Summary: When Rei gets sick, Kai's left playing nursemaid, but do either of them really mind? KaixRei.

Thanks to all you guys for your wonderful reviews! At the moment I'm one ahead ofMimi's first chapter, and your cookies are in the mail!

Chapter 2:

In his exhaustion, it only took Rei a few moments to let sleep claim him, but in his fever his sleep was plagued by dreams. Convinced he was surrounded by fire, he ran blindly through the scene in his mind, calling out for someone- anyone- who would help him.

"Rei!"

He started as he heard a voice, the voice of someone he trusted, and turned in all directions in an attempt to find him. He would help him, he knew he would!"

"Rei, wake up!"

Wake up? But this wasn't sleep! It couldn't be… it was real, too real to be something conjured up by his imagination. And why was nobody helping him? They'd left him… abandoned him, just like-

What had to be an entire lake of cold water hit his face, and in his shock he forced his eyes open, breathing heavily as he took in his surroundings and attempted to recover from the scare, his heart thumping madly in his chest. After a moment, his eyes found Kai, who was standing over him, looking somewhat concerned and holding an empty glass, which he set on the bedside table as he sat on the bed, wordlessly helping Rei into a sitting position before dabbing gently at Rei's face with a towel, trying to dry him in case it made his illness worse with his other hand on the back of the other boy's neck, holding him still.

"You alright?" he asked after a moment.

Rei nodded, "Yeah. It's just a dream, right?"

He smiled slightly, but Kai looked unconvinced. Although, considering Rei had spent an unnervingly long time thrashing in his sleep and crying for help from various people, this was pretty unsurprising. His suspicions were confirmed as Rei looked away at the first opportunity, staring intently at the bedcovers as the tears began to start. He tried to blink them away, frustrated with himself for showing weakness in front of Kai, but they still fell, landing on Kai's blanket.

"Want to talk about it?"

Rei looked up in surprise as Kai actually sounded as though he cared. About him!

"My mom… died in a fire when I was about five…" he admitted, breaking the eye contact once again as Kai frowned slightly, "I remember… hearing her yell at my father to take me and just leave her. He tried to save her as well, of course, but…" he trailed off, swallowing with some difficulty as the account made suppressed emotions renew themselves. He waited for the standard response; a meaningless apology for his pain, or an awkward pause, but almost the last thin he had expected was for Kai to tilt his chin up, brushing his tears away with a gentle touch many believe impossible for the Russian.

"Did you tell anybody?" he asked, moving as more tears fell to brush them away again.

"Lee… and my father knew, of course." Despite the unexpectedness of the question, Rei replied, watching Kai curiously as his expression failed to change.

"What did you tell him?" Kai met Rei's eyes with surprising ease.

Rei frowned, unsure about the relevance of the question, but answered all the same, "Just that me and my mother were in the house… and my father tried to save us, but… only got me."

Kai nodded, holding Rei's hair back as he wiped Rei's eyes with a cool, damp cloth. Appreciating the effort, and feeling a little calmer, Rei forced himself to stop the tears, suddenly feeling embarrassed for getting so emotional so easily.

"It wasn't your fault," Kai said as he put the cloth down, as though there had been no gap in the conversation. Rei stared at him, unsure of what to think about the comment. Okay, so he had blamed himself to a certain extent- he could have found his own way out if he hadn't been such a coward; or if he'd stayed at Lee's then she could have been saved, but… how did Kai know that?

"They way you told Lee made it sound as though it was your father's fault. But… from how you told me, it's obvious where you really place the blame. It wasn't your fault."

"If I hadn't been there-" Rei started to say, but Kai cut him off in a voice slightly higher in volume than usual.

"It was the logical thing to do. You had most of your life ahead of you. It was not your fault."

Again he repeated himself, and Rei, slightly startled by this sudden display of compassion and understanding, nodded his acceptance.

"Say it," Kai ordered, and glared as Rei dared to look doubtful for a moment.

So, with evident reluctance, the Chinese boy said quietly, "It wasn't my fault."

"Louder," Kai said, and Rei stared at him for a moment before the glare intensified.

"It wasn't my fault," he said, his voice louder although it cracked in the middle. Kai, however, was still not satisfied.

"Again," he continued, and Rei gave him an exasperated look. Did he seriously enjoy tormenting him that much?

"It wasn't my fault!"

Channelling his frustration into his speech, Rei returned Kai's glare with a rather impressive one of his own, but frowned as he realised that he did feel better for letting his emotions out. Smiling slightly as he knew that his efforts had been successful, Kai got to his feet, taking Rei's waterlogged pillow with him.

"Gonna go swap this with Tyson's," he said as calmly as ever, acting as though nothing had happened.

"That's cruel," Rei followed his lead, although his breathing was somewhat heavier than usual, and his eyes were still slightly narrowed as Kai, once again, showed his superiority without even seeming to try.

"Would you rather keep it?" Kai arched an eyebrow, and Rei looked at him for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. Giving a small snort of amusement, Kai left the room, returning a few moments later with a dry pillow, which he placed on Rei's bed before guiding the other boy into a more comfortable sleeping position.

"Get some sleep," he said, getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu as he said it, and Rei nodded, yawning as he settled down and kicked his covers aside, evidently feeling warmer than he had earlier. Kai folded the cloth he'd used earlier, and placed it on Rei's forehead, but as he withdrew his hand, idly stroking the back of a finger down Rei's cheek, the other boy moved his head, gently pressing his lips against his hand in a soft kiss.

"Thanks," Rei said by way of explanation as Kai froze, looking at him. Rei, however, took some delight in the shock that had crossed his team captain's face, if only for a moment. So he was human after all.

After a moment, Kai managed to regain control of his body and reclaimed his hand, kissing the tips of his fingers before touching them to Rei's cheek, offering a slight smile as the other boy understood the gesture and, suddenly looking a whole lot happier, settled down to sleep again.

After watching the other boy for a moment with the same expression on his face, Kai seemed to suddenly realise what he was doing, and frowned slightly. Had he just indirectly kissed a member of his team? Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair before retrieving his book from its place on the floor and curling up once more on the bay window seat.

He could have sworn he hadn't been gay that morning…

End chapter 2

Yuck, part of this bears a horrible resemblance to a certain other fic of mine. And the chapters are hideously short because I want to get things up once I've typed them instead of making you guys wait like I usually do!

But I hope you enjoyed it anyway! If you didn't, tell me why! I can change, I swear!