My internal alarm clock never failed to wake me, even on my days off. Although I was thankful for not having Bardiche wake me with the annoying beeping sounds, I still was slightly annoyed at the disturbance from my own body. Even though I was forced by my room mate to stay in bed most of the day yesterday, I rarely got any sleep. The medicine Shamal shoved on me made me really sleepy so I didn’t so much mind the staying in bed, it was just that Nanoha tossed and turned all the time. Every ten minutes the girl would moan and roll over, sometimes weakly pushing me away for a while before pulling me close again. In all the time we’ve spent together and shared a bed I had never once tugged the covers or got annoyed with her sleeping habits. Last night, however, I was so close to just giving up and sleeping on the couch. Come to think of it, I was rather comfortable right now. I didn’t feel my friend in bed at all, which kind of worried me. My eyes opened slowly as I made myself sit up and look around to confirm that I was, indeed, alone.
Onyx Days II
By: Satashi
Fate rolled her body out of the bed and hazily made her way to the railing of her bedroom. As she looked out over it into the living room she saw her target sitting on the couch, half dressed. “Nanoha-chan…” The words made the girl look up weakly. “I can’t believe you…” The blond made her way down the stairs and over to the couch to where her roommate was. “Get in bed this instant.”
“I need to train them…” The blue eyed girl leaned forward, placing her face in her hands and breathing heavily. “I can work…”
“You aren’t doing anything but going to sleep.” Fate bent over and picked up the girl, carrying her like a princess back to the stairs.
“Fate-chan, I’m better now…” Her head fell against the shoulder it was resting on weakly. “Really…” Her voice broke lightly as she coughed. “Uh oh…”
“Again!?” Fate hurried the rest of the way to the bathroom and rubbed her back while Nanoha had a coughing fit, having nothing left to throw up. “Honey, if you eat something it will settle your stomach, you will stop doing that…”
“I’ll just throw it up instead of dry heaving…” She sniffed and sighed out weakly. Moments passed as they waited to see if she was going to relapse but when she didn’t seem to, Fate helped her to her feet. “Thank you,” She managed to get out lightly before rinsing her mouth out.
Fate frowned lightly at her friend. Already her hair looked lifeless, despite just being washed the day before. On top of this, the shirt she was wearing was crinkled and had a light smell to it from the constant sweating Nanoha seemed to be doing. “You need a shower, it’ll make you feel better.”
“If you won’t let me work, I just want to sleep…”
“The sheets need to be changed too…” Fate rubbed her friend’s shoulders. “Come on Honey, take a few minutes now and you’ll feel so much better for the rest of the day…?”
“…Okay.” She nodded lightly, obviously not really understanding what she just agreed to.
“Here, let me…” Fate undid the nightshirt buttons before taking it off of her friend. The girl started to lean to the side lightly, and eventually had to be braced by Fate before she collapsed onto the floor. “God Nanoha-chan…Maybe I should contact Shamal again…”
“I’ll… be fine…”
“You will, but I still worry…” She helped the girl into the shower section of the room. “You’re a lot weaker to these viruses than we are, if you’re not careful you could really end up hurting yourself.”
“…Tough cookie.”
“Yes, yes you are.” Fate made sure her friend wouldn’t topple over before hurrying to the medicine cabinet and getting her friend’s pills and her own dose of liquid. “Take these, Hun.” She handed the pills over and supervised the swallowing of them. “Good girl.” She turned on the water and set the temperature to just a little over warm before drinking her own medication. “Blech…”
“Feels nice…” Nanoha murmured under the spray while sinking down and sitting on the floor.
“See?” Fate looked at her a moment longer before speaking. “Do you want to enjoy that while I change the sheets to the bed?” She received a small nod and quickly left the room to finish the job before her friend deiced to throw up in the shower or something.
When done with the task, her friend was just as she had left her: hugging her knees with her face buried in-between the kneecaps. Her wet hair covered half her body, giving her an almost helpless look. “Hey,” she greeted as she kneeled down in front of her.
