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PS: I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TO RE-READ CHAPTER 6 AND 7, I MADE SOME CHANGES THERE, CONSIDERING SOME CRITICS AND REVIEWS. (SORRY ABOUT THE INCONVENIENCE, BUT I REALLY HAD TO RE-WRITE IT!)

;] KEEP TELLING ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT PLEASE,

I REALLY APRECIATE IT. ;]

BUT IF YOU JUST READ THOSE CHAPTERS, JUST IGNORE THIS NOTE :D

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Note: I do not own any character described here!

There will probably be some grammar mistakes, so don't hate me for it, please, instead be helpful and tell me what is wrong, besides, like I said on my profile, English is not my original language, I just like it and want to practice it! ;)

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--- chapter 8 ---

At night, we watched some movies eating popcorn and drinking coke in my bed, but even before the movie ends Lenalee fell asleep. I though it kind of funny, she looked like a little girl who can barely see a movie to the end.

Soon as the movie finished, I got up carefully so I wouldn't wake her. I said "excuse me", and opened her backpack to get the white pot with her medicine, and placed it over the drawer beside the bed. I turned off the light, but without closing the door I went to the living room to get myself some sleep as well.

This would be her first night here, and being aware of her presence left me uneasy, so I couldn't sleep properly.

And as expected, I woke in the middle of the night with the sound of her purse.

I ran to the room as fast as I could. I lit the lamp and then I sat on the bed next to her. I took the green pasta and undo her pajamas to almost reveal her breasts.

I rushed to pass the ointment on her. I got shocked when I touched her effervescent skin. I looked at her face and realized she was completely wet, and shaking. So I carefully passed it on her. This time I felt strange doing it. It was as if I was corrupting her with my very own hands on her wheezing chest. Her strong and hot breath made me become more hectic than I should. And she also looked at me differently. She was fighting against the air that didn't wanted to get inside her lungs, but she was looking at me as if it was against herself with whom she was fighting with. It was hard to see her like that, I wanted to do something else to help her, but she could only depend on herself.

I kept massaging her chest for a while as her breathing returned to normal. She was holding the sheets strongly as if not so, she would fall. It was strange to realize how fragile a life could be. To think that such a tiny little thing as a virus, almost invisible, could cause such a disaster. I just can't understand that. We should be stronger than that. Why do we have do go through this?

'Why does she has to go through this?'

I used to think that we all have what we deserve in life, but I don't believe that anymore. I mean, how could such a little inoffensive girl like her, deserves this disease? It's unacceptable.

She made a sign appointing at her back, while trying to sit with great effort. I helped her but I couldn't decipher what she wanted.
She then takes the pot with that precious pasta, which without she wouldn't survive the rest of the night, and tries to reach her backs still wheezing.
"Oh… do you want me to pass it on your back too??"
She shook her head positively.

I helped her to turn around a bit so I could reach it.
While I was passing that pasta melting on her burning skin, she also coughed a few times. I got worried she might get a cold, so I covered her chest with a blanket, since I was using her back.

When I finished the task, I put her lying back in bed again. I looked at her face to see how she was, but she diverted her eyes to look away from me with a certain tension in her face. I found it strange. Her breathing was back to normal after some time, but her body was rigid and tense. I thought it might have something to do with the fever. Perhaps she was feeling some muscle pain. And I noticed that she had closed her little wrists. So I got her left hand to try to alleviate her possible pain and tension and show her that I was there and would not leave. But she kept pressuring that hand tight so I wouldn't open it, as if she was hiding something from me. I looked at her intrigued, wondering what happened, but she ignored me with those cold eyes she had put on her face.

'There is something is wrong'

"Lenalee… what happened?" I asked her, but received no reply. Her silence seemed rude and weird at the same time. I could not think of any reasonable reason for that reaction of hers. A second ago everything seemed all right between us, until I turned her around to face me again, and she would have transformed, or maybe she was possessed.
I passed my hand around her arms hoping to make her relax, and realized that only one of her hands was contracted.

'She is definitely hiding something'

Again I held her hand and kissed it to calm her, and quickly, without her expecting me to do something, I forced her to open it. I felt bad for doing so, as if I had taken advantage of her weakness - which was exactly what I did - but I had to know what was going on so I could help her. There was no other solution, since she was avoiding eyes contact with me. Besides, I have promised Komui that I would take care of her.
A red stain was soiling her hand.

