A Small Collection Of Nations

by Phoenix Hoshika

Influenza; The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Disturbed out of her slumber Sash rolled over in her bed. She wasn't clear as to what had waken her until she heard it again. "I knew this would happen." She thought grabbing her pillow she put it over her head in a futile effort to shut out the sound of Kiku moaning. Hoeng heard him as well but wasn't as passive about the disturbance to his rest. Getting out of bed he marched across the hall and gave the door three hard knocks. Yong Soo was half asleep until Hoeng started banging on Nix's bedroom door which made it even harder for him to relax. He was going to give everyone that was keeping up noise a piece of his mind. Getting out of bed he stepped out of his room. Just before he opened his mouth he stopped when he saw Sasha peeking out of her room and Nix standing in the door of her own talking with Hoeng.

"I don't think acupressure is going to help with it all but you can try if you want."

"Like that depends on what's wrong with him. Is it contagious?"

"From what I can tell it seems he has the flu." Nix said.

Hoeng took a huge step back to the safety of his uncontaminated room. "Like, my condolences." He said then disappeared inside locking the door.

Nix sighed folding her arms. She hadn't noticed Sasha or Yong Soo who had been watching the whole time.

"Is he really sick?" Yong Soo asked unable to mask how amused he was at Kiku's falling ill.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sasha asked feeling guilty over the direction her thoughts had turned.

"It's okay, I'll take care of him." Nix said feeling there really wasn't much anyone could do that required more than one person. Rather there wasn't anything she hadn't already done that would have been a lot easier with the help of another person.

Nix was the first person Kiku awoke quietly coughing in the corner he slept in. Turning on the small lamp on her desk it was visible exactly how sick he was. Despite being covered in sweat he was shivering and taking labored breaths between fits of coughing. Nix looked at him wondering how she could have overlooked the fact he was sick. Surely he must have been giving off signs of not being well before it got this bad.

"Are you having trouble breathing?" Nix asked wanting to confirm whether he was or not before she dialed 911.

"No, I'm fine." Kiku answered in Japanese unable to concentrate well enough to speak in English.

"I'll believe you can breath, but I'm not going to believe you're okay." Nix said getting up from her kneeling position in front of him. Going over to the dresser she pull out a change of cloths for him. "First thing's first you're going to have to get out of those cloths. You're drenched."

With much effort Kiku sat up but promptly fell over hitting his head on the desk.

"Oh my God Kiku!" Nix said rushing over to him. "Honda are you okay?" She asked kneeling down in front of him.

"It sounded worse than it was. Please don't worry. I'm just a little dizzy." Kiku responded rubbing the side of his head.

"You really like making under statements don't you?" Nix said placing her hand on the one he was holding to his head. "Let me see." She said. When he moved his hand she pushed his jet black hair out of the way to inspect his forehead, then carefully felt his head for any knots under his hair. Nix still didn't understand his affinity for that corner in her room, however, until he got better she wasn't going to let him stay in it.

"I don't see or feel any bumps." She told him.

"That's good." Kiku replied followed by a fit of coughing.

"Come on. I'll help you to your feet." Nix said putting his arm over her shoulder.

"Where are we going?" he asked through poorly suppressed coughs.

"I'm putting you in my bed."

"No, please. I'll be fine where I am." Kiku said resisting as she tried to bring him to his feet.

"No, you aren't and I'm not letting you sleep on the floor like some vagabond while your like this. When you're better and you want to keep doing so have it your way but for now you will sleep in a bed like a normal person!" Nix said catching him off guard.

Kiku looked at her wide eyed. Again she had called him a person. He didn't have much time to be stunned as she forced him to his feet. A sharp pain shot through his back. "Aaaagh!"

"What's wrong?!" Nix asked worried she had done something to harm him.

"My back." Kiku grunted.

"That's what happens when you insist on being holed up in a corner." Nix thought but held her tongue. She really did feel bad for him and didn't want to say anything that would seem contrary to those feelings. "It's just a few steps to my bed." She said moving practically dragging him. While his back may have been the biggest pain at the moment Kiku was actually sore all over. He couldn't help but groan with each step, the pain making it seem like the walk to the bed was further than it actually was.

"Sit down." Nix said gently. "Hm, how to get this off of him?" Nix wondered to herself looking at his kimono figuring it'd be almost as much a pain as woman's kimono. "I could just ask him take it off but he'll probably need help."

"Okay, now to get this sweaty thing off of you."

"Just pull it apart in the back." Kiku said. He could have done it himself if every move he made didn't feel like he was being hit with something.

Leaning over Nix reached behind him and pulled apart the easily undone knot. The garment really was too big for him, just like the rest of his kimono. As soon as she pulled the belt apart the oversized garment fell from his shoulders. "Geez, Honda. Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea for you to go outside if you're going to walk around in something that'd have you butt naked if the belt somehow came a loose."

Although the room was a comfortable temperature to Kiku it was freezing, but even so he couldn't help blushing under Nix's gaze. He didn't think about it until after she had disrobed him that he'd be sitting in her bed with nothing more than his underwear on. He didn't know which was worse the icy touch of the air around him on his bare back and chest or the embarrassment of his female owner seeing him naked.

"Huh?" Kiku said having zoned out for a moment.

