I woke up shivering the next morning. The beeping of my alarm, which was what had woken me up, was making my head pound. I hadn't even dried off after last night - I guess I'd only been able to stay awake long enough to throw on my pajamas and get in bed. I felt miserable. I was so congested that it seemed that my eyes would pop out of my head because of the pressure, and my face was burning hotter than any time I could remember.

"Miyuki-chan, will you shut off that alarm already?" Azami said as she peeked out from her egg.

In response, I groaned and turned over, pulling my pillow over my head. With all my shivering, I doubted I could even hit the snooze button without knocking off the whole alarm in the process. I was normally an early riser, and so Azami immediately knew something was wrong. She floated out of her egg and quieted the alarm herself before turning to look at the lump in the covers where I was curled up.

"Is this about last night?" Azami asked. "I figured giving you a night's rest before talking about it would help, but this is getting ridiculous. You can't just hide... Wait, why are you shaking?" She managed to burrow through the covers to me. "You're way hotter than usual! You're sick!"

"...thanks for pointing out the obvious." I managed to say in a voice both hoarse and nasally at the same time. She retaliated with a playful punch, but even that was enough to make me let out another groan.

Azami backed out of the covers, and sighed. "Humans are just so weak. Anyway, what do people do to get better?"

I mumbled something, but Azami couldn't hear me since I still had my pillow over my head.

"What'd you say?" she asked.

I managed to push the pillow away from me, but the exertion just made me tremble even more. "This feels like that virus that's been going around school, with the high fever. Just made worse because of the rain last night. If so, it should be dying down by the end of today. Until then, just let me rest."

"Fine. I'll just go back to sleep for now, too." Azami replied, not realizing that I had already drifted back into a fitful slumber.

* * *

Azami woke again about an hour later, but quickly saw that I was not even close to waking up. She wandered around the room, looking for something to do. For part of the time, she just stared out the window at the scenery - the weather from yesterday evening had caused a thin sheet of ice to form on everything, and despite being a creature of fire, Azami could appreciate the power that even ice had. A good deal of her time she spent trying to figure out how to play solitaire on my computer, though it was slightly difficult for her to do, since charas really aren't that much taller than the mouse itself.

It was past one 'o clock in the afternoon when Azami started to get concerned. And bored. "Miyuki-chan! Get up already! I know you've at least got to get up to drink something!" I reluctantly opened my eyes from my half-sleep. I was sore all over, but both the shivering and the fever felt like they were better.

"All right, I'm up." I said quietly. "I've gotta go to the bathroom, anyway." I shivered more intensely as soon as I pulled the covers off. I wanted to just go back to sleep, but I really did need to go to the bathroom. I tenderly walked across the hallway to the bathroom, and after I was done there I headed down the stairs to find my mom. She was trying to clean up the living room a bit when I located her.

"Mom." I managed to croak out.

She looked up, though didn't seem all too shocked by me. "Why aren't you at school?" she asked without concern.

Well, I guess there are some disadvantages to this hypnotized lack of care. She didn't even realize that I didn't go to school. "I'm sick." I said as my body shivered. Was the house always this cold? "Do you think you could get me a glass of water?"

"Oh." she said, as if trying to take in what I was saying. "Sure." She went off to the kitchen and handed me the cup. I nearly dropped it at first, but managed to keep a hold on it. The fact that I probably needed to eat something flitted through my brain, but the thought of food only made me feel nauseous. I laboriously climbed back up the stairs, which made me light-headed. I practically fell onto my bed as soon as I had set my cup on the table. I curled back under my covers, then poked out my head again. I doubted I would be able to get back to sleep just yet. Since I hadn't turned on my light yet, the only way I could see was from the gray light shining through me window. I craned my neck slightly to see that everything outside was glistening beneath a layer of ice. It wasn't something I saw often in Japan, and I only wished I was well enough to enjoy the sight.

"I suppose this is what I get for staying out in rain when it's that cold outside." I said. My throat was slightly less hoarse after having a couple sips of water, but the nasal sound that came from being so conjested remained. "Why in the world didn't I get home sooner?"

