Fanfic: The Heart of the Sea (Sleeps in Man) - Chapter 1
Series: Mushishi
Characters/pairings: Ginko, Adashino, some OCs (for the sake of having the necessary background characters). AdaGin if you read between the lines. May or may not become something more later on, but the first four chapters are safe as houses for all you non-yaoi fans out there.
Rating: Ehm. PG, PG13? There's 'scary' stuff, and occasional cussing. I dunno.
Summary: Sometimes a heavy storm at sea will dredge up strange, ancient creatures. This time, a mushi surfaces, and it might be more than Ginko and Adashino can handle.
-In progress-
----+----
What they tell me now is that the children had been on the beach, bringing fishing boats higher ashore. But during a storm that we all knew was going to be that bad…? I can't understand why there was still anyone on the shore at that point.
By my own guesses, this may have been one of the worse storms of the summer. Ashika-san tells me the villagers are calling it "Suifu no Sainan". Though, given the events that happened within the storm, I would think they'd give it a name that sounded more…imposing. Or at least something that would do justice to its intensity. After everything that happened that night, after what they saw… Well, this is just my own opinion. But I digress…
The children. The children were on the beach, and a sudden wave had pulled them out to sea. Suifu no Sainan and the drowning children, were only the beginnings of our troubles that night.
~
The rain was at his back in a deluge, soaking him to the bone. At first it meant nothing, easily ignored. It was only rain. Only the feel of a thousand tapping fingers, and the cold, wet chill. But rain could be relentless, and soon his back felt like it was being pummeled. The skin turned raw. Soon the wind drove each drop into his skin like a tiny hammer, the fabric of his kimono giving no protection.
It felt like glass, driving itself into his eyes, biting at his arms.
This would leave bruises, he was sure. But bruises could not make any of them turn back now. They had to rescue the children, before the storm swallowed them whole.
Row on.
Ginko shouted something from the prow of the longboat, but the wind stole it from his lips. All sound save for the howling of the storm, was lost at sea.
~
I realize now, perhaps all too late at this point, that it may have been some warning he was yelling. Did he see what was ahead of us? Actually, was it possible at all to see anything through that storm?
Still, I catch myself wondering if hearing him would have made any difference.
Probably not. The people here, they see things through to the end, or they die. That's just how life has always been for them-
~
Adashino could remember clearly, the oars were moving through the waves in slow motion, it seemed. The water was…thick, congealed. It was straining against the fishing boats like a backwards current. That was how it looked from a distance, anyway…
No, he had thought, its just me, I'm getting worn out.
He could feel a burning in his arms, and it was already snaking its way across his shoulders. Perhaps there was nothing strange about the water. Perhaps his boat was the only one slowing down, after all.
Don't stop. Keep rowing. Those children are as good as dead if any of us give up now.
~
We almost had them.
~
Ginko was leaning over the edge of the boat, trying to stay aboard as waves thrashed beneath them. His grip on the wood turned his knuckles white.
One more pull of the oars. Just one. Adashino grit his teeth, forced his arms to move.
Pull!
And then the children were in reach! Adashino could recognize them now; siblings from Yajuu-san's house; the daughter, Saijouko, and the youngest son, Jiku. Somehow, miraculously, they still managed to keep their heads above the waves. One of them even smiled at the sight of the boat.
But that much, at least, could be expected of children who grew up in a fishing village.
Ginko reached out, his steady hand around the wrist of the girl in an instant. He lifted her small body from the water with one arm, so strong, and pulled her into the longboat. Adashino took hold of the boy, lifting him aboard as well.
~
It's important to mention, because of my line of profession, that neither of the children were too worse for wear. Certainly they were tired after swimming against a storm, and there was a bit of seawater coughed up. But Yajuu-san has always made sure that his offspring are strong swimmers. Well, as a rule of thumb, it's like that with everyone. I don't honestly think that anyone here would be so easily taken by the sea. There would have to be much more involved than simply getting snatched up by some current. Much more. Especially taking into consideration that half the village would be out there as a rescue party.
The temperament of the ocean is just something we've all learned to live with. But for outsiders…
Although, what I'm writing about isn't meant to regale any 'usual standards'. I simply mean to give a basis for comparison. The event I record here had been by no means a typical occurrence for anyone.
