Chapter 4

It had been a week; A full week of backbreaking, labor intensive work that every inch of his 6'10 stature was suffering from. He hurt everywhere, but despite that, his uncle, whom was looking more and more like Satan everyday, continued to wake him up at 3am by kicking him and then snatching up his ear between his knuckles.

However, it had also been a week of the most delicious, delectable meals he had ever had the privilege of eating.

From then on, his days didn't end until well after sundown after spending the day in the sun mucking stalls, feeding the animals, keeping an eye on Gretchen, only to go on to house chores that ranged from preparing meals for later, doing his laundry, cleaning the house, washing the truck, sifting through a few corns talks from the back of the fields to give to Tatsuki the days she came over and all while his uncle worked on butchering the pig and a number of chickens to get them ready for the farmer's market. It had been a long, exhausting week and Atsushi couldn't stop yawning.

Sunday had finally arrived, and they had still gotten up at 3 to get the morning chores done before packing up the truck with several foam coolers worth of freshly butchered and prepared meats. It had been a lengthy drive into town 25 miles away, but one where Atsushi had managed to catch a nap despite the cramped space and the dumb dog that kept trying to stick its tongue up his nose. They had pulled into the market far sooner than he would have liked, but with the sun freshly risen, and the air warm, he found himself staring at the sight before him.

He had never seen something like it before; So many booths that people were setting up with the things they had brought from all over the countryside. There was fresh vegetables and fruits, berries and nuts, and even giant ears of corn that had been pulled from stalks only days before. There was handmade items like clothes and blankets, even jewelry and home decorations like wind chimes and hand carved wooden plaques that had been painted with a wide range of colors. There was even carts where people were cooking up special recipes that only they knew and instead of smelling the morning air that he had gotten used to, there was the smell of sweets and food wafting up that he couldn't ignore.

"Oi!... Dazed and Confused! Wake up!"

Atsushi suddenly snapped out of it when his uncle poked him hard in the arm for him to set down the cooler on the ground behind their booth, directly across from the confection booth Tatsuki was happily setting up for the day. Instead of saying anything, he just bent over and set it down where his uncle tore off the tape and started pulling plastic wrapped cuts of meat to place them onto the ice beds laid out on their booth. He went back to the truck bed and picked up the next one, setting it down next to the other, but when he tried to stand, his legs suddenly started screaming with ache that made him rest a hand down on the booth to steady himself.

"You alright, Kiddo?" Hiroshi asked, standing up with several prime cuts of pork that he set down with the others.

"Yeah... Just feeling sluggish." Atsushi said quietly as he rested a hand on his forehead and took a moment to breathe.

Hiroshi arced a brow, "That's saying something coming from you."

Atsushi glared down and frowned, "I just ache all over." He grumbled, deciding it best to just let it go.

"You coming down with something?" Hiroshi asked as he just watched his nephew.

Atsushi shrugged, "I don't know. I just feel... bleh." He said, releasing a long sigh as he stretched with the hopes that it would push back the ache.

Hiroshi's brows just furrowed as he stared for a moment, giving him time to finish arranging the cuts before tugging on Atsushi's sleeve to bring his head down a bit. The giant boy didn't refuse as he reached up and swept his purple hair aside, placing the back of his hand against Atsushi's forehead, but his frown only grew at the heat that felt oddly warmer than it should.

"You do feel kinda warm. You gonna make it?" His uncle asked as he took his hand back.

"I should. It's probably just an ache from working all week." Atsushi said, trying not to grumble, but it came out anyways as his legs pulsed with that all over ache.

"Doubt it. You're more conditioned for work than you think." Hiroshi said, offering one last glance at his nephew before crouching down and picking up more cuts and strips of meat from the cooler.

Atsushi just sighed as he took another moment to breathe through the worst of the ache before retrieving the last of the coolers from the truck. The ache was creeping up his body like he was sinking in quicksand and when he set down the third cooler, he had to slap his hand into the booth to keep from falling over.

"Whoa... Okay there, Kiddo. Yeah, you're not up to snuff. Park it here for a second and I'll get you a stool to sit on so you don't knock that thick head of yours on anything harder." Hiroshi said as he helped Atsushi sit down on the sidewalk's curb.

