"I hate mornings." Natsuki growled with her head resting on a table in the lower dining hall. Her head was pounding, and she felt terrible. "I hate everyone and everything."

Mai sat down next to the blunette and rubbed her back. "Are you okay, Natsuki?"

Natsuki turned her head so that she could glare at the oblivious redhead. "Just peachy." Natsuki's stomach lurched in protest to the mention of food."Ugh. I feel like death."

"You look like it, too." Nao's snickering could be heard from the other side of the table. Too nauseous to argue with the redhead, Natsuki simply flipped her off with her head still sitting on the table, enticing Nao to laugh even harder.

Mai whacked Nao over the head with her flagbag, effectively shutting up the obnoxious cackling.

"Nao, be a good friend and go find the nurse for Natsuki." Mai's voice was calm, but firm to the point that there was no room for discussion. A string of curses and mumbles streamed out Nao's mouth as she walked away, not taking any chances while Mai had her heavy flagbag around.

Natsuki, despite her condition, laughed. She had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she spoke to Mai. "I really don't think you should of done that. You probably just busted Nao's only functioning brain cell."

Mai smiled. "Good to see that you're at least well enough to make dumb jokes about Nao." The grin quickly disappeared as Natsuki soft groaned, clenching her stomach with a slightly pained expression. "... Natsuki?"

"I think I'm going to be sick," Natsuki muttered, laying her face back onto the cold table top.

"Which is exactly why I'm sending you back to the dorms for some rest, Miss Kuga." The blunette slowly - since anything faster would possibly push her over the edge - raised her head at the mentioning of her name, coupled with that stupid notion of returning to bed. She was greeted with the kind face of Youko, the school nurse that kindly accompanied the band for their trip every summer and for every event throughout the school year. "You're obviously in no condition for practice this morning, and you'll be lucky if you can make it to afternoon practice."

"Just call me Natsuki, and there's no way that I'm missing out on rehearsal when it's Thursday, two days before our performance. Sorry."

Youko smiled gently. "I'm happy to see your commitment to this, but I can't imagine that you'll last the first two hours like this."

"That's it? Just two hours?" Natsuki scoffed. She could make it through morning and afternoon rehearsal if she focused hard enough, and she was definitely strong enough to do so.

Pushing her nausea down, Natsuki stood up from her seat in an attempt to show just how capable she was... though it took a large amount of concentration for her to not make a face and to stand steady when a wave of dizziness passed through her. A smirk made its way to her face. "See, I can handle myself for a while."

A look of skepticism crossed the nurse's face, but Natsuki cut off Youko's train of thought. "And if I feel bad at all, I'll come over to the medical tent on the field and do whatever you say."

A few moments of silence passed, but Youko eventually let out a sigh and a playful look of defeat crossed her features.

"Okay, Natsuki, but I'm still going to tell your instructor about your condition. If she agrees with me, you're heading straight back to the dorms." A thoughtful pause. "And we'll see how you're feeling after lunch. If nothing changes, back to the dorms with you."

Natsuki smiled. "Fair enough."

I'm way in over my head, Natsuki decided after 30 minutes of warming up with Nanoha in the parking lot by the practice field.

Thankfully, since she was made aware of how Natsuki felt this morning, Nanoha wouldn't allow her to run laps or do jumping jacks with the rest of the Pit. Instead, Natsuki stood by her marimba, occasionally drinking from her water bottle.

However, Natsuki soon discovered that standing in one place on asphalt wasn't that great of an idea. It was only 9 a.m. but the sun was already beating down on the small college nestled in the mountain. The heat was easily bearable, but it was magnified intensely in the parking lot due to the black pavement. This way, Natsuki not only had the sun warming her from above, but also the heat radiating off the asphalt below her feet. The combination was very uncomfortable, and Natsuki found that the only relief from the heat - and the only thing that kept her from becoming too dizzy - was to constantly drink from her water bottle.

On the plus side, it wasn't much longer until everyone was done with the last set of jumping jacks, and then it was time of practicing scales, finally giving Natsuki something to do. After spending more than two years practicing them, Natsuki could play the exercises with ease and little concentration. In fact, the only focus that Natsuki had to apply was keeping time with the Pit instead of listening back to the loud clicks of the metronome intended for the band on the field.