"Lift up your arms so I can help you get your shirt on." Nix said standing in front of him.

"Oh." Kiku said feeling awkward over Nix helping him get dressed.

"Okay, lie down. I'll go get you something warm to drink and some medicine to help with the coughing." Nix said after helping Kiku put on his pants.

"Okay." Kiku said and attempted to lie down but the sharp pain he felt before threatened to rip through his body again.

"What's wrong?" Nix asked seeing Kiku stiffen up when he tried to lie down.

"My back again." He said leaning over in an awkward position on his hands.

"Let me help." Nix said trying to carefully move his body into a lying position.

"Please be careful." Kiku said after hissing in pain.

"Don't worry, I'm trying." Nix said lying him down as gently as she could. The both froze when they heard loud pop. Kiku bit his lip trying not to scream in pain but it only came out as very loud moan instead. He was lying down. How long it would be before he could or would get back up was another story.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Nix said repeatedly bowing to him. He was perplexed at her behavior but was in too much pain to feel awkward about her apology to him.

"I'm fine. It's okay." He said hoping his words would detour another touch of doom.

"I'll go get that warm drink and medicine I promised you." Nix said.

Kiku's eyes grew large. That meant he would have to sit up again and since he couldn't rest properly sitting up it also meant he would have to lie down again. Before he could protest there was a loud knocking on the bedroom door that startled Nix who actually jumped when she heard it. Trying to suppress a chuckle Kiku went into another fit of coughing. This time it was much more harsh than the previous ones and it felt like he was going to cough out a lung.

After the very brief exchange of words with the others Nix went to the kitchen to make camomile tea with honey and gave it to Kiku along with the medicine. Because his voice sounded nasally she also grabbed the jar of vapor rub she found and brought it back to the room as well.

"Excuse me Owner-san. What is that?" Kiku asked looking over at the small blue jar as he prepared to lie down again.

"Oh, I almost forgot." When you lie down I'll put some of this on your chest to help you breath better." Nix said grabbing up the jar and opening it.

Kiku shot up from his slouched position.

"What's wrong?" Nix asked noticing his sudden movement.

"Please excuse me. I just need to go to the bathroom." He said then got up and leaving the room. Despite the pain he was in he quickly made his way into Yong Soo's room and collapsed on his bed.

"HEY!" Yong Soo said jumping out of the bed.

"I will be sleeping here and that's final." Kiku said lying face down.

"Did Nix kick you out or something? And why come to my room?" Yong Soo said spraying disinfectant in the air.

"Please be quiet and stop that." Kiku said still lying face down.

Smiling Yong Soo sat down on the edge of the bed. "Don't tell me you ran away because you were scared of a little medicine." He said not really sure why Kiku had barged into his room.

Kiku turned his head to the side and looked at him. "I suppose you could say that. Now could you please be quiet?"

"You could always chase it with something sweet." Yong Soo said then started rattling off a list of sweet things that would nullify the bitter taste of cough medicine.

"So annoying." Kiku grumbled to himself then spoke clearly. "If I tell you it wasn't the kind of medicine you drink will you be quiet?"

"What kind of medicine was it then..." Yong Soo's face then contorted with shock. "Don't tell me she tried to give you an enema?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Honestly, what is wrong with you?"

"Nothing, but there seems to be plenty wrong with you." Yong Soo said in a sing-song tone. "Eu gross! I just washed those!" Yong Soo said when Kiku sneezed on the pillow he was lying on.

"Clean it again." Kiku said then knocked to pillow to the floor. Afterward he grabbed the one Yong Soo was using and put his head face down on it. "Just go away."

"What kind of medicine was it? Where was she going to put it? Tell me! Come on tell me." Yong Soo said. He had turned around and moved further into the bed bouncing on his knees with each word he spoke. Kiku put his hand to his mouth feeling like he was going to vomit.

"Yong Soo please stop shaking the bed." He said then sneezed again.

"You look kind of tense. Want me to rub your back for you?" Yong Soo offered already positioning himself on top of Kiku.

"No, please don't." Kiku said afraid his already sore body and very sore back would hurt even more if Yong Soo touched him. To his surprise it actually felt good. Sighing he relaxed.

"Does that feel better?" Yong Soo asked smiling.

"Yes, thank you. I wouldn't have guessed you had such a talent."

"Tell me what kind of medicine could be so bad you would run away?"

"You are persistent aren't you? Aah, that feels really good."

"Of course. So tell me."

"It was vapor medicine." Kiku said sleepily. "She wanted to... she wanted to put it on my chest."

"What's the problem with that?" Yong Soo asked as he continued to massage Kiku's sore back.

"..."

"Well?"

"I'm... very sensitive there." Kiku said starting to drift off to sleep.

"Why didn't you just say so? I'm sure she would have understood."

"No! I couldn't tell her something like that. It's too embarrassing." Kiku said tensing up.

"Relax relax." Yong Soo said soothingly as he continued to rub Kiku's back until he fell asleep. It took all of his self control not to grab the sleeping Hetanoid's chest just for the hell of it. Getting out of the bed Yong Soo carefully picked up the pillow that had been pushed onto the floor. He left the room holding it out in front of himself. He was going to wash it in boiling water then wash it again.

~*~ Chapter End ~*~