August 14 1999
"I can't believe it," Ryoga gasped. "I tried everything... and I... how did you?"
"Elder Shampoo told me where I could find the Nannichuan, and I went and got some," Wufei said matter-of-factly.
"I don't know how to thank you..." Ryoga said humbly, his head lowering in shame as he realized that he had been inwardly cursing Wufei just a few short minutes ago.
"Just get better," Wufei answered, never letting up on his stern expression. "Then you can *try* to beat the living daylights out of me."
Ryoga blushed. "Did I say that?"
"You said all kinds of things," Quatre answered, still smiling.
"You should rest," Heero interrupted before Ryoga could ask what else he had said. "Your fever still hasn't broken yet."
"I guess," Ryoga said, and lay back on the couch as Quatre moved out of the way for him. "I really feel fine...Two days?"
Quatre nodded, smiling, then got up to get himself a cup of the strong coffee.
"It's a beautiful morning," he said softly, looking out the large kitchen window and shivering a little. "Chilly in here."
"I think it's fine," Heero said from behind him, then abruptly stepped up and felt Quatre's forehead. "Hn. Thought this might happen."
"Am I-?" Quatre's question was answered by a solemn nod, then Heero's eyes suddenly widened and he ran over to the ladder and climbed it in a flash. Duo was huddled up in the middle of the bed, shivering. His skin was burning.
"Kuso," Heero muttered. Trowa woke at the sound of his voice and looked lost for a moment until he saw Quatre peeking over the edge of the floor.
"Duo, too?" Quatre asked timidly.
"Get back in bed," Heero said with a curt nod. "Before you pass out." Quatre obediently climbed back into the loft and sat on the bed by Trowa.
"I didn't mean to-" he started, but Heero cut him off with a wave of his hand. Trowa sat up and looped a slender arm over his shoulders, and Quatre leaned into the embrace, taking comfort from both the support and the warmth.
"What's going on?" Trowa asked quietly.
"We're sick," Quatre admitted a little shamefacedly. If he and Duo were out of commission for two days... what if a mission came up during that time?
"What's going on?" Ryoga echoed, climbing up and making room for Wufei, who followed him with a wary expression on his face. Wufei alone seemed unsurprised to hear that two of the pilots were sick.
"Duo's medical records for his childhood were non-existent," Heero explained ruefully. "And Quatre's indicated that he had all the immunizations necessary for the colony where he grew up, but for some reason the Nerima Plague wasn't one of them."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Quatre wanted to know.
"We had a mission," Heero answered, as if that explained everything.
"He just didn't want to worry us, in case it turned out we didn't get sick," Duo mumbled through his pillow. "I feel like shit."
"You don't look so good, either," Heero answered, and Quatre stared at him in surprise. Was he trying to make a joke? Duo didn't seem to appreciate the comment, at any rate. He threw the pillow he had been hugging and scowled at Heero. Quatre hid his smile against Trowa's shoulder. Those two really should just stop wasting time and be honest with each other.
"You lie down," Heero said, his steely gaze fixing on Quatre. "Trowa and Wufei, we're going to need more supplies. I'll stay and take care of them."
Trowa nodded, and quickly dressed and left despite his misgivings. Not that Heero didn't have a right to stay and take care of Duo... but Quatre...
By the time the two pilots returned with the supplies, Trowa was fairly dancing with impatience to see Quatre again. Heero was pacing the floor and waiting for them, and apparently having a contest of wills with Ryoga.
"I'm telling you, I feel fine," The Lost Boy protested irritably, then glanced almost guiltily at Wufei and Trowa as they climbed up to the loft. "I can take care of them."
"You can't," Heero said with a scowl.
"You're not strong enough for that kind of thing," Wufei added, his face impassive.
"I'm strong enough to take you on right now!" Ryoga snarled in response. "I'm telling you, I'm fine! No fever or anything!"
"Your fever did not break that fast."
"I don't have one," Ryoga insisted stubbornly. "I've always been a fast healer."
"We have a mission," Heero explained to Wufei and Trowa. "He thinks we're going to leave the three of them alone."
"If I can beat you in hand-to-hand combat, will you believe me?" Ryoga asked. Wufei smiled slightly.
