Prompt: Wound

She looked pale. Her skin was naturally a bit on the creamy porcelain side of the scale, but today it looked different. It seemed almost translucent. Her eyes looked even darker in comparison, and her lips had a bit less color to them too.

Jean watched Mikasa gracefully walk across the room, arms full of firewood. She was acting normal enough. Well, slightly more quiet and moody than normal, but she was still active. Probably more than she should be though. She said her ribs healed fine, but how does one heal from such wounds in such a short span of time?

Mikasa dumped the firewood in the box designated for it, and sneezed when the dust reached her nose. She let out a slight gasp and held a hand to her side, eyes closing briefly in pain.

Jean was halfway up out of his chair when she fixed a dark glare on him.

"I'm fine. Back off." She hissed.

Quickly raising his hands in a pacifying motion, he walked towards her slowly.

"Mikasa. I know you want to be fine, but..."

"I'm fine! I already have Eren harassing me, don't you start too! At least Armin trusts me when I say I'm ok! Why can't you do the same?" Color was returning to Mikasa's face very quickly as she stalked away from Jean. She grabbed the water kettle and started to fill it with water.

Armin is smart enough to back off, probably less of trusting and more of self preservation, Jean thought to himself wryly, knowing better than to voice it to her right now.

He pushed his hand through his hair in exasperation. The last two days she'd become really defensive and snippy, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. Eren instantly assumed it was her ribs and had started dictating what she could and couldn't do. After a day of that (which included Mikasa actually snapping and throwing something at Eren), Armin had talked Corporal Levi into allowing him and Eren to go scavenging for whatever extra products they could find. This helped Mikasa to calm down some, but she was still...well, not herself. Jean backtracked to his chair and sat back down with a sigh.

"Is there anything I can to help you that you'll not get mad at me for?" He finally asked wearily, watching her as she gingerly moved the full pot of water to the fire.

"No." Came the curt reply. She paused, then added, "But thank you for the offer." She offered a small smile. "I'll be fine a day or two. Really."

He frowned at that. "Mikasa, you can't really expect to be fully healed in just a day or two, do you? Injuries like yours don't just go away that easily. I won't tell you what you can or can't do-that's for you to decide, not me, Armin or even Eren. But I wish you'd take it easy. At least let me help with whatever chores you have left for today."

She sat down with more care than was usual for her, and she grimaced at him. "Fine, if you want to, you prepare dinner tonight, you can do it." She held a hand to her head with a small moan. "Be glad you aren't a girl."

Jean was still puzzling over her last statement when he heard boots on the steps right before the door opened. Levi and Sasha walked in, the former scrutinizing a map in his hand. Sasha walked straight over to Mikasa, an unfamiliar plant hanging out of a basket. She held it out to the raven beauty with a small smile.

"Here. I can't believe we ran out so quickly! Chri-Historia will be drying some of these so we can make tea from it in the future. I hope it helps."

Mikasa accepted the plant with a quiet 'thank you' and plucked a few leaves off. Bruising them in her palm first, she then dropped them into her tea mug and poured the water over them.

Jean was mystified. What were those for? For the pain in her ribs? How come he didn't get something like that for his headache when he had his concussion? Would it help her to return to normal faster?

"Hey Sasha? What plant is that? What is it for?" He asked curiously.

Levi's eyes snapped up to Jean with a look of disbelief. Mikasa's cheeks gained a touch more pink to them as she picked up her mug and excused herself to the front porch. Sasha looked at him for a moment before laughing.

"Black Cohosh. And it's for...pain." She snickered a moment before following Mikasa out.

Pain huh? Well, it's good that Mikasa is allowing someone to help her right now. It's a shame she won't let me help her with more than just dinner though...

He could feel Levi's eyes still on him. He looked up at the shorter man.

"What?"

Levi continued looking at him for a moment more before looking back down at the map. "You can be really dense, can't you?"

"Huh?"

Levi tossed the map on the table and glanced back at the tea pot. "You aren't very familiar with women. If a girl starts acting like she is right now, and her female friends start acting all nice to her, that's your cue to stay quiet and in your corner for a few days." Levi smirked as Jean's eyes still looked somewhat confused. "And black Cohesh is for pain. The kind of pain that only females get."

Now Jean understood. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he could only let out an "ahh" of acknowledgment, trying to ignore Levi's snicker.

Ohhhh...