Rating: Uh... PG-13, I guess.

Dedication: To Alicia McKenzie, because she inspired us all. :)

This is... the tenth, I think, chapter in the Kitten Saga. Reading previous installments should make things clear, although I think it's easy enough to read... Feedback can be sent to: persephone_kore@yahoo.com and shreelana@yahoo.com

Nathan paused outside Stryfe's door. He had decided to knock this time. For some reason the minor courtesy seemed to irritate Stryfe more than simply barging in, perhaps because denying access wasn't really an option.

He had half-raised his hand when he stopped moving and frowned. Had he just heard a sneeze?

Maybe it was one of the cats.

He knocked anyway.

"Come in."

Nate opened the door and stepped in, a cheery smile on his face, "And how are you this fine morning, Stryfe?"

The afore-mentioned prisoner looked up from his cross-legged position on the cot, a glare in his eyes. "Did somebody give you happy drugs, Dayspring?"

"I see you're in an even worse mood than usual." Nate looked around the room and determined that the cats were distributed comfortably throughout it, although for some reason none of them were on Stryfe at the moment.

Stryfe sniffed, "Breakfast wasn't very good."

"It wasn't?"

"No." He'd barely been able to taste it.

"What was wrong with it?"

"No flavor." He sniffed again, harder.

"Oh, well, I'll have to have the kitchen staff flogged, then."

Stryfe stared at him suspiciously. "You made a joke. Right?"

"Yes, I made a joke. That's more your style--or rather, Apocalypse's."

Stryfe sniffed again. "It wasn't funny."

"Not especially," Nate agreed cheerfully. "I suppose I could suggest they spice up your lunch a little, but I'm almost afraid to guess what the result of that would be..."

"Probably something I really *would* want to flog them for." He sniffed a fourth time, drawing a rather odd look from Nate.

"That's starting to sound less and less haughty and more like you actually need to. Are you sure the *food* was the reason you couldn't taste it?"

"Yes." Stryfe grimaced as a sneeze began making his nose itch. "Now. Don't you have better things to do with your time?"

Nathan leaned against the wall, and watched as two kittens began climbing his boots. "Probably." He looked at Stryfe, "But this is much more fun."

"You have a warped sense of recreation."

"Probably," Nate agreed again, telekinetically scritching the top of one kitten's head. It looked around frantically for the hand and then just clung to his boot and purred loudly. "How come you aren't getting climbed on today?"

"They like you better?" Stryfe suggested sourly.

Nate grinned, "Why are you scrunching your nose up like that, Stryfe?"

"It... itches."

"You're making the most extraordinary faces about it, too," Nate observed. "You might just try scratching it."

"Won't help." It was getting much worse; and Nathan was almost laughing at him.

"Why not?"

"Fine." Stryfe hrmphed and scratched his nose. The tickly feeling intensified, and he gritted his teeth as the sneeze built.

"Now you look even sillier."

"I--*choo*." Stryfe glared at him, "Do not."

"Well, *now* you don't. Not as much, anyway." Apparently it hadn't been a cat after all.

Stryfe grimaced again. Unfortunately, it hadn't helped for more than a few seconds this time. "I don't look silly."

"I thought I'd heard a sneeze when I was about to knock," Nathan said cheerfully. "Except at the time I thought it might have been a cat."

"Get that smug look off your face, Dayspring. I am *not* sick. There's just a lot of dust in here."

"Did I say a word about your being sick? There shouldn't be any more dust than there has been for weeks, though."

Stryfe's nose, despite the dismissal of possible reasons for it, continued to tickle ferociously.

"Well, there must be." Stryfe sniffled, attempting to not sneeze again.

"Maybe you're allergic to the kittens," Nate suggested helpfully.

"No." Although it would mean they'd never be around him again, the thought gave him a feeling of loneliness. So he wasn't. At all. His nose twitched, and he sneezed again.

"Well, it does seem a little sudden for you to be developing an allergy. I suppose they could have rolled in something peculiar. Maybe you should wash them."

That was hard enough when he *wasn't* sneezing.

"Or you could have actually come down with something."

Stryfe reflected plaintively that it would have been nice if the times a single sneeze had shooed off the tickle in his nose for several minutes had coincided with Nathan's visit, instead of... well... this.

