Rockruff wagged his tail playfully. If he had to take a bath Kukui had to catch him first. "Rarf! Arf arf!"
"No, Rockruff. I not in the mood to play right now." Kukui said, attempting to pick him up. Rockruff moved away and continued the playful stance. "Geez..." Kukui, this time tried to catch him, but missed. Rockruff grabbed his hat and, from the countertop, jumped up and over him onto the floor. "Hey! Give me that!"
"Rrr-arf!" He growled, shaking the hat around. Kukui sighed, then smiled. "Ar?"
The Professor revealed a bright blue rubber ball from his lab coat pocket. "Here, Rockruff." He said, "you want the ball?" Kukui teased him moving the around to make sure Rockruff kept his eyes on it.
"Rarf-arf!" Rockruff ran to him, dropping the hat. He then sat at the Kukui's feet and waited for him to throw it.
"Okay, and-" He quickly scooped him up from the floor, "Gotcha!" Kukui laughed, tickling Rockruff.
Rockruff squirmed around in his arms, clearly enjoying the tickle. "Rrr-ra-ra-arf!"
"Okay, now let's get you in the bath. I don't want your fur to stick together." Kukui smiled tiredly, he had barely done anything and already felt awful. He carried Rockruff to the bathroom, holding one hand against the wall to balance himself. Kukui also felt faint, but ignored it thinking that it was due to him not eating breakfast. "..strange..." he muttered to himself. "...it's probably nothing.." He noticed that he had been feeling more and more strange by the minute.
"...?" Rockruff wondered why the Professor looked so serious. He noticed that he said something, but Rockruff didn't know what it meant.
Kukui continued to mutter to himself until his hand met part of the wall that seemed to move away from him. "Gah-!" Nearly falling over, he struggled to place both feet back on the floor. "Oh," he breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just the door." He walked inside the bathroom, closing it behind him so Rockruff wouldn't wander off. He set him down, then knelt down to turn on the water in the bath, making sure that it was neither too hot nor too cold. Rockruff propped himself up against the tub to see. "Not yet, Rockruff." Kukui said as he poured in the soap. "This is to help clean your fur. It smells good, right?" He let Rockruff take a whiff and then took one himself.
"Rarf!" Rockruff loved the scent. It reminded him of berries.
"I'm glad you like it-" Kukui smiled, then sneezed. "Ah-choo...!" Bubbles flew out of the tub and into air. Rockruff jumped and chased after them. The Professor simply sniffled and rubbed his nose, "...maybe I'm just allergic to something..." Then began reading the back of the bottle.
Rockruff was far too fascinated by the bubbles to watch where he had been going and fell into the tub, splashing water all over Kukui.
Kukui gasped. Suddenly becoming soaked was not a very pleasant feeling.
"Hnn..." Rockruff whined, lowering his ears. He didn't mean to splash him.
"I-it's okay, Rockruff. Consider it getting even." Kukui said, referring to the incident that has Rockruff in the bath in the first place. "I'll change after you're cleaned up. "A-a-choo!" Kukui shivered. "L-let's make it f-fast, 'kay?"
"Arf-rarf!" Rockruff agreed to sit still to get it over with.
"Great." Kukui scrubbed him with a special pokemon brush several times, applying shampoo in between each. Sneezing a few times as well. He then gave Rockruff one final rinse and lifted him out of the bath. "A-achoo-!" Kukui accidentally sneezed on him. "Sorry-" Rockruff tried to shake it off. "Ack! No Rockruff-Rockruff you're still wet! Stop!"
Rockruff stopped and began to wag its tail happily, panting. Amused by Kukui's expression which was a pitiful smile full of wavering frustration. It was very funny.
"Aww, Rockruff..." Kukui grabbed towel and dried his fur. "N-n-now everything i-is wet. Including me." He removed the towel to reveal a now very fuzzy puppy. "Pfft-Hahaha!" Rockruff was now the one who looked funny.
"Ar..?" Rockruff shook to return his fur to normal while Kukui got a fresh towel for himself. He also used the same towel to wipe down the walls and clean the floor, all the while muttering to himself again.
"There." He picked up the towels and drained the tub. "Aa-choo-!" Kukui sniffled, rubbing his nose. "I need to change out of these wet clothes. Its fr-freezing in here..." He managed to speak through his chattering teeth. He attempted to stand for the first time in about 20 minutes and felt the headache that he thought had left him return stronger than before.
Rockruff pawed and scratched at the door. He had become anxious, walking in small circles, ready to leave the bathroom and get some breakfast. He hadn't eaten anything because of Pikachu.
"Please don't do that..." Kukui threw the wet towels in a hamper and opened the door. Rockruff ran out and went straight to the kitchen. Kukui turned the other direction and went into his room, stopping in front of the bed. "Haven't u-used that thing in a while..." He let out a shaky sigh due to his uncontrollable shivering.
Rockruff walked in after noticing the Professor hadn't followed him, but went unnoticed since Kukui was too busy looking through his dresser for dry clothes.
"Hmm..., where did I put those other shorts?" Kukui rummaged further through one drawer and opened another. "I could've worn them all.."
Rockruff walked behind him and sat down. "Rarf!"
"Ahh-!" He turned around, clutching his chest. He looked down and saw Rockruff happily panting and wagging his tail. "Achoo! D-don't do that!" Kukui scolded, picking up the clothes that he dropped.
"Arrr..." Rockruff whined.
"I know you d-didn't mean to, but-achoo!" Kukui sniffled. "Man, I've got to change out of these wet clothes." He stood and began walking, but stopped when he noticed that Rockruff started to follow him. "Um,.."
Rockruff also stopped and tilted his head in confusion. "...?"
"Rockruff,...uh." Kukui coughed nervously. "I...usually change..by myself." Rockruff simply blinked at him. Kukui placed his hand on his neck. "Um, I'd rather you not..be here while I'm getting-um undressed."
"Hn..?" Rockruff whined. It wasn't a sad one though, he just didn't get it. Why couldn't he go too?
"You're not understanding this, are you?" Kukui sighed. "Okay-uh... You stay here and I'll go over there." He said, making a gesture towards the closet and went. Rockruff followed up until he got to the door. "I won't be long." Then walked inside.
"..." Rockruff waited patiently for what seemed like forever, which only happened to be around 5 minutes. He spent it lying in front of the closet door, rolling around and gawking at the interesting shadow that appeared from under it.
"There." Kukui sighed and opened the door. Rockruff fell inside since he had been leaning on it.
Rockruff noticed that Kukui had on a dark colored shirt. Kukui never usually wore one. At least, he had never seen him wear one.
Kukui stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for Rockruff to stand, then walked sluggishly to his bed. He flopped down face-first into a pillow and enjoyed the way his lab coat floated gently onto the bed. Rockruff jumped up and onto him, nearly giving Kukui a heart attack. He had begun to doze off and would have been asleep if Rockruff hadn't jumped on his back. Kukui pushed him off and looked at him with, lower than normal, half-open eyelids. "Let's take a nap..." He yawned. "Okay?"
"Rarf-arf!" Rockruff seemed ultimately delighted to back to sleep. He needed to catch up on the hours that he had lost from that morning.
Kukui winced at the sound. His headache made his ears sensitive. "Please, Rockruff... Don't be..so...loud...zzz." Kukui fell fast asleep.
"...?" Rockruff sniffed at his face and watched the slow rise and fall of Kukui's chest. "rrr.." He sighed, stretched, then yawned and curled up beside the Professor to sleep.
