Part 2
Mei-Toku stumbled along the alleyway. He had to find shelter soon. It was raining and his clothes were soaking went. He was walking with a sprained ankle and it was difficult to walk. He smiled in irony to himself.
He'd been careless. He'd been attacked and... It was only his looks that saved him from getting killed but not... Now he felt even more inferior than before. If Bu-Cho had ever found out...
Mei-Toku shook his head. He couldn't let anyone find out. He'd just carry on like before. He did have every right to be paranoid. He'd been hit on many times and he ignored it after it stopped happening for a while. He'd just been infuriated with Bu-Cho that he didn't notice where he was going.
He paused in step as he felt the pressure was already too much on his exhausted body. He sat on the ground with his legs bent laying on the ground. He leaned against the building and closed his eyes. He was too weak to get back to the hotel they were staying at. He felt dizzy, as his body had been fighting exhaustion to get to the hotel. He couldn't take it and just rested against the wall. He was aware that he'd get a fever in the morning but at the moment he didn't care.
-X-
Yako was surprised. He had been strolling through the town after the rain when he was informed from Li-Ling Po that Mei-Toku had been out since last night and hasn't returned. He usually wouldn't do things like this but Li-Ling Po did ask as a favor. He was rather surprised to find Mei-Toku sleeping outside in the bad side of town. The man's clothes were wet and he was sure he'd get a fever, if not already.
He gently shook Mei-Toku awake. Luckily it didn't take that much because Mei-Toku immediately stood up but started to tumble. Yako caught him before he fell.
Mei-Toku looked up hazily to see Yako holding him up. He smiled.
"Yako, what are you doing here?" Mei-Toku asked.
"Looking for you. Li-Ling Po said you didn't come back last night. Looks like the trip will have to be delayed until your fever goes down," Yako answered. He threw one arm around his neck and wrapped his arm around Mei-Toku's waist to keep him steady.
It was silent for a while.
"What happened to you?" Yako asked. Mei-Toku stayed silent as he looked away. He didn't want to retell his experience. "You know if you don't tell someone it usually kills you later."
"Just promise..." Mei-Toku began, "Not to tell anyone, even Li-Ling Po."
Yako contemplated this before nodding. He could easily hide anything anyway.
-X-
Li-Ling Po was bored. Mei-Toku had been missing so he asked Yako to look for him since Bu-Cho wouldn't let him go out. This whole 'I don't trust you' thing was still an issue. He had been trying to get on Bu-Cho's good side but it doesn't seem to work. He did notice that the only person that has gotten a reaction out of Bu-Cho was Mei-Toku. Although the aristocrat wouldn't admit it, but he did somewhat want to look for Mei-Toku not just because for necessity. That was what Bu-Cho had told him before he left. Though it wasn't exactly like that, it was more like 'stay and don't do anything'.
He stood up as he heard the door open. He walked over as he realized that Yako had found Mei-Toku. He quickly took Mei-Toku's other arm and put it over his shoulder, helping him to the bed.
"Geeze, what happened to you?" Li-Ling Po stated more than asked.
"I seem to have caught something," Mei-Toku responded before finally closing his eyes. The two caught him before they dropped him. They placed him on the bed.
"We need to get him out of those clothes before he freezes to death," Yako said before going to get a bucket of cold water and a cloth.
"You do know Bu-Cho would kill us if he ever found out that we saw him under all this clothing before he did," Li-Ling Po pointed out, smirking. Yako shrugged.
"Either that or he dies."
Li-Ling Po then got the change of clothes. He just hoped they would get this done before Bu-Cho comes back.
-X-
Bu-Cho returned from wandering around the city. He did say that he was going to look for clues on one of the eight great treasures. Apparently he'd gotten nothing. Maybe it was because he really wasn't looking for it. He himself will not admit it. He didn't find a trace of Mei-Toku anywhere. Of course Mei-Toku wasn't that hard to find. His features were unique around China.
He went inside their hotel room. The budget has always been scarce. Glancing around he noticed that Li-Ling Po was not there. He hated that sneaky thief. He then saw the small note. Grabbing it, he began to read:
We went to get medicine. Don't hurt him.
This was out of character for Li-Ling Po to leave a message...
Don't hurt him?
He walked further in, looked towards the bed and froze.
-X-
It was hot. His head was throbbing with pain. Yet at the same time he felt very cold. He turned to his side and pulled the blanket up past his shoulders. He didn't want to go to sleep despite the fact that it could help. He didn't want to go back to those horrible nightmares. He didn't want to close his eyes because he'd always see those shadows hovering over him...touching him...violating him... He'd been careless and wasn't looking where he was going. But he guessed that was his fault for getting lost in thinking about the cold-hearted aristocrat.
Right now he could hear the cold-hearted comments that Bu-Cho always seems to say to him. None of them were positive and were probably his faults anyway. But it really did hurt to hear them. Damn, his inferior-complex is doing it again. He should just rest like what Yako and Li-Ling Po told him to do. His throat felt dry and he needed some water.
Carefully, Mei-Toku sat up, despite his aching limbs, and stood up, holding on to the stand next to the bed. He took one step and his legs gave out. He fell on his front while knocking the bucket of water on the stand making it splash on him. At least the bucket didn't land on him. His hair was wet and tangled again. He knew they should've never taken it off its bun. It made him look even more girlish that before. He needed that glass of water and some dry cloths to clean this mess up.
Mei-Toku tried getting up, but his limbs still hurt. He pushed up with his arms and was able to sit up. He leaned against the bed and pushed himself to stand. He failed and sunk to the floor again. At least he didn't fall. He tried again, this time holding on to the nightstand. He managed to stand but lost grip and began to fall. He waited for the impact, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes and felt that someone was holding him.
Someone was holding him...
He quickly turned around and pushed the person away but fell back against the bed grasping the bars of the headboard. Were they back? How'd they get in? Mei-Toku thought in panic. Gathering some courage, he looked up and didn't hold his surprise. He scooted back gaining some distance between them.
"Bu-Cho..." Mei-Toku said. He shrunk back as the other seemed to be angry with him. He usually wouldn't be like this but physically attacking Bu-Cho, usually went bad for him, especially those times that he had slapped and backhanded him. All he did was get water thrown in his face. Water sounded so good right now. Mei-Toku sat up a bit properly, still grasping the bars of the headboard to keep upright, and awaited anything about to hit him.
"What are you doing?" Bu-Cho asked. He sounded angry but then again he always did.
Mei-Toku didn't answer and just lied back down. Of course he did remember that the spilled water still needed to be cleaned. He motioned to sit up again but felt himself being pushed back down. He slapped the hand away, not really thinking of what he was doing. He was responding to his instinctive thoughts. Right now, all touches were repulsive. Of course, it was then that he realized that the only person near him was Bu-Cho. Attacking, although not that harmful, Bu-Cho twice will be bad for him when he got better during training sessions.
"Stay put. I'm only doing this so we can continue on the mission," Bu-Cho said before going off to grab cloths and a glass of water. Mei-Toku obeyed just lying there.
"Would it kill you to really care?" he murmured to himself before shutting his eyes. He soon drifted off to sleep.
TBC-------------
BLK Angel of Destruction: Anywyas that's chapter 2!
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