The Day of Thunder

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara was on the bridge again.

She felt the clammy air creeping over her skin as she ran, struggling over the spongy and half-rotted boards, feeling her ankle twist as she stumbled. She had been here so many times. She felt the weakness in her body of her younger self - untrained. Unprepared for the uncaring world.

Rough hands caught her arm, caught her shoulder - pulled her around. She saw again that face... all shadow and harsh edges, backlit by a burning village and the cries of the innocent. It leered at her, more beast than man. The same leer it always had - it made her skin crawl the same every time. Struggling, screaming, she flailed away, breaking that grip for a moment. It was only a moment, and then the hands caught her again and she was tripping over her sandals, smashing into the railing and feeling it give way in a crash of rotten wood.

The world turned upside down and she fell with the leering man, now screaming in anger and fear. Into cold waters. The world dissolved into noise and confusion, the iron grip of the freezing water crushing the air from her lungs as she fought against the rushing current, struggling for earth beneath her feet, a grip on something solid.... for air. For anything.

One grasping hand finally found something solid, and she latched onto it desperately, pulling herself up. The man was her raft as she climbed toward air, toward life. He struggled, and they twisted in the flow, locked in a macabre dance - the fumbling desperation of a lover in the dark, but this was a morbid contest for air. Suddenly, they struck a stone in the rapids - the man cushioning the impact for her. His body went limp, and she found the surface, taking a strangled breath.

Life.

Then she was pulled under again and the world dissolved back into noise and violence, all sense of up or down lost in the mayhem. Without any sense of what she was reaching for, she stretched out her hands, lungs burning, and one of them found something. A log. Something to hold, and she clung to it with every fiber of her being.

Hauling herself up, she even got half of her body above the water line, shivering uncontrollably and wracked with sobs of terror and adrenaline, she heard the rushing roar of rapids behind her, of more ahead.

And then the dream... rippled. The log was not a log any longer - it was a body. It was the man, grabbing hold of her, wrapping cold fingers around her throat, empty, lifeless eyes staring as she was suddenly ripped down into the depths. Endless depths, with nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see.

This was when she should wake, finally be free of the nightmare she had suffered so many nights.

Tonight, she didn't wake, but slammed onto hard wood boards, gasping at the shock.

She was alone, on a dark pier. Around her were shadowy forms, distorted images of a village, people going about their business as if viewed through a rippling pond. She couldn't make out their faces, couldn't hear what they were saying.

This unknown was suddenly more terrifying than anything that had come before. Struggling to her feet, she tried to call out, but her voice cracked, no words escaping. In confusion, she stared down at herself, realizing she was still deep under the water, yet somehow she could no longer feel the need to breathe. Instead she saw trails of blood floating away behind her... her hands were covered. They weren't coming clean, but they left a hazy trail behind her, as if giving silent warning to all who saw her.

Reaching toward one of the distorted figures, she felt her heart lurch as it recoiled, turning and hurrying away. Then another did. She ran through that village, she did not know how long, trying to call out, trying to reach out... until her legs ached and her lungs burned.

She was alone. No one would look at her, would stand to be near her. She was alone here. Forever.

For the first time in the dream, Yukara felt tears welling in her eyes as she staggered to a stop, alone in the darkness, and then sank down to her knees, gazing helplessly at the distant figures, hurrying away into the darkness.

Then there was silence, and she buried her face in bloody hands.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Inside the nightmare, the trails of blood lazily drifted, creating a trail, leading away into the darkness.

A path someone could follow if they were to intrude upon her nightmare.

[Chuchu]

Something shifts. Blood dissolves into darkness as an unseen current draws fresh water forward, cool and inviting, brushing Yukara's skin and hair like the soft touch of a mother. Inhuman eyes shine in the dark: the first sign.

As she approaches the tiny nezumi snaps her fingers. Golden crystal stars spin themselves into existence, their warm light bathing both girls and pushing back the oppressive black of the deep. They follow her like puppies, bouncing along in an excited manner, her own friendly little constellation. The shaman rides a soft lavender cloud. Her large eyes peek at Yukara over its fluffy peaks -- just her eyes, brow, ears and hair visible as she half-hides within its sworling depths. She feels unreal, more dream than dream, her black face the only static, concrete thing to hold onto. The rest of her (of what can be seen, anyway) is a riot of slowly shifting colors and patterns in grey, white, black, roan, lilac.

