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~Just This Once~
Chapter 2: A Lecture, A Dream, A Threat
Previously what had happened:
***
"...urusai." Syaoran grumbled. He felt slight vertigo take
over him. He stumbled over his own feet and his hand flew out and grasped the
small table next to the bedside for support.
His eyes
drooped...god, he wanted to sleep...
I don't
remember being this sick before... he thought...he slightly leaned forward,
his feet wavered, his grip on the table loosened, and…
***
"Syaoran-kun!" Eriol's arms went around Syaoran's torso from behind, supporting the sickly boy
before he fell to the ground, "you need to get some more sleep…" Eriol looked at the back of Syaoran's
head.
…why is
he acting like this? Even when he can hardly stand on his own two feet, he is
still as stubborn as if he actually had the energy to spare! Eriol thought with a frown.
…does he hate me that much…? Eriol thought.
"...I'm..going...home!" Syaoran
growled though clenched teeth, his eyes felt heavy with illness. He tried to
pull himself out of Eriol's arms, but Eriol was holding tightly enough for no escape.
"Doushite?" Eriol asked quietly, feeling Syaoran grow tense in his
arms.
"...I'm...I'm already..in
your debt enough!" he growled, almost weakly when vertigo hit him again.
I
see...it's his pride. That's why. Hmph. Eriol's eyes slightly narrowed. His arms slipped off
Syaoran, he grasped his shoulders and made the slightly shorter boy turn
around.
Syaoran was
face to face with Eriol now,
the dark blue-haired boy's hands tightly grasped the brown-haired boy's
shoulders.
"Understand this, Syaoran (leaving out the -kun purposely), everyone has
their limits," Eriol said seriously, his gray
eyes sharp, piercing Syaoran so his words could get through the brown-eyed
boy's head, "and that DOES include you—so frankly, I will not allow you to
leave this room until your temperature goes down to a considerable point.
Period." he said firmly and with such finality that even Syaoran could not
speak against the mage.
Syaoran
blinked, a blush crawled its way across his cheeks, somewhat touched and
grateful…
"And
look, you're getting worse, your face is getting red." Eriol
remarked as he removed one hand off Syaoran's
shoulder and placed his hand under Syaoran's bangs
and pressed his hand against his forehead.
Syaoran
blushed a brighter red upon Eriol's action...however, he had to admit it to himself that Eriol's cool, gentle touch felt...soothing. Syaoran quickly
turned his head away from Eriol's hand.
"You're
still burning with fever—please go back to bed, Syaoran-kun." Eriol requested, his gray eyes
softening as he looked at the stubborn wolf.
"...just..this once—" Syaoran
growled as he moved past Eriol and sat down on the
edge of the bed tiredly.
Eriol arched an eyebrow in question, waiting for him to
finish.
"—I'm..going..to
trust..you," Syaoran
finished reluctantly. He slipped back in the bed and turned on his side, away
from Eriol. "And..if you do..anything
suspicious, I..will..kill you."
Eriol slightly bowed his head, hiding his smile. Just this once, hmm? I'm not surprised...but such
a shame...only just this once.
"Is he
sleeping again?" Suppi asked as he flew toward
his master, who just exited from Syaoran's room.
Holding the
tray, the soup untouched, he answered, "Yes, unfortunately, he wasn't able
to eat anything. I should really try to give Syaoran more fluids since he's so
ill."
"He's
that ill? I never expected someone like HIM get a cold. You'd think he'd scare
the germs away with his glare." Suppi said,
slowly flying next to his master now.
"Hai," Eriol nodded with a
laugh, "I'm sure that he doesn't get ill easily...but when he does, he
gets it quite seriously."
"Worried about him, aren't you." Suppi
said, not really a question, but a statement.
"Well,
of course, I am," Eriol answered, entering the
kitchen and setting down the tray on the countertop, "it's natural for me
to worry about my descendant—"
"I didn't
mean like that," Suppi said, "You know what
I really mean, Eriol-sama." eyeing his master as
he sat on the edge of the countertop and crossed his little arms.
Eriol turned his eyes toward Suppi
slowly. It is better to push my feelings aside...it's all..for the best, he thought with a lingering smile
on his face and asked innocently, his wonderful acting skills kicked in,
"What ever do you mean then, Suppi-kun?"
