Chapter 9: Sick Day
A/N: Hey everyone! Since I'm not really feeling good, I decided to do a little sick chapter to fit the theme. Hope your day is better than mine!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Final Fantasy 7; I just own Mikomi and Usagi.
Enjoy!
/
Mornings were never on Mikomi's side growing up. That meant another day had started and she had to wake up from slumber land. Every day was the same; she would wake up feeling crabbier than ever, take forever to get ready and just feel like crap for the rest of the day.
Today would have been the same; however she felt crappier than usual when she woke up. Her chest felt like it was congested and her throat hurt like hell. She coughed a little when she couldn't breathe properly out of her nose since it was stuffy.
Groaning, she felt her forehead to find out that it was warm and clammy.
"Great" she thought.
Pakkun woke up from where he was sleeping and looked at his master. One look at her face told him she had a case of the chakra fever.
Charka fever was pretty much when the body is 'over heated' from using too much charka the day before. The charka system shuts down and leaves the user feeling crapier than ever. It wasn't contagious, so there wasn't the risk of anyone catching the fever.
Mikomi coughed harshly when she felt a tickle in her throat. She winched when she felt how sore her throat was.
The coughing made Denzel and Marlene wake up and see what was going on. Seeing their older sister figure holding a hand to her head made them get out of bed and jumping over Yuffie; who was sleeping on the ground to go on hers.
"What's wrong, Onee-chan?" Denzel asked.
Mikomi just gave them a weak smile.
"Nothing, I just have a little cough is all" she said.
Marlene got up from the bed and headed out of the room to go get Tifa.
Denzel placed his hand on Mikomi's forehead to see how warm it was.
Pakkun just looked at his master with pity. For as long as he knew her, Mikomi hardly got sick, let alone a cold. Whenever she did though, she felt like crap and was just downright miserable. It would take Minato and Kushina days just to make her better.
Marlene pulled Tifa into the room once she woke her up. The martial artist stifled a yawn with the back of her hand as the little girl pulled her into the room.
"What's going on, Marlene?" she asked.
When Marlene pointed to Mikomi, she quickly sobered up.
"Oh my!"
She quickly went over to the bed and started examine her friend.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"She's sick with the chakra fever" Pakkun said.
"She just overdid it with the Justus and now her body is overheated. It isn't contagious, but she's going to feel like crap for pretty much the rest of the day"
Tifa just shook her head sadly when she felt how warm Mikomi was.
"But how could this happen?" she asked.
"She wasn't performing any Justus while any of us were he-"
She stopped and glared at Yuffie, who was still sleeping. She kicked the air mattress that the Wutai ninja was on and caused her to wake up.
The young ninja looked startled as she looked around before looking at Tifa.
"What the heck was that for?" she asked annoyed.
Tifa just kept glaring at her.
"Yuffie! What have I told you about bugging Mikomi and using her Justus?" she snapped.
Yuffie flinched.
"To never ask her and to leave her alone since it drains her out?" she replied.
Tifa nodded.
"Right. But thanks to you not listening, Mikomi's gotten sick from over using her chakra!"
Yuffie gasped when she saw how bad Mikomi looked.
"Oh! 'Komi-chan!"
She jumped up and pulled her friend into a bear hug.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you could get sick from performing so many Justus! What kind of friend am I?"
Mikomi held her head as a headache started to form.
It had been so long since she had a chakra fever that she forgot how bad it made her feel.
Tifa pulled Yuffie off of her.
"Stop it! You're going to make it worse" she snapped.
A half asleep Cloud came by and leaned on the doorway.
"What the hell is going on here?" he asked through a yawn.
"Mikomi has a fever thanks to Yuffie bugging her about using her Justus" Tifa explained.
Mikomi sneezed real harshly and held her head when it seemed to echo in her head.
Tifa fussed over her and checked her forehead again.
"I'll close the bar today" she said.
"The last thing you need is a noisy bar with loud drunks"
Mikomi shook her head slowly.
"It's fine" she rasped.
"I just need to take something and I should be fine. Just go ahead and open the bar"
Tifa shook her head.
"Uh-uh. Today is all about you" she said.
She gently pushed Mikomi back on the bed and pulled the covers over her.
"You just rest up and I'll see if I can find anything that'll help you with this fever of yours"
"I'll head back to the village and see if Yuri left any of her medicine back at the house" Pakkun added.
Yuffie sat on the side of her bed and jumped a little.
"Don't worry, 'Komi-chan! Since this is my fault that you got sick, I'll help you get better again!" she cried.
Tifa gave her a stern glare.
"Oh, no you don't" she said.