I looked at her face that was now looking kind of scared or maybe angry at the ceiling, I really couldn't decide which was. I looked up, but there was nothing besides my lamp, as it should be. So that's when I realized that that was no ordinary stain on her hand, but blood.
"Lenalee… where did you hurt your hand? Why were you hiding it from me?" I got up and went to the bathroom to get my first aid kit I keep in the cabinet.
Once back, I wiped out the stain with gauzes I had. But there were no cuts. There was nothing to justify the blood on her hand.
I looked at her without understanding it.
"Where are you hurt, Lenalee?" I worried to every word I said taking knowledge that could be something worse than just a hand cut.

"It's nothing… thank you for helping me, now go sleep" she wasn't even looking at me. And that was proving me that there really is something!

"Please Lenalee, tell me so I can help you"

I saw that she intended to say something, probably to reject my help again, but her cough came up again.
Seeing her cover her mouth with her hands, made my thoughts become as clear as water in a glass.
"Oh no… are you coughing blood, Lenalee?"
She got upset for me discovering the truth she was hiding for some reason.

'It wasn't like that the last time I saw her'

On second thought, she didn't needed that green pasta on her back either.

And then Komui's voice hit in my ears saying she had worsened.

'But she was so well a few hours ago as always had been… nothing seemed to have changed'

I felt my heart accelerate and fear consume me. A fear that made my stomach hurt. And a strange feeling I couldn't understand what was it telling me.

'How could I be so careless?'

I was sure that if Komui knew about my recklessness, he would take off my head without a single remorse or pity.

A lot of thoughts came in washing my mind with worries and anguish. My hands and feet started to sweat cold. I knew I was looking at her face, but I couldn't see her, because my brain wouldn't process the image. I couldn't focus my mind in a single thought. I was panicking.

I didn't know for how long I spent like that, but after an eternity –what it seemed to me - the warm touch of her hand on my face made me wake up from myself. She was looking at me now. Kindly. As if she could understand the anguish I was feeling. She seemed to tell me not to worry 'but how, Lenalee?' that's what I wanted her to answer me.

I stood up and left the room. I felt like a robot that automatically went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water without a word said. I also got a box of medicines that Lavi prepared for me. Since I'm careless, I often cut myself with something, fall into any hole, or catch a cold easily. Several times I had to call him in the middle of the night, because I was delirious with a high fever. He was my private nurse. Actually, he is also my cook and janitor. My savior.

'I am careless' that thought stabbed me. How could someone, who can barely take care of himself, would take care of someone else?

'Calm down, calm down Allen' I realized I have made promises I couldn't keep and now was too late to turn back.

'What was I thinking? I'm really stupid' I hate when I don't think before acting.

I left the box next to the pot on her table beside the bed. I took off an antipyretic and gave it to her with the glass of water to help her to swallow it.
"Thank you… "
"You don't have to thank me every time" I held firm her hand. I had no idea of what I was doing anymore.
"…You are going to be ok, I promise you" I began to wonder how much power do I have to make things happen. In tribunals, I rarely lost, but I feared that this situation was a little out of my control.

Her eyes were closing with exhaustion. I imagine that it really must be tiring to do all that effort she had to do to get some air inside those lungs that insisted rejecting oxygen.
Carefully I rose up from the bed to return to my couch which would be colder than ever.
"Stay" I heard her request that barely came out. She asked holding my hand, although her eyes were still closed.
"O…Ok"
I turned around and laid at the same place that I was before while we watched the movie, which I can't even remember the name anymore.
That side of the bed was warm. Absurdly warm.
She seemed a child now sleeping quietly, as if nothing had happened.

'Maybe I'm just over reacting' I put my head over her shoulder and hugged her tight.

The next day I woke in the middle of the bed occupying all the space and drooling everywhere as usual. I looked to my watch still sleepy. It was 12:45 pm. She must have awakened at 6 am as always. My body felt heavy. I turned to the other side and covered my face with my sheets. But right after I was thinking about what could she been up to since she got up. The image of her bloody hand came soon after. And as if I had taken a shock in my spine, I stand up and looked for her in the apartment.
She was in the kitchen washing the dishes. The delicious smell of food she was preparing on the stove filled my nostrils with happiness and satisfaction.
"Good morning!" She greets me with a smile on her face.
"Hey..."
"I made curry! Do you like it?"

