Pet Shop of Horrors: Life/Death

Count D rose a clear glass to his lips. The water inside ran smoothly down his throat.

"Wow! D, I thought you only drank tea!" Leon said loudly from the couch.

"Water is a crucial part of life detective." D set his glass down and turned to face Leon. For some unknown reason the Count stumbled as he turned, and nearly fell. He regained his balance again and looked at Leon with his usual calm smile.

"You alright Count?" Leon said with his usual loud and slightly mocking voice. His tone was annoying the Count more than usual today.

"Why are you here anyway?!" Count D said suddenly.

"Huh? D-"

"Leave, detective. You have no business here." D said sounding unusually cross and agitated.

Several animals that were not already in the room poked their heads through the doorway to see what had made the Count so angry. D watched Leon leave in a confused manner.

"Oh dear..." D sighed as he sat down on the couch.

"What happened Count?" asked a cat from the back of the couch.

D sighed again, "I don't know..." he said, "One moment I was fine... Then, for some reason, out good detective was just.. just... just bothering me."

"Maybe your just tired, you have been working rather hard lately..."

"Maybe... I think I'll close early today."

"Yeah! He just shouted at me to get out!" Leon said crossly to Jill, "I think he's up to something!"

"Or maybe you just pushed his last button!" Jill said with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Whatever, I'm going to investigate. He's hiding something. I know it!"

"Aaaa-Choo!" Count D covers his mouth with his arm, and nearly fell over form the force of his sneeze.

"Are you ok Count?" T-chan asked, appearing behind D.

"I think I may have come down with something..."

A knock at the door made D turn around. He suddenly looked vary agitated, "We're closed!" He shouted loudly as he walked to the door, "Ah! My good detective! Please come in. I wish to apologize for my behavior earlier toda-"

"Quiet D! I know your hiding something in here!" Leon pushed his way past Count D, and started poking around.

"Detective, I assure you I have nothing illegal in this shop." D's voice was starting to crack as he attempted to maintain his usual calmness, "Detective! I have had enough of your home wrecking! Would you kindly GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

"Huh?" Leon looked up at Count D from the floor. He had been looking under the couch, "You took me by surprise the first time, but I ain't leaven' this time!"

"Do you have a search warrant detective?" The Count's voice was calmer this time, but still held an air of danger.

"No..."

"Then get out." D pointed angrily at the door, and his eyes followed Leon as he left.

"Hey, if you hate him that much why didn't you let me eat him?" T-chan said eagerly

'There is defiantly something going on with D...' Leon thought as he lay on his bed, 'He never gets that upset... unless its about table manners or something stupid like that...' I'll check on him tomorrow, I have to take Cris over anyhow...'

Count D awoke at 3:00 in the morning, and he was drenched with sweat. Pushing the covers off his body, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed, His head was pounding, and his whole body was shaking. He felt warm despite the cool air that rushed over him. D stood up and walked into the main room of his pet shop. He sat on the couch with his knees brought up to his chest. The lids of his eyes grew heave, and Count D fell into a light sleep.

Leon stood in front of the pet shop, 'Not open yet 'eh... Well he cant brush me off so easily!" he thought. He let go the Chris's hand to knock on the door. D didn't answer. Leon knocked again, harder this time.

D was pulled out of his hazy sleep. He got off the couch slowly, and walked to the door.

"Hey Count I-" Leon stopped talking when he saw D.

The Count was still in his bed cloths and his hair was all messed up.

"Uh... can you watch Cris?

D couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was it not obvious that that he was ill?!

"No, my good detective, I'm not feeling well at all today. I wouldn't want to get Cris sick."

Leon blinked,' He isn't really sick...' he thought, 'He just wants to get get Cris out so he can't spy...'

"Thats a pretty good act you've got their Count! But one thing I'm sure you've forgotten." Leon reached out to D's forehead, and touched it with his palm, "Gaa!" He pulled his hand away. The heat of D's head had surprised him. He had expected it to be cool, "Well, you still might be faking it.... I want to see proof that your sick!

An unpleasantly warm feeling washed over D. He rested his head in the door way, and looked at Leon from the corner of his eye, "You had better leave quickly detective, before you see something you don't want to see."

"Well if it proves that your really sick then..."

"Leon!" Count D fell to his knees, bent over with his arms crossed over his stomach. Cris ran quickly to D.

'Count!'

D's body lurched forward violently, and he vomited on the floor. Leon looked quite stunned, 'He can't fake that... and why would any one want to...'

"Chris, go get a bucket or something..." Leon said, and knelt down beside D, "Hey uh, I'm sorry I gave you a hard time earlier, U should have believed you..." Cris came running towards them again, and was caring a a white cardboard box that had previously held a cake.