"You are going to be downstairs so you don't cause any trouble"
Yuffie crossed her arms in a pouting manner before stomping downstairs.
Cloud sighed and headed back to his room to get ready for the day.
Tifa brushed the hair out of Mikomi's face as she gave her a gentle smile.
"Don't worry about anything" she said.
"You just rest up and I'll take care of everything"
Mikomi gave her a weak smile. It felt so nice to have a friend like her.
Tifa patted her on the head before heading back into her room to get ready for the day.
Denzel and Marlene went up to her and gave her a hug.
"We'll take care of you, Onee-chan" Marlene said.
The Kunoichi gave the kids a weak smile.
"Thanks you guys" she said.
She stifled a yawn before falling asleep.
Hopefully taking a nap would make her feel better.
/
Unfortunately, a nap didn't do the trick. While Mikomi felt more energized, she still felt crappier than ever.
Tifa allowed her to sit in the bar since she figured the poor girl didn't want to be trapped in a small room all day. The martial artist slid a glass of orange juice and a few pain relievers for her.
"This should help with your headache" she said.
Mikomi thanked her and downed the pills and drink before resting her head in her hands.
Cloud patted her on the head as he passed by to take a seat. He had to admit that Mikomi looked so out of character with the pale, clammy skin and the blood shot eyes.
"How are you holding up?" he asked.
Mikomi simply shrugged.
"Ok I guess…or at least as ok for someone who's sick" she said.
She gave him a tired stare.
"But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out doing deliveries?"
Cloud shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.
"I decided to take the day off" he said.
"Since everyone is doing it, I thought I would too"
Yuffie popped her head through the ordering window that lead into the kitchen.
"Yeah right!" she said.
"You just didn't want to because you're lazy and because you were worried about 'Komi-chan!"
Cloud gave her a dull glare and flipped her off.
Mikomi blinked a few times.
Did Cloud really skip work because he was worried about her? It seemed like he really was starting to treat her as a comrade.
She gave him a weak smile and gave his arm a squeeze.
"Thanks, Cloud"
The chocobo head didn't say anything. Instead, he looked away so she wouldn't see the light blush that was dusting his cheeks.
The sound of the door opening made them turn around to see the rest of AVALANCHE coming in.
Tifa came to the front and gave her friends a weak smile.
"Hi guys, but we're closed today" she said.
"Mikomi's sick"
The guys took a glance at Mikomi and came right over.
Mikomi sweat dropped when Barret placed his normal hand on her forehead while Red Xlll and Cat Sith hung off of her.
Cid grimaced as he stuck a cigarette in his mouth.
"Man Mikomi, you look like hell" he said.
Mikomi laughed weakly.
"That odd, because I feel like crap" she said.
Tifa laughed a little too before rounding on Cid.
"Cid! Put that cigarette out!" she snapped.
"Mikomi has a sore throat and you smoking is just going to make it worse!"
Cid grumbled before putting out his beloved cigarette.
"You really should lighten up on the death sticks, Cid" Cloud said.
"With the way you're smoking, you're going to kill yourself"
Cid just waved them off.
"Don't you be worrying about me" he said.
"As if I'll keel over because of a little tobacco. You just worry about Mikomi"
As if on cue, the kunoichi sneeze hard, causing her to wince when she felt her throat burn.
"Where is Pakkun with my medication?" she asked herself.
The pug magically appeared through a puff of smoke with a scroll in his mouth.
"Found it!" he said through the scroll.
He dropped it on the table and nudged it open with his nose.
"I don't know where she put it in here, but I'm sure you would know what it would look like" he said.
Mikomi took it from him and unrolled it.
"Let's see what remedies she has here" she said.
"Hangover, hangover, poison, hangover, headache, hangover, poison, hangover. God, why does she have so much hangover remedies?"
"Have you not met Yuri?" Pakkun asked.
Mikomi finally found the remedy for chakra fever, but frowned when she saw that it was in a powder state.
"Out of all the bizarre remedies that I refuse to take, the one I need is not even done" she groaned.
Pakkun took the bottle from her.
"Don't worry, I'll fix this" he said.
"I'm sure you just need to add it in water or something"
The pug went into the kitchen to fix up her medicine while said ninja had her head on the table.
"God I hate being sick" she muttered.
Barret patted her on the back, causing her to flinched when he did it too hard.
"Don't feel bad, kiddo" he said.
"I'm sure you'll be better in no time"
Mikomi snorted as she rest her head on the cool surface of the table.
"That's the downside to having a chakra fever" she said.
"You never know when you're going to feel better. Since chakra is a natural essence that lives in the body, it could take days, maybe even weeks until the person feels better"
Cid fiddled with his lighter as he looked at his sick friend.
