Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Kimi. Seems like I forgot to put that in the last chapter whoops? There goes my plan erm nothing! *whistles innocently*

A/N: Hi there. I apologize for the long wait, and I'm surprised I have so many viewers! Also, I think Julia is a bit OOC here, but maybe not….after all Shuuichi does easily get on her nerves.

This chapter is a bit long, but I guess it's worth it since I haven't updated in like 6 months? But yeah, sorry guys. I just have a lot of things on my hands right now and it seems I just broke out in hives? Well I'm not sure what they are but they're itchy. Anyways, keep looking back at my profile for updates about this fan fic. Thank you for reading and reviewing! You guys are the best!

Hopefully there's a lot of JuliaX Shuuichi fans reading this because I got a bit too carried away writing their scene. There's MizukiX Izumi too though ^.^ Oh yeah, and feel free to critique my writing or if I have any errors I'm happy to correct them. Enjoy!

Let's do a quick recap *well it's more for me than you guys, but maybe for those who haven't read this in a long while ehehe* answers to reviews are on the bottom of the page.

"Wait! Mizuki….you still haven't told me what I should do…." Julia trailed off while looking sadly at the sleeping man.

'I should go back to the dining room' Mizuki thought. 'Okay, let's go. Calmly. Now. Be manly.'

Mizuki kept saying it like a mantra.

"Uh, where's everyone?" Mizuki looked around.

"Well, you were gone for over an hour and they finished, so they left," Izumi answered.

CH 18 I'm Not Sure WHO to Fear For…

'I was gone over an hour and I didn't notice it?' Mizuki thought, perplexed at her actions.

She looked up towards the red, setting sun. The slight breeze from the small open window's corner blew at the silver curtains softly, giving the curtains a gentle wavy look. It added to the serenity of the scene.

'If only Prince Izumi's feelings were also gentle at this moment and not like an erupting storm,' Mizuki silently mused.

Trembling slightly, Mizuki thought hard while fumbling around into her seat. She grabbed the water closest to her and gulped it down.

'Of course he'd worry' she smacked herself. 'I shouldn't have gotten too sidetracked.'

She felt like banging her head against the table, even contemplated about it, but decided against it. For one thing, she's supposed to be a princess, and princesses do not just bang their heads pathetically against the table. She had this code to withhold, even though no one knows she is a princess at the moment. She found that the ice less water didn't help calm her much though. It seemed to do the opposite. The more she drank, the more she realized she'll have to give him an answer soon.

'What's more is that Izumi must be demanding an excuse! What should I do?' she screamed frantically in her head. 'I still don't know what happened back there…this isn't good…my heart is beating faster again. What in the world is wrong with me?'

Again, Izumi stared at Mizuki. 'Why was she gone for an hour? Is she alright?' he pondered for various possibilities.

'Maybe her brother showed up on the ship.' He was a bit afraid of that thought but dismissed that possibility. He believed that if the cause were indeed her brother, she'd probably run here panicking, not coming her head on and looking lost. She looked like a lost little kitten, he realized. And suddenly, he felt this urge to protect her from harm.

Subconsciously, Izumi moved a bit closer to Mizuki, intending to pull back some strands of her hair. As soon as he noticed what he did, he backed up his hand immediately. It was so fast that Mizuki, who was looking down, didn't even see or realized what he had done.

Breaking out of his train of thought, Izumi noticed the gloomy aura that started to form about her. Deciding to do something about that looming and depressing aura, Izumi crossed his arms and pushed himself out of his seat.

"Well, since the others are gone, want to grab something quick at the sushi bar?" Izumi asked.

Mizuki rocked in her seat, whistling softly, and looked up, glancing at him. "What about the food here?" she questioned innocently

"Cancel it," he told her.

She gave him a blank look. "Okay, you can let the kitchen staff eat it. They'll be thrilled," he told her, as if he's making a big difference for the world like curing the world of the flu or cancer.

'Is it just me or did Prince Izumi just display a conceited bratty side?' Mizuki frowned. 'Somehow it just doesn't suit his character…'

"What are you sighing and looking depressed about now?" Izumi voiced aloud, tapping his feat a bit for effect. 'She wasn't depressed about the food? I was thinking maybe she didn't like the type of food served here or something.'

"Depressed?" Mizuki repeated. 'Did he think I was depressed about something? Oh well, sushi does sound tempting. It's been eons since I've had it.'

Apparently the sushi's tempting offer outweighed her logic and intuition to stay away from Prince Izumi, who practically screamed danger to her poor innocent young soul.

Smiling widely, Mizuki clapped her hands and said, "Sushi it is, and you're paying!"

"Why not put the tab on Shuuichi? His family owns the ship after all," he asked her.

Blowing a slight raspberry at the prince, Mizuki shouted, "Stingy!"

"You're so childish," Izumi said to her. "How old are you again?"

"16. So technically I AM still a child," Mizuki pouted.

"No use in arguing with you there huh," Izumi said.

"You're no fun. You're only what three or four years older than me? You should let loose more."

