Summary: Set between 4.10 and 4.11. While taking a break after surviving the showdown between Heaven and Hell, Sam and Dean decide to take some time off. Only, things don't exactly go as planned when Sam suddenly begins to have visions again and they're unwillingly thrown into a string of bizarre happenings… at a local spa.
Warnings: None, unless you're allergic to Japanese Lore...

Special Thanks: Thanks goes out to the magnificent jayfray18 and fanofsuper for the marvelous beta job they did for little moi. Another big shout out goes to choreograph999 and just_ruth for sharing their knowledge of Japanese Lore. And of course, to my adorable Yuriko-chan for all the help and cheering up she gave me with this bunny! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have known how to untangle the tangle my ideas had become. Love ya, goddess!

A big thank you goes to the fantastic peeps at the SPN writer's lounge and their endless quest to make writing SPN fanfiction fun and possible for all who wants to try it out. Go check it out sometime if you have the time, it's simply made of A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

I do hope I haven't forgotten anyone, since there have been so many of you willing to hold my hand with this.

Please, do enjoy!

The fox who borrowed the skin of the Tiger

Wake from death, return to life – Chapter 1

The night was surprisingly hot, the AC in their small motel room doing nothing but spreading the already warm air around.

They were in between hunts and neither Winchester felt the need to jump into a new case right away, having decided that the down time was a welcome change of pace after a frantic 3 weeks of non-stop salt and burns, beheadings and exorcisms.

Sam was sitting at the small table in the kitchenette, tapping away on his laptop. He'd decided to offer Dean a few days of relaxation, away from the growing threat of Angels and Demons and their macho showdown.

After his brother had told him about what happened to him in Hell, Sam hadn't known what to do with himself or with the information Dean had chosen to divulge to him. He'd watched helplessly that day by the side of that road how his usually sturdy and confident older brother completely fell apart in front of him, showing him exactly where the cracks in his stalwart armor had been ripped wide open to expose the despairing man he really was.

Two years ago, he'd been angry when he found out how lowly Dean thought of himself after their father's death. He was angry and terribly saddened to know that Dean didn't value his own life the same way Sam did. It wasn't fair of Dean to feel this way; if Sam was supposed to watch his back and safeguard his life when they went out hunting, what did it mean when Dean didn't even care if he lived or died anymore? He guessed that the deal Dean made to revive him answered that question perfectly.

Sam remembered how he nearly went crazy with the pain, the guilt and the anger he felt for his dickwad of a brother. He also remembered how the love he felt for Dean then nearly drove them apart, too. There were many times, before Dean would admit to not wanting to die, that he'd wake up to an empty motel room, only to find Dean in the Impala, dressed and ready to leave. Ready to leave his brother behind.

He'd hated him then, with all of his heart, with all the love he had. After everything, why didn't or couldn't Dean understand how much Sam loved him? Wasn't Sam reason enough to want to fight?

He'd thought that they'd mended some of Dean's issues after he'd promised not to give up searching for a way out of the deal, but when he came back from Hell, it started all over again. And this time it had taken on massive proportions of course, with this Heaven and Hell bullcrap they'd been dumped with. Though he'd given his brother the benefit of the doubt, he found his growing amounts of micro-breakdowns harder and harder to ignore.

There'd been times in the past few months when they were making love that he would find Dean sobbing underneath him, clinging onto him for dear life. Sam would ask about it, Dean would shake his head, say something in an attempt to distract him and bury his face into the crook of Sam's shoulder and beg for him to fuck him harder and faster or he'd roll them over and ride him like a possessed madman. And after every one of those times he'd roll away from Sam and sleep curled up on himself.

If he'd thought that he'd seen the worst of his brother's emotional rollercoaster he'd been dead wrong. Now that he knew what happened to him in Hell, Dean had somehow detached himself from him emotionally and it'd been five weeks since they'd had sex of any kind. Well it'd been five weeks for Sam anyway, Dean had had Anna.

Which he most definitely did not want to think about, just in case he accidentally made the household appliances in their motel room fly circles above his head.

"Next time we hunt a chupacabra, you go for the Glock and not the shotgun!"

