~Chapter 36: Fever~

By the time they reached the Order, Yuki had a high fever, burning throughout her body. Annchi tried her best to cool Yuki's fever down, however, the more she tried, the higher Yuki's fever went. Allen's already worried enough, and now the only thing on his mind is Yuki's fever. Natsumi was also worried, praying for Yuki's safety and tried to cheer everyone up the best she can.

Currently, Yuki is in the medical ward with the nurses and doctors there to take care of her injuries and her abnormally high fever. Everyone's injuries were all healed and all bandaged up, leaving Yuki the only one with injuries and fever, and of course, the oxygen mask. All those high-tech medical machines and connected her with all those, making her seem inhuman.

It took all of her Allen's willpower to hold himself back from ripping them off of her. After two hours, those wires and lines were taken off of Yuki, and she seemed less inhuman, except the oxygen mask never came off, not even once.

Ever since then, Yul, Fai, and Annchi all stayed in their rooms, and never came out, not even for meals. Lenalee was starting to get more worried by the minute, as she prays that Yuki will be fine, and that Yul and the others will come out of their rooms. Natsumi, even though, she doesn't know any of them very well, she was praying, and worried for their safety and health.

The good thing was that Kai had joined the Order. Right now, he's wearing his Black Order's jacket, and walking towards a nearby window, and looking outside with distant eyes.

'The sky is so... Dark and cold... I wonder what the sky looks like in the others' eyes. Being able to see the 'truth', the reality that's been hiding behind a thick wall of fantasies and lies.. Reality always hides behind these walls of fantasies, lies, and secrets. No one can face reality without feeling any kind of pain. Being alive is hard, after all.. Those who are alive has to deal with complications in their life.. They have to deal with others. Having to deal with fantasies, lies, and secrets.. Death is the only way to escape all of these fantasies, and lies.'

Yuki's heartbeat is going quite abnormal. Her breaths were short and uneven. Her fever slowly goes up as time passes. She could feel her body burning, like she's on fire. Her mind is hazy, she couldn't think straight. Her head sometimes hurt, almost like someone is pounding on her head with a hammer or some kind of hard object.

'Hot... It's so hot.. My body feels weird.. Why..? My throat feels... Dry.. And burning... Why do I feel like this? Is it because i used that form to annihilate all of those assassins..? But.. Why do i feel that it's different from before.. But what's so different about it? My head.. It hurts.. My body.. It's hot.. I can't think straight anymore.. I wish i can at least move my body and go towards my room or Allen's room..'

Yuki slowly forces herself to open her eyes slowly which took like forever to her. She raised her hand and rips off the oxygen mask, and there was a small hint of dark circles below her eyes. Her skin color a bit more paler than her normally pale skin color. She pushes her body and slips out of the bed, and didn't bother taking off the pure white gown on her. She began to slowly take one step after another, opening the door, and finally reaching outside of the medical ward.

'It's a good thing those nurses aren't around.. I don't want to see anybody, except them.. I'd rather die somewhere that i'm used to.. I don't want to stay in a room with only the color white.. If reality is always hiding behind the fantasies, then i'll force out the reality out of the fantasies.. What am i saying...? I don't even know what i'm saying anymore... My vision is getting pretty foggy and misty... I better not lose conscious here..'

Yuki painfully moves her legs towards the hallway, slowly walking pass every dorms, until she reaches the one dorm that she wants to be at, Allen's dorm. She forced her arms to move and get a small paper-clip from her white gown and began to pick-lock Allen's door. When a sound was heard, she turned knob, and closed the door, laying against it for a minute, before heading towards Allen's bed.

She plops down on his bed, and hugged his pillow, and letting herself drift to slumber. While Yuki took her rest in Allen's room, Allen was in the bathroom, washing himself, with some thoughts of Yuki left in his mind and her safety.

'I wonder if Xue is alright... Last time i checked, she had a high fever, and she couldn't even open her eyes.. Her heartbeats were irregular.. Going fast and then slow, and then out of nowhere, it goes back to normal.. Even her breaths were irregular.. It was almost like she couldn't breathe, even with the oxygen mask on her..'

