Chapter Text
The first sign that something was wrong was how tired Kai was. He woke up that morning probably the most sluggish he’s ever felt in recent years, including the sunrise exercise Master Wu used to make them do.
The second sign that something was wrong was that no matter how much Kai felt like he should, he couldn’t bring himself to eat. At breakfast, the idea of putting food in his stomach nauseated him. Instead, he offered his pancakes to WyldFyre, who took them eagerly. But she still had a strange look on her face.
“What, pancakes tasting weird?” Kai asked, rubbing his eyes sluggishly.
WyldFyre chewed on her pancakes for a moment before she spoke. “Are you sick or som’thng?” She said with food in her mouth. “You’re looking paler than yesterday.”
Kai immediately wanted to deny the sick claim. He was fine. Sure, a little more tired than usual, and not as hungry, but who doesn't get drowsy once in a while? And besides, it was 6 am, it was early for breakfast anyway. He was fine. He was…
“Earth to Kai,” WyldFyre snapped her fingers. “Yeesh.”
Kai snapped out of his thoughts. “Hm?” He asked. “Did ya say som’th?”
WyldFyre gave him a judgmental glare. “Yeaaa, I think you're sick, dude.”
“M’not sick,” Kai said. Because he was not. Kai was perfectly fine.
“Doubt,” WyldFyre deadpanned, making an X shape with her fingers. Kai groaned.
“I need to talk to Roy about teaching you memes. That one isn't even recent," he mumbled.
“NOT THE POINT! I'm getting Nya.” WyldFyre stood up and started going towards Nya’s room.
Kai stood too and grabbed WyldFyre’s arm. “No,” he slurred.
“Kai, you're being an idiot.” she pried his hand off her wrist, which admittedly did not take that much effort. “And more than usual”
“Hey!” Kai protested, but then he paused. Maybe WyldFyre had a point. “Fine. I’ll go t’sleep.” WyldFyre seemed satisfied with this and let him go. Kai stumbled through the hallways until he reached his room. (Geez, why was it so hard for him to move all of a sudden?) Once he reached the frame of his bed, Kai practically collapsed into his mattress. The moment his head hit his pillow sweet, sweet sleep greeted him.
“K…-ai…Kai!” Kai’s eyes shot open at the yelling in his ear. Nya was standing over at the foot of his bed. Obviously pissed but also… worried? “How long have you been asleep!?”
Kai blinked, slowly, trying his hardest to process the question because damn it he just woke up. “Dunno. What time is it?” He asked. The lights in his room were on; maybe it was noon already?
“It’s 8 PM!” She stressed. “WyldFyre said that you were feeling sick, and since we all needed to go to the crossroads for errands, we thought we’d let you sleep until we got back!”
Then Kai noticed the note placed on his clock. “Running some errands. There’s soup in the fridge if you're hungry. -Zane” Kai winced. Did he seriously sleep for 14 hours straight?
“Sorry, Nya, I don't know how that happened.”
Nya pouted her lip and then sighed. “You don't have to be sorry for that.” She took another pause. “You were really out that whole time. Are you still feeling sick?”
Kai chewed the inside of his lip. “I haven't really felt sick. I'm not nauseous, but I'm definitely tired.”
“Still?” Nya said.
Kai tried to pull his best grin. “That's on you. You interrupted my beauty sleep.”
In response, Nya threw a pillow in Kai’s face. “Asshole.” She joked. “Alright, Sleeping Beauty, I'm getting Zane. He knows more about this stuff. You good here for a bit?” She asked.
Kai gave two thumbs ups. “No problemo. I promise I won't pass out.” Which is probably true. While Kai still felt incredibly tired, he was better than he was this morning.
Nya rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving the door open. Jerk.
So Kai just sat in his bed until Nya came back with the nindroid. With not much else to do or think about, Kai glanced at his nails. He hasn't painted them in a while. Not since the merge. He definitely had to wash off any and all products he had on so that… never mind. Don’t think about it.
Eventually, Kai heard footsteps coming back. In the doorframe, he saw Zane with Nya in tow. Zane flashed him a patient smile. “Hello, Kai. How are you feeling?”
Kai shrugged. “Not bad. Just tired.” He moved his shoulders a bit, "And stiff?" Zane nodded and moved further into the room. He took a chair and sat down next to Kai’s bed.