Sam looked up at Dean who'd just come out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, wearing nothing but a towel around his hips. He was twisting a corner of a hand towel in his ear. "I think I still have its juice in my ear!" He looked at the towel in his hand and made a face.

Sam scratched the back of his head guiltily, but other than that ignored his brother completely. The shotgun had been the only weapon he'd been holding at the time, he wasn't going to say it again for the thousandth time. The shotgun had gotten the work done, hadn't it?

"Ugh. I've slept in worse," Dean conceded, slightly miffed by his brother's lack of attention to him. He took off the skimpy towel and threw it with the one he'd used to clean his ear on a nearby chair. "I'm going to bed, you coming or what? You can look for a gig tomorrow."

Sam sighed contently and bookmarked the page he was on, certain to have found an ideal gift for Dean. "Yeah, I'm coming, just a minute," he said, glancing up and going blindingly hard in 0,0001 seconds.

"Yeah, well hurry it up, will ya?" Dean replied, sitting on the bed with his back to Sam, taking his colt out of his duffel to place it on the nightstand. He froze when a moist set of lips settled on his right shoulder to nuzzle a few kisses there.

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Sam murmured throatily in his ear. Not that he wasn't grateful for the welcome change, but what had brought it on?

Dean suppressed the full body shiver that coursed through him at the low tone of his brother's voice and closed his eyes when Sam sucked his earlobe in between his teeth to worry it between them gently. He hated the way Sam could get him up and going with so little, but loved it all the same. "Because the AC is busted and sleeping next to you is like sleeping next to a furnace," Dean answered in a matter of a fact tone.

Sam grinned and nipped at the side of his throat. "So, I make you hot?"

Dean rolled his eyes, but turned to him grinning. "Is it going to be bothersome?" he challenged, rising up onto his knees in front of him. His hands reached for the hem of Sam's shirt.

"I guess I'll suffer through it," Sam smirked back, his eyes dark with desire as he raised his arms.

"I'd have thought so," Dean whispered softly, averting his eyes from the intensity he found in Sam's, watching where his shirt fell next to the bed to keep from falling apart right then and there. Which of course was a futile thing to do since he knew that it wouldn't be long before Sam would have him begging and whimpering.

Again, the effect the man had on him by doing so little still baffled him at times.

Sam had no trouble at all following his brother's train of thought, after nearly 2 years of sharing Dean's bed he'd come to know exactly what buttons to push to have him do whatever he wanted when they were alone under the cover of the dark. So, after Dean had removed his shirt and the momentum of that movement caused him to fall against Sam a little, he'd grabbed Dean's head and captured his plump lips in a ferocious kiss, groaning in satisfaction in response to Dean's anticipated mewl of submission. Sam showed him exactly what he was planning on doing to Dean's body with his tongue, moaning when he felt Dean's hands wantonly pushing down his sweats before they pulled him closer to rub their erections together.

Still, he had to ask.

"Are you sure?"

"Sam…" Dean breathed; breaking the kiss for much needed air while Sam assaulted his throat with bites and open mouthed kisses that would leave bruises the size of Texas.

When Anna had kissed him in front of the Angels back at the cabin, he'd sworn he'd felt Sam's jealousy radiate off of him. He hadn't brought it up during the days after Godzilla vs. Mothra and Sam hadn't either and he'd been silently avoiding him to keep from talking about Hell and the Anna incident. But it hadn't been his intention to have Sam doubting him. He still wanted his brother, but lately it all just felt like it was one thing after the other and he found himself drowning sometimes.

"It didn't mean anything, Sam…"

Sam brought his face level with Dean again and looked into his eyes. "I know, doesn't mean I'm okay with it, though."

"I'm sorr--"

Sam hushed him with another mind blowing kiss. "I don't want to hear it," he said against Dean's lips, rubbing their noses together. "Lay down, babe… I wanna see you spread'em for me…" Sam huskily whispered, crawling over him as he did as told, pulling off the sweats completely as he went.

He took a minute to look at his brother and watched the beginning of perspiration forming on his pale freckled skin. His lips were swollen and red from the kisses and his spiky hair stood up in all directions. Sam ran a hand down his chest and listened with a chuckle how Dean's breathing quickened the closer he got to his rampant arousal.

