I focused entirely on my right hand, pouring every ounce of my willpower into moving just a single finger. Nothing. They felt distant, as if they belonged to someone else. My legs were completely unresponsive.
Refusing to just lie there and suffocate on my own thirst, I shifted my weight with a lurch of my upper body, allowing gravity to pull me off the bed. I fell onto my stomach with a dull thud. But I couldn't feel the impact. I began to painfully drag my body across the floor, using only the friction of my chin and my torso to slide forward centimeter by centimeter.
A few feet away, there was a clay water jug. I could see the faint glint of moonlight reflecting off its curved surface. It was my lifeline. But as I finally dragged myself close enough, I realized I didn't have working hands to lift it. I didn't know how to drink from it like this.
In a desperate attempt, I nudged it with my head, hoping to tip it just enough to let the water pool out in my mouth. Instead, I knocked the jug over completely.
To my dismay, the water rushed out in a wave, soaking the floor. My clothes, already drenched in cold sweat, becoming even damper and clinging tightly to my skin. Yet, from my chest down, I felt absolutely nothing.
Left with no other choice, I lowered my face to the floor and began to lick the spilled water directly from the wood. It tasted awful... combined with the salt of my own sweat and a weird bybitter, earthy smell from the clay and dust. It was degrading, but his thirst was unbearable.
I paused, hoping the sound of the jug tipping over would have been loud enough to wake someone in the house. But luck wasn't on my side. The jug hadn't broken; it had merely rolled, and the thick water had muffled its fall.
I looked around from my limited, ground-level view. There was nothing else within reach to knock over, nothing that could produce a loud enough sound that would alarm mother or Hinata in the other room.
Think, damn it. Think.
I decided the only tool I had left to break the jug was my own skull. I dragged myself a few inches closer to the heavy clay jug, braced myself, and slammed my forehead against it. The jug didn't shatter; it just rolled a few inches away, slipping my blow.
"Damn it... damn it! Why? Why do I have to suffer like this?"
A spike of anger flared up in my chest. "It was all Darui's fault. If he hadn't messed up, I wouldn't be broken like this."
"Shit... what a pity. Look at me now, blaming someone else for my own weakness."
Frustrated and desperate, I stopped targeting the jug. I raised my head as high as my neck would allow and started to hit my forehead directly against the wooden floor, trying to produce the loudest sound possible.
I slammed down once. Twice. But because of the spilled water pooling around me, the floorboards were damp, and the sound was entirely absorbed and all it produced was a dull, pathetic thud.
I tried multiple times, pouring the last vestiges of my energy into the strikes, but to no avail. I realized I was trapped in a horrific paradox: I either had to wait hours for the water to dry so the wood would make proper sound, or drag myself to a dry spot. But if I moved, I would just drag the water with me, spreading the dampness and continuing to muffle the sound.
There was no choice. I had to hit the floor harder, regardless of the pain I couldn't feel. I arched my neck back and slammed downward with everything I had left.
Plop. It was a wet, heavy sound, but this time, it vibrated through the structure of the room.
I lay there, breathing heavily, with my forehead throbbing. Then, through the silence of the room, I heard it... the faint sound of footsteps running down the corridor, heading directly toward my room.
The door gave a long, familiar screech as it slid open. From my position flat on the floor, I looked up at the feet shuffling into the room. They were small.
It was Hinata.
She gasped, her active Byakugan eyes widening as she took in the sight of me sprawled in the darkness. "Kaien... what happened?"
Despite her small stature, she possessed a surprising amount of physical strength as she had been training intensely for past 6 months. She knelt down, carefully gripping my shoulders, and managed to roll my dead weight over onto my back. Finally, I could see the ceiling, and I could see her face hovering over me.
I forced my jaw to move, straining my tongue up and down, trying with everything inside me to form words, to tell I need water. But no sound came out. My mouth just moved in weird grotesque movements, it looked like I was mocking her.
Hinata's eyes welled with tears at her utter inability to understand what I needed. "What is it?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "Is it your medicine? Do you need your medicine?"
I tried harder, the sheer frustration causing a few hot tears to escape the corners of my eyes, tracing a path down my temples and into my hair. I focused every single ounce of my will into a single, desperate breath.
"Wa... wa... ter," I finally spoke out.
~~
A/N: Kaien's first words after three years, his helplessness and need for water made him blurt out words.
Kaien' very first words when he was born: "what is war?"
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