"Well, I doubt you could have just left Ikuto and Yoru, could you?" Azami said. "Anyway, what are we going to do about what they were saying? I let you handle it yourself last night - you were doing pretty well, actually. A dragon doesn't hold back her anger, although a dragon also wouldn't cry about it either. But over all, you actually did well."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. Since when did we see Ikuto and Yoru? Hadn't I just been searching for X-eggs, and not realized the rain was coming? I sat up a bit straighter, propping myself up with my pillow behind my back."Well, thanks, I guess. But what are you talking about? I haven't seen either Ikuto or Yoru for weeks."

Azami scowled, and crossed her arms as she floated down to my lap. "Quit messing around. Whatever you're sick with couldn't have given you amnesia."

"No, you quit messing around." I said. "I'm already not feeling great, and I'd rather not have to deal with you confusing me."

"I'm not messing around! I'm telling the truth!" Azami said, angry. "Does it look like I'm lying?"

"Does it look like I am lying?" I retorted. I was seriously confused at this point, and it was making me feel dizzy again.

Azami kept her arms crossed and floated up until she was eye-level with me. She simply stared at me for a few moments, as if hidden somewhere on my face was the real truth. I kept my face as serious as possible - I knew I was telling the truth, and that was good enough for me. There was no way I could have possibly met up with Yoru and Ikuto without remembering it.

"You're telling the truth..." Said Azami, in awe. "Or, at least, you think you are."

"Well, there you go." I said, before lying back down. All this excitement - even if it was just talking - was not making me feel my best. I had started trembling badly again, and it felt like my temperature had gone back up. "So why don't you just admit that you're trying to confuse me?"

She looked at me, with just a tad bit of annoyance on her face. "I know you can't tell if I'm lying - I would be a disgrace to dragon-kind if you could - but at least think about it. Why would I lie about this? I do get my kicks from pranking or hurting others, but why would I do something like this to someone I'm a part of?"

I thought about it, as Azami had suggested. And though it seemed impossible that she would remember something I didn't, I believed her. "All right, for the purpose of trying to figure out what's going on, I believe that you truly believe what you're saying. So how do we figure out who's right? Are you sure you just didn't have a dream?"

"I'm positive, Miyuki." Azami replied, landing on the bed near where my head was. "I can remember every hair on Yoru's head, every little thing he did -"

"Oooh, someone's got a crush on a certain cat~." I said tauntingly.

"- and everything Ikuto did, as well." finished Azami, looking slightly peeved at my interruption. "Can you say the same about last night?"

"Hmmm..." I contemplated. "I remember going to the park clearly, and getting some X-eggs. I think... I think I remember the dark feeling again... But the cold rain woke both of us up, and we hurried home."

"More detail, Miyuki." Azami said. "Do you remember how many times you fell on the slippery sidewalk, and how many times you said nothing as you got back up? Do you remember the feelings of rage and helplessness when we heard what Yoru's secret was? Do you remember when the first drops of rain fell on your face?"

With that last one, a vivid image filled my mind: Ikuto, standing in a tree, looking down at me with his sad, dark blue eyes. And the wetness on my cheeks from not only the icy rain, but the warm, salty tears as well. Emotions - both my own and the negative X-energy ones - stabbed through me, and I jerked the covers back over my head and curled off, feeling worse than ever. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Now do you believe me?" Azami asked from outside the covers. I didn't respond.

Azami asked again, louder. "Do you believe me or not, Miyuki-chan?"

"Yes..." I groaned. "Just leave me alone."

"No. No matter how bad you're feeling, we've got to talk about this now." Azami said. "We need to figure out why you forgot. Things like this don't just happen by chance. Maybe if I told you what happened last night, then you could remember it better."

"No!" I shouted as loud as I could from beneath the covers. "I don't want to know what happened!" There were simply too many bad feelings that were associated with the memory. Fear being primary among them. It overruled any curiosity I may have had.

Azami paused for a moment to think. Then, as if some sort of nameless energy was building within her, she tensed and her face went absolutely red with fury. She opened her wings and made herself as big as possible. And even though she was still pretty small, she gave off a threatening feeling as if she was an angry dragon hundreds of times her size.

