ACROSS THE PAGES
CHAPTER 8
After they had entered their small room and Rei had taken a hot –Kai insisted –shower, Kai had handed him the little note that he had written, having searched for it while the neko had been in the bath. Somehow he hadn't wanted Rei to think that he was lying, that in truth he hadn't left a note to say where he'd been going.
Rei, smiling had received the note and unfolded it, reading it.
Rei,
I'm going to go train for a bit in this field I found yesterday. You won't know it, but don't worry. I'll be coming back soon anyway.
Kai.
Rei had smiled in irony, but his sneeze had ruined the effect. Kai had then commanded him to go to sleep, and had watched him until he did so.
Kai had been woken up the next morning by a bout of sneezing.
Now Kai watched Rei sleep, his breathing deep, but irregular. He had been both right and wrong about Rei getting sick the next day. Right in the fact that Rei had fallen sick –wrong in the fact that it would be a simple cold.
It was much, much worse.
Rei had pneumonia.
At first he had had flu, and it had been a simple case. But it had developed into pneumonia, and it had been fortunate that Kai had made Rei sleep the day after the 'rain incident' as they called it, or, as the doctor said, he would have had to enter hospital.
They very thought had scared the Bladebrakers so much that they had committed Rei forcefully to bed, ignoring every single protest, the alarm growing when he had collapsed to the floor during said protests, in a fit of hacking. He had immediately been escorted to bed, and served with much anxiety. After a few more weak objections he had stayed put, quickly falling asleep under the covers, clearly exhausted.
Over the last few days the entire team had realized just exactly how much cooking, cleaning, washing…housewife-ing the neko had had to do. In the first two days alone, Tyson himself had broken a quarter of the plates, burnt the breakfast two times over and spilt milk over the entire kitchen floor. There would have been more, but Kai had sensibly stopped him from entering the area again.
The refrigerator was overfilling with waste and spoiled foods, something that Rei had checked every two days wouldn't happen; the dishes was piling up in the sink beside the sponge that Rei used every night humming in the air and the bin that Rei had always cheerfully taken out was overfilling with rubbish.
The house was a mess.
Kai promised himself that as soon as Rei woke up they would get him to teach them how to clean the entire thing up and he would get a holiday. A big one.
Meanwhile, the doctor was scheduled to arrive any minute, and Kai had to arrange a few things.
Ten minutes later, when the room was ready with absolutely anything the physician would need, an old, somewhat gentile gentleman entered the room. He fiddled at first with a few instruments or so, then did the normal things, checking up on Rei's temperature and the like.
Although he didn't like to admit it, Kai was sufficiently concerned at the end of the ordeal by the man's constant concentrated expression. Usually the doctor smiled, but today his expression was grim. When he stopped, he looked slowly, deliberately at Kai, and the direction of the door.
Kai looked, and saw the rest of his team peeking in through the door and sighed. He gestured out the door, and the four –including Hillary –trooped out of the room. They walked out of the room hesitantly, looking backwards with worry. The door had clicked and Kai span around to the doctor.
"Will he be alright?" he asked in a fierce whisper.
His hand lay protectively next to his comrade's side, his body leaning slightly over it as if daring sickness, or –heaven forbid –death to even look at the neko while he was near.
"I won't know until tonight." Dr. Wilson, as his name turned out to be, said this apologetically, and Kai resisted the urge to strangle the man. Rei's health was more important, and he himself did not know medical care.
Instead, he asked another question: "Why tonight?"
The doctor answered gravely, looking straight into his eyes. "Because tonight he turns for the worst or he turns the corner."
Kai exhaled and inhaled sharply. "What happens if he doesn't turn the corner?"
The doctor looked away from him, old blue eyes looking determinedly at the floor. "He was over exhausted in the first place, making his immunity system lower, and the injuries he suffered in that tournament before –"
"I said, what happens if he doesn't turn the corner?" Kai spoke harshly now, and he stared at the doctor with a piercing glare.
Dr. Wilson looked up, his eyes a gentle aqua blue. "I'm sorry, Kai," he said softly.
Kai looked at him, stunned, for an instant, turned into an innocent little boy once more. Then his mask slid into place and he stood up, hand held straight in front of him into a handshake.
"Then I'll just have to make sure that that doesn't happen then." He paused, looking up. "Thank you, Doctor, I'll call you if I need anything," he said, in a smooth, dismissive voice. It was obviously meant for him to leave, and the physician packed hastily, shuffling towards the door.
Kai stared at his companion, something like a sharp stab of a needle piercing into his body. Then he sat down on the bed and waited, grabbing a book.
He was going to stay there all night after all.
