Chapter 4: Cold
"I demand a name, witch!" Sailor Uranus shouted, jotting a finger at her.
"Shadou," Shadou replied rather bitterly. "I already know your name though, Sailor Uranus. Ten'ou Haruka."
Sailor Uranus was taken aback by this, stumbling slightly. Yes, she'd seen her transform, but she knew her name? "How did you know my name?" She demanded, scowling.
"I know almost everything about you. I needed the perfect description so I could find you and take what I want."
"What you want?" Sailor Uranus asked, bewildered. She silently started forming her sword, but she was too quickly pinned against the wall. The weapon crashed to the floor.
"Give me what I want!" The woman roared.
"But I don't have anything to give you!" She cried, shoving the woman off with a great deal of her power. "WORLD SHAKING!"
Shadou yelped, slamming against the other wall and leaving quite a crater in it.
Two shadow girls wrapped themselves around Uranus's arms, making it impossible for her to move.
"AH!" Sailor Uranus screamed, jerking around to release herself.
Sailor Neptune, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Pluto arrived, only to find themselves in a predicament.
"We have to stop those monsters!" Saturn exclaimed, referring to the shadow creatures.
"We can't hit them. We'll risk hurting Uranus!" Neptune replied, fear plain on her face.
Seiya's eyes slowly fluttered open as he returned to consciousness. How long had he been out for? What was he doing before? It all seeped back into his mind when he saw the scene before him.
Forgetting about the pain he still felt in his joints, he leapt to his feet and rushed Sailor Uranus. He grabbed each shadow monster, his body pressed up against hers.
"What are you doing?" Uranus squealed, turning red.
He winced in pain and allowed golden light to flow freely from his hands, diminishing the monsters as they oozed back into the walls. He leaned against her, suddenly feeling weak, his hands placed along her wrists. "Okay…" He breathed. "Let's get her."
He let go and flung around. "Fighter Star Power, Make-up!" He shouted. Going through his transformation sequence, he reemerged as Sailor Starfighter.
"Remind me to thank you when I have time," Uranus said, smiling at him, then frowned, remembering how she felt about him… or her. She picked up her sword and glared down at Shadou.
"Let me soften her up for you," Starfighter smirked, grinning devilishly. "Star Serious Laser!" She exclaimed, blasting Shadou with her power.
"I would've been fine on my own," Uranus growled, lifting her blade. "Space Sword Blaster!" Shadou screamed, bleeding into the wall. The wall crumbled quite a bit, but when the light was cleared, there was no sign of the enemy.
"Did you get her?" Starfighter asked, looking around.
"I think so…" Uranus replied, vanishing her weapon. "…but what did she want with me?"
-
Seiya curled up under his covers, shivering. "I'm so cold…" He whispered into the darkness. "Somebody must have left the air on or something…" A sweat had broken on his forehead. His eyes widened as he broke into a coughing fit.
Haruka's eyes flew open from her room as a quiet, muffled noise wafted through her open bathroom door. Seiya's was closed, but he was still distinguishable. At first she tried to ignore it, but finally she grew bored of listening and got up to stop it herself.
When she entered his room through the bathroom, he was coughing but stopped just as she approached the bed. His eyes opened rather weakly as she knelt beside him. "Hello…" He greeted tiredly. "What do you want?"
"I couldn't sleep because you were making so much noise," Haruka replied, not really managing to sound bitter or angry like she usually did.
"Sorry about that…" Seiya shrugged from under his blankets, blinking back sleep.
Haruka looked at him for a moment, then looked around. "You need to get these covers off of you. You're so warm you're sweating."
"No, it's all right…" He grabbed hold of them rather defensively. "I'm fine."
"I'm serious…" Haruka grumbled, narrowing her eyes at him. Gods, he was stubborn!
"I'll try not to make anymore noise," He told her. "Just close your bathroom door or something if it continues…"
"Hey, hold on… you were coughing. Are you sick?" Haruka asked.
"No, no…" He waved his hand at her. "I'm just stressed out, that's all." He rolled over onto his back, and she leaned over him as she stood.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure, I'm sure! Who knows my body better than me?" He smiled at her.
"Sometimes I wonder," She replied, lifting an eyebrow. "You're still pretty sweaty. Did you run laps before bed or something?"
Seiya chuckled half-heartedly. "Go on back to sleep. It's cool."
She pouted slightly, most likely from him dancing around her words and her not getting her way, and left. He waited until he heard the muffled sound of the second door shutting before his smile faded.
"What if I am getting sick?" He asked the air. "I'm kinda lightheaded…" He moaned and pulled the covers up over his nose. "This is the last thing I need right now! Stupid cold and flu season… It is cold and flu season here, right? I can't remember." He started to cough again, but he muffled it to the best of his extent, covering his mouth with his hands. "Actually…" He spoke dreamily as it subsided. "I'm very… light… headed…" His eyes rolled back in his head, and he drifted off to a deep sleep.
-
The buzz of the alarm clock pulled him closer to consciousness. He opened his eyes to find himself hugging to his pillow, his face mostly buried in it. His hair and white t-shirt were soaked from sweat. The alarm clock annoyingly beamed 8:00 A.M. He moaned, hiding his face from the warm sunlight in the room.
