Len shook Rin's shoulder, jarring her from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and yawned, wondering why she was waking up so early. Len shook her again more vigorously, wanting desperately for her to get up. Rin looked at him and seemed to get the message, as she jumped up into a sitting position and cupped her hands around his cheeks, asking what's wrong. Len frowned and hugged her. She hugged him back.

"He must just be feeling too sick to sleep," she mumbled to herself. Len shook his head, hearing what she had said just barely and disagreeing with it.

"N-no," he replied. He pulled away and held her hand. "I-I was asleep, but I woke up in the middle of the night feeling kinda nauseous...I..." He averted his gaze to the floor, seemingly embarrassed. Rin stroked his hand with her thumb to comfort him.

"You what?" she urged him to continue. He heaved a shaky sigh and slouched over.

"I threw up on the floor..." he mumbled. Rin held her breath for a moment and wondered if she heard him right. She found the courage to peer over the side of the bed to see if he was right and sure enough, there was a puddle of sticky fluid soaking into the carpet, creating an awful stench she hadn't noticed until she saw it. She sighed and wondered if the smell would ever come out of the carpet. She heard Len shuffle around on the bed and she turned back to look at him. He turned away from her, ashamed of himself. Rin pouted and hugged him from behind, her hands coming to rest on his belly. She rubbed in slow, large circles. Len sighed and put his hand over top her's.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. He stared at the floor, unwilling to look his sister in the eye. Rin nodded and hugged him tight, no longer rubbing.

"It's okay, I know you didn't do it on purpose. I'm not mad," she assured him. He frowned and looked at the mess he made. Rin looked too and sighed, making him turn away and hide his face. She carefully made her way off the bed and headed into her mom's room yet again. She shook her shoulder, her mom jumping into an alert sitting position.

"What's wrong?" she asked when she saw Rin looking at her. She had expected something had to happen in the middle of the night, she knew she wouldn't sleep peacefully.

"Len threw up," Rin replied. Then she added, "on the floor." Rin's mother closed her eyes for a moment and sighed, dreading having to clean up the vomit. A few seconds later, she moved the blanket to the side and made her way over to the twins' room. She was stopped for a moment when she noticed Len was holding his stomach with one hand and leaning over the side of the bed as if he were about to be sick again. Rin widened her eyes and watched her mother run off, confused at why she suddenly left. Once she got her senses back, she went over to Len and got back up on the bed and started rubbing his back. He coughed and sputtered as he gagged, trying his best to bring up whatever he could, but his stomach wouldn't comply. Their mom hurried back into the room with a trash can from the bathroom and handed it to Len. He leaned over it and hurled, Rin pulled back his hair so he wouldn't get puke on it. She tried her best to rub his back at the same time, but found it quite challenging. Their mother sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. Len finished puking and lifted his head up, hiccuping and sniffling. There was a strand of saliva connecting his bottom lip to the edge of the trash can. Rin frowned and grabbed a tissue from the box she kept on her nightstand and wiped his face off. He sniffed a few more times and then Rin wiped his nose with a fresh tissue. She threw the used ones into the trash can, which thankfully had a bag in it, which made cleaning it much easier.

"Are you okay, Baby?" their mother asked as she tilted Len's chin up, The position his head was in made him want up up chuck right then and there, but he fought the urge and nodded, hoping she would let go. She nodded back and moved her hand. Len breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes. His stomach was still killing him. He placed one hand over it and moaned, feeling slightly embarrassed. He had never moaned like that before. It certainly wan't a pleasure moan, that's for sure. But he felt strange expressing his pain like that. It was foreign, yet it felt natural. Rin could tell he was uncomfortable and leaned over to hug him again. Len opened his eyes to look at her, but looking too far to the right hurt his head and he had to close his eyes again. He moaned once more, then leaned into his sister's embrace. She was warm, he was cold as ice. He needed warmth.

While Rin comforted her brother, their mom, got to work on cleaning the carpet. It took a while, but she got it looking pretty decent after some scrubbing. When she was finished, she helped Len stand up, asked Rin to grab his blanket, and led him downstairs to the couch. She set up a cozy little spot for him by the heater, then helped him lie down. He moaned again and let out a small whine. Rin pouted. It was as if she could feel his pain. They're twins after all, their souls are connected...

Rin knelt down next to him and put her hand on his forehead. She was directly in front of him, so he didn't have to strain himself to look at her. He could make out that she was frowning, but he was very tired and his vision was starting to get fuzzy from lack of sleep.

"You're burning up," she told him. She smoothed back his hair and stroked the back of his head. He seemed to relax and closed his eyes again, soon drifting off into a heat hazy sleep, an uncomfortable dream state. When he woke up, it was light out. He sat up and stretched out, looking around. Nobody was there, but...Something told him they were still in the house.

Len smelled something cooking on the stove. Or in the oven, he didn't care. All he knew was he was hungry. Then he put his hand on his stomach, thinking otherwise. He still felt pretty nauseous...Now that he realized how nauseous he really was, the sweet smelling food suddenly disgusted him and he gagged at the stench. He covered his mouth with his hand and coughed. From the kitchen, his mother heard him coughing and went out to see what was going on. She grabbed a large bowl for just in case he needed to be sick.

"Len? Are you okay, Baby?" she called out. She saw him on the couch and pouted. "Aww, Baby..." She sat down next to him on the couch and put her hand on his forehead. Her eyebrows creased in concern. "You only seem to be getting hotter." She placed the bowl in his lap and went to grab the thermometer off the bathroom sink. When she came back to him, she saw he was looking a little better.

"Do you think it'll make you gag if I put this in your mouth?" She held up the thermometer. Len stared at it for a moment and contemplated his answer. Ultimately he said no and allowed her to take his temperature. He did feel a slight gag reflex, but not quite enough to induce vomiting.

She pulled it out of his mouth after it beeped. She frowned again. "103.2?" She looked at him worriedly. "Honey, I think I wanna take you to the hospital, just for a check up. I'm a little worried your fever is getting too high." She stroked his cheek lovingly and he nodded in response. He was getting worried as well. He'd never felt so sick in his life, and he wasn't so sure it was just the stomach flu. He agreed to letting his mom take him to the doctor's.

"I'll go get Rin and then we'll leave, okay?" she said. Len nodded and she left to get his sister. Len sighed, lying down and putting his arm over his eyes. Curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed the thermometer off the coffee table where his mom left it. He took his temperature once more.

103.5

Len curled up into a ball and whimpered from the pain in his head and his gut. He wanted to go to the hospital quickly and get help. He didn't want to stay like this for another moment. Not one more second.