NOTE: Yup... I'll try updating this story more. Your reviews help motivate me! xD Flamers also accepted (after all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Although, I think I would like some ice for that burn :( ).
Help, I'm Stuck in Summer Camp!
Chapter Ten: Cold in the Summer?
Daichi stifled a cry of 'DON'T LET HER PLAY THAT MOVIE!' and sat unusually quiet between Kenny and Kai. Kizami and Mejiko were standing in the middle of the aisle, fiddling with the screen projector.
It was movie night, and the girls of Cabin Three had chosen to watch Farewell to Forever. Which would last for a whole two hours.
In the middle of the movie, the prince was saying goodbye to the princess before he went off to battle. His 'I will always think of you, my dearest' was interrupted in the middle with a loud sneeze from the front row.
"Are you getting a cold, Kizami?" Max asked.
She shook her head vigorously. "I can't get sick! I... I..." She sneezed and sniffled. "I've never been sick in my whole life!"
"Wow, then for a germ, you must be like climbing Mount Everest," Brooklyn commented.
- + - + - + - + - +
*RING*RING*RING*
A hand stretched out from under the covers and slammed onto the alarm clock. Kenny yawned and sat up in bed, missing his pillow terribly. It was then he saw it; Daichi had two pillows lying cozily under his head, and both of which were drooping over the edge of the bed.
He quietly got out of bed and climbed onto Daichi's bunk. Trying not to wake the young blader, Kenny tried desperately to pull his blue pillow out from under Daichi's head. To his dismay, at each tug, Daichi would hold onto the pillow with a tighter grip. Kenny sighed and gave one last, hard, yank. He lost his balance and, still holding onto the pillow, fell onto the floor with a loud THUMP, and Daichi landing ontop of him with an even louder THUMP.
Everyone in the cabin woke up with a jolt.
"NO, THAT'S MY COOKIE!" Daichi shouted before opening his eyes. "Oh, hi, Chief. What are you doing on the floor?"
"Nothing, Daichi..."
Max yawned and sat up. "Do any of you find it weird that Kizami hasn't run out of her room by now screaming 'WHAT WAS THAT'?"
Garland immediately looked behind him at Kizami's door for any note she might have left for them, but there was no such thing there. "There's no note... What if she got kidnapped?"
Kai let out a scoff and said, "Who'd want to kidnap her? They probably release her with a note saying 'She's your problem now!'"
Shrugging, Max climbed out of bed and knocked on Kizami's door. "Kizami? Are you in there?" When he recieved a groan in reply, he opened the door slowly and walked inside, followed by everybody else.
There was Kizami, laying in bed still, with her alarm clock lying in pieces on the wall opposite. There was a kleenex box laying next to her, and three empty ones on the floor. She sat up once she saw them and said, in a weird, nasally voice, "What do you want?"
"Kizami, are you sick?" Daichi asked.
"It feels like I am, and I assume I look like I am too," she said, sniffling. "So I must be."
Kenny prodded the empty tissue boxes with his foot. "If you used so many tissues, where are they?"
Kizami pointed to the window, and sure enough, there lay a huge mountain of used kleenex. She sniffled again and blew her nose on a tissue. Tossing the tissue outside, she started poking at her right ear.
"What are you doing?" Brooklyn asked.
She sniffled again and answered, "I blew my nose and now my ear's stuffy."
"Have you been taking any medication?" Max asked, tossing the empty tissue boxes outside and onto the mountain of kleenex.
"No, but I called my brother and he said he'll bring me some antibiotics," she said, coughing. "Fortunately for you guys, I'm sick, so we can't do any activities today. Also unfortunately for you guys, I'm sick, so you have to stay and take care of me," she added with a mischevious smile. "So who-"
Kai groaned loudly and slapped his forehead.
Kizami looked at him and said, "Thanks for volunteering, Kai. I was going to ask who was willing to be my little bedside companion."
Brooklyn gave Kai a small, reassuring pat on the back just as a knock on the door was heard. Before anyone could answer it, a boy a few years older than Kizami walked inside. Unsurprisingly enough, he had the same silver colored hair.
"Oi, Aniki!" Kizami called in a nasally voice.
"I brought your medication," he answered before turning to the rest of them. "Oh, sorry," he added. "I'm Kizami's brother, Takumi."
"I'm Max," he said with a little wave.
"I'm Kenny."
"I'm Daichi!"
"So you're Daichi," Takumi said. "Kiza told me about you..."
As Daichi beamed, Brooklyn said, "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Brooklyn."
"So you're Brooklyn! I've heard about you too." Takumi pointed at Garland and Kai and said, "Let me guess, you're Garland, and you're Kai." They nodded. "Yeah, Kiza told me about you three too, so I'm assuming you know who I am already." They nodded meekly.
