"I'm saying all the things that I know you'll like
Making good conversation
I gotta handle you just right
You know what I mean "

Chapter Eleven- Paranoia

Nishimura Asuka was a stewardess. It suited her perfectly, since she was easy on the eyes and fluent with English. Being a stewardess meant she could provide well for her brother and sister, but made her devoid of a good social and love life. As such, Asuka became the doting mother her siblings never had, bearing their troubles just like what her mother would have done if she was alive. When she was in Japan, anyway.

To her brother, Ryuu, he could care less. More money meant more cash to buy video games, and maybe research some new martial arts he could learn. He wasn't particularly perturbed by his sister's long absences. And after a period of time, Misaki also learned to stop worrying about the stewardess.

If you asked Asuka, she would say it's no problem. She'd make a good mother, after all. Always looking after her siblings, forgetting her own well being at times as long as they were well fed and happy.

Due to her motherly instinct, she could sense when something is troubling her siblings. Most of the time they were little things, but once in a while it was something worth talking about. Like now, for example.

"Why do you keep on leaving before sunrise?" she had asked her sister. Misaki frowned.

"Uhm-"

"Are you involved in yakuza? Some kind of organization? You know how I feel about those, Misaki!" she continued on, and Misaki slapped her forehead in frustration.

"It's not that, Asuka-nee." she sighed, wringing her hands. How did it come to this?

Misaki had just come from school, laughing with Yamamoto as he walked with her. His house was a bit farther down the road- two blocks away- so he always walked her home after dropping by Tsuna's. As soon as he left her on the doorstep, promising to bring sushi the day after, Asuka had stepped out and pulled her inside. And here they were now.

Asuka gasped, her eyes widening. "It's a boy, isn't it? He isn't forcing you, is he? You can always say no, Misaki." at that, she took her younger sister's hands and squeezed firmly. "Do you know what a condom is? It's a-"

"Asuka-nee!" Misaki twitched, wrenching her hands away from her sister and scratching her head in frustration. "I'm not dating anyone! And I know what a condom is! Ryuu-ni already had this talk with me, and he even described the experience in painstakingly-clear details." she cringed. "I don't want to have to go through with this again." Bad mental images-

"But it's a boy, isn't it? You didn't deny it." Asuka frowned. "It still doesn't explain why you've been leaving so early."

"It's because-"

The doorbell rang. Ryuu walked calmly past them and opened it, seemingly unaffected by their loud conversation.

Seconds later, he turned to them, pizza box in hand. "Pizza?"

"Okay, this isn't right." Misaki pouted. She was in the Reception room, staring sadly at the half-eaten melon bread. "Maybe he didn't like it? I guess I'll have to try aga- oh, hello, Kusakabe-kun."

The teen nodded at her, which she returned with a disappointed smile. "What's wrong, Nishimura-san?"

"Oh, uhm.." she trailed off. "I gotta run. I'll see you later, Kusakabe-kun!" grabbing her things hastily, she left the bread where she saw it in the hopes that Hibari had just stepped out for a moment in the middle of eating, not that he didn't enjoy it. Misaki had just remembered an assignment! Oh crap, I still have to copy from someone!

Nevermind the fact that copying from her classmate wasn't that big of a deal for her. As they say, you'll never be able to graduate school without cheating at least once. In her case, cheating a million times.

She bowed hurriedly and slammed the door behind her, her bangs flying in her face as she ran. Underclassmen bowed to her in fear. Seeing as she had the Committee arm band pinned to her sleeve, most of them were afraid of her now. Hibari had given it to her, albeit grudgingly, when she had complained that the staff of the school wouldn't let her in immediately at two AM, causing her to almost be late.

"What are you doing here at this time of night? Go home, girl." the janitor scowled at her, and she stuck out her tongue but ended up biting it by accident. Misaki glared at the man from the other side of the gate. Ouch.

"I'm thupposed thu be at the Rethepthon Room right now. Let me in, pleathe!" she said, feeling the blood seep out of her wound.

