Yo~ I'm hot and there's a fly buzzing around my head and pissing me off. Life is horrible xD But that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy the chapter! :D Review~

Shugo Chara belongs to Peach-Pit, blah blah blah. I'm getting sick of writing this xD

Warnings for: KUUKARI FLUFF (You may die, and sorry waterdragon, no action here either xD), devious siblings, some indirect kissing and mis-dialing!

The Colours of Love: Chapter 8

Sick

After playing a whopping five hours of video games straight, Unkai finally kicked Arisa out of his room and forced her to bed.

As she entered the dark room, she found Kuukai in a deep slumber on his bed. She glanced at the clock and finally realized how late it actually was, changed her clothes and went to sleep as well.

That morning, she woke up facing Kuukai's bed, but to her surprise she found Suusui and Rento kneeling by his bed and a rolled up towel sitting on Kuukai's forehead. She grumbled a bit in her sleep, and then sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey guys…what's going on?"

The two immediately looked over at her, then reverted back to Kuukai.

"He has a fever, so he's going to have to stay home today," Suusui reported while holding the towel down onto the youngest sibling's forehead.

Arisa dangled her legs off the bed and stared worriedly at Kuukai, who was lying almost lifelessly on the bed, his face flushed and sweat lining his brow.

"The problem," Rento continued for his brother, "is that the three of us have exams today and we can't miss it. Plus, mom's at a meeting and already left."

For a moment Arisa just stared at him.

"So…you're saying you want me to stay home and make sure he stays alive?" Arisa asked.

Rento replied with a smile, "Basically."

Just then, Unkai entered the room with a tray covered in rags, a tissue box, a mug filled with water and a small bottle of medication. He walked past them and placed it on the night stand next to his bed.

"So Arisa-chan, you're willing to stay home with him?" Unkai asked, being able to hear the conversation from the stairs.

She nodded, causing her pigtails to bob back and forth. After brushing the bangs from her face she turned to the clock. "Shouldn't you guys be getting ready for school or…something?"

Suusui had already left the room, then knocked on the door, wearing a navy blue tie with a plain white dress shirt and a similar navy jacket in his hand along with a grey book bag. "Are you two coming or not?"

The duo growled at him and rushed out of the room, into their own to prepare for school.

After gobbling down breakfast, Rento quickly scribbled down directions for Arisa for taking care of Kuuklai and handed it to her. Unaki pulled a pair of black and scarlet roller blades from the closet and fastened them to his feet.

"I'll let your teacher know you won't be in, the same with Kuukai," he reported, fastening the final buckle on the skates.

Arisa gave a curt nod, then waved them off as they all filed out through the door. After locking it, she walked into the kitchen and picked up the instructions they had left her, written messily on a teal sticky note.

Her eyes ran through each sentence carefully, then suddenly widened at the end, Give him a kiss and maybe he'll feel a lot better! A furious blush reached her cheeks as she scoffed, ignoring the growing feeling in her stomach. "What an idiot…"

Suddenly, she heard a familiar groaning coming from the upstairs bedroom. She rushed up the stairs, with the note in her hand. Arisa skidded to a stop when she entered the room, finding Kuukai rolled over onto his stomach, and his head turned to the side to breath.

A muffled grunt came from the boy as he turned his head a bit to look over at her, caused her to smile. She took a few steps across the room and knelt down next to him.

"Roll over, idiot," Arisa laughed, pushing on hi side, until he was lying on his back again.

She placed her cool palm on his forehead, resting it there for a while. Finally she removed it, and placed a fresh cloth in replacement. She stared down at him, who stared back. Her eyes darted back and forth uncomfortably, when she suddenly asked, "So…do you need anything?"

He thought for a moment, then glanced over at the trey, instantly noticing the lack of food. His lips tugged upwards into a smile, "Food. I am starving!"

Arisa's faced flushed. Food was not exactly her specialty. The last time she tried cooking, she nearly killed herself…along with about everything within 5 kilometres of her house.

"Food…food. Right, food., I got it. Just…wait right here, I'll be back soon."

She nervously shuffled out of the room and down the stairs. Once she entered the kitchen, her eyes darted looking around for the one thing she knew how to make; pancakes.

She dove for the familiar cupboard, prying them open, her eyes scanning through each item.

Peanut butter, popcorn, random spices, ominously un-labelled bottles, some packs of sugar, a small jug of honey, and…lots of other things. But sadly, there was no pancake mix in sight. She dug past the contents of the cupboard, but set herself back onto the floor, empty-handed.

After rifling through the contents of the fridge, she flumped down, into a sitting position and leaned against the wall, admitting her defeat to the kitchen. She let loose a deep sigh, then thought even harder. After a while her thought somehow swerved to memories of Hiro.

She thought about how they first met.

