Val pushed through the rest of the day, just working alongside Daiki and fueled by extra cups of coffee. They worked late, trying to get through their daily shares of Bulma's schedule. It was too late for Daiki to head home by the time she were done, so he got set up in a guest room near hers. Val felt groggy from the day of staring so long at a computer over so much new information. She welcomed her bed once she reached it.
She shifted around in her sleep, struggling to get comfortable. She woke up just after 1 A.M., thighs aching. She kicked in her sleep, waking herself up. She sat up, looking down at her thighs, rubbing them as they felt leaden. She got up, stumbling into her bathroom. She blinked up at herself in the mirror nervously. She rubbed at her legs once more, the ach in them feeling her more and more nervous. She shook her head, dismissing the feelings as just being caused by sitting all day and not training. It had to be.
She went back into her room, laying back down on the bed. The ache in both legs kept bothering her, not letting her sleep in tandem with the nervous thoughts racing in her mind. She denied breathing felt a bit harder as well. She huffed, getting up, grabbing her phone, and going down to the lab just in case. She was certain she as about to waste a test out of overreaction. She felt along her left forearm scars searching for a vein. She drew the blood, certain the test was about to come out negative and she could go back to sleep once she saw it. Perhaps the next day she should take off to rest up.
She looked down at the test strip, waiting for it impatiently. When it read positive, she swore in disbelief. She jumped up, moving away from it. She paced the room, not sure what to do. She panted, resisting the thought that her chest felt a bit tight yet. She felt the temptation to hide it, to tell no one, especially if she was going to have a mild case no one else would catch. Then she thought of Vegeta and Bulma. If she hid it and they came to her, she could easily make them sick the way Junko had to have made her sick last time she saw her. She swore louder this time, snatching up her phone and texting Daiki, hoping he was awake. She sent him a picture of the test as well. She snatched up a packet of the latest anti viral medicine. Then she went back to her room as quickly as she could, trying not to breathe to heavily in the hallways in between.
She took the first dose of the medicine, half wishing she had some food to take with it, but she did not dare leave her room. She texted Daiki, telling him to bring her something to eat with the medicine as soon as he could. She laid down on her bed, feeling her heart pounding in her ears. She was unsure if her chest hurt because of the virus or because of her nerves. She hummed, hoping the test was wrong. She tapped her phone, sending Daiki one more panicked message before falling into an uneasy sleep.
She woke with a start, hearing knocking on her door. She called out hoarsely for whoever it was to come in. She cleared her throat, sitting up. Her eyes were blurry, so she rubbed at them. Daiki came in with a needle and a test strip. He was also wearing a mask, the kind he insisted they all wear in the Southern Capital when treating patients. "Miss Val, I got your messages. Are you alright?" he asked coming in.
She blinked at him, feeling a bit more groggy than she had yesterday. "I already tested," she said, nodding at the test strip. "I got it. Somehow, I got it..." she wheezed out, feeling a bit of panic set in. She brought her hand up to grip her shirt over her chest.
"Test one more time," he said, stepping over to her. She offered out her arm. She let him give it two tries to get the needle in her skin before she took away from him and did it herself. She let him do the drops though. "Positive again," she complained, throwing the test across the room. She liked the sound of it smacking and cracking against the wall.
Daiki ducked, unnecessarily. "Maybe it won't be that bad. Like with me," he said more cheerfully than she liked. "Have you taken any medicine?"
She reached over to the packet of medicine and tossed it on the bed next to her. She crossed her arms over her chest in a huff. "I don't want to sit in this room bored for days..." she complained.
He nodded. "I'll get you so food so you can take another dose with it. And water. You need to drink plenty of water. That way you can get over it soon rather than later."
She watched him leave, jealous he could leave. He came back with food and water for her to have to take another dose of medicine with. Plus more food, water, and medicine for her to consume later. He also brought her laptop to work on. She took everything, legs still sore. "You should go," she advised, rubbing her legs. "I should stay away from others until I recover. Warn the others, though, please," she asked, feeling like she was breathing much too heavily.
He looked at her carefully and then nodded. "You text me if you get worse," he requested. She nodded, watching him leave after they bid each other farewell.
She picked at the food he brought, drank some of the water, and took the medicine. She ran her hands through her hair, knowing, hoping she was just about to be bored and hardly sick for a few days. She grabbed up her laptop, turning it on to work. Its tiny size made her miss the capsule house's larger computer in the mountain village. That, and someone else. She felt a sharp ach in her chest, making her grab it. "Just a few extra days," she told herself, rubbing at her chest.
