Chapter 3: Fever At The Fudos'

Jack didn't know if he should be embarrassed or relieved to be stepping inside of the Fudo house. While the house was a bit stuffy from having the doors and windows shut because of the rain, he was just glad to be out of the cold, wet weather and some place warm.

"Twinny-chan!" Hikaru shouted, practically at the top of her lungs, which caused Jack to cringe. She took off her muddy shoes and stepped into the vestibule, and Jack did the same, following her a bit slowly and keeping his head down. "Twinny-chan, I found him!"

"Huh? What, Onee-chan?" came Yusei's slightly groggy reply. A moment later, he came trudging into their sight, dressed in dark blue pajama pants and an over-sized T-shirt. He was rubbing his right hand at his eyes, so when Jack looked through his wet bangs to him, he assumed that Yusei had fallen asleep. As soon as Yusei laid his eyes on the boy standing behind his sister, he seemed awake immediately. "Jack! What on Earth..." He made his way past Hikaru, whom stepped aside to give the two a little room. "Where have you been? You're soaking wet!"

"He didn't have an umbrella on his way home from work, I'm assuming," Hikaru suggested.

"Onee-chan, get me some towels. And warm up before you catch the flu." Yusei said, unshyly wrapping his arms around Jack's shoulders as he led him inside.

"How can I catch the flu from the rain? Is it even flu season?" Hikaru asked. "Besides, I'm not even that wet!"

"Hika, don't you start!" Yusei snapped, turning and leading Jack into the living room.

Jack felt too ashamed to make eye contact. Before he knew it, he was seated on a couch in their living room with Yusei bent over in front of him, drying him off with a towel like he were a child who had just gotten out of the bath, being dried off by his mother. Yusei soon lifted the towel onto the top of his head, ruffling his light blonde hair through the fabric to get it dry. It was with this that Yusei seemed to grasp him by his head and turn his head upward, meeting the look of concern in Yusei's deep, ocean blue eyes.

"Jack, what were you doing out in the woods?" Yusei asked in a quiet, worried tone. "I thought Onee-chan had been trying to pull a trick on me when she said she found a tent full of your things on our property, but, it's true. She was right."

"Damn straight I was right!" Hikaru said as she walked into the room with a mug of hot tea in her hands.

"Look, I'm sorry for trespassing, but I don't have anywhere else to go." Jack replied, turning his head away only to have Yusei turn it back. "If I can just stay there a little longer... just for a few more weeks. I don't have enough money for an apartment yet. I don't have a lot of money, but I can pay you. Please let me stay?"

"Those woods aren't too safe," Hikaru said, handing off the tea to Jack. "Especially in this weather at this time of day. Who knows what could happen out there. Landslides, falling tree branches, the occasional weirdos prowling around. All in all, it isn't the safest place for somebody to live in a tent." She then leaned over the edge of the couch and towards Jack as she asked, "How long have you been out there, anyway?"

"I guess..." Jack looked down. "Just over a week?"

"Take a drink, Jack," Yusei said, urging the cup of tea towards Jack's face. Jack lifted the mug near his mouth, blew on the tea to cool it off a bit before he took a sip. "Jack, we can't let you stay out there. It's too dangerous. You could get hurt, and in weather like this, you could get sick. You looked a little pale as it was this morning..."

"Bu-bu-but..." Jack trembled a little and Yusei laid his hands on his shoulders. "What else can I do? I don't have anywhere else to go to..."

Gently, Yusei wrapped his arms around Jack's head and shoulders. He then asked quietly, "What happened to your parents?"

Jack shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, doing his best to hold back his tears. A sudden bout of dizziness hit him right in the head and he stumbled upward as he tried to stand, but he fell right into Yusei who, surprisingly enough, though he had a smaller build than the blonde, was strong enough to hold him up. A moment later, as he eased Jack down onto the floor, he rolled him onto his side and took his tea away before he laid his palm, which felt cool and soothing, against Jack's forehead.

"God, he's burning up," Yusei said.

"What should we do?..." Hikaru's voice sounded distant and echoed.

"Let's get him upstairs and call for a doctor," he heard Yusei say. He felt weightless as Yusei lifted him up, wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulders as he held one of Jack's arms around him to half-carry, half-drag him along to Jack-didn't-know-where, or could even tell.

Jack felt hot all over. His face kept nudging and nuzzling into the coolness of the pillow against his head. He felt like curling up and going to sleep, but at the same time felt restless because of the heat radiating throughout his body. He couldn't go to sleep because he couldn't calm down, but he wanted to calm down so he could go to sleep and rest. It was like his body was fighting against him.

Vaguely, he could feel cool, soothing hands against him; one of them was holding him down so as to keep him still, and he stilled as much as he could at that one touch. He then felt the other hand beginning to undress him. He tried opening his eyes, but they almost seemed to be glued shut.

"There, now," a voice spoke that seemed almost distant. "You'll be alright. Just calm down and relax..."

With a tired moan, Jack mumbled, "Mama..."

He kept quiet and mostly still while he was dressed down to nothing but his boxers, after which he could feel the cool, familiar, soft fabric of his pajamas replacing his hot, bothersome school uniform. The cool hands pulling up and smoothing down his pajama bottoms, and buttoning up his pajama top. Soon after, the hands settled on his hair, giving him soothing strokes. Eventually, warmth surrounded his body, and despite how hot he felt, it was oddly and mysteriously soothing in comparison.

