The Kids Get Sick

Nagisa is sick, Kotoko takes care of him

Nagisa was tired.

He had had a long day, waking up sick and settling an argument and studying like he had spent many restless nights doing and the crushing panic attack that followed had worn him out by itself. Adding the headache of the other half of his little group when they returned and sorting through everything they brought back, and you had one emotionally, mentally, physically exausted boy.

That just couldn't sleep.

They were all back in their individual cots, Nagisa begrudgingly accepting the largest blanket under the pretense of returning it to Kotoko when he wasn't sick anymore. Masaru had fallen asleep first, followed by Kotoko and Jataro. She asked if him wearing a ton of makeup would be alright instead of the mask? Nagisa thought it was a great idea, but Jataro sounded about as accepting of the removal of his mask as he had come to expect. Yet, Kotoko was quite stubborn. She'd get her way eventually, probably. They ended the conversation when Jataro fell asleep mid sentence and Kotoko muttered something about how inconsiderate he is as she drifted off herself. Nagisa had been feigning sleep, and no one bothered to check. Waking Nagisa up was rarely a good idea, and none of them were going to risk it. Especially after Jataro retold what happened while they were gone. He appriciated it, things are always easier to get away with when no one is paying you any mind. As he heard everyone breathes even out, he let out an annoyed groan. He hadn't expected to be able to sleep two nights in a row, but he had tried to remain optimistic. To no avail, it seemed, because disorders of any sort rarely seemed to care how optimistic you were being. Insomina, he supposed, was not the exception to this rule.

So, as was often the case for the blue eyed boy, he found himself staring at the ceiling and trying not to think about anything because he needed SLEEP, now more then ever. The less sleep he got the harder it was for him to recover, the longer he would be a burden to the other warriors. He wanted to minimize that time frame as much as possible.

Alas, as was typically the case with these kids, it wasn't that simple.

Maybe an hour or two after everyone fell asleep (to be fair, Nagisa hadn't been keeping track of time) a loud, shuddering gasp that sent shivers down his spine. It came from Kotoko's bed, and nightmares weren't a rare occurrence in their little group (for obvious reasons). Nagisa was usually awake and ready to comfort the others, as he rarely got a wink of sleep himself (and if he did, it never lasted long. years of days on end adrenaline shots can screw with your internal clock), and he was by Kotoko's side in an instant, all wishes for sleep dashed in an instant. this was millions of times more important.

He took a sharp breathe at the thought of what he was going to do next, but honestly he didn't know any other way to help her. He didn't like hurting her, he hated it really. Whats more, he despised the idea of doing anything reminiscent of Monaca. Sadly, however, he had yet to find a book on psychology, so he had to work with what he knew worked. With Kotoko, what worked was pain, or roughness, or whatever you wanted to label it. It's what had to be done to help her. There was probably a better way, and he felt so USELESS not knowing, but he had no other ideas. This was what had worked thus far, so, despite his reluctance, it did tend to prove effective.

He crouched down and jabbed his finger into the pressure point on her neck. She remained unresponsive at first, shaking and crying and begging and muttering for what felt like forever, him pressing harder and harder to make the pain register and trying to keep a neutral face. until, finally, she let out a sharp yelp of pain and her eyes focused on him, continuing her begging. Biting his lip and drawing blood from the action, before he forcefully slapped her in the face, flinching at the sound of it. HE really hated hurting her, but he hated her being in whatever memory it was even more and didn't know how else to root her in reality. He was useless, really.

~~~~
Thankfully, only a few smacks later she had calmed down, pulled out of the horrid memory she was reliving. she was still shaking like a leaf and breathing in quick gasps and sobbing, but she was here, with him, so it was better. He held out a hand, offering to help her stand, and she shook her head, bringing herself to her feet. She couldn't help the small wave of relief that washed over her whenever she realized how much the boys respected her. Nagisa stood at least a foot away and didn't make any move to touch her, leading them both to the corner they used as a kitchen. He pulled out a bag of chips and handed to her, grabbing some graham crackers for himself. She nodded in thanks, unable to speak, and took her time eating the chips and gathering her thoughts.

"Why are you awake?" she asked the boy as she built herself back up, the question unnecessary, it was quite obvious from the ever present bags under his eyes (He used to cover them up with eye makeup, a suggestion from the Super Duper High School Fashionista herself) that he couldn't sleep.

"You woke me up." he lied smoothly, nibbling on the crackers and giving a shrug. "Not that I mind. Can I do anything for you?"

"Well, it'd be pretty cool if you just stopped lying, especially if you're going to do it with all the tact of an elephant on ice." she answered casually, crunching another chip thoughtfully. She heard Nagisa let out an annoyed sigh, not surprised with her answer but not pleased.

"I apologize." he stated blankly, though if you listened carefully you may detect a dash of sincerity. she also noticed that he was avoiding saying he wouldn't do it again. guess it was her turn to help him out a bit. God knows they all needed it.

"Nagisa, you shouldn't lie to us. We all want whats best for each other, right? that means you too idiot! It's okay if you have your own problems, cause we all do. You aren't special, so you aren't any more of a burden then the rest of us. Fall off your high horse and let us help you sometimes, yeah?" she smirked, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at him. he gave another annoyed sigh, but was tinted a light pink and nodded, so she counted it as a success.

"That's what I thought. Now, lets get you to try and sleep again, right? It's worth a shot. I'll even sing you a song!" she offered teasingly, grabbing his hand (and darkening his blush) and dragging him back to the sleeping space. she laid him down in his cot and dragged her cot over to near his. the beds were a few feet apart, but he could hear her clearly as she sang.

----
Nagisa was embarrassed and tired and wasn't in the mood to lose an argument to Kotoko, so he followed her down to the sleeping space and laid down, staring up at the ceiling. It took a few minutes for her to get settled, but once she did, she started singing.

He forgot how good her singing voice was. It was REALLY good.

she sold an old, sappy song from some anime Masaru forced her to watch. A song about a mother that was searching for her child who had run away. It ended abruptly with no happy ending, Just the mother talking about a sad dream that the song started with. it was short, only about a minute and a half long, but Kotoko just repeated the childish tune until she fell asleep, Nagisa miraculously a bit ahead of her.

All in all, they'd both had worse nights.