He sighed and got up, and let himself soak with water before drying himself and putting on his clothes. Alongside him is our beloved golem, Timcanpy, who had landed on Allen's shoulder and rubbed against his cheeks, his very own way to comfort Allen.

"Thanks, Timcanpy..."

Timcanpy rubs against Allen's cheek once again, making him smile and walked towards his dorm, while trying to concentrate on other things other than Yuki, which was a bit hard to do, since she meant the whole world to him.

As Allen minds his own business, Natsumi and Kanda were sparring against each other to see how much they have improved. Natsumi had a bright smile on her face, but behind that smile holds all of her worries for the others, which was pretty obvious to Kanda, but he made no decision to ask. As they finish up their battle with a slash between Mugen and Natsumi's ice blade, they began to sat down and eat their meals.

"Yu! You sure improved quite a lot ever since i left for that mission~ Especially your swordsmanship skills~ But you can never beat me at certain secret techniques of a good swordsmanship~"

"Baka.. I told you that don't call me by my first name or i'll cut you down."

Natsumi stuck out her tongue playfully and poked his cheek with her finger, causing him to turn around and opened his mouth to make a comment about her actions, giving Natsumi an advantage. She took that advantage and fed Kanda an omelet from her meal, and smirked and sticking out her tongue out playfully once again.

"Yu, don't you know that you're not suppose to change the subject when we didn't even end the conversation about that certain subject. We didn't finish talking about secret techniques of the sword.. Don't you dare change the subject to your name. You said i can call you Yu anytime i want, so no going back on your word. Unless, you're a coward who goes back on his words without a second thought.."

Playfulness could be seen in her eyes, as she lean closer with her playful smirk. Kanda had a faint blush on his face before he mumbles "whatever" and continues with his lunch, while looking away from Natsumi. She smiled and leaned against Kanda's back and started on her meal, never once thinking about the chopsticks that she just used to feed Kanda with the omelet, which means, they shared an indirect kiss with one another.

While these two sweethearts continue with their indirect flirting with one another, Lavi and Kaoru were together in the library, sorting out some books and taking some to read.

"I never once thought of helping you sort all of these books out.. I'm not a librarian nor do i have the intention to become one in the future. I'd rather travel around the world, sight-seeing than staying in a room with only books.."

"Kaoru, you do realize that once you read a book, you'll slowly get interested and continue on reading without even realizing that.. Plus, you can also sight-see around the world if you read books. Use your imagination."

"It's not that... I want to experience it as well.. I can have the feeling and vision from my imagination, but i want to experience it as well.. It won't be as exciting if you don't experience it."

"I guess that's partly true.. But still, reading books is good for you."

"You mean books of histories from around the world? Or actually, books of any source.. Nonfiction, fiction, fantasy, harem, all sorts of genres of books. As you read it, from the beginning to the end, you can work on memorizing things. I think, memorizing books, and their exact lines, paragraphs, sentences, pages, and chapters will be a cinch to you.. Am i right or wrong?"

"I guess you're right..."

'Books, huh? It used to be part of my life.. Becoming a Bookman was my only motivation, but... Why do i keep feeling as if i have forgotten something that was important to me in the past...? Why? Right now, becoming a Bookman is supposed to be my only motivation, but then after i met Kaoru, i fell into the hole that says love... When i touch her, i have this nostalgic feeling... I wonder if.. I'm showing my emotions and not faking anything in front of Kaoru... I never thought that falling in love would change someone so much... However, i can't show these feelings in front of that old-geezer panda.. If he finds out about this, who knows what'll happen...'

"Lavi.. I don't care what'll happen in the future, but i'll never fall in love with anybody else other than you. Even if you forget everything related to me, i'll never forget you. If i do, my body will remember you, so don't have any doubts now. Right now, we need to move forward and don't look back..."

Lavi smirked and hugged Kaoru from behind as she talked, surprising her and causing her to jump slightly and drop the books on the floor. Lavi leaned in slightly, and began to kiss Kaoru's neck while biting it softly.