"Oi, Aniki..."
He turned to face his sister and said, "Yes?"
"Where's the drugs?"
"You mean medication."
"Isn't that what I said?"
Takumi rolled his eyes and gave his sister an off-white pill, which she took and swallowed immediately. "Geez, you want water with that?"
She shook her head and yawned. "Brooklyn, Garland, go make me some of that Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup you guys used yesterday. Daichi, Max, Kenny, go with Takumi and tell the others that I'm sick." Turning over so that her back was to them, she added, "If I need you guys for anything, I'll just tell Kai to go tell you."
- + - + - + - + - +
Garland's hand froze on the can opener as a sudden revelation hit him. He turned to Brooklyn, who was pouring a glass of coconut water left over from the dinner they had prepared. "Hey, Brooklyn, how did Kizami figure out we used can soup?"
Brooklyn shrugged. "Ooh, maybe she's psychic," he said with a spooky tone. "Or maybe she has eyes in the back of her head!"
"Dude, that's just awkward."
"No, awkward is Kai bleeding all over the kitchen. Awkward is Kenny without his glasses. Awkward is Daichi licking that bronze bowling ball. Awkward is... is the word 'awkward' starting to sound weird to you?"
- + - + - + - + - +
Kai checked the clock again for the seventh time. Everyone left ten minutes ago, and still nobody was back, and still, Kizami was asleep. He wondered how much longer he was supposed to stay alone with the crazy counselor.
He sat on the edge of her bed and looked around the room for a stool, but found nothing.
"Hm, I wonder." Kai reached under the bed for her diary, but was stopped when Kizami started stirring in her sleep. He turned to look at her in time to see her open her eyes half way and sneeze.
"Kai," she said in that nasally voice, "I want you to... go... get me... another box of Kleenex..." She paused for a moment before adding, "And a book on diseases."
Kai rolled his eyes and thought what a weird request it was to bring someone a book on diseases (nevermind where he was going to find one in a summer camp), but did what he was told anyway. He looked back before exiting Kizami's room, only to see the counselor sleeping with a tissue still in her hand.
Before he could even set one foot outside, Kizami suddenly sat up in bed and shouted, "WAIT, TAKE THIS WITH YOU!" In her outstretched hand was a walkie talkie.
Kai rolled his eyes again and took the small device from her. A walkie talkie? Just how sick was she?
- + - + - + - + - +
It took Kai a good half an hour to locate the infirmary, and once he was inside the small nurse's office, all he could wonder was why the camp was lacking a medical official. He cursed himself when he found a large box sticking out of the wall next to the door with a large red cross on it and red print that read "FIRST AID KIT". He looked down at his finger. The lettuce was off and in its place was white medical tape, although he could swear he could feel the cut bleeding.
Shaking off his own thoughts about his wound, Kai walked into the examination room behind the desk (which had a layer of dust on it) and walked towards the book shelf. He pulled out the thick volume titled "Diseases: You Wouldn't Want to Catch This".
He shrugged and walked back to the cabin, only to find it, to his surprise, empty. Exactly how long does it take to heat up a CAN of soup and tell other people that ONE person was sick? He muttered under his breath about lazy bums like Brooklyn and Garland and walked into Kizami's room.
Kizami was sitting up in bed, frowning at something on the wall that Kai couldn't see.
Kai rolled his eyes and dropped the book onto the bed next to Kizami. She turned to look at him and said, "Where's my Kleenex?"
He mentally slapped himself and left the cabin.
Half way to the Counselor's Corner, Kai's walkie talkie suddenly came to life.
"Kai..." Kizami said in her nasally voice.
"Yeah?"
"Kai, I think I have... ebolavirus..."
Kai stopped in his tracks. "You have ebola?" he said flatly, his eyes showing that he was not amused.
"Yes."
"You have massive internal bleeding?"
"I believe so, yes."
Kai slapped his forehead. "Kizami, you do not have ebola! You have the flu!"
A pause. "What kind of flu?"
"THE REGULAR FLU!"
- + - + - + - + - +
Brooklyn sighed and clinked his glass of coconut water with Garland's. With Kizami sick, it gave the two of them free reign of their schedule, and she was too sick to even realize it, let alone do anything about it.
While their poor buddy Kai was slaving away as Kizami's bedside companion, the two of them were relaxing by the lake. As for Kizami's soup...
"Hey, Garland, what about Kizami's soup?" Brooklyn asked suddenly.
"She's so delirious she won't even remember."
- + - + - + - + - +
"AHA! I GOT YOU NOW, MAX!"
Max shook his head. "Daichi, for the last time, I'M NOT PLAYING!"
