On Names, the Flu,
and Other Things
A small FB fic from Oddzilla Productions that was only going to be a ficlet, but life is like that sometimes.
Chapter 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
An archaic form of punishment, being sent to stand in the hall.
"Stupid Yankee."
"Stupid...Carrothead."
Kyou glanced over, trying to hide his concern, but not really able to. She was slumped against the wall, trying to make it look like her usual tough-girl attitude, but he could tell she actually needed the support to stay standing at the moment.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Well, her spirits were still mostly the same, it seemed. He stared straight ahead, out the window into the courtyard.
Silence reigned for a while. Except for her breathing, which sounded a little labored. It bothered him. Too damn loud.
"Why don't you just go home and rest or something?" No, not "Stop breathing so loud" like he was going to say. Something must have happened to those words on the way from his brain to his mouth. He frowned.
"It's just a touch of a cold. Oh, what, are you worried about me, Kyon-Kyon?" Uotani started to chuckle, but it turned into a cough.
He flinched away overdramatically, trying to cover that slip. "No! I just don't want to catch it from you! Feh." Precisely the same thing he said earlier in the classroom. The thing that led to them being kicked out here. "And don't call me 'Kyon-Kyon'.
"Damn, of all the days I didn't bring one of my breathing masks...." Her voice was getting more and more hoarse. She coughed again, into her fist. And then she sneezed. "Ugh."
He stared at her, then rolled his eyes and dug into a pocket. "Here."
She reflexively caught the pack of tissues and blinked her bleary eyes. "Hell, I guess you are worried about me."
He was about to retort angrily, even as she blew her nose with a loud honking sound, when the tone of her voice struck him. It wasn't sarcastic or taunting, it just...was.
"Thanks, Carrothead." She sniffed a little.
And that was sincere too.
"Maybe you should get sick more often. You're nicer like this," he said, without thinking. He did that a lot.
She just looked over at him irritably. Then she glanced down at the tissues in her hand. "Huh. Maybe I should. You're being nicer too."
He wasn't quite sure what to think of that.
Silence returned. Kyou resumed staring out the window, though with his head just slightly turned so that he could see Uotani out of the corner of his eye. She had closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. The flush on her cheeks was not a healthy one, but nevertheless...it looked...well....
It was at this point that he realized he was looking straight at her again, not just out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned away before she would see him watching again, except--
"He-hey! Dammit, stupid Yankee!"
--she was slowly toppling over to the side, back sliding against the wall, eyes still closed, basically crumpling into a heap in slow motion. Hardly just a touch of a cold; this was serious. Instinct told him to catch her; sensibility restrained him from grabbing her torso so that the curse wouldn't be triggered. Instead, he took hold of her shoulders and lowered her gently to a sitting position. She didn't respond, just sat there, breathing heavily, head lolling a little.
That done...what the hell now? He glanced around nervously. No one around. Teacher was still inside the classroom...should he interrupt for this? Or--no, it'd be pretty hard to carry her to the nurse's office without setting off the curse. She was a big girl, too. Well, not in a bad way. Tall. Muscled. Nicely...proportio....
Kyou clamped down on that train of thought heavily, just as she moaned softly and looked up at him. And froze, because he was, at the moment, very close to her. Faces mere centimeters apart.
He froze too.
If her eyes weren't so bloodshot, they would be very pretty. Actually, they were pretty anyway. They'd be prettier. They were taking up his entire world right now, in fact, because he really didn't know what to do, and that included moving.
The entire world. The whole, wide, horrible, beautiful, terrifying--
And she sneezed again, ruining the moment. Though thankfully she'd managed to turn her head just enough....
"Sensei!" he shouted in a voice he knew was too loud, both by the way it echoed through the halls and the way Uotani winced. "I'm taking her to the nurse!" He stood up, then added, for some reason, "Before she passes out again, because I don't want to have to drag her there!"
Cacophany from within, most notably a very recognizable shriek of surprise and concern, followed by, "No, Honda-san, you're not getting out of class, you can visit her during your lunch break. And don't try that on me, Hanajima-san, it won't work."
Yes, a reminder of just how fearsome Tanigata-sensei was. He wasn't cowed by the high school's own Maybe Good, Maybe Wicked Witch and Her Electric Wave. Even if Uo weren't ill, he wouldn't have had any trouble tossing out two of the most hardheaded students around.
