DISCLAIMER: No own. Nope. Nada. Zero. Zilch.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yeah... transition chapter -.- Necessary evil. This is more a wrap-up/set-up chapter than an action chapter, with much discussion and thinking and a bit of an overuse of italics. Ahh well, they have to pop up once in awhile, ne?
Heh heh heh... Subaru seems to be acquiring some "bad language habits" from Tokaki as well as a few other things... O.o The girl's got her own ideas I guess, I can't control her! I can never control my characters!
One request to everyone: when you drive/start driving, please please please please PLEASE check and make sure that no one around you wants to turn. Reason for this: I was coming home today from the library and I came to a four-way stop, my left turn blinker was on, which should obviously mean that I wanted to turn! It's not that hard to figure out! Anyway, the guy in front of me goes, the guy across from me goes, the guy to my left goes, there's no one to my right, so I start to make my turn - and nearly end up hitting this car who didn't decide to check and see if I was turning -.- Baka yaro... I had some colorful language of my own for him. Anyway, please everyone make sure and be careful, getting in an accident is NOT fun (I was last in one when I was four and Mom hit a mailbox, and I still remember how not fun it was). Thus ends Kaze-chan's PSA for the Day. ~_~
Much thanks to my SLPRs (Spastic Little Pre-Readers ~_~ I think you know who you are) for telling me this chapter did not suck. I needed it. ~glomps all her SLPRs~
Ahhh, one last note ~winks~ For those of you who think I don't update this much... not by some people's standards. I can't write a chapter in three days (usually) and I put it through the spell/grammar-check wringer many many many times. And I have quite a few things I'm usually updating at the same time, so I'll do one this time, than another one the next... Unless it's a rare slow spell for me, my oldest update was most likely at most a week or so before ~_~ That being said, thank you everyone for reading and wanting me to update more often! I love all you guys! ~glomps them as well~ We're all one big glompin' bunch! ~_~ All right, I am not that insane...
See ya minna!
Owowowowowowowowowowow…
Waking up with a splitting headache is NOT the best way to start the morning.
The light from the window fell in diamonds over the floor and my bed, one landing right on my eyes and making me turn over and bury my head under the blankets. Was sunlight supposed to hurt that much? It seemed to burn into my eyes and make them water, trying to cool them off. The headache was made worse simply by thinking about it, and I decided that now was the time for those herbs.
I braced myself, took a deep breath, and threw off the blankets. Keeping my eyes closed, I sat up and swung my feet off the bed. I pressed my hand against my temple to try and quiet the pain momentarily and pushed myself up to stand on my feet, opening my eyes to see any obstacles in my way.
The first thing I noticed when I was all the way up was that I was still in my daytime clothes. The second was how bad the condition they were in was.
I stared down, trying to figure out how they'd gotten so rumpled and wrinkled. While I hadn't fallen asleep in my clothes much, it had happened, like that time after I was wounded. Even then, when they'd been torn and ragged at the shoulder, they hadn't been as bad as they were now. They were generally - I blushed at the thought - too tight to get wrinkled much, the cloth simply couldn't fold on its own. So how, in the name of Byakko, had this happened?
I heard a small sound, the sound of someone shifting under a blanket. Almost dreading what I would find, I slowly turned, keeping my hand pressed against my head. And there, sleeping peacefully in the other bed, was Tokaki.
No…
I tried to step back unconsciously, but the bed was in the way, and I fell to sit on it. Stunned. Unbelieving. And yes, afraid. I was afraid of what his being there meant… Afraid of him.
He looked so peaceful in the light, all lines of stress gone from his face as he slept, childlike in his apparent innocence. But pictures began to come back to me, of the night before… where he hadn't been so innocent.
And neither had I.
