I slowly opened my eyes and looked at my cream colored ceiling. I could hear the soft purring of the A/C vent in my room. It took me a moment to recollect the events that occurred before I lost consciousness, and I was displeased to still have somewhat blurry sight. I noticed a dark figure in my peripheral vision and turned my head to see someone sitting in a chair by my bed. At first, I thought it was Hatsurin, but as my vision began to gradually clear, I was astonished. It's a man, and definitely not Hatsurin. His long dark hair had a red strip that graced the left side of his face. It was slightly disheveled as he sat asleep in the chair by the foot of my bed. He seemed creepily familiar and it bugged me. His arms were crossed over his chest and he seemed uncomfortable even in rest. I guess sleeping in a chair will do that to you. But I know that if I had seen a face like his, that appeared to be sculpted from clay to perfection, I would have hopefully remembered it.

I tried to sit up and managed to, but only slowly. I sighed in relief when I was able to sit up straight and not have the blood rush to my head. Looking back to make sure he was still asleep, which he was, I swung my feet carefully over the edge of the bed. I was doing good so far, so I tried to stand and walk. When I tried to take a step, my body had other plans for me. My legs buckled and gave out from under me. I ended up tripping over a pillow that had fallen to the ground when I tried to steady myself. I flailed about, trying to reach for something to grab. It must have been too much frantic movement for my whole body froze up stiff and pain coursed through my nerves. I prepared myself to fall to the ground in a harsh thud. As I could feel my lungs beginning to reignite, I felt an arm around my waist support me to help prevent falling to the ground. I tried to force my body to relax into the warm sturdy object holding me firmly. I wanted nothing more than to prevent coughing up blood everywhere. As I was focused on relaxing, my support carried me back to my bed, tucking me back in.

"Careful there, sweets. Don't over do it," a male commented, his voice thick like honey but not as deep as the other man's from the other night. This guy's voice seemed more light hearted and more playful. Like crystallized honey, while the other male's was thick and rich like liquid chocolate.

I recognized this voice and after he took a step back, I looked up at him. His almost black hair looked as soft as feathers. Not to mention that the red strip of hair, on the left half of his face, stood out greatly against the darkness of the rest. His lips looked as smooth as stone, slightly fallen on each side, both with a soft peach color to them. His face was sculpted and smooth. With his pale grey toned skin, strong jawline, and somewhat high cheekbones, he seemed to stand there looking like a model, an angel, or something divine and almost childishly innocent. His piercing two toned red eyes glowed down at me. One was a bright candy apple red while the other was a deeper, richer shade of the same warm smoldering color.

I realized I was staring at him and my cheeks heated up quickly. His smirk widened and he showed pearly white teeth as he laughed. His voice was melodic as is, but his laugh was captivating and just intensified the blush on my cheeks.

"S...so. You're from the ah....other night, right? Who....who are you exactly?" I ask shyly, stuttering like a fool, trying to clear my throat of something that wasn't there.

"Two nights ago, and yes. I am. I'm sorry if I hurt you, but you've been sick since before we met. Am I correct?" He replied.

I took a moment to think up a lie, but stopped myself. Why should I lie to him? He doesn't belong in my bedroom in the first place. Reality was clicking in as it felt like a haze was lifted off my mind. "You never answered my question about who you are."

I started to sit up to protest and try to get him out of my room, when my bedroom door suddenly burst open and Hatsurin came flying in. She looked around for a moment, saw me sitting up, then ran over and hugged me close, "What the heck happened to you? I knew you were sick, but losing consciousness?! What is the ducking matter with you?"

I sigh with a small smile and hug her back, "I'm fine now, so don't worry. I probably just had a really bad fever."

She pulls away and grabs my shoulders, shaking me slightly, "It's the brain worms I tell you! Those worms I keep telling you about! We have to take you to the hospital so they can remove them surgically! It probably came from the sushi we had the other night."

I huffed and pushed her hands away, "No! I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere."

She shook her head and tried to take my hand and pull me out of bed, "If it was that simple, then Rou wouldn't have insisted on staying by your side to keep an eye on you. You're lucky he was here. He mentioned that his brother was a doctor of sorts so he knows a few things. He also said that it was more than a simple cold. I told him that you just get really bad allergies, but he refused and said it wasn't anything like that."

"R...Rou? Wh...who's that?" I question, taking my hand back from her grasp.

"Hatsurin, the stew is just about done." a deep voice commented, poking its head into the room. He was tall, very tall, and from the shoulder that could be somewhat seen, he was muscular too.

Just as the other man's skin had a grey tint to it, this guy's skin was tinted a light green. His hair a dark green hue, half-shaved on the right side, with pink and red tips that reached the base of his neck and covered his left eye mysteriously. He had an eyebrow piercing on his right side, as well as snake bites just under his bottom lip. Around his wide neck was a black choker that looked like just a simple felt ribbon. He stepped into the room and I looked at him in question. His plain cerulean blue hoodie stood in contrast to his half-white half-neon orange jeans. He sure had a crazy fashion sense if I knew anything.

