"If something happens, just yell."
"I heard you just fine the first ten times, Yang." Yin rolled her eyes with a smile as she levitated closer to the infirmary bed. In her hands she held a small notebook, ticking off item after item from the list Master Yo had given them on first aid care while he was out buying groceries. Once the last thing was checked and accounted for, she glanced over her shoulder at her brother, standing by the door. "I already told you, it's fine. I can defend myself, you know."
Her words did little to appease Yang, who kept hovering by the door and fidgeting anxiously. "Yeah, I know. That's not the problem, though." His eyes narrowed as he tilted his head, looking behind his sister with a scowl; "He is."
Yin's smile faded as she followed her brother's gaze towards the infirmary bed, currently occupied by a certain green rabbit she'd been seeing way too much of recently. Yuck was unconscious at the moment, a spot of bright aquamarine against the pristine white of the whole room; it was so strange, seeing him so...still. She knew that sleep was something all living things needed to a degree, but somehow picture Yuck being calm enough to fall asleep was harder than she expected.
"Why are WE stuck babysitting one of our sworn enemies, anyways?"
"Uh, because we're the good guys and we couldn't just leave him lying there?" Specially not when it was my fault he got knocked out.
From the corner of her vision she saw blue approaching her side; Yang stared at the bed with crossed arms, body all tense as if waiting - daring - for the green rabbit to wake up and ambush them at any second. "I still don't see why WE have to help HIM, after everything's he's put us through. It's not like he'd do the same for us."
….Huh. Good point.
"Maybe not, but that's why we're the good guys." Yin levitated closer to the ground so she could be at eye level with Yang; "Besides, think about it; if we keep an eye on him, we can make sure he doesn't do anything bad, right? And it's only until he gets better; it's not like he's moving in or anything."
"Fine. But I'll still complain to Master Yo about it!" Yin snorted, then covered her mouth; luckily, the most she got out of Yuck was a murmur as he rolled over to the other side. And at least she got a smile out of her brother too, but it didn't last long as he gave their enemy one last glare before heading out. He only stopped by the door to look back at her with concern - real concern - in his eyes. "Look, just...just be careful, OK?"
"For the last time, I'll be fine! You should be more worried about going to sleep now so you don't get all cranky on me when it's your turn to watch over him later."
Concern turned into a pout, and Yin nearly snorted again when Yang stuck out his tongue at her before running off. Even though he was already gone, she couldn't help but sticking out her tongue as well, but once she was sure he was gone, her smile turned into a slight frown. Why was it that Yang only became friendlier and just easier to talk to when he thought she was in danger? It could be so frustrating sometimes...but it was better than nothing, she supposed.
Well, that wasn't something she wanted to think about for the next few hours, so she levitated back up, closer to the desk near the bed where she'd placed all the stuff she'd picked out beforehand to distract herself with - books, paper and color pencils, her toys. And yet she still found herself looking away from her things and towards the still sleeping rabbit in the room.
It was incredible really, how even asleep Yuck managed to stay angry. And even more interesting was the way he slept; he wasn't lying on his back or his side like people normally did, but rather he was curled in on himself, nose twitching, lip slightly curled and tongue barely poking out between his front teeth, leg occasionally twitching. He wasn't a big rabbit to begin with, and somehow seeing him curled up like that made him look even smaller.
He looks like a puppygriff. Yin mused to herself, her own lip twitching with the beginning of a smile. A very angry, mangy puppygriff.
Yuck suddenly shuddered in his sleep, uncurling his body a bit, and that's when Yin focused on the bandages around his (unusually thin, to her alarm), arms and chest.
She stopped.
Master Yo had gently washed his fur before dressing his head injury - the reason he was stuck with them in the first place (leaving it as it was would've risked infection, he'd told her), so it was back to a bright shade of aquamarine just like when they've been held prisoner by Fastidious. But under the bandages, she could see the aquamarine fade into various shades of purple, red and yellow, marred by various cuts and scars of varying degrees of severity (most of them seemed small and shallow enough, but the ones peeking out from underneath the wrappings...).
It wasn't like Yin herself was a stranger to injuries and scars. She and Yang faced the forces of evil on pretty much a daily basis; to come out unscathed was virtually impossible. And she knew for a fact that a couple of those scars had Yuck's name written all over them. But the injuries Yuck had - even just what very little she could see at the moment - they just didn't seem to line up with the kind of fights they'd get in with him. Sure, he DID try to maim them, but that didn't mean they'd do the same-
We didn't give him those, did we…?
From the bandages on his arms, she moved on to the ones wrapped around his head, covering his forehead and his left eye. The events of earlier that day replayed in her head.
They'd been fighting downtown. Her and Yang versus Yuck, like any other day. Except Yuck had started firing magic wildly, causing all kinds of damage and trapping civilians in the crossfire. Yin had turned her back for a few moments to try and help them, leaving Yang to face Yuck alone.
By the time she turned around, Yuck had her brother pinned down, sword over his head, a scarily triumphant look in his eyes.
Anger flooded her mind. The Foo Orb flew out of her hand before she even realized it.
But she had meant to hit him in the chest, to push him away or stun him. She didn't mean to aim for the head, to make his eyes go blank and make him crumple soundlessly to the floor the way he did-
"I hate that you keep doing this."
Yin's voice was quiet, but her hands were balled into fists at her sides. The more she looked at Yuck, the less concern and the more frustration she felt. "You keep doing this….this THING!" She growled, not realizing (or caring) how loud she was getting. Other memories replayed in her mind: Yuck helping her practice Foo Fortress in the forest, defending her back then at the burger joint, consoling her (in his own weird way) when Dylan broke up with her… "This thing where you actually get me thinking you're not just some meathead, heartless jerk! That maybe - maybe - there's more to you than just negative traits!"
