Vitamin C

Winters were nothing new to Ryo, who had grown up in cold, tiny Denmark. He was used to the bone-chilling cold, the biting wind and even the occasional blizzard. Snow was so damn common that the Danes had gotten a white Christmas five years in a row. Ryo was basically immune to the cold and he never got sick. Or so he thought.

One morning, Ryo woke up with a deep ache settled into his bones. His throat was scratchy, his head was throbbing and his eyes stung, but he was not sick. Untangling himself from the warmth of his comforter felt like wrestling Satan himself, but he was definitely not sick. Turning on the light in his bathroom made him flinch and shield his eyes, but he was still not sick. Getting ready for the day took twice as long as usual. Not. Sick.

As Ryo crossed the hall to Alice's room to make sure she was up, it was with only slightly wobbly steps. With a hand raised to knock on her door, he called out. "Miss, are you awake?" His voice sounded like he had swallowed gravel.

Once he heard a sound of confirmation from behind the door, Ryo trudged away to get breakfast. He promptly ignored the ache in his muscles and entered the dining room. While he was fully capable of preparing his own breakfast, he also appreciated the Nakiri family's hired chefs. It had nothing to do with the fact that his vision swam or that his legs shook as he finally stumbled his way to the table and landed in a chair.

The staff tentatively approached him to ask for his choice of breakfast, and he shrugged wordlessly, not really caring what he was served. Ryo was not a picky eater, never had been, he could eat more or less anything that was in front of him. Imagine his surprise when his stomach lurched at the sight of eggs and toast that the servant placed in front of him. The servant noticed his discomfort immediately and quickly brought over a tray with traditional Japanese breakfast. Ryo groaned when the intermingling smells of steamed rice, grilled fish and miso soup sent him reeling.

"Is everything okay, Master Ryo?" The same servant asked him with a frown. She had worked for the Nakiri's for many years and she had never known Ryo to be picky. Her brows rose in concern when he gripped the edge of the table and doubled over.

"Are you-"

"Good morning Ryo-kun!" Alice's cheerful voice rang out in the dining room, startling the servant. Ryo straightened immediately and his face turned impassive. The servant backed away after greeting Lady Alice and collected the tray from Ryo, which she then replaced with a bowl of oatmeal. Ryo gave an appreciative nod and attempted to eat a spoonful.

"I see you beat me to breakfast again this morning, I don't know how you manage to get up so early every day-" Alice droned on as she got seated and was served her breakfast. Ryo did his best to appear unaffected by his sickn- no, his slight headache. Alice would never let him hear the end of it if she found out he was even remotely ill, so he added agreeing sounds into the very one-sided conversation with suitable intervals, hoping and praying that she wouldn't notice.

"Don't you think so?" The girl across from him asked. He looked up to see her observant gaze locked onto his face, and he felt sweat gather on his brow as she awaited his response.

"Hn." Ryo grunted, barely able to sit upright. Alice tilted her head to the side with a humming noise, and Ryo grit his teeth, hoping he was convincing. Finally she nodded. It took everything in him not to flinch at Alice's loud, incessant voice as she continued her spiel. His headache got worse by the minute and he felt nauseous on top of everything.

"Ryo-kun, are you sick?" Alice's voice cut through the fog in his brain and a second later, he managed to stare at her defiantly. She raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest challengingly.

"Of course not." Ryo managed through clenched teeth. Fine, maybe he wasn't feeling the best, but he wasn't sick. Catching colds was for puss-

"Yes, you are. I demand you go back to bed, right now!" Alice's shrill command made him grit his teeth, he was not sick dammit.

"There's no need. I'm perfectly fine." Ryo grumbled irritably. The servant from before had been hovering nearby, and looked between the two teenagers anxiously. Master Ryo had barely touched his food, which was highly unusual and Lady Alice was probably the only one who could make him rest.

"No, you are not." Alice insisted hotly.

"I told you, I don't get sick."

"Then prove it," Alice smirked, "eat your entire bowl of oatmeal."

"Fine." Ryo huffed and grabbed the spoon and his oatmeal. He made a great show of shoveling a heaping spoonful into his mouth, and regretted it instantly when he swallowed and his stomach threatened to send it right back up. His grip on the spoon was so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"I told you. Now be a good boy and go back to sleep, I'll have someone make rice porridge for you." Alice waved him away nonchalantly, but Ryo detected a hint of concern in her voice. Damn her. Concerned or not, Ryo refused to go back to bed and stayed in his seat. He was not sick.