"You've made yourself forget it! You're afraid and the best way you can think to deal with it is by not thinking about it at all! Get those covers off your head and listen to me!" I cautiously poked my head out of the covers. I could feel how furious she was, and I didn't want to anger her any more by not doing what she said. She continued. "Just because a dragon lives in the present doesn't mean she can forget the past, or hide from her future! A dragon does not simply 'deal' with her problems; she confronts them and tears them limb from limb! Forgetting unpleasant facts or memories is the highest form of cowardice there is! Do you understand?!?"

The way she said it, I felt ashamed. I mean, I hadn't really meant to forget it - I don't think it's even possible to consciously forget something. But Azami was right. Even though I still didn't know what had happened last night, I knew I had to face it. Hiding never gets anyone anywhere. Whatever had happened last night must have been... unpleasant, to say the least, but if I wanted to do something about it, then I had to think about it.

"I understand." I said.

Azami seemed to calm down, seeing that I meant what I said. "So are you ready to hear what it was you wanted to forget?"

"Yeah."

Azami folded her wings back up. "Yoru and Ikuto so kindly let us know that Easter has a way to control us somehow, through the crystal I touched."

My reaction was much like the first time - I was shocked. I more or less went completely still, and even my trembling went away momentarily. And then, as if that single fact had been the dam holding back a lake, the memories of last night came flooding back to me: Yoru and Azami dropping water on my head, Yoru offering a secret in exchange for catnip, Ikuto and how dead serious he had been underneath his mocking comments. Oh, and my reaction to all this - so much for getting off on a better foot with Ikuto. I curled up tighter, trying to control the painful feelings.

"Are you sure they're telling the truth?" I asked, my voice as nasaly as ever.

"Actually, I'm not sure." Azami said. "I can tell with most people - and charas, for that matter - but cats are a different story. But I think if Ikuto had been lying, he would have been a bit more subtle about it. Then again, he was acting strangely... But I'm fairly sure he was telling the truth. Plus, what he was saying makes a lot of sense."

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." I paused a moment and coughed loudly. It sounded horrible thanks to my congestion, but I went on after the coughing was done. "So what are we going to do?"

"We could, of course, just wait until it happens. There is the chance that either Ikuto misheard or he actually was lying. Or we could infiltrate Easter and try and find the crystal. But Easter is massive, and I doubt they'd just leave it lying out somewhere. Plus, you're not the sneakiest of people."

"What if we asked Ikuto to help?" I suggested. "It seems like he knows his way around Easter."

"No. A dragon doesn't ask anyone for help, or at least not like that. Perhaps it would be different if you were asking the help of the Guardians, but not Ikuto. It reveals weakness. A dragon could manipulate someone to do her work for her, but I don't quite think that would work with Ikuto." Azami said.

"I guess you're right. Again. So do we just wait and see what happens?"

Azami nodded. "We'll wait, but now that we know what they might try and do, we'll be ready if they try to pull anything on us. Who knows? If they invite us back for another power-up, we could just grab it then. Three scientists aren't exactly the largest security force in the world."

I let that be the end of the conversation. I still felt miserably weak, and I just wanted to go back to bed. I took a quick sip of water. I thought about getting something to eat, but I really wasn't all that hungry. I was about to curl up and go back to sleep, but Azami started talking again.

"Is there anything else you've made yourself forget? From before I was born? If it's happening now, I doubt this was the first time."

"Well, if there is something else, I wouldn't exactly recall it, would I?" I replied before going back to sleep. But I wasn't telling the full truth. I knew there was something I was hiding from myself, something even bigger than the possibility of Easter controlling me. Perhaps if I had racked my brains I would have been able to start remembering. But I didn't. Whatever the memory, it was a thousand times more ominous than Easter ever could be. And I had the feeling that I had hidden it so well that even if I searched for the answer, it would never be found without something to prompt it.

The last thing I thought as I fell back asleep was that I never wanted to remember it, whatever it was. Never.

* * *

I woke up again at about three thirty to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I was afraid that it would be Easter calling for something - I really didn't want to have to deal with them while I was sick - but something seemed wrong for that to be an accurate guess. As I reached over to pick me up, it occurred to me that this was my ring tone for an actual call: not a text. And Easter had so far used only texting when contacting me. The only other people that had my cell phone number were the Guardians. I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed my phone, and Azami hovered curiously next to my ear. I looked at the caller i.d. briefly to see that it was Amu's number.

"Hello?" I asked, trying not to sound too sick (at which I failed miserably).

