Rant: Sorry it took so long for me to actually update this story, it's mostly because it was the end of the third quarter, and being Icya-chan, I was very unmotivated for the last month because of the cold and strange weather we've been getting lately around the Virginia area, maybe that's why I'm failing government. Parents are going to kill me when they find out.::Cries::

Oh well, here's the next week late chapter. And if there's anything weird about the chapter, I blame Gackt and his cd.. So~ enjoy

Chapter five

The weather seemed nice. The two days long rain stopped about an hour ago as a pair of robins chirped outside the half opened window, fluffing their still wet feathers in an attempt to dry before their flight. The sun peeked through thin layers of white clouds, reflected in the water puddles near the edge of the street, glistening with the ripples.

Rain drops slid down sakura petals on the tree beside Fuji's house as he peered out his window; the sunshine did not make him feel any better as he shifted the bag of ice he held on his forehead with one hand; in fact, it made him feel worse.

It was easy to get depressed with the nonstop rain, but it seemed almost pointless with the shining sun and the blooming flowers dotted with water crystals. He felt as if he was trying to be depressed, and he hated that feeling.

With a sigh, Fuji stood slowly, pushing himself up with one hand and balanced himself before the dizziness took over. The fever was not going down, and it was already Friday afternoon. Blinking away the wooziness, he paced slowly out of his room.

The pajamas he slept in for two nights were wrinkled and damped with dried sweat, nearly matching his used to be perfect hair that was currently taking a life of its own. It seemed that sleep was all he was doing for the past day and a half, only interrupted with food and 'walks' as his ne- san called the hauling up and down the stairs for exercise.

He was never that sick before as long as he remembered as Fuji held onto the stair rim with his free hand. He always had a strong resistance to sickness and an even better recovery rate; colds never bothered him, and fevers were rare, but a 40 degree fever for the past two days? That was unheard of.

Struggling down the what seemed to be forever long stairs, Fuji made his way to the kitchen in snail pace. The house was empty as his parents went to work and Ne-san went to school, Yuuta rarely came back for dinner; it was the same as yesterday.

Opening the fridge door, the young man shifted his gaze to the food stacked inside and felt as if he was going to throw up, but he was not stupid enough not to know when it was time to refuel his body, even if his stomach was trying to empty itself every single moment he laid his eyes on food.

He took out a bowl of left over soup from dinner the night before and poured it into the pot over the stove. Turning the heat onto high, Fuji left the kitchen after closing the lid and found a haven on the living room sofa. Curling himself around a large comforter, he dozed off.

It must have been closed to an hour as the light barely diminished as he woke with the sound of the door bell. Fuji stirred and decided to ignore the bell as he turned and buried his face into the sofa. But the sound of the bell refused to disappear and rung repeatedly, dragging him off the edge of sleep and into reality. He wanted to curse but couldn't find the energy as he moped out of his temporary bed, tossing the comforter to the edge of the sofa and the bag of cool water onto the coffee table.

"Yes, I'm coming." He called out as he walked toward the door. He sounded like he just swallowed a frog whole; actually, he felt like he just swallowed a frog whole and it danced all the way down.

The doorknob was slippery against his hand as Fuji opened the door. A bare smile touched his lips as he greeted who ever it was on the other side, actually he wanted to throttle the person if he had enough energy to do so, but he settled with a smile, it was less work.

The concerned look on Oishi's face was the second thing he saw as he stared into the face of the one before him. The first thing he saw was bright light.

"Fuji." Oishi smiled lightly, giving a slight bow. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine." Fuji responded.

"Hoi hoi~ you don't sound fine." Was the reply as Eiji beamed from behind his partner in doubles. "And you looked like you just slept in those since you went home."

Fuji blinked, then grinned. "That's because I did. Welcome, what brought you two over?" He backed away from the door, leaving room for the other two to come in.

"Samaragi sensei decided to fail you in literature." Eiji shrugged as he slid off his shoes.

Oishi's eyes widened as he spun to his to face his friend in full speed. "Eiji! Don't say things like that! Especially if it's not true." He stepped onto the wooden floor and gave Fuji an apologetic nod. "Sorry about that Fuji, Eiji does not know how not to say things bluntly, nor does he know when to quit his jokes like that." He eyes his friend, who smirked and threw his arms behind his head.

