Chapter Ten
Terra was at the apartment setting up the security system when me and Sora got back. Aqua stood by, arms crossed, eying his handy work.
"You know, I could probably do that better..." She said as he dropped the control panel on the floor, he gave her a doleful look, but said nothing as she retrieved it and quickly screwed it into the wall like she had done it a thousand times before.
"Why didn't you just do it yourself to begin with?"
"What's the point if there's no one here to appreciate my efforts?" She shot back with an amused little smile.
"Kairi is sick," Sora announced once there was a break in their banter, he had let me walk towards the end, but I wasn't doing well, I was very short of breath, my head felt like it was about to explode. Aqua put her hand on my head, it felt cool against my burning skin.
"You should lie down," she said, "I'll make some tea," she shot Sora a look and he followed her into the kitchen.
"You're as white as a sheet," said Terra, leaning against the wall and watching me with a dry expression.
"What kind of sheet?" I asked, he gave me a perplexed look.
"Terra?" Aqua called from the kitchen, "could you come help me with this?"
"Do you actually need my help, or am I just coming to bear witness to your greatness?" He grumbled as he headed into the kitchen. I flopped back on the couch, fighting the urge to strip down, I was boiling hot and my chest and throat felt ragged. I was miserable, I'd never felt like this before. I rolled over into my side and closed my eyes, hoping that it might help the buzzing in my head a little. I heard the kitchen door swing open and I heard footsteps approaching the couch.
"Kairi?" Sora whispered, "are you asleep?" I opened one blurry eye and he smiled at me. "I'm gonna go help Cid clean up the shop," he said, "I'll come back with medicine for you, okay?" I nodded my head and closed my eyes again, but they flew back open when I felt Sora press his lips briefly against my forehead. "Get some rest, and try to feel better, okay?"
"Um, yeah..." This wasn't helping my fever at all, "thank you, I'll try."
XxX
I pressed my burning face into my pillows, feeling dizzy, and nauseous and sore all over. Aqua had given me some Advil before she had gone to work, but it had worn off a while ago. I kept drifting in and out of dreams and nightmares, my head felt like it was filling up with water.
There was a knock at the door. I sat up, stifling a groan, the last thing in the world I wanted was to get up, but I forced myself to my feet and headed towards the door.
"Kairi!" A familiar voice called, "I know you're in there, hurry up!" I hesitated for a moment with my hand on the knob, in my state it might be better to be more cautious. "Kairi, please, my hands are full." Without any further hesitation I flung the door open.
Lea stood there with a big brown paper bag in his arms. "Lemme in, this is heavy," he pushed past me and set the grocery bag on the counter. "Sora told me to come, he's gonna be a bit late, but figured he wouldn't make you wait any longer for your medicine." He turned and looked me over, "you look like you were hit by a train."
"Why thank you Lea, you're as polite as always," I grumbled, staggering back to the couch.
"you still look better than I expected," he shrugged, "here," he tossed me a small white bottle and I caught it, barely, "cold medicine," he said by way of explanation. "I also bought you orange juice, cough drops, and that weird powdered soup stuff you drink out of a mug."
"Gross,"
"Yep," he put the box of soup in the pantry and brought me a glass of orange juice, "take your medicine." I did as I was told, too tired to put up a fight, I swallowed two pills while Lea watched, and he put the bottle on the coffee table next to me. "Don't take any more for 6 hours, understand?" He looked at the watch on his wrist, "at 12:00 you can take another one." He looked at me like he was waiting for me to respond, I nodded and flopped onto the couch.
"Sleep well princess," he said, but his voice sounded dreamy and far away, "I'll see you soon."
XxX
I woke up to the shrill scream of an alarm, so loud and sudden that it startled me off the couch and I fell, painfully onto the hardwood floor.
"Ow..." I muttered to myself as I got to my feet, my knees felt like jelly and I nearly stumbled again before I got back up. It was the alarm that Aqua had just installed, blaring so loud I felt like my head would pop. The door wasn't open, I hadn't heard it open. "Aqua screwed it in too quick and now it's having issues." I reached the alarm, it was blinking red and shrieking bloody murder. "Ugh!" I covered my ears, angry at this point, "how do I turn the blasted thing off!" I fidgeted with the alarm, pressing every button I could, when I felt an arm snake around my waist and pull me against a hard, burly chest. I tried to scream but a hand clamped over my face and an awful chemical taste filled my mouth and stung my nose.
I fought the hand off of my mouth and coughed, trying to suck in enough breath to scream, but I was feeling woozy. My vision was blurring and my head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I just managed to get out the words:
"Who are...?" Before everything went dark.