Chapter six

Two Weeks Later

I flopped down on my bed, exhausted. These last two weeks of studying had been hell. Especially with Shinji tutoring me.

If I got an answer wrong, "No you stupid girl! How is it that my dog can figure stuff like this yet, you can't do it?! Do it over again!" Since when exactly had he gotten a dog? When I got an answer right, "Are you kidding?! A kindergartener could do that. That's not impressive at all!" A kindergartener would certainly not be able to figure out algebra two. What was he talking about?

I'd finally done all my summer work. Which gives me one week to spend the rest of my summer with no education. I was so happy!

I picked up my phone to call Haruka and Kasumi, tomorrow we'd have a girl's day out (since Kasumi's foot was feeling a bit better.)

"Hi Hikari." Haruka greeted even before I told her who I was, "Done with summer work yet?" "Yep!" I said proudly, "And for sure I've got A's." "I told you that Shinji tutoring you would pay off at the end." She said smugly. It was true. Through the two weeks he'd been insulting me, I had complained a lot to Haruka. Not Kasumi because I wasn't going to tell her how well my studies were going.

"He's one of the top three students anyways," She added, "You're lucky that you live with him." 'More lucky that Reiji came to visit me that day.' I thought. "So since I was free, I was wondering if tomorrow we could-" I started. "Stay at your house?" Haruka interrupted hopefully.

"No!" I exclaimed, "Kasumi's coming too, and I can't have her know about how Shinji and I are living together. I just wanted to shop at the department store. And eat somewhere nice and generally go somewhere that doesn't remind me of Shinji."

"Well, okay…" Haruka said slowly, "I'll pick you up at your apartment and we'll got to pick up Kasumi together." "What's with you and my apartment!?" I shouted. "Sorry," she said, sounding hurt, "I just like it." I sighed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "Let's just meet in front of the department store. Okay?" "Sure." Haruka said, regaining her cheerfulness, "Though I feel sorry for Satoshi. We haven't really been visiting him as often as Kasumi. And most of the time it's just the two of us."

"Don't worry." I said, "Satoshi has a ton of friends, he'd be out with one of them." "Like?…" She asked. "I don't know." I said, "Boys aren't really one of my many interests. Unlike you. That reminds me, have you still been thinking about Shuu?"

I could practically see her blushing as she stuttered, "N-no. I've been focusing on my studies. I want to get into a good university and being eleventh doesn't help. I need to be in the top ten."

"Isn't Shuu in the top ten?" I asked. "Yes, he is." Haruka said, "He's ninth on the chart. Well, it's getting late, and if we're going to have fun, might as well get up early. How about we meet at around eight?" "Why not?" I said, "See you tomorrow." And I heard the phone click as Haruka hung up.

I started dialing Kasumi.

I heard the phone ring a few times before she picked up and said, "Doing well in your studies, Hikari?" "How do you two do it?" I asked. "Do what?" she asked in a confused tone. "Know who it is before being greeted?" "Caller ID." Kasumi answered, "Apparently, one of Sakura's friends had one and she just had to get one."

"Well, that's Sakura." I said. "So how are your studies going?" "Great!" I exclaimed happily. "Summer homework is finally done and I'm sure I'm getting A's on all of them." "Finally got a good tutor?" She asked. "Only the best." I said, "Though all he does is call me names."

"Really?" She asked, "Who is it?"

I instantly realized my mistake.

"O- oh," I stuttered, "Some guy next door. He goes to one of our sister schools." "Our school only has one sister school and it's all- girls." She said in a matter- of- fact tone.

"And you know this stuff, how?" I asked. "I do my research." She said.

"Well, all I know is that he's really smart, and that's all I need to know." I said. "So why are you calling again?" She asked. "Well, since your sisters are letting you get around now, why not meet Haruka and me in front of the Department Store tomorrow at eight?"

"Eight!?" She exclaimed, "It's Summer Break! I shouldn't be awake until at least eleven or something!" "You wake up at eleven?" I asked in disbelief. "Why not?" She asked, "I sleep really late too."

"So are you going to meet us or not?" I asked. "Okay." She said, "What about Satoshi?" "Haruka and I decided it'd be all girls." I said, "Anyways, with Satoshi the mood would be ruined." "The mood?" She asked curiously. "You know." I said, "If we were joking about guys, he'd say something we really didn't need to know. Guys are like that."

"Okay." She said. What was that I heard in her voice? "I'll meet you at eight." She continued, "Tomorrow better be worth it." And she hung up.

I sighed sleepily and changed into my pajamas. Tomorrow was going to be perfect. I was done with all work I had to do, and it'd just be me, Kasumi, and Haruka.

