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I gently peeled away the mud cast from my right arm. The doctor said any time today I could finally take it off. The skin tingled as the final layer rubbed out, and it was really sore. I sighed and walked through the small, bare hallway to my mini bathroom to wash the remaining mud off of my sore skin. The bandages that had been under the mud were surprisingly still quite clean. Good. My idea can be tested out now.

As I washed off the remaining mud and dried the bandages, I thought about what I'd explained in a very rushed manner to Sasuke on our way home from class yesterday. How absurdly excited about a bit of a fragment of an idea. But it was an amazing fragment! He seemed to like it as well. "I can use the bandages to write the contracts on! This way, if I get stabbed or hurt anywhere, I can use the blood to summon whatever species I made a contract with in that spot they hurt me! And what's even better-" I shuddered at the way my face flushed with excitement, "is that because chakra is required for each summoning, I can use the writings on my bandages as pouches where I can store the chakra I'll need for the summoning. So that I can have chakra set aside for each summoning and the chakra that I'd usually have. Isn't this great?" And he had smiled at me like he does in that quiet way that makes me realize I've talked too much, which only happens around him. I wonder why. And why sometimes I can't talk around him at all. And I wish my brain would just make up my mind about that, because it's making a fool out of me.

"Is it better?"

"AH!" I swear I must've jumped like five feet in the air and screamed the loudest I have ever screamed in my life. My jump caused me to slip on the small bathroom mat I had placed, and my broken ribs were heading straight for the edge of the tub.

But my ribs didn't burst through my skin, or impale my chest, or even touch the tub. They collided with hard, toned flesh. But the pain was still so intense, I could feel tears leaking out of my eyes. It hurt to breathe. Each intake of breath had me groaning out in pain. "Can't... breathe..."

"Just listen to my heartbeat." It was Sasuke's voice, right by my ear. "Feel my breathing." I could feel it. His chest rose into my back, slowly, arching my own chest. And then it fell. The pain still hurt so much, but I could do it. I squeezed my eyes and just listened to his quick pulse pounding through me, calming after a few seconds. My own began to slow, matching his. The breathing became easier. "You ok?"

"Yeah," I managed out, a little breathless. Sasuke has just saved me from death yet again. In my bathroom. How many people come close to accidental death in their bathrooms? "I'm sorry... about this..." I can barely talk. My throat and chest hurt so bad. It takes me a minute to realize that his arms around me, and he's rocking me soothingly back and forth. Whatever. I'm too tired and relieved to be embarrassed about this right now.

"It's fine," he murmurs into my hair. "I'm sorry I scared you." Before I can tell him it isn't his fault I'm as jumpy as a kangaroo with a sea urchin in its pouch, he lifts me up gently, still hugging me, and leads me out through the hallway. "Let's lay you down on your bed and begin your ingenious plan."

So I was basically pushed across the room onto my bed. That was my first view of Sasuke. He was completely calm, but his heartbeat had told me that he was nervous. I really make things bad with my bumbling around. Hopefully these classes at the Academy make that better. "So which species are you forming a contract with first?" he asks. His cold dark eyes are on me the whole time as he takes a seat on the floor just by my head. "Maybe you should start with something small, since you're not feeling well." Concern laced every word even though his face was void of any emotion.

I nodded in agreement. This plan is actually happening. "Maybe mice," I whisper, imagining what I could use them for. Sneaking around, for the smaller ones, and then actual battle with the mouse queen.

I hear Sasuke chuckle, and continue staring at the ceiling. My chest hurts so bad. "Mice would be good. Where do you want it?"

...I should probably save the vital organs or thick parts of my body for higher level species. "My shoulder," I say. That would be good.

