The Troubles with Cat-Sitting

Cliff hanger is over (for now);) Enjoy the chapter and many more to come!

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December 15th, Sunday

As they returned to the Tsukiyomi house, Amu Hinamori and Tadase Hotori quickly noticed the chaos they just entered into once Amu had opened the front door.

Amu Pov:

Once the two kids walked past the separated mudroom, having just taken their shoes and coats off from their time outside, the elementary school students came across a complete disarray of scattered toys, unused diapers, and baby bottles littered across the living room floor.

Ran, Miki, Suu, Yoru and Kiseki were haphazardly flying about the room, all completely oblivious to Amu and Tadase's presence as the guardian characters attempted to calm down a very distressed Ikuto, who was still sitting in his baby swing near the tv.

On the other hand, Ikuto was howling in his swing and rubbing his eyes roughly as the tears continued to flow down from his face. Just then, Kiseki noticed his owner standing in the corner of the room, completely shocked by the turn of events that had transpired in the last half hour since he was gone and flew straight to him!

"~Ah, Tadase! We need your help! Ikuto has been crying nonstop since you guys left!~" the little king Chara nervously stated as he guided Tadase and Amu to follow him to Ikuto. The other charas floated towards the group, completely tired and shaking with anxiety as they all looked sadly towards the screaming teenager; his face was once more red and puffy, with a glowing sheen reflecting the tremendous amount of crying he was able to produce in such a short amount of time.

Bending down to his eye level, Amu placed her hand softly against Ikuto's wet cheek and gently rubbed circles with her thumb in a soothing manner while quietly shushing him. Ikuto, having noticed the sudden contact opened his tearful eyes and cried to Amu, reaching his long arms out towards her for a hug.

"~ He started crying about five minutes once you guys left! We tried everything: feeding him, changing his diaper, playing with toys but he kept on screaming!~" Yoru complained exhaustedly as Miki, Suu and Ran offered a group hug to the exhausted cat chara.

"Where is Tsukasa? Did he wake up yet?" Tadase anxiously questioned as he looked about the room for the Chairman's appearance.

"~No, he's still upstairs taking a nap. I'm just as surprised as you are that he can sleep through all this racket!~" Kiseki complained outwardly.

"Ikuto, what's wrong?" Amu asked her friend as she unbuckled the boy from his seat swing and, with Tadase's help picked the boy up and brought him to the couch; Amu sat down first and readjusted herself to properly cradle the entirety of Ikuto's bigger body in her hold as Tadase guided Ikuto's head to rest in one of Amu's arms and the other to hold his legs together.

Ikuto continued to cry as Amu brushed some of his blue hair out of his eyes and started to rock him back and forth, all the while continuing to shush Ikuto as Tadase and the Charas stood by and observed quietly.

"Could someone bring me a pacifier, please?" Amu asked. Suu quickly floated to a long forgotten soother on the floor and went over to her owner.

"~Here you go, Ikuto! We have a paci for you!~" Suu kindly said as she placed the soother into Ikuto's mouth; the screaming halted and the room became much quieter.

Everyone sighed in relief as a gentle sucking sound came from the now quieted Ikuto as Amu rocked him ceremoniously on the couch and the remainder of the group started to clean up the mess in the room.

...

"He's looking kinda flushed, doesn't he Amu?" Tadase asked his friend with concern.

The two students were successfully able to comfort Ikuto to a quieter level by rocking him and singing lullabies as they put him down for a nap in his bedroom. Thankfully, Tsukasa's own nap remained uninterrupted and the Charas all sat collectively in the living room for a much needed break from babysitting Ikuto.

Amu peered over to the crib where Tadase was keeping an eye on his "little brother" and strutted her way towards them with curiosity. Looking over the crib's bars, she placed her palm against Ikuto's forehead and felt for a change in temperature.

He was burning up!

"Oh no, this isn't good! I think Ikuto has a fever" Amu anxiously shared as she took her hand away and looked towards Tadase for support.

"Should we wake up Tsukasa?" Tadase nervously asked as he went to grab a cold, wet washcloth from the bathroom to use on Ikuto's burning forehead. Amu, still in the bedroom looked down at Ikuto for any other signs of sickness: there was a profuse amount of sweat emanating off of his body, heavy breathing and sudden agitation from before with no true cause of reason to explain why Ikuto was so sensitive all of a sudden.

