***

You come to school one day with a minor cold, but you ignore it. As days go by, the illness gets worse and worse, but you keep pushing through until you reach the point where you can barely stand on your own. Haruhi notices and wants to help.
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Your POV
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I've been going to school lately, and I've been feeling....off. Like, feeling poorly in health terms.

I have just been ignoring it, but it's getting worse each and every day that passes.

I hope it just goes away soon. I'm not planning on going to the doctor.

I'm in class currently in my seat next to my crush, Haruhi Fujioka.

I know that Haruhi is a girl, but I couldn't care less what gender she is.

I keep quietly clearing my throat so I don't disturb the class, but Haruhi is the only one who takes notice.

She glances at me every now and again, but I pretend I don't see it.

Now I try to hold in clearing my throat so that she might just think that it was nothing.

My throat itches and is practically begging for me to cough, so I give in.

I cough and it comes out a little loud, but not enough to disturb the class session, thankfully. It sounds scratchy and rough, as if some mucus is stuck and makes me want to cough some more.

I hold it back again until I have to let it out. Same as last time, but a bit more harsh.

Haruhi glances over at me with a worried look as she stares at my face. I can feel myself heat up by her stare and I look back with a small smile, trying to show her that I'm fine before looking away.

Luckily, the bell rings and everyone starts packing up while talking, giving me the chance to cough again.

Everyone is too preoccupied with their conversations and stuff to even notice. Well..all of them except for one brunette female.

Haruhi.

She watches as I pack my things quickly and cover my mouth with my arm as I cough.

I only just met Haruhi this year, and she's become my best friend instantly. We both got in here due to our high IQ's and clicked immediately when we met.

Unfortunately, Haruhi and I ran into a bit of trouble with the Host Club on our first day. She knocked over a vase and I tried to catch it. The vase touched the tips of my fingers before smashing onto the floor.

My hand got cut from that, but it was the least of my worries.

Let's just say that Haruhi stressed over the tiny cut once we left.

Now we're both hosts. She's acting as a male host while I'm staying as a female one for the boys here at Ouran.

We used to be the Host Club's Dogs or whatever, but we got upgraded.

Let me just say that when Haruhi defended me when the vase broke saying that it's unfair that I have to be dragged into it since she knocked it over while I just tried to catch it was very cute. Kyoya just said that I had touched it last, so now I'm apart of it as well.

Haruhi's mother had died, and I don't know why hers did. My mom died because of an illness that runs in her family.

Needless to say that I have the possibility to get that same illness as well.

I'm not sure what it's called yet, they never told me, but I do know that there is a very slim chance of surviving it. That alone scares me.

I've never told Haruhi about this fact about my family. The illness part. I did tell her that my mother died of an illness a few years back, though.

(AN: You and Haruhi are 15 btw. Also, I'm just gonna make up an illness name since I'm too lazy to look one up. XD)

I just didn't tell her that the illness can be passed down through generations.

Something I am happy about from the illness is that if you get it and survive, then if you have children, they will have a higher chance of not getting it.

Sadly, my mother had it all along and nobody knew until she started having the symptoms and passed on..the same thing could be happening to me as well.

I noticed that I'm having similar symptoms as she did.

Coughing, stumbling, stuttering, shaking, etc.

Anyway, let's get back to reality.

I can feel Haruhi's concerned stare on me as I hurriedly exit the room before she can call out to me.

I start to lightly shake and my breathing is uneven. I ignore it and go to my locker.

It's the end of the day so that's good.

I have to walk home, which is unfortunate, but whatever. I kind of like it, actually.

I reach my locker and rest my right hand on it, coughing again towards the floor as my left arm holds my books.

Once my coughing fit stops, I open my locker, grab my bag and stuff everything inside. I shut the locker and head up to the Host Club.

I don't know if I'm even well enough to be doing this...

I think I'm going to stop wearing these dresses to school for a while. I'm a bit too weak for it, I've noticed.

