She stared blankly at the wall in front of her as she tried to comprehend what had happened. His warmth still lingered on her lips and her cheeks still had that faint pink on them.

The person who she came to like kissed her from out of the blue and just went out of the door like "woo ha I just kissed you so if you'll excuse me I'll return to my room and let you feel utterly confused at what I did while I have a good night's sleep". Well, that's how she took it.

The brunette dragged herself to her bed and spent the whole night tossing and turning and cursing the male with the greatest blushing face she ever had. First thing on her list for tomorrow was: interrogate him for his actions and kick him where it hurts if it was just for teasing her. That was one way to use the karate Ren taught her.

Morning came, unfortunately for the redhead, as he suddenly got a killing headache accompanied by coughs. Was it heaven's punishment? Maybe.

He groaned as his head continued to throb when he sat up and even the ticking of the clock on the wall seemed to increase the pain. The surrounding temperature also seemed colder than usual and his body felt weak. He held his forehead, coughing, and frowned at the heat he felt. Sure he had been through quite some stuff but coming down with a fever was just…no.

As an addition to his misery, there was a construction site quite close to his place and it was noisy as hell. If he couldn't control his temper, he would've murdered the guys at the site. He laid back down on the soft bed and tried to get back to sleep but the noise was too much that he thought his head would explode.

"damn it all…"

Just as he was about to relax a bit, a knock was heard on his door and he dragged himself— in the most dignifying way —to the door and opened it, revealing the brunette with her lips fixed into a fine line in attempt to look serious but the faint blush on her face basically ruined the attempt. The redhead's felt like a living zombie so it took a while before he reacted to her presence.

"Kudo…" he muttered. He knew exactly why she came to his room so while the chance is there and while she's still not lecturing, apologizing is the best choice. "about last night…"

Before he even finished his sentence, his legs gave up on him, his eyesight became blurry and he started to lose balance. Shizune managed to catch and support his body before he collapsed but due to him being heavy for her, she dropped onto her knees instantly.

"oi Akashi, what's the ma— you're burning up!" She exclaimed as she put her hand on his forehead. She looked around to see if there was someone she could call to help but unfortunately, there was no one.

A few coughs and heavy breathings later, the female succeeded in carrying Akashi all the way to his bed. She put the blanket over him and thought of either nursing him herself or get someone to do it. Shizune tried her best to come to a decision fast because the male really looked pale.

Then again…the latter wasn't a really good action considering the current situation going on in the family so nursing him herself it is. She left and came back with a small basin filled with water and a clean towel and also a thermometer which she set on the desk beside the bed. She let the towel soak in the water while she took the thermometer, kneeled down beside the bed and slipped it into Akashi's mouth.

"39˚…it's real high…"

She muttered after the object beeped, indicating it was done checking. Shizune wrung the towel and gently set it on his head before folding her arms on the bed and let her head rest on them.

Why am I even doing this…

She only came to ask him a few things about last night's incident and leave or beat him up if the answer was something rude. That was all. But somehow she ended up nursing the guy. The maids & butlers also disappeared to who knows where, she noticed when she went downstairs to get a towel and basin.

She raised the temperature in the room so that he wouldn't get worse and made sure that the blanket covered necessary parts. She let out a sigh and watched the boy sleep, his chest moved up and down in sync with his breathing and sometimes he would start coughing abruptly that made it seem like he was choking on something which she wondered if that was the case whenever he did.

The girl felt sleepy just watching him sleep but just before she closed her eyes to take a nap, Akashi rolled over making his face a good 2cm distance from hers. You could say a flashback of what happened last night appeared in her head making her blush a million shades of red and back up instantly.

To be honest, she was happy he did kiss her but because it was her first and thanks to the way he left, she came to the conclusion he was just playing with her which now has somehow turned into 'what if he was serious about it' and ended up with 'the hell I'm thinking get real for once girl'.

"Kudo.."

She heard the redhead mutter and saw that he was half-awake. With his first two buttons undone and that sickly but surprisingly attractive look on his face accompanied with his tired half opened eyes, it was hard for Shizune to accept that this wasn't some kind of shoujo manga.

"Akashi. How are you feeling?"

"still the same…" his voice was really hoarse and he let out a small cough before continuing. "Kudo, about last night…"

"forget about it. I don't feel like talking about—"

"sorry."

"...pardon?" Was her ears playing tricks on her? No like, did Akashi just apologize to her?

