The next morning Laika woke up bright and early like he always did. Searchman wasn't awake with him but instead he was curled around Rockman, asleep. Rockman was also asleep and didn't look too bad, so Laika figured that perhaps Netto had been right and the fever was gone. He shrugged and pulled on a loose sweatshirt and a pair of jeans before going out into the hall for his morning warm ups.

After he was done with that he decided to go check up on Netto since he wasn't awake yet, and Laika figured he wouldn't be quite then. He opened Netto's door and saw Netto lying on top of the covers, shivering slightly but otherwise asleep.

Laika sighed and went over to Netto, getting ready to pull the covers over Netto because he figured the brunette was cold from not being covered up. It wasn't until Netto opened an eye to glare at him when he realized that Netto wasn't cold at all. "Don't you dare," Netto whispered hoarsely.

Laika jumped a little a peered at Netto. "You're awake?" he asked.

Netto nodded sullenly.

Laika reached over and put his cool hand on Netto's forehead. "Oh my god…" he said. "You're sick," he muttered.

"No duh," Netto said angrily. "It's just a fever though, nothing else."

"Just a fever…" Laika said weakly. "Netto, this isn't just a fever…" he muttered.

"So, are you going to take me to the doctor?" Netto asked him.

Laika bit his lower lip. Under normal circumstances, yes, the first thing he would do was take Netto to the doctor, but he couldn't just then. "Not yet," he muttered. "I don't think going would help anyways. This isn't a viral or bacterial infection. It's the neko virus."

"Huh?" Netto asked.

"The virus, in trying to regulate your body temperature is putting too much strain on your human body. Netto, you're not a net navi, your temperature isn't regulated by programs and files, it's organic but the neko virus doesn't know that. When you got so cold that you actually passed out the virus did everything it could to raise your temperature, and now that your temperature regulated its self the virus can't act accordingly. This isn't a disease, this is the programming inside your body," Laika sniffed. "You thought I was kidding when I said the virus could control more then meets the eye, but now it turns out I was right."

Netto sighed, "All right, I get it with the speech. You know you could have just said, 'I told you so?'"

Laika gave Netto and small grin, "I prefer the explanation and the truth, to just the truth."

Netto glared at Laika and Laika reached over to feel Netto's ears. "I bet the virus is centralized in the ears and tail," he murmured. "Once you're cured then they'll go away."

Netto sighed, "Okay, I understand now. But how can we do anything?" he asked.

"Deal with it until your body naturally regulates your temperature. I don't think the Neko Virus will try and lower it because of what happened when it was raised," Laika noted.

"Why is that?" Netto asked.

Laika blinked at him, "The Neko Virus is a self learning virus, it knows when it makes mistakes and deals with it accordingly, I thought you knew that."

"I did," Netto muttered, "I was just testing you."

Laika let a small grin play on his lips as Netto pretended to know what was going on even though he was so tired he probably shouldn't even had been conscious at the time. "Can you stand?" Laika asked.

Netto groaned, "I can barely sit up, why?" he asked.

Laika sighed, "Well, I'd kind of like to be able to keep an eye on you," he said.

Netto shook his head, "You're not carrying me again," he said quickly.

"I know," Laika replied quickly. "Don't worry, I won't do anything."

Netto sighed, "I really don't feel well," he said finally.

Laika felt Netto's forehead again, "Yeah, I figured that much. Can I use a cold compress?" he asked.

"Anything," Netto muttered, "If it'll help."

"Even if it's wet?" Laika added.

Netto nodded slowly, "I don't care at this point."

Laika gave him a wry grin, "For some reason I doubt that, but let's try anyway."

Netto watched Laika walk out of his room and come back a few minutes later with a damn washcloth and a bowl filled with water and ice cubes. Laika set the bowl on the small dresser next to Netto and put the cool cloth on Netto's forehead. His ears went back slightly, but it felt so good that it didn't matter.

Laika sat on the bed and looked at Netto. "You know, I really am grateful to you for saving my life."

Netto grinned, "I know."

Laika's expression sharpened, "But it was still a stupid thing to do."

