Sickness

By Katsuya Kaiba

One Shot Series: Seto Kaiba 2.0

"Oh, god…"

His eyes burned terribly, but all he could do was rub at them repeatedly, so often that he suspected that he might soon rub all the blue in them away. Thinking that thought in particular caused him to lower his hands from his face momentarily and stare at his fingers, wondering what had caused such a strange and irrational thought. His eyes tried their best to focus on what lay before them, but it hurt so badly, and all he really wanted to do was close them for good and ever. He let his hands fall back to the keys of his laptop and he gave them an experimental tap or two, and noted that what he had been typing was nothing that made any sort of sense. Or maybe it did, and he was just too dizzy to see reason when it was shoved in his face. He was dizzy, terribly so, although he wasn't sure why that was because he was sitting and he had been for quite some time. Ever since he'd gotten to his office…how long had he been there?

Seto glanced over at the clock on his wall. It was ten thirty in the morning…he had hardly been in for four hours. Too soon, too soon to take a break, too soon to go home or even consider doing anything other than catching up with the huge pile of paperwork that had somehow grown to an unfair height in the corner of his desk, and while he knew that something had been slightly bothering him for the past few days, it was no excuse for this serious lack of timeliness. He sat back in his chair and stared at the pile fearfully, as though it threatened him, and it did, but not in the way that the pile itself was frightening. It was Seto's lack of willpower, his sudden decrease in drive and intensity that was looming so unbearably in the farthest reaches of his mind. He couldn't be slipping…could he?

A bout of nausea gripped him and he clutched at his stomach, thinking that perhaps he should get up from his desk and run to the bathroom, just in case. But no…he decided that he mustn't give in. whatever this was that had haunted his body for the last two days, this unseen demon that sucked away his strength and threw him into feverish sweats, who made his skin and his eyes burn with heat and twisted his stomach into hopeless knots…Seto didn't like him much. And Seto was determined to be declared victorious in this physical struggle, so each day he pressed on and dragged himself to work, striving to accomplish double the amount that he would normally consider to be adequate. Seto would not give in to such a human vice, the weak and pitiful sickness that tried it's absolute best to claim him.

Seto had made up his mind that he was simply not sick.

There wasn't very much that would be proven effective against a will such as Seto's, and now that the matter was closed and decided, no one could change his mind. Oh, plenty had tried; Jounouchi and Mokuba being the most determined and at the same time the most hopeful chance that there was in this fight. But there wasn't much that either of them could do. However, it was far more than anyone else could do, or even dared to try. Seto frowned to himself as he remembered Jounouchi's parting words to him this morning as he had dragged himself out of bed, intent on going into the office even though Jounouchi had taken his temperature at 103 degrees.

"Alright, then…go on. Go to work, I know that you're going to go no matter what I say, so just get out, then. But I'm warning you – if you collapse at work and someone has to carry you home, you're going to be awfully upset that you went. And don't even expect me to take care of you when they bring you home…you can just lie there and feel sorry for yourself. Just watch and see…it'll happen…"

It most certainly would not happen. Seto wasn't sure why Jounouchi was being so mean to him now that he was down, but he decided that it must be due to something irrationally emotional, and Seto didn't want any part in something like that, so he'd let Jounouchi speak and then promptly left for work as soon as he had finished. It seemed as though Mokuba was under the same 'kick Seto when he's down' spell, and Seto knew for a fact that his little brother was angry with him when he had received a phone call from him about an hour earlier.

"Kaiba"

"…Nii-sama? Where are you?"

"I'm working, of course. Why?"

Silence. And then, "Jounouchi says that you're sicker than ever, and you still wouldn't stay home from work. Are you still sick?"

Seto gritted his teeth. "No…I am not sick." If he spoke those words, it would be just like admitting defeat. He didn't take into consideration whether or not he was lying to his brother, and before he had the chance to make the connection Mokuba began to speak again.

"Nii-sama…you're lying. Jounouchi wouldn't lie, but you would if it meant that you got to go to work when you aren't supposed to."

That startled Seto, he hadn't thought of it in that light. "O-touto-"

"No, you better go home right now, or else…"

Seto smiled, although he wasn't really all that amused. "Or else…what?"

"I'll hang up on you." Mokuba was firm and decisive, speaking in such a way that left no room for question. Seto, however, wasn't able to comprehend such things directed at him, and he questioned Mokuba anyway. He was tired and stressed out, and while he didn't want to admit it deep down, he knew that he was sick as hell, and he just didn't want to deal with Mokuba and Jounouchi like this. Not all in the same crappy day.

