The Hunter

Chapter Seven

"Would you like some more?"

Rin held out her hand expectantly and Kohaku gave her his bowl. Normally he jabbered on like a monkey during meals, talking at her despite her sullen looks and stubborn refusals to be enticed into conversation. Today was different. He sat there quietly, looking humourless and reserved. It never occurred to her that she would miss the carefree side of him that annoyed her to no end until it was gone. The troubling thing was she did miss it. She missed him.

Watching Kohaku out of the corner of her eye, she spooned a second helping of rice into his bowl and then offered it to him with a hesitant smile.

"What do you have planned for today?" she asked, hoping to break his silence.

He took his time answering and made her wait until he'd swallowed two more bites and drank down his tea.

"I will buy some supplies for the journey ahead," he said as she refilled his cup from the steaming pot at her side.

She waited for him to elaborate, but he continued eating instead. The silence became prolonged and when he ignored the next couple of questions she thought up she felt defeat set in. It was clear he had no interest in speaking with her today or maybe not ever again. Did he know that she'd tried to escape? She couldn't be certain, but if he did know it was clear he was angry about it. Or maybe he was annoyed with himself for letting the bandits gain the upper hand? Either way, it didn't seem likely that she would glean any answers from him today.

Frustrated, Rin exhaled a heavy sigh and sat back on her heels. The movement was thoughtlessly quick and she regretted it instantly. A sharp pain seared the back of her thigh and she felt the wet trickle of fresh blood against her skin. Sucking in a pained gasp, she winced and slowly straightened her leg.

"Are you alright?" Kohaku stopped eating, his attention now firmly fixed on her.

She shook her head and lied despite her grimace, "I'm fine, really."

"You are not fine," he corrected her. Setting his bowl down, he moved to her side and gingerly lifted her kimono up over her thigh. Her leg was still wrapped in the remnants of his shirt and he took his time carefully untying the make-shift bandage. Leaning in close, he inspected her wound with a serious look. She kept her own countenance guarded despite the nervous racing of her heart.

"How did you find me in the forest?" she ventured, hoping that a distraction would keep her from feeling light-headed at the sight of the blood oozing down her leg.

She had spent much of the day trying to work out how he'd managed to track her down in the dark. If she could learn even a little about his methods, she'd be in a far better position the next time she tried to escape. And she would try again – she had to. To give up now would mean forever abandoning her hopes of returning home. That hope was the only thing that had kept her alive during those nightmarish months in the brothel. Even now, visions of someday seeing her mountain village again were what kept her tired feet moving forward day after day. She refused to give that up without a fight.

Kohaku shrugged his shoulders lightly, "I followed the blood trail I found in the alley to the edge of the woods and tracked the group from there."

"You make it sound as though you sniffed me out like a dog."

He lifted his gaze to hers and a faint smile flirted with his lips. "That's not far from the truth. In my village every child learns how to track so we can hunt demons. On a good day, I can track almost anything that runs on the ground. The bandits that took you were sloppy. They left broken branches all over the place."

Rin sat in awe of his abilities. While she was thankful that he was skilled enough to have found her, it was clear to her now that any future escape attempts would require careful planning and strategy. She couldn't afford another failure. If he caught her the next time, there was no telling what he might do.

"It doesn't appear to be infected," Kohaku reassured her. "I'll change the bandage and then perhaps in a day it will be healed enough for you to walk."

"Do they teach all the children in your village to be healers too?" she wondered a bit cynically as he rummaged through his satchel for fresh bandages.

"No," he chuckled softly, "That I learned on my own. I was a bit clumsy growing up and training with weapons led to a lot of injuries."

Her mouth lifted into a reluctant smile and she watched as he re-dressed her wound. His touch was gentle and confident and his hands never once strayed from their duties. Once he'd tied the final knot on the bandage in place, he pulled her kimono back down to cover her leg and offered her an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry. It will heal," he promised and then stood to wash the blood from his hands.

With the loss of his touch her heart rate steadily returned to normal. She couldn't understand why her body reacted to him the way that it did. It was the same as the day he'd taught her how to fight with his knife. A mere touch was enough to make her heart race and her words fail. At first she'd simply put it off as fear, but now she wasn't so sure. Did she fear this boy who'd rescued her life three times over, or was it something else entirely?

Kohaku returned to his seat across from her and she gave him an uncertain look. He took a long sip of his tea and then purposefully set the cup down atop the tray.

"The bandits that took you," he began cautiously, "did they say why?"

Her fingers absently skimmed the red silk trim of her kimono as she remembered the leader's words to her the night before. He'd known exactly what she was and where she'd come from. It wasn't the only reason they'd taken her, of course, but ever since she'd been worried about how many others might recognize the brothel's red-trimmed kimono and try to take advantage. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she dropped her hands into her lap.

"Only that you had taken their money," she answered, hoping that a half-truth would convince him.

His eyes lingered on her longer than she would have liked and she busied herself with returning their dishes to their trays. When she reached for his rice bowl he stopped her with a hand around her wrist.

"I'm sorry for that," he said seriously, as his thumb drifted across the red welts that marked her pale skin. "I let my guard down and you were hurt. I won't let it happen again."

She gaped at him, momentarily at a loss for words. He released his hold on her wrist with an apologetic look and headed for the door. She called out to him, surprised at the sound of her own voice. It sounded thin and tight, like the cry of a frightened kitten. Kohaku looked back expectantly, and she felt her cheeks burn.

There were a lot of things she wanted to say to him, starting with "thank you". Not just for tending to her leg and coming for her the night before, but for caring enough to be worried about her at all. It had been so long since anyone had thought twice about her well being or whether she lived or died.

She struggled to find the right words, but in the end all that emerged was a simple, heartfelt "Thank you." Kohaku's brows lifted faintly in surprise and a smile briefly touched his lips.

