Well, it's been a while but here's the next chapter! :) Sorry if I became too graphic but enjoy :)
"Tsukiko?" Kyouya called after knocking on said brunette's bedroom door. It opened with a slight creak and the Ootori made a mental note to alert the maids of this. Ootori doors should not squeak.
The young man wandered around the darkened room, it appeared the girl must have requested all windows to be shut and curtained. He maneuvered around the dimly lit room to find, to his surprise, a lump curled up under a blanket on the couch. A trashcan placed right by the messy quaff of hair at one end. The body that the hair belonged to had curled up into such a tight ball that she didn't even take up half of the couch! Perhaps she could fit on that loveseat if she wanted to, Kyouya mused to himself.
"Tsukiko? It's nearly noon, shouldn't you-" He stopped midsentence when he noticed the contents of that trashcan.
"Kyouya?" she mumbled groggily, then whimpered curling herself in even tighter.
The doctor in him sprung into action. He placed his cool hand on her forehead, then brushed away part of the blanket to feel the back of her neck. She was burning up, yet her body continued to shiver uncontrollably. "Looks like you caught some stomach bug, did you at least get any sleep?"
She shook her head only to clutch it with one hand and give a weak whimper. Her stomach churned despite the fact that there was nothing in it. Kyouya noticed the tray on the coffee table right in front of the couch. A glass of water and some broth, both untouched, no steam emanating from the broth. He felt the bowl; it had become cold a long time ago.
"Why didn't you eat your broth? It just might help your stomach," he suggested, pushing a lock of messy hair behind the girl's ear.
"I can't hold anything down-" Her eyes widened and she leaped up attempting to sprint toward the bathroom attached to the living room area of her room, luckily not the one all the way inside her bedroom. She made it all of two steps before she crashed to the floor and emptied her stomach of what could only be bile onto the carpeted floor. Doing the only thing he could do at the time, Kyouya just held her hair back.
Just as soon as she had finished gagging and coughing, Honoka had entered the room. "Miss, i-is everything-" she never finished as she saw her young master and their guest kneeling on the floor.
"Tsukiko, you didn't eat or drink anything since last night?" Kyouya asked, trying to assess the situation.
She shook her head again. "I took one sip of water and it came back up almost instantly," she explained, her voice hoarse and her breathing coming in huffs, her face flushed yet pale at the same time.
"And you kept vomiting all night?"
Tsukiko gave a curt nod, then promptly rolled her eyes back and fainted in the young man's arms. The maid gave a squeak at the sight.
"Honoka-san, alert my father that our guest is unwell and fetch Yuuichi, his expertise may be required here," Kyouya ordered as he lifted the poor girl as gently as possible off of the floor. "After that, if you would clean up the mess, that would be appreciated." The maid nodded and scurried away.
The four eyed young man brought the young girl into her bedroom and laid her on the bed much like he had done several nights ago. He tucked her in and went to the bathroom to wet a cloth for her forehead. When he came back the girl was whimpering like a puppy in her sleep, her body jerked when he placed the cool cloth on her head. Her face had contorted in discomfort and her eyes danced wildly beneath her eyelids.
A little while had gone by and neither Honoka nor his brother had come to check in on the sick girl. Kyouya quietly cursed to himself as he pulled over one of the plush chairs from the living room area. Something was keeping the maid busy from returning, the vomit was still on the carpet, what could be keeping her?
Kyouya took his seat next to the ill girl, whose head turned from side to side, whose body shook in a series of never-ending shivers. He placed his hand to her neck. Damn it! Where is he? He cursed to himself. Her temperature is rising.
Finally, after close to an hour, Honoka returned to the room. "S-sir, your brother is on his way. H-he had an i-issue to a-attend to," she explained with a bow. "H-he said to keep Mizu-Mizushima-sama as comfortable as possible."
"Thank you, Honoka-san," Kyouya could only answer. There was no sense in taking his frustration out on her, it wasn't her fault his brother was preoccupied. The maid went to clean up the mess in the living room area. It better not have left a stain, Kyouya couldn't help but think as the woman left the room.
The high school student shook his head as his female counterpart shifted positions and her arm ended up hanging off the edge of the bed. He gently lifted it back to the mattress where the rest of her body was. In that movement, she ended up having his hand in a death-grip, either for comfort or a distraction, he will never know, especially since she was still unconscious.
