"You guys? What is this?"

Aki's brow furrowed as she looked around the music room. It was set up like the nurse's office with a few beds along the walls with curtains around them. There were two cabinets full of medicine in the far corners of the room that looked like they'd come straight from Ms. Sato's office. There were also couches still in the room, but Aki had a feeling a lot of the action today would be set around the beds (she was afraid to see what Hikaru and Kaoru would do). In the center of the room where the hosts were there was another bed that looked a lot more comfortable than the others (though the others looked pretty comfortable, too). The white blanket puffed up like a cloud and a large pillow was propped up against the headboard.

Then there were the hosts. Everyone was dressed as a doctor, with everything from lab coats to stethoscopes. Kyoya had traded in his notebook for a clipboard, and Haruhi and Honey also had clipboards with them.

"What's going on?" Aki asked.

"Theme day, of course!" Tamaki said. "Since you're still sick, I thought it would be a good idea to make sure you rest, and theme day was coming up, so a doctor theme sounded like a perfect idea!"

"I'm not that sick," Aki said. It was true. She'd traded sneezing and coughing in today for a stuffy, runny nose. She didn't need any more rest. At least, she was pretty sure she didn't.

"Too bad," Hikaru said.

"We already set everything up," Kaoru continued.

"And your costume is already ready."

"You get to wear a hospital gown!"

"While wearing clothing under it, of course," Kyoya added. Even if they said she shouldn't, she would. She was not going to risk someone seeing her underwear. She didn't know how it would happen, but accidents could happen and it was better to be safe than sorry.

"In the dressing room?" she asked.

"Of course."

"Right. I'll be back in a minute."

Aki walked into the dressing room and saw two mannequins, one naked and with a full body and the other looking like it only had a head and torso under the gown. Aki quickly pushed the naked one to the side before walking up to the clothed one. It had on a plain white gown with blue polka-dot around it. By the looks of it the gown would end just past her knees, but the mannequin didn't have legs so she couldn't be sure.

Pulling it off of the mannequin, she found that the gown was made of silk. Of course. She almost laughed at herself for expecting a normal gown. She also noticed that under the gown was a tank-top and a pair of gym shorts. She took those off, too, and pushed the mannequin to the side to join its full-bodied sister. She then went behind the curtain to change into her outfit, and once that was done she went outside to the hosts.

"Ready," she said. Tamaki put a plastic bracelet around her wrist and looking at it she found that the sticker on it had information printed on like her name, what she was in for (apparently she'd had a bad allergic reaction), the date she was "admitted into the hospital", and more.

Aki climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable. She liked this bed a little more than her own, actually. It was much softer. She wondered if the hosts (well, just Kyoya, really) would care if she ended up falling asleep. The bed was soft enough that she'd probably end up falling asleep and not even realize she had.

"Feeling any better?" Haruhi asked. Aki nodded.

"Just got a stuffy nose now. And a slight headache but that's nothing." Aki leaned closer to Haruhi's ear and lowered her voice. "Hey, d'you think if I fell asleep during the club hours I'd be able to get away with it?"

Haruhi shrugged. "Probably," she said in a hushed voice. "A patient needs their rest after all, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Kyoya loudly cleared his throat then and Haruhi and Aki turned away from each other. The hosts all posed while Aki just laid there. How could she pose when she was supposed to be a sick patient laying in bed?

The doors opened in a minute. "Welcome!"

The girls walked into the room, wide-eyed with large grins. Aki smiled a little. It was nice that they never seemed to get bored of the theme days. Even though their reactions were pretty much the same all the time, it was nice to see.

Everyone split up, but not before a few girls (who weren't in her class) asked Aki if she was really sick. She said yes. One asked about what happened to her in the sense of playing along with theme day. Aki glanced at the band and noticed that there was no specific allergy mentioned, so she just decided to wing it.

"Bee sting," she said. "I'm allergic to bee stings, you know."

"Really?" the girl gasped. Aki nodded.

"Yep. Got stung by a bee and had a bad reaction. Now these...handsome gentlemen are taking care of me." She flashed a small smile at the hosts who were still within earshot. She figured serving drinks and snacks was out of the question, so she could at least compliment the hosts and make them look even better than they already did. She would be their wing-maid...or wing-patient.

Haruhi leaned towards Aki before she had to go to her own section. "Are you really allergic to bee stings?" she asked.

"Yep. Bees, wasps, fire ants...stinging insects in general, I think. But yeah."

"Haruhi!" one of Haruhi's clients called. "Oh, I mean...Dr. Fujioka!" She giggled with her friends. Haruhi and Aki smiled.

"Sounds weird, huh?" Aki asked.

"Just a little," Haruhi replied.

"Well you'd better not keep your patients waiting, Dr. Fujioka." They grinned at each other one last time before Haruhi left.