When she brushed his fur while trapped. How soft his eyes had been, if only for a moment.
"And then you just take it all back!" Unable to push her frustration back down, Yin raised her arms to the ceiling in exasperation. Her magic reacted with her; windows rattling and candle flames flickering on and off like light bulbs. "You just go back to your annoying, evil self like nothing ever happened! People try to help you and it's like you don't WANT to be helped and I'm SICK of it-!"
A whimper cut her off.
Yin slapped both hands over her mouth, the room fading back into complete silence. Yuck was now turning in his sleep, fur bristled as he growled and kicked the air. "Stop it," he whispered hoarsely, frown deepening, "stop it."
Oh, OK. He's just having a nightmare. Or at least she hoped; it almost seemed like he was talking to her for being so loud without noticing. Was what he dreaming about that was upsetting him so much?
"Stop- No, wait." Her eyes widened as his expression went from anger to outright fear. He was curling further into himself, trembling (shielding himself), face all twisted up like he was hurting- "Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"Yuck?" She hesitantly reached out to him, but his thrashing was getting worse by the second. His breathing was becoming more erratic, his mouth was making strange noises that sounded somewhere between snarling and sobbing, and it was scaring her. "Yuck, it's-it's OK-"
"Please stop! It hurts!" Now his hands were pressed against his face, sharp nails digging deep into the fur. His voice, his voice, it wasn't the voice of the malicious rogue Warrior that tried to destroy her and her family. It was hoarse, and it was broken, and it was pleading- "I'm sorry! I promise I'll be good! Just stop hurting me, please-!"
"Yuck, STOP!" Too panicked to think rationally but desperate to do something to make it all stop, Yin slapped her hands down on Yuck's, keeping them from hurting him any further.
He laid completely still like a statue, expression frozen in fear, the only movement being that if his chest as he kept breathing erratically. Yin stared back, only just realizing what she had done and inwardly panicking as she awaited for Yuck to wake up any second now and let all hell break loose (while a part of her inwardly wondered how THAT hadn't woken him up already).
What do I do. What do I do what do I do whatdoIdowhatdoIdo-
In a moment of clarity, she recalled the time she and Yang both caught the Woo Foo Flu and Master Yo cured them of their magic sneezes but not the other symptoms. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night, feverish and miserable and desperately in need of comfort, and even though they weren't very close to the panda at the time, he still had spent the entire night by her side doing his best at exactly that.
"It's OK." She whispered, her right hand slowly letting go of Yuck's hand and gently running her fingers through the fur at the top of his head, like she recalled Master Yo doing what now felt like ages ago. She only hoped she was doing it right. "It's OK. I'm here. It's OK."
For many painful minutes, she saw no change. But just as she was about to give up, she noticed his breathing slowing down, his expression slowly softening, just like that day at Fastidious's lair. The trembling was still there - she could still feel it under her fingers - but much less so.
The first drops of rain hit against the window outside.
Yin let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She kept trying to ease her nerves by focusing entirely on stroking Yuck's fur - still baby soft now that it was clean, just like she remembered - but whatever had just happened still weighed heavy on her mind. Yuck, of all villains, wasn't one to be so easily scared, but the way he had cried out in fear in his dreams was not something even he could fake.
"Just stop hurting me, please-!"
Her eyes fell on the bruises all over his chest, hidden away by bandages. Her throat closed tighter, as did her hand.
….
Wait a minute-
Her eyes returned to the top of Yuck's head, where his one free hand was holding hers tightly But before she could react, Yin was pulled downwards and forced to break her levitation; by the time it was over, she found herself on the bed, held closely by the still sleeping rabbit like a teddy bear.
She blinked.
She blinked again.
WHAT.
"Yuck." She whispered, cheeks burning bright red as she struggled to pull away - to no avail; his grip was painless but strong. "Yuck, come on, you cannot be serious-!"
All it did was make him pull her closer to her, making her blush worse. Sputtering in confusion, she struggled one last time before giving up with a sigh. Once she had fully resigned to her embarrassing fate, she turned around to look at him, finding herself admiring the peaceful expression on his face, the gentle rhythm of his breathing, the softness of his fur as her left hand was still pressed against his (no lemony scent like last time, but oh well).
The minutes ticked away, and Yin fell asleep before she even knew it.
o - o - o - o - o - o
When Master Yo returned to the dojo, he carried with him twice as many first aid supplies in addition to groceries. It had earned him a few stares ranging from confusion to alarm and even a raised eyebrow from Kraggler at his pharmacy, but he didn't care.
He'd known. From the moment he saw Yuck's bruises as he tended to his wounds, he knew those weren't wounds his students would be capable of doing. And for all his recklessness and thirst for violence, he knew they weren't wounds Yuck would get in some random skirmish either.
He can threaten to make a rug out of me all he wants, the panda fumed as he stashed away the groceries with a snap of his fingers and a flash of teal magic, but he's gonna tell me who's responsible. And then I'm gonna find them, and when I do-
Bag of first aid supplies in hand, he quietly opened the door to the infirmary. Both eyebrows shot straight up.
He knew the twins wanted to take turns watching over their 'visitor'; what he didn't expect was to see Yin and Yuck snuggled close together. Alarms went off inside his head for a moment, but after soundlessly levitating closer he was relieved to verify that everything was fine. In fact, they both looked completely at peace in their sleep - even Yuck, with his tongue poking out between his front teeth like a kitten.
Aw.
"Well, if no one's getting hurt…" the old panda chuckled to himself. And then he frowned in confusion, ears perking up. "...But since when do rabbits purr?"