Author: Jadelyn Tate
Story: Begotten
Characters: RJ, Kim
Disclaimer: I own no one, the idea of RJ and Kim being siblings is all Tara's over at PRU's, I'm just expanding it into a fic.
Summery: A Shark. A Crane. A Wolf. And you thought your family had issues.
TimeLine: Set after One Master Too Many
Author Notes: I made a couple videos for Begotten over at my YT account. Go forth and enjoy!
"Kim, are you okay?" Fran asked quietly, poking her head in the original pink ranger's room. The teen wrinkled her nose. Kim's room usually smelled like vanilla or lavender but now reminded Fran of a hospital.
"…go 'way…" she heard Kim mumble. Frowning in worry, the brunette gingerly stepped into the room and saw that Kim was bundled up on the bed, only the top of her head not swathed in blankets. Fran gingerly reached out and placed a hand on Kim's head and then jerked back.
"Kim, you're burning up!" she exclaimed but the woman didn't answer. Fran bit her lip and then gingerly pulled the blankets down so she could see Kim's face. She barely held in a gasp. Kim was deathly pale, her eyes were blood shot and her lips blue. "Oh!"
Fran stumbled back and out the room as she ran to find RJ.
"Is she okay?" Casey pounced on RJ when he finally left Kim's room. The red ranger had told Fran, Theo, and Lily to stay downstairs working but that he was staying up to wait on Kim. It was only the two days after RJ's first morph and he was feeling rather protective of the entire group.
RJ winced. Kim had spent the night before scolding him for not telling her about the Wolf Morpher when she was supposed to be the ranger mentor. She'd told him that creating morphers had side effects on teams, some she wasn't even allowed to tell him about. She'd made him promise to tell her before he made another one, no matter what his instincts told him. Now he could only wonder if his morphing had caused his sister to run a 103 temp and not be able to hold anything down.
"RJ?" Casey asked worriedly and the Wolf Master shook his head of his thoughts. Kim wasn't even a ranger anymore, how could his morphing cause her harm?
"She's really really sick. I'll talk to Fran about helping me care for her--" he was cut off by Casey.
"I'll do it!" he interrupted and then frowned when RJ shook his head.
"It'd be worse if you, Theo, or Lily get sick. Fran can handle herself and isn't needed to fight Dai Shi," he reminded him. Casey scowled bit didn't argue. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the wolf was right. "In the meantime, I'm gonna call Adam."
"Adam?" Casey asked, confused, and RJ nodded.
"He said to call if I needed anything and I know my sister. She's a pain when she's sick," he told the red ranger with a small smile. Casey snickered.
"Hi."
Adam looked up from wiping Kim's face to find Fran shifting nervously in the doorway. Adam smiled and motioned her forward with his free hand. She stepped forward and handed him a glass of water and RJ's sickness-be-gone herb remedy before sitting down in the chair across from him. Adam quietly thanked her and set the glass aside.
"It's not going to help," he told her when he saw her expression. She looked panicked for a second but calmed at his quick shake of his head. "No, I mean, no remedy is gonna help this. It's a ranger thing."
"A ranger thing?" Fran asked and he nodded.
"It's not something I can talk about but yeah, it's a ranger thing. I went through it myself a year or so ago," he assured her.
"But she'll be okay, right?" she asked hopefully and Adam nodded.
"Yeah, she just has to burn off some excess….energy," he told her and she relaxed against the chair she was sitting on.
"I wish I could help," she muttered and Adam shot her a quick smile.
"You can," he told her. She looked at him hopefully and he smiled gently. "I can't stay much longer but when I leave, if you could make sure she drinks lots of fluids and takes on these capsules every four hours, that'd be great."
He handed her the capsules and Fran nodded, her expression turning determined. Hiding a smile, Adam gently wiped away Kim's bangs and bent down to gently kiss her forehead.
"Take care, Crane," he whispered. Straightening, he shot a quick wink in Fran's direction and then disappeared in a flash of black light just as a white, red, and gold light filled the room. Fran's jaw dropped slightly when a new man, one she hadn't yet met, appeared. He started at her, looking slightly panicked.
"Adam just left," she told him, guessing what he was worried about. "I'm Fran."
"Jason," he greeted her, relaxing as he remembered Kim's fondness for the girl. He took the empty chair and gingerly wiped Kim's face. "She okay?"
"Adam said it's a Ranger thing and that she just needs to burn off excess energy," Fran told him quickly. Jason nodded, looking pensive. He bent down and kissed her forehead just as Adam had done.
"I just wanted to make sure she was okay," he explained as he moved up and back. "I have to go back to work. Call us if anything changes?"
Fran nodded mutely as watched as he disappeared. She waited, curious to see if anyone else was going to pop in. Finally deciding that they would be alone for a time, Fran pulled out a book and began reading out loud. It was something her grandmother used to do when she was sick and it always helped sooth her. She only hoped it would do the same for Kim.
