It was too much. All of it was too much. Last night’s revelations on the roof, the hangover, Ryouma’s little sister and Kakashi’s I’m going to fix this-- and now this, hope like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, the possibility that, that--

Katsuko made it to the toilet just as her stomach started to heave, rejecting breakfast with an accompanying wave of nausea. She knelt on the floor, clinging to the toilet seat, and closed her eyes as dizziness made her vision grey out.

A minute or an hour later-- she didn’t know, really-- the door opened. Katsuko glanced up just long enough to see that it was Ryouma, then went back to the entertaining job of vomiting up everything she’d eaten for the last two days. She flinched as Ryouma’s fingers grazed her temples, skimming along the damp cold left behind by the band of ice; he paused, but pushed the hair back from her forehead and gathered it in a knot at the base of her skull to hold it there. He didn’t say anything, just knelt down beside her and waited.

Eventually, the heaving stopped long enough for Katsuko to lean away from the toilet, grimacing. “Thanks,” she croaked, and reached out to push down the flush lever. She slumped back against Ryouma’s shoulder, closing her eyes again.

Ryouma released her hair and looped his arm around her shoulders, tugging her in to lean against him. "He'll do it. He's got kind of a thing about saving people--but he always does it."

Katsuko smiled. “I call emotional bias.” After a moment, she sighed and drew her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “It’s... it’s just been so long. Since I could let myself think that I might... that I’d be okay.”

Ryouma rubbed a hand up and down her arm, mindlessly soothing. "Got a whole life ahead of you. Well, a ninja's life... You'll be okay." Fiercely, he said, "He'll save you."

She was crying, Katsuko realized, numbly, water trickling down her cheeks and dripping onto Ryouma’s shirt. She gave a choked laugh and wiped her eyes. “Alright,” she said. “But he still owes me bacon.”

Ryouma laughed softly at that, still rubbing her arm, and gave her a little tug, encouraging her to get to her feet. "C'mon. He'll be buried in his books the rest of the day. I'll get you bacon."

Katsuko snorted and let him haul her up. “You should probably get him bacon then, ‘cause otherwise he’s not gonna eat.”