Okay, here's the next chapter! I wanted at least five reviews but oh well. I'd like to state that this is written as though the show was originally in English so each pilot has their own individual language such as Japanese, Chinese, etc. If you have a problem with Wufei speaking Chinese, don't read this chapter. -_-
Virus
Continued
2. Symptoms
Wufei found it rather difficult to lift his eyelids when he awoke the next morning. He was still extremely tired but it just seemed that his eyelids were stuck together. He forced his eyes to open then closed them immediately afterwards. The sunlight pouring in through his window was just too much. Groaning, he rolled onto his stomach then opened his eyes. That was a bit easier to handle and his eyes soon adjusted to the light. Wufei barely noticed that he was on the floor of his room. His whole mind was clouded; he didn't even remember sitting down on the carpet to meditate in the first place. Glancing around, he saw several of his candles still burning. So he had just fallen asleep while he was meditating. Upon examining himself, he saw that he was wearing the same clothes he'd had on the previous day instead of his pajamas. He snorted, illustrating that he couldn't care less. He struggled to his feet, his balance wavering dangerously, and stumbled sleepily to the bathroom just down the hall from his quarters. Gazing into the mirror when he got into the bathroom, he jumped in shock at what he saw. His body was drenched in cold sweat and his hair was splayed haphazardly about his head, almost none of it pulled back into its usual tight ponytail. His skin was so pale that it looked as though he wasn't even alive. There were dark rings under his eyes and the irises of his eyes, which usually appeared to be black, were now a rather light brown. At least they were light brown to him because he was so used to them being dark, but they were still dark enough to be considered black from a short distance. He only noticed that they were lighter because he was leaning oddly close to the mirror. Realizing this, he backed away from the mirror and sink and closed his mouth which he had been holding open, not from shock, but for air. He had been panting unconsciously but now he was breathing through his nose again. He glanced down at his toothbrush in its holder. The thought to use it never crossed his mind. Nor did the idea of using the soap or shaving cream or any of the other items of hygiene occur to him. He wasn't like this at all; he believed remaining clean was very important. But his mind wasn't functioning correctly just then so instead of getting cleaned up, he turned to leave the bathroom – and walked straight into the wall. His eyes squeezed shut in anger as he cursed himself in Chinese. As he turned once again, this time maneuvering carefully around the wall, he saw Duo leaning against the wall of the hallway, grinning stupidly.
"How long were you standing there, Maxwell?" Wufei demanded. The words came out slow and a bit slurred.
"Long enough, Wu-man, long enough." Duo snickered. Wufei pushed past him and headed towards the stairs leading into the living room. "Don't run into any more walls on your way down!" Duo called after him. Though Duo meant that statement to be a joke, it proved to be good advice that Wufei should have heeded. He actually did run into several other walls before reaching the kitchen. He dragged himself to the round wooden table in the center of the kitchen and dropped himself into one of the stiff wooden chairs. Unbeknownst to him, he had begun to pant through his mouth again. His eyelids closed and opened slowly and a low moan escaped his throat. Three other pilots were sitting at the table already and they stopped eating to stare at Wufei. Quatre dared to ask a question as Wufei slumped over onto the table.
"Should I even ask if you're alright?" he said.
"I'm fine…" Wufei mumbled in response. Quatre watched clear saliva spread across the table he'd just had re-polished. It was of course coming from Wufei. Quatre wiped the tiny amount of crumbs from his face with a napkin, folded the napkin neatly, stood and walked over to Wufei. There he tilted Wufei's head back, wiped up the saliva then set Wufei's head back down on the table, this time ensuring that his mouth was closed. Next he turned to Heero and Trowa and stated,
"We need to take him to the hospital."
***
"Unhand me, you weaklings! I am not sick!" Wufei growled angrily as he was carried into the nearest hospital. He fought against the grips of his friends weakly, but it was enough to slow them down quite a bit. They literally dragged him into the waiting room and wrestled him into a chair. Trowa and Heero held him down while Quatre went to sign him in and take care of the bill. Duo stood in front of the disgruntled Wufei and teased him. Wufei was annoyed to say the least and he faked a sneeze in Duo's direction. Duo shrieked and jumped away, brushing away the imaginary germs frantically. Wufei chuckled lightly then sneezed for real. Up at the front desk, Quatre was having some problems with the receptionist.
"I'm sorry, but we don't treat people for colds." The plump, red-cheeked woman informed him.
"But I just told you that he doesn't have a cold!"
"All the symptoms you've just described to me suggest that he does."
"Listen, he's delirious, he's been walking into walls, he can't talk right - ."
"I'm sorry. Just go buy him some cough syrup."
