Sano woke up.

Of course, the actual process was nothing near as simple as might be suggested by that minimalist description.  First there was that gradual regaining of consciousness whilst still clinging to and declaring passionate love for the blissful realms of the comatose.  This was soon followed by that immediate, almost thoughtless checklist Sano put himself through every morning.

Pants?: on.

Bits and pieces?: still there.

Strange, and/or recent wounds?: no.  For once.

Newly opened wounds?: no.  Wait … no.

Ahem … "used" pants?: no.  good or bad?

Hungry?: like a horse.  Mmmm.  Hooorse.  Yum.

Unknown person snuggled up to side?: wait … what?!

He sniffed once.

Oh.  Just Katsu.  No problem then.

Then, with the list completed, Sano could move on to the other business, like seeing if, besides being physically there his limbs were also up to the stressful task of sitting up (he'd say standing, but that was way too ambitious).  Plus there was all that time spent trying to pry his eyes open without having to revert to using a hammer and chisel.

I short, he woke up.

Obviously, it didn't happen nearly so fast as that, though.

Once Sano had at least dipped a toe into the murky waters of wakefulness, he decided to be motivated and try opening his eyes.

Fuck.

Big mistake, Sano.  Big.

Fuckity-fuckfuck.

A thousand burning needles stabbed into his brain; fingers of pure, cackling white light pawed at his eye sockets and pulled out the offending organs; every star that ever was, is, and would be in existence exploded in the center of his pupils.

And this was facing away from the window.

He groaned, and buried his face in the pillow, letting his friend shift formlessly in his sleep.

Oh, fuck.

********************

I went to sleep at two o'clock in the morning today.  Not last night, today.  I woke up sometime a little before seven.  Today I ran upwards of six or seven miles (3½ - 4 there, 2½ - 3 back, then another ½ mile a few hours later) and went through approximately an hour of intense physical exertion (Karate - I'm getting my black belt in Tae Kwon Do in December!  Unless I screw up, and fail one of the tests.) I've just finished writing this and it's not-quite ten PM.  I still have to clean my room and do my Geometry homework.  I have yet to get in any of the FFVIII playing time I had hoped to.

Trust me, with the exception of the Hangover from Hell, I know exactly how Sano feels.  (And, actually, I didn't really think today was all that bad of a day.  Shows you how fucked up my head is.)

Clod: I know exactly what you're talking about, and it annoys the hell out of me too.  I mean, personally, I have nothing against Misao or Kaoru.  I actually think they're both very strong characters (when not obsessing over their respective love interests) and I respect them a lot.  However, I also am of the opinion that Aoshi/Misao is one of the least-likely-to-actually-happen pairings in RK, period.  Just because I'm making the object of her desire 1) completely uninterested in her that way and 2) at least a bi, that doesn't mean I have anything against the weasel-girl myself.  ^_^  And thank you for giving me an opportunity to put that in writing. (yes, I tend to go on spiels, and I probably repeated myself no less than five time in the above paragraph.  Deal with it.)

And no, you were a bit off on the pairing too.  (and by "a bit" I mean "a lot")

Brittany67: 1) not telling.  2)  Honestly, I just don't really have a feel for the guy yet.  He'll probably appear later on in the story (a lot later on) when I'm running out of things to write or am feeling particularly Sou-fangirlish *waves pennant*.  Besides, I kinda forgot about him in the original idea, so umm … yeah.  Smiley-boy got the short end of the stick there.

Erp!