A Sick Dai

I didn't think it would be that difficult until I heard a large *THUD* coming from our room. I dropped the wooden spoon in the pot where I was cooking dinner and flung myself toward down the hallway, towards our door. "Dai, are you ok!?"

I found her lying face-first on the floor, bundled up in her pajamas, a coat, and her winter gloves, groaning. "Dai, what in the world are you doing? You should be relaxing in bed, not trying to work out!"

"I-I cannot, Anon. I-urgh-must strive t-to improve myself every day, I-I have no time t-to be impaired by an illness," she said as she brought her arms toward herself, attempting to do a pushup. She managed about five before she collapsed again.

I could only sigh. She'd been coming down with a cold over the past few days, and instead of trying to deal with it earlier she ramped up her training in order to fight through it. Needless to say, it failed miserably and now she'd managed to worsen what had been a light cold. "Dai, you need to rest. I'm sorry, but you just don't have enough strength to attempt your usual level of working-out."

"Do not look down on me, Anon! Exceeding limits is what drives my very being! If I cannot meet my usual limits, then I shall adapt! At least fifty pushups!" Dai brought her arms back to shoulder-width, and again she fell flat on her face, this time after only three pushups. "Damn it..."

"Dai, this is your limit for today. You shouldn't even be out of bed right now, so please, call it a day," I said as I wrapped my arms under her shoulders in order to pick her up. She was as heavy as ever, and I could start to feel my legs shaking as I brought her onto her feet. She hadn't said anything, but slowly brought her head up to meet my eyes as I lifted her.

"Very well..." she sighed. Thankfully, Daidouji managed to support some of her own weight as I guided her towards the bed, and she laid back down without a fuss.

"Now, please, relax and maybe try to sleep. I'll have dinner ready in a bit. It's a stew, something light and easy to eat while you're sick. Just give me a call if you need anything, okay?" I asked. She hadn't responded, and simply laid there with her eyes closed. I figured that she understood, or that perhaps she was falling asleep already. I started to move towards the door, stopping when I realized that Dai had grabbed my right wrist at some time between picking her up and laying her down. "Uh, Dai, I need you to let go, I have to finish dinner."

"No."
What? "Uhm, what?"

Daidouji opened her eyes and stared right back into mine with her usual serious demeanor. "As I have said, with my illness, I will have to adapt to meet my new limits. If you will not allow me to train outside of this bed, then I will devise new training. As such..." she said as I found myself suddenly yanked onto my knees at the side of the bed. "...we will arm wrestle."

Well, I should have probably expected this sort of thing to happen. I figured that I might as well go along with it if it meant Dai would just relax in bed finally. "Sure, let's wrestle then."

"Hmph. I had expected more resistance from you, Anon. Are you taking pity on me?" She certainly did not sound enthused  about my quick submission, and she certainly sounded angry about me supposedly taking pity on her...

This would be dangerous. All I could do was steel myself and try to sound confident when I responded to her.

"No, Dai. I've already been wrestling with you, this whole time in fact. I just want you to get better, probably more than you or I realize. I just want you to stay in bed, so that you'll recover, and not have to struggle with some simple pushups or force yourself to adapt your limits. Instead, you've been trying to force yourself to train, probably even before I heard you collapse, which'll just drag out this illness even longer. So no, I'm not taking pity on you. I'll arm wrestle you for as long as you want, I'll wrestle you until your or my arms are swollen and limp and can't wrestle any more, if it all means you'll calm down with your training until you're better. So come on!" I thrust my arm out, waiting for her to take my hand. "Let's wrestle!"

Wow.

I think I'd portrayed myself as being a bit more angry than I actually was.

She'd kept her serious expression the entire time though, and kept her eyes glued to mine as I saw her shift her arm up to meet mine. Before we started, I heard her squeak out, "I-I'm sorry Anon."

It was as tough as I expected it to be, since in spite of her illness, Dai was a beast. I put everything into making her budge, and it still was just barely enough. However, I could tell that she couldn't give it her all, since under a normal arm wrestling scenario Daidouji would have sent my arm through whatever surface we were wrestling on in less than a second. It took so long, but there was finally a major shift in our arms' position. I'd started to force Dai's arm towards the bed, and although she kept valiantly fighting, I finally managed to pin her arm down.

"There. Now, start relaxing," I said as I stood up. That stew would probably start burning soon.

At first I thought Dai might've been shocked that I managed to beat her, but instead she just closed her eyes again as she laid back into the bed with one of the warmest smiles I'd ever seen her wear. "Hm, Anon, you are starting to become stronger, are you not?"

"I wouldn't put too much faith in that arm wrestling, Dai, I mean you're sick, in a bad position to arm wrestle, I was kinda pissed off, I-"

"Anon, please do not undercut your performance. You are getting stronger. Before, you would not have managed to best me even if I were as sick as I am now."

She wasn't wrong. Just joining in on some of the Daidouji's training on a regular basis had caused me to start building some muscle, and I could feel stronger than I was before we had gotten together.

"I mean... I guess. Thanks, Dai."

"Do not thank me too much, Anon. You were responsible for your drive to match me in training. Not many attempt the same level of training that I follow, much less trying to match the same results I strive for."

I took her hand again and held it as I sat down near her. I sat there for a while, feeling her rough, calloused hand as we enjoyed each others' presence.

"I'm sorry for being so angry Dai. I just-"

"No, Anon, I am sorry. I am likely a burden on you, not only physically, but mentally, if you must worry about if I am overexerting myself. I will attempt to focus myself on recovering before I start training once more."

I smiled. "Thank you, Dai. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure that stew isn't exceeding limits of its own. Its heat limit, if you would."

Okay, that was a little cringey, but Dai didn't seem to mind. She laid back into the bed once again and closed her eyes to relax. I moved to leave the room, and I heard Dai call out as I left the room "Anon, I believe that you deserve a reward for your victory. How would you like to bathe together tonight?"

I softly chuckled. With how much I was helping Dai, I was pretty much guaranteed to catch her cold when she was over hers, so what did it matter if we bathed together tonight? Might as well give her a little warmth of my own in the shower. "Sounds great to me, Dai!"

Now all I had to do was fish out that spoon I'd dropped in the stew.