"Just hang in there, Tsukiko," he said soothingly. "Once Yuuichi gets here, we can try to make you more comfortable."
He never knew if she heard him, she just tossed her head with a groan. Yuuichi needed to be faster.
As if his brother heard his annoyance, the older bespectacled Ootori appeared at the door of the bedroom, medical kit in hand. "Sorry, I'm late, I had to gather supplies from the hospital and finish up with a patient," Yuuichi apologized.
Kyouya managed to pry his hand out of the younger girl's smaller one, standing to greet his older brother. "That is fine, I suspected such," he responded respectfully.
"What is the problem?" the doctor asked moving over to examine the girl.
"When we returned home from the Watanabe gala, she mentioned not feeling well. I found out a little while ago she had been vomiting the whole night, unable to keep anything down. She proceeded to vomit on her way to the restroom and faint shortly after. Her fever also seems to be rising," Kyouya recapped the situation as his brother placed his stethoscope on the girl's chest.
"Her heart rate is slower than normal," he noted, feeling the back of her neck. "She is burning up as well." Carefully, he lifted her into a siting position to better listen to her lungs. "Her breathing seems fine, if not a little shallow."
Amongst the young doctor's observations a familiar ringtone rang through the room. Kyouya pulled the phone out of his pocket to see his idiot blonde best friend's face pop up. "If you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to your examination," he excused himself.
"Probably for the best," his brother replied.
Outside in the hallway, Kyouya answered his phone. "Moshi moshi."
"Kyouya! We're going into the commoner's market today with Haruhi! You should come with! And bring Tsukiko!" his friend shouted into the phone. In the background he could hear the twins encouraging Tamaki's elaborate behavior. "Everyone wants to hear about Tsukiko's first gala!"
"I'm afraid neither of us will be able to attend," Kyouya answered, unsure yet to feel relieved or disappointed that he had to decline the invitation.
"But Mommy!" the blonde whined.
"I'm sure she would love to go and check out what might be on sale today, but it seems as though she has caught a bug after last night's fun," Kyouya explained.
"Is she all right?"
"She'll be just fine, nothing a little rest won't fix," he lied, knowing full well that his friend was suffering from early stages of dehydration. But there was no sense in worrying the host club; they should be allowed to have their fun. Even if it annoyed the only level headed one in the group.
Kyouya could overhear his friend explain the perils that his "Imouto-chan" was going through. He shook his head, it had become a bit of a habit since meeting his idiotic friend in middle school, life would sure be boring without him.
"Can we visit her?" he heard Honey-senpai ask, no doubt holding a worried looking Usa-chan. If Usa-chan had the ability to show emotions, which apparently he did.
"That would probably not be a good idea, especially if she is contagious," Kyouya responded, more so he wouldn't have to deal with the crazy club on top of Tsukiko's weakened state. It was probably not the best idea for her either. He could hear the disappointment in his friends. "Calm down, all of you, I'm sure she'll be fine by tomorrow."
"Then, why can't we visit her?" the twins said in unison. Had Tamaki put him on speaker? "That is, if she will be better by tomorrow."
"You idiots," Kyouya heard Haruhi mutter, he could practically see her shaking her head. "She's sick at home, well, the Ootori mansion, not in a hospital. There are no visiting hours, the best thing we can do for her is to let her rest."
"Thank you, Haruhi," Kyouya said, thankful that there was another level headed member of the group. It made things so much easier when someone else understood your pain.
Yuuichi walked out into the hallway not a moment later. "I have to go, I'll see you all tomorrow." The rest of the host club shouted their goodbyes and the boy hung up. "How is she?"
"She's very weak right now," the doctor replied, shifting his own glasses back into position on his face. "She was already in the early stages of severe dehydration, in such short time too, that is very strange."
"She is very petite, could her size have contributed?" Kyouya offered.
"It is quite possible, however, I'm more interested on how she came to be in such a state. What was she served for dinner last night?"
"We both had the steak," he replied. "Mine was medium-rare, hers was medium-well, with that logic, our roles should be switched."
