Chapter Text
At first, Ina didn't know what to think.
Various flower petals had been scattered over her pillow and her bed, ranging from purple to pink, to red, and white.
The priestess hadn't left her window open, and even if she did, there was no way that this many petals could wind up in her bedroom.
As peculiar as it was, Ina brushed it off and swept the flower petals into a dustpan, and dumped them into the small trash bin next to her desk before getting dressed and getting on with her day.
She had a collab stream planned with the others later that day, but it wouldn't take place until sometime in the evening, so Ina had time to kill until then.
Pulling up her tablet, Ina switched it on and flicked through the unfinished sketches she had stashed away. A lot of the unfinished sketches were merely self-indulgent works she had started whenever she couldn't sleep, but for some odd reason, Ina's chest aches upon seeing the many sketches and doodles she had of her genmates.
Clenching the fabric of her hoodie, Ina out a shaky breath. It hurt so bad.
An itch formed in her throat, and Ina coughed. Once, twice, three times until a single red flower petal fell to the floor.
Ina felt like curling up on the floor and sobbing.
Instead, she picked up the petal and dropped it into the trash bin, trying to hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes.
Ina knew what kind of condition she was in. She had seen it before over the years, and she knew what kind of flower she had just coughed up. A camellia flower. The meaning behind the flower varied with colors. The priestess couldn't remember all of them, but she had remembered reading something somewhere that said red camellia flowers meant "You're a Flame in My Heart", which made Ina smile bitterly.
She knew who the petal was for too.
It was fitting for somebody like Kiara. She was quite literally a flame in Ina's heart, and there was nothing in the world that could extinguish that fire.
Despite the ache in Ina's chest, she opened up a rough sketch she had of Kiara on her tablet and began drawing.
“...a”
“...na!”
“Ina!”
There was a gentle hand shaking her shoulder, and Ina sat up abruptly.
“Whoa! You good?”
Ina looked over in the direction of the voice only to see Gura standing next to her, blue eyes filled with concern.
Ina rubbed her eyes with her hands, stifling a yawn at the same time. “Jeez...did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah.”
“How long?”
“Like...an hour.”
Ina let out a relieved breath. She still had time before the collab. The tako was about to turn her tablet back on when a certain shark’s hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.
The touch sent electricity through Ina’s skin, and she felt her face heat up and her heart began to race.
“Ina, you haven’t fallen asleep like that in a while, and last time you did that, something was wrong,” Gura said, her face twisted into a frown.
“Are you okay?”
Ina hesitated.
Gura was right. Ina had a pretty steady sleep schedule (at least in her book. Everyone else insisted her sleep schedule was shit, and to be fair, it probably was), and would occasionally take naps after streams. Incidents like this only happened twice. Once when she was late to a stream and Kiara went ballistic, and another time she had overworked herself and slept through the entire day and well into the afternoon the next day.
“I…”
Gura hadn’t moved an inch. She was still holding onto Ina’s wrist with a firm, but gentle grip, waiting for an answer.
The priestess sighed and forced a smile. “I’m okay. Just dozed off. Still kinda tired, y’know?”
The shark hummed thoughtfully before letting go of Ina’s wrist.
“Fine. but if you fall asleep again, I’m gonna throw you into your bed!” the Atlantean declared, pointing a finger at Ina, who chuckled.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ina replied.
Once the shark had left the room, Ina doubled over and scrambled towards the trash bin, and heaved.
Pink flower petals smeared with blood fell out of Ina’s mouth, and her chest fucking ached.
Tears welled up in her blue eyes and Ina sat back and wiped the blood from her lips.
Crimson smeared the side of her hand, and the tako merely stared at the red smudge as her flaps folded back.
It was going to be a long day…
Ina didn’t know if she really wanted to eat, especially after hurling up blood-covered flower petals half an hour prior.
Despite that, she still stood in front of the fridge, tired blue eyes looking up and down searching for anything that looked good.
There was a package of cheese sticks in the drawer, which Amelia had probably purchased because she religiously ate cheese sticks.
