Just when the weather was really starting to turn and winter started to creep up on us, I started to feel a tickle in the back of my throat. My body started to feel sluggish at the end of the day. It was on a particular Sunday in late November, when I was scarcely able to keep my eyes open through one of the overly violent movies Saki decided to sneak into, that I knew I was in trouble. I hardly ever got sick, so I often forgot how horrible it was until I got sick again.

I was headed up the stairs that night after returning home from the movie theater, when a wave of nausea with an accompanying dizzy spell made me grip the railing to steady myself.

"Crap," I muttered to no one in particular.

I made it to my room and crawled into my bed without bothering to get undressed.

When my alarm went off in the morning, I turned it off and immediately decided school was not a possibility. My whole body felt sore and heavy. I was sweaty as hell and I felt like I was going to vomit at any second, despite my stomach being totally empty. I let my eyes shut again. How pissed was Saki going to be when I didn't turn up?

I only got up a few times that day, usually just to stumble to the bathroom and throw up something fun, like stomach bile or my own toenails, and then go back to bed.

I drifted to that place between asleep and awake when the front door slammed loudly downstairs.

"Kaito, where the hell are you?" Saki yelled.

My eyes opened. She stomped quickly up the stairs. I was going to regret giving her that key. My bedroom door flew open and smacked off the wall. Saki stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing. Well, at least I had answered my question about how mad she was going to be. Very. As if that was any surprise.

"Saki, wait," Hiromasa panted behind her.

She had probably been pissed off enough to run all the way here. Poor Hiromasa. His day had probably been hell.

Saki marched across the room and jumped onto the bed, planting her knees on either side of my waist. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled my face up to meet hers.

"Saki," Hiromasa said, pleadingly.

"Where were you?" Saki growled, ignoring Hiromasa completely.

"Sorry," I said, my voice hoarse.

"Saki, please." Hiromasa tried once more. "I keep telling you, he only misses school when he's sick."

She studied my face and her gaze softened a little, then she released my shirt, which sent me into a coughing fit.

"Come on, Hiromasa." She got off the bed and walked out of the room.

"Do you need anything?" he asked with a worried expression.

I shook my head and settled back into bed.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Hiromasa!" Saki yelled from downstairs.

He cringed.

I smiled and waved him off. "You two have fun."

He gave me a final worried look before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. I fell back asleep for what must have been an hour or so and woke up to Saki shaking my shoulder.

"Hey," she said when I opened my eyes.

"Come to finish me off?" I asked wearily.

"Not quite," she said and smiled. "Did you eat anything today?"

The mere mention of food made my stomach turn. I shook my head. She held up a bowl of something steaming.

I turned my head away. "No thanks."

"Fine. Fine." She set the bowl on the nightstand. "Men are such babies when it comes to being sick."

"Trying to kick me while I'm down?" I asked.

"Here." She ignored me and handed me a bottle of clear sports drink. "At least drink this for right now."

I took the bottle from her and took a few small sips, then handed it back to her. She set it next to the bowl.

"I'll be right back." She got up and left the room.

I finally noticed Hiromasa glaring at me from the doorway. "Some people get all the luck."

"You call this luck?" I asked.

"I absolutely do," he said. "I wish I had a girl nursing me back to health."

"If you come over here, I'll breathe on you." I grinned.

He folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "No thanks."

Saki entered the room again, sliding past Hiromasa, carrying another bowl. She shuffled things around on the nightstand and set the bowl down, then removed the wet cloth from inside it and rung out the excess water. The droplets squeezed from the cloth made a pleasant sound when they hit the rest of the water in the bowl. She sat down next to me and started to dab at my face with the damp washcloth.

"Well, looks like I'm not needed here anymore." Hiromasa waved. "Feel better soon."

I waved back at him, but I'm not sure if he saw me or not. He left pretty abruptly. I can imagine that it wasn't really something he wanted to watch. I felt bad for him, there's no doubt about that, but I can't deny that another part of me really enjoyed it. She had a gentle, soft look on her face while she continued to dab the sweat away from my face and neck. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Rest now." She pushed my hair out of my face.

I nodded and shut my eyes. I fell asleep pretty easily, despite the fact I had been sleeping all night and the entire day. I'm not sure if it was her small bit of treatment, or just the fact that she was there. I hadn't been cared for when I was ill since I was a small child, so the warmth and comfort she gave me was almost worth being sick. Almost.

When I woke up again Saki was leaning against the bed quietly flipping through one of my mangas.

"You're still here?" I asked softly.

She titled her head back to look at me. "Of course. Where else was I going to go?"

I smiled. "What time is it?"

"A little after seven, I think." She put the manga down and sat on the bed next to me. "Feeling any better?"

