Everything went black for me.  I didn’t know what happened.  I felt like I was still conscious, but everything was black.  Did I hit the ground and die?  Or did I land on something and just black out?  My conscious mind felt aware but there was nothing for me to see.  I couldn’t move.  I couldn’t feel any of the senses.  It felt like I was just aware.  You know those dreams where you see yourself doing something but you’re not them?  It felt like that, as if I was a spectator to the blackness around me.  Maybe I was dreaming, and just wasn’t dreaming of anything but blackness. 

When I finally gained sight again, everything was fuzzy and blurry.  I took several minutes to adjust, but it didn’t get any clearer to me.  There was light around me, but it was still fuzzy.  I tried to shake my head and rub my eyes, but nothing improved.  My eyes also felt heavy and a headache swelled around my entire forehead.  The hazy atmosphere around me was soon accompanied by a voice.  The same, loud voice as I heard earlier.  It was Hiroshi.

“Easy, little one.  Don’t move around too much.”

Sweat poured down my forehead as I felt hot air blowing on me as she spoke.  I couldn’t see very well, but judging by my hearing, it sounded the same as before.  Her voice’s volume and loudness hadn’t changed.  Thankfully, I could rule out her having made me smaller.  For the moment, I just laid there, where there was, and took some time to catch my breath and get around this headache.  She didn’t sound overly crazy at the moment.  In fact, her voice sounded more like a gentle whisper around me. 

A few minutes passed before I tried to move my arms and legs.  Whatever had happened, I survived the fall, but how had eluded me then.  I didn’t dismiss the idea that I landed on a limb and shattered it on the way down.  So I closed my eyes and slowly began to move each part.  First, I wiggled my fingers.  No pain.  Then my toes.  No pain.  Then my arms and legs.  No pain.  Finally, I gently moved up and back down.  No pain there, either.  A sigh of relief came over me when I realized that I didn’t seem to be injured anywhere. 

“Don’t worry.  You’re safe.”

Her voice came down again.  Of course she had seen what I just did.  Checking and testing to make sure all of me still worked correctly.  There was no hot air from her breath this time.  Just still air.  I opened my eyes again and I was a little more focused now.  Things were still a little blurry, but I could make out her face looking down at me.  The more I focused, the clearer my sight got.  So, I kept focusing and concentrating.  Eventually, I was able to see clearly again.  Hiroshi was still wearing the kimono from the kitchen, but it didn’t look like that’s where we were. 

I leaned up again and took a look around.  There was white all around me in several feet in all directions.  Pushing my hand down, I realized that I was on a soft surface.  In the distance, I could see that I was actually on the double futon in her room.  That’s why this was so soft.  It was one of her pillows.  I blinked a few times before I actually stood up to look back over at her.  Or, rather, over at her face.  She was laying on the futon and only her face was visible in front of me, as that’s the direction I was looking.  Her eyes looked down at me, almost in a different way than before.  She was smiling, but it looked less crazy.  Maybe it was just me, though.  I had just gone through something very traumatic and she was the only one there. 

“You had an accident, little one.  But I heard you calling for me.  I saved you.”

I just stared at her for the next few moments.  I thought long and hard about it.  Eventually, I started to nod.  It made sense.  I remember sneezing and then falling.  I was falling past her legs and towards the ground.  Before everything went dark, I cried out her name, desperately for her help.  She must have heard me and caught me before I hit the floor.  That had to have been why I didn’t have any injuries.  She did exactly that.  I was falling to my death and she saved my life. 

This made me have some very mixed feelings about what was going on.  Hiroshi kidnapped me and punished me by making me helpless and small.  She had moved me around and made it clear there would be consequences for not doing what she wanted me to do.  But, when I was in danger, she was there and saved me.  I was beginning to hate her for what she did to me, but at the same time, I felt grateful to her for saving my life. 

With these mixed feelings, I slowly walked towards her face.  I knew I had reason to hate her.  But, with what had just happened, I did what I thought was the right thing to do.  I came up to her raised face and hugged into her right cheek.  My arms were able to reach around to her ear and under her nose, partially.  I just gently grabbed where I could and hugged into her, tears running down my face.  Even my tears were mixed.  I was glad to be alive, and I knew it was because of what she did.  Maybe I was falling right into what she wanted of me, but it was against my personality to have my life saved and not show gratitude. 

After the hug happened, she smiled and stroked my back as I was still against her cheek.  I could feel her finger rubbing down on me.  It felt rough because it was so big, but it felt comforting, somehow.  In that moment, I was so happy to not be dead.  Even if it meant it was Hiroshi that made it that way. 

“I’ll always protect you, my little one.  You’re all mine and I won’t let anything take you away from me”

The words had a little mix of crazy thrown in, but at the time, it didn’t matter.  All that mattered is that I was still alive, because of her.  Whether this was manipulated or not didn’t matter.  All that mattered is that I was safe and able to go into another day.