Hello everyone, I'm back! I'm sorry for the long delay, but I started writing as soon as I came back! Now, on with the show!

Title: Hope Within the Hopeless

Rating: T

# of Words: 2,113

Chapter 9: Pasts to Present

He found himself in a small room. It looked nothing like the Sanada residence where he believed he was last. This room was sparsely furnished, with only the basic necessities for living. A couple of mats lay spread out on the hardwood floor; dirty plates and utensils littered the ground a little ways off. A pile of clothing of various sizes lay by the sleeping mats, as well as the remains of a fire in a fireplace close to the dishes. "What is this place?" wondered Yukimura, as he hovered over the grimy ground.

Looking around more, he noticed that also inside the room, four humans stood, hovering in the furthest corner. From what he could tell, it was a family. A young father and mother, and a daughter? Slowly, Yukimura advanced toward the humans. "Why exactly am I here?"

All of the humans were surrounding what he thought looked like two chairs pressed together – a makeshift crib perhaps – with a young child asleep inside. Worried and grim faces all stared down upon the sleeping boy. Yukimura wondered; why was everyone so upset? Upon closer inspection, he could tell every member of the family looked extremely malnourished; he could see the bones sticking out in places they shouldn't. The young child looked sickly, trembling and sweating continuously.

"With the war going on, how shall we keep him if we can barely survive ourselves?" The young girl glanced nervously at the other two family members.

"Honey, your father and I have been talking…"

"Sweetie, we know how much you love your brother. We all love him dearly. But this won't work. We can't keep living like this." The inexperienced couple glanced at each other. "I know you are young, but we believe you can handle what we are about to tell you. To support the family, I am going to participate in the war to bring money to the family. As for the matters of you brother – "

The family scene disappeared abruptly, confusing Yukimura and causing him to look around frantically for the room that was once around him. The world swirled around him, black depths spiraling and clinging to his flailing body. No longer was he hovering above the poor family's complex, but plummeting down into the pits of complete unknown. Yukimura could hardly breathe as his world spun wildly around him. When he felt his feet hit hard ground, Yukimura knew he was done dropping.

Standing up on shaky feet, he wobbled forward, looking for any kind of clue to where he was now. He believed he was experiencing a dream, because in real life, things did not normally spin out of control and flash snip-its of people's lives. Now, he found himself in a garden. Sakura trees bloomed brilliantly, the pink enveloping the soft grass that lay beneath. Birds chirped merrily, and the sounds of cicadas buzzing echoed through the peaceful silence of the sanctuary. "It is almost like I have been here before… Have I seen this place somehow?" Yukimura knelt on the ground, slowly lifting a petal from the ground and fiddling with it in his hands. He definitely had all of his senses functioning, which was a good sign. At least this dream hadn't had anything especially horrific happen… He hoped with all his might that nothing bad would happen in this dream. The problem was no matter how hard he tried, Yukimura couldn't wake himself up from any of the dreams he had. It was almost as if he was trapped in his dreams until they released him… Then, from out on nowhere, two voices buzzed through Yukimura's head.

"Please don't leave me… Not now at least! You still have a life to live!"

"It's alright… I've lived a good life, no matter how short. This war is something you must win."

"I can't live without you!"

"I have faith in you… Everyone is depending on you… Especially your son…"

"It won't matter if we win or not. If you're not there by my side – "

"Just win it… My love will forever be with you. I will always be by your side… Maybe not in physical form… but always in your thoughts… your memories… your heart…"

"No, please wait! We can find a medic! You can live! We could win this together!"

"I'm not important… Don't trouble any of our other medic's… They're busy as it is… And I won't make it even with medical assistance…"

"Wait! Just wait! Hang on… For us, please?"

"There's no more time… please tell him that –"

"NO, I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! IT JUST CAN'T END THIS WAY!"

"Aishiteru, Sa – "

The voices disappeared as suddenly as they came. Yukimura clutched his head, trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Though he couldn't see the couple, he could feel the urgency and pain in their voices. It was… horrendous…

His head was pulsing with thoughts of the couple, aching dreadfully. It shattered his heart, knowing there were people suffering. Suffering. That was something no one should have to experience. He himself never had such close contact with emotional pain… Feeling incredibly light headed, he closed his eyes, willing the dizziness to pass.

Upon opening his eyes, Yukimura found himself floating. Drifting down an endless river, traveling a great distance. Slowly sinking further into its depths. Why couldn't he wake up from this terrible dream? He tried to inject motion into his limbs, but they weren't responding the way he wanted them to. They felt as heavy as lead, almost paralyzed. Breathing harder, he desperately tried to regain feeling in his limbs, straining and fighting – in vain – against his body. Still, he wouldn't budge.

