And another sequel up!
Apr. 19th, 2006 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciirceeThis one is for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ontogenesis who requested a follow up to my cracked-out, randomly-sick-Fai story.
Your brain healed nicely after Fai's bout with vertigo.
So did Fai. He went back to normal. Kurogane went back to normal. You did not see or hear anything strange out of either of them. In fact, nobody mentioned that week when Fai had been so sick.
It's almost like it didn't happen.
Of course, that's when it happens again.
Except it isn't vertigo. And it isn't Fai.
If you thought that Kurogane was trying to break your brain, well, then, he was a rank amateur when compared to Fai. Because Fai quite happily smashes every expectation you had for him.
It started with cough.
Tickle in my throat, Kurogane said.
Fai nodded.
Kurogane kept coughing and you got worried and Fai kept nodding. You took to giving Kurogane looks and offering to carry his armor for him. Fai irritated him into chasing him around the room with his sword.
Now, a week on, Kurogane is fatigued and has trouble breathing at times.
You're concerned. This world is at war and Kurogane has hired on to pay expenses while you search for Sakura-hime's feather. You want to say something to him, to do something for him, but don't because he's older than you and you know he wouldn't appreciate it. And besides, that's Fai's job.
Which, apparently, Fai doesn't know.
It takes about two days before you crack and bring your concerns to Fai. That Kurogane is very ill, that he needs medicine, tending to, and those sorts of things.
Fai hums at you and pats your cheek. Kuro-wanko has the flu. He'll be okay, you're told. Thank goodness for Sakura-hime who smiles happily and tells you that It's nice of Fai-san to protect Kurogane-san's dignity that way, isn't it?.
The peace of mind that comes from that lasts all of six and a half minutes. Because Kurogane arrives home early, obviously exhausted and ghostly, ashen gray. He's trailed by several of the mercenary-soldiers with whom he generally works. You rush outside with Sakura-hime and Mokona to help him inside and end up, like his fellow soldiers, following helplessly after him as he shoves past you, growling.
You don't see Fai in the confusion. In fact, when you look around, you discover that Fai is not in the house at all. He shows up a few hours later, at dinner time, wearing a nurse costume. Complete with the apron and the little hat. Sakura-hime and Mokona clap and compliment him on the skirt.
Kurogane, who is having tea, drops his head on to the table with a loud ker-thump.
Your brain fractures itself.
Nurse Fai coos and clucks and has a thermometer the size of a quarterstaff. Nurse Fai carols about the house and tries to feed Kurogane chicken soup and nasty looking liquid medicines. Nurse Fai threatens to have Nurse Mokona (secret technique #90) tie him to his bed (secret technique #77—you wonder about the Time-Space Witch) if he continues to be a naughty patient. Nurse Fai offers sponge baths.
Kurogane is one heck of a bad patient. He breaks the thermometer, won't drink the medicine, and screams himself hoarse about the sponge bath. And any other type of bath. He does, however, grudgingly eat the soup when Fai prods at a nerve that makes him open his mouth.
Thank goodness for Sakura-hime telling you it's nice that Fai-san is trying to keep Kurogane-san's spirits up! It buys you a day and a half of peace. Well. Sanity, at any rate.
Just as you're getting used to Nurse Fai, however, he moves in for the kill.
It happens as Kurogane is getting ready to go to work. You could have told him that it wasn't going to happen. Not because Fai wouldn't let him go (you just don't know anymore) but because the army would just send him straight home to Nurse Fai's clutches. Anyway, Kurogane is sitting (all right, slumped and listing to one side) on the couch and attempting to put his shoes on.
Fai, in the nurse outfit, enters from the kitchen with a steaming tray meant for Kuro-wanko's room and sees the resident invalid (his word) attempting to escape. You expect outlandish antics. You expect tsk-ing noises. What you get is Fai throwing the tray at Kurogane and bellowing. We've tried it the easy way. We've tried it the hard way. And if you want to try doing it MY way then keep tying your shoes… and he then calls him a word that Mokona can't translate at all.
Kurogane stands up, unsheathes Souhi, and makes for the door. Fai claps his hands together with a noise like thunder—one long, loud, rolling roar of sound that shakes the whole house. When it stops, Kurogane is gone and Fai is looking peeved and heading for the stairs.