Kim groaned quietly as she struggled to sit up. She didn't remember going to bed and she had a feeling she had missed a whole lot. She still felt very very ooky but something had been tugging at her and she was determined to find out what it was so she could go back to the blissful arms of sleep. She gingerly looked around, taking in the numerous burned incense sticks, the rather nauseous smell of her brothers herbal remedy's, RJ dosing in a chair while Casey slept at the foot of her bed….
Kim blinked and turned back to her bed. The red ranger was curled up around her comforter covered feet, his arms wrapped around a pillow as he slept. Someone had thrown the end of a large old quilt over the boy while the other end was wrapped around RJ as he slept in the chair next to the red ranger. Kim guessed Lily or Fran had probably thrown the blanket over the two as Kim couldn't see Theo tucking in either guy. Shaking her head slightly, she lay back down, content that her team would always have her back, whether she wanted them to or not.
"We should go help Theo and Lily." Casey's voice was angry as Kimberly gingerly moved to the entrance to the three bedrooms and the storage room. Kim frowned when she saw her brother and standing by Casey, dressed in a new purple shirt like his students. Idly wondering how long she'd been out, she listened to the conversation.
"A bent arrow doesn't fly straight." RJ responded.
"I'm not a bent arrow," Casey responded, annoyed.
"Fine," RJ agreed before looking at the basketball Casey was holding. "Give me the ball."
Casey grudgingly handed over the ball as Kim leaned against the wall as she waited.
"Here's the deal," RJ said, moving to the back of the room. "To beat Dai Shi, I have to make this shot. Period."
"From there?" Casey asked skeptically as Kim snorted quietly. "Good luck."
"Casey, I'm serious. No 'luck' involved," he told him, his voice for once corresponding with his words. "I have to make it or Dai Shi wins."
Kim watched, bemused, as her brother stood and looked at the basketball hoop. Not understanding what exactly had happened, she nevertheless understood the lesson. As the ball sailed through the air, Kim stared at her cub, thinking only one thing.
Teammwork.
Kim grinned when he jumped in and slammed the ball into the net. RJ laughed and moved over to him as Casey bounced the ball. "Slam dunk, what did I tell ya!"
"But I got it in," Casey reminded him and RJ nodded.
"Exactly!" he agreed. "I knew your instincts would kick in and you'd make it happen. That's what leaders do. No luck involved. Casey, everyone has moments when they get kinda…unsure. You just have to trust your instincts and your friends will trust them too."
Kim smiled proudly at her brother as Casey nodded in understanding.
"Gotta go."
As the boys jumped through what Kim had only jokingly been calling the Rabbit Hole, Fran came up, saw Kim, and threw the towels into the air as she dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Kim's middle. Kim teetered slightly before steadying herself and the girl.
"Fran…?" she asked worriedly. Fran looked up at her.
"You were so sick and we didn't know why but Adam and Jason and Billy just said it was a ranger thing but none of us knew what they meant and they said they couldn't tell us cause they weren't allowed to and you were running a really really high temperature and I was so worried cause I need someone to talk to about all the ranger nonsense that isn't a ranger and please don't do that again!" she said.
She then promptly burst into tears.
"Kimberly!"
Kim and Fran looked up at Casey's shout, Kim still with her arms around Fran. Kim hadn't realized how much the younger girl depended on her to keep her grounded among all the ranger-ness but looking back she shouldn't have been surprised. They were the only two who weren't Pua Zhua or full on rangers and that had created a special bond that she didn't want to severe.
"Hi guys," she greeted them and braced herself when she was nearly tackled by the three teens, Casey at the forefront. Squished in a four way teen hug, Kim looked around.
"I take it ya'll missed me?" she asked, amused.
"Don't do that again!" Casey ordered her from where his nose was buried in her neck.
"Seriously, do you know how much I wanted to strangle these guys cause they turned into mother hens?" Lily asked from next to him, her forehead resting on Kim's cheek. Theo didn't say anything but she felt a tightening around her middle where his arms were while his head was buried in her back. Fran simply sniffled from where she was squished in between Lily and Theo, her head on the other side of Kim's neck from Casey.
"Alright guys, let Kim get some air," RJ finally said, a smile on his face. Immediately, the four teens moved away, though Kim noticed Casey and Fran each kept one arm around her waist.
"How are you feeling?" Theo asked worriedly and Kim smiled.
"I feel like a hundred bucks!" she told them brightly and then withered under her brother's look. "That was thrown in a dryer and set on spin."
"Adam and Jason said it was a ranger thing," Lily mentioned, looking concerned. Kim smiled and laid her head on Casey's shoulder.
"I know, and I wish I can tell you but I can't. I'd endanger too many people if I did," she apologized and the group nodded reluctantly. "Chances are, none of you will have to worry about it happening to you though so don't."
"It's over though, right? You're not going to get sick again?" Casey asked and Kim sighed.
"It'll probably happen one or two more times, I think," she told him with a grimace. "When it does, just call Adam, Tommy, or Billy."