I nodded. "A lot better, actually."

She placed her hand against my forehead. "Your temperature has definitely gone down."

It took a lot of effort on my part not to grab her hand and pull it back when she removed it from my head. It's a good thing I didn't get sick very often, because if she kept being so nice to me, I don't think it would've taken very long for me to break down and do something stupid.

"Drink the rest of this." She handed me the sports drink from earlier. "It's not cold anymore, but you need to drink something. I'm also going to have to insist you eat something now."

"Yes ma'am, nurse Saki." I chugged the rest of the sports drink. Turns out, I was pretty thirsty.

"Don't push your luck." She glared at me. "Just because you're sick, doesn't mean I won't hit you."

I laughed. "That's cold." I sat up and stretched my arms above my head. "Food doesn't sound half bad, but I think what I really need right now is a shower."

"No arguments here," she said. "You stink."

I chuckled. "Your care taking skills are strong, but I think your bedside manner needs some work."

She sighed and got up. "You go take a shower. I'll make you something to eat."

"You don't want to come in and scrub my back for me?" I grinned.

She smirked. "Just your back?"

I shrugged. "Well, to start with."

She shook her head. "If you're making jokes like that, you must be feeling better."

She walked out of the room and I rounded up some clean clothes.

When I returned from the shower, she was sitting on my bed with her back against the wall. Some mindless game show was playing on the TV. I sat down next to her and let out a long breath. She handed me a warm bowl that had been sitting next to her, as well as a bottle of tea.

I looked down at the bowl. "Rice porridge, huh?"

"You don't like it?" she asked.

I shook my head and ate a spoonful. "I like it. I just haven't had it in a while."

"Don't get too excited. I didn't make it or anything. It's just the instant stuff, but maybe that will be better for you. Your body probably went into shock because you suddenly started cooking fresh food instead of eating salty, dried ramen all the time."

I laughed and ate some more of the porridge. "You might have a point there." I took a drink from the bottle. "Honey and ginger?"

She nodded. "Supposed to be good for colds."

I smiled. "Thanks for taking care of me."

She sighed. "I assure you my motivations are purely selfish. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can come back to school. There's no point in me going if you're not there."

"What about Hiromasa?" I asked.

"Idiot." She shook her head. "That's not the same and you know it."

That statement really shouldn't have made me as happy as it did.

We spent the rest of the evening just hanging out and watching TV. That night was the first time I actually went to sleep with her already in the bed next to me. It was even harder than usual, especially after her whole caretaker routine, but it was still much better than sleeping alone.

The next day, Saki stayed home with me and we spent the whole day together doing nothing in particular. It was the best day I'd had in a while. I sort of regretted getting better.

Hiromasa showed up after the school day ended. Saki and I were sitting on the floor playing video games when he opened my bedroom door. He was wearing a sour expression on his face and was obviously pretty irritated, not that I blamed him. I would have been ticked off, too.

I wanted to apologize to him, but I wasn't sure if I could do it honestly. I was sorry he was hurt, but I couldn't really say I would have rather been at school with Saki, instead of at my house alone with her. He's a better person than me by miles. I could never be as selfless as he is.

Hiromasa stood with arms folded, glaring at the both of us. "I can't believe you guys left me alone all day."

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow."

"You had better." He stared at us for a minute. "You know, Kaito, you really shouldn't sit so close to Saki. You're going to make her sick."

I smirked and moved away from her. It was only fair to give him that one. I wasn't able to apologize, but I could at least ease his suffering for the day a little. He chucked his bag down and then wedged himself into the gap I'd created between me and Saki.

"Subtle," I whispered.

He glared at me in response. Saki didn't seem to notice in the slightest, which I guess was probably a good thing.

"Don't be so mad, Hiromasa." Saki set the controller down. "We missed you too." She ruffled his hair.

He didn't even put up any resistance, merely grumbled while she did it. He must have really been feeling neglected.

We all did some studying and hung out like normal after that. Hiromasa cheered up pretty quickly. He never had been one to stay angry at anyone for very long.

Saki left later that evening. How broken the relationship between her and her mother must have been for her to stay overnight somewhere and not even check in. I guess it wasn't really surprising. She had been sleeping in that abandoned apartment building from time to time until she started sleeping at my house. Hiromasa left too, but not before I swore on pain of death I would be in school the next day.

When I finally did decide to go to sleep, I found myself staring at the empty side of the bed where Saki slept. I almost had to laugh out loud. It looked like falling asleep on my own would be difficult now, too. It was just something I was going to have to get used to, just like everything else. Maybe I should've just started hitting myself in the head with a rock every night before bed. It probably would've made my life a lot easier.