"Oh come on - !" Just then Wufei, somehow having escaped from Trowa and Heero, bolted past Quatre and the receptionist, screaming in Chinese with the two pilots right on his heels. There was a loud thud as Trowa and Heero tackled him and a cry of injustice. This was followed by a chorus of disgusted moans and groans as Wufei upchucked once again. The receptionist pushed a clipboard into Quatre's hands.
"Fill this out and a doctor will be with you shortly."
***
Wufei lay fuming in the sterile, white hospital bed. He was strapped down because he'd been fighting the doctor and nurses the whole time they had been trying to help him, so he couldn't do practically anything. Though he had been given pain killers, his head was pounding from the intense light created by the florescent ceiling fixture. The blindingly white walls didn't help at all. It was also too warm in the room and Wufei had complained about all of these things numerous times, but no one had done anything about them. Wufei cursed the other pilots for doing this to him.
"As soon as I get out of here…I will kill them. I will murder them all. Each and every one of them. One by one, I will take their lives. Yes, my katana will sing happily as it tears through their bodies and tastes their blood. I will have justice…they will pay…" Wufei continued on in this manner, a smile creeping across his face. Outside of his room, the doctor was talking to the other four pilots.
"We're not exactly sure what's wrong with your friend," the doctor was saying. "But we think he may have been infected with something."
"Something like what?" Quatre asked.
"Well, his deliriousness suggests a common pathogen, but his low body temperature suggests…an uncommon pathogen."
"Excuse me?"
"It's rather difficult to explain. Your friend's body temperature seems to be dropping, but not quickly or even dangerously, at this point. However, a normal microorganism will usually cause the infected body's temperature to rise. Almost all of his other symptoms say that he's infected with, well, small bacteria, but there are the other symptoms which say he's infected with a virus, possibly even some sort of poison."
"Do you mean he's infected with a poison or a virus or a poison and a virus?" Duo inquired.
"A poison or a virus. But I haven't said he was infected by anything yet. As I was saying, he's got a runny nose, sore throat and a headache just like any person with a common cold. However, he doesn't have a fever, he's delirious and his brain function is slowing severely, unlike any person with a common cold. We've never seen anything like this before, but it doesn't seem to be anything serious. As far as we can tell, it's not even contagious. In my professional opinion, it's probably just an irregular form of the flu."
"Will he have to stay here long?" Quatre asked.
"No. Fortunately, he's not so bad off that he can't go home – in fact, he seems to actually have gotten a bit better since he's been here. I'm a little worried about his brain, though. If he starts to act strangely I want you all to bring him directly back here. Listen to every word he says. Watch every move he makes. Don't let anything slip by you. We don't know exactly what we're dealing with here so we're as much in the dark about it as you, but we can't underestimate whatever it is. It may be nothing but then it may be something we never forget."
***
Wufei stalked silently through the shadowed hallway. His breaths came out weak and raspy and he was sweating profusely. He reached an open door and stopped. Peering cautiously inside, he spotted two sleeping boys on their beds. He paused to scrutinize their motionless forms for a moment, trying to detect whether or not they were actually asleep. Duo most likely was asleep, but one could never really tell with Heero. He did not intend to carry out his threat from earlier. Right now he was on a much more important errand. Heero turned in his sleep. Wufei held his breath and kept still. After another few minutes of careful observation, Wufei decided that both of the sleeping pilots were asleep and slipped past the open door. He crept like a mouse down the stairs, into the kitchen and to the refrigerator. Squinting to shut out the blinding light of the refrigerator, he reached in and wrapped his pale fingers around the ice cold jug holding the treasure he had gone on this quest for.
"Water…" he rasped then emptied the entire gallon of the clear liquid down his throat, not spilling a single drop. He smiled as the cold fluid spread through his body. It seemed to give him strength. 'I must have been dehydrated.' Wufei concluded. He wondered why he hadn't gotten a massive headache. Usually drinking something that cold and that fast would have given him a brain freeze. He shrugged it off and reached for the second jug of water that was supposed to be the emergency reserve. He downed that too then crushed both plastic jugs and tossed them into the garbage. He paused for a moment, listening to his surroundings, then he sighed and said,
"Can't I have any privacy in this place?!" He swiveled around angrily to stare into the now widened Prussian blue eyes that had been watching him. "What, did you think I wouldn't notice you standing there, Yui? With you breathing so loudly of course I was going to find you." Wufei stormed out of the kitchen and back to his room. Heero stepped out from his hiding place. 'How could he have found me?' he wondered. 'I couldn't even hear myself breathing, so how could he? But why was he drinking all that water anyway?'
*So what's the deal with Wufei? He's acting very peculiar…well, read the next chapter to find out! I hope I get at least five reviews by then. O_o*