Seed of Hope
Chapter 4: Recovery
(A/N: Chapter 4! Yay! I shan't waste anymore words here. On with the chapter!)
Soujirou rubbed his eyes. Another day spent in darkness. Turning his head this way and that, he heard nothing. His caretaker was not there. How many days or rather weeks had passed since that day he was kicked of that so called restaurant?
"Welcome home." Soujirou said when he heard the familiar sliding of the shoji doors and the shuffling of tabi-covered feet.
"My, aren't we up early today? The sun has just risen."
Chuckling, Soujirou just smiled at the mysterious caretaker. He had long since been accustomed to his caretaker's sarcasm. Still nursing a broken left arm, the boy was still unable to feed himself. Although he didn't want to admit it, he had awoken early because he had felt hungry and was eagerly awaiting breakfast. He ignored the laughter of his caretaker when his stomach gave a loud growl.
"Should have known it was your stomach that would have made you get up so early."
"Here, open your mouth."
Soujirou did as he was told. He slowly chewed the rice in his mouth, savouring the taste of it in his mouth. Swallowing, he was fed until he had finished the entire contents of the bowl.
"Ok, medicine time. Open wide."
Soujirou made a face. Although he had been eating the medicine for quite some time, he still couldn't get used to the taste of the medicine. After all who could, the medicine tasted disgusting!
Like his meal, the liquid was fed to him spoon after spoon. Swallowing down the medicine, he ignored the bitter taste of it in his mouth.
"It's not so bad. Without it, you would not have survived for so long."
Chuckling, he gulped down the bowl of water which he held in his uninjured right hand, glad to rid his mouth of the terrible taste. Lying back down on the tatami mat, he thought about the nightmares he used to have. He no longer had them anymore, at least not since that fateful day he had revealed his entire past to his mysterious caretaker. He pondered about what he knew about his caretaker, what did he knew about this mysterious person anyways?
He knew that this person gave him a sense of security, he felt reassured whenever he or she was around, he was grateful for his or her taking care of him. But these were just feelings he felt for this mysterious person, he didn't know anything about this person! Thinking hard, he tried once again to gather any information or clue as to what his caretaker was like… nothing.
Sighing, Soujirou silently gave in. His caretaker was a mystery on its own. To solve such a mystery would require more strength than his weakened body could give. Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach. Placing his right hand on his abdomen, he tried to see if the strange sensation would come back, but there was nothing. Dismissing it, Soujirou made to stand up. His sprained right ankle had long since healed and now he longed for the feeling of the breeze upon his cheeks. He longed for the outside world.
Gently getting up, he paused for a while to catch his breath. It had been a long while since he had stood up and his leg muscles were weak. His legs trembling slightly from the weight of his body, he slowly moved forward two steps, ignoring the dizziness and the pounding of his head. He slowly inched another step forward hoping that maybe his caretaker wouldn't catch him out of bed. He stopped again to look out for any sign that would give him away. He did this several times, inch a step forward, stop, listen and then inch another step forward.
He really did not know where he was going, but he was hoping that maybe he would somehow come across a wall of some sort and then from there find the door that would lead him outside. Luck was on his side, he could feel the cold surface of the wall in front of him. How many steps had he taken from the mat? Resolved to find the door, the youth slowly inched towards the left using the wall as a support. Walking was now much easier and faster now that he had something to lean against.
This was absurd, he was the former Tenken no Soujirou and here he was relying on a wall to walk when others used to fear his shukuchi. Oh the irony of life. Soujirou continued on his perilous journey, ignoring the pounding of his head and his legs and back screaming for the comforts of his warm tatami mat. The pounding in his head was now getting louder and louder. He could hear the frantic beating of his heart in his ear and his head was hurting more than ever, but he knew he had to persevere. Somehow, luck had left him and he tripped over his own feet.
The loud thump must have alerted his caretaker because next he could hear the frantic scurrying of feet on wood.
"Why did you get out of bed? You're not ready yet!" Came the worried voice of the mysterious person.
Quickly, Soujirou found himself being dragged back to the mat and covered with a blanket.
"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"
Soujirou felt something akin to what he had heard people call guilt. He really didn't mean for his caretaker to be so worried. He had felt strong enough to go outside, he had just accidentally tripped on his way out.
"No, I'm fine. Its ok, I just feel a little bit giddy. I'll be alright." Soujirou reassured. He felt alright, alright save for the terrible throbbing in his head.
He felt the warmth of someone else's skin on his forehead.
"Oh no, not now!"
Soujirou heard the fear and worry in his caretaker's voice.
"Wh-what? What happened?" It was not like his caretaker to sound so scared.
"You're going to have to brace yourself. It's like I thought. Your getting up had caused the poison to enter your heart faster. The poison that man gave you is a slow-reacting one. It takes weeks to finally rid one of it. Your sense of sight is the first thing to go when you are infected by it. I now have to give you the full dosage of the medicine to quell your fever and to stop as much of the poison as I possibly can. However, the side effect of this medicine is that by purging your body of the poison, you'll be forced to relive your worst nightmares while experiencing a pain even worse than death until you wake up."
Soujirou listened to this with a heavy heart. If it had to be done, then he had no choice had he? He gingerly nodded his head in consent, scared to move his head more in case it aggravated his headache even more.
"Brace yourself."
Closing his eyes, Soujirou was placed in a sitting position as he felt a cool liquid enter his mouth. The liquid had no taste, but as it entered his throat it suddenly felt like he was swallowing pins and needles and he had to force himself to swallow it. Lying back down, he felt the pounding in his head increase in tempo and he had to bite his lip from crying out loud in pain. His whole body felt like it was on fire and yet at the same time, he was shivering and trembling with cold. He found it hard to breathe; his throat felt very dry and he kept on coughing and coughing until he felt extremely breathless.
The figure watched in white as the boy writhed and squirmed in pain. There was nothing to be done except wait. How everything turned out now depended on the will of Soujirou, otherwise…
Soujirou drew laboured breath after laboured breath. He did his best to ignore the pain, concentrating hard on other things. He tried to remember the feeling of traveling on the road again, the feeling of relief when he lost to Himura-san. He vaguely felt something cold being placed on his head and what felt like another blanket placed on top of him. For a while, the pain seemed to subside and he could breathe properly, but the pain would come back later in all its intensity and he would find himself coughing and breathless again.
The figure watched tirelessly over Soujirou as the boy gave another scream as he woke from his troubled sleep. It gently replaced the wet cloth on Soujirou's forehead and tucked back one of the stray locks of hair from his face. It was now past midnight and Soujirou's condition still showed no change. It didn't know if Soujirou could sustain the pain for so long. The cough alone was terrible, making Soujirou extremely breathless and exhausted. Luckily the cough soon subsided only to give way to the start of his terrible nightmares. The boy's screams were enough to alert an entire village 200 miles away. Even worse, despite awaking from the nightmares he would still be hallucinating.
"Come on, don't give in. I know you can do it. Don't give in. Stay strong," The figure watched as Soujirou twitched in pain and hesitantly gave Soujirou a kiss on the cheek, "You can do it."
The night wore on slowly as the figure watched over Soujirou, praying for his safety.
(A/N: Ok, don't kill me! This chapter plays a very important part in the fic! Do not worry! Soujirou will not die! I repeat, Soujirou WILL NOT DIE! I mean, if he dies how will I continue the fic right? So review now or I will be forced to do otherwise! Muahahahahaha!)