Disclaimer: I don't own the FF8 characters, which you already know.

A/N: I'm sorry for the wait, school's been keeping me quite busy lately... I was helped very, very much with this chapter by my friend Megs. Thank you so much girl! You're one of the best romance writers I know! And Vamp Queen, nope, I didn't lie to you. Quistis and Seifer getting together isn't the surprise I was talking about. I'll let you know when it comes up, so stay tuned!

The air was still and silent as Akira sat with her back slumped against the trunk of a looming pine tree. She held her hand close to her stomach as she felt the blood trickle out of her gaping wound, down her arm and splat onto the dirt below her. She knew she shouldn't have gone off by herself. She had been told to stay with her group, move along the path set out for them, and reach their destination safely. Apparently, that wasn't going to be working out exactly as everyone had planned. While satisfying her curiousity, she ventured far from her group, consisting of three other students that she didn't recognize from Quistis's class, or any of her classes for that matter. They got off to a good start though. Everyone was kind to her and they took the field exam very seriously, just as she did. There was one boy, Blaze, and two girls, Leeda and Bethica, all with awesome fighting skills. Akira wasn't sure how she'd been placed with them, as she felt they were much better than she was, but nevertheless she was grateful that she hadn't been paired up with idiots.

After fighting off quite a few unknown soldiers, who were obviously part of an underground group to release Ultimecia from her prison in the Time- Compressed world, Akira and the others treaded on through the thick rain- forest like area. The humidity was something awful, and the area was so unlevel that you had to watch your footing everywhere you went so as not to fall and break something. Every one of them was complaining about the conditions as the forest cleared into a high-grassed field. Their destination was the underground fortress where it was believed to be the headquarters for the unknown group. That's the only way anyone referred to them - the unknown soldiers part of an unknown group. After the fortress was infiltrated, the SeeDs would go in and take care of the rest. What exactly would happen after that, no one was sure.

As a second section of forest began, rustling could be heard from within the full brush to the right. Akira volunteered to go and check it out, but everyone protested. "It's too dangerous" and "Whatever it is, let it be" was what they told her. She nodded in agreement, but as the rustling went on even after they'd continued, Akira couldn't help but feel paranoid, as if something or someone were following them. She stopped walking and let the other three members of her party go on, without noticing she was no longer with them. She backtracked to where she'd first heard the strange noises, and that's when something, a beast-like creature, jumped on her, pushing it's razor sharp single claw deep into her abdomen. She let out a yelp of pain and terror, but the others were too far gone to have heard.

She kicked and punched the creature square in the chest, but it wasn't phased at all by her petty attempts to scare it off. Her gunblade had clattered to the ground beside her. She reached out for it, but her fingertips just barely brushed the cool metal of the blade. The claw was still wedged inside her flesh, and the pain was too overwhelming to stay conscious any longer. She found herself being sucked into a black void of emptiness and passed out.

Now, after she'd woken up, she found herself leaning up against the large tree. Not knowing how she'd survived, she glanced down at her wound slowly, afraid of what she might see. Her flesh was torn apart like an animal of prey's after being mauled by a bear or wolf. Blood leaked out of it still and she was surrounded by a large puddle of the red fluid already. She winced as she made an attempt to shift her body to get comfortable, but she decided it would be less painful if she'd simply sit there the way she'd been. She groaned as waves of nausea passed over her every five minutes. If she hadn't vomited yet, she probably wouldn't, but she still couldn't be sure. She hated getting sick, ever since she was little.

She looked around, turning her neck as far as she could before she thought it would snap. Her entire body was aching something fierce, and she wished she could at least stand up, but she knew she'd never be able to even roll over in her condition. She closed her eyes. There was an odd heaviness to them - a mixture of sleep-heaviness and humidity-heaviness. It hurt when she breathed, and that worried her. That meant something had been done to her lungs, whether they were just bruised or punctured, she couldn't be quite sure. All she knew was, she needed to find someone, anyone, to help her. She cried out to try and get someone's attention, but it was to no avail. There was no one around. She decided to give up and let herself fall asleep. That's all she wanted to do now... Sleep...