"I--*sneeze*--have not."

Nate grinned cheerily. "I'll have Hope come have a look at you." He carefully removed the kittens, "But I have affairs of state to attend to now." He sighed.

He blinked as he opened the door and discovered Kyrin walking down the hall. "Hello. I thought you were off duty today."

"I am." She smiled mischievously. "I promised the Chaos-Bringer a visit."

"I'm not sure he's feeling up to company right now..." Nate glanced over his shoulder.

She peered over his shoulder at Stryfe, who was wiping his dripping nose on the napkin left over from his tasteless breakfast. "Awww. He's got a cold." She grinned, "Even better."

Nate blinked, "You like torturing him?"

"I. Am. Not. Sick," Stryfe growled. The growl would probably have been more impressive if he hadn't promptly squeezed his eyes shut to sneeze again.

"Mhmm." She waited for Nate to step out of her way, then entered Stryfe's room. "And that would be why you're sneezing."

"I'll send Hope along when she has a free minute," Nathan said. He wanted to stay and listen to what was bound to be an amusing conversation, but duty called.

Kyrin went over and sat down on the cot, uninvited, once Nathan had closed the door. Stryfe wiped his nose again and didn't turn to face her. "If you think I have a cold, why aren't you staying out of range?"

"I somehow doubt it's anything deadly. Besides, I take care of babies and small children, sometimes in groups. I've developed a very enthusiastic immune system."

He looked at her, "Why are you here, anyway?" Bad enough he had a cold. Even worse, to have the Askani who thought he was cute see him like this.

"I'm off duty and, as I mentioned to Nathan, I promised you a visit. Looks like you could possibly use a little fussing over, too."

Stryfe dabbed cautiously at his nose again as the itch renewed itself. That couldn't be what they were supposed to do with sick prisoners...

"What are you going to--*sniff*--do with me?" he asked guardedly.

"I suppose I could read you stories and make chicken soup..."

Stryfe eyed her. "...I can't taste anything."

Kyrin looked mischievous. "I make it with enough peppers and it'll clear out your nose until you can."

Stryfe winced and pressed the napkin harder under his nose, turning away. Even *thinking* about that made his nose tingle viciously.

"Let me guess, The Chaos-Bringer needs no pampering."

"Ex--*sneeze*--actly."

Kyrin reached over and patted his shoulder. He jumped under her hand. "Think he can handle it anyway?" A pause. "You're going to use up that napkin in a little while at this rate."

"Faster if you make me eat peppers." He supposed there wasn't much point in denying it any more...

"Well, I'd bring you something else to sneeze on."

The kittens clambered onto the bed, and expectantly attempted to all fit in Kyrin's lap. She blinked at them as they fought over who got to sit where. "So, you're sick. I'm sure some tissues will be found for you to use." She grinned at him, "There's even soft fluffy ones that we use on the babies, so their noses aren't hurt."

"I'll live," he growled. He hoped. If he didn't manage to convince them keeping him alive was more trouble than he was worth. Maybe if taking care of him entertained an Askani he should count it as a minor stroke of good fortune for once.

"Well, I should think so."

Stryfe sniffled hard and considered that that was probably an encouraging sentiment.

A kitten, having lost its place on Kyrin's lap, decided to brave the great Sneezing Creature, and sauntered over to Stryfe. "Mrrow?"

He sighed and patted its head. It purred.

"Honestly. Are you always like this when you're sick?"

"I don't know, I've never been sick before--that I remember." He hastily added at her raised eyebrow.

"So, going by what my mother says, you are always a cranky child when you're sick."

"As far as I recall, I was very rarely in a good mood as a child, and I haven't seen your mother since then."

She chuckled, "Your moods seem to vary. Anyway, how can you be grouchy when you have kittens?"

"They're vicious little beasts." A pause. "Even if they are cuddly."

A knock on his door distracted both, and Stryfe called out, "Come in."

"Time for me to go, probably." Kyrin rose, carefully removing the accumulated kittens. They protested, but seemed happy enough to start chasing each other around the room.

Hope stepped in and raised an eyebrow at Kyrin. "You could stay and watch him be a worse patient than Nathan."

Kyrin grinned. "Don't you usually claim that's impossible?"

