Chapter 3

Kanami awoke to find herself in her bed, under the covers, and an old sweatshirt and pants laid out on top of the bed. "Thank you, Kazu-kun." she whispered as she slipped out of bed and got out of the blood stained clothes. The clothes that she put on were warm on her cold body. She then made her way to the door.

Just then Kazuma came in the room. "Hey, what are you doing out of bed?"

"What do you mean?" Kanami asked.

"After you told me about what happened, you sort of fainted," Kazuma said with concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Kanami said trailing off.

"You've been sleeping for awhile now, I was getting worried."

"You were worried that no one would be here to cook your dinner?" Kanami said joking.

Kazuma was relieved to see the smile back on the face of the little girl before him. "No,... but I did make dinner, but, ummm..."

Just then Kimishima's voice could be heard in the kitchen. "Oh my god, what the HELL is this crap. It tastes likedog shit!"

"What in the world did you do?" Kanami said with uncontrollable laughter.

"Hey... Stop... stop laughing... Stop laughing at my cooking..." Kazuma said, half angry, half wanting to burst out in laughter himself. "CHOKE IT DOWN KIMISHIMA! YOUR NOT GETTING ANYTHING ELSE. KANAMI NEEDS TO REST AND YOU NEED TO STOP EATING OUR FOOD!

Sounds of Kimishima shoving food into his mouth and gagging could be heard from the kitchen.

"I wanted to get you something to eat so that you can rest, but I guess you don't want to eat that crud in the kitchen."

"If I know Kimishima, then I think it is pretty safe to say that he has eaten all of it anyway. Please, let me make something else for you," Kanami looked at Kazuma, "Please, I really want to," she said in response to him shaking his head at her.

"Fine," Kazuma replied and before he knew it Kanami was holding out a large plate full of food that looked much better than his.

"Wow Kanami, that looks great!" Kimishima said, reaching out to get a plate.

"Not so fast," Kazuma said, slapping Kimishima's hand down away from the food. "You just ate all of the food I made, no more."

"No fair, your food was crap!" Kimishima responded.

Kanami let out a laugh and went to the sink to wash out a glass. All of a sudden the glass was on the floor beside Kanami, pieces shattered everywhere . Kanami was on both knees, sitting on the ground, breathing quickly and heavily.

"Kanami, are you okay?" Kazuma ran to Kanami and kneeled next to her.

"I'm fine, I... I just tripped, that's all." Kazuma put his arm around Kanami and lifted her up. She could barely stand. Kazuma became worried again. "Why don't I take you to bed, Kanami, it's late and you need to rest. To his surprise, Kanami didn't object, but nodded her head.

Inside Kanami's bedroom, Kazuma tucked her into bed and made his way to the door.

"Kazu-kun," a small voice came from the shadows of the room. "I'm cold, can I have another blanket?"

"Sure Kanami," Kazuma said, getting a blanket from the closet, not mentioning that the room was over 80 degrees and very warm. 'Is Kanami going to be okay?' he thought, worrying.

"Kazu-kun? Do you think we could go and visit Obason and the baby tomorrow? We can bring them some blankets, it's getting really cold. And then we can have lunch, and sit in the sun." Kanami said with a peaceful smile on her face.

"Yeah, sure," Kazuma whispered, but his worries were not lifted.

When Kazuma went back into the kitchen, Kimishima was there waiting for him. "So what, exactly, is going on?"

After explaining all the events of the day, Kimishima was left speechless. "Arana, dead? And Kanami witnessed it all? Poor Kanami... You think she'll be all right?"

"That's not what I'm worried about. Kanami's a strong girl, and she can handle that. Don't forget what her past was like, and she still gets over all the sadness... and smiles and laughs. No, what I'm worried about is...," Kazuma paused. "Did you ever hear about an explosion that could maybe leave off a poisonous gas or something like that?"

"If that's true, then Kanami could end up..." Kimishima stopped in mid-sentence at the look on Kazuma's face.

After a long silence, Kazuma face did not show any signs of recovering from this look. "And the worst part is," Kazuma whispered, confiding in his best friend, "that if it's true, then there is nothing I can do, absolutely nothing I can do for her." He said this fighting back atear.

There was no one to fight, no one to protect from someone else, not that he knew of yet. Just Kanami, lying in bed, possibly very sick, and Kazuma, feeling more helpless than he ever had in his entire life.