His breathing is deafening.
Every breathy inhale seems to be an attack on his eardrums, and he wonders how long he can stay in this position before its too unbearable.
Shivering rattles his body, and he curls up tighter, wincing at the volume of of air intake yet again.
Kyoya hates these withdrawals, especially since they made him too weak to do much of anything by himself. It would always become too much, and he'd find himself in bad neighborhoods searching for the people who could eliviate the pain for a price.
A knock on the door startles him, and he lift his head to see Nile entering with a plate of food.
"How're you feeling?" He asks and sits at the end of the bed.
"Like crud?" Kyoya suggests with a bitter smirk.
Nile notices his shaking and asks, "are you cold?"
Kyoya shrugs slightly. "I don't know."
Nile's mouth twists into a frown. "Are you tired?"
"Not sure." Kyoya mumbles and presses his forhead against his arm, still tightly drawn over his knees.
"How can you not know?" Nile asks with furrowed brows.
"Just don't. S'too hard to figure one from the other. I just feel bad."
Nile's frown deepens and he lightly touches Kyoya's head, recieving another slight shiver from the other.
The skin on his face was burning up.
Nile sighs and leans back. So maybe it was like a fever? Switching between hot and cold?
Either way, Nile wasn't sure how to ease the pain. He did notice though, even if Kyoya couldn't, that the greenete looked drained and pale. Some sleep might do him good.
"Go ahead and try to rest for a little while. The symptoms might not be as bad if your asleep." Nile tells him.
Kyoya sighs, knowing that as tired as he was, he wasn't, so sleep would be a major struggle. Even still, he unfolds himself and lays down stiffly.
Nile leaves the food, "just in case", and walks out of the dim room to let Kyoya try to rest.
-.:
Demure leans further over Madoka's shoulder, apparently oblivious to her need of personal space. Madoka sighs inwardly, choosing to blame culture differences instead of the lanky African, and tries to focus on her computer screen.
She had pulled up multiple sites talking about the two drugs Kyoya had admitted to using to see what info they could find to help in his personal battle.
"Agitation, Restlessness, severe depression, Fatigue, Vivid nightmares, Anxiety, Nausea, Fever, Insomnia, itching, hypersomnia, increased anger and violence... This is some serious stuff!" Madoka cries.
Demure looks very uneasy. "I'm not sure that I even know what some of those are."
Madoka clicks to another tab and reads off some more. "Suicidal thoughts due to lack of pleasure hormones. Paranoia that in extreme cases leads to psychotic or violent actions. Possible hallucinations. Impaired motor function and twitching. Leg and stomach spasms. Cognitive impairment, shown through difficulties in focusing, speaking properly, and problem solving. Homicidal tendancies, Medication abuse. Intense cravings for the drug without caring about side affects."
By now Demure looked utterly horror-struck.
"It's OK Demure! He probably won't even get half this stuff!" Madoka tries to reassure, but she herself wasn't entirely sure. "It says it usually differentiates between people, Kyoya might just get some of the minor stuff, he'll be fine!"
Nile walks into the room at that moment, looking concerned. "What did you guys figure out?" He asks. Madoka shows him a few of the lists and he turns a bit pale. "Oh gosh... This sounds kind of really bad!"
"How was he when you went in?" Madoka asks.
"He was curled up in a ball, hugging his knees with his head down. It sounded like he was breathing hard, and he was shaking a lot." Nile sighs. "I asked him if he was cold or tired, but he said he wasn't sure. He had a fever too."
"Did he eat any of the food?" Demure asks.
"Nah, he didn't look up to eating. I set it on the nightstand and told him to try and sleep." He looks around the room. "Hey... Where's Ginka and the others?"
"Oh, I sent them out to the store to find anything to help with this." Madoka replies as she returns to her computer.
Nile and Demure stare at her quietly.
Suddenly she freezes, then slowly raises her head.
"What have I done?"
-.:
"Tsubasa! Jelly beans! Looky!" Yuu cries and begins jerking his hand to a large jar on the shelf.
"Yuu, we are no-"
"Oh my gosh I love those!" Masamune exclaims and runs over to it.
Ginka follows, staring up at it in amazement. "That thing... Its huge!" he says in awe.
Yuu turns and gazes up at him pleadingly. "Please Tsubasa!? Pretty please!?"
"No" Tsubasa snaps and drags them away. "We are in charge of getting things to help Kyoya, in case you've forgotten."
Yuu whines and Masamune pouts, but Tsubasa notices Ginka becoming quiet after the reminder of his rival's current state. Tsubasa tries to focus on getting them all to the medical section of the mall, but Ginka's sudden swap in attitude makes things rather somber.
That it, until they pass a hamburger joint.
"Oh man, look at that thing!"
"Its a total monster burger!"
"Please please Tsubasa?! Please!"
Tsubasa scowls. "May I remind you of our goal?"
"We could use it like an icepack!" Masamune suggests. "Zeo did that once!"
"No!"
If any of you caught the Hetalia reference, go get yourself some jellybeans.
Sorry for taking so long. Between unsurity about how to start this chapter, and my growing interest in Hetalia, I've been a major slacker in my stories.
I actually lightened up some. Way weird. Maybe it's from being a jerk to Lavita recently?
Dunno.
Comments and critiques appreciated.