-

Six year old Arisa had been sent on a simple errand to pick up some items from the store, after moving into her new home no less than a week ago. But lacking the sense of direction her father had, and which she sadly didn't inherit, she got lost.

After wandering the streets she heard voices and shouts coming from the park.

A group of about six boys were gathered and chasing after a ball, rolling through each of their legs.

Arisa's hair had been down at the time, and was blown every which way because of the wind. She put her hands in her pockets and approached them. For a moment she just watched, then called out to them.

The boys stopped playing for a second, and stared at her. Arisa smiled brightly while they just continued staring. Finally one of them, the oldest she guessed, spoke out, "What do you want?"

"Can I play?" Arisa had played hockey at school in her old neighbourhood and was quite good at it.

Just before the dark haired boy could respond, one of his 'subordinates' spoke out, "No way! Girls can't play hockey!"

This exclamation obviously caused uproar between the boys, directed at the young girl.

"Go home and play with your dolls!"

"You'd just loose and cry!"

"Just leave us alone!"

Eventually the shouts and disagreements became harsher and harsher, and then finally the sharp blast of a whistle was heard coming from the oldest boy, maybe nine, if not older.

All the heads of the younger boys swiftly turned to look at him, immediately halting their yells.

"Look, we just never played ball hockey with any girls before," He began, crossing his arms and giving a sympathetic look. But suddenly his stare hardened as he continued, "But we do enjoy a challenge once in a while."

A smirk tugged the corners of his lips, as he signalled one of the other boys over, who carried two hockey sticks in his hands and handed them to him.

"My name is Hiro Atashni, and if you want to play with us, you're going to have to get the ball past me and into the net." A tennis ball was dropped in between them and Arisa took the hockey stick in her small nimble fingers. She cracked her knuckles and positioned her hands, grasping the wooden stick.

Hiro noticed a mischievous glint in her eyed as she eyes his camoflaudge hat.

"I'm Hoshiwa Arisa, and if I do get it in, I get to play, and I get your hat." He smirked and nodded, readying himself.

Cheers of all the other males surrounded the duo as they faced off. She glanced past him at the goalie, who readied himself as well.

She pulled the ball slightly closer to her, signally the beginning of the showdown. For a split second, she glanced upwards at him, being several; inches shorter than the boy. Suddenly, with a quick flick of the wrist, she manoeuvred the stick to flick the ball into the air, until it was about as high as her shoulder.

Hiro's turquoise eyes widened at the sudden movement, and attempted to block it with his hand, but was a second too late when she hit the ball with the hilt of her stick, sending it flying over his shoulder.

Arisa swerved around him, following the ball, then readied for a shot. She noticed the older boy approach her from behind, about the take the ball from her, but she sharply turned, sending the boy stumbling as she finally swung at the ball, sending it whizzing past the goalie and into the net.

And in that epic moment, Arisa gained her right, her pride…and a new hat that she always wore, just for the sake of reminding him how he had lost that day.

-

"Yo! What's taking you so long?"

The sudden noise caused Arisa to flinch and suddenly cry out, "Hiro?!" since she had been thinking about him for the past, who knows how long. Kuukai stared, dumbfounded as her cheek tinted pink.

"I…uh…never mind."

He stared at her with a look of confusion plastered on his face. After a long silence, he finally asked her, "Isn't Hiro your boyfriend or something from your hometown?"

Her eyes flared angrily at him, "Freakit Kuukai; he's not my boyfriend!"

Arisa's sudden outburst caused him to flinch and take a cautious step back. Her eyes glared into his, with her teeth clenched and her hands balled into fists.

Suddenly her glare softened and her ferocious expression dissolved and she quietly mumbled and apology as she brought her knees up to her face.

Kuukai sat down next to her, leaning against the cupboard behind her. "Nah, I should be the one who's sorry. I guess it was a sensitive topic."

Arisa let loose a small laugh, "Everything about me having a boyfriend is a sensitive topic," she looked up at him, being about half a head shorter than him, "Just to let you know."

They sat together in silence, but when Kuukai was supposed to say something, Arisa cut him off, "You know it's all because of Hiro that I'm here right now, telling you this?"

Kuukai cocked a confused brow at her and she smiled dreamily, her eyes glazing over, "If I were never challenged to that hockey challenge of his, I might've ended up like…like," she snickered, "Like Saaya."

She watched Kuukai shiver at the thought, while she continued, "And after I creamed that loser, I hung out with him and his buddies everyday. That led to my hair never being down, since we played sports all the time, using boyish clothes and eventually, receiving Hiro's hand-me-downs."

"What about your mom? She seems pretty keen on getting you to be feminine." Kuukai stated.

Arisa's smile disappeared, "She never like Hiro to begin with. Once, she banned me from ever seeing him again."

Kuukai's green eyes widened, as she smirked, "Guess how that went."

