"Jou…I have to get back to helping Ojiisan." Oneesan heard Yugi sigh and watched through her sister's eyes as Imoto-chan turned to look at her friend.
"But Yuge, I'm tired and my throat hurts." Jonouchi complained from his bed, looking much better than he had at the start of the week, when he had been pale and shaking. Oneesan was surprised at the frustration that seeped over the link from her Imoto-chan. Jou had been dying earlier this week, his body wracked with fever, his throat so painful that his voice cracked, dizziness keeping him bedbound and migrane headaches making him call for medicine at odd times of the day. Even if he was nearly recovered, one bowl of soup should not have been that much to ask.
She supposed, considering that Imoto-chan was also tired, having been looking after her friend for the last week, it was understandable, but it was so out of character for her light souled sister that she sent confusion and concern down the link. The reassurance and exasperation she got back linked together with the exasperated, "Fine. One bowl, but then I really do need to get back to work" that she told Jou.
"And a cola?" Jou asked hopefully. That really caused Imoto-chan's irritation to spike, something incredibly unusual for the girl.
"If you're well enough for fizzy drinks, you've probably recovered enough to get up." The girl tried and Oneesan could just sense the pout that came with it.
Jou's only response was a puppy dog eyed look and a, "Please?"
The sigh that followed was heavy, "Fine…" Imoto-chan's hand ran through her hair as a headache started pulsing at her temples, "And a cola, but that's it, okay?"
"Thanks Yuge." Oneesan felt her sister's mood pick up a little at the gratitude and as Yugi headed downstairs, the spirit of the Puzzle forced herself out of the Puzzle and into the real world. No one could see her when she was out in her ghostlike projection, not even Imoto-chan, not yet at least, but at least she could see more of the world then when she was watching through Imoto-chan's eyes.
The Pharaoh's ghost followed the other half of her soul into the kitchen, where the girl threw a tin of chicken soup into a bowl in the microwave and poured her friend a drink before heading for the medication squirrelled away in the cupboard nearest the stairs down to the shop. "I'm sorry if I worried you Anesan." Yugi thought at her as she scooped out a couple of paracetamols, knowing that they could not have a verbal conversation but Oneesan could at least hear her. "I just don't feel right and Jou…" There was another sigh and Yugi downed the medication.
Oneesan sent care, concern and sisterly love back, worried by the admission that her Imoto-chan was not feeling well. She did not want her sister to come down with the same illness that had left Jou on death's doorstep.
The microwave beeping cut off any further thoughts aimed Oneesan's way by her sister, who scurried back towards the strange machine that could heat food in minutes, rather than the hours the oven seemed to take, and when Yugi hurried out with the food and drink, the spirit of the Pharaoh was left wondering if Jou would look after her light for her, since she would be unable to. She did not entirely like that train of thought. She wanted to be able to care for her Imoto-chan if she got sick but it was the girl's body she borrowed in order to interact with the world, so if Imoto-chan got sick, then she would be ill when she emerged from the Puzzle and took control.
It was not fair that after everything Imoto-chan did and went through for her, she could not reciprocate for her light, but that was how things were and she could probably scare Jou into looking after Imoto-chan if she had to. That was something at least.
Yugi huffed as she came back and dumped the dirty dishes from the last time Jou had asked her to bring him food up into the sink. His appetite had improved at least. He had gotten four meals today, saying that he needed them in order to regain his strength, whereas just a couple of days ago he had been nauseous and unwilling to eat more than two. "I swear," Imoto-chan grumbled to herself, unaware Oneesan was watching, "He's worse than a kid."
This was not a new complaint from Jonouchi's friends and hearing it made the spirit of the Puzzle smile slightly. Jou was the first to admit that he was a big kid and if Imoto-chan was unconcerned enough to voice it then Jou was probably out of danger.
She followed her light down to the shop, where the busyness of the store soon drove Oneesan back into the Puzzle. It was not that she did not like the company of others, but she had been alone far too long to be comfortable in crowds and being walked through by people who could not see you was not a pleasant experience. She was not sure how much time passed after that before she heard a faint 'Goodnight Anesan' from her Imoto-chan and felt her conscious mind fade when the Puzzle was removed from around her sister's neck.
