Tickling
Ages:
Kisshu: 5
Pai: 8
"Hey Pai, let's have a tickle war!" Kisshu said excitedly.
It was a normal day on their planet, and Kisshu and Pai had been playing in Pai's room.
"You're going to lose," Pai said, smirking.
Kisshu just laughed and leaped on Pai, then started tickling him. Pai burst out laughing, and started tickling Kisshu back. He was laughing too hard to notice that Kisshu wasn't laughing- until Kisshu went limp. Pai stopped laughing as he felt Kisshu fall on top of him. He sat up, and saw that Kisshu was unconscious. "Kisshu? Kisshu!" Pai cried, shaking his friend.
Kisshu didn't respond, and Pai noticed he seemed to be having trouble breathing. Scared now, Pai screamed, "MOM! AUNT ANZU! SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH KISSHU!"
Pai's mother and Kisshu's mother came running in. "What happened?" Kisshu's mother, Anzu, asked.
"We were having a tickle war, and then Kisshu blacked out, and now it looks like he can't breathe," Pai said.
Anzu knelt next to the boys, and saw that Kisshu's breathing was getting fainter. Her eyes widened, and she turned to Pai's mom. "Akiko, get Gen, fast," she said urgently.
"Hai," Akiko said, and teleported out.
Five minutes later she returned with Pai's father, who was a healer. Gen knelt next to Kisshu, and put one hand on his chest. His hand began to glow brightly, and Kisshu's breathing got a bit stronger.
Fifteen minutes later, Gen took his hand away, and said, "Kisshu should be fine with some rest. For some reason, Pai tickling him caused him to stop breathing. Normally Cyniclons laugh when we're being tickled; Kisshu seems to have a different reaction. Pai, you can't tickle Kisshu again, okay?"
"I understand, Dad," Pai said.
Gen nodded, and turned to Anzu. "Anzu, take Kisshu home and put him to bed," he said. "And don't teleport, it could affect his breathing again. I can carry him, if you want."
"That would be great, thanks," Anzu said. "Akiko, I'm sorry, but I really should go home with Kisshu."
"That's fine, maybe another day," Akiko said. "I hope he gets better soon."
"Thanks," Anzu said. Gen picked up Kisshu, who was still unconscious, and followed Anzu back to the little house she shared with Kisshu and her husband, Higashi. Higashi was home today, and he jumped up when he saw them. "What happened to Kisshu?" he asked, worried.
"He and Pai had a tickle war, and we discovered that tickling causes Kisshu to stop breathing," Anzu said.
"Is he going to be okay?" Higashi asked.
"Kisshu will be fine with some rest, but you need to keep him quiet till at least tomorrow afternoon," Gen said. "Too much excitement could cause him to stop breathing again, since he's not fully recovered."
"Understood," Higashi said. "Thank you, Gen." He got up and took Kisshu from Gen's arms. The movement caused Kisshu to stir, and he slowly opened his eyes. "Dad?" he asked. "What happened?"
"Pai tickling you caused you to nearly stop breathing," Higashi said. "So no more tickle wars, k? It's not good for you."
"Okay," Kisshu said. "I feel kind of shaky."
"Uncle Gen says you need to stay quiet and rest till tomorrow afternoon," Anzu said.
"Aww…." Kisshu said. "I wanted to play with Pai tomorrow."
"Wait till you're recovered," Higashi said firmly.
Kisshu sighed but didn't argue. Higashi carried him back to his room, and set him on the bed. Noticing Kisshu was looking sleepy again, Higashi tucked him in, and said, "Try to get more rest, your mom and I will be in and out."
"Okay, Dad," Kisshu said. Higashi smoothed Kisshu's hair back as he fell back to sleep.
12 years later, 2 years after the final battle with Deep Blue: "Kisshu? Kisshu, can you hear me?"
Kisshu started to wake up. When he opened his eyes, everything around him was pink. Suddenly he remembered someone was calling him, and he turned his head to see Ichigo, looking worried. "Kisshu, you stopped breathing," she said. "Why didn't you tell me tickling had that effect on you? I had to call Pai here, and he spent the first hour you were unconscious lecturing me. You've been out for seven hours now."
"Seven hours!?" Kisshu asked, trying to sit up.
Ichigo pushed him back down. "Kisshu, you need to take it easy," she said. "Pai didn't get here quickly enough to fully heal you; you're going to need to rest until tomorrow afternoon at least."
Kisshu sighed. "I am feeling kind of shaky; I guess you're right," he said, settling back down.
Ichigo sat next to him, and started stroking his hair gently as she said, "You had me really worried there."
"Sorry Koneko-chan," Kisshu said tiredly.
Ichigo looked at him, and said, "You're getting tired again, you should go back to sleep. It's almost midnight anyways, do you want me to sleep with you?"
"Yes please…." Kisshu said sleepily. Ichigo climbed under the covers with him.
"Pai's spending the night," Ichigo told Kisshu. "He'll be here if you start feeling worse."
"Good…" Kisshu said. "Can we go to sleep now?"
"Sure," Ichigo said, smiling as Kisshu fell fast asleep, and snuggled up to her. She gently put her arm over him, and drifted off as well.
The moral of this little one-shot? NEVER, under any circumstances, have a tickle war with Kisshu.
I know it's really short, but I thought it would be interesting to see how far I could go with the 'too much tickling' idea. Please review, and I hope you like it!