Chapter 3: Ministrations

Hiko was stunned by the sight of the previously jumpy boy cuddled up with his Dragonair. He walked over and put his own hand on Hina's nose when she turned her head towards him.

"You do always seem to work miracles, Hina." Hiko grinned and glanced down at the sleeping boy. His breaths were ragged and uneven, causing the large man to become acquainted with a feeling unfamiliar when not directed towards a Pokémon. He rarely felt love and compassion for a human, often considering them bringers of destruction of pain. Thus he took up residence in the cabin up in the somewhat snowy mountains of Blackthorn; to get away from humans.

But he pushed aside that feeling for now and stoked the fire with the freshly acquired firewood he had brought inside. Soon the weak fire turned into a large blaze, quickly heating up the room. By the time he was done, Hiko noticed that Hina was curled up around Kenshin protectively.

The man couldn't help but smile as he went to his room and pulled out his own futon. He trusted Hina to come wake him if there were any problems with Kenshin. He placed his five remaining Pokéballs on the ground next to him and stared at them for a while.

Fudo, his Charizard, was probably one of his most loyal Pokémon and burned with the fiery passion and determination known for his species. He got Fudo as a Charmeleon that was shipped off from Kanto because nobody wanted him as a starter. He immediately saw the potential in him as a great addition to his team.

Sorano, his Altaria, was shy but good company. She was gentler than Hina and didn't like battling. Hiko caught her as a Swablu when she had been injured by a wild Zangoose and nursed her back to health. She evolved during a defensive fight against a trainer that sought to steal from Hiko.

Takeshi, his Gabite, was fierce and unruly much like Raiden was before his demise. In fact, the two were fierce rivals once when they were both caught around the same time in the lowest evolved forms. Since Raiden evolved into his final form, it was all Takeshi wanted to do. He trained persistently, often exhausting himself and Hiko, who always insisted in training alongside his Pokémon, in the process.

Katsumi, his Seadra, was tough, fast, and an all around good battler. He was often withdrawn and rarely interacted with the other Pokémon. Hiko caught him as a Horsea in a lake near the base of the mountain, intending to eventually evolve him into a Kingdra. But as of yet, Katsumi has no desire to evolve into a Kingdra and Hiko was fine with that. He was powerful enough as a Seadra.

Finally, there was Hina the Dragonair. She was his treasure; his first Pokémon. He received her at a young age as a Dratini from his own master. She was always sweet when she wanted to be, but mostly stubborn and hard-headed. And she was very powerful in her own right, probably Hiko's strongest. She had a wide variety of attacks that even made up for her weakness to Ice-type Pokémon.

Hiko was drawn out of his thoughts, however, when he heard Hina call out to him. He also heard the rustle of sheets and sounds of the boy coughing. Sighing, Hiko rose and approached the Dragonair whom was curled protectively around the small figure. He noticed the boy was coming around and placed his hand on his forehead.

"You still a pretty high fever, baka deshi. You should have told me you were getting tired and we might have stopped for the night." Hiko tried to sound nonchalant and distant, but he couldn't help but feel concerned for the boy. He distracted himself by fixing some plain miso broth, figuring the boy might be hungry. Plus putting some medicine in the soup instead of stressing him with the powdered version would be the best way to help the boy recover.

"Hiko-sama," Kenshin broke off with a cough that wracked his whole body, "I did not want to slow down…I have to be strong. I have to be strong enough to do great things with my Pokémon."

Hiko turned so he could hide his smile and pretended to be tending to the soup. "To be strong for your Pokémon, you must first be strong for yourself. And you can't do that if you collapse after a bit of cold weather."

That bit of cold weather consisted of three days of hiking through a snow covered mountain with the only warmth being the clothes on his back and the small fire Hiko made during the three hours they were allowed to sleep during the night. He didn't know how the large man could go through it himself. Even so, Kenshin flushed with embarrassment at his physical weakness.

Hiko ladled some of the soup into a ceramic bowl and handed it to the boy who tentatively took it out of his hands. It was all the large man could do to steady the bowl when the boy went into another coughing fit. Hina let out another low note and nuzzled the boy's hair to try to comfort him.

"Well, can you hold your own bowl or not, boy? You're never going to amount to anything if you can't even manage that." Hiko was about to chastise the boy again until Hina shot him down. If looks could kill, the man would be dead. He got the message instantly; the berating and insulting wasn't doing the boy any good after all. It was completely different than he expected; instead of rising to insults and retaliating like he himself did as a child towards his master, this small boy was cowering into Hina's coils, looking like he was ready to cry.

"Boy, settle down. I won't hurt you." Hiko wasn't too good at this kind of thing but he figured a little compassion was the least he could give the traumatized boy whom he had orphaned and opted to take care of. What a job he was doing so far…

"I…I don't want to be weak…"boy hiccupped and let a single tear fall onto his cheek. Hina nuzzled him more, using her tail to help support the small boy into sitting up. Both Hina and Hiko knew that the best thing to do for the boy was probably to get some food into him so the man took the bowl and began to spoon feed the warm broth to the boy. After a few mouthfuls, Kenshin regained his composure and relaxed though he didn't try to take the bowl again for fear of spilling hot soup all over himself during another coughing fit.

When the bowl was empty, Hiko checked the boy's temperature again before standing up. He was concerned that it had gotten higher, but he supposed that was because of the warm soup. He washed the bowl quietly and soaked a spare rag in cold water before returning to the boy's side.

"Lie still, now, and sleep." He folded up the damp cloth and placed it on Kenshin's forehead. The boy shivered a bit and tried to take it off, but Hiko took hold of the boy's wrist. "Baka deshi, keep it there for now, I know it's cold. It will help with the fever."

Kenshin contemplated for the second time what Hiko meant by calling him baka deshi, but he nodded and relaxed again, resting his head on Hina's coils. The Dragonair brought her tail up and let it rest across the boy's chest as to make him feel secure. Hina was quickly becoming Kenshin's favorite Pokémon; none of his parents' Pokémon paid much attention to him unless his father told them to look after him.

And as far as he knew, his parents had no intention of letting him own a Pokémon of his own anytime soon, let alone allowing him to become a Pokémon trainer.