"Yeah, well you need identification for that. The only people allowed here at this time is the Committee and some teachers. Shoo." he resumed to scraping bird droppings off the school gates, which was tightly shut. She stood there, trying to think of a good plan to sneak in, when Kusakabe walked out the school.

"Ku-kusakabe-kun! Thith guy won't let me in! If-" she stopped, feeling the blood seep out again, and then "If I'm late, I'm dead!"

"Masashi-san, she's an authorized student. The president called for her." he nodded, and put his hand on the janitor's shoulder to get his attention.

At the mention of president, the man stiffened up and practically pulled Misaki into school grounds.

"You know, Hibari, when I try to get in the school nowadays when you call me, I'm always stopped by staff. They say I don't have the authorization. Does this mean you won't call me at midnight anymore when you want me to come at two AM?" she had voiced out suggestively, rubbing her eyes a bit to wake herself up.

He looked at her, a dull shine in his eyes, "That's your problem."

Misaki pouted, looking out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise, and she was stuck there, filing papers. How many hours of sleep did she have last night? Two hours, or just one?

Yawning, she rubbed her eyes again. "Don't you think I'll be able to do more if I get here on time and not out of breath?"

"Your point?" he deadpanned. Hibari watched her, waiting for an outburst or some sort. He coughed, and she was about to stand up to see what was wrong, but stopped.

No, she was too sleepy for this. "My point is I need solid proof that I have authorization because sneaking into the school grounds is just going to tire me out." she added thoughtfully, "I'd need about fifteen minutes before I can work properly. That is, if I'm not late and you don't throw something at my face-"

Sighing as if the discussion was pointless, he opened his drawer and tossed a bundle of cloth at her table. She blinked slowly.

"A Discipline Committee armband?"

"Wear it when you need to go in. I don't just randomly select people to have those armbands." he said monotonously. "If you lose it you'll buy another one, triple the cost."

"Ah, what?"

'A sum of 200000 yen is invested partly at 10% and the remainder at 8%. Find the amount invested at each rate if the yearly income of the two investments is 18400 yen.'

Misaki rubbed her eyes. She didn't recall this type of problem being taught to her before. Or was she asleep then? Either way, this would be one of her failed tests, she knew it.

Sighing, she massaged her temples. Her headache was killing her. It's been three weeks since Hibari had started randomly calling on her at early hours to work, but she couldn't complain.

In the Reception Room, Hibari sneezed in his sleep.

"Pass your papers."

Misaki snapped awake, wiping drool from her cheek. All she had written the in paper was her name, and it wasn't even legible. She passed it forward,feeling a strange wetness gush from her nose and tried to stand. The room spun in her vision, and she fainted.

It was him again.

It was another scene in the past, one of her happiest memories. She watched, detached from the scene below her.

He was buying her ice cream, and smeared some on her nose. She ran after him playfully, forgetting about her slowly-healing wounds. This time, she could hear their words.

"You can't catch me, Misa-chan!" Touya stuck out his tongue playfully, and ran away.

She wiped her cheek clean and chased him, giggling all the way. He always did make her forget her pain, in that childish way of his. It was like he took all her burdens and made them disappear, if only for a short while.

Then, of course, he added to them when he died.

Suddenly, the scene shifted, and she was at the intersection once more, watching in horror as Touya died in front of her over and over.

She blinked slowly, her eyes blurry as she woke up. The first thing she saw was the ceiling- plain white with lightbulbs. Struggling to sit up, she realized she was in the hospital ward, and that there was a needle stuck to her arm.

Wait, needle?

She blinked again. There's a needle inside my skin. There's a needle inside my-

"You're awake?" a nurse entered the room, smiling as she set a tray of medicine at her bedside table.

"What happened?" she asked, her throat parched and aching. Seeing a glass of water by the table, she reached for it, but was startled by the nurse.

"You don't want to drink that if you plan to stay conscious, dear." With nimble hands, she transferred the fluids into a small injection and proceeded to push it slowly, letting the air out of the needle.

