Consciousness reached Yuki in small waves the next morning. The only thing she registered was how comfortable she felt. Deciding it was still to early to open her eyes, the girl snuggled further into the warmth, letting her body relax again. She could hear a faint thump thump under hear ear, a steady beat that was making her increasingly drowsy.

Suddenly, the sound of muffled laughter reached her ears. Yuki frowned, not recognizing the noise. Aish, that sound is so annoying, she thought, trying to reach her earlier state of comfort by focusing instead on the muted thumping she had been listening to earlier. However, the laughter seemed to contine. Then. . . 

Click.

What the heck was that? the girl wondered. Deciding that her sleep had already been disturbed to its fullest extent, Yuki slowly opened her eyes. A smooth, built stomach was the first thing she saw. What the. . . Yuki blinked a few more times, still slightly disoriented. Suddenly, as if a wave had hit her in the face, Yuki recalled how she had fallen asleep the previous night. Finally, the thumping started to make a bit more sense. Heartbeat. Yuki stiffened as the laughter reached her ears again. Oh no. . . 

Yuki sat up abruptly, only to be jerked right back down. Minho was still completely unconscious, his grip on her just as tight as it had been the night before. "K-Keroro," Yuki hissed, "l-let go of me."

Minho muttered something unintelligible. Yuki was no longer facing him, so he buried his face into her hair, his breathing becoming even once more. Yuki met the eyes of the four other SHINee members, who were standing at her door, smirking at her. "So Yuki," Jonghyun said, picking the dirt from his fingernails, "what were you up to last night?"

Yuki's face flushed. "G-guys," she stuttered, "th-this isn't what it l-looks like."

Key looked at her disapprovingly. "Honestly, Yuki," he said, trying to conceal his laughter, "I wasn't expecting this from you."

"Noonaaa," Taemin whined, "is this the kind of example you want to set for me?"

"Taemin," Jinki said with a shake of his head, "I think you're a little too corrupted as it is."

Taemin smiled brightly. "Be that as it may," he said, looking down at his phone, "I'm sure this picture'll be a keeper." He showed the picture to Yuki, whose eyes widened when she saw herself and Minho on her bed.

"Taemin," Yuki growled, "delete that."

Taemin tapped his cheek, pretending to think. "Hmmm. . . no." Yuki made to get out of the bed, but Minho's grip was too strong. The SHINee boys exploded with laughter at her attempts to get Minho to let go of her. Sighing, Yuki turned around to face Minho again, bringing her lips close to her ear.

"KERORO!"

The volume of Yuki's shout was enough to make Minho's eyes snap open. "WHERE'S THE FIRE?!" he said stupidly, sitting up abruptly. His head collided with Yuki's, causing them both to curse loudly at the pain.

The SHINee boys were beside themselves with laughter, barely able to stand as they watched the pair. Their laughter died once they saw the look on Yuki's face.

"Lee Taemin," she said slowly, "give.me.that phone."

"Oh would you look at the time," Taemin said nervously, "I really should be reporting in right now. LOVEYOUGOTTAGOBYE!"

Men and women within the S.M. building saluted Yuki as she walked through the halls. Nobody except SHINee and Soo Man knew the truth behind Yuki's long period of absence, not even EXO. Soo Man had told everyone that Yuki had required time to recover after the ordeal she suffered through in North Korea. Yuki had just recently become aware of the sheer amount of flowers and cards that had been sent to the SHINee dorms in her absence. 

Yuki took the elevator to the second floor of the building. After a brief walk down yet another hallway, the girl found herself in front of the boxing ring. A man who was standing in the middle of the ring looked up. He definitely appeared older than Yuki, but he was incredibly well-built. He wore a pair of shorts and boxing gloves. Yuki noticed his tank top hanging off to the side, clearly drenched in sweat. The man saw Yuki and smiled. "Agent Bul," he greeted cordially. Yuki smiled lightly.

"I told you that you could just call me 'Yuki,' Rain Seosangnim," she said.

"And you can just call me 'Rain,'" the man named Rain shot back, "or Jihoon. Whichever suits your taste."

Yuki rolled her eyes. "That's not even a fair trade," she argued, "you're my teacher."

"You became my equal a long time ago," Rain laughed, "but anyways, are you ready to start?"

Yuki nodded, walking to the side of the ring and putting on her boxing gloves. "Yeah," she said, hitting her gloves together, "I am."

