White Snake
"Hiro!"
He groaned and flung his arm over his eyes, pretending to sleep. She threw the door open regardless and stood there in the doorway. Her hands, he could only just see, were fastened to her hips. She was undoubtedly glaring. He felt the holes being bored in to his skull.
"You're awake," she snapped. "I know it."
He slumped, arms falling back to his sides. "I'm not lying, Reina. I'm not. I know you didn't see, but I-"
She slapped the cold, wet cloth down onto his forehead. His yelp resounded through the house. It stung and he knew there would be a red mark where it lay.
"There was no girl," she said curtly. "I revived you, Hiro. Kana had run away and you were floating down under the river where no one would see you but I followed it to one of the lakes. I saved you, Hiro. I did. There was no one else. I know there wasn't, I arrived just before you did."
He sighed and nodded to appease her. He didn't listen. His mind was lost to the girl that he saw, faintly guessing at her silhouette. The softness of her hands still tingled on his skin. The white foam and the brown tinge to the raging river left only the faintest recollection that she had been there at all. He glanced down at his fretting hands worriedly.
"Hiro, can you hear me?" Reina was quiet. "You can? Good. I thought you might have caught some sort of hysteria from the water."
He smiled. "It was really polluted,"
She leaned back, raised her eye brow and the quietness died away. "Of course it was polluted, Hiro. All of the bad soil was in it, and the dead, rotting plants too. I'm surprised you didn't die,"
He teased. "You didn't think I would drown?"
She shook her head. "I did. That's probably why Kana ran away. He wasn't much for loyalty, but you? Hiro, you were stupid to go after that herb! Why did you do that? You could have died and then Konohana would have lost its future healer! Weren't you thinking?"
He drifted to another world as she ranted and raged. The world he gladly departed to was blue, endlessly blue. The land was distant and far below. The sky was farther yet, a reflection of the waters both cool and calm. The shimmer of a spectre, of white and solace, passed through light and shadow but never was to manifest fully.
Hiro jerked upright. He blinked away the pleasant dream. Reina was subdued once more. He bit his tongue, fearful of revealing his inattentiveness earlier. He found it hard to recognise her without the loudness and the confidence that never went ignored.
"Reina," he spoke softly.
She turned to him. "I think my uncle is back. Go to sleep. I have chores still to do,"
She left him with near soundlessness. It wasn't a sight with which he had much familiarity. Reina was, by nature, a very indiscreet person. If she were to do something then it would be done regardless of custom or decorum.
He sighed to himself and slumped over. His hands ached and the ebb and flow of the rushing river smashing against obstacle after obstacle had left him with a severe uncertainty. Even as he glanced about the room the tilt of the floor seemed imbalanced. He knew from prior visits that it was not, but now, with his head aching, body rubbed raw from wrathful waters and with a compromised sense of balance he doubted himself.
It was then that he heard them. Mako was the first to speak. His deep voice held authority that he wielded as best as he could in the lowest tone that he possessed. Reina disagreed. She had to have. Her response, equally hushed, was swifter and a soft strain echoed in her indistinguishable words.
Hiro heard nothing of their conversation. He heard who spoke and for how long but not the words. They eluded him, taunted him. He clenched his fists but soon relented. His hands were touched with the beginning of callouses. He felt the dull ache and the throbbing and let them be to heal. However, that intention was soon abandoned.
From the edge of his sight he spied darkness he knew nothing of by the window. His head snapped around. The colour was gone. He leaped to his aching feet. The darkness was swift. The sound was as wintry winds vanishing over the lands. He struggled, feet pounding on the floor and hands clutching at all within reach for support.
In the distance, near the trees and the wall of mountains there was a shimmer of purest frost. It lasted only for the shortest of moments. Hiro exhaled sharply. He staggered over to the open window. His hands fastened tightly about the wooden ledge. He leaned out to try and glimpse more of what he had seen.
As he did so the stairs buckled and groaned with shrill and booming voices. Reina raced across the landing and pressed down on the door. It gave way to her soon. She stared for a long moment, too stunned to move.
"Hiro!" she ran and clutched at his waist.
He yelped and yowled as she hauled him in. His arms groped for spaces between the wooden planks. He was too far over the ledge. His legs flailed and kicked. He was slipping and would in moments be falling. The rose bushes were beneath him. He would be blinded and butchered by the thorns.
He was saved at the last moment.
"Hiro, what were you doing?" Reina cried. "What were you thinking?"
Mako's shadow loomed over them both. He gingerly patted Reina's shoulder in what he hoped to be comfort. To Hiro he gave a nod of reassurance.
Hiro turned and looked over them both. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I thought I saw something…"
Mako smiled ruefully. "You have a fever, Hiro. It's to be expected that you thought you saw something. I think we should close the window, however. Until you are recovered, that is,"
Author's Note: I'm actually quite pleased that the wi-fi is being worked on. It keeps cutting out. There's very little that I can do on the internet. I adore writing and typing, however, and I am obsessed with these three currently. I do believe that this is the amount that I would be working on regardless. Though, perhaps, I would also be studying…
Thank you for reading my story. I hope that you have enjoyed this so far. I apologise if I have failed your expectations.