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It's been two weeks of intensive testing and yet they're still no closer to finding a way to reverse Jounouchi's condition.
Needless to say, the adjustment has been hard for her. Kaiba, on the other hand, isn't in a hurry to fix these new changes. Taking away Jounouchi's appealing curves and kicking her out of the house isn't high on his to-do list.
Jounouchi on the other hand...
However, he only begins to understand the gravity of the situation when he comes home from work one day and there's uncontrollable weeping flowing out of his guest room.
In a way, Kaiba should have known something like this was coming.
He curiously enters the room; the door was left open haphazardly.
Jounouchi is on the floor, in the space between the bathroom door and the bed, clutching her abdomen. Tears are streaming down her face. It's as if she collapsed from exhaustion and though the distance from where she is to the foot of the bed is less than a meter, it's far too far.
She's mumbling something between stretches of bawling and Kaiba guiltily crouches down to hear her properly.
"Stupid hormones. Stupid machine. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."
She whimpers.
"It hurts so much..." Jounouchi says to no one in particular. She's barely registered that Kaiba is there.
And for once, Kaiba can't find a snide remark. He's at a complete loss.
Feeling the need to do something, he grabs a box of tissues off the nightstand and kneels down next to her. Jounouchi finally notices him and looks up with a dazed expression on her face, like she's about to faint.
Kaiba frowns and then hands her a tissue.
Jounouchi accepts and uses it to wipe her face, but it has little effect.
Depositing the tissue box next to Jounouchi, Kaiba grabs the covers off the bed and wraps them around her slender shoulders.
This seems to help a bit and Jounouchi rights herself to fully bury herself in the warmth.
Intent on rubbing her back through the blankets, Kaiba's fingers ghost along the cloth, but he hesitates. The last time he'd touched her didn't have a very pleasant reaction.
"Stop it..." Jounouchi sniffles, staring up at him with weepy eyes.
"What?" Kaiba glares.
"This," she says, defeated, flopping her arms to her side. "Being nice. Doing stuff like this... and being a good brother... and... charity and stuff." She shakes her head as if it will clear up the pain-induced fog on her brain. "It makes me not hate you."
Then she lets out a belabored sigh.
"And I have to hate you."
Kaiba's eyes narrow.
"'Cause if I don't hate you..." She looks at him and her eyes are still swimming. "Then I..."
Kaiba looks away and then abruptly stands up before she can finish.
She stares up at him before dabbing her eyes with the corner of a blanket.
"I... I'm going to... check on the machine's progress."
He looks like he's going to say more, but he doesn't. Instead he strides out of the room and gently closes the door behind him.