Disclaimer: Suikoden 3 and all the Vexen Knights aren't mine. I just merely borrowed them for some entertainment XD

This chapter actually inspired by one of the song called 'Heartbeat' by Enrique Inglesias and Nicole S. If you have that song in your comp, try to listen to it while reading the chapter ::giggles::

English is not my first language, so you might find a lot of grammar mistakes in my writings

Chapter 5 - Heartbeat

Borus ruffled his own hair as he paced around, trying to calm himself down. Surely it's not something bad, he thought to himself. All I need to do is to wipe his face and maybe his shoulders and hands… He smacked his own forehead and regretted he ever thought of changing Percival's clothes.

He felt like a fool too to stop the maid on doing her job. But the thought of those slender fingers touching the brunette's skin just felt wrong, oh so wrong; that his body was acting by his own and without even realizing it he had told the young maid to stop.

The blonde knight stood still right beside the bed, unsure what to do. He stared nervously at the sleeping man then glanced at the warm water inside the basin on the bedside table. He dipped his hand into the water and noticed it started to cool. "Oh crap." Borus breathed out as he quickly dumped the cloth into the water and rolled the hem of his shirt up to his elbows.

"Damnit, I hate you Percival. You owe me one."

The blonde mumbled grumpily as he reached and squeezed the water off of the cloth. Carefully not to wake the sleeping knight, Borus stepped closer and started to wipe the sweat off the handsome face gently. He gulped quietly and hesitated a bit before forcing himself to continue with the task.

He continued to wipe the brunette's jaw then down to his neck. He dipped the cooled cloth into the warm water again and started to wipe Percival's chest, shoulders and arms. After he was done with the first part of his task, Borus dropped the cloth back into the basin and stared at the other man.

This will be tricky, he thought to himself.

Percival was taller and bigger than him. In the battle field, Borus didn't have any difficulties to throw or pushed the other Vexen knight around with his strength. But now he was facing a new kind of dilemma. The brunette was sick and he had to handle him with care. And to act with such care to Percival was totally out of his agenda.

He sighed and sat at the edge of the bed. Placing both hands on the brunette's shoulders, Borus pulled him to sit up and leaned the sleeping man against himself. The blonde huffed a bit as he felt the other body and weight pressed against him.

As their bodies pressed against each other, he then noticed on how sick his comrade was. Percival's breath was short and raspy; sometimes he let out a dry cough too which sounded really painful as he groaned in discomfort in his sleep. His body temperature was way hotter too than usual too.

Clumsily he tried to reach for the warm cloth again and started to wipe Percifal's sweaty back gently. When he was done, he dropped the used cloth down on the ground carelessly. Carefully not to drop his sleeping comrade, Borus reached for the fresh clothing he had prepared earlier.

"Hey, help me out a bit will you." Borus patted the brunette's back wake him up a bit and be cooperative as he tried to put the shirt on the sick man.

With head still shrouded with sleep, Percival pushed himself to sit up by himself for a few seconds as Borus quickly putting the shirt around his body. The blonde almost toppled backward when the sick man flopped back onto him tiredly.

"Geez, you're such a big baby," grumbled the blonde to his comrade.

He had never known that taking care of the sick was this tiring. Borus sighed and rested his head against Percival's shoulder. Both of them stayed like that for a while. The room was quiet, aside from the soft snore coming from the sick man.

Borus absent mindedly reached his hand up and ran his fingers through the soft strand of hairs of his comrade. The blonde could swear something was wrong with himself today. He had never let out this sort of gesture to anyone before. He couldn't even dream to do this kind of thing to Lady Chris.

But today, tonight, something was different. He felt something stir inside him.

Closing his eyes, Borus relaxed his tense shoulders and accepted his comrade's presence beside him. He shifted carefully to make Percival leaned against him in a more comfortable position.

As their chests were against each other, he noticed that he could feel the brunette's gentle and rhythmic heartbeat. He listened carefully to the soft beat and soon their hearts were beating in unison. The feeling soothe Borus' mind and he wasn't sure how long they had stayed together like that.

Yet before the blonde could enjoy their closeness any longer, the brunette shifted a bit and coughed.

"W-…ter…"

Borus almost jumped out from his skin when he heard Percival broke the silence. The blonde knight could only wish to God that his comrade was asleep all the time when he unconsciously hugged him instead of setting him back to lie down.