"I've seen him fuss over a pregnant cat. I'd say I'll give it a shot. He was all right as far as the scratches went, I admit." Hope moved over to Stryfe. "So. Nathan tells me you're allergic to your cats."

Stryfe shook his head, "I'm not allergic to them."

"Then you have a cold."

"No--*sneeze*"

"Stryfe..."

"I am NOT allergic to them."

"No... But you're sick."

"...am not."

Hope crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. And that wasn't a surreptitious swipe at your nose to keep it from dripping."

Kyrin snickered from her position by the door.

"..."

"I'm right."

"You are not."

"You know, Stryfe, I realize this may be a new concept for you to digest, but first aid and that incidental to chronophysics do *not* constitute my entire medical training."

Stryfe tried to glare, which might have been more effective if his eyes hadn't been stinging at the corners. Apparently the urge to sneeze was no longer remaining confined rationally to his nose. He sniffled, which only made the tickling worse.

"Well, you *don't* tend to have this problem under normal circumstances," Kyrin pointed out. She had stopped even pretending she was about to leave, leaning on the doorframe instead. "I'd say it's fairly obvious *something* is the matter with no training at all."

"True." He looked grumpy as he admitted something might, possibly, just *maybe*, be wrong. "I... am sneezing."

Hope nodded, "It's probably something very simple. Like a cold, or the flu."

Stryfe sniffed, "But I don't get sick."

"You know, I seem to recall him mocking Askani for stating the excessively obvious," Kyrin remarked conversationally to Hope. "On the other hand, the propensity of certain people to maintain what based on all the evidence is *not* might perhaps explain this somewhat."

"Mm. Maybe." Hope eyed him. "Stryfe, give me ten minutes with a sample and I can tell you for sure."

"A sample of *what*?"

"Well, I think at this point getting you to sneeze in the vial would probably be easiest. Or spit, if you don't feel like sneezing at the time."

Stryfe sneezed in answer to her comment, then held out his hand for the vial. He glared at it, as if had done him wrong, or maybe he just knew it would do him wrong by confirming that he had... a cold. He sneezed again, catching the resulting spray in the vial. "Here."

"Thank you." She held the container up, shook it, then pulled a bottle out of her medical kit and added a few drops from it. Another shake, and the colour of the mixture in the vial turned a blueish green.

"How cute." Kyrin leaned over to scratch the kitten playing with her boot.

Stryfe glowered at her.

"I meant the kitten," she said sweetly.

"I should hope so," he replied rather grouchily.

Kyrin gave him an amused look and flicked hair off his forehead.

"According to this," Hope said drily, "you have a cold. I'd have to check in the lab, but I bet I could name the virus."

"Why?"

"We noticed Tyler sniffling. I imagine it's the same one."

"Dayspring's child gave me a cold?" Stryfe sounded terribly outraged.

Kyrin laughed. "I told you kids carry all kinds of disease."

Hope snorted, "It will probably make its way through the entire palace." She sighed, "I shall have to stock up on vitamins."

"You seem decidedly calm about it."

"Well, it's hardly life-threatening. It doesn't even appear to be particularly debilitating. I can think of much worse."

"So can I." Stryfe muttered. Diamonde wandered over to him and set a paw on his leg. "Mrrr?"

"At any rate... I'll go check. You might as well stay put; I'm sure everyone--except Kyrin, who to all appearances really doesn't get sick--will catch it eventually, but there's no point letting you speed things up."

Hope disappeared. Stryfe eyed Kyrin unhappily.

She shrugged. "I do sometimes. Not more often than you claim, I think."

Diamonde dug a claw into his leg, and he absently started petting her. "Well, I didn't--*sneeze*--used to get sick."

"Mhmm." She scritched the kitten climbing across her lap. "At least you're not allergic to the cats."

"I wish I was."

"Why? This way all you really have to do is wait several days. Nathan's even letting you off some of the chores."

Then he wouldn't have them around him, and wouldn't feel any sort of soft feelings for them. And he wouldn't feel this yearning need to have friends. He scowled, "No reason." And he might be able to shield his thoughts better, without the softness breaking down his mental barriers.

She studied him, then nodded, "Ah. So, tell me, do they have names?"

He blinked, "Names?"

"The kittens," she replied patiently.