"I'm fine, Uncle Hiroshi. I just lost my balance." Atsushi said with a frown, but refused to look up at his uncle.

"No... No you didn't." Hiroshi said before going to the truck.

Atsushi just planted his feet and arced his knees up, setting his elbows down on them while he rubbed his forehead. He really did feel hot, but having spent a week in the sun most likely resulted in getting a bit burned to some degree. His skin, which was usually on the pale side, didn't feel tender, or sensitive, so the sunburn idea was fading just like the darkness of his early morning. The ache was getting worse, had been since the day before, so the idea of what it was being replaced with, was that he really was coming down with something.

Hiroshi returned from the truck with a tall folding stool that he set down behind the booth before offering his hand to help Atsushi up. The help was appreciated as he clambered to his feet and when he got to sit down on the stool, the relief he was flooded with was so welcomed that he audibly sighed and closed his eyes to relish in it.

"Thank you, Uncle Hiroshi. That helps." Atsushi said, blowing out a breath as he opened his eyes.

"Yeah... I wouldn't be surprised if you're down for the count in the next day, or so. System Shock isn't fun, but you'll live." Hiroshi said with a firm pat to Atsushi's shoulder, which was now even with his.

"System Shock?" Atsushi arced a brow as he leaned over and started handing cuts to his uncle.

"You know... When you have a big change in your life and your body can't handle it all that well, so it gets sick. We call it System Shock." Hiroshi said without looking up from placing his goods.

"Great... I don't wanna get sick." Atsushi whined, handing over the last of the cuts before huffing out a breath to move the strand of purple hair in front of his face.

"Get ready for it... And pull your hair back so you don't look like a bum." Hiroshi said, this time with his usual gruffness as he sent a sidelong glare at his tall nephew.

Atsushi's shoulders slumped, but he wasn't about to refuse what he wanted. He had learned real fast that doing so usually resulted in his ear getting ripped off, or the back of his head smacked. His uncle was not above climbing just to reach him and not wanting to get smacked, especially since every nerve ending in his body was thumping, he slipped the hair tie from his wrist to hold it in his teeth while he pulled his shoulder length locks back to halfway up the back of his skull.

"That's better." Hiroshi huffed, stepping around to the front of the booth to place all the tags with the prices on them.

Atsushi just sighed as several rebellious locks fell free to frame his face, reaching all the way down to his chin and tickling his jaw. He gave his head a quick shake to move them as he gripped the meat of his shoulder, and as he massaged, he looked across the street to Tatsuki's booth which was awash with all the colors of the rainbow in soft pastels.

Her booth was laden with cookies and cupcakes, homemade chocolates and even cracker sticks she had dipped in chocolate, both milk and dark, and she even had some coated with strawberry and caramel. She had homemade caramels she had wrapped in thin plastic tied with ribbon, hard candies in the shape of barn animals and even little assorted baggies that had little bits of everything. There was pastries filled with jelly and topped with frosting, mason jars filled with hot cocoa mix and even bake-at-home recipe kits that had all been arranged in pretty packages in decorated mason jars. He wanted to eat every last bit of it because not only was Tatsuki a skilled farmhand, but she made magic happen in the kitchen.

With a gulp, Atsushi continued to stare, catching Tatsuki's smile as she hummed to herself and beamed at him. She was a nice girl, almost too nice, but when it came to her baking, he learned just as fast to not get in her way. He had tried sneaking a taste of her homemade ice cream, and not having any sort of experience with a stand mixer, his finger nearly got wrapped up in the auger which earned him a wooden spoon smacked into his knuckles. Back in Akita, he was used to being that imposing figure, that one person that no one was willing to piss off because he was 16, 6'10 and 218 pounds, but out in the country, he was just another human. They were used to dealing with things far larger than them and despite being 6' feet tall herself, Tatsuki Himuro wasn't at all intimidated by his size.

Just remembering the painful smack made him shutter as he looked away from her, returning his attention back to the nearly readied booth and his own body ache. He dropped his arm down into his lap, slipping the cuffs of his cardigan sweater over his hands, but when his uncle thrust a lockbox into his arms, he sat perfectly still with the hopes of not drawing attention.

