After lunch, it was Aomines turn to stay with Kuroko. He sat on the bed and studied his biology text book till he heard a small sound escape the bluenettes face. His dark blue eyes met the bright blue eyes slowly opening and he smiled.

"Afternoon Tetsu."

"hmm."

"How are you feeling? Do you want some tea?"

Kuroko nodded slightly. Aomine helped him to sit up before going to the other side of the bed, kneeling next to it, and placing the cup to his lips. As usual, Kuroko tried to hold the cup himself, but his hands shook too much.

"Just let me." Aomine gently removed Kuroko's hands. "If you want to hold the cup then you should eat so you can get stronger Tetsu." Kuroko stiffened and stopped drinking. Aomine instantly regretted his words, but it was too late now. "Tetsu….you know I'm right."

"I don't need food…." Kuroko's voice was barely audible. "I'm perfectly fine."

Aomine sighed. He wanted to say more. He wanted to shake some sense into his friend. He couldn't do that though.

"Will you at least eat a couple bits of dinner?" Aomine tried to pout in an attempt to make Kuroko give in. It didn't work.

"Maybe tomorrow. I'm not hungry today."

Aomine sighed. Maybe Akashi could convince Tetsu to eat later. Too many maybes for his liking he thought. He watched as Kuroko pushed the tea away slowly and then sunk back under the covers.

"I'm tired." The smaller boy said before closing his eyes. Aomine ran his hand through the light blue hair before going back to his earlier position.

"I'm sorry…" Kuroko mumbled too quietly for Aomine to hear, Then Kuroko slept.

"Tetsuya." The red head gently shook Kuroko awake. It was already midmorning.

"Akashi-kun…" Kuroko squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Here." Akashi handed Kuroko a cup of warm tea. The blue haired boy tried to hold it but his hands shook too much as usual. Akashi wrapped his fingers around the shaking hand holding the cup and steadied it. It took a few minutes to finish the tea. Kuroko released his grip and let Akashi take the mug.

"Let's get you a bath, okay? Also," Akashi paused knowing Kuroko wasn't going to like his next words, "You have an appointment with a therapist in three hours." Without looking to see Kuroko's reaction, Akashi entered the bathroom and turned on the water to let it warm up.

When he returned to Kuroko's side, the bluenettes expression was one of shock and maybe a bit of anger and definitely terror. Kuroko was usually so expressionless that telling his expressions apart when he did show them could be a bit difficult, even for Akashi. At least, he used to be expressionless, before he broke. Akashi sighed.

"I'll stay with you. You don't have to talk…..but you should." Kuroko understood the last part was more or less an order even if Akashi said he had an option. Kuroko grabbed Akashi's hand and squeezed it tight and Akashi squeezed back. After a moment, the red head disengaged his hand and picked up the blue haired boy bridal style to carry him into the bathroom.

He was a little surprised when he removed Kurokos clothes. He had new bruises all over his body even though there was nothing Akashi could think of that could cause most of them. There hadn't been that many the last time he bathed Kuroko. He tried not to grip Kuroko's body too tightly while washing him.

When he got to Kuroko's hair, he was a bit surprised to realize that the blue hair fell out and stuck to his hand so easily. Surely that was also a new development. He sighed. He wasn't sure what caused something like that to happen but he figured it was likely death knocking on the door. That was enough to make him shudder.

Kuroko seemed to be shivering, a bit more than usual. He had started feeling sick after drinking the tea. He didn't mind tea, but he was pretty sure there had been honey in it which meant calories. He had tried to distract himself from it, and finding out a therapist would be showing up to pick his brains was a pretty good distraction for a while, but now he couldn't help thinking about the calories he had swallowed. How many calories were in honey anyway and who the hell put honey in the tea. There hadn't been honey in the tea before, had there? He wasn't really sure now though and that made him feel even sicker. He wanted to distract himself again because Akashi would get upset if he threw up, but he felt his control of his mind slipping.

"A….Ak….Akashi…"

"hmm? Is the water too cold?"

"I'm sorry…." Before Akashi could ask why Kuroko was apologizing, the smaller boy's body heaved and the tea mixed with stomach acid covered the shower floor. Akash sighed and rubbed Kuroko's back until the vomiting stopped.

"It's okay Tetsuya." At least it was in the shower. At least it didn't seem to be on purpose, although he couldn't think of why else the smaller boy would have thrown up since he didn't seem to have a fever, but still, at least Kuroko hadn't shoved his hand down his throat again. Be thankful for the small blessings, Akashi thought.

Kuroko let out quiet sobs and Akashi turned off the water, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around Kuroko's body, and pulled him close whispering random words and phrases to calm the boy down.

After a few minutes, Kuroko was still crying, so Akashi decided to take a chance. He adjusted himself so he could face Kuroko and gently pulled the bluenettes face close to his own, planting a quick kiss on Kuroko's lips. It's quick and chaste. Kuroko's eyes went wide but he didn't pull away. His tears stopped though. Exhaustion caught up with him all to quickly and he couldn't find the words to ask why Akashi kissed him, so he let his head fall against the others firm chest and listened to the red heads steady heartbeat.

I've already started on the next chapter and I don't know if my eyes are watering from lack of sleep or crying! I hope it's lack of sleep! Then again, I stopped writing and they stopped watering soooo...uhhh...sorry...