"Kaito..."
Someone was calling him. Kaito's eyes fluttered. It sounded far away.
"Kaito..."
He opened his eyes, trying to focus. Everything seemed a little fuzzy. Someone was standing over him. He felt a hand touching his shoulder gently.
"Masu... Master?" Kaito croaked out, his voice sounding strange to his ears. It felt like there was a bubble in his ears. His body felt cold. There was a pain in his lower stomache. The hand on his shoulder moved, rested briefly on his forehead. His face felt strange. A little damp.
"It looks like your fever has come back, Kaito. Can you sit up to eat a little bit?" A bowl appeared in his sight. Kaito looked at it, but he didn't feel any appetite. There was a pause, and then the bowl moved back out of his sight. Kaito's eyes felt heavy and he closed them. He heard a slight sound, like something being set down on a table somewhere far away. Master sighed.
"Maybe we should get you some medicine for that fever before we worry about breakfast," The now disembodied voice said.
...
"Swallow it down, that's a good boy," An encouraging voice from out of nowhere. Someone gently holding his head up. A sore feeling throughout his stiff body and a throbbing pain in his stomache. A cool, bitter tasting liquid touching his lips.
"That's good, Kaito."
...
The cool touch of something damp against his forehead. Kaito opened his eyes blearily, looking up with feverish eyes. Master smiling back down at him. Kaito closing his eyes again, feeling sick, but... feeling safe. Master was here. It was safe. He ignored the pain in his stomache and slept fitfully, the fever pouring sweat out of him and trying to work to heal his body.
...
'I have to go to the bathroom,' Kaito's first conscious thought. He opened his eyes blearily. His whole body hurt. His skin felt damp. He was cold. There was something wet on his forehead. He looked at the side of the bed. Someone had put a folding table next to it. There was a big bowl on it. It was filled with water.
Kaito slowly moved his hand up to his face and touched the wet, now warm object there. When he pulled his hand away, he brought the towel from his forehead away with it. Once he saw what it was, he let it go to fall carelessly on the bed beside him. His arm flopped back down leadenly. ALthough he had just woken up, his body still felt exhausted somehow.
"Master..?" Kaito called out softly. There was no answer. Kaito's body protested and his stomache hurt like wildfire as he slowly turned his body, put his hands to the bed and raised himself up.
"Uhh!" Kaito's sound was muffled as he collapsed back onto the bed, faceplanting onto his soft pillow.
The sound of the doorknob turning 'click' and the soft sound of a footstep into his room.
"Kaito?" Master's voice sounded. Master walked to the bed, placing a hand on Kaito's turned shoulder. Kaito lifted his head heavily and looked up at his beloved Master with shimmering, exhausted, round blue eyes.
"Master..." Kaito paused, not sure how to say it. "Um... I..."
"What is it, Kaito? Are you okay?" A hand felt his forehead again, as Master had done many times since Kaito had been tucked into bed. "I was surprised to see you up. Your fever has been pretty strong for the last few hours. I just went to get you some more medicine."
"I... have to go to the bathroom," Kaito said, feeling ashamed all of a sudden. "But... I can't... get up." Kaito said, muffling his voice into his pillow, as he hid his face in childish embarassment.
"...Oh," Master acknowledged. "Um... do you want me to help you get to the bathroom? It's kind of a long trip, though."
Kaito felt overwhelmed. His eyes started to mist up at the helpless feeling. He didn't reply for a moment as his throat closed up against his voice. Why did this have to be happening to him? And he was even like this in front of Master. Kaito closed his eyes against the world and wished to be somewhere else.
"Well, um," Master finally said, as if coming to a conclusion, "Why don't I just bring you a bucket, and, you can use that for now. Back when my parent's parents were alive, everybody used toilet pots at night. Then you can go when you need to, and we won't worry about the bathroom for now."
Kaito nodded into his pillow, his face blushing red in shame.
"Okay, that's a plan then. Don't worry, Kaito." Master smiled down at him, although Kaito didn't see it, he could feel the warmth as Master gently patted his head. "You take care of that, then we'll worry about getting some more medicine into you, and also some food."
Kaito's hurting stomache churned at that, but despite his pain it made a loud gurgling sound. Master laughed and Kaito smiled despite of himself into his pillow.
"I'll be right back." Master got up and left. Kaito slowly put his arms under him, and tried to rise up once again.