Nanoha looked up sleepily, eyes glazed. “Hello,” was the reply. The girls touched foreheads in an attempt to compare their body temperatures. “Fate-chan, you have pretty eyes…” Nanoha smiled as best she could.
The blond looked a little confused at the sudden compliment, but smiled back none the less. Her mouth opened up to say something in return but found Nanoha once again kissing her. It was a light kiss, their lips barely seeming to touch, but the brown haired girl seemed to be trying the best she could to do it. Fate instantly caved in to her desire and put a hand on the back of her neck, kissing her back fully. When the two pulled away, Nanoha gave her a cute grin. “Fate-chan taste good too.”
Blushing, Fate moved away before she gave in to the temptation of kissing the girl once more. ‘She’s sick,’ Fate reminded herself as she started to lather shampoo into her friend’s hair. ‘She’s not thinking straight, she’s on medication, I can’t be doing this…’
Nanoha mumbled out something incoherent as the fingers danced on her head. Ever so slowly the pampering was finished and the water cut off. The two girls made it back to the bed where the sick one instantly crawled under the covers. “Sleep with me?” She wondered instantly as she reached out her hand towards Fate.
“Sorry Nanoha-chan, I need to go shopping.” Fate took the offered hand and gave it a small squeeze. “Will you be okay by yourself for a few hours?” She got a disappointed nod but felt her hand be squeezed back none the less.
“Ne, Fate-chan?”
“Yes?”
“Keep calling me pet names, I like those?”
Fate paused a moment to look at her before grinning and letting out a small laugh. “Okay, okay. Well then, sweetheart, do you want anything from town?”
“No thank you,” She closed her eyes and cuddled up against her body pillow. “Come back soon please?”
“Of course.” The blond nodded at her and even lovingly ruffled her hair before going to get dressed.
“But she seems worse today than she was yesterday!” Fate protested to the floating monitor in front of her as she drove. “She’s been throwing up every few hours and can’t even get out of bed by herself, and she’s acting strange.”
“Strange how?”
A dark blush came to her cheeks. “Um, she’s saying weird things.”
“Such as.”
Fate coughed. “Hey, Shamal?”
“Yes?”
“Just out of curiosity, would Nanoha-chan do anything completely random? Say if Yuuno came over and put her forehead against hers to check her temperature… would she kiss him just because his face was close?”
Shamal looked at her blankly before having a laughing fit. “No! No, no, why on earth would she do that? Kissing someone just because they’re close, no.” She tried to control her giggling. “She wouldn’t do anything like that unless she wanted to.”
‘Wanted to…’ Fate looked off to the side. ‘She wanted to kiss me…’
“Fate?”
“Oh!” She looked back towards Shamal. “I have to go now, thank you for listening.” The girl cut off the display and parked her car at the grocery store on the base. ‘Calm down, Fate. You’re acting like a junior high school girl!’ The car door opened and she climbed outside. ‘I’m not going to get all giddy over this…’ The walk to the entrance was made briskly, a smile on her lips. ‘Maybe I should get her a get well teddy bear or something.’
As the woman walked down the halls of the store her mind pondered just what she should make for lunch and dinner. Several ideas passed through her head, each one getting shot down since the girl probably wouldn’t be able to eat any of it in her current condition. “How about curry?” A voice suggested happily, making Fate blink. Curry would be the last thing she’d want to feed a sick girl.
“It’s not too much trouble?” Elio’s voice came up next and Fate paused where she was, leaning over to look around the end of the isle. The two Lightning squad members were standing together talking. The male of the group was holding a shopping basket while his counter part was putting things in it while thinking. “You really don’t have to…”
“You bought me breakfast, the least I can do is make you dinner,” Carol replied happily as she gripped his arm with one hand lightly and lead him away. “Everyone shares a room but us, so isn’t this much better than being alone?”
“Y-yeah…”
Fate couldn’t keep the happy look off her face even if she wanted to. ‘How sweet!’ her mind thought as she walked away from them, not wanting to interrupt their moment. ‘My little boy has his first dinner date!’