"Can you can handle the booth while I'm gone?" Hiroshi asked, setting a folding TV tray down next to him so he could set the box down.

"Uh... Where're you going?" Atsushi asked with an arced brow and hiding his hands back into his sweater.

"To the school. It's about 10 miles back. I'm going to get you signed up before it's passed the cut off." Hiroshi said, placing the last sign before seating the lids back on the emptied coolers.

"Great... Now I have to bust my ass at home, and at school." Atsushi sighed, again hunching over as he hung his head.

"Life's tough, Kiddo." Was all Hiroshi said, clapping Atsushi's shoulder once more before heading for the truck with the emptied coolers.

As Hiroshi closed up the bed of the truck, Atsushi just stared off in a daze, only huffing a breath out of his nose to clear his sinuses when the grouchy truck throttled to life and drove away in a puff of exhaust and burnt oil. His head was starting to hurt, but with the booth all set up and with a little time to spare, he got to just sit, which he hadn't been able to do the whole week.

Releasing another tired sigh, Atsushi yawned, covering his mouth with his sweater covered hand to hide it. The ache wasn't going away and the more it fizzed, the more he was beginning to accept that he was about to go down like some lame animal. He hated being sick, absolutely loathed it. He hated how heavy it made him feel, hated how sluggish it made him because it wasn't on his own terms and hated, abhorred, how it made him lose his appetite for anything and everything. Being sick sucked.

"Atsushi?"

With a start, Atsushi sat up stick straight, starting to breathe again once his heart started back up. He had zoned out while the ache lolled him off into a daze and once his eyes started to focus once more, he set his lavender orbs on Tatsuki, whom was standing in front of the booth with a pretty pink cupcake cradled in her hands.

"Are you okay?" Tatsuki asked, her dark gray eyes expressing soft concern.

"Yeah... Just achy is all." Atsushi nodded, but lied so not to garnish any more attention to himself.

"Oh... Well, maybe this will help. I made you an extra." Tatsuki said, her smile returning as she held out the cupcake to him.

His eyes briefly widened as he stared at the small confection, how the pastel pink frosting swirled and frilled like a rose, and it smelt of sugar and strawberries. A small little piece of rose colored candy was nestled in the middle and wrapped delicately around the cup was pretty red ribbon whose ends curled in tight ringlets like perfectly styled hair. It was almost too beautiful to eat.

"S-Strawberry?" Atsushi asked, offering his palm for her to set the cupcake down.

"Strawberry cream. My own recipe." Tatsuki softly chuckled as she released the treat into his care.

He didn't need to put the confection to his nose to smell the delicate scent, taking in a deep inhale to set his sinuses alight with sugar and warmth. The frosting seemed to sparkle in the fresh morning sun and the small candy in the middle was in the shape of a little pig. The rose color was not too far off the actual hue of the beasts and he even had little chocolate eyes.

"It's cute." Atsushi said, lightly smiling down at the treat.

"Thank you... The little candy is chocolate and there's even cream inside." Tatsuki said, clasping her hands in front of her as she chuckled.

Atsushi bit his lip, but raised the cupcake to his mouth and bit down, biting off a rather small bite to immediately have his senses erupt in sweetness and the soft aroma of strawberry. The frosting on top was creamy and smooth, not at all gritty like mass produced treats he could buy at the convenience store. It was so smooth and delicate that it didn't even stick to his tongue as he chewed. The cream inside the pink fluff was just as smooth and added that milky cream flavor to the entire thing and as he swallowed his bite, it hit his stomach like fluff and love.

"Oh... It's good." Atsushi near moaned with a smile before taking another bite.

Tatsuki's cheeks burst with pink near the same color as the frosting that was stuck to the corner of Atsushi's lips.

"Thank you... The trick is using fine grain sugar instead of regular table top." She said, biting her bottom lip and continuing to smile.

