Chapter ten:

"Storming cold"

"I told you so"

Muichiro, sitting seiza style next to your lying body, poured green tea into a plain cup.

You sneezed for the hundredth time that day. Your head felt as if a hammer was trying to smash it open. Your nose was runny, your eyes struggled to stay open.

"I'm sorry"

He could barely understand you since your voice sounded so nasal that sometimes they lost all meaning.

He placed a hand on your back to help you stand up, to give you the tea.

"Was the rainbow worth it?"

You sniffed, taking the warm drink between your cold hands.

"Every second of it" you stubbornly stated, although he already knew you were going to say that.

Muichiro was annoyed. He didn't show it, but behind that calm exterior, he was mentally throwing daggers at you. Not only because you were foolish enough to not listen to him, but also because you just got sick! What a waste of time.

However, he had the special inability to be mad at you for too long. Perhaps it was the time he'd been with you, it had softened him, mainly knowing how much of a naive girl you could be sometimes.

After finishing your drink, you went back to lie down on your futon, wrapping the blanket around you.

"Oh, look, [Y/N] turned into a worm"

At Muichiro's comment, you pouted. Of course he would make fun of you, and without even laughing at his own joke too.

"Don't mock me. I'm halfway through death's tunnel, I'll die before I get to marry anyone!"

You whinned, to which Muichiro rolled his eyes.

"You're not dying"

"I am!"

"You're not"

"My head's gonna explode, my eyes are going to pop out in any second now...!"

"That's not happening. Also, gross."

Before you could keep attempting to convince him that you had your days numbered, he abruptly stood up, basically giving an end to the dull discussion.

The clouds were grayer than the day before, thunders resounded through the sky like a lion's hungry roar. From time to time, lightning would struck and illuminate the darkness. The sky cried harder today, it hadn't stopped since early in the morning.

It was impossible to send his crow to get some advice from Shinobu with that kind of weather, not to mention the fact that he didn't have a telephone either, and his estate was so isolated that there weren't any nice neighbors to speak of (If you could count the bears and crocodiles as neighbors).

The boy lowered his gaze to your frail state, he had no choice but to sit back down. He pressed a hand on your forehead, frowning when he came in contact with the heat. Your fever was getting worse considerably fast.

Your eyes opened slowly, Muichiro's hand was soft despite how much he trained. It was comforting, in a way.

Instead of whining him in your dazed, sick state, your mouth agape at the sight in front of you.

"Ohhh, there are two of you! Now which one is more handsome?"

«Now she's hallucinating too?»

Muichiro narrowed his eyes, lips pressed into a thin line.

"[Y/N], listen to me" he called, stern expression painted.

Your head swung to pay attention to him or, well, one of the two of them.

"Do you have any idea of how to prepare a remedy for your cold?"

"No"

"You were raised in a hospital, by nurses. How do you not know that?"

Tears streamed down your face in a matter of seconds, surprising the poor boy who had done nothing to upset you.

"Don't be so meeean to me! I'm sorry!!" you cried, your waterfalls wet the floor.

«What the hell is even happening?

What should I do then? Watch her die?»

His eyes were locked into you, coughing once again. Your energy drained faster every second that passed.

He had no options. With that weather, the only way of getting any medicine for you was going out there himself. He really didn't care about going out though, that doesn't quit the fact that it's annoying.

He stood up, ready to leave.

"I'll go get Kocho, you—"

A light tug on his oversized uniform made him freeze. Half of your face was hidden beneath the blanket, but he could clearly see how flustered you were, partly because of the fever.

"No! Don't go!"

"You need medicine, I'll go get Kocho for some"

"B-but, if you leave, I might die alone"

He was starting to get tired of your attitude, it was exasperating.

He grabbed your hand to release his pants. Your distressed look at that action was somewhat amusing, yet his face remained still.

«It's true that if I leave her alone, her fever might get worse.

...or she could go outside and hit her head with a pole, fall off a cliff, drown in a lake...

Yeah, she might just die if I leave her alone.»

"Okay then, I won't leave"

You clapped excitedly, which took away all the energy you had left. Your eyes closed as you peacefully fell into a deep slumber. Muichiro adjusted the blanket on you so you wouldn't be cold.