'Ohhh yes' Curry was the symbol of happiness in my head. It brings joy and satisfaction to your brain with each element containing the chopstick you take into your mouth slowly savoring that wonderful combination of nutrients. Making your day happier.
"I Love it" I just said.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face. The image that reflected in the mirror above the sink scared me. I was facing a scarecrow, and a really terrible one. My hair was unbelievable 'If only they were black' I thought.
After I brushed my teeth and put down my hair, as if guessing that I was passing by it, the phone rings in the living room.

"We're coming!" Lavi said soon as I answered.

"Ok" I thought it strange. He usually sleeps all day on weekends and only works at night just like a bat.
Once I hang up the phone the door bell rings.
"Unbelievable! If you were already there, then why did you called instead just knock on the door?" I asked as I opened the front door.
"This stupid rabbit forgot to make sure that you were at home" Kanda said entering first.
"And if you were sleeping, wouldn't be anymore after answering the phone, right?" concludes the redhead with a smile on his face thinking of himself as the smartest person on earth.
"Look at that… aren't you clever?" I said ironically.
"Thanks… I think so too"

After some sniffs around, Lavi went to the kitchen. Kanda and I saw him fossilize at the door to notice something there. Soon he turns around.

"What is she doing here already?" He whispered.
"She is going to be here for a while" I answered whispering.
"What?" Both Lavi and Kanda yelled.
"Shiiiiiiii! I'll explain later, just keep quiet"
Lenalee then appears in the room.
"Allen, will your friends stay for lunch?"
"No" "Yes"

I said no and stupid Bakanda said yes at same time. I looked at him disapprovingly, but he didn't even looked at me. He just went to the kitchen saying that the smell was very good.

I asked myself what would he be up to.
"Come'on Allen, I made enough food for all of us" Lenalee says as coming back into the kitchen following the stupid girly haired.

Kanda and Lavi helped to settle the table, and lunch was served. We merely touched our food and Lavi started to shoot questions at her. I got impressed to how easily he was making those question that even I didn't had the nerve to ask her.
"Where are you from? Do you work? Have siblings? Where are your parents? What do they do? Do you like sports? Have any kids? A husband?" For the last two questions I had some interest in the answer, but even before I did it, Kanda kicked Lavi's leg under the table to make him stop with the stupid questions. Obviously he wasn't delicate, so it was apparent to all of us what he had done, while as if nothing had happened, he just continued eating lively.

A strange and disturbing silence surrounded the table for long minutes.
"This food is really good" Kanda said at last with his mouth full.
"Thank you" she timidly replied.
We ate until there was nothing left in the pan, to prove who like it more. It was weird, but for some reason the three of us seemed to want to impress her by proving who liked her cooking more.

We all helped her cleaning everything in some way.
Lavi washed the dishes, as Kanda was drying it and then passed it to Lenalee to put them on their proper place.
As for me, only left the difficult task of watch them standing at my kitchen's door.

Soon as they finished everything, Lavi suggested we could see a movie. I felt really bothered because they didn't seem to make any plans to leave so soon. So as he was looking for a movie tape at my shelf with her, I pulled Kanda's hair dragging him to my room. From there we could hear them laugh, having fun together mocking the stupid movies I had.

"What are you doing? Don't you intend to leave?" I didn't wanted to seem rude, but whatever, it was Kanda whom I was talking to anyway. He is the king of rudeness, I'm sure he wouldn't mind it.

"Idiot! I didn't even wanted to come here in first place! It was the second idiot one that dragged me here, because he was dying insane to ask you about that woman… and by the way, what the hell is going on with you? You have missing work, and turned off your cell phone"

"And since when do you care what I do or not?" I said scratching my head.

"I care since you left us more work to do, and left me to hear that idiot's worries about you, damn it!"

"Ohhh poor you, I bet you were better without me there anyway, having all kissed by Lavi weren't you?" I wasn't jealous or anything, I just wanted to mock him with the images I had pictured of them in my head, but I had to step back because suddenly he got taller and stronger - just like Hercules should be - with my teasing. Kanda let out a noise that sounded just like a dog's snarl. And with that ugly moody face of his, he quickly returned to the main room. I did the same.

"Come'on stupid eye patch, have you forgot we have something to do?" that was the idea Kanda came up with to save me. He pulled Lavi through his ear dragging him to the door, as Lavi moans in pain.

"What are you doing? What do we have to do?"

"You have to pay me something!"

"What?"

BANG! – the door was closed.

---End---

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