Atsushi finished the cupcake, having saved the little chocolate pig for last as he popped it into his mouth where it instantly melted into a smooth, milky liquid. His body didn't ache anymore, or he just wasn't paying attention, but the cupcake had been so good that it had drawn all of his attention away from it. He was completely content to let the flavor linger and fall into its embrace, but when he felt a warm finger against his cheek, his eyes snapped open as he saw Tatsuki swipe away some lingering frosting from the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry... Frosting." Tatsuki said quietly, her blush deepening again as she tried to think of what to do with the small frosting lump.

Atsushi tried to speak, his mouth even opened, but nothing came out; Just airy squeaks that sounded like a tire had sprung a leak. He felt his cheeks getting flushed, even felt his heart thumping sporadically in his chest, and when his head started to whirl from not breathing, he snapped out of it and scrubbed his face with both hands in an attempt to hide.

"S-Sorry... I think maybe Uncle Hiroshi might be right." Atsushi finally spoke, looking up from his hands to see Tatsuki wipe her finger on her apron around her waist.

"Hmm? Right about what?" Tatsuki asked, her sweet smile fading away.

Quick! Lie that I'm blushing! "H-He thinks I might be coming down with... What did he call it?... Um... System Shock?" Atsushi thought out loud.

"Oh!... Oh, you poor thing!" Tatsuki's concerned eyes returned as she stepped around the booth.

However, all he could do was watch, but when she leaned in close, close enough for him to feel the heat from her skin, he couldn't move fast enough with the body ache as she softly rested her lips against his forehead.

"W-W-What're you doing?" Atsushi stuttered, staying stock still and desperately trying not to shake from the contact.

Her lips were only on his forehead for a few moments, but they weren't puckered, or plumped as if she were kissing him, they were perfectly still and neutral. She wasn't kissing him like he first thought, she was doing something else; She was checking his temperature.

"S-Sorry... The lips are the most sensitive to temperatures, so I checked to see if you were running a fever." She said, shying into her own shoulders as she took a step back.

Atsushi rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh... Um... Well?"

"Um... You feel a bit warm to me." She said, nervously biting her bottom lip as she tried, gave it a solid effort, to hold eye contact.

"I just ache... Maybe I'll get lucky." Atsushi said quietly and with a light half shrug.

"Maybe... I'll get you some water. Maybe that'll help." She said, not even waiting a second before spinning and hurrying off.

All he did was sit and stare, stunned silent and not really having the energy to try and think about what she had done. He guessed it made sense, not really having any sort of room to say otherwise, but if all she was doing was making sure her part-time employer's nephew was in good health, he supposed it was harmless. He ached too much to care, too much to really even think and when she returned with a bottle of water for him, he merely said his thanks before the market opened for the day.

He had never seen so many people before, trying to squeeze through the street and all stopping to look at one thing, or another. Everyone seemed happy, completely without any sort of sad thought, or bad day. They all wanted to browse, to shop the available wares and goodies and they even stopped at his booth to look and admire the meat that had been butchered a few days before.

Back in Akita, most viewed him as dimwitted and dull, completely inept at everything unless it was basketball related. He always had this bored look on his face, his hair was as energetic as he was and with his mouth constantly stuffed with junk food, speaking usually garnished attention since he didn't do it often. From the outside, he was merely a dumb boy, but in reality, he wasn't an idiot, but rather, he was smart enough to be bored and the only ones whom ever saw it, were those in his advanced physics class.

Where he excelled at physics, math came in at a close second and it was that math that allowed him to work the booth with little trouble. He sat there on the stool and took people's money, bagged what cuts they wanted and counted their change from the lockbox, all while managing to put on a light smile so he appeared nice. The day went on and on and the entire time, Tatsuki's booth was socked in with hordes of people wanting her baked goods. It was rare she got a chance to scoot away, but the few times she did, she always stopped by to see how he was doing.

Every time she asked, he would just say he was fine, but in actuality, he was getting worse. The all over ache had finally crept up into his head, making it throb with its own pulse and pressed against the back of his eyes. Even the day's light was getting to be too much for him and as such, he had to slow it down when he was helping customers, or risk making a mistake. He wanted to lay down, to close his eyes and sleep until he felt better, but he doubted if he was actually going to get that chanced.

