Chapter XXVII—Care and Warmth

The blackness receded and Rōkura opened her eyes.

She shivered.

There was warmth.

Someone had his arm around her?

Her heart thudded against her chest and Rōkura’s eyes widened. Who is this?! She flinched, her muscles tightening and going rigid as she curled her claws fingers in—ready to react, to strike and kill.

Then she lurched out of that embrace on the floor, turning to attack and—

“Rōkura!” he said, raising a hand to block her attack as he turned his face away. “Wait!”

She frowned, her heart still beating hard in her chest as she loomed over him, her arm pulled back and her claws ready to slash through his neck. “Shinjiro?”

He nodded. “Don’t kill me.” He grinned weakly.

She relaxed, her muscles going from a tense stiffness to weak and tired. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” He got up. “I came looking for you I found you passed out under a pile of refuse in here.”

She glanced about as if she had never seen the place before. Did I really crawl in here like a wounded cat to… do what? Rest? Die?

Rōkura hugged herself. “Why were you…”

“I tried to wake you,” he said quickly. “But I couldn’t. And you were cold. I was cold. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

That made sense, and she wasn’t about to throw it in his face. It wasn’t like he had undressed her, of walked into the bath chamber to look at her naked like Hans had. Actually, I’m not sure if he did that on purpose. That might have been my own fault. She sighed.

“Thank you.”

He nodded.

“There are guards all over the place.”

The rain pattered heavily over the fallen and burnt out structure. From some places within, smoke still smoldered, providing warmth, but not nearly enough to stay warm in.

She smelled like smoke. They both did.

Thunder rumbled across the sky.

“It’s still raining,” she said, more to herself than to Shinjiro standing there with her. That meant she hadn’t been asleep for very long. “How am I awake right now?”

He lifted two luminescent vials, one red, the other blue. “These,” he said.

With a nod, she said, “Oh.”

Then Rōkura blinked. She was dead tired and wanted nothing more than to find a place to sleep and either die, or not be disturbed for at least twenty-four hours. Her whole body was sore, and her muscles sagged with exhaustion.

She must have looked great at that moment, too.

Why am I worried about what I look like? It’s just Shinjiro…

Then the thought of him lying next to her came into her mind. She remembered the warmth of his body around hers as she had been curled up against him. Her cheeks started burning anew and she was thankful that it was dark in here, otherwise he would have seen her blushing redo n her pink face.

“Are you all right?’

“Um… I’m tired.”

Was that the truth? Shinjiro thought perhaps she was hiding something, but he dismissed it for another time. “We can’t stay here. Hans is waiting back at the inn.”

“The…?”

“The Gaijin Adventurer,” he finished for her.

“Oh,” she said, half thinking he might have meant the Zarigani-sama! where that strange innkeeper worked and lived with his two children. “Then we should go back.”

“Of course, but we need to be careful. There are guards everywhere.”

She nodded. “Mm!”

“Once we regroup with Hans, we should leave Chōdaira immediately.”

She nodded weakly.

“You really are tired, aren’t you?”

She nodded again, blinking softly with fatigue.

With a smile, he added, “Once we get out of here, you can sleep as long as you like. We need to get to the Capital first, though.”

The very thought of getting all the way to the capital tonight sounded horrible to Rōkura, but Shinjiro was right—they needed to leave, especially if the daimyō’s army was out searching for them—and by extension, the shōgun as well.

Bending in the street where the daimyō’s body had lain, Kota touched the cobblestones. There was no blood—or if there had been, it was washed away in the storm.

His skin prickled as he glanced up into the flashing sky.

I do not know how to deal with this… with losing him.

Shōzu had kept Kota close by his side for years. He had been the daimyō’s prize fighter. He had served faithfully in all things. Kota had stolen, cheated, killed for the daimyō.

His sense of loss was…

Confusing.

Kota hated Shōzu. Part of him celebrated his death, was exuberant and joyous to know he was now free of such a repressive master. And yet… the other part of him felt uncertain, felt a terrible sense of loss and inability to go on.

“You are a free man now,” said Suki Arinatto.

Kota stood, but he did not turn to look at the Taisho Six member behind him. He glanced down at the palm of his hand, and his sword hilt protruding from his hip. His blade was little more than an ornament now that it had been snapped in half.

“How are you standing?” asked Suki.

Kota let a wry smile touch his lips. Then he turned. “With magic and excessive use of potions.”

“You should find a healer immediately.”

Something caught Kota’s gaze. The forms of two people running across the street far ahead of them, their silhouetted forms hard to make out through the rain and the darkness.

Something about it, though.

Kota narrowed his eyes.

“My body is barely holding together as it is,” he said. “I will probably be dead by morning.”

“Do you not want to live?”

A long moment passed. “I don’t know.” Then there was another stretch of silence between them, save for the patter of rain, the boots and shouts of soldiers, and the rumbling of thunder. “Leave me.”

