The hour was six a.m. And for as much as Ginga hated to wake up so early, he had a duty to carry on. He stretched deliciously as his back bones popped into place and let out a heavy and pleasant sigh, careful not to wake his sleeping mates.

Really, it was a shame there were only two girls in the group; they could share the bed of the spare room with enough comfortable space for both, but the boys in the other hand… They where a lot of boy's, and they all had to sleep in the leaving room. Yu had fought last night to sleep in the smaller deep blue couch and had won after some time; he couldn't sleep in the bigger ones because it would've been a waste of space, but neither did he want to sleep in the floor, so they let him be. Benkei in the other hand was too big to sleep in a couch, but he would have none of it and took the biggest couch for himself. Tsubasa insisted that he had no problem being in the floor and Ginga agreed with the thought so they both took the make up bed along with little Kenta. So the middle sized couch was left alone, leaving Kyoya to take it without complain.

The redhead stood up silently to fetch his every-day clothes. All dressed up and ready; he took a quick look at the bedroom of the girls, who were peacefully sleeping close to one another; and also gave a look to the bedroom of Hyoma, who looked as worst as ever, tossing and turning in his sleep.

"Good morning Hokuto." Whispered Ginga as he entered the kitchen, were the dog was up and about, reading the newspaper on the table.

"Morning, kid." He greeted back.

Eating a simple breakfast, he stood up taking an apple from the fruit boul.

"Bye Hokuto, I'm leaving now. See you later."

"All right, be careful Ginga."

"Don't worry, I will." He assured with a smile.

Out from the house, he looked at the sky. It was as dark as the ocean; puffy blue and black clouds growing steadily over the village; the morning air chilly over his skin.

"Damn, I hope it doesn't rain." He said quite annoyed. "I don't want to end all wet and soggy…" Ginga frowned at the sky. Leaving the village and entering one of the many passages, leading into the forest outside the valley.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Some hours later, eight o'clock or nine maybe, everyone was more or less awake.

Madoka and Hikaru were aware of their soundings; almost little to no sleep was visible in the faces, aside from their wild locks which were both a tangled and wavy mess.

Benkei and Kenta looked as if they didn't know they were sitting in the dining table, their looks spaced out possibly in lalaland still. Yu was with no remorse sleeping with his head over the table, deciding a few more minutes (or hours) wouldn't hurt.

Kyoya and Tubasa, both a messy chaos of hair, were as awake as the girls, with the exception of the grumpy morning face that the green-haired had.

"You can help yourselves with whatever you find in the boards and the refrigerator. There is flour for hotcakes, eggs, milk, cereal, jam… Be my guest and eat what you want." Said the dog, now sitting in the floor.

"Thank you Hokuto, that's very kind." Said Hikaru.

"Anytime. Now, an errand has come up this morning. Could one of you look out for Hyoma while I'm away?" He asked the bladders and added under his breath. "And make sure he doesn't try to escape again…"

"Of course!" Said Madoka happily. "Don't worry Hokuto, we'll make sure he's all right while you're gone." She assured with a smile.

"Thank you very much. I really needed the help. I'll be back late in the afternoon." He said leaving the kitchen and after a few seconds they all heard the front door closing.

"Well… would someone like to have pancakes?" Asked Tsubasa suddenly.

"I do!" Shouted Yu, wide awake at the sound of food. Everyone looking at him with a bit of shock.

"I'll help you." Offered Madoka, giggling at the blond's antics.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

They had a nice breakfast as they talked silently, careful not to wake their ill host. And as the good guests they were they cleaned all the mess and were as ready as they could be to go out to explore.

"I say we have a walk around the village!" Said Yu with enthusiasm. "It's seems like a really cool place to me. It could be fun." Added smiling.

"That sounds nice, I agree." Said Tsubasa.

"Then, we can go into the woods and have some baybalde fight. What to you say, boys?" Asked Hikaru with a grin.

"Yes!" Shouted Benkei, throwing his fist to the air. "I'll kick all you asses bunch of losers!"

"We'll see, you bigmouth!"

"Shhh!" Said every one else in one voice.

"Remember not to make too much noise!" Said Kenta in a loud whisper. "You're going to blow Hyoma's brains out if you don't low it."

"They've already blown mine…" Said Kyoya, massaging his temples.

"Sorry…" They both said.

"Remember one of us has to stay with Hyoma." Reminded Tsubasa.

"Well… I've already seen the village. I can stay here awhile." Offered Kenta.

"Then I can go next." Said Hikaru.

"And I'll go after her." Ended Madoka with a smile.

"All right, now that that's settled, let's go." Kyoya said standing up.

After saying good bye, the little group of kids headed out.

"I'll return at two o'clock so you can leave with the others to the forest." Said Hikaru at the front door.

"Are you sure? You won't get the time to brawl with the others." Asked the little green-haired boy.

"Don't worry, I'll go tomorrow." She assured with a smile.

"Okay, bye Hikaru!"

"Bye, bye Kenta." And with that, she despaired with the others. The short boy closed the door and walked trough the main hallway.

"I wonder if Hyoma is hungry…? I'll have to ask him." He decided, jogging to the room at the back of the house. Very silently, he opened the room and took a look at his surroundings. The room was very dark and the clouds outside didn't really help, the only window in the place letting so little light in.