You're very glad that you're not a tall, grumpy dark-haired man. You don't think you could handle the good natured nagging and the fact that you have, for all intents and purposes, a keeper. You're also very glad you're not a smiling, thin, blond guy. You don't think you could handle the responsibility. You think Fai and the High Priest should get together and write a book and call it 'The Care and Feeding of Your Tall, Grumpy, Dark-Haired Bastard: Making Sure He Sits There and Takes It'.
Still, Kurogane is your friend and teacher. And his illness seems to have thrown Fai for a loop. So you very cautiously and secretly follow Fai up the stairs to his room. Apparently, his room is where his magic sent Kurogane (instead of down the hall to Kurogane's room).
Kurogane is sitting, buck nude naked, on Fai's bed. What the hell? he asks raspy-voiced as Fai glares at him. Fai glares more. I warned you, he says.
You think about saying something but before you can finish that thought Fai is suddenly the one who is having trouble standing. He sort of collapses into a heap at Kurogane's feet. Today, he begins, today I feel concerned with you, even if it's not because of me that you're not well. I don't want to be 'half-assed' today, but I don't know what to do, he says. If you can be strong enough, Kurogane, then please let me do what I can, okay?.
The use of Kurogane's full and actual name makes your brain fracture an actual break. So does the way that Fai won't look at Kurogane, even as he reaches up to pet two fingers across the curve of one of Kurogane's shoulders.
Okay? he says again.
Kurogane sighs gustily and rubs a hand over Fai's down-turned head. Can I at least get something to sleep in so I don't shock the Princess if she comes up later? he asks.
Fai lurches into his arms and holds him tightly. You think he might be crying or laughing but definitely trying to hide it. You turn around and try to reconcile your view of the world (all of the worlds) with what just happened.
Thank goodness for Sakura-hime, who asks if Fai-san and Kurogane-san are all right? and, when you nod dumbly, chirpily asks if you want to go to the market with her to buy more medicine.
Apparently, 'the flu' is contagious.
You tell her of course, and add we need some sake, too.
Because you're pretty sure that somebody is going to need some by the time 'the flu' has run its course.
ontogenesis who requested a follow up to my cracked-out, randomly-sick-Fai story. Your brain healed nicely after Fai's bout with vertigo.
So did Fai. He went back to normal. Kurogane went back to normal. You did not see or hear anything strange out of either of them. In fact, nobody mentioned that week when Fai had been so sick.
It's almost like it didn't happen.
Of course, that's when it happens again.
Except it isn't vertigo. And it isn't Fai.
If you thought that Kurogane was trying to break your brain, well, then, he was a rank amateur when compared to Fai. Because Fai quite happily smashes every expectation you had for him.
It started with cough.
Tickle in my throat, Kurogane said.
Fai nodded.
Kurogane kept coughing and you got worried and Fai kept nodding. You took to giving Kurogane looks and offering to carry his armor for him. Fai irritated him into chasing him around the room with his sword.
Now, a week on, Kurogane is fatigued and has trouble breathing at times.
You're concerned. This world is at war and Kurogane has hired on to pay expenses while you search for Sakura-hime's feather. You want to say something to him, to do something for him, but don't because he's older than you and you know he wouldn't appreciate it. And besides, that's Fai's job.
Which, apparently, Fai doesn't know.
It takes about two days before you crack and bring your concerns to Fai. That Kurogane is very ill, that he needs medicine, tending to, and those sorts of things.
Fai hums at you and pats your cheek. Kuro-wanko has the flu. He'll be okay, you're told. Thank goodness for Sakura-hime who smiles happily and tells you that It's nice of Fai-san to protect Kurogane-san's dignity that way, isn't it?.
The peace of mind that comes from that lasts all of six and a half minutes. Because Kurogane arrives home early, obviously exhausted and ghostly, ashen gray. He's trailed by several of the mercenary-soldiers with whom he generally works. You rush outside with Sakura-hime and Mokona to help him inside and end up, like his fellow soldiers, following helplessly after him as he shoves past you, growling.
You don't see Fai in the confusion. In fact, when you look around, you discover that Fai is not in the house at all. He shows up a few hours later, at dinner time, wearing a nurse costume. Complete with the apron and the little hat. Sakura-hime and Mokona clap and compliment him on the skirt.
