A/N: I am not sure if convulsing happens with Leukemia victims, but it does for the sake of this story.
There were several moments of silence and Mannen registered what she said. Then he grinned.
"Oh come on Mawata...your joking...aren't you?" he asked. When he saw the she wasn't, his grin disappeared and his jaw started to shake.
Mawata turned her back to him. She put her head in her hands and her shoulders drooped and she began to sob again.
Mannen grabbed her shoulders and turned her back to him and he squeezed her shoulders for a few seconds then loosened his grip. He pulled her into an embrace and they stood there like that for a few more minutes. Then he finally pulled away. Mawata's face was still in her hands.
"Mawata, it is okay. We will get through this."
Mawata looked up at him and stopped crying long enough to say, "B-but it is f-fatal. I have only six months..."
Mannen's heart dropped.
"You only have six... six months? That is all?" he whispered.
Mawata nodded and began to cry again but caught herself.
"How long have you had it?"
"One and a half years..."
"One and a half years, and you haven't told anyone?!" Mannen gasped. "Why not?"
"Because... because I didn't want to burden other people with my problems. Everyone had been so happy and I am already enough of a burden to everyone."
"A burden…? You think you're a burden? To who?" he asked.
"Everyone." she answered
"Even me?" he said.
"Especially you!" she cried turning her head to the side.
"W-wait, what makes you think you are a burden to me?"
She turned away and was silent for the next few minutes.
"Please, just leave me be."
"But-"Mannen started.
"Please, if you are caught up here, you will get in big trouble." She whispered.
Mannen sighed, "Okay then... I will see you tomorrow."
"Okay... and please, don't tell anyone." Mawata pleaded.
"Okay, but you have to tell someone." Mannen replied
"I told you, didn't I?" she answered
"Yeah…" Mannen said, not being able to think of anything to say.
"Then I told someone, now go. I think I hear someone coming." She quickly lied.
Mannen jumped out of the window and made the ice bridge disappear, leaving Mawata alone with her thoughts.
Mawata walked quickly over to the window and watched as Mannen ran off.
She looked at the ground as his figure vanished into the darkness. She walked steadily to her vanity and began to brush her hair as she did every night before she went to sleep...and every morning when she got up.
After 100 strokes, she looked at the brush with a sad expression. She slowly pulled all the hair out of the brush. She had begun losing some hair, but she tried not to let it get her down. When she was done, she threw the hair in the trash and climbed in bed. She was really tired, yet she couldn't sleep.
She couldn't stop thinking of Mannen, how kind he was to her. She couldn't help but feel safe when she was around him, even with her current predicament...
Her heart felt cold as she turned on her side. Her eyes went out of focus and she began to cough violently.
Mannen ran to a small area in the garden. His own tears falling out of his eyes and down his cheeks... He wiped his cheeks, annoyed at his tears.
"Kusou!" he yelled. "Onegai Kami-sama, Omaiwa no tasukete!(Damn it! Please God, help me!)"
He fell to his knees and punched the ground. He sent waves of ice over the bushes and flowers. Just then he felt something weird, like a twinge in his heart.
"What...? Mawata...Mawata-chan!" he yelled, jumping back up and running to the mansion.
He made a bridge of ice once more and ran up to her window. He jumped in and looked around for her. He looked at her bed and heard loud desperate coughs.
"Mawata..." he whispered. He ran over to her and saw her pale, sweaty face, the coughing was making her eyes tear up until tears were running down her face. "Mawata, I will go get Himeno." He said as he slowly began to back away.
Mawata managed to shake her head. Though the motion caused her great pain, and she curled up into a ball, coughing even more violently.
"Mawata, this is serious!" Mannen all but yelled.
A few seconds later, she stopped coughing and shakily sat up.
"I-I'm fine..." she whispered, her voice even more faint than normal because of the strain of the coughing.
"No, no Mawata, you're not fine, you are seriously sick. But if we take you to a doctor we might be able to cure you!" Mannen said urgently. "How long has this going on for?"
"The coughing fits normally lasts only five minutes." Mawata whispered, clutching her throat as she coughed once more, much more gently than before.
"Mawata, as a knight to the Pretear, I am obligated to uphold her wishes...and her wishes are that we, the Knight's protect her family. Of which you are a part of." Mannen said with a sly smile. "So I suppose that means I must take care of you and stay here tonight to make sure nothing else happens." He said trying to lift the mood, if only a little.