"Ryo-kun, go back to bed right this instance, or so help me, I will drag you there myself!" She threatened and slammed her fists on the table. There was a dangerous glint in her eye and Ryo knew he had lost the battle. If he didn't comply, she would make good on her promise. A staring contest ensued between them, and no matter how much he glared, Alice did not back down.

"Whatever," Ryo mumbled. He just had to sleep for an hour and he would be as good as new. Stupid Alice and her stupid nagging. He'd show her.

It was many hours later that Ryo awoke with a parched throat and a stuffy nose. He slowly got up to a sitting position, but the room was spinning and he had to grip the bedpost for support. Once he was sure he wouldn't throw up, Ryo carefully swung his legs onto the floor. Good, solid ground.

A few seconds later he managed to rise to his feet and make it all the way to the bathroom. With a bit of luck, there were no incidents and he made it all the way back to his bed before crumpling to a heap on top of the covers. A sudden wave of weakness had made his legs give out and Ryo found himself panting. He closed his eyes for a moment, or a few minutes, he wasn't sure, but one thing was certain. He felt like shit.

"You look like shit." An extremely cheerful and annoying voice sounded from the doorway, and Ryo groaned before lifting his head. Yukihira stood in the door with a shit-eating grin on his face and a medical mask around his neck.

"Screw you." Ryo managed to say before another wave of weakness made him squeeze his eyes shut. Maybe he was dreaming and Yukihira wasn't even in his bedroom, yeah that was probably it, the annoying redhead was only a figment of Ryo's imagination.

"He looks so pale." A soft, feminine voice sounded next to his bed, and Ryo fought not to jump when a cool hand touched his forehead. He knew that voice.

"Right? You should have seen him at breakfast, he looked like a ghost." Great, Alice was here too.

"He looks fine." Yukihira piped up, much closer this time. Ryo managed to open an eye and Tadokoro's face slowly came into view. She was also wearing a medical mask and it seemed like she was kneeling on the floor. She was frowning at him, as her hand moved from his forehead to his cheek.

"How are you feeling?" She asked softly, and much to his disappointment, removed her hand from his face. Ryo considered her for a moment. What the hell were she and Yukihira doing here and why were they wearing masks? He didn't know and he didn't care, he just wanted them to leave again so he could have silence. With a sigh Ryo replied, "Shitty."

"Are you in pain?" Tadokoro looked him over quickly, which made Ryo feel oddly self-conscious. Huffing, he told tell her no and managed to sit up again. It wasn't a complete lie. His headache wasn't gone, but it had dulled considerably. But his body ached and he still felt nauseous.

"That's good." Her eyes twinkled and she reached into a bag at her side. She started pulling out medicine and drinks, lining them up at his bedside table. Ryo noticed a covered crockpot and a glass of water that hadn't been there before. Tadokoro seemed to notice it too and carefully adjusted all the objects so nothing fell over.

"Did you eat anything yet?" She asked, golden eyes scanning him again. Before he answered, he was interrupted by Alice that traitorous little- "Nothing. He couldn't even manage three spoonfuls of oatmeal. It was quite pitiful." She sighed dramatically and tugged at her own medical mask, flashing Ryo a smug smile that made him growl low in his throat.

"Hey, Kurokiba, isn't there a saying that idiots don't catch colds? Wonder what went wrong." Yukihira snickered and plopped down at the foot of Ryo's bed without a care in the world.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you piece of trash?" Ryo added as much venom to his voice as he could muster, which in his condition wasn't much. Alice let out a giggle, but quickly looked innocent when Ryo glared at them both. He strongly considered kicking Yukihira off the bed, but his body felt like lead and he could barely lift his leg. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"Souma-kun, be nice or leave." Tadokoro's tone was icy and Ryo had to do a double-take when he saw Yukihira shoot up like an arrow and quickly stand next to Alice.

"Right, sorry, Tadokoro." Yukihira apologized and exchanged a glance with Alice, who had also gone very quiet all of a sudden. They seemed to be having a silent conversation, but it ended when Alice shook her head and pointed to Tadokoro. Yukihira remained quiet, but from his furrowed brow, he looked like he wanted to argue. Alice clamped her hand down on his wrist and gave him a stern look, before addressing Tadokoro.

"I'll leave him to you, Megumi. I'll go get some more porridge." She declared and started dragging a loudly protesting Yukihira towards the door. One sharp look from Tadokoro promptly shut him up and he disappeared from Ryo's room without another noise. Ryo felt it would be wise to never get on Tadokoro's bad side.

"Sorry about that. He may not look like it, but he's worried about you." The girl in front of him had returned to rummaging around in her bag, and this time she pulled out a pink thermos. "He insisted on seeing you since you missed the meeting." She continued and screwed off the top of the thermos and poured its content into a cup that she held out to him.

