notes; this AU will contain kotomakiumi and not for a frail heart (?)

Inspired mostly by EXEC_HARMONIOUS_FUSION/. and oh, s in prescription reads signa means direction of use, and dd reads de die means roughly … times a day both in Latin (though I might be mistaken, since the version of reading varies haha)

nocturna nigredinis;
da signa bis in die ante coenam

i.

"Umi-chan? You look pale."

"W-What are you talking about, Kotori?"

They were both sitting in the cafe, taking break from their work and arranging to meet up outside the office, coffee and tea on the table respectively. The winter was cold, especially after the rain of snow, and sickness was bound to happen.

Though, in a note, Umi has not been well recently, and the state kept on going, making Kotori grew worried.

"Have you taken your pills?"

"I am."

"Then don't drink coffee, okay?"

Umi nod numbly, pushing her cup aside.

"How about we go to the clinic again today?"

ii.

Snow was piling outside the garden of Nishikino Clinic as another night of snow embraced the city. Kotori and Umi walked side-by-side, holding by each other's hand and entered the building. Kotori made the appointment beforehand, so they only needed to re-confirm it to the nurse by the waiting lounge and wait for their turns.

The clinic was quiet around 8 pm, there was only few patients left before their turn.

"Sonoda-san."

The nurse called from the door leading to the doctor's room. The last patient, an old woman walked pass them, and both of them entered the room.

Doctor Nishikino was Kotori's old friend, the person who cured her frail knee in the past. Kotori urged Umi to go there and the blue-haired woman had taken numerous pills for maintaining her health. Doctor Nishikino asked them to take the check-ups often, especially if Umi's problem still persists.

"Another headache?" Maki's voice was stern as she scribbled on her notes. "Have you requested the hospital for MRI scans?"

Umi shook her head, "Not yet, maybe around the end of this month, Kotori is busy and so I am."

"Watch for her headache frequency, Minami-san," Maki didn't bat an eye, hands focused on writing. "I'm afraid that it might be more serious than I could deduce."

Kotori nodded, "I am, doctor."

"Here, I prescribed some painkillers. Don't take it too often, only if the headache is unbearable, okay?"

With a click, the doctor put down her pen and gave the written prescription to Kotori, and bidding a formal, monotone-sounding word within her thin lips, get well soon.

iii.

Last time she was there, Maki prescribed the list of medicine for a month, and if the headache still persist, she could take more pills up to four times a day. The blue-haired woman was confused to see the pills ran out fast than she could expect, huffing slightly upon the realization whether this pill was her last for the month.

Kotori reprimanded her to take the pills less, but it was her pain which kept the intake of drugs unavoidable. Four pills a day, seven hours of work a day, plenty hours remains for resting at home.

How messed up will her life get?

"Watch where you're going—"

Umi looked up as she collided with someone nearby the train station. It was doctor Nishikino in her long brown pea coat, her usual tied red tresses were free from any shackles.

"Doctor? What are you doing here?"

If Umi remembered correctly, she ever said that her house was behind the clinic, means it is four blocks away from the station here, which was near to her and Kotori's home.

"I'm visiting an old friend," she answered. "The clinic is closed today."

Umi nodded slightly in comprehension.

"You look dazed, Sonoda-san."

A gloved, warm hand touched her cheek, urged her to look up once more to meet the gaze of placid amethyst, the only light on the doctor's eyes.

"Did you take your medication well?"

"Yes."

"How about we rest a bit for some coffee? Or do you need someone to take you home?"

Took awhile for Umi finally withdrawn herself, letting the touch went by and she bid a farewell.

"I-I'm fine, doc. If you'll excuse me."

(Does she had a fever, or it was Maki's touch that burns?)

iv.

That night, Kotori asked Umi to go first because she would be late, and she would catch up after the usual examination.

"Oh, and this is the result of MRI scan, doctor."

Umi gave the big brown envelope on the desk, Maki stopped her writing journey to glance inside the content, though, the doctor quickly put it by the side of her table and continued to write.

"I'll take look of it later," she said. "Seeing your face, it must be good, nee?"

Umi's expression shifted slightly, from the relaxed to the tense. Her jaw clenching uncomfortably, her lips aching to mince the words the laboratorium gave her. The red-haired doctor head's tilted to the side, waiting for the void response, pen hitting the desk accordingly, beating inside their silence.

v.

Around the New Year, Kotori was having an overnight shift in her office and asked Umi to go alone to the clinic for the regular check-up. She was surprised that doctor Nishikino didn't take any day off during New Year's, and the clinic was open all day thorough the month.

"How's your headache doing?" again, Maki scribbled on her papers.

"I'm doing better." Umi replied, relief washed all over her face.

Maki's lips quivered, forming a tiny smile. "Okay, moving on to the examination, then. Please lie down on the bed, Sonoda-san."

The doctor formed a check-up frequently, monitoring other organs that might be the cause of Umi's headache and uneasiness; starting for the eyes, Maki examined the amber pairs with the flashlight and moved to her mouth, checking the color of her tongue, her throat's condition, moving on to the count of heartbeats.

Maki hushed a small excuse before unbuttoning Umi's shirt, gaining access as to plant her stetoschope the left area of her patient's torso, fingers palpitating around the wrist, silently counting as the clock ticks.

