III
Kazuki, like all girls, did not like insects. However, given his tender luscious skin and cherry sweet blood, insects, like many men, liked Kazuki very much. As with all unrequited amorous misadventures, such a one-sided relationship generally ended with lasting pain and a nasty sting.
Take for example the lesbian mosquito which was sucking at Kazuki yesterday: it died; shredded apart by an irritated Kazuki and pounded to smithereens by a vengeful Jubei – extravagant passions are of course characteristic of this love-thing.
Jubei's violent reaction had been typical. He had always defended his master with admirable zeal, especially – it must be said – whenever Kazuki found himself the unwary victim of bloodlust. He had always done so, ever since those Fuchoin days…
…A young Kazuki, sprightly and gay, was capering along the verdant expanse of the Fuchoin fields. Jubei was keeping up beside him, watchful, urging his master to be careful and readying himself for swift first-aid care lest Kazuki tripped over a few blades of grass and cracked his fragile skull. They came to a lightly singing stream and Kazuki hopped into the shallows, frolicking with girlish delight in the clear water. Unbeknownst to the innocent boy in the pink kimono, lustful eyes were watching his creamy water-dappled skin. (They did not belong to Jubei – he was only twelve.) The lustful gaze was from the lustful eyes of a lustful bee, which, lust-smitten, buzzed straight into Kazuki and pierced him hard – Kazuki gasped and the excited droning petered out into a low humming sigh as the bee ejaculated itself from the soft flesh, leaving its sting behind and rolling off onto the grass, dead.
"Kazuki!" Jubei cried, a little belatedly as his mind sought to grasp what had happened.
Kazuki, who was holding the side of his right arm where the bee had stung him, lifted his face to meet Jubei's own. Shivering eyes curtained with dark lashes gazed with innocent childish pain at Jubei, who, still in somewhat of a daze, could only reach out to hold his master by the shoulders.
"It hurts…" Kazuki explained, voice fluttering like a melancholy note struck on a Koto string. Jubei felt his heart quiver in response but steadied himself, determined to remain calm and collected – he had to protect Kazuki and turning all wobbly and wussy like his master would not help at all. Kazuki was virtually invulnerable – now was the time to show his master that he, Kakei Jubei of the Kakei clan, was strong and reliable – a most worthy protector of this darling jewel of the Fuchoin clan. An expression of solemn resolution had crept across his features, drawing his eyebrows to a tight centre above the stoic ridge of his nose. Kazuki rather liked this look of firm serious solicitude on Jubei, and told him so.
"Kazuki, do not distract me," Jubei replied with the unswerving single-mindedness of a mindless samurai. This was unexpected – Kazuki, being frightfully intelligent even at the age of ten, had always known how to illicit an embarrassed blush or an adorable stutter from Jubei whenever he wanted to, which was rather often for reasons he would never admit to (he was frightfully precocious, even at ten). Nonetheless he remained largely unfazed, for he rather enjoyed this sense of emasculation, losing his manipulative powers to Jubei who now held him and scrutinised his injury with close concern, indifferent to all attempts at distraction – ha! distraction – that was the very word he had used – "Kazuki, do not distract me," he had said – and Kazuki smiled silently to himself at his protector's sweet innocence. Seduction might have been a better word, thought Kazuki, who, at ten, was better at words and rather precocious…
"Kazuki, are you ready?"
"Huh? What?" Thus jerked back from his thoughts Kazuki betrayed a moment of mindlessness that was more characteristic of Jubei. Quick glances at the needles in Jubei's hand convinced him that Jubei had decided acupuncture was the best way to heal the sting.
Just in case his master wasn't smart enough figure it out for himself, Jubei began to explain what he was about to do:
"I'm going to pierce you." "It'll hurt a little," he quickly added, misinterpreting the barely perceptible smile flitting across Kazuki's face as a sign of incipient hysteria, "but I assure you you'll feel much better afterwards."