It's just a tad bit heavy, not gonna lie.

I stumble and catch myself on the wall on my right with my arm. I stop for a moment before standing straight again and continuing.

I hear running footsteps behind me, but I don't stop. I only stop when I hear a familiar voice call out to me...

"YN!"

I stop and turn, seeing that it was Haruhi chasing after me.

When she reaches me, she sets a hand on my shoulder as she bends forward a bit to catch her breath from running. I resist the urge to cough.

I give her a concerned yet confused look and ask in a quiet voice, "You okay?"

Haruhi catches her breath and stands straight, but doesn't drop her hand. She gives me a small smile and nods.

"Yeah! I'm fine. I just ran here to catch up with you."

"Ah, sorry I didn't wait then."

"Heh, don't worry about it. I understand that you don't wanna be late to the Host Club and such. C'mon! Let's go!"

We start heading towards the Host Club room and her hand drops off of my shoulder.

I breathe deeply as we walk, trying not to cough or stumble or stutter as we speak and walk.

I fail in about a minute in..

"Th-That's nice, H-Haruhi.." I scold myself in my mind for stuttering and sounding slightly breathless.

I hope she doesn't notice, but she does.

Haruhi stops me and looks directly into my eyes with genuine concern and inquires, "YN, are you alright? You've been coughing, stumbling, and stuttering all day. Even shaking. Is something wrong? Are you sick?"

My face flushed a bit and I look away, my body starting to shake lightly. Go figure.

Perfect timing, body! Sarcasm, clearly.

"I-I'm fine, thanks...n-nothing's w-wrong, I'm not s-sick." Is all I say before I start walking again.

I stumble a few times and Haruhi catches up to me, grasping my left hand and she helps me walk better. I give her a small, weak smile and she gives a worried one back.

"I'm at least gonna help you walk. I'm worried about you, but I won't push you into telling me what's wrong just yet. If it gets worse, however, I won't hesitate to bug you about it until you tell me." Haruhi says in a slightly teasing tone and I laugh.

She does too.

We stop laughing and we stand in front of the Host Club doors, looking at one another in the eye.

"Okay. Th-Thank you, Haruhi." I say gratefully, she smiles a bit more at me.

I do the same back.

"No problem, YN." She replies and we enter the room, but she doesn't let my hand go, surprisingly.

The hosts greet us and raise their eyebrows at our hands, but say nothing. They seem to realize what's happening when Haruhi helps me walk to my area when I host as I stumble a bit.

I thank her and we all start hosting once everyone is in position.

I stay back here while the other hosts greet the ladies and gentlemen. Haruhi peeks back at me a few times to make sure I'm alright, which makes me blush every time.

And when I catch her looking back at me, her face turns red and she goes back to doing whatever she was doing. Always with a small smile on her face afterwards.

"Hello boys! H-How are you?" I ask them with a soft yet rugged voice and a small smile on my face.

"Good."
"Amazing."
"Alright."

We start talking until one of them questions, "Are you okay? You seem to be not feeling well."

The other two boys nod in agreement, I sigh lightly.

"I'm alright. Thank y-you for your c-concern. Just a c-cold, probably."

They nod and we continue talking.

It seems like forever until it's time I get to leave.

Oh! I forgot to mention something!

When Haruhi and I had *forcefully* joined the club, she became the Natural Type and I became the Mature Type.

I'm the mature type because I don't mess around. I don't like childish things too much, but I can still have fun if I want to. I'm also somewhat curvy, but not so much it's distracting.

I shakily stand up and grab my backpack, waving to the other hosts before I take my leave.

I hear someone rushing behind me and I glance back, seeing it's Haruhi.

I stop and let her catch up.

We walk side by side out of Ouran. She says she's walking me home, despite my protests.

She takes my hand in hers again, and our faces flush. I'm assuming she's doing that to help me walk again.