The band was warming up by going over the logistics of marching: marching forwards, stepping with the right intervals, marching backwards, keeping in time with the metronome, making sure that the long lines stayed straight, more about having to keep the right intervals, and so on.

Natsuki couldn't help but smile at band director Fumi's frustration that was slowly surfacing in her voice as she spoke into the microphone. The chaperones always set up an audio system, allowing the band directors and other instructors to give the band instructions or advice between sets or runs. If it weren't for the microphones, the majority of the instructors would have lost their voices by now... There were a lot of corrections to be made between sets.

The band directors could also control the metronome - "met" for short- from their position at the top of a hill laying parallel to the field. There was a concrete staircase that lead up the hill to a small plateau of more concrete, where Fumi and the other instructors would stand and observe the band from a higher position. There, they could see if a student was out of place in formation, which was usually a freshman that didn't read their coordinates on their sheet correctly.

Lost in her thoughts, Natsuki failed to realize that another 30 minutes had already passed. She could hear Fumi starting to dismiss the band for their hourly water break, and Nanoha had already done the same for the Pit. Able to beat the rush to the coolers on the opposite side of the parking lot - closer to the practice field - Natsuki sat herself down at one of the curbs, enjoying the feeling of the cool shade compared to the rising heat of the morning.

Natsuki glanced up from her water bottle, catching two freshmen Guard girls as they passed her, both equally absorbed in a conversation about the attractive boys on the Drum Line.

The blunette couldn't help but roll her eyes. After spending three whole years having to deal with the ignorant jerks on Drum Line and their ever-growing egos, Natsuki couldn't fine any of them attractive in the slightest... but she quickly schooled her thoughts. They were rapidly forming in other areas, more contemplations about one of the Guard captains, specifically the Weapon Line.

Emerald eyes snapped shut as a low growl sounded from the girl's throat. She had gone all day without thinking about Shizuru. Now the direction of the blunette's thoughts was inevitable.

Natsuki knew that she would be stuck thinking about the brunette for the rest of the morning, if not for the rest of the day. Dammit.

Natsuki dared to glance up again, and sure enough, her eyes found Shizuru instantly in the flock of students. She felt a strange sensation in her chest when Shizuru suddenly laughed, her ears either picking up the beautiful sound from the long distance or her mind was playing tricks on her.

A frown formed, however, when Natsuki realized that Shizuru was surrounded by a group of guys. Natsuki could swear that after looking at the group for only half a minute, she saw each boy check Shizuru out at least once, undressing her with their eyes.

Directing her eyes down to the asphalt, Natsuki tried to control her sudden surge of emotions.

Why was she so bothered by this? It's not like she was even friends with Shizuru Fujino. The thought occurred to her that she was still supposed to be mad at Shizuru, but she quickly pushed it back into the corners of her mind.

Another thing suddenly presented itself to Natsuki's train of thought: didn't she just have a conversation with Chie last night about keeping her distance from the flirtatious Guard Captain?

Well, looking at her from the curb as she gets checked out by guys doesn't really count as me spending time with her, does it? Natsuki thought dryly. She found herself being okay with the idea of staying away from Shizuru, especially after seeing her blatantly flirt with a group of hormonal teenage boys.

The biker was so distracted by what she just saw that she didn't notice that she wasn't alone. Nao dumped the small remains of her water cup on the blunette, effectively grabbing her attention. "What the- NAO!" The mischievous redhead snickered, jumping just out of Natsuki's reach. For some reason, Natsuki let her eyes drift back over to Shizuru, still surrounded by the pack of boys.

This time was different.

Natsuki had to fight her growing blush as emerald clashed with crimson. She quickly looked back to the pavement below her feet, remembering her thoughts only a few mere seconds ago.

Right. She was ignoring Shizuru. At least, supposedly she was.

Natsuki caught a glance of one of the handsome boys throwing his arm around Shizuru's shoulders. Convinced that whatever drew the brunette's attention to her had stopped as soon as it had commenced, Natsuki released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Still caught up in her own thoughts, Natsuki barely registered that Nao was talking to her.

"- for being a creep. Seriously, what are you staring at?" Nao turned to scan the throng of band students, searching for anything that could possibly be of interest. Natsuki glanced back to where Shizuru was, but a small group of students had concealed her from view.

The blunette let out another huff. Probably for the best, I suppose.

"Nothing... I was looking at nothing." Natsuki turned to face her friend, but was startled by the blatantly doubtful expression she was recieving.

