A/N: Welcome back! As mentioned in my other story Living For You, I won't be writing for the next week because I'll be on vacation. However, I will be answering any Asks on my Tumblr (Harvzy) while I'm gone. So if you have any questions about writing, my fics, or about me in general, feel free to leave an ask. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Familiar Anguish

A dull pain shot across my forehead, causing my senses to sharpen.

I slowly opened my eyes; the vision in one eye was blurrier than the other. I reached up to touch it, feeling the swollen skin around the edges and wincing at the pain. After a few moments, I shakily sat upright, a slight ache throbbing in my head.

As my eyes adjusted to the light, I soaked in my familiar surroundings. I laid in the bed I'd slept in the previous night, the room dimly illuminated by orange sunlight pouring through the window.

However, unlike the night before, I noticed a certain chestnut-haired girl standing at the far end of the room. Beside her, I could faintly make out the shape of a person in a chair.

Noticing my movement, Asuna walked over and sat down beside me on the bed.

"How long was I out?" I questioned immediately.

"Only a few hours. Jeez, don't scare me like that." She reached towards the wooden night stand to hand me a bottle of water. I let out a quiet chuckle and gratefully accepted the drink. The refreshing water streaming down my throat seemed to ease the discomfort of my headache.

I looked behind her to see a young man in a blindfold, his hands tied behind an old wooden chair. He appeared to be waking up gradually; his head bobbed up and down lightly. "This is the guy?" I asked Asuna. She nodded in response.

"Yeah... I saw him attacking you, so my first instinct was to throw this at his head." She held up the small black battery that had saved me earlier. Her voice seemed fragile, but contained hints of pride and relief at the same time.

It came in handy after all. I let out a sigh and glanced back at the young boy.

He had somewhat spiky, orange hair, messy and tangled from our brawl earlier. It seemed oddly familiar.

"Wait a second..." I slowly trudged out of bed and moved towards his chair. Fully awake, the boy began to struggle and panic, unaware of his surroundings. I pulled off his blindfold to confirm my suspicions. Our eyes met, and he broke out into a nervous sweat.

"H-Hey, Kazuto!" He stuttered quickly, plastering on a shaky smile.

I could never forget the face of this boy. He'd constantly picked on me at school for the past 5 years or so, along with his popular group of friends.

"...Hiro." I stared daggers into his eyes without smiling.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Asuna piped up from behind us, standing up from the bed.

"Yeah! W-We're old pals, right Kazu?" A panicking face looked up at me. I rolled my eyes and turned towards Asuna.

"I wouldn't say pals... but we do know each other." I frowned slightly. Asuna sighed and walked over to stand next to me. She placed one hand on the back of Hiro's chair and stared at him intensely, a fire seemingly ignited in her minacious glare.

"Why did you come here?" Her voice was at room level, but still seemed to shake Hiro to his core. Even I felt somewhat intimated, remembering when she'd used a similar voice against me.

"I heard a gunshot yesterday, so I came to see if there was any extra food here!" He blurted out. I couldn't lash out on him quite yet, since I probably would've done the same.

"Okay, so why did you attack Kazuto?" Asuna furrowed her eyebrows even more, placing one hand on her hip.

"I didn't recognize him until now... I was so intent on killing him earlier, that I didn't even bother to look at his face..." A twinge of doubt arose in my mind, but Asuna seemed to be buying it. "If you let me live, I can show you where my base is. It's a little far... but you can take whatever food you want from there!"

Asuna turned around to face me, uncertainty looming in her gaze. "What do you think?" She questioned.

I didn't want to see this boy ever again. I wasn't even sure we could trust him. But if we didn't find more food soon, then we could starve half way through winter.

"...I'd rather trust and regret, than doubt and regret." I muttered quietly. Hiro exhaled sharply in relief, then Asuna moved to untie his hands. He rubbed his rope-burnt wrists and stood up, stretching his legs.