Lenalee knocked on Yul's door softly while holding a tray with a bowl of warm, cozy soup and some fruits. After a few minutes of waiting, Lenalee decided to knock again, but then the door suddenly opened, revealing a black and silver head poke out and appear in her face.

"Lenalee... What's wrong?"

"Y-Yul-kun.."

"Just call me Yul... And you came because you're worried about me, right? Thanks, i appreciate it. Wanna come in?"

"Y-yeah..."

'What's wrong with me? My heart keeps on beating nonstop as i look at Yul... I never felt this towards any other guys.. Why? Am i in love with Yul? No way! I can't have such thoughts about Yul.. Plus, i don't even think he has any kinds of thoughts about me that way...'

"Sorry to bother you."

"No, it's nothing. I was just laying in here, staring at the ceiling.. So did you visit the others?"

"Yeah.. I gave them some food, and drink. They accepted it already."

"I see.."

Lenalee silently sets the tray down on Yul's desk and looked around the room. It was simple. Just a dark midnight wallpaper, and some posters of composers from all over the worlds. On his nightstand, is a night-light and a small stack of music notes. On the wooden floor, was a black rug. And on his bed just consists of white gray covers and blanket. His room was pretty tidy, and didn't have too much stuff in it.

Yul noticed her stare at his dorm, and looked around his dorm, wondering if it's dirty. Lenalee's gaze soon directed towards Yul, and her eyes fell on his outfit. He had a black t-shirt on with some shorts on.

"Sorry if my place is a bit messy.. I haven't had time to clean it.."

"N-no.. Not at all. Your place is very tidy and clean.. I was just curious on what your room looked like, so.."

"Thanks..."

Yul went towards his desk and grabbed a rasberry, hiding it from sight which Lenalee noticed. Suddenly, he hugged Lenalee tightly in his arms with a small smile on his face, causing her to blush bright red. Yul suddenly leaned in and softly touch her lips with his. This caused Lenalee to softly gasp, and this gave him a chance to slip his tongue inside her. Lenalee was bright red, and suddenly, there was a sweet taste in her mouth.

After Yul leaned away, he kissed her forehead and cheek and her lips once again, before going towards his bed and laying on it.

"I hope it was sweet.. Thanks Lenalee... I'll eat the soup later... Right now, i'm just tired and sleepy.. I want to get some rest first before having my meal."

Lenalee stayed silent while touching her lips with her fingers. The sweet taste of the rasberry lingered on her lips and inside her mouth. Lenalee blushed before mumbling a small "have a good rest" and leaving the dorm with the blush on her face.

'Yul... Does that kiss mean something..?'

As soon as Lenalee left the dorm, Yul got up and touched his lips before smiling and ate his meal silently.

Without of Allen's knowledge of this, Yuki was inside his dorm, sleeping on his bed. The moment he got inside, he had this urge to scream out her name, but he restrained himself from doing so. He leaned towards the bed, and stared at Yuki.

Yuki was still holding Allen's pillow tightly in her arms, and an obvious hint of childishness and babyish face appeared as she sleeps. Her irregular heartbeats, and breaths were back to normal, and her temperature was finally back to normal and she was having a good sleep for once. Her fever was still there, but at least it's getting better.

Allen sighed and shut off the lights, and crawled onto the bed and hugged Yuki from behind. He suddenly felt Yuki turning around, her face facing him. Allen lightly placed a kiss on her lips and forehead before hugging her closer and falling into slumber alongside with Yuki and Timcanpy above them.

~Author's Note~

A peaceful chapter, featuring all of the possible couples here~ ^_^ I'm so proud of myself~ I'm just kidding...

I took a while because i had trouble with the couples.. Like where to put them, and trying to revise this chapter.. Since my grammer sucks horribly.. _ So please forgive me, but hey, i at least updated within five through six days~

DarkFlame Alchemist, hahaha~ If you knew Natsumi from the beginning, i'm sure you would recognize her, but i introduced Natsumi during the previous chapter.. XD And thanks for birthday greeting~ ^_^

xXYuseiXAkikoXx, you're welcome~ I hope i portrayed her well in this chapter... _ And sorry for the late update...!

Thanks for reading and reviewing~

(=^-^=)