Summary: Yuya and Mahiro find Benitora. They discover the effects of Akira's little capsules.

Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own any of the characters or personas. But the plot of this story is original and MINE.

Thanks for reviewing, Zachura. Being the ONLY reviewer infact…. (Sad face)

How to draw a breath

With a disgusted sigh, Yuya kicked the empty beer can outside the overgrown garden. The old orange liquid poured out onto her already soaking wet shoes and she tutted, shaking her sodden leg. The rain beat against her umbrella as she followed Mahiro over the mismatched slabs to the rotting wooden door. There was going to be some very serious words with a certain "artist" about the state of the garden…

Mahiro stopped and pulled her hood down, rapping her knuckles off the door lightly. The paint flaked slightly, they waited for a few seconds, but there was no reply. Mahiro shot a worried look at Yuya, who merely shrugged. Once again she tapped on the door harder this time and they waited. Yuya rocked back on the balls of her feet, growing impatient… and at the same time a little worried. There was a certain sense of foreboding in the air.

No reply.

No angry shout, no noise of Benitora tripping over the same box as he passed the living room, no steady beat of Basement Jaxx blaring out from his 250 watt speakers, no tired glare to greet them at the door. Nothing.

"… But he isn't out." Mahiro knocked on the door again.

"What makes you say that?" Yuya cocked an eyebrow.

"He would have called." She sighed and reached into her purse. She drew out a key and inserted it into the recess in the door. After twiddling it for a few seconds there was a click as it unlocked.

Yuya raised a second eyebrow. "Where did you get his key?"

She swung the door open with a loud creak and shook the flecks of paint from her fingers. "Let's… not get into that right now."

They stepped into the darkened hallway and closed the door. It rattled on its hinges, giving her the distinct impression that it was about to fall so she shut it quickly. The strong smell of paint and linseed oil scratched at her nose, she followed Mahiro into the living room, taking a moment to marvel at the painting over the fireplace. Benitora's art sometimes didn't appeal to her particular taste but now and then he would make something that dazzled her beyond belief.

Once again there was no sign of him, Yuya making a mental note to shout at Tora for leaving his house in this state. Mahiro ran around into the kitchen, but quickly emerged, shaking her head.

"Maybe he's asleep?" She left the room, soon after Yuya could hear her quiet footfalls on the stairs and the creaking of the landing as she reached the top. Meanwhile, Yuya made her way into the second hallway. She came to a door covered in an intricate red design. This could only be his drawing room, and she let her curiosity get the better of her.

She reached out her hand and twisted the stained handle. Locked! Dammit.

Overhead she heard a deafening smash and Mahiro's petrified screech that made her skin jump in shock.

"YUYA! COME QUICK!"

Quickly she darted from the hallway, through the living room and up the stairs. God only knows what she found Tora doing. She cringed, putting the possibilities out of her head for a second. Her foot found the landing, the creaking stairs dipped under her footfalls and her hand closed around the rough banister. A quick glance around the landing told her that they were in the bedroom and she wrenched the door open.

"… What…?"

Benitora's room, to say the least, was messy and dirty beyond belief. His clothes were strewn about the floor and his closet door hung open, it's contents spilled out onto the old dusty rug. The floor looked as though it had been many a time since it has been hovered and had the curtains on the windows not been shut she probably wouldn't have been able to see outside anyway the dirt was that thick. The lamp lay smashed next the bedside table. The blankets lay discarded, as thought not even used.

But Yuya wasn't looking at the state of the floor or the lamp. Her gaze was fixed on the heap lying in the bed sheets. Deathly pale, apart from the reddened forehead and sweaty fevered brow, Benitora lay with one hand across his slowly heaving chest. His rasping breath like fingernails on a chalkboard went so slow she could have sworn he stopped a few times. Despite his breathing, he didn't move. His fingers gave an occasional twitch but apart from that he stayed completely motionless. By his clothes she could tell he had collapsed, still in his paint covered white shirt – buttoned wrong – paint covered jeans so baggy the could have wrapped twice around his legs and his old Lacostè runners.

"He's unconscious." Mahiro's voice cracked. She sat on the side of the bed, a little confused and obviously uncomfortable. That was nothing compared to how Yuya was feeling.

Blank. Her mind went completely blank. She exchanged a worried expression with Mahiro. Her lower lip quivered and she shifted uncomfortably nearer to him.

