A Month Of Kaider

Twenty: Good Old Windows

Cinder gasps as she tries to sit up, her stomach cramping and her head pounding.

She manages to reach out and whack the alarm clock so she doesn't wake anybody but, other than that, she can't move.

"Cinder?" Peony calls as she pokes her head in the room an hour or so later, "Cinder?"

Cinder grunts in response, clenching her fists as she fights back a sob. It feels like a thousand wasps are latched onto her muscles, each one stinging her every time she moves.

"Oh no, are you okay?" Peony asks sympathetically.

"Do I look okay?" she grinds out, squinting at the light Peony's letting in.

An illness is the last thing she needs on top of her overwhelming worry for Kai.

She hasn't heard from him in over a week.

Luckily, her school is on its term break so nobody is pestering her about him, but that also means she has more time to worry about what Simon and Rikan had said.

"Sorry," Peony whispers. "I'll cover for you. Get well soon."

Cinder gives her a small smile as she leaves, appreciating the younger of the two sisters.

She can hear her phone buzzing but she throws an arm over her eyes and ignores it, trying to sleep, trying to claim black the sleepless nights full of worrying.

Small smiles creep onto her face as she realises it must her friends asking if she's okay but she still doesn't have the strength to move.

She's fallen asleep again when she hears a knocking at the door.

Groggily, she tries to sit up, fails and wraps a pillow around her head so that she can't hear anything else.

The knocking stops after a while and Cinder could swear it sounded familiar but she can't place it, the hunger and pain in her stomach taking over everything else.

She hears another thud, this one alarmingly close, before her window slides open and someone topples into her room.

Her first reaction is to try and kill them so, not really thinking, she chucks her pillow at the intruder.

Kai yelps as it hits him, sending him sprawling backwards again.

Cinder's eyes widen, "Kai?"

She gapes.

The seven of them had planned to sneak into Kai's house to try and find him if he didn't show up but she'd never imagined that he'd literally fall back into her life through her window.

He looks paler, his skin is covered in bruises and his clothes are loosely hanging off his seemingly shrunken frame.

But he's still smiling.

And wincing: "Uh huh, just... Give me a minute?"

So she waits.

Exactly a minute later, Kai jumps up and places his bag on the floor. He pulls out a water bottle and hands it to her.

"Drink," he orders softly.

Nodding, she does so, sighing as the cool liquid soothes her burning throat.

"Pains or nausea?" Kai inquires.

"Pains." Cinder frowns but Kai doesn't let her ask anything.

Kai winces as he stands up but nudges her so she loves along. "I, um, saw everyone being worried about you on the email chat..."

He settles next to her on the bed and pushes her hair away from her sweaty forehead. She groans, annoyed that he's seeing her like this, and lets him wipe the sweat off to cool her down.

She jumps as he presses something to her lips but sighs with relief as she realises that it's a spoon full of soup, the best soup she's ever tasted.

"Sorry, is it hot?" Kai inquires guiltily.

"No, that'd be you," Cinder mumbles.

Kai stays silent, apparently bewildered enough to stop his usual flow of rambles.

She takes the painkillers he silently hands her, swallowing them dry, despite Kai's attempt at protesting.

He feeds her rest of the soup slowly, making sure its not too hot and laughing at whatever she sleepily mumbles.

She falls asleep again once he's given her all of it, curled up against him.

When she wakes again, he's sitting cross-legged on the floor near the window, fiddling with the fabric of his shirt.

"Kai?" Cinder mumbles.

His head snaps up but, before he can move, Cinder's thrown herself out of bed and wrapped her arms around him.

"Kai, you stupid... stupid... I didn't even know if you were still alive!" Cinder breathes, almost crying.

The two of them manage to stand up, still locked in an embrace. Kai immediately starts trying to apologise.

"I'm sorry, I really am. I tried to get in touch but they wouldn't let me."

Cinder pulls back enough to kiss him, relishing in the gesture she'd missed.

It's fast and messy, both of them wincing slightly as either Cinder touches the cut on Kai's lip or Kai brushes where Cinder's worn away her lip from biting it in worry.

But it's explosive and they're both breathless when they finally pull away.

"Kai, are you okay?" Cinder asks, then adds: "Honestly?"

"I've been better, so to speak," Kai replies.

Cinder moves her gaze over the bruises and sighs, "What... Kai?"

He bites his lip, shrugging.

"Hey, emperor, be honest with me," Cinder whispers.

When Kai looks back at her, both of them have tears in their eyes.

"I don't want to get married, Cinder, I love you."

"Stars, Kai, I love you too," Cinder sobs, wrapping her arms around him again before groaning as her stomach cramps.

Kai laughs, "That's why I brought the soup."

She smiles gratefully.

"Kai, where in the house is your room?" Cinder asks. "We'll come and get you out."

Kai mumbles something.

Cinder makes a face. "What is it?"

"Remember how I told you the house has a basement?" Kai asks, averting his gaze.

Cinder frowns, stares, and curses.

"You're not serious?"

"I get to have one meal a day with Torin," Kai says optimistically.

"Oh, Kai..." Cinder lets herself cry and hugs Kai again.

She wishes that she knew what was going on, she wishes that Kai didn't have a basement, she wishes that her stomach hadn't gone funny today of all days and she wishes that she could hide her boyfriend from the people trying to get him married.

But wishes aren't always quick to be granted. And, more often than not, their results require effort and patience.

She stays curled up beside him instead.

"We'll... I don't know, but we're not letting you get married, okay? We, uh, we have our school projects to finish and we had that plan to... To do that thing together... And you're not even an adult..." Cinder rambles, blinking furiously.

Kai laughs, sobbing with her.

The two of them don't know if they're distraught or hysterical, and they don't care - they only care that they're together.

Both of them vow to stay that way.

Sorry for the sudden feels, I probably should have spread them out over the month, oops. It's not like many people are reading this anyway... shout out to the couple of consistent voters by the way - I really appreciate it :) see you tomorrow!