"Of course it was all making sense now: Ikuto was upset because he's sick!" Amu thought to herself as she waited for Tadase to come back with the washcloth.

As Tadase came back with a cotton washcloth in hand, he gently laid the cloth completely over Ikuto's forehead and pulled the blanket far back off of the teen's sweaty body. On the other hand, Ikuto was sleeping but his breathing was irregular, moving much more slower in speed on top of all the sweat that was dripping from his face. Ikuto completely soaked his clothes and bedsheets just from the insane amount of perspiration he was producing!

"No, let's let Tsukasa sleep some more if we can. Right now we should try to cool Ikuto off; let's undress him and put him in the bath!" Amu said as she and Tadase pulled the crib's bars down and slowly took Ikuto out of his bed, the two working together to safely transfer the bigger teenage boy to the bathroom nearby.

Laying Ikuto carefully down onto the bathmat, Amu started to take the teen's clothes off as Tadase ran the cold water; by then Ikuto had reawakened from his short nap and started sobbing quietly.

"It's ok, Ikuto! We know you aren't feeling well- we're going to give you a bath to cool your body now" Amu cooed softly as she pulled Ikuto's jeans off his legs and took his socks off, allowing space for Tadase to jump in to take off the diaper and toss it in the bin while Amu collected extra towels and filled Ikuto's baby bottle with cold water for him to drink as he bathed.

"Ok, let's get you into the bath Ikuto! You're going to feel better soon, I promise" Tadase gently stated as he gathered Ikuto into his arms and, with Amu's assistance placed the boy into the bathtub and started to pour some of the water onto his damp, blue hair.

As was to be expected, with the water purposefully freezing Ikuto immediately started to shiver uncontrollably as Amu and Tadase worked in tandem to get Ikuto's body temperature to a lower degree. Using a nearby plastic cup, Tadase scooped some water and hastily poured it over Ikuto's back and head as Amu offered the baby bottle for the very cold teenager to drink.

"Here, take a sip of water Ikuto" Amu said as she placed the nipple of the bottle into Ikuto's mouth and watched as he vicariously drank the bottle till it was near empty.

Grabbing the thermometer off the bathroom sink, Amu placed the tip into Ikuto's mouth and awaited for the degree to show up; after blinking a few times, the digital reader showed 38.8C (102 F.).

"His fever is high; we need to get some medicine. Tadase, can you look in the cabinets to see if there is anything we can use?" Amu asked her companion as she continued to wash Ikuto's burning body off with the cold water, meanwhile giving space for Tadase to stand up and search the bathroom storages for any spare acetaminophen.

Pulling out the top drawer from the storage cabinet next to the sink, Tadase quickly noticed an opened box of liquid cold medicine and read the instructions on the back for confirmation.

"If 12 or older, take one teaspoon of T* every 4 hours to reduce fever and any other symptoms present" Tadase read to himself. This was perfect!

Pouring the cherry-red liquid into the provided plastic cup, Tadase went back towards the bathtub and rested on his knees next to Amu, who was holding the baby bottle full of water as Ikuto to drank out of it slowly. As he finished the bottle once more, Amu took it out of Ikuto's mouth and placed it on the ground as Tadase went about preparing himself to give the medicine to the sick boy.

"I found this cold medicine that should work, for now. We just have to get Ikuto to take it" Tadase told Amu as he rolled up his sleeves to avoid getting them soaked.

As if on cue, Amu grabbed Ikuto's head and gently held him in place as Tadase tried to pour the red liquid into Ikuto's dry mouth; as was to be expected however, Ikuto immediately spat the medicine back into the cup in pure disgust! Tadase and Amu sighed in frustration as they attempted their initial approach once more: Ikuto just continued to spit the medicine out and scrunch his face in agitation.

"Ikuto, I know the medicine tastes bad but you have to take it! It's going to make you feel better, I promise!" Amu pleaded to her blue-haired captive under her as Ikuto splashed the water in frustration from being held uncomfortably and forced to take the gross medicine.

"No, no!!" Ikuto cried hoarsely as he angrily splashed the water out of the tub; even with he sleeves rolled up, Tadase got immediately soaked and Amu drenched next to him.