But Uotani was sick, and getting sicker. She was clambering weakly to her feet, struggling for a handhold on the wall to get back up. "Damn it, Carrothead, why'd you...why'd you have to make such a ruckus?"
He seized her flailing arm roughly and helped to pull her up. "Because the sooner we get you to the nurse, the less likely you're going to die out here. Come on!" He relaxed his grip slightly once she was standing again.
She scowled at him and retorted, "I'm fine!" and made an attempt to yank her arm free. Which almost succeeded, but stopped when his hand tightened around her fingers. "Let guh...go." Wobble.
"You're not fine. Just shut up and let me help you. Tohru would kill... well, no, she wouldn't. But you know what I mean. If anything happened to you."
Uotani struggled for a few more moments, trying to free herself from Kyou's hold, but finally gave up. "Yeah. You're right," she grunted. "Okay, okay. Just...let me catch my balance."
He waited obligingly, noting how this was perhaps the first time she'd really admitted weakness this whole crazy morning. When she started moving, he did too, staying close by her side, ready to catch her again if she stumbled. They proceeded slowly, as if this were nothing more than a leisurely stroll through the halls.
It wasn't until they'd descended one flight of stairs--carefully--that Kyou realized her fingers had twined through his. They were holding hands.
It took quite a bit of willpower to keep walking and not fall flat on his face, but he managed it. He was, however, unsuccessful at controlling his blood vessels finely enough to prevent a mad blush from crossing his face. And it certainly didn't help that her hand, rough and callused as it was, felt rather warm in his own.
Kyou did what many people did when confronted with an unexpected situation that they didn't want to draw attention to: he started talking.
"Why does everyone call you Uo, anyway? And...Hana, 'Hana'? You call Tohru 'Tohru', but the two of you...."
She peered at him closely, looking suspicious. "And why would you care?"
"I...well, why wouldn't I? You're...you're Tohru's friend and all. And I was just curious. Geez, ask a simple question and...."
"Huh. Curiosity killed the cat--"
Kyou twitched.
"--is what they say in the West or something. Well...you know I was in a gang, right?"
"Yeah."
"No self-respecting gangster girl is going to go by 'Arisa'. Especially not with the kanji my parents chose for the name."
"Which characters?"
She glanced at him dubiously. "...never mind."
He opened his mouth, frowned, reconsidered, then grinned and said, "Okay...Arisa."
Arisa made a sound of vague outrage, raised her free hand and moved to swing it at him, but stopped and settled for glaring at him. "You're lucky I'm not feeling too good," she muttered, underscoring her words with a few coughs. "Last person who called me that to my face...."
"Let me guess, you beat that person up."
"Actually...Tohru was the last person who called me by my given name. I just told her not to call me that."
"...oh."
They fell silent once again; they'd almost made it to the nurse's office anyway. Just as they reached the door, she started coughing again. Kyou took this opportunity to slip his hand out of hers and open the door. "Kuroda-sensei, you've got a patient," he called out, and then stood aside to let her walk in. The nurse looked up and frowned at the girl.
"Thank you...Souma Kyou, isn't it? Uotani-san, over this way. Let's get you into bed and have your temperature taken." She bustled off to get one of the cots prepared.
Kyou turned to walk back to class, but paused to look over his shoulder. "I'll tell Tohru you're okay. She'll be worried otherwise."
"Yeah...thanks, Kyon-Kyon." Arisa's voice was soft, even gentle. He simply nodded. Before he could leave, she then added, "Oh. One thing."
"What is it?"
"You'd better wash your hand so you don't get sick either."
Oh. Damn. She had noticed after all.
Kyou felt the blush erupt all over again as he stalked off through the hallways back to class.
End. Er. End chapter 1, it seems.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kanji = Chinese characters used in Japanese, with specific meanings attached to them.
The length of this is a complex issue. I'd intended to have given it some more closure by the end of this, but as it is, this could be a standalone piece, right where I end it, and there's a certain elegance in that. On the other hand, I did have a bit more planned out, and from reactions to my Yuki- Tohru fic, I imagine some people will urge me to go on with this. Should be one more part...maybe two.
More notes in the following chapter(s). I sleep now.
