Juri came to with a pounding headache and dry mouth. Coughing, and confused when her breath rattled, she wanted to roll over, push off the sheets that were tangled around her legs because they were too hot, but her blood pounded in her temple, making her too queasy to even think about moving. Hearing the soothing sound of someone humming, only broken up by the sound of water splashing, a wet piece of cloth was laid on her forehead, instantly soothing some of the heat, and a low voice whispered, "Glad to see you're awake, Arisuguwa-san. Usagi-chan should be back in here soon. She left to get some soup so you could eat when you awoke."
Swallowing and getting ready to open her eyes, Juri winced when her throat burned, feeling swollen. Cracking open her eyes to see who was taking care of her and not recognizing the voice, a gentle older face framed by dark blue hair met her gaze. The woman smiled and turned the washcloth over on her forehead, accidentally letting droplets of water roll down into her eyes, and Juri closed them reflexively.
She would have said something if she knew she could, but her throat hurt her too much, and she was feeling sick. Sick and hot. The room seemed to be stifling, and her bangs stuck to her skin by cold sweat that made her body feel sticky, her hands lying helplessly by her sides.
Juri couldn't remember when she had ever felt so sick. Her mind felt like mush, and she wanted a glass of water, two or three aspirins, and the ability to fall asleep instantly. She didn't even know where she was, although the woman's features looked vaguely familiar, and she had mentioned Usagi, but somehow Juri couldn't make herself care.
"Here." The woman held up a glass of water, her arm snaking around Juri's back to support her as she tried to sit up, a moment of vertigo making her close her eyes to try and beat down the nausea. The cup was placed against her lips, urging her to drink, and Juri sighed in ecstasy as the coolness flowed down her throat, oddly detached from her nerves. The sheets fell away from her body, and when she was gently helped to lay down, she looked down to notice that she was wearing white male pajamas, about her own size, the first couple of buttons unbuttoned.
"Tell me," she said raggedly, licking her dry lips and looking up sickly at the older woman, noticing the faint laugh lines around her face even in her daze, "Where am I?" It sure didn't seem like her apartment, and the light coming in from a window to her left and the softness of the bed she was laying on seemed all wrong. Didn't her bed have a window on the right side?
Just then, a door opened behind the middle-aged woman, and Usagi stuck her head in. Her features brightening as she saw Juri sitting up, she straightened and came in, bearing a pot of something steaming in her hands, "Juri-san!"
Juri blushed, feeling too sick to do anything else but smile resignedly. Seeing Usagi sit down next to the other woman, she realized that the woman had to be her mother, and wondered how she hadn't seen it before.
Usagi reached out and gently took Juri's hand into her own, and Juri shivered as her cool skin met her own feverish fingers. Placing the bowl of soup next to Juri's legs, the blonde gazed down onto her with a semi-angry look, her blue eyes boring into Juri's.
"Ri-chan," she whispered as Juri couldn't help but yawn, still not fully awake, giving Usagi a sheepish grin in the process, "Why did you go to work today? You're really sick." Reaching down, Usagi gently smoothed away some sweaty bangs from Juri's forehead after softly removing the drying washcloth.
Juri closed her eyes at the feathery contact, touched at the emotion the younger girl was showing her, and feeling guilty for causing her to worry. Swallowing, she winced again at the spike of pain that action caused her, and didn't feel at all like the Juri she usually was. Taking in a ragged breath, she tried to smile, coughed, and mumbled, "I'm sorry…"
"For what?" Usagi's sweet voice asked, her voice disappearing behind a veil of blackness that appeared as Juri succumbed to the beckoning of sleep, suddenly bone tired, her headache mysteriously ebbing with the appearance of the bunny.
"For making you worry…" And she was asleep.
***
"Oh Juri…" Usagi chuckled, watching as the woman's face smoothed in sleep, the lines that had appeared once she had woken up getting erased. She looked so much younger. Vulnerable.
Tenderly brushing some more errant locks of hair that didn't want to leave Juri's eyes be, wondering idly at the vivid orange of the color, she smiled and turned to her mother, who smiled adoringly at her oldest child.
"So she's the one you were out with last night?" Ikuko asked, her blue eyes meeting her own affectionately.
