Author: merrow - PG-13 - English - Drama - Reviews: 89
"AAAGH!" Kyou leapt up and grabbed her under her shoulders. Yuki grabbed her legs and they together heaved the limp girl out of the water. Yuki laid his ear to her chest, she seemed to be breathing ok. Kyou felt her forehead, "She feels warm, but I can't tell if it's from a fever or the hot spring!"
Yuki sat back, and pushed his dripping hair back. "Ah, we're so stupid. She wasn't herself this morning, then without even eating breakfast we take her on a hike. The hot water probably just made her feel even more light headed." He looked around and grabbed the last towel to put under her head.
"Why didn't she say something!?" Kyou frowned at her still form. As the cool mountain air seeped the heat from her, her skin went from flushed to pale. "She must have started feeling weak, she should have spoken up, the idiot." Kyou moved his hand from her forehead to cup her cheek. She was so still. Why didn't she wake up? "She doesn't pay enough attention to herself, we should have realized she was struggling. Why didn't we realize how hard this was on her?"
Yuki frowned, looking at Tooru's slack face. "Because we weren't thinking of her." They'd been thinking of themselves, their fight, and their jealousies.
The mouse's words hit Kyou like a slap in the face. Never mind that Yuki had only said aloud what was tearing himself up inside. He stood up and began to pace back and forth. "We've got to get her back to the shack."
"Baka Neko," Yuki glared at Kyou, "How can we do that? If we try to carry her we'll just transform." He wiped Tooru's brow with a corner of his towel. Was that perspiration or moisture from the spring?
"Well we can't just leave her here!" Kyou shouted.
"ah." Tooru's hand lifted to her forehead. Her head was throbbing. She tried to sit up. "mm..ah," her head spun, a sickening feeling of vertigo swept over her. She felt as if her head was packed tight with cotton.
As she started to fall back, Yuki rushed to support her. He held her hand and put a steadying hand in between her shoulder blades. "Ah, Honda-san..."
Kyou quickly knelt down and pushed her hair back, it had already fallen out of Yuki's messy braid. "Are you alright?"
Tooru felt as if she was spinning. But Yuki and Kyou looked so concerned. "I-I'm fine." "Can you stand?" Without letting releasing her hand, Yuki stood, bracing himself to take her weight as she tried to rise.
"Y-yes." Tooru wasn't so certain she could, but she gave it a good attempt. Resting much of her weight on Yuki's surprisingly strong arm, she levered herself to her feet. Leaving her towel behind her. Both boys went scarlet, eyes bugged. She looked between them confused then down at her self, following their gaze. "EEEEH!" She collapsed in on herself trying to cover herself up.
Yuki fell forward with her, surprised at her weight suddenly disappearing. Stopping himself before he fell on top of her he quickly draped her towel over her shoulders. Kyou spun around, quite sure that this time his hair really was standing on end. He'd seen everything. They'd both seen everything. Panicking he ran over to the clean clothes and pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants. Spinning back he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Tooru huddled under the blanket shivering, her eyes were squeezed shut and her face flamed. Yuki hovered over her trying both to support her (she wobbled alarmingly from side to side) and not touch her at the same time. Feeling suddenly gentle he kneeled down before her.
"Here, clothes." He held out the clothes, Tooru reached for them, but wobbled again and almost toppled over. Yuki grabbed her shoulders to keep her from going over, and looped one of her arms over his shoulder, taking the bulk of her weight on him. This let them both see an expanse of creamy skin, but neither was paying much attention. "Che...hold on..." Kyou pulled the towel off and replaced it with the shirt. He lifted one of her arms and pulled it through the sleeve, then supported her weight while Yuki did the same on the other side. Buttoning her up quickly he tried not to look at her face. She was probably crying and he didn't know if he could handle that. Taking the pants he put a foot through each leg, then spoke to Yuki, "Here, stand her up for a minute." Yuki stood, taking Honda's distressingly limp form with him. He was careful not to let her swaying figure fall into his chest, lest he transform and be unable to support her. Kyou lifted the pants and fumbling under the bottom of the shirt, and carefully not thinking about what he was touching, fastened them. "There, done."
Tooru looked down at herself, "Umn..." She was dressed, and thankful to be covered up, but-
-but he'd dressed her in Yuki's shirt, and his own pants! Kyou didn't think his face could have gotten any redder, but it managed somehow.
"It's fine," Yuki said, "Its good enough to get you back to the house." He gently sat her down, and waited to make sure she could support herself. He rummaged through the clothes and found his pants, and quickly stepped into them. He tossed Kyou his sweatshirt then draped Tooru's forgotten dress over an arm. "We'll have to go slow, but you've got to walk back with us. If you faint again we won't be able to get you home."
"Y-yes, ok." Tooru braced herself and tried to stand. She stood but felt herself list to the side. Yuki was there immediately, taking her weight on his arm. She felt Kyou take her other arm balancing her out. He was wearing his sweatshirt and had taken a couple of the towels and securely knotted them around his waist. He was carefully not looking at her.
"Let's go back."
Tooru looked behind her, "Ah, our clothes!" They were still soaking under the falls, and there were still towels scattered around.
"We'll come back for them later." Kyou made sure she had a good grip on his arm and they started forward. Going back took a lot more time than going up. Tooru was disturbingly weak. It took a lot of concentration just to keep her from falling into one or the other of them. They'd had to stop a time or two, to let Tooru catch her breath and Kyou adjust his towels. Both boys were distressed by how warm her skin felt, she had definitely developed a fever. It was with no little relief that they finally entered the clearing that held their temporary home. The little shack had never looked like such a safe haven before.
