Mega: Welcome back for the third chapter, folks! I hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far. Just to let you guys know, I have a poll on my profile about this story. I would really appreciate it if you could check it out.

Kirino: What are you going to write today?

Mega: I think that I'll do a POV split between a few characters.

Shindou: Really? Who are you going to include?

Mega: You and Kirino, obviously!

Kirino: Are we really the only ones?

Mega: I don't know. Maybe you will be, maybe you won't be. I never plan these things.

Kirino: *sweatdrops* I can tell.

Mega: I know. Onto the reviews!

Reviews!

TheSadisticOne: Thanks for reviewing again. I guess that I should have mentioned this earlier, but there will be OOCness. It is an AU, so I can make the characters do whatever I want! MUWAHAHA! (I have read The Forest, by the way. I recommend it. It is a great story!)

Player021: I'm glad you think the story is somewhat funny. I probably will add humor to the story to lighten the mood and tone. I'll try to avoid permanently hurting the characters, but I can't make any guaranties.

2gatita8: I like your idea. I might include something similar to that later on in the story. I'm also glad to have you as part of my staff on my community. Thank you so much!

Mega: What a good batch of reviews! Right, Shindou?

Shindou: Yeah. I'm surprised that some of them are this dedicated to your story.

Mega: Yeah. It's great to know that people care about your story.

Kirino: Mega?

Mega: Yes?

Kirino: Why didn't you ask me about the reviews?

Mega: You don't like the story. Why would you want to read the reviews?

Kirino: I want to.

Mega: Fine. You can read them while I write this chapter.

Kirino: Okay. *Grabs Shindou and drags him to a sofa to read the reviews*

Mega: Let's get to the story!

Chapter 3: Fever

~Kirino's POV~

My eyelids were heavy, I didn't know where I was, and I felt sick. This day was going just great! My skin felt hot and my head hurt tremendously. I could hear voices. What they were saying, I didn't know. I also heard a strange beeping, and I quickly found myself hating the sound. What was that? It was so annoying, and the beeping seemed to come from right beside me. This was getting tiresome. I opened my eyes slowly, which was quiet hard seeing as my eyelids were made of lead at the moment. The light bore into my eyes; I closed my eyes for a second to allow them to become accustom to the blinding light. I opened them once more, but I only opened them halfway. Blurry figures came into focus slowly. I immediately recognized Shindou, but the others were harder to identify. Eventually, I realized that the three farther figures were Tenma, Fei, and Tsurugi, and the other close figure was Wonderbot.

They were deep in discussion. If I had the energy, I would have interrupted them just to figure out where I was, but I currently had absolutely no energy. Shindou turned towards me, but he didn't seem to realize that my eyes were open. A minute later, he seemed to register that my eyes were open and staring at him. He froze in shock before he pulled me into a gentle, yet firm hug. The others caught on at this point, and had moved towards me. Why did they all look so worried? Then I remembered what had happened earlier today, my fever, Shindou's worry towards me, and my collapse. That explained the worry, but I still had no idea where I was!

Wonderbot approached me with a calm, solemn look on his face. "How are you feeling?" He asked me quietly.

I moved to form a word and was very surprised when my efforts were rewarded. "Sick," I rasped quietly. I really did sound sick, didn't I?

Shindou leaned in closer to me. "You should rest, Kirino. You're really sick," he murmured into my ear.

I nodded gently. Sleep did sound nice, and my eyes were heavy with exhaustion. I allowed my eyes to close slowly as I was pulled back into the realm of unconsciousness.

My dreams were strange. Sometimes I would be with Shindou talking about soccer or something, or I would be running from monsters made of my nightmares. I wonder if my dreams were strange because of my fever. What other explanation was there? I had no idea how long I remained in my dream world, but it was like an eternity for me. Suddenly, my world of dreams was breached by a searing light.

My eyes flew open from the shock. After my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I was finally able to see where I was. I pushed myself up with a large amount of effort, so my back rested against the pillows behind me. The endeavor was exhausting, but the vantage point I gained was well worth the expended energy. I looked around the strange room. The first thing I noticed was the IV connected to my hand. It was probably to give me medications and other fluids my body required. My eyes landed on the heart monitor next, then on Wonderbot in the far corner of the room, and finally on my slumbering best friend. From what I had gathered, I was in the infirmary.

I brushed my hand against Shindou's gently. That sure gave him a start. His head jerked up, and he looked startled and confused. I laughed quietly as his eyes came to rest on me.

"You're awake," he murmured in amazement.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I replied with my still raspy and quiet voice.