"Meeting?" Ryo asked hoarsely. He accepted the cup with shaking fingers and sniffed it experimentally as the steam rose. There was a sharp scent of something, but his nose was so stuffy he couldn't tell exactly what it was. Tadokoro urged him to take a sip and he narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't know the exact contents of whatever this remedy was.

"We had a meeting scheduled today, remember?" Tadokoro got up from the floor and tentatively took a seat at the edge of Ryo's bed. While she wasn't invading his space or making loud comments like Yukihira, Ryo would prefer if she left him alone. He had to stifle a cough that threatened to overtake him and he saw Tadokoro reach a hand out in his direction, but retract it at the last moment.

"Drink, you will feel better." She urged him again. Ryo looked at the cup suspiciously and took a small sip. It was some sort of tea with an herbal-ly and bitter aftertaste that left Ryo wrinkling his nose.

"It's my ginger tea with black pepper and a dash of honey." Tadokoro explained when Ryo took another sip.

"There's something else in here." Ryo swirled the liquid around in the cup and tried to sniff out what he was looking for. "I added a few things that I've found work well to combat colds." She started listing off her secret ingredients, and Ryo felt the urge to roll his eyes.

"I don't have a cold." He insisted gruffly. He was just feeling a little bit under the weather like everyone else did once in a while.

"Kurokiba-kun," her entire demeanor changed and Ryo suddenly felt himself shrink under her now cold gaze. "Don't lie to me." Ryo felt a spike of anger and was about to make a scathing remark when he started coughing violently. He nearly dropped the cup, but Tadokoro steadied his hand until he could breathe again. He settled for glaring at her.

"If you replenish your energy, your cold will go away quickly. I suggest you drink my tea and eat some porridge before you take any medicine." Tadokoro spoke clinically and not at all affected by his withering glare, much to his annoyance. She reached for some of the supplies on his bedside table and gazed at him.

"I don't-" Ryo tried arguing, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand that left no room for discussion. He had never seen her like this, acting like a military medic and not a 16-year old girl. Wasn't Tadokoro known for her hospitality and caring nature?

"Why are you even here?"

"Alice-san texted all of us saying you were out with a cold." Tadokoro told him matter-of-factly. "She also told us that you were in denial," she added almost smugly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryo felt a vein in his forehead throb. Of course Alice would text the entire Elite 10 that he was sick, which he still wasn't.

"It means," Alice (speak of the she-devil) suddenly appeared with a tray in her hands, "that you are too stubborn for your own good." She handed Megumi the tray and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Megumi nodded with a glance in Ryo's direction and Ryo did not like the look of it. At least Yukihira hadn't come back. Tadokoro whispered something back which made Alice giggle and straighten up.

"Eat and get better quickly, Ryo-kun. I can't have my aide be beaten by a measly cold." Alice waved at him and left as quickly as she had appeared. He felt the energy drain out of him. Fine. He had caught a cold.

"She's right, you know. The sooner you eat the better you'll feel." Tadokoro placed the tray on Ryo's lap and handed him the spoon. He glared half-heartedly at the spoon in his hand, but stopped the second he heard Tadokoro laugh.

"Shut up." Ryo grumbled and dug his spoon into the porridge. The sooner he ate it, the sooner she would leave and he would finally have some peace and quiet.

It took Ryo nearly an hour and the occasional threat about force-feeding to finish the porridge. At some point Tadokoro removed the stupid surgical mask from her face so she could scowl properly at him. Twice, Ryo had coughed so violently that she had rubbed his back as he wheezed and recovered. At the end of it though, he felt marginally better, not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

Tadokoro had been… nice company.

She had sat at the edge of his bed hugging a pillow to her chest as she let him eat. She did offer to fill the silence with light conversation, and Ryo found that her voice didn't grate on his nerves. She wasn't obnoxious or loud, nor did she aggravate him. She had a tinkling laughter that prompted a ghost of a smile on Ryo's face. He had never seen her act so natural around him, and he enjoyed getting more glimpses of her personality when she was unguarded. It was refreshing and surprising all at once.

Tadokoro had finally coaxed some medicine into him and promised he would feel better if he slept some more. Ryo was inclined to believe her now. Her tea had done wonders for his stuffed nose and sore throat, and his head didn't feel as cloudy. She had promised to bring him some more or give Alice the recipe.

Tadokoro insisted he lay down and graciously rearranged his pillows, so he could comfortably lie down. Once Ryo was tucked in, she felt his forehead again and smiled at him. "Good news is that you don't have a fever."

"You probably scared it away," Ryo mumbled under his breath.

"What?" She asked, peering at him. He was glad she hadn't heard him.

