The mouse, the tiger and the Palaquin Captain
Chapter 2: A little payback
We continued to talk for a little while after hugging, not mentioning anything about Murasa again. Even though she didn't appear in our conversation anymore, I couldn't stop thinking about her weird behavior from before. I was still mad at her for making master having doubt in our relationship again, even though she didn't mean it, her actions were inappropriate. … I said master again, didn't I? After a while there was a knock at my door. "Nazrin? Is Shou with you?" It was Hijiri. "Yes, she is, why?" I wondered, I enjoyed spending time with her, so I didn't want her to leave to do something with Hijiri. "Just asking, because I couldn't find her in her room. Can I come in for a moment?" At that second I wondered if Hijiri thought that Shou and I were doing things no one should see, but I quickly shook my head to get that thought out. "Yes. Sure." The door opened and our friend stepped in a little. "I was just wondering if you'd like to come along to go shopping. There is some stuff we need and I also thought we could all go so especially Kogasa gets a stronger feeling about belonging here. She's still a little shy and I think one or two days like that couldn't hurt." She smiled friendly. That was actually a good idea. Hijiri was right about my friend still being shy. It was unusual for her to have something like a family so she wouldn't do anything in the fear to ruin it. The only time when she wasn't fearing to be herself was when she was alone with me. I noticed her being more talk active at those times. She also kept quiet about cooking when we were together, knowing that the food I made was a complete failure.
"Sure, I'd like to come along, what about you, Shou?" I looked at her smiling. She seemed thoughtful and disappointed for a moment and I wondered why. But then she quickly smiled at me. "Yes, I'll come along as well. I'm sure it'll be great." She looked at Hijiri, who gave us a satisfied nod. "I will go ask Nue and Murasa then." I lost my happiness immediately. "Murasa...?" I asked. Hijiri had been there. She knew that I wouldn't get along with that girl too well. "Nazrin. Even though you two had an argument, you really should try getting along. Both of you are a part of the Myouren temple." I sighed, she left, closing the door. Damn... Murasa was going to come along, I really didn't need or want that. "You called me Shou..." I looked up a little surprised, looking into the eyes of my beloved tiger. "Yes, I did, didn't I?" "Yes, you called me Shou!" She squealed and hugged me out of nowhere. I smiled a little and hugged her back again. "Does it make you that happy?" I asked her. "Yes!" She answered quickly. "Of course it makes me happy! I would've been really really sad if you hadn't learned to call me by my name!" "Is that so?" I whispered. "Then we can both be happy, hm?" I smiled. She was so cute. It was true. We could be happy now.
I heard Hijiri walk past my room again. Yes, I could tell it was Hijiri. You could hear most of the things that happened outside of your room in the Myouren temple. And in time I could recognize everyone's footsteps. I had learned them when I was lying thoughtful in my bed sometimes and couldn't sleep. Everyone's step was different. The speed, the loudness and the general sound. Anyway, I heard Hijiri. "Excuse me for a moment." I said and let go off Shou, leaving my room. "Hijiri." she stopped and turned around, looking at me. "What is it, Nazrin? Do you not want to come after all?" "No, I didn't change my mind, of course I want to go. But I just wanted to know if..." I lowered my voice. "Murasa comes along?" Hijiri gave me a nod. "Yes, she said she'd come, especially because there is some ship stuff we need. By the way, she didn't sound so happy, so maybe she feels bad about what she did and wants to apologize." "Really? Well if she wants to she can always do that. I will hear her out." Hijiri nodded. "That's good. Well, get ready, we're going to go now." I went back inside my room, closing the door once again, while hearing how the youkai jesus walked away. "What did you ask her?" Shou looked at me, wondering.
