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Kai muffled a sniffle into his sleeve for what felt like the 100th time today.
He hadn’t even been awake for that long.
It was an early-winter morning, and the sun had just started to rise, painting the sky over the monastery’s training ground in shades of light blue and pastel pink. The weather was quickly growing colder, and the icy wind blew on Kai’s skin, slipping through the cracks of his gi. He let out a shuddered breath and trembled as the cold set into his bones.
He slowly walked onto the training ground in a daze, dragging his feet over the sand, thinking about the pounding headache he woke up with, rather than his surroundings, or the voice that was calling out his name.
“Hello? Earth to Kai.” A certain voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" He looked up and met Cole’s gaze, who was raising an eyebrow.
“Are you still coming, or what?” his sparring partner asked.
"What?- Oh yea."
Kai hadn't even noticed how far he was walking behind the other three ninja. Jay and Zane had already started their stretches by now, and were chatting excitedly. He sped up his pace to catch up.
Cole tilted his head and studied Kai’s face quizzically.
He’s noticed Kai has been acting differently than usual for the past day or two. Instead of his usual bold, lively self, who's always alert and ready to make a sharp observant comment any chance he gets, he’s been absent minded, and sluggish. He didn't even bother doing his hair this morning– his brown locks were reminiscent of a birdnest, instead of styled up with (probably too much) hairgel, like they usually are.
The black ninja narrowed his eyes in suspicion, pretty certain he knew what’s going on.
“You don’t look too well. Are you okay?” he asked, almost like he was interrogating him.
Kai dramatically scoffed. “What do you mean, ‘I don't look well'?" He seemed to take great offense having his looks targeted.
“You sound weird too.” Cole commented, noticing the hoarseness of his voice.
“What the heck is your problem, dude?” Kai grumbled.
Cole chuckled at how defensive he was getting. Then he relaxed his face in a more serious, almost concerned expression.
“You know, if you’re not feeling well, you could sit out today.”
“What?”
“Are you sick?”
“I… No?”
“You sound like you have a cold.”
Kai scoffs again. “I’m the master of fire, I don't catch colds.”
Cole suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at that dumb, illogical remark. There's no point arguing with someone as stubborn as Kai. He just sighed and gave up. ”Alright, if you say so.”
The two started doing their stretches. If they start training without warming up, sensei Wu would scold them. Again. Yet all Kai’s muscles ached, and were yelling at him to stop.
When they finally started their actual training several minutes later, Kai’s fighting was remarkably sloppy. He barely managed to dodge Cole’s punches, and his own were weak and miscalculated. It had only been mere seconds, but he was already trying to catch his breath, and as a professionally trained ninja, or at the very least one in training, his stamina is usually much better than that.
After a kick from his opponent, Kai jumped back to dodge, but lost his balance. The world around him was spinning rapidly, and he fell face-first into the sand.
He tried to get back up, but his weak, shaky arms only lifted his torso several inches above the floor, before falling to the ground again. He breathed heavily through his mouth, the airways to his nose completely clogged, but every inhale felt like a burning stab to the lungs sometimes interrupted by dry, painful coughs. His head was throbbing. It felt like it was stuffed to the brim with cotton.
Kai liked to think he was independent. But it’s not independence. It’s stubbornness, and an ego too big to allow for vulnerability.
Cole put his hands on his hips and shook his head in disapproval.
“Dude, seriously. Just sit today out, we’ll do this when you’re better.”
He sounded stern, but you could hear the worry in his voice. He reached out his hand to help Kai up. The red ninja reluctantly grabbed a hold of it and got back on his feet.
“I’m fine.”
His cheeks turned even redder than they already were out of embarrassment. He cleared his throat, quickly brushed the dirt off of his gi and returned back to his fighting stance, but it didn’t take long before the world around him started spinning once again.
Kai’s vision was all blurry and wobbly.
The ambient noises of Zane and Jay’s sparring match were being drawn out by a loud ringing in his ear.
