A/N: Only 3 more to go!
Up Next : #43 – Sky
#28 – Sickness
She was too ill to snap at him when he came to visit and watch over her, making her fever worsen.
RR : Sickness"Yes, I'll make sure of it."
(Certainty)
"Don't worry Professor, you can trust me."
(Consolation)
"Yes, I'm very sure. Goodbye then!"
(Confidence)
Master ended the conversation with the push of a simple button and proceeded to store his slate-grey Pokégear into the snug pocket of his dark pants. The young male drew out a key very soon after, inserting it into the keyhole of the door that towered over me. The door in question belonged to an extremely large building that was drenched in a plain alabaster. Numerous square windows were positioned over the Pokémon Lab, their glassy surfaces reflecting the tiny rays of the early morning sun. I tightened my grip on the cement gray thermos Master had handed to me for safe keeping, as the door swung open with a noisy creak.
As we stepped through the doorway and Master kicked off his crimson Running Shoes, I surveyed the interior of the humble abode that Professor Birch and his daughter resided in. The peeling wallpaper hung off the slightly mouldy walls of the corridor. A myriad of documents and files were scattered messily around the dusty floor of the dimly lit room. Dirtied lab coats perched on the wooden banister of the staircase that lay before Master and I, and there was an undeniable stench choking the air. A chill ran down Master's spine as fear simultaneously flooded my senses. I placed a hand next to his knee as the two of us ventured forth into the deadly and untidy jungle of the Birch residence.
"What's that?!" He pointed at a very suspicious-looking lump stuck to a portion of the wall.
(Disgust)
I edged away from the dirtied spot, willing myself to control my nerves. But Master was broadcasting unavoidable waves of anxiety; I could not suppress the urge to share those feelings with him. As we began to climb up the woodened flight of stairs to the second floor of the poorly kept lab, Master started to herd me with more exigencies in his movements.
"Let's find her quickly and get out of this revolting sty," he ordered in a hasty voice.
(Urgency)
I gave him a simple nod of my head and felt my two straight pigtails bob along with my gesture as Master and I arrived at the top of the staircase. We carefully manoeuvred over piles of unmatched socks and a noticeable number of stray palm leaves and lab coats soiled beyond recognition. Slowly, the aversion and doubtfulness that hung over Master began to subside, giving room for curiosity and worry to develop. As we ambled down the lengthy hallway adorned with strange paintings and extremely fogged windows, the young male's eyes set about scrutinizing the corridor for our destination.
With a few more steps in the right direction, we came to a stop before a closed door. And without warning, I felt a sickening lurch settle in my gut. No, I wasn't falling ill, but I certainly felt horrible. A frown spread across my unhappy face. These agonizing feelings radiated from the occupant of the room, and I couldn't help but feel unease for her current predicament. Master gazed over me, his eyebrows raised as he noticed the faint glow of my crimson horns. His namesake eyes swept past my distressed countenance as he let loose a brief sigh.
"She's really that sick, is she?" he asked me.
(Disbelief, with well concealed concern)I responded with a nod, hugging the heated flasket in my arms. Normally, Master hid his inner emotions expertly and unnoticeably from everyone. But I had been with him long enough to detect even the slightest hint of empathy, affection, fervour and so on. The habit was something he developed as a child, when Father left our family to pursue his own career to become a Gym Leader. The young boy hated the sorrow and anguish he experienced at that time. The only thing he knew he could do to quell the pain was to control his emotions. Master learned to bury his genuine mental state, replacing it with a well-developed façade of sorts. He sunk his mind into Pokémon Contests, where all of us overcame our depression and trained to become the best of the best.
I realised that Master had gone through a lot. I stared up at him with mourning eyes, and he offered me a quizzical expression, the red hat resting upon his head shifting with the tilt of his body.
"What's wrong?" he inquired as he placed a hand on the rusty doorknob, readying to enter the room.
(Complete cluelessness)
I shook my head so as to let the matter rest, and even managed to produce an encouraging smile for Master. The boy countered with a sheepish grin as he turned the brass handle, allowing the door to swing inwards. I peeked meekly into the room from my safe spot at Master's feet, unsure of whether we had disrupted her recuperation.
The simple ocean curtains were drawn together, preventing the rising Sun from entering the poorly lit room. I could make out the distinct shapes of a desk with open drawers, and leaves of various sizes and textures littering the floor of the room. Along with them were wrinkled clothes and crumpled papers. It hardly left Master and I any room to stand in the sea of messy articles. The male frowned at the sight, placing his hands onto his waist as he waded through the mess with me trailing dutifully behind. I began to experience the bubbling frustration of my trainer, but it was just as quickly averted as we approached the bed where she lay with a wet towel covering her eyes and forehead.