"I just wanted to know if Murasa comes along." I answered and sighed. This would be a long day. "I guess she will... Nazu-chan, don't let her get to you. Isn't that what you also told me? Just ignore her, alright?" She stood up and came closer to me. "You're completely right." I answered. "Speak of the devil..." I heard Murasa's footsteps outside of my room, but they weren't coming towards it. Instead it sounded like she was going outside. "Sounds like Murasa is going outside already, we should get going as well." I suggested, opening the door of my room. She nodded and smiled, but I could see in her eyes that that smile wasn't real. I had to ask her about that later, when I was sure no one else could hear us. "I'll just go lock the door of my room." Shou then said. "Huh? Why would you want to do that? Not that it bothers me or anything..." "I just feel more secure with my room locked... The... the pagoda is inside there, yes! And I just want to make sure it stays there." She seemed nervous and if I didn't know any better I'd say she was lying, but since I trusted her and knew that if she was lying she had a really good reason to do so, I just went with it. "Okay, then. I'm glad you're taking better care of it now." I chuckled warmly and she smiled nervously. She then went to lock her room, obviously unsure about what to do with the key. "Ah... um..." I could tell that she was afraid of losing it if she took it with her, so I took it from her, going into my room and placed it behind a photo of her on a small table. "Just leave it here." I said when I came back, smiling at her. "Alright, thank you." She smiled. Behind her I saw Ichirin with Unzan and Byakuren. "BOO!" "Ah!" Someone slapped her hands on my shoulders from behind and I was a little surprised. I turned around. "Kogasa, don't surprise me like- you surprised me!" I cheered for her. "I did? Yes, I did!" She cheered with me.
"Seems like Nue does help you a lot, after all." I said. "Yes, Nue-senpai is great! She's so awesome in scaring people! I want to become as good as her!" I chuckled. "Good luck with that. I'm sure you can do it if you just practice a lot." She smiled. "Unfortunately she won't come with us, otherwise I could have scared the others outside too!" "She won't come?" I wondered. "Nah, she told me she ain't into this kind of family stuff." Kogasa shrugged. She had become really attached to Nue, but I was still in the position of her best friend. I smiled at that thought. "Murasa, where are you? Are you ready to go?" I heard Hijiri call, looking around for Murasa. "Yes!" A quiet voice from outside yelled. "Everyone ready to go?" Byakuren asked, looking at us, receiving nods from everyone. We went outside, where Murasa was already waiting. Next to her was Nue for some reason. Apparently, because no one else liked Murasa too much at that time, she had just found herself Nue as company. I gave our captain a deep glare, she took it surprisingly well. "You sure you don't want to come along, Nue?" Hijiri asked her. She stayed silent, maybe she was thinking about it again. I glanced at Kogasa, her eyes full of hope that her senpai might come after all. "No, not really. I got…. Stuff to do." "Bye, then, Nue-senpai!" Kogasa waved excitedly. Then we left together. "Where are we actually going first?" I asked, while we were heading for the human village. They knew Byakuren and they knew that neither her nor her friends would ever hurt someone without a reason.
"I haven't decided on that, yet. Does anyone have any ideas? Kogasa?" Kogasa next to me was shocked and nervous. "Fwuahh? Why me?" She asked confused. "I just thought maybe there is some special place or shop you would want to visit." Hijiri smiled sweetly at her. I wasn't sure about it, but I really hoped that this would help Kogasa feel more comfortable when she was around the others, not only me. She thought for a moment. "N-not really..." She then said. "Didn't you say you've never tried real dango, but always wanted to?" I asked. I remembered her telling me that, when she was blabbering about food. "Oh, y-yeah... but where should we get some of those?" She questioned. I shrugged and then noticed that Hijiri was talking to one of the villagers about something, before that person pointed into a direction. Hijiri smiled and came back to us. "There is a store for things like fresh dango just around the corner." She smiled. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ichirin demanded. And so we went to the mentioned shop. It was small and there weren't many customers, but the food looked and smelled great. Hijiri had already went to order a large amount of dango, before we all actually noticed. Ichirin then left to help her. I looked at Shou, she seemed awfully quiet and thoughtful. I was worried, had I done something wrong? I took her hand and held it tightly. She looked at me and quickly smiled. I then glanced at Murasa, who was watching us. Guess she wouldn't mind her own business any time soon. I glared at her and she looked away annoyed.
"So, Kogasa, tell me about your lessons with Nue." She then raised her voice, talking to my friend. Was she trying to make me jealous or something? Anyway, it was not going to work. "My lessons with senpai? Well, they are really great! Sometimes she's a bit mean to me, though..." Kogasa seemed in thought and Murasa seemed quite interested, a little bit too interested. "Really?" "Yes. But I really like her! She can be amazingly scary! And she was the one who suggested the lessons in the first place so... even though she's mean sometimes, I know she doesn't hate me!" Kogasa smiled happily. "I'm sure that's right." Murasa answered. Why was she suddenly that interested in Kogasa? But what if it wasn't about Kogasa... but Nue? Did she actually have interest in Nue? I realize that I thought too much. Hijiri and Ichirin then came back, bringing some dango with them. "Unfortunately they ran out of green tea and had only one cup left, I think Kogasa should have it." She smiled and Kogasa blushed. "Thank you! But if someone else wants it..." "No, no, you've never tried them before, so you should have it." Hijiri said before giving Kogasa the tea and everyone one stick with three dango. "And they were short on these too. Next time we should come here earlier." Ichirin suggested. I took a bite. They tasted good. I wished we would have had some green tea. I looked at Kogasa, who also took a bite. "So, do you like it?" I asked, while Kogasa also drank a little bit of her tea. "Yes, it's great!" She then said and smiled right before eating the second one. I looked at Murasa, who was just eating quietly.