"I was afraid you would say that," the older brother replied with a sigh. "Unfortunately, I can't give her anything for the vomiting because I don't know what is causing her illness. However, I did give her an IV, it's the easiest way to help stop the dehydration. You may need to change it after a while, I've left replacements by her bedside. I taught you how to change them, yes? It has been a while but is not very difficult. Her blood pressure is also lower than normal, I need to do a little research."
"You're going back to the hospital?" Kyouya blurted before he could stop himself.
"Younger brother, I am needed there right now. There is nothing more I can do for her right now until I can figure out what exactly is making her sick," he replied. "Luckily I managed to get a sample of the bile before Honoka cleaned that trashcan. I also gathered several blood samples which I need to have tested and that can only be done back at the hospital."
Kyouya should have known he would say that, that he would say every word. It all made logical sense and Kyouya normally thought with logic in mind. His brother turning to leave broke the boy of his reverie.
"I need to go now, you will have to take care of her the rest of the day. Give me a call if her symptoms get worse," he said, heading down the hall. "Don't forget to change the IV later, we need to keep as much fluid in her body as possible until I can get some answers."
With that, he left for his job and Kyouya was left to deal with an ill Tsukiko.
He wandered back into the sick girl's room, finding her in a fitful sleep, tossing her head around. Perhaps she was one of those people who had nightmares when they are sick?
He took his seat next to her, picking up the book he had gotten from the thrift store, apparently his friend had stolen it from his room for a second read. He never even had a chance to start it, yet it appeared that this girl had just finished it for a second time. How fast does she read?
He managed to get about forty pages or so, before he heard her groan and shift. Her eyes opened groggily. "K-Kyouya-kun?" she croaked, her voice hoarse. "Am I dying?" She gave a small groan as she curled up on her side. "I think I'm dying."
Kyouya couldn't help but give a laugh at the absurdity. It was moments like this that made him compare her to a child. "No, you're not dying," he replied.
"Are you su-" she cut herself off with a somber look. "Please tell me there is a trashcan next to me."
"There is."
A disgusting rumble could be heard by both parties. "Good."
Quicker than she should have been able to go, Tsukiko sat up, pulled her hair out of her face and aimed for the trashcan. Kyouya did what he could in holding her hair back and stabilizing her so she didn't fall out of the bed.
She coughed and gagged, but her body was completely empty. The IV was helping her stay hydrated but her stomach was still empty from the hurling from earlier. Finally she had gained a hold of herself again and Kyouya helped her roll back onto her bed without getting tangled in the tube attached to her hand.
She gave a groanish whimper, curling up on her side again. "Are you sure I'm not dying?"
"I'm sure," he assured her, folding the corner of his book and putting it on the nightstand.
"I feel awful." She whimpered and curled herself in tighter. "I haven't felt this horrible since…" She added with a yawn.
"Since?" Kyouya beckoned, forcing the girl to open her eyes again.
"Since what?" she replied, fighting to keep her eyes open.
"You were in the middle of a sentence." She looked up at him confused. "You were saying 'I haven't felt this horrible since' and never finished."
"I didn't say that."
"But you did."
"Did I?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I don't remember what I was going to say," she said with a yawn.
Kyouya shook his head and chuckled, "Kiko, what are we going to do with you?"
"My name's not Kiko," she responded, closing her eyes.
"But that's what we all called you, right? It's your name," Kyouya challenged, Tsukiko yawned again.
"Yeah, but not anymore." With that, she felt asleep, leaving Kyouya very confused.
He shook his head and opened his book. "Just what did you mean by that?" he wondered aloud.
A little time had gone by and Tsukiko had stopped tossing and turning and was making very little noise. He barely heard her whimper and her eyes weren't dancing beneath their lids as much as they had before. He looked at her clock. 7:32. It had been over six hours since Yuuichi had come to check on her. And since then, she seemed to be even weaker than before.
He folded the corner of the page and closed the book. He leaned over, placing two fingers on her neck, he counted to ten in his head and it was only when he got to seven that he felt her weak pulse. Thinking he was mistaken, he checked her wrist, her pulse was very weak. Her face had paled significantly and her breathing was slow and shallow.
Mentally cursing the boy whipped out his phone, dialed the number and listened to it ring. "Moshi moshi, Ootori Yuuichi, desu," his brother answered.
"Yuuichi, she's gotten worse," Kyouya said, checking the IV. "Her pulse is extremely weak."
