A way away

11. Darkness

The thing I loved the most about my island, was how rapidly the weather could change. It wasn't unusual that we went through sun and rain and hail and snow in the same day.

Really bad storms, however, were rare, knock on wood, but when they came, I found them exciting. That day, when I saw the accumulating clouds when I came out of the school building, I ran directly to the shore to have a closer look. Fishing boats were already coming in to land, not wanting to risk a rough sea. I walked out on the long wooden jetty and sat down, hugging my knees to me, just looking, figuring I had an hour or so before Tobirama got off work. The wind was coming up, and the waves became bigger and bigger. Soon, it would be too cold for my light jacket.

I hadn't realised just how bad it was until a big wave crashed over the entire jetty and absolutely drenched me. I gasped in the shock; even at this time of year, the ocean was icy cold.

"Oy", I heard a voice behind me. I turned. It was a fisherman far, far away, on the shore. "Get the hell out of there!"

I started running back before the next huge wave came down on me. I hadn't even got any time to panic before a huge crash went off, and I was blinded by light. The fishermen standing in the shore could see that a lightning bolt had struck a tree by the jetty, and that tree came crashing down, destroying the wood, causing me to be thrown into the ocean. I, however, had no idea how it happened, but suddenly, I fell, hit my head really, really badly...

And fell into the icy cold water.

I had no memory of actually falling into it; I had blacked out by the blow to my head. But when I woke up, I was tumbling around in the water like a mitten in a snowstorm, being tossed here and there by the waves. I had no idea the water was so deep here and, worst of all, I had no idea which direction the surface was. And even if I had known, there was no way I could swim to it because the momentum of the huge waves were unbelievable.

I looked around me, searching for a source of light. My lungs were burning, and my brain's instinct to breathe would soon override my will not to breathe in the ocean water, I knew. But there was no light to guide me, only darkness. Oh, where was my lighthouse when I needed it? 

Tobirama...

And just when my lungs finally took a deep breath for me, I felt a pair of strong arms around my waist.

I gasped, sat up straight, coughing up water. I wondered why it looked so pretty when people who had drowned did it on film. In reality, it wasn't pretty at all. At least not for me. The water came out of my nose as well as my mouth, causing me incredible Paine that made tears run down my fac. My airways were burning after the salty water as well, making me claw at my throat to try and force the pain away.

"Izuna, calm down. Calm down, you're safe."

That way of saying my name... Isuu-na.

"Tobirama", I croaked, but speaking made my throat feel as if it was burning.

"Thank God!" a voice cried, and a pair of strong arms were wrapped around me. "I thought I'd lost you!" Tobirama cried. "I thought you had died!"

And me, unable to understand just what had happened, to take in the grandiosity of it all, just hugged him back; his wet body through his wet polo, my hand on his slicked hair. We clung to one another as if our life depended on it, which mine actually had done.

I had no idea then that Tobirama had been terrified of water to a phobic level. Had I known, I would have melted.

Suddenly, we heard applause around us. Both of us looked up, just woken from our bubble of relief. The entire island was there, and they were applauding Tobirama, their faces full of shame and regret for how they had treated him.

From that moment, the island accepted Tobirama as one of their own.

As soon as we came into my cottage, Tobirama broke down. He just fell in the floor and started crying his heart out. I didn't know what to say, just held him, caressing his back as I cried, too. I made us some tea to drink in the couch in front of the fireplace, which I lit. I put a blanket around Tobirama.

"You shouldn't be taking care of me", he said. "I should take care of you. Let me examine you. You should be checked by a doctor after what you went through."

And before I had time to protest, he laid me down on the couch, took a stethoscope out of his backpack, and examined me very slowly thoroughly while tears still fell down his face. 

And all the while, he told me his story. How he had been a doctor in his home country. How civil war had broken out, causing massive bombing of the capital where he lived. How he had had to flee from the military breaking into the different shelters where he had hid, and how he'd hardly managed to get away. How he had fled the country as the risk of dying was so great.

And the escape over the rough ocean. And how afraid he had been of water since then. 

I stopped him in his process of examining the pulses in my feet by sitting up and putting a hand on his cheek.

"You conquered your fear to save me?" I asked.

He took my hand and kissed it.

"Anything for you, Izuna."

Isuu-na. 

I looked at him sternly. Then, I took his hand.

"Come", I said.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"My bedroom", I said, dead-pan. "I need you to fuck me. I need you to fuck me now."