Just as her emerald eyes closed and the dreamless reverie of sleep enveloped her, a figure came out from within the trees. It was Shiloh. He'd become seperated from his party as well, but for different reasons. They'd been amushed by the unknown soldiers and two of the four of them were captured. The other fled, screaming in fear like a banshee. Some people just aren't cut out to be SeeDs...

His icy eyes widened as he saw Akira's limp figure. At first, he thought the worst; he thought she was dead, but he saw her shoulders and chest rise and fall, so he knew she was alive and breathing. She looked awfully uncomfortable slumped over like that, especially with the huge wound in her stomach, so he knelt down beside her and gently moved her from the tree, lying her on the ground on her back. She didn't wake up, so he figured she'd probably fallen unconscious again. He saw this as a blessing. He'd be able to get her somewhere safer without her feeling the pain. He lifted her motionless body into his arms and slowly carried her out of the wooded area to where a small, shallow river flowed. It was a peaceful, beautiful area, where no unknown soldiers had ventured. The water was crisp, clear and cool. He'd be able to clean her wound that way, without really worrying about infection too much. He set her back down on the soft grass and she still didn't stir. He kept getting this awful, heart-wrenching feeling that she was dead, but then he'd see she was breathing and the feeling would temporarily leave him.

Shiloh knew he had to stop the bleeding, as it was flowing fast. He took his small survival pack he'd been carrying and took out quite a few gauze pads and bandages. He glanced back over at Akira, who was still fully unconscious. How awkward would it be if she awoke while he was invading her "personal space," even if he was just tending her wounds. He scooted his way over to the stream and dunked one of the bandages in, which was made more like a small blanket. Once it was soaked with the cool, refreshing water, he made his way back over to Akira's motionless body. He took a deep breath and held it as he slowly reached out and grasped the bottom of her shirt. He was hesitant in lifting it, but when he did, he made sure not to lift it... too much, only enough to be able to see her wound, and only her wound. He drew in a sharp breath as he saw how deep and open the injury actually was. It had to have been at least two inches deep and four inches across. It was a lot larger than he'd thought it to be. He pressed the bandage to the gouge and held it there, allowing it to soak up the blood that flowed from it. It didn't take long for the white bandage to become completely red, and he cast it aside after he discovered it couldn't hold anymore blood.

After what seemed like forever, the bleeding finally slowed down to a small trickle. It saitisfied Shiloh enough so that he could wrap a clean bandage around her waist. The dressing should've lasted for quite a while, at least long enough so that he could work on tending his own wounds, which were minor compared to hers, but he still wanted to be in good health if he had to take care of Akira. After doing so, he gathered wood from the nearby forest area and put it all in a pile near them. Using the lighter he'd so tactfully brought along with him, he started a blaze to keep them warm, as night was beginning to fall and the air would get crisp and chilly.

The minutes passed, and Akira finally began to stir. Her emerald eyes fluttered and then opened completely, still holding a fatigue in them that showed she felt awful. She groaned as she attempted to roll over from the position she'd been in, but Shiloh stopped her. "No, just lie still," he told her in a voice no louder than a murmur. "I don't want you to hemhorrage like you were before."

Akira blinked in response. She'd heard what he said, but the words took a few moments to register. Her head was spinning, and her body was shivering violently, but she had no idea why. She couldn't remember much about what had happened. It eventually came to her in bits and pieces, until she remembered everything perfectly. She settled back down and Shiloh placed a hand to her forehead. She was burning up, but he couldn't understand why she was shivering so badly. He took one of her hands in his own, only to find it was as cold as ice. That puzzled him even more. He came to the conclusion that whatever was wrong with her had caused a fever that traveled at a slow pace throughout the body, starting at the head. It wasn't anything he'd ever heard of before, but it was all he could come up with at the time. "Are you cold or hot?" he decided to ask. A dumb question maybe, but he needed to know if he should move her closer to the fire.

She looked up at him, an almost child-like look in her Almasy eyes. "I'm c- cold..." she muttered between her tremor-like shivers.

He took her wrist and carefully helped her stand. He let her rest her entire body weight on him as he eased her closer to the fire in front of them. "That better?" he asked.