Aki laid back against the pillow, literally sinking into it. She stared ahead for a moment, then glanced at the room, realizing how awkward it was for her bed to just be out in the open like it was with everyone behind her. It felt weird and uncomfortable to not be able to see everyone. So, she got out of the bed and started to push it to an empty space in the back of the room where she could see everything and everyone. It just didn't feel right not behind able to see anything behind her. It made her back tingle.

"Ah ah!" Suddenly her hands were grabbed by Hikaru and Kaoru, keeping her from pushing the bed even further.

"What are you doing?" Hikaru asked.

"Patients shouldn't be out of bed," Kaoru said, wagging his finger in front of her.

"I'm just moving my bed," Aki said. "I don't like where it is."

"We can move it," Hikaru said.

"No, that's alright –"

"'No' is not an option!" Kaoru said. They picked her up and dropped her onto the bed, then started to move it. She wanted to argue with them to let her do it, but it was actually kind of fun, so she laid back and enjoyed the feeling of being rolled along in her bed. It was over soon, though.

Once they'd stopped and turned her around to face the room, they stood in front of her. "So, Puppy, do you want to help us out with our brotherly love act?" they asked. She raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have to do much, just stay there and look sick while we do our thing."

"No thanks," she said. "I don't want to be in another one of those acts."

"Come on! It's not that bad," Hikaru said.

"No thank you. How about you just go and say something about playing doctor like you did back during the physicals?"

"We already planned on doing that," Kaoru said. "Duh."

"You remember that?" Hikaru asked, grinning. "So you do like our act?"

"That's not it!" Aki said. "I just happened to remember because it was so embarrassing."

"Wanna see today's act?" Kaoru asked, also grinning.

"No! Go away!" They laughed and rubbed her head, but did leave afterward.

Aki slumped back on the bed. She watched the hosts do their hosting while incorporating the doctor theme in here and there, such as Tamaki saying things about how love is the best cure. Haruhi and Kyoya impressed their clients with their medical knowledge (although it was a no-brainer that Kyoya would know about all of that stuff), and the twins did indeed mention playing doctor. Hikaru even unbuttoned Kaoru's shirt to put the stethoscope up to his chest, and the whole time their clients were freaking out.

There was a point where one of Honey and Mori's guests burned her finger on some tea and Honey whipped out what looked like a toy First-Aid kit. Mori took the girl's finger in his hand and put a band-aid on it, then said something – probably "Be careful" – before letting go. He might have blown on it or something like that because the girl's face turned bright pink when he let go.

After watching everyone for a while, Aki turned away. She felt pretty bored. Maybe she should have brought her homework with her...

"Hey, Aki-chan!" Honey bounced towards Aki with Usa-chan in his arms. He held the stuffed bunny out to her. "Can you watch Usa-chan for me?"

"Sure," Aki said, shrugging and taking Usa-chan from him. She noticed that he (or was it a she?) was wearing a hospital gown like hers. A band was on his/her arm, too, and the other arm was tied up in a sling. "I'm guessing Usa-chan broke its arm."

"Yep. But Usa-chan's feeling much better now! Especially now that it has another patient to play with," Honey said, beaming up at her.

"Yeah, sure does. I'll make sure to take good care of it."

"Thanks, Aki-chan!" He turned away, but then abruptly stopped and turned back to Aki. He stood on his toes and gestured for her to lean down. "Can I call you Tomi-chan sometimes?" he whispered into her ear.

"I guess so, if you really want to." As long as it wasn't Hito-chan, she didn't mind.

Honey grinned. "Thanks, Tomi-chan," he said before going back to his table.

Aki sighed, watching him go. Sometimes she just wanted to hug him and keep him on her lap and act like he really was a child...but then she remembered that he was old enough to drive and she just started to feel awkward. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she were a third-year, too.

She pushed the thought away and started to mess around with Usa-chan. She moved the arm that wasn't "broken", played with its ears, fixed a strap that had come undone on the back of its gown (she'd gotten flashed when she turned it around), and eventually just hugged it to her chest. Then she eventually started to get tired, and eventually fell asleep.

Her dream had been weird. In the dream she woke up in a hospital room, but she had no idea why she was there. She called for a doctor and was shocked to find that her doctor, Dr. Chan, was a pink stuffed bunny only a little taller than her (not including the ears). He – or her. Or it – held onto a small doll that she soon realized was Honey.

Dr. Chan put her in a wheelchair and started pushing her out the room and down the hall, passing a bunch of open doors. In one she saw Hikaru and Kaoru playing doctor and promptly turned away. In another a large teacup was in the middle of the room with steaming tea inside it. Three girls she somewhat recognized as other Ouran students were sitting in the tea like they were in a spa. Past another door was a dark, practically empty room, the only light coming from a large cauldron in the center. Pink smoke rose from it and disappeared into the air, leaving a sickly sweet smell. Tamaki stood beside the cauldron with a glass vial in his hands full of sparkling pink liquid and Haruhi stood on the other side with a large wooden spoon in her hands. He laughed in triumph while she complained that she was the one who did all the work making the "Liquid Love".