'If I would push Kogasa just a little, she might just accidentally pour the tea all over Murasa...' I thought. 'Sorry, Kogasa, but I have to do this.' I hugged my master, who is Shou, out of the blue, pulling her down a little, as expected I stumbled backwards, right into Kogasa. I could only hear how the tea splashed, but it seemed like a success. "Arg! You did that on purpose, Nazrin!" I heard Murasa yell. I looked at her. Time to use my crappy acting skills. "Did wha- oh! I'm so sorry!" I said with a hint of sarcasm. She glared at me. "Temper, temper." I said. "All I wanted to do is hug my master." I looked at Shou who was hugging me back lovingly. "Murasa... leave Nazrin alone, will you?" She said while her face was pressed against my head. No response. I noticed that Ichirin was holding back a laughter. I remembered Murasa laughing at her before, now the tables had turned. Hijiri pretended not to have seen anything and Kogasa finished her dango, looking at me. Shou was still hugging me and I could hear her making a quiet purring noise, like a cat. She had never done this before, or at least I never noticed it. Apparently it didn't bother her that people were staring at us, because she gave me a kiss shortly afterward. I kissed her back, even though I didn't like doing these kinds of things in front of everyone else. The hugging was just part of a little payback after all.
She then stopped hugging and kissing me and smiled at me. I smiled at her and then looked at the others who quickly pretended not to have seen anything.
The evening was very long, too long for me to remember everything that we did. I just remember that I kept hurting or pouring things over Murasa all evening and that Shou continued to stay silent and didn't let go off my hand all evening long. I also remember that we ended up sitting at that grill of Mystia Lorelei, enjoying some grilled eel. It turned out that Mystia had seen Kogasa wander around lonely before I met her and that she shared some eel with her, thinking Kogasa was hungry. We sat there and talked and ate for quite a while until Hijiri suddenly raised her voice. "Good heavens! It must be really late already! We should go home. I don't think Nue is watching the temple, she said that she had stuff to do after all and we shouldn't leave for that long." "Which is weird..." I heard Kogasa whisper. I looked at her. "Huh? What do you mean?" She looked at me, keeping her voice very quiet. "Nue-senpai told me she just isn't into these kinds of things. She never said she had anything to do... why would she lie to me...?" Kogasa wondered sadly. I wanted to cheer the poor girl up. "Hey, come on, I'm sure she didn't have any stuff to do. She just didn't want Hijiri to feel hurt, that's all. She's probably going to be home when we get to the temple, not knowing what to do. " I smiled and she smiled back, but just a little bit. "Maybe you're right, thank you, Nazrin." She hugged me. I was in a weird situation because Shou still didn't let go off my hand, I felt how her grip tightened with Kogasa's hug. I glanced back and saw how she balled her other hand into a fist, her eyes closed tightly, her teeth gritted. She looked like she had a hard time controlling herself. But why?
I saw how Ichirin and Hijiri stood up, followed by Murasa. Kogasa let go and stood up as well, so did Master and I. We went back to the temple, everyone chatting, except for Shou, who was still in thought and still squeezing my hand and Murasa who just followed silently. "I really wish Nue-senpai would've come along. She really missed something." Kogasa said, apparently not able to wait to see her senpai again. "I think she'll be fine." I told her as we went inside. I noticed that Murasa stayed out for a couple of seconds longer before entering as well. Everyone got rid of their shoes and Kogasa closed her umbrella, which had been with us all the time.
CRASH!
