Nine Lives

22. Journals

"... Sei?"

Kuroko sits up groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He frowns as he looks at the familiar sitting on the side of his bed. Sei smiles at him.

"Good morning Tetsuya. I was worried you weren't going to wake up."

Kuroko turns to look at his alarm clock in confusion. It's just after noon. On a Thursday. Kuroko's eyes widen and he sits up quickly.

"I'm late!" He shouts before the room suddenly starts swimming. Kuroko sways, raising his hand to his head.

"Careful, Tetsuya." Sei tells him, reaching out and holding him steady. Kuroko groans, his head is pounding and his vision gets fuzzy for a moment.

"What...?"

"You're dehydrated." Sei tells him. "Here."

Seijurou reaches over to the bedside table and hands Kuroko a glass of water. Kuroko takes it gratefully and drinks.

"Slowly." Sei says, watching him closely. Kuroko takes a long drink before handing the water back. Seijurou places it back on the table. "How do you feel?"

"My head hurts and my body feels gross." Kuroko tells him with a grimace. Seijurou smiles lightly, reaching out to brush the hair away from Kuroko's forehead. Kuroko looks at him in surprise.

"Do you remember waking up last night?" Seijurou asks him calmly. Kuroko frowns for a moment, thinking about last night. It takes a moment for it to come back to him but when he remembers the dream he suddenly feels sick. He brings a hand up to his mouth, sucking in a sharp breath. He looks at Seijurou in terror and the familiar moves closer, reaching over to cup Kuroko's cheek.

"It's okay. Breathe." Seijurou tells him. "It's over now."

Kuroko stares into Sei's eyes as he lets out his breath shakily.

"They destroyed the house..."

"It's okay, everything inside was replaceable."

"You were inside."

"And now I'm here."

Seijurou runs his fingers through Kuroko's hair again, soothingly. The motion reminds Kuroko of what happened after the dream. He looks down, suddenly embarrassed. He had been so terrified after waking up and feeling himself burning alive, he hadn't actually thought about what he was saying or doing.

"I'm sorry Tetsuya." Sei says softly. Kuroko glances up at him. "For all of it."

"It's not your fault." Kuroko says.

"It is my fault. I've been acting so selfishly all this time; I've not been paying attention to how you've been feeling. If I wasn't so selfish, you wouldn't be suffering."

"If you weren't selfish I wouldn't be alive, Sei. It's okay."

Seijurou smiles sadly, leaning over and resting his forehead against Kuroko's. Kuroko watches him in surprise. "I'm sorry." He says softly.

Seijurou pulls away after a moment, so he can see Kuroko clearly again.

"I've asked Ryouta to pick up your notes from class today. I think you should stay home for now."

Kuroko nods lightly. "Okay."

Seijurou stands from the bed and holds out his hands. "Come. I'll make lunch and you can take a shower and wash the sweat from your body."

Kuroko pushes the blanket off of him and swings his legs over the bed. He doesn't take Sei's hand at first, trying to get up on his own, but the motion and effort it takes for him to stand from the bed makes the room spin again and he quickly reaches out to grab the familiars hand and steady himself. Seijurou wraps his other hand around Kuroko's waist so he doesn't fall over and smiles lightly at Kuroko.