UPDATE!! I finally did it!! In your face, writer's block! This is one of the last chapters. Oh, and I decided that I'm going to make this part of a trilogy. The first installment (Assuming I ever get it up) is Who Am I: Sakura's Story. Out of Control will be the second installment, and The Thief of Time should be third. Screwy order, I know, but if you're like me, you can read the stories again after I'm done with 'em and it'll click together in the end.

Ch 18: The Final Hazard

Ryou's POV (A month later)
I yawned and stretched. It was about 7:00 and I was nice and awake. Time to duel, I suppose. After all, I'd made reservations at Kaiba Land for one of the special Duel Disk arenas eons ago. We ought not to change my plans, because this is a rematch between me and Malik.
I felt a lot better than I had in a month. Sure, when I started the schedule, it was hard. I mean, I had these explicit urges to throw it back up, and I did it once, too. That's when Yami beat the crap out of me. He said if I did badly on my schedule, he'd beat me up. I got out of that scrap with two bruised ribs and a slight concussion which made me throw up anyway. Yami apologized for that one. But I had been consistent after that. Now I was back to my normal weight, and I looked just like Sakura again. Yami was getting the pep back into his step too, which was good. That meant he could control his body-retrieval spell better. If he did it much more though, he'd be destroyed. That's why I tried my hardest to do well. Last checkup I had gone to, the doctor said that he was very proud on how I'd shaken my illness.
"Sakura!!" I called. "Rise and shine! I'll make breakfast. We have some duels to be done!"
"Ohh, hold on a moment. I was up all night with Yami Bakura. Fool's dead-set on keeping his body and went and got himself sick."
"Yami? Sick?" I repeated.
"Yeah. Apparently, he was hanging out with Malik, who had a serious case of the stomach flu. I suppose this is what he gets for acting all high and mighty with his new body. 'Oh, look what I can do. Look, I can lift this much. Can you? I can summon Diabound. I have my soul monster. Blah, blah, blah, and more show off blah.'"
"Well...I wouldn't say he deserved it at all...after all, he's been downright helpful. But I was wondering..."
"Yes, Malik is much better already. It's a 48 hour bug or something of the sort. I don't think that Thief boy is going anywhere, onii-chan..."
"Like hell I'm not...I'm going..."
We turned to look emotionlessly at the thief. He looked like trash with maggots squirming on it.
"Get back in bed," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not in the mood to mop up you puke."
"Shut up! I'm going to that damn duel and that's final."
"You can't go anywhere leaning on a wall the entire time."
"I won't! Look!"
He pushed himself away from the wall, looked dizzy, and promptly threw up.
"Uck!" I groaned. I hated seeing anyone else throwing up. It made me feel just as bad.
"You're staying here!" Sakura said softly, helping him onto the couch. Let's just see how you feel by the time Ryou has to leave."
"I suppose..." he gasped. With a disgustingly wet burp, he threw up again. "Damn sickness..."
"I'll go make breakfast, okay? Okay!"
I was out of there in an instant. 'It's as if that's this family's huge problem, throwing up. Or at least most of us...' It took me about twenty minutes to throw together a nice breakfast—eggs, toast, bacon, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I made some of the bacon like beef jerky for Yami, because he likes jerky, then served it out into the living room table where Yami was lying down, watching T.V.
"Damn, Ruby. The boy's trying to get your attention. Pry yourself from your bitch to pay attention to Max! Self-absorbed whore-rabbit!"
"Yami Bakura, what's this about those forms you filled out at the hospital?" Sakura asked dangerously, having just gotten of the phone.
"What?! I didn't do it!"
"YOU DON'T PUT THAT BLOOD IS SWEET, AND YOU DON'T TELL THE FORM IT'S STUPID!" Sakura said exasperatedly. "YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED FOR HELP, YOU...YOU...BAKA!! HUMONGOUS, IDIOT BAKAYARO!"
Me and Yami looked at her strange. She never called anyone a bakayaro. She also never yelled.