With little else to do, since she did not want to explore her soul room without the corridor between her soul room and Imoto's to centre her and give her a 'starting point', she soon followed her sister into sleep.
Pain awoke her the following morning. Spiked boots driving into her skull and sandpaper scraping her throat yanked her out sleep and the pulse of concern and questioning that she sent to Imoto-chan, wanting to know if she needed help caused her light souled sister to send back reassurance and apology. When the pain didn't stop at all, Oneesan stepped out into the real world to find that her sister was still in bed, the bedding pulled over her head, despite the fact the alarm clock had just started ringing.
The noise made the pain in Oneesan's head worse and the dark spirit was about ready to break it when Yugi let out a hoarse noise and poked her arm out from underneath the covers enough to bat at it until it shut up.
"I'm okay…" Imoto-chan's reassurance and part-withdrawal from the link did not change Oneesan's level of worry when she could sense the pain had not gone down at all for her light, even if she was keeping majority of it from her. The Pharaoh sent concern and care to the girl but with Imoto-chan deliberately straining the link, she was not sure that it went through.
She sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Yugi to emerge, figuring that while she could look underneath the blanket, one of the many perks of being a ghost, it might be considered rude for her to breech her Imoto-chan's hiding place. Not that she knew what Imoto-chan was hiding from. The girl was normally a sun-worshipper, she was much like Oneesan in that she did not enjoy hiding away in dark corners and the only thing that could possibly have chased her under the covers in the bedroom was the ray of sunshine that was peeking through the curtains.
Finally the girl decided to emerge when her grandfather called her for the third time and they could hear the sounds of Jou clattering around in the bathroom just down the hall from them. When she did, Oneesan let out a soft hiss as saw her sister's usually pale skin was whiter than usual and the girl was trembling slightly.
Jou's illness had obviously spread and Imoto-chan had caught it. Probably when she had been nursing him back to health.
Pulling on clothes was obviously an effort and the girl looked tired before she had even left the bedroom. Oneesan sent another pulse of emotions, this time concern mixed with a hefty dose of worry but this one went unanswered too as Yugi grabbed her book bag and headed downstairs.
"Hey Yuge. You okay?" Jou looked hale and hearty, irritating Oneesan no end, since he had transferred his illness to her sister. Relief pulsed down the link from Imoto-chan though as she raided the medicine cabinet again, this time pulling out the 'cold and flu' tablets that she had been giving Jou for the last week or so and downing a couple before replying.
"I'm okay." Yugi's voice croaked as she talked, despite the cheeky grin that Oneesan could feel she didn't mean, "It's just my turn to be dying."
The tone said she was joking, but Oneesan's heart froze at the words in the joke. She wasn't sure how Imoto-chan could be so flippant about it. Jou had been bed-ridden and sick for a week, he could have died and now she was sick with the same disease.
"Sorry Yuge…" Jou winced, as well he should. "I should have gone home when I got sick…I didn't think that you or Ojiisan would catch it."
Oneesan glared at him for that. Of course Imoto-chan would catch it. Ojiisan had stayed far away from the invalid during his convalescence, but Yugi had gone out of her way to look after him. How could she not have caught it after he had spent a week coughing and sneezing on her?
"It's okay. Just means you owe me ice cream on the way home." Yugi's smile made Jou relax, though he glanced around the room when Yugi turned to pack her homework into her school bag, like he could feel the daggers that Oneesan was glaring at him digging into his back.
It was about the time Yugi was looking for her maths homework that Oneesan realised she was still planning to go to school. Jou had stayed off when he had had migraine headaches and his voice had been bad, staying home and recuperating, saving his strength to defeat the sickness coursing through his body.
As the cold and flu medication kicked in and the pain died down, Imoto-chan reopened the link properly. Immediately Oneesan sent a wave of worry and concern and the urge to stay home. Imoto-chan's response was a light chuckle, a pulse of gratitude at the concern and a light chuckle, 'School isn't going to kill me, Anesan.'
School might not, but the illness might and Oneesan fussed and fretted the entire way to school.
Anzu fussed too, glaring at Jou for passing Yugi his bug, not that Oneesan had understood what her friends had meant by a 'bug' until Imoto-chan had explained it. It did not help the spirit's mood that while her sister was busy getting things out of her bag, Anzu hissed and snarled at Jou about making Yugi sick, reminding the boy that Yugi was much smaller than him and illnesses could hit her harder.