"I'm a prince," he stated to her blandly as if it were the most obvious thing in the whole world.

"Well, I'm a prin…." Mizuki clasped her mouth shut after realizing what she almost said.

"You're a what?" Izumi asked.

"Nothing. I'm just a cook. A regular cook," she replied nervously, keeping her eyes away from him.

~With Julia~

"What am I supposed to do? I don't know how to take care of a person with a fever…" Julia panicked aloud to no one in particular.

Annoyed at the loud taps her heels made on the glossy, beach looking floor, Julia sat down at the lower corner of Shuuichi's teal covered bed and slid them off. She sighed, turning her body to get a better view of him.

Being a princess with maids means she never did anything such as cleaning or washing the laundry. Hence, she never learned how to take care of a sick person. Heck, she's even amazed she could tell how one looked like when one's sick. But it's sort of hard not to, when he's all red and drowsy and knocked out. It just doesn't seem normal. What foods should be cooked, how to lessen the temperature – all these things are foreign to Julia.

She paced around frantically, trying to think of a memory that would aid with her current mission, but the more she thought, the more anxious she became.

"His face is getting even redder…I should get something cold for him. I know!" she exclaimed suddenly, springing up to her feet.

Smiling at her ingenious idea, she hurried outside his room, careful to not lock herself out. Last time she did that, she had a hard time convincing the guards at her castle that indeed she was their princess and not some commoner trying to sneak in to get some cookies. Of course they'd be more convinced if said princess wasn't wearing loose ponytails decorated with mud, or if she wasn't in a pale pink tattered dress that got ruined due to running through the bushes.

Scooping a bunch of ice into a bucket she conveniently found near the entrance to the doorway, Julia proceeded to her sick patient. She rolled up her sleeves and helped herself to his side. She heard him mumble something about being cold, but she ignored him and slid an ice cube down his shirt. He grumbled a bit, but didn't do much after that. So she took this as a good sign and slid another one and another one down his shirt. If only she were good at chemistry she would be able to tell that putting ice cold cubes down someone's shirt is not a very good idea because it's a recipe for disaster. But she didn't, so she didn't even notice how he moved frantically as if he's reaching his limit. His blue eyes snapped open.

""WHAT THE HELL DO U THINK YOU'RE DOING?" he screamed at her.

Pausing her decoration with the ice, Julia couldn't help but think something was wrong with the picture. Shocked, Julia let the ice cube fall from her hand.

'I'm not sure this is really helping him' she thought. It didn't really help considering she never ever got sick, so she didn't even know what her maids would do.

"The ice keeps slipping off his face. How would his fever come down then?" she wondered as she rearranged the melting ice with new ice.

Occupied with her agenda, she didn't even notice Shuuichi's hand clutch hard onto her. There was only one thought in Shuuichi's not really hazy mind: THIS GIRL IS CRAZY!

"What the hell are you doing?" he repeated in a very low, threatening voice. It was different from his usual happy, cheerful self.

This time, she answered with, "treating a sick patient."

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked.

"No, treating you," she replied slowly, as if talking to a small child that just wouldn't listen. "But it seems you wouldn't comply," she frowned.

"Who in the hell in their right mind would?" he yelled, trying to move but found it impossible due to the very tight ropes that conveniently strapped him to the bed.

"What the hell is this?" he sneered darkly.

"I'm not sure what those men meant by you being scary when sick, but this is a bit entertaining!" she said with glee.

Shuuichi looked at the madwomen, completely fearing for his life at this moment.

"Oh my, did I just say that out loud?" Julia wondered.

'Well, either way, I don't think he could damage me by just screaming insults and bad words.'

"Well, I wouldn't want you to resist so I had to do something to protect you from harm," she said, sitting casually on his bed, patting his arm gently, as if to signify he can't hurt her.

"You mean to protect yourself," he corrected her while struggling hard to get free.

His wrists started to darken to a reddish color.

"And I'm not a dog you sadistic person!" he continued to rant. "So tell me why is there a bell hanging off my neck?"

As he twisted and turned, the bell rang.

"I never said you're a dog. A monkey is always a monkey," she noted sagely.

"What monkey? No monkeys wear bells around their necks!"

"So you admit you are a monkey?" she laughed mirthfully.

"You….I'm going to sleep…"

She grabbed another ice cube. As if he had a sixth sense, Shuuichi snapped his eyes open again, glaring at her, "AND NO MORE ICE CUBES!"

"Don't you dare order me! I want to decorate you with ice cubes so I will!"

"AND YOUR TRUE NATURE FINALLY REVEALS ITSELF! You're NOT concerned about me at ALL!"

Shuuichi sighed and scratched his head mentally. She looked like she's about to cry. And he couldn't stand crying girls. So, he said, "okay…first, get rid of the ice and fill the bucket with cold water and get a towel and wipe."

She stared at him blankly. "Okay you know what? Let me go and I'll do it myself. And you…just leave…" he said.

