The blood ran down in tiny rivulets saturating my white shirt and making it cling to my body. It was cold . . . I felt so cold, as if I had been packed in ice. I tired to cry out for help, but my voice only came in a light squeak. I felt the world spinning all around me, and then I felt the darkness closing in. I fought against it to stay above the murky black emptiness, a battle which I was quickly losing. I looked out, as if through a tunnel of darkness, at the beams of light caused by the headlights. I felt myself drifting off, I was going to die. I just kept thinking that, and that I had to stay awake, at least until there was some help.
My head didn't hurt as much now, and I felt only light headed and numb. I barely heard the voices surrounding me, but when i did, it seemed to me that they were more like spirits than people. I heard only fragments of their convorsation as I lay, just barely clinging to life and conciousness.
"But she's badly hurt. . ." one voice said, "She could die if we dont do something."
"We can't let her die," said another voice, they all were male.
There was a pause, then I heard incoherant whispers, and felt myself being lifted up out of my car by strong hands. That is all I can remember though, because finally the wave of blackness took me under.
I was floating under night black water, there was no light whatsoever, and I could not tell which way was up or down. I tried to open my eyes, but the salt stung them and I only had to shut them once again. Breathing was obviously not an option at the moment, and I felt as if my lungs would explode, I kicked my feet and swam in the direction which seemed most likely to be upward. There was music, cool sweet music as if from a koto, it almost made me wish to stop trying and just fade into it. Key word being, almost. I kept kicking, I could hear voices now, people calling my name in the direction from which I was swimming. My mother's voice, calling me. I wanted so to swim to her, but I knew that if I did, I would die. so I kept on swimming. Even when it seemed as if I would pass out from lack of oxygen, I kept swimming. Until Finally I saw a light.
There it was, shining, just a few feet above me. With my last bit of strength, I kicked and felt my head break the surface.
My eyes opened, I could feel what was almost like a cracking, as the sleep or blood that had accumulated on them came apart. I was in water, naked. those were my fist observations. The room was dimly lit, yet seemed to be terribly bright because of the length of time my eyes had been closed. As the walls focused into my vision, I could see that they were old fashioned, made from paper and wood. I heard voices, those same ones as I had heard before I lost conciouness. Male voices.
I tried to turn my head toward them, but it ached, and a wave of dizziness and nausia swept over me. I opened my mouth to speak, and my voice came out only in a dry whisper. Even speaking was painful to me.
"Where am I?" I whispered, hoping that someone was close enough to hear me. Apparently they did, because no sooner had I said it then I heard the voices stop, and footsteps rushing toward me. As the door opened, the light in the room flickered, and I realized, looking up at the ceiling, that there were no electric lights, or even fixtures in the room.
"She's awake," one of the voices spoke. He sounded somehow familiar, as if I had heard him somewhere before the accident. I lifted a hand to the side of the furo, and tried to pull myself up, forgeting for the moment my nakedness. I was rather unsuccesful, my whole body ached. I glanced over at my hand, finaly able to move my head somewhat. I gasped, I was white as a sheet.
"Don't try to move," someone said. Of course I did not listen. I turned my head toward the voices.
Three men stood there, looking at me witth concern. I could not tell much about their features in the dim light, but I could see enough to know that one of them was a man who I had spoken with a few nights before.
"Where am I?" I asked again, still to dizzy to actually worry about the fact that I was in a bath, and there were strange men in the room.
"You are in Youjakai," one of the men said. His hair was long and white, and he wore a strange silver grey Yukata, with a beautiful spiderweb design. His smile brought to mind the smile a spider would give a fly who was trapped in his web. Then I was afraid. I sunk down into the water as far as I could, until only my face stuck out. I could hear them move closer to the furo, hopefuly only to make sure I was not drowning.
I could see their faces, grinning at me sadistically, but thankfully they remained at least a foot away. "Lady Enaka shall be in momentarily to assist you in dressing," the one with the familliar voice said. I looked at him, and realized that he was the sad green-haired man who I had met the night of the concert. I smiled in spite of myself as they left. I had hoped to see him again. Then once again I remembered how silly that sounded, considering where I was.
I heard the door slide open once again, and small footsteps headed toward me. A little girl, who could not have been more than eight or nine, walked up to the furo. She had pitch black hair which was cut to chin length, and eyes the colour of glowing embers.
"Hello," she said, smiling at me. I smiled back, but my throat hurt far too much to speak now. I tried once again to pull myself into a sitting position in the water, and this time was succsesfull. The child remained silent, and handed me a large towel like cloth.
"Use this to dry off," she said. I took it, and using my hand to pull myself to standing, I stepped out of the warm water.
"Thank you," I whispered to her, smiling as much as my dry lips would allow. I dried myself off, and allowed her to dress me in a fine forest green kimono. I had never worn anything so fancy before, not even to festivals when I was a small child.
I gazed at my reflection in the tall mirror. The kimono was made from pure silk, and if I moved right the shimmer of some design could be seen. The darkness of the cloth contrasted sharply with the colour of my skin, which was at this time, blending well into the white colour of my hair, which had been twisted up into an elaborate old fashioned style. I let Enaka-san lead me from the room, to where the three men were waiting.
I could see them much better now, as they let me down the dim candle-lit hallway. They were all devistatingly handsome in their own way. I put that thought out of my mind, and turned to the only one out of the three who I knew.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked still feeling dizzy as hell.
He answered me with one sentence, but one which caused some strange dread to well up inside of me. "You are to have an audience with Arago-sama."