Once, I had gotten sick. Ever since escaping Gensokyo and all the hell I went through, my health went up and down but this time, I had to go to a hospital, only this time, I had to leave the countryside for the city like Yukari did. Fortunately, we applied for insurance that allowed for this transfer and Yukari was informed that I was very sick, which became apparent when I hacked up blood and after suffering a high fever. After hugging her that day, rather than have them pull me from her arms, she placed me in that ambulance herself. Struggling to hold back tears, she kissed me on the forehead and said, "I love you and I want you to be brave." She let me go and waved goodbye, before sobbing hysterically. Once those doors closed, I knew I would not be coming home for a long time.
As soon as I got there, I was placed in a strange room and my bed was in a strange box of glass with holes, arranged in large and small. I was informed that I would be sleeping there. I was placed in bed and had a blanket pulled over me. The nurses were kind and said Yukari would visit me very soon. In being so sick, I was stuck with tubes for medicines and had needles stuck in me drawing blood, saying, "We are going to run a few tests but, as we do so, how about some rest." As I lied in bed, Yukari did come and placed her hand through one of the larger holes, first holding my hand, then stroking my frizzled white hair. It felt nice seeing her there. During her visit, she did take care of me by wiping my tears and then placing a moist cool rag on my forehead to bring the down the fever. When I hacked up more blood, she quickly wiped it away with her red handkerchief. When the doctor came in, he explained that I had not one but three illnesses, one of which being tuberculosis, one being a very severe form of viral meningitis, and the third was infamous human enterovirus 68 or HEV68 as I would later call it.
When Yukari asked how long I was to stay in the hospital, the doctor responded, "I'm sorry but we don't know how long Reimu-chan will have to be in the hospital because of the extent of her illnesses, which seemed to have had a long incubation period. In short, she could be here for a few months or a year, depending on her overall prognosis." Upon hearing the bad news, she broke into tears and told me she needed to go to the sea for a moment. She returned with tears streaming down her face and went back to holding my hand. When visiting hours ended, she refused to let go and the officials had to pull her away, flailing around and screaming, futilely reaching for me. She continued doing so until she sank to her knees in exhaustion. As she was being carried out, she said, in faltering voice, "I'll see you tomorrow, Reimu."
The next day, some of the tubes removed but that was so they could oxygen tubes put in my nose. The nurse told me that I was expecting visitors and that I was due for more medicine later that night. After she left, I received a visit from Ran, Chen, and Flan, with Yukari struggling to hold herself up. Ran wheeled Yukari closer to the one of the arm holes, saying, "It's okay, Yukari, there, there, you're here with Reimu now." At first, Yukari it seemed that she didn't want to speak or say anything but then went back to taking care of me. After a bit of time, Flandre, not understanding what was going on, started to beat her hands on the glass, demanding that I get out of there. Ran immediately took hold of hands and said, "No, no, dear, Reimu has to be in there, she is very, very sick, and needs to be kept warm but, while we're here, you can hold Reimu's hand and talk to her." Upon hearing that Flandre broke into tears and said, "But... I want Reimu to come out!" Ran had a long talk with her, leading Flan to cry more. Yukari's eyes welt up into to tears and asked, "Do you want to come to the sea with me, Flandre-dear?"
She took Flandre's hand and went to the sea. I couldn't help but to ask Ran, "Why does Yukari go to the sea?" Ran sighed, pulled up a chair, took hold of my hand, and said, "Yukari goes to the sea to cry, my sweet and she has been very upset since you were transferred to the city, going to the sea, every other hour she has to cry." My lip trembled and I asked, "How has she been?"
"Oh, sweetheart, she has been very sad and, last night, she wrapped herself in your blanket, trying her hardest to hold it together. Today, as we got on the train, she just lost it and couldn't hardly find the strength to walk."
"How often does she spend at the sea?"
"I don't know but, whenever she feels she has to cry or let out her feelings, she goes to the sea or in a field under the stars. Yokai may not be human and neither do we think like humans but we do feel emotions and attachment and what she could be feeling now is grief and separation anxiety because you aren't home and is very sick. She hasn't felt this way since she had to give to you back to your birth mother."
"Will she get better?"
"We don't know, dear, as it depends mostly on your prognosis. If you get better, she will and, if you don't, she won't. From what it seems, her emotions are mostly tied to you."
"Is that why she wants me to be brave?"
"Yes, dear, that is why and I guess it is because, being a youkai, she doesn't understand how bad these illnesses are because she cannot experience them and she suspects them to be fatal."
"Can yokai get sick?"
"Yes, we can, sweetheart, but yokai catch diseases that are different than the ones humans catch and, if Yukari got sick, she might end up in here."
Flandre and Yukari did return and soon all of my visitors took hold of my hand and sang me a lullaby. As visiting hours ended, I had fallen into a deep sleep. As far as I knew, I would never wake up but I did, the next morning, with tubes, sticking out of me. On a happier note, Yukari did come back to visit and with her she brought Flandre and Chen. From two days ago, Yukari looked different and her hair started to fade to white. She seized my hand and wouldn't let go, saying, "If only they'd let you out of there, so I can cradle you in my arms but I guess I'll have to settle for holding your hand, at least I get to." She then moved on to stroke my hair and wipe the blood from my mouth.
During our visit, Chen pointed to the tubes and asked, "What are those for?" Still, Chen was naive to anything about hospitals but Yukari, nevertheless, pulled herself together, and opted to explain. When Chen pointed to the tube hooked up to little baggie, Yukari responding, "That's for her to pee." She pointed to the tubes in my nose, saying, "Those tubes are for Reimu to breath, dear." She then pointed to ones hooked up the drip chambers, to which Yukari responded, "That's for her medicines and vitamins, she has to have those replaced every other night. The one that doesn't have to be replaced as often is the one for her blood." Then Chen placed both hands on the glass box in which my bed was encased in and asked, "What is this for?" For a moment, Yukari's lip trembled and then she said, "Sweetheart, it's called an isolation box and because, Reimu is so sick, she had to put in one but you can hold her hand through one of the arm holes."
As time passed, it seemed I wasn't getting any better, actually, by this point the meningitis wasn't giving up and neither was the tuberculosis, causing me to be put on even stronger antibiotics and antivirals. HEV68 was successfully killed off with the antiviral medication so my treatment course had been changed. Still, I was restricted to my little bed in a glass box, so I couldn't receive any sort of hugging like I wanted to. In still being ill, the doctor said it was fortunate my organs didn't start to fail, apparently the medicines during their job. Despite the good news, I realized something was off about one of my legs. I couldn't feel it. How could this be?! I thought. I has lost function in that leg but the other one worked fine. Naturally, I silently cried, Yukari comforting me. When she asked what was wrong, I told her that one of my legs didn't work and she did reassure me that everything will be alright, to which I responded, "How?" She held my hand tighter and said, "You may have one bad leg but the other one can still function, so you haven't completely lost your ability to walk." Even though one of my legs were paralyzed from the meningitis, I still had the other.
More time had passed and I was deemed well enough to be moved into a new room, out of that glass box. To my joy, I could be hugged, something I was missing for a tremendously amount of time. After testing my blood, they found the tuberculosis left, though, it left with a mild case of breathing difficulty which would subside in a few days. Finally, my treatments subsided to antivirals. After another month or so, I was deemed well-enough to go home and Yukari pretty much jumped with joy.