"Look, if she gets too bad the teacher will send her home." Jou shrugged, irritating both Anzu and Oneesan, "She's the one who wanted to come to school."
"I still blame you, Jonouchi." Anzu hissed back as the teacher entered, ending the conversation.
Oneesan could feel Imoto-chan's mind wavering and unable to concentrate as the medication wore off and the pain returned, accompanied by dizziness and coughing fits that left Oneesan's chest aching as much as her sister's and while she did as much as she could to support Imoto-chan through the day, they were both glad when Yugi fell asleep during her lunch break, having eaten little to nothing of her lunch bento.
Which was, of course, when the Thief Queen, Ba-Khu-Ra decided to emerge from the Millennium Ring, seeming far too amused by Yugi's illness.
Oneesan tried to take control of the sick body only for Imoto-chan to wake up as she did so and hold her at bay, spending energy she did not have to keep the spirit of the Puzzle out of the vessel.
"You're not looking too well, little Yugi." Ba-Khu-Ra, who also went by her host's surname, Bakura, smirked at the girl, "What's the matter? Picked up a bug from somewhere?"
"Gaming me right now wouldn't be fair, Bakura. I can't concentrate. The Shadows might pitch a fit." Yugi pointed out quickly, wanting to avoid a Shadow Game.
"True," The easy allowance of that fact caused confusion and worry to flow, "I just wonder something."
"What's…" Yugi burst into a coughing fit that left her gasping for breath and clutching her chest, having to take half a minute to regain her breath before asking, "What's that?"
"Does your precious 'Oneesan' know what's wrong with you?" Bakura asked, still smirking, clearly knowing something the spirit of the Puzzle did not, "Or have you convinced her you'll be fine and she shouldn't worry."
"It's just a cold, Bakura." Yugi huffed at her, tracking the Thief as she moved around the room, sluggish enough that she was unable to turn around in time to prevent Bakura wrapping an arm around her neck and squeezing a little, the threat to her life implied in the action.
"Colds can kill, runt." Bakura purred in Imoto-chan's ear, "Sometimes sooner rather than later."
"Get off of me or you'll catch it too." Yugi's reply made Bakura let go quickly and back off a little.
"No thank you." The Ring spirit snorted, "I have no great urge to get my Landlord sick."
"Then leave me alone until I shift this cold." As irritated as she had been that Imoto-chan would not let her come out to protect her from Bakura, Oneesan could not help but be impressed and amused by the way Imoto-chan was handling the Thief Queen.
"And what if you don't?" Bakura asked, her causal question setting off Oneesan's worry again, "What if this illness kills you?"
"People my age don't die from colds unless it develops into worse. Stop trying to freak me out and…" Yugi's voice cracked and she started coughing again, letting out a pained whimper when she finally stopped. Oneesan leaned against her mind, backing her up and trying to offer mental and spiritual support, even if Imoto-chan would not let her help otherwise.
"See, you say that, but your body clearly disagrees." Bakura chuckled, "I'll back off for now, Jonouchi's done me a huge favour and it'll be great fun to see how ill you get."
When Yugi did not have a response other than to poke her tongue out at the Thief Queen, the other spirit chuckled and retreated to her desk.
Oneesan could sense that Imoto-chan did not dare put her head back down on the table after that, not when the Thief Queen was out and about. The girl did not dare show any more weakness then she already had. The spirit of the Puzzle tried to hide her confusion, anger and fear from her lighter, younger sister, but she was not sure how well she succeeded. She just did not understand why Imoto-chan had not allowed her to take the lead when Bakura had approached. It was not like she would have done anything drastic, she could not trust that she would be able to concentrate enough to control the Shadows for a start.
Was the body so ill that Imoto-chan had been worried about the extra strain on it if she had taken over?
Bakura's words had done little to assuage her worry about Imoto-chan and this blasted sickness. In fact the Thief Queen had confirmed what she already knew, that this Cold could kill the girl. It was not even like she could do anything about it.
She would have to wait it out and hope for the best. That did not mean she had to like it, or that she could not do her best to look after her light in the meantime.
