A/N: I apologize for the lack of plot lately; things have been getting complicated in the noggin for me. Don't worry; I'll get over this little rut soon enough. Enjoy!
'Well, I thought this would happen…' Kimi thought sullenly while staring at the bedroom ceiling, 'It's the same every other year, out of the blue I get a case of strep throat that kicks my ass.' She sighed, her esophagus aching a little each breath she took.
To her relief, Kimi had built up the persistence to tolerate the effects of her ailment until class was dismissed on Friday. She had just returned to her apartment, avoiding going to the Cafeteria when her symptoms became even worse the longer she remained on Campus. Now Kimi lay on top of the bed in her pajama short shorts and T-shirt, a surgical mask covering the lower part of her face to prevent germs from contaminating the air.
'Oh well, doesn't mean I'm too sick to take care of myself and enjoy the weekend.' She shrugged before rising off of the mattress, and pulling on a bulky sweatshirt.
Her muscles ached as her body fought the chills, practically making Kimi stumble like a zombie wherever she went. Meanwhile, she kept her hands inside the baggy sleeves and her hand-sanitizer close. Kimi opened the cupboard and browsed the cans of food inside, taking out a can of soup with a content little grin. Before Kimi had a chance to get out a saucepan, a knock at the entrance instantly caught her attention. Padding over to the front door in her socks, she turned carefully opened the door, peeking out of the crack to see the visitor.
"Kimi-chan? Are you in there?" Japan greeted calmly.
"Yeah…but, I'm sick." She answered, her voice almost lowered to a raspy whisper due to the massive ach in her throat.
"Are you alright?" Germany asked, leaning a bit to try and look at her through the opening.
"Not really." Kimi responded.
"You sound terrible." Germany commented with a worried look.
"Yeah, I've got strep throat again…saw it coming since I get this every other year or so." She explained. "It's not at the contagious stage yet, but I can't be too careful."
"What is 'strep throat'?" Italy asked curiously.
"Well, I guess it's safe for you guys to come in. I'll explain it, hopefully without my voice going out."
Now fully opening the door, Kimi led Germany, Italy and Japan inside before closing the entrance. Once inside the living room, Italy sat next to Kimi on the right side of the couch, Germany on the left along with Japan.
"Strep throat sounds like a terrible illness to have, it's done quite a bit of damage on your voice." Japan noted.
"It truly is, and I don't know why it has to occur every other year. I have no clue whether it's genetic or just some condition, but when it hits, strep keeps me sick for about a week or less." She explained, coughing up a storm and choking a bit on the words.
"Ve~ so that's why you sound quieter than usual." Italy frowned concernedly at her.
"Yeah*cough*and I feel pretty darned crappy to add on." She wheezed, "I have to be cautious outside and inside, I don't wanna get anyone else sick."
"Is that why you're wearing a mask?" Germany asked.
"Mhm. Best way to prevent the germs from floating around, but just in case, I have my hand-sanitizer and keep my hands in my sleeves." She answered, revealing her hand from the long sleeve.
A chill went up all three of the Axis's spines once they saw her sharp, black painted fingernails; Germany's shudders weren't exactly out of fear though. Kimi noticed their looks and chuckled a bit, coughing spontaneously from the sudden pressure against her larynx.
"So to answer your question, Italy; Strep throat is a bacterial infection in the throat, symptoms can be mild or severe…the fact that I still attended class when I should've stayed in the apartment, means that I set myself up for severe symptoms. What strep throat does, is it makes your throat hurt a lot, just by breathing or impulsively swallowing will cause a lot of pain. Thankfully, I've been taking antibiotics my doctor proscribed to me, but I'm not showing signs of improvement from what it looks like." She continued; rushing a bit after realizing her voice was already beginning to wear out.
"Be careful, don't strain your voice." Germany suggested empathetically, running his fingers through her hair.
Kimi nodded, before rubbing her tired eyes and lightly yawning.