Sasuke nods and moves to a kneeling position by my bed. Oh. Yeah. A god is about to be in my house. Sure it's the god of mice, but it's a god. I lift myself up to kneel beside Sasuke, but he lays a pale hand on my shoulder and pushes me back. "The god will understand that you're not healed," he whispered reverently. I'm going to feel so stupid making a contract with the god of mice lying down. But Sasuke's looking at me with such intensity, so meaningfully, so I lay back down. Reluctantly. But he closes his eyes, a sign for me to begin. So I do. I haven't rehearsed. I hope the god answers.

"Oh god of mice," I whisper, closing my eyes and trying my hardest to clear my mind. The pain still throbs its way into my head. Darn you. Go away. But I offer it up to the mouse god, silently hoping that it will be accepted and not taken as ignoring my own prayer as I'm praying it. Am I thinking too hard about this? "I am eager to beg for your mercy and request your most gracious alliance, in the form of a contract. Please-"

Before I'm even done, I feel a light pattering on my chest. My eyes zap open, and I see the most ADORABLE little grey mouse sitting upright on my chest. It's so light I can't even feel it! My mouth is hanging open and the breathing difficulty comes back. The big brown eyes are staring at me from the side, looking me over. "I sense you are broken," a teensy little voice says, piercing into my brain. I didn't hear it. I felt it. I felt it talking to me. What does that even mean? Yeah, I have a couple broken ribs, but so what? So all I can do is nod.

Sasuke hasn't heard anything except my speech cut off. He peers up through long black bangs and then lifts his whole head up in shock at the cute animal interrogating me on my chest. But I can't take my eyes off the god. I thought it'd be bigger.

"I am not the god of mice," it squeaks, once again only in my head. "I come as a representative of the Queen. She has heard your suffering and is very willing to form this contract. When you call upon her to fight in battle, she shall come. When you need spies in foreign lands or small helping hands, we shall arrive. Please have your friend write the contract, as you cannot move."

Woah. Talking mouse. In my head. So. Cute. "Sasuke," I whisper, daring a glance at him. His eyes are full of wonder, and he stares back at me, then the mouse. This is so magical. "Can you write the name of the mouse Queen on the bandage of my shoulder please?"

He quickly rose to his feet and grabbed the ink and brush at the foot of my bed. He was so pale in my room, but seemed to fit in perfectly with the whitewashed walls. He bowed a little to the mouse, who did nothing to show it had seen the action, before kneeling my head to gently write the words on my shoulder. When he finished, he sat back, and I turned to the mouse again. What now?

"I apologize for having to cause you more pain," it said, crawling up to my shoulder. Wait, what? And then a tiny piercing made itself known to me in my shoulder, where Sasuke had written the contract. I gasped a bit. It feels like a whole needle is being inserted into my skin, cutting deep. The mouse crawled up my face to look me in the eye. The tail lay cold against my ear. "You are now in a contract with the Queen. Each time you summon her, you must draw blood from the place of the contract. Thank you."

And it disappeared. It just vanished.

Sasuke knelt over my shoulder. I couldn't see his face, because my hair and his was in the way. But the black locks settled on my cheek, running into my eyes a bit. I just made my first contract. I feel light. Weightless. "Sasuke," I whispered. I could hear the weightlessness in my own voice. How awesome is this? "Sasuke, I feel so good."

"You're bleeding all over the place," I heard him say. I turned to find that the mouse had bitten quite a lot harder than I thought. Blood was pouring out quickly, and Sasuke pressed his hand down hard over the wound. Man that hurts. "It's not a big deal," I said through a wince. JUST STOP PUSHING ON IT AND IT'LL BE FINE.

"I'm glad you made your first contract," he said, still not looking at me. All his attention is on this one wound. "Soon you'll have too many to count, and be the safest and most powerful person in the world." I could hear the slight sarcasm in his voice. I giggled and blushed. I would be pretty safe though.

"Thanks for helping me," I said, staring at my blank white wall.

"I can't help but aid the one I love."

And then I felt his rough, chapped lips against mine. Soft. Light. Gentle. Heartfelt. Cold.

...woah.