Okay… okay. So he's sick… eh… right, check for temperature…

Shakily she made her way to the bed and knelt down beside him. With a careful hand she lay her palm over his sweating brow, brushing his matted hair out of the way first. She quickly drew her hand away and clutched it.

"He… he's burning!" She gasped. What have you done to yourself, 'Tora?

Mahiro looked down at him and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Beni… tora?" With what must have been all his physical strength he summoned the energy to half open one beady eye and stare up at her. His pupils were dilated and his eyes very bloodshot. A bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead and into the corner of his eye. He clenched it shut in agony and his breathing grew slightly, but not by much. Mahiro clenched his arm gently, her lower lip quivering to the point where she had to clench her eyes shut. She wrapped her arms around him and brought the back of his head to her lap, as a mother would a sleeping child.

"We… we have to get his fever down!" Yuya stood up quickly. She knew what to do now… sort of. "Stay with him, I'll be right back." Darting out the door she searched frantically for the bathroom. She had been doing her nurses training for what would be two years now. Sure she had helped some people with little things and she knew how to read symptoms and check to make sure everything was alright. But this… was so different now. There could be any number of things wrong with him. His temperature was through the roof, his skin was gaunt and he didn't even have the energy to open his eyes. Not only that, but she never imagined having to do this with one of her friends. What if something happened on her watch… what if?

Don't think like that!

She burst through the door of the bathroom and turned on the cold tap, picking up a hand towel off the rack. Turning the dial she quickly soaked the towel and wrung it out only slightly, coughing to try and choke back her terrified tears.

What if he dies? Who's fault will it be?

Mahiro had no idea of what to do. Yuya was the one who did the nurses training, and she was only in her second year of Medical Psychology. How would she know what to do? The only thing she could think of was holding him around the shoulders tightly. His head lolled to one side, his rasping breath coming in short, sharp bursts. She could feel the inertia as his lungs struggled to keep the air in, stop and then release it. He's dying, her mind screamed at her, he's going to die! His skin felt too hot against her bare arms but her mind refused to yield and let him go.

Yuya rushed out of the bathroom with the soaked towel, folding it as her feet found the floor in hurried pace. Once again she made her way into the bedroom and gently laid the folded towel over Benitora's scorching hot forehead. She noticed how fast the water evaporated as some of it rolled down his cheeks and past his nose. If anything it made her even more worried. If his temperature kept up like that, surely his body will fail.

Yuya shook her head and felt the heat from the once cool towel. The heat was rising quickly, meaning she failed to reduce his fever. "It's n-no use!" She cried and stood up, wringing her troubled hands. Think, Yuya THINK!

"What do you mean?" Mahiro choked. "You're the one who does the training, you should know! W-what if he… what if…"

"What?" Yuya shouted incredulously at her. She wasn't a nurse, or a doctor. How could she possibly know how to handle a situation like this? How could she know how to help? Who did know?

Who could help?

…

This man needs a hospital! Quickly she whipped out her phone and dialled emergency services.

"Emergency services, do you need ambulance, fire brigade or police?" A monotonous voice answered.

Feeling thoroughly idiotic for not having thought of calling an ambulance in the first place, she answered back "Ambulance."

The messenger beeped twice and she was put through to the hospital. "What seems to be the problem?" Yet another monotonous voice called through the receiving end.

"I need an ambulance. I found my friend in his house. His fever is through the roof, he's unconscious but we can't wake him." She looked over. Mahiro started sobbing. She could see Benitora starting to shiver badly, his fingers clenching and unclenching into fists. She too found herself hard to control her tears. "H-he won't stop shivering a-and…"

The woman's voice on the end suddenly became soft and calming. "Okay, now calm down miss. I'll have to ask you some questions, you need to stay calm." She urged. Yuya nodded.

"Where are you now?"

She told her the address, just barely holding back the tears when she saw Benitora's body shiver so badly it was as though he were in a freezer.

"Okay we are sending the ambulance out to you now. They will be there as soon as possible. For now, can you tell me how old your friend is?"

"H-he's twenty five." And if his temperature keeps rising he may not make it to twenty-six.

"You say he has a bad fever? Try and get him under some water, like a shower until the ambulance arrives. And please keep calm miss, should anything else arise, please call us immediately."

Anything else? Like death, you mean?