"I see that it beats irregularly."

Umi snapped from her trance to hear the comments coming from the doctor.

"Still, we should see the MRI results before surmising the illness that you suffered."

Maki hung her stetoschope aside after the check, back to her blissful state of writing something in some language which Umi couldn't understand, or could read, even. The doctor's writing were neat, tiny and composed mainly of thin lines, she could faintly read the s and the dd on her prescription.

"Do you find it amusing, Sonoda-san?"

She failed to realize that the doctor turned her full attention to her.

"O-Oh, I, I'm sorry."

"Is there something in your mind?"

Amethyst locked to her amber, the urge to bit her lower lips intensified, the scramble of words inside her head and the neverending turmoil in her heart rang.

Sonoda Umi didn't remember how the night ended.

vi.

Kotori was unsure about Umi's illness, so as Umi herself.

The MRI results will come by their home for another week, so there were no room to safely deduce the exact reason behind Umi's headache, or why she felt gradually weaker each time passed.

One day, Umi forced to take a day off and worked at their home, typing to her laptop on the comfortable long sofa of the living room. Kotori came from the direction of the kitchen, bringing two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Don't strain yourself, Umi-chan." Kotori softly said as she put the mugs on the table, looking over the serious Umi who typed her work.

"I'm alright, Kotori. It's because of cold that I'm a bit under the weather."

Umi glanced to the spot where Kotori seated, she closed her laptop and leaned back to the sofa. She closed her eyes as she uttered a sigh to the air, slightly massaging her temples.

"Umi-chan."

It was when Kotori scooted closer and embraced her from the side, hiding her face on the crook of Umi's neck. The blue-haired woman smiled, patted Kotori's back, drawing in circles ever so gently.

"You'll be okay," her voice somewhat strained. "You'll be fine."

"Please don't worry, I'm doing my best, too."

Kotori inhaled, weary and worry mixed together in it, before she gazed up to see Umi's usual determined amber yet a weak light overshadowed her features, made her heart ached. She leaned in, breathed a few words before diving in, planted a kiss to the waiting lips. The touch didn't last, as it continued, for the sake to feel, Umi shifted her position, making her landed flat on the sofa with Kotori holding her on the top, not letting her go within the captive embrace.

"Umi-chan," she said, before closing their lips and their bodies again. "Please don't go."

vii.

Umi's phone vibrated once, the light lit up showing a single notification from her mailbox: Kotori was sorry because she couldn't accompany Umi to her check-up routine and whether she would be home late. Kotori has been busy nowadays, and they rarely met at home because Umi, too, was full of her work. The grey-haired woman never forget to tell her about the routine, and sometimes accompanied her, but not for this month, or even last month.

At this time of visit, Umi shared an intrigue with the doctor; always, leaving herself to feel the small candle inside her engulfed more flame than necessary, to break the boundary.

Maki returned the envelope contained her MRI scan result, a tiny smile on her lips. A silence filled, before the doctor's tapping feet echoed.

"Say, Sonoda-san," Nishikino Maki's eyes gleamed. "What if ... your sickness is imaginary?"

A lump formed inside the midnight-haired woman's throat.

"Like, you come here for another reason beside your headache. Your headache was an excuse."

The doctor crossed her fingers on the table as she saw the latter fidgets ever so slightly.

"—I'm just joking."

And there, Umi's shoulder droop to a relaxed state.

"Your result is perfect," Maki said. "Maybe you should do a full check-up to the hospital lab next time to find the source of your illness."

"Will do, doc."

Once again, silence falls as they gazed to each other's spark of lies. The patient bid her farewell shortly, answered by the usual, flat-toned get well soon of doctor Nishikino.

viii.

Maki opened Umi's medical record not long after she left and began writing some reports. It began with the result of today's check-up, the description about Umi's MRI scans result, the prescribed medicine, and lastly, the final touch, a longing stare to the patient's photograph.

The door by the back of her table opened, revealing the guest whom arrived much earlier than the patient did; just how every month should be.

Minami Kotori rested her palms to Maki's shoulder, before hugging her from behind.

"So, she still lies?"

Maki looked up to meet the sharp amber.

"You're the one to talk."

Maki moved her rolling chair from facing her table to meet Kotori, the grey-haired woman, her long-yet-distant childhood friend now climbed up to sit on her lap, towering the doctor and holding by her cheek, looking at the bland amethyst lit up with wants and resents. Maki felt something cold caressing her cheek aside of Kotori's soft, warm fingers: a small ring of silver with garnet adorned its center.

"You're Sonoda-san's fiancee, Kotori, we should stop."

Kotori pecked on her lips tenderly, "You already touched Umi-chan, too. She even risked herself and become a drug addict to meet you."

"Is this jealousy towards me or her?" Maki replied with a brush to the nose. "Complicated, aren't we?"

The woman on top of her giggled before lunged once again, now hungrily grazed to the doctor's lips, seeking for an entrance, seeking for her core.

"Which nectar do you like, Maki-chan, me or her?"

For a split second, Maki was torn between laughing or gritting. The question was hard, she never thought whether Kotori would ask her such strange feat.

"I loved Umi's better."

Kotori smiled, "I see that we agreed on the same thing."

The battle of domination tuned for the night, and repeated.

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