"So tell me about him, or else I'm going to accuse you of having a crush on him," Kuukai joked, receiving a painful jab in his ribs. She glanced up, and thought for a moment, making it look like she was looking for something on the ceiling.

"Well," she began, "He's three years older than me, but I'm better at him at all sports…" Arisa's voice trailed off then became so quiet you could barely hear it, "Except for swimming."

Kuukai leaned closer to her, "What was that, Arisa-chan?" He asked, in a sickingly innocent tone. She growled, "Swimming. I can't swim."

"I still can't here you…hime-chan," he grinned.

She glared and crossed her arms, "Die in a fire Souma, I can't swim and I don't ever want to hear a word about it!"

Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout as he laughed nervously, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." His arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her against him.

Instead of insisting he 'get the hell off her' like he thought she would, she just muttered, "I'm going to kill you if I get sick you know…"

The duo lost track of time as Arisa told Kuukai about Hiro and his love for math, the colour orange and his freaky obsession with girls.

Finally the brunette ran out of things to say about her friend, and their hunger finally caught up with them.

Both their stomachs let loose a loud grumbling, and caused their faces to flush red.

"R-right…you sent me down here to get you food…" Arisa muttered, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

He laughed, "You know, I head ordering pizza in is really good for fevers." She laughed as well and dove for the phone, "You better have cash on you."

As she spoke to the pizza person on the phone, something about cheese, he dug through the drawers of the kitchen, picking up spare bills and change. Finally he had accumulated a pile, enough to pay for the pizza.

While they waited for the pizza to arrive, Arisa checked Kuukai's temperature once more, and happily announced that his temperature has returned to normal.

The doorbell suddenly rang while Arisa was practically shoving a spoon of medicine down Kuukai's throat.

He escaped the girl's wrath and snatched the money they had stacked from the table and ran to the door, pulling it open, panting and flustered.

"Hi," he greeted the other boy, holding the box in his hands. As Kuukai mentally counted the mentally, Arisa suddenly broke the silence by stretching her arms past his head, and taking the pizza from the pizza boy's hands.

"If you don't hurry up and pay, I'm eating without you!" She called from the kitchen.

He rolled his eyes and handed the pizza boy the money, waving him off. As the pizza boy walked down the path, he couldn't help but mutter, "Kids these days…"

-

Kuukai sat himself across the table from Arisa and took a piece of pizza, quickly consuming it. He watched her eat hers, noticing it was being eaten…backwards.

Noticing his stare she shot him a stern look, "What? Never seen anyone eat their pizza backwards before?"

He shook his head, taking another bite. She shrugged and continued eating.

As they ate, any random bystander could notice that they ate faster and faster after each slice, eventually, practically shoving the slices down their throat.

Eventually, one slice was left and they had a glare off for it. Suddenly, the front door burst open, and as Arisa's attention was averted from the final slice, Kuukai swiped it from the box and began eating it.

When Arisa realised what Kuukai did, she ran around the table, and took a bite of the pizza while it was still in his mouth, as their foreheads touched.

Then at the exact moment, Rento, who was the one who returned, walked into the kitchen and found Arisa situated on Kuukai's lap, taking a bite of the pizza from his mouth.

In-direct kissing anyone?

Shut up Rento; I'm narrating.

The older boy froze, at the scene. Not realizing the presence of Rento, Arisa laughed and bit a piece off, leaving Kuukai sitting on the chair, flushed, and a piece of pizza hanging from his teeth.

Chewing contently, she waved at Rento and ran up the stairs.

Rento stared at Kuukai, flushed and frozen in the spot.

"…Are you going to eat that?"

-

The rest of the night followed rather smoothly. Hana had returned from her meeting and Suusui and Unkai came home also. After eating dinner, she replied to Hiro's letter, insisting that she could put the letter in the mailbox that night and have it picked up in the morning.

She's staying inside tonight.

Just as she finished the letter, and Kuukai left the room, her camoflaudge printed cell phone (as you can tell, she loves camo) vibrated on the desk, nearly falling off the desk.

It was an unknown caller, but having nothing better to do, she picked up.

"Moshi moshi?" She greeted the stranger.

"T-Tsukiga-chan…I'm sorry. I really hope you can forg—" The voice said.

Arisa's eyes widened, recognizing the voice, "Kairi-san??"

His voice was clearly startled, realizing he had dialled the wrong number, "Hoshiwa-senpai? A-ah. Sorry for bothering you at this hour. I just…misdialed the number. I'll see you at school tomorrow." And with that he hung up.

Arisa stared at the phone, then shrugged and turned it off, placing it next to Koorei's egg.

'Lazy ass…sleeping all day, Arisa thought, rubbing her eyes.

Finally, without even waiting for Kuukai to re-enter the room, she turned off the lights and leaped into bed. As she laid there, she couldn't help but wonder if she should tell Tsukiga or not…