"O-okay… and p-please hurry!" She turned to Mahiro; quickly wiping the tear that had escaped it's way out of the corner of her eye. "We have to get him under the shower to get his temperature down."

Unable to control her emotion, Mahiro continued to choke out her sobs as she held Benitora under the arms, Yuya rushing forward to hold him under the knees. With great difficulty they lifted the tall redhead up off the bed. The sheets stuck to his back but Mahiro kicked them away. Half dragging, half lifting they carried his shivering form out the bedroom and down the landing and into the bathroom, neither of them barely had the strength to carry half of him, despite how slim he may be. He made no gesture, no movement to even show that he noticed, just simply shiver as his limbs attempted to curl up into a ball.

Gently as possible they lowered him into the round basin of the bath and Mahiro reached up to take the shower nozzle away from the wall, turning the dial down to cold. Meanwhile Yuya paced around the bathroom in an agitated fashion. She was biting down hard on her nails, wondering what possibly to do next. Should she call someone? She really wanted to call someone; she couldn't take this feeling of helplessness, as if she was useless any longer. But who?

She thought of Kyo, but his reaction was easily predicted. "You sure he just didn't drink a bottle of Tabasco sauce?" He would say. "You know he likes his food spicy." Then again, he was the most reliable person she knew. The first sign of trouble and he would hop on his motorbike and be here within three minutes. And get arrested again, she thought.

Mahiro switched on the shower and it hummed into life, spluttering water from the detachable nozzle. She kneeled down infront of the bath, her arm hanging over the edge to clutch the side of Benitora's shirt. Slowly she shook the water over his legs and torso, her hands shaking badly. She could have sworn his skin gave a slight hiss as the cold water sprayed his boiling skin. His body jumped when he felt the icy cold water and he shivered, if possible, even worse than before. Yuya also kneeled beside the bath, taking the nozzle from Mahiro to run the water over his face and shoulders. His limbs twitched uselessly against the cold and he sucked his sharp breath in through his teeth.

Pain, he looks like he is in so much pain.

She fought hard to control her tears. Even with Mahiro beside her, wiping the water away from his face so he could breathe, she felt alone – helpless even.

Using her free hand she lay her palm down on his forehead to feel his temperature again. He was still burning hot. She took another towel from the rack, gave the shower to Mahiro and folded it, laying it over his forehead again. Her hand brushed against the folds of his shirt, causing it to gape open slightly. The usual black designs of his tattoos were visible, but something else caught her eye. A thin red line, no larger than a vein went through his skin but transparent, as if it were underneath his skin. Mahiro wet the towel over his forehead and grasped his arm to stop herself from bursting into tears. Yuya unbuttoned his shirt and slowly peeled the wet material away from his skin. The further it came away from his stomach, the more horrified she became. Finally she pulled it away from his torso and gasped in horror, standing back and clutching her heart.

"Oh… Oh m-my God!" She shrieked. Mahiro could only stare, wide eyed in shock at his chest.

Benitora had many tattoos, but this, this was no tattoo. Thin red lines, curving and interweaving like veins spread out all over his torso, up his shoulders and around his stomach.

Blood poisoning!

But she had never seen blood poisoning like this before, never heard of it acting this way either. The lines were moving through his veins yes, but if anything they moved away from his heart.

She could see the very outline of his heart, the poison so vividly red she could see his aorta, the pulmonary arteries and cardiac muscle. His heartbeat – which was slow at best – could be seen through his very skin. She had never seen anything so terrifying in her life, it was as though someone had cracked open his chest and exposed it for all the world to see.

Mahiro left the shower down on his stomach, nozzle down so the water spilled out over his torso. With a hand over her mouth she struggled to keep her terrified sobs in.

Akira, the very first name that made sense to Yuya at that moment, Akira will know what to do. He could help.

Without any second thought, Yuya took out her phone from her pocket once more and dialled Akira's number.

"W-who are you c-calling?" Mahiro managed to choke out between her sobs.

"Akira." She answered and listened to the steady beeping on the other end.

Benitora's eyes snapped open. Mahiro gasped as he tried desperately to use all his strength to raise his hand. She clutched his hand and raised it to her face, crying deeply. He shook violently as his fingers grasped her hand, his eyelids threatening to fall back but he couldn't let that happen. He opened his mouth to say something, but all he could manage was a whimper.

