Hibisha: I'm pretty sure this is the final chapter since I just started typing it. We'll see by the end of it.

TOBF: Good Luck.

Hibisha: I don't own Inazuma Eleven. On with the fic!

"Feeling Empty"

Hiroto stared at the sleeping face of the girl. His hand clenched itself. Oh God, if she died, he would...he would...he didn't know what he'd do. He remembered what Gazelle had said the night before.

"Something's gone whack in her system" Gazelle said, his eyes closed, "She can't over work herself or tire herself out without this happening. The virus inside her body is slowly eating her."

"What virus?" Heat asked. Gazelle had merely sighed.

"What virus indeed. So far, all we know is that there is a virus. I have a team of professionals working to get her better." Hiroto growled.

"Why didn't you tell any of us, goddammit!"

"Because she said no."

"Reina..." he whispered, stroking her blue hair framing her face, "Don't die on me."

"Nah I won't." Hiroto's eyes snapped to her face to see her open her eyes weakly.

"Hi..." she croaked, "Could you get me some water?" Hiroto grabbed a bottle off of the dresser and handed it to her. She unscrewed the cap and chugged it empty. "Ah~that hit the spot." Hiroto merely stared at her. There was so much he wanted to ask-so much he wanted to know. But he didn't know how to ask her. He stared at his lap.

"It was Christmas." His head jerked up to see Reina staring off in space.

"Excuse me?" he said, his eyes meeting resting on her enchantingly beautiful face.

"It was Christmas-when I found out I was sick. By then, the virus was too widely spread to be stopped completely. My only way out was to slow down the process till a cure could be formulated." Hiroto didn't speak, scared she'd stop talking to him. It seemed she was finally opening up, allowing him inside again-like she once used to do.

"I created a medicine to slow down the viral activity. I just had to take them twice a day and the virus would become inactive for a day. I had to take it everyday. I had to stop going out just in case I over worked myself. I couldn't-I couldn't even help people...Although," she sighed, "I guess if a cure is found then I was helping by being the test subject neh?" She grinned before leaning back into the pillow.

"Gazelle and Burn didn't know what to do. They were just as scared as I was, maybe even more. So they decided to keep me somewhere I wouldn't strain myself. My friend, Madison Harp, is currently at the research facility examining the virus. She brings me data and then discusses what to with the virus and then we try to find a way to kill it. I met her at University just to let you know." She closed her eye and sighed. Hiroto stared at her intently, willing her silently to tell him more. She glanced at him out of the corner of the eye and smiled as if she had heard his unspoken plea.

"I've been stuck in this crummy house for as longer than my era of comfort. That's why I told you never to call me free. I'm a captive in my own house by my own choice but against my will. I dunno what to do. Sometimes I feel dying is the best option for me- I don't know." Hiroto snapped.

"YOU WANNA DIE?" he choked out, "DIE? Reina fuckin' Yagami, do you have any idea, even the slightest, what that would do to me?" He could feel his emotions sweeping him up. "You're really selfish you know! How could you not think about what I- everyone else would go through?" Her eyes blinked repeatedly before widening.

"Hiro-"

"DON'T!" he yelled, making her wince, "Don't say my name..." His voice shook with raw emotion, "You-you're nothing but a quitter." She stared at him, looking slightly bemused before she got, struggling slightly.

"Hiro-chan?" she said, her voice soft, "Can I ask you a question?" He looked up into her blue eyes and felt his heart pound in his chest. This was not a new reaction. Just a simple smile from her in the past used to set off his heart beat to about a million times per minute. He remembered how he had found out he was love with her during the time of Aliea Academy. He had made up his mind to confess his feelings to his childhood friend but then he was called for the FFI so he had to delay his confession. But by the time he had returned home with a beaming smile, the rumors had already started. Rumors about how Reina was dating Burn. Hiroto had not wanted to believe them but he had no other option. Thus, he been unable to tell Reina the truth about his feelings. Slowly his own emotions betrayed him and had begun to show. So he did the only thing he could-he began to avoid her. As for Burn, he just couldn't look at that boy without feeling anger surge through his veins.

Burn had failed to noticed how Hiroto's attitude towards him had changed. To him, Hiroto had always been a control freak who deserved to die. But Hiroto had never been so nasty and everyone else could see that. Their fights usually had been triggered off by Burn but now, it was Hiroto. He was the one who went and insulted Burn causing the short tempered red-head to blow. Gazelle had come in between their fights and had gotten hurt plenty of times. Not that he hadn't beat them an inch from death later but that was a different matter.

