Note: Lately, I've been doing a good deal of S7 writing on the side for morgankit (she gives me art, I give her stories, or vice versa). A while back, I'd commissioned her to do artwork for my S7 KamNasa erotica story "Ronin Lovers" (which is now complete, and available via the Samurai 8 LiveJournal community). But morgankit still holds the notion of that her OTP for S7 is Kyuzo and Nasami, and so, I wrote this for her.
This little vignette is set during Chapter 51 of THE SWORD OF THE SOUL,and presumes that the events of the story "In Passion's Silence" actually happened (just after Chapter 24 of THE SWORD OF THE SOUL), and that Kambei and Nasami have finally consummated their relationship as it happened in "Ronin Lovers".
KEEPING SECRETS
Nasami
It had been nothing short of magical... but when it was over, Nasami lay in Kambei's arms, tormented by her dreams.
He had not, despite everything he had thought, been her first.
No... once before, she had lain in another man's arms, and surrendered herself to him willingly.
Neither of them had meant for it to happen... but it had, and then they'd had to go on as if it never occurred, lying to everyone else until the lie became the truth.
And now he was dead... and except for her, the secret of that night had died with him.
Kyuzo
It wasn't supposed to hurt... he was dead, he didn't have a heart anymore, so it wasn't supposed to hurt to see the woman he loved in the arms of another man.
But to be the lover of an assassin was no life for one like her, and so he'd let her go, letting her think that it had meant nothing but a momentary diversion.
But he never told her that... never told her that he loved her, that he wanted her, that the night they had shared in the grove had been no accident.
He had known exactly what he was doing that night, but he could never tell her.
And now he was dead... and the secret of that love had died with him.
Kambei
Bliss... but a bliss coloured by sadness. As Kambei glanced at the woman sleeping at his side, he wondered if he could ever tell her the truth... about what the Shikimoribito had told him after they'd worked to save her life...
... that while they had been able to save Nasami... they could not save her unborn child.
He wondered why she hadn't told him... perhaps she was ashamed, perhaps it hadn't been willing on her part, but he knew who the father of her child had been.
He wondered if she had even known she was pregnant.
And now he was dead... and the secret of his child along with him.