61. Illness
"Haa... haaa... haaCHOOO!" Sakaki shook the bed and rattled the windows with his sneeze.
"Thanks a lot." Domino shuffled into the room, blowing her nose. "I was trying hard not to catch this virus."
"You probably gave it to me." Sakaki countered. "I'm the leader of Team Rocket. I'm not supposed to get sick."
"Well, you are." Domino climbed onto the bed and stripped her uniform off. "But you know what they say about exercise when you're sick..."
"Actually, I don't." He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her onto him. "But I like the way it sounds."
They play wrestled under the blankets for a few minutes, then ended up lying on their sides, facing each other and panting for breath. "You won't... get away from me... now." He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"Mm, whatever you say." She snuggled against his chest and yawned.
He attempted to commence with the exercising, but his eyelids felt hot and much too heavy to keep open. After a few minutes of fighting sleep, he finally pulled the blankets over himself and Domino and fell asleep, his chin resting on her head.
~~~
"Sick?" Kosaburou forced one bloodshot eye open and reached for the juice. "I'm not sick. I feel great."
Yamato shook her head. "You're not fooling anyone."
"I have to go to work today." He pleaded. "I'll be okay. Just let me go in."
"Your work will wait for you." Yamato turned on the stove and poured a can of chicken broth into a pot. "Go back to bed and I'll bring you some soup in a little bit."
Kosaburou grumbled. "How come you're not sick?"
"I don't know. I guess I'm immune to having more than three illnesses at once. I'm always sick, remember?"
"Can you at least call Dr. Nanba and tell him I can't come in today?"
"To bed!"
"Fine."
Yamato called Professor Nanba as soon as Kosaburou was in bed, but she didn't get an answer from the lab. She shrugged and went to take soup to Kosaburou.
~~~~
Professor Nanba sighed and rolled over. It wasn't easy, being old and lonely. It was times like this when he wished he had a wife or even a kid, someone to take care of him when he was under the weather.
He kicked his research off the end of the bed. "They probably won't even miss me at work today." He dropped his head onto his pillow, staring dejectedly at the clock.
He startled when his doorbell rang. "Well, I wonder who that could be."
He was surprised to find Yamato standing on his stoop, bundled in a pink trench coat and scarf and bearing a thermos. "Yamato? Why are you here?"
"When you didn't answer the lab phone, I thought you might have come down with whatever Kosaburou has." She handed him the thermos. "I made him some soup, but we had a lot left over, so I thought you might like some. Sir. I hope it's still warm."
"Well, if not, I do have a microwave." Nanba accepted the thermos. "Thank you, Yamato. Er, would you like to come in and warm up?"
"I would, but I don't want to leave Kosaburou alone." She smiled. "Call if you need anything. I know you live by yourself and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
Nanba waved as she headed back to her warm apartment... and her family. He locked the door and sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a family, sometimes," He said aloud. He was always talking to himself, it seemed. "Ah, well. At least I have chicken soup!"