His uncle didn't return until hours later, climbing out of the truck with a plastic bag he hadn't left with. He chucked it at him before taking over the booth for a bit, giving Atsushi a much needed break as he peered inside the bag to see three school uniforms that consisted of gray plaid pants, a white collared shirt, a black cardigan sweater and a red tie. He checked their sizes to find them correct, and he was relieved that the pants were actually long enough to reach his feet. Apparently, the school was used to large students, where his previous school had to special order his uniform to fit his, at the time, 6'1 frame. At least he wouldn't look like a dork at his new school.

Finally, as if mercy had been gifted to him, it was finally time to close up shop and head home. The entire day, his aches just got worse and by the time his uncle pulled the truck up the driveway to park, Atsushi felt like he weighed as much as a draught horse and that was just his head.

"Go lay down. I'll bring you something to drink." His uncle said with very little emotion as he got out of the truck, followed by the dumb dog.

Atsushi just blew out a stiff breath as he forced himself to move, opening the door and flopping out of the truck as if he had just fallen out. He scuffed his way into the house and no longer than it took for him to take off his nearly spent tennis shoes, he flopped down on the couch and arced an arm over his eyes.

All he did was lay there and listen as his uncle clanked around in the kitchen, just trying to rest and ignore the ache that thundered all over him. It was getting harder and harder to breathe through his nose and instead of trying, it was easier to pant out of his mouth. He was exhausted and just wanted to be left alone, but when his uncle sat down on the edge of the couch, surprisingly gently, a cold stick was thrust into his mouth and under his tongue.

No more than a few minutes later, the thermometer beeped and when his uncle pulled it out to check its reading, his suspicions were confirmed; Atsushi was sick and with a fever of a 102.

"Sick. As. Hell," his uncle sighed, "Get to bed. Get some rest and we'll see how you feel in the morning." Hiroshi said as he stood up from the couch.

Atsushi just nodded and trudged upstairs.

There was no feeling better in the morning. There was no relief from the all over ache, no reprieve from the pounding in his head and there was absolutely no chance of breathing through his nose. He shivered beneath the blanket that wasn't big enough to cocoon himself in and he just laid there as still as possible, or risked being assaulted by the constant ache and chilled sweat that had encompassed his entire body. His teeth chattered and he refused to open his eyes despite the muted daylight hitting them.

Daylight.

With a groan, Atsushi finally opened his eyes enough to peer out his window where he didn't remember drawing the curtains closed. They muted the daylight that was clearly set in outside and as much as he wondered if it was the same day, or not, he didn't have the energy to get up and find out.

He simply laid there and chattered, shivering down to his bones as he curled himself tighter into a ball to try and squeeze under the blanket, but there was always at least one foot that couldn't quite fit. He dug his toes into the sheets to try and get warm, but it was always just out of reach. He whimpered from the ache and the cold, but needing to go the bathroom was enough to make him want to cry. He didn't want to get up just to get there.

With a hard cough that shook and vibrated in his chest, he groaned as he pushed himself up, letting the blanket fall from his t-shirt and boxers clad body. He had tried sweats and a hoodie, but too soon, he always got too hot and ended up shedding them anyways and as such, he hadn't slept well at all. His teeth continued to chatter as he gripped the edge of the bed, but the effort it was going to take just to get to his feet was so monumental, that he was hesitant to try. He blew out a few breaths in preparation, but when the doorbell rang downstairs, he just sat and listened through his muddied ears.

He couldn't make out any words, but he could hear mumbling downstairs, and it only lasted a few minutes before soft footsteps began to come up the stairs. They didn't sound right, didn't sound like his uncle's heavy confident stomps, but rather were delicate, soft even. He just sat there breathing through his mouth and when a soft knock sounded against his door, he swallowed, coughed and finally spoke in a plugged up voice.

"Hello?" Atsushi jumbled out before he lightly coughed into a fist again and tried to inhale through his nose with no success.

The doorknob turned and creaked open, the noise grating against his already sensitive hearing, but it mercifully stopped when his visitor poked their head in.

"Oh, Atsushi... You look awful." Tatsuki said softly and quietly as she fully stepped inside with the familiar basket in hand.

