I'm so tired, you guys. I've been working, my coursework is kicking my butt, and I've been applying to colleges and for scholarships left and right, and to top it all off, the Longhorns lost their game last night. I'm just so tired. This is going to be pretty short. Forgive me.

So, Samayu's sick, Tamaki's just made a cliché vow to always protect her; you know, all you stereotypical bad romance-written-by-a-high-school-girl type stuff. And Samayu's started muttering in her sleep about Maika. Today's the day you finally find out what happened with that, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran. I do not own Full Metal Alchemist. God knows I don't own Sweeney Todd (sob. And yes, I'm still riding that particular horse). For heaven's sake, I don't even own the shirt I'm wearing! (That's right. I borrowed it from a friend. I am not a thief, I assure you!)

Have fun reading Chapter 21!

When I finally pulled myself out of sleep, it was dark and someone was snoring beside me. I opened my eyes, and in the dim light of my room I saw that Tamaki was still with me, lying down beside me on top of my covers using his arm as a pillow. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, looking towards my clock. It was three in the morning.

My head was still pounding and my stomach still ached. I was still much too warm. And now my throat hurt as well, like sandpaper was rubbing against the inside of it whenever I swallowed. I sighed and crept out of bed, slipping into the bathroom and turning on the light.

After a few moments of squinting my eyes adjusted enough to see clearly, and I took a good long look at myself in the mirror. God, was I a mess. My hair was in hopeless tangles and I was as pale as the characters in Sweeney Todd, the movie Tamaki had watched with me when he'd first gotten here. I had the same dark circles as they did under my eyes, too. And then of course, there were the bandages on my arms and legs, with dried blood dotting a strip every few inches or so.

I washed my face and dressed my cuts with new bandages before shutting off the light and going back out into my room. As I crawled back into bed, Tamaki stirred. "Samayu?" he mumbled, his eyelids fluttering. "Are you finally awake?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I whispered hoarsely. My voice sounded awful. "You do know it's three a.m.?"

He shook his head and sat up, yawning. "You fell asleep and I couldn't stay awake anymore. I didn't think you'd mind."

"You should have gone home."

"I couldn't do that," he said fiercely, to my surprise. I flinched. His voice had seemed as loud as a gunshot to me. "Sorry," he whispered, taking note of this. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was hit by a train," I informed him resentfully, burrowing under my covers and shutting my eyes. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait a second. Let me take your temperature again," Tamaki said, reaching for my bedside table, where the small machine rested.

I groaned. "Do it in the morning."

I felt him peel the covers away from me. "No. Now," he insisted. I was almost ready to punch him in the nose. I really was tired. I wasn't just saying that because I simply didn't want to. My eyelids were so heavy.

But I let him put the thermometer in my mouth anyway, and waited impatiently for it to beep so it could be removed from beneath my tongue and I could finally drift back into unconsciousness. Tamaki took it and read the numbers displayed aloud. "102.3," he said disappointedly. "Not much of an improvement."

"Tamaki?" I whispered, half-gone already. "Stop talking."

I awoke to the sound of metal clinking against ceramic and opened my eyes. It was much lighter in my bedroom now. The digital clock on my dresser told me it was nine in the morning. I expected to be alone when I looked around, and was shocked to find Tamaki standing at the side of my bed, arranging a bowl of oatmeal on a tray.

"What are you doing here?" I croaked. Ugh, my voice sounded even worse now than it had at three in the morning. "It's nine a.m. on a Tuesday! You should have been at school and hour ago!"

"You're more important," he said simply, helping me sit up and handing me the bowl of oatmeal. "A maid brought up breakfast. I've had mine already."

"Thanks for the heads up," I muttered. My head was throbbing something awful. When I looked at the pasty glop of oatmeal, I felt even sicker. "Not now," I mumbled, returning the bowl to the tray.

"You need to eat."

"Tamaki!" I snapped. "I understand that you're strangely obsessed with my health, but I swear to god, if I eat a single bite of that stuff I am going to puke, and I'll make damn well sure it's all over you!"

Before I knew what was happening, he'd curled up in the fetal position in the corner of my room and was facing the wall, like a child that had been put in a time-out.

I groaned. "I'm sorry. Okay? Sorry. I'm in a shitty mood and I don't feel good and I took it out on you and I'm sorry."

He stood back up and approached me again. "You really don't think you can eat?"

I shook my head.

"All right," he sighed, sitting on my bed next to me. We remained like that for a few moments, in complete silence. I lay back down and buried my face in the covers. "Samayu?" he asked after a little while.

"What?"

"Who's Maika?"

My eyes flew open and I bolted upright so fast the room spun violently. For a moment I thought I was going to throw up, but the nausea passed and I managed to get a good hard stare at Tamaki going. "Where did you hear that name?" I asked through gritted teeth.

He looked rather intimidated. "You… you were mumbling it in your sleep."

DAAAAAAAMN IIIIIIIIIT!

"You just seemed really… sad, when you said her name," Tamaki said feebly. "I didn't know if it was just a dream or if it means something more."

I swallowed hard, which caused the burning in my throat to flare.

"She's someone important, isn't she?"

I let out a weak moan and buried my face in my hands. "You're not wrong," I whispered. "She was very important, yes. Especially to me."

I felt his hand on my shoulder. "You know you can tell me," he murmured. "I'll keep any secret you have."

I shuddered. I'd never told anyone before, about what happened to Maika. "She… she was my little sister," I said shakily, tears already welling in my eyes. "And… she died."

I felt his hand tense and he withdrew it. "What? How?"

I took a few short, shallow breaths and choked out, "My fault."

Silence. I seemed to have struck him dumb. Fine, then. I'd tell him. I'd tell him everything, and once he's aware that I'm a murderer as well as a cutter-freak he'll finally leave me alone to live this death. "She was only seven years old when it happened," I whispered unsteadily. "I was ten. My family… we used to have this ranch in America. We'd go every Summer. I loved it so much. Maika loved it so much. If there was one place I knew she belonged, it was on a horse. I can still remember the way her eyes lit up, at seven years old, when my dad lifted her into a saddle.

We had a barn that we weren't supposed to go into. It was old and dilapidated and just… ready to cave in at any minute. Everyone told us that. I didn't want to go anywhere near it, but Maika… she wanted an adventure. She wanted to explore that old barn. She was so sure there was some sort of treasure hidden in there, and that's why they told us not to go near it, not because it was decrepit and unstable. And one day, I just… I caved. She wanted to go explore the barn and I said okay. I knew we weren't supposed to go in there, but… I ignored everything and we went."

I had to stop talking for a few moments, regaining my breath. I was sobbing.

"It was just… the exactly wrong moment. We went inside and started poking around, looking under boxes and tapping the walls. And I tripped and fell. I went careening into this beam, and it snapped under my weight. And the entire barn came down on top of us. All I remember is screaming for Maika. I don't' even know how I survived it, really. They told me later that a piece of the roof hit me over the head and I keeled over, and it stayed on top of me at a slant and kept deflecting everything. I got out of there with nothing but a broken leg.

But Maika… she was crushed. They pulled her mangled body from the wreckage, and I was bleeding and my leg was broken and I was screaming and I still tried to get up and run to her. I wanted her to be alive so badly, but… she was so little and fragile. She just broke. And it's all because I let her go into that barn."

Having completed the recount of my sister's death, I fell to pieces entirely and pulled away from Tamaki as far as I could, burying myself under the covers, curling into a ball. I could still remember the very scent of dust, swirling in the air and flying all around, as I watched my sister's body, crushed beyond recognition, from the ruins.

Tamaki never said anything else. I cried myself to sleep.

Tamaki

Once Samayu's breathing had evened out, Tamaki let out a long breath. He was holding his head in his hands, mouth hanging open wide with horror, knowing he couldn't say anything to make it better but sure that not saying anything was somehow making it worse. He agonized for minutes over what he could possibly say to ease any scrap of Samayu's suffering, but he couldn't think of a single word. And now he'd blown it and she was asleep and he hadn't spoken a damned word.

How could he tell her it wasn't her fault? It was an accident. A pure, unadulterated, yet cruel twist of fate. Accidents happen all the time, but he couldn't believe that one happened in such a mangled, horrid way to her. God seemed to be punishing her for her very existence.

Finally, Tamaki peeled the covers away from Samayu's face, afraid she might suffocate in her sleep. His heart lurched as he saw the tears beading her eyelashes and dotting her pillow.

He groaned softly. He had no idea what to do. He always knew what to do, and now here he was, with no notion gracing him on how to proceed. This was as unchartered territory as he could possibly get. The commoners' world wasn't even as confusing as this.

Tamaki shut his eyes and leaned back against Samayu's headboard. All there was to do now was wait for her illness to pass. Once it had, he'd figure it out from there.

Please don't kill me! It's short, I know, I am so sorry! But this sets things up for some serious stuff, guys. You might even say that, up until now, everything I've written has been the exposition, and Chapter 22 will be the start of the rising action!

Now, I have something to discuss with you, dear readers. I very much want to hit 100 reviews by chapter 25, and at the rate things are going, that's not going to happen… so I beg of you, give me your insight! I cannot reach this goal without you!

Now, I must go apply to more colleges… pray it doesn't kill me, and I will be seeing you all next week (in the most figurative way possible, of course).

Phantom, out!