Kazuki nodded, watching his protector as he gently broke through his tender luscious skin with a luminescent needle. His eyes widened as the swelling eased immediately, leaving not a single blemish behind. Jubei smoothed a tentative finger cautiously, as if afraid, across the side of Kazuki's arm to check if it was completely healed.
"Jubei," Kazuki giggled, "you're very sweet."
Now that his healing job was done, Jubei did blush.
"I think real strength lies in healing, not killing." And after a moment's hesitation, "I think you're the strongest man in the world!"
Jubei was now really embarrassed. He suddenly found himself like a cumbersome monkey with a couple of limbs too many – one vaguely circling arm finally decided to settle vaguely on his head where it started to scratch vaguely at his sun-browned hair – "Kazuki, don't be teasing," he managed to stutter.
Kazuki giggled and Jubei laughed, dumbfounded, in response, not knowing what was so funny, not knowing his master was laughing at him, but delighted all the same by his master's blithe joy.
But there was business yet to be done. That was settled quickly enough: Jubei pulverised the already dead bee to smithereens with his flying needles.
"Jubei?! Are you alright?" Kazuki was genuinely astonished.
Jubei was, in fact, slightly out of his mind with emotions he did not quite understand himself.
"Why did you do that for? It's just a silly old bee…"
"Kazuki," Jubei started, his boyish countenance was suddenly swept overcast. He turned his head away from Kazuki to face a patch of grass about half a metre from his feet. "It bit you."
"Stung," Kazuki corrected. "Bees sting, mosquitoes bite – suck actually – to be more precise."
"Kazuki, it's the same."
"No it's not."
"You don't understand."
As a matter of fact, Kazuki did not. Jubei's brain did work in rather atypical ways…
"Why did you do that for? It was already dead."
"But Kazuki…"
The younger boy nodded slightly, encouraging Jubei's labouring brain cells to speed up.
"Kazuki…I was angry…"
This was not entirely accurate – Jubei was more precisely jealous – jealous that his smooth-skinned sweet-blooded Kazuki had been thus…infiltrated by some perverted old bee. Jubei, however, was unaware of the true nature of his feelings. One of course cannot expect a twelve year old boy with a heart bigger than his brain to know as much as this omniscient third-person narrator.
"But why were you angry?" Kazuki persisted.
"Because you were bitten."
"So?"
"So? So it means I was angry."
"But why were you angry?" came the inevitable question yet again.
Jubei, clearly impatient with his master's inability to understand such a simple concept, finally, and indignantly, huffed, "Because I was angry!"
…
"You were angry…because you were angry…?"
"Yes I was angry," Jubei replied firmly, folding his arms across his chest with deliberate resoluteness, refusing to look at his silly unthinking master.
"But Jubei! That's totally tautological!" And Kazuki did that bimbotic swerving-head-thing.
Jubei wasn't sure what his master was talking about, which meant that Kazuki must be being all logical again. He wasn't very pleased with this and hence chided, "No Kazuki, you're being all rational."
Kazuki blinked, momentarily stunned.
"Jubei!" he laughed, "And you're being irrational, which is really a bad thing. Do you understand what I'm saying? Irrational??" Apparently Jubei did not and Kazuki hence continued, "Like stupid?? Like…eurgh! What I'm saying is that you are not being logical. Do you get what I mean?"
"Kazuki…you say such pretty things."
"Pretty things?!! Jubei! I do not say pretty things – I say logical sensible things!"
"Kazuki," returned Jubei with a mesmerised look on his face. "I like the way your mouth moves – your lips make pretty shapes."
Clearly, as Kazuki had come to realize, Jubei was not so much impressed with logic than with prettiness. Finally capitulating under the obtuseness of his beloved protector, Kazuki forsook his questions, forsook rationality and logic and tautological arguments, and beamed at Jubei, making the prettiest shape with his lips and looking as pretty as he could.
"Kazuki…"
"Yes?" (looking pretty)
"I will protect you forever."
