Well, I made a second chapter…I get very bored in school sometimes. Also my HotaruxAkira fix is not satisfied by the very few fics concerning them.

Another thing; I realized after posting chapter one that part of the end was quite out of character, so I have rewritten it and reposted the first chapter. Sorry.

Chapter 2

"Akira?" Akari asked, bemused wondering in her voice. "And Hotaru, too? What a surprise!"

Truly, the pink-haired shaman was not surprised to see Akira. She had noticed his limp getting more pronounced by the day, and knew only too well that his will was the only reason he could still stand. It was a veritable miracle that he could walk on his own.

Hotaru was a different story. The flame-caster had visited the hospital only once, and then he had been unconscious, carried in by Yuan's family after being badly snake-bitten. Even so, Akari had had to work fast to get the antivenom into his system; the moment he became aware of his surroundings again, Hotaru was determined to escape. Akari was honestly shocked to see him walk in voluntarily and under his own power.

"Hi, Akari," said the blond, waving.

"Hotaru," Akira said, shooting a meaningful look at his friend.

Hotaru made a noise somewhere between a growl and a whine.

"What can I do for you, boys?" Akari asked sweetly.

"We need to talk to you…well, I do," Hotaru muttered under his breath. "Can we go somewhere else?"

Akari raised a sculpted eyebrow, but directed both into a room and shut the door.

"So what's up, Hotaru? I never thought I'd see you in here."

Hotaru bit his lip and picked at the edge of a hospital bed, where some plastic was wearing away.

"I…Akari, I need to ask you not to tell anyone about this. I didn't even want to tell you…but I don't really have a choice."

Akari's brow furrowed, but she nodded in agreement.

"I get the feeling this isn't the kind of secret I normally hear."

"It isn't…Akari, I…" Hotaru hesitated before pressing onward. "I'm fairly certain I have…developed the Death Disease."

The shaman's eyes widened. She had been treating it in many of the Mibu people, of course, but never in a friend. Somehow, she had been as much in denial as Hotaru had.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Akira," Hotaru muttered, somewhat angrily, as he saw the shock on Akari's face. "I told him you didn't have a cure. He wouldn't go to you if I wouldn't."

"Hotaru, I might be able to do something. You two have been gone for three years; I've hardly stopped working on a cure. It's not finalized…we've only used it twice. But I very well may be able to treat you. Go next door please; I think this room is actually in use at the moment."

Hotaru's eyes were full of shock and a sense of wonder; he had not dared hope for this much. But Akira…

Akira looked pleased, but there was an underlying tone to his expression that Hotaru couldn't quite place.

"Are you—?"

"We'll be there in a minute, Hotaru. I want to talk to Akira about something."

The fire-wielder looked confused, but obeyed.

---

"Akira, I can't do anything…your injuries are beyond what my powers can handle. I've told you that…and you're on every painkiller you have without endangering your life. I don't know what you expect me to do…"

Akira's fists clenched in his lap as he listened to Akari speak. He knew that. He was here because being here would save Hotaru from his own stupidity.

And yet…somehow, having Hotaru's problem solved so instantly seemed like a bit of a slap in the face when Akira's was still so beyond help. He was certainly pleased that Akari could save the other man, but…

"I'm sorry," Akari said softly. "I know how much pain you must be in, and I'm sorry I can't do more. What's the worst of it?"

"My left leg. It's…destroyed. I don't think it ever healed right after my fight with Tokito."

Akari nodded; she remembered treating that. That leg had had some of the worst muscle damage she had ever seen and a completely shattered bone that had pierced and torn the muscle still further. She remembered how horrified she was when she had begun treating all of the injuries that riddled Akira's body, but that had been the worst—and it still was.

"I'm not sure if it's possible to do this right, but…I think it might be possible to improve a little bit. You're right; the bone never healed correctly because of how long it took for me to get to it…I think if it were rebroken and set right…but that could easily make it worse. I'm not even sure I could trust myself to do it."

She regretted it almost the moment she'd said it; the look on Akira's face was the mixture of foolish hope and reckless determination that she had known him for since she'd met him.

"And this would really make it heal better? Make the pain less intense?"

Akari bit her lip.

"If I'm right, yes. If I'm wrong…Akira, you could be crippled for life…forget I said anything. I can't do it, and I'm not at all sure it would even help. Your leg…honestly, I'm already shocked you can even put weight on it. I don't know if it can be repaired."

"You said—"

"I was thinking out loud!" Akari half yelled. "What if I'm wrong, huh? What if I ended up crippling you? How would I ever forgive myself for that? Rebreaking that bone…it splintered, Akira. There's no telling what aggravating it would do to you."

Akira scowled, biting his tongue to stop himself from yelling back at her.

"Go see to Hotaru," he finally said, voice clipped and almost angry. "Him, you can save."

Akari hesitated before leaving the room slowly, looking back sadly at the broken warrior.

---

"Ow," Hotaru said blankly, watching the serum vanish slowly into his vein.

"There," Akari stated. "Assuming it works the way it has in the past—you're only half Mibu, so things could vary a little—you should start feeling better in a few days, though it could take weeks for the disease to completely clear your system. Come back in about three days to check in. I will warn you, you'll feel sick for a while. It's powerful stuff."

Hotaru seemed to be trying to remember something.

"What about Akira?"

"I've got him on a whole mess of painkillers," Akari replied, knowing that Akira would not want Hotaru to know how bad he really was. "He just needs to rest for a while; he's been pushing himself too hard."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Hey, Akari?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you lying to me?"

Akari looked up, startled, to meet Hotaru's sharp golden eyes. She sighed and shook her head.

"I should have known I couldn't hide from you. Hotaru…Akira doesn't want you to know anything I haven't told you. Ask him, not me."

"Okay." Hotaru stood and began to walk toward the door.

"Not now!" Akari got to her feet and grabbed Hotaru's shoulder. "Leave him alone for a minute. He'll come to us when he's ready. You know as well as I do that he hardly wants to be comforted."

Hotaru nodded. He knew that. He had always known that. But just now…he had forgotten. Just an hour or so ago, he had held Akira like he had never held anyone, and it was hard to see that as anything but comfort.

So he waited, waited for over half an hour before Akira entered the room, looking tired and utterly broken.

"Akira, do you mind walking him home? I'm not sure when the vaccine will kick in, and it'll make him pretty sick for a while. Yuan's family can take care—"

"No," Hotaru interrupted. "They can't know. They'll worry."

Akari sighed.

He's just like Akira…so damned stubborn.

"Well, I'm going to assume you don't want to stay here."

"No."

"Then where the hell do you plan on staying?!" the shaman cried in frustration.

Hotaru was silent for a minute or so; Akari could almost hear the gears clicking in his underused brain.

Akira let out an annoyed sound somewhere between a sigh and an irritated growl.

"He can stay with me for a while."

Hotaru's eyes lit up as though a light bulb had gone off in his head. The younger man sighed again. Hotaru followed him out of the building. Akari watched them go, looking confused.

What happened between those two?

---

Hotaru curled into a ball on the futon, a sheen of sweat coating his body, his breath rattling slightly as it caught in his throat. He was, indeed, quite sick.

Akira put another cool cloth on Hotaru's burning forehead, brushing his sweaty blond hair out of his face. He lingered for a moment, holding his cool hand to Hotaru's fevered skin.

"Akira…" Hotaru groaned. "Ice…please…"

The other man froze the water in the cloth on Hotaru's head, funneling energy into it to stop Hotaru's heat from melting it. The fire-caster sighed with relief, pressing his wrists to the icy material. Akira could feel the heat of his body from inches away.

It was almost painful to touch Hotaru, but Akira nonetheless held the back of his hand to Hotaru's throat, freezing hand cooling the heated blood. The older man sighed, the corners of his mouth twitching into a half-smile.

"Thank you," he whispered, catching Akira's hand in his own. The younger samurai almost smiled in spite of himself.

"You'll feel better soon," he said, assuring himself as much as Hotaru.

"Just stay here, okay?" The request was barely more than a breath.

"I'm not going anywhere. Relax. You'll recover faster."

"Mmm." Hotaru closed his eyes and drifted off. Akira continued to stroke his hair, concern on his face. Hotaru certainly did not seem to be improving. He'd had a coughing fit a few hours ago, and this fever was not reassuring.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered again, laying beside Hotaru and curving his body to the fire-caster's as he too fell asleep.

---

"Akira?" Hotaru asked, surprise coloring his raspy voice.

Akira's eyelids twitched, but of course they did not open; it was one of the few reflexes left over from before he had blinded himself. He suddenly became very aware of his position: curled beside Hotaru, one arm draped over the fire-caster's slim waist, face buried in soft golden hair. He sat up quickly, his face feeling nearly as hot as Hotaru's fevered skin, and winced as his old scars stretched.

"Sorry," Hotaru said softly. "I was just surprised. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine," Akira said, slipping out from under the blankets. "How are you?"

"A little better, I think. I don't feel quite as hot as yesterday."

Akira couldn't help smiling, relieved that Hotaru seemed to finally be improving; with any luck, his fever would break within the next few days.

"Akira…did I do something wrong?"

"What?"

"Why are you running away from me?"

Akira hesitated.

"I'm not. You're imagining things."

"You're a bad liar too, Akira," Hotaru said softly.

He knows me way too well.

"Hotaru, I am sheltering you in my home, taking care of you, and I just woke up in bed with you. I am hardly running away."

Hotaru's eyes filled with confusion; he knew all of those things, but he couldn't shake the feeling of Akira's uneasiness around him. The younger man seemed just as confused as Hotaru was, and more unnerved.

Akira sighed; he didn't like lying to Hotaru. But he refused to tell him the answer; honestly, he didn't quite know it himself.

He had loved once in his life. He knew what love was, and whatever he felt for Hotaru was not it. But it was threatening to surface, whatever it was, and Akira didn't want it to. His life was difficult enough without Hotaru in it any more than necessary.

"You're thinking about Kyo."

Akira twitched.

"Did you love him? Do you still?"

The ice-caster did not speak for several minutes, and Hotaru began to think he would get no answer, when finally,

"Kyo is in my past. He has Yuya-san now."

"So you did—"

"Shut up, Hotaru!" Akira yelled, immediately ashamed as Hotaru flinched at the anger in his voice. "Sorry," he said bitterly, "but please, allow me to leave those wounds in my past, where they belong. Yes, I loved Kyo. Happy?"

"Not really," Hotaru whispered.

Akira barely heard him.

They remained in the same positions in silence for over an hour before Hotaru broke it with a cough. And another, and another until he could barely draw a single breath. Akira sat beside him, completely helpless to do anything for his friend as Hotaru's thin frame heaved and shook violently. Blood spattered his hands, and Akira was shocked at how bad his condition was. This "cure" seemed to be killing him.

Finally, the fit passed and Hotaru collapsed on his side, breathing heavily as he tried to fill his deprived lungs. His beautiful golden eyes rolled, and his breath caught every time he took a breath. Akira brushed his hair out of his face, feeling the scorching heat that raced through Hotaru's body. He had been wrong; Hotaru was worse than yesterday.

"I…guess I was…wrong," the fire-caster gasped.

"Shh. You'll be okay," Akira said softly. "Don't try to talk." He laid another frozen cloth on Hotaru's forehead and two more on his wrists.

Hotaru was silent but for his labored breathing, but he never took his pain-clouded eyes from Akira's features, softened by concern and so different from the mask with which he always greeted the outside world. In that moment, those features were beautiful. Akira was beautiful.

Honestly, Akira had always been that way; the effortless grace with which he moved, the deceptively slim form that held incredible power, the way he fought as could no one else Hotaru had ever seen.

Of course, most of that was gone now; Akira's grace was marred by the vicious pain that accompanied every step, and he could no longer fight. But somehow, to Hotaru, he was still impossibly, achingly beautiful.

Hotaru caught Akira's hand as he had the previous day, squeezing as pain wracked his body. Akira's face could not hide how worried he was for Hotaru, though he attempted to look strong for his friend.

"It's going to be okay," Akira whispered, brushing Hotaru's hair with the long fingers of his right hand.

"Hey, Akira." Hotaru's voice sounded nearly delirious.

"Don't talk, Hotaru…you'll just start another fit."

"I figured out why I didn't see a girl in Kubira's illusion."

"What?"

"I wasn't thinking about a girl…"

Akira withdrew for a moment, confused.

"Hotaru…?"

But the half-Mibu had already slipped into unconsciousness, his body desperate to escape the pain.

As Hotaru slept, Akira wondered.

What was he feeling for Hotaru?

End Chapter

Duuuude, that chapter was long. It was like eight pages on Word (even more in my notebook). Thanks to my two reviewers from last time! I hope you liked this chapter too!