Suki said nothing more, and silently she did as Kota Hasegawa—a great warrior in his own right—had requested.

The inn was close, just beyond the street. “We’re there,” Shinjiro said.

Rōkura’s strength was beginning to leave her again. “Shinji…” she said.

“Hai?” asked, turning to her. His face filled with concern as he touched her shoulder. He reached into his kimono and brought out the potions.

She smiled. “That’s what I was going to ask about.”

He gave them to her and she drank them one after another.

“We’ll get more on our way out of the city. I think the Adventurer’s Apothecary is still open. If not, I’m sure the old man will wake up and answer the door. I think he lives there.”

She didn’t hear a word he said as she downed the potions.

“So,” a voice said.

Both of them whirled upon that voice and the tinkle of a glass vial bouncing against the cobblestones sounded between them.

Shinjiro’s hand was on his katana hilt and Rōkura narrowed her eyes and snarled. Her horned figure was a horror in the dark and subtle flashed of light as her luminous eyes peered dangerously back at Kota.

He smiled. “There is no need for hostilities.”

“We killed your daimyō,” Shinjiro said.

“And in so doing you have freed me from a lifetime of bondage. I…”

“What do you want?” Rōkura asked. Anger rising, her heart pounded. She was ready to kill this man, and yet her body screamed to be thrown into a bed and not disturbed.

“I wanted to thank you.”

“Truly?” asked Shinjiro.

“Hai,” said Kota with a nod. “One warrior to another, Rōkura. You bested me. You fought… well.”

She said nothing.

“I will not endeavor to disturb the success of your departed from Chōdaira.”

Shinjiro gasped, glancing at Rōkura, who shared the gesture of surprise. She then felt compelled to say something. “Arigatou, Kota-san.”

“May your futures be well,” he said.

Then he turned and left them standing there in shock and silence. Rōkura swallowed. I wasn’t… I wasn’t expecting that.

“You heard him,” Shinjiro said. “He will let us leave. I think we should do that sooner rather than later.”

Hans movements were sluggish and tired, much like Rōkura. His recover would go well, but he—like her—needed rest.

They could not rest.

Not now.

Atop Shinjiro’s horse, Hans, Rōkura and Shinjiro rode out of Chōdaira, taking a country road through the hills until they were safely away. Because of the soldiers, they could not hire a night carriage to take them to the Capital.

Instead, Shinjiro’s steady mount bore their weight.

“At least you’re small like a child, Cat Man,” Shinjiro said.

Hans smiled, and despite wishing not to participate in their regular fencing, he was happy, and said, “You did well, Steel Swinger.”

Rōkura groaned. “This is horrible.”

“Persistent Bad Luck,” Hans said.

“Damn you,” Rōkura growled. “I don’t need reminding.”

“I am only stating the obvious.”

“I need to pee.”

“All right!” Hans said, slipping off the back of the horse. “Give me the potions, Steel Swinger, because I am walking.”

Shinjiro lowered Hans’ satchel from his shoulder with a grin and the small man fished out one of the vials and quickly drank it down and gasped with delight. “That should hold me for a while yet.”

The storm had receded and the night was still black, save for a sublet blue glow on the horizon behind Chōdaira.

It was just as well that Hans got off of the horse. Shinjiro wanted to be up here with Rōkura alone anyway.

“What about you?” Rōkura asked from in front of him as she turned her head to look over her shoulder. “Aren’t you going to get off?”

“This is my horse, Oni. And besides, you can pee on me whenever you want.”

Hans snorted.

She wasn’t entirely certain how to take that, but Rōkura’s cheeks heated furiously as she glanced away. I walked straight into that…

“Not usually how one goes about flirting with a beautiful woman, Samurai,” said Hans. He blinked blearily. “Tch! I need new glasses.”

“Everything we need is in the Capital,” Shinjiro said.

“Then let’s go,” said Rōkura.

Shinjiro slapped the horse’s rump. The beast kicked its legs and they clopped down the street.

“Hey!” called Hans. “Where are you going?”

Rōkura leaned out form Shinjiro’s embrace and smiled the way only a sassy teenage girl could. “To the Capital!”

“An pray tell—what about me, Oni-san?”

She smiled. “I forgive you, Hans, but that doesn’t mean I have to like you right now.”

He sighed heavily, spreading hiss arms. “I have the potions!” he called back. “Right here!” He lifted the satchel. “I have the potions in my possession…”

Rōkura turned her head and rested the back of her head against Shinjiro’s chest. The action brought a smile to her face, and heat into her cheeks, but she was far too tired to care.

“Try to get some sleep,” he said, glancing down at her. He was aware of her horns, and took care not to accidentally injure himself upon them.

“Ari-ga-tou…” Rōkura said, and she instantly fell asleep in the samurai’s arms.