AmyNChan: This is what happens when I have an anime marathon. XDDD

Ryuuji: Chan does not own Toradora.

AmyNChan: ...so formal...

What was more painful? Her kick? Her punch? Her dreaded wooden sword? Her harsh words or perhaps her constant threats to his health? Ryuuji pondered this briefly as he kept his downcast eyes trained on his fiance.

It was none of these. Sure, they were painful. She had even sent him to the hospital once for a fractured wrist. It was one of the few times where she had looked positively remorseful. She had not actually intended to hurt him since she had realized her feelings for him. The first fight they had had concerning her love letter to Kitamura, she had actually been very intent on giving him short-term memory loss.

Being in her vicinity was painful most of the time. It was not physically healthy for him most of the time. So why did he do it? He continued to do it because he loved her and he knew she would need someone there for her during moments like this.

The moments where it was the most painful for him.

She was struggling to sew the pieces of her fractured pride together, attempting to sniff her tears away. Her shoulders shook and trembled and she was biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. He knew it would not be long before-

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the tiger's heart piercing wail came as suddenly as her appearance into his life. Tears ran down her face unashamedly. Her hands were clumsily clasped around her heart, as if such an action would protect the poor organ from its pain. On her knees in the middle of a room that was far too large for only one person, the small woman released her pain in the company of the only person she could truly show this side to.

And by God did it hurt.

Ryuuji waited only a moment before slowly approaching his wounded tiger. Like the self-proclaimed dragon he was, he wrapped his form around her, attempting to protect her from life's harshest cruelties. As expected from the girl he loved, she struggled against him, jerking every which way for only a few moments. Those moments where he held her firmly. Those moments that were crucial. Those moments where she did not yet realize his message.

He knew she would understand when she ceased her strugglings. When she turned around in his embrace and welcomed it fully. Her sobs did not abate and her pain was not fully erased, but she had understood his silent message. She clung to him, depending on his strength when she had none of her own to spare. Her fight had flown away from her, her fiery spirit dampened. All that was left was pain for her.

Pain and Ryuuji. And as long as she had the latter, she would eventually be okay.

AmyNChan: I frigging love this couple...

Taiga: I'm not so weak!

AmyNChan: I know. *^_^* Please read and review!