"Hey, Miyuki!" Kukai's voice rang out loud and clear. (note - he hasn't used honorifics with me for a while. He's just not a formal kind of guy.) "You all right? You sound like a frog jumped down your throat, and it brought its lily pad with it!"

Though it wasn't that great of a joke in my opinion, it made me laugh. "We were wondering where you've been all day, Miyuki-san." Nadeshiko said. I guessed they were on speakerphone or something, so that all of them could talk.

"Yeah, Nikaido said you didn't call in sick, so we were wondering if you were all right, or if something had happened." Amu explained.

If I was the sentimental type, I probably would have cried at that. Though I wasn't quite at the point of tears, I'll admit that I was once again touched by how much the Guardians cared. Although it doesn't take that much to pick up a phone and call someone, it was nice to know that they had been thinking of me. A pang of guilt went through me that I was lying to all of them, but I ignored it. "Yeah, sorry to make you worry. I guess my mom must have forgotten to call in to the school. I've got whatever it is that's been going around school."

"Are you feeling all right now, Yamada-san?" asked Tadase. "We didn't mean to disturb you if you were resting."

"Oh, no, Tadase-kun. Don't worry about it. I'm glad you guys called. I'm feeling much better than I was earlier." And that was the truth - I wasn't shaking any more, and it felt like my fever had gone down somewhat.

"Yaya thinks you should eat some ice cream! You'll feel better in no time!" Yaya said.

"Yaya, you're answer for everything is either cookies or ice cream!" Kukai said, laughing.

"That's because cookies and ice cream are yummy!" Yaya answered.

"Hey, hey, is Azami feeling OK?" I heard Ran's voice pipe up.

Azami floated closer to the phone. "I'm feeling perfectly fine." She said.

"I'm glad, desu~." Su said. "Is Miyuki-chan getting enough rest?"

"All she's done is sleep all day!" Azami said, obviously somewhat frustrated. I doubted it was much fun for her to wait around all day while I was sick. If I was feeling well enough tomorrow, I'd probably just tell her that she could leave and hang out with all the other charas at school.

"Aww, lucky! Yaya wishes that she could just stay home and sleep all day!" Yaya said.

"Do you think you'll be back tomorrow, Miyuki?" Amu asked.

I thought about it. "Maybe, but I doubt it. I don't want you guys getting sick, too. Especially not over the weekend."

We talked for a bit more after that, but soon hung up. It made me laugh how, though I was actually talking with five people (not to mention their charas), the conversation flowed so smoothly that it was as if I was just talking to just one. It emphasized just how close the whole group was. It made me feel sort of left out. Then again, it's not like they had only been talking with each other - I had just had a perfectly good conversation with them. And over the phone, no less. I usually had trouble talking comfortably over the phone, without actually being able to see who I was talking to. I doubted I would ever be quite as comfortable in the Guardians as those five were with each other. But they were still my closest friends, due to the fact that we all shared our mutual secret - our guardian characters. Even Mai, who was my best friend outside of the Guardians, couldn't quite compare because of that.

The talking had left me fatigued again, so I went back to sleep. But this time, I fell asleep with something bordering a smile on my face.

Thanks to Spring Break, I've already got another chapter out! Yay! Anyway, I just want to get you guys thinking about something. The thing is, we are nearing what I consider to be the first mini-climax of my story. It's not one of my major climaxes for the story (still exciting, though!), but it still marks a sort-of breaking point for the first part of the story. I won't say how many chapters it will take to get to this point, but it is slowly approaching. Knowing how long the story is now, and knowing that it will get longer as I add more chapters before this climax, I want you guys/girls to think about how I should continue the story. Should I just continue putting chapters under this? Or perhaps create a new story, labeling it as "A Possibility of Evil: Part 2" or something like that (hopefully with a better name than just 'part 2'). Also, I know that the story will have at least three parts to it, and perhaps four (I don't think it will go past four, though). So I just wanted everyone who reads this to start thinking about how they would like it. I'll be making a poll later. (as I've said before, this story is going to be epic in length)

Although, do note that it is all part of the same story. Even if I decide to separate it out, part two won't be like a sequel to this. It would simply be a continuation.

Thanks for reading, as always! In all truth, I'm more hyped about this story than I am excited about the anime!