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Standard Disclaimer: Nothing
RW or YST belongs to me... *sigh* I'm
not making any money off this,
so please don't sue me. Only the idea
for the fic belongs to me.
Weak, winter sunlight filtered through the barren
branches of the trees
that ringed the tiny courtyard off the side of
the university library.
Sai had curled himself onto one of the stone
benches that dotted the
courtyard to wait for Kento to finish his last
final before winter
break. The cold that radiated off the bench
conspired with the wind
that whispered through the tree branches to penetrate
his body, chilling
him clear through to his bones. He might
be colder sitting, but that
was still preferable to standing.
"At last! We are done and outta here, dude!"
The lack of any insulating leaves caused Kento’s
exuberant voice to
bounce and echo off the gray stone of the library,
bringing a ghost of a
smile to Sai’s lips.
"Thought I’d *never* finish that test, Sai!"
Sai forced himself to his feet, then fervently
wished he’d remained
seated as the widely smiling Kento grabbed his
hands and whirled him
into a spin. Paling and biting back a cry
of pain, Sai buried his face
in the soft puffiness of Kento’s ski jacket as
his love’s arms came
around him. He leaned against Kento, pathetically
grateful for the
strong arms that were supporting a good portion
of his weight, for
without them, Sai was unsure he’d have remained
on his feet.
"So, how’d ya do, dude?"
"All right, I guess," Sai mumbled into Kento’s
chest as he tried to keep
his breathing shallow. At least he prayed
that he’d done well. He’d
tried. He really had, but the nagging,
sharp pain in his stomach had
been so bad towards the end of the exam that
the words of his history
essay had started to blur together. Sai
had no idea whether or not his
writing had been coherent, but at this point,
he really didn’t care.
All that mattered to him anymore was getting
the pain in his middle to
go away. It should have been gone by now.
Surely, it should have
ended, but it hadn’t, and Sai couldn’t explain
why. A stomach bug
shouldn’t last over a week, should it?
The sickness had started with a low-grade fever,
but had quickly
progressed to include both nausea and stomach
cramps. For several days,
the only reason Sai had forced himself out of
bed was to run for the
bathroom, though once he got there, it was a
toss-up which end of
himself he should aim at the toilet first.
His doctor had been of no
help. Somehow, Sai had managed to drag
his sorry ass down to Dr. Mori’s
office, only to be told that he had a non-specific
intestinal virus, and
that there was nothing to do but let it run its
course. Let it run its
course? What a joke. It was the last
thing that Sai needed to deal
with the week before finals, but he hadn’t had
any choice in the matter.
Feeling somewhat human again, Sai crammed for
all he was worth the
weekend before finals began. His sense
of wellness was fleeting,
however, for it lasted only long enough for him
to take his first two
exams. By Monday evening, Sai’s stomach
began to hurt again.
The following day, Sai was able to ignore the
pain. At least
initially. It was fortunate that his next
two exams were both in the
morning, for as the day progressed, the pain
had intensified and the
nausea and fever had returned. It was fortunate
that in the bustling
madhouse his home turned into that evening, no
one noticed his lack of
appetite or increasing discomfort.
~~~~~ The previous evening ~~~~~
"But Sage, we did 5 finals in 2 days! I’m
tired, I don’t wanna pack!
Why can’t we do it in the morning?"
"We’re leaving for Tokyo in the morning, Rowen.
We won’t have the
time. If you don’t get your ass off the
sofa and get upstairs, I’m
going to have to paddle it!"
"Hmmmm, promise?"
"Get!"
"Ack! I’m goin’, I’m goin’, though you’re
incredibly tempting when you
go all authoritative and commanding on me!"
"Geez, Rowen, you got a one track mind, or what?
We’ll never get out of
here at this rate!"
"You wish, Sage. Race ‘ya!"
"Don’t run in the house! Yeesh, at 21, they’re
worse than 6 year olds.
It’s like talking to a couple of brick walls!"
"My, my, Mia. Those term papers making you cranky?"
"Why, no, Ryo. Why *ever* would a veritable
mountain of misspelled,
grammatically incorrect drivel written by a bunch
of students who
evidently slept through my classes since they
wouldn’t know an ancient
myth if it leapt up and bit them on their collective
asses make me
cranky?"
"Yikes! She’s gettin’ dangerous! C’mon
Kento, Yuli, I sense impending
death, destruction, and general mayhem out here.
The kitchen’ll be
safer!"
"I’ll mayhem you, Ryo! What’ll this be?