"Mokuba…I am not coming home. You two need to-"

Click. The other line dropped, and Seto brought the phone away from his ear and stared at it helplessly, half in shock and half in rage.

Seto shook his head again, forcing his eyes to stare sightlessly at the computer screen in front of him. He wouldn't give in, no matter how much those two begged him to. How could they understand, anyway? What did they think he did for a living? They had no idea of what it was like, to have all of these people and things and appointments, and every one of them scheduled around Seto himself. Seto was very important, and he was well aware of that fact and lived his life accordingly, and he hadn't a moment or a piece of himself to spare. Too many commitments, too many decisions to make and far too much paperwork to go through. Paperwork…Seto hated it. He gave the stack on the corner of his desk a sullen glare and lifted his elbows to rest on the desktop before him. Maybe he just needed to get up for a moment and stretch his legs. He knew that there wasn't much hope for him to concentrate the way he was going now, and he pushed his chair back from the desk and winced at the pain that shot through the muscles in his back.

He was not sick. He simply was not.

Placing his hands flat on the desktop, he pushed himself into a standing position and carefully stood, feeling himself sway at his new height. He frowned and let go of the desk decisively, he didn't need any support, and instead he walked away and opened the door to his office, deciding to go and see if there was any new paperwork to add to his ever-growing collection. It was so odd, though…he had never let things get this bad before, and yet there was so much more than there ever had been. Was he slacking? He closed his eyes and rubbed at them once again, trying his hardest to ignore the stinging sensation that covered his eyes even when they were shut. It was as though the heat from his forehead was leaking into his eyes, and he took a few more steps down the hallway until something made him pause in mid-step. He froze in the center of the hall and looked down at his feet, and noticed in a sort of faraway panic that he wasn't as in control of them as he thought he had been, and he tried to lift one of them and found that it simply refused to obey him. It remained where it was, and Seto didn't move an inch.

It was a bit infuriating, and he set his teeth together and moved again, letting his hand reach out to the wall of the hallway in an attempt to halt the feeling that he was spinning, even though he was positive that he was doing no such thing seeing as how his feet wouldn't move. The hand that he let out found the wall, but his arm was so weak that he wasn't able to support himself by it alone, and he realized that if he didn't catch himself he was going to fall down. He let his other arm out and it shot towards the wall as fast as he could let it, but it was too late and Seto fell, fell in the center of the hallway and the darkness gripped him as the force of the fall hit his head on the way down.

Seto wasn't exactly sure about where he was or how he had gotten there, but wherever it was, it was far too hot. He was only so aware of himself, but he caught snatches of sensations through a fog and he realized that his shirt was stuck to his body somehow, and it felt so disgusting against his skin that he lifted his hands so that he could pull it off, but nothing happened. His arms didn't move, and his shirt remained glued to his skin in a wet and stifling manner. Why wouldn't his body react to his commands any longer? And why the hell was it so damn hot in here…wherever here was?

As his level of awareness rose slowly he began to feel all of the muscles in his body trembling for some unknown reason, and he frowned for a moment until he noticed that frowning was now painful, and he let the expression fall from his face and instead set himself to the task of opening his eyes. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to at that point, but he needed to do something, anything that would prove that he was in control of himself, even if it was limited to his eyelids. Seto had just about worked up enough strength to give it a go when he felt something shockingly frozen and wet against his forehead and he cringed at the sudden icy feeling it brought, not entirely sure if it was pleasant. It was, he realized a few seconds later, because it drew the heat away from his skin and made it easier for him to open his eyes, which he found that he was now able to do, if only halfway.

His eyes cracked open slightly and Seto winced at the light that streamed on his face, although in reality there was only one light on in the room and all of the blinds were shut, making the room darker than it normally was. Everything seemed to be just a bit farther away than it always had been before, and Seto recognized his bedroom after staring sideways at the blurry mess for some time. The freezing touch returned once again and Seto's eyes widened and he looked in front of him and found Jounouchi sitting on the edge of his bed quietly, wearing an oddly calm expression on his face. Seto reluctantly remembered what he had been scolded about earlier that morning, and now that those events had come to pass, despite his best efforts, he knew that he was in for it somehow. Perhaps his pathetic condition would be payment enough…he could tell that he looked precisely how he felt. Seto watched Jounouchi as he lifted the cloth in his hands to his face again and tried to cool off his burning skin, and Seto thought it was odd how Jounouchi was able to study his face so closely without once making eye contact. Seto stared his absolute hardest at Jounouchi's eyes, and finally Jounouchi glanced to the side and caught Seto's gaze, smiling from the corner of his mouth quickly before looking down again at the cloth in his hand. He sighed hopelessly and brought his eyes up to Seto's, who was still watching Jounouchi intently.