Miss Sapphire groaned incoherently as we neared her, her confusion reaching out to me and causing me more worry. The female's limbs fumbled under the thick blanket that had been cloaked over her frame. One hand lifted itself out from the woollen covers and pulled the cool swab off her forehead, which I imagined to be near seering hot at that moment. Her short, coffee-brown hair was untied and splayed out upon the pillow she used as a headrest. And she really did look vulnerable and lethargic, the polar opposite of the robust female I was accustomed to being with.
"W-What? Papa?" she croaked, her voice strained from the sore throat she was probably suffering from.
(Drowsiness)"Sorry to tell you that it's just me," Master informed the girl with a warm chuckle.
(Clearly teasing, but it was almost hinting at affection)Miss Sapphire cracked open one reddened eye to spare a glance at Master and I, before shutting us out of her vision and turning her head away. Had I not been endowed with the ability to perceive the emotions of living beings, the fact that the female felt greatly embarrassed at that moment would have eluded me. It was mainly due to the fact that her cheeks were already burning scarlet from the high fever she was running. The girl coughed harshly, and sniffed none too glamorously before deciding to speak to my apprehensive Master.
"What do you want?" she uttered throatily, suspicion evident in her ill voice.
(Accusing)"I just came here to make sure you're doing well. The Professor was getting worried." Master shrugged his shoulders.
(Placid, and not as defensive as I had predicted)"Well, I'm doing fine, thanks for checking," Miss Sapphire wheezed.
(Sarcasm)
Master rolled his eyes and proceeded to reposition the cloth over the girl's forehead with the gentlest of hands. The skilled fingers that he usually reserved for knitting and sewing brushed against her calescent skin, quietening the female down in an instant. I suppressed a giggle as I felt another spurt of disconcertion emanate from her body. As Master closed his hand around the towel, a thoughtful look crossed his features.
"The towel's too warm. I should go prepare a new one," he explained as he turned away from the bed.
(Considerate)
"…. If I manage to survive," he shuddered as he carefully ventured out of the room.
(Hesitation)Miss Sapphire glared daggers at Master's unguarded back as she pulled the edge of her blanket up over her nose, leaving only her sleepy, deep blue eyes in view. As my trainer quietly slipped out of the room, her gaze wandered about the room, scrutinizing whatever details she had missed when she was sound asleep; before coming to me. She blinked at me, and I knew that she was summoning up a small grin underneath that blanket of hers, I just knew. Because at the time, I sensed a feeling of warmth issue from her frail form.
I smiled back, bounding up to her bedside as I hastily began to unscrew the top of the heated thermos in my grip. The female slowly and cautiously sat up in her bed, eyeing me with subtle interest as I held the container up to her. As she took the thermos and the blanket hitched at her chest tumbled down onto her lap, I realised that Miss Sapphire was wearing a particularly large, cerulean collared shirt that had been lazily buttoned up only to cover a general view of her white bra.
Well, at least she wasn't dressed up in flimsy leaves.
I pointed franticly at her chest with large, exaggerated motions, all the while bulleting my eyes back and forth from the sick girl to the door Master would enter through sooner or later. Miss Sapphire raised a confounded eyebrow at me, before looking down at her wrinkled shirt.
"What's the problem?" she demanded to know, coughing shortly after the words left her mouth.
(Oblivious!)
I was taken with exasperation, momentarily stunned as I attempted to think of a plan to right the current situation. Had I had more gall, like Coco or Nana, I would've personally helped her button the shirt properly. It would have saved me the troubling difficulty of working with a human like Miss Sapphire. By the time I emerged from my brief intermission of thinking, the girl had already shifted her attention away from me, and was attempting to smell the scent of the soup Master had cooked for her. She was then reminded that she had a stuffy nose.
"Ruby made this?" she inquired.
(Dubious)I nodded, as I continued to gesture at her shirt in a fruitless effort to get her to adjust her attire. Miss Sapphire was far too busy concentrating on the flask in her hands. She seemed transfixed with the gift as she peeked into the opening of the thermos. Finally, after all the precautionary examinations had been conducted, the female deemed the soup safe for her consumption. I sensed satisfaction resonate from her still body as she sipped at the fluid. It must have tasted nice, since Master had spent the early dawn stewing and preparing for her. I grinned as Miss Sapphire began to gulp down the soup, splashing a few drops onto her shirt in the process.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Master bolted over to us from the door, his voice shrill.
(Alarm, I felt alarm)Miss Sapphire arched an eyebrow and offered him a look which probably signalled 'Isn't it plainly obvious what I'm doing, sissy?' The male released a bothered sigh in response, grabbing a handful of tissues from the box sitting at her bedside, thrusting them at her. It was then did I notice that the floor of Miss Sapphire's dark room also contained a plethora of discarded and empty boxes of tissue.