His legs felt like jelly, his knees buckled, and he fell over…
Straight into Cole’s arms.
“Woah, I gotcha…”
Cole rushed over to catch him. Kai’s skin felt hot. Burning hot.
His gi clung to his skin, and his whole face was flushed red, and shiny with sweat.
Cole put the palm of his hand against his forehead, and murmured under his breath.
Kai wanted to push him away, tell him he’s fine, to mind his own business and just leave him alone. But his worn-out body betrayed him, having wasted all of its strength in that pathetic failure of a sparring match.
Cole frowned, he’s done with Kai’s shit.
“Alright, to bed with you.” he said as he effortlessly threw Kai, who was kicking his feet into the air like a child in protest, on his shoulder like a kitchen towel.
Cole quickly explained the situation to Jay and Zane, who nodded understandingly and continued with their own duel.
He carried Kai inside and made him change out of his gi into something more comfortable while waiting outside of the bathroom door. Despite his whining and complaining, Kai slipped on his red pajamas and tossed his ninja uniform on the floor. He knew Cole wouldn’t let him off the hook.
“Now, go to bed.”
Kai, still pouting and crossing his arms like an angry kid, finally complied and lied down. Cole gently pulled the duvet over him, reaching his chin. When he noticed Kai was still shivering, he went to fetch some more blankets and piled them up until he knew he was comfortable. Kai wouldn’t ever say it out loud, but finally having the relief of laying down and getting some rest in his soft, warm bed felt amazing.
Surprisingly, it didn’t even take very long for him to drift to sleep. The exhaustion from the past couple days seemed to have really worn him out.
The earth ninja sat on his knees next to the bed, looking after Kai while he slept. He had a pained expression in his sleep. Cole gently placed his hand to his face to move his bangs off his sticky forehead and grimaced just feeling how warm it was. He was almost surprised it didn’t make a sizzling sound when his hand made contact.
He sighed.
He should definitely let sensei Wu know as soon as he gets the chance.
Cole brushed his hands through his hair and whispered some reassuring nothings, and continued to watch as his chest would rise and fall. “You dummy.”
He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but Kai looked a bit more at ease.
–
A little while later, faint footsteps and a knocking on the door could be heard, Zane enters the room. As quietly as he can so as to not disturb Kai, but smiled seeing him sleeping so soundly.
“Hello, Cole.”
“Oh. Hey, Zane.” the jet-black haired boy looked up.
“Is he doing alright?” the nindroid asked, slightly tilting his head.
Cole shrugged, and Zane’s smile faded into a slight frown.
“How about I take it from here?” The ice-elemental suggested. “Since nindroids can not get sick, it would be more convenient. The last thing we want is to risk this spreading to you, or the others.”
“Nah, it’s fine, I’ve got this.”
“I see.”
Zane raised a single eyebrow, and his gaze moved to Kai. He studied him for a few seconds.
“Why have you covered him in such an excessive amount of layers?” he asked, tilting his head to the side again.
“Erm… to sweat out the fever…?” Cole answered, fidgeting with his fingers, suddenly feeling very unsure. “And he looked very cold, so-”
“Who taught you that?”
“I dunno… my dad?”
“I see…” Zane commented. “That is a common misconception, but it doesn’t really work that way. You can’t just force yourself to sweat out a fever. As a matter of fact, it could lead to dehydration, further hindering recovery.” he informed, raising his index finger.
“Oh. Well, if you say so...” Cole swiftly ripped most of the blankets off, leaving only the duvet. He winced in sympathy as a violent shiver went down Kai’s spine.
Zane used his scanners to measure Kai’s temperature and furrowed his brows in concern, but also confusion.
“This does not compute.”
“What doesn’t?” Cole said, gaze glued to his sleeping friend.
“Human bodies develop fevers to kill bacteria, since his body temperature is usually already very high, I’d assume this wouldn’t be necessary for him.”
