Fujimoto was… lost.. he felt, cold. And that was all, he could barely feel his own body at all, all around him there was utter darkness, utter coldness.. his lungs were burning, they were being crushed, he couldn't breath, couldn't even scream.
Was this to be the end? Was this how he would die? All alone, where there was no sounds to be heard but crushing water towards his ears, no way to speak , scream or talk, he was all alone in this icing cold water with his thoughts, water that wouldn't let him escape or breath ear.. the cruel ocean..
Fujimoto could feel himself slipping away, his body and mind growing numb.. this was it.. he was dying.. dying all alone down here, in the darkness..
The suddenly, in the midst of all of the darkness, Fujimoto saw a light, a small light, flowing closer and closer to him, to his own person.. was it an angel coming to take him to heaven? Or was it heavens gate itself opening up in front of him, in either case it looked so warm and kind amidst all this dark coldness, and with the last bit of strength he had, Fujimoto reached for it, only to be surprised as he found that his hand was being grabbed by a warm light hand, unlike his long rough hand, this one was so small and delicate, soft and warm, a womans hand.
Stunned Fujimoto looked up, and there in front of him he saw her, a woman, made almost purely out of life, seemingly one with the ocean.
As he touched his hand, a warmth seemed to spread from that one single touch, and all the way through his body, every inch of him, expelling any cold he might had felt before, softening his lungs and healing them, when she touched him, he didn't even need to breath, he was just floating gently in the water with her as he held her hand, looking wide-eyed at the beautiful woman made of light, dark red hair flowing all around, waving with the ocean.
The smile she send him was so warm and so kind, her eyes blue as the ocean itself glistened at him almost teasingly.
"Who.." Fujimoto asked stunned. "Who are you?" he asked. "Are you send from god?" he asked.
In reponse the woman merely smiled at him, warm and amused as her eyes twinkled, there was no way she was a human, she was unlike any human in the entire world.
"Are you a goddess yourself?" Fujimoto asked, then his eyes widened. "Are you the goddess of Mercy?" he asked stunned.
And the womans smile broadened as she brightened up, grabbing both his hands swimming closer as she smiled at him making Fujimotos eyes widen even more, and then, she swam downards, holding his hands taking him with her.
"Huh?" Fujimoto blinked. "Whe.. Where are you taking me?" he asked. "Sto-Stop! I can't go to the bottom of the ocean, I'll die! I need to go up! Up to the surface!" he told.
At that the goddess turned to Fujimoto and looked at him, with eyes looking less amused and a little more urging.
"Huh?" Fujimoto asked. "You.. You want to show me some-thing?" he asked. "That's why you are taking me down instead of up?" he asked.
The goddess nodded, looking at him with those eyes.
"But you.. you'll take me up afterwards, right?" Fujimoto asked, and the sea-goddess smiled warmly at him, that was indeed answer enough, as she turned around and swam further down, with Fujimoto in tow.
All kinds of fish, ocean creatures and plants started to swim next to them, follow them, it was.. breath taking, so unlike any-thing Fujimoto had ever seen! It was, beautiful!
He had never seen any-thing being that clean or that pure! No-where on land, could things be this unspoiled.
"This is amazing." Fujimoto breathed looking all around him, then suddenly, all the wide-life around, stopped.. it just stopped, confused Fujimoto looked at it, he would have expected that the further they moved forward, the more amazing wild-life like this would appear, but here every-thing laid bare.. covered in a thick substance that.. "Is that oil?" Fujimoto asked in a blink, up above, oil was very rare and the only way it was used for was the brand new ships his own father had developed.. the big iron ships.
The goddess looked at him, with a bit more sad eyes, then pulled Fujimoto with her further, until at last, they stood in front of a big ships wreckage, oil purring through the hole in the tank, animals being stuck in that oil, unable to escape, there were fish, squids and mussels stuck in there, all struggled.. none could get free.
Wide-eyed Fujimoto looked at it, then looked at the goddess beside him. "This ship sank down into your ocean?" he asked and the sea goddess nodded, then gestured at the animals.
"They are stuck, I see." Fujimoto nodded. "Why don't you help them?" he asked. "Unless.. you can't." he then realised. "If you touch the oil you'll risk getting stuck yourself, right?" he asked. "And if you're stuck, you would have out-lived your purpose, and then. You'll turn back into sea-foam.." then he blinked. "How did I arrive at that conclusion so quick?" he asked looking at the sea goddess, whom now looked at him with those smiling eyes that seemed to speak for themselves, in fact, it felt like they had indeed had a whole conversation all-ready inspite of her not having said a word.. she had managed to speak to him any-way.
Fujimoto swallowed. "You erh.. you want me to help?" he asked pointing at his own chest.
And the sea goddess brightened up as she smiled.