"You guys can stay here as long as you want, I'm just gonna go to my room." She finally said, slowly and painstakingly lifting herself up from the couch, only for her legs to give out and flop back on the cushions.
"Do you need help?" Japan offered.
"N-no, I'll be fine…" Kimi declined politely, but didn't have enough time to try and stand up again before she was lifted up bridal-style. "Germany, please put me down." She protested.
"Nein, you need to save you strength." Germany proclaimed as he walked down the shallow hallway with her in his arms.
Kimi sighed in submission, allowing him to carry her to the bedroom. When he opened the door, Germany carefully released Kimi to let her feet touch the ground, before she gave him a nod in gratitude.
"Get some rest, it'll help you get better." He assured.
"No. Every time I tried sleeping off the sickness, I always feel worse when I wake up." She argued.
"Nonsense, you need bed rest." Germany argued back, gently pushing her towards the bed.
"But it happened the last time I got sick, when I fell asleep, I felt even sicker!"
"Please, I want you to get better as soon as possible!"
"I'll just tough it out, and stay inside!"
At this point, Kimi tried maneuvering around the towering German, only to get blocked by his muscular chest. He looked down at her sternly, continuing to block her moves. Eventually she gave up and simply stood in front of him, coughing as her sore throat began to ache again. After a couple silent seconds, Kimi bolted to the left and almost caught Germany off guard. To her disappointment, her strategy didn't work and she ended up with him gripping her wrists tightly.
The two kept pushing, like two bucks fighting it out during mating season. Though Germany was strong, he had to use a much more effort against Kimi than Italy or Japan. Their focus was completely on each other and who would be victorious in the battle, until Kimi accidentally stepped on Germany's foot that made them trip over their feet and fall backwards onto the bed. They froze, recalculating to register what just happened. His face flushed when he realized he was pinning her on the mattress, the memory of the dream that occurred to them last week hitting them with realization.
"Germany, Kimi-chan, is everything alright in here?" Japan asked from the doorway.
"Ve~ what was all the noise~?" Italy asked while standing behind Japan.
All of them stared at each other, Germany's face lighting up like the siren of an ambulance while Japan's face began to flush and Italy innocently cocking his head to the side.
"Uh…um…" Japan stammered, "I'M SORRY, PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME!" He shrieked with a bright red face, before shutting the door.
"Okay…maybe I some bed rest will do me some good…sorry for being so stubborn, I just thought I shouldn't let this get in the way of any business that needed to be tended to." Kimi finally spoke from under him.
Germany nodded, before getting off of her. Briefly, Kimi got up from the bed to the closet, removing a blue penguin-shaped container from the shelf after hanging her sweatshirt.
"What's that?" He asked, watching her as she quickly left the room.
"It's a humidifier." She answered when she returned with a cup full of water. "I use it whenever I get sick because it helps stop my coughing, helps ease the pain in my throat and tonsils, and it keeps my sinuses clear." Kimi explained while pouring the cold water into the assembled humidifier before plugging it into a nearby outlet.
Setting the dial to max, the penguin humidifier began hissing silently as mist began pouring from the beak. Without messing up the neatly made bed, Kimi slipped herself under the black comforter with only her head sticking out. As Germany as on the edge of the bed, they quickly looked at each other, Kimi sensing his apology through his slightly guilty expression. She grinned under the surgical mask and closed her eyes, allowing her head to sink into the slightly firm memory foam pillow. Slightly grinning at Kimi, he gave her a small peck on the forehead and softly stroked her head before standing up to leave.
A couple hours later…
"America, please, she's resting!" She heard Japan's voice in the darkness.
"Oh c'mon, I'm just going in to see her!"
Kimi jolted, feeling a great force as if her soul had just fallen right back into her. Slowly, she opened her eyes after hearing the doorknob click. Her muscles ached, but her throat was the sorest, Kimi's temperature practically sky-rocketing even though she was shivering. As America stormed into her room with Canada timidly following behind, Kimi slowly turned her head to look at them, her eyes barely managing to stay open from the globs of sleep lingering.
