He immediately started to fuss over me. "How much sleep have you gotten?" I barely opened my mouth before he had asked another; "do you feel any better?" I just sighed, and he got his answer through that. "Why are you by the bathroom? Did you throw up again?"

"Yukio," I took a small step forward, trying to wiggle myself into the bathroom. "I just want to take a shower."

A wrinkle formed between his brows, "you just took one this morning, though."

I fumbled to give him a buyable answer, "uh, yeah, I know, but I'm, uh, all sweaty and stuff." He gave me a puzzled expression and I shrugged my tense shoulders.

"Alright... could you maybe wait awhile, though. Some of the other kids need to shower, too." I think the amount of filth on and in my body far surpassed any of the cram school kids, but I didn't mention that.

"C-can't they use the upstairs shower?"

His eyes brightened, "oh, that's right! God, we should've thought about that before." He waved me off, "alright, go take another shower, but remember to save some hot water for the rest of us, alright?"

I rolled my eyes playfully and he seemed satisfied with my behavior. Once he had turned his back, I scurried into the bathroom, Kuro following at my heels.

"Come to think of it, after Shiro and I would come back home, you would spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom for days to come. We never thought anything if it, but now it just seems so obvious that something was wrong." He had muttered it to himself more than anything, but I shrugged anyway.

"It's in the past, nothing can be done of it now." I tossed my clothes onto the counter and started pulling off my shirt. When I walked toward the shower, I turned the water to scalding.

"That's a little hot, don't you think?"

"If I could use boiling water, I would" it was only logical, boiling water eradicates a majority of germs and bacteria. Anything less is simply just brushing the filth around on your skin, bleh.

I tried to take my pants off, but a sharp pain told me that it wasn't going to be easy. I mentally prepared myself for the agony I was about to put myself through, and then I tried again. I gave a strangled cuss, but I was successfully able to step out of the garments.

.oOo.

I felt somewhat better when I exited the bathroom about half an hour later, my skin a bright pink. I did the usual routine of throwing my dirty clothes into the hamper before slowly making my way toward the church. However, there was no one present. My ears twitched as I tried to figure out where everyone was, maybe they were outside? Listening closely, I heard a laugh from upstairs.

I gave Kuro a look and he sighed. "I have no idea how you plan on making it up there, you can barely walk across a flat surface the way it is." I knew that much, but I did need food, and considering that Yukio was back, it must be nighttime. I hadn't eaten all day, and if I planned on working tomorrow, I'd better take some care of myself.

I mumbled some things to myself before I pushed myself toward the staircase. They were kinda a way to psych myself up, but I knew deep down, that it was a near impossible feat for me to achieve.

"One step at a time," I told myself, exhaling as I forced myself up another stair. I was a little under halfway when the pain became unbearable. I gave up, grasping the railing and bringing myself down into a sitting position. "Fuck, ow," my body didn't like this particular pose, yet I doubted that any pose would be comfortable.

"What do we do now?" Kuro said, jumping up onto his hind legs so he could nudge my chin. I sighed and scratched the top of his head, not really having an answer.

I shifted uncomfortably and yelped when pain erupted in my abdomen. My cry must have been loud enough for the other's to hear because it didn't take long before I heard footsteps approach the top stair. "Nii-san? Are you okay?" His feet tapped against the wood as he came down to my level and I closed my eyes, my body weary. I felt his chilly fingers tilt my head so he could get a better look at me. "Are you still sick?"

I sighed, cracking an eye open, "my stomach hurts, but I need to eat something." He hummed and then agreed, when I asked him to help me upstairs, he simply shook his head. "Huh?"

"If you go up, you just have to do double the work to get back down. Why not just bring some food back to our room?" Maybe I lacked some sort of common sense because that seemed like a simpler idea. "Here, I'll go get you some food." He stood and then my heart dropped, "Father Naito? Could you help Rin back to our room?"

Kuro immediately started hissing and growling at the top of his lungs. My brother stumbled slightly in surprise and I desperately tried to fix the situation. I hugged the feline close and tried getting to my feet, "no, no, it's fine! I made it this far by myself, I'm capable of getting myself back." I couldn't tell if I had concealed the waver in my voice, but Yukio seemed unconvinced nonetheless.

"Nii-san, you're sick, just let us help you, alright? The more you fight it, the longer it will take until you're better." His eyes flickered to Kuro's angry expression, "honestly, what's been up with him? It's like he randomly goes crazy."

I quickly defended the small sidhe in my arms, "he's not feeling well, either. I had shared my food this morning and he's pretty ornery." I was also quick to combat his earlier suggestion, "I don't want to make Father Naito work any harder than he has to, you know, 'cause of his health problems?"

