A Terrifying Morning
Part One
Kento Rei Faun looked over at Mia Koji's mansion. "Nope," he muttered under his breath. "Not yet, darn." Kento closed his eyes but kept his ears open.
***
Cye Mouri, as usual, rushed around the kitchen getting breakfast ready. He had decided to bless everyone with his famous blueberry pancakes. He got the dishes out and began to set the table.
Rowen Hashiba was still in bed, not unusual for a Saturday morning. Sage Date was on the living room couch, his thick golden blonde hair combed to perfection, reading a magazine. Mia was on the opposite armchair reading a thick sci-fi book.
Cye sauntered in and walked up behind Mia. "Breakfast is ready!" he said cheerily. "C'mon Sage, Mia." Cye turned and went back into the kitchen.
"Be in in a minute Cye!" Mia called to him. She went to the bottom of the stairs and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Ryo!" She yelled.
"Yeah?" Ryo Sanada walked out of the bathroom in his jeans. He held a small white towel to his face, just previously washed.
"Would you wake up Rowen, please? Time for breakfast!" she asked the Ronin of fire.
"Okay." Ryo sighed. Just what he needed, some exercise trying to get Rowen up in the morning. He walked back into the bathroom, hung up the towel, slipped into his white T-shirt and red sweater, and walked down the hall, a full cup of water in hand.
***
Cye walked to the back door and yelled into the forest. "Kento! Yuli! Breakfast!!" He waited to hear Whitblaze's roar before turning to go back inside. He cringed when he heard screaming coming from Rowen's room above his head. He sighed and walked into the kitchen.
Kento got up when he heard Cye's voice ring through the forest. Whiteblaze ran up beside him with Yuli on his back.
"C'mon, Kento! Breakfast time!" Yuli shouted.
"Last one there is a youja!" Kento said as he started to sprint across the yard.
"Go on Whiteblaze! You can beat 'im!" Whiteblaze began running on Yuli's command.
When Yuli and Whiteblaze finally reached the house, Kento was already at the back door, panting.
"You're...a youja!" Kento panted. He gripped his chest slightly. He bent over and rested his hands and his weight on his knees.
That's funny, Yuli thought. Why is he this out of breath? And why is he holding his chest?
"C'mon...let's go...get some...breakfast." Kento's voice broke with his panting. What's the deal? Why am I so out of breath? he gripped his chest harder. And why does my chest hurt so badly? Kento asked himself. He walked into the house and leaned against the wall, still gripping his chest and panting.
"Kento?" Yuli's voice awoke him from his reverie.
"Yeah?" Kento asked trying to sound like himself, but failing miserably.
"Are you ok? Should I call Mia?" he asked, worry tinting his voice.
"No, I'll be just fine!" he said, a fake smile tugging at his lips. "I just need to rest for a minute. My body didn't like the fact that I went from relaxing to a full scale sprint, I guess. Why don't you go into the kitchen? I'll be there in a minute."
Yuli reluctantly got off Whitblaze and walked into the kitchen.
Yuli kept his gaze downcast as he took his seat at the table. Ryo notice this action and took the seat next to him.
"What's up?" Ryo asked to the back of Yuli's head.
Yuli mumbled, "Nothing."
"Oh! Come on! I'm not stupid. There's a lie if I ever heard one." Ryo told the boy.
Yuli sighed. "It's Kento."
"Huh? What about 'im?" Cye chimed in. Rowen decided to wake up to listen to Yuli.
"I don't know, just something's wrong. He raced us to the house, just across the yard, and when we reached the house, he was panting really hard and I think he had something wrong with his chest. He was holding it."
"That is wierd. Kento usually has a ton more energy than that. But, I'm sure there's nothin' wrong. I mean if there was, Kento would probably tell us wouldn't he?" Rowen reassured him.
Footsteps were heard on the hard wooden hallway. But, they were disoriented and came at an irregular rate. All eyes turned to the kitchen doorway as Kento marched in, seeming to be himself.
"What's for break...fast?" Kento looked around. "Why is everyone staring at
me?"