Dean was writhing on the sheets by then, the anticipation having reached a boiling point. "Dude, if you wait much longer, I'm going to start without you."

Sam looked up from where his head was resting near his brother's belly button. "That's an interesting thought, would you let me watch?"

Dean's cheeks turned a fascinating pink then and he nearly yelped when Sam finally took him into his hands.

"Would you, Dean?" Sam asked again, starting a slow up and down motion he knew had to be driving his brother crazy. "Let me watch you get yourself ready for me… panting my name as you stretch yourself wide to accommodate me? It has been a while since we did this…" he paused here to lick his left index. "So how about it Dean? Would you let me watch as the sweat drips down your thighs as they tremble as you put first one finger," he wiggled his wetted index against Dean's entrance, rewarding his choked-off moan with a lick against his head. "Then another and another… I wonder how many you'd be able to put in there…"

Dean arched off the bed as the finger slid inside. He could swear that it felt like the first time all over again. He'd almost forgotten how large just one of Sam's fingers felt inside. "You kinky son of a bitch…" he panted, burying the side of his face in his pillow.

Sam moaned and took him into his mouth, happily humming away while he finger-fucked his brother with languid strokes. Dean's hands shot to his head and he let him lead, though he kept his hips in check with one hand.

When Dean came with a forlorn whimper of his brother's name, Sam knew it was that time again. He removed his hands from Dean's body and took position between his legs, covering his brother's body with his. Dean was facing sideways with his eyes closed, the beginnings of tears glistening in the corner of his eye.

"Look at me," Sam whispered, framing Dean's head by resting his lower arms on his pillow. "I love you for everything that you are."

"Sam," Dean started rolling his eyes away from him in embarrassment.

"No, listen," Sam continued, searching for his eyes. He waited for Dean to return his gaze, "There are no words for what you've been through, you said it yourself and I get it. But that doesn't mean I would ever see you for less than the man I've grown to love so deeply, Dean. I don't expect you to ever get better from what you've seen and done, all I want is for you to understand that as my brother, there's nothing you could do that could make me turn away from you. I love you too much, man."

Dean closed his eyes and pulled him in for a kiss that drowned them both into despair and the love they had for each other.

"That's why I've booked us a two-day relaxation trip to a local spa," Sam whispered, grinding his crotch against Dean's, watching him groan with pleasure. "I want for us to forget everything, even if it is just for two days. I want it to be just the two of us." He nipped at his exposed throat. "Doing nothing," he licked his jaw, "but," kissed his cheek, "enjoying each other over and over again." He slid his tongue into Dean's mouth and swallowed the low moan he found there.

They made love and Sam showed him how deeply his love went and at the same time how much he needed Dean with him both physically and mentally. He thought that maybe, just maybe, Dean was starting to get it as he watched him sleep curled up against him in his arms afterwards.

Her long dark hair whipped around her as she ran from her pursuers, the branches of the surrounding bushes hitting her face, splitting her skin for blood to stain her milky white complexion. The frenzied rhythm her heart had begun drummed in her ears as her breath grew short and she desperately searched for a way out. She was crying as the howling of hounds sounded louder and closer in the night, her feet tripping more often than effectively carrying her away from those who meant to harm her. Maybe the getas she was wearing and the disheveled layers of her heavy kimono she was trying to hold together didn't help matters either.

Then, just when she was about to look behind her, the ground disappeared from underneath her and she could only discern the whirling water beneath before she began to fall down the ravine, her clothes flapping behind her as a colorful canvas of red and gold. As she hit the surface, there was only one thought in her mind.

"Help me, Sam."

Sam woke up with a gasp, shooting upright in the bed only to double over from the crippling pain and wave of nausea his head send out to the rest of his body. "Ah, fuck," he whispered, throwing the covers off of him.

Dean blinked awake at the sudden movement next to him and only saw his brother stumble towards the bathroom clutching his head. He quickly threw on his boxers and it didn't even take him five seconds to go for the Tylenol at the bottom of his duffel.

Sam accepted the glass of water and the two pills from his sitting position on the floor next to the toilet and downed the medicine within a heartbeat.

