Ken had been trying to evade Schuldich all day . He was in no mood to deal with the redhead's anger at being stood up the day before ; Ken knew he had sufficient reason to not show up , but Schuldich wouldn't take that . . . oh no he won't - and that's what's crappy about this whole pile of bull .

He heard the German's familiar step on the stairs and he fairly cursed himself to death , wondering how the hell he was going to hide ; he dashed , stumbling on his own legs through the corridor and hurried to his room , slamming the door behind him .

" Ken ! Open up !"

Ken recognized a tone of frustration in Schuldich's voice .

" Open the door ! Goddamnit !"

" Go away . I don't need your pile of crap right now ." Ken leaned on the door and closed his eyes . His head was hurting like hell ad he had no idea what he could do to stop it from throbbing so much . Flashes of light burned at his eyes like pieces of scorching metal pressed against his pupils . He gritted his teeth . " Go away Schu ." He slid down to the carpet floor and realized that he was shivering .

It had been like that for the past few days . He was seized by fits of delirium and trembling and was constantly blinded by he knew not what . He had no mind to tell anyone .

Not Schuldich .

Not Nagi .

Surely , not Farf .

And hell , not Crawford .

He needed to figure all this out on his own . It was his body - and his mind . The answers needed to come from him .

But damn was it difficult !

" Ken . What's wrong ? Tell me ... please ..." Schuldich had a tone he had never ever used before . Was he . desperate ?

" Ken ."

Ken smiled gently . Granted Schuldich wasn't an affectionate person to everybody , but the way he treated Ken - made him feel like he was loved .

" Schu ." Ken rasped , and fell into unconsciousness .

- - -

Schuldich held Ken in his arms as he nudged the door to Ken's room open . He had goosebumps on his arms . he had to admit . He was scared shitless .

Ken was whimpering in his arms as he put him gently on the bed .

Schuldich couldn't tell what was wrong . but .

Schuldich was scared .

He had seen this kind of stuff back in Vietnam long ago when the two parts of Vietnam were claiming supremacy... the boy had been stuck in the middle of the crossfire . Schuldich had seen this all when he was covering the war . All those people ... too afraid to step out of their houses for fear of being shot down .

Schuldich found him in a small alleyway , shivering in the rain . He was in a puddle of mud deep enough to soak him to the bone . He took him to the biggest hospital in the vicinity and paid all the expenses .

The American doctor said that it was just fever from being drenched in the rain and nothing else was wrong .

One week later , the boy died .

Because of the rain ?

Schuldich was stricken .

And now he feared for Ken's life .

- -

R_M : Chapter 26 already !

Ummm. I'm going to post the longest - and the last chapter today as well , just in time for Christmas as my gift to all the readers ! I hope you like it and don't worry . I'm already working on the sequel . ^^; Merry Christmas !

p.s.

Oh . and . if any of you knows ANYONE , absolutely ANYONE who has a copy of the new Weiß series , the Weiß Gluhen who is KIND enough and willing to mail it to another country (I don't care what language it is fansub , subbed , dubbed , even if I don't understand a word of what the characters are saying) I'm just dying to watch them . no scratch that . I'm willing to kill for it . Please please please ... the new WEIB GLUHEN ! ANYONE !!!!!! I am begging you !!! Thanks !

p.p.s.

Don't forget to review !