"No," I whispered. "No… No…"
The headache was all but forgotten as my hands moved to press themselves against my mouth, my head turning back and forth minutely but my eyes never leaving him. Were they really true, these flashes of memories or dreams I was seeing? I couldn't remember much of the night before… The day was clear: the rain, the ride, the inn, the dinner, the pranks, Gidayu. It was when I was talking to Gidayu, gossiping, that I began having trouble remembering. Everything became fuzzier and fuzzier, until finally it was too blurred to make out more than a few pieces: being carried up the stairs, both Tatara and Tokaki being annoyed with me, clinging to Tokaki, and…
NO!
Tokaki let out a strangled yelp as eyes flew open and he sat up in his bed, looking everywhere frantically. "Subaru! Gods, Subaru!" He stopped flying around everywhere as he caught sight of me, and heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank Byakko… I thought you'd been taken like Suzuno. A dream I guess…" He sighed again and flopped to lie flat on his back on his bed, arms splayed at his sides. "Just a dream…"
"No…" I whispered, so quietly I almost couldn't hear myself. My eyes began to tear and I hurriedly squeezed them shut, I would not be weak in front of him. Not him… Never him, DAMNIT!!!
"Subaru?"
"NO!"
Tokaki flinched back, eyes wide in amazement. "My god, Subaru, what is it?" he threw off the blankets and leapt out of the bed and to my side. Even in my consternation I realized he was only wearing a worn set of pants, the same he'd worn the day before… no shirt was secured over his broad, muscled chest. It only served to reaffirm my suspicions. "Subaru? Are you all right?" He lowered himself to my level and attempted to put a hand on my shoulder, but I sprang back to crash against the wall with a loud bang as if his touch was fire. I couldn't control myself; even when I had scrambled back as far as I could go my legs kept pushing, kicking the blankets and sheets away, my hands kept scrabbling for some hold they could use to pull myself farther and farther away from my tormentor, as far as I damn well could get. All the while I was murmuring and whimpering, all variations of "no", "it's not true", or "it couldn't". Tokaki just stared at me with wide eyes, stunned.
He slowly stood, regarding me warily, as one would regard a mad dog they were fearful of making attack - or run away. "Subaru…? What's… what's wrong?"
"It didn't happen… It didn't happen… It didn't happen…"
"What didn't happen?"
"IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"
"Subaru!" He started forward as if to pin me down, but I grabbed my pillow and began, well… beating him with it. Hard.
"Get back! Stay away! Don't you touch me!" I screamed, as if I was the one being attacked, when really Tokaki was trying to shield his head with his arms and get out of range, but for some reason I wouldn't let him and just kept beating him. I can only suppose that I was going out of my mind. We must've made quite a sight, him cowering, me shrieking, and not quietly either. Then my subconscious had to add in her bit.
Subaru, he's trying to say something. SHUT UP ALREADY!
I got a firm grip on my self-control and slowly stopped laying about me with the pillow, quieting my voice with a mental squash and tuning my ears to the sound of the words coming from the huddle on the floor. "Will you just tell me what you're talking about?"
When I regained my self-control I lost my strength. Somehow I could barely find the energy to talk. "Last night… It didn't happen…"
"Which part? Where you got stone drunk?"
My eyes widened slightly in amazement and I felt my mouth go a little slack in surprise. I let go of the pillow as my fingers loosened and it fell to the bed beside me with a soft flop. "I… was drunk?"
"Yes, did you just now figure it out?!" He began to slowly uncurl from his defensive position, muttering something under his breath.
"Oh," I said in a small voice. No wonder my memory was hazy. And a few other things were explained as well, like the headache that came hammering back into my brain. Then those extremely fuzzy memories again presented themselves to me and I blushed furiously. They sure didn't feel like they'd been a dream. "No…"
"Not again… now what?"
"It didn't happen…"
"Byakko, really not again…" He groaned loudly. "Look, don't freak out, I think you've been screaming enough to wake up the entire building already." He cautiously stood up, but I was in no position to attack him again. I had pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, burying my face in my skirt and crying softly. "Subaru? Are you all right?"