"Hoo... I must say girly, you sure can throw." He chuckled, reaching out a hand. "The name's Hiro Fujimura. I went to school with Kazu here." Asuna hesitantly shook his hand back.

"I'm Asuna... nice to meet you." She responded politely, contrary to her tone earlier.

"Alright, let's get going!" Hiro exclaimed, marching out of the room. We gathered up our supplies and followed him outside into the brisk weather.

As the sun made its way down on the horizon, Asuna marveled at the vibrant colors of the sky once again. I took a closer look at the scenery this time. I'd never quite noticed how beautifully the shades of purple and orange mixed together at sunset.

While I was looking upwards, I never noticed that Hiro had stopped walking. I abruptly bumped into him from behind, stumbling onto the ground.

"Oh, sorry Kazu!" He turned around and looked down at me, reaching a hand out for me to grab. His actions shocked me a bit. I was used to being pushed down by him, not being helped up. I sheepishly took his hand, feeling like a feather as his athletic build pulled me to my feet.

"T-Thanks." I said, rubbing the back of my head. I heard Asuna snickering quietly behind me.

"Let's get some rest in there." Hiro pointed to the gas station next to us. "We can keep walking in the morning."

As I was about to follow Asuna inside, I felt a hand tap my shoulder. I turned around to see Hiro gesturing for me to stay behind. I was hesitant at first, but knew that he was unarmed and couldn't hurt me without Asuna noticing.

"Asuna... can you search for any supplies in there? We're gonna make sure there's no infected around." She turned around and nodded happily, heading inside the building. I followed Hiro outside towards a restroom building nearby.

"What do you want?" I blurted out, dropping the friendly facade I'd been putting on since meeting him. He sighed, and rubbed his arm.

"Look, I know you hate me. I just want to apologize for... everything. I know it was wrong. My friends pressured me into doing all that stuff to you. It's definitely not an excuse, but..." He stared at the ground, seemingly feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. Think we can put that behind us for now?" He glanced up at me with an apologetic look. I sighed and crossed my arms.

"I don't care for your apologies, I care about keeping Asuna and myself safe. So don't even think about trying anything funny."

"Yeah, yeah." He shrugged. "Cold as ever."

That night, the three of us slept on the floor of the gas station building. All Asuna was able to find were some leftover candy bars underneath the counter.

I turned over under my blanket, rubbing my arms from the cool breeze. I peeked over my shoulder to see Hiro, sound asleep tucked in a sleeping bag. I turned to my other side to look at Asuna, only to find an empty spot on the floor. Stretching my arms, I got out from under my blanket without waking Hiro and left to search for her.

I quietly walked outside, feeling a gust of cold air brush against my skin. I fixed my long sleeve shirt and sweatpants, wrinkled from lying down.

Just ahead of me was Asuna, sitting down on the sidewalk in front of the building. Her eyes were fixated on the starry sky above us before turning to face me.

"Hey there." I smiled, taking a seat next to her. She grinned back and shifted to hug her knees.

"Hey yourself." She replied, followed by a light giggle. "How's your head?"

"Still sore, but I'll manage." For the next few moments, all that followed was silence. We stared up at the sky in unison, admiring the infinite stretch of twinkling lights. After some time, I tilted my head to look Asuna in the eyes.

"Thank you."

"What for?" She asked, a sense of wonder in her hazelnut gaze.

"For coming back." I hugged my knees as well, shielding my face from the cool breeze.

"Silly." She inched closer towards me. "You know I could never do this alone."

Suddenly, Asuna plopped her head down on my right shoulder. I felt her soft hair brush my neck, sending a warm sensation through my mind. After a few minutes, my back began to stiffen less and less. Eventually, I decided to rest my head on hers as she sought refuge in the crook of my neck.

"Ready to head inside?" She asked, sitting up straight. I nodded in disappointment, feeling chills return to my body. We walked back into the building together, prepared for whatever would follow the next day.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Once again, I won't be releasing another chapter next week, but I will be answering Asks via Tumblr (Harvzy) for all of this week. See you next time! -Harv