Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V
Title: Sister's Task
Characters: Shun, Ruri
Word Count: 1,013||Status: One-shot
Genre: Family||Rated: G
Challenge: Written for the 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge, day #24; Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section C, #25, write a pre-canon fic.
Notes: This takes place pre-canon, which is why Ruri is there and why Shun isn't the magnificent brooding person that he is currently. I rather hope it doesn't end up jossed, but we shall see.
Summary: [one-shot, Shun & Ruri, 2014 Advent Calendar Challenge; Diversity Writing Challenge] Shun has a cold and Ruri isn't going to stand for his theatrics. What little sister would?
"Horrible."
At least that was what Ruri thought Shun said. With how stuffed up he was, she wasn't absolutely certain. Given the look that he shot toward the bowl of soup she'd just set in front of him, that was probably what he'd said anyway.
She set her hands on her hips and gave him her very best stern look, the one that she'd learned from Mom. "You're going to eat it. Mom made it before she went to work. You're not going to try to tell her that you don't want it, are you?"
Ruri liked to guilt Shun. He always fell for it and he looked so pouty when he tried to pretend that he wasn't being guilted at all. He knew what she was doing; all these years together made it somewhat obvious. But he still couldn't resist it, and she used that as ruthlessly as she would have her ace monster in a duel.
"I don't really want it. I'm not hungry." Shun turned his gaze away. Ruri tapped one foot.
"I don't care if you're not hungry. You're sick and you're going to eat this, and then you're going to take a nap and feel better when you wake up." She wasn't giving him options on this. He didn't need options. He'd curled up in his blankets for two days already, ignoring everyone's attempts to get him to have something to eat which might actually help his immune system deal with the cold.
He'd also hardly wanted to talk to anyone, snapped at people who tried to talk to him, and on occasion lurched out of his bedroom to use the bathroom or steal some crackers from the cupboard. He hadn't had a proper meal in two days and she could hear his stomach growling from where she stood.
Shun started to pull the blankets up over his head. She didn't let him get that far, grabbing onto them and yanking them as hard as she could. The kind of noise he made was something akin to a shout but not nearly as loud. He probably couldn't manage a loud voice at the moment. That was fine by her. She preferred being the only one to yell in an argument anyway.
"You are going to eat." She pointed at the tray and the bowl of soup, complete with a tall glass of orange juice. "You're going to eat every bit of that before I let you go to sleep."
Shun pouted. She wished she had a camera on her, because no one at school would've believed that Kurosaki Shun, tall and dark and brooding (which he did mostly for the effect of it, she knew he didn't have a single thing to brood about) would pout. She would have to settle for knowing it had happened herself.
"Eat." No questions allowed. No arguments.
Shun heaved a great sigh, as if she were asking him to do something difficult, such as duel the school champion with a random deck, instead of just having a good meal. He pulled himself up a little, sniffing a bit dramatically, and took a few mouthfuls of soup.
As she'd expected, as soon as he got into it, he ate more and more. She barely had to stand there five minutes – she wanted to make certain he wasn't playing a trick on her and wouldn't find a way to dump it out the window – before he'd finished every last drop of it and drained the orange juice dry as well.
"Happy now?" he grumped, starting to lay back down. "Can I have my nap now?"
"For now. I'll get you to get a shower later. You could use one." She wrinkled her nose and he rolled his eyes at her. He would feel better if he did, she knew. She'd read a lot about colds and people being sick and being clean generally helped in a lot of waves.
But for now he'd done what she wanted, so she scooped up the tray and bowl and glass and headed back to the kitchen. He was just lucky that this was a teacher's workday, so she didn't have to be in school and could take care of him. The idiot would probably have just stayed in bed most of the time without her around anyway.
She kept herself busy cleaning up, and keeping one ear perked out for any noises from him. Nothing came except the occasional cough or sneeze, and she hoped that meant he was feeling better. She didn't want to let it show, but she really wanted that to just be a cold. She'd read enough to know that it probably was, but at the same time, there were other diseases that could masquerade with the same symptoms.
Ruri brushed that off and went to get her schoolwork taken care of. A teacher's workday just meant they didn't have to go to class. It didn't mean they didn't get sent assignments and such. Shun would have his own work to do once he was feeling up to it, and she could not help but look forward to seeing his expression when he saw it. He'd always been good in his classes, but three days or more of backlog would be impressive.
"Ruri?"
She was on her feet a moment later, barely having noticed how much time had passed, and hurried down to his room. He lay on his side, perking up a little when he saw her.
"Water?" He sounded better. She was certain of it. She'd known all along what he needed was a good meal. He'd have more later, she decided, and went to get him some water.
Someone had to take care of this idiot. It wasn't as if he knew how to do it for himself. She feared for him if anything ever happened to her. He'd probably walk into walls trying to accomplish anything.
Well, that was what being a little sister was about. One of the things, anyway. She would always be there for him anyway.
The End