Kyou and Yuki laid Tooru down in their bed and grew even more worried that she didn't even protest when Yuki offered to make them all tea. Kyou tossed Yuki a shirt while he threw on a pair of pants. Tooru had fallen asleep the minute her head had touched the pillow. She hadn't even bothered to cover herself up. Kyou looked down at her for a long moment before tucking her securely into bed. She looked lost and tiny in his baggy pants and Yuki's loose shirt. Why hadn't he ever noticed how small she was?
Yuki rummaged through the medicines Tooru had gotten at the pharmacy. Most were ones aimed at helping people to breathe, but he managed to find an over the counter cold medicine that promised to reduce fevers. He built up the fire a bit more and put on the teakettle. He poured out a draught of the medicine, and brought it over to her.
"She's sleeping." Kyou didn't look up from her face as he spoke. He felt a strange, coiled feeling in his stomach.
Yuki sat on her other side, careful not to spill the medicine. "Perhaps we should wake her..." Kyou looked up at him, "just for a minute. She'll feel better after she takes this." The silent "I hope" was echoed in both boy's hearts.
"Maybe we should let her sleep, she can take the medicine when she wakes up." Kyou fiddled with a corner of the blanket.
"Un..." Yuki put the draught out of harms way above Tooru's head, "we should make dinner. She hasn't eaten breakfast or lunch. She needs her strength."
"I think there is some rice, and some other stuff..." Kyou bit his lip, "I'll make some soup. It's good for people with fevers. Do we have any leeks?"
"Leeks?" Yuki's face was priceless. He never thought that he'd hear the cat ask for his most hated of foods.
"They're good for people with fevers." Kyou looked at the other boy defensively, "that's what all the books said."
"Ah." Yuki didn't know how to respond to that, "Its too early for leeks."
"Oh." Kyou sounded lost.
"Soup would be good though." Yuki didn't know why he was tying to comfort the cat. He shouldn't care if the baka neko looked like he was about to cry. He hated him...how did it go...till the day he died, he hated that guy. Didn't he? Yuki felt as if the ground beneath his feet had become a shifting morass. It was with no little relief that he got up to pour the tea when the kettle whistled.
The noise woke Tooru, jolting her out of her light sleep. Kyou helped her sit up, distressed at her heavy lidded look. "Here, drink this." Kyou handed her the medicine and watched her make a face as she drank it down. Yuki was back at her other side in an instant, holding a cup of freshly brewed tea to her lips. Tooru sipped it and then lay back.
A minute later she launched her self up, only the quick thinking and faster hands of the boys kept her from falling over a second later. "Ah, lunch...I mean dinner...I haven't made it yet!" She tried to get up from her sitting position. "I'm sorry! I'll get up and..." she stopped when the world spun. The edges of her vision started to go dark, and she felt like she was spinning. "Ah."
"Honda-san, lay back." It took very little pressure from Yuki's hands to guide her back to a horizontal position. "Kyou is going to make dinner."
Tooru rolled her eyes to the hearth, where Kyou had already put a pot on the stove. He stood over it adding things to the pot, sweat-dropping. "Just rest already." He stirred the pot, "It will be ready in just a little while."
The flushing girl closed her eyes and nodded. In moments she was asleep again. Yuki sighed and stood. As much as he wanted to just sit by her and stare at her, he knew that when she woke if the little cabin wasn't in some semblance of order she'd insist on getting up. He gathered up the towels they had discarded as the walked in and started to head outside with them.
"Don't hang those outside, it's going to rain tonight." Kyou didn't look up from the hearth.
"Ah." Yuki didn't question how Kyou knew; with his special problems he probably had developed some sort of weather sense. He looked down helplessly at the wet towels in his hands. If he just folded them up they'd mildew.
"Lay them out over here, by the hearth." Kyou gestured behind him, "The heat will dry them." He closed his eyes and gave the pot a few extra stirs. He'd only just said that because Tooru would be upset if the place was a mess or if the towels were ruined. It had nothing to do with the mouse looking upset and worried. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him." Kyou repeated the thought over and over, not thinking about how it sounded less like a mantra and more like a reminder.
"I'll go wash out the bowls." Yuki left the shack quickly. This new feeling developing between him and Kyou...it was unsettling. It wasn't the first time that he and Kyou had found themselves talking easier since Tooru had come into their lives. His mind flashed back to New Year's Eve. Shigure had accused them of sounding like gossiping housewives, but it had been the first real conversation he could ever remember having with Kyou, ever. Not that they'd spent much time together before Tooru had come to live with them. Whenever Kyou had appeared to challenge him, they really hadn't spoken much beyond jibes. They'd seen each other once or twice when they were children, at family parties. Akito had pointed out Kyou to him that first time.
"Look there," Yuki still shivered at the memory of Akito's hand on the back of his neck, "there, that one." Akito's long delicate finger pointed to a little redheaded boy who was being clutched tight by someone he assumed was his mother. "Isn't it disgusting? That is the cat. He shouldn't be here among us. Later we will have a party and we shan't invite him." Dressed in his New Year's finery, Yuki remembered wanting to ask why, and thinking that the little boy didn't look disgusting. He looked frightened. Yuki's memory dredged up details he hadn't realized at the time. And the grip the woman had on his wrist...at first it had looked loving, like she held his hand. But her knuckles were white. Kyou had noticed Yuki looking his way and had glared at him. Evidently the cat knew who he was. Had it started then? The hatred between them? Yuki shook his head irritably and pulled the bowls from the stream, attacking them with a cloth to dry them. What use was it to think about it? What did it matter when it started, or how it started? It would never end. Kyou hated him or he hated Kyou, that's just the way it was. That the cat should hate the rat, that the rat should hate the cat that was just the way it would always be.