"You'll be all right!" She reassured him, clutching his shaking fingers desperately. "Oh please, please be all right!"

"Akira-san!" Yuya cried. Benitora shook again and his hand closed over Mahiro's wrist.

"Please, please…!" Mahiro sobbed.

Yuya started to panic, she could already feel her stomach turning and her heart clenching tight. "I need your help! Something's wrong with Benitora. Akira… I think he's-"

"Calm down." Akira's cool voice interrupted. Something about his tone reassured her. "What's wrong with him?"

She started sobbing - she honestly had no idea what was wrong with him. His symptoms were so complex she didn't know where to start. "I don't know… h-he's burning up and he won't s-stop shivering and… and I d-don't know h-how to help him and…"

"Yuya, listen to me." She jumped as he spoke. A little hiss of anger played over his soft well-spoken voice. "Have you called an ambulance?"

She looked at her watch. Ten minutes had passed already and still the ambulance was not here. "Y-yes…" She sobbed. "But they didn't say when th-they would get here and…"

"I'll be there as soon as I can!" He hung up his phone and Yuya put her phone back into her pocket. Still the tears flowed freely from her eyes, but it was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Akira will be here in a second, she thought, he'll help. It's going to be okay.

"N… n-not-t…" Benitora managed to say through his shuddering breaths. Yuya kneeled over the bath and looked down at him.

Eyes wide, as if fearful, he gazed up at Mahiro and shook her hand. "P-le…" He couldn't manage another word after that. The only sound that seemed to leave his mouth was a soft whimper of pain, the red lines continuing slowly down and across his shivering body.

-(Break)-

At near breakneck speed Akira bolted down the road in the rain. Truly, he didn't even want to see how Benitora was unless he was looking down at him from an open casket, but if he didn't go then Yuya would suspect something. With any luck he'd have time to snap the man's neck if Yuya and Mahiro had their backs turned. A little sneer escaped over his face with this thought and he kept running, just one road away.

He managed to make himself just go that bit faster down the deserted streets if he said Yuya's name in his head every time his foot hit the ground. A sort of mantra that he liked to play while he walked, or ran in this case.

Even the rain, the way it spilled from the sky reminded him of how her eyes filled with tears when she was upset, or so happy she just had to let the tears flow. Each drop caressing her cheek like liquid silk that slid down over her soft peaches and cream skin. Could there ever be any other as perfect as she was?

Skidding slightly, he rounded the corner and bolted up the street, kicking a can over into the gutter as he raced against the clock. The usually graceful man, now as much graced with a frown as one would suspect from a dictator, should anyone see him running past would be terrified with his furious expression. If only he had some sort of way to turn back the clock and keep this little error from ever happening.

Akira became even more furious when he saw the Ambulance near the top of the road shut it's doors as the engine roared into life. Slowly it drove away, then gathered speed and turned on its red and blue sirens to allow quick passage through traffic. He stopped running, sliding on the wet pavement slightly. No point in rushing now. Yuya will call and ask if he can come to the hospital. He will make his way there on the bus, maybe stop for coffee, really he had time. No point in rushing now.

-(Break)-

"Yes, it appears we don't yet know, but we should have the blood analysis back in two to three hours. For now you can wait if you like." The nurse said from her clipboard, not once looking at them.

"Will he… be okay?" Mahiro said quietly.

Finally looking up from the sheet with a sigh, the nurse set her tired gaze on Mahiro, her expression a mixture of fatigue and worry. "We won't be sure until we get his tests back."

Mahiro nodded and wrung her hands in her lap. The nurse put the clipboard back in the holster at the end of the bed and turned to leave.

"Thanks." Yuya muttered as she left the room. She turned to Mahiro and looked at her. She avoided her green gaze, still playing with her fingers and shaking. Yuya took her hand and clenched it slightly. She smiled.

"I've… never seen him look so weak."

Weak wasn't the word, Yuya thought. She laid her attention to Benitora. He lay in the hospital bed, tubes coming in and out of his body like a robot from a bad sci-fi movie. One tube went down his throat, the other end strapped to a respirator. In the ambulance he went into a fit and stopped breathing. The life support machine and heart rate monitor beeped slowly beside him, according to one of the monitors his temperature was still high but neither rising nor lowering. His chest gently rose and fell, his brow twitching slightly and eyes clenched shut. They were not able to tell if he was awake, hell they could barely tell if he was conscious but neither of them wanted to know.

