Author: Requested by ThatOneJoker. Based on a scene of Chapter 3 - "Encounter" of Book of Shadows. Just replaced Satoshi with Naomi and Ms. Yui with Ayumi. And some minor changes as well. (it is also a continuation to my other fic, "Understanding". But you don't have to read that to understand this)

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.......*sigh*

Naomi was currently on her way to Ayumi's house. The blue-haired class representative of class 2-9 was absent today for some reason and Naomi was assigned by their new teacher, Ms. Takeya, to bring their exam reviewers and other 'class rep stuffs' to the girl.

It's been a few days after Naomi had come over to Ayumi's house in order to comfort her. They haven't talk to each other ever since. Naomi thought that her friend just needed some space to which she was more than happy to give. Yoshiki and Satoshi seems to be doing fine but Naomi kept distancing herself from the two. Satoshi tried confronting her about it to which Naomi thought she was being interrogated and had an emotional outburst. Yoshiki scolded him for that and apologized to Naomi for the other guy's persistent.

"I hope I'm not worrying them too much...." Naomi sighed as she continued her way to her destination.

The Shinozaki residence was quiet when she had arrived. She tried knocking at the door but no one would answer. She also noticed that the door wasn't locked. She tried texting and calling Ayumi but she wouldn't respond. Naomi once again, sighed.

"It's not like I'm barging in. I'm just going to place this papers to anywhere noticeable inside her house and immediately leave." She doesn't like the idea of invading Ayumi's home. She might get a mouthful of scolding by the class rep tomorrow at school. And if it's locked then she had an excuse to not give her the papers today. But still, her hand made it's way to grab the doorknob and gently twisted it.

It wasn't locked. She groaned.

As Naomi slowly opened the door, she peeked around first before silently apologizing and went inside. After gently closing the door, she looked around again. Looks like nobody's home. Geez.....they should've locked the place if they're going to leave it unattended. Naomi made her way to the living room and place the school papers at the sofa.

"hmm.....I should leave her a note as well." Naomi still had her school bag with her and began to rummage inside it.

She pulled out a notebook and a ballpen from her bag and started writing.

"Iincho......here are the reviewers that we need to study....for our exam next week...Takeya-sensei ordered me to bring them to you....you should lock your door next time if you're gonna leave your house....this is dangerous, you know?...sorry for the intrusion....your classmate, Nakashima Naomi." She stopped writing and tore the paper from her notebook.

When she moved to place the paper near the reviewers, she heard a slight groan from behind her followed by the creaking sound of the stairs as if someone was walking down on It. Whoever it is, they were slowly moving towards her direction.

C-Crap!

She quickly turned around and prepared to explain herself to whoever this person is that she didn't mean to enter the house without permission. But.....it looks like she doesn't have to.

"I-Iincho?" She asked. The other girl just stood in front of her with her eyes closed.

Ayumi was still in her pajamas. Her hair was tied to it's usual pigtails but is still messy. She has her head down which means she was still half-asleep. Was she.....sleep-walking?

"Iincho.....are you okay? Can you hear me?" Naomi stepped closer to the other girl and placed both hands on the other's shoulders. She's burning hot.

Wait, is she....sick?

"mnngh....*groan*...." Ayumi doesn't seem like she was paying attention to her.

She's soaked by her own sweat and her clothes are slightly disheveled. She just continued groaning quietly.

".....nngh....mmnn.....*yawn*" She held a hand in front of her face and rubbed an eye.

Naomi tried shaking her slightly by the shoulder.

"Iincho, listen. I brought our reviewers for the exam next week. They were given yesterday. Takeya-sensei sent me here to bring them to you and-" She stopped talking when she realized Ayumi wasn't listening.

The girl was whispering incoherent words. Naomi leaned a bit closer.

"umm.....are you ok, Iincho? You should lay down if you're-"

"cold...*tremble*...I'm s-so...*shiver*...c-cold..."

Huh? She was cold? But her face was dripping with sweat! Not to mention her temperature is really high. Naomi had just became more confused and worried than ever.

