Chapter Text
Kai's POV.
I was awoken by Sensei Wu, yelling(well, calling it yelling is a little disrespectfull) talking loudly in our ears, and telling us to wake up. My back hurts. Ofcourse. We've been sleeping on these weird brocken beds. In this crappy apartment. I even need to call myself lucky, Cole over there sleeps on the fu*#ing table. Atleast I have...a bed, without a mattress ofcourse. Nya is the real lucky one. She's sleeping with her friend, in a nice cozy warm house. Clean, and big. Thats what I imagine at night when I close my eyes. That i'm in a big, warm, clean place. But who am I kidding. This moldy, dark and dirty apartment, if you can even call it an apartment (it only has one room bruh, so more like a tiny studio), is where I'm at. And the kid, poor kid. He developed this bad cough soon after we moved in this place. It's definitly the mold causing it. At night it's almost impossible to sleep, cuz he just keeps coughing. Last night I was up with him for a little. He told me he was feeling worse, and I could see it in his face yeah. He was paler than usual, and he sounded alot more congested. We really need to get a new place, or our ship back! Atleast now we spend most of our days at Darreth's Dojo instead of here. I swear, the kid was recovering a bit, but since yesterday he's been more off somehow, more sluggish in training. I was snapped out of thought by the kid himself. I forgot he fell asleep on me last night.
"Hi Kai." He said in a soft voice. He was smiling at me, ah what an adorable kid, am I getting baby fever? "Hey kid, how are you holding up huh?" I asked, a smile appearing on my face aswell. He answered with a harsh wet cough. Oh. Ofcourse. Almost forgot. "Still got that cough huh?" I said, drifting back into my thoughts. Why can't he just stay with nya and her friend, I swear, he would never have had this cough. I sighed. "I'm fine." He replied. "Ofcourse you are." I said sarcastically, ruffling his hair as I did often. The kid just has the softest hair, and is so irresistably cute, his hair gets ruffeled quite often. As I did so, I noticed he felt a bit warm. Warmer than usually, anyway. "Sensei, do we have to train him today? He feels quite warm." I asked the old man. "It is vital he gets all the training he needs." Sensei replied dryly. Gosh, couldn't he have some symphaty for his own nephew. I sighed. Getting up and getting ready, as everyone did so too.
"Uhh, sensei, the yellow water that came out of the sink before is not coming out of the sink anymore." Jay said in a whiny way. "The light also doesn't work." Zane said, inspecting our home. Cole spoke up "That could only mean one thing, we dont have power anymore." He left out a deep sign, as did I. "Aw, does this mean its going to get even colder than it already is in here?" Lloyd asked softly. Gosh, he sounded so sad. How do I even answer to this? "Don't worry kid, I'll keep you warm." I told him. He started giggling at that answer. Good to see him laugh at least. But the laughing turned into coughing real soon. "Ugh, sensei, are you surr we need to train him?" I asked him. "Yes, I will not say it again, now get ready too Kai."
Ughhh. Fine.
Time Jump. Walking to Darreth's Dojo.
Lloyd held my hand the whole way. Thats actually so sweet I could cry. With his free hand he kept itching at his arm. I didn't think much of it, knowing the kid has a bit of eczema. He kept sniffling too, gosh the kid was congested.
We finally made it to the Dojo. We greeted Darreth. Darreth consulted us, "I need to inform you that theres been an outbreak of chickenpox in the class I teach. So all classes have been canceled for 21 days to minimize the spread." Omg, chickenpox? Thats the last thing we wan't to deal with right now. We've got our hands full, and the kids already sickly. The kid scratched his arm again, and then it hit me, as I realised what we could be dealing with right now... "Lloyd, hun, you've been itching quite alot there. Let me take a look." I told him, the rest of the team realising aswell, and we all feared the worst. I pulled his sleeve up, revealing dots scattered across his arm, all the way up to his shoulder. I sighed. "Guys... come take a look at this.." I sighed again. The others came to look. "Ohh.." "shit."
