"Good. I'm glad. Have fun with Tenshi-kun, then."
Neko nodded. She intended to. Well, at least up until the point when they told Haruka and Michiru they were engaged. She headed out of the room. "I just hope Haruka-sama doesn't kill us." She stopped, her hand on the doorframe.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Mi-, Mi-chan?"
Something was wrong. Mi-chan jumped up and ran to the door, catching Neko before she hit the ground. "Neko-chan? Neko!"
"Maybe I should stay home afterall," Neko suggested weakly.
Mi-chan put her hand to Neko's head and one to her own. "God, you're burning up!" She helped Neko to her bed before running off to find their parents.
"Dad! Mom!"
Ami came out of the kitchen with an inquisitive look upon her face. "Your father's working. Is something wrong?"
"Neko-chan's sick."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko hadn't been alone long before she began to fall asleep. But it felt like forever before Mi-chan woke her. "Neko-chan," Mi-chan called worriedly to her sister, "wake up."
Neko opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was still in her room; they hadn't taken her to the hospital. So she couldn't be too sick.
"Mi-chan? Where are Mom and Dad?"
"Dad's at work. Mom's getting a thermo-scanner so she can take your temperature. How do you feel?"
"Fine," Neko said weakly. "A little hot."
"Well, duh, Sherlock. You obviously have a fever. Why were you even going to Tenshi-kun's anyway? You should have stayed in bed."
"I need to. We're going to tell Haruka-sama and Michir-"
"You are staying in bed, baka!" Mi-chan said firmly. "Don't even think about moving!"
Neko must have looked as upset at Mi-chan's firmness as she felt, because suddenly Mi-chan lightened her mood. "Come on, tell the truth. You just wanted an excuse to get out of talking to Tenshi-kun's parents today. Playing sick so you can play hooky?"
Neko was thankful for her change in tone. She stuck out her tongue. "You know better than me that that never works. Mom and Dad never fall for it."
Then a surge of pain hit Neko, and she winced.
Instantly the light mood vanished. "Neko-chan!" Mi-chan cried. Ami walked in with the thermo-scanner* and Mi-chan instantly implored her. "Mom, what's wrong with her?!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ami scanned Neko. The first reading to come up was her temperature. It was 39.0�C**. Ami frowned. That was pretty high. She considered admitting Neko to the hospital, but was waiting for other readings to come up.
The results weren't more encouraging.
"Neko's been infected with an undefined virus. It's spread throughout her body." She scanned Mi-chan, and waited for the new readings. "And it appears to be contagious," she sighed. Scanning herself, she found she also had caught a mutated version of whatever Neko had. However, for both her and Mi-chan, the virus had not spread as far, nor begun to affect them as it had Neko.
Ami weighed her possibilities. If she kept Neko at home, she could administer care, but her care would not be as good as that which Neko would receive at the hospital. But if she brought Neko to the hospital, she might be infecting a greater population to the new virus. As a doctor, she couldn't allow that.
"Did you guys catch it?" Neko asked worriedly.
Ami nodded. She decided that she would call Ryo and tell him to keep Kimahou and Chibi away from the house until this had passed. He could research it from afar, but no one was to enter the house.
Neko winced again.
"Are you in pain, honey?"
It was obvious she was. But Neko didn't bother to answer. Knowing her, she didn't want to worry them.
"I'll bring you something," Ami said. She told Mi-chan, "Make sure she has a lot to drink. With any luck, the fever will just burn itself off." Soon, she hoped.
** About 102.2 degrees F