Ink Stained

22: spring*

春

Pai jerked awake with an inhaled gasp, eyes flying widen open, pupils contracting to into dots at the flare of light before her that faded quickly as her senses settled. A gentle hand on her shoulder kept her from sitting up too quickly, and her swinging gaze finally settled on the person kneeling next to her on the floor of the haiden.

For a moment, she thought she was still looking at Konohana, still listening to the mesmerizing tune of her sing-song voice. But the face above herself was all wrong, too diferent to be Konohana's. It was wrinkled, with hardly-there white eyebrows over deep-set dark brown eyes.

It was Tsukuda. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear him around the faint buzzing in her ears.

Her eyes drifted off from Tsukuda as she looked around her, at the gaggle of people standing around and talking mutedly to each other, wearing looks of open concern and worry on their faces. A trickle of sound filtered in. She turned back to Tsukuda when she heard his voice again.

"Can you hear me? Are you all right, dear child?"

She frowned. Why was he asking her these questions? Why was she on the floor? Why were those people ogling at her like she was some sort of exotic zoo animal?

Her tongue was heavy in her mouth when she finally mustered enough energy to say, confused, "Tsukuda-san?"

He smiled, relief spreading its wings over the weathered planes of his face as he motioned to a young woman in miko clothing, who stood behind him. Her black hair was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were dark and look distinctly disapproving and irritated as they looked at Pai.

Even though she still had no clue what was happening, what had happened, she felt like she was a disobedient child caught breaking the rules, under the miko maiden's stern but polite glare.

The miko maiden bowed respectfully to Tsukuda before turning to the men and women still standing and staring.

"Please, if you will follow me." She said, perfectly calm and collected. "The young lady needs space."

It took her a moment to realize the miko maiden was talking about her.

They all turned and started to leave with the miko maiden coming up behind them, as if she was a shepherd bringing up to rear to ensure no one strayed. Pai turned away from their lingering gazes and focused on Tsukuda while she tried to take stock of herself, to figure out what was wrong this time.

Her muscles felt leaden, her very bones weak and felt so easily breakable if she moved to abruptly. She didn't think she could, at least. She was – tired, the way she got after a gruelling day of non-stop moving about with no breaks in between, as was sometimes the case when dealing with the kids back home, or in the beginning when Shiori would excitedly take her out to places in the city for the whole day that quickly exhausted Pai, every single time. Her eyes were heavy as she tried to keep them from closing while she looked up at Tsukuda, who knelt on the cold wooden floor beside her like he was ready to catch her if she passed out.

...again?

Was that what happened? She fainted?

She shook her head and tried to sit up straight, with Tsukuda's helping hand gently pressed to the middle of her back to guide her up. She noticed the headache as soon as she moved; a dull, throbbing pain pounding at the base of her skull, spreading out from a point at the back of her head to the cut on her neck.

"What...happened?" she asked, groggy like a bullfrog.

"You fainted. One of the visitors found you unconscious on the floor, right where you sit now." He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she had to resist the urge to shake it off. She didn't like people touching her, for any reason, but – it would be rude to do that, now. Tsukuda was helping her.