Alone in her dark room, tucked away like a little napping rabbit, was frail Teto Kasane.
She could seldom breathe through her blocked nose, little whispers emanated from her mouth each time she exhaled. She was curled up tightly in her pink blanket, feeling protected from the bitter cold looming around the house on this gloomy evening.
In the midst of the rhapsody of sighs and congested little breaths, the room's door gently creaked open, Teto twitching a bit at the light that shine through. And standing in the light like a sweet guardian angel, was no one besides Luka Megurine, her girlfriend and housemate.
"Teto-chan, are you okay? Here, have some soup. It'll help."
She put the soup down on the table near Teto's bed. The soothing sound of heavy spring rain saturated the room as Luka lit up the dull lamp on Teto's nightstand.
Teto smiled and sat up weakly. Luka pressed her warm wide hand to the smaller girl's sticky forehead.
"You're still burning up..." the older girl said concernedly. "Your body might need this food. After you eat, make sure you get plenty more rest, okay?"
Teto felt extremely secure now. She couldn't bear to tell her girlfriend, but she was burning up even more due to blushing. Luka was so caring and so motherly to her, especially in moments like this when Teto was suffering from her sickly physique.
"Luka..." Teto cried out in a hoarse voice. "I'm sorry you have to worry about me... I wanna snuggle you for it... but I also don't want Luka-chan to catch my cold... Luka..."
Luka signed wistfully at and slowly leaned towards the sick girl, giving her a light wrap around the shoulders and a warm comforting kiss to her forehead. Her warmth surrounded Teto and wouldn't let her go.
"Teto, I don't mind. What matters is the way you're feeling, okay?"
Luka's smile and prescence... Teto couldn't describe it in words, the way it made her feel. It surely was something else.
"I actually already feel better..." Teto croaked, lifting up the soup bowl and bringing it to herself. "You're like... medicine. Only you don't taste bad. Not at all..."
"And... how do you know what I taste like?" Luka teasingly asked.
"Maybe I took a bite from you while you were sleeeeping..." Teto jokingly made a seductive tone of voice, making Luka hide her head and laugh a bit.
"That's tuna-noodle soup by the way." Luka said once she calmed. "It tastes a whole lot better than it sounds, I promise."
"It looks great." Teto said, with wide eyes. "I love tuna. Ever since we've started living together I've grown fond of it."
Teto lifted a spoonful and began to blow on it, the steam at least warming her nose.
Her nose began to twitch as she sniffled.
Sniffle sniffle. Twitchy, twitchy, twitch...
"There, there. Eat up. I can't stand seeing my little bunny so sick." Luka cooed.
Teto, even though exhausted, had enough energy in her to argue back.
"I'm not a little bunny, Luka!" she shouted, twitching her nose again.
"Hee hee." Luka giggled sheepishly. "Yes you are, twitchy Teto. That's why I added carrots in the soup."
"Luka..." Teto's face became red with blush.
"Don't you want to put socks on those bunny feet?" Luka said, eying Teto's bare feet. "It's so cold, and you're barefoot..."
Luka silently stood up and left the room. She came back harboring a nurturing expression, Teto's teddy bear, and a pair of fuzzy pink striped socks.
"Here, now you'll be nice and toasty, my little darling."
"Thank you..." Teto said, her eyes becoming big with gratitude... and embarrassment.
"Luka is... babying me." she thought. "Doesn't she realize I'm seventeen? I mean... I KNOW I have the face of a ten-year-old, and I don't act that mature... plus I... I..."
Teto's eyes grew wide again.
"Ohh... I kind of... like it when Luka babies me..." she blushed.
"I like to treat Teto like a baby..." Luka thought in unison. "What's wrong with me? I become so soft when I'm around Teto... because she's so sweet. I love to see her sweet face smile. Is that bad?"
"I really, really like when Luka-chan is this kind to me. It's like being in a big fuzzy blanket of her warmth." Teto thought.
"I've been so strange lately... ever since I met Teto. I've never acted like this before." Luka thought.
The rain outside performed a crescendo and the sound of the raindrops filled the otherwise quiet room once again.
"So... Teto. Do you want to watch a movie, perhaps?" Luka said, to break the silence.
Teto nodded, fighting back a little sneeze.
At the end of the movie, the two sisters were reunited. The big sister apologizes to her little sister and promises to never let her go.
They hug, and the movie ends with a shot of the two standing under a tree together, looking out at the town below bathed in the sunlight...
"Aaaaw, Luka! Wasn't that sweet? Ah-choo!" Teto rubbed her nose as she continued squealing at the end of the movie.
"Luka? Luka?" Teto waved her hand in front of the taller girl, only she wouldn't budge. Her hand was clamped tightly to her mouth as if she was hiding great discomfort...
Suddenly, Luka choked back a little sob. Trembling, she layered her other hand over her face and tried fighting them back.
"Luka! You're crying..."
Teto threw her frail little body onto Luka's lap and gave her waist a warm hug, rubbing her face into her torso.
"Luka, was it sad? I'm sorry, Luka. We won't watch it again..." she said with a bit of sympathy. Though they were only from a movie, Teto never wanted to see tears in her girlfriend's clear blue eyes.