"Hm," Suppi frowned at his
master. Eriol couldn't hide anything from HIM and
they both knew it, "you may be the most powerful sorcerer in the world and
you may be able to keep a smile upon your face under the greatest fears or
stresses of life, but you cannot hold up an act or lie to me, Eriol-sama."
There was a
silence between the master and servant, they stared each other down...
Finally
after their staring contest, Eriol
let out a soft sigh of either defeat or concealed frustration.
"Suppi-kun, what I feel for Syaoran is...isn't...it isn't
normal," Eriol said with difficulty. He composed
himself quickly, "he has Kinomoto Sakura. And
she loves him very much."
"You
don't know if he feels that way toward her." Suppi
said pointedly.
"It's
best to leave the matter untouched." Eriol
declared and went toward the exit of the kitchen.
Just before
his master left completely...
"You
are very mature for this age, Eriol-sama," Suppi remarked. Eriol stopped for
a moment by the doorway, "don't let any immature, narrow-minded thoughts
of hesitance stop you."
"…
…" Eriol exited the kitchen.
"C-come back here!!" Syaoran stumbled along a
rocky path, heavy fog clouded around him. He ran after this...this
figure...this figure that walked away from him, farther and farther away...
The
person's only walking, damn it!!! Why am I having such a hard time catching up
to whoever it is?! he thought angrily. The heavy
fog seemed to weigh him down, making his body feel 10 times heavier.
He grew
tired, yet he refused to stop chasing this mysterious figure.
"Who
are you?!!?" Syaoran demanded, running harder, sweat dripped down the sides
of his face and off his chin, "Stop walking!" Stop
getting away from me!!!
The figure
stopped and slowly turned around, however, the fog
covered the person's identity.
Syaoran
slightly slowed down, straining his eyes to see who it was...he couldn't see,
so he ran harder than before, refusing to stop running until the person's face
was seen.
Even though
the person stopped walking, the mysterious individual seemed farther away...but
then the mysterious figure held out a hand to Syaoran despite their far
distance apart.
Syaoran
desperately shot out his hand, determined to find out WHO this person
was...suddenly the distance that separated the Syaoran and the
unknown-individual suddenly disappeared.
A-almost!!
Syaoran thought, his fingertips brushed those of the person's...so close...Syaoran took another step
forward and he grasped the person's hand! Yatta!!
Syaoran felt
as if a great burden was lifted off his shoulders. Then—
Nani!?! Syaoran felt the ground beneath
disappeared in a whirl of darkness, his eyes widened. The grip between Syaoran's hand and the unknown-person's hand loosened...
He gasped as
he was slowly falling into the darkness, his hand slipped from the other
person's. Syaoran felt as if he lost something (or someone) precious.
"...IIE!!" he yelled, disappointment, frustration, regret, and
sadness struck him like spears all at once.
"No,
no, no, no!!"
"Ahh!" Eriol backed away, his hand flew
to his cheekbone that would soon bruise.
"...iie! ..IIE!" he cried out,
sweat dripped down his head as the darkness twisted and gripped him without
mercy.
Eriol went forward again and pinned Syaoran's
shoulders to the bed, "Syaoran! Syaoran-kun!!! Wake up! Yobisamasu!!"
Syaoran's eyes shot open, yet he still thought he was in a dream, his vision was awfully shadowy and obscure.
"...No!" Syaoran didn't see Eriol or notice
that he was holding him down. He shot up in bed and…
BANG.
Eriol fell back onto the floor in an awkward sitting
position, clutching his head with one hand and one eye shut in pain.
Syaoran fell
backwards onto the bed, also clutching his head in pain.
"Itai..." Eriol and Syaoran
both mumbled at the same time. When Syaoran shot up in a sitting position in
bed, he hit his head against Eriol's...^.^;
Eriol stood up, smiling, his head slightly still spinning,
"Mou...I never expected it to be so painful when
I decided to take care of you." he said light-heartedly, softly rubbing
his injured head.
"...I think..that's the first..successful hit...I ever gave..you..." Syaoran
mumbled, sitting up.
