There was a blinding light and Netto was forced to open his eyes against his will. The nurse stepped away from the curtains and smiled. "You'll have visitors soon, Netto-san. Time to wake up."

Netto groaned and pulled the white hospital sheets over his head.

"I'll get him up," Rockman said to the nurse.

The nurse smiled and nodded then walked out of the room.

Rockman turned to Netto, "Come on, Netto-kun, everyone wants to see you. You can't sleep through the whole thing!"

"I can try," Netto muttered.

Rockman sighed, "Netto-kun," he pleaded.

Netto took the sheets from over his head and stuck his tongue out at Rockman. "I'm up," he said.

Netto and Rockman talked for about a half an hour before they heard a knock on the door. They looked up to see Manabe, Enzan and Laika standing in the doorway. Netto raised his hand in greeting, "Hey!"

Manabe smiled and Enzan and Laika nodded. "Are you feeling any better, Netto-kun?" Manabe asked.

Netto yawned, "I'm fine."

"You took quite an injury there," Manabe said, prodding Netto to see if anything was wrong.

Netto shrugged, "It doesn't hurt that much."

"Liar," Rockman muttered.

"I heard that," Netto said to Rockman.

"Good, you were supposed to hear it," Rockman chided.

"What was that?" Netto asked.

The exchange between the two seemed to put Manabe more at ease. "Well, I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Netto and Rockman both looked at Manabe and nodded. "Yeup," Netto said brightly.

Manabe looked at her watch. "Well, I just dropped by to see how you were doing. I'll leave you boys to talk. Bye," Manabe waved and left the room, silently shutting the door behind her.

Enzan was the first to talk. "Why did you jump in front of the attack like that?" he asked.

Netto tried to make a joke about it, "Well, you know. I thought I could get out of a few more days of school," he said rubbing the back of his head.

"Netto," Laika said and Netto stopped babbling.

"I'm sorry," Netto said softly.

"For what?" Laika and Enzan asked.

"Everything. I know what Dark Rockman had me do, I remember everything. I couldn't stop it…" Netto said looking at the white sheet on his bed.

"Netto, we don't blame you for what happened," Enzan said.

"Netto-kun, he's right, you're only human after all," Rockman said with a hint of a smile.

Netto looked gratefully at Rockman. "Besides," Laika continued. "You had a chance to kill us both and you didn't."

"That was blunt," Netto said.

Laika looked at the ceiling and a small red tinge fled over his cheeks. "Sentimental talk isn't Laika-san's strong point," Searchman said with a small smile.

Netto laughed, "Ah well, you can't be good at everything."

Before anything else could be exchanged between the three there was a knock at the door. Laika walked over and opened it, and the rest of the group came in.

"They're finally letting us in, it's about time!" Madoi said loudly.

Netto giggled. "Sorry Madoi-san, the doctors were kinda touchy."

"Netto-kun, you were in critical condition!" Rockman yelled.

Netto scoffed, "Yeah right," he said crossing his arms.

Rockman shook his head slowly.

Meiru was the first to be by Netto's bedside. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Netto said again.

"We were worried," Jasmine said.

"Sorry," Netto replied sheepishly.

"Well kid, you had us all worried," Nenji said.

Netto smiled, "Well, once again, I'm fine," he stressed the word fine to make sure everyone got it. "And hospital food sucks."

Everyone laughed. "Of course it does," Hinoken said with a small smile. "We brought you something though."

Netto cheered when Mahajorama showed him a plate of curry they had snuck into the hospital. "You guys rock!" he said happily.

"You can eat after we leave," Meiru said.

"Of course," Rockman answered before Netto could.

They all hung around until visiting hours were over, even Enzan and Laika. While everyone was being shooed out by the nurse Pride snuck back over to the bed and gave Netto a quick hug. "I'm glad you're safe," she said softly.

Netto turned a bright red and smiled back at Pride. "Thank you, Pride," he said happily.

The princess smiled back and left the room before the nurse could come back in. The nurse put her hands on her hips and looked at Netto. "Well, that's quite a few friends you got there."

Netto smiled, "Yeup," he said happily.

"Okay, well, I'll be back in a few hours to check up on you. This time, stay in bed," she said and left the room.

"You leave your bed once…" Netto rolled his eyes.

"Netto-kun, I don't think you should be walking around when you're that hurt."

"I'm fine!" Netto said exasperatedly.

"I know," Rockman said with a smile.

Netto took out the plate of curry that the members of WWW had brought him and he started to eat the spicy dish with vigor. "Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.

"Mmm?" Netto looked at Rockman with the spoon still in his mouth.

Rockman laughed, then he said, "What did make you jump in front of the attack?"

Netto set down the spoon and looked at the curry thoughtfully. "Because," he said, "I don't think I could imagine a life without you there to help me. We're a team, Rockman, and we always will be."

Rockman smiled, "Thank you, Netto-kun."

Netto took another bite of curry and smiled, "You're welcome."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fin