"Cold? Then maybe you should wrap a blanket around yourself. Do you have a thermometer? You should try measuring your temperature as well. Here, let me help you." Naomi took hold of Ayumi's arm when the shorter girl flinched.

".....onee-chan?" Ayumi mumbled as she groggily looked up at the brunette. Eyes still half-opened.

Wait, what?

"Onee-chan!!" Ayumi threw herself at Naomi knocking both of them down on the floor. The brunette let out a flustered yelp.

"Uwaah!! What the-!? I-Iincho!?" Naomi blurted out as soon as she caught Ayumi when the girl tackle-hugged her.

"I missed you! I missed you so much!! D-Don't ever leave me again....please...*sob*" She started sobbing. What in the world has gotten into her?

"W-Wait, I'm not you sister! It's me, Nakashima Naomi. Your classmate!" Naomi tried wriggling herself free from the other girl's grip but, Ayumi seems much stronger than she thought.

This scene sure is flustering the hell out of her. For as much as her best friend used to hug her all the time, Naomi's still not fond of the idea about hugging. Not this tight. And most certainly not by Ayumi.

"*sob*...I-I...*gasp*...was s-so...*wheezes*...scared..." she was sobbing uncontrollably now.

"E-Ehh?....scared?"

Scared? Of what? Naomi shook the questions away 'cause she knows she won't be able to answer them anyway and her personal space is more important here.

"Iincho, I'm telling you. It's me! L-Let go already, geez!" She continued to struggle but it doesn't seem like Ayumi's going to let her go anytime soon.

"N-No! *sob* I won't!" She choked between sobs.

After a few minutes of trying to push the other girl off of her or trying to snap her out of it, Naomi sighed defeatedly and laid still on the ground with Ayumi still clinging tightly on her. Maybe it was her illness that was making her act this way. Please let it be the illness.

After a few minutes, she felt the blunette's grip loosened a bit and took this opportunity to release herself from the hug. After doing so, she sat up and looked at Ayumi. Her face is making a distressed expression.

"....I can't just leave her yet. I know I'll regret it later....*sigh*. 'Guess I better keep her company for a little while." She dusted herself off before attempting to carry Ayumi. She tried carrying the shorter girl on her back but decided against it and just carried her bridal style.

Wow.....she's much lighter than I expected.

She carefully went upstairs and made her way to Ayumi's room. Since she's quite familiar of the place already, she quickly found her destination. After entering the room, she gently laid Ayumi down to the bed and pulled the blankets up to her so it's covering her upper body. Ayumi turned to the side facing Naomi as she whined softly. The brunette couldn't help but crack a smile and reached out a hand to gently tuck away some of the other girl's blue strands of hair.

Ayumi started to cough which startled Naomi and made her quickly pull her hand back.

W-What am I doing!? Geez.....I should give her some water. Her throat must be dry.

When she was about to stand up, she felt a gentle tug from the side of her skirt and found out that Ayumi's hand had slipped from under the blanket and was the one doing the tugging.

"*cough* d-don't...leave...*whine*...s-stay...please...*whimper*" She softly mumbled.

Ayumi's grip was much weaker than before but it's not like Naomi's going anywhere. She's only going to get the blunette a drink to stop her from coughing.

She let out another sigh before leaning down and gently patting the top of Ayumi's head.

"Don't worry, Iincho. I'll be back soon. I promise." She whispered.