"It's alright, Jack," the gentle voice echoed in his ears. "Rest now and go to sleep. You'll be alright..."

Jack, with a soft sigh and a nuzzle into his pillow, felt the hands stroking his hair follow and continue. His eyebrows relaxed, and he whispered, "Mama..." before he felt himself drifting off.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep for. He heard two other voices talking as his head spun and whirled and he tried to move. He felt immobilized. It wasn't until the warmth that surrounded his body disappeared and the familiar cool hands touched him, rolling him over onto his back. Or was it onto his front? He didn't know.

Something colder than the hands, small but still cold, was soon felt on his chest. When had his shirt opened, exactly? It switched positions on him almost sporadically, but soon enough it disappeared and he could hear one of the two other voices speaking before the cool hands pulled one of his arms out of his sleeves, and a short time later he felt a small, sharp pain there. He wasn't even sure if he had flinched or gasped, or both.

When he drifted off this time, he felt much more at peace.

His dreams were nonsensical, confusing things he couldn't even remember. His sense of time was damaged. He had no idea where he was, who was with him, or what was going on. All he could seem to do was calm down beneath the cool hands. They were familiar, in a way he couldn't remember. All he knew was they were there, and they were comforting.

He could hear another voice; a familiar voice that sounded worried, but he couldn't respond. The most he could do was wriggle, groan, and try to go back to sleep. Like opening his eyes was a chore in itself.

The time seemed to go by in an impossible way, and all he could really recall were the hands sitting him up, getting him to drink something warm, the hands half-carrying, half-dragging him away from the warmth he had slept in before stripping him naked and settling his body down into a different sort of warmth; something moist. He couldn't even recall what it was. He stayed there for a while; feeling the hands rubbing something along his body and then letting him settle and relax. He felt his head slowly drifting down into the wet warmth, but soon enough the cool hands grabbed at his hair again and pulled him out of it. But why? He couldn't tell. Some time later, he was pulled back out of the warmth and felt the hands rubbing something along him again. He was dressed again before he was led back to the warmth he had slept in and he settled in for another long bout of sleep.

Unknowingly, his head nuzzled into the hands and the body caring for him.

"Jackie... Jackie..."

Sigh.

"You've got a fever again..."

He could feel his head laying against a lap; with his arms folded beneath his head and hands stroking his hair, weaving between the golden strands.

"You don't have to push yourself so hard... you don't always have to do things the way I did..."

His eyebrows creased, and with a soft breath, he uttered, "Mama..."

He could almost see her smile, smell the scent of her perfume...

"You can just be yourself. Do things your own way, one step at a time. You'll get there, I promise..."

For what felt like the first time in ages, Jack managed to slide his eyes open a bit, and it took him a few moments before his vision began to focus, and he took in the familiar, smiling face of his mother. Just in his line of sight. With a slow, tired blink and a slight moan, he said, "Mama?..."

"Just be yourself; you'll be fine..."

Then, Jack's eyes snapped fully open with a small gasp. He wasn't dreaming. His mother's picture was right there, in front of his face.

"Mama, you're here..." he said quietly. He reached out one of his hands, grasping the golden picture frame and pulling it closer. "But... how did you... how did we..." His eyes looked to the side. "Where... where are we?..."

"Hm..."

Jack blinked and pushed himself up with his free hand, feeling hands woven through his hair. He sat on his knees just in time to see Yusei's hands fall from his head, and the younger boy's eyes began to open. Jack saw Yusei had been leaning his body against a wall and had been sleeping there for who-knew-how-long, and for whatever reason was wearing a surgical mask over his nose and mouth. But more importantly...

'Why was I sleeping with my head in his lap?...'

As Yusei was coming to, Jack took a look around the room. He was sleeping on a futon, and the blankets he had been bundled in had slipped off of his body when he sat up. He honestly had no idea where he was, or even what day it was. Or why he was there. But he did see his boxes and bags of things against the wall by the door; a sliding door.

All of a sudden everything from Friday night came flooding back to him. Hikaru dragging him to the house, being dried off by Yusei, and the hot tea... but what had happened after that? And... why had Hikaru taken his stuff to their house in the first place?

"Oh, Jack, you're awake..." Jack turned his head to see Yusei rubbing at his eyes with his right hand. "How are you feeling?" Yusei asked, reaching his hand out to lay it on Jack's forehead. "You're still a little pale, but you look a lot better today. You were out of it for a while..."

"I... what... where..." Jack's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, holding his mother's picture against his chest. "What happened?"

"You collapsed a little while after Hikaru brought you in," Yusei said, turning his hand over to feel Jack's forehead with that now. "We had a doctor come and take a look at you, and he said you had the flu."

"The flu..." Jack said. That explained the surgical mask. So Yusei could take care of him without getting sick. "What... what day is it?"

"Sunday," Yusei said. "Come on, let's get you downstairs." he insisted, standing with his hands on Jack's shoulders, helping him up. "Hikaru's been brewing leek soup for you all morning."

Though he had a million thoughts and just as many questions running through his head, Jack merely followed after Yusei, holding onto his picture of his mother very tightly.

He didn't want to let her go.

I know Jack was pretty out of it during his delirium, but that's what I was going for. That he doesn't really remember what happened but can recall some of the feelings, like being examined by a doctor and Yusei giving him a bath. Sounds kinda weird but that's what I was going for. XD

Anyways thanks for reading so far. :3