As the girl snatched the tissues from Master, a sudden wave of fluster stemmed from my trainer's heart. As Miss Sapphire wiped the soup clean from her face, he gaped at her partially exposed chest, in a rather blasé fashion, might I add. With one of my hands, I tapped the dripping towel he held in his grip, hoping to snap him out of his daze. It did the trick; Master's eyes fell onto me, an abashed look on his face as he avoided turning back to face the girl who was now drinking the rest of the soup. I shrugged my shoulders at him. I tried to help Master, I really did.
Miss Sapphire was probably feeling pretty feverish, so it couldn't be helped if she decided to… nevermind. We should have stopped thinking about it, completely.
Master guardedly took the thermos from the girl, his eyes remaining glued to a particularly interesting area floating over Miss Sapphire's head. I handed the cap of the flask over to him, as the young female frowned at his actions. Master managed to spare a glance at her face as he screwed the top back onto the un-emptied container.
"You shouldn't drink so much at once, Sapph'. Save the rest for later," he explained.
(Reasonable, though still slightly embarrassed)I nudged at the blanket as Master placed the thermos on the desk located at Miss Sapphire's bedside. The girl gazed at me for a second, before taking the hint and pulling the blanket over her body. As she resumed lying down onto her bed, I felt relief blossom in the depths of Master' s conscious, and he gave me a secretive smile as he busied himself with the task of placing the towel back onto the girl's burning forehead. The girl yawned loudly, not bothering to cover her mouth, much to the revulsion of Master.
"Why is this place like a pigsty anyway?" he asked.
(Brusquely)"Because I'm sick," Miss Sapphire replied, pulling her blanket up to her chin as Master placed the towel on her head.
(She was getting tired)
Master shot her a confused look, unable to see the connection between the two completely unrelated situations.
"I clean the house. Papa's never been a neat freak," the girl sighed.
(Yes, she was definitely getting more exhausted from the conversation)
Master's mouth gaped open slightly at her words – he was certainly shocked with the news. Barbaric, unkempt Sapphire was in charge of housekeeping. It was unbelievable. The girl displayed an incredulous expression on her face, almost insulted by my trainer's reaction. But then, her eyes landed on the thermos standing diligently beside her, and her mouth slowly closed itself as her countenance softened. The irritation melted away, instantly substituted by the distinct feeling of awkward appreciation. I smiled brightly in her direction, my ruby horns blushing atop my crown as I detected her emotions. Miss Sapphire chuckled weakly, before shifting her fatigued gaze to meet with Master's eyes.
"Anyway, tha… thanks," she spoke, the volume of her hoarse voice barely louder than a whisper.
(Awkward appreciation)
The boy blinked, and his mind faded into a complete blank; his emotions halting to a total standstill as he stared deeply at the girl who was now directing her attention away from us. Miss Sapphire had decided to focus on an area on the ceiling stretched out above us. Master observed the female for a moment before letting a pleased smile bloom on his face. At the same time, a comforting sensation flourished in his body, causing me intense joy. The boy reached out a hand without any indication of hesitation, and pulled the crinkled blanket further up Sapphire's resting body so that it reached snugly to cover her neck.
"Get well soon, Sapphire."
(Sincerity)
She shifted under the covers Master had tucked over her fragile frame, mumbling a vague 'uhm' in response before digging her head further into the sinking cushion of her pillow. In that instant, a feeling that I hardly experienced radiated from her; and it took me more than a moment or so to grasp what the emotion was. As Master coaxed me out into the hallway and quietly closed the door behind him, I stopped and rooted my pale feet to the wooden floor. I stared silently at the closed entrance of Miss Sapphire's room, tilting my head curiously to the side as I did so. Even from my current position, I could still sense the faint warmth of that rare, uncommon feeling that the young girl now emanated. While Master took my hand in his and led me down the hall, I struggled to figure out what it was.
(Gratitude?)
(No, something more. I think it's more akin to…)
(Love?)As we arrived at the bottom of the staircase, I made my way to the door, only to be stopped by the clap of Master's hands. I looked over my shoulder, meeting with a healthy dose of surprise as I saw that he was starting to draw out the Pokéballs of the rest of the team from within the yellow backpack he had been carrying with him all this time. Zuzu, Nana and Coco were held in his left palm, Mimi and Popo in the right. I faced Master, tilting my head daintily to the side as I searched for the answer to his unlikely actions. Another captivating smile surfaced on his face as he started calling out all of my trustworthy companions. Bright bursts of red lighted up the dim room as the boy opened his mouth.
"Since we're here, we might as well help clean up a bit."
(There it was, that feeling again)
(Love.)