Yami Bakura's POV
"Shut the hell up! I'm sorry, alright? Is that what you want?" I asked.
My head was hurting, I didn't need this aggravation.
"NO, THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANT!!! NEXT TIME, YOU ASK ME TO HELP YOU OUT WITH THAT SORT OF THING, AND ANOTHER THING, STOP BRAGGING..."
She just wouldn't shut her trap. My eyes rolled involuntarily in my head and I collapsed forward in a dead faint.
"Ugh!"
When next I woke up, I had puke on the side of my face.
"Eurgh!!" I yelled. It was sticky. The next thing I knew, Sakura was choking the hell out of me.
"I'm sorry, Yami Bakura. I didn't mean to make you upchuck!" she said.
"And I assume that upchuck means 'throw up'," I stated thickly. I still felt sick. At that moment, my hands clenched onto Sakura's shirt. It was happening again.
"Get away. I need a..."
Wastebasket. Too late.
I puked onto the carpet. Sakura had moved in time.
"Urgh..." I groaned.
"Well, I really don't think you should go to that duel."
I shook my head, flinging my soiled hair from my face and glared at her.
"I'M GOING, RA-DAMN IT!!" I yelled.
"Not without a shower and a bit of a checkup at least," she told me.
I conceded to that. I was filthy from throwing up all last night up to now. I guess my immune system wasn't built for this, because even Ryou didn't get as sick as I've been getting. I headed to the bathtub, but Sakura curved me into the room.
"I'm going to have to get in there with you," she told me. I nearly fainted from the thought of that.
"Well, uh, heh..."
"Not like that, pervert. You wear some swim trunks and I'll come in with a shirt and shorts to bathe you.
I slipped into Bakura's swim trunks, a tight pinch; I wasn't as skinny as him, after all.

Sakura's POV
When I told him to stand still and let the shower water hit him, he actually obeyed. I decided his chest was the first thing to clean. With a hand full of soap, I rubbed his tan chest softly, removing the filth. Wow, he sure was more tough-looking up close, especially when you touched his muscles. I told him to turn, which he did reluctantly.
"I like it this way," he protested. "It feels good."
I wondered what he meant; the water on his back, me cleaning his front, or both?
"Rinse the soap off, Yami Bakura. I'll get your back done, then we can do your hair."
I soaped his back up and massaged softly on his shoulders. They were really tough, and I don't think it was only the muscle. I think he's really quite stressed out.
"Alright, turn back around and let the water rinse the soap off. Then I'll turn the shower head off and wash your hair."
I took a handful of shampoo in preparation, then turned the shower head off and told him to bend down. Five inches in height difference can be a killer. With a soft hand, I massaged the exotic strawberry shampoo down to his scalp. I gasped as I felt several huge scars, but I didn't part his hair to see the marks. I felt his shoulders tighten and he let out a strangled sound.
I wrapped my arms around him, not really noticing.
"What's wrong?" I asked curiously.
"I..." he managed to say.
I felt his stomach heave under my arms.
"Oh, dear. That shampoo must have done it."
He vomited and I cringed as I heard it splatter on the tub floor.
"It's okay," I said, petting his head. I finished putting the shampoo in and told him to lean back so that I could rinse it. Even so, soap managed to get in his eyes and he yelled in pain.
"AAARRGH!! Ra, it burns like hell!!" he yelled, arms flailing.
"Lean back!" I said. He did, and I turned the shower head on once again to rinse his eyes out. They were slightly puffy, but none the worse for wear besides. I finished the rest of his shower with no other mishaps. He wrapped a towel around his waist and headed to Ryou's room like I'd instructed him to and I took a few moments to change. When I next entered our room, I gasped a little. Yami Bakura was shivering uncontrollably and making very pronounced exhalation sounds.
"Come on, we should dry you off before you get hypothermia next."
But no matter what I did, not even when I blow-dried his hair, he wouldn't stop shivering. I checked his temperature and found it at 104.3 degrees.
"Yami, you're really sick!" I exclaimed. This wasn't a 48 hour bug. He was worse.
"Onii-chan!! We need to go to the hospital!"

Ryou's POV
I knew the speed I was driving wasn't entirely sensible, but this was my yami we were talking about. I normally wouldn't have worried, were it not for the fact that he'd told us he'd overtaxed his soul and would not be able to return to the Millennium Ring at this moment if he died.
When we arrived, the doctors told us he had a much worse sickness than we'd thought. He was getting pneumonia.
"It must be his weak immune system. In Egypt, no one ever lived through a serious illness, so the others never stayed close enough to contract it. That's why he's so ill," Sakura reasoned.
I could have kicked myself. But none of that now. Now he needed me to help him. And I would arise splendidly to the occasion. This was a bit of a twist on my part, I know. But this should be the last misadventure in this story. We're nearing the end. The point of no return...I'll shut up now. Read and Review, peeps!! And pretty soon, I'll be trying to test the italics and bolds on Fanfiction.net, b/c they said they should have fixed it.