“Ughnnn…” The girl weakly opened her eyes and blinked at Fate. “Welcome…back…”
“Why are you in the floor? Did you fall?” Fate moved the hair from her face. “Did you get hurt?”
“No…” Nanoha’s head fell against her shoulder and she closed her eyes. “I threw up and couldn’t move so I just went to sleep here….”
“Oh my god…” The words stuck Fate hard, making slight tears come to her eyes. ‘And I was thinking about spending time with her happily… And she’s so sick she can’t even get to the bed...’ Sniffing slightly, Fate lifted her up and carried her to the bed. “I’m sorry…”
“For what…?” She looked relieved to be laying down again comfortably.
“For being so self-centered.” Fate gripped one of her hands with both of hers. “I’m so sorry…” Gently she brought the hand she was holding to her lips and kissed it. “I’ll take really good care of you for now on, no matter what okay? Please give me another chance?”
“Don’t understand…” She looked like she was already going back to sleep.
“Don’t worry…” Fate wiped her eyes, chest slightly in pain still. “I won’t get distracted again, I’m here to make you better. Can I get you anything? A drink? Want something to eat? Are you hot, cold?”
“Rub my back?” Nanoha opened one eye sleepily. “Please?”
“Of course!” Fate instantly moved to straddle her friend’s waist since she was lying on her stomach. “I’ll rub it until you are content.” At once her hand went to work, gently sliding over her back before pressing down just hard enough to make the sick girl moan out in pleasure. “I’ll do your arms and legs too, okay?”
“Mmnn…” Time went by quickly for the sick girl, staying in a stage of being half asleep but also half awake at the same time. Her body felt relaxed and after almost a complete hour of being rubbed she finally shifted so Fate would get off of her and laid on her back happily. “Feel great now…”
“Do you?” Fate took turns rubbing her wrist to try and ease the sore muscles there. “You need to eat something, do you think you can? I can make you whatever you want?”
“Right now I feel like I could eat an entire cow…”
The blond couldn’t help but laugh lightly. “That’s my girl. An entire cow sounds good right now, but how about something a little easier on your stomach?”
“A sandwich?” Nanoha sat up but found herself being pushed back down gently. “Mou, I want to get out of bed now.”
“I know you feel pretty good right now but you’re still sick.” She smiled apologetically. “You know how it is, you think you’re great one moment then you suddenly collapse because you pushed yourself.” Fate brought the covers back up to her chest. “Please stay in bed?”
“…Okay.” She smiled. “If you want me to.”
“I do,” Fate agreed softly. “I’ll bring you some food so just take it easy.” She picked up the earlier disregarded stuffed animal and gave it to her. “Here, I got this for you.”
Nanoha smiled and took the offered gift. “Thank you, it’s cute.” She hugged it to herself. “I’ll name it Etaf.”
“Etaf?” The blond gave her an amused look. “Your medicine must be kicking in again.”
“Just think about it,” Nanoha yawned lightly and curled up with her new cuddle toy. “I’ll be right here.”
“It’s okay… Will you be fine now?”
“Sorry…”
“Shush.” Fate tucked her in. “I’m going to take a shower now so rest up okay?” Nanoha gave her another scared look. “Really. I shouldn’t have made you eat so much. Go to sleep.” Leaning over, Fate kissed her forehead before going back to the bathroom and tossing a towel on the floor. Stripping quickly, Fate went into the shower and turned on the spray. ‘I needed to do laundry anyway…’ The girl shivered.
“Fate-chan…” Nanoha sleepily looked at her. “Where did you go?”
“Got a cookie,” She replied in a whisper. “Did I wake you?”
“No,” She shook her head against the pillow. “Just wondering.” Nanoha lifted her arm up, requesting a hug. Once received, she kept the hold and buried herself against Fate’s chest after sinking a little lower into the covers. “I had another dream…”
“What about?” Fate stroked her hair to try and sooth her.
“I was in a cake factory…” Her words started to drift off as she got comfortable. “A bunch of blueberries were chasing me, and threw me in batter when I was caught.” A yawn interrupted the story briefly. “An’ they tried to turn me into a muffin.”
“I see.” Fate smiled, very much amused. “Did you get cooked?”
“Nuh uh,” She shook her head lightly, making Fate’s chest itch slightly from her hair. “I got away, but they yelled at me.”
“Aw,” She cooed sympathetically. “What did they say?”
“I don’t know; I couldn’t understand them… They all had French accents.”
Fate smiled happily. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from the French blueberries.”
“Really?” Nanoha looked up at her, obviously more asleep than awake. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Good,” She looked content now and closed her eyes. “Because I don’t want to be eaten.” The brown haired girl got comfortable and gripped Fate’s shirt lightly to be sure she wouldn’t go anywhere. “But if Fate wanted to eat my muffin, I’d let her.”
“Thank you,” She kissed her hair, ignoring how wrong that just sounded. “Sweet dreams.”
“You’re still in bed?” she greeted, amazed.
“What time is it?”
“Almost eleven.”
“Huh?” Fate looked to the side, noticing that the storm didn’t seem to be over. Dark clouds covered the sky, blocking the sunlight. “Ugh, I’m exhausted…”
“Then I won’t keep you long. Have you been taking your medicine?”
“Yes, and so has Nanoha.”
“How’s her temperature?”
Fate lazily moved one hand over to feel of her friend’s neck. “Hot.”
“And yours?”
The girl put her hand on her own neck. “I’m a little warm too actually… maybe I should turn the air conditioner up a little…” Fate moved to get out of bed but only managed to take two steps before pausing and giving Shamal a worried look. Before the doctor could ask, Fate ran across the room and into the bathroom, where she quickly started rinsing her mouth out.
“Fate, are you okay?” Shamal suddenly got serious and lost her happy go lucky expression.
“I…I think so.” She panted a moment, looking at herself in the mirror. “I’m a little pale…” Quickly she opened the cabinet and drank the medicine straight form the bottle, frowning at the taste. “I slept almost twelve hours, why am I so tired…?”
“Fate, come to my office okay? I want to give you a brief check up.”
At first the girl looked like she was going to oppose, but a sudden weird feeling in her stomach made her reconsider. “Okay, I’ll be in shortly.”
“I’m not sick,” she protested stubbornly. “I took the medicine just like you said, if anything I took it more than I needed to.”
“Which is why I’m so confused…You should be absolutely fine, even if you’re staying in the same room with her… Even if you’re in the same bed you were spaced apart more than enough.”
“She normally clings on me,”
“Wait, what?” Shamal blinked.
“Nanoha curls up on me when she sleeps.”
“So when you said she wouldn’t let go of you the other day, you meant she was on you and not just, say, holding your hand or laying on your lap?”
Fate suddenly found herself nervous. “She kept her face close to mine...”
Shamal pieced things together rather quickly after hearing that. “Oh my word, when you asked me that earlier it was because she kissed you didn’t she?” she received a small nod. “Fate I’m really happy that you two like each other, you make a great couple, but kissing someone who has the flu and letting them breath on your face will get you sick no matter what medicine you have…”
The blond leaned forward and sighed. “Great. Just great. I already take three days off to take care of Nanoha, now I’ll be out for another four probably… Nanoha still can’t even get out of bed for more than ten minutes before wanting to lay down again…”
“I’ll contact Chrono and see if I can’t get Yuuno to come instruct the members of your squad, at least get them some nice battle formations. For now I want both of you to stay in bed, drink lots of liquids, and Fate please for the love of god, don’t be kissing each other until you’re well again okay?”
“…Yes ma’am.” She blushed lightly. “I’ll take real good care of her, I promise.”
“Take care of yourself too.” She went to a cabinet and took out a large bottle and popped the cap on it. “Take two of these twice a day.” She placed the pills into a smaller bottle and scribbled on the label. “Throw away the liquid you have, it won’t be useful anymore.”
“Right. Thank you.” Fate took the offered bottle and gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry about this.”
“Just take care of yourselves. Leave your romance until you’re well enough to enjoy it.”
“…Yes ma’am.”
Fun Fact:
"Etaf" is "Fate" spelled backwards.
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