"Nothing." He insisted and hid his grin under his covers.

"I wonder where Souma-kun and Alice-san ran off to." Tadokoro mused out loud as she started packing her bag, now considerably lighter. She had forced Ryo to drink one of the many drinks she had brought with her, claiming the vitamin C would speed along his recovery.

"Probably in the lounge," Ryo suppressed a yawn. Alice would sink her claws into Yukihira and force him to entertain her while Ryo was out of commission. 'Serves him right,' Ryo thought darkly and swore revenge.

"I'll see if I can find them. Do you need any more water?" Tadokoro asked while getting up. Ryo shook his head and quietly thanked her for the tea and medicine.

"Don't worry about it. I'll try to bring you some more tea tomorrow." She smiled brightly and Ryo felt a vague premonition of danger, but he ignored the creeping feeling of unease. He probably just needed to sleep some more.

Tadokoro visited him the following day and true to her promise, she brought him another thermos of her tea. She also brought cough syrup and several sports drinks loaded with vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. If that wasn't enough, she had also made him chicken soup with chopped vegetables. Yukihira was with her again and was quickly whisked away by Alice to play around.

"You didn't have to bring so much stuff. I feel fine." Ryo looked at his side table full of medicine, drinks and a soup container. While he felt better than the previous day, his cough had worsened overnight and his nose was still stuffy.

"I had to make sure you weren't skimping out on the vitamin C." Tadokoro explained and handed him yet another drink with vitamins. When he refused the drink, she shot him that look of thinly veiled disdain. Ryo had no idea why that had any effect on him, he was not scared of her dammit. Regardless, he emptied the bottle under Tadokoro's watchful eye. Somehow she also managed to make him finish a serving of soup and take his medicine. Ryo felt helpless against her.

Tadokoro Megumi was a force to be reckoned with.

On the third day, Ryo felt well enough to eat in the dining hall with Alice. His lady, of course, insisted on wearing her stupid surgical mask as they ate. Tadokoro had sent Alice the recipe for her ginger tea and Alice had been kind enough to brew it for him. Now she sat in front of him, mask pulled down to her chin, nursing her own cup of the Tadokoro Tea™.

"Miss, are you feeling sick or do you just enjoy the taste of ginger tea?" Ryo asked as they ate. Alice shot him a furtive glance and slowly took a sip.

"Consider this a preventive measure. If I catch your cold, Megumi is going to find out and I want to avoid that at all costs." Alice explained slowly, taking yet another sip of tea. She rarely looked so serious and Ryo had to wonder what she meant by it. When he asked, Alice barely suppressed a shudder.

"Yukihira-kun told me what happened the last time someone at the Polar Star dorm came down with the flu and it spread to the others." His lady recounted the story Yukihira had told her, and Ryo suddenly understood why Yukihira had shrunk before Tadokoro on the first day. Quietly, Ryo poured another cup of tea and swore to get rid of his cold within the week.

Later that day, Ryo was back in his room when a knock sounded on his door. With his permission, the door opened and Tadokoro poked her head in, before entering all the way.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better, Kurokiba-kun. Alice-san told me you have been taking your medicine without complaining." The petite girl approached him with a small basket in her arms.

"Right." Ryo replied, suppressing the shiver that went down his spine. Once at his side, she pulled out a bottle of orange juice that she placed on his bedside table with a sweet smile directed at Ryo.

"These are for you." Tadokoro handed him the basked and Ryo remembered his premonition from the day before. Inside the basket were bell peppers, kiwi fruits and guavas. More vitamin C. Ryo groaned internally, but wisely kept his mouth shut as his door opened again.

"Hey Kurokiba! Tadokoro, are you ready to go?" Yukihira strolled in beside Alice. His eyes flickered from Tadokoro to Ryo and then to the basket in Ryo's hands, realization dawning on him.

"Yes, I was just making sure Kurokiba-kun had everything he needed. Shall we?" Tadokoro wished Ryo a speedy recovery and excused herself. Alice was quick to see her to the door, leaving Yukihira standing near Ryo.

"You are lucky she didn't mummify you with blankets," Yukihira whispered, "Poor Marui." He shook his head and straightened up before following the two girls. Ryo swallowed nervously, the contents in the basket mocking him.

Ryo recovered a few days later and was spared any more house visits from Tadokoro and Yukihira. It didn't mean that his ordeal was over though. For the rest of the month, Ryo would find small bottles of orange juice or vitamin drinks in random places, including, but not limited to his bedside table, the Nakiri library, on random shelves in Alice's private kitchen, inside his closet and even wrapped in his bandana. Ryo swore never to get sick again.