"I only named Diamonde because Nathan--*sneeze*--made me." He sniffed and tried to push the next sneeze back with the napkin.

"Oh." She tilted her head to the side, "So why not name the others?"

"Because Nathan hasn't made me," He said with a mulish look in his eyes.

"Should I suggest it? I'd think you'd rather *not* be coerced. Besides, you've already rather blown the idea that you aren't fond of them."

He sniffed into the napkin again. "Fine. Bloody, Kitten, Killer, Stupid, and Mangey."

She snorted, "I don't think so." She glanced at the two kittens stalking each other across the floor. "Try something more kittenish."

Stryfe opened his mouth again and then grimaced. "'Kitten' isn't--*choo*--kittenish?"

"Too generic."

"Well, then. One, Two, Three, Four and Five."

Kyrin snorted. "Which is which?"

"If I could remember what order they were born in..." He muttered.

"Hmm. Probably best to have waited until you were sure they had distinctive markings. It's not as if you can depend on them answering you."

"Then what's the--*choo*--point?"

"The names are for you, not them."

"What if I don't care?"

She grinned. "Then they're for me."

"You name them then!"

"They're not my kittens." Kyrin patted his arm and looked thoughtful. "Perhaps a theme of some sort. You named the mother after a jewel..."

He sneezed again, then glared at the kittens. "Cinders, Graphite, Goldie, Sapphire and Emerald."

"Which is which?"

Stryfe considered groaning. "Sapphire is the darkest black one with shiny fur. Graphite is really a dark charcoal gray with black paws, and Cinders is the same but with lighter flecks." He stopped and wished passionately for another napkin as his nose began to feel stuffed with feathers.

Kyrin was on her hands and knees on the floor, studying kittens. He couldn't exactly ask her for help even if he had been inclined to--which at this point he might have, if he'd thought she could conjure napkins out of the air.

He stuffed the current napkin under his nose and sneezed into it. As if finally giving up the ghost, the napkin squelched at him. He glared at it, then tilted his head back, fighting the flow of more liquid.

"Need another?"

She *had* conjured one from the air. He stared at her, then grabbed it just in time to sneeze again.

Kyrin sat back down beside him and patted his shoulder while he blew his nose and then tried to catch his breath.

"How'd you do that?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Pull a napkin out of the air."

"Ah. That." She grinned as a kitten hopped into her lap, purring. "Babies."

Stryfe looked confused, then sneezed again. "Babies?"

"Yes. They're always getting dirty, or drooling, or sneezing. It's good to have extra napkins around in times of need."

"Oh." He sniffled. "I feel completely ridiculous..."

"Don't." Hope was standing in the doorway, looking at them in amusement. "I just got done talking to Aliya. She thinks Nate has the cold, too."

Stryfe sneezed again, violently. "Serves him right."

Two days later, Stryfe was still sneezing and Kyrin had stopped by for another visit. He wasn't sure *why*. Hope had, however, cleared her as immune, and if she wanted to bring him tissues he had decided not to argue. It was embarrassing, but she was decent company for an Askani. And didn't laugh at him. Much.

"So which of the other two are which?"

"What?"

"Goldie and Emerald. I remember which are the other three, but you never got to those two."

"Oh." He pointed to the two kittens, "Goldie has little gold flecks in her brown eyes. And Emerald has green eyes."

She grinned. "How poetic."

Stryfe sniffed and eyed her suspiciously. "You're laughing at me."

"Not really. I like it."

"You like laughing at me? No surprise, Askani."

Kyrin swatted him. "I like the names and their rationale, then." She paused for a beat. "Although laughing at you is also entertaining."

"I knew it." Stryfe sniffed and dabbed at his nose with the new napkin, rather gingerly. It itched again.

"Sneeze."

"No."

"I can tell you want to. You keep wrinkling your nose to stop it."

He hrmphed, and dabbed at his nose again.

"It's not as if you *haven't* been, you know." She waved another napkin at him, "And sneezing is supposed to be good for you."

"Not when it keeps you up at night."

"You're not trying to sleep anyway right now." She eyed him. "At least, not very obviously."

He sneezed. "True."

"That's better."

"That's *sniff* arguable."

Kyrin rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder. "Don't be silly."

"I'm," Stryfe paused and wrinkled his nose, "not. It might be argued that YOU are."