"You can have five minutes of my time," the Chinese pilot answered. "I'll go easy on you."
"Don't do me any favors," Ryoga said with a furious scowl. "I'm more than strong enough for you."
"No special techniques," Wufei said, climbing down the ladder and waiting for Ryoga to follow.
"Fine," Ryoga said, and leaped over the railing, landing on the floor below as softly as a cat. He smiled at Wufei. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."
"Out here," Wufei said, arching an eyebrow as he led the way to the back yard. "Trowa, let us know when the five minutes are up?"
Trowa nodded, and after a brief exchange of bows the fight began. Ryoga started with an easy side kick, which Wufei dodged gracefully. Wufei closed in swiftly, landing several solid punches and a kick before dancing out of striking range. Ryoga noted that the pilot was indeed going easy on him, in an effort not to hit his broken arm.
"You're fast," Ryoga admitted. "Almost as fast as Ranma."
"You're strong," Wufei replied. "You should be on your knees by now."
"Nah," Ryoga said, closing in with a few more quick kicks, which Wufei again dodged. "It's a side effect of the Breaking Point training. I'm really resistant to impact." Wufei danced between Ryoga's kicks, peppering him with solid blows which he shrugged off. The two were sizing each other up with new respect when Trowa called the time. They bowed again, and then Wufei impulsively shook Ryoga's hand.
"Good match," the pilot said. "You're more than strong enough to take care of them while we're gone." Ryoga nodded and smiled.
"I'd like to spar again, some time," he said.
"I'd like that."
The three remaining Gundam pilots rushed off shortly after that, and Ryoga bounded back up to the loft to watch over his friends. He blushed at the thought of some of the things Wufei had done to him... He allowed Quatre and Duo to take turns with an oral thermometer, and realized after a short while that he could never get a good reading on Duo that way. The boy just couldn't keep his mouth shut for five minutes.
"If you don't stop talking, I'll have to use this one on you," Ryoga threatened with what he hoped was an intimidating scowl, waving the rectal thermometer.
"Ok!" Duo said with a grin, and obligingly turned over.
"Y-you don't mind?"
"I like to play doctor," Duo said, lowering his eyelids and wriggling his hips suggestively. Quatre laughed.
"You're impossible, Duo," the little blond said, then closed his eyes wearily.
"Last week I was incorrigible," Duo confided as Ryoga blushingly prepared the thermometer. "I can't tell if that's an improvement or not."
"It isn't," Quatre answered with a yawn. "Believe me, it isn't."
"Oh, well, win some, lose some," Duo said with an amiable grin. "Are you ready yet, Ryoga?"
"Are you sure...?"
"Oh, g'wan. It won't hurt anything." Duo's brash manner was belied by the blush staining his face, and Ryoga felt a little better about it when he noticed. Duo shifted a little uncomfortably as Ryoga slowly slid the thermometer in, and his breathing sped up as Ryoga rested one large hand across his bottom to hold the instrument in place.
"You sure you're Ok?" Ryoga asked worriedly. Duo was really starting to squirm.
"Yeah, it's just I... uh..."
"He's saving it for Heero," Quatre sighed.
"Quatre!"
"Huh? Was I not supposed to know? Oh, shit."
"Quatre!" Duo was even more shocked to hear the young blond curse. Quatre didn't bother to answer, and Ryoga glanced over, relieved to see that his breathing was slow and easy. Wufei's last words to him had been a warning about pneumonia...
"Isn't it time yet?" Duo grumbled.
"I only just put it in!" Ryoga said. "Just be patient. If you'd kept your mouth shut, we wouldn't be doing it this way in the first place!"
"I know," Duo answered, burying his reddened face in his pillow. "It's just... Heero..."
"Heero would understand, I'm sure of it," Ryoga said, though he wasn't at all sure. "If you like, next time we can take your temperature with the other one. But NOT if you're going to talk the whole time."
"I promise I'll be good," Duo said, twisting around to smile up at him irrepressibly. "I gotta admit, though, this feels good in a weird kinda way."
"I could've told you that," Ryoga said, resisting the sudden urge to caress Duo's smooth buttocks.
"You mean Wufei-"
"I was talking about you," Ryoga interrupted a little too hastily, his sudden deep blush giving him away. Duo grinned mischievously and filed the information away for future use.
