Chapter Six - Heatwaves

The weather was heating up. There was no other way to put it. No longer was it mildly warm, allowing us the comfort to run through the fields we passed thought with out long sleeves shirts and pants. Now we were trying to be as still as possible with only our vests on.

The sun blared through the trees and burnt at our skin. It was bright enough to light up the entire sky and turn the leaves to a golden glare as we looked up at the trees to see if there were any rain clouds approaching at all. Unfortunately it was a cloudless sky, and the sun had taken it all as it's domain.

"That's it!" Midori suddenly cried out, letting her pack drop to the ground. She shook her hair back, then lifted her arms and pulled her vest off right in front of us all. Our eyes almost bulged out in surprise, and instinctively I leaped at her and tried to wrestle her vest back over her.

"Hey! Take it easy, Mai!" she growled. "I have underwear on!"

"You must have heatstroke!" I cried. "Does anyone have a towel or something that we can dampen?"

"Mai, I'm fine!"

Midori pushed me away and we both stood, panting heavily and sweating as our hearts pounded. With a sigh she threw the vest over her shoulders, but kept it undone.

"There? Happy now?" she asked.

I sighed. "Well, it's better than nothing I guess. Just consider yourself lucky that were all girls."

She laughed at this. "Yeah, whatever. Look, we need to find a cool spot ASAP. A lake would be really good by now."

We all turned to Yukino as she checked her map. Her eyes scanned it furiously until she stabbed a finger down with a yelp of success, leaving a tiny hole. "There's one a little way ahead, but it'll be a bit of a walk until we make it there."

"Hmm… maybe this shortcut was a good idea," Natsuki pointed out, smiling gratefully at Midori whom beamed with pride.

Nao grumbled something that was no doubt against the path we had taken, but we were getting into the habit of ignoring her now. She was definitely turning out to be the grouch of the group.

I was thrilled about the lake. I was dying for somewhere to cool off and wash this sticky heat away. It seemed that my companions were as well, as they had been pouring water down their backs with the arsenal of bottles we had packed.

Mikoto turned to me and I smiled back at her, but she was not looking forward to the break like the others. She leapt at me and clutched my hand with tears in her eyes.

"Mikoto, what's… oh yeah."

"What's 'er problemen?" Haruka asked, her eyes crossed a little as she glowered at Mikoto. It seemed she had still not recovered entirely, but she was getting better.

"She's afraid of water," I explained. "Ever since… well…" I realised then that I had not told them about the fact that mine and Mikoto's meeting was through her drowning. Knowing first aid, I had managed to resuscitate her, but this knowledge was mine and Mikoto's alone. Natsuki knew a little, but as Mikoto learnt about kissing between lovers, she never let me mention the mouth-to-mouth I had given her.

"What's the problem?" Nao asked impatiently. "Did something happen?"

I turned to Mikoto, my silence asking her for permission, but she shook her head.

I hesitated as I turned to the others. "Sorry. Maybe later. Let's just say that she had a traumatising event when she was swimming once."

We all left it at that and decided that we would still go to the lake after Haruka's desperate pleading. Mikoto would sit out and chase bugs or whatever of her activities she felt like doing whilst we enjoyed the cool. She seemed to like this idea.

"Will there be lots of fish in the shallow end?" she asked keenly.

"Probably, why?" I asked, eyeing her curiously.

She didn't say. Only this time she was suddenly excited and already taking off towards the lake.

*****

"Yukino, get rid of these bugs!"

"Yes, Haruka."

"Why is it so hot, Yukino? I thought you said the weather would be fine?"

"I'm sorry, Haruka. I must have read the wrong forecast."

"How much longer until we reach the lake? I'm boiling in these clothes!"

"Not long, Haruka. Just over this hill."

"Good… Yukino?"

"Yes, Haruka?"

"There's another fly buzzing around my head."

Yukino sighed. "I'll get it for you, Haruka."

Haruka had gained her normal sanity again, but now she was back to normal. We were all sick of her complaining as we trudged through the heat, our heads bent low as she tried to avoid looking at the sun. Yukino had been right, it was quiet a walk, but we could almost feel the cool water already as we approached the hill.

"There… we made it…" I gasped as I crawled myself to the very top of the hill like a toddler learning to walk for the first time.

The hill sloped down sharply to the great lake of water. It was a beautiful sight, and I don't mean just to the melting girls whom would find a drip of water a gorgeous thing. The lake looked so serene. It was bordered by lilies that sprouted great pink flowers, and the water looked so clear we could see the logs and branches stretching along the bottom. Around the lake was a forest of trees thinned out enough to curtain the scene.

