Chapter 4

Lantis dried his raven hair with the hair dryer before putting on his room wear. He opened the fridge to get a big bottle of well-refrigerated green tea and drank it directly. He could feel the cold liquid ran through his throat. He remembered how warm Hikaru's lips were and she was a little bit trembling. Lantis felt his cheeks heated by the memory and shook his head hardly to get back to the real world. All of sudden the photo frame where the picture of him together with Hikaru was placed fell to the floor causing a big sound that surprised him to death. Lantis felt uneasiness inside his heart and decided to call her.

"The phone you are calling is not activated." Sounded the operator.

Impossible!, Hikaru never turns off her cell phone. Something must be happening to her, he thought.

He dashed as quickly as he could to the train station and got off at the nearest train station to Hikaru's residence. From there he started wondering around for the place where the red head girl whom he loves resided. His face was in horror when he saw her lying weakly on the grass at the park.

"Hikaru!, are you okay?. Hikaru!, please answer me!"

"Uh….Lantis…H-Help…me… I… can't breathe… (cough)"

Lantis held Hikaru's body firmly with both hands. He was confused about how to help her. Suddenly he remembered what the physician of school's health clinic back in high school named Clef said about giving first aid in the case of asthma.

"Remember Lantis, the breath that human exhales is the first aid to the patient of asthma."

Quickly he gave her a mouth respiration. He continued to do it several times until she started to breathe normally again. But, she was still too weak to stand up by herself. Since Lantis had no idea where she lives, he decided to bring her to his house. He placed her gently on the bed when they reached his house. He realized that her body was burning in fever so, he grabbed a small bucket, filled it with cold water, took some ice cubes from the fridge and threw them inside the bucket before jabbing a small towel in it. He squeezed the towel strongly and placed it on her forehead.

She was trembling badly, her lips were in the color of light purple and her face was pale. Lantis held Hikaru's hand tightly and rubbed her cheek. He noticed that it was a bit wet and found out that she was crying. Tears kept falling on her cheek as she sobbed, he felt as if his heart was scattered into pieces. It was the first time he had ever seen her crying so sadly that her small body was trembling.

"Lan…tis…" She called him weakly.

"Yes, Hikaru. I'm here." He grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek so that she could feel him.

"Lantis…(sobs)….my head really hurts….(sobs)…I can't stand it anymore.. (sobs)...(cough)." She uttered.

"Don't worry, Hikaru. Soon master Clef will come and take care of you so please hold on." He comforted her by caressing her crimson locks daringly. Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door. Lantis gently released his grip on her and proceeded his way to the entrance.

"What happened?" A man with silver hair asked after Lantis released the lock.

"Thank God you're here, master. Please help Hikaru, she is in pain." Lantis said anxiously as he led the elder man to the main bedroom.

"I will help her, Lantis. Would you mind to leave me and this young lady just the two us in this room so that I can do the examination?" Lantis nodded and left the room.

Some hours later

"How is she?" Asked Lantis when he saw Clef coming out from the room.

"I gave her the painkiller so she's sleeping now." The doctor replied calmly.

"Do you have any idea about what happened to her?"

"I guess she has been poisoned by someone."

"Been what?!" Lantis nearly screamed.

"I found a big wound on her back which is caused by a poisonous whip. The poison is getting in her inside organs through the veins and there's no doubt that she will die if she does not drink the remedy." Lantis fell on both knees shocked by the truth he has just heard.

"She's burning with fever, we need to bring her to the hospital to get the proper aid." Clef advised.

"No!, please don't put that thing inside me… I beg you." Hikaru cried out.

"I'm sorry Miss Shido, we need to put this interval through your nose so that we can deliver nutrition into your body. You haven't been eaten anything since yesterday." Said the nurse.

"I promise I will eat so please don't put that thing inside me!" Hikaru insisted desperately.

"I'm sorry, Miss Shido. We need to do this right away. Please hold her arms and feet for me." The nurse gives instruction to her juniors.

"No!, please!" Hikaru screamed painfully.

The nurse started to put the interval through her nose and delivered nutrition fluid to her stomach. Lantis could not stand to take a further look at the great torture conducted right before his eyes. In about 30 minutes the nurse finished the activity and left the room.

Lantis took a step closer to the bed where Hikaru was laying. He could see a trace of tears on her cheek. He stretched out his hand and held her right hand that was full of blue color bruises caused by the intravenous drip injection. Hikaru's body was shaking badly and her breathing was rough. He wished if only he could be the one to endure all of her sufferings instead. He was very disturbed to realize that all he could do was just to hold her hand tightly and wiped her endlessly falling tears with a small towel.

"Lan…tis." She called him between her sobs.

"Yes, Hikaru."

"It was Debonear who poisoned me."

"What?, I thought we defeated her when we were in Sephiro."

"Yes, I thought the same with you but unfortunately she wasn't dead. She said she was able to survive the attack and escape Sephiro through the dimension gate. That is the reason why she is in Tokyo now."

"That evil woman!" Lantis clenched his fists.

"She said that she is going to suffer you by killing me. I did fight her with my fire sword but she was too strong to defeat." She bit her lips.

"You don't have to be sorry, Hikaru. I'll challenge her and get the remedy for sure!" He cupped her cheek with his right hand.

"I'm sorry for being such a weak girl." She placed her hand on top of his hand.

"You're not weak, Hikaru. It was your strength that brought me back to you during the fight with Nova." He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

To be Continued