Quatre woke slowly for pill time, and blinked in confusion as Ryoga urged him to swallow the aspirin and antibiotics. His forehead was already burning, and with some misgivings Ryoga went to get the thermometer again.
"You can't use that one on ‘im," Duo volunteered cheerfully, tossing back his pills with a grin. "He just drank water."
Ryoga slapped his brow in exasperation. He really had known better.
"I'm sorry, Quatre," he said as he went to switch thermometers.
"You have my permission to do whatever... you have to do..." Quatre yawned at him and meekly allowed Ryoga to turn him over onto his stomach and pull his loose pajama pants down. Ryoga swallowed hard as he checked the smaller boy's temperature. There was something so bizarrely erotic in what he was doing, and yet it was purely necessity... he felt ashamed of himself for having these feelings at a time like this, but his mind inevitably traveled back to the night in the apartment when he had caressed this skin freely, and his body was reacting to the memory. Quatre merely went back to sleep.
"104," Ryoga muttered concernedly. "I guess it's time to start..." He went to the bathroom and started a tepid bath running, then came back for Quatre.
"Sorry about this," Ryoga said, and scooped the slender boy up over his good shoulder, toting him one-armed to the bath in a move that was graceless but effective. Quatre woke with a startled gasp when Ryoga put him in the water.
"I'm cold," he complained softly. Ryoga reached out and gently stroked the boy's platinum hair, then scooped up a handful of water to bathe his flushed face.
"I'm sorry you got sick because of me," he whispered softly. Quatre's eyes were closed, but his brows drew together in a slight frown.
"No, we went to Nerima before you came along," Quatre said after a moment's thought. "If anything, it's because of you that we know what the problem is."
"Ryooooouga," Duo called from the other room. "I want you to give me a bath, too!"
"Wait your turn," Ryoga answered with a grin.
"And I need my pillows fluffed!" Ryoga snorted in reply and turned the cold water tap on, gradually decreasing the temperature of Quatre's bath.
"It's cold," Quatre whimpered, curling his legs away from the fresh water.
"Shh, I know. I'm sorry," Ryoga whispered, pressing his lips against the boy's feverish brow in a gentle kiss. "As soon as you cool off a little, I promise I'll let you curl up in your nice, warm bed."
"Soon?"
"Yeah, I think it'll be soon." Ryoga stepped out for a moment to get the oral thermometer, anxious that Quatre might drown without supervision. The little blond was somewhat alert and watching him when he came back. Ryoga shook the thermometer down and Quatre meekly opened his mouth to accept it. As soon as he had a satisfactory reading, Ryoga scooped the smaller boy back out of the tub, grateful for what help Quatre could offer with his shaky legs.
"Thank you," Quatre murmured when Ryoga finally tucked the quilt around him. Ryoga sighed, pitying Wufei for a moment. He hadn't been nearly that good a patient. Not as cheerful as Duo, and not as cooperative as Quatre. As a matter of fact, he had to admit he had been a pain in the ass.
"Is it my turn yet?" Duo asked petulantly. Ryoga grinned at him.
"Better check your temp first," he said, and this time Duo took the oral thermometer silently. The reading, when it was done, was a little higher than Quatre's had been. Ryoga wasted no time in hauling Duo to the tub, which was still full.
"Can we wash my hair, too? It might be a few days before I get another chance." Ryoga eyed the long braid dubiously.
"How long does it take all that to dry?" he wanted to know.
"A few hours. Please?" Ryoga reluctantly helped Duo lean back in the water so the back of his head was submerged. The best he could do one-handed was hold on to the boy's slender frame while Duo unbraided and washed his own hair. Duo was exhausted by the time the thick tresses had been thoroughly soaped, and his teeth started to chatter as Ryoga drained out the soapy water and helped him rinse the shampoo out.
"Do you use this, too?" Ryoga asked, holding up a bottle of conditioner.
"I think it's Trowa's," Duo answered with a shake of his head, sitting forward in the tub with the mass of wet hair plastered to his back in a cold mat. Ryoga considered for a moment, then poured out a handful.