"I'm dirty… I'm trash… I'm-"
"No." The amount of feeling in his voice surprised me; it sounded almost as if he'd explode. He quickly knocked the pillow out of the way and sat next to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and hugging me tightly, ignoring my squeak of protest. "No you're not. You think that happened? It didn't."
All thought currently coming to a screeching halt.
What?!
"Wha…?" I pushed away from him enough that I could turn my face up to see him. "Tokaki, what…?"
He was entirely too red. However, it made him look more sincere. He refused to turn his gaze to meet mine, but his voice didn't quiver as he spoke. "Last night was strange. You were… not acting like yourself. You probably don't remember much. Gods, I couldn't help it, I tried to help it and stop myself, but you were there and no one else was and you just looked so damn… No no no, let me finish. I tried to leave but you wouldn't let me and you started using me as a pillow and I lost control. Plain and simple. It's happened before, but not with a girl who was drunk and didn't know what she was doing. No, don't look at me like that. I'll spare you the details, but we started kissing, and clothing started coming off… and then I remembered just what you would do if anything really did happen, and I just threw myself away from you. You were so far gone you didn't notice it, and I tried to get you dressed as well as I could and then climbed into the other bed to make sure you were all right during the night. And that's it."
I could only stare at him. Was he really, seriously telling the truth? "How… how did it get that far in the first place?"
"You fell over at the bar while you were talking to your friend, and they came to get me and Tatara, thinking you were sick. But when I got down there it was pretty obvious you were just drunk. That tea you were drinking had something in it. Your friend tried to pick you up to carry you upstairs, but you hauled off and socked him in the nose and then simply lay back down again. You got him pretty good, it started to bleed. By then I was getting exasperated and so I just picked you up and brought you up here and dropped you on your bed, told you to sleep, and started to leave. But then you grabbed my hand and told me to stay…"
"Oh gods…" It was because of me that last night had happened. Because of me… "Byakko…"
He sighed. "You don't believe me, do you? Look, go to a doctor if you want, they can tell you nothing happened. Besides, follow my reasoning. You'd take my damn head off if it did, and I like it where it is, thank you very much."
That much was true. I fell silent and looked at my feet, deliberating this quite unexpected turn of events. Tokaki restraining from… that? Maybe he had more honor than I gave him credit for… either that or a great will to live. "How…" This would be slightly awkward, but it was bugging me. "How did my clothes get so wrinkled?"
The morning sun made it very easy to see the new blush that sprang to his face. "I'm good at getting females' clothing off them. Not getting it back on again."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh."
We slipped into silence, and not an easy one either. I was unconsciously inching away from Tokaki, just a bit uncomfortable near him. My thoughts were either racing fast as speeding horses or crawling stagnant as mud, and most of them centered on him. If all that he was saying happened in just one night, despite the alcohol, could I really trust myself around him? I didn't even like him like that… I shoved all thoughts of our previous kiss out of my head as I debated. He was a pervert, a jerk, an idiot, and why was he still there?!
"Umm, Tokaki?"
"Hai?"
"Could you… get out of here please?"
He blinked in my direction but I remained looking at the floor and gave no other statement. "Subaru… why?"
"Just… just do it, please?"
He looked at me for another moment, then sighed heavily and slid off the bed. "All right, if you say so." He clomped quietly across the room, only stopping to bend down and retrieve his shirt from the middle of the floor and pull it on again. He yanked the blankets to lie relatively neatly on the other bed, the one he'd been using, before coming back to me. I hadn't moved a muscle. "You know…" he began tentatively, "none of this was your fault."
I said nothing.
He knelt in front of me, trying to catch my eyes, but I just turned them to the side. He sighed again. "Just believe me, okay? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Yes I did," I whispered.
"No you did not." He grabbed my chin and made me look in his direction. I closed my eyes rapidly. "I can't make you believe me, you've just got to trust me on this. You did nothing wrong."
"Just go…"
There was one tense moment of silence. "All right," he said at last. "I will."
