU'LL SEE OKAY. So after next chapter...I haven't written the story any further. School is super stressing me out(I'm taking lots of college level classes), but I mean I'm learning a lot so it's all gouda??? right?? Thank you sososo much for everyone that has been reading and subscribing to this. I know it's not much at all on this webiste, but hey, this story used to have an audience of only 2 .(My very supportive friend whom I adore, and, me).I put a lot of energy into my writing, and so I'm just so appreciative of anyone who takes the time to read anything at all that I've written. Okay I love you all peace out. I have no idea when then next chapter will be up. Let's hope my life doesn't get too chaotic??