I flopped down on my bed and went to sleep without even putting on the covers.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

My head pounded when I sat up in the morning.

And why was it so cold? I glanced down at myself and swore in my head. I hadn't put the blankets over me last night. I also realized that I hadn't set my alarm yesterday night.

I glance over at my digital clock and it read 7:55.

I threw my legs over the bed and stood up quickly which made the pounding in my head grow bigger. My head felt like it had gained weight. I decided it'd be best if I called Kasumi's cell phone (since Haruka still didn't have one yet) and tell her I'd be late. Really late. Considering I still had to cook breakfast.

So I fell back on my bed and dialed Kasumi's cell phone and as soon as she picked up she started saying stuff like, "Why aren't you here?" and "We thought you'd be the first one here since you were so excited about it!"

"Sorry." I said, my voice sounding hoarse and croaky. "Are you all right?" Kasumi asked, suddenly sounding worried, "You don't sound too good." "I'm fine." I said, trying again after clearing my throat. It was a bit better but in the end I sounded like a toad.

"You don't sound fine." Kasumi said, "I think you should stay there. We'll be right there to take care of you." "No!" I shouted, which was the wrong thing to do, since I started coughing non- stop, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself. You don't need to come, just continue your day without me."

"But you sound so bad." She argued, "There's no way you can walk around taking care of yourself when you sound like that. I'm coming over." "You can barely walk around yourself." I said, "Don't worry about me."

"Well, if you're so sure." She said, sounding reluctant. "Yep!" I said, trying to sound the best I could, "Hikari Toyoguchi can never not do anything!" Kasumi chuckled. "Okay." She said, "But if you need anything, just call…" "Yeah, yeah." I said, "Just go have fun. Hey, now you can invite Satoshi!"

Her voice sounded happier when she exclaimed, "Yeah! I'll do that. Hey, I'm really sorry about you getting sick. Maybe next time." And she hung up. I sighed as I hung up as well. She was knee- deep into him, there was no turning back now.

I wanted to stay in bed, but, I had to make breakfast for the jerk that was sleeping in the room next to mine. And if he found out that I had stayed in bed and neglected my chores because of a tiny cold, he'd probably nag me to no end.

So I stood up once again and headed for the kitchen.

I thought about what to make, but my head hurt from all the thinking so I just decided on eggs. It was simple and I wouldn't need to stand up for a very long time, as it was causing my head to spin.

When the eggs were done, I went to get plates.

Since the plates were somewhere high, and looking up was making my head hurt worse, I lay down my head on the counter and reached out my arms. The shelf couldn't be that high, could it?

The counter felt nice and cool under my hot skin, and soon I didn't know what I was doing with my hand.

"What are you doing Annoying Girl?" I heard Shinji's annoying voice behind me. "Trying to find plates," I retorted, "like I usually do in the morning." "Could've fooled me." He said.

I lifted my head up just in time to see him putting the eggs on the each plate.

"I can do it." I said, trying to sound angry, "I'm not a baby."

I pulled myself up with the counter as support, but he took my arm and pulled me so that his forehead touched mine. And suddenly, I didn't know why my face was so red. "Are you stupid?" He asked, "If you have a fever that bad, you have to stay in bed!"

He dragged me into my room without much effort, since I didn't really have the strength to fight back.

"Bed." He said firmly as he pointed at mine. I sighed in defeat and crawled in. I can't say that I didn't like it, but I sure wasn't liking how Shinji was treating me at the moment. "And stay there." He said, "Seriously, this is the second time you got sick in one month."

"Who said you had to take care of me?" I croaked, "Why do you care?" He stopped at the door. "My mom died because of a fever." He said quietly. "Oh." I said, realizing what I'd brought up, "Sorry." "Don't be." He said. And he walked out the door.

I puffed out my cheeks. What was he? Bipolar? Suddenly being nice to me like that. He had given me quite a shock. Especially with that stunt he pulled. Had he even realized how close his face was to mine. He was just lucky I had no energy at the time.

I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. I had felt his breath on my face, he was so close.

Slowly, my arms dropped to my side and my eye-lids drooped and I couldn't help but sleep a dreamless sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I slowly lifted myself up so I could sit up. My head was feeling considerably better and the spinning had stopped. I wasn't as cold as I had been when I had been this morning. Which made me look at the clock.

I gaped at the time. How could it be 7:32? I was asleep that long? I glanced at the window which clearly showed the setting sun, it's rays glinting off the window.

I turned back to the clock and spotted something that I hadn't noticed. It was a tray with water, medicine, and food. As much as I hated to admit, it was pretty sweet of Shinji to do this for me. But wait. Why was the food… Black?