After a few seconds of contemplating whether to get up or get pummeled by Haruka, he lifted his head off his pillow and rose to sitting on his knees. His blinked blearily around the room as he stumbled out of bed, shutting off the alarm.
"Yah!" He yelped, falling against the bathroom door as his vision swirled. His heartbeat now accompanied with a loud ring entered his ears, and his body trembled, feeling like he'd been dunked in ice water. His breathing staggered, and in a panic he fumbled for the door knob.
Swinging the door open, he collapsed to the floor, the tile so cold that it burned against the skin on his legs. He regretted wearing his boxers instead of pajama pants as he crawled to the sink and hoisted himself up with every ounce of strength he had.
Turning the sink on, he scooped up handfuls of the water and slurped it quickly. The ringing and heartbeat slowly vanished, and his sight returned to normal.
Seiya looked at himself in the mirror. His face was as pale as the moon, his eyes lined with shadow. His eyeballs themselves were bloodshot, and his face was once again dripping with sweat.
A knock came to the opposite door. "Hey, are you in there, or can I come in? I can use another bathroom. Setsuna and Michiru have already gone off to work, and Hotaru's with Chibi-Usa," Haruka's muffled voice called.
Seiya looked back at himself when a sudden memory struck him.
Dearest Kakyuu… laid out in bed… pale like the moon with blood shot eyes, slipping in and out of consciousness and coughing up…
He took in a deep breath. "Haru-" He started but was interrupted with another coughing fit.
"Hey," She said, knocking on the door again. "You all right?"
He hacked until his cough emerged with a wet sound.
"Hey!" Haruka cried. "You didn't just blow chunks did you?"
His eyes opened, and he saw bright crimson slipping through his fingers. He moved his hands from his face and stared down at the red puddle, glistening like wine, formed in his hand.
"Blood…" He choked, a small trickle of it slipping down his chin. His teeth were stained pink by it.
"Seiya?" She called.
He looked toward the door. If she saw him like this…
"Don't come in! I'm n… not decent!" He lied.
"Fine, but what took you so long? What was that noise?"
"Nothing!" He lied again. "Go away!"
"I'm going! Jeez."
He placed his hands back under the sink, doing all he could to remove the stain from his hands. He wiped his chin and washed his hands again, but when he looked in the mirror, he still didn't see much improvement. He swished water in his mouth, and when he spit it out, it was pink.
His breath caught in his throat, and he forced it down with every inch of his willpower.
He burst back into his room and shed of his sticky, sweat-soaked clothing until he was completely nude. His frozen form trembled as he dug through the drawers for something to wear, finally managing up his only clean outfit, a red t-shirt, black boxer shorts, and a pair of black slacks. He pulled them on in haste, tied his hair back, and staggered out his bedroom door. "Haruka?" He called in a weak, croaky voice.
He could hear the shower down the hall. He cursed and stomped down the stairs. His nausea was subsiding.
"Maybe it's not any big deal," He convinced himself in a state of denial. "Stress can cause you to cough blood. That's what Taiki told me once anyways… I just need to relax…"
He plopped down on the couch and flipped on the television set. His hands were shaking, and he couldn't understand why.
He snagged his red hoody off the arm of the couch and pulled it on, slipping his damp ponytail out from beneath it.
The television was playing some sort of mindless cartoon about robots. He wasn't very interested, in fact, he would have preferred a game of American football, but after the events that had taken place that morning, he just didn't have the strength to change it.
Closing his eyes, Seiya leaned his head back on the arch of the couch and just stayed that way.
"Yo."
Suddenly jolted awake by someone shaking him, he snapped his eyes open and looked around.
Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Idiot," She snapped. "Eat something. It's ten thirty. You're lucky I didn't pummel you."
He got to his feet and followed her into the kitchen that she was apparently cleaning.
"I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep…" He said as he sat down. He couldn't help but be amazed at how weak his voice sounded. "I'm… sorry…"
"Don't be sorry because you're a dip head," She replied, placing a box of cereal on the table. "You can't help it."
"I don't want it."
"Huh?"
"I'm not hungry…"
She stared at him before coming up next to him and putting her hand against his forehead. "Do you have a fever or something?" The heat from his head caught her by surprise. "Ah! Apparently so!"
"Your hands are just cold… that's all…" He responded, not looking at her.
"I had an inkling that you'd gone and gotten yourself sick."
"I don't have time to be sick!" He yelled, finally able to raise his voice. He stood up and swung his arm back for dramatic effect. "I can't be bedridden now! I have to get Usagi and get home before my whole kingdom is vanquished!"
"We can't get Usagi because we don't know where she is! I'm sorry!" Hotaru replied when the phone rang.
She picked it up. "HELLO!" She shouted, more loudly than originally intended.
"Hello, Haruka…" Hotaru said shyly. "I… I thought I should tell you that I know where Usagi-chan is…"
"Wha- REALLY!" Haruka exclaimed. "WHERE!"
"She's over in the mountain area, not far from here. She and Mamoru-san are in a cabin up there. Do you know where I'm talking about?"
She did. "Of course I do! I'll talk to you later!" She hung up. "It's your lucky day."
Seiya stared at her in surprise.
"I know where Usagi is."
His eyes lit up.
(A/N: Don't worry, guys. It's far from over. You're probably still spazzing that I actually updated. :P)