"It's all right Oishi." Fuji slumped down onto his sofa, then sat up once again. "What would you two like to drink?" He questioned as Oishi mirrored him and sprung up from his seat.

Eiji made himself comfortable in the chair.

"No, no." The vice captain shook his head, waving his hands. "It's not necessary Fuji, we're fine."

"Actually," Eiji begun.

"We're fine, aren't we, Eiji?" Oishi coughed, then took a seat after Kikumaru closed his half opened mouth and curled into a ball in the chair, hugging his book bag.

Fuji sat back down and covered himself partially with the comforter. "So, what's the reason for your visit?"

Kikumaru opened his book bag and took out a rather thick pad of printed paper, handing them to Fuji. "Here." He smirked. "It's the work you missed all two and a half days; they're due on Monday for ya."

"I see." Fuji flipped through the papers. It would take him about three hours to finish all of these, not too bad for missing two days. "What happened to practice?" He questioned as he placed the papers beside him. "It's too early for you guys to be out right now."

"Canceled, puddles in the courts." Kikumaru displayed a thumb up. "No Inui's juice today for Eiji; especially since he came up with another new formula in science."

Oishi visibly paled at the words 'Inui's juice', but contained himself fairly well. It was quite obvious that he was the latest test subject for the new juice.

Fuji wondered why he was never called to be the test subjects, then threw the thought away. "Ah."

"And Tezuka had to leave early, so he didn't bother to keep us there." Kikumaru continued. "Oh well, more luck for me, I wonder what Tezuka's up to."

"Ah, sou." Fuji nodded, playing with the edge of the comforter with one hand.

Oishi stood with a smile. "Well, we just came to drop off your work. The sensei's missed you." He chuckled slightly, then his eyebrows knotted as he turned his head slowly toward the kitchen. "Fuji." He paused.

The young man looked up to his vice captain. "Nani?"

"Is something burning?"

Fuji's eyes widened. He forgot about. the soup! Rushing into the kitchen in a speed he never thought he could reach in that condition, Fuji went head first into a thick cloud of smoke.

Covering his nose and mouth with one hand, Fuji turned off the stove and threw the remains of the soup into the sink. He turned on the water and heard the sound of steam as the smoke clearly diminished and the bottom of the pot came visible. It was pure black.

He winced and wondered what Yumiko would say about his cooking skills now as his two friends raced to him and peered blankly at the blackened pot.

"What's going on here?" A voice called out from behind as Fuji turned as came face to face to his sister. Speak of the devil.

Fuji beamed. "Ne-san, welcome home. You're back early."

"I came back to cook for you." She tip toed over to the sink, then raised an eyebrow toward her little brother. "Was that the soup I made last night?" She questioned accusingly.

"Ah." Fuji smiled a full teethed smile.

Kikumaru laughed. "Fuji's in trouble."

Yumiko sighed as she paced over to the dinning room table and picked up a vase before returning to her younger brother and his friends. Fuji bit his lower lip and avoided eye contact as his sister filled the vase with water. "I told you not to push yourself before I left this morning Syusuke, my poor soup." She shook her head and placed the vase in the middle of the table. "Go to bed, I'll make you something and I'll bring it up to you soon."

Fuji nodded. He hoped his sister, Oishi, and Kikumaru would guess the blush on his face to be of the fever as he lifted his head.

"Sorry for the disturbance." Oishi bowed with respect toward Yumiko as Eiji followed his partner's example. "We will show ourselves out."

Yumiko covered her smile with one hand. "No problem. Are you sure you two don't want to stay for dinner?"

"No, I'm sorry we will not have the opportunity today." Oishi spoke before Kikumaru had a chance to reply. "Thank you very much for asking."

Fuji paced slowly toward the living room, but not before noticing something he missed just seconds ago. The vase on the middle of the table was not empty, it was filled with roses. Red roses.

He gave his sister a questioned look as Yumiko stopped before the refrigerator, she spoke without looking back. "The roses? It's from your friend from yesterday." She picked out some vegetables from the bottom of the fridge, then closed the door. "He stopped me today in the middle of the road and handed them to me. He said he was waiting for something when I asked him why he was there." She shrugged and started to wash the cabbage. "You know Syusuke, you have weird friends."

Fuji couldn't talk. He felt as if he was choking.

Perhaps he was.

Blinking repeatedly, he turned toward his friends who stood by the table now. He saw something he never expected to see in Kikumaru's eyes.

Sympathy.