"Okay, It might be nice to not be alone..." Mawata consented, with a yawn.
"Mannen began to get up, but stopped when he heard Mawata say, "Mannen, please don't leave me."
Mannen smiled and replied.
"I won't."
He grabbed a chair sitting a few feet away and sat down.
Good, she is finally asleep... Mannen thought.
Mannen began to stand, but he bumped the chair and it made a shrill squeaking sound. Mawata's nose crinkled. He grinned a bit and sat back down. A few minutes later he reached over to take her hand, but jumped when a small shock went through him.
"Static electricity…?" he whispered, as he dropped her hand.
He leaned back in his chair, thinking about Mawata.
He looked back down at her, and took her hand again. He eyed the window, and cringed when eh thought of the wrath of Goh that he would face if found in her room. He looked back down at Mawata's peaceful sleeping face and made a silent oath.
'I will save you from this Mawata, I promise you.'
"Hey Himeno, have you seen Mannen?" Sasame asked as he passed Himeno in the hall.
"Um... No, not today. I was wondering why it was so quiet." Himeno said with a grin. "I will keep an eye out for him though, if you want."
"Sure, thanks. I need to speak with him. Kei, Goh and I are rounding up the Knights."
"Oh really, what's going on?"
"It is just a meeting." Sasame replied.
"Do you need me there?" Himeno asked, slightly hopefully.
"Um... no, sorry Himeno, it is a knight thing." Sasame said in an apologetic voice.
"Oh...okay then, see you later." Himeno said in a slightly put out voice.
"Bye." Sasame said, as he continued his search for the young Ice knight.
Coincidentally he miscalculated where he was and instead of going into the 3rd floor art parlor, he went into Mawata's room.
At first he was taken aback when he saw the vanity. And as he was turning to leave, he saw Mannen. He raised an eyebrow and walked over to where Mannen was. His eyes widened as he saw that Mannen was not only in a girls room alone with her... but he was sitting beside her bed! Given he was sitting in a chair next to the bed, fast asleep, with his head on her bed.
He walked over to Mannen and was about to wake him up before Goh for some unknown reason, somehow found them... However he was too late because the authoress is feeling mean right about now.
Right before Sasame got to Mannen the door burst open and in came Goh and Kei.
"Sasame, why the heck did you come into Mawata's room?" Goh yelled. Then he looked at the bed and saw that Mawata was asleep...well, used to be asleep.
But in noticing this, he also noticed that Mannen, who is a very sound sleeper, was asleep in a chair next to her bed with his head resting on the mattress. . His eyes went out of focus...it was the calm before the storm.
There was a few moments of complete silence before Goh 'calmly' walked over to Mannen, his eyebrow twitching. He raised his hand up, balled into a fist and brought it down on Mannen's head extremely hard.
Mannen yelped and jumped up, the chair falling to the ground behind him. He was holding his head.
"Owww..." he whimpered.
"You stupid brat, have I not taught you anything?!" Goh yelled. "Why are you in Mawata's room, alone with her, and sleeping next to her bed?! I ought to beat the crap out of you! And further more-" But Goh's rant was cut short as Kei interrupted.
"Um, Goh. Maybe, just maybe we should wait to lecture him and go round up the rest of the knights for the meeting."
At that comment Goh agreed, while Mannen's eyes clouded, in thought.
"Plus, Mawata is in here..."
Goh looked at Mawata, who was stifling a giggle. His face turned beet red.
"Ah, sorry Mawata-chan! We'll just be...going now. Bye, bye!" Goh said, still blushing.
"Okay... go easy on him though, Goh. He was just comforting me last night and fell asleep." Mawata said.
"Uh, okay..." Goh murmured.
"Lets go." Kei said.
The 4 knights said their good-bye's and took their leave.
"I have some news." Mannen said seriously as they walked toward the 1st art parlor in search of Hayate, Hajime and Shin.
"Well, you can tell us at the meeting." Goh said, still upset and embarrassed.
They continued on in silence. When they finally got to the parlor they found the other 3 knights and went outside to the portal to Leafenia.
A/N: Hey, sorry about the long waiting! I haven't really been writing anything at all. I am currently re-doing the chapters and writing an additional one, so please review… even if you hate me now because I haven't been updating D
Meroko