Excerpt: Hitsuzen (tentative)

When she came around, she was in the bath tub. The stranger, she could barely remember his name now, was naked with her, and he was holding her pinned against him and the pain was so intense that she thought she'd pass out again, then she heard his voice. He was calm and quiet. Speaking softly to her he told her that everything would be all right and somehow she instinctively knew that he was telling her the truth. She knew that she would be okay, all she had to do was break through the pain. Follow this thing through to it's end, she thought and then she would be all right. She could get answers then. For now, she had to endure. Her mind exploded with each wave of agony and it went on for what seemed like hours... and then she finally felt it. The pain was reminiscent of childbirth, only whatever it was... sprang out of her back. She felt the blood and gore spray the inside of the tub more than she saw it. She stayed conscious long enough to think that she was very grateful that her shower curtain was cheap and then she passed out again.