D held a very pained expression as he spoke, "I think... I going to..."

"Cris! I don't care if thats all you could find! Toss it to me! Quick!"

Cris hurled the box across the room to Leon. He held it open in front of D as he vomited again.

"It was horrible. We couldn't keep anything in him. He just kept on puking!" Leon leaned against the wall as he spoke to his partner Jill.

"Poor guy, and he lives their alone with those animals too... whose gonna' take care of 'em?" Jill asked with a worried look.

"Who? D or the animals?" Leon said, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood.

"Both!" Jill half yelled at him,"You should take care of him!"

"What?! I can't just take of work!"

"Leon, you know I'm right, now go!"

Leon knocked on the door to Count D's Pet Shop. After a moment he could hear Chris running to the door. He pulled the door open, and let Leon inside. Count D was asleep on the couch. Blankets from his bed covered him. Though they were thick, he still looked cold. Leon could see that under the covers, D had himself curled into a ball, and his hands were curled under clutching the blankets to himself.

"Have you been able to keep any water in him?"

Chris shook his head, and gestured towards a bucket in front of the couch. It was half full of slimy looking water.

There was another knock at the door, 'who could that be..?' Leon thought as he answered the door.

"Jill!" Leon exclaimed as he saw who it was.

"I told the captain that my sister was sick."

"You have a sister?

"No. So, I'll take care of The Count. You and your brother take care of the animals."

Leon left to find the animals, grumbling under his breath. Jill watched D sleep, waiting for him to wake up.

She didn't have long to wait. D's eyes shot open, then squinted shut again. Suddenly he shot over the edge of the couch, and vomited the water he had drunk earlier. Jill hurried to him, and sat on the edge of the couch. She placed a hand on his four head in a motherly fission.

"Gosh, your burning up..."

Without warning the Count's body went limp in Jill's arms, "Count?! D!" Jill yelled in panic, "Leon! Call 911! Quick!"

"I've never seen anything like this..." Leon and Jill watched Count D as he lay on the hospital bed. The doctor their with them was completely baffled by the Count's symptoms, "He's greatly dehydrated, and no mater how we give him fluids, his body rejects them."

"Can he hear us?" Leon asked.

"I don't think so..." the doctor said, "I'll be back in a wile to check on him." with that he left Leon and Jill alone with D.

"Leon, I have to get back to work..." Jill said gently before she left.

Count D could see nothing. His eyelids were so heavy he couldn't open them. He suddenly felt as light as air. All the pain and discomfort left his body. Looking down, he saw his body lying on the hospital bed, and Leon sitting next to it.

'Am I really dying?' D thought as the hospital room was engulf in blackness. He looked up, and could see a beautifully withe light. The light grew brighter as he floated towards it.

"Your friend in worried about you." a light voice said.

Count D stood before a great silvery white dragon. The source of the white light was a great hall in front of which D and the dragon both stood

"The being of life!" Count D whispered, "I thought only of meeting him in my dreams."

"Count D, you must return to your home on earth." the dragon said, "It s not yet time for you to relinquish your soul to me. Listen..."

"Oh D..." Leon's voice rang out clear, "I'm sorry. Sorry for everything! U was horrible to you, always trying to arrest you for everything. D. D?" Leon's voice was suddenly fast and panicked, "Come on D! Breath! You can't Die, you just can't!"

"You must go now." the dragon said, and with out warning Count D began to fall.

Leon was bent over D's body, pleading with it to show some sign of life. Suddenly the Count's eyes shot open, and he took a huge breath of air.

"D!" Leon exclaimed as much in surprise as in joy.

"Man I could have sworn you died!" Leon said. He and D were sitting in the pet shop after he was finally released from the hospital.

"Detective, have you ever herd of the being of life?"

"No."

"Legend says that when a person is very close to dying the being of life will ether let the person live, or take their life..."

Leon looked at D for a moment, then asked the question that had been burning in his mind for some time, "Hey, when you woke up at the hospital you had this really weird look... Did you see anything?"

"Yes." Count D said with a smile, "I saw God."

END

A/N Now I believe I left a few questions unanswered.

Q.Why was D sick?

A.Because thats how the story was inspired. The part at the beginning when D is actually drinking water. He turns around a looses his balance. That actually happened to me, and then this story popped into my head -.

Q.What was D sick with?

A. I really don't know. I just made it up!

Q.Why did you make God look like a dragon?

A.Because I believe that God comes in many forms. In my mind the most powerful form ever to walk the earth (fiction) is the dragon, and thats how I picture God.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my fan fiction, please review.