The look of disbelief on Nao's face pushed Natsuki to scramble for an proper lie - er, explanation. "I was just staring off into space, you know? Being sick does that to you sometimes." Natsuki smiled sheepishly, hoping that her lie was convincing.

Apparently, it was. The brief flash of concern that passed over Nao's expression took the biker by surprise, though. Well...that wasn't what I expected.

It seemed that Nao was at a loss of word for once in her life, because she kept opening her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it with a look of slight frustration. Finally, letting out a huff, the redhead sat down next to Natsuki on the curb, staring down at the pavement with such an intensity that something should've spontaneously combusted. Natsuki quickly realized that she herself must have looked like that earlier, when she was forcing herself to stop thinking of Shizuru.

"You know," Nao eventually said, finding the right words. "If you're really that sick, you should go back to the dorms." The redhead gave Natsuki a shut-up-and-listen-to-reason look, effectively stopping any protests. "You're only going to get worse if you stand out in the hot sun all day, and if you go back now, the sooner you'll start feeling better."

Taken aback by the genuine concern in the redhead's voice, Natsuki could only stare at her friend. She honestly couldn't recall the last time Nao had shown this much concern for Natsuki's well-being.

Sensing the emerald eyes boring into her skull, Nao suddenly scoffed. "But whatever, I don't care what you do. I was just repeating what Mai told me earlier."

Natsuki smiled softly, wondering which of them was worse at lying. "Of course."

By lunch, Natsuki's condition had neither improved or worsened. She had resisted visiting the medical tent throughout all of morning rehearsal, even when she had brief dizzy-spells and had to lean a little on her marimba.

Being situated at the front of the band, right in front of and almost beneath the Drum Major podiums, the blunette was used to the feeling of people glancing at her. After all, she was right in front of them, it was only natural that some eyes would come to rest on her.

But for some reason, she felt at least one pair of eyes on her constantly. Or maybe it was two? Either way, Natsuki found it unnerving. Whether it was due to her temporary illness or her constant not-giving-a-fuck attitude, Natsuki didn't even look around to check if someone was actually staring at her. She thought that if someone was watching her, they would grow tired of it shortly.

This wasn't the case.

The pressure of the leer didn't subside until the junior class was released for lunch after standing at attention in the hot sun for a good amount of time.

A wave of relief washed over Natsuki as she walked into the dining hall and approached the large staircase, though she told herself it was because the invention of air-conditioning was so fantastic. Not because someone had been watching her for the last hour or so and had just stopped. Nope, that wasn't the reason at all.

As soon as Natsuki reached the top of the stairs, she made a beeline for the pizza line. Fuck being sick. She'd had a long ass day, and she was going to have some delicious pizza smothered in mayo goddamnit.

And that's what she got; a little more than half a pizza covered in her favorite condiment, to be exact.

Everyone at the table must have picked up on Natsuki's pissed-off vibes, because no one made any remarks about her ravenous appetite or choice of cuisine. Not even Nao, which Natsuki found strange. She didn't let that stop her, though.

Natsuki had to put up with a lot of crap today, and it was only noon. The biker was just glad that she didn't have to deal with anyone's sass during lunch, maybe the whole day if she was lucky enough.

But she wasn't. She had forgotten about the ultimate Mother Hen, Mai Tokiha.

"And just WHAT do you think you're doing?"

Natsuki cringed. Mai was using her Mommy voice. If Natsuki had learned anything over the years she's been friends with Mai Tokiha, it was to fear the Mommy voice.

"Uh... eating lunch. You should try it out. I highly recommend it."

The blow came faster and harder than Natuski expected. Clutching her throbbing head, Natsuki turned to glare at her attacker. "What the hell, Mai?! Doesn't being sick count for anything?"

"That's exactly why I hit you, you idiot! You're nauseous all day and you decide to eat greasy pizza with mayo for lunch?" Mai bellowed, the fury burning in her eyes.

"More like mayo with a side of pizza," Nao chimed in from across the table, smirking when everyone snickered at her snide comment. Everyone except Natsuki and Mai, of course. Nao yelped when she felt a kick at her shin. "Ow, what the fuck, Kuga?!"

"I think that should have been my line, you asshole," Natsuki deadpanned, a twinkle of amusement being the only thing to give her away.

