chapter fourteen. :) i wrote this in my most comfortable writing hours. that would be around four in the morning. hehehe... i'm quite the nocturnal one. it's just that i prefer to stay home. hope you guys like it.

disclaimer: don't own bloodplus

Kai tried opening his eyes. His eyelids were rather heavy today. He ended up lifting them a little and frowned at the brightness of the ceiling lights seeping through the slits his eyes managed to open to. He took a deep breath and moved to a more comfortable position as his back was beginning to feel stiff. Desperately wanting to look around, he shut his other eye and tried to put all effort to the other one but to no avail. He grunted in disappointment.

Damn it.

As if the low sounds he made was a signal, cold fingers made contact with his forehead to his hair. He had a good guess on who it was. A part of him said it would be impossible but whoever it was, he or maybe she was stroking his hair, and was making him feel rather special. The moment though that he recognized the scent of this person, disturbing urges kicked in. He could have sworn his already messed-up spiky hair even stiffened. Diva, you have to stop driving me crazy. He mustered all his strength to grab her hand and set it down. Phew, the hand is away now...

"Hey..." he said in a low hoarse voice. Just when he thought the "hand" problem was dealt with, he felt her come closer as her scent became even stronger. Come on. He could tell she came closer. He felt her lay her head just at the edge of his own pillow, and worse, she brought her hand to the side of his head and gently made him face her. Oh yeah, the hand is there again, it won't go away, and now I'm seeing her? All he could do was smile. It was a forced smile but no one could tell because weakness was written all over his facial features.

Diva looked like she wanted to say something. For a moment, her eyes were sure she will indeed say it but after a while, that confidence died out, and she chose to just play the 'glance game' with Kai. Kai was thankful his eyelids were so heavy that he blinked a lot, he just couldn't risk stupidity at the moment.

"You seem tired," Kai said, an effort to divert his mind out of things. Diva moaned; it wasn't clear if it was a yes or a no. Anyway, Kai took it as a yes. "You should rest up. There's another bed over there."

Diva paused, seemed to ponder for a brief moment, and then -- thankfully on Kai's part -- raised her head after appearing to have decided on what to do. She looked over her shoulder and frowned at the distance of the other bed, which was at the end of th room already. She got up from where she sat, and unfortunately for bed-ridden Kai, she began moving to the right side of his bed.

Oh...kay... If I wasn't weak, I must've done something beyond crazy. Kai gulped and cleared his throat. This wasn't really helping him recover; his limbs were stiffening this time. This isn't really lovely to see. Kai groaned but tried his best to keep it down. She began stirring so she lay on her stomach. Yet the stretcher just had to be too narrow for the both of them, so her body wasn't really all for the bed to carry. Perhaps most of her were almost on Kai. Great, how lovely can this get? Kai considered crying but decided not to as it would cause a rain of questions. The feeling of her body in contact with his was kicking his crazy meter to overdrive.

For about an hour, they lay there in silence. Each were equally disturbed by things they considered problematic that they stayed awake. For instance, Kai and his crazy meter. Diva and that something she wanted to say.

"Kai?" she finally asked, sending ripples on the growing tension. Kai turned his head so he had a better view of her eyes, although it was the top of her head he was seeing. She looked up at him as she felt him move his head.

"Hm?" Kai asked in a very unnatural manner. Her face was so sullen, it seemed whatever she was thinking, it really was bugging her. She brought her fingertips to his cheek. Again!? The tracing thing they were doing on the side of his face was very disturbing that the crazy meter he tried so hard to keep at bay was just about to explode; only his weak state was there for him to push it back.

"You're not going too, are you?" she asked.

Either his crazy meter went down in an instant because he felt sorry for her, or because he didn't expect that to come from her, he didn't know. Right now though, he wanted her to smile. "Going?"

"Yes, going."

"No, not yet. Why?" he answered. He wanted to say just the first without ending his statemen in a question, but he just couldn't help it. Who wouldn't be intrigued if someone who seemed so cold began acting like this? The story of the crazy meter in this moment was done, it was the happy meter that kicked in this time. At the moment, the urge he was trying to fight was the urge to kick around.

She smiled and chose not to answer. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Please stay, alright?" she said.

"Here? Of course." Kai assured.

"No, with me." Kai's eyes finally opened effortlessly.

The lights were out. But Okamura couldn't really tell if a person's home or not just by the light of the house. He took his chances and landed three loud knocks on the door, and waited... Nothing. He raised his hand again to knock, when the door swung open and revealed a sleepy Julia.

"You?" she rubbed the sleep off her eyes for a moment as if to make sure she wasn't still asleep, and that she was indeed seeing the nosy reporter in her doorstep. "What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I need your help, err..." Okamura stopped for a moment, and pondered on what he said. Yes, it's true that he needed her help; he needed someone else to tell the scary one about Kai's condition, but he wasn't supposed to say that. He needed the perfect alibis. "I mean, Kai. The kids in quite a mess right now."

"What happened?" Julia asked, concern taking over confusion.

"Long story. But if you come with me and see him for yourself maybe it would be easier to explain things." yes...perhaps, the 'things' he meant are too weird to explain. Goodness, the world is turning upside down...

"Okay, come in." She opened her door and went for her room. "I'll just get dressed and we'll get going."

"Thanks so much," Okamura said that rather too heartily that it was almost obvious that it was his ass that he wanted saved badly and not Kai's.

"Is it that bad?" Julia called from inside her room.

"That?" Okamura asked.

"Yeah, that -- as in you coming at this hour. And how did you know I came?" Okamura gulped. This was calling for a loud 'oops'. He cleared his throat after thinking that it would be best to tell her the truth. It will be a start. "Well, Kai told me."

There was a brief moment of silence only broken by her asking again. "Well, if you don't find it too nosy for me, can I ask how he knew?"

"Well, you did ask. I might as well answer. I think the doctor down at the clinic told him."

"I see."

Moments later, she emerged from her room, with a serious face. "It seems to me like you have more things to say. I'll hear them out when we get there. I also have things in mind that I think you should know. Probably as important as what you will be saying."

"Please stay, alright?" she said.

"Here? Of course." Kai assured.

"No, with me." They echoed more in his head than they should have. It sent more pain into Kai's head. Pobably because of shock overload?This day should be crowned 'Shock Day' as it proved to be stuffed with shocking events.

Kai didn't say anything, or maybe, couldn't say anything. Diva looked back up at him with eyes that hoped for the best to come out of his lips. Kai just smiled. To her though, it meant more than what he might have said. She smiled and brought her lips to Kai's.

Again, equally shocking as the first events, she broke from the kiss and said, "Thank you."

again, i would never stop thanking you guys (my readers and reviewers).