A small FB fic from Oddzilla Productions that was only going to be a ficlet, but life is like that sometimes.
Chapter 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------
An archaic form of punishment, being sent to stand in the hall.
"Stupid Yankee."
"Stupid...Carrothead."
Kyou glanced over, trying to hide his concern, but not really able to. She was slumped against the wall, trying to make it look like her usual tough-girl attitude, but he could tell she actually needed the support to stay standing at the moment.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Well, her spirits were still mostly the same, it seemed. He stared straight ahead, out the window into the courtyard.
Silence reigned for a while. Except for her breathing, which sounded a little labored. It bothered him. Too damn loud.
"Why don't you just go home and rest or something?" No, not "Stop breathing so loud" like he was going to say. Something must have happened to those words on the way from his brain to his mouth. He frowned.
"It's just a touch of a cold. Oh, what, are you worried about me, Kyon-Kyon?" Uotani started to chuckle, but it turned into a cough.
He flinched away overdramatically, trying to cover that slip. "No! I just don't want to catch it from you! Feh." Precisely the same thing he said earlier in the classroom. The thing that led to them being kicked out here. "And don't call me 'Kyon-Kyon'.
"Damn, of all the days I didn't bring one of my breathing masks...." Her voice was getting more and more hoarse. She coughed again, into her fist. And then she sneezed. "Ugh."
He stared at her, then rolled his eyes and dug into a pocket. "Here."
She reflexively caught the pack of tissues and blinked her bleary eyes. "Hell, I guess you are worried about me."
He was about to retort angrily, even as she blew her nose with a loud honking sound, when the tone of her voice struck him. It wasn't sarcastic or taunting, it just...was.
"Thanks, Carrothead." She sniffed a little.
And that was sincere too.
"Maybe you should get sick more often. You're nicer like this," he said, without thinking. He did that a lot.
She just looked over at him irritably. Then she glanced down at the tissues in her hand. "Huh. Maybe I should. You're being nicer too."
He wasn't quite sure what to think of that.
Silence returned. Kyou resumed staring out the window, though with his head just slightly turned so that he could see Uotani out of the corner of his eye. She had closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. The flush on her cheeks was not a healthy one, but nevertheless...it looked...well....
It was at this point that he realized he was looking straight at her again, not just out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned away before she would see him watching again, except--
"He-hey! Dammit, stupid Yankee!"
--she was slowly toppling over to the side, back sliding against the wall, eyes still closed, basically crumpling into a heap in slow motion. Hardly just a touch of a cold; this was serious. Instinct told him to catch her; sensibility restrained him from grabbing her torso so that the curse wouldn't be triggered. Instead, he took hold of her shoulders and lowered her gently to a sitting position. She didn't respond, just sat there, breathing heavily, head lolling a little.
That done...what the hell now? He glanced around nervously. No one around. Teacher was still inside the classroom...should he interrupt for this? Or--no, it'd be pretty hard to carry her to the nurse's office without setting off the curse. She was a big girl, too. Well, not in a bad way. Tall. Muscled. Nicely...proportio....
Kyou clamped down on that train of thought heavily, just as she moaned softly and looked up at him. And froze, because he was, at the moment, very close to her. Faces mere centimeters apart.
He froze too.
If her eyes weren't so bloodshot, they would be very pretty. Actually, they were pretty anyway. They'd be prettier. They were taking up his entire world right now, in fact, because he really didn't know what to do, and that included moving.
The entire world. The whole, wide, horrible, beautiful, terrifying--
And she sneezed again, ruining the moment. Though thankfully she'd managed to turn her head just enough....
"Sensei!" he shouted in a voice he knew was too loud, both by the way it echoed through the halls and the way Uotani winced. "I'm taking her to the nurse!" He stood up, then added, for some reason, "Before she passes out again, because I don't want to have to drag her there!"
Cacophany from within, most notably a very recognizable shriek of surprise and concern, followed by, "No, Honda-san, you're not getting out of class, you can visit her during your lunch break. And don't try that on me, Hanajima-san, it won't work."
Yes, a reminder of just how fearsome Tanigata-sensei was. He wasn't cowed by the high school's own Maybe Good, Maybe Wicked Witch and Her Electric Wave. Even if Uo weren't ill, he wouldn't have had any trouble tossing out two of the most hardheaded students around.