"Holy crap," Midori muttered as she stood beside me, looking barely even worn out anymore. I swear, she went to some sort of military camp or something. Her survival level was unbelievable.

Nao agreed with her statement, her eyes lighting up with a happiness I had never seen before. As though she were in a trance, she started down the hill with her hands out in front of her, reaching for the lake.

"Heatstroke?" I asked Midori.

She shrugged. "That or stupidity.

Natsuki took a stand beside me and stared down at my suffering form. "As soon as we camp tonight you should go straight to bed. You look exhausted," she pointed out.

I struggled to my feet. "I think this'll revive me well enough," I said, eying the water below us hungrily.

"Well, do you think you have enough energy left to race me then?" the cold hearted beauty asked me, flicking her hair back as though to intimidate me.

I stared at her, wide eyed. "No way! Not to race you!"

"Too bad," she muttered. "Mikoto is up for it."

True enough, the wild girl was already bent on one knee with her eyes set on the lake with burning determination. It was amazing how quickly her mood could change from playful to serious.

I sighed and finally accepted the challenge. I would never let it down if I refused anyway.

Midori placed her hand in front of us, counted down, gave me a secret wink, then we were off, racing down the hill at full speed towards the lake. My feet almost flew over the ground as I lost my steps many times, but I always found the ground again safely. Mikoto was behind me, and Natsuki in front. I put more speed into my run and managed to catch up with Natsuki. She turned to me and gave me a look of surprise at my sudden burst of energy. I did not know myself where it had come from. I guess when you are low on the stuff, it goes out with a bang.

"Look out for me!" Mikoto came rushing in between us like a bullet. She was a blur in my eyes before she finally disappeared.

"What?" Natsuki gasped. She put in another spurt of speed and chased after the girl, as always desperate to win, but I had reached my limit by this point and ended the race panting and stumbling to the bottom of the hill where I collapsed into a heap.

"I'm beating you, Yukino!"
"I can see that, Haruka!"

Haruka and Yukino ran straight past me without even stopping. I groaned and tried to help myself pitifully, but a hand took my shoulder and heaved me up.

"Easy does it," Midori muttered as she put me on my feet again. "You over did it big time."

I sighed. "It was a challenge from Natsuki. How could I not accept?"

Midori understood this as she too could not back down when it came to the cocky youth. "Come on, let's get her back," she offered, and we headed down across the soft ground to the water.

It was all mud around the lake, meaning that it was thick with the cool water. I kicked my shoes off and flung my vest to the side as I let the cool mush sink into my toes. The other girls were already stripping into their underwear and diving into the water. I made sure that Mikoto was in the shallows, chasing down the fish that she had been waiting eagerly for, before I too stepped into the lake water.

The soothing cold of the water seeped into my skin and I let out a gasp at the unexpected change from heat to cold. Beside me, Midori was almost like a fish. As soon as she slipped beneath the surface she was fine with the temperature and glided along the water's surface in a graceful swim. I stayed at the edge of the lake, Pressing my back to the rough rocky side and trying to adapt to the cold.

Nao was already on the opposite side of the lake, stretched out on her back and floating with a content smile on her face. In the centre, Natsuki and Midori were now trying to out swim each other as Midori sought vengeance for me, whilst Haruka cheered on whomever she felt was bothering her the least at that moment.

"Hey Mai, how was the run?"

I looked up to see Yukino smiling at me. She looked so adorable and innocent in her butterfly underwear that I almost cuddled her. Instead I turned away and pouted. "Well I won't have any energy to get out of this lake once we leave, that's for sure."

She laughed lightly and waded beside me, our shoulders touching gently. "That's alright, I'll help you out," she said.

We bonded quiet well, me and Yukino. After the troubles the carnival had given us, there had been a bit of an awkward wedge between us. After all, she had lost it at one point from the fear of losing Haruka and tried to kill me. But as the days went on our shattered friendship began to repair, and now we were completely fine in each other's company.

As we spoke about the journey I was taking to recover from my mental instability (to put it technically), we laughed and watched Haruka and Natsuki argue about the space that was being taken up.

"You stay on that side!" Haruka yelled, pointing.

"That sounds like an order!" Natsuki yelled back, balling up her fists.

Midori stepped into it all as an officer. "Girls, girls, enough bickering! We should be relaxing and cooling off, not taking a swipe at each other's throats!"

Of course, they just went on fighting as they always did. There was no stopping them once things got heated up.

I groaned as I watched them fighting. "Do they always have to be like this?"

Yukino giggled at the sight of them acting like children. "At least it keeps them busy. Trust me, a bored Haruka is much harder to handle than an arguing Haruka. Believe it or not, she is actually happy when she has someone to bicker with, so I think this trip will be good for her."