"You're welcome," he replied, and then he was gone.

xXx

Kohaku did not return until late in the night and then departed early the next morning. Rin awoke to find his futon stored away, breakfast waiting, and an indigo-dyed yukata and obi folded neatly next her bed. She eyed them as she ate her breakfast, reaching out every so often just to be certain they were real. They were simple and a bit rough to the touch, but well made and more importantly commonplace.

Her hands shook with excitement as she pulled off her blood-stained kimono and donned her new robes. His gift was a small gesture, but she doubted he would ever truly know just how much it meant to her. She would no longer have to walk around wearing a daily reminder of her life at the brothel and the shame it'd brought. With this robe Kohaku had given her back her freedom.

Eager to thank him and to test out her leg, she returned to the izakaya where he'd taken her the first night and found him inside playing cards.

"A bottle of sake for his table," she instructed the bartender with a nod in Kohaku's direction.

"Your man is a master card player. He loses from time to time, but only so the others continue playing," the bartender observed with a keen eye. Kohaku won his next hand amid a litany of groans from his tablemates and Rin reluctantly added "shrewd card player" to his growing list of attributes.

Kohaku had all the workings that would make him a desirable match for any woman. He was intelligent and resourceful and skilled with his weapons. He had youth and good looks on his side too. The more she learned about him, the more she was left wondering what he wanted with someone like her. She'd been over it in her head a dozen times and had yet to find a single logical answer. She was left to conclude that either he was insane or his intentions were far less honourable than they seemed.

The latter troubled her because her instincts told her he was good and that she could trust him, but what did she know about him really? He was a demon slayer from a village of demon slayers. He had a sister. He was dangerous when provoked and…that was all. The sudden awareness that she knew very little about the man who slept next to her each night left her feeling more than a little unsettled.

"Your man must be saving up for something special," the bartender prodded her with a wink.

Distracted, she smiled briefly and took the bottle of warm sake he set atop the bar. Thankful to escape his probing comments, she headed to Kohaku's table. He glanced up at she approached and greeted her with a warm smile.

"Sakura! What brings you here?"

"I wondered if you might be thirsty," she replied, holding out the sake. She could feel the eyes of every other man at the table on her as she poured a serving into a saucer for him.

"Wish my wife would serve me while I was playing cards," one of them grumbled enviably as Kohaku drank. "Instead she sends me to bed without supper for spending all our money."

The group laughed heartily and Rin noticed that Kohaku didn't correct him. Instead he set down his saucer and glanced up at her, momentarily ignoring the others.

"The colour suits you," he said, with a meaningful look at her yukata. "Is it to your liking?"

"Yes," she flushed, embarrassed by the unwavering attention of the others at the table. "Thank you."

He looked pleased and gestured to the empty seat next to him. "Will you stay? I could use your good luck."

She shook her head and set the bottle of sake on the table. "I'm feeling tired. I think I might go back to the inn."

A fleeting flash of concern drifted across his features but quickly vanished when she offered him a reassuring smile. She hadn't been lying. Walking around had tired her out and her leg had begun to throb. Besides, she could do with a bit of quiet time to gather her thoughts before he returned to the inn. She made her way slowly to the door, but was soon stopped by a rough voice calling out to her.

"You'll regret that when he comes home in a couple of hours, drunk and looking to plough a field."

Rin started at the comment and turned to find an old woman hunched over at the table next to her. She had grey hair at her temples and a long-stemmed pipe clutched tightly between her pursed lips. Her small dark eyes looked Rin up and down and then she motioned to the seat across from her with a decisive flick of her bony wrist. Rin reluctantly obliged and sat down.

"Your man, he's good," she observed, thoughtfully nodding her head. "I've been watching him. Got lucky with that one, did you?"

Rin opened her mouth to explain but the woman cut her off with a wave of her hand. "Nevermind, doesn't matter. I'm just a bitter old crone that wishes she'd married a better man, one who isn't a drunk, good for nothing loser."

She chuckled throatily and pulled at her pipe. Fragrant blue smoke wreathed about her head, framing her face with the scent of mountain tobacco.

"We are not married," Rin protested meekly. "We are travelling companions."

The woman barked out a laugh and looked her up and down as though she wasn't entirely sure whether to believe her.

"Well, won't be long now," she said with a serious look. "No man puts away money like that unless he's saving for a bride."

Rin followed the old woman's gaze back to Kohaku's table and turned over the thought in her mind. It sounded ridiculous. Certainly there were plenty of women in his village of a marriageable age, women from good families who were untainted. She dismissed the idea of marriage from her mind with a shake of her head.

"Here," the old woman said, suddenly taking her hand. Before Rin could object, she'd pushed a small pouch into her palm and closed her fingers overtop.

"When he returns to the inn brew him a tea with this," she whispered wearing a conspiratorial smile. "He'll be asleep in no time and you'll be able to get a good night's rest. Looks like you could use it, too."

Rin wasn't sure what to make of the thinly veiled insult, but thanked the woman nonetheless. She stared down at the pouch in her hand and felt her first real twinge of guilt. With Kohaku drugged it would be hours before he would wake, giving her plenty of time to get far away. The trouble was she was no longer sure she could do it. After all that he'd done for her, would that be any way to repay him?

Perplexed by the decision before her, Rin got to her feet and offered her table partner a modest bow. "I'm very sorry, but I should go. It was a pleasure meeting you-" She stalled, realizing that she had absolutely no idea what the woman's name was.

Taking pity on her, her new friend aimed a toothless grin up at her. "Miho. You can call me Miho."

"Well, thank you, Miho, for everything. I hope to see you again."

"Take care of yourself, girl," she answered with a heavy cough and then waved her off with a gap-toothed smile.