It's been longer than I would have liked… a thousand apologies! Exams, a sprained foot, videos to make, a visit from my grandparents, Nee-chan's 16th birthday (Happy birthday several days late Nee-chan!) new music… ok, there is not a great reason. I haven't even been studying a lot… crap I'll fail! Not really… I'm sure I'll be fine! Ok, why do I have that annoying habit of brining my personal life into my authors notes? AUGH!!

Disclaimer: Takaya-sensei, the creator and owner of Fruits Basket, loves video games. I do not play video games, whereas they are most of what she talks about in her sidebars. I also speak Japanese quite poorly, unlike Natsuki Takaya, as she is Japanese and therefore fluent. If there is still a question in anyone's mind as to whether or not I own Fruits Basket (or write valid disclaimers) please see Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter to discern whether I will ever claim these rights I do not have. Of course, can you really trust Professor Trelawney? Muahaha…

Oh wait, and I think I forgot to give credit to one of my reviewers last chapter. I must thank UncensoredHaruLover for giving me the idea of having those two wake up at night to discover that Haru was in his black form. A thousand thanks for your idea!

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I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when I walked back into my room to find Haru in a fitful sleep, beads of sweat collecting at his forehead. I had wanted to apologize to him, but maybe now was not the time. I paused, trying to think if I could do anything while I waited for Hatori to check his voicemail. I finally elected to go back downstairs and get an icepack for his head, vaguely remembering Tohru had done that for me when I had had one of my attacks. I laid the towel over Haru's head, wincing as I felt how warm it was. Could someone die from such a high fever, or was I just having a freak-out?

A rush of nausea suddenly hit me. I dashed to the bathroom, defaulting to the sink when the toilet was too far away. I heaved into the porcelain, my mind whirling. It was slowly sinking into me that I was being used by Haru, but that it wasn't his conscious choice. It had already sunk in to me that it was my fault that Haru was sick, and that if I had noticed his unnatural warmth when he had first come to bed I could have called Hatori then and none of this would have happened. I groaned and tried to throw up again, wanting to forget everything, but nothing came out of my mouth.

I still felt like vomiting, but I washed the contents of my stomach down the sink and left, knowing it wasn't going to happen. Slowly, feeling like there was a crushing weight on my shoulders, I made my way back to my room to watch Haru sleep. He was sprawled out on top of my bed, sweating even in the thin pajamas he wore, and the icepack had slipped off of his head. I replaced the towel and icepack, the clammy feel of his hot forehead frightening me again. If Hatori wasn't picking up his phone, I didn't know what to do. There were other doctors in the Sohma family, I knew that, but I didn't really know any of them. I had met Kana briefly, but I had no doubt that since I had been with Hatori at the time, she had forgotten it. I couldn't bother a stranger in the middle of the night unless the situation was very serious…

I looked at Haru again, and seeing his eyelids twitching in his restless sleep, hearing his harsh and ragged breathing, I decided that the situation was serious enough. I would try Hatori's phone one more time, and if that didn't work I would call Kana. I crept back downstairs, annoyed with myself for having misplaced my recently purchased cell phone already.

I was relieved when this time Hatori picked up—I wouldn't have to deal with talking to people I didn't know very well. "Hello…" I felt a little bit guilty. I could tell from the groggy tone of his voice that I had just woken Hatori up from the little sleep he could catch.

"Hatori, Haru's sick," I said quickly.

"Who's calling?" Hatori asked irritably. Apparently he was very unhappy about being woken up, but I had expected that.

"Yuki," I answered. "He's at Shigure's house, and I think he's delirious."

I heard Hatori groan softly. "I'll be over." As an afterthought—perhaps he was too out of it to end the call, I heard him mutter, "If it's not Ayame wanting to go somewhere at one in the morning, it's someone getting drastically ill…"

I hung up and went back upstairs. Haru let out a little groan when I picked up his sweat-covered hand I could see that he was shivering. Although he had felt warm before, his body suddenly seemed very cold. I looked to his face, and saw that his lips were turning blue.

This was serious. I eased my blankets out from under him and laid them over him, hesitating before crawling under the covers myself and wrapping my arms around him. A compulsive shudder went through his body at the contact. I buried my face in his shoulder and clung to his quivering, icy frame. I prayed to anything and everything; to Akito, to gods from other religions, to Haru, to inanimate objects; prayed that Hatori would get to Shigure's soon. This was scaring me. I didn't know the symptoms for hypothermia, but his skin was so cold! I was fairly certain that if he didn't have hypothermia, or something along those lines, then we would be incredibly lucky.

