The Color Flu
It was that time of year when the weather suddenly sloped downward, like an unseen dip in a roller coaster, catching everyone off guard and making their stomachs squirm. It was very much like that, in fact, with the amount of kids around the school that were out sick with the stomach flu. And being a King didn't make me any less vulnerable. And so it was that I, Isana Yashiro, caught the flu, despite all of Kuroh's reminders to wash my hands more, and to eat well (which was never a problem when he was around), and not to touch things that could get me sick.
I'd spent an entire week trapped in our apartment dorm room, sleeping and watching television and eating the food Kuroh cooked for me in an effort to get well. Even when I felt fine once again, Kuroh made me stay indoors until he was absolutely certain the flu was gone. Neko napped through the entire thing, saying there was no reason for her to go to school if I wasn't going to be there.
It was only a few days after the three of us had returned to our classes that Kuroh found himself the victim of irony's cruel idea of fun. It started with a nasty headache during lunch.
As usual, we sat at a table with Neko and ate Kuroh's home-made bentos. Kukuri soon joined us, setting her own lunch in front of her.
"You were out sick for quite some time, Shiro-kun," she said as she sat across from me. "I'm glad to see you're back to yourself."
"My wife made me stay inside for a whole week," I replied with a smirk, turning to the dark-haired boy next to me. When he continued eating slowly without any sort of a reaction, I frowned. "Kuroh?"
"Hm?" he set down his chopsticks. His eyes looked glazed, but not in the same way as when he listens to that recording machine of his.
"What's wrong?"
"Are you sleepy?" Neko asked with her mouth full.
"I'm fine," he said solemnly. "Neko, would you like the rest of this?" He pushed his bento across the table toward her.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and reaching to grab it. Kukuri chuckled nervously.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I placed my hand against Kuroh's forehead. His long hair slipped from behind his ears, but he didn't push it back once I drew away.
"Does he have a fever~nya?" asked Neko.
"How am I supposed to know? His forehead feels like a regular forehead to me."
"That's all?" said Kukuri.
"Well, his hair is really soft," he said with an impish grin.
"You boys are so clueless." Kukuri reached her hand toward Kuroh, but he interjected weekly with his hand. It was enough to make her sit back down and change the topic.
"So, Shiro, did you ask for a new PDA?"
"Huh? But that's such a bother," I whined. "I'm getting on fine without it."
"It's irresponsible."
"What can I say," I laughed, "I'm an irresponsible guy!"
"Kukuri-san is right," Kuroh mumbled.
"Aww, does my wifey want me to stop sneaking off campus?"
He feebly kicked my ankle under the table. It was almost laughable to see him like this. At the same time, it made me worried.
"No, I want it so you won't have to keep borrowing my phone," he said, standing.
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom."
"I'll come, too," I offered, and also stood. Neko was about to follow us, but Kukuri grabbed her sleeve and pulled her back. I could hear her whining as walked out of the room.
I watched Kuroh's face silently as we walked down the hallway. He looked totally normal for Kuroh—stone faced and ridiculously pretty.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.
Letting out what might have been a sigh, he pulled his voice recorder out of his pocket and pushed the button on the front.
"You are not an animal, who bites at anyone who nears him when he's injured." said the deep voice from the little machine. Kuroh brightened ever-so-slightly.
I waited for Kuroh while he disappeared into a stall, and examined myself in the mirror in the meantime. It's a little odd to think about this body I'm in. I mean, it's technically mine now. But it wasn't at one point. Who had this body before the Colorless King? Whatever the case, I guess I'm pretty lucky. Of all people I could have ended up as, I turned out pretty cute.
I heard the sound of vomiting.
"K-Kuroh?"
He didn't answer. I knocked on the stall door.
"Are you okay? Did the toilet eat you? Umm... is there anything I can do?"
He vomited again.
"Look, why don't we go to the nurse?"
"It's all right," he said shakily. "I just have the flu." The toilet flushed and the door opened, and there he stood, looking disheveled. Even after living with him, I'd never seen him look anything but orderly before.
"Then let's go home. We don't want you getting anyone else sick, too." I felt like I should help him walk back to our dorm, but he was taller than me, and I probably couldn't support him if I tried. Besides, this was no time to be floating about and manipulating gravity.
He simply nodded and we took off, walking slowly. Half-way there, he put his hand on my shoulder to steady himself. That was when I remembered Neko. Part of me wanted to let her know where I was, but another part of me thought that she would already be back at the dorm when we got there.
"Ah, Kuroh, can I borrow your phone for a moment?" I asked. We stopped, and he fished it out and handed it to me. I gave him my umbrella in return, since I couldn't hold it and dial at the same time. "I'll call Kukuri and tell her where we went, so they don't worry."
Sure enough, when we reached the dorm, Neko was sitting on the bed in her cat form, soaking in a patch of sunlight through the window. She'd changed the walls to pink and green stripes, and the evil cleaning machine was stuck in a corner between the desk and the wall, repeating "Die," and "Show some respect," alternately over and over again in its robotic voice.
Kuroh sat on the bed while I helped the robot out of the corner.
"You're too kind," it said, and left the room carrying the uniform Neko had shed when she'd turned back into a cat.
The weight of Kuroh on the bed had woken Neko. She glanced about, saw me, and turned into her more human form as she pounced on me.
"Shiro's home!" she wailed, her arms around my neck.
"If you're going to be like that, put some clothes on," I laughed.
"Shiro! Shiro! SHIRO!" she sang as she bounced about the room. Kuroh twitched.
"Come on, you're annoying Kuroh," I said as I changed the walls back to the way they'd been before.
