Chapter 8: Recovery

It was quiet in the room. Magatsu hated quiet these days. There had been too much of it the five days they had been there. Impatiently, he turned towards Anotsu, who gravely studied the ceiling above him.

"Id's a….a dog?"

"Ndo…id's a bear! Cand't you see it? That head doesnd't belondg ond andy dog!"

Staring at the oddly shaped spot on the ceiling, Anotsu squinted. "Well if you say so."

"You've ndever seend a bear, have you?" Magatsu snurfled. He hadn't thought of that possibility.

"Ndot really. You?"

"Yeah. Twice. Both fromb a log distandce though. Thak God."

"Whad did id look like?"

"Like thad." Magatsu pointed at the spot on the ceiling. Anotsu sighed.

"Care to be a bit mbore specific?" He rose to rest on his elbows and Magatsu decided to do so too. It was getting damn hard to breathe lying down, but hey, at least his throat wasn't as sore anymore. Less silence this way.

"Well...id was big. If id had stood up, id'd probably have beend like...mby lendgth and a half."

"Indterestindg." Anotsu muttered.

"And it had brown, thick fur. Id looks fad, but it mboves really quick. And id climbs drees."

"Drees? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We were taught ndever to climb a dree if we were adacked." And he had taught her that, all proud and know-it-all. Of course she had run to Dad afterwards to ask if it was true. Couldn't take my word for it.

"Whad?" Anotsu asked suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Whad you thindkindg about?"

"Ndothindg." Time to change the subject. "So whad you gonda do ondce you've saved the world?"

Anotsu snorted. Then he started telling, his grand scheme sounding a little less grand when told through a stuffed nose. Most of it went over Magatsu's head. Things would get better, that was pretty much it, it seemed.

Anotsu seemed lost in thought, staring at the ceiling. After a while he noticed Magatsu looking at him.

"Was dat good endough?" he asked.

Magatsu shrugged.

"I guess."

"You dond't sound imbressed. I thoughd a chandge was whad you wanded?"

"I guess."

Anotsu grunted irritably and turned his back on Magatsu after laying back down. Soon silence filled the room again. Every goddamn corner. Another couple minutes and the sounds of Anotsu's soft snoring were heard. Somehow that only made it worse.

It came back to him in little patches. The dirt on the ground next to her. An oddly shaped pebble that had caught his attention for a while. The people in the street. Had they been screaming? Had anyone come to help? He didn't remember. Had she been screaming? Crying? How fast had it happened?

He really should get his sword sharpened. Hadn't it seemed a bit too dull lately? He thought so. Yeah, tomorrow he'd sharpen it, whether he was feeling better or not. Better than just lying around doing nothing. Useless.

So what was the time? Any food soon? He wasn't particularly hungry, really, just bored.

Those squirmy things, he hadn't really realized what they were at that time. He should have known, he realized, since he'd seen Dad cut birds apart...

"Andotsu" he whispered. The snoring continued. It took a couple pushes to stop it and bring a groggy Anotsu about.

"Whad?" he whispered irritably.

Magatsu was lost for words for a while.

"... Id's good."

"Huh?"

"The plan. I...id's good."

Anotsu stared at him, but Magatsu didn't care what he thought at that moment.

"So dell mbe mbore aboud id," he went on.

"Whad de hegg is wrondg with you?"

"Nuthin'. Jus'...I'd lige to know how you'd chandge thindgs. I'll be workindg for you, wond't I?"

It took some more convincing, but eventually Anotsu took up his speech where he left off. Itto-ryu guys at every post. Judging warriors by their sword skills, not where they came from. Seemed to make sense. Claws and teeth and stuff. Fat watchdogs. He fell asleep after five minutes.

Anotsu stopped when he realized Magatsu was snoring. Fuming, he seriously considered kicking him. Bastard. But what good would it do? It would just keep both of them awake and he needed to sleep. He settled his head back on the pillow with a sigh.

Just five years ago he'd had this idea that they were a duo on a mission. Sent out to turn the world on it's head. We'd show them all, wouldn't we?

He studied the snoring man next to him, then turned his gaze to the bothersome spot on the ceiling. A bear, indeed.

How much had other people experienced that he had no clue about? The men he was training...what could be found in the archives of their memories? Could someone like him, someone who had never even seen a bear before, lead a school full of killers to take over Japan?

But they're all here, aren't they? Ready to obey his every command. They wouldn't follow a fool, would they? With men like that...you had to prove yourself. They followed him for what he could do, not for what he was. That was all that mattered. Wasn't that the whole point?

His dreams that night were of Magatsu turning into a tree-climbing monster.

"U fuggers...gun...gunna kill u fug...no...noGOD! STOP IT! Sto-stob laughin...n-nod funny she's DEAD-"

The sounds entered Anotsu's conscience, dragging him to the surface. As the world turned real again, he realized the sounds came from Magatsu, who was thrashing about wildly. Did he have a fever again? Anotsu frowned. They had been fever-less for two days now. Would seem strange if... He walked over and felt Magatsu's forehead briefly. It was cool. Just a nightmare then. Strange. He had never been this loud before.

"ULEAVE HER ALO-one..." His voice was eerie. Shrill. At points, he sounded like he was going to cry.

It wasn't right to sit and listen like this.

"...didn' mean to...no...sorry..I didn'...shud have...GAH! YOU FUGGERS! GUNNA-" He started thrashing even wilder than before until Anotsu, after a moment's hesitation, reached out and placed his hand on Magatsu's. To his surprise, that made him stop and fall still, his screaming fading into whispered mutterings. Another long moment passed, until Anotsu decided to open his mouth.

"It'll be fine," he whispered softly. "We'll get those bastards. We'll kill them all."

As Magatsu's mutterings started trailing off, he continued;

"They'll never do it again. I promise."

Mutterings turned into silence. Silence turned into soft snoring, and Anotsu removed his hand. Settling down on his futon, he felt strangely encouraged. Tomorrow this would be over. They had spent five days in the room, five days with varying degrees of stuffed noses, sore throats, thick air and vile concoctions. Tomorrow life would be back to normal. The sound of Magatsu's soft snoring lulled him slowly back to sleep. We'll show them all, won't we? The thought was as drowsy as the smile he fell asleep with.