"Uhn…" Haru's arms moved slowly, far too slowly, until they found me, wrapping loosely around my waist. I tensed up, nervous—holding his was fine when he was asleep, or when I knew he was white, but the violence and single-mindedness his black side had been showing recently scared me. I chanced a look to his face. His eyes were slits, barely cracked open. His ears, with his lips, had turned blue. His eyes were far too bright, but they weren't the insane, possessed eyes of his black side. I released a sigh of relief, and immediately felt guilty—Haru was sick! How on earth could I feel relieved about anything until he was better?

"I'm cold," Haru whispered, shaking as he tried to sit up. "What…"

"Don't move, Haru!" I whispered, clinging more tightly to him, trying to use my body weight to keep him lying down. I was heavy and strong enough that in his weakened state—and possibly in his normal state—my cousin didn't have the energy or power to elevate his body. I felt his muscles relax a little, although he was still twitching.

"Okay. Yeah. That sounds good," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Yuki, what's happening? I'm cold."

"I know," I answered unsteadily. "I called Hatori. I think you got sick walking home." 'And I think it's my fault,' I added to myself.

Haru's eyes closed, and I began to panic. Was it good or bad for him to slip into unconsciousness? "Haru, come on, don't go back to sleep now!" I whispered sharply, squeezing his unnaturally paper-white body. "Stay awake!"

Haru didn't seem to hear me. His shivering was beginning to slow though, which I thought was probably a good sign. I relaxed my grip slightly, but remained holding him, trying to keep him warm. My own eyes were attempting to close, the lids heavy, but I forced myself to stay awake. I couldn't fall asleep now—I couldn't sleep until Haru was okay!

I heard a key turn in the lock downstairs, and sighed with relief. It was Hatori—it had to be. I slipped out from under the covers and went downstairs to bring him up to my room.

Hatori was peeling off a rain jacket, a few dappled, darkened spots on his leather medical bag—not to mention the soaked rain gear—letting me know that it was still raining heavily outside. "Where's Haru?" Hatori asked me brusquely—none of the standard, polite greetings. I didn't blame him—we were family, it was one in the morning, and there was a possible crisis at hand.

"Upstairs," I said. Hatori's eyebrows rose—he knew that Haru ordinarily slept on the couch. I simply prayed that as the stiffest, most formal person I knew, Hatori's mind was far enough out of the gutter that he wouldn't guess the truth about me and Haru—though even if he did, I knew that he wouldn't bring it up.

Hatori followed me up to my room, brushing past me to reach the bed. His examination of Haru seemed to take forever; finally, he stood up and turned to me. "He has mild hypothermia, but it's setting into the third stage. I need you to try and warm him up with your body heat while I make him something warm to drink. Make sure he drinks it. It's not severe enough for him to need to go to the hospital right now, but if it gets any worse, we might have to call an ambulance."

"Okay," I agreed, crawling next to my love and wrapping my arms around him again. His shudders had stopped completely, but his body was even colder than it had been before. "Wake up," I whispered, shaking him slightly. "Haru, wake up!" 'Please.'

Haru's eyes opened slightly. His mouth opened slightly, but he didn't say anything, didn't seem to notice that I was there.

Hatori came back up with a tall mug of hot, sweetened tea. "I'm going to make some more for him to drink after he finishes that," the doctor told me, setting the mug down on my bedside table.

I picked up the mug and began to pour it into Haru's open mouth. Suddenly there was a cloud of smoke, and I was pushed backwards. My bed crumpled under the weight of the ox now lying on its side where Haru's human form had once been.

I groaned slightly. It was not unexpected, admittedly, but it would still be more of a hassle to get an ox to drink than a human. I pried his mouth open and poured the tea down his throat, more than half of the liquid spilling onto the ruins of my bed. I went to a linen closet and pulled some fresh blankets out, covering the ox's enormous body with them. Hatori had brought up another mug of hot, sweetened tea and a tall glass of warm water, while I had been getting the blankets, it seemed. I forced both down Haru's throat, and then covered him up again, preparing to stay up all night doing this.

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I had to research hypothermia to write this, since I know nothing about it myself. If I have made errors describing the symptoms and treatment, I offer my apologies.

One week until my summer break starts! Exams will be over soon for everyone I hope, if they aren't already. To all my readers who have exams coming, good luck! To those who have finished their exams, I guess there is nothing stopping you from reviewing, right?

Last chapter, I didn't get very many reviews. It was possibly my least favorite chapter, so I hope that after reading this chapter, some of you will go back and offer me some criticism—really, I think it could have been improved. This one too, as I tried to describe a condition I am unfamiliar with, I am very hesitant about saying whether or not it is good. If you have any corrections at all to make, or if you want to say something complimentary, I don't care, just say it. As long as you can add some constructive ideas for improvement, flames are fine too. : D