She carefully and gently removed Ayumi's fingers that was tugging at her skirt. Even though feeling a bit guilty afterwards, she forced herself to stand up and leave the room to get some water downstairs.

~~~

*A few hours later*

"..................."

"Be strong, Ayumi-chan...."

".......Onee......chan....."

"Don't worry.....I'll be back soon.....I promise..."

"...D-Don't leave.....please...."

Ayumi moved her hand as if reaching out towards her sister. Hinoe smiled as she gently clasped it with her own.

"Be strong......okay?"

".....*groan*...O-Okay...*whimper*...."

Ayumi held her sister's hands tightly as if never wanting to let go. She felt a gentle tug from her hand after a few moments

"I-Iincho, Your hand! Your hand!"

"......h-huh?"

I know that voice.....

"L-Let go, already! Geez! I told you I'm not going anywhere!"

She felt another tug. She then slowly opened her eyes to see.....

"Naka...shima...san?"

"That's right. It's me. Did you hit your head or something?"

Huh? What is she doing here?

Ayumi slowly got up into a sitting position and stared at Naomi as if trying to figure out if her presence is real or not. The brunette blushed a bit because of the attention and began tugging on her hand again that was still intertwined with the other girl's own.

"u-umm...Iincho? Could you let go of my hand, now?" She sheepishly asked.

Ayumi looked down at her own hand and started to blush as well. She quickly released Naomi's hand.

"A-Ah, gomen! I, uhh.....wait a minute. What are you doing here!?" She exclaimed as she looked around and saw a thermometer on a table and some ice packs on the floor.

Naomi looked at her then sighed.

"Of course you wouldn't remember...." She rubbed her temples slightly. Ayumi raised an eyebrow.

After explaining everything of what happened earlier to the class rep. Ayumi apologized profusedly to Naomi once more.

"I-I told you, it's ok! Stop apologizing already!" Naomi said.

"Gomen, gomen. I just....I-I....." Ayumi was more than just flustered. She was downright embarassed.

She's not just embarassed because she caused some trouble to a classmate. But it's because she was so sick to the point that Naomi decided to take care of her and even cooked her food and helped her drink her medicine. Naomi stood up to grab a glass of water from a small table near them. She handed it to the blunette.

"Here. You were coughing a lot earlier. Not to mention shivering as well. That could be the cause of exhaustion and dehydration." Naomi stated like a nurse giving information about a patient's current state.

Ayumi held up a hand and placed it on her forehead. It doesn't seem like she has a fever anymore. Which means....

"Don't worry. If you think I'm leaving, I'm not. I wouldn't just leave you here without anyone watching over you. That would make me a horrible classmate and friend." She smiled.

Ayumi looked suprised for a moment but then frowned almost immediately.

"W-What's that supposed to mean!? I can take care of myself, you know!" She raised her voice a bit. Naomi laughed.

"Not when you're sick, though." The brunette continued laughing.

Ayumi irritatedly crossed her arms and turned away from Naomi as she huffed.

The blunette then remembered her dream. She felt her chest get heavy and her eyes started to water. Naomi saw this and reach out a hand to wipe some of her tears away.

"See? You still need somebody to look after you."

Ayumi got irritated again by this and grabbed a handful of the front of Naomi's uniform and blew her nose on it.

"Gkh-! H-Hey, not on my uniform! Use a handkerchief or something, geez!" Naomi moved away from Ayumi. The other girl just smiled in triumph.

Naomi sighed once more. At least Ayumi's acting more like herself again.

"By the way. It's getting late and I'm really sleepy. You wouldn't mind me laying down here for a little while, would you?" She was motioning on the floor. Ayumi stared at her as if she was the dumbest person in the world.

"At the ground? Without a futton? Are you serious?" She asked.

"You guys don't seem to have a spare futton around here. So....would you prefer me sleeping in your bed instead?"

"W-What!? Well, I....WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-!?" Ayumi didn't get to finish her flustered yell when Naomi swiftly moved to lay down in bed beside her. She wrapped an arm around Ayumi before mumbling 'good night' and pulling the blankets around both of them.

Ayumi kept squirming on her grip but then stopped when Naomi stated that she was extremely tired and this is the least thing Ayumi could do to thank her. The blunette couldn't really argue with that since she was really grateful for her classmate's help but if her mom comes in her room and finds somebody else on her bed, how in the world is she going to explain things to her? She sighed a bit when she felt Naomi's slow breathing on her skin.

"Well......I 'guess I don't have much of a choice...." She grumbled as she hugged the other girl back.

Then again, even if I do have a choice, I'd still let her stay anyways....

~~~

Author:*clasps hands together* Finally! *sighs* I could relax and take a break and- *sees request list*.......nevermind.