Kurogane & Sakura: the cramps
Kurogane looked over his shoulder to see the princess lagging behind. Usually, they had a good time shopping for dragonfly racer parts, but she seemed distracted today. She was very quiet, and a few times she seemed as if she was going to burst out in tears. Kurogane certainly hoped she wouldn't; he inwardly cringed at the idea of the princess boo-hooing randomly. He started wondering if Syaoran or Fai had upset her this morning.
Breakfast seemed fine, except for Sakura's uncharacteristic sulking. Fai even made her pancakes with a banana smiley face. She took two bites and then went to go get ready for shopping with Kurogane. The ninja watched Fai's eyes follow Sakura around. Fai seemed to be puzzling something out about Sakura, but he didn't pry into the wizard's thoughts. He kind of regretted it, because he didn't want to deal with a moody girl without being prepared.
He finally paused their stroll through the scrap yard and decided to confront her directly. "What's wrong, Princess?"
She was silent for a moment, a gentle blush came to her cheeks. "My stomach feels upset. I guess I ate something last night that didn't agree."
"You need me to take you home?"
"No, I'm fine," she said, pushing a smile to her face. He felt as though he should take her home; he wasn't going to push her to shop if she were getting sick.
They quickly finished their business and Kurogane took her to their favorite diner for lunch. She hunkered over her lunch and was silent, unlike her normal, cheery self. Kurogane got concerned because she seemed pale and gloomy. She wasn't the complaining type, which Kurogane appreciated, but he didn't want her sick and in denial. He reached out and placed his hand on her forehead; it seemed slightly warm.
"Let's go home. I got some things I want to do around the house," he said, so she wouldn't have an excuse to piddle around more junk yards. She nodded and adopted a strange pout for a few minutes. "Princess?"
"I'm fine, Kurogane. I'm sorry, I just don't feel well all of the sudden."
He quickly got her home. Syaoran was out getting groceries for the wizard. Fai looked up from the shelves he was dusting and greeting them with a smile. "You two are home early."
Sakura bolted down the hallway with a stifled sob. Kurogane looked up and glared at Fai. "What did you do to upset the princess?"
"Not a thing. What happened?"
"Nothing. We just went shopping and she started getting mopey. Don't know why," Kurogane said. Again, Fai looked as if something was nagging at him. "What's going on with her, wizard? You know something?"
Fai waved him off with a bright smile. "I haven't a clue." He gave Kurogane a charming smile and said, "She probably wants a little space."
Syaoran came in with groceries with a huge smile. "I got everything on the list, Fai!"
"Great. Syaoran, you're helping me in the kitchen tonight," Fai announced. It was unusual because Sakura was usually there, but the kid complied without protest.
The dinner was done and Fai, Syaoran, and Kurogane sat at the table. Mokona floated in and landed on the dinner table, looking decidedly worried. "Sakura won't come out for dinner. She says she's not hungry!"
"She must be getting the flu or something. She didn't eat her lunch, either," Kurogane said.
"I'll take her dinner and go talk to her," Fai said.
"I can do that," Syaoran offered and hopped up, but Fai caught his wrist.
"Let me handle this one, Syaoran," Fai insisted with a bright smile. Fai went and prepared Sakura a plate and took it down the hallway.
Syaoran leaned over to Kurogane. "Something is wrong with Sakura?"
Kurogane shrugged. "She's said her stomach hurt this morning."
Fai came back moments later and continued to eat his meal. Kurogane finally demanded, "Well, spit it out."
"She's fine, just a little tired," Fai said. "Let's let her get some rest."
The next morning Sakura didn't show at the breakfast table. Syaoran went down the hallway to coax her from her room. She begged him to go away, citing a stomach ache, so he came to the table in a sulk.
"She's still sick?" Kurogane asked dryly as Fai served them omelets. "We should take her to see a doctor."
"Why don't you take Syaoran out today. I'll deal with Sakura," Fai said. Kurogane raised an eyebrow. Here in Piffle World, they had to share a room, so Kurogane knew Fai was too silent and thoughtful before he drifted off last night. He wondered if the wizard had something up his sleeve.
"But I want to go to the doctor with Sakura," Syaoran said.
"Me, too!" Mokona shouted, hopping on Syaoran's shoulder.
"No, Mokona. You go with Syaoran and Kuro-tan today," Fai insisted.
"Stop with the names already, blasted mage!" Kurogane waved a fist towards Fai before dragging Syaoran and Mokona out the door.
Once they were walking down the street it started occurring to him, Fai may have an inkling of what was wrong with Sakura. He started getting irritated at Fai. If he knew something, he should tell them. They didn't have the luxury of letting any member of their group wallowing in illness. He decided to drag it out of Fai when he got home. And if that didn't work, he was going to drag it out of Sakura.
When they got home that evening, Fai was sitting on their sofa as he worked on a part from his dragonfly racer. He gave them a smile and waved a screwdriver. "How are you three?"
"Kuro-pu found a new junk yard with good prices!" Mokona announced.
"How is Sakura?" Syaoran asked. "What did the doctor say?"
"I didn't take her to the doctor," Fai said.
Now Kurogane was pissed off, but before he could berate the wizard, Princess Tomoyo came from the hallway with a smile. Fai stood and asked, "Everything okay?"
"Sure is," Tomoyo replied.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"No, I've got a dinner meeting I can't miss. I best be off." With that, she left with a wave before Kurogane could say anything to her.
"Syaoran, Sakura is feeling much better now, but I don't want you prying into her business. You have to realize, sometimes a gentleman must give a lady her space."
"Well, if you say so," he mumbled.
"Go get cleaned up for dinner," Fai said. Syaoran took Mokona and did as he was told. Fai drifted into the kitchen. No way was Kurogane going to let that lazy wizard get away with shirking his duties towards the princess. He marched into the kitchen and grabbed Fai's arm.
"You should have taken her to go see a doctor instead of sitting on your butt all day. And then letting Princess Tomoyo come over when she could be contagious? That wasn't bright."
"Oh Sakura-chan isn't contagious at all."
"Then what was wrong with her?"
"Kuro-rin is not being a gentleman," Fai warned. "Besides, it would only embarrass Sakura if she knew you were aware of her situation."
"How dare you imply I'd embarrass her! Now stop playing games!"
Fai suddenly took on a smug look and shut the kitchen door. He leaned close and said in a whisper, "Last chance for you to back out of this."
"Knock it off and just say it!"
"Because she has very few memories right now, there was a huge gap in her education on one topic. She started her cycle for the first time and didn't know what was going on."
"Hun? What do you mean?"
"Now don't tell me I have to educate you, too, Kuro-pu. You know, when a woman bleeds..."
"Shut up with that kind of talk!" Kurogane said, feeling heat come to his face.
"She confessed her symptoms to me this morning. After some chamomile tea and long hot bath she felt a lot better. I invited Tomoyo over so she could have some girl talk and figure things out. Now, do you feel better or worse for prying?"
"Much worse," Kurogane mumbled. "I'm just grateful you had to deal with that."
"And because I had to handle this situation, it'll be your duty to give Syaoran the talk."
"What? Why me? I'm sure his dad did that," Kurogane said, feeling his face get redder.
"Just make sure he knows what he should, or else."
"Or else what?" Kurogane said, giving Fai a lethal glare.
"Or next month you can take Sakura to the drug store."
"Okay, okay! Lay off that kind of talk. I'll talk to the kid," Kurogane sputtered, too horrified at the idea.
"Good. Now that's settled," Fai said, handing Kurogane some dishes, "go set the table."
End.