"Hello!" She squeaks out. "I heard you crying. Are you okay? This place is frightening. Do you want to go somewhere else?" Her voice is high-pitched and she talks quite quick.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara blinked, confused by the voice, and then brushed her hair out of her face to gaze at the... rat person? She had heard distant tales of them, but never seen one. Her imagination must truly be working hard tonight.

This dream was very unusual.

Pushing herself up to her feet, she faced the cloud, wiping away at her eyes, even though it left bloody smears on her cheeks.

"I am... fine. I am always fine. I have no choice. Who... What are you?"

Questions about leaving seemed lost amid her confusion.

[Chuchu]

"I am... fine. I am always fine. I have no choice. Who... What are you?"

"I am a Great Number," the words overlaid by the wind-whistley syllables 'Chuchu', "Friend of Humans and Nameseeker of the Great People."

Shyly the nezumi sits up on her knees, her whole face now apparent, and her shoulders, too, to lean forward and stare at Yukara. "You don't seem fine! This is a scary place you've made for yourself. Is your heart heavy?"

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"I do not know. I have no other heart to compare it to."

Yukara stared about, looking at the misty darkness, now reflecting the strange leaping lights, and adding, "Great Number, Friend of Humans and Nameseeker of the Great People, how are you here? Where is here?"

She patted her clothes, finding none of her belongings. Her weapon was missing. She was still her teenage self - unarmed and unprepared.

"I do not know how to leave."

[Chuchu]

"I do not know. I have no other heart to compare it to."

"I understand," She answers with a soft sincerity. At Yukara's question the ratling sits up straight and proud, "I am a Nameseeker of the Great People! In due time all return from that whence they came, but those who keep the old ways can walk the Dreaming as they please."

The cloud dips down so Chuchu can offer her hand to the girl. "It's alright. I can take you somewhere else, if you'd like." Then, thinking better of it, her little hand-paw pulls back just an inch. "I could also give you a path, if you want to go alone. Just tell me, where do you want to go?"

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara reached out, and then stopped.

She furrowed her brow.

"I... I do not know. I do not know where else I can go."

[Chuchu]

"I... I do not know. I do not know where else I can go."

"Come, now," She gently coaxes, "This is the world of Dreams. If you can dream it, you can find it." Her paw moves forward to take Yukara's hand. Their palms against each other offer another glimpse into their difference; the nezumi's hand has puffy bumps and ridges, pads and dips that feel soft and alien against the flat of a human hand. The cloud lowers to the depths, kicking up filmy clouds of sand that settle quickly, and Chuchu carefully helps the human onto its back. How strange to hold onto something both solid and thin at once. "Do you like forests? What about wildflowers?"

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"Forests and flowers are nice..."

She considered quietly. "I like mountains, where the air is clean and fresh, and the ground is solid underfoot."

This was all so strange, yet it was comforting. Here was something new, but kind. Unlike the usual denizens of her nightmares.

[Chuchu]

"I like mountains, where the air is clean and fresh, and the ground is solid underfoot."

"To the mountains!" She chirps happily. The cloud begins to rise, its constellation of crystals following them, one taking a moment to bounce around Yukara and release playful sparks that fall to dim dusty motes of pale light which settle on her skin. Chuchu regards Yukara with a curious eye. "What's your Name?" Their ascent quickens; black shifts to dark blue-green, and huge schools of silvery fish glint in the light of their stars as they pass, larger shapes threatening to loom in the distance they cannot see. The ratling cuddles close to Yukara as her eyes catch the shining scales, and one arm wraps around hers, linking the two.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara might have shied away, protective of her space, or her cat's mood making her prickly - but she was entirely too overwhelmed by events unfolding. She nearly missed the question, distracted as she was by light, rushing wind, and the eerie vertigo of sudden flight.

Somewhat breathless, she gasped, "I'm Yukara, Ryoshun Yukara." Her eyes blazed a brilliant amber in the dream, cat-slit pupils wide as she took in the rushing vistas of light and dark.

