Yatagarasu

Some days he felt like dying. Others, he wanted to live. Most days, he wasn't sure he could tell the difference between the two.

Grass tickled his ankles and calves as he shuffled his legs, crossing them at the knee. Clasping his hands behind his head, he leaned against the trunk of the small pear tree, its heavily weighted branches shading him and partially concealing him from the world, just the way he liked it.

Letting his eyes close, his chin dipped forward into his chest, his breathing becoming slow and rythmic. The warmth of the summer breeze caressed his face and ruffled his hair. The leaves of the pear tree whispered a lullaby as he gave in and dozed off.

_____

Fast. Moving fast. Too fast. Can't see. Blind. Falling. Tumbling. Broken.

A million sensations wracked his body as he lay prone on his side. Something wet was running down his face from his hairline to his chin. He hoped beyond hope that it was simply sweat.

His heart stuttered and pounded, flitting against his ribcage in an erratic fashion. His head pounded and he was fairly certain attempting to move was out of the question.

Wracking his brain, he tried to remember the events leading up to this moment, but nothing came to him. All he could feel was the pain of whatever was broken throughout his body converging on him at once as he lay on his side in the dirt.

The air was thick with the stench of death as he closed his eyes in defeat and acceptance.

_____

Thunder boomed through the air, startling him from his sleep, blind panic setting in as he attempted to take in his surroundings. Springing to his feet, he turned his head to the left and right, the panic going down a notch when he realized he was still beneath the pear tree, though the weather had definitely taken a turn. The wind had gone from pleasant to turbulent, tearing at the tree branches and raking them across his face as if it were desperately clawing at his skin, trying to get inside.

Backing out from under the tree, he was met with a downpour of stinging rain. It came down cold and fast and, from what he could tell, was mixed with small balls of hail. His skin burned where it pelted his arms and the back of his neck.

A streak of lightning lit up the sky with a brilliant flash, followed seconds later by a second clap of thunder.

"Eamon!"

He could barely make out the screech of someone calling his name over the noise. Raising a hand to shield hid eyes and push back his soaked, orange bangs, he scanned the area around the tree. At first, he saw nothing but the torrent of rain and hail. And then he saw it.

Careening toward him was a very familiar straw hat, punctuated by the bright red ribbon haphazardly tied around it, which was threatening to flap free and fly away on the wind.

Abe.

He was frozen in place. His feet felt like they were plunged deep into concrete. His veins turned to ice as he stared stupidly at the hat as it whipped by, inches from his ear.

His cousin's wide, brown eyes flashed in his mind and his heart sank. Shit shit SHIT. What the hell are you doing out in this?

That was a rhetorical question. He knew that Abe was the only one who would care enough to come looking for him in a storm like this. His cousin was, perhaps, the only human alive who really cared about him.

And look at how you're repaying him.

"Abe!" Roaring into the storm, he closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting on a response.

When none came, he staggered forward, willing his legs into action.

"Abe! Answer me. I'm not playing around!"

His left foot found some sort of root and the other found a slick patch of muddy grass. Down he went, his arms unable to get out to break his fall in time. His forehead met the ground with a small bounce and a loud thud. His vision spun and blurred, his nose felt stiff and he swore he smelled copper.

"A-abe..."

Darkness took him once again as the heavens continued thier onslaught, beating his body as if they were trying to break through to his soul.