"What's going on? Am I dying?" Surprisingly, Yukimura heard his thoughts echo all around him. It was strange; he couldn't speak, yet he could hear thoughts reverberate through out his surroundings. What kind of debilitating dream was this? Slowly, he could feel himself sink lower and lower into the water. It was almost soothing, sinking deeper and deeper into the liquid. Almost as if his very being was being absorbed, making his existence obsolete. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to disappear… After seeing such atrocious visions, he wasn't completely positive if he wanted to go back to the real world and risk seeing more devestation…

Yukimura felt his eyes slide shut, once again. Attempting to escape the liquid pull was a waste of energy. A sense of despair rushed over Yukimura as his senses were taken away from him. His ability to see; gone. His ability to smell; gone. His ability to feel; gone. He could not taste the water that embraced him, nor hear the sounds of it swish around him anymore.

What was wrong? Why did he feel so drained? So lifeless? Was this the water's fault? Was this dream trying to tell him something?

"You're stronger than that, Yukimura. Snap out of it. Fight back, like the strong willed spirit I know you are." A voice whispered from somewhere off in a faraway space.

"I can't give up… But what am I to do when I have no mobility?" Asked Yukimura to himself. As if answering his question for him, a bright flash of white light enveloped his body, and Yukimura soon found himself being flung back by a strong force…

"Wake up, Yukimura! Wake up…"

Sanada POV

He wasn't seeing straight. No, it was not possible. It was extremely untrue. That surely could not be the form of Yukimura lying in front of the main conference room. But the thing was, his eyes weren't deceiving him. It was the plain truth, no matter how much Sanada didn't like it.

"Dear Kami-sama, what do I do?" Sanada hurried over toward the smaller boy's shivering form, sitting down next to it as soon as he was beside him. Pressing his hand against Yukimura's forehead, he found that he was burning up with fever.

"And out of all the training I have done in my life, I have never learned the proper ways to treat a fever?" Sanada grunted in frustration. He knew what cured various diseases, how to fix a broken bone, what counteracted all the poisons known to man, but he didn't know how to bring down a fever? How could he have forgotten such a basic thing?

"Think Sanada, think. What did mother always use to treat me when I fell ill?" Wringing his hands together, he searched his mind for the answer, only remembering portions of what she had said.

"The patient shouldn't be kept overdressed, because that raises the fever. Giving the patient a bath with tepid water, about 29.444 Celsius, may help bring down the fever. The patient should be drinking lots of water, to keep hydrated and help the body combat the sickness." His mother's voice reverberated through his head, as he began to undress Yukimura. Yes, he had to undress him, no matter how awkward it was.

Slipping his hands underneath Yukimura, Sanada gently lifted him so that his head rested in his lap. From there, he continued to peel off the slightly damp robes from Yukimura's body. When he was down to the last robe, he only loosened it instead of taking it completely off, out of consideration toward Yukimura. Sanada himself knew that he would not liked to be completely undressed by some stranger, so he would follow that saying, 'treat people how you would want to be treated.' His mother had told him that so many times…

"Iflltreibl…" Yukimura's head turned slightly to the side, as he fell in to convulsive shuddering once again. Sanada knew that he couldn't disrupt the meeting his father was having; it was too important to walk in on. But then again, he couldn't leave Yukimura in this state…

"Okay, remain calm Sanada. You will bring him to the family infirmary, and see if anyone is there. If not, you will take him back to his bedroom and follow through with the rest of the treatment mother would use on a feverish patient." Taking a deep breath, Sanada composed himself. Half a minute later, he gently lifted Yukimura, bridal style, cradling him closely to his chest. With that, he began the long trek back to the infirmary.

While walkling, those confusing thoughts that were bothering him prior to this incident muddled his brain. His heart strangely beat faster than it normally did upon touching the smaller boy. His palms felt clammy and were twitching so badly, he was surprised he could take off Yukimura's outer layer. Sanada's stomach was flipping and knotting itself inside of him as he held him close to his chest. The bizarre thing was that he had never experienced these feelings before. Only around Yukimura… But why? It wasn't that he could like the boy, like that right? Right?

Despite his confusion, he knew he would help this boy; he was sure of it. It was almost if he had some strange connection to this boy… But what was it?

Yukimura POV

"I feel terrible…" Yukimura could feel every muscle in his body tingle, as he was being bobbed up and down? Craning his head up, he tried to see who was carrying him. As his eyes flickered upward for that brief moment, he realized that he was being carried – yes, carried – by Sanada, who had a worried and… was it a concerned look on his face? What the heck was going on here?

A couple things he was sure of; one was that he felt extremely nauseous and was trying very hard not to upchuck on the young master, two was that Sanada would never want to show any kind of emotion on his face, and three was that Sanada wasn't the kind of person to come into close physical contact with anyone at all. So, you can see why Yukimura was completely disoriented. And this wasn't only from the fever.

Yukimura's head was pounding too much to make sense of anything else. He could feel his head droop down further, and his body grow numb once more. There wasn't any time to think about any of the things he learned in his dream. It already took too much out of him to think. With that thought, he felt himself fade back into the welcoming darkness of unconsiousness.

"Well, I hope I don't have to dream again…"

What did everyone think? I liked writing this chapter a lot, because the plot is beginning to tie in! Do any of you readers know where this is going? Or, do you want to give me more ideas for the plot? Or anything else for that matter? PM me, if you have questions or comments, and MAKE SURE YOU REVIEW! It's extremely motivating to get reviews to your stories you've worked so hard on!