He stood up once again. He searched your drawers, closet, and literally anywhere inside that room, trying to find some kind of note from Shinobu that would help.

There was absolutely nothing useful.

He had spent two hours trying to find something, and found nothing.

He looked back at you, noticing your hands made into fists and sweat beads sliding down your forehead.

"Mui..."

His ears perked up when he heard you call him by a nickname, you always called him by his last name respectfully. But it was how low and fragile your voice sounded that actually caught his attention the most.

"It's cold"

It was a sign that she was getting worse.

Why did he care so much anyway? He'd seen people die a million times, right in front of him, and he did not flinch in the slightest. So why did his dead heart feel so heavy?

Maybe it was because you were the first person in years who actually enjoyed his company and didn't care about how blunt he was. Or maybe it was the rotting guilt of his first and only tsuguko dying of illness rather than by demons. Or, as wild as it may sound, maybe it was because something like that happened to a person who had just started to truly live a couple months ago.

His rational self settled with the idea of him feeling like that solely because he would've failed the task Oyakata-sama gave him personally: taking care of you.

"I know" he said, eyes staring into the space, his expression devoid of any emotion.

When he focused his sight again, tired of seeing your state, his eyes widened a little. A single tear, carrying nothing more than sadness, ran through your cheek and hit the pillow.

"Am I really dying?"

Muichiro didn't answer. You knew what that meant, even when your head felt as if it were about to explode.

You coughed again. Not once, but five times in a row, leaving you almost no time to catch your breath.

"But... you said I wouldn't"

Muichiro nodded, eyes as empty as ever.

"I'm pathetic, aren't I? This is such a pathetic way to die. I was acting foolish, and now I'm in my death bed?" you gave a short and low laugh at how ridiculous you could be sometimes "It's okay, I've been sick my whole life, I knew I was going to die this way"

Lies. After you actually experienced having friends, walking freely, living in other place that it wasn't the four walls of the hospital... how could you not be sad? How could anyone hope to die after having truly lived?

"Sleep. It'll all be over soon"

Muichiro sighed.

«I'm not letting her die now. Oyakata-sama asked me to take care of her, and I can't disobey him like this.»

『 °*• ❈ •*°』

Sitting up on your futon, wrinkling the blankets, your hands held your spinning head. Your eyes examined the place you were in, which clearly was your room in the mist estate.

You had no idea what happened during the hours of being sick. The few remaining thoughts on your head were the fact that you were dying and how pathetic your life was.

Your motion was heavy, you were better off lying down.

The sound of footsteps alerted you. It could only belong to the other person who lived in that place.

The door opened. You saw your master's bare feet and his oversized uniform pants.

He sat seiza style next to you. His hands held a tray with a bowl of what you guessed was soup. Next to the spoon there was medicine.

"Sit up so I can feed you. Kocho said that chicken soup will help you get better."

With raised eyebrows and frozen expression like a statue, a million questions sprout in your mind.

You did as he said. He began sinking the spoon on the soup and guiding it to your mouth, continuously.

You couldn't contain your contempt. Muichiro was being so attentive despite looking so annoyed!

He's so cute!

Am I dead? Is this heaven?

Once you had finished the soup in silence, he left it aside. He blankly stared at his left, tugging his ear.

"I'm sorry I left"

You furrowed your brows and tilted your head, confused.

"What do you mean?" you asked, and a thought surged in your head. Your cheeks flushed red inmediately, your hands rushed to cover your parted lips "Did I do something weird?"

Muichiro squinted his empty eyes, figuring that you didn't remember anything that had happened while your fever was high. He could've said nothing and let it be, but in that moment, his words came out before his brain could allow him to say anything else.

"You called me Mui"

Gasp.

"W-w-whaaat?" you forced your eyes close and lowered your head in an apologetic manner "I'm really, reaaaally sorry, Tokito-sama! It won't happen again"

Muichiro's blank eyes returned to stare at you. A tiny teeny pink hue colored his cheeks, you could even say it was invisible.

«It's okay, I don't mind it...»

"I'm really sorry! I won't call you like that ever again!"

«Ah.»