(A/N: Thankies for the reviews! ^O^ me+ray: I'm glad you like the fic. Sadly, the storm's kinda...over. ;_; Maybe I'll put another one in here. ^^

HXH-YGO-OtAkU: In case you haven't noticed, each of these chappies is a little...naughty. O_o;;;; I'm glad you like the fic though. ^^

celesyun: Twasn't as bad as it could have been. Sorry if you're traumatized though.

Yousei: I'm glad you like the fic and the reason Kyouju's name was put down as "Kenny" was because I couldn't find the orginal Japanese name. ;__; But thank you, now I know what it is! ^O^ *huggles* Thankies!!!

And now, on with the fic!)

Return To Summer

Chapter 6: A Cold

I was up with the sun the next morning, partially because Rei was coughing and sneezing practically non-stop. It was slightly annoying. I'd handed him some tissues, then stopped downstairs. I was not pleased to be up at three-thirty. Now, I was sitting in the kitchen, sipping a coffee and wishing I had the morning paper. Instead, I'd settled for a novel I'd plucked off Rei's shelf. It was the sappy, romantic kind and I really wished I'd put it down. Apparently, I thought it was better to do something rather than nothing.

At about four-thirty, I'd come across one of those paragraphs...the ones that go into lovely, graphis detail about how so-and-so and the love of their life made, hot passionate love. I rolled my eyes. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Mari smiling down at me. "So, you like reading too?" she asked, moving away to start breakfast.

I didn't answer, but set the book down. She was pulling out pots and pans, banging stuff around. "Rei reads those all the time. It's kind of funny. You wouldn't think a boy would like that kind of stuff."

She smiled and looked out the window, her eyes almost glazing over. "He and Mao are such a perfect match."

I struggled not to choke on my now cold coffee. Mari had now started rambling about how it was going to be "such a pretty wedding" and she'd have lots of "little grandkids". I was sitting at the table, practically bug-eyed. I was glad I had my back turned to her. I was laughing inside - she thought Rei loved Mariah! She had no clue!

She turned back to me. "So, Kai, do you have anybody special back home?"

I set down my coffee and shook my head. "No."

"Oh, that's too bad," Mari said, laying some bacon in the skillet.

I mentally contemplated how it was too bad that Rei didn't live in Japan. Mari glanced about the kitchen. "Where is Rei anyways?"

"He's still in bed, likely. Coughing anf sneezing and such."

Mari's face grew a bit pale. "Oh. Sick, is he?"

I nodded. Mari frowned. "That's not good..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"That's how the sickness that's going around the village starts. Just like a cold."

"Well, he was out in the rain yesterday. That could be the cause of the cold."

"I don't want to take any chances. He's my little boy."

I nearly laughed when she said that, then saw how concerned she looked. She walked over to the door and leant out it. "Hnn. I doubt if the healer's up yet..."

Just then, Rei walked...well, more of shuffled, into the kitchen. He looked very, very tired and rather pale. I do suppose you could have said he was "scary". Anyways, he looked like hell warmed over. He sat down heavily in a chair and sniffed, loudly. Mari turned back and looked at Rei. "Oh, Rei honey, you look real sick."

She scurried over to Rei and put a hand on his forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever?"

Rei blew his nose into a tissue. Mari blinked. "How do you feel, sweetie?"

"Sick," Rei said and promptly coughed.

Mari patted him on the head. "Poor boy," she said.

I snickered and Rei glared at me. "Shut up," he said, putting his head down on the table.

Mari frowned. "I'll tell Li that you can't help with the threshing today."

"Okay," was Rei's muffled reply.

Mari looked up from the bacon, as if she'd remembered something. "Oh, dear," she said and frowned. "I was going to go to your Aunt Lyn's today."

Rei mumbled something. Mari turned to me. "Kai? Would you mind watching him while I went down to Lyn's? If he gets bad, call the doctor, okay?"

I nodded. Rei seemed to have noticed that I'd been reading his book. "You like that crap?" he snarled, moving away from the book, as if it was evil.

"You certainly seem to, Rei-chan," I said and gave his cheek a pinch.

He hissed and tried to bat my hand away.