Yukio seemed to understand, "look at you, being so selfless. Alright, you just sit here, I'll grab you some dinner and then I'll help you back to the room." I nodded and sighed in relief when he went back upstairs.

"That was too close for comfort," I mumbled to Kuro.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, I just got overprotective, I guess." He nudged my chin again and my lips curled at the edges. He turned serious again, however, "I'm going to claw his eyes out."

"No," I shook my head, "not happening. Yukio would personally exorcize you if you so much as scratch him." It dawned on me that I had basically repeated what had been spoken to me. The man was basically untouchable, with his high status and authority, no one would believe me if I told.

I quickly squashed my dark thoughts when Yukio thumped his way back down to me, a bowl in hand. He held out his hand, "you ready?" I shook my head but took his hand anyway. He pulled me to my feet a little too quickly and I squeezed my eyes shut. "Sorry, sorry!" He soon realized, as we took a few steps down to the floor, that I was in far worse shape than I let on. "This is a pretty serious case of good poisoning, Nii-san. Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

I shook my head vehemently, "I'll be fine, it's just working it's way out of my system, that's all." Teal eyes darted over my features, worry swirling deep inside. However, he sighed and decided not to fight me. That didn't keep him from fretting each time I showed pain, though.

"Maybe you should take some Tylenol or something, it might help to take the edge off." I nodded, knowing that the med was an anti-inflammatory and would reduce my pain in other ways, as well.

Finally, we made it back to our room, the small area was tainted now in my head, but I couldn't let that get to me. Yukio lead me over to the bed, set down the bowl he was carrying, and held out both of his hands.

"What am I supposed to do?"

He chuckled, "use me for support, I'll be here to help if you need it." I blushed, feeling like I was inept or somehow handicapped. Grabbing one of his hands, I eased myself down onto the mattress, hissing when my lower back protested.

"This just doesn't seem like food poisoning," Damn, he was persistent, but being gullible and naïve was no way to become the top of our class, I suppose. "Maybe you've got some other bug along with it? That would make more sense."

I shifted around a bit, finding the least uncomfortable spot and nesting in it. "I'm sure if I throw back some meds and take it easy for the rest of the night, I'll be just fine in the morning." That was a blatant lie, but if he deemed me sick enough, he'd keep me here tomorrow as well. Anxiety bloomed in my chest at the mere thought of being alone with him again.

Yukio nodded, handing me the bowl of food he had gotten. Inside, there was some steamed vegetables and rice. I looked up at him, "is this what you all had for dinner?"

He shrugged, "somewhat, the class and I got take-out, but I didn't want to give you something too heavy on the stomach, just in case. Rice is good for an achey stomach, too, so it should calm down soon enough." Standing up, he mentioned something about the Tylenol before leaving.

I quietly munched on my food, a small smile on my lips from how motherly Yukio can get. I wasn't going to complain, of course, it was only when he fussed over me that I got irritated.

"Rin?" I shifted my gaze to my furry partner and hummed. "You weren't really lying earlier when you said my stomach hurt, too." I quickly got the hint and let him have some of my rice.

Soon after, Yukio walked back with a glass of water and a few Tylenol in hand. I gratefully took both from him and swallowed the meds down greedily. My twin roamed around the room a bit before sitting down on his bed. The silence in the room was comforting, the two of us not needing to fill the air with trivial nonsense.

He broke the still air awhile later, "Nii-san, what's that by your bed?" My brows furrowed and I tried to see what he was pointing at, but I just couldn't stretch far enough without pain stabbing my lower torso. "It's like a wad of paper or something."

Oh shit, the tissues he had used. I recalled how I had tossed the gross thing onto the floor in my rush to get Kuro out of my bag. Keeping my face as neutral as possible, I shrugged, "maybe it's something the altar boys left behind when they brought my mattress in."

He seemed unconvinced, "I don't know about that, I'm pretty sure it wasn't here last night or the night before." He huffed, "whatever, it's not that big of a deal I guess." I nodded and watched as he yawned, "I think I'm gonna turn in, alright? When you're done eating, don't worry about taking it to the kitchen, I'll get it tomorrow morning."

I nodded again and he stretched out on his mattress, pulling his blankets up high and turning to face the wall. "Goodnight," I stated through a slightly full mouth. His shoulder's shook with laughter and he told me not to talk with my mouth full. He said goodnight, as well, and it was only a few minutes before his breathing had evened out.

I laid my bowl on my bed, giving the last of my meal to Kuro. With both of us having full bellies, I set my dishes on the nightstand and turned off the lamp.

"Goodnight, Kuro."

"Nighty night, Rin."