"That's not fair," Netto muttered.

Laika shook his head, "Netto, what if you ran into someone or what if you were caught? Worse yet, what if you collapsed before you found me? This happened because you took one too many chances you know."

"Like when I fought Videoman?" Netto snapped.

Laika looked a little put out, but still resolute. "Netto, first of all, that is in the past. Second of all, I still stand by what I said before, because then you could defeat Darkloids with just your wits. And I'd still prefer to fight as a solider then a net savior any day, that's the truth."

Netto shrugged, "And I fight the way I want too. Just because it works for you doesn't mean it works for me and the way you acted back then wasn't exactly what one would call courteous. You were an asshole then and you still are now, kinda," Netto pointed out.

"Kinda?" Laika raised an eyebrow.

Netto glared at him, "You're not as mean as you used to be," he admitted. "But you can still say things that are rude."

"I say what I think," Laika said simply. "I don't recall you ever thinking particularly hard before you open your mouth."

Netto glared at him and sat up suddenly. Laika leaned forward to catch him before he fell to the side from the obvious wave of dizziness that attacked him when he sat up so quickly. The wash cloth fell off Netto's forehead and he fell completely into Laika's arms. "We shouldn't be arguing," Laika noted.

Netto groaned and sighed into Laika's shoulder. "I hate being sick," he muttered.

"Not many people like it," Laika noted. He gently pushed Netto back and lay him back down on the bed. "Besides, I can't see you being one to enjoy not being able to move around."

Netto grinned at him, "You're right about that," he admitted.

Laika picked up the washcloth and put it back on Netto's forehead. "Can I leave you without you trying to get up?" he asked.

Netto shrugged and Rockman's voice came from the bedroom monitor, "I can answer that, no."

"Rockman!" Netto glanced over to his navi. "Are you feeling all right?"

Rockman nodded, "It's not my systems that are being affected here," he said. "But I am a little hot so you better watch it, Netto-kun."

Laika sighed, "Can you keep him in bed?" Laika asked Rockman.

Rockman gave Laika a hollow laugh, "Ha, I wish."

Laika sighed, "Well, can you just…" he started before he was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Who could that be?" he asked.

"I think its Leon, Laika-san," Searchman said. "He's probably here to pick up his key."

"Leon?" Netto asked.

"The person I ran the errand for last night, I forgot about that," Laika sighed and stood up. "Stay still," he told Netto.

Netto stuck his tongue out at Laika's retreating back. "Yeah, like I can go anywhere."

Laika ignored Netto and walked out in the hall and picked up the key before opening the door. "Hey Leon," he said.

"Hey!" Leon said cheerfully. "I'm here to pick up my key since you never came by and I saw you took today off. Are you sick?"

Laika shook his head, "I'm not sick," he said while handing Leon the key.

"The great Laika took a day off for the hell of it?" Leon raised an eyebrow.

"And?" Laika asked.

"Oh lord, the apocalypse is coming," Leon muttered.

Laika glared at Leon, "Is Silver okay?" he asked tightly.

"I'm fine," Silver muttered. "Although the Neko Virus programming has taken over everything," she hissed unhappily.

Leon gave Laika a slightly sad smile, "We're off active duty for now because she can't fight it. How's Searchman?"

"Searchman is fine," Laika said.

"That's good to know," Leon smiled. "Hey, can I drop by some time? I mean, it's going to get so boring now that I'm behind the lines for now."

"I don't know…" Laika muttered.

"Great! Thanks for dropping off the letters for me, see you later!" Leon said while clapping Laika on the shoulder.

"Wait…" Laika said but Leon had already walked down the hall. "I'll take care of that later," he muttered and returned to Netto.

When Laika went back inside Netto was slightly awake and not very attentive. Laika walked over and sat on the bed next to him, "Feel any better?" he asked.

"How about… no," Netto muttered.

"Just asking," Laika said. "Don't worry, it'll go away soon," he said.

"I hope so," Netto yawned.

Laika sat on the edge of the bed while Netto fell asleep. He hoped so too.