"I feel awful." Atsushi breathed nasally, not moving as he just sat on his bed with a dreary look in his eyes.

Tatsuki pouted as she set the basket down on the bed and cupped his chin, lifting his face up just enough to brush aside some of his hair, but she never got a chance to when he was suddenly racked with a cough.

He held his breath to hold it back just long enough until he got the crook of his elbow up to bury his face in it. The cough jolted through him, thundered through his entire trunk and the harder he coughed, the more his head pounded and made him wince.

"Ow-" Atsushi crooned out before giving up on sitting and just flopped over onto his side with his legs still hanging off the bed.

Tatsuki pouted out of sympathy at the sight of him as she bent down and grasped his ankle, lifting the blanket to tuck him in, but despite not resisting her kindness, he groaned out the real reason he was sitting up.

"I have to pee." Atsushi groaned out with his arm flopped over his face.

Tatsuki froze and just blinked a few times while her brain registered what he said, and tossing the blanket aside, she threaded an arm beneath him and helped him back up.

"It's a good thing you're tall, Muro-Chin." Atsushi said dully, nearly collapsing again from how much energy it took just to talk as she hoisted him up to his feet.

"Yeah... Took after my dad." She said quietly, keeping an arm around his back as he gripped her opposite shoulder for support.

"I did too." Atsushi said, blinking ultra slowly as she lead him out of his room, but made sure to take their time so he didn't trip on his wobbly feet.

"Your dad's tall too?" She asked with a brief glance up to him as she turned them down the hall towards the bathroom.

Atsushi nodded as he kept a hand on the wall, "Yeah... He's 6'9." He stared at the bathroom door just up ahead.

"So you're taller?" She asked.

"Mmhmm... But he's stronger than me, so I didn't tend to stand up to him until I got taller." Atsushi mumbled out as he reached for the door frame of the bathroom.

"Ah... Makes sense, I suppose," she released him to step into the bathroom on his own, "Here... Take your time and I'll wait out here." She said as he shut the door.

With a light sigh, Tatsuki crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall while she waited. Hiroshi had called her for her help taking care of his nephew, as he had become so sick that even the brash and hardened man didn't have the heart to wake him up early to help with chores. He had let him sleep and needed her to watch after him so he could focus on taking care of the farm.

A couple minutes later, She heard the toilet flush and the water turn on, and soon after, the door opened as Atsushi padded out with a relieved look in his eyes, but still gripping the door frame to help support him. She wrapped her arm around his back once more and lead him back to his room, and once he was laying back down in his short bed, half curled just to fit, she covered him with more blankets and went to get a cool rag.

As he waited, he just laid there, not moving out of fear that if he did, his body would thunder with more ache. Just keeping his eyes open was a chore and as Tatsuki returned, holding a cool and damp rag, his half-lidded and blurry eyes watched her as she brushed aside his sweaty hair and set the folded cloth onto his heated forehead.

"There. That should help a little bit." She said quietly, continuing to softly brush his hair from clinging to his skin.

"I'm already cold." Atsushi breathed, just watching her as he shivered and his lower jaw quivered.

"You only feel cold because you're so warm. Have you checked your temperature lately?" She asked, softly brushing her thumb over his temple to make him feel as calm as possible.

Atsushi just shook his head, but kept watching her.

Tatsuki stood and went to her basket, flipping open the top and began pulling out a few items. She set down a water bottle, a glass, a small bottle of aspirin and a bottle of cough medicine before pulling a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a covered thermometer. The basket seemed to be filled with items meant to help her take care of him and when she knelt down beside him, she pulled off the cover of the thermometer and held it out for his mouth to take.

"How come you're here? Isn't today your off day?" Atsushi asked through the thermometer settled under his tongue.

"Your uncle called me to come and help take care of you so he could focus on chores. He let you sleep." She said, continuing to keep her voice low so not to cause him pain from his overly sensitive hearing.

"How long?" Atsushi mumbled.

"Almost a full day. It's Monday." She near whispered, flipping the rag over to its cool side.

"Oh-... I guess this hit me hard." Atsushi breathed out with the thermometer clacking against his teeth.