"I'll buy him some more," he announced, and quickly worked the stuff in. Duo's long, long hair would be hard enough for him to manage without having it tangle, and Ryoga was pretty certain that Duo wouldn't be able to help him much longer. The mass of hair slid easily through his fingers as he worked the conditioner all the way to the ends and then carefully rinsed it.
"Thank you, Ryoga," Duo whispered, shivering violently under the chilly blanket of wet hair. It was so important to him that his hair be well-kept... he still remembered being teased as a child because his hair stank. Water had been so carefully rationed then, just to allow enough for drinking... and they had wanted to cut off his hair because it wasn't sanitary, and because his baths were too few and far between. That long braid was a trophy, the one thing he had managed to keep all these years, when he had lost everything else that mattered to him. He smiled at the thought that it was really almost a security blanket.
"You're welcome," Ryoga said, and carefully pressed as much water as possible from the soaked hair. As soon as the last of the water had drained from the tub, Ryoga wrapped Duo's long hair in an oversized towel and his body in another. Duo lay face-down on the bed without protest, and Ryoga towel-dried both boy and hair as much as possible before looking for a hair dryer. A quick check revealed that Quatre was sleeping more or less peacefully, shivering from time to time but otherwise fine.
Ryoga's arm was actually weary from holding the hair dryer by the time Duo's hair was finally dry. He hadn't been kidding - it had taken more than an hour to get the whole mess dry. Duo groaned fitfully as Ryoga dragged a comb through it, but the end result was a glorious mass of shining hair that tumbled down to Duo's knees in a luxuriously thick, gold-shot chestnut curtain of silk.
"I had no idea your hair was so long!" Ryoga said.
"I need to braid it," Duo mumbled, and quickly wound the hair into its customary braid, trembling with the effort. Ryoga helped him pull the covers over himself, and Duo sighed in relief when he could finally rest.
"Can you sleep now?" The Lost Boy asked gently, and Duo nodded, smiling wearily as Ryoga caressed his brow before going to check on Quatre again. It seemed a very short time later that he woke to find Ryoga holding two coffee mugs.
"Don't want any coffee," Duo grumbled.
"It's soup." Duo slowly dragged himself up into a sitting position and took the mug from Ryoga, noting that Quatre was already sipping delicately from his own mug.
"Aren't you going to feed us?" Duo asked with a pout. Ryoga laughed.
"You WANT me to feed you?"
"Sure. It's part of the whole 'sick package.' You get someone to take care of you and give you medicine and check your temperature and wash you and fluff your pillows and feed you and sing to you... Why are you laughing?" Duo asked. "I'm serious."
"If you want me to feed you, then I will," Ryoga said with a grin. Poor Wufei. He really would have to apologize to the pilot, who apparently was doing what he thought was expected of him.
"You're supposed to put wet washcloths on our foreheads, too," Quatre said quietly, his eyes glittering a little too brightly above the rim of his mug as he took another sip. "Thank you for the soup, Ryoga. It's very good."
"You're welcome," Ryoga said, returning the little blond's warm smile. With a rueful shake of his head, he went to get spoons and fed his patients. Quatre tried to assure him it wasn't necessary, but by then Ryoga was determined to do everything right. After they had finished eating, Ryoga rubbed them down with cold cloths, checked their temperatures, gave them their medicine, fluffed their pillows and kissed them each on the forehead before placing a wet washcloth there.
"Aren't you going to sing to us?" Duo whined. Quatre giggled softly. Ryoga sighed, rolled his eyes, and started singing. He started off with lullabies and ended up singing songs about lost love... he was glad his patients were already asleep by the time he realized what he was singing. Quatre already missed his Trowa terribly, and Duo didn't need to be reminded of Heero while he was this vulnerable.
Ryoga wearily stretched and yawned, but didn't sleep. His friends had suffered through days of his bad attitude, and the least he could do was watch over them and do his best to care for them. He was pretty sure Duo was pulling his leg about the singing... The young pilot was curled up on his side, his braid winding across his hip and his fist uncurling against the edge of his pillow. He looked so young and innocent lying there, still and unsmiling for a change... And Quatre tossed restlessly for a long time, alternately throwing the blankets away and huddling in them desperately for warmth.
End Part Seven
Yoiko ^__^
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