"Wait…what do you mean? How can I just abandon you? A sick person?" she kept insisting. True, she wasn't fond of him, but she had her morals too.

"Fine, be my guest," he complied, already too tired to argue with her. Maybe he can get some shut eye. His head was throbbing bad.

"Just don't do anything stupid," he reminded her.

"Hey, you must be hungry right?" she asked shyly.

'What the heck?' he thought. 'Is this girl bipolar? Or maybe Multiple Personality Disorder? And why the hell do I know these terms?'

"Hmm, perhaps," he replied, pissing her off.

"Hey! Yes or no? It's that simple!"

'See what I mean?' he thought.

"What can you make?" he asked her, a bit curious, actually. He wondered what could this princess like lady make? And just to taunt her, he decided to throw in a few words.

"Porridge…you can at least make porridge right?" he teased her, not expecting her to answer yes.

"Psh, of course. It's so simple after all. Anyone could do it," she said, already regretting her big mouth and egotistical pride.

'But it can't be too hard to make….right?'she thought as she invited herself into his kitchen and got out a silver cooking pot from the pale yellow cupboards.

'Porridge is made of water and rice, so that's easy enough. The problem is the favoring. Let's just stick to the basics. There's no way I can mess that up' she convinced herself.

"Let's put in some salt…sugar…more salt…more pepper…salt…sugar…too much salt…more pepper…errr…." She said aloud to herself.

"Let's stop trying it, I'm sure it's edible by now" she said as she opened the fridge. "Orange juice…well it's sweet, and I should be a bit creative. Let's add in 2 cups. That should give the porridge a nice tinge. I'm such a genius!" she exclaimed, happy with her masterpiece.

Shuuichi propped himself up with the help of fluffy white pillows that lay stacked neatly by his side. Somehow, he couldn't help feel that something was horribly off with that disastrous looking pot of porridge that's currently in front of him.

'It's impossible to mess up porridge right?' he kept repeating to himself while staring at it. He believed that staring at it would change its color. Yep, he believed it would.

Normally, when he's sick with fever, everyone would try to steer clear of him, since he would lose common sense and isn't only arrogant or moody, but he would actually kiss anyone. And by anyone, no dog or man can escape him, literally. But interestingly enough, besides a bit of moodiness and weariness, he doesn't have the urge to kiss her at all. Perhaps, his mind has now returned to normal due to her…unique…way of nursing a patient. Who would still be under a weird consciousness when ice cold cubes are running down your back? Or when you're fearing for your life over porridge? He's thinking too much all right.

"Hey, your porridge is here!" she greeted enthusiastically. She wondered how it would taste, seeing that see never made food before.

Now, how did he know this? Let's just say the orange tint was a big clue that he didn't even need to ask to confirm.

"Er…why don't you try some too?" he insisted desperately while trying to not appear desperate.

'Is that even possible?' he wondered. There's no way he's going to finish that all by himself. He might die…literally!

"It's all right. You should eat to regain your energy!"

"Or die from that energy," he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

'She heard that?' he thought, surprised that she had such good hearing.

"Nothing!" he quickly replied. Somehow, he couldn't resist girls. Damn girls, damn fever.

"Well…how is it?" she asked. It looked like she's sparkling. She's really sparkling! And it's not due to his fever either. He swore he's not hallucinating or making this up.

Fight the urge to crawl to the bathroom and throw up the unidentified specimen inside his stomach, he grimaced and prepared himself, saying, "it's all right…but what did you put in here?" he asked.

Hopefully the orange was due to the carefully mashed up carrots. But the thing was he didn't remember storing any carrots in his fridge.

"Oh, it's nothing unusual. Just some salt, sugar…" she said as he nodded. "…and orange juice."

A/N: Okay, Q&A time! Actually I'm not sure where to start, but if you really want your comment answered, just PM me or say so in the review. I apologize in advance if that happens! And if I mentioned you when I answered you already...well aren't you lucky! *ahem* Okay let's start.

guardianranger: your spanking chapter is coming up. I anticipate in about one or 2 more chapters? Or maybe next chapter? Sadly I don't know when that will be =(

Soccer-chan: I hope you figured our what Mizuki meant. and why are u dizzy?

hafizatul sufiah: glad u love my story! I'll keep your advice in mind. *hint hint* it might be coming up.

flamingbunnies: I hope you find her torture very interesting indeed.

Tenten894: Thx! I hope I can improve that style! ^.^

Untold Story: Thx! and i anticipate 5 more chapters max?

Usagi Knight: it is a bit over the top, but I have seen a drama with a cooking competition and it was interesting, though sadly I wrote this chapter before having reference of it from the drama. I guess that means I get points for originality right? But I must admit that the "sickness" thing did come from a manga that I read. Though I only borrowed the part that the girl had no idea how to cook. But then again it works since Julia, as a princess doesn't know how to cook. Weird right? Since Mizuki does...

riinala19: Thanks! ^.^

Prussia's India: Oh he'll find out soon. Real soon. Okay maybe in a few chapters.

shinigami777: lolz sano a perv? where?