Chapter 3

It was midmorning when Jitan awoke, and the slight chill in the cave was already being replaced by the sun's warmth. With an earnest yawn, Jitan rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his right hand and noticed that his left hand was still intertwined with Kuja's. He turned his head and looked at his older brother who was still fast asleep. 'He looks so peaceful.' With an effort to not wake his brother, Jitan care-fully retrieved his hand from Kuja's and silently got to his feet. After stretching his sore muscles he walked over to the cave's entrance and looked out upon the island as it discarded it's moonlit cloak of shadows and stars, and adorned itself with a cape of clouds and sun.

Jitan closed his eyes and breathed in the sweet perfume of flowers mixed with a crisp, morning breeze and, for just a moment, forgot about all his problems. He sighed heavily and walked down to the stream to a spot where it was slightly wider and deeper. Kneeling down, he cupped his hands in the stream and splashed his face with the cool water. As he was about to dry himself off with his shirt, one sniff of the bloody, sea-crusted, dirty clothes made him turn his nose elsewhere. He quickly rid himself of his shirt and tugged at his stiff boots—almost falling over in the process—until they begrudgingly released his feet. As he peeled his socks off, he thought, 'Ugh...I bet Kuja's clothes are just as soiled as mine are, (and that can't be good with all his wounds—I just hope they're not infected already).'

Jitan walked back to the cave, dropping his clothes near the entrance. Kuja had barely moved; the only change was that his head faced the opposite direction. Jitan sighed and walked over to him and wondered which was the best way to wake him.

"Kuja."

No response.

"Hey, big bro, wake up," he said as knelt down and slightly squeezed his shoulders.

"Mmm." Kuja moved his head slowly to face him and opened his eyes...

* * * *

Everything was a wash of dull colors, like a painting that had been left out in the rain. Kuja blinked and tried to focus on his brother's face.

"Kuja, are you awake?"

The colors were back to normal now, but he was still seeing double as he watched Jitan's mouth move with words he couldn't understand. Kuja strained to hear his brother, but his senses seemed to be in suspended animation and all that reached him were muffled pitches of Jitan's soft tenor voice. Kuja closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to convey that he couldn't understand what was being said to him.

"What's the matter? Can you not hear me?"

Kuja just continued to shake his head, hoping his brother would understand. After a second or two, the puzzled look on Jitan's face slowly gave way to one of understanding.

"Oh."

Kuja sighed and closed his eyes, but immediately he felt an upsetting churn in his stomach and his eyes shot open as he fought to keep his gorge down. Not caring about the pain it would cause, he jerked his hand up to his mouth.

"Kuja?! What is it? What's wrong?!"

Gagging, he rolled to the side and thoroughly retched himself sick. Since there had been nothing in his stomach but seawater, it hurt him even more for his stomach to wrench itself dry. After coughing his body into a glove of needles, he lay back on the stone bed and closed his eyes, his breath ragged. Gradually, he felt himself relax when Jitan scooted closer and cradled his head in his lap. With the combination of exhaustion and Jitan's soothing words as he stroked his head, Kuja drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

Even after sitting there for half an hour holding Kuja's sleeping form, Jitan still couldn't bring himself to get up. It was only when the temperature in the cave reached its peak from the mid-day sun that he couldn't stand it anymore.

Slowly and carefully, he brought Kuja into a sitting position and pulled up his own legs to brace him as he stood up. Kuja stirred, but he didn't appear to have woken up. The humidity and lack of wind in the cave cheered him on as he picked up his brother and trudged out of the cave to the stream.

The sun was at it's highest in the sky, glaring down upon anything that wasn't submerged in foliage. Jitan squinted his eyes and found a shaded spot near the stream where he could lay Kuja. Careful not to jostle him as he stepped over the stream, Jitan kneeled and spread his brother out over the trampled grass. As he was backing away, his eyes found those of his brother's and saw that they were open and staring straight at him with a wondering look. He was a little startled, but he quickly composed himself and tried earnestly to explain to Kuja that he had to get him out of his soiled clothes and clean his wounds. Kuja didn't seem to be listening to his words, but as his eyes followed Jitan's hands and body language, he nodded that he understood.