"O.. Okay." Fujimoto swallowed. "I'll... I'll try my best." He swallowed finally letting go of the sea goddess hand, then realised what he had done, he was still under water! Frightened Fujimoto grumbled together, fully expecting to be crushed now but.. nothing happened.. slowly Fujimoto dared to look up, and saw the sea goddess so close to him, inches away from his face smiling warmly, then she swirled around him with the ocean waves, as if she was part of the water, playing around him, smiling at him amused.
"Oh I see, as long as you're close enough." Fujimoto blinked, then sighed. "Yes I know, I look funny.. seems even a goddess of the sea can get a good laugh out of that." He sighed deeply making the sea goddess smile again, it felt like laughter, pure laughter, though it was soundless and wordless, it was the warmth coming from her body that seemed to flare up with each of his smiles.
"Well." Fujimoto frowned pulling up in his sleeves. "Lets get started on this, shall we?" he asked stepping forward and bowed down, to removed the first fish, it was completely covered in oil and Fujimoto frowned annoyed as he pulled out a handkerchief and started to dry the oil off the fish. "Sit still." He asked a bit annoyed, rubbing the handkerchief over the fish, after a while the fish was mostly free from oil and Fujimoto let go, letting the fish swim freely and happily out in the ocean. "AND TRY NOT TO GET TO CLOSE TO OIL AGAIN!" Fujimoto yelled after it, then looked back at the rest of the animals, stuck in the oil, and he sighed deeply. "This is going to take a looong while, isn't it?" he asked.
The sea goddess looked a little apologetically at him and Fujimoto sighed. "No no." he told shaking his head. "This is my dads ship.. I don't know if you were aware of it, but it is." He told. "The least I can do is the clean up the mess he made." He told, picking up a mussle starting to rub it.
The goddess bowed her head for him, it was definitely a sign of greeting, a great big thank you.
"Oh erh.. I told you it's.. The least I can do." Fujimoto told as he swallowed. Then looked away as he rubbed oil of the mussel, until he could let that one go as well, and so the work went on.
Fujimoto didn't stop his work to take as much as one single break, he continued forward, finding any fish or other sea creature stuck in the oil, cleaning every single one of them, when his handkerchief got to smudged and oily, Fujimoto took off his jacket and started to rip that into pieces, piece after piece after piece it was ripped apart as Fujimoto worked his way all around the ships-wreckage, inch for inch, creature for creature he checked, no place was left unexplored, just in case Fujimoto missed some-thing.
It was impossible to tell for how long Fujimoto had been at his work, he was so far down beneath the surface, that there was no way the sun would ever reach all the way down there, the only thing illuminating this wonder of life being the sea-goddess by his side, whom didn't leave him for as much as a second.
But observed him with those warm kind eyes, some-times she saw some of the fishes of, swam a bit around with them sending out those flares of warmth..
And finally, Fujimoto stood with the very last fish in his hand, which he dried off with the very last bit of cloth that had ones been his jacket, and then.. the fish was gone, swam out in the deep water of the ocean, leaving Fujimoto as he just stood there, looking lost after it.
Then he turned to the sea goddess, looking at her with a stunned face expression, she was smiling warmly and thankfully at him as she gently took both of his hands, giving him that warm smile.
It was like an icing going through his spine and all his hair rose on the top of his head as he swallowed, she was so close.. so close.. he could feel the warmth radiating from her, her smile was so warm kind and beautiful, just like this amazingly pure and honest ocean around them.. Fujimoto could feel his heart banging, it felt like big waves of ocean rushing through his ear blocking out all other sounds.
Then the sea goddess offered him one last smile and looked up, and then, Fujimotos eyes exploited in a white light, before every-thing.. absolutely every-thing, turned to complete and utter darkness.
"Urgh…" in the distance, Fujimoto could hear the sound of washing waves, crashing up against the shore.
His body was aching.. really really badly, he hurt all over. Every single inch of his body was hurting, he was hurt in places he didn't even know he had.
His skin seemed so dry and cracked up, his lips were dry, he was ungodly thirsty, thirsty beyond any human reason.
The sun streaming down on his body seemed so ungodly bright and Fujimoto squinted his eyes against it as he groaned, fighting against his own head ache.
That's when a voice yelled from the distance. "HEY! HEY LOOK! THERE'S A MAN LAYING ON THE BEACH!"
"OH DEAR! IS HE DEAD?!" another voice yelled.
Fujimoto couldn't be bothered to open his eyes as hands started to fumble all over him and voices exclaimed.
"No! He's alive! He's breathing!"
"By god, he must have been a sailor washed up on shore. The goddess of Mercy must have showen him her mercy!"
"Oi Oi! Young man!" A voice called as Fujimoto was propped up in sitting position. "Speak to me! Wake up."
Slowly, ever so slowly Fujimoto managed to open his eyes as he groaning looked at the man holding him, an elder man with gray hair and moustache, looking worried at him. "Wa.." Fujimoto began in a cracked voice, then at last finished his sentence. "Water.." he groaned.
The mans eyes widened. "Yes! Yes I see! Hurry! Kushida! Water!" he asked.