Hiroto had never asked Reina if the rumors were true-he was just too terrified to find out they might be. So he just pulled away from her, concentrating on his studies. When he got the acceptance letter from Stanford, he had decided to tell Reina the good news and then ask her the truth. But as it turned out, Reina had gotten into Yale and when Hiroto had walked in, she had been hugging Burn happily. Hiroto had then stamped down on his feelings there and then.

When he had finished with his studies, he had come home just to find out Reina was in Korea-with Burn. True Gazelle was with them but the fact remained that they were together. After that, he cut contact with them completely, dreading that any day an invitation to their marriage would be issued. Now, five years later, he stared into the eyes of his love and felt as if his feeling were resurfacing-the feeling he had supposedly stamped out.

"What question?" he asked, diverting his eyes away from hers. He felt her hand on his and his teal orbs snapped back to her face.

"If I-" she hesitated before continuing, "If I told I'm in love with someone and I'm not sure if he loves me back. What should I do?" Hiroto's eyes widened and his heart stopped beating for a minute. He was just sitting there holding her hand but he was sure he just had a cardiac arrest. Reina's eyes were staring off at the ceiling.

"I'm sure he doesn't love me." she added as an afterthought. He closed his eyes for a moment. Unrequited love huh? Didn't seem new to him. Had Burn somehow messed up? Hiroto wondered what Burn had said that had made Reina to think that he didn't love her. Hiroto wondered what he would do in her situation-wait, wasn't he in the same situation? Didn't his beloved not love him? Reina was looking at him with sad eyes.

"I'd say...that you do what your heart says. Anyways, I don't think Burn doesn't love you Reina." Reina stared at him blankly. He smiled to himself. Didn't expect me to know who this guy was huh? Reina opened her mouth to say something but he grinned at her, hating himself for not telling her the truth. "Its OK, I know you love him." He got up. "Anyways, I have to go now. I'll tell Gazelle you're awake." He turned to leave.

"Its not true." He froze. Her voice was so small and broken like a child who had recently had a bad dream. He turned back to look at her to see her blue eyes filled with tears. "Its not true. I don't love Burn. I-I-I love you Hiroto!" He froze. What the-he just stood there, gaping at her like a fish. She was crying now. "I've always loved you but you never noticed. You avoided me and made me feel as if you didn't like me anymore. I don't like that feeling Hiroto." She was getting worked up now, her body trembling, "You pulled away from me and never told me what I did wrong. I'm sorry for what I did Hiroto-what ever it was, I'm sorry for it. I just want you to be my friend again. Even though you don't love me, being by your side again will keep me happy." Hiroto stood there not saying a word. His body was in shock and he needed some time to process what she was telling him.

"Please say something." she pleaded, her body now shaking, "Don't close up on me. Say something Hiro-" The rest of her words died in her mouth as her body slumped and she didn't move. Hiroto snapped out of his trance shook her.

"Reina?" he yelled, "Get up!" Her body was cold and clammy. "SHIT GAZELLE! GAZELLE! BURN! REINA'S IN TROUBLE!" The bedroom door burst open to reveal a haggard Gazelle. Hiroto quickly explained to him what had happened leaving out the confession.

"And then she just collapsed." he finished, his face pale. Gazelle was just about to say something when a red-headed girl burst into the room, panting.

"I have it! The cure. I just have to-" her words died in her mouth as she stared at the two of them. Rushing forward, she pushed them both out of her way as she examined Reina. Her face was pale and she sweat was glistening on her forehead. Her breathing was uneven. The red head straightened up and gave Gazelle a desperate look.

"The virus-is taking its toll." Gazelle looked horrified.

"Then do something about it!" Hiroto screamed at the blue eyed girl. The red head gave him a withering look. He glared back at her.

"That's what I've been trying to do." she snapped at him, her red hair flying everywhere as she pulled out a syringe and stuck it in Reina's arm. "I have to operate on her...I think I know what's causing this." Hiroto stared at the red head in awe. Could she-could she really save Reina? Gazelle was asking the redhead a million questions which she answered diligently. Apparently, this was Madison, Reina's friend. Madison had her cellphone out and was calling an ambulance-Reina needed to be operated immediately. Hiroto watched as Reina's body was lifted onto a stretcher and taken to to the ambulance waiting outside.

He raced his car after them to the hospital, watching them put her on a gurney and roll her to the Operating Room. Then he walked to the waiting room, sat down and waited. And waited. And waited...

Hibisha: Well?

TOBF: So Hiroto never got around telling her if he loves her huh?

Hibisha: Yup.

TOBF: I thought this was the last chappie?

Hibisha: Erm, no. I got into the story. And this time, its nearly done. The next chappie shall be the last-that's a promise. Or maybe not...Read and review people!

TOBF: I'm pretty sure if they're readin this, they've already read the story. -.-"

Hibisha: O.O" You're right...