The Kids Get Sick

All of the boys are sick, Kotoko takes care of them.

Kotoko loved the other three.

Honestly, she did. Once upon a time she wouldn't have dreamed of such a thing being true. once upon a time, she would have dismissed their deaths in a second if that was what her princess was doing, would have shot insult after insult at Jataro and denied Masaru's courage and leadership and laughed at Nagisa as he had an attack, hell she probably would have killed them herself if that was what the Mage requested. Boys were smelly and icky and gross and pervy and stupid and lazy and horrible, she didn't need any of them. she only needed HER.

However, those days were far in the past (Well, maybe a month and a half in the past, but to a child that was ages and ages). These days, She could honestly say that these boys meant the world to her and more, and SHE could go choke on shit and die with all the other demons (except maybe the about to be that escaped).

So, really, she wanted to help them all. She did. She hated seeing them in so much pain, especially if she could do anything to help. however, that being said...

She just might kill one of them anyway.

Now, now they were all sick. Apparently Kotoko had been gone far longer then she planned to be or thought she was (probably because of the weirdos she met on the way to said bath and the detour they led her on, if only for a bit), Because Jataro had managed to catch sickness from both of the other boys. Somehow. He had woken up that morning much like Masaru had yesterday and threw up, thankfully (but still kinda gross) reaching over and grabbing Masaru's empty puke bowl from the night before. Nagisa Had been awoken by the noise and Kotoko followed afterwards, Masaru remaining blissfully unaware as he slept. With nothing more than a nod to each other, they agreed not to wake him up. he needed rest. They also decided not to tell him. He'd feel guilty, being a leader that slept through the peril of one of them. Even if none of them blamed him (and they didn't of course), they could all personally attest (to varying degrees of severity) that forgiveness from over rarely alleviated how they blamed themselves.

Thus, they all got up fairly early (Kotoko felt responsible as the only one not sick, Jataro couldn't go to bed for obvious reasons, and Nagisa had the same snowballs' chance in hell sleeping that he always had). Kotoko got them all some dried fruits that expired next week (Bananas for Jataro, Prunes and raisins for Nagisa, and Plums for herself, with tomatoes set to the side for Masaru and throwing out the green apples for obvious reasons) and they snacked on the prepackaged food (they couldn't really call it a meal, it wasn't a meal, but at this point there was little difference between a meal and a snack as long as they ate.) as the sun rose.

Kotoko insisted on them staying in bed and had brought them their food, taking the puke bowl with a scowl and rinsing it out before returning it to its place aside their leader. She smiled down a him. He was so cue when he wasn't saying anything stupid, she just wanted to kiss his dimpled cheek. However, she resisted, because she knew better then to touch Masaru like they knew better then to touch her. Instead, she walked away, finding a hard hat and nodding. they didn't have another bowl to waste (they ate out of the other bowls, she refused to eat from a bowl Jataro puked in, washed or not), so this wold have to do.

She gave it to he half asleep Jataro with a smile and he nodded with a small frown, trying to sit up. Kotoko shook her head and pushed him back lightly, retrieving the knitting needles and yarn she knew he'd been reaching for. He had been trying to knit them all matching sweaters as winter drew nearer, but that was hard seeing how hard anything was to come by anymore. In the end, they hadn't been able to find exactly the same yarn twice ever, and all of the sweaters looked like they had patches because of the mismatched shades of the same color. None of them cared though. Nagisa never took off the scarf Jataro had made him, and the she and Masaru would often complain about Nagisa being Jataro's favorite to cheer up the priest and fluster the Sage. It was nice that Jataro took pride in something, even if he did insist that they should hate him for daring to be better then them. They just kinda shrugged and nodded, still pretty unsure how to deal with each others trauma.

"Thanks." the boy muttered, taking his hands out of his sleeves to take a hold of the knitting needles and continuing on the craft, in the middle of making Masaru's sweater. He was the leader and went out most often, so it only made sense he got his first. Besides, Nagisa already had a gift. Kotoko nodded, keeping all of that to herself for the moment. She didn't want to catch whatever it was that they had. Honestly, if she wasn't the only properly vaccinated one here they'd be pretty fucked.

She walked away from one working boy to another, approaching Nagisa as he (once again) tried to leave his cot to get a book. Kotoko scowled again, putting him back to his bed.

"what book do you want, you nerd?" she teased with a roll of her eyes, amazed that she hadn't punched one of them yet. She retrieved him a book and thanked whatever god was watching Masaru wasn't awake.

Speak of the Monaca.
++++

Masaru woke up whining and complaining about everything hurting, though that stopped once he woke a bit more. He was the leader. Leaders are always morning people. Or, at least, in every Manga he's read. So, he had to learn to wake up happy, something he could usually do anyway cause he was already a hero. He gave a groan of annoyance as he saw Kotoko coming towards him. She'd confine him to bed for another day, and then he'd be sooooo bored again! Kotoko gave him some dried fruit and a glass of water, pointing his puke bowl out Just in case before moving on. He shrugged and ate the food, trowing up halfay through and being unable to finish it. He'd do that later. He really wanted to go help the others, they were all sick and thats what good leaders do! But. Kotoko wouldn't let him! And Nagisa said she was right! so he really couldn't argue with that. he could hardly handle arguing with one of them, let alone them both.

She handed him a tennis ball to play with, and he ended up just bouncing it against a wall. the repetitive noise seemed to calm him down and, despite his energy, he fell asleep.

The rest weren't super behind him. Except Nagisa, but did he even count?