Chapter four
The Burning Tree
After Kaza left the office, he sneezed. He rubbed his nose and sniffed a few times.
'Stupid dust.' He thought to himself as he went upstairs and grabbed a cup of water. Kaza dug through the bottles of medicine in the cabinet until he came across the bottle of benadryl. After opening it, he poured about four into his hand.
All he wanted to do was to sleep. Besides, he had the day off tomorrow. Might as well get some well-deserved sleep.
He popped them into his mouth and downed them with the water. He made a loud gulping noise as he emptied the cup of its contents and then placed it into the sink.
"Achoo!"
Sniff.
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Rikuo stepped into the small, quiet apartment about an hour after Kaza did. He had taken a small walk, trying to clear his head. It hadn't worked.
He knew that something was wrong with Kaza, but for the boy to be this quiet, it was unnerving.
"Kaza?" He called out.
When he didn't hear a response he shrugged his shoulders and eased out of his jacket, slinging onto the back of a chair.
He walked towards the bathroom, not even noting that Kaza wasn't in his bed. The door screeched open, and there on the floor was a shirtless Kaza, passed out.
"Kaza!" Rikuo yelled. He didn't notice the worry in his voice as he picked the boy up off the floor.
Kaza groaned as he opened his eyes slowly. His hand lifted up and rested on his head as Rikuo carried him into the room, placing him on his bed.
"Kaza?"
The boy turned his head, his darkened eyes staring up into Rikuo's.
"What happened?"
Instead of giving him an answer, he sneezed.
"I j-just took some medicine." His now slightly nasal voice said.
Rikuo glared down at him before he walked into the kitchen. He saw the bottle of benadryl, narrowed his eyes even more, and then walked back over towards Kaza's bed.
"How many?" He asked.
"Four."
Rikuo's hands began to shake at his sides.
"You idiot! You had me worried for nothing! I thought you were hurt!" He yelled at the now snoring boy.
Rikuo growled.
He grabbed Kaza by the shoulders and shook him until he opened his eyes.
"Hmm…."
"Wake up! You little shit!"
Kaza just glanced up at him before his eyes closed again.
Rikuo closed his eyes as he let go of him, his eyebrows knitting together as he forced himself to walk away.
"Just you wait, Kudo! I'm going to kill you tomorrow." He almost growled out at the sleeping boy, as he got into his own bed.
"Idiot." He mumbled to himself as Kaza snored loudly.
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As much as he would have liked to strangle Kaza the next day, he ended up taking care of him. He was now feverish, and even worse than he was the time he had fallen into the river on one of Kakei's jobs.
He was hardly ever awake and when he was, Rikuo was always at his bedside with a bowl of hot soup.
It had been three days now, and Kaza wasn't getting any better. This just made every body worry, even Saiga.
'What could he have possibly done to make himself this sick?' Rikuo thought to himself as he poured the chicken noodle soup into a bowl.
He heard Kaza coughing in the other room and grabbed the cough syrup, the bowl of soup, and a spoon. He sat down beside Kaza and woke him up gently, and then helped him to sit up.
They sat there in silence as Rikuo fed Kaza his soup, and then gave him his medicine.
Rikuo wanted to ask him how he was feeling, but a knock came at the door, and Kaza just laid back down and went to sleep.
He opened the door to find Kakei there with a smile on his face.
"Rikuo, how's our little Kazahaya doing?"
Rikuo placed his hand behind his head and looked over at said boy, before answering Kakei.
"Same as he was yesterday."
"He's not improving at all?" He asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
The taller of the two just shook their head.
Kakei sighed.
"Well, I was hoping that he would be doing better so that you can stop looking after him long enough to do a job for me."
Rikuo didn't say anything as he looked down at Kakei.
"But, I guess Saiga could always take care of him while you're away."
"No, it's fine. I'll take care of him."
This surprised Kakei.
"You don't need the money?"
Rikuo didn't answer, he just stared Kakei in the eyes.
"Fine. I understand. Just make sure you take good care of him. Bye." Said Kakei with a smile as he walked back down the stairs.
The door closed, and Rikuo went over to his bed and tried to get some sleep.
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Kaza opened his eyes and hesitantly looked over at the other boy's bed which was now occupied with a tired Rikuo.
'Did… he just give up a job to… take care of me!'
That thought left a smile on the boy's lips as he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
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Light golden eyes looked up at the sky as clouds began to form. The sun disappeared behind them as a light rain began to fall. Kazahaya didn't move as he closed his eyes, enjoying the sprinkle of water falling down on him.
The sound of something snapping and falling made him jump up. The rain grew harder as he stared at a tree close by to his house. It had been split in half and had caught on fire.
"KEI!" He screamed as he ran towards the house. Another part of the tree broke off and fell onto the house, breaking one of the windows and catching the curtains on fire.
He yelled her name over and over again as he ran. The wind grew fiercer, blowing his hair into his eyes, and making the flames dance from the tree limb and into the window.
Kazahaya turned the doorknob, but it wouldn't open. He ran to the other side of the house and tried that door, but it wouldn't budge. Something was in the way of it.
He started to cry as he banged on one of the windows, trying to break it open. The glass was like steel, it wouldn't let him in. Every window he tried was the same.
There was no way in.
He heard a scream from inside the house and cried even more as he tried the door again, this time banging on it as he called out her name.
The screams stopped and he dropped to the ground, part of the roof caving in as the flames roared up.
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Kaza screamed as he sat up in his bed, sweat lingering down his face.
"Kei," He whispered to himself.
He hadn't had that dream in years, and he knew it wasn't good. Even though that had never happened to him, it felt so real, and the last time he had had it was a few nights before he had to leave home. So he could protect Kei.
Something bad was going to happen, he could just feel it.
The door to the bathroom swung open and Rikuo ran out. His hair was sticking to his face as water dripped down onto the floor.
"Kaza, are you all right?" He asked as he walked towards him in nothing but a towel.
The boy just nodded his head up and down.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just… had a bad dream."
Rikuo didn't glare at him, like he thought he would. He just shook his head, trying to get his hair out of his eyes.
"Rikuo…" He said the name without even knowing it, not even sure what he was going to say.
"Yeah."
"…. Never mind." He told him as he laid back down and rolled over onto his side, pretending to close his eyes and go back to sleep.
He could feel Rikuo staring at him for a few minutes before he turned around and went back into the bathroom.
A few tears began to seep out of Kaza's closed eyes as he body began to shake. He turned over onto his stomach, forcing himself to cry as quietly as possible.
He didn't want to worry Rikuo anymore than he already had.
He may have to leave soon to protect him.
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I'm not home yet, but this is the only story i can update. all my other disks don't want to work:(
love you guys,
robin