Luka delicately wiped the tears that threatened to drip down her cheeks.
"Teto..." she said sheepishly. "It wasn't sad... but..."
Luka took one last misty-eyed gaze at the ending scene, before the credits began to roll.
"Isn't it just wonderful?" she said.
Teto thoughtfully looked at Luka's face and spoke humbly.
"I guess it is... because you're like my sister. We have that kind of love between us. We're just like those two, so it means a lot. I almost cried too, to be honest."
Luka sat deep in thought as Teto curled back in her lap.
"I've watched this movie times before... but never had I shed a single tear at it until now. In fact, I've barely ever cried or laughed before I met Teto..."
Luka looked down at her to see that the tender girl had been dozing off laying in her comfy lap.
"Teto, you certainly are the one who brought this color into my world." she whispered, gently playing with her soft curly hair and stroking her warm neck.
Teto cracked a single weary smile.
It was now 8:30 P.M. and Teto wouldn't stop dozing off. It became harder for her to breathe again and both girls knew that a good night's rest would be just the thing for her.
But suddenly...
"Luka, tell me a bedtime story." Teto said beseechingly. Spunk filled the weary girl as soon as her bottom hit the bed; as if her energy switch was located there.
"Teto, you really liked to be babied, don't you?"
Luka rubbed the little mound, which was Teto's knee in the blanket. Teto blushed a bit.
"Well... I just want you to tell me a bedtime story, that's all!" she said.
"Okay, okay." Luka laughed a bit. "Once upon a time... there was a little bunny named Teto."
"Oh, come on Luka! Stop teasing me!"
Luka ignored Teto and went on.
"Teto the bunny doesn't feel so good today. Her eyes are fluttering and her nose is twitching even more today. Teto the bunny sneezes like 'chu, chu, chu'!"
"Come on Luka, that story is boring!"
"Really Teto? You seem to be enjoying it. You are laughing after all."
Luka took another breath and continued.
"Then Luka the mermaid comes out from the nearby pond and sees that her bunny friend is all curled up, shivering."
"Wait, Luka! Why are you a mermaid and I'm just a little bunny!?"
"Well, you always say I'm a mermaid after all, Teto. This story is just for you. Now listen. Shh."
Luka lightly touched Teto's lip with her pointer finger.
"'Teto-bunny, are you okay?' Luka says.
'I'm not, sniffle sniffle!' replies Teto. 'I have the twitchies today and I feel really bad. I was supposed to go to a sleepover with my friends Miku bunny, Haku cat, and Neru cat. But now I'm sad and alone.'
Aww. Little Teto bunny starts to cry. Luka the mermaid picks her up and cuddles her gently.
'There, there. Teto bunny, how about you and I go on an adventure in this magical pond? We'll look for sparkling seaweed, which is a remedy for the twitchies. But if you smile, you will feel better in no time.'
Luka the mermaid makes a magical bubble so Teto bunny can breathe underwater.
The magical pond is filled with magical things, like tuna, and tuna, and tuna, and..."
"Luka, are you hungry!?" Teto interrupted.
"All across the pond, tuna sashimi are swimming around.
'Yum, delicious!' Luka the mermaid eats all the delicious sashimi."
"Luka, you're drooling! That's unladylike!"
"Also in the magical pond, are singing dancing carrots. Teto bunny goes berserk looking at them. She's hungry, and also baffled at the fact that the food is performing. Then suddenly, an entire vegetable opera begins. The vegetables begin to perform a musical rendition of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."
"Luka, if you're making this story up on the spot, then you're WAY weirder than I ever thought."
"However, Juliet was being played by a talking leek named Miku. Romeo was a banana named Len. Their love was forbidden as one was Fruit, and one was Vegetable. In the end, they chopped themselves up and became one salad."
"Luka, your story started out promising, but it just got WEIRD." Teto said.
"Well excuse me, I was trying to think like YOU." Luka answered, jokingly.
"Rawr!" Teto feistily threw her My Little Pony pillow at Luka.
"Teto, Teto! I thought you were fatigued!" Luka said.
"Oh yeah. I forgot."
As soon as Teto's memory settled in again, she slumped and sank right into her bedsheets... her eyes fluttered shut like the eyes of a sleepy rabbit.
"Such a dear..." Luka thought. She dimmed the lights and tucked the little rabbit girl into bed, gently covering her with the thick blanket. She hummed quietly and Teto soon fell asleep to the voice of an angel...
"But will she stay warm...?" Luka thought.
"Teto, she's... looking lonely by herself."
Luka slowly climbed into Teto's princess-sized bed and crawled over to the side she didn't sleep on.
She couldn't resist wanting to cuddle with Teto, keeping her tender self warm all night long. Safe with her.
She merged over to her side and put her arms around Teto, transferring her warmth to her.
But to Luka's surprise, Teto leaned up and sweetly, gently kissed her right on the lip.
Luka's eyes slowly fluttered shut as she was lost in the rapture of the sweet kiss. The tender feelings conveyed reached directly to her. Luka sustained the kiss and once they parted, they slept with their faces almost touching to each other's.
The next morning...
You know the old cliche.
The next morning, Teto felt better, and Luka became sick.
And it was now time for Teto to treat Luka like a baby.