"Stop trying to change the subject!" Mai stomped her foot. Natsuki felt her head pain increase, only because when Mai starts acting like a child pre-tantrum, it's almost impossible for Natsuki to end the argument unscathed.

"Look, Mai. I've had a long morning, and I don't really need you yelling or lecturing me right now."

After a slight pause, Mai huffed. "Fine, if you won't listen to me, then maybe you'll listen to your Pit Captain."

"Highly unlikely," Natsuki responded instantly, her expression impassive.

"Seriously, Tokiha? That's probably the worst idea that you could've come up with," Nao interjected as she filed her nails.

Natsuki frowned. "Why the fuck are you filing your nails at the table?"

Nao shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because it's disgusting and I'm trying to eat."

"Oh, I'm sorry. How rude of me to interrupt such a fine meal of pizza drowned in mayonnaise. Please forgive me."

"Fuck you, this happens to be fucking delicious."

"Uh-huh. If it wasn't for the fact that I've seen you eat more repulsive things - most of them also covered in mayo - then you wouldn't be the only one sick right now, Mutt."

Unaware of their surroundings, the bickering pair failed to notice that the band was leaving to go to Sectionals. That is, until Chie was the good friend that she is and called over to Natsuki and Nao.

"HEY," she yelled from across the dining hall as she stood by the top of the staircase with Aoi, "STOP FLIRTING AND HURRY UP, YOU TWO!"

"FUCK YOU WE'RE NOT FLIRTING!" was the simultaneous response, both girls obviously flustered.

Avoiding eye-contact, the two friends returned their plates and utensils and walked down the large staircase, only speaking up to say goodbye to their friends as they headed towards the locations of their respective Sectionals. Unfortunately, Natsuki remembered that the Drum Line Sectionals are held out on the practice field, meaning that she would be standing in the same exact spot and doing the exact same thing as the morning, except for 2 more hours. Fucking fantastic.

"Well, isn't this just a huge shocker?" Nao asked as she leaned up against the doorway of Natsuki and Chie's bathroom, her expression dull.

"Ugh... fuck off, Nao." Natsuki muttered from her spot on the ground, huddled over the toilet. "I don't need your sass right now."

"Maybe you shouldn't of eaten that disgusting pizza at lunch then. Besides, I think you'd much rather deal with me than Tokiha right now. She flipped out when she heard that you passed out during Sectionals today." Natsuki groaned.

Feeling the nausea pass for now, Natsuki pushed herself up and sat back against the bare white walls. A few seconds passed, but Natsuki found herself quietly laughing. She looked over at Nao, finding her confused and possibly convinced that Natsuki had lost her mind.

After all, who would be laughing after being sick for the past few hours? A crazy person, that's who.

"I was just thinking about how one good thing is coming out of this." Natsuki paused, giving Nao a chance to catch on.

"Oh really? And what would that be, Mutt?"

"I don't have to embarrass myself a second time this week by singing in front of the entire band." Natsuki grinned.

Nao slightly shook her head, a small smile of disbelief and humor gracing her lips. "Only you would take being attached to a toilet for a night instead of being in some lame talent show. What a dumbass."

Natsuki shrugged, but smiled mischievously. "You say dumbass, I say unconventional genius."

"Mmph. Okay, Kuga, I think you've crossed through the threshold into delusional-sick-person mode." They smiled at each other, but soon fell into a comfortable silence.

Drowsiness started to envelope Natsuki; her eyes felt heavy and her body ached for sleep. At this point, Natsuki didn't care if she fell asleep on the cold tile of a college dorm room. If anything, the cold would just make her a bit more comfortable. Noticing the tired look on the blunette's face, Nao quickly retrieved a blanket and pillow from Natsuki's bed. She returned to the bathroom to find Natsuki's eyes closed, and a peaceful expression on the girl's face.

Just then, Nao's phone rang, but was quickly silenced once she answered, her voice quiet. "What is it?"

"Hi to you, too," Mai buzzed from the phone's speaker. "Where are you?"

"I'm with the Mutt, though she just passed out. Why?"

"Well Fujino-san was looking for you. I figured that you would still be with Natsuki, so I sent her your way." Nao frowned. Shizuru Fujino wasn't her favorite person, especially over the past few days. She couldn't really pinpoint why or when she started disliking the Captain, but it wasn't something that she was going to spend time analyzing. Besides, it certainly didn't have anything to do with the amount of attention Natsuki's been giving the brunette.

