Take My Breath Away | Peko Pekoyama

04 | Wilting

Peko had never felt so terrible in her entire life. She had spent the last four hours coughing and didn't see it stopping anytime soon. The silver haired girl hung her head in defeat as the coughing stopped just long enough for her to catch her breath.

     One thing that Peko was absolutely sure of was that nobody could know about her mysterious illness. It was her duty to protect Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu with her life and if the clan found out that she was sick, her duty would be given away to somebody more suitable. It wouldn't be difficult to find a replacement. Tools aren't hard to find. As selfish as it was though, Peko had let herself grow attached to her Young Master and wouldn't allow herself to be separated from him.

     Another agonizing cough forced its way through Peko's body. With trembling fingers, she reached forward and picked up the yellow flower petal coated with bright pink blood.

-

A red rose waited on Peko's desk again that day. When Peko looked over to the florist to thank her though, the usually perky brunette was barely able to give a weak smile in return. Peko's face scrunched up in concern.

For the entire class, Misa didn't say a word which only made Peko's anxiety spike. Time seemed to be frozen as the silence ate away at her. The other students seemed to notice as well as several of them kept glancing back at Misa, worry clear on their faces.

Peko couldn't be sure how long the silence had been weighing down on them before someone cleared their throat. Then they cleared it again. Peko caught a glimpse of Misa's pale face as she took out a tissue and coughed into it. Before anyone could process what was happening, the girl had stood up from her desk and bolted for the door. Yukizome watched the girl run away and was about to follow after her until someone spoke up from the back of the classroom.

"I'll go check on her."

The students' eyes followed the swordswoman as she darted after her friend.

-

Peko was sat outside of the girls' washroom, head leaning back against the wall, listening to the sounds of her friend vomiting.

"Really, Peko, I'm fine. Just go-" Misa cut herself off as she threw up again, "go back to class."

"If our roles were reversed, would you leave me while I was sick and vulnerable?"

Misa's silence spoke for itself. Peko gave an inaudible chuckle at the other girl's stubbornness. A loud flushing sound filled the bathroom and she stood up.

Misa looked awful. She was incredibly pale and shaking like a leaf. Despite her clear distress, she still tried to give Peko a smile.

"Don't even try it."

"What do you mean?"

"I just spent twenty minutes listening to you throw up. Don't think for a second that I'm going to let you go back to class."

Misa frowned.

"Peko, it's okay. I probably just ate something bad at breakfast this morning. I feel fine now!"

Peko crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Misa groaned.

"Fine. I won't go back to class. But I'm not going to Mikan either! I don't want to bother her when I feel fine."

Peko seemed to think about it for a minute before nodding.

"I'll escort you to your dorm then."

"You don't need to do that. I'm perfectly capable of getting there on my own. Besides, shouldn't we go let Yukizome know where we're going?"

"I will inform her of what happened once I am finished putting you to bed."

"I'm not a child, Peko."

"Hm."

And with that, the two girls made their way to the dorms, Misa's arm slung around Peko's shoulder as she was still too weak to walk on her own - not that she would ever admit that.

-

Ibuki probably should have been in bed. She probably shouldn't have been wandering the courtyard at nighttime either. She didn't really care though.

She was currently sat cross legged in the large water fountain, picking up pennies that people had thrown in and scrubbing them with an old toothbrush. Once the pennies were cleaned to Ibuki's standards, they were tossed back into the fountain. This process took up so much of Ibuki's attention that she didn't even notice the silver haired girl digging around in the flowerbeds.

-

When Misa woke up, she was lying in her bed, covered in four blankets that she didn't remember grabbing and a thin layer of sweat. Her eyes widened as she saw bloody rose petals strewn across the bed in front of her. A sudden knock was heard and Misa's head perked up in alarm. She quickly gathered the flower petals and threw them in the garbage before running over and opening the door.

Nobody was there.

All that Misa found was a yellow begonia and a note.

Feel better.

It was short and didn't show much personality, and yet Misa knew precisely who it was from. She picked up the beautiful flower and retreated back into her dorm room with a smile on her face.

-

Peko knew that Mikan would still be in her office despite how late it was. In fact, it was only because it was so late that Peko felt comfortable enough to go and have this conversation with the shy nurse. Surely all of the other students would be in bed by now, meaning that nobody would see her there.

She knocked on the door and waited. After a few moments, the door creaked open and Mikan peeked her head out. When she saw the swordswoman standing in front of her, she squeaked and opened the door wider allowing her room to enter. Peko entered silently and sat herself down on the examination table.

"Oh, Pe-Peko," the nurse whimpered, "can I help you?"

"I think so," Peko replied, "I'm sick and I was hoping you could tell me what's wrong."

"O-Of course! But if you're sick, you should be resting! You could always come here in the morning after you've gotten some rest!"

"Yes, well, I don't believe this is a common type of illness so I would like for as few people to know about it as possible."

"Of course! Could I get you to list off any symptoms you may be experiencing?" Mikan took out a notepad and a pen and looked at Peko expectantly.

"Well, for starters, I've been coughing up a concerning amount of these."

Peko reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of bloody yellow petals. Mikan's notepad and pen fell to the floor.