[She tells him she doesn't think he's crazy. Somehow, despite himself, he believes her. It goes against every rule about the world that he's come to understand. Whatever she's done, Riley came from a different world than the one he or Narancia or Bruno did. By rights there should be an unbridgeable gap between them. She should pull away from him after this.]

[But then, she already was pulling away because she thought the same thing about him. That he couldn't understand, that he would never give her a chance to say her piece, that he would never forgive her. That he would think her as unworthy of forgiveness as she considers herself.]

[They're really too similar. This time he smiles like a sunrise, one of the easy slow smiles that were fairly common for Haruno, a serious boy who didn't take himself very seriously. The difference isn't as great as he wants it to be.]

Thank you. I really didn't expect anyone to . . . [He wavers, unsure how to explain what a blow it would be to present the reality of this fragment of his past to someone and have them disregard it, crumple it up and throw it over their shoulder dismissively. It would do a lot more damage than he has words for.]

[In the end, he shakes his head.] Just, thank you. That's all.

I don't think you're crazy, either. For what that's worth.