"What do we do? Should we get Tsukasa now?" Amu asked anxiously to Tadase as the king guardian contemplated his next approach for the task. Fortunately, Tsukasa had woken up a few minutes prior and walked his way out of the guest bedroom to use the bathroom; he just so happened to hear the commotion as he went about closing the door to the separate toilet room and peaked his way into the opened bathroom nearby.

"No need to, I'm awake now" Tsukasa kindly interjected as he walked into the bathroom, narrowly avoiding the wet floor as he bent down next to Amu and Tadase.

"Do we have a sick kitten on our hands? Are you feeling ill, Ikuto?" Tsukasa asked the teen as he placed his hand against Ikuto's head and felt for a fever.

"We're sorry Chairman for waking you up! Ikuto has been crying since noon and Amu and I noticed that he had a fever just a few minutes ago; we're trying to give him some medicine but it's not exactly working out" Tadase sighed heavily in defeat.

"No need to worry kids! I have a solution to get our Ikuto to take his medicine! Amu, can I borrow the baby bottle for a moment please?" Tsukasa asked as he went about taking the cup of red liquid and the bottle, pouring the medicine into the bottle and twisting the top back on. Bending down next to the edge of the bathtub, Tsukasa brought the nipple of the baby bottle into Ikuto's mouth as he gently held a firm grip on Ikuto's chin.

"Here is some yummy juice, Ikuto! I know how much you like juice so let's take a sip now. It's going to make you feel better!" Tsukasa gently encouraged as he tilted the bottle up for Ikuto to start drinking the medicine; even with his face scrunching in disgust, Ikuto was managing to gulp the medicine down without too much spillage nor spitting.

"That's a good boy! We're going to help make you feel better, Ikuto! I'm so happy that Amu and Tadase are here to help us" Tsukasa said as he shared a big smile to the kids nearby watching the scene, toweling themselves off from previously being soaked from Ikuto's tantrum before.

Finishing the medicine up, Tsukasa removed the baby bottle away from Ikuto's mouth and started to drain the bathtub as Tadase handed a pink, fluffy towel for the older man to wrap around the teen's shivering body. Picking him up into his arms, Tsukasa carried Ikuto back to his bedroom as Amu and Tadase started to clean the bathroom before rejoining the duo soon after.

...

Once the bathroom had been mopped and cleaned from the splash fest Tadase and Amu had to endure, the two kids walked into Ikuto's bedroom to rejoin Tsukasa, who was currently busy dressing Ikuto on his changing table.

"Oh buddy, I can tell you aren't feeling well! You're burning up and sniffling so much; let's get you into some comfy pajamas and put you down for a nap." Tsukasa gently stated to a whimpering Ikuto as he laid on the table whilst Tsukasa cleaned him and put a new diaper on. Luckily for Tsukasa, the man thought beforehand to occupy Ikuto while he was changing him by giving a teething ring for the boy to chew on while the mobile moved about in a circular motion, the little plushy kittens twirling overhead.

"Can we help in any way, Tsukasa?" Amu inquired as she and Tadase moved into the room swiftly.

"Sure, if you can grab some pajamas that would be helpful! There should be a clean set in the closet as well as extra bedding and blankets too; I was hoping to change the bedding since it got all damp from Ikuto's sweating" Tsukasa shared as he rubbed some lotion on Ikuto's dry skin whilst Tadase went about taking the bedding off the crib and Amu searched for pajamas in the wooden closet nearby.

As she came upon a matching set of silk pajamas (black with white crescent moons plastered across the bottoms), Amu assisted Tsukasa with dressing Ikuto as Tadase finished changing the bedding.

"Ok, now that you're all clean again, let's put you down for a comfy nap. You can just rest your body, Ikuto; I'll wake you up later for your medicine soon" Tsukasa said out loud as he laid Ikuto down flat in his crib and adjusted the thinner blanket for proper coverage and comfort. Putting a clean pacifier in the teen's mouth, Tsukasa raised the crib bars and made space for the two kids to turn the bedroom light off and pull the curtains closed.

Making her way to the crib, Amu bent down and squeezed Ikuto's hand; she smiled at him lovingly as the boy's eyes started to close.

"Sleep well, Ikuto. Hope you feel better soon!"

...

Ah, a sick Ikuto chapter:(

Still adorable though and there's plenty more chapters to come soon!