Midway through the afternoon Imoto-chan dropped back into sleep, giving Oneesan the chance to slip into the body. It felt horrid, headache, throat ache, disorientation and… she started coughing heavily, pausing for only a few second afterwards before fleeing for the toilet, the coughing bringing up the bile in her stomach and causing her to need to hurl.
It was only the second time she had ever thrown up since she had been freed from her imprisonment and it was just as disgusting as the first time. She groaned and curled around the bowl once she finished throwing up. She needed to get Imoto-chan home. Jou had taken two to three days to get to the point that he had been sick, so either Imoto-chan had been sick for longer than she had admitted or the fact that she had not had much sleep over the last week before she had been looking after Jou had caused the 'bug' to hit her harder.
Either way she needed bed rest and she was not going to get it here.
"Yugi?!" Anzu's voice called from the other side of the door, worry clear.
"I…in here, Anzu." Her voice cracked as she answered, "Third door down."
The taller girl slipped into the stall, took one look at the unflushed bowl and grimaced, "Home, Yugi. Now."
"Once I can get my legs to stop shaking long enough to stand, I'm going." Her tone made Anzu pause and look at her properly.
"Oneesan…right, sorry…" Anzu winced, "Come on, let's get you to the nurse. She should be able to send you home in a taxi."
Oneesan did not fight her as the leggy brunette assisted her to her feet and supported her down to the nurse's office. She was not sure that she could have walked even if she had wanted to, her mind was having trouble connecting with the body because of how disorientated it was after throwing up. The fear that fact caused woke Yugi from her nap, the light girl whining slightly when she dropped into control automatically.
"Yugi? How long have you been feeling ill?" Anzu asked gently as they headed down the corridor.
"Couple of days. Been looking after Jou…can you talk to Anesan for me?" Oneesan heard her lighter sister ask their friend, becoming surprised when she could feel the body respond much better to the girl then it had to her.
"I will once you're better, just concentrate on that first." Anzu sighed.
"No…Anesan first. I think she thinks I'm gunna die from this cold." Oneesan could feel Yugi pouting, "She was panicking so bad just now the body wouldn't work right."
Oneesan huffed at that. She had not been panicking. Merely very worried.
Oneesan felt the body supporting Imoto-chan's hesitate, "How the heck did she get that idea?"
"Well, Jou was acting like…" Yugi hesitated.
"Jou?" Anzu asked.
"I wasn't going to say that…" Yugi winced, "And Bakura didn't help."
There was a few moments of silence, then, "Can you call her out? I mean you still should go home if you're sick, but I should probably talk to her."
"Umm…" Yugi hesitated and then reached out to her darker, older sister. "Anesan? Come out? Please? Or at least answer?"
The dark spirit of the Puzzle sent a gentle concern and care. Yugi's answering reassurance eased her nerves slightly. She took spirit form and for a moment she was certain she could see Yugi's eyes resting on her her, then the girl's eyes turned to the floor. "She's listening."
"Okay. Oneesan? I know you were around a really long time ago and back then people could die from the common cold, which is probably why you were so quick to believe Jou's whining, but he wasn't actually in any danger of dying…well unless I killed him for playing up." Anzu started, pausing when Yugi giggled hoarsely at the burst of confusion that caused, "Yugi?"
"She's confused now." Yugi giggled until she started coughing at which point she did not have enough breath to giggle for a while.
"You didn't explain manflu to her?" Anzu sounded surprised.
"I didn't realise she'd take his complaining seriously." Oneesan could feel the embarrassment radiating from her little sister and nudged her gently, becoming surprised when Imoto-chan slipped out of control so she could take the reins.
"What's manflu?" Oneesan asked Anzu, her voice hoarse and the body responding easier now fear was not coursing through her.
"It's what guys get when they have the common cold that makes them think they're dying when actually they're just ill. It also can cause girls who look after them to get ill with a stronger version of the cold because they run themselves ragged to make them feel better." Anzu sighed, "Which is why you're so sick."
Oneesan took a moment to process that and then, "So Jou wasn't dying?"
"No. Wasn't in any danger of dying at all." Anzu grimaced.
"And Imoto-chan is this ill because he ran her off her feet? Just for confirmation?" Oneesan's tone was hoarse but slightly dark and dangerous, giving away the anger beneath the surface at this revelation.
"That's right." Anzu looked a little worried now. "What're you planning?"
Oneesan's smirk was not reassuring.