Rain and Yuki squared off in the boxing ring. Rain was no longer Yuki's friend. He was her teacher and he planned on acting like it. Yuki took a deep breath, her concentration total. Rain tested the waters with a feint to the left. Yuki adjusted accordingly, her guard set. The man nodded before beginning his attacks in earnest. Two quick jabs head on, a swift uppercut, a right hook. Yuki managed to fend off each attack without a problem. She threw in hits of her own, which Rain batted aside almost effortlessly. The two remained at a stalemate for another minute or so.

Then things went awry.

Yuki closed her eyes in an attempt to concentrate, allowing Rain to land a hit on her stomach. The force of the hit made the girl hit the floor in an attempt to catch her breath.

"Get up," Rain said none too gently, "that was pathetic. Defend yourself like that and you're going to end up dead, unless that's what you want."

When Yuki looked up, Rain was gone. 

"Hello," Wu purred, "it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Yuki's eyes widened.

"North Korea misses you," he muttered, his cold, calculating eyes peering into the depth of Yuki's soul, "we had so much fun together, didn't we? There is so much you have to give. Couldn't handle a little pain, vermin? You were ready to betray your country the next time I touched you and you knew it. You are nothing but a lowly, selfish coward."

A feral snarl left Yuki's lips as she lunged towards Wu. She attacked violently and viciously, her punches disorganized and sloppy. Wu suddenly grabbed her arms. She struggled wildly, attempting to break the hold he had on her.

"Yuki, stop!  STOP!  AGENT BUL, SETTLE DOWN!"

Rain's voice broke through the chaos in Yuki's mind. She panted harshly, her flailing movements subsiding. She blinked twice and noticed that it was not Wu in front of her, but Rain. He looked furious, not seeming to realize what had happened.

"That was the worst I have ever seen you fight," Rain said coldly, "I expect much MUCH more from you, Agent Bul. Fighting like this is going to get you killed. You were disorganized and clumsy in both your movements and attacks. We're done for today. Come back when your head is in the game."

Yuki nodded wordlessly and bowed, exiting the ring quickly and going to the locker room. Once the door was safely closed behind her, Yuki removed her boxing gloves and flung them against the lockers with all her might. The resounding crash echoed throughout the empty room. Yuki sat down at a bench, gripping the sides of her head and breathing deeply. "This is going too far," she muttered to herself. Her problems were starting to interfere with her work. She had to draw the line somewhere.

But how the hell was she going to fix this?

Yuki was fighting a battle and she was losing. She hated losing.

S.M.'s psychologist, Kim Hyungsoo, had told Yuki that the reason her PTSD had not affected her this badly earlier was because she kept avoiding it. She distracted herself with other things and kept busy. She never let her mind cope with what she went through. Her emotions simply remained bottled up. But now, the bottle was cracking.

Yuki felt like she was losing her mind. Wu's apparation started popping up in very unexpected situations. Minho had to stay with her through the night to keep her calm. She was starting to worry that her next potential mission would end in a disaster if she didn't fix her problem. 

Fear. That was the one thing a spy should never feel. Without fear, a spy was capable of making the best judgement calls. They could get information, they could fight, they could resist any attempts of interrogation.

Fear was like a vice. Once it wrapped around a person and took control, there was nothing they could do.

Yuki sighed. Sitting and wasting time thinking about her worries wasn't going to do anything. She needed to be in action. She needed to do something. The girl stood up and stared around the locker room desolately. She felt the hope of ever returning back to normal slowly begin to leave her. Shaking her head and sighing, she exited the locker room. 

Yuki hadn't been paying attention as she exited the locker room and ended up bumping straight into someone.

Sorry about that," she said looking up, "oh. Hey guys! What's up?"

Jinki, Taemin, Jonghyun and Key looked at Yuki with worry in their eyes. "Yuki," Jinki said, "I think we need to talk."

So, as you guys can see, there's clearly a lot going on with Yuki dealing with this PTSD she has. The question is: Will she be able to deal with it? Or are the years of S.M.'s best spy over? Continue reading to find out!

So, as predicted, I did lose a couple of flurries xD But that's ok! I'm determined to see this story through anyways!

We did gain one new flurry though! Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

I'll be back with another chapter as soon as possible! Be warned, I am graduating from High School this week so I might be a bit preoccupied! Stay beautiful, my flurries! 

PLEASE COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE, AND UP-VOTE WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE! <3 Thank you!!

~Yuki ❄