"Weren't they supposed to have stopped?" Dean whispered cautiously as he sat down next to his brother on the floor, his hands pushing back the wet strands of hair that had come to settle in Sam's face.

Sam took a few breaths, his face having turned a dangerous shade of grey and nodded. "Yeah. They should've…" He scrambled himself up and onto his feet with the help of Dean, feeling drained now that he'd emptied the contents of his stomach not the way he's supposed to. "This felt different though… It felt like a flashback, it didn't feel like something that's supposed to happen." Dean helped him put on his sweats and they then walked over to his laptop in the kitchen where Dean helped him sit.

"How do you know that what you saw happened in the past?" Dean asked, setting some water to boil in the electric boiler. "Who's to say whatever you saw even happened? And if it did, why would you be dreaming about it now?"

"I don't know, Dean," Sam answered, waiting for his computer to boot up. "This woman was running from someone in my vision and she was wearing this torn up kimono with these wooden sandals. She fell off a cliff and asked for me to help her… She looked so scared…"

"As she fell off the cliff she asked for you to help her?" Dean asked in a skeptic tone.

"Yeah…" Sam said, opening a site that dealt with the history of kimono. "The everyday Japanese don't wear kimono anymore as much as they used to. This woman was wearing a very expensive looking, very elaborate, silk kimono. Those are only worn for formal occasions nowadays. There was something particular to this one though, I never saw one like it before…" He clicked on a link and they were shown pictures of long sleeved, multiple layered silk kimonos with hems that dragged onto the floor if worn. "She wore one like these a… Juni-hito. It says here that this was primarily worn by the ladies of the court from the Heian until the Edo period."

"Heian? Edo?"

"Yeah, uh… if I remember correctly, the Heian was a period in Japanese history that ended a little under 900 years ago, the Edo ended approximately a 150 years ago." Sam sat back, a brooding expression on his face. "Why would she call out of for me from the past?"

"How do you even know these things?" Dean murmured with a perplexed face before waving it away. "Never mind." He was past being surprised with his brother's vast and seemingly unending amount of knowledge. Dean scoffed and went to pour the now boiling water in a cup with instant coffee. He made a face at the mixture and then took a careful sip. "What makes you think she is?" he asked, not even trying to hide his misdoubt about this entire thing. "You know, calling for you? From the past, no less."

Sam looked up at him with a solemn expression on his face. "Well maybe not from the past, but she said my name, Dean."

"Alright, alright, fine whatever." Dean conceded, giving up on the 'coffee' and throwing it away in the sink.

Sam huffed. "What I don't get is why I got this vision. I mean, if I am meant to help this woman, why send me a vision of the past?"

Dean tilted his head to side, silently wondering why Sam didn't even make the connection between the vision and Azazel like he would've two years ago. At present time of course, the connection would have to be with the demon blood he now knew pumped through his brother's veins. But he waited and still got nothing. He found it strange, but not alarming. Not yet anyway.

"Maybe because she's a ghost now," Dean shrugged.

"Dean, that makes even less sense," Sam said with an exasperated sigh. "Ghosts don't send visions."

"Hey, I don't know, okay?" He moved back towards the beds and his duffel, "The only thing I do know, is that you got this vision for a reason, like all the others before. Since we can't figure out what that reason is right now, there's nothing we can do." He took out the jeans and the shirts he planned on wearing today and moved to the bathroom. "Are you going to be alright?"

Sam sulked and slumped down his chair, the headache nothing more than a faint throb now. "Yeah…"

Dean watched Sam for a moment and then took a steadying breath to squash the upcoming anxiety he felt every time he thought about Sam and his powers.

When they arrived at the spa, it wasn't exactly what they were expecting.

"Dude, five-oh's?" Dean whispered as they drove up the small hill the complex was on, the red and blue flashing lights greeting them.

Sam pulled into an empty parking spot near the entrance of the building where they could both see the ambulance standing. "It looks like there's been some kind of accident," Sam whispered, killing the engine.