"Wow. So she's actually having a good time?"

"Yeah. Doesn't seem like it, huh?"

She screamed out and punched a fist into the water furiously as Natsuki still refused to move. "Not in the least," I replied.

Padded feet came up being us and we both turned to see Mikoto dragging a large fish behind her. It left a wet trail in the mud and still flipped every now and then as it begged for water.

Over the time I had spent with Mikoto I had grown used to her habits of shocking me like this. I simply stared and asked her what on earth she was doing with it.

"I'm showing what a good fisher I am," she said proudly, lifting up the fist above her head. "See how big it is Mai?"

"Yeah, I see it," I laughed.

"Oh, Mikoto, you really are a one of a kind. What are you going to do with it now, though? Set it free?" Yukino asked, staring over the tops of her glasses at the giant animal

The wild girl laughed out loud. "No! This is dinner!"

"Oh, so you know how to cook now?" I asked.

Mikoto blinked mindlessly. "Cook?"

"… Eww…" I muttered.

Another voice had joined the argument in the middle of the lake now. Nao had become sick of her silence being bothered by the pair and was giving them a piece of her mind. Haruka and Natsuki momentarily joined forces to repel her insults, and Midori just gave up. She swam back to us, shaking her head as she went.

"I swear, if those three end up trying to kill each other, I'm not sorting it out," she muttered a she pulled up to the edge beside me.

"Do you even know what they're fighting about anymore?" I asked, watching them as they reached the next level of domestic violence and began splashing each other.

"No idea," Midori muttered. "Something about breathing the same air I suppose."

"Hey Midori! Look at my big fish!"

As Midori examined Mikoto's sushi style dinner that she held like a trophy in her hands, I began to notice some differences in Haruka. For starters, she was starting to keep her voice a little lower. It wasn't that she was doing it on purpose. She just seemed to lack the energy to do it. I could tell by the redness of her face that she had a lot more to say, but she would choke on her words. Also, her hands were tight at her sides. I could see at least a metre down from the surface of the water because of the clearness, and they were shaking as she balled them up. An expression crossed her face that I had not seen in a while.

Fear.

I subconsciously took a step away from the edge of the lake towards her as though to get a closer look. She was panicking quiet a bit now. She looked away from the group to the surface of the water, and seemed unable to speak. She gave a tiny shudder, then her eyes searched out Yukino. Unfortunately her friend was not paying attention, so Haruka turned back to Natsuki and Nao and tried her best to keep on fighting. Little did she seem to know that she looked utterly terrible.

Natsuki noticed as she began to cool down. She stared at Haruka for a few seconds, then asked, "What's wrong?"

Haruka looked struck as though a secret had just been discovered. "W-what do you mean?" she asked shakily.

"You're trembling," Natsuki pointed out. "Water too cold for you?" Now she was teasing.

Haruka was about to yell, but again the words died and her eyes glazed over.

Now Nao and Natsuki were scared.

"Haruka?" Nao gasped, swimming a little closer. "You alright?"

Natsuki started to swim towards me and Midori, sensing that something was very wrong with the girl. She called out Midori's name, but she was out of the water and poking the fish with Mikoto. She called out Yukino's name this time, and as soon as the dozing girl looked up and saw Haruka I could tell that she knew exactly what was going on.

Haruka gave a final stutter of words at Nao before she sank beneath the surface.

"Haruka!" Yukino screamed.

Now Midori was paying attention. She didn't need to be told what had happened. The missing member told her exactly what she needed to know, and she dove into the water like a dolphin. Meanwhile Nao had disappeared as well. I had not even seen what had happened to her.

"Haruka!" Yukino was in hysterics. She tried to dive beneath, but Natsuki pulled her back up a moment later.

"Leave it to Midori, Yukino!" she ordered, leading the shaking girl back over to me where I cuddled her to calm her down. I would not question her about what had happened to Haruka yet. That could wait until she could at least breathe without hyperventilating. At that moment it took both me and Natsuki to hold her back against the edge of the lake to stop her from going after her friend.

"Mai, what happened?" Mikoto asked, standing behind me, her fish now discarded.

"Just wait," I said quietly, waiting for one of the three girl's to surface. This couldn't happen. Not so early in our journey. I could feel the fear seeping into my bones and became unaware of everything. My sorrows began to build again and that place I hated the most caged around me again.

"Mai!"

Natsuki's voice came like a slap and I turned to see Nao and Midori surfacing with Haruka held between them. She was limp and her head was hanging back. It did not take a genius to see that she was not conscious. I only hoped that she was breathing at the least.

