The Next Day

I woke up under the same tree from last night and saw Kari in front of me.

"Kari, what's going on?"

"My brother's fever has gone down, just thought that you might want to know." She replied then walked off to the camp.

I expected camp to be mostly deserted but everybody was lying around and not really doing anything.

"Hey what's going on?" I asked the group.

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked innocently.

"Why aren't any of you guys looking for food?" I asked.

"Well I am guessing that since we don't have a leader anymore, everybody's slacking off." Izzy replied not looking up from his laptop.

"Hey! You're not doing anything either!" Mimi protested.

"Well my job is to scan for the Dark Masters which I am doing right now."

"Don't get all smart with me!" Mimi squealed, getting flustered.

"Guys stop! We don't need to fight about this, and we need people to look for food." I cut in to the argument before it got too bad and looked around the circle of kids, expecting someone to take charge and tell us what to do. Six faces stared back at me and I realized that they were expecting me to take charge.

"Wha- I can't be the leader." I protested.

"Why not, Tai did it and nobody told him he had to." Sora said from her spot on the ground, not making eye contact.

"F-fine uh, Mimi and Izzy go look for more fire wood."

"What?! I don't want to do that I'll get my dress dirty!" she whined.

"How do I look for the Dark Masters when I'm looking for wood?" Izzy protested.

"Just do it." I said, they walked off grumbling. Somehow I got everyone doing something or another and sat down next to Tai.

I now realized that Tai was the most mature person in this group, when everybody needed someone to look up to he took the weight of being a leader onto his shoulder and made sure that everyone was as happy as he could. He could've just sat back and whine along with us that he didn't want to be here and that he was hungry but he lead us even when he was doubting himself and didn't know what would come next.

He looked beautiful even when he had a fever, I don't know how I missed it for so long. His eyes were closed of course but I could remember the exact shade of brown they are no problem. Just looking at him made me blush furiously, can I really be in love with him?

He suddenly got up and started coughing, "Tai? Are you alright?" he calmed down a bit then answered, "What happened?" then I had to explain all that happened since he passed out. We sat in silence for a while before he spoke again.

"Did Kari worry about me?" he asked testily.

"Yes she was worried sick."

He frowned at that answer and muttered something under his breath.

"It's ok Tai her worrying about you is normal, who wouldn't worry when you're sick?"

"That's the point Matt, I don't want anyone to worry or stress over me that just makes me a waste of space." He added the last part barely over a whisper.

"No Tai you are not a waste of space, and people make mistakes too why can't you?" I said while taking his hand in mine. His face turned red at that and I'm sure this time it wasn't because of the fever.

"B-but…" he stuttered, face as red as a tomatoe.

"Stop worrying about the little stuff and just focus on getting better." I gently laid him back down and called for Joe, good thing I told him to stay and clean up camp.

"What's the matter?" he asked

"Tai's up." I replied.

We ran to the cave and kneeled down next to the sick boy.

"How are you feeling Tai?"

"Much better, the room's not spinning and I don't have a ringing in my ears." He said.

"I suspected as much, but Tai, why aren't you eating right?" he asked again. He stayed silent to that for a while, seeing far off.

"I didn't want her to worry anymore; I wanted her to feel safe." He said

"That isn't the way to do that Tai, you just made her worry about you even more." Joe reasoned.

"Well what am I supposed to do? If I felt like crap, what would she feel like?!" he shouted tears brimming his eyes, "How can I let her feel like that?! She's only a little girl!" with that he broke down completely. Joe, not knowing how to comfort people, left only muttering "I know Tai." Under his breath.

I pulled him close and whispered, "You know, you're not the only one worried about Kari, we all are and we try our best to protect the younger ones." He didn't reply and cried harder into my shoulder. "I really respect you for that though; you were devoted enough to Kari to go that far to make sure that she was happy," I grinned, "I guess that's why I love you." He stopped suddenly and I froze as well just realizing I said that out aloud.

He likes you too remember?! My brain reasoned but my heart wasn't listening as Tai looked up and stared.

"R-really?" he asked, "do you really love me?" his voice was barely over a whisper. My voice was lost and I nodded my head slightly to confirm he heard right. His face broke in a wide smile and wrapped his arms around me and mumbled in my shoulder,

"You know Matt; I think I love you too."

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END OF BOOK

No kissing anywhere, didn't feel up to that.