InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Anshan ❯ Unexpected 1 - The Long Sleep ( Chapter 19 )

The Blue Anshan

By Alesyira

Sequel to Shippo and the Magic Wand.

Canon Universe(s), Divergence into AU, Crossover.

(Action, Adventure, Angst, Drama, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, eventual MA content, Scifi.)

Summary: The long sleep? It's really not as nice as it sounds.

Chapter Rating: T.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and Yu Yu Hakusho is owned by Togashi Yoshihiro. OCs are my own. I make no profit from this piece of fiction.

Author's Note: I wrote the initial draft of this chapter at least three years ago, maybe longer. yikes.

Arc 3 - Unexpected 1 - The Long Sleep

1524

there was nothing

there is nothing

life has no meaning

there is no today

no tomorrow

yesterday is long, long gone

purgatory

some limbo between heaven and hell

do youkai have a final resting place for their spirits?

perhaps our spirits abandon the flesh

become one with our element

A tiny droplet of water traced down the side of my face, stirring minuscule hairs as it made a slow path to the corner of my mouth. My teeth were clenched together, and I had the vague impression that several were missing. My tongue was desiccated, and my lips had pulled tight in a frozen grimace, probably due to extreme dehydration.

Huh. I'm alive.

...and I'm a mummy.

That tiny drop of moisture was soon followed by another, and then a slow trickle of water leaked across my nose and past my mouth. The fluid slowly moistened the dried and cracked skin of my lips, but my body didn't really need the water to survive. Something different…some tangible thing… had roused my consciousness.

With my awareness slowly returning, I focused on what little I could sense. My limbs didn't respond to my wishes for motion, but I could tell they were probably still present. My fingertips and toes were tingling with tiny pricks of pain. A small portion of my brain worried that I was experiencing phantom sensations well known among those who had lost limbs, but panicking now would not help me.

There was no way to judge the passage of time in this darkness.

All was still and silent.

Some detached portion of my mind noticed my heart wasn't beating. The tingling in my limbs grew more pronounced as the time passed slowly, and a fluttering pulse of weak warmth emanated once from where my chest might be.

This sensation of warmth was so subtle I was sure I had imagined it, but I latched onto the sensation with everything I had left (there wasn't much). It felt like home... it felt like love. Hm, desperation for survival leads to interesting thoughts.

Was I even surviving? Was I already dead and heading on to the next adventure? My brain definitely wasn't working right. I couldn't tell what was real and what was imagined. Was that sharp sensation in the front of my face from feeling returning ...or did I have a beetle burrowing through my nostril?

My muscles twitched. Another pulse of warmth from my chest. And then I distinctly felt my heart give a terrible lurch to the side before trembling indecisively. I sent mental encouragement to the struggling organ. I'm pretty sure this was a hallucination, but I think I'd like my heart beating regardless of any circumstance.

The first actual beat of the heart was more like a hiccup than a thump, and a sharp pain shot from my chest along the arteries as a pathetic amount of blood was forced through the shriveled, neglected passages. Each subsequent beat of the heart forced that pain farther and farther along the pathways, so slowly at first that I found new ways to appreciate the stretching and tearing pain in every part of my body. I hadn't realized there were so many ways to experience agony. My parched throat seized, soundlessly attempting to express the all-encompassing pain as my muscles twitched involuntarily.

Note to self: never let heart stop again.

The agony eventually tapered off into varying levels of discomfort (or I had enough time to grow accustomed to it) and I became aware of other things I had yet to notice.

There were points of pressure at various spots along my body, and I found myself half-curled, facing down.

I could feel something digging into the flesh of my back beneath my right shoulder blade.

I drew a tiny bit of air into my lungs. New pain accompanied the scent of dirt, clay, and organic rot.

I could move, just a little, but I was very much trapped within something. This knowledge brought the sudden understanding that I was buried. It wasn't the first time I had been buried, but the last time had been heavy pieces of stone rubble and large clumps of dirt, which I had easily dug myself out of within a few minutes.

This time... I'm not sure how long I'd been here, but my heart had been stopped and I'd withered into what was surely a pretty scary state. The left side of my head was cradled by dirt that had formed precisely to the contours of my face, but as my flesh and muscles had atrophied and dried, it must have left pockets of air. My fingers twitched.

how was I still alive?

Weak as a newborn, I waited within my tomb as my awareness and strength returned to me in minuscule increments.

My eyes regenerated enough that I could crack open an eyelid. More pain, like my eyes had been scoured with sandpaper and engulfed in flames, followed by a terrifying moment of blindness (until I recalled that I might be buried).

I curled my fingers slowly, making fists. Dirt gave way under sharp claws that had grown long with time.

More rest.

Time passed. I slowly clawed small pockets around my hands and arms. My body had lost a lot of mass in the amount of time I had been buried, leaving some spare space around me that I could use to carefully dig myself free.

