The walls were thick, but withered slightly in the bathroom. The landlord clearly hadn't taken moisture into account when he'd last painted it, and the coats were peeling slightly. Warm droplets of water hit the walls, where the shower curtain had been momentarily pulled back to grab a bottle of conditioner. I smoothed it over my long hair and turned the shower head off, then opened the window on the adjacent wall. Laying down in the nearly full bath created by (accidental) plugging of the drain, I could stare out into the street. It was summer break, and the large, grassy median in the middle of our street was home to trees and elementary students for a couple of months. I pulled the pack of cigars from the window sill and lit one up. A bad habit, I suppose. Cancer ran in my family anyway, might as well increase my chances of dying sooner in one way or another. A knock sounded on the door, "Are you smoking in there again?"
It was Mum, always the worrier. I turned on the shower radio and started belting whatever words made it from head to mouth first. She must have not done much more than sigh and leave. The breeze rushed in through the window, so I sunk beneath the hot water for a couple seconds, cig hand safe in the air. It wasn't that I didn't care what my parent's thought of me, I just didn't want to care. I cared, but I didn't want to any more than I needed to. Nothing more than needed. I felt the coolness drip over my arms more than anything at these times. Things were quiet in the house for once and I let myself sink under the water again while the light in the room flickered softly in the distance.
JANUARY 1864
It was dark again when I woke up. The air was chilly, made worse by my wet hair. I couldn't open my eyelids or really feel anything, in that horrible stage between sleep and actually waking up. The first thing I felt was a hand on my bare shoulder, shaking. I swear I could have killed, if I could move. Perhaps I was dreaming. Fabric draped over my body and that was when I first realized I wasn't in my bathtub anymore. A voice spoke out to me, but it was in another language, completely indecipherable. My eyes finally did what they were supposed to, and met those of a person in strange robe-like clothes; Japanese hakama and whatever top was worn with them it looked like. On closer look, a girl. I took a moment to look past her while she continued trying to communicate with me, and then around at all the small, wooden buildings, dirt roads… In most cases, this would be the time to make that one overly cliché reference to Wizard of Oz and pretend like nothing in the world was really wrong. But, where am I? "Hey!"
I glanced behind the girl who spun around to meet the three men in similar clothing, katana held at their hips and ready to be drawn at any moment. I never saw her reach for the sword at her own hip. The girl and the leader of the group seemed to exchange words and I found myself feeling like I had been here before in a similar situation. Without warning, the girl turned around and grabbed my wrist, dragging me away as fast as both our legs could carry us. I fought to hold the material around me with my only free hand while we kicked up the dirt behind us. What the hell was going on? We ducked into an alley all of a sudden, where she spared me a short glance and a couple of words. I nodded when she finished. She led us once more to an arrangement of wooden planks, where it seemed safe to hide until we were absolutely sure the men were gone. I slipped my arms through the fabric, finding it to be some sort of long coat.
It was silent between us for what seemed like hours. The girl placed her finger to her lips to signal me to be quiet, and stepped out of the shelter. Right after, blood curdling screams wretched from the voices of a few men all at once. It seemed so close. There was more talking and yelling from more men, and then the same screams and the indescribable sound that could only be tearing flesh. The girl seemed to flinch at every noise. It suddenly stopped, and we both looked up to the source of a shadow cast over our little roof. I could only see blue and the end of what must have been a long sword. Had we been noticed? The man stepped away from us, and another scream echoed, but more like a laugh as the slick sound of metal through skin accompanied. There was so much blood, I was sure I could smell it all around me. The girl seemed to whisper something to herself, eyes downcast and hidden by bangs. She moved to run maybe, but the wood came crashing all around us and alerted the blue-coats to where we were. Now, being able to see them entirely, the only thing about them that stuck with me was their eyes, red as the blood they seemed to crave. Furies? It crossed my mind for a second, but I rid myself of that theory as quick as it had appeared.
The girl grabbed my wrist again, but we didn't move. Surely she hadn't given up just yet, she had swords; couldn't she use them? Something caught the light of the moon right in front of us. It was more swords, and more men in the same coats but they seemed different. They were human, without the red tints in their eyes. While they made quick conversation with each other, I studied them separately. The one closest to us had a glint in his eyes, so green they practically glowed in the moonlight. His hair must have been longer, but he held it up at the very back of his head. The other hung back and seemed much calmer than his companion. His hair was much longer than the other, and so black it was nearly violet. Their eyes finally met ours. The change in conversation seemed to make the girl even more on edge. I felt strange as her grip intensified around my wrist. A third man came in front of the others, his sword extended dangerously at our forms. There was no trace of mercy in his eyes. He only spoke a few words directly to us, but his voice was ice in my ears. The girl nodded tentatively at something he said, and the man put his swords away. The one with his hair pulled back barked something at the both of us and the girl bowed at what must have been a perfect ninety-degree-angle and muttered something small under her breath. I couldn't followed her action, too shocked at being directly addressed by the forward swordsman. He glared over my head and said something very slowly, as if trying to get me to understand. He exchanged some words with the others and repeated the same thing again, or it sounded like it. I couldn't just say nothing with the girl probably getting lightheaded from staying in the same position, so I spoke as clearly as I possibly could in a dark alley with dead people, "E-English, I speak English. I don't know what you're trying to say."
If the short-tempered one wasn't lit up enough, he certainly was now. He exchanged some more words with the others while the girl recovered from her intense politeness. All at once, we were grabbed by a man each, and led into the street without much force. I kind of figured we both saw something we weren't meant to back in that alley, so if we were to continue breathing the air of wherever we were, I should comply as best as possible… Especially with the language barrier.
We walked not very long, before we reached a compound of sorts made in a traditional Japanese style. It was pretty nice, for being lived in by a bunch of men with swords who went around killing people, or whatever those things were. My head was buzzing still, and I couldn't even remember which direction we'd come from when a couple of guards greeted us at the gate and swiftly led us through to a nearly empty room. One man kept us close to the wall and bound our hands and feet to keep us from escaping, another made beds on the floor. We were both placed in one on opposite sides of the room and left to lay there. The girl spoke a few words but soon realized I wouldn't be able to respond properly and turned her head away.