You’re third snack since
dinner? You all need to be studying, not
eating!"
"Aw, Mia, it’s brain food!"
"Kento, potato chips, chocolate and tea is *not* brain food!"
"What? We’ve got carbohydrates. We’ve
got caffeine. All that’ll
increase our stamina so we can survive the rigorous,
marathon study
sessions we’ve all got planned for tonight!"
"Yuli, Yuli, Yuli. You’re too young to be
able to justify a junk food
pig-out session so easily. What happened
to that innocent, little boy I
once knew?
"Heh, he was corrupted by hanging around here
too long. C’mon, guys, I
hear a chip calling my name!"
"That stuff is going to *ROT* your brains instead of fortifying them!"
*********
History, history. Think history, Sai.
One more, you can do it.
Already in bed, Sai curled his aching body into
a tighter ball, trying
to tune out the racket from downstairs.
All he had left was his history
exam the next morning. Then, he could collapse.
Sai squinted at his notebook in an effort to bring
the words swimming
before his eyes into focus, but finally gave
it up as futile. No matter
how important this exam was, when he hurt so
badly he couldn’t even
decipher his own handwriting, it was time to
pack it in. Sleep. Maybe
he just needed to sleep. Maybe it would
all be better in the morning.
Sai pushed his history text and notebook over
the edge of the bed and
onto the floor. Straightening to reach
for the covers, a particularly
vicious, twanging pain spiked through the constant,
throbbing ache in
his middle that had began the previous day.
Unable to muster more than
a faint whimper, Sai curled in on himself again,
a prayer that he
survive the night winging through his mind.
*click*
"Hey, Sai. You goin’ to bed already?"
Sai cracked an eyelid as he felt Kento’s weight
settle onto the edge of
the bed. "Yeah, Kento. I’m tired,
and I’ve had enough."
"Probably don’t need to study much anyway. You’re lucky you’re smart."
"Yeah, right."
"You are. Hey, don’cha want the covers?
You may be warm enough now,
but it’s pretty damn cold out tonight."
"Yeah, I guess so." Sai smiled as Kento
tucked the covers around him as
if he were a little kid, his love’s concern pushing
back the fog of his
discomfort a bit and making him feel safe and
protected.
"There ya go. You sure my studying won’t bother you?"
"Nah, you go ahead."
"Okay, love ya. Sleep well."
"Love you, too." A brush of warm lips, then
Kento was across the room
and settling back in at his desk. Sai closed
his eyes on the warm glow
of the desk lamp, the soft murmur of Kento’s
voice as he began to read
aloud from his text as soothing to him as a lullaby.
The dawn of a new day brought Sai no relief.
If anything, the pain was
even worse. Too many times to count, Sai
nearly asked Kento to drive
him to Dr. Mori’s office instead of to the university,
but each time, he
swallowed back the words. He had to take
his exam, and perhaps after
being together for so long, both as friends and
lovers, some of Kento’s
pig-headed stubbornness had finally rubbed off
on him. It couldn’t have
been anything else that enabled him to complete
his exam, turn in his
test booklet and walk from the room.
~~~~~ End flashback ^_^ ~~~~~
Sai pushed weakly against Kento’s arms and stared
up into his love’s
beaming, blue eyes when they loosened.
Mustering a tired smile, he
asked, "And how did you do?"
"Don’t know, and don’t care! It’s over.
All that counts is that we
survived another semester! Come on, Sai,
let’s go celebrate. I’ll take
you out to lunch!"
Kento’s grin was as infectious as that damned
stomach virus, and, in
spite of himself, Sai felt the first real smile
he’d had in what seemed
like forever stretch his lips. At least
until Kento released him,
grabbed one hand, then, with no further ceremony,
started off out of the
chill, wind-blown courtyard for their car.
Unprepared, Sai staggered, his few jarring steps
sending pain lancing
through his middle. Somehow, he managed
to jerk his hands free and
stumble to a halt without dropping to the ground
and curling into a
protective ball, though he couldn’t help hunching
over and wrapping his
arms tightly around himself.
"Sai! What’s wrong? Are you all right?"
"Actually, no," Sai whispered faintly, unable
to do more to erase the
alarm in Kento’s voice. He sagged into
Kento’s arms as they came around
him again. This was bad. A simple
stomach bug couldn’t *possibly* hurt
this much. "Kento, instead of lunch, I
think I need to go see Dr. Mori
again."
**************************
To be continued... if anyone's interested? *hopeful smile*
So, what'cha think? Did I mess it up too badly?
Ladyglen