But he didn't. Instead, my chin was tilted up and he pressed his lips to mine once again, softly, but even with as little experience as I had in this situation I could tell it was full of meaning. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him, and I didn't protest, because it felt… good. Right. This was…
When he pulled away I almost began to cry. "I'm not such a bad guy, you know." His voice was no more than a breathy whisper.
Then he was gone.
GGGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
A couple of hours later we had the horses saddled and ready to go. Two distinct feelings could be detected in the air about our group: joking and awkward. Apparently something had happened in Toroki's and Kokie's room the night before, because the two of them were laughing together, grinning and having a great time, and Kokie would even spontaneously chase Toroki around the yard a little. I smiled when I saw that; Kokie seemed to be making friends at last. He was a nice boy; he just needed to be brought out of his shell. Toroki might be able to do that.
The three older ones of us, however…
I couldn't face Tokaki, no matter how hard I tried to make myself. It just wasn't working. Tokaki kept glancing at me in a concerned manner, but my gaze would always be directed at the ground, or my saddle, or Tatara. I stuck close to Tatara, clinging like a burr. And for his part, he seemed to know that something had gone on that neither of us would discuss; he kept glancing down at me, or over at Tokaki, as if he was about to ask a question, but he would grimace slightly and restrain. I was fairly sure he was the only other one who knew about my little… problem the night before, and being Tokaki's roommate he must have noticed that he hadn't come back to sleep. Under the circumstances I couldn't have blamed him if his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had demanded an answer to his questions. But his self-control was amazing and I could only be thankful.
We bid good-bye to our hosts (the innkeeper, the girl, and the two small boys) and set off, Tatara and I in the lead and Toroki, Kokie, and Tokaki following. Tokaki had decided to join in their joking and pushing around rather than deal with me.
Tatara was setting the pace and picking our trail. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that for awhile that if took me a few minutes to notice the scenery around us looked familiar.
I blinked and glanced around, and sure enough, we were riding back the way we had approached the town the night before. There wasn't any reason to be doing that… "Tatara?"
"So you're ready to speak now?"
I blushed furiously and looked down. "Why are we going back the way we came?"
I could almost feel the disappointment radiating from him that I hadn't slipped into a tear-filled confession about the night before, but didn't say anything else. After a moment, he replied "Your friend Gidayu offered to show us a better trail last night."
"He did? When?" He hadn't said anything to me about a better trail… or maybe he had and I just couldn't remember, which was a possibility.
"After Tokaki… brought you up, I went down to see if I could perform damage control. What did you tell him last night when you were talking? About our mission?"
"Um… I told him we were going to visit a friend who'd moved near the border I think, why?"
He gave me a sidelong glance. "He seemed pretty perceptive… seemed to look at me differently than you'd look at a normal person. Would you shut up back there?!" The last comment he yelled at the three following us, who were being noisy enough to scare a small tiger. They meekly quelled into submission and he shook his head, then returned to our conversation. "He might know more than we want him to… Do you trust him? Is he trustworthy? This far east anyone could be a spy…"
I shook my head. "Not him. He hates the Kutou… and if he knows, he won't give it away." I laughed nervously once or twice. "I admit, I may have let a couple of hints slip… I'm no good at lying or acting normal when things aren't. But he'll help us, if he can. Especially after Bokkai."
"You keep saying that name, but you never say who it is or what's so important about it. Who is it? Someone close to you?"
I turned to watch Tatara closely. He simply regarded me back calmly, waiting for an answer. In some ways he was much like my brother, in some ways very very different… but he was probably the best person I had to confess to at the moment. I hadn't told anyone but Suzuno about Bokkai, and she wasn't there. We couldn't keep our pasts secret from each other forever. "He was my brother."
"Was?"
"Yes… He was a genuinely good person, maybe the best I knew, certainly better than me. He protected me so much throughout the years and almost raised me in some aspects. A little more than a year ago, he signed up to serve in the army. He was given armor, sent to the south, and… my parents still have the notification." There. He knew.
