High-Fantasy in a modern AU.

Calypso
*
*
*
2. In The Morning

While Sasuke's missions often forced him to skirt the diaphanous edge between his world and the mortal realm, he had very few dealings with the inhabitants. Should he encounter a mortal, he altered their memory for their protection. Animals could often sense his kind, or at least his power, but but largely ignored or avoided him. (Cats were the exception, but they were known to cross between realms, so Sasuke didn't count those among the mortal creatures.)

Until that very moment, (and aside from an admitted fondness for cats) Sasuke's lack of interaction led to his having rather few opinions re: the inhabitants of the mortal world.

That was before he discovered a deep and unabated hatred for roosters.

Perhaps it was unfair to condemn an entire species on the crimes of a single representative, but the infernal beast had announced the morning's arrival no less than six times in the last hour.

The seventh time it began its reveille, he snapped his eyes opened, determined to incinerate the creature on sight. It took a moment to realize his vision was clouded, and not simply by the anger roiling under his skin. It was several heartbeats before the weathered, exposed beams of the ceiling came into focus – the only sharp lines against a muted palate of off-white plaster.

For a moment, everything was suspended; he could neither move nor feel his body. His hearing sharpened, but there was little more to detect than the rustle of curtains in a gentle breeze. There was nothing telling to hint at his location; no tang of salt or weight of heat or clammor of a busy city. All in all, it seemed he had awoken somewhere perfectly ordinary and quiet.

And that was an unsettling thought; for Sasuke wasn't one to frequent ordinary places.

His body was pleasantly heavy, and comfortable, and he just managed to turn his head on the thick, fluffed pillows (encased in simple cotton, not the fine linens of his home) to stare at the old double-belled brass alarm clock with laughable incredulity.

It was all so perfectly mundane, that it had to be a trick.

"Ah," a gentle voice floated toward him. "You are finally awake."

He dragged his eyes toward the approaching woman, wondering if he had any voice.

"Finally?"

"Yes," she placed a tray on a stand by his bed. "You've been unconscious for a week or so. Do you think you can sit up? I need to check your dressings."

Sasuke had no idea if he could sit or not, but he certainly wasn't going to admit such a thing. There was a gentle touch at his shoulder, and he moved automatically, as if it were a learned response, not an awkward reaction.

The shirt around his shoulders was not his own – he saw that now – and he managed to fumble the several large buttons open without her help. She quietly took the shirt and draped it over the arm of a chair before returning to see to his wounds. The padding closest to the wound was pinker than white, but she still looked pleased.

"I think the majority of the poison is gone," she ventured, pulling a small, squat jar of salve from the nightstand drawer. "Still, better safe than sorry." She quickly dressed and rewrapped the wound with the efficiency of experience, but the gentleness of compassion. His shirt was replaced with an identical one in a slightly paler shade of blue.

She arranged the pillows behind him and helped him to lie back before asking "Do you think you could eat something?"

A smirk tugged at his lips and his eyes fell to the slim curve of her wrist.

She followed his gaze, and pink dusted the tops of her cheeks as she cleared her throat.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of soup and tea."

"Hn."

She temporarily avoided meeting his gaze, busying herself with placing the legs of the wooden breakfast tray on either side of him before transferring the food she'd carried up. He watched her carefully, noting everything from the pale lavender headscarf tying her hair back to the drifting scent of sun and earth and blossom on her skin. He decided she had spent her morning in the garden, and absently wondered how she had spent her time while he was unconscious.

By the time she was pouring her tea, the blush had faded, and the gentle care of one tending a baby bird returned.

"I doubt you will be able to consume much at first," she ventured. "But you should start feeling more like yourself in the next day or two. You won't have the strength to stand for a little while yet."

"I heal quickly," he muttered, sniffing at the soup.

She hummed something politely neutral as he poked his spoon at the bowl of broth and thin noodles. He'd rather have something more substantial, but if he'd truly been unconscious for nearly a week, perhaps it was best to start slow.

She quietly filled a glass of water and added it to his tray as he took a few, hesitant bites of the soup.

"Not bad," he finally conceded. "At least, if you are trying to poison me, it isn't obvious." He leaned over and sniffed at the tea. "Lavender," he decided. "With perhaps a touch of hemlock?"

"Nightshade," she corrected.

"So," the corners of his mouth quirked up. "It is to be poison after all."

"It has to be," her smile was polite. "If we are to get you well."

"Ah," he leaned back against the pillows and studied her. "So you are aware of how to tend to our kind."

"Yes," she said softly, her fingers absently curling in the edges of her apron. "I am aware."

"How?"

"Let's just say the instructions came with the garden." He watched as she gathered up her bucket with his discarded bandages, and draped the shirt she'd replaced over her arm. "I will be back for the tray," she said, her hand on the doorknob.

"And if I have need of you before then?"

She opened the door and looked down.

"There you are," she smiled. "Will you see to our guest?"

Sasuke watched as a cat glided into the room, stopping first to circle and rub against her legs before sitting at her feet and looking at Sasuke.

"This is Hex," Hinata smiled fondly at the cat. "She'll come get me if you need me; she always knows where I am." She bent and scratched the cat behind her ears and murmured something kind and too low for Sasuke to catch, and in another breath, closed the door behind her. Sasuke's eyes lingered on the door for a moment before trailing back to the cat.

"Hex, is it?"

The cat met his gaze unblinkingly.

"Mm," he nodded and reached for his tea. "I see."

He drained the cup (which stayed warm and full until he had his fill – as did the bowl of soup) until he grew fatigued.

"Don't trouble her about the tray," he said, his eyes growing heavy, managing just enough magic to displace the tray to sit on the table near the bed. It was a small gesture, but he felt he owed her some consideration for saving his life.

"The Little Rabbit makes a good up of tea," he mused, eyes growing heavy.

"Wait until you try her baking."

Sasuke hummed his agreement, too tired to wonder who had spoken, and the room was soon filled with his quiet breathing and Hex's contented purr.

Thank you for reading, friends! GL