I leaned over to sniff it and ashes practically flew up my nose. He expected me to eat that? No thanks. I'd just call Haruka and ask her to bring something.

I heard the door open and Shinji said, "Oh, you're finally awake." "Why are you here?" I asked, not in my usual arrogant voice, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" "My boss told me to take a break." he answered, "By the way, I didn't know you were a hopeless romantic." He smirked as he held up one of my books.

"Sh- shut up." I muttered as I tried to snatch my novel back. But he easily held the book up higher, taking the novel away from my reach.

"And books remind me, we still haven't did our lessons today." He said, in a monotone voice that annoyed me. "What are you talking about?" I asked, still glaring at him, "I've done all my Summer Homework."

"Doesn't mean you're going to stop lessons." He scoffed, "You don't really want to lose that bet, do you?" "How do you know about that?!" I exclaimed.

"Hmph." He grunted, "Half the time, I don't enough sleep because of your annoying midnight ramblings." "So you've been sneaking into my room at night to hear me sleep- talk?" I asked, absolutely outraged. Why did he want to hear my inner most secrets? Unless he wanted to black- mail me as well.

"You have a tendency to talk loudly." He said, glaring at me, "Not unlike when you're a awake."

"Oh well." I said, the remembrance of the bet motivating me, "Might as well. How are we going to study without problems?" "I have extra math books." He said, shrugging, "Now hurry up. I want to get this over with. It's annoying tutoring you. You don't get anything right."

"Well." I scoffed, "There are a lot of ways to say that in a nicer way." "Yes." He said, "But I didn't use one of them. Now hurry up."

I was surprised at myself when he was done checking the first problem. I had actually gotten it right. And he didn't throw one of those insults where he says a kindergartner could do better.

I also got the second one right, and the third. Suddenly, all the numbers and signs that made no sense made all the sense in the world.

But on number four, my lucky streak broke.

Shinji sighed. Usually he'd be all over me about this, but I guess, since I was sick, he was cutting me some slack.

"No." He said, "What've I told you? You separate all the variables and numbers." "Like… this?" I asked, somehow knowing I was just screwing up the whole problem now.

Shinji took another deep breath and said, "No. Like this." He placed his hand on mine and led my pencil to do the correct steps. But I wasn't really paying attention to that. I was trying to keep my heart in check. It seemed like it was going to pound out of my chest.

I tried to focus on what Shinji was doing, but I knew it wasn't working.

Could he hear my heart beating? Or feel the heat rushing up to my face? I didn't like this feeling he was giving me. I didn't like it one bit.

And worse, all the blood circulating through my head was making the pounding and spinning return.

"Did you get that?" He asked. "Get what?" I asked slowly. He let out a frustrated sigh and kicked my bed, which made me bounce up.

"What was that for!?" I cried. "For being idiotic." he retorted, "I just explained everything to you, and you still don't get it." "I can't help it!" I exclaimed, "Everything is spinning." "Why? All this thinking making your head hurt?" He said with a smirk, "I always knew you couldn't hold this much stuff inside that brain of yours. What's your IQ point? 20?"

"Be quiet." I said, throwing my pencil at his head. Which he expertly dodged.

"Since your brain can't handle it," He started, getting up, "We'll resume tomorrow." "Yeah," I said tiredly, "Tomorrow. And Shinji?" "What?" He snapped, suddenly back to his original self. "I'm not eating that crap." I said, pointing at the food he had burnt.

"I never asked you to." He retorted before walking out of my room and quietly shutting the door behind him.

God, I hated him.

Especially the feeling that he gave me. I hated him and whatever emotions he brought with him. And who was he to call me an idiot? I'd show him, I'd be smarter tomorrow, and do whatever it took to get one compliment out of him.

And I slipped into a wonderful dream where a lot of bad things happened to a certain Shinji Ikari.

AN. Ahhh. So happy. My first Ikarishipping moment. This chapter actually had some Pokeshipping, and one- sided Contestshipping. I'm really slow with stuff like this, so if you spot a mistake, It'll probably be mentioned in the Author's Note of the next chapter. Okay, about the last chapter. I randomly thought of the pink diamond. And as I was writing this chapter, I kind of had an urge to read Lady Marmalade: Sweet Sweet Revenge ( love the story need to put it on favorites when I have the time) And I realized that the necklace that Dawn wore was a pink diamond. That was total coincidence. I didn't try to copy HarvestGirl10 at all. Now, about this chapter. Truthfully, I think this relationship is going way too fast, because it's only been a week. And that really bothers me. And now I'm not going to say anymore because I'm pretty sure I'll say something I wasn't supposed to. The dog will be explained in next chapter.

Kahmelion