"Give me twenty minutes." He hung up.
Just as he promised, the doctor walked into the girl's room a little more than twenty minutes later. He waved his brother aside and examined his patient. Took her pulse, checked her blood pressure, listened to her heart. "Bradycardia," he muttered to himself.
He readied a syringe and gave an injection into her arm. A curious Kyouya watched as his older brother grabbed their guest's wrist and looked to his watch. The very thought that that would be him just a few short years from now popped into our high schooler's head. It was a little intimidating to say the least.
Finally, Yuuichi was happy with the rate her pulse was going and turned to his brother. "I gave her a small does of atropine, it seems that it elevated her heart rate to right where it should be. I'll check on her a little later tonight." He stood up to sleep.
Dumbfounded again, Kyouya repeated his question from earlier. "You're going back to the hospital?"
"I have much to do before I retire for the evening," his brother sighed, cleaning up his equipment. "If you could watch her just a little longer, I'm looking for one of my nurses to do me a favor and watch over her for the night."
"Of course," Kyouya responded with a curt nod. His brother made it to the door before he turned back.
"Are you all right, Kyouya?" he asked with concern.
"I am perfectly fine," he answered without missing a beat. "Why do you ask?"
His brother looked him up and down with cold wary eyes. "Nevermind." He left the room, his younger brother never seeing the amused smile on the serious man's face.
A little while had gone by and Tsukiko had woken up. Needless to say, after two IVs, a trip to the restroom was in order. Once she had staggered her way back into bed, along with the help of her bespectacled knight in designer armor, she curled up once again on her side, unable to fall fully asleep or even hold a conversation with her male nurse.
Eventually, Yuuichi had come back to her room, followed by a petite woman dressed in white. "Thank you, Kyouya, I can take things from here," he said, making his way over to the weak girl. "Mizushima-san, this is Megumi, she will be looking after you for the night. How are you feeling?"
Tsukiko managed to look up at her doctor. "Am I dying?" she asked, catching the man off guard. "Kyouya-kun says I'm not, but I think he's lying."
Megumi just gave a quick laugh and used her hand to smooth the sick girl's hair. "No, Mizuxhima-san, you are not dying," she assured her. "If you were, you wouldn't be in your room, would you?"
"This isn't my room," she retorted, shaking her head. Technically, she was right. The nurse turned to her boss.
"She is a guest of my father's," he explained curtly.
"That's Tsukiko for you," Kyouya smiled and shook his head. He turned to leave. "If you'll excuse me-"
"Kyouya, don't go." Tsukiko's hoarse request caused the boy to feel a pang in his chest. She was always such a nuisance, why did this affect him so?
Kyouya patted his friend's head. "It's late, Tsukiko, unlike you, I'll be going to school tomorrow. You're in good hands," he assured her. She glared at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Fine," she reluctantly let the boy go. As soon as she knew he was at the door, she curled up and said loudly, "perv."
"Even sick you make wild and untrue accusations," he replied with a shake of his head.
"If it's untrue why do you feel the need to defend yourself?" she countered, amusing her doctor and nurse.
"Wouldn't you defend yourself if you were being called a slut or something? It's a normal reaction."
"Nah," she retorted, pulling the covers over her head.
"Now you're the one who's lying."
"No, being called those things never bothered me before, why should I let it bother me now? You just gotta learn not to take these things personally." She had peaked her head out of the covers to say it, then immediately pulled it back in.
The brothers and nurse exchanged glances. Kyouya took it as his time to leave.
Homeroom was about to start momentarily and Hikaru and Kaoru were up to their shenanigans consisting of teasing Haruhi. "Hitachiin brothers!" their sensei barked, stopping them. "Would you be so kind as to sit down and do as you are told?"
"Sorry, sensei!" they said together as they put Haruhi down. They took their seats, next to each other and right in front of Haruhi.
Kaoru felt something was amiss, low and behold his answer was found as he glanced at the empty seat behind him. Their twin telepathy seemed to work even if they were not trying, as Hikaru glanced behind him as well. Even Haruhi was peaking at the empty seat next to her, it may not have been filled for very long, but even she felt something was missing without the little brunette wild child next to her. Without saying a word the three gave each other a curious look, seems as though their lunch topic would not be about the club activities that afternoon.
