Disclaimer: All credit belongs to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. Here's the sister story to 'A Cold'. The roles have now reversed here. Please enjoy!

熱

Fever

Kasane x Nobunaga

Part One

Something felt off, Kasane groaned as she walked down the corridor.

She had to finish cleaning the castle and prepare for breakfast; Kasane cradled her head at her schedule.

...Somehow her head felt dizzy and weary today.

Kasane let out a slightly warm sigh.

She reached the castle well and drank up the cold water.

Even in this condition, she couldn't afford to rest.

Therefore she would do anything that would help her feel a little bit better.

Even if she tried to appeal, that irrational, merciless tyrant couldn't pay attention to her anyway. Kasane heaved out another heavy sigh.

"Oya, it's Kasane-dono."

Hearing him coming from her right, Kasane turned around in surprise.

The usual group of three gathered together.

"Ah~... Good morning everyone…"

Kasane covered up her condition with a smile.

Either Kasane put up a lot of effort to act normal or they just didn't notice her condition because he then replied, "About the soldier's training exercise… Kasane-dono will be there, right?"

"Ah, was that so…"

She tried to bring her blank brain together as she responded back.

"Shinsuke-dono and Mori-dono are also looking forward to sparring with you."

Gorouza smiled at her.

Kasane nodded with an 'ok'.

Now that she remembered, she made a promise to spar with them afterwards; she now began to regret that rash decision.

(A little bit might be ok...)

"Yeah! ...I'll go."

Kasane followed after them.

If they found out she wasn't feeling well, she'll give them unnecessary worry, so she decided not to tell them.

"That's enough!"

"Uuu…"

At Gorouza-san signal, Shinsuke groaned at his butt hit the ground.

As Kasane and the others arrived at the training area, she geared up and sternly trained them.

"O-...one more time, Kusanagi-dono!"

"Ha...ts...Ha…"

Shinsuke stood up once more and picked up his wooden sword.

Kasane harshly panted as she faced him.

Her consciousness was blank from the intense movements.

She had a feeling this fever was just getting worse.

Even though she wouldn't normally pant like this, somehow the oxygen seemed to be so thin.

(This… might actually be really bad...)

Even Shinsuke, who stood right in front of her, looked awfully vague, she couldn't get her head around his words.

"Katane, go for it, go for it~!"

"Oi, idiot woman! I'm the one who's going to defeat you! So you better not lose to Shinsuke here!"

"Kuranosuke. If you wanted to cheer for Kasane-dono, you should be more honest about it."

"A-are you an idiot!? O-of course I'm not cheering for her!"

She couldn't hear the voices of the three idiots or any of the surrounding soldiers.

"You seem to be working hard."

"Nobunaga-sama!"

With the appearance of a cross-armed Nobunaga, everyone's back straightened up.

Eyeing Kasane and Shinsuke in the courtyard, he gave a faint 'hmph' and situated himself down at the porch.

"You're going to observe the match."

"Hmph."

Replying to Gorouza, Nobunaga sat crossed legged and slouched down so his elbow rested on his knee.* His eyes fixed on the pair.

Why was Tono-sama here…!?

Kasane muttered to herself as she caught onto the sitting figure.

With Nobunaga there, she had an even harder time to control herself.

Since he appeared, she began to feel uncomfortable.

And with him staring vee~rry hard in her direction, she could feel herself sweat buckets.

From all the stress, she forced herself to focus and regrasp her sowrd.

"Then… Begin!"

"Deyaah-!"

Shinsuke pounced into the air at Gorouza's signal.

Kasane dodged the attack and took a step back to put some distance between them.

However the scenery then became round, and warped.

Feeling her consciousness fade out, she faltered back and slumped down to the ground.

"Ku-kusanagi-dono!?"

"Kasane-dono!"

"Katane! !"

Everyone leaned forward in surprise.

Kasane remained motionless on the ground as she painfully panted for air.

Her sweat felt strangely cold; she couldn't tell if her body was hot or cold.

"Let's hurry and move Kasane-dono-... My lord!?"

Just as Gorouza began to rush up to Kasane, Nobunaga, who happened to be one step of everyone, was kneeling next to her He checked her condition.

"...Ha….a…..To…..no…?"

"..."

Unable to formulate words, Kasane blankly looked up at Nobunaga.

He raked away her front hair and touched her brow.

"...It's hot."

Nobunaga softly muttered.

As it felt too painful to reply, she couldn't reply back.

"M-my lord…?"

Gorouza nervously approached the kneeling Nobunaga.

When he did, Nobunaga glared in his direction.

"You fool, what are you doing! Call for a doctor!"

"Y-yes! At once! !"

After Nobunaga's harsh scolding, Gorouza, Kuranosuke, and Inuchiyo all rushed to retrieve a doctor.

"Hya…"

Nobunaga then pulled Kasane into his arms and carried her.** In modern times, this was called the princess hold.

Of course, Kasane was so surprised at his actions that she turned bright red. The rest of the other vassals opened their mouths from the shock, making them look exactly like peashooters, as they gawked at Nobunaga and Kasane.

"Wai... t… To,no-sama…?"

"Shut it. Don't speak anymore."

She felt herself burn even more from this sudden turn.

As he curtly scolded her, Kasane kept quiet as she had nothing to retort back to.

In a fast pace, he went from the courtyard to the connecting passageways into the castle and went straight to Kasane's room.

Silently blushing, Kasne wrapped her arms around his neck so she wouldn't fall off.

The fever rose up, making her body feel terribly hot.

TBC

*肩肘) he's in this kind of pose.

**She describes this as 'Yokodaki' which means to hold/carry a child under one's arm... But it's basically like a princess hold as Kasane says later.

I'm glad that I haven't gotten sick for this entire year. Getting sick is such a pain both physically and figuratively. Especially when you're in high school~college. You have to catch up with all that work... Sigh...

But I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Of course, you can expect a lot of cute things to happen in the next chapter.

I might be able to upload the next chapter in the next three or so hours, so I meet everyone then! Eat well and stay safe!