He looked at the still form, lying in front of him. He wondered for a minute if waking him up was the best idea.

"Kenta…" Said a quiet voice.

"Oh, you're not asleep." Pointed the obvious, the sleepy voice shaking his head. "I just wanted to ask you if you where hungry? We had pancakes and there are still a few… Would you like some?"

"Thank you Kenta," He said with a soft smile. "but Hokuto already made me eat this morning. So no, thanks."

"Oh, right… well the others went out but I'll be here if you need any thing okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Nodded Hyoma.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As the cloudy day went on, Kenta noticed Hyoma's state had worsened. Hokuto had said that if that happen, the only thing they could do is let him keep resting, there was no other answer. In his sleep the lilac-gray haired boy was restless; tossing and turning from one side to another, pained grunts escaping from his lips as his body twitched with unknown symptoms. And the only thing the little kid could do was watch.

"I'm here!" Announced Hikaru at two o'clock, just as she had said.

"Hello Hikaru." Said Kenta with little enthusiasm.

"What's wrong?" She asked, bending down to look at him better.

"Nothing it's just… Hyoma isn't getting any better and I can't do anything about it…" He whined. "It's just… I feel so useless without being able to help him."

"Don't worry…" She smiled warmly at him. "He'll get better… you'll see."

"All-all right."

"Now, come on. Outside. The others are waiting for you at the village's entrance."

"Right." He said heading out.

"Have fun Kenta!" She said waving at him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

I waved him good bye and closed the door after I couldn't see him any more.

Calmly I went to the kitchen to have a little snack, and as I ate, my head could not stop beating around the bush. Hyoma was really ill and as Kenta had said, there was nothing we or anyone could do about it, just wait and hope for the best. But I couldn't help to think… what if he didn't get any better? What if he just kept getting worse and worse? Was there a possibility that… he could…

No.

I shouldn't think like that, I just… had to hope for the best. We all have to hope for the best...

Looking at the clock over the fire place, I decided Hyoma needed to eat something.

"Now… what have we here?" I said to myself, inspecting the contain of the kitchen's cabinets. "Guess soup will be all right." And so, after finishing the soup I went to the room at the back. "Hyoma." I called in a soft voice, knocking at the door. "Can I come in?" But there was no answer, I decided to go in anyway.

I looked sadly at my friend, he was asleep in what seemed a restless slumber; sweat running down his face and little shocks rocking his body from time to time. His expression was contracted in a deep frown and I could tell he was gritting his teeth.

I sat down in the little second level of the room, which was like a stair in which rested Hyoma's bed.

"Wake up sleepy head." I shook him slightly with a small smile on my lips.

"Ah!" He shoot up from were he lay, breathing unevenly as he tried to understand where he was.

"Calm down, it's all right…" I said slowly.

"Hi-hikaru… S-sorry, I just… had a bad dream that's all." He assured uneasily.

"Don't worry." I said. "Hey, I brought you soup by the way. You need to eat…" He looked at the plate insecure. "Hyoma, the soup isn't going to bite you!" I laughed at the shocked expression he took.

"N-no, no. I didn't mean it like that Hikaru! Really!" He tried to mend what he though his mistake was, thinking he had offended me somehow.

"It was a joke! Don't worry so much!" I laughed healthily as he calmed down, a tiny smile trying to crawl up to his lips. "Go on. Eat it." I offered as I putted the tray over his legs. He stared at it once again. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"N-nothing… it's just… I'm really not hungry." He said without looking at me, his eyes lost in a place far away from here as he stared to the wall. "Sorry."

"Come one Hyoma!" I insisted. "You have to eat! How do you plan getting better if you don't?" He seamed to thought of it for a second.

"Hey Hikaru… would you… let me outside a bit. I'll eat the soup after that, what do you say." He asked with a sweet smile.

"He's a really nice friend once you get to know him. But don't let him get to you; he can be whomever he wishes when he wants to lie. I mean, the guy's like a ninja when it comes to make up personalities." Warned Ginga with a loud laugh.

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating? I mean, he doesn't look like that kind of person." I said.

"Believe him," Said Kyoya. "he's telling the truth, I've fallen for it…"

"I'll… have that in mind…"

"I'm just joking, he's not that bad." Said Ginga. "But that doesn't mean the lying part is fake, he really can do it if he wants…"

I remembered the conversation we had yesterday at night. I frowned deeply. The little bastard…

"I'm not going to fall for that you little liar. Now you're going to eat the soup, like it or not!" His eyes widened at my sudden outburst and after a small silence he took the spoon and started eating slowly. Okay… maybe I didn't have to shout. But that's what he gets for playing those cards on me. I looked at him with a deep frown, getting small fearful glazes sent from the corner of his eye.

Yeah… maybe I shouldn't have screamed like that…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Abril: This was actually going to be longer… but I decided it was wiser to cut it there u.u

Once again thanks for all the ones who favourite, review, follow and read!

This is kind of a filler chapter but I need it, sorry 'bout that…

P.S.: I really didn't take the time to check this, sorry if you find mistakes TOO horrible