~
A great wave rose up to the left of the longboat. It swelled, climbed, until it towered over the fishermen; a black monster outlined by the storm's lightning. It hung over them for what seemed like eternal seconds, unnaturally motionless. No one else understood it, but that was when Adashino realized…And he could see it confirmed on Ginko's face; This was no wave. This was no reasonable part of the ocean at all.
He could almost see it contemplating, were such a thing possible; how heavily would it crush down upon them, the tiny men below?
A mushi, he thought, strange clarity lapping over his horror. A mushi in the ocean, like that swamp…
"…-shino!"
He broke from his stunned thoughts, turning away from the towering liquid thing before them. Ginko had been yelling at him.
"Adashino, the oars!! Row, damn it! Row away from it, now!" His voice had panic in it. Adashino's stomach tightened.
The mushi still towered there, black and massive. But now it had begun to lean steadily forward. Slowly, horribly, it was falling towards all their little boats. It was going to crush them.
Adashino grabbed the oars and pulled, pulled so hard his muscles screamed. He ignored it.
Furiously, and in sudden, total panic, he fought to steer the boat away.
No speed in the world could move them away fast enough, it seemed.
Ginko stood up in the prow, precariously balanced again the tumult of waves. The wind ripped at his hair and shirt, rain streaming into that ghostly eye socket. Lightning went jagged across the sky, silhouetting his body. For a moment, Adashino thought he was looking at the vision of a drowned man. Suddenly, he felt sick.
Saijouko was half-standing against Ginko. She clung desperately to his waist, and had been pulled up when he stood. Skinny fingers dug into his back. It was hard to tell if she meant to keep herself, or her rescuer in the boat.
The mushishi noticed none of this; not the bite of the water, nor the grip of the girl's hands.
They had to escape! All those villagers… He had no idea what this mushi would do to them, but he knew that here was a creature that would suffer no survivors.
Hands moved up to cup around his mouth, and Ginko yelled out across the water,
"Move away!! That thing's going to take you all under! Get the hell back to shore!"
Perhaps the others heard him. Perhaps it was fear that finally got them moving. Either way, the longboats began to slide away from the path of that looming monster.
All too late.
A sound rumbled through the liquid mass, like an explosion heard from underwater. It rolled throughout the creature in deep, bass echoes, over and over. It was the mushi's voice.
Every man froze in terror at the sound of it.
~
Chapter 2
Characters/pairings: Ginko, Adashino, some OCs (for the sake of having the necessary background characters). AdaGin if you read between the lines. May or may not become something more later on, but the first four chapters are safe as houses for all you non-yaoi fans out there.
Rating: Ehm. PG, PG13? There's 'scary' stuff, and occasional cussing. I dunno.
Summary: Sometimes a heavy storm at sea will dredge up strange, ancient creatures. This time, a mushi surfaces, and it might be more than Ginko and Adashino can handle.
-In progress-
----+----
What they tell me now is that the children had been on the beach, bringing fishing boats higher ashore. But during a storm that we all knew was going to be that bad…? I can't understand why there was still anyone on the shore at that point.
By my own guesses, this may have been one of the worse storms of the summer. Ashika-san tells me the villagers are calling it "Suifu no Sainan". Though, given the events that happened within the storm, I would think they'd give it a name that sounded more…imposing. Or at least something that would do justice to its intensity. After everything that happened that night, after what they saw… Well, this is just my own opinion. But I digress…
The children. The children were on the beach, and a sudden wave had pulled them out to sea. Suifu no Sainan and the drowning children, were only the beginnings of our troubles that night.
~
The rain was at his back in a deluge, soaking him to the bone. At first it meant nothing, easily ignored. It was only rain. Only the feel of a thousand tapping fingers, and the cold, wet chill. But rain could be relentless, and soon his back felt like it was being pummeled. The skin turned raw. Soon the wind drove each drop into his skin like a tiny hammer, the fabric of his kimono giving no protection.
It felt like glass, driving itself into his eyes, biting at his arms.
This would leave bruises, he was sure. But bruises could not make any of them turn back now. They had to rescue the children, before the storm swallowed them whole.
Row on.
Ginko shouted something from the prow of the longboat, but the wind stole it from his lips. All sound save for the howling of the storm, was lost at sea.
~
I realize now, perhaps all too late at this point, that it may have been some warning he was yelling. Did he see what was ahead of us? Actually, was it possible at all to see anything through that storm?
Still, I catch myself wondering if hearing him would have made any difference.