"Okay, fine." Nao's response came out a bit more bitter than she intended. "Did she mention what she wanted?"

"No, but I don't think it's anything to worry about." Sensing Nao's shift in attitude, Mai tried to change the subject. "Hey, you're coming to the talent show tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, but I was thinking about chilling with Natsuki instead." Nao flinched and held her phone away from her ear as Mai loudly "aww"ed at her.

"So you DO care! How sweet~"

"Whatever. I just don't want her to choke on her own puke."

"Well, even though I think that's very nice of you, I think you should go."

"And why's that?"

"Partly because I want you there and partly because Mikoto is over here pouting at the idea of you not being there."

"Why the hell is she pouting?"

Mai scoffed. "Believe it or not, Nao, we - your friends - are actually fond of you and want to spend time with you. Shocker, right? But I'll see you in a few minutes?"

"...Yeah, fine. Just let me find someone to look after Kuga. I don't think she would appreciate waking up alone, though she would never admit it."

"Okay okay, but don't assume that Chie will do it. I haven't seen her or Aoi in a while, and I think the Drum Line has a skit in the talent show tonight. Anyways, good luck! I'll see you in a few."

"...Yeah, bye." Nao closed the phone, tucking it back in her pocket and glancing at the dozing Kuga.

The redhead hesitated. She had really planned on staying with Natsuki for the night, especially if that meant skipping the talent show and just lying around. Did she really have to leave?

Tossing the pillow at Natsuki's head, Nao watched as her friend woke up and groggily regarded the pillow that rested in her lap, only to be quickly draped in a blanket.

"Wha-?"

"If you're going to be like a dog and sleep on the floor, then at least have something to keep you warm." Natsuki looked up at Nao, the fatigue obvious in her emerald eyes. She smiled softly and said, "Thanks, Nao." before drifting back to sleep.

Regarding her friend for just a moment longer, Nao turned to leave the dorm room. As she opened the door, the redhead was greeted by none other than her Captain, Shizuru Fujino.

"Ara, I'm glad that I was finally able to find you, Yuuki-san, though I must admit that I was surprised when Tokiha-san suggested that I look here." Nao cocked one eyebrow.

"Not really that surprising. Kuga and I have been together for years," Nao noticed the shocked expression on the Captain's face, finding a strange satisfaction in it. Thinking over her words, she could see that one might get the wrong impression of her and Natsuki's relationship, but she didn't really care to fix it. "... Though, I suppose it's not really any of your business how I spend my time, is it, Fujino?"

A pause. Then a smile.

Nao was startled by the smile given to her by Shizuru; it had a menacing feeling to it.

"No, I suppose not, Yuuki-san." Shizuru cleared her throat. "I was told by Nan-san to come and find you. I believe it had something to do with your saber technique in the opener?" Nao blanched. There were few times that Nao and Nan - the Color Guard instructor - had actually directly interacted with each other, and Nan was especially terrifying if provoked.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Nao muttered as she pushed past Shizuru and proceed down the hallway, then a thought occurred to the redhead. She still had to find someone to watch Natsuki.

Though the idea didn't sit well with her, Nao didn't really have many options or a lot of time to find anyone else... other than Shizuru.

"Out of all the people," Nao mumbled to herself, before turning around and calling down the corridor. "Hey, Fujino! Would you mind watching Kuga for a bit? She's sick as a dog, pun intended."

"... Of course."

"Thanks, I'll be back before the talent show." Nao turned and sprinted down the hall, not wanting to keep her instructor waiting.

A/N: Hey, look, I'm not dead... Heh.

So... yeah. It's been over a year since I've updated this fic, and I'd just like to apologize to you guys. You all left really great reviews and a few of you even sent me messages, asking when I'd be updating, but I still took forever and a day. I don't really have a good excuse, except life has happened and hit hard a lot in the past year and I honestly put writing fanfictions on the back burner.

I can't really guarantee when I'll update again; things are just as busy as ever and the decision to publish what I have for this chapter was completely spontaneous.

Reviews are always appreciated, and don't be afraid to PM me. Both are really good reminders to me that I should spend time on writing the next chapter. But you guys are fantastic! Keep on rockin~

- winded-wolf

(P.S. I changed my pen name so it would match my name on tumblr and deviantart. Sorry for any confusion with that)