We intertwine our fingers and continue the walk to my house.

TIMESKIP-A week later

Uhh...so, the illness got worse.

I can barely walk and stand without shaking and falling.

I'm still going to school, though.

My father tells me I shouldn't go, but I don't listen.

I don't want to believe that I'm sick. That I've got what my mom had. That I could die soon.

I leave my house before my dad can do anything to stop me.

I'm wearing light gray sweatpants, a dark FC long sleeved sweater, and tennis shoes.

Thankfully the illness I have isn't contagious.

It just hurts..a lot.

I stumble my way into Ouran and straight for my class. I'm not dealing with lockers today.

I wobble my way past Haruhi and the Hitachiin twins, who give me worried looks and one of them runs after me.

I already know it's Haruhi, but I don't stop or turn around.

"YN!" Haruhi calls, but I can barely hear her.

I enter the classroom and sit down in my seat.

"YN, your seat is one over to your left."

I move to the one on my left, shoving my bag under the seat and not caring about the embarrassment.

Haruhi sits down on my left and I can just feel her eyes bore into my figure. I know she's worried. I know she's concerned.

And I was only told that I have what my mom had a few days ago. Sunday.

I went to the doctor, left, and was told I have it too.

My dad cried for the past few days, but I just blankly stared at everything. Secretly sad on the inside, just like how I'm probably dying on the inside too. I had sobbed in my room when I was alone.

I still do, and I can hear my dad's cries at night as well.

My dad is planning on taking me to the hospital in a few days when we had it scheduled. That means I'm going to be spending all of my time there until I either get better or....you know..die.

I have to tell Haruhi and the others, but I just..can't. It's hard!

It's really hard to tell the people you love and care about deeply that you may end up dying in a few days.

I just stare at my desk blankly before I start coughing. I dip my head and lay it on my arms so that I'm coughing onto my desk and nobody can see my face, just my hair.

Haruhi rubs my back soothingly as I pretty much hack my lungs out.

I stop coughing and just keep my head here, Haruhi stopping the rubs and just hugs me as best as she can.

"I'm sorry about your coughing...your shaking, stumbling, everything.....there's not much I can do, but I'm here with you...every step of the way." She whispers softly to me.

I can feel the tears forming and I just let them fall freely, but silently.

She can tell I'm crying and sniffling so she stops hugging me and somehow gets me to look up at her. Haruhi has a saddened, worried, and concerned gaze as she watches me sob quietly.

"What's wrong..?"

"...It..It just.....hurts, H-Haruhi...a lot and.....thank you s-so much f-for being here...when I-I need you the m-most...."

She immediately hugs me again and I lean my head on her shoulder.

Thankfully, nobody else has entered the classroom.

"I'll always be here for you, YN...always..."

TIMESKIP-At home

I barely make it through the front door before I fall to the floor face-first and black out..

I hear my dad yelling to me before I lose all of my senses...

"YN!!"

TIMESKIP-Saturday morning, Author's POV

The Host Club have gotten extremely worried about YN since she hasn't been to school since Monday, especially Haruhi.

Haruhi has headed over to the LN household for the past few days, but nobody answered, making her even more concerned.

When Haruhi arrived home her father ran over to her, throwing her bag off to the side and grabbing her hand and rushing her out the door.

"Dad! What's going on?! Why are we—?!"

She got cut off by her father, "It's your girl, YN!"

This made Haruhi shut up completely and run faster to wherever they were going with her dad. Her face turned beet red when she realized that her father said your girl.

Her father leads Haruhi to the hospital, making her heart drop farther.

Your dad greets them with a worried smile and teary eyes, "H-Hello guys..sh-she's alive, but b-barely...we d-don't know if she's g-gonna.....m-m-make it.."

Your father bursts into tears. Haruhi and her father also start to cry.

They all really care about you and are the closest people to you. You're all practically family.