Probably not. The people here, they see things through to the end, or they die. That's just how life has always been for them-
~
Adashino could remember clearly, the oars were moving through the waves in slow motion, it seemed. The water was…thick, congealed. It was straining against the fishing boats like a backwards current. That was how it looked from a distance, anyway…
No, he had thought, its just me, I'm getting worn out.
He could feel a burning in his arms, and it was already snaking its way across his shoulders. Perhaps there was nothing strange about the water. Perhaps his boat was the only one slowing down, after all.
Don't stop. Keep rowing. Those children are as good as dead if any of us give up now.
~
We almost had them.
~
Ginko was leaning over the edge of the boat, trying to stay aboard as waves thrashed beneath them. His grip on the wood turned his knuckles white.
One more pull of the oars. Just one. Adashino grit his teeth, forced his arms to move.
Pull!
And then the children were in reach! Adashino could recognize them now; siblings from Yajuu-san's house; the daughter, Saijouko, and the youngest son, Jiku. Somehow, miraculously, they still managed to keep their heads above the waves. One of them even smiled at the sight of the boat.
But that much, at least, could be expected of children who grew up in a fishing village.
Ginko reached out, his steady hand around the wrist of the girl in an instant. He lifted her small body from the water with one arm, so strong, and pulled her into the longboat. Adashino took hold of the boy, lifting him aboard as well.
~
It's important to mention, because of my line of profession, that neither of the children were too worse for wear. Certainly they were tired after swimming against a storm, and there was a bit of seawater coughed up. But Yajuu-san has always made sure that his offspring are strong swimmers. Well, as a rule of thumb, it's like that with everyone. I don't honestly think that anyone here would be so easily taken by the sea. There would have to be much more involved than simply getting snatched up by some current. Much more. Especially taking into consideration that half the village would be out there as a rescue party.
The temperament of the ocean is just something we've all learned to live with. But for outsiders…
Although, what I'm writing about isn't meant to regale any 'usual standards'. I simply mean to give a basis for comparison. The event I record here had been by no means a typical occurrence for anyone.
~
A great wave rose up to the left of the longboat. It swelled, climbed, until it towered over the fishermen; a black monster outlined by the storm's lightning. It hung over them for what seemed like eternal seconds, unnaturally motionless. No one else understood it, but that was when Adashino realized…And he could see it confirmed on Ginko's face; This was no wave. This was no reasonable part of the ocean at all.
He could almost see it contemplating, were such a thing possible; how heavily would it crush down upon them, the tiny men below?
A mushi, he thought, strange clarity lapping over his horror. A mushi in the ocean, like that swamp…
"…-shino!"
He broke from his stunned thoughts, turning away from the towering liquid thing before them. Ginko had been yelling at him.
"Adashino, the oars!! Row, damn it! Row away from it, now!" His voice had panic in it. Adashino's stomach tightened.
The mushi still towered there, black and massive. But now it had begun to lean steadily forward. Slowly, horribly, it was falling towards all their little boats. It was going to crush them.
Adashino grabbed the oars and pulled, pulled so hard his muscles screamed. He ignored it.
Furiously, and in sudden, total panic, he fought to steer the boat away.
No speed in the world could move them away fast enough, it seemed.
Ginko stood up in the prow, precariously balanced again the tumult of waves. The wind ripped at his hair and shirt, rain streaming into that ghostly eye socket. Lightning went jagged across the sky, silhouetting his body. For a moment, Adashino thought he was looking at the vision of a drowned man. Suddenly, he felt sick.
Saijouko was half-standing against Ginko. She clung desperately to his waist, and had been pulled up when he stood. Skinny fingers dug into his back. It was hard to tell if she meant to keep herself, or her rescuer in the boat.
The mushishi noticed none of this; not the bite of the water, nor the grip of the girl's hands.
They had to escape! All those villagers… He had no idea what this mushi would do to them, but he knew that here was a creature that would suffer no survivors.
Hands moved up to cup around his mouth, and Ginko yelled out across the water,
"Move away!! That thing's going to take you all under! Get the hell back to shore!"
Perhaps the others heard him. Perhaps it was fear that finally got them moving. Either way, the longboats began to slide away from the path of that looming monster.
All too late.
A sound rumbled through the liquid mass, like an explosion heard from underwater. It rolled throughout the creature in deep, bass echoes, over and over. It was the mushi's voice.
Every man froze in terror at the sound of it.
~
Chapter 2