Yukino let out a strangled cry and rushed at her friend, but Natsuki and I held her back and dragged her out of the water.

"Mikoto, keep her here," I commanded.

The young girl knew that something serious was going on now and clutched Yukino around the waist. "Okay Mai!"

As Midori and Nao reached the shore, both I and Natsuki helped to drag Haruka out of the water. All four of us heaved her to a patch of dried mud where we laid her down.

"What the hell happened to her?" Nao asked, showing a panicky side that we had rarely seen. She looked over to Yukino for answers, but she was staring at Haruka's face silently, tears running down her cheeks.

"Mai, you know first aid, right?" Natsuki asked, though it sounded more demanding than she realised. There was worry clouding in her eyes as well and I felt that it was my job not to disappoint the entire group at this point.

I told them all to back off and give me room. They reacted immediately and circled me and Haruka, making me feel a little more as the centre of attention. For the first time I felt it extremely nerve racking.

Haruka was not breathing, that was evident as I examined her life signs. Her heart was beating lightly, but not enough to keep her alive for much longer. I forced myself to concentrate on the task at hand and not the fact of anything else. The world around me disappeared and I bent over the council leader, memories of Mikoto rushing back to me. Trying not to think that, and also the true possibility that Haruka may come back on her own accord at any moment and slap me in the face forgetting this close to her, I opened her mouth and gave her my breath.

There was tense silence as I pulled away from her and waited to hear her breathing for herself. Of course she didn't, just as my luck would have it, and I pressed my lips to hers again, giving her what life I could.

I could hear the whispers of the others around as they waited eagerly.

"I can't believe this," Midori muttered.

Natsuki seemed to be comforting Yukino. "She'll be okay. You know more than all of us how strong she is."

"Hey, did her hand just move?" Nao asked quietly.

I glanced down towards her hand to see if it was true when strong hands gripped my shoulders and shoved me back roughly. I fell into Midori's waiting arms as Haruka coughed and spluttered back to life. Yukino rejoiced and threw herself into her friend's arms.

I was so shocked that I couldn't even speak. It took me a moment to realise that Midori was sitting me down on the ground and smiling at me.

"Well done," she congratulated.

For a reason I was not totally sure of, I didn't feel proud of myself at all. It was hard to be happy at a time like this, but harder for me when the feeling was becoming more alien to me as the days went by.

Yukino was still crying as she held her arms tightly around Haruka, sobbing out, "Don't you ever do that again!"

Haruka sighed and hugged her friend back, her smile weak as her body cried out for sleep.

I leaned over and tried to pull Yukino back a little. "Easy. She needs a lot of rest. Be gentle with her," I explained, patting her on the back a little as a source of comfort.

"Looks like you could do with some rest as well, Mai. Looks like that took everything out of you," Nao pointed out as she approached. To my surprise, she offered her hand to help me up. She looked as serious as ever, but I noticed a tiny suspicious smile appearing on her face as she realised my shock.

Nevertheless, I took her hand and she pulled me up to my feet. I swayed on the spot as soon as I was standing for stars were circling my head. My heart beat at a level of speed it had never reached before and I collapsed into Nao's arms. I expected her to push me away as her instinct often demanded, but instead she held onto me and demanded Natsuki's help.

With the pair of them hoisting me up by the arms and Haruka clearly out of it for the night, Midori decided that it would be best to set up camp here. It had not been a day full of progression, but we had definitely had enough experiences to bring it to a dramatic finish.

I could not remember when I had fallen asleep, but the next thing I knew I was waking up with a jacket that did not belong to me covering me up to the shoulders. I shuddered in the suddenly cool wind and turned my head to see a burning fire some metres away. There sat Natsuki, Midori, Mikoto, and Nao. They all turned to me as I groaned and pulled myself up.

"Hey, Mai! I could use my jacket now that you're awake!" Midori called, waving her arm in the air.

It was night-time now. The stars glittered in the velvet sky and the moon was so bright that I had to squint to see it well enough. It lit up the lake beautifully, making to seem almost magical. I stared at it for some time before Midori called to me again and I stumbled over weakly to drop the jacket into her lap.

"You're looking a little better," Natsuki said as she handed me a plate of, can you believe it, fish.

I looked to Mikoto to make sure it was okay for me to be eating her meal, and she gave me a nod. "It's okay. I already ate my piece."

"Yeah, raw," Nao explained, shooting her a look of disgust.

To save my stomach, I tried not to think about it.