~*~*

Mari left for Lyn's around one. Rei was upstairs in bed and I was lounging on the couch, reading that book. I have no idea why. Boredom does that to one, I suppose. After Mari had been gone for about ten minutes, I glanced up at the stairs. Sighing, I decided I'd better go check on Rei. Maybe, if I was lucky, he was asleep.

I treaded up the stairs as quietly as I could, then peered into Rei's room. He was lying on the bed, rummaging through my duffle bag. Several magazines had been scattered across the floor. What can I say? I like my reading material. "Find anything interesting?" I asked in amusement.

His head shot up and he blushed lightly. "Ummm...."

I shut the door and walked over to him. "I asked you a question, Rei-chan. Did you find anything interesting?"

"Well, kind of-"

"And what was that?"

I'd sat down on the floor and I was at eye level. I met and held his gaze. His breath hitched. "You," he mumbled.

I smirked in amusement. "Me? What's interesting about me?"

Rei opened his mouth to say something, then stuck out his tongue and dove under the covers. "I'm sick," he whined.

I got up on the bed, stroking his hair. "Sick, you say? What does it matter?"

I leaned in to kiss him. He backed up. He racked his nails across my face. "Rei!"

He huddled against the wall, staring at me wide-eyed. "Kai, just...leave me alone," he panted, then sneezed again, ruining the "dramatic" moment.

I rolled my eyes. "Rei-"

"Kai! Just leave me alone! I'm....I just don't wanna do this physical stuff," he muttered, looking at the wall.

He looked back at me. "I just wanna know you like me for me, okay?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm superficial?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think you're superficial, but I just want to be sure."

I sighed. Rei was making no sense at the moment. I reached out and felt his forehead. "Well, no fever, so you're not delirious."

Rei crossed his arms and frowned. "Go back downstairs, Kai and let me get some sleep."

"Why can't I stay up here? I'll be quiet."

Rei grinned, then sneezed again. "You're always quiet," he said. "Too quiet."

I got off the bed. I sat down on my own bed, watching as Rei wriggled under the covers. His golden eyes peered out at me from under the blankets. I couldn't help but laugh a bit. Rei blinked. "What?"

I smiled. "I had a kitten once and he'd hide under the covers and you'd just be able to see his big eyes, peering out at you. It was....cute."

Rei smiled. "You thought something was cute?"

"Yes. I think you're cute too."

Rei blushed slightly and hid under the covers again. "You're cute too," he said, his voice muffled by the blankets.

There was an awkward moment where we were both silent and then, Rei asked, "What happened to the kitten?"

I frowned and looked at the floor. "I....had to give him away," I said quietly. "Grandfather didn't think I should have a pet."

I looked at Rei, who was frowning slightly. "If he didn't want you to have a kitten," he said slowly, "do you think.....he'd like the idea of you having a....boyfriend?"

He blushed and hid under the covers. I frowned. "Not likely."

Rei sighed. "I don't think my mom's gonna like it either. She still thinks I like Mariah."

I smiled a bit. "So I heard. She was going on about a wedding this morning."

Rei blushed. "She was?"

I crawled back onto the bed, curling up with him. "Yes."

I tucked a stray hair behind his ear. "Personally, I think you'd look pretty in a wedding dress," I purred.

He stuck out his tongue. "So would you," he retorted acidly.

Something banged downstairs and Mari shouted up to us, "Boys! I'm home!"

We disentangled ourselves from each other. Rei straightened out his covers and curled up again. I sat down on my bed, picking up a magazine, flipping idly through it. Mari peered into the room and smiled. She looked at me. "How is he?" she asked.

"He's sleeping," I said almost boredly and she nodded, looking over at the lump under the blankets that was Rei.

"Good. I'll go get dinner started," she chirped, then disappeared back downstairs.

Rei glanced over at me. I sighed. "This isn't going to be easy...."

Rei smiled. "Nobody ever said it would be."

For some reason, I couldn't help but smile back.

~*~*~*~*

[A/N: Fluff....*shudders* Ugh....too much fluff. @_@ Next chapter will probably be much more depressing. R&R is always welcome. ^^]