"How do you feel?" He inquired sincerely.

"Hm. Let me think. I feel like great! It's like I've been run over by a steam roller, dumped in acid, and roasted like a chicken." I told him, sarcasm dripping from my words.

"You feel that bad, huh?" He asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I do. Why am I in the infirmary?" I asked curiously.

He looked at me like my hair had turned blue. "You do remember collapsing on the field, right?" He questioned seriously.

"Of course I do. Why?" I asked, feeling relatively dumb for asking.

"You were, and still are, running a high fever. We brought you here so Wonderbot could help you," he explained simply.

Wonderbot chose that moment to make his entrance. "I'm glad you're awake, Kirino. You gave everyone quiet the scare yesterday." What did he mean, yesterday? Did I really sleep through the rest of yesterday? His voice snapped me out of my musings.

"Have you felt ill for a long time?" He asked while examining the medical instruments attached to my body. He recorded things on a clipboard I didn't realize he was holding.

"I guess. I've felt out of it since our match in France with Jeanne." I clarified. Shindou and Wonderbot glanced at each other with a look of confirmation.

"How do you feel?" Wonderbot inquired as Shindou had earlier.

"I've already told Shindou," I stated.

"That's not what I mean. Do you feel hot, cold, tired, or achy?" He rephrased.

"I do feel hot, really hot. It feels like I'm burning from the inside out. What do you think is wrong with me?" I questioned worriedly. If I was really sick, I wouldn't be allowed to play soccer with the team until I recovered. What if I never recover? What would happen then?

"We do not know for sure, but we believe this has something to do with your mixi-max." Shindou explained.

"What would my mixi-max have to do with this?" Did something go wrong during the process? What if it also affected Jeanne?

"You do know what happened to Jeanne, right Kirino?" Of course I did. We learned about in class last year. She was burned at the stake. What did that have to do with me? Then it hit me. Mixi-maxes fuse two souls together, so it would makes sense if one soul felt pain if he other soul was injured or worse, right?

"You really don't think that's the cause of my illness, do you?" I asked fearfully. If it was, how could I get better? Jeanne died, and unless we brought her with us to the future, she would stay dead.

"It's the only explanation we have right now, Kirino. Until we know that your illness from another source, it's the most likely theory we have at the moment." Wonderbot explained, monotony covering whatever emotions he was feeling.

"Tenma, Fei, and Tsurugi were here earlier, right? Where are they?" I looked at Shindou curiously.

"They left to inform the team of your current condition and to get some rest," He told me quietly as he stroked my hair gently. It felt nice. I allowed my body to relax against the pillow as he fell into a steady rhythm. It was so relaxing. It started to make me feel drowsy.

"You should sleep, Kirino. You need you're sleep if you want to recover soon," he told me quietly as he pushed my body back down onto the bed. Once I was flat on my back, he resumed his stroking of my hair.

"Sleep, Kirino. Just sleep." He whispered to me gently. I nodded sleepily and leaned my head farther into my pillow.

I was finally calm. After all I had heard today, I surprised that I was able to become drowsy so quickly. I fell asleep to the steady rhythm of Shindou's strokes. My last thoughts were of how nice it was to be cared for by Shindou and on the gentle kiss he placed on my forehead.

~Shindou's POV~

I glanced down at the sleeping pinkette. He looked so fragile with his pale, flushed skin. I leaned down carefully before I placed a soft kiss in the middle of his forehead. I looked at his small form once more before resuming my vigil over the sick pinkette.

~Wonderbot's POV~

I watched Shindou place a kiss on his best friend's forehead. Everyone could tell that there was more than friendship in their relationship, everyone except Kirino and Shindou that is. I sighed quietly before I turned back towards my task. I could only hope that Kirino improved, and that the two clueless "best friends" realized their feelings for each other.

Chapter 3 - fin.

Mega: The third chapter is done!

Kirino: Did I see some romantic hints in this chapter?

Mega: Yup. I'm sorry that Shindou and Wonderbot's POVs didn't last very long. I was trying to have this chapter focus on Kirino.

Shindou: I thought it was okay. You actually started building towards some romance!

Mega: I know. I wasn't much, but I included some hints towards romance. Make sure you favorite, follow, and comment! Kirino, Shindou, any closing remarks?

Kirino: I don't like how you're always hurting me, but your readers seem to like it. I guess this story is okay.

Shindou: I like the story, but I really like that Kirino and I will get together at some point. This story is relatively good, I guess.

Shindou and Kirino: Sayonara, minna! Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Mega: Ciao, everyone. See you soon!