She pushed herself to work into the morning, even as a headache formed. She blocked it out as she worked, answered texts from both Daiki and Bulma, and tried to ignore the feeling of unwellness creepy up her spine. Early afternoon, she finished one task on the laptop, shut it down, and set it on her night stand. She could not ignore how her eyes were hurting and head was pounding now. She made herself eat and drink so more to take the medicine with something. Everywhere, especially her chest felt sore and stiff. She laid down to take a nap, hoping she would simply wake up and that would be the worst of it.
However, she woke up feeling worse than she had fallen asleep. She looked outside, seeing the dead of night. She did her best to stretch out her stiff muscle, groaning as she moved. She pushed herself up, ignoring the now much too loud sounds and alerts from her phone. She pushed it away, and then flopped to the ground from the bed to reach the food, water, and medicine Daiki had left her on the desk. Ordinarily, it was a few steps away from her bed, but now half stumbling, half crawling towards it took minutes. She pulled herself up from it, looking at herself at the mirror on the top of it. She looked ashier and sweatier. She took the medicine, struggling just to get the next dose out of the packet. She took it with just a few swallows of water before exhaustion crept over her and she fell asleep where she was.
"Val, Miss Val," she heard the shouting of someone far too close to her ringing in her ears. She felt someone shaking her shoulder. She blinked up, pushing whoever it was away. "Val, you must get up," the panicked voice insisted. "Why didn't you answer your phone last night or this morning? How long have you been laying here? When did you take your last dose?" More shaking. She smacked at the person in annoyance and half rolled, half crawled away. She heard him grumble.
Next she felt herself being dragged away from the desk. Whoever was dragging her was doing a poor job at it. She felt them stop and start, grunting with the effort. She tried to kick and squirm to get away from the person. They only grunted louder and pulling slower. She felt dropped and heard the person panting. She blinked her eyes open slowly, just seeing the outline of Daiki panting over her, hands on his thighs. "Can... can you... you're heavier... than you look... Can you get yourself... on the bed?" She looked passed where he was looking, seeing her bed one step away. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She laid down on the floor and heard him groan again. He picked her up from under her shoulders and hauled her up to the bed, struggling, but managing it. She felt splayed in the middle, legs dangling off the edge. She dragged her legs up onto the bed and curled into a ball, ready to fall asleep from the effort of being dragged and lifted. "Medicine, right... you need more medicine... and water... with how sweaty you are, you have to be dehydrated..."
She felt herself want to doze off, wanting only sleep in hopes to escape the aches. She heard him moving around, heard someone pound on the door, and then heard Daiki tell them to wait a minute. He came back over to her. He sat down next to her on the bed, still breathing heavily. "Come on, sit up and take this," he said, yanking on her arm to make her get up. She yanked herself out of his grip and laid back down, rolling away from him. "Val, come on," he insisted. "He'll... they'll..." he added, sounding afraid.
More pounding on the door. She heard him groan and get off the bed. She closed her eyes, not looking at him, but could tell by the sound of his heavy footfalls, he went to the door. He was arguing with one maybe two others, but she could not make out any words anyone was saying. She felt herself start to fall back asleep. She heard Daiki muttering something about one sachet each, but comprehended little ease that he was saying. She heard something shaking. She ignored him, not paying him any mind. She looked forward to him leaving so she could finally go back to sleep.
"Val, get up and drink this," she heard him insist. He yanked at her arm, trying to pull her up.
She yanked herself back out of his grip, nearly bringing him on top of her on the bed. "Leave..." she croaked out, wanting to say a good deal more. She looked up, seeing him all sweaty himself with a beige colored water bottle and the next dose of medicine in one hand.
His lip was trembling. He looked a mix of frightened and angry. He looked back over at the door and then back down at her. "Val!" he shouted down at her. She covered her ears, thinking him too loud. "You drink this and take this, now!" His voice made her head pound so much her eyes watered. "You quit..." he hesitated, sounding naturally nervous for him. "You quit being a stubborn bitch..." he petered out towards the end of the sentence. She half way sat up, leaning heavily on her arm at his words. She looked at him, trying to remember where she heard that sentence before. It gave her a flash of strength. "Just take this and drink this, please," he pleaded.
She panted, reaching up and taking the water from him clumsily. She nearly dropped it, but he did not quite let it go. She felt and watch him come around next to her to prop her up. With his help, she took the medicine and drank the earthy, herbal tasting water. She knew the taste of it, but trying to remember from where made her head ache too much to recall. She leaned heavily against him, tiredly against him, determined to stay awake and finish the water. She felt him slip away from her, pulling the blanket over her and shoving a pillow under her head.
"Nail..." she heard herself breath out before Daiki finally allowed her to sleep.