"Alright then, I'll try to make this as quick and painless as I can," Jitan said as he began un-latching Kuja's knee-high boots. "All you have to do is lie there and relax," he said with a grin. After the boots were off, Jitan was able to confirm a few bruises here and there, but nothing serious.

Next came the grueling task of removing the Kuja's battered armor. He had no clue as to how it came off and struggled to separate the outer lavender "jacket" when Kuja reached up and stilled his hands. Reaching inside the jacket, Kuja ran his hand along the top of the metal belt that crossed his chest and unlatched some sort of lock. Immediately, the outer jacket sagged and Jitan was able to slip it off easily.

"Man, that thing was heavy," Jitan said as he laid it aside, "how in the world did you wear it without falling over?" 'He must've put a spell on it of some sort to make it lighter,' he concluded.

Now that the outer jacket was off, Kuja's shining mythril scales glinted in the sun, though with a red tint at the places where magics and weapons had broke through. Jitan felt rather sorry that he'd fought him back at the Ifa Tree; and knowing that he was the strongest of the party, most of them had been his doing. He wanted to tell him he was sorry, but he'd done what needed to be done. After all, Kuja had been pretty intent on destroying the world of Gaia like he did with their birth-planet, Terra. He blinked and was pulled back into the present.

"Sorry; zoned out for a sec," he said as he continued with the task of removing Kuja's banged up armor. He looked all over the mythril-scaled covering for a latch or clasp of some kind, but he found none. Kuja, it seemed, had fallen asleep during his flashback and wasn't aware of the predicament. When Jitan nudged him gently, he woke with a little start—apparently not having realized he'd fallen asleep. He looked about and saw his brother motioning to the armor. Smiling a little, Kuja raised his arm in the air and snapped his fingers together. Suddenly, whatever magic had been holding the armor together was broken, and mythril scales trickled down Kuja's arms and chest, falling to the ground like coins from treasure chest.

"Whoa! That was amazing! How did you do that?" Jitan picked up one of the scales, admiring its radiance. "May I have this one?"

Kuja blinked slowly and nodded.

"Thanks." He slipped it into his pocket. "Well, I guess it's time we get you in the stream, ne?"

His answer was a puzzled look. Obviously, Kuja hadn't gotten the gist of his statement. 'Well, he'll find out real quick, now won't he'? Jitan smiled. Kuja's expression only deepened upon seeing this. Placing his hands behind his brother's legs and back, Jitan scooped him up and stepped into the deeper water of the stream. Kuja's eyes widened as he came to realize what was going on.

"Brace yourself."

Jitan dropped to his knees and lowered his brother chest-deep into the water...

* * * *

Kuja gasped as the cool water flooded every nerve and sensation and practically numbed his body until all he felt were the stream's currents as they flowed over him like a cool sigh. Eventually, he relaxed as the waters became a constant comfort, and he sighed with pleasure.

"Well, now that you're comfortable, let's get down to business."

'Business?'

Jitan removed his hand from under his legs and reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. After dipping it in the water he proceeded to gently wash away the dust and grit from Kuja's wounds. Thankfully, his scabs were old enough that they didn't tear when the kerchief was brought over them. Jitan's soft but strong touch was very soothing as he worked his way from his head to his feet, and he was soon utterly relaxed.

* * * *

Jitan paused in his rhythmic cleaning to spy Kuja with a look of pleasure about him. He smiled and con-tinued cleaning the wounds until he was thoroughly pleased with the results. Putting the handkerchief back in his pocket, he placed his hand under Kuja's legs again and stood up. Kuja opened his eyes with a look of disappointment, but quickly replaced it with a faint smile as he leaned his head against Jitan's chest.

Jitan didn't want to return to the humid cave, but he also didn't want to set his wet brother on the sandy ground only to get dirty again. He scanned the clearing and spotted a fairly large rock near the cave's entrance that was now shaded. He walked over to it and somehow managed to scramble onto it while still carrying Kuja in his arms. Laying him full- length over the rock, Jitan sighed heavily and spread out next to him. The rock was pretty smooth, and with his muscles aching from holding Kuja—and washing him at the same time for half and hour—Jitan quickly found himself falling asleep to the sound of the soft breeze as it swept through the trees.