Chapter twenty three:

Haruhi has to return to school though she can't really focus. She is glad that today's class is just review. She knows that she will be okay in grades so she can let her mind wander a little. She keeps thinking about Kaoru. She knows how much it is affecting Hikaru that his dearest brother is laying there sicker than sick. She almost wants to shiver at the memory of seeing Kaoru for herself on her last visit. She finds that it truly does remind her of what happened with her mother. She wishes that there was more that she could do for Hikaru. She nearly jumps out of her chair when the bell goes off. She gets up after gathering her thing and she heads off to the Host club room. She notices a note on the chalkboard they use for notices, a note that reads that they won't be open due to a very important meeting. She blinks in curiosity at this and enters the club room. She finds everyone standing in almost a circle as they turn to her when she enters.

"Good. Everyone is here." Tamaki claps his hands together in a pleased manner while Haruhi joins them in where they are standing. "So. As you all know Kaoru has become sick due to the circumstances of finding the ones responsible for the ravaging illness. So I was thinking that we could brainstorm things that we can do to help out Kaoru and Hikaru."

"We'll have to keep it simple. We don't want to overwhelm them, especially Hikaru, in these moments. I found from experience that it doesn't make the time with those sick much better. Too much of it can actually make you feel even worse than before." Haruhi warns them to which she feels an arm around her just after Tamaki nods his agreement to this.

"Quite. We will take care to not make it too much." Tamaki promises and Haruhi hopes that he keeps to his word. "So. Any ideas to start off?" He looks over them all.

"A gift basket? We could make sure that Hika-Chan has plenty to do while waiting for Kao-Chan to get better!" Hunny brings up as a suggestion to which Tamaki lets go of Haruhi in order to grip his chin, nodding his head with his eyes closed, in agreement for a moment before staying still.

"A wonderful idea. Plus we will let Hikaru decide when it is time for us to leave." Tamaki spins around. "Host club! To the store! We are going shopping to get things ready for Hikaru!"

…..

Hikaru is standing in the safe spot watching his brother. He has hardly left this spot if he can help it. He had gotten some extra handheld gaming devices with a few games from his friends who had hung out awhile two days ago. He just spends a lot of his time staring in at Kaoru. He just wants him to magically get better. He has seen that Kaoru's breathing has gotten worse over these past three days. He can see that Kaoru is barely able to breathe right now. He isn't sure how much time they have left for the cure to be strengthened to be able to cure this. He lets out a breath as he tries to remind himself that Kaoru has got this. He places a hand on the glass. "Come on Kaoru. Just a little longer. They'll cure you." He whispers knowing that his brother can't hear him from all the way over here. He just hopes that by some miracle Kaoru does hear him.

Elsewhere…

Jiro is cleared as fully healthy from the cure so he is helping to work on the cure. "Come on." He whispers to himself while he adds some more of the ingredients before adding a few drops of Lily Pad water.

Lily Pad water is water taken from a species of Lily Pad which mixes with existing water to stir up the special bacteria on the Lily Pad. It's bacteria when mixed with water is actually alright for consumption; though it can only be used in small amounts or else it will make the patient sick. It's bacteria has to be used very carefully, thus the potions it is a part of tend to be taught to more advanced apprentices rather than beginners.

"I won't let you fall to this. Not after all that you have done for us. I as your mentor cannot let you fall to this. You are too amazing for this world to leave it so soon." Jiro breathes out to himself while making sure that the mixture is really mixed. He knows that they are just trying things to see what sticks. He picks up the potion and heads to where Kaoru's room is. He doesn't have to worry too much about gearing up as the cure was given to the patients affected… Except the group behind the illness and Kaoru who are stuck with the stronger version of the illness. He blinks sympathetically as he sees Hikaru still there. He had said hello this morning briefly. He heads over and looks at Kaoru along with the older twin.

"I know that he is strong. That he can do this… To hang in there… However I can't help but worry that even so the cure may come too late." Hikaru mentions to Jiro who places his free hand on Hikaru's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"I understand. I am worried as well." Jiro doesn't dare tell Hikaru that he stayed up through the night last night to continue to try to working on the cure. He had done so without anyone else knowing and he will keep it that way. He is about to continue when he turns hearing some alarms go off further down the hallway.

Hikaru's eyes flicker to the direction of the sound before just looking back to his brother.

"I will be right back." Jiro heads down the hallway until he finds the source of the alarms. He sees a lot of scrambling around from some healers. "What is going on?" He questions, keeping back as he sees them dressed up to try to protect from the strengthened illness.

One of the healers stop rushing in bringing in supplies to turn to the higher up man's eyes showing deep concern. "The ones that came in with Kaoru are crashing. I don't know if we are going to be able to save them even if the stronger cure was found right now. Sir." He explains making Jiro even more worried for Kaoru.

"Thank you." Jiro mentions to the healer before rushing back to where Hikaru is. His rush causes Hikaru to turn to him, more than he had done so when the alarms went off. "There is no time to wait for anyone else. He could potentially crash at any moment." He hurries around getting himself ready before he heads into the room. He makes it next to Kaoru's bedside. "Let this work." He pleads softly then helps Kaoru drink the potion. He moves back only slightly while he watches to see if the potion will do it's magic. He hopes so as he doesn't want to lose Kaoru to a potential crash that Kaoru might not be able to be saved from. He isn't even sure that he'll have time to try another mixture if this one doesn't work in being able to save Kaoru from death's fate.