Once they all calm down, Haruhi starts to speak..

"What d-does she h-have..?"

"Y-YN has the same i-illness her mother had...it's c-called Death-Core. Basically s-since there is a-a very slim ch-chance of survival and if i-it reaches your c-core, or your heart, y-you die..."

They then go to see you after they calm down a bit, only to have them break down again when they see you.

Your POV

There's a gentle knock on the door and I call, "Come i-in!"

Then I start coughing, but stop a few seconds later.

I see my father, Haruhi, and her father enter the room. When they see me they start crying.

Their eyes were red when they came in, so I'm assuming they were crying before they came in here too.

Tears form in my eyes too at seeing them sob.

Haruhi and her father come closer to my bedside and Haruhi grabs my left hand in hers.

I give her hand a small squeeze. She gives me a gentle one back.

Seeing her in tears breaks my heart.

After talking with them for a few minutes, our dads leave Haruhi and I alone for a while.

"Why didn't you tell me, YN..?" Haruhi whispers to me, sounding broken.

I watch her with sad eyes, whispering back, "I was g-going to on T-Tuesday, but...I-I fell and p-passed out..I woke u-up here....I'm s-so sorry, Haruhi.."

She lets a few tears slip and she falls to her knees, still holding my hand in both of hers.

"It's n-not your fault....this was c-clearly inevitable..I just n-need to tell you s-something.....just i-in case y-you go...."

"Y-Yes..?"

"I.....I love you, YN...I have e-ever since I-I met you.." Haruhi confesses.

My heart races and my eyes widen a fraction before I smile at her and reply, "I-I love you t-too, Haruhi.."

She smiles at me and kisses my cheek, making our faces go dark red.

I giggle and she does too.

I hope I can make it through this....for her.

TIMESKIP-A week later, Haruhi's POV

Ever since my father and I left after visiting YN at the hospital, they wouldn't let anybody see her except for her dad.

This got me extremely worried, and I still am.

It's Friday again and my father got word from YN's Dad, saying that we can come see her now.

The Host Club told me to give them every detail from last time, so I know they'll want me to do the same later for now.

My dad and I are rushing to the hospital. When we arrive, we go up to the receptionist and finally are able to see YN...my love.

We make it to her room and hear some laughter. My heart skips a beat when I hear that one of those laughs are YN's, and relief floods my body.

She's alive!!

We knock and we hear her dad say, "Come in!"

So we do, and we see YN and her father. Her father is helping her walk and they're both laughing.

This makes my dad and I smile.

I couldn't be happier right now!!

Your POV

There's a knock at the door and my dad calls at them to come in.

They do and see that my dad is trying to help me walk as we're laughing.

I see that it's Haruhi and her father. They smile at us but my eyes are glued to Haruhi and Haruhi alone.

Her eyes are stuck on me as well, and her eyes sparkle with happiness.

"Hey Haruhi!" I greet, my voice almost completely back to normal.

She laughs and cries tears of joy as she runs up to me and traps me in a hug. I laugh and hug her back.

Our dad's smile and laugh with us.

"And hello to you too, Ranka!" I greet her father, he waves.

"Hello dear! So glad you're alright!"

I give him and smile and bury my head into Haruhi's shoulder while she does the same in my neck.

I squeeze her a bit tighter when I feel her tears on my skin. Haruhi hugs me back a bit tighter too.

"Thank god you're okay.." She mumbles into my neck.

My face flushes, "Yeah...if I wasn't I wouldn't be able to see you again."

Her face gets warmer and she giggles, I giggle too.

"I love you, YN." Haruhi mutters, lifting her head and having her eyes lock with mine.

The look she's giving me makes my heart flutter.

Awww!

"I love you too, Haruhi." I reply back.

We both lean in until our lips meet in the middle, eyes fluttering shut.

I think going through this life-threatening illness was worth it to have Haruhi right by my side.

———

-CastrarWolf