"How is everything doing in here?" He asked, looking at Hatsurin as he walked to the end of the bed.

"I'm doing fine," I replied for her, standing up out of bed, slowly. "I am sure I just need something to drink and food in my system."

I gave both Rou and his friend a skeptic look. Having strangers in my house was not on my favorites list. I stumbled past the three people crowding me in my bedroom and walked out to the rest of the apartment. A simple two bedroom two bath, with a kitchen, dining room, and living room. It was pretty spacious for two people. Four did seem perfect. Ten or fifteen would be the max we could fit in this living space, but my sister and I would never be popular or ever have enough family to fill this apartment.

I slowly made my way out to the kitchen, smelling the hearty stew from the bedroom. I opened the lid to the pot and looked in. It was my kitchen, my house, and this stew was missing carrots, though Hatsurin didn't like cooked or mushy carrots, so I would normally add them near the end of the cooking process so they would still be slightly hard. And that's exactly what I did. Waiting a few more moments, then adding the baby carrots we had in the fridge. I grabbed myself a bowl from the cabinet, but my body thought otherwise. My chest tightened and a searing feeling filled my lungs. I dropped the bowl full of hot stew and fell to my knees, coughing. 

I could hear the others rushing through the apartment at the sound of the shattered bowl and my hacking. I wheezed and tried to steady my pained body. I could eventually take a full breath as Rou ran up and knelt to the ground beside me. I looked at my stinging hands and saw chunks of ceramic bowl in my palms, blood running down to my wrists. I gave out a few more small coughs and looked up at Rou. His eyes widened and he pulled his sleeves up as he glanced behind him. Hatsurin was rushing through the apartment towards the kitchen, the taller male in tow. Rou wiped the corners of my mouth and my chin, grabbing both my wrists with one hand and wrapping his free arm around my waist. He helped me up just as Hatsurin came rushing in. It was almost as if he could read my mind or sense that I didn't want my sister to know.

"What happened?!" She yelled in fright as she looked down at my hands all the while Rou helped me past her.

The taller green man came up quickly, and surprisingly quiet. I looked to him and nonchalantly commented, "Green man, the stew is done. Take it off before all the veggies get soft."

It hurt to speak and at that moment, as if he knew, Rou shushed me. "I'm going to get her hands cleaned and bandaged, clean up the bowl and then serve yourselves. We'll be out when I'm done." He said and took me to the bathroom closest to my bedroom.

He sat me down on the closed toilet lid and I frowned up at him. He took my chin in his now free hand and tilted my head up, then he looked into my eyes. He held up a finger in front of my eyes, "follow my finger."

"What are you doing?" I question, groaning as I try to pull away.

He held me still and glared down at me, "Follow. My. Finger."

I looked in his eyes for a moment, feeling the heat of his seriousness weigh down upon me. I gave a small sigh and looked at his finger, following the movements it made. Then when he put his finger down, he tilted my face up to the light in the bathroom, I winced slightly. The bright light hurt too much for me to keep my eyes open. He let go of my head and took a step back.

" I'll help you with your hands in a second but I need you to put your arms up," he commanded next, and knelt to the ground in front of me.

I did so, painfully, but when he grabbed the bottom of my shirt and began to lift it up, I dropped my hands, trying to stop him in a rush of panic, "What are you doing?!"

"I need to check something because obviously you are sick, very sick. On top of that, you seem to be refusing to go to any doctor or the hospital. So you either can deal with me and the knowledge I have, or you can go to any regular physician." He looked at me straight in the eyes, multiple red hues seemingly swimming in both of his irises.

"I...I'm fine..." I began but as I stared into his eyes longer, I seemed to give up the fight and slowly raised my hands above my head, frowning, "Just don't tell Hatsurin. And stop before lifting above my chest!"

He smirked and teased, "what chest?"

I hit him on the top of his head and ground my teeth together, just hurry up. Won't they begin wondering what is taking us so long?"

He smirked for a second and then frowned. When he nodded, all playfulness was gone from his expression as he raised my shirt up slowly. I could see his posture tense up and I could have sworn I heard him take a sharp breath. He rolled up my shirt so it would stay put and then gently held my sides, running his hands gingerly over the dark purple bruise like marks arranged on my torso.

"When did these appear?" He asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

I took a moment to think and gave him a detailed answer as best I could remember. "There was a slight redness above my stomach, small intestines, and my kidneys started about a week ago. I thought I had just hit myself hard on something by accident, but then it spread to my sides and up by my lungs as it grew darker and more of the purple-ish bruise hue." I looked down and frowned, "It is worse today then it ever has been before."

He gently runs his hand along my skin applying a bit of pressure. I gasped as pain filled my whole body and I was forced into a short coughing fit before tasting blood in my mouth.

"I... I don't understand. This is Diabolus Febricitantem" He mumbled and then looked up at me, "Devil's Fever."