So... Hey all! This chapter is taking a while. Due dates on paintings, power point presentations on Shakespeare, demonstration speeches and seven page papers on French peasants reared their ugly faces. Plus, Like I said before in my little notes - I had no idea that the fic was going to continue to a third chapter. I'm kind of out of ideas for this chapter so it may not seem as thought-out as the other two. I sure as hell hope I can end this here, otherwise I might be completely out of ideas. So wish me luck and enjoy chapter three. Thanks again to all those people who took the time to read and review chapters one and two, as always, Mizukotsu is a very special person and always seems to be the first to review a new chapter. Arigatou mizu-chan!

Japanese used in this chapter-

Nani - What? Huh?

Iie (Ee-ay) – No

Shimatta – Fairly strong curse (Dammit)

In Sickness and In Heath

Chapter 3

The night had been much less eventful than Bankotsu would have thought, or more, feared. Besides cuddling up close to his body and holding onto him with a grip to rival the talon's of a falcon, Jakotsu seemed to have behaved himself. Bankotsu had been slightly shocked at the lack of 'naughty things' that Jakotsu did, which was really, nothing. Perhaps this sickness was affecting him more than Bankotsu had originally thought.

Still, Bankotsu had to admit that sleeping next to a man all night, a man who happened to like other men, was very unnerving. He'd barely slept a wink. He hadn't even bothered trying until he was completely exhausted. Both from his overactive emotions and the many attempts he had made to free himself from Jakotsu's clamp-like embrace. He had struggled like a hooked trout at first, although eventually he had calmed when he realized how strong Jakotsu was... Even sick and asleep. The thought also occurred to him that perhaps Jakotsu needed the body warmth.

But the most shocking thing of all had been the fact that once he had finally fallen asleep, how well he slept. Bankotsu was normally not a very good sleeper, he tossed and turned and was always awoken several times over the course of a night by odd dreams. None of that had happened tonight, although he had had some kind of dream, but it was not at all enough to wake him up. In fact, by the time was rudely awoken he had forgotten all about it.

Exactly what he was rudely awakened by was simple…. In the morning, Jakotsu's sickness had escalated into yet another problem. A problem that could be summed up in a single word, or more summed up in a simple name; Renkotsu.

"Na-Nani!" A stunned, shocked voice rang out in the bedroom that had been peaceful and quite a moment before. Then something shattered.

That was plenty enough noise and commotion to wake up the dozing shichinin-tai leader. His eyes flickered open, slowly at first, but then, upon seeing the abashed form of the second in command they opened to their fullest extent, then his mouth opened as well and began to spew excuses. None of which were very effective, possibly because of how shocked Renkotsu already was, or perhaps because Bankotsu was speaking at a speed that couldn't have been followed by Jakotsu on a on of his sugar-highs.

Then the man beside Bankotsu stirred, though, unlike the leader, he didn't open his eyes and start babbling non-sense. He simply snuggled up closer to his leader's warm body and tightened his hold on him. Mumbling something that sounded a bit like "Mmm.. IIe, Just a few more minutes…."

Renkotsu's eyes widened and Bankotsu struggled again against Jakotsu's python-like embrace, he attempted to stand and the other man simply held tighter onto him.

"Shimatta Jakotsu!" Bankotsu continued to try to stand, almost completely pulling Jakotsu upright. "Wake up!"

Finally Jakotsu's eyes opened and he stared up at Bankotsu, a groggy smile on his face. "Morning Ban-chan!" He said, before pulling Bankotsu back into a sitting position and forcing his way into Bankotsu's lap. Renkotsu could only stare.

"Ren-Renkotsu it's not what it looks like!" Bankotsu finally managed to string a complete sentence together in his flustered state.

"Aniki… I don't…" Renkotsu was speaking in a gruff tone, almost defiant. "It looks.."

Jakotsu interrupted him, happily exclaiming in a rather sing-songy voice "That we made hot love to each other all night long? Because that's exactly what we –"

It was Bankotsu's turn to interrupt, though how he could even speak when he was this ecstatic was anyone's guess. "We did NOT!" He was staring up at Renkotsu now, trying to convince him that nothing had happened between them over the course of the night. Renkotsu was already hard enough to handle, what would happen to his already defiant demeanor if he thought that his leader and his third-in-command were sleeping together? Bankotsu shuddered inwardly at the thought. "He was just cold! Nothing happened!"

Jakotsu was still hanging off of Bankotsu's form, curled around his body in a way Renkotsu found completely disgusting even if they were still fully clothed. Jakotsu was acting like a whore, from one of those pleasure districts, and, as much as Renkotsu hated to admit it…. He looked the part rather well. Renkotsu blushed slightly at his indecent thoughts, although his shade was nothing like Bankotsu's; who was completely scarlet at this point.

"How could you saaaay something like that Oo-aniki?" Jakotsu put on a rather fake pout. "I thought we had something special!" If Jakotsu wasn't already fearing for his life, he would have enjoyed giving Bankotsu a play slap to ham up the act even more. Instead, figuring that he had done enough emotional damage to Bankotsu for at least three years, he recoiled from the other man and crossed his hands over his chest.

"Nothing happened Renkotsu, really." Bankotsu said, his blush not dying down even as he stood and clasped his armor back onto his body. "Really." He spoke as if that solved the matter, although he knew it didn't. He doubted whether Renkotsu's suspicions would ever die down, and Jakotsu…. Well, he would NEVER change. Then he turned back to look at Jakotsu, he wanted to scowl at him and scold him, but he somehow found himself unable to. Jakotsu was coughing again, and, whether the hacking was real or Jakotsu's acting, he couldn't bring himself to be angry with the effeminate assassin. "And you…" The scowl he planed to give Jakotsu suddenly melted into a smile. "You're still sick, so get some rest and I'll go check in with Suikotsu and Mukotsu."

Renkotsu's jaw still hadn't been fixed back into place when Bankotsu ushered him out of the room and slid the door closed.

Woot for Pfeekin's shortest chapter EVER! Yay! But I really wanted to get a third chapter done before the holidays started. And I really do have a plan for the next chapter, so there shouldn't be such a long wait untill the next one. Gomenasai for the long wait! TT I promise I'll be quicker getting out Chapter Four! Also, expect an 'M' rating by the next chapter +biiiiig grin+