“Sweet mother of Odin, it itches!” Reno moaned. He stood in the doorway of his bedroom, rubbing his back against the doorframe in a desperate attempt to get at the itch that tortured him from between his shoulder blades. He closed his eyes in relief as he finally found the right spot.
“Oh… Oh, yeah… that’s more like it…” he sighed… then whimpered again in frustration when the itch reappeared, this time on his arm… then at the back of his neck… then his chest. Soon he was in a all out frenzy, scratching frantically. For every itch he managed to scratch, at least three more crept over his flesh. He was on the verge of tearing his clothes off right then and there, just so that he could better dig his nails into his skin, when the phone rang.
“What?!” he yelled into the reciever, fervently attacking another itch on his left side.
“You’re late, Reno,” said a familiar voice on the other end of the line. Reno spared a second or two to glance at the clock that glowed on the front of his VCR.
“I don’t care!” Reno replied, “Rude, just tell Tseng that I’m using a sick day, will ya?”
He couldn’t stand it anymore… His entire body itched now.
“… You’ve already used all your sick days.”
“Ahhhh… Make it stop!” Reno hissed, clawing at his back for the hundredth time.
“…”
“I’m not coming in today… Tseng himself couldn’t drag me out of my apartment right now!” he said, and slammed the reciever back down.
———-
Behind his sunglasses, Rude blinked in surprise, not sure what to make of his short conversation with his fellow Turk. The note of distress in Reno’s voice had not escaped his notice.
“Where’s Reno?”
That was one question he hadn’t been looking foward to answering. Rude turned to face the Turk leader.
“Out sick,” he stated.
“What is it this time? I trust he had an interesting story…” Tseng said, holding back a sigh.
“No story… Just said that even you couldn’t drag him in to work today.”
“Is that so?” Tseng replied.
———-
Less than ten minutes later, Tseng and Rude were standing outside of Reno’s apartment.
“Reno! We know you’re in there,” Tseng called out, after the apartment’s tenent had ignored his initial knock, “Open up… Now, or this door is coming down.”
Just as he’d begun to wonder if he would have to make good on his threat, the door swung open.
“What?!” asked Reno, in a near-whining tone. He stood, clad in only his underwear and a pair of socks, eyes wide with desperation as he scratched at his shoulder. Tiny red spots dotted his entire body.
———-
“Chicken pox,” said the doctor. Reno lay in bed, whimpering miserably as he twisted his arm at an awkward angle, trying to scratch that one damned spot on his back he couldn’t quite reach. “He’ll be back to normal in a week or so… Just keep him in bed, make sure he gets plenty of fluids… and don’t let him scratch.”
“But it itches!” Reno yelled, in response to the doctor’s accusing gaze.
“Ah, yes… This should help,” he said, setting a bottle of calamine lotion on the table beside the bed. Rude showed the doctor out, while Tseng pinned Reno’s arms at his sides. The younger man squirmed uncomfortably.
“Just try not to think about it,” Tseng offered, as Reno made a valiant effort at escape.
“Right…” Reno closed his eyes, thinking of other things… Drinking… The prank he had in store for Rude as soon as he got back to work… That gorgeous new secretary on the 28th floor… anything other that how much his skin itched at the moment…
“Hey… What d’ya know… That actually works,” said Reno. Tseng nodded and released him. “Sucker!” Reno grinned, resuming his frantic scratching. Tseng sighed and wrestled the redhead onto his stomach, twisting his arms behind his back.
“Aw, come on Tseng… Let go!” Reno cried, “This isn’t funny!”
“Stop scratching, and I’ll let you go,” the Turk leader replied. Reno finally stopped struggling and lay still. Tseng let go of his arms, and allowed hims to roll over, onto his back. Reno’s adherance to Tseng’s terms lasted all of thiry seconds before his simply couldn’t take it anymore.
“How does a grown man manage to come down with chicken pox?” Tseng asked, shaking his head in defeat. More drastic action would have to be taken to get the redhead under control.
“Those little brats down the hall…” Reno replied. By this point, he gotten his hands on his electro-rod and was using the weapon as a back-scratcher. “I must’ve got it from them.”
Tseng snatched the electro-rod from him.
“Show a little self-restraint, Reno.”
“No,” Reno replied, snatching the weapon back.
“Alright… If you’re going to behave like a child, we’ll just have to treat you like a child…” said Tseng.
-end of fragment-