They got out of the car, grabbed their luggage from the backseat and proceeded past the white and gold marble fountain of an oriental dancer and onto the steps leading into the establishment. Two paramedics carried a woman out of the building on a gurney, moaning and whimpering under the blanket they'd used to cover her face with. They jumped out of the way, both staring at the trio as the woman was put into the ambulance and quickly driven off to the nearest hospital. A police officer was talking to another woman with bouncy brown curls at the top of the stairs and taking notes as she answered his questions.

"We have all of our guests fill in a list of questions regarding their current health, so we can provide them with the best service in accordance to their needs!" She was telling the officer, her face stricken with horror and fear, her palm resting against her chest in an effort to calm herself down. "I can't explain how she could've had such an allergic reaction," she shook her head desolately. "Our facial masks and mud baths are one hundred percent natural… I--"

Dean gave his brother an intrigued look before stepping closer to the police officer. "What happened?" he asked, flashing his health inspector badge at the man. He stared at the badge for a moment and then at Dean with an incredulous expression.

"It hasn't even been 20 minutes since the accident occurred, what's the Health Department doing here?"

Dean put the badge away and shrugged, "Well it's not really official business, since I'm on leave right now. I'm about to check into this resort, so would you mind telling me what happened to that woman back there?"

"Well, it looks like a severe allergic reaction to whatever they smeared onto her skin. According to what she told me, Ms. Haneley had a mud bath and a relaxation therapy before her skin broke out in sores."

"And she needed to get to a hospital on a stretcher?" Sam wondered.

The woman, obviously an employee, gulped and took a shaky breath, the images of what she saw still filling her with dismay. "Her skin was covered with bright red sores; it looked… burned," she whispered. "All over!"

The officer sighed and scratched the back of his head. "The only thing we can do for now is restricting the usage of the mud bath and put a hold on all facial therapies using the same mud until we've had our lab figure out what happened."

Dean nodded, casting a sideway glance at his brother. "Thank you officer."

They watched the man descend the stairs before they entered the resort.

"Accident?" Dean wondered, looking at his brother.

"It looks like a simple allergic reaction to me," Sam shrugged, turning to push open the glass door. He really, really did not want anything to disturb their time off. He'd even decided to put the dream he had that morning on hold. The world wouldn't end if he didn't figure it out immediately. Dean had been right; there was nothing they could do without having more to go on.

The hall had a water theme going on, the high, marble ceiling pierced by a wide oculus that let in a wide ray of light down onto the aqua colored tiles of the lobby, making them glisten. There was a lounge with a panoramic view on the valley below on their right, made out of a small island with couches and a small table surrounded by a shallow pond of water.

The woman, who'd been standing at the top of the stairs outside, was now speaking with another girl standing behind the welcome desk. Her hand shook slightly when she picked up the phone to make a phone call, her voice hushed as she talked.

"Welcome to the Blue Water Spa & Resort, how may I help you?"

Their heads both snapped towards the blonde haired girl with the wide smile and the bright green eyes.

"Yeah, we have reservations?" Sam said.

Her eyes darted over to Dean and her smile got a little brighter as she asked; "Under what name, sir?"

Dean smiled back at her politely and moved closer to Sam, sliding his hand in Sam's and intertwining their fingers.

"Dean and Sam Winchester," Sam replied, looking down at Dean with a small smile.

Her eyebrows shot up. "You're…"

"Married," Dean finished for her. "This is a two-day getaway."

Her face fell a little, but she smiled nonetheless, endeared by them. "Oh," she whispered, nodding in understanding. "Alright, let's see here…" she typed in their names in the computer. "We're sorry for the trouble outside; we've had a small inconveniency with one of our guests. Please feel free to ask our associates for help if required."

Sam and Dean looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Small inconveniency?

"Here we go, sirs," she said after a few moments, handing them a pair of key cards for their room. "Just go through those blue doors at the end of the hall and show this," she gave them a sheet of paper, "to the man behind the reception desk in the next pavilion."

Sam took the paper and Dean the keys. "Thank you."

"The masseuses will come to your room in two hours, you'll have time to walk around and explore the resort until then. Have a nice stay."

"I'm sure we will," Dean said, turning around in the direction of the door she mentioned. "Thank you."

Sam nodded at her and quickly followed his brother down the hall.

To be continued...

Leave a comment if you liked!

-BDP-