She nodded. "A little..." This made Shiloh feel better about her, but when about fifteen minutes passed and her shivers hadn't slowed down one bit, he began to get worried again. He rummaged through his pack and found a big cotton blanket. He also took out the small sleeping bag he'dbrought along as well. Funny, he didn't remember putting a blanket in there... He shrugged off the thought and proceeded to wrap it around the girl's shaking shoulders. Then, he eased her down into the sleeping bag, hoping to finally stop her nearly convulsive shivering.

"Is that... any better?" he asked hopefully. She didn't reply and hugged herself tight, as if she were trying to keep herself warm that way. He thought long and hard. What else could he do? If she got any closer to the fire, she'd burn herself, and there were no more blankets in their possession; he was sure of that.

As if things couldn't get any worse, the first few raindrops of an icy cold shower began to fall. Oh no... he thought as his gaze fell back onto Akira. The fire was beginning to fizzle out as the rain fell harder and the drops became bigger. There was only one other way he could think of to keep her warm. He wasn't totally comfortable with it, but only because he wasn't sure what her reaction would be. Whether he liked it or not, there was only one thing left to do. He lifted his shirt up over his head. Leaving it on while it was soaking wet wouldn't help what he was about to do. He climbed into the sleeping bag and pulled the blonde as close to him as humanly possible. He wrapped his arms around her waist and his legs around hers. She didn't fight off the physical contact, as she found her shivering was ceasing after only a few minutes of lying there in his strong arms. Soon, her body remained still enough to allow her to fall asleep. Shiloh did soon after he knew she was all right.

The next morning was a drizzly one. The rain had stopped almost completely, but droplets were falling from the leaves and brush at a consistant rate. A few birds were singing as the sun peeked over the hills on the horizon. Akira awoke, but didn't open her eyes. There was a warm comfort surrounding her that she didn't have any urge to leave. She let out a sigh and scooted closer to Shiloh, who she had almost forgotten had been there. In fact, she'd almost forgotten everything about the previous night. Soon though, as her mind cleared itself from the hazniess of slumber, her heart began pounding as she realized Shiloh's limbs were still wrapped around her. She shook the thoughts from her head. How could she be thinking about things like that? She was sick. She knew that from the way her body ached and the way her throat was raw and sore. She needed antibiotics, and even though Shiloh had tried to nurse her back to health and keep her warm, she was still fluish and the crummy weather wasn't helping anything.

Shiloh began to stir shortly after these thoughts swirled through Akira's head. His eyes traveled down to Akira, who was silently lying there beside him. "Morning..." he said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. She still said nothing as he sat up and stared down at her. His hands immediatly went to her shirt, and she pushed them away.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she exclaimed, her face turning a light shade of crimson.

He shook his head. "No, it's not like that. I want to see if your wound is healing at all." He noticed how coldly she was glaring at him, and raised his hands in surrender. "Fine. You do it then." She raised an eyebrow suspiciously and lifted her shirt only enough for him to examine her injury. He reached out and removed the slightly bloodied bandage from her skin. A chill went up ehr spine, but she said nothing to him. He touched a hand to the healing wound, and she immediatly winced and pulled away. "It still hurts?" he asked as he straightened up again.

"Yes, it still hurts!" she cried. She fixed her shirt and the two sat in silence for a while. Then, slowly but surely, the space between their lips closed. It was a more passionate kiss than they'd ever shared before. Soon, their arms were wrapped tightly around each other as all sorts of thoughts raced through their minds. Shiloh broke away from her first, feeling guilty about what he was doing. How could he take advantage of her like this? First of all, she wasn't feeling good, so she wouldn't be able to do much to stop him. He wanted it, but yet he knew it was wrong, At least now it was.

"You should rest," he told her as he pulled his shirt back on, which was now dry from the night before. "I'm gonna go see what I can make for you to eat." Akira eased herself back down onto her back, slight twinges of pain shooting through her abdomen as she did. Why was he acting that way? Was it something she was doing wrong? She hadn't wanted him to leave at all, but apparently he felt differently.