Daichi pouted and sat down next to max on the stage in the ampitheater. Having told Mejiko, Kei, and Kiyo that Kizami was sick, added to the fact that Kizami was indeed sick with the flu, the three campers assumed that they wouldn't have anything to do for the rest of the day (they mourned for Kai for a brief moment) so they decided to mess around at the ampitheater for a while. Surprisingly, Takumi agreed.
"But, Maxie..." Daichi said, giving Max the puppy-dog eyes. "Please? Everyone else is playing."
"ALLRIGHT, FINE."
"YAY!" Daichi leaped up and stood on the bench in front of the other three boys. "OKAY! I'LL START!" He held up one finger.
"One word," Kenny said.
Daichi nodded and knelt down so that he was crawling.
"A dog?" Takumi asked.
Daichi shook his head and held two fingers to his mouth so that it resembled fangs.
"A vampire?" Max asked.
Again, Daichi shook his head. He stood up and pointed at his hair, then made a flowing motion from his hair to the floor.
"...Rapunzel?" Max asked again.
Daichi shook his head and slapped at something invisible in the air.
Kenny suddenly jumped up. "Driger!"
"Yes!"
Takumi laughed apologetically while Max just shook his head. He wondered what everyone else was doing.
- + - + - + - + - +
"Kai?"
The grey-haired Russian blader groaned loudly as he walked back towards his cabin with the sick cabin leader waiting inside. In his arms were three large boxes of Kleenex, and in his right hand was the walkie talkie that hadn't stayed silent for ten minutes.
"What is it now, Kizami?"
"How are the Kleenex boxes coming along?"
"They're coming."
"What colors are they?"
Was this for real? The counselor was asking about COLORS? "Pink, blue, and white."
"Pink?" she whined. "Can you get me a green one?"
Kai groaned. He had just reached the cabin. "WHY do you want a green one and not a pink one?"
"I don't like pink..."
"IT'S KLEENEX. YOU DON'T HAVE TO LOOK AT IT WHEN YOU USE IT!"
"And you're yelling at me..."
- + - + - + - + - +
An hour and a switching of a pink Kleenex box to a green one later, Kai was finally sitting, on the floor, beside Kizami's bed. She was fast asleep, and the new Kleenex boxes were in a neat stack beside her bed. UNTOUCHED.
She had been sleeping since he had entered the room twenty minutes ago.
Kai muttered about crazy counselors who were even crazier when they were sick. He suddenly heard the cabin door open, and was aware of the time. It was a little after dinner. He scrambled to his feet and walked into the next room.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN!" he yelled.
"Oh, Kai, there you are!" Brooklyn said. "We were worried that you died from having to spend the day with Kizami." When Garland tapped his shoulder, Brooklyn sulkily slipped him five dollars.
Kai eyed the exchange of money. "You guys had a BET that I would die from spending the day with... with... THAT THING!" He pointed at Kizami's door for emphasis.
"Maybe..." Garland intoned.
Kai's groan was drowned out as footsteps were heard from Kizami's room. Everyone stared with wide eyes at her doorway as Kizami, still in her pajamas, walked through.
"AH, I FEEL GREAT." She took a deep breath and looked at the group in front of her. "OI ANIKI!" she called suddenly. Kizami walked towards her brother and put a hand on his shoulder. "The drugs you gave me really worked!"
Takumi gave her a pat on the head. "Did you notice that everytime you call me, you say 'oi aniki'? And they're MEDICATIONS. Don't call them drugs, little sister."
"GAH ANIKI. Drugs, medications, isn't it the same?"
"Well, one just has a bad connotation," Takumi replied, giving her another pat. He quickly looked at his watch. "Oh, well, I gotta get home. I'll tell mom, dad, and Satoshi that you're better, Kiza."
Her eyes suddenly widened as she shifted her gaze to her brother's face. "SATOSHI? He's home?"
"Uh, yeah. I'll tell him you said h-"
"YOU STAY HERE WITH THE CAMPERS AND I'LL GO HOME. I'll be back tomorrow, okay, aniki?"
Takumi didn't have time to reply, or even utter a 'NO', before Kizami was back into her room. Within minutes, she emerged from the room with a suitcase in her hand, fully dressed in a yellow sundress.
"The schedule's on the table, you can sleep in my room, and Mejiko, Kei and Kiyo will be glad to help you with any problems!" She left the cabin, and called out without looking back, "I'LL SEE YOU GUYS TOMORROW NIGHT!"
Kai peered into the bedroom and saw the three Kleenex boxes.
Neatly stacked.
Untouched.
- + - + - + - + - +
(To Be Continued)
So Kizami's gone home to see her brother Satoshi! And that leaves Takumi in her place at the camp. Stay tuned and see what happens in the next chapter with Takumi in charge of the boys!
And thus, the chapter ends with this final thought:
Poor Kai and his untouched Kleenex.