Well, when you feel like writing you feel like writing. This is the benefit of cream puffs and seeing a wreck this afternoon. Nothing better to get you in the mood to write what this chapter contains. Anyway I hope you enjoy it. Don't worry I'll get back to my normal comedic self just give me a little time to get to that part in the story once again.

I wonder if this should this be labeled a romance comedy or not? I mean it does have random angst in it... I'm not to good at sticking with one genre. I'm sure you already know that though.

Author's Note

I try not to use too much Japanese but I couldn't seem to get away from it. You guys know that Baka means idiot right? Aho is a bit stronger when you're in the Tokyo area. If you're in Oosaka and Kyoto it's reversed. Aho is really insulting in Japanese when you're in Tokyo and Baka is really insulting when you're in Oosaka. Since Narumi is from Oosaka. I figured I'd better point this language difference out because it's going to be a source of amusement in a later chapter. Since it starts with this one... best to put it here instead of later. It's just I can't really do the pun effectively in English.

Also just in case you don't know the color white has some major significance in a lot of cultures in the Orient. I'm sure you've noticed how many anime characters that are villans are pretty much coated in white. That's because white is a color of misfortune. Well, maybe that's to harsh. That me put it this way in China you dress in white when you're in morning. Basically the roles of black and white reversed from the Western. At least that's what I understand. So anyway that's why there are so many Whites in my titles lately.

Chapter 18: White Hospital Sheets

Red.

White.

Blue.

They were flashing rapidly.

It was blinding to his tear stained eyes.

Something sticky was under his tennis shoes. It coated his hands.

It was warm and sticky.

"Ryuichi-san."

Red.

Blood Red.

The warm sticky feeling of the liquid made his stomach churn.

"Ryuichi-san?"

His voice echoed through his head, an anguished call that would never again be answered. "Mommy. Daddy. Don't leave me!"

All he could do was watch now. Watch and wait.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Touya was shaking his shoulder violently.

"Did you order those rabbits?"

"Huh?"

"Did you order those rabbits?" Touya repeated angrily.

"Rabbits? No I..."

Touya was cursing to himself. Ryuichi just listened.

"Was it... was it the rabbits that did this?"

"Yeah." Touya groaned. "Narumi is allergic to those little buggers. It doesn't take much either. Just being around them, her bronchial tubes close up and she can't breathe right. An inhaler doesn't do any good either cause she can't get the medicine to her lungs."

"I didn't... know." He stared at his hands. He felt so powerless in this situation. He didn't know what to do. Ryuichi looked over at Kumaguro who was leaning against the bench next to him. Was this his fault? No. Kuma couldn't have been the cause she had been spending the last several days around him and nothing had happened... it was only the white rabbits that had done this to her.

"The real question is who sent them. Does Narumi have any enemies? Someone had to have sent them knowing what they would do to her." Touya was leaning against the hospital's wall trying to figure things out.

The door opened and a nurse entered the waiting room. "Shirakawa-san, Sakuma-san she'll be just fine. If you would like to see her I can take you in. She's asleep right now, but as long as you don't wake her up it will be all right."

Touya breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Ryuichi-san take care of her for me. I have a few things I need to take care of." Touya simply looked at the door separating him from his sister and knew that there was something far more important to take care of. There was absolutely no way he was going to allow a repeat of tonight's disaster.

Ryuichi nodded. This was the least he could do for her right now. He wanted to do more, but for now this was the most important thing that he could do.

He followed the nurse.

The room was dimly lit. There was a single window but it was already dark outside. He could see the white outline of the bed in the room and the oxygen mask over Narumi's face. A shiver of fear went down his spine. Was she really all right?

"The mask..."

"Don't worry about that." The nurse soothed him. "She'll be fine. All of her vital signs are stable, and she's breathing normally again. We gave her a shot to help with her with her allergic reaction. She'll be asleep for a while. It was pretty bad but she'll be fine. She needs to rest for a while though. Do you want me to leave you alone?"

Ryuichi nodded. "Please. If it wouldn't be any trouble that is."

"No trouble at all."

The nurse closed the door behind her quietly. Leaving him alone in the room with a sleeping Narumi.

Ryuichi edged himself closer to the bed. The whole situation was proving itself to be more than a little difficult. His discomfort though didn't matter.

She couldn't believe it. She had just talked to THE Sakuma Ryuichi-sama! It was truly a dream come true. He was every bit as cute in person as he was on the stage! Maybe he would return again. Who ever that Shirokawa Narumi was she was one lucky girl to have him doting on her like that. Plus that really hot brother of hers...

She sighed dreamily as she walked down the hallway. She didn't even notice the figure of a man walking down the hallway in a black jacket. Towards the room she had left Ryuichi alone with Narumi in.

She was just so pale. It was hard to believe that this was the woman he had just been with a few hours ago.

Ryuichi brushed her bangs back off of her forehead

The nurse had said that she was going to be all right. Right?

He tried to take what comfort he could from those words as he fought the rising tide of emotions that he had long since buried.

He just wanted her to be happy. Wasn't there anything he could to help her? She had helped him in so many ways, and he desperately wanted to help her the same way that she had helped him.

It was strange but he truly felt as though he could trust her. No matter how bad things got. It was hard to believe that they had only known each other for about a week, and he trusted her this much.

He gently lifted her arm and tucked Kumagura under her arm. She couldn't have real rabbits but this... perhaps this would give her the strength to get better just like it had given him the strength to get through the accident.

"Narumi-chan, I..." Ryuichi didn't know what to tell her. He honestly didn't know what he could say or do to help her. She looked so peaceful lying there. Sleeping like an angel.

She so looked like an angel with an oxygen mask over her face.

He reached out and gently lifted it from her face. He felt himself smiling when he saw her face as it was supposed to be, without the mask. It may have been dark but it made a big difference.

She wasn't really that pretty on the outside. She was really tall, and her nose had a small bump in it. Had it been broken at some time? There was just so little he knew about her, but the most important thing there was to know was the fact that he wanted to help her. If there were anything he could do for her he would do it.

She was his friend.

Somehow that word didn't seem to fit but it was the only one he could really think to use. She was his friend. Why did it rankle?

Friend. Say it 'friend'. He mumbled to himself and it only seemed to make him more agitated. "Friend!"

The figure standing in the doorway winced, but Ryuichi didn't notice his back was turned to him.

"Aho."

He really did feel like a retard for this whole thing. A part of him felt as though this whole mess was really his fault. The guilt seemed to plague him. It was so hard for him to understand it.

"I'll protect you. Somehow." He whispered. He leaned down over her bed and just watched her face as she slept peacefully. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing when he leaned down over her and gentle caressed her lips with his own.

Perhaps he was just being an idiot again. Still, that simple act gave him comfort. All the same it was something he wasn't going to tell her that he did. He felt a little embarrassed, but on the whole a lot better. He put the mask carefully back on her face. Let her think him a fool. Just to be near by was enough. Besides fools seemed to bring other people happiness.

Somehow.

The shadow from the door was gone by the time Ryuichi, placed his chair beside her bed and began his night's vigil.

Chapter 19: