Child of a Wanderer

【Medicine】

"c'mon soki, you need to take your medicine," you sigh impatiently, looking at the child in your arms with frustration as she wriggled in your grasp. "you don't want to be sick for long, do you? i certainly don't."

soki had fell ill with the flu, and you had decided to drop all of your engineering duties in order to take care of her. even though she wasn't fully human, she was still your daughter and was suceptible to getting sick. even though she couldn't die from it, she still felt all the symptoms that humans do. currently, the two of you were in the living room since you had access to most of your medical supplies.

as for your husband, scaramouche was busy studying for finals, so he was around the house as well. however, as much as he thought he had time to care for both of you, studies consumed all of his time. you understood of course.

the child coughed again, her face squinting as her whole body jerked from the force of it. she made grabby hands at you, which made you sigh. she was so warm, warmer than her usual cool skin.

you held the small pipette of medicine to her lips, trying to urge her to take it. she finally took it after a few moments, making a disgusted face afterward before crying. her cries were making you sad too; you didn't exactly like chugging meds either.

among her cries, you could hear the door creaking open followed by some light footsteps. it was scaramouche, and he was grabbing a refill of his caffinated bitter tea.

"sorry i couldn't get you a refill," you said apologetically, glancing at him over your shoulder before wiping soki's face with a towel.

"it's alright, that's not your job," scaramouche said, refilling his tea. "you're not my maid."

"i just feel bad," you replied, grabbing a cool, wet rag from a bucket of ice water, placing it on soki's forehead.

"you shouldn't," scaramouche said, briefly walking over to where you two were. "how is she doing?"

"still running a fever. no matter what i try to do, it won't go down," you say, a little frustrated with yourself while also worried for soki.

scaramouche rubbed your shoulder. "why don't i help? go get some rest." he placed his cool hand on your forehead. "you're running a fever too."

"huh? am i?" you placed the back of your hand on your forehead, now noting the sticky warmth that clung to your skin. you were burning up as well.

"soki probably got you sick," scaramouche said, clarifying your slight confusion. "that, and you haven't been sleeping as much. go get some rest."

"but you need to study, kuni," you retort, although the idea of sleeping with a fan running didn't seem so bad. "you have finals. i don't want you to fail."

"i won't fail. consider this a break from my studies." scaramouche kissed your forehead and the tip of your nose. "this is a limited offer, so choose wisely."

"... kuni."

"Y/N."

you sighed, knowing there's no way of talking him out of it. "okay, fine. at least wear a mask of some sort."

"why would i? i'm not human," scaramouche replied.

"you never know," you retorted. clearly the humidity that was coming from your body was messing with your brain. you almost forgot.

he laughed a little, clearly amused that you forgot. "i do know. and i also know my wife needs rest."

"alright, fine," you conceeded. "i'll nap for an hour and come back."

"okay."

after you left, scaramouche was left alone with soki. he cradled his child in his arms, watching her sleep and sniffle a little from her stuffy nose. a small smile graced his lips. look how far he's come, from being a heartless puppet to being a husband and father. his heart sped up at the thought of it. he felt content with where things were at right now.

well... not so much two days later.

because in the middle of one of his final exams, a small sneeze came from the ex-kabukimono mid-test.

i guess she was right. you never know.