"Well, however long it takes, I'm sure Tifa and Cloud will take good care of you"
Mikomi smiled weakly at that.
Pakkun came back to the front with a thermos trapped into his jaw.
"Here you go" he said when he placed it in front of her.
"This should do the trick"
Mikomi sluggishly took the thermos and grimaced when she smelled the medicine .
"Yuri needs to learn to make her medicine taste better" she said.
She took a swig of it and nearly threw up when she tasted out foul it was. She had taken Yuri's medicine a lot as a kid, but they never tasted this horrible.
When she managed to swallow the sludge, her face looked a tad green.
"What the hell did you put in here?" she asked.
Pakkun shrugged.
"I mixed it like Yuri did it" he said.
"I don't remember it ever tasting this bad" Mikomi retorted.
"That's because I mixed vodka and cough syrup into it" Pakkun said.
"A couple sips of that, and you'll be out like a light"
At the mention of alcohol, Mikomi's attitude to the beverage changed.
"Oh, well in that case"
She went to take another swing, but Cloud snatched it from her and whacked her upside the head.
"Give me that" he snapped.
"You shouldn't be drinking this, especially since you're underage"
He then rounded out on Pakkun.
"And you. How stupid are you to give your master alcohol and cough syrup together? Are you trying to kill her?"
Mikomi held her head from where Cloud hit her.
"Why would you hit a sick person?" she whined.
"Why would a sick person drink something that's dangerous?" Cloud retorted.
Mikomi just pouted and went back to resting on the table.
Tifa came out from the back to see how she was doing.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
She placed her head on her forehead and frowned.
"You're fever's down, but now you're breaking out into a cold sweat" she said.
Mikomi didn't realize that she was cold until then. She held back a shiver as it went up her spine.
Vincent took off his cape and draped it over her shoulders so she wouldn't feel cold.
"Thanks" she muttered.
Cid got up from his seat and went to head into the kitchen.
"I know just the thing you need to get rid of those chills" he said.
"My granny made this soup that was so hot, it would sweat the fever right out of you. That should help you with this fever of yours"
Pakkun quickly followed after Cid before he could make anything.
"Mikomi is allergic to spices, so don't use those" he said.
"Otherwise her throat will close up"
Mikomi groaned when she realized that she didn't just have Tifa taking care of her, but the whole group now.
/
The soup didn't help Mikomi at all. In fact, it probably made her feel even worse.
The poor girl looked like she was half dead with the way she was knocked out in one of the booths.
"I guess it didn't work" Cid said.
Cloud lifted Mikomi's arm and watched as it fell lifelessly back on the table.
"I think you made it even worse" he said.
Aside from the soup, the young Kunoichi downed another glass of Yuri's medicine, a few pain relievers and some cough syrup before she knocked herself out.
It amazed everyone that she was still alive after drugging herself up like that.
Tifa carefully picked her up from her seat.
"I'll put her to bed" she said.
"You guys clean this up while I make her comfortable"
She slowly went upstairs without making any sudden movements.
She made it to her room and carefully placed her on her bed before pulling the covers up. When she saw her shiver, she added a few more blankets to keep her warm.
Red Xlll and Cat Sith suddenly appeared and jumped on the bed.
"We'll keep her warm" Cat Sith said.
Red Xlll curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed while Cat Sith snuggled in between Mikomi's arms.
Tifa smiled weakly and placed her hand on Mikomi's forehead.
"Feel better" she whispered.
She turned off the lights and let Mikomi sleep while she took care of things downstairs.
During the middle of the night, Mikomi got a special guest.
Aerith appeared by her bedside and smiled weakly at her.
"Oh dear, it looks like you've got a bad cold" she said.
She placed her hand on her forehead and cooled her fever down.
"This should do the trick" She said.
"After all…I owe you for helping Cloud move on. Thank you"
With that, she disappeared and let Mikomi sleep for the night.
/
The next day, Mikomi felt better than ever.
"Wow, 'Komi-chan. You heal fast" Yuffie said over breakfast.
Mikomi shrugged as she stuffed a piece of waffle in her mouth.
"I guess so" she said.
"But I think it's thanks to you guys"
"What did we do?" Tifa asked.
Mikomi smiled at them.
"You guys took great care of me while I wasn't feeling well" she said.
"I should thank you for that"
Cloud waved him off as he drank his coffee.
"There's no need to thank us" he said.
"Friends help each other out"
Mikomi smiled as she heard that word. No matter what they said, she would never get used to being called a friend.
Perhaps friendship was the best medicine to offer when one was sick.
/
A/N: I know the ending sucked, but I didn't know how to finish it.
Please review and tell me what you think.
Ja ne