“Yes, WyldFyre told us earlier that you needed rest. Are you feeling better, or still drowsy?” He asked.
"Still drowsy, but– it's not a big deal.” Kai deflected.
"Kai, you've been asleep for 14 hours, not including the night before, when you should have gotten a sufficient amount of energy for the day.” Zane reminded him.
“Well, we’ve been very busy lately, you know, with Lord Raz and the Forbidden Five.”
Zane hummed. “Yes, that is true…” He contemplated for a moment. “Are you experiencing any other symptoms?”
Kai shook his head. “Nope.” Honestly, he just wanted to go back to sleep. He could feel his eyes getting heavy from being awake for too long.
Zane thought for a moment. “Have you eaten anything lately?” he asked.
“Oh yeah, this morning I…” Oh yeah, he gave his pancakes to WyldFyre. “Well, last night I had…” Maybe some water? “Yesterday I had some grapes for lunch.” Kai winced as he said that. That's not that much food.
Zane flashed Kai a concerned look, then stood up. “Maybe some tests are in order. This could be tied to your appetite. Nya,” he turned to her, “Can you get some yogurt from the fridge? Let's start him on something light.”
Nya nodded and left the room with her mission. “I'll get some supplies for the test, just hang tight here.” Kai gave Zane a thumbs-up before he left the room.
Nya came back quickly with a small cup of yogurt. Strawberry and mango flavor, to be exact. Nya placed the cup in his hands. “Try to eat this, okay?”
Kai smirked. “I'm fine Nya. Just probably forgot to eat for a while. You know that happens sometimes,” he said. Nya rolled her eyes. He opened the packaging and scooped a spoonful. But when Kai leaned in to take a bite, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't explain why, but the idea of putting any food inside him right now felt revolting.
Nya noticed his hesitation. “Kai, come on.”
Kai fought in his head, trying to convince his body to just eat the damn food. It shouldn’t be so hard; he’s done it before, so why does it have to be this hard?
Okay, in three, two, one, Kai shoved the spoon in his mouth and swallowed the yogurt before he could hesitate. And oh, he hated that. Why did it feel so awful?
Nya smiled at him, relieved that he at least got a little food down. “Now I know how you feel when I got the flu,” she said.
Kai chuckled. “You refused to eat anything other than Mom’s chicken noodle soup recipe.”
“And you kept messing it up!” She teased.
“She never wrote anything down! How was I supposed to know how to make it?!” The two siblings laughed. As they did, Zane entered the room with a small tote bag.
“Were you able to eat something?” He asked.
Kai held up the barely touched cup of yogurt. “A little.”
Zane nodded. “A little is better than nothing.” He then pulled out a small syringe. “First and foremost, I would like to do a simple blood test.” Zane then started pulling out other items, such as disinfectant wipes and band aids. He got to work on cleaning Kai’s wrist, the disinfectant cold and tingly against his skin.
Kai grimaced. “Is that really necessary?” He asked. Zane nodded.
“Your condition is unusual with the symptoms you mentioned, and the ones I personally observed. A blood test is the best way to get to the bottom of this.” Zane replied. He stuck the needle in Kai’s wrist. He sucked in a breath as he felt the needle in his veins before it was pulled out, a syringe now full of Kai’s blood sample, “I’ll take this down for testing. In the meantime, try your best to eat some more and get some rest.”
Zane left the room once again, leaving Kai alone with Nya.
She glances at him nervously, trying to not look too anxious.
Kai frowned. "I'll be fine, Nya. Probably got a bug- er, just caught something while we were out." Kai cringed at his choice of words, though it didn't seem like Nya noticed.
Nya sighed and glanced at the yogurt. "You think you can eat more of that?" She asked. Kai stared at the yogurt cup with careful consideration. After some thought, he shook his head. Nya glanced down and sighed again.
"I should probably let you get some sleep. But I will be checking up on you, got it?" Nya said, pointing a finger at Kai.
Kai put a hand up. "I'm serious, I'll be fine. Nothing a good decade's sleep can't fix," A smirk edged his lips when he said that. He could tell Nya would have thrown a pillow at him if she had one in her grasp.
With a final wave, Nya left the room without shutting the door. Jerk. Kai paid it no mind, letting himself melt into his covers as sleep quickly overtook him.