It was another six hours before Kyle finally woke up again.

This time, to his relief, he wasn't as weak as he was before, and was also more aware of his surroundings and knew that he was in a hospital. The smell of the disinfectant, the constant beeping of the monitor, and the soft background noise of the television amidst some crunching sounds.

He slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw, was Sayuri, sitting beside the bed with her back to him. She was eating an apple while watching television. He looked at his hand, which had an IV line and at all the wires attached to his chest.

Lifting his hand up, he stroked the back of Sayuri's head.

She jerked for a second before turning, her face full of joy.

"You're awake!" she said happily and in relief.

"Mmhm," Kyle answered, unable to talk yet. He felt like his mouth was so bleh, full of muck. He imagined his breath was going to stink to high heaven if he opened it right now.

"How are you feeling?" Sayuri asked gently, coming closer to him.

"Thirsty," Kyle managed to croak out, opening his lips a bit so that she didn't faint from his bad breath.

Sayuri smiled at this and got up, getting him a cup of water. She added a little bit of honey in it and put in a metal straw that was slightly bent. Sitting back down beside him, she placed the cup next to him and the straw into the edge of his lips.

Kyle drank the water gratefully, feeling the water wetting his dry throat. He then took some more, swirled it inside his mouth a bit and felt much more refreshed.

"Better?" Sayuri asked, still speaking gently.

"Much," Kyle replied, "Thanks."

"That's good," Sayuri said, nodding her head then took the nurse buzzer to call her. When the nurse came in, she also looked happy to see Kyle awake.

"I'll get the doctor," the nurse said, going out quickly.

It wasn't long before a team of doctors came and did a check-up on Kyle. They asked him all sorts of questions while doing so and Kyle answered them as well as he could. When they finally left, he leaned back on the pillow with a sigh.

The bed was now positioned at an angle, so he was partially up.

The moment everyone was gone, Sayuri turned to Kyle with a sweet smile.

Kyle smiled back, then the smile dropped when she suddenly glared at him angrily, grabbed the sides of his head and brought her face close to him as she hissed, "If you ever, and I mean EVER, do that to me again, I will make sure you won't be able to walk straight for a month!!"

"How dare you face Donnie alone!!" Sayuri berated him, "Getting everyone else out of the way?! Saying no one needed to be there?! How could you do that to me?! How could you lie like that?!!"

She shook him hard while shouting at him angrily, not worried that it may cause him any damage since the doctors said he was physically okay.

"I … I didn't lie," Kyle said weakly, "No one else needed to be around …"

Sayuri ground her knuckles on his forehead, causing him to wince a bit at the pain. She actually wanted to punch him for saying that, but he was still a patient.

"Are you sure you're Kyle Smith? Since when did he become so dumb? Huh? Huh?" Sayuri taunted him, releasing days of frustration, worry, and anger at him, "Don't try to weasel your way out of this. Saying misleading things is still a lie! How could you think of facing him alone?!"

Kyle took those petite hands that had been happily using his head as a mortar (where the hand was the pestle) and kissed her knuckles. He looked at her, then pulled her towards him.

She ended up sitting on the bed and placed on his chest as he held her tight, hugging her.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "I won't do it again."

Sayuri just lay there upon him, not saying a thing as she welcomed his embrace. She settled herself more comfortably at the crook of his neck.

Kyle held her to him, and was glad that she didn't pursue the matter.

He couldn't quite explain to her the exact reason he had been so evasive regarding Donnie. Mainly because he, himself, didn't fully understand his reasons.

No, actually, he knew why he did it but the reasons would only make her feel angrier.

Bottom line was, he didn't want to put Sayuri in danger. He knew she was skilled and would not have been a burden at all … but yet, despite knowing that, he couldn't do it.

Donnie was his problem. The dark spot in his life that he brought over from his previous life.

Donnie was also a high-risk enemy and extremely dangerous. It was his burden to bear and deal with. He did not want to bring Sayuri into it. The thought of placing her in so much danger … left him feeling rather unsettled.

This was not her burden to bear, so he did not want to put her in the position of having to face that risk.

Even though he knew that she was more than willing to.

How could he ask her to sacrifice so much for him, right?

Even now, as he thought of how Donnie had fought … it made Kyle shudder. It had been so close. If Sayuri had been there, Donnie would have most likely struck at her first, just like how he had got rid of Xavier first.

Kyle's arm around Sayuri tightened further, glad to be able to hold her in his arms right now.

If he was faced with the choice again, he would have made the same choice.

No matter what, Sayuri had to remain safe.

He owed her that much.