-
Towards midnight Rei still hadn't broken his fever –in fact, it had increased in temperature. Kai's hand were already tired, fingertips already extremely wrinkly from the water that he had wrung from hundreds upon hundreds of towels. The team had replaced each one, always asking him if he wanted a break, but he had always answered them no, although he secretly appreciated their asking.
But he sat stoutly by Rei's side, as if fending off the very demons of evil that was plaguing his friend, eyes tired but as sharp as ever in each little shade of red that crossed the neko's face.
Rei lay on the bed, face flushed and tinted with red, eyes bright and sparkling in his fever. His black, black hair was spread over the bed sheets, and Kai realized, with fright, that he looked like an angel.
Still Kai refused to give up, although his heart clenched with a little fear. Faithfully he replaced towel after towel, wiping away the sweat that had gathered on his smaller team mate's forehead as tenderly as a mother tending to her child.
As he saw the little battery-powered thermometer go up by another half degree, he allowed his own forehead to crinkle, speaking quietly, like a coach cheering on his champ.
"Come on, Kon, you can do it. You've faced worse than this, and you've to win this one yet. You're going to be able to pull through, so don't give up on me."
His fingers curled around Rei's over-hot right hand, he kept talking.
"Don't give up on me."
The clock struck twelve, and at the last stroke, Rei's face suddenly broke into a high sweat , his body shivering violently, his face going much paler. He watched as the smaller boy tossed around on the bed a little, before resting still completely.
Kai, forgetting completely about whatever he had been taught ages ago, about not revealing his emotions publicly, threw open the door, and shouted towards the living room where he knew the physician was resting.
"Doctor!"
Footsteps thundered down the corridor, and the physician pressed his hand to Rei's forehead. Kai watched, not reassured by the look of shock on the doctor's face as he took away his stethoscope, and placed his hand yet again, on Rei's forehead.
"Well?" Kai demanded.
"He's broken his fever." The doctor withdrew his hand, smiling heartily. "He's turned the corner he's going to be alright." Looking at the other 'boy' still in the room, he went quickly outside the room, murmuring an excuse about getting some more water.
That was when Kai finally allowed himself to smile, and as the fatigue took over the adrenaline still running through his body, he sat down in the chair by the side of Rei's bed and promptly fell asleep.
"Kai! Kai! Is it true that Rei is –" Tyson stopped abruptly as he stood inside the room. He smiled softly at the image of Kai sprawled over the bed, his head on Rei's body, his arms spread protectively over the neko's chest.
The captain was fast asleep.
A/N: Well, it's not late! It's not HK time, but it's not late!
Responses to Reviewers: ProzacFairy: I'm still sorry for the wait though! Yes, that was my favorite chapter as I said!
Chitana: Kr is always cute, I say, although quite alot of the time it's also angsty.
AnimeObsession: Uh, I'm very sorry, butI can't stop everything for this fanfiction! Especially now, since I have joined nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month, which is in November. You basically have to write a 50000 word novel in a month.
Shin rigel: I love foreshadowing too. I watch a lot of crime movies just to see how it's done, not to see the ending.
Reis1Girl: You know about the note now!
Echo in the Dark: Rei's head WAS on Kai's shoulder, and after recieving the hot chocolate, he put his ehad on Kai's shoulder again. That's what I do...I sip the chocolate by holding my head up again, then resting back down...I'm so used to it that I suppose I ubconsciously didn't add it in, so I'm sorry that wasn't clear!
JJ CJ: I do that with my favorite fics too! Have you subscribed to UKL and my c2 yet! Anyway, I was wondering why you weren't looking at my other HP fic a few days ago. It was just sort of random wondering abotuyou guys...yes I think abotu my reviers:) Anyway, it was because I kind of figured you'd read my HPDM fics first... this doesn't mean you have to! I was jsut wonderign why.
KawaiiYouKai9157: I'm glad you found it nice, I'm sorry this wasn't early like you hoped.
dark-night-sky: I'm sorry that it wasn't early, but as you see I had a novel to write!
Water-Spirit1: Yes, Rei gets worried alotdoesn't he? He likes caring about other people...
Sangus-chan: I'm glad you don't feel uncomfortable with it. I'm afraid I do have a few favorite yaoi pairings though...this one and MaxTakao are just two of them. But thank you for continuing to read!
QueenOFanime535: If I was good at drama I'd be a playwright...I always imagine these little scenes, and try and describe them. I'd love to actualy WATCH one though...
Aylsei: It's updated now! Poor Rei indeed...hope nobody's going to kill me today.
BloodyShadows: I don't know, I'm kinda sadistically glad that the note fell under the bed..there'd be no story otherwise! Good luck with your tests and things hope it isn't too stressful for you!