"Is Kuroh okay?" she asked, sitting next to him and peering into his face. I handed her my blazer, and she slipped it on grumpily.
"He has the flu," I explained. "So you'd better back up if you don't want to catch it, too."
"Neko is a cat! I can't catch the flu!" she said. "But Shiro might catch it."
"I already had it, so I'm immune," I said, kneeling next to them. Kuroh watched me quietly as I pressed my palm against his forehead and pushed his head backward until he lay down. "I'll make you dinner, okay?"
"No, thank you. I don't want to eat anything," he said.
"You've never had my cooking before! How do you know it'll be bad?"
He rolled over and drew his knees up. Sighing, I pulled the covers over him and went in search of some medicine. Didn't he give me medicine when I was sick? I couldn't remember. The more I thought about it, the more I began to think that he hadn't actually made me take anything. But he'd taken care of me then, and I felt obligated—no, determined—to return the favor.
I couldn't find any medicine in the apartment, so I told Neko to watch over him while I went out to get some. I would have stayed there myself, but I didn't trust Neko to get the right thing, or to go to the right place, or for that matter, not to even spend it on something entirely unrelated. It took me nearly an hour after sneaking off campus, since I didn't have my PDA and therefore couldn't find something on-campus.
I bought some syrupy medicine and returned to the dorm, twirling my umbrella as I walked. When I arrived, Kuroh was sleeping and Neko was making origami animals out of my homework. "Look, Shiro, it's a frog!"
"I guess I'll make dinner," I said. "Do you think we should wake him?"
Kuroh turned his head and opened his indigo eyes. "Too late," he said groggily.
I smiled. "I brought you some medicine. Here."
He read the back of the bottle as I sat next to him. "Once every six hours. You'll have to wake me up to take it again."
"Do you really want that ponytail in?" I asked, reaching toward his hair. He drew back slightly, then shook his head and let me untie it. His hair looked longer when it was down. "You're pretty even by girl standards," I said, chuckling.
He procured his recording device out of nowhere and pressed the button. "The sea, the moon, the sky—all so large and beautiful that none can be captured in anything smaller than the heart." His face glowed.
"Creepy," I mumbled.
I made dinner that evening. Kuroh wasn't feeling well enough to eat anything. Neko complained after "bravely" tasting the food. I ended up covering it in soy sauce, which drowned most of the taste but was incredibly salty.
I put a bucket next to the bed in case Kuroh had to be sick in the middle of the night. I let him have the bed and slept on the ground next to him, setting an alarm for him to take his medicine again in the middle of the night.
It was probably around one o'clock that I woke to the sound of Kuroh vomiting again. I sat up and put a hand on his shoulder, then pulled his hair back as he hurled again. When he sat back on his feet, breathing heavily, I asked if he was done. He nodded.
"It's almost time to take your medicine again, anyway," I said. "Lets just wait until then."
"Hey, Shiro?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"Aww. I'm just returning the favor," I said with a grin.
"I haven't been this sick since I was a little kid," he began. I knew he was about to start talking about the previous Colorless King, so I spoke before he could continue.
"Yeah, me either. It's been a really nasty flu season."
He stared at me for a moment, and managed a tiny smile. "I should be better tomorrow, so I'll make your bento, okay? You'll likely poison yourself if you do it."
"Thanks, Wifey, but you don't need to make anything. Really. I'll just buy my lunch tomorrow."
"You don't like my food?"
"No! Your food is the best! Y'know, made with love!"
He reached for his sword, only to realize it wasn't at his waist like usual. I laughed, and Neko stirred in her sleep (she was in cat form). I thought he might have smirked, but I couldn't be sure in the dark. The digital clock on the bedside table changed.
"Look, it's time to take your medicine again."
The next morning, we both slept in after having woken twice for Kuroh's medicine. My classes had already started by the time I woke, so I just sat on the floor, playing video games, while I let Kuroh sleep on. Neko cheered me on in her human form, punching the air in front of her, singing encouragement, and chanting insults at the monsters I was fighting. She yelled enthusiastically when I beat a particularly difficult boss.
Kuroh woke, his hair looking less than perfect for once and a drowsiness about his countenance. Neko jumped on the bed next to him and bounced up and down.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked me.
"Well, I didn't want to leave you here all by yourself," I said.
"Neko could have stayed," he pointed out. I ignored this.
"Are you feeling any better? Do you want to eat something?"
"Hmm," he hummed in thought, patting Neko absently on the head. "Something light, maybe. Like fruit."
And thus I walked to the cafeteria to get some fruit, which I cut into pieces. That's one of the few things I can do without a problem, aside from making rice, cup ramen, and microwave dinners. After that, I tried to make an omelet, too, but I burned it.
"Sorry," I said, setting a bowl of chopped-up fruit in front of him.
"You should at least try to catch your afternoon classes," he said. "I'm feeling a lot better now, anyway."
"Nah, I'd rather stay here with my wife," I said.
"I swear I'm going to cut out that tongue of yours someday," he said, reaching for his sword and again finding it not there.
I laughed. "Hey, what are we going to do this afternoon, since we're cooped up in here?"
Neko hopped into my lap and glanced behind her, where a cleaning robot was rolling towards us.
"Show some respect!"
I picked Neko up and the three of us hopped onto the bed, out of its way, and watched it zoom past, picking up invisible dust.
"You're too kind," it said.
Neko meowed back at it. Kuro smiled and pushed the button on his recording device.
"Plants and trees do not have friends, because they are stationary. Don't be idle in your friendships, or you won't have any friends at all."
A/N: So this was my first fanfiction for K Project. I don't know if I'll write another, although I quite enjoyed writing this one. If you liked it, please leave a review.