A/N: As a warning, this has some gory spots, though I am really squeamish myself.

You Sleep Like The Dead

For as long as she'd known him, Nanashi had been a heavy sleeper. There could be demons howling in battle just outside the windows, and he would keep snoozing. A blaring alarm could terrify everyone else while he would mumble and still try to drift off. If they gave him a new alarm, it would work for three days and then he'd tune it out. It became part of Asahi's routine that every morning, she'd go in and wake him up. They might not see him until noon otherwise.

She knocked out of habit. "Nanashi? You up yet?"

The usual silence answered her.

"I'm coming in," she said, opening the door. When she closed it, she didn't bother making it quiet. That sometimes got him up. "Of course you'd be able to sleep. I hardly did..."

They found bodies on the streets of Tokyo often but yesterday was the first time… a fanned peacock tail and burning human flesh; they'd been happy to be given the responsibility of fighting like Hunters but it all turned to terror in seconds….

Shuddering, Asahi reminded herself to stay tough. This was something every Hunter dealt with. They risked their lives to keep others safe. She'd cried yesterday and last night, but today was a new day. She had to get stronger so she didn't see something like that again.

She looked at the bed and saw that Nanashi was still asleep, on his right side with his left hand lying by his head. The old smartphone was beeping patiently by the bedside table. Knowing it wouldn't help, she went to turn that alarm off and noticed that the screen was no longer cracked. In fact, it looked in better shape than her Dad's phone, or her new one from… no, don't remember that. When had he gotten that fixed? And who could repair phones that well? He'd been able to summon a demon yesterday, but she hadn't gotten a good look at the phone.

She could ask him about that once he was fully awake. "Nanashi, time to wake up," Asahi said, tugging at his hand. "Nanashi?"

He didn't respond, not even in squeezing his eyelids tighter.

Sighing, she tugged at his hand again. It came off the pillow limply. "You're really out this morning. Nanashi, Nanashi! Wake up, I've got some plans to..." she squeezed his hand.

Something didn't feel right. His hand was cooler than normal. While it didn't seem bad, he'd also not shifted at all in response to her. Asahi was used to how he covered his face with his arm or seemed to grimace in waking up. His lips hadn't moved, his eyelids hadn't twitched. A strand of hair was near his nose was still as he was.

Her mind went blank. Something wasn't right, something was wrong. But what? Was he really not breathing? He was on his side, so movements of his chest might be hard to see. Or he might not be moving at all? Asahi took the hand she had and tried to feel his wrist. Where was the pulse point? She'd taken first aid lessons but they'd flown right out of her mind faced with this.

"Come on, Nanashi, wake up," she begged, hoping that she was mistaken.

He still wasn't moving.

She'd seen him knocked down, his blood pouring out of his cheek. At the time, she thought he was dead. There was no way he should have survived that; there's no way he should have walked away. But what she remembered had to be wrong because he'd not only walked away, he'd fought back to save her. He had a pale scar on his cheek and his body temperature had been lower than normal, but the doctor had said that Nanashi didn't even need a blood transfusion.

Not sure she was checking his wrist pulse right, she tried his neck even though his head was curled down. It was off the center, wasn't it? She wasn't finding anything. Had his injuries been worse than they looked and he'd finally lost his life? She put her fingers under his nose, feeling nothing. There should be something, some warmth or moisture.

This couldn't be happening; he'd lived through that! She, she couldn't lose Nanashi too. "Nanashi! Wake up wake up wake up!"

His eyes opened suddenly and Asahi nearly yelped as she pulled her hand back. His shoulders shifted and that strand of hair fluttered in and off from his breath. Thank goodness. Maybe she was stressed out and had misread things. Sighing in relief, she gripped the side of his bed. Nanashi shut his eyes again in that familiar grumpy tightening. After fumbling with his hand a moment, he pushed himself into sitting.

"Geez, you sleep like the dead," Asahi said.

Images of him lying in his own blood passed through her mind; Nikkari and Manabu died to protect them, died horribly. "Nmm hmm?" he mumbled, barely awake.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she said, more to herself since he might not have heard her. "Are you going to stay awake?"

He looked half-asleep now, which was progress. "Morning," he mumbled groggily. Then he looked over at the smartphone in his daze.

"Morning," she replied. "I'll give you ten minutes to get up and get dressed, so you'd better not fall asleep again. I've got some ideas on what to do today, let's get going."

As much as she wished yesterday had been a dream, Asahi was grateful that Nanashi was still alive. She wouldn't know what to do with herself otherwise.

"Does this happen every morning?" Dagda asked, sounding irritated.

"Mmhmm," Nanashi confirmed, stretching his arms back. He could feel the motion; he could also see his own back, his arms reaching behind his head. When he tried to reach forward to touch his own hand, it reached out at nothing. It was disorienting if he tried to think about it, like he was watching someone else's body.

Well, it wasn't exactly his body anymore. Dagda came out of the cellphone, standing right in front of the bed. "You shouldn't have to put up with a nag like that. Just tell her you want to be left alone in the morning."

"Doesn't work," he said. It was his voice, he felt the words. But he heard them differently, could see his own lips moving. Although now that he had this angle, he looked dopey when half-asleep like this.

"Lock the door if you must," he suggested, reaching over and taking his shoulder. But when the demon looked at him, he looked over at Nanashi's spirit. "And you're right, you are mine. Don't forget it."

The remaining sleepiness in his face vanished immediately. "Yeah," Nanashi said. He should get out of bed and get dressed. As he thought that, his body obediently got up and waited to be let go.

Dagda gripped his shoulder tighter. "Good. You do need to get going. We have a long ways to get you the strength you need, and not much time to do it." He pulled Nanashi's body away from bed and vanished back to the phone.

After taking a moment to make sure he had his balance, Nanashi moved himself over to his closet. It was like his body was a toy, although it was more accurate to call it a weapon. Dagda meant to turn him into a Godslayer. If he could destroy Adramelech, this would be worth it. But he still had to get used to living like this.

He just hoped Asahi didn't realize the truth; she'd be so horrified that even she might abandon him. Being left alone in the demon-filled streets of Tokyo was not an experience he wanted to relive.