Till the end

Chapter 59

"There, a smile! She smiled! I told you!"

"That's not a smile. It's gas."

"Don't be disgusting Shintaro it's a smile! She knows her daddy is here. You know it don't you Mitsuki? You love being with your daddy, right?"

I continued to stir the pot of stew as watched Akashi with our daughter, laughing and joking with Midorima beside him. He looked so happy and full of life as he kissed Mitsuki's head. it had to be some cosmic joke that he would die in just a few days' time. He was completely healthy right now.

"He looks better, don't you think?"

I turned to Murasakibara and Himuro who were sitting nearby, cutting up the last of the vegetables for the pot. They glanced at each other and then back at me, worry and pity in their eyes.

"He looks better. Stronger today. The serum must be working. It's working."

I said, more strongly as I turned back towards them. Murasakibara reached forward and patted my knee.

"Kurochin."

"He's laughing. Someone about to die doesn't laugh like that!"

"Kurochin."

"The serum is pretty powerful stuff. It brought him back from the brink of turning into a wraith. It saved mine and Mitsuki's lives. It can help him too."

This time he simply shook his head and I felt the last of my hope fizzle away to be replaced by a cold feeling in my chest. I blinked away tears as I stared into the bubbling pot before me.

"Look Kurochin, I don't understand all the medical mumbo jumbo. Tell me about some disease or cure and it will go over my head. Ask me anything about food and I will know every answer. From what I understand is that Akachin's body can't function without the infection in his blood. It's like trying to make bread without flour."

"Or stew without meat. It can't happen."

Aomine sidled over and smiled down at me. I knew he was trying to make a joke, to pull me out of my depression but it didn't help. Instead my eyes overflowed and I hugged my knees, burying my face into them so Akashi wouldn't see my tears. I felt Aomine's arm going around my shoulders as he pulled me against his chest.

"Sorry Tetsu. I am so sorry this is happening. If I could just reboot his system, I would."

"That's it!"

I looked up and wiped the tears off my cheeks, a smile on my face.

"What is?"

"I just have to reboot his system! I will just infect him again! One more bite and"-

"It won't work."

My mouth snapped closed as I turned to Mayuzumi who was leaning against the wall nearby. He hadn't said much since I had found out about Akashi and I understood that the pain for him was just as bad as my own. The two of them shared a bond that could never be explained or understood. To feel one another's emotions, to have your thoughts run on the same wave length and to almost move as one. The agony of losing Akashi, of feeling him dying had sucked all the light from him and he had retreated inside of himself.

"You don't know that. I have to try."

"You don't think that is the first thing that Midorima tried?"

I leant back, my face going red with embarrassment. I hadn't thought of that. I had been so consumed that I forgot how tirelessly Midorima and Takao had been working day and night to help my husband. Of course, they would have thought about reinfecting him. He wiped his tired face and knelt down, tracing a pattern in the dirt with his finger.