I had just won a game of rock, paper, scissors against Dongmin over who would do the laundry for our small group of six (now seven) when Hyunsun joined us. His eyes met mine and he looked away quickly. I looked down and shuffled to hide behind Heejae. Hyunsun was probably mad at me or something. Hyunmin stood up and hugged his brother. The poor kid was only eight. Someone that young shouldn't have to deal with what the world has come to, shouldn't have the responsibilities of a Guardian. After all, the fate of Humanity weighed heavily on us. But, because he's so young, we try to keep him with the crew on the submarine as much as possible. Unfortunately, the guys upstairs have other plans and sometimes we're forced to send him out. I didn't see Hyunsun on board, even though I'd been on the submarine for a few weeks. I guess he was always out on missions. Either that or it was because I was always treating the crew in the small infirmary. I rarely leave the infirmary, but the boys do come down once in a while with injuries, or sometimes without injuries just to check on me. They know that if I heal too much, it takes a lot out of me. Taeyang especially tries to keep me from overdoing it. Heejae noticed that I was hiding behind him and reached back to hold my hand, smiling softly at me. Hyunsun and Taeyang stared at each other. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a plastic spoon. Yes, a plastic spoon.

“Welcome back,” Taeyang said stiffly, nodding slightly at the blonde. I knew that he was acting like that because Hyunsun had worried him in his absence, and he didn't really know how to show it other than to get mad at him. Hyunsun looked away first, running a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, thanks,” he muttered. I wasn't sure what to think of Hyunsun. At first, he seemed nice enough, then I had scoffed at him and I was under the impression that he was mad at me. I sank further behind Heejae as Hyunsun scanned the others. His eyes rested on me for a moment before moving on. “I'm sorry for making everyone worry.” With that, he bowed. He walked over to us and the boys went about clapping him on the shoulder, telling him that they were glad he was back. I took that opportunity to try to sneak away. I made it halfway to the door when someone grabbed my elbow. I groaned internally.

“Where are you going, Yuri?” Taeyang asked, turning me to face him. I didn't meet his eyes, instead finding a loose string on my long sleeves to be more interesting.

“W-well, this moment belongs to you guys, a-and not really me, so...” I stammered, trailing off at the end. I glanced quickly over at Hyunsun, who looked at the two of us with cold eyes. I went back to fiddle with the string. “I-I'll just...do the laundry.”

“But Dongmin lost, he's supposed to do that,” Duhwan pointed out. I shot him a look that told him to shut up.

“It's fine, I'll do it,” I said quickly,

“Hey man, if she wants to do it, let her,” Dongmin said, glad to have a chance to avoid the duty. Taeyang looked at me seriously.

“Then I'll help you,” he said. I was about to protest when he put his hand over my mouth and started pushing me towards the door. I considered biting him, but decided against it. He was already in a mood, I didn't want to upset him any more. He finally dropped his hand when the door closed behind us.

“What is with you?” I asked, exasperated.

“What's with you?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. I stared at him blankly for a moment, not sure what he meant by that.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, finally finding my voice again.

“You were fine until Hyunsun came in,” he said, putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me down the hall. I fiddled with the string on my sleeve again until Taeyang lightly smacked my hands.

“W-well, I think he's...mad at me,” I muttered softly, finding anything to look at that wasn't Taeyang. Taeyang sighed and rubbed my shoulder.

“Don't think too much about it, that's just the way he is. He doesn't want to worry us, so he hides how much pain he's in. And if someone knows, like a healer, and they tell any of us, he gets a little bit mad at them. It won't last long, and he'll apologize once he gets over it,” he said. I crossed my arms as we walked and stuck out my bottom lip.

“So he is mad at me,” I muttered. Taeyang ruffled my short hair.

“Don't feel bad, he's mad at me, too, for getting mad at him,” he said with a light laugh.

“I bet neither one of you is going to apologize first,” I said, smiling.

“I certainly won't,” he confirmed.

“Men and their manly man pride,” I said with a giggle. He poked my cheek.

“Girls and their girly girl worrying,” he countered. I smacked him lightly in the chest. He chuckled, and then we walked in silence for a moment or two. “You healed him all the way in one go, didn't you?”

“Wh-where did that come from?” I stammered.

“Usually, when you heal someone with injuries that bad, you heal them just until the injuries are minor, then you take a break so that you don't wear yourself out, and then you heal them the rest of the way,” he said. I nodded slowly, not sure what he was getting at. “But you still looked dizzy when I came in, and he was having to hold you up.”

“S-so?” I muttered softly.

“So, you knew the consequences and yet you still healed him all at once. Why?” he asked. I wanted to get out from his grasp, to take a step away from him. After all, I knew he was going to get mad at what I was about to say.

“Because I felt like it was my fault,” I said, looking at the floor as we walked. “Because you were in bad condition when his brother came back, and I insisted that you stay long enough for me to fix you. Because by the time you were fully healed, you couldn't find him anymore, you couldn't help him.” He stopped and turned to stand in front of me, forcing me to look up at him. I went to push his hand off my chin so that I could look away, but something in his eyes convinced me that it would be a bad idea to do that.

“Don't you dare blame yourself. I wouldn't have been any use to him as banged up as I was, so there was really no other choice than to let you heal me first,” he said strongly. It wasn't quite angry, but there was a definite force behind his words. He sighed and let me go. “You know you haven't fully recovered yet... You know you shouldn't push yourself.” I nodded and put a hand to my chest. The wounds there were covered by the button up shirt I had borrowed from a crew member.

“I'm sorry...” I muttered. 

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Next chapter is going to explain what happened prior to the beginning of this story, when Taeyang found Yuri. That way you guys aren't so confused.