Tainted Innocence [Tyki Mikk]

Chapter #20

It's so warm.

Sin shifted from her position, changing to the other side. As she did, she heard a sound, and something heavy go on top of her mid-section. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a hand she held onto, one that she knew very well. She saw the scar that was on the wrist, and immediately let go, sitting up abruptly.

"Tyki!" She spoke with surprise. She laughed nervously when he pulled his hand back, pushing himself up from crushing her. "I, was I, ah, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Good morning to you too." He laughed. He closed the book he was reading, putting it on the side of the bed, atop another one.

"...good morning." Sin felt like an idiot for overreacting. He was taking it in stride, and didn't seem to mind. "Um...I'm sorry for taking your hand like that."

Her memories were fuzzy from last night, and all she could remember was not wanting anything else to be taken away from her.

"You didn't want to let go." Tyki teased with a grin. "You were holding my hand pretty tight." He didn't mention that he was forced to stay like that for over 5 hours.

Sin looked away, mumbling some incoherent words that were just a bunch of gibberish. She didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or not, as she'd held his hand before many times.

"Come on, let's go eat something. I'm starving." He stretched.

Sin nodded slowly, slipping out of bed. She headed over to the drawers to find something to wear, finding long pants and a shirt.

"I'll wait outside." Tyki waved his arm lazily before heading out.

As Sin changed, she racked her brain, trying to figure out what happened the night before. She remembered bawling her eyes out and sobbing like there was no tomorrow, but she didn't once remember taking Tyki's hand.

When did that happen? She pressed a finger to her forehead, closing her eyes in concentration. I did feel better when holding that hand, but seriously, when did I actually?

You don't remember? Pfft. You started crying when lover boy came into the room with a few books and you thought he had ditched you, and then you started crying waterfalls because you were sad your parents died. Then you grabbed his hand and didn't let go until you woke up.

Sin gaped, the memories finally coming back to her. Her cheeks filled with red as she hurriedly put on new clothes, bathing in embarrassment. When it died down, she realised the reason she didn't want to let go, and sighed. Remembering the night before was hard, and only made her sad when she thought of it.

Mei, didn't you say that Apocryphos wouldn't endanger anybody besides us?

That's what it did before us. It never harmed anybody apart from us. This time it's different.

My father, my mother, had nothing to do with this! How could it? And Leon, he doesn't deserve to have witnessed anything like this, either!

Sin shook her head, heading out. She didn't want to keep Tyki waiting. He was yawning when she came out.

"You all done?" Tyki blinked away his blurry vision, walking ahead of her. She caught up to him, seeing that he looked quite tired.

"How long were you awake for?" Sin questioned. Mei had mentioned she held his hand for the whole time she slept. That would mean that Tyki didn't sleep at all, and was beside her the whole time. When she thought about that, she felt slightly guilty that she didn't allow him to sleep.