"Oh, really." Kyrin sat back and folded her hands in her lap, looking amused. "How so?"

"You're... here."

"Yes, I noticed."

"And it doesn't seem silly to you that you're here, talking--well, laughing at--the Chaos Bringer?" He snorted, "Shouldn't you be loathing the very sight of me and plotting ways to kill me?

"Of course not. Nathan and Aliya want you alive, and I answer to them, first of all. In addition, you haven't really given me any personal reason to want to kill you. It's unwise to take happenings in war more personally than is unavoidable; otherwise eventually making peace is more difficult."

"I highly doubt your fellow Askani are as understanding." He muttered.

"Well, yes, actually some of my Sisters are of the opinion that the Askani'Son really shouldn't be keeping you around, and that doing so is really troublingly stupid."

Stryfe sniffled and reflected on the utter lack of dignity in this. "Actually, *I* think that, but I don't usually try to talk him into killing me."

Kyrin blinked at him. "...Usually?"

"That's right." Sniff.

"So, you try to convince him to kill you because...?"

"Because it's what I would do to him." Stryfe shrugged, then sniffled again and blew his nose. "Messily and bloodily."

"Would you give him a cold?"

"As revenge?"

"Well, I suppose that would be one explanation..."

"I was thinking of something more painful."

"Well, at least it's messy..."

"Don't remind me."

"I wouldn't think you'd NEED reminding." Kyrin offered him another tissue.

Stryfe glared at it, but the current one *was* getting... overloaded. He accepted the new one and promptly sneezed into it.

Kyrin patted his shoulder lightly. "Even if it *is* what you'd do to him, why would you want to persuade Nathan into killing *you*?"

"Boredom?" He suggested with a shrug.

"I've heard boredom described as deadly, but..."

"Frustration, then." He sighed. "I miss being powerful and doing things. Digging in dirt and washing dishes is not a productive day for me."

"I imagine sitting in a room and sneezing is even less so."

He sneezed. She *had* to rub it in, did she?

"Unfortunately, under the circumstances there isn't really much else they *can* do with you."

"I know." A kitten wandered into Stryfe's lap and plopped down with a sigh. He absently scritched her with his free hand.

"They can't exactly let you loose."

"I suppose not." He wiped his nose again and sniffed, hoping the latest sneeze-tickle would just subside. He wasn't very hopeful.

"You understand, then."

"I understand there's no sensible reason they're keeping me like this, but at least I haven't been imprisoned by people foolish enough to put me in charge of anything interesting." He sniffed again. "And you wonder why I occasionally try to talk them into killing me."

"...Yes."

"I'm doomed to life as a dishwasher and a... a cat-gym!" As if in response to his comment, two kittens chose that moment to climb Mount Stryfe. He sneezed, then glared at her.

Kyrin giggled helplessly. "There ARE worse fates. Would you rather be tortured?"

"...Not really."

Kyrin plucked a kitten who had dug her claws firmly into his arm at the sneeze, and cuddled it. The kitten, not the arm. "Good to know. I was getting concerned."

"Why?"

"Because. Isn't it obvious?"

He looked confused, "No."

"Because you seemed to have a rather disturbing idea of what constituted relative levels of unpleasantness?"

"Why should that bother you?"

Kyrin rolled her eyes. "It would spoil my fun if you did convince them to kill you? Of course, it won't work..."

"Your *fun*?"

"You're entertaining. Try to stay that way."

"Oh, yes, memsahib, anything you say." He snapped sarcastically.

"Calm yourself. I was mostly teasing."

Teasing. He'd *made* threats like that. He hadn't been teasing.

"Anyway." Kyrin glanced at the timepiece on her wrist. "I've got to go. Aliya wanted me to come by this afternoon."

She stood and removed the kittens from her person, "I'll come by in a few days. There's a group being sent as delegates to a border town, I may end up going with them."

"Oh." Like he cared. It wouldn't matter if she never came back. He wouldn't miss her. "Have fun."

The Askani put a hand on his shoulder for a moment before turning towards the door. "I hope you feel better."

Stryfe sneezed, and looked up as the door sealed itself shut. Oath. Any sensible prisoner would have tried to seduce the enemy woman and get her to let him out. Except that what was sensible in other contexts tended to be stupid when dealing with Askani.