But Uotani was sick, and getting sicker. She was clambering weakly to her feet, struggling for a handhold on the wall to get back up. "Damn it, Carrothead, why'd you...why'd you have to make such a ruckus?"
He seized her flailing arm roughly and helped to pull her up. "Because the sooner we get you to the nurse, the less likely you're going to die out here. Come on!" He relaxed his grip slightly once she was standing again.
She scowled at him and retorted, "I'm fine!" and made an attempt to yank her arm free. Which almost succeeded, but stopped when his hand tightened around her fingers. "Let guh...go." Wobble.
"You're not fine. Just shut up and let me help you. Tohru would kill... well, no, she wouldn't. But you know what I mean. If anything happened to you."
Uotani struggled for a few more moments, trying to free herself from Kyou's hold, but finally gave up. "Yeah. You're right," she grunted. "Okay, okay. Just...let me catch my balance."
He waited obligingly, noting how this was perhaps the first time she'd really admitted weakness this whole crazy morning. When she started moving, he did too, staying close by her side, ready to catch her again if she stumbled. They proceeded slowly, as if this were nothing more than a leisurely stroll through the halls.
It wasn't until they'd descended one flight of stairs--carefully--that Kyou realized her fingers had twined through his. They were holding hands.
It took quite a bit of willpower to keep walking and not fall flat on his face, but he managed it. He was, however, unsuccessful at controlling his blood vessels finely enough to prevent a mad blush from crossing his face. And it certainly didn't help that her hand, rough and callused as it was, felt rather warm in his own.
Kyou did what many people did when confronted with an unexpected situation that they didn't want to draw attention to: he started talking.
"Why does everyone call you Uo, anyway? And...Hana, 'Hana'? You call Tohru 'Tohru', but the two of you...."
She peered at him closely, looking suspicious. "And why would you care?"
"I...well, why wouldn't I? You're...you're Tohru's friend and all. And I was just curious. Geez, ask a simple question and...."
"Huh. Curiosity killed the cat--"
Kyou twitched.
"--is what they say in the West or something. Well...you know I was in a gang, right?"
"Yeah."
"No self-respecting gangster girl is going to go by 'Arisa'. Especially not with the kanji my parents chose for the name."
"Which characters?"
She glanced at him dubiously. "...never mind."
He opened his mouth, frowned, reconsidered, then grinned and said, "Okay...Arisa."
Arisa made a sound of vague outrage, raised her free hand and moved to swing it at him, but stopped and settled for glaring at him. "You're lucky I'm not feeling too good," she muttered, underscoring her words with a few coughs. "Last person who called me that to my face...."
"Let me guess, you beat that person up."
"Actually...Tohru was the last person who called me by my given name. I just told her not to call me that."
"...oh."
They fell silent once again; they'd almost made it to the nurse's office anyway. Just as they reached the door, she started coughing again. Kyou took this opportunity to slip his hand out of hers and open the door. "Kuroda-sensei, you've got a patient," he called out, and then stood aside to let her walk in. The nurse looked up and frowned at the girl.
"Thank you...Souma Kyou, isn't it? Uotani-san, over this way. Let's get you into bed and have your temperature taken." She bustled off to get one of the cots prepared.
Kyou turned to walk back to class, but paused to look over his shoulder. "I'll tell Tohru you're okay. She'll be worried otherwise."
"Yeah...thanks, Kyon-Kyon." Arisa's voice was soft, even gentle. He simply nodded. Before he could leave, she then added, "Oh. One thing."
"What is it?"
"You'd better wash your hand so you don't get sick either."
Oh. Damn. She had noticed after all.
Kyou felt the blush erupt all over again as he stalked off through the hallways back to class.
End. Er. End chapter 1, it seems.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kanji = Chinese characters used in Japanese, with specific meanings attached to them.
The length of this is a complex issue. I'd intended to have given it some more closure by the end of this, but as it is, this could be a standalone piece, right where I end it, and there's a certain elegance in that. On the other hand, I did have a bit more planned out, and from reactions to my Yuki- Tohru fic, I imagine some people will urge me to go on with this. Should be one more part...maybe two.
More notes in the following chapter(s). I sleep now.