And the girl beside him fumbled nervously before she at last found a little skin sack which she handed to the older man who stuffed it into Fujimotos mouth.
The moment the water touched Fujimotos poor cracked and dried lips he started to drink, and swallowed greedily.
"Hey hey! Easy there!" The elder man instructed. "Slowly! Drink slowly! You are most probably dehydrated, it might take some time for your senses to return young man."
"Urgh.." Slowly Fujimoto looked at him. "Where.." he asked.
"Well, you kind of washed up on private proberty." The elder man sighed. "This beach belongs to the great lord of these oceans Hiyataka, that's his foretress right behind me." He told nodding backwards.
Wide-eyed Fujimoto looked up, and saw the big stone building standing a bit further in on land behind the ma it was… Fujimoto recognised it, it was his home! He had been brought right to the front door of his own home!
"Admittedly this would be a problem if you are an enemy of the lord." The older man sighed.
"I am not.." Fujimoto quacked. "Not an enemy." He told. "I'm… I'm…" he tried to get the word out, but it wouldn't come, his throat was to dry.
"Take some more water." The older man suggested, and greedily Fujimoto dranks some more before he sighed, falling back.
"Fujimoto." He then told. "I'm Fujimoto.."
Wide-eyed the elder man and the young lady looked at him. "What?" he asked in a gasp.
"But.." The girl stammered. "Fujimoto died.. didn't he?" she asked.
"Huh?" Fujimoto looked at her as he groaned.
"If you really are Fujimoto." The elder man swallowed. "You fell over board doing a battle, five days ago.. You've been adrift for five days!" he told. "How.. how did you survive?" he asked.
"It must have been the goddess of mercy!" the girl exclaimed. "She must have seen some-thing in him she wanted to safe!"
"In either case he needs help, he's not out of danger yet." The man told standing up, lifting Fujimoto up in his arms. "My god this lad is light as a feather." He commented stunned.
"Come on grandfather, lets hurry!" The girl then asked, leading the way to the fortress.
Soon Fujimoto was carried all the way the fortress gate, as Fujimotos name was yelled the the guard, the guard could only wide eyed look at the young man, before the huge gate was being ordered opened, and the guards were on the run, to get the news to the family as fast as possible.
The last five days the two older brothers and their father had struggled, more than they even had liked to admit.
Even now, Odan was wearing black clothes as he angrily hammered his sword at a practising doll, furious over the fact that he hadn't been able to project his dumb dumb brother, whom couldn't defend himself!
As the guard bursted in with the news, Odan dropped the sword and he was on the run, Tatsue as well gasped as the news were being yelled across the foretress, and Hitayaka was abruptly brought out of his depression as he looked up.
The first one to reach the old man was Odan whom came running and by the sight of the barely conscious Fujimoto in the old mans arms he rushed over there. "Oh my god!" he exclaimed out of breath, shaking as he looked at Fujimotos poor face. "I.. I don't believe it! It's not possible!" he swallowed, tears starting to emerge from his eyes as he sniffed.
Weakly Fujimoto shifted his head, looking at Odan as he weakly spoke. "Brother.."
Odan cried as he tried to wipe away the tears from his eyes. "It's a miracle." He cried. "Such a miracle, I thank god!"
"No.." Fujimoto spoke in a hoarse voice. "Goddess." He told. "Thank the goddess, she.." he swallowed. "She saved me." He told as tears started to drip down his eyes as well. "She was.. Odan how can I even describe it to you.. It like a dream, unlike any-thing I have ever seen."
"Fuji, you're very sick, you need to rest." Odan told, carefully taking the young man away from the elder man, into his own very strong arms. "It's very normal that dehydrated men starts to hallucinate."
"Hallucinate?" Fujimoto questioned looking at him. "No, I'm quite certain it was real. It was urgh.." he groaned falling back in Odans arms, loosing all of his friends.
Next game Tatsue, and he to yelled by the fight. "OH MY GOD FUJI!" he exclaimed coming running. "We all thought you were dead! Oh thank god! Thank god!" he cried grabbing Fujimotos hand and at last Hiyatake came, pushing any-one whom was in his way aside.
"MOVE! GET AWAY!" he yelled, until his eyes landed on Fujimoto and he to broke into tears. "MY SON!" he yelled running and then grabbed the young man in a tight hug embracing him. "Thank heaven you are alive! Thank heaven!" he cried.
"Father?" Fujimoto groaned barely managing to look up, then his eyes fluttered, he was far to exhausted, and blackness took him again, away from all of these people.
The people around though, were all both laughing and crying as he laid there, small and unconscious in Odans arms.
What did it matter to all of them how their Fuji had gotten back to them, what mattered was that he was in fact back!
It was a shame though, that none of them knew that this happiness only were to be short-lived.
What Fujimoto had seen and experienced, it would change every-thing.
It couldn't be unseen, and Fujimoto could never become the same man whom had first fallen into the ocean from their ship, all-ready now, he was changing.. though no one could tell yet, what it exactly was he would be turning into.