"Oh! Uh...blueberry pancakes." Cye finally answered him.
"Great! My favorite!!" Kento, Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Cye, Mia, and Yuli all sat down to eat. It was extremely rare that all seven of them were able to sit down together, but, when they did, it was a lot of fun.
Cye and Ryo talked about school and whatnot. Sage and Rowen talked about a summer camp they heard about. Kento, unusually kept quiet and ate a pancake.
As soon as Kento's plate was rid of that pancake, he quickly excused himself and went up to his room.
"Did I miss something?" Ryo's mouth dropped open. "Okay, was it just me, or did Kento only eat ONE of Cye's blueberry pancakes?"
"I might want to go check on him." Mia walked upstairs. The others continued to converse, but this time only one thing was on their minds, Kento.
Suddenly, a loud thud was heard from above their heads. Ryo started to get up but Sage pushed him back down.
"Mia will take care of him, Ryo." Sage consoled. "Kento will be fine." Sage smiled half-heartedly.
Ryo wasn't completely reassured, but he sat down anyway.
She approached the door to Kento's room and knocked. No response. She tried again. Still nothing. She slowly opened the door and looked around the room. She heard a heavy panting noise. She looked over at Kento's bed. Kento's chest was heaving with his breath. His breathing was extremely heavy and quick. He clutched his chest with one hand. The other hand hung lazily over the side of the bed. His body was sprawled out on the bed and the blankets messed the otherwise clean floor. A thick layer of sweat covered his forehead.
Mia cautiously approached the Ronin of strength. Saying his name from time to time.
"Kento? Are you alright? Kento? Kento?" Mia's voice began to rise as she approached the young man.
When she reached his side, she put her hand on the side of his face, and wiped some tears of pain away from his eyes with her thumb. Kento made no attempt to remove the soothing hand.
Kento, what's wrong with you? Mia wondered silently.
Mia began to feel a heat eminating from his cheek. She slowly moved her hand up to his forehad. Shock and panic filled her emotions as she felt his temperature.
Mia rushed down the hall toward her bedroom. She retrieved the thermometer from her medicine cabinet, and raced back to Kento's room. She stuck the thermometer in his mouth and waited for the beeping sound before removing it.
When she read the results, she bit back a cry of shock. She put a cold washcloth on his forehead, and ran downstairs to the kitchen where the others were waiting. Ryo nearly jumped out of his chair when Mia came rushing in "Kento's running a 106.5 fever!!" she nearly yelled.
"What?!" the other four yelled in unison.
"Yeah! And he's also having chest pains of somekind and he's not breathing well!!" Mia said almost shaking with worry. "I need some help getting him into the jeep to take him to the hospital."
"Ryo, will you help me?" Rowen looked around. "Ryo? Ryo?"
***
Ryo raced up the stairs. he opened the door to Kento's room and was met with the same scene as Mia. He rushed to Kento's side, and looked at his pain streaken face. Sorrow and fear welled inside him. It wasn't until he heard Kento's name being said in gasps, that he knew the others were present.
"Come on. Let's get this guy to the hospital." Ryo said putting his arms under Kento's shoulders and legs and lifting him off the bed.
The others followed. Ryo brought Kento out to the jeep and set him in the passenger seat. Ryo laid the seat back a bit so he wasn't sitting up straight.
Cye, Rowen, and Sage climbed into the back seats. Ryo and Yuli got onto Whiteblaze's back and they all took off for the hospital.
***
Ryo walked out of the hospital room holding Kento.
"So what's up with Kento, Ryo?" Sage asked impatiently. Ryo looked around at his friends in the waiting room.
Ryo looked at the suddenly very interesting carpet design. He walked over to the couch that Cye was sitting in, sat down, and put his hand comfortingly on his shoulder.
"The doctors," Ryo began, "don't know what happened, but he's on a respirator and should be fine in a couple of days. They say it's just a passing flu or something. I, personally, think that they are taking it WAY too lightly."
Cye had his folded hands in front of his mouth. He rested his chin on his extended thumbs. His eyes kept closed as he silently prayed that Kento would be alright.