Kurogane, who is having tea, drops his head on to the table with a loud ker-thump.
Your brain fractures itself.
Nurse Fai coos and clucks and has a thermometer the size of a quarterstaff. Nurse Fai carols about the house and tries to feed Kurogane chicken soup and nasty looking liquid medicines. Nurse Fai threatens to have Nurse Mokona (secret technique #90) tie him to his bed (secret technique #77—you wonder about the Time-Space Witch) if he continues to be a naughty patient. Nurse Fai offers sponge baths.
Kurogane is one heck of a bad patient. He breaks the thermometer, won't drink the medicine, and screams himself hoarse about the sponge bath. And any other type of bath. He does, however, grudgingly eat the soup when Fai prods at a nerve that makes him open his mouth.
Thank goodness for Sakura-hime telling you it's nice that Fai-san is trying to keep Kurogane-san's spirits up! It buys you a day and a half of peace. Well. Sanity, at any rate.
Just as you're getting used to Nurse Fai, however, he moves in for the kill.
It happens as Kurogane is getting ready to go to work. You could have told him that it wasn't going to happen. Not because Fai wouldn't let him go (you just don't know anymore) but because the army would just send him straight home to Nurse Fai's clutches. Anyway, Kurogane is sitting (all right, slumped and listing to one side) on the couch and attempting to put his shoes on.
Fai, in the nurse outfit, enters from the kitchen with a steaming tray meant for Kuro-wanko's room and sees the resident invalid (his word) attempting to escape. You expect outlandish antics. You expect tsk-ing noises. What you get is Fai throwing the tray at Kurogane and bellowing. We've tried it the easy way. We've tried it the hard way. And if you want to try doing it MY way then keep tying your shoes… and he then calls him a word that Mokona can't translate at all.
Kurogane stands up, unsheathes Souhi, and makes for the door. Fai claps his hands together with a noise like thunder—one long, loud, rolling roar of sound that shakes the whole house. When it stops, Kurogane is gone and Fai is looking peeved and heading for the stairs.
You're very glad that you're not a tall, grumpy dark-haired man. You don't think you could handle the good natured nagging and the fact that you have, for all intents and purposes, a keeper. You're also very glad you're not a smiling, thin, blond guy. You don't think you could handle the responsibility. You think Fai and the High Priest should get together and write a book and call it 'The Care and Feeding of Your Tall, Grumpy, Dark-Haired Bastard: Making Sure He Sits There and Takes It'.
Still, Kurogane is your friend and teacher. And his illness seems to have thrown Fai for a loop. So you very cautiously and secretly follow Fai up the stairs to his room. Apparently, his room is where his magic sent Kurogane (instead of down the hall to Kurogane's room).
Kurogane is sitting, buck nude naked, on Fai's bed. What the hell? he asks raspy-voiced as Fai glares at him. Fai glares more. I warned you, he says.
You think about saying something but before you can finish that thought Fai is suddenly the one who is having trouble standing. He sort of collapses into a heap at Kurogane's feet. Today, he begins, today I feel concerned with you, even if it's not because of me that you're not well. I don't want to be 'half-assed' today, but I don't know what to do, he says. If you can be strong enough, Kurogane, then please let me do what I can, okay?.
The use of Kurogane's full and actual name makes your brain fracture an actual break. So does the way that Fai won't look at Kurogane, even as he reaches up to pet two fingers across the curve of one of Kurogane's shoulders.
Okay? he says again.
Kurogane sighs gustily and rubs a hand over Fai's down-turned head. Can I at least get something to sleep in so I don't shock the Princess if she comes up later? he asks.
Fai lurches into his arms and holds him tightly. You think he might be crying or laughing but definitely trying to hide it. You turn around and try to reconcile your view of the world (all of the worlds) with what just happened.
Thank goodness for Sakura-hime, who asks if Fai-san and Kurogane-san are all right? and, when you nod dumbly, chirpily asks if you want to go to the market with her to buy more medicine.
Apparently, 'the flu' is contagious.
You tell her of course, and add we need some sake, too.
Because you're pretty sure that somebody is going to need some by the time 'the flu' has run its course.