Tatsuki nodded, "Yeah, now hush and let the thermometer work." She smiled.

Atsushi just nodded as he lay there, slowly blinking and and looking at her as she cared for him. She poured him a glass of the bottle's contents, finding it to be orange juice she had made just that morning. She set out a pair of the small pills next to the glass as the thermometer beeped and when she took it out of his mouth and looked at it, she frowned.

"Oh dear... 102.5. Here, take these. It should help bring the fever down just a bit." She said, setting the thermometer down before helping him to sit up.

Atsushi tried not to hiss from the constant ache, but every muscle howled as he flexed to sit up. He cringed as he planted a hand down onto the mattress to help stabilize him, but if it wasn't for her and her arm behind his shoulders, he wouldn't even have made it that far.

Once sitting up, and the blankets having fallen away, his shivering got worse, but despite it, he took the aspirin and popped it into his mouth to be chased by a sip of the orange juice that was tangy instead of acidic. It was nice and soothing and it was cool enough in his overheating body to feel it sliding down his throat. He took a few more sips until she took the glass from him and instead of letting him flop down, which could result in jarring his headache, she helped him and gently laid his head down on his pillow.

"You need to rest, Atsushi. The more you rest, the quicker your body will calm down." She said, combing his sweat clumped hair away from his neck to slip a dry towel beneath it to help keep him dry.

"I don't like System Shock." Atsushi groaned out, softly whimpering as she set the rag back down on his forehead.

"No one does... It tends to hit the city kids pretty hard." She whispered as she tucked the edges of the blankets beneath him to wrap him up nice and warm.

Atsushi covered his mouth with the edge of the blanket to stifle his painful dry cough, each heave rattling and vibrating against his sternum and causing him to wince.

Sending him a sympathetic smile, Tatsuki stood from the edge of the bed and went to her basket, pulling one last item in the form of a small jar no bigger than her palm. She sat back down with barely a jarring of the bed and in the spot where his body was curled around her, under his dreary gaze the entire time, but when she tugged the blanket down and out of his tight grasp, he whined.

"Muro-Chin... Cold." Atsushi groaned, breathing a bit heavier to stave off the clattering of his teeth and jaw.

"I know, but it'll only be for a minute while I put this on." She said sweetly as she unscrewed the top of the jar and set the lid down on his nightstand.

All he could find the energy to do was watch as she scooped her fingers into the jar to coat them with a generous amount of opaque gel. He didn't know what it was, let alone if it smelt like anything since his sinuses were so plugged up, but when she lifted the collar of his t-shirt and began smearing it over his chest, his skin felt instantly cooled.

She continued to smear the gel over his skin, running her fingers along his collarbone and down over his pectorals to ease the rattling ache from his dry heaving cough. Her touch was soft and gentle and even when she had finished, she settled his t-shirt back down and rubbed his chest until he was warm.

"You rest... Get some sleep." She said with a gentle smile as her only visible eye gazed down at him with sweet intent.

Atsushi just nodded as he let himself melt at her touch, how the soothing and slow circles seemed to be lolling him off to sleep. His eyes were impossibly getting heavier and his chest seemed to settle down, but when the barest hint of menthol hit his nose, his eyes opened a bit wider as his nostrils began to tighten just before they opened up.

"I can breathe." He breathed out as he started to breathe through his nose, which settled him even more.

Tatsuki just nodded and widened her smile as she continued to rub his chest, watching how he seemed to sink back into his bed with his head dropping back into the pillow and to the side. His eyes tried so hard to stay open, but in the end, with the menthol, the aspirin that was part sleep aid, and the gentle circles she was running over his chest, he was asleep in no time.

Taking another moment to look at his sleeping face, Tatsuki had to admit that he looked precious, almost adorable despite knowing how tall he stood. His nose was reddened from having blown it, or tried to, so many times and his cheeks were flushed, but he was breathing better and finally resting comfortably to let the controlled fever work in rebooting his system. He was a city kid, born and raised, and having suddenly found himself living and working in the countryside had shocked his system so much, it had put him down. He would be alright in just a couple of days, but with one final moment of admiration, she tucked him in nice and warm and left to let him rest.