Eriol chuckled from Syaoran's
'friendly' remark. "Proud, are you?"
"…very,
actually." was the blunt reply.
"Feeling better after your nap?" Eriol
asked.
Syaoran
ignored his question and asked suspiciously, "Why..were you..so
close to..me when I..was..sleeping?"
his voice was more raspy than before.
"You
were having a nightmare and you practically was about to fall off the bed from
your thrashing and yelling," Eriol answered,
"so I tried to hold you down and wake you up...but that didn't work as
well as I hoped." ^_^;;
"..oh," Syaoran murmured, remembering the dream...his eyes
glazed over as he got lost in thought. He absently rubbed his throat, from all
the yelling he did while he was dreaming, his sore throat felt like sandpaper
and dust now.
"Was
your dream that disturbing?" Eriol asked
curiously as he fixed his glasses, but they kept getting crooked.
"...huh?" Syaoran slowly snapped out his thoughts
and looked at Eriol.
"Your
dream," Eriol replied. "Was
it disturbing?" trying to fix his glasses.
"..sort of," Syaoran mumbled slowly. He looked at Eriol strangely. "...I think your glasses are
broken."
"I'm
beginning to think so, too." Eriol agreed with a
sight and took off his glasses, looking at them closely. He saw that the nose
piece and part of the silver-rimmed frame was wrecked.
"..it must have broken when I hit your head with
mine...sorry." Syaoran said quietly, yet sincerely.
"Ah,
quite all right," Eriol said with a smile and
easily shrugged it off, "I can see fine without my glasses; things far
away are just blurry." and he stepped forward and put the glasses down on
the table.
Syaoran took
the chance and saw Eriol without his glasses close
up. He looked...different in a way. He looked more relaxed and carefree without
his glasses instead of smart, light-hearted and somewhat..dangerous..with his
glasses on.
"Something the matter?" Eriol
asked, noticing Syaoran staring at him.
"N-no." Syaoran said quickly and turned away.
"Well,
I'll go get your tea. I'm sure it's ready now," Eriol
declared, "Peppermint tea does help a sore throat! And from all that
yelling you did, your throat must feel worse, ne?"
he stood by the doorway.
Syaoran
shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want Eriol to know
he felt worse—he'd be damned to let Eriol know he was
more vulnerable than he was before!
"I'll
take that as a 'yes'," Eriol said ever-so
helpfully. "You yelled quite loudly...was Syao-kun
dreaming of something…inappropriately pleasurable?" Eriol
smirked evilly.
He was
joking, of course, but provoking Syaoran was so much fun, he just couldn't
resist!! (oh, admit it, who could?)
Syaoran
blushed several shades of red when he realized what Eriol
was talking about, "..hentai!"
he growled in his raspy voice and
threw a pillow as hard as possible toward Eriol.
Eriol quickly closed the door, the pillow hitting the door
quite soundly despite its softness. Eriol opened the
door and peered in at Syaoran.
"Oh,
don't be bashful, Syao-kun. We all occasionally have
our naughty—"
"…I'll
kill you..Hiiragizawa!" Syaoran threw two pillow
this time, however, both were unfortunately unsuccessful as a laughing Eriol quickly closed the door and made his way to the
kitchen.
~*~ Author's Note ~*~
I tried to
make this Chapter better than the last...I hoped it was, but I won't know until
you review for me! Please, PRETTY PLEASE??? Well, seriously, I hope you enjoyed
this chapter. I'll post the next one up soon, I
promise! I kept my promise before, didn't I? ^^
~**~ Special Thanks ~**~
Thank you to
those who reviewed my first chapter (and hopefully for the chapters ahead)!! I
know there aren't many fans for Eriol/Syaoran fanfics, so I wasn't even expected 2 reviews! ^_^; but I am
glad that I actually received more than I expected! I really like to know what
you guys think of my story and my writing. And I'm happy my glossary really
does help every now and then! ^_^ The reviews I
received really made my day! Actually, it made my week!! XD
So THANK YOU VERY MUCH! DOMO ARIGATOU!
~*~ Glossary ~*~
Doushite: Why?
Yatta: Yeah!
Itai: ouch
Hentai: Pervert (come on, we seen this word oh, so
many times)