Chapter 9: In Which We Remember

Hisoka scrubbed furiously at the dried blood – it was all over him! He had burned their ruined clothes, thinking madly of witchcraft and voodoo and such nonsense. Not an easy task, building that fire outside, as a wind had been building. A cold wind. Cold. He seemed to remember the sensation of icy cold hands on him. He shivered.

He had the absurd notion that it was all his blood, that he should be lying in a hospital somewhere, or quite possibly, simply quite dead. He ran a hand through his hair… Ugh! His hair! He dumped more water on his head, and as bloody bath water ran in rivulets down his face, he was quite suddenly overpowered by the stench of blood.

And just like that, like a wave breaking, he remembered.

Tsuzuki's doctors might have told him a few things. Such as, that the olfactory centre is right next to the limbic system, and the hippocampus. And so, the sense of smell is linked to emotion, and to memory, on a deep, primal level. But it probably would not have made a difference to him even if he could have understood its significance. He had not had the strength to put a very strong suggestion to them. He had not the experience to make it last. And he had not anything left with which to get any further away.