"He has them! He's got chickenpox!" Darreth yelled dramatically, but just for the drama effect, as he kept calm right after. "Yea... I can tell." I said bluntly. "So this is why I've been so itchy?" Lloyd said, as he looked up at me. "That definitely explains it yup." Jay says. I took a closer look at the pox, examining each one. "Yea, see how they're fulled with fluid." I pointed out. Sensei anounced, "Okay, no training today, lets focus on Lloyd getting better so we dont worsen his condition." I smirked, "I thought it was 'no more questions, lloyd will train no matter what' haha", Jay says, laughing. Cole nudged Jay, and rolled his eyes at him, "Don't talk to Sensei like that." I smiled at the commotion. I turnded my attention back at the kid, who was practically leaning onto my side at this point. "Hey, don't worry, we will get you better in no time." I said, gently running my hand through his hair. Darreth broke the silence, "Okay guys, its time to leave then." He said, already waving us goodbye. The others begged Darreth to let them stay here, stating that the kid will never get better in that dirty moldy apartment. But the answer was no. Soon enough we were standing outside his Dojo. "Sensei, what do we do? He's not going to get better in this cold weather, but that moldy apartment isn't much better either.." I asked Sensei unsure. Sensei also looked lost. Finally he asnwered with, "Inside is best for the boy, lets go back students." I sighed. The kid was still holding on to me. "Let me carry you, I can't let your sick ahh walk all the way home again." I said, picking him up with ease, too much ease actually. "Thank you Kai." Lloyd said, smiling with gratefullness. "Ofcourse kid."
As soon as we came home, I placed the kid on the only mattress in the house. Someone knocked on the door, Jay opened the door. It was Nya! "I heared someone is sick." Nya said as she entered. Lloyd smiled at her. "I brought some cream for the itchyness." She handed the cream to me. "Thanks sis. You're the best."
I looked at Lloyd. "Okay kid, lets put this on you and get you in some comfy clothes." I pulled on the hem of his shirt to help him take his clothes off. He suddenly panicked and held tight to his shirt, not letting me take it off. "No." No? Why doesn't he want to take his shirt off? "Lloyd, I need to put this cream on you, plus I need to see how bad your rash is, not just your arm." I told the kid. "No, not infront of everybody." He said, shaking his head no. Omg, he looked so... so scared. "Why not??" The curious ahh Jay said, clearly not seeing how distressed the kid looked. "The kid is clearly uncomfortable, I suggest we all leave for a bit." Zane said in his calm demeanor. "What about sensei your uncle? Can he stay?" I asked the kid in a soft manner. The kid shaked his head no, " Just you, please?" He asked me. I could hear a shake in his voice. "You heard the kid, move your a$$es out of here for a second." I told the rest. Sensei gave me a knowing look, and left too.
The door shut loudly, making the kid flinch. "Hey, hey, its okay, its just us now." I reassured the kid. The kid nodded, he looked slightly calmer. I asked the kid, " Why didn't you want to take off your clothes?" He took a long breath out and answered. "You know what happened at that school right.. where the teachers hurt me...", he said very softly. "I know kid. It's the scars isn't it. Don't worry, you know I dont judge. I've seen them before, remember?" I said, trying to come over as comforting as I could. "It's, it's not just that." Not just that? Oh.. "What else is bothering you, you can tell me." I said, looking at the kid, whose eyes were starting to dwell up by the way. "Kai, they... they did things to me... b-bad things okay." The kid told me, tears rolling down his cheeck. "What kind of things?" I asked Lloyd, concern growing. "The teachers.. th-they.. did.. dirty things to me. It really hurt." The kid said, so soft I could almost not hear him. My heart shattered as I realised what he was trying to say. "Oh Lloyd." I hugged the shaking kid. "Is that why you don't want to change infront of us?" I asked him, with a soft voice. "I don't want to be naked in front of anyone ever again." He said. Oh my. My heart. This is so bad. "Lloyd, oh lloyd. You're safe here okay, I won't let anyone hurt you ever again." I said, holding him close and rubbing his back. I wiped awat his tears. Oh Lloyd. "You can trust us okay. You can trust me." I told him soothingly. Trying my hardest not to cry myself. "I trust you." Lloyd said.
Wow, I gained the kids trust. I'm allowed to put the cream on him and even examinate his body to look at the pox througly. Trying to make him laugh by teasing him. "I'm going to make so many pictures of you and your dotted face!" I teased him, earning a laugh from the kid. "Nooo, pleasee, don't, aahhh! He giggled. "Oh yes, I'm gonna show it to you when you're older, and one day we can laugh about all of this." I teased him more. "You'll never let it go huh?" The kid said, with a smile on his face. "Ohh noo, never." I laughed too.
Lloyd was older now. Still a kid though, I mean 14 is still a kid. Lots has happened since that day. After going through like 20 more traumas, the kid was having a bit of a down day. But I, as a self proclaimed cool big brother, will not allow him to feel sad on such a beautifull day. "Hey kid, I was clearing uo my phone, and look what I just found." I showed him a selfie of the two of us, with lloyd being fully covered in red pox. "Omg, nooooo", he laughed at me, covering his eyes with his hands. "I told you I would never shut up about this. He laughed. Yes, thats good, I managed to cheer the teen up. We sat in each others company the rest of the day, recounting other funny stories.
I went to bed, but before falling asleep, a memory came back. "I trust you."
He trusts me, I thought. A tear slipped down my cheeck, but I was at peace. Knowing the kid was safe now. Safe with me.