whyyyy

His sense reformed themselves in the soft, gentle light of his bedroom, now surrounded by gentle silence and warm blankets. However, he couldn't say that he felt any better, for the moment. The sheets were pulled closer at first, but their coziness was hardly enough to actually help anything, it only invited him to sleep again, and that was not at all what he wanted to do. He shoved the covers down, sitting up blearily with his weight placed on his hands.

“I'm sorry...” A faint voice said. The voice's owner immediately sprang to mind, but his most recent recollection of that person was of sharp hatred directed at him. He couldn't stop himself from flinching, and Pirarah noticed it, proceeding anxiously, “I didn't want to wake you up... but it didn't seem like you were sleeping well, anyway, and then...”

When Saburo had screamed, Pirarah had almost jumped from his chair, and then he did jump, but more from a sense of urgency than shock. He briefly assumed human form to lean over the other boy and shake him into wakefulness, then stood there, waiting.

“No...” Saburo said. He stared blankly down at himself, as if surprised to be intact, seeming to only barely aware of what Pirarah had told him. He did gather the basic point, though, and responded as such. “It was just some... nightmare... but thanks....”

“Do you want to sleep more?” Pirarah asked carefully, unsure of what else to ask. This did not receive a favorable response, Saburo's gaze grew wide and haunted by something that was buried in his mind with the persistence of a festering splinter. Then his eyes shut again, and he dropped his chin against his chest, shaking his head in a slight motion.

“...What... Saburo, what's... doing this to you?” The undercurrent there was obvious; what was taking away the calm demeanor the boy usually held and replacing it with this constant near-panic? What was biting into him so much, what exactly?

“I-it...” Saburo whispered, sinking in on himself, “It's... just a nightmare, but I guess you could say that it doesn't stop when I wake up...?” He smiled in mocking that was directed at only himself for that phrasing, trying to make this lighter, somehow, despite the fact that there was still a fair amount of truth to that.  “Anyway... I guess I should try to rest.” He decided to use his own need to shorten this discussion, because he didn't think it would lead anywhere pleasant, or rather, it wasn't leading to anything that he could vocalize without breaking down entirely again the more he examined it himself. He dropped back onto the pillow, burying his head in it in the hope of possibly suffocating his headache.

“Alright...” Pirarah nodded, picking up a book that he had borrowed from Kanini to read and settling back down. Saburo fell back into the pit of sleep quickly, and not long after, he started whimpering again, twitching and tossing and turning ceaselessly. The hybrid hesitated mid-page turn, eying his friend, and after a moment, he stood, laying a hand on the Pekoponian's forehead to find the expected fever. With a sigh, he departed, closing the door behind him silently to return several minutes later with a cold cloth. He nudged the human's shoulder, turning him onto his back, and laid the cloth across his forehead neatly.

“Shh... it's okay... it'll be okay... shh...” Pirarah soothed in a hushed tone. Saburo couldn't truly hear, of course, but he did slowly relax, his face smoothing to show plain tiredness as opposed to fear born from sickness. It was a relief, in some ways at least, to see it, and this time, both of them were able to relax for a while.