"My… My gods… I'm sorry Subaru, I really am." Tatara looked stricken, as if Bokkai has also been his friend. That was one of the best things about him; he could feel genuine sympathy and concern and express it. It was a welcome change from so many others' reactions, that always sounded empty… "So that's why you're so passionate about this…"
"Revenge? No, that isn't what I want… we all knew it could happen, we just didn't think it would. Truth to tell, it's amazing he lasted as long as he did, what with the dwindling numbers and all…" My vision began to blur yet again, but my voice remained thankfully steady. It was all true after all; we'd known there was a possibility, a high one, he wouldn't come back. It just made me respect him more. "But I've gotta make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." I smiled weakly. "And then when I hear the stupid reasons this war was started, everything just seems to look so much worse and blacker than it really is and I kind of lose control…"
"It's perfectly all right for that to happen; you've suffered a lot. It wouldn't be right if you didn't explode every once in awhile. Just try not to hurt anyone when you do, all right?" I saw the corners of his mouth twitch upward in a smile, and felt my own facial muscles responding in kind. Things weren't so bad after all…
I cleared my throat, drawing his full attention again. "Now, perhaps you can tell me a bit about yourself? My curiosity hates to be kept waiting."
He laughed softly, smiling again. "Why not? Born outside the city, but not too far away, less than half a day's ride. I wasn't as lucky as you, I had no siblings to spend time with, and there weren't many other children around." That accounted for his maturity then. "My mother died when I was young and my father did his best to raise me. That's about it, I've had a dull life so far. Until Suzuno showed up, that is." I glanced up quickly, and sure enough his face had begun to fall at the mention of Suzuno's name. If I was right, and the two of them actually admitted it out loud, before all this was over there'd be two people bonded to each other as strongly as I'd ever seen. And the fact that the person he probably thought of as his other half was gone was killing him. I made a silent vow to myself to lock the two of them in a closet or something when we got her back and refuse to let them out until they'd confessed their feelings; all their prancing around was ridiculous. They just needed a helping hand.
A few more minutes passed, which I spent sitting lazily in my saddle and listening to the morning birds and other animals, the wind in the trees (which still hadn't disappeared, much to my amazement), and the playful bickering behind me. It was peaceful this far away; it was hard to believe that just a few days' ride away lay a nation that wanted us destroyed.
There was a rustle of cloth next to me and Tatara sat up straighter, extending his arm to point to something to the right of the road: a small, well-traveled path that led off into the trees. I turned and squinted, trying to see through the mass of foliage, and could barely make out something dark gray in the distance, but not all that far away. I looked at Tatara and he wordlessly nodded, and I turned my horse down the path, the others following.
The path wound around the tree trunks out of pure necessity; whoever had made it hadn't thought it being straight was more important than saving energy by not cutting trees. As we meandered around the obstacles the gray thing would go in and out of sight like a slight-of-hand trick, but finally we came into a clearing and saw what we had been aiming for. A small but sturdy old house stood there, its weathered wood walls and slate tile roof giving it the gray tinge that could be seen from far away. It was possibly the oldest building I'd ever seen, but it looked incredibly stable.
"Tatara, what's going on?" Tokaki reigned in his horse as he rode up on Tatara's other side, watching his friend closely. "Shouldn't we be going east? We went southwest again, which make absolutely no freakin' sense, and why are we standing outside of buildings again? Haven't we done that enough already?"
Tatara just rolled his eyes and refused to answer. I heard a snort from behind us and turned back to see Toroki and Kokie sitting sort of hunched over in their saddles, shoulders shaking slightly. Maybe they'd gotten hold of a bag of sugar…
My head snapped back to face front as the door opened, and Gidayu stepped out with a wave. I winced; even from ten feet away it was easy to see the dark bruise right in the middle of his face. "Oops…"
"Apparently you have a strong fist even when half asleep, Subaru," Tatara muttered to me, plainly trying to hide a grin. I glared at him.
Gidayu, however, seemed not to take any notice of it (the bruise or our conversation, if you could call it one) and strolled over, smiling easily. "Hello, all. Since you're here I guess you've decided to take me up on my offer."