"You know…I swore that if you hurt yourself by going into work today, I wasn't going to take care of you. I still don't think that I should…but just look at you. You're a mess…and you're burning up. You're even hotter than you were when you left this morning. What did I tell you…?"

Seto opened his mouth to answer, but before he could get a word out Jounouchi had pressed a finger on Seto's lips and shaken his head.

"It'll hurt your throat if you speak. Just lie still, and be quiet for once." Jounouchi smiled again, and Seto smiled weakly back, hoping that Jounouchi meant what he had said and wasn't going to let him be miserable like this all alone. Never mind what he himself would have done if Jounouchi had done a thing that Seto had insisted that he refrain from doing…this was totally different. Jounouchi stood up from his seat and leaned over the bed, giving Seto a slight kiss on his forehead before he backed away.

"This isn't cold anymore," he lifted the washcloth in his hand so that Seto could see, "so I'm just going into the bathroom real quick, okay? I'll be right back." He turned around and walked into Seto's bathroom, disappearing from Seto's line of sight as soon as he was behind the door. The water ran in the sink for a minute or so, and then Jounouchi came back out and sat down just where he had been before, raising the cloth to Seto's forehead and pressing it against his skin. Seto's muscles all trembled violently for a moment as the stinging cold sunk into his face, but he tried his best to relax underneath it and eventually it became bearable.

"Well…Mokuba called me and told me that someone from Kaiba Corp. had found you lying in the hallway, out cold…they sent you to the hospital immediately, which wasn't necessary since the doctor sent you right back here…exactly where I told you to stay in the first place. You had the flu originally, they said, but you pushed it too far, and now you've got something worse, nothing bad enough to keep you in the hospital, of course, but…you'll need to stay here for a few days."

A few days? Unthinkable, and Seto tried to sit up and demand that Jounouchi move out of his way, but he couldn't even bring his body to stop it's trembling, let alone move about freely like he was wanting to. He did manage to shift his eight around a bit and he gave Jounouchi a glare, but he felt that it was weak and Jounouchi only blinked at him before reaching out and pushing downwards on Seto's shoulders, ensuring that his escape would fail.

"Yes…a few days. I know that's what's got you all bent out of shape, but it's either that or go into work and collapse every day…wouldn't that begin to make you lose face after awhile?" Jounouchi caught his eyes and held them firmly, and Seto thought about what he had just said. It made sense, the very last image he wanted to paint to his employees was a weak one, and if he remained ill much longer he might just being to come off that way. Perhaps it might be best to hide this particular ailment behind closed doors.

Jounouchi lifted the cloth away from Seto's forehead and set it down on the dresser beside the bed.

"I know that I said I wouldn't take care of you…but you knew I was lying, didn't you?" Seto didn't say anything, but he did manage to lift the edge of his mouth in a slight smirk that Jounouchi could see even through his sickness, and he frowned for a moment, and then broke into a bright smile.

"I didn't even know that I was lying…you know? I promised myself that if you wanted to be stupid, you'd have to go on and be stupid n your own…but I couldn't do that." Jounouchi stood up and grabbed the washcloth in his hand. "You're a wreck, and I was so afraid when Mokuba called me and told me that you were in the hospital…don't do this anymore…alright?"

Seto couldn't really answer Jounouchi one way or the other, but Jounouchi didn't wait around too long and he turned around and walked across the room. Opening the door and slipping outside, he gave Seto one last mock glare before he smiled and waved at him. "Go to sleep." The door shut a second later, and Seto's eyelids fell down all by themselves, without any encouragement from Seto himself. He was rather tired, although it seemed as though he had been asleep for ages. His skin felt so much better than it had when he had first awoken, and he grinned to himself as he thought of Jounouchi and how much Seto didn't even have to try. It was almost too easy.

AN: Awww...I don't know what to say. Jounouchi's just so nice, and Seto...well, he's...he sure is hot. Redeemingly so. My two favorite memories are coming up next...these are like memories, aren't they? It's like Seto's still in his bed, in the first chapter, and he's thinking back. Ai...that's sad, though. Maybe I shouldn't look at it like that. You can.