This was all in her imagination, but her imagination was pulling out all the stops tonight. Maybe she should've tried some more of that festival food.

[Chuchu]

The nezumi's eyes sparkle a little as she looks up at Yukara, amazed. Humans are so surprising! Chuchu briefly wonders how the kittens at home are doing; by now, they're probably cats, and wandered off to find new homes and new nezumi to love them. It leaves her quiet a moment.

"Yukara's a pretty name," She finally says softly. "Can I call you Yuki?"

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"Uh... if you like." Her dream giving her nicknames was also a first.

"I have never gone on a journey like this, Great Number, Friend of Humans and Nameseeker of the Great People, do you do this often?"

The wind playing with her hair made her smile. This was so strange, so alien, it stirred emotions she had not felt in a long time.

Wonder.

She knew she would return to that river - as she always did, but for a brief moment she was free, in a wondrous moment. Even her bloody hands were forgotten for a moment, as she gazed out at the light and dark.

[Chuchu]

She knew she would return to that river - as she always did, but for a brief moment she was free, in a wondrous moment. Even her bloody hands were forgotten for a moment, as she gazed out at the light and dark.

"Mmhmm! I'm a Dreamwalker!" She giggles as the water now quickly turns aquamarine -- and then -- they burst forth from the surface into the clear blue, into a new dream, one with a beautiful sky raining cherry blossoms down upon the two dreamers. "I go exploring and playing and talking -- the Dreaming is so big, and it never stops growing! Even if I explore every day and every night of my life, I'll never see even half of it. Isn't that amazing?" Her little hands rest on her chest as she closes her eyes, feeling the wonder of it, too. Her inheritance from her people. The inheritance of all nezumi. Chuchu's love glows under her little hands. The crystal stars grow bright as well, so bright they begin to burn themselves out, leaving trails of sparkling motes behind them as the cloud moves across the petal-strewn ocean towards the great mountains called forth by Yukara's heart.

"Tell me of the mountains we'll see?" The nezumi asks softly, eyes opening to gaze up at Yuki. The caress of blossoms against her cheeks gets more giggling.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"I thought you knew where we were going."

Yukara glanced into the distance, the dancing lights leaving her feeling slightly dizzy.

"Have you not seen mountains before, peaking against the sky like a wall to hold back the heavens themselves? Snow capped tips and fierce, rolling foothills dotted with boulders, those little mountains shrugged off the bigger slopes." She chuckled. "I used to play on them, you know, climbing about and thinking myself placed atop an unassailable fortress."

[Chuchu]

"I used to play on them, you know, climbing about and thinking myself placed atop an unassailable fortress."

"It's your dream, Yuki," Chuchu says with a little smile. As Yukara speaks the nezumi closes her eyes, imagining the sight. In her mind it's twilight: blue mountains against an orange-pink sky, an unmovable guardian against the monsters of the night. Something solid and real to hold onto without it anchoring the girl down. "That sounds lovely... let's go there. Can you imagine it for me?"

Delicately her small paw again finds Yukara's hand, squeezing it. "Just imagine it as you remember it and how you want it to be. I'll hold your hand and be the channel."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara nodded, calling to mind stories of mountain monasteries, spread across the clifftops as if they had grown there... eternal, elegant... shrouded in sunset.

She closed her eyes, and tried to fix the though in her mind, sturdy ground and rugged trees and hardy mountain grass.

[Chuchu]

She closed her eyes, and tried to fix the though in her mind, sturdy ground and rugged trees and hardy mountain grass.

All at once the air shifts around Yukara, brushing past her as if she's plummeting forward. Chuchu holds her hand tight through the jarring feeling as they briefly slip between dreams. The sensation ends; the nezumi whispers, "You can open your eyes now, Yuki."

The mountains are just as she remembered -- with one addition. As the cloud descends upon the mountain flickering fireflies light the way.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"This... I had not seen it up close."

Yukara seemed to be struggling for words. "It was always so far off, and they said no one would want me to go."

Her eyes were strangely bright, and she turned her gaze to Chuchu, "I do not know why I am here now, but... thank you."