Before they knew it, lunch rolled around and the three freshman club members had gathered at their usual lunch table, along with their senior members, followed by a tired looking Kyouya who rubbed his temple after sitting down.
"W-where has my little Imouto-chan gone!" Tamaki exclaimed after counting the people at the table.
"Yeah, she wasn't in Homeroom this morning," Kaoru added.
"Or in any other class," Hikaru and Haruhi said at the same time. They gave each other a look. "Hey! We're not supposed to say things at the same time!"
"She was supposed to help me fix the cut on Usa-chan's arm, before class started," Honey added with a sad look.
"What has our Shadow King done with her!" Tamaki cried, as said Shadow King pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I have done nothing with her, after the gala on Saturday, Tsukiko felt ill. Yesterday, she was sick all day, my brother himself examined her. As of last night he was running a few tests on her blood samples, but it appears that it is not very serious," Kyouya explained.
"How do you know?" Haruhi asked.
"Like you said yesterday, Haruhi," he returned with a sigh. "She did not require hospital attention, my brother did give her an IV, but as of this morning she had not been rushed to our hospital. And Megumi said she was stable as of this morning."
"Megumi?" The twins looked at each other.
"One of my brother's nurses whom he had asked to tend to Tsukiko overnight," he clarified. "Which reminds me, I will be leaving early from club activities today. I need to relieve whatever nurse came this morning to watch Tsukiko."
"Why?" the twins asked in unison. "Your family owns a hospital, isn't there another nurse?"
"It's good practice, as my father would probably put it, and it has been busy over at the hospital lately. It took a while for Yuuichi to even make it home to examine Tsukiko, and it's nothing too serious otherwise she'd be at the hospital."
"I guess you have a point," the twins muttered, between bites.
"No! No he doesn't! We only have his word to go on that Imouto-chan is all right!" Tamaki wailed still spazzing out over the ordeal.
"Can we visit her?" Honey piped up.
"Probably not the best idea, remember what Haruhi said yester-" Kyouya argued only to be interrupted.
"Actually, I'd like to see her," Hauhi countered, picking at her bento.
"Really?" the whole club was in shock.
"She would visit if it were any of us in her situation," she answered after swallowing her bite. "I'm not saying we should through a party in her room or anything but it would be nice of us to check up on her."
"It's settled then!" Tamaki exclaimed throwing his fist into the air. "After club activities we shall visit our sick Imouto-chan!"
"No, you won't." Kyouya's tone had grown solemn as he picked at his plate.
"What?" Even Mori raised a brow.
"She needs all the rest she can get, the more uninterrupted rest, the better," he explained. "My brother even advised that she should not have visitors."
"Okay, so we won't visit her," Haruhi decided for the group, taking a bite.
"We won't?" The club was even more confused.
"You heard Kyouya, It probably would not be good for Tsukiko's recovery, anyway," Haruhi explained. "Tell her we hope she gets well soon and we'll see her when she is better."
"I'm sure she'll appreciate that," Kyouya answered returning to his meal.
"B-but, my little girl, y-you were on my side!" Tamaki whimpered, as his "little girl" earned odd looks from the twins.
She returned their looks with glance and a quick smirk. Startled, the twins looked at each other confused.
Since when is Haruhi this devious? Was their mutual thought.
"So, how are you feeling, Mizuxhima-san?" Kyouya's older brother asked the sick girl, sitting in the chair Kyouya had brought in.
Tsukiko was now sitting up, no longer curled up in a tight ball on her bed. "To be perfectly honest, I still feel like crap, luckily I'm not puking my guts up anymore and I'm not nearly as fatigued as I had been last night," she rattled on, finally giving the man a look. "And I know that there's another reason that brings you to my room this afternoon. May as well get it off of your chest."
The older Ootori gave a smirk. "We need to have a chat, Mizushima-san."
"Call me, Tsukiko."
Well, once I became stuck with the next chapter of Dangerous Souls I opened up this chapter which had the very first sentence written on it from right after I posted the last chapter. That was about a week ago. I then began writing and before I knew it I was about a third of the way finished with this chapter, which is an amazing feeling when you had been stuck for a while. I hope to put up the next chapter next month and the next chapter for Dangerous Souls next week. Stay tuned!