Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Redemption is not kind ❯ Fading in and out ( Chapter 2 )

The first sensation Shuten had was if the water’s impact against his battle damaged body, it was so cold and smelled foul. He heard Jun wailing and Nasuti screaming as if far away. He heard his fellow Masho shouting. He let himself be embraced by the darkness rising up to greet him, his body going limp...


He did not have the strength to struggle when invisible hands lifted him from the water. He felt strong arms cradling him. A voice of one he thought dead told him to rest and that his battle was over. It hurt to breath, the cough made it hurt more as he tasted blood. The darkness came again swallowing his perceptions...


Something yanked him from the depths to hover in a grayness. There were voices, giving orders. He felt a woman’s fingers brush his skin, they were so warm. The fingers paused over his heart, he could feel the warmth sink into his skin as if a burn. He wanted more of that warmth, to sear his skin and very being with it...


He became aware of himself floating in a warm, inky darkness, his body felt so heavy. He vaguely felt something warm flow over his skin and heard lapping of water in a basin. He remembered the water and the impact from his fall. That water had been cold and smelled of neglect and decay, this was warm and scented with cedar and cherry blossoms.; it took the stink of the lake with it.
“Careful, we’ve gotten all the major injuries...there are broken bones still.”
“what next...?”
He felt fingers working over his scalp and more of that delightful scent greeted him. He realized he was being bathed, but he heard none of the chanting that accompanied funeral preprations. The darkness turned thick and swallowed him.


The next sensation was of soft linen strips wrapped around his wounds; his chest where Anubis had sank his claws and his ribs had been broken, his legs and arms where Kayura’s blades had sliced open flesh. His armor would have healed him...he remembered that he’d used the armor to drive out badamon, freeing Kayura. He remembered the sound of a child wailing as he hit the chilled waters, darkness pulled him under again...


He made a strangled sound as his ribs scraped together, he was being held in a sitting position. He felt something being threaded into his right nostril. He swatted at the offending thing...
“...Hold him, I put this wrong and it’s going in his lung...” came a voice close to his ear. “Its alright Shuten...this isn’t going to hurt....”
A hand massaged his throat, forcing him to swallow. This was repeated several times before he was laid back down and something laid against his cheek. It was fastened there with cloth strips backed with some gummy substance.
“...Up again...”
He near screamed as he was lifted again, this time some soft garment was wrapped around his body. A vague sting in his right hand made the darkness flow around him.


He had a distinct sense of bing moved, hearing feet on a stone floor. This sensation did not last long before a firmness greeted his back and a heavy blanket covered him. His hands and arms were gently laid upon the blanket. The feet sounded again on the stones, but he could faintly hear the soft tread of slippers entering after their exit. A warm hand rubbed the back of his, it was the same warmth as before.
“Shush....” he heard a voice, soft and low.
He managed to swim out of the darkness long enough to turn his head and open his eyes. His blurred vision could only make out the form of someone beside him before the darkness dragged him down into its depths once more....