"Hey Kimi, what's up?" America greeted cheerfully at her.
Kimi's throat and vocal cords hadn't improved; she could only respond to him with some sort of raspy noise.
"What was that? I couldn't hear ya!" He replied, comically leaning his head towards her level for a better listen.
"America, you dummkopf, she can't talk right now!" Germany barked defensively at him.
"Why, what's wrong with her?" Canada asked with strong concern.
"Kimi's got strep throat, and as we can plainly see, she's not getting much better." Germany explained, giving her a look of guilt for forcing her to get bed rest.
"Yeah, uh…what's strep throat?" America questioned with a clueless expression.
"I'll explain it later, for now we should just leave her alone." Germany answered, sighing a little with relief once Kimi made it clear that she forgave him.
"We just wanted to know how she was doing, sorry for barging in like this, Kimi." Canada chuckled nervously.
Kimi simply nodded her head once at him in dismissal, but broke out into a coughing fit before slowly trying to rise from under the covers. Even though her legs were wobbling, she managed to reach her closet without fumbling to the carpet. The boys said nothing as she began taking out another device, a couple other peculiar looking parts, and a small box.
"What 'cha got there, Kimi?" America asked curiously.
She turned around to face them, handing Germany the grey square-shaped thing while assimilating a small hose to a plastic breathing piece and squeezed a small bottle of clear liquid into a small cup-like part.
"A nebulizer?" Germany stated aloud from the small captions on the side of the grey little machine.
He handed Kimi back the nebulizer once she finished assembling the parts, quickening her pace to plug in the machine when she practically started coughing her lungs out again. Instinctively, Kimi plugged the cord into the nearest outlet; pulled down the mask, wrapped her lips around the mouthpart of the nebulizer, and switched on the machine. A loud buzzing filled the air as Kimi took deep breaths in and out, mist leaking straight out of the opposite end of the hose with each exhale. As she breathed in more of the evaporated medicine, her lungs began to feel more open and clear. Her breathing returned to normal instead of wheezing, while the cooling mist soothed her aching throat.
Sooner or later, the liquid was completely drained from the tube. Kimi shut off and unplugged the machine, pulled up her mask, wrapped up the equipment, and put it back into her closet.
"Thank you all for waiting." Kimi finally said, her voice still sounding rather weak and trembling.
"Oh geez, Kim, you sound awful." America said; his expression slightly tinged with guilt for not having realized.
"Yeah, but that's what happens when you're hit with a case of strep." She tried laughing to herself, but hacking slightly.
"I guess you were right about not wanting to sleep." Germany mumbled.
"Don't sweat it, man, it'll help me in the long run." She replied, "I think I'm just going to tough it out and lie low until it goes away."
"If that's what you think is best." He nodded, this time not objecting to her decision.
"My dad told me that ailments start going away if you don't pay them any attention…I guess if we've got a group of people, might as well start another horror movie and game night to drive it out of my system." Kimi proclaimed as she made her way out of the room.
"WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND THE HORROR FLICKS?" America exclaimed with sudden uneasiness.
"Relax, you'll survive." She retorted dismissively. "I haven't seen SAW in a while, how about we start things off with the trilogy?"
"We might want to be careful about the horror movies, Italy might get scared and run off." Germany noted as they entered the living room, Italy and Japan giving them curious and slightly embarrassed looks.
"True…" Kimi nodded, "Okay, I guess we can just start things off with The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Little Pet Shop of Horrors."
"What kinds of movies are those?" Canada questioned humorously.
"Really old horror musicals that no one's supposed to take seriously, they're so terrible, they're hilarious!" She explained.
"Fine, as long as I don't have to go track Italy down at this hour, we can watch them." Germany submitted.
"Cool, I'll go grab them from the stash and set things up." Kimi grinned weakly under her mask.
A/N: Sorry for the crappy ending of this chapter folks, but I did it for a good reason! Also, I apologize for this absolutely useless chapter; my head was in a rut. Now I've got a good grasp on the next plot! Coming up later~!