Sorry for the slow updates, guys. But truth be told I had no idea how the fic was going to proceed from last chapter. But now it's'all good :p

- Belle

I woke slowly, groggily rubbing my eyes. I plodded my way to the bathroom, seeing that Akane was still asleep. I looked into the mirror.

"AAHHHHH!"

Akane rushed into the bathroom. "What?"

I was staring at my face in the mirror, poking my under eye. It was all puffy. "This!" I wailed, looking at her.

"You're sick?" Akane asked, trying to figure out what the problem was.

"AGAIN."

"And your point is…?"

"I CAN'T be sick!" I cried, pounding the side of my fist lightly against the mirror. "This was supposed to be my 48 hours of freedom—"

"Your whatnow?" Akane asked, the "what now" sounding like one word.

I quickly turned away. "Nothing." My hand unconsciously went to my neck where the bite marks were already half gone.

I could feel Akane's gaze on me. "Weirdo."

I whirled around. "Who you calling weirdo?"

"You." She said, pointing. "You get sick and get to miss more school, and you complain about it."

"I don't want to miss school!" I exclaimed. "For once, I don't have any reason to want to miss!"

"What are you talking about?" Akane sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Aido, um, he… promised… to leave me alone for two days." I said, trying to just tell her enough.

She "pfft"-ed. "Now I think we're getting to the crux of the matter. You're glad you don't have to see Aido."

"Mhm." I said, staring off slightly.

She laughed lightly. "Well you know we have all the medicines in the cupboard, and since you're sick, there's nothing you can do about it so you might as well take some and get to sleep."

I huffed. "Damn cold and the damn rain and damn getting home late and damn meeting the Headmaster…" I heard the door shut as Akane left the bathroom. "… Damn Aido."

"I heard that!"

My cheeks burned and I leaned against the mirror.

Take some of the medication, dammit. My mind hissed at me. I can barely think straight.

Hmm. It's been a while since I heard from you. I thought back.

Just TAKE SOMETHING! It felt like it was shouting at me. My head throbbed to back up the statement.

Yes, Ma'am. I sighed, opening the cabinet.

"I'm going to go to class now, so don't kill yourself with medicine while I'm gone, okay?" Akane said, rapping on the door lightly. "Take something and go to bed!"

"Yeah, yeah." I called back, grabbing an ibuprofen bottle out of the cabinet.

I heard a door slam shortly before I dropped two of the liquid gel capsules on my tongue, chugging them down with a glass of water.

Thank you… My mind sighed, apparently happy that relief was now on the way.

Whatever. I said, grabbing some cold/flu liquid and scanning the warning label. After deciding that it wouldn't kill me to drink some, I used the measuring cup included to pour myself a dose. I tipped it to my lips, the warm red liquid sliding easily down my throat. I winced at the horrible taste.

I dragged myself to the kitchen for a glass of water. After downing 2 glasses I went back to my room. I stood by the window and looked out it, seeing Akane leave the Sun Dorm with a couple other girls to go to class. Rei was with them. I sighed, closing the curtains.

"Damn cold…"

I staggered over to the bed, the medicine seeming to suddenly take effect. I got between the sheets and was unconscious before my head touched the pillow.

(THERE SHOULD BE A PAGE BREAK HERE BUT SINCE {F F . N E T's} WORD PROCESSOR IS SO STUPID APPARENTLY I HAVE TO DO THIS. -_-)

The next time I became aware of my surroundings, I guessed it was some time later. The edges of my vision were cloudy.

Dream. My mind said tiredly.

Ugh. I thought. I'd rather just sleep. I looked around and I was still in my bed, in my room. I was just dreaming that I was awake. Lovely.

I rolled onto my side, facing the middle of the room. Sighing, and for reasons unknown to me, I stretched my hand out in front of me and let it lay on the mattress, palm up.

And, to my utter and complete shock, a hand came from the floor and twined fingers with mine.

"Ahh, so you're awake." A sensual voice hummed at me from the floor.

Afraid of what might meet me, I peered cautiously over the edge of my bed. Aido was sitting on the floor.

"What are you doing here?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm taking care of you."

"Why?" I asked, giving him a weird look.

"Because you're sick, silly!" He said, gripping my fingers a little tighter. "I've been here holding your hand whenever you got lonely."

I turned red slightly, imagining him actually doing that. Yeah, right. "Oh." I said.

I lay quietly for a few minutes more, him holding my hand from the floor. It felt nice to simply have him there.

"You gave me this cold, you know."

Aido turned his head to look at me. "What?" He acted truly surprised.

"After you bit me…" I shuddered. "I was too shocked to move until after the rain came. I was dripping wet when I got home."

He stood with inhuman speed and pulled me to a sitting position and hugged me against his chest.

"I would never, ever bite you." He said, running his fingers absently through my hair. His voice burned with sincerity, and he almost sounded hurt that I would suggest such a thing. "You must have had a nightmare."

"No, I—" I broke off, feeling for the marks on my neck that weren't there. "There were marks here!" I exclaimed. "You bit me!"

Aido looked heartbreaking sad. "No, I didn't."

DREAM… My mind forcefully pushed the thought to the surface.

Oh, right. I guess things would be different in a dream. I looked at Dream Aido and realized that I was just upsetting him by bringing this up. So I dropped it.

"You know…" I said quietly. "You don't have to… sit down there." I sighed. "You can lie on the bed with me."

Aido's face lit up. "Really?"

I nodded, a slight smile reaching my face in spite of myself. The way he just brightened up like a child was something he did in real life…

He got up and lay on the sheets while I stayed in the inside. He rolled over and hugged me gently to him. "Go back to sleep." He said. "I'll be here when you wake up."

No you won't. I thought, now sad. Because this is a dream…

"Aido?" I said, trying to ask as nicely as possible as to not upset this dream version of him. "Why wouldn't you bite me?"

He looked down at me, smiling so big his eyes closed.

"Because I love you!"