They stayed in silence for a little while, no sounds other than the sucking noise from the respirator and the beeping of the life support machine. The tension in the room could have choked her, so Yuya decided to lighten the mood a little. He was in the hospital, Kyo was coming to pick her up, and the panic was over. She was filled with a deep shame at herself for acting the way she did, but Mahiro needed to cheer up.

"So… You never told me where you got his key from."

Mahiro slowly looked over at her, a little shocked but then graced her with a slight chuckle.

"Well…"

Meanwhile, Kyo strode down the quiet wards of the hospital. His big New Rock boots clinking off the polished marble floor and a serious "Don't mess with me" expression. Yuya had warned him about the motorbike so he decided to take a taxi. Truly he had no idea why he was here. Benitora was prone to ending up in the hospital for something. He had a chisel stuck through his left hand, fainted from paint fume inhalation, lack of food and water and other general things. The man was an idiot and very accident-prone.

Probably just drank a bottle of Tabasco sauce, he thought bitterly. Damn his spicy food urges.

"Excuse me sir. You can't go down there." One of the nurses called to him, but he ignored her. "Sir? Sir! You can't go down there!"

"I know where I'm going." He spat and continued walking. She shrank away, his tone frightening her a little.

Hospitals were never a great love of his. People strapped to machines, families crying, people bleeding and dying and screaming. The place was filled with so much death it was hard to keep track of it all. It was… a little scary. Not that Kyo would ever be scared of something so frivolous, never.

Mahiro had just finished telling Yuya the tale of how she had earned a key to Benitora's house when Kyo trounced into the ward. It happened on the night of her birthday a week and a half ago. Benitora had to go for a meeting to discuss his freelance based work and couldn't see her. But at half ten at night he showed up on her doorstep with a bottle of wine, a movie and a wide, cheeky smile. They watched possible the goriest vampire movie she had ever seen, but both of them did get a little drunk so that softened the blow. One thing led to another, first they sat arm in arm, and then she lay across his lap, her legs stretched out over the couch. The movie ended and they talked, then he kissed her. Then she kissed him, kissing led to making out on the couch, which led to them kissing right up the stairs and into the bedroom. All in all the night ended well, even though he did rip her favourite blouse in his haste to remove it and she did bite the top of his collarbone so hard that it bruised badly, but both of them woke up arm in arm and happy, filled with memories of the night before.

Kyo was a little taken aback. He expected Benitora to be sitting up with a cast or a bandage of some sort, smiling awkwardly and wincing in pain. But not strapped to a respirator and not looking much like himself at all, more like some sort of monster with all those tubes. He had the strangest urge to ask where Benitora was, just to be certain. Now he understood why Yuya seemed so panicked. He stared in silence for a second and then sat down.

"What happened?"

Yuya explained to him. Their mood had been slightly uplifted with Mahiro's sordid little tale; Yuya blushing furiously was she gave the vivid details, a little glad that Benitora couldn't hear them. Now however, the mood returned back to the way it was. Cold, like the hospital is and quiet too. She felt the tears once again rushing to her eyes. How could she have been so stupid? She let herself down, let Mahiro and Benitora down. How long has she been training to be a nurse now? Two years? And she couldn't even take care of a fever problem! She even hesitated, no, forgot to call an ambulance. What if she was too late? Why did she let herself panic at the first sign of trouble? None of this was said, but she tried hard to restrain herself from shouting it.

Kyo once again was silent; his reddish-black spiky hair glinted in the dim lighting.

"Come on then." He sighed and rose from his chair. He cast what would deem to be a sympathetic look at Benitora, fearing for his friend's condition and opened the door.

"What? I don't wanna leave him here." She said.

"You've done all you can now. What else is there?" He waited at the doorframe for her. She cast a sad expression at Mahiro, who nodded and clenched her hand. Kyo frowned. He knew Mahiro and Benitora had been close friends, as well as lovers so she would be the one to suffer the most. That would be nothing compared to how he expected his father to react.

Yuya stood up, but didn't really want to leave. Once again, she looked at Benitora's almost alien figure in the bed and walked towards the door.

"Mahiro… Make sure his father knows." Kyo said quietly to her. She nodded and stayed silent. She couldn't muster the strength to say goodbye to them.

Author's note: Next chappie, we meet Sasuke and find out IF Okuni is really pregnant.