“It’s still a neutral immune response of our bodies, right? I don’t think his body would take elemental powers into consideration.” Cole theorized, still not taking his eyes off of Kai, and softly caressing his burning cheek with his index and middle finger, hoping to bring some relief.
“That could be a likely hypothesis. Nevertheless, we should try to get his temperature down. This is not looking good.” Zane said, frowning and shaking his head. “I’m sure sensei has a tea that can help. How about you ask him, and I’ll stay and try using my ice to cool him down a little?”
Cole nodded determinedly and did exactly that. He stood up and marched out of the room, without saying another word.
While he was at that, Zane got up to get a towel from the bathroom and covered it with a light layer of frost, which he gently applied on top of Kai’s forehead. He whimpered slightly in his sleep as the ice cold towel made contact with his warm skin.
When Cole returned with a steaming cup of tea not even 10 minutes later, the towel was already lukewarm.
“Sensei said this should help, he put a bunch of herbs in it.” Cole said.
Zane shuffled to the side, allowing him to sit next to him on the side of the bed.
He gently petted Kai’s cheek with one hand, holding the warm cup of tea in the other.
“Hey. Hey, buddy, wake up.” he whispered.
Kai groaned and groggily opened his eyes,glassy and unfocused. He sat up straight and the towel fell onto his lap.
Fuck. His head hurt. He clutched his temple. He looked around in a daze. How did he get here again?
He seemed to be in a fog. Since his fever has spiked, he was incredibly delirious, Cole figured.
“Hey there.” The black ninja spoke softly.
Kai met his gaze. He looked confused, but too tired to question anything.
“Here, drink this. It should help with your fever.” Cole tried to hand him the cup, but quickly noticed Kai was in no condition to hold it himself. He let out a sigh, and sat up straight next to him.
He put a hand on the back of Kai’s head for support and let him lay against it. He gently brought the cup to his lips. He’s gonna have to drink it one way or another. He slowly poured the tea into his mouth, always waiting until he was done swallowing each sip. The tea wasn’t too hot, so he didn’t have to worry about burning his tongue, or anything. Kai reluctantly accepted his help, he moved his hand to grab a hold of the cup himself. His fingers touched Cole’s. The earthen ninja’s heart skipped a beat at the sudden contact, and he felt a faint pink blush creep its way on his face.
When the cup was half empty, Cole put it back on the bedside table. “There you go.”
Kai used his sleeve to wipe off some tea from his lips, coughed weakly and let himself fall back into the comfort of his soft pillows. He feverishly complained something incomprehensible about how he’ could have done it himself’ and immediately went out cold. Cole rolled his eyes, but gave him a soft smile. Yea, right. He thought.
But the tea did its job, and Kai’s fever started breaking not long after.
Cole used the cloth to wipe some sweat from his forehead. Sweating is a good sign at least, he thought. Means he’s cooling down.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
“There’s nothing we can do.” the master of ice said, in an oddly ominous tone.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Cole suddenly had a very concerned look on his face. He can’t exactly say he has positive associations with sentences like that.
“Colds are caused by viruses. You can not treat them with medication. The only thing that helps is bed rest, and waiting.”
Cole exhales in relief. “Don’t word it like that, Zane…”
“Do not worry, the common cold only has a 0.1 percent fatality rate, usually only by the elderly.” He briefed, as if it was helpful.
“Thanks, Zane, very reassuring." Cole said, trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
“You are welcome.” Zane smiled.
Then the white ninja stood up, and dusted off his gi with his hands. “Jay must be waiting. I will continue training now. Are you joining too?” he asked.
“Yea, don’t worry. I’ll come in a second. You can go on ahead.” Cole reassured him.
“Very well.” The nindroid nodded with a smile and left the room, heading back to the training grounds.
Cole never showed up for training that day.
When Zane came to call him for dinner that evening, he found him sleeping soundly with his head resting on the bed, his hand intertwined with Kai’s. Something he’d probably regret later down the line, but right now, everything is alright.