"I said," a cough right over here. "I'm sorry about last night. It was insensitive of me not to think of your feelings. I should have thought twice before committing the action."

"hold it— then you had no reason for…?"

"..exactly.."

"you mean you just suddenly felt like doing so!?"

Her voice was raised and she felt like giving him a special German Suplex for that goddamn answer. He freaking took her first kiss for no specific, logical, reasonable reason? Rude.

"if that is what you think, then yes."

The room was filled with silence before Shizune stood up and left without another word. Of course not before giving him a glare that could scare the devil himself. Akashi let out a sigh before rolling to the side once again. One day he's gonna get murdered because of his words.

He closed his eyes and returned to his sleep. His head kept on throbbing and he was thankful that his father, from what he heard from one of the maids, was out on a business trip for a whole week and he granted the ones working in the household a break from work as long as he's out. It helps reduce the drama.

At exactly 7 in the evening, Akashi woke up to the smell of something— rice, to be specific —burning. He wrinkled his nose at the smell and sat up to go check the kitchen when he felt a slight tug on the left side of his blanket. His ruby gold orbs fell upon the sleeping figure of the brunette which he found puzzling because she was furious with him. Unless that was just his imagination.

His gaze trailed towards a bowl on the small table beside his bed with a cover on it. He blinked and took the cover off the bowl revealing the contents which was porridge. It was still nice and warm but, something was a little…off about the food. It smelt weird. And weird I mean by 'not the usual smell of porridge' weird.

The redhead stared at the porridge, trying to figure out what to do with it when the girl woke up and tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"ah, Akashi…you're awake…"

"…yes"

"that" she pointed lazily to the porridge. "I made it for you so eat up"

"…you're not mad anymore?"

"no."

Weird. Definitely weird.

"you don't believe me, do you?" she sighed, looking at the male's face of disbelief which could actually be taken as suspicion too. Whichever's preferred.

"I'm not the type that keeps grudges no matter how much a thing cannot be forgiven. Those kind of things always leads to murder so to be a good detective, I got to make myself void from those feelings you see?"

"is that so…" he noticed it before but is being a good detective the only thing in her mind?

"now then" her face broke into a grin which visibly surprised Akashi. "eat that porridge up before it gets cold!"

"aah…"

He put the bowl on his lap and cautiously took a bite of the porridge.

Gek.

It took all of his will power to not spit out the food. It was terrible— no. It's on a whole new level of terrible. It wasn't as bad as Momoi's but that doesn't mean it's edible. For starters, it didn't even taste like porridge. It tastes like…ew. (due to the indescribable terribleness of the taste, the word "ew" was decided best to use.)

"how's it?"

"terrible." Would he receive a scolding for that?

"knew it…" the answer is nope.

"you knew it and you made me eat it?"

"mhm…"

"…and here I thought you didn't hold grudges…"

"that's not it." she huffed in disapproval. "it's my first time cooking so how should I know how it turns out like?"

"have you tried something called taste testing?"

Her answer was a muttered one but he could make out the words "I wanted you to try it first"

She's really a weird girl…

"here. I got you some onigiri from the convenience store just incase the porridge was a failure which it turned out to be…"

"thanks"

For the moment, Akashi's stomach, and life, was saved. He then had a small argument with the female about taking medicine. Though he was mature, his dislike for medicine remained from when he was a kid. Shizune had to force it down his throat just to make him take it, earning her a once of a lifetime cuss from him.

"I should return to my room" She said, looking at the clock which pointed at 10pm. "of course, after I clean the…mess I did in the kitchen…"

"you don't have to, you know."

"I'm freeloading here for who knows how long so just let me do something"

"whatever you say…"

"if you'll excuse me.."

She took the bowl & medicine and started walking out the door when,

"it's a lie"

The girl instantly stopped and turned to look at the boy who was seated at the side of his bed, her eyes slightly widened with confusion at his statement. As if understanding what she was questioning— which wasn't something impossible for Akashi —he repeated his words only with a slight explanation to what he was talking about.

"about what I did last night, it's a lie that I had no specific reason."

Hold it.

"it's your own will to believe me or not but what I'm going to say is the truth."

Just a sec.

"Kudo, no. Shizune."

Don't tell me—

"I like you."

"I like you, Shizune."

sorry for the late update!
I had school then I came down with a fever
which I still have but that aside...
Thank you for reading and putting up with these two idiots! :D