He mentally kicked himself and groggily helped Percival to lie down onto the warm bed. "Wait here, I will go and get you some water."

Flustered, the blonde hurriedly grabbed the basin and dirty cloth then headed toward the door. When he was outside, Borus rested his forehead against the door and let out a heavy sigh. Too close, way too close, he hissed to himself.

Borus glanced around and noticed there were no guards around. He frowned at the lack of security around the castle at night time. Some of the guards weren't even on their station. The blonde Vexen Knight made a mental note to himself to give those slacking guards some lesson that they will never forget.

Reluctantly, he brought the basin of water to where the kitchen was. He was surprised to see some of the older maids were still around and they seemed to be preparing the foods for breakfast. The maids seemed to be unaware of his presence as they continued to chat lively in the kitchen. Borus cleared his throat to gain the maids' attention.

The conversation slowly died down as they turned their head to see who'd entered the kitchen at such time. "Oh my! Forgive us, Lord Borus," said one of the maids.

"It's rare to see you here, my Lord." She said with a smile.

"Is there anything that you want?" The maid asked while her eyes slowly darted to the water basin that the Vexen Knight had been carrying.

Borus offered her a slight grin and put the basin on the table. "Uh, yeah. I'm done with this," the blonde scratched his elbow slightly. "Can you fetch me a jug of water and a glass?"

"Of course, Lord Borus."

The maid bowed slightly at the Knight and went to get the said item.

Borus never set his foot in the kitchen or the dining area when it wasn't meal time or celebrating their victorious battle. Right now, he felt so out of place and awkward. He could felt some of the maids were giggling and whispered to each other about something while stealing a glance or two at the blonde Vexen Knight. How the heck did he handle being stared at like this?

Well d'oh, he probably used to this kind of condition already.

Borus' shoulders slumped slightly as his own mind provided the answer. The brunette Knight was always the one that stole women's attention. If he couldn't handle all the eyes on him, it'd be troublesome.

The maid returned with a jug of water and a glass on a tray. "Here you go, my Lord. Do you need anything else?"

The blonde Vexen Knight quickly straightened himself then took the tray from her while mumbling, "That'd be all, thanks."

Without any more words, Borus retreated from the kitchen and heard the conversation started to get lively again. He sighed and shook his head. If the enemy sent a battalion to fight him, he can handle it. But if he was placed in the room full of maids like before, he… would prefer to stay in the front line and fight.

On his way back to the brunette's room, he overheard two maids talked about how cold can transferred from person to person if they are kissing.

Borus stopped on his track, staring blankly at the water jug in front of him. He didn't understand why that comment made his cheeks and ears burning. He pushed all thought away and continued walking.

The way back to Percival's room was uneventful. The blonde Vexen Knight set the water jug on the bedside table and stared at the sleeping man.

"The hell, I went to get you some water and you went back to sleep. Geez."

If it weren't for the water you asked, I'll never have this feeling like right now. Borus cheeks started to redden again as he glared at the brunette. He wished he could turn back the time and made himself a different route to Percival's room, so he didn't overhear those two maids talking.

But it was too late now. The information already burnt on his memory, he couldn't pretend that he didn't know about it. Borus stared at the sleeping knight who was coughing a bit.

The blonde poured a glass of water and moved closer to the bedside. "Hey, you need to drink…"

There was no response. Borus tried calling again and poked his comrade to drink the water, still no response. Well, I guess he's really knocked out cold. The blonde Knight sighed and stared at the glass of water in his hand.

Borus hesitated at first before taking some of the water into his mouth and set the glass on the bedside table. He cupped the brunette's chin carefully and pressed their lips together, transferring the liquid mouth to mouth.

He made sure that Percival drunk the water before pulling away from the kiss. He could feel his cheeks and ears were burning again now. "Y-you better be feeling all better tomorrow, asshole." He said with a hiss.

With that, Borus stormed out from the brunette's room and returned to his own room for some rest. Though he doubt that he will be able to sleep at all tonight. After everything that had happened.

(to be continued)

A/N: Sorry to take such a long time to continue writing this ficcu. I was kinda stuck and everything that I wrote previously sounded so… off and lame x_x; But at least this chapter is done now QvQ

Don't forget to review *hearts*