"What happened?" she asked again, her memories vague and unhelpful. She remembered drooling on her paper, waking up slowly to put her name in, and sleeping again. Was it because she was sleeping so much that they had to send her to a hospital? That didn't explain the IV, though. Or maybe some kid had punched her and sent her sprawling to the ground, making her bleed? It explained why she felt that metallic taste in her mouth well and probably the killer headache she had now.

"You fainted, and had a nosebleed. The teacher rushed you here. Now, we've tested your blood and it seems like you have iron deficiency, and obviously, lack of sleep, but other than that, it's fine. Iron deficiency is norm-"

Nosebleed? Lack of sleep? Iron deficiency? Fainted? Of course. Of course! This is what happens when I abuse my body! Ugh, I don't think this'll be enough of an excuse to miss Hibari's appointments.

"I'm sorry, can I be alone for a minute? I just need some time to think. Thank you for your help!" she smiled as the nurse bowed kindly and shuffled out of the ward.

She lay back down with a thump. From her point of view, the ward was empty, except for the bed next to her that had a strangely familiar smell. The curtains were drawn, though, so she couldn't figure out who the person was.

"Oh no, I don't think Hibari will like this..."

"Like what?" suddenly, the curtains were opened, and Misaki stifled a shriek of horror. There, with his elegant eyebrow raised, was Hibari Kyouya, her source of fear at the moment.

"Oh my- Hibari? What the f- are you doing here!" she inched away, as much as she could and pointed her finger at him.

"I have a cold." he replied nonchalantly. "I see you're ill as well."

In Misaki's head, some kind of evil theme song was playing. Why did Hibari always appear at the most random times?

"Yeah. Uhm, apparently I fainted because of lack of sleep." one look from him made her shut her mouth. Who was she kidding? If she blamed him, she would get tonfa'd and would most likely stay in the hospital longer. Already the white walls were nauseating Misaki. "So, we're uh, ward buddies now? What are the chances of that, huh?"

He remained silent.

Awkward. Screw this hospital I hope all your patients go sick and die-

"I asked for you to be in my ward."

Misaki halted. What did he just...?

"As with this other herbivore you're apparently close with."

"I'm sorry, what?" he turned a bit, as if not wishing to talk more. Right on cue, a familiar boy was wheeled in the room, and waved timidly to Misaki.

"Tsu-chan!"

AN: I'm sorry the update is late *gets shot* and that it probably sucks, but some unforeseen circumstances had prevented me from updating *cough*parents and exams*cough*. But here's chapter 11, which I will probably revise later. :P Much, much later, as I am still grounded.

hyper. lolita426-san: thank you for the support! :)

XxSunbunxX-san: Haha, thank you :DD *dances*

Rya-chan X Shii-chan: you're fainting comment actually gave me an idea *laughs* thanks for the review! :)

Kai-san: :DDD thanks for the review!

The Rudiment Goldbrick-san: thank you! *giggles* but that's a secret XD

sharebearthedeathbear-san: It's Hibari XD he doesn't need a reason *laughs* I wanted to do something different, so Kusakabe's POV fit in there. XD

music fans-san: HAHA, it was for Hibari, of course :D thank you for reviewing!

DatAznKid-san: *laughs* he's too scrawny for that, but... *whistles innocently* XD

Kouyan-san: HAHA, thank you! It means a lot. XD

GaarasMyBoyzz-san: really? I write Hibari funny? XD I'm worse than I thought XD

ita-chan01: Yay, thanks! XD

Leeeveeee-san: how enthusiastic XD we're both grounded, then, dear. XD

Pooh-san: meh, sometimes stuff like that happens XD IT EXISTS, I think XD be patient, okay? :)))

Twii-chan: a lot of people can relate *cough*my brother*cough* HAHA. Now that you mention it... YES, WOW. UHM. That's a lot of reviews XD I'm so happy. :)))

SugarLandBabyGirl-san: *laughs* I'm glad you liked it XD The note was just an afterthought, both with Misaki and myself, but it did the trick XD thank you for reviewing! XD

So, as Twii-chan had said, I've gotten a lot of reviews in ten chapters. Want to make my day? :3 Please review! XD