My mind was reeling as I tried to remember what had happened. The events that had taken place whirled past in such a mix that I couldn't tell them apart. There was the lake, that was obvious seeing as it was right next to us, but something had happened. Mikoto had caught a fish. Maybe that was it? No. There was a sickening put in my stomach, and it only grew deeper as I realised that neither Yukino nor Haruka were dining with us at the fire.

I turned around to find that during my unconsciousness the group had set up a rough camp. Three tents had been pitches already. Two were small, and the larger one would house three people. Around them were other packs that had been discarded. A light burned outside of the largest tent, bathing them all with light as to lead us there when the fire was out, and I could se a brighter light coming from inside one of the smaller tents. Yukino and Haruka resided inside, I assumed. But why? What had happened?

I turned to find the others watching me anxiously.

"You really should eat," Midori said, pushing the plate of food in my hands closer to me. "Trust me, it'll do you good. Mikoto already told us that you haven't been eating a lot due to your… emotional state."

"She's right," Nao agreed, and I felt this was not the first time she had surprised me that night. I stared at her curiously and she seemed almost to sink back to avoid my gaze.

Natsuki seemed to understand my thoughts. "Yeah, she's changed incase you're wondering," she said, beginning to laugh. "Turns out she's not such an ogre after all!"

"Hey!" Nao growled. "Just cause I did a couple of nice things doesn't make me a pansy or anything!"

"She didn't say you were a pansy," Midori pointed out, picking her teeth lazily with her nails to scrape out the fish.

Nao pouted. "Sure sounded like it," she muttered.

Now my head felt as though it would explode trying to work things out. "Okay, what happened?" I asked worriedly. "I can hardly remember anything!"

Apparently it was no surprise to them. Midori explained that it was an overload of emotion that caused me to pass out, not just from a lack of energy.

Once the logical reason for my short amnesia was clear, Midori continued with the explanation.

"You remember the heat, right, and finding this lake?" That much I did remember, but the rest was a blur… apart from Mikoto's fish. "Ooookay, that's… interesting…"

Mikoto was in hysterics on the ground, clearly over the moon that I remembered her catch.

Nao gave a great sigh. "You're too slow, Midori!" she growled, taking over. "After we found the lake you and Yukino were at the side… I don't know why. There wasn't anything wrong with the water." I couldn't explain, so she went on. "Anyway, I was arguing with Haruka and Natsuki (she glared at the dark haired youth at her side) when Haruka started having heart troubles. She passed out and-"

"And Nao dove in to save her!" Natsuki cried out, laughing as Nao blushed and turned away with a scowl on her face.

Midori smiled at the so called 'ogre'. "We're really proud of you Nao. Diving straight after her was heroic."

"Well I couldn't just leave her like that," Nao muttered. "I'm not a sick, twisted weirdo."

"Well you were very brave," Midori pressed, trying to set her off a little this time.

I turned towards the tent as a part of the story lingered in my mind. "She has heart problems?"

"Yeah, Yukino told us afterwards," Mikoto explained as she crawled over to me and rested her head on my knee like a cat. "I wonder if it's painful."

"Hmm… she's not having a lot of luck, is she?" I said sadly. "Maybe it's not such a good idea she came."

"She's alright," Natsuki said. "Only maybe you should avoid her for a little while." Suddenly she couldn't look me in the eye.

I realised that there was a part of the story missing then. "What do you mean? What happened after she fainted?"

Midori tried not to laugh and wrapped things up. "Well, I would have given her CPR, but you kinda took over and gave her mouth to mouth. She started to come round during the process, and, well, after she coughed up, and you fainted-"

"Right into me, might I add," Nao grumbled.

"Yeah, well, she went a little nuts, yelling things like 'a girl kissed me!" and such." Midori couldn't look at me at all now, but I didn't blame her.

"She's over reacting," Natsuki said to try and cheer me up as I lowered my head. "You were saving her life. She should be grateful!"

"Don't worry about it," I muttered, looking down at Mikoto whom was suddenly just as quiet as I was. This trip was turning out to be horrible. Not only was Haruka growing colder to everyone and the weather was turning against us, but I was seeing shadows in the trees, we were all arguing with each other, and one of us had almost died. How was this supposed to cure me?

All eyes were on me now, and I was not in the mood for it. I pulled myself to my feet and headed of towards one of the smaller tents, mumbling behind me, "I'm going to bed."

I felt their eyes on my back as they all watched me go.

"Is Mai going to be okay?" Mikoto asked as she wondered whether to go after me or not.

"She'll be fine," Midori convinced the girl. Her eyes kept on me even as I disappeared into the tent. "She just needs a bit of a cheering up session I think."

Little did I know that the girls outside at the camp fire were about to take Midori seriously for once.

Very seriously