The thing digging into my back beneath my shoulder blade? I discovered the end of it protruding from my chest just below my ribs. A large root had grown through me, apparently finding a path through the massive wound that had yet to heal.

Water continued to trickle down the side of my face. Was it raining? My mouth was still horribly dry but at least my lips and tongue could move a little now without splitting in half. I tilted my face to let the accumulating droplets curl around the edge of my lip into my mouth. I can't remember the last time I tasted something so pure and sweet.

As much as I despise the rain, I think it played a significant part in my escape from the ground. It must have rained for a long time, soaking the ground and causing the packed dirt to soften into a squelching muddy mess. Once I had pulled free of the roots that had grown through me, I slowly clawed my way upwards through damp soil and mud to emerge in a grassy clearing I only vaguely recognized.

I was near the edge of a decently large furrow that had overgrown with tall weeds and a few saplings, and towering above me was a tree nearly as wide as I was tall. It stood out as an aberration in the surrounding forest, for its bark had a tremendous streak of white creeping up the side facing me from its roots to its leaves, and where the white extended to leaves, vibrant green became blood red and wilted brown.

The light of day was pale and cool, shrouded in a thick mist as rain continued to patter against my face. I collapsed against the tree, exhausted and grateful.

Days passed before I could move again. I had been blanketed with a pile of withered red leaves in the middle of the green forest. As I carefully pulled myself to stand with a slight wobble, I noticed the tree had changed, becoming more drained of color.

The tree had given much of itself to help my recovery. I pressed my forehead to the rough bark and gave it a small brush of my severely depleted energy in silent thanks. I would have to return with more gifts once I had recovered.

I was like a walking skeleton, shriveled muscles and thin, wispy hair that fell nearly to my knees. I mentally rolled my eyes. Of course my body would continue to waste resources to grow pretty kitsune hair.

My clothes were rotting and the stitching came apart with every movement, but they would probably hold up well enough to keep me mostly decent. Not that there was much to look at right now.

In a sudden panic, I blindly reached behind me to check the status of my tails and sighed in shaky relief. They were all still there, matted and limp, but present. Good. Gaining those had been ridiculously painful affairs I had no wish to repeat. So much for them being swishing youki batteries.

I knew I could stay and rest in this clearing beneath the tree that had brought me back from the brink of death, but if I stayed here my recovery would probably kill it. I stroked the tree one last time before I stumbled away in a random direction. I didn't know where I would go, but … kami I'd give one of my tails for a lollipop from Kagome right about now.

The forest was silent but for the rustling of leaves as the shadows closed around me, welcoming me home like the arms of my long-gone mother.

found

I was a pathetic sight. Disheveled and emaciated, I stumbled through the forests for some time, resting often, curled in the roots of trees or clinging to branches when I could muster the strength to stand.

Some days went by in a haze of color and broken memories. She laughed and ran ahead of me through the trees, beckoning me to follow her forever. I tried. The pink sparkle of her light was a beacon, but then I'd wake up and I couldn't remember where she went or if I'd really seen her this time.

Other days passed with the clarity of the sunshine so sharp that it stabbed through my eyes like cracked, blunted blades. I found caves and burrows and dark gaps in rocks to hide in and tried to sleep through the worst of it.

I guess I must have been wandering for some time without purpose. I don't know where I was trying to go, but I felt like I was chasing something familiar just out of reach. A nudge kept me going in a particular direction.

Instinct for safe haven?

I was not sure who or what I was looking for. I have no idea how much time had passed with me … dead?

I looked down at my trembling hands. I could clearly see the bone structure under paper thin skin and fragile dark veins spidered along their lengths. Was I even alive?

Zombie. Maybe I should be consuming brains to recover. I eyed a rabbit that stared up at me from its hiding place beneath a bush. I'm pretty sure it sneered at my weakness and hopped off with a derisive huff. I'd never catch it, now.

I had been napping again beneath a tree when a shadow blocked the almost-pleasant warmth. A familiar scent of damp earth and forgotten herbs met my nose, and I cracked open an eye to peer up at the interruption.

"Thought you were dead." He was a massive blur of brown and blue. I guess today was going to be another haze of color day.

I hadn't spoken in a while. It took a moment to remember how to form my words. "M'not." Close enough.

"Want some help?"

I shrugged. I probably did, but I was still too tired to care one way or the other. The trees had been peppering me with snippets of energy, but it would take an entire forest of sacrifices to get me back in running order. I'd rather the trees stay alive and green. I would take my time recovering.

The breath puffed out of me as I was pulled up over the shoulder of this old memory, a friend I'd long forgotten about. He smelled like…bananas. I was probably hallucinating again. At least I wasn't chasing after something just out of reach this time. Sleep was a sweet escape once more.