The closest window shattered while Nue flew in. The pieces of glass were all over the floor and a cold breeze entered the room. "Nue, what the hell are you doing?" Hijiri asked, obviously trying to control her anger. Kogasa next to me seemed to be surprised as well. Of course, how couldn't she be? "I just thought I'd give my student another lesson in surprising by surprising someone myself." She looked at Kogasa, who stared at her, admiring her skills in surprising, even though this didn't seem to be the way Nue would surprise someone. "Awesome..." Kogasa whispered, stunned. "You are really strange today. Just like someone else." Ichirin said, looking at Murasa, who seemed to be ashamed of herself, I wondered why. Ichirin continued "Well, anyway, someone needs to get us a new window, we can't just stay with... well... nothing." "I'll pay it!" Nue said immediately. "That would be best, Nue. Also clean up this mess, please." Hijiri then said. Of course it would be best, it was her fault the window was broken, after all, for someone else to have to pay it wouldn't be right. Everyone except for Nue and Murasa went to the living room. Apparently there was something between them. I went to the kitchen before going to the living room and got a bit of cheese. Shou had let my hand go, by the way. I carried my basket comrade, placed the small one on the table, starting to feed the hungry mouse. Kogasa watched closely. "You wanna try it too?" I asked. "The cheese?" Kogasa wondered. "No, the feeding." I smiled and gave her a piece of cheese. She held it in front of the nose of my comrade, who quickly snatched it away from her.
I yawned while Kogasa fed it. "I think I'm gonna go brush my teeth and then go to bed. I'm exhausted." I told the others, who nodded. They wished me a good night, right before I left to the bathroom to brush my teeth. While doing so, I noticed my comrade hopping onto the edge of the sink, watching me. I ran my finger gently over the small head that was turned into my direction. In that moment I noticed something else, something strange. There were drops of blood on a towel. Murasa's towel. And it looked like it had just gotten there. Why would she bleed? It wasn't enough for a whole nosebleed and it didn't look like anything serious, but I was still confused. I would have to find out more about this later. I then finished brushing my teeth and went into my room, I just let myself drop onto the bed.
CRASH!
"AH!" I sat up and looked around. I noticed quickly that the whole bed had collapsed. "What the- huh?" I didn't even know what to say to this. I then saw that the other came quickly to my room, especially Shou looked like she was worried. "What happened? Are you alright?" She asked and then looked at my bed and me in surprise. Everyone was now surprised, even Nue and Murasa. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I was just a little shocked. How does something like this even happen?" I wondered. Shou quickly came and knelt down next to me, wanting to make sure that I was alright. "You sure nothing hurts?" "Yes, please don't worry this much, I'm fine, really." I gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded. I took a closer look at what were the remains of my bed. All of the screws were lying around. "This is strange... looks like someone removed all of the screws!" I said. "But we were all out with you and when we left the bed was still fine..." Hijiri wondered. "Well, except for Nue..." Everyone looked at her. Nue started to defend herself. "Speaking for my own defense, I came home just after you did, you noticed that, didn't you? Also, I've been actually following you around all the time." She said. "What? Why would you have done that?" I asked her confused. "To take more notes about Kogasa so I could know better in which ways to teach her how to be scary. And as I thought my..." She cleaned her throat. "dynamic entrance was a full success." She explained. "And why should we believe that? Do you have any proof?" Ichirin asked. "I know every place you've been and how long you've been there." She claimed. "To keep it short you started with eating dango and ended with eating eel at Lorelei's grill." That was correct and she actually didn't have any reason to sabotage my bed. "Well... maybe it was just misfortune and those screws just fell out one by another until today the last one necessary to let this bed stand fell out. It is kind of old." Nue nodded.
"Misfortune or not, you can't sleep like this." Shou told me. "Huh? What do you mean? The mattress is still intact." "Yeah but... if you sleep just on a mattress your back might hurt a lot tomorrow..." She said. "I've slept on futons before and my back was just fine..." I said. I really had no idea why master wouldn't want me to sleep on the mattress. "Yes, but... your back is not used to it... you could... sleep in my bed..." She blushed really hard and so did I. An 'ooooooooh' came from the others like they were the audience in one of those outside-world-sitcoms. I ignored them and focused on Shou's words. "Do you... want me to...?" I asked her.
So this is Chapter two!
Yes, it took long, because school started again for me and because I will be writing two exams and I'll be having an English contest this week I had to study, study, study. I wrote Chapter 3 already (before this one) and I will post it tomorrow or maybe still later if I feel like it.
Do you actually feel like this deserves the genre humor? I suck at cracking jokes so I should change it, shouldn't I?
Because I can't actually write you back, I'll answer you here to your review, Anonymous Pyramid Head: Yes, yes it continues :) Really? Well I did try to do it a little differently and just hoped it would be good^^ But that she was pessimistic in the last one had a good reason, didn't it? ^^; Thank you, I'm glad she's not too OOC in your opinion^^ Jealousy? Maybe, maybe ;p
R&R or your bed will crash tonight ;p