Ina sighed and opened the drawer and reached in, taking three cheese sticks, closing the drawer, and grabbing herself a bottle of water before closing the fridge and turning around.
“Hey, Ina.”
Ina let out a surprised squeak, nearly dropping her food.
Calli let out an amused ‘pff’ at Ina’s squeak. “Sorry,” the reaper chuckled. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Ina set her water bottle down on the counter and pulled the clear plastic wrapping off of a cheese stick.
“‘S fine.” Ina said through the small bit of cheese in her mouth.
The pink-haired girl suddenly had a thoughtful look on her face, and she approached the smaller girl.
Ina’s ear flaps perked up curiously as Calli stood in front of her, crimson eyes looking the priestess up and down slowly.
“Ina?”
“Yes?”
“Are you sick?”
Ina was caught off guard by the question. “Uhh...why?”
“You look pale.” Calli answered, crossing her arms and leaning forward.
The tako’s heart began to race at the close proximity between herself and Calli. Their noses were almost touching, and Ina could smell the scent of wine and smoke on Calli’s shirt.
She suddenly couldn’t breathe (and for once, it wasn’t because of the hanahaki).
“If you’re sick, I can move the collab strea-”
“No!” Ina said a bit too quickly. “No, Calli, I’m fine. I’m just tired is all.”
The reaper hummed and leaned back.
“Eat something, dawg.” Calli said, a soft expression on her face. “Don’t wanna see you sick.”
“U-uhm… yeah, I’ll do that.”
The taller girl suddenly had a thoughtful look on her face, and she perked up.
“Hey, if you want, I can order something for you.” Calli suggested. Ina nearly choked on her cheese, not expecting that offer.
“U-uh…” How the hell was she supposed to respond to such a sweet offer?!
“N-no, thank you. I can...make myself something to eat if I get hungry again.” the tako stuttered, blue eyes averting away from crimson ones.
Calli shrugged a bit. “Alright. Make sure to eat something before the stream.”
The reaper suddenly had a playful grin on her face. “I don’t wanna have to reap you anytime soon, ‘cause that would suck.”
Well. That hit a little too close to home.
As though on cue, a burning sensation flared in her chest, crawling its way up to her throat.
“I’m g-gonna head back to my room-” A cough threatened to slip past her lips. “-and take a nap for a bit.”
“Have fun with that and don’t oversleep.” Calli joked, a lazy grin on her face. Ina did her best to mirror the smile for a moment before she grabbed her snacks and her drink, and quickly retreated back to her bedroom.
Ina’s chest felt like it was on fire. She wanted to cry because of how much it hurt. She had never felt anything this painful before. It was like the worst case of strep throat she could ever come down with.
The only difference was all the damn flower petals coming out of her.
Ina locked her bedroom door.
Why? She didn’t know the exact reason. The nagging voice in her brain was screaming at her to unlock the damn thing, but Ina wanted to be left alone.
It was only now that Ina realized how hot she felt like she had spent too long in a hot room. Her head was pounding with a horrendous headache that only seemed to worsen with every little sound.
Ina wasn’t a doctor, but that didn’t stop her from trying to do something to ease her misery.
She turned off the lights in her room, followed by the blinds being dropped down over the windows and the blackout curtains being drawn, putting the room in a darkness like it was night out.
Next, Ina turned on her AC, but dropped the temperature down to a borderline freezing temperature (nothing too extreme, just something that would cool her off some).
Two Advil pills and a cheese stick later, Ina was laying on her bed staring at nothing, her mind teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. She was highly aware of the goosebumps across her skin, but the priestess couldn’t be bothered to move her arm to yank a blanket over her body.
The low hum of the AC was the only sound filling the air. It wasn’t too loud, just a gentle hum that reminded Ina of white noise, in a way.
The pain in her throat and her head faded gradually, but no painkiller on Earth could get rid of the pain in her chest.
Tears welled up in the tako’s eyes and slid down her cheeks.
She hated this so much.