Usagi nodded. "Ahuh. It's strange. She seemed fine yesterday. How could she have gotten so sick so suddenly?"
"I don't know," her mother said as she rose, picking up the bucket of cold water and dumping the discarded washcloth into it with a splash, "Looks to be the 24 hour flu, though. But I'm glad her fever's broken. She gave us quite a scare." Pausing, she turned away from where she was standing at the door to Usagi's room and said over her shoulder, "Hmm. You say she stayed at work for at least eight hours before you came?"
Usagi nodded wordlessly.
"Then it's a good thing she has a friend like you. It's a pity she lives alone. You sure that she doesn't have any family or friends around here?"
"Mother!" Usagi protested, "You make it seem like she's a burden here!"
Ikuko laughed, "No, no. It's alright. I'm just wondering. A lovely girl like that should have a boyfriend at least. She's welcome to stay as long as she needs." Ikuko looked over to where Juri lay, Usagi's eyes watching as she did so, "Besides, she seems to be well-mannered."
Exiting out of Usagi's room, she turned back to say, "I'll bring some tea with honey up later – I'm sure she'll appreciate that for her throat if she wakes up."
Usagi nodded, "Thanks Okaa-san. I'm sorry for bothering you."
Her mother shook her head. "That's alright; it's good that you have such a pure heart," and, as if something occurred to her, she added, "Oh, and I'll keep Chibi-Usa and Luna away for a while – we need to let her sleep," and shut the door quietly behind her.
Usagi watched her mother leave affectionately, marveling at just how kind she could be, tolerating all of the odd quirks and behaviors Usagi had begun to develop after becoming Sailor Moon. Chuckling at her mother's use of the phrase 'pure heart', and remembering her fight with Pharaoh 90 and Mistress 9, she took her thoughts back to the woman who needed her attention more than those memories did.
Why HAD Juri disregarded her own health? It didn't seem like something the fastidious woman would do, and Usagi was sure that she would have noticed anything if Juri had been beginning to develop the flu – fever, whatever! – and Juri had only seemed nothing but indrawn. It hurt Usagi to see her friend suffering.
Her eyes traveling over the striking body of her friend that lay tucked in on her bed, her face contracting in her sleep as if she was experiencing something not so enjoyable, Usagi's eyes came to a rest on the chain that hung around her neck. Her curiosity peaking, she leaned forward, gently pulling out the gold links that lay under the white collar of Usagi's father's pajamas. Feeling slightly bad about the snooping she was doing, Usagi gently reached forward and slid her hands under Juri's hair to search for the locket that she knew lived on the necklace.
The blonde knew she was probably intruding onto Juri's privacy, but she just knew that the locket had something to do with the fact that Juri would sometimes turn quiet and her eyes would turn inwards, her thoughts taking her away from what she was talking about with Usagi. And, being the inquisitive person Usagi was, she tried to convince herself that she was only doing it for Juri's sake.
Juri shifted in her sleep, throwing out her head to shift it onto the back of Usagi's palm, mumbling something, furrowing her brow and frowning. Usagi stilled, realizing that she was leaning over her friend, her knees beginning to ache where they sat on the floor of her bedroom, leaning over her bed, a good foot above the rug her skin pressed into. Her breath brushed against the hair Juri's head pushed up, and she could begin to feel a nervous sweat start at the back of her neck, one of her golden ponytails shifting to flop over her shoulder.
Just then Juri rolled over, murmuring. "Oh…Shiori…"
Usagi froze, realizing that Juri was rolling into her. Because her precarious position didn't afford her that great a balance, she had a split second to comprehend what she knew was going to happen next. With a scream that was muffled by the pillow next to Juri's head, she tipped over, her limbs splaying.
Juri grunted with the sudden unexpected weight, but didn't seem to waken. Instead, as Usagi raised her head warily, bracing herself with her hands on either side of Juri's shoulders, the woman just grumbled, shifting under her sheets. Looking into her face, seeing how close she was to be able to notice her individual eyelashes, her arms beginning to tremble with the strain of holding her body up, Usagi dreaded how she was going to be able to roll off of her unnoticed.
"Usagi-chan!?"
Screaming with fright, Usagi's arms gave up and she landed face-first down upon Juri again, just knowing that she was going to wake up.