"Offer? What offer?"
Tatara rolled his eyes again. "Lanva, either make intelligent comments, which I sometimes doubt you're capable of, or shut up. I would've told you if you'd have stopped behaving like the toddler Doulin said you were last night. Gidayu-san knows the trails around here, certainly a lot better than we do, and last night he said he'd show us a better way to take. It could reduce our trip by a full day." He gave Tokaki a hard look that not only forbade any arguing but also scared Tokaki into shrinking back an inch or two by sheer venom. I was distinctly impressed; so far none other than myself had managed to make that happen. Tatara took a moment to make his face relax, then turned back to Gidayu. "Can you tell us where the path is?"
"I can do better than that, I'll show you myself. Just one moment…" He twisted to look behind him, then shook his head. "I'll be right back."
He took off at a nice, easy jog around the building, but stopped short fairly fast as a young woman with black hair, maybe a year or so older than me, came around the corner leading a fairly perky-looking horse, completely outfitted for riding. She controlled the prancing horse with a deft hand, better than any of us seishi at least.
Gidayu's face brightened as she approached him, holding out the reins and saying something too softly for us to catch at thirty feet away. He nodded and spoke back, to which she smiled and gave him a playful shove on the arm. They were definitely close; I started trying to remember if he had a sister. He nodded again and swung up into the saddle, directing one more comment her way before trotting over to us. "Sorry. Are we ready to go?"
Tatara and I nodded, and with Gidayu in the lead we started back down the twisting path.
In a few hours I had enormous respect for Gidayu's skill in the forest. The trail, for the time being, was barely visible, but he continued down it as sure as if it were lined with torches, somehow always finding a way through or around obstacles such as bushes where the rest of us could also follow. When asked, he said that in the early days of the war this particular trail had been used by Sairou spies returning from Kutou, but he didn't know much about it beyond that. It started about a mile more along the road to the capital from his home, and apparently cut extremely close to the desert before turning into the rocky foothills of the mountains, where at least water could be found. It was (of course) more dangerous than the small road we'd been planning on using, but it was more direct and kept out of the way of where he suspected the ex-farmers-turned-bandits camped. I was inclined to agree with him there; the trees were beginning to thin out dramatically, and no outlaw would want to be seen, especially where there was no profit.
Tatara and Tokaki were riding with Gidayu and talking companionably about what seemed like nothing at all, and I dropped back to ride with Toroki and Kokie. I still didn't know what had made them so hyper, but it was infectious: as we progressed, I found myself drawn into the kidding and teasing one would normally find in twelve-year-olds. It was all I could have wished for, the stress I'd felt since the morning seemed to drain out the tips of my toes and fall behind me on the ground, almost as if I was meditating. Even if we weren't quite as calm as meditation normally calls for…
We ate lunch in the saddle, not wanting to delay. Gidayu reasonably wanted to return to his home that day and wasting time stopping and setting out food wouldn't help at all. After we finished conversation seemed to die a bit as everyone realized we were getting into the scrubland. Soon we'd be exposed, no more convenient trees to hide behind. I grimaced at the bad pun, but my mind remarked that it was a sobering thought.
About an hour past noon Tokaki dropped back to our little group, guiding his horse next to mine. I just stared ahead, feeling my face color slightly. I still couldn't face him for some reason. He seemed to expect it, though, and didn't make a big deal out of it, something I was grateful for. "I've got a message for you."
"A message? Nani?"
"Your friend wants you to go up there and ride with him." He gestured to Gidayu's horse, still in the lead. "I think he wants to talk to you."
I gave him one brief brief BRIEF glance to make sure this wasn't some sham and felt myself go even redder, but the joking light wasn't in his eyes. He dropped back more to ride and talk with Toroki and Kokie, and I kicked my horse faster to catch up with our guide.
"Ah, there you are Doulin-chan," he remarked casually as I appeared beside him and Tatara. "I was wondering whether you were planning on avoiding me all day." He grinned playfully and