At the end of the hallway Dr. Chan stopped and handed her off to Kyoya who started explaining why she was in the hospital, but she couldn't understand any of the medical terms he was using, and he was speaking too fast. She looked after Dr. Chan and noticed it handing the Honey doll off to Mori who wore a scientist's outfit. Mori injected Honey with some sort of serum and Honey came to life...but grew so tall that his head touched the high-up ceiling.

She turned back to Kyoya when he grabbed her attention (quite literally. He grabbed her chin and turned it so she would look back at him) and noticed him motion behind him at a group of three large men...no, three large bugs. One was a bee, another a wasp, and another was a fire ant, all dressed up and looking like stereotypical thugs. The ant even had a cigar between its mandibles, the wasp had a tattoo on its muscular arm, the bee's wings looked like the ends had been cut up, and they all had on sunglasses the just barely covered up their eyes. The bee took a comb in one of its hands and started to comb its large pompadour. Did these guys put her in the hospital?

She was too busy staring at the bug-men that she almost missed Kyoya say something about her parents, but when she tried to ask he called over a nurse to take her away.

The nurse, Mrs. Kin, was a faceless, hairless woman with skin the color of milk. She rolled Aki away despite Aki's protests, although Mrs. Kin might have started to get irritated with her because suddenly she started to shake the wheelchair along with Aki. Then Haruhi's voice came on the intercom calling for Aki, telling her to wake up. It wasn't until the nurse tossed her out of the chair that Aki decided to open her eyes.

Haruhi and Kyoya stood on either side of the bed, looking down at Aki. Haruhi, apparently, had been shaking her.

"What's happenin'?" Aki asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Club hours are over, Aki," Kyoya said.

"Oh. Okay."

She swung her feet over the side of the bed and hopped off. She wobbled a little, but soon got her balance back.

"Give this to Honey-senpai for me?" she said, handing Usa-chan to Kyoya. He nodded.

She went to the dressing room and changed into a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers before leaving and turning in the outfit.

"Hey, Kyoya-senpai," Aki said, remembering her dream when he'd said something about her parents. "Remember when you said you knew about my parents' divorce? You made it sound much worse than it actually was! 'I know about the situation with your parents'. A divorce isn't that bad."

Kyoya's eyebrows raised slightly. "That's not what I was talking about," he said. "I thought you knew."

"Knew about what? The only situation they've been in was the divorce. I mean...right? It's not like they have any financial problems or anything. Right?" Kyoya was silent. "Do they? Hey, what's going on with my parents?"

"If they haven't told you then it's not my place to tell you either," he said, turning away from her. "You'll have to ask them."

"Hey! What's going on with my parents? Senpai!" He left without so much as a glance back in her direction.

Aki huffed. What was he talking about if it wasn't the divorce? She couldn't imagine anything else that her parents went or were going through! She'd give her mom a call later.

Aki started to leave, but Tamaki stopped her just as she was about to step out the door.

"Aki, here," he said, giving her a pack of ginger snaps. "To make you feel better."

"You always bring me these," she said after a second of silence.

"D-Do you want me to stop? I can give you something else if you like! Like cough drops! Do you need any cough drops? Or any tissues?" he asked frantically. Aki had to calm him down before she could speak.

"This is fine, really," she said with a nervous smile. "Thanks, Tamaki. I really like ginger snaps, anyway." That wasn't entirely true. Well, she hadn't liked them until Tamaki first gave her a pack, but she found that they weren't that bad. Even if she didn't like them, she would have said the same thing, if only to keep him from freaking out, and to spare his feelings.

"See you tomorrow, Tamaki," Aki said, turning to leave.

"Bye!"

Aki left the school and hurried to the train station. When the train dropped her off at the station near her neighborhood, she pulled out her phone and called her mom. She wanted to find out what that "situation" was.

"Hello?" her mother's voice said on the other end.

"Hi, Mom," Aki said. Her mother gasped.

"Hitomi! How are you, sweetie? Oh, it's so good to hear your voice again! You sound kind of sick, though. Are you alright? Do you want me to get your brothers and sisters? How about your father? Hold on a –"

"Mom, no," Aki said quickly. "I just needed to ask you something. Just you."

"Oh, okay. Well, what did you need to ask?"

Aki held her breath. Wouldn't it be awkward to ask if they were having problems? Her mom would surely ask why she was asking, and what could she say? Oh yeah, there's this kid in my school and he went through my files and eventually yours I guess and found out that you and dad were in or had a situation other than the divorce. Cool, huh?

Well, better to be straightforward.

"Mom, have you or Dad been doing fine? Financially?"

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?" There was no trace of surprise or anxiety in her voice as far as Aki could tell.

"No reason."

"Oh, come on, Hitomi. Why would a child ask their parent about financial problems?"

"Maybe that child is worried about their rich parents not being rich anymore."

"Aki. You don't care about if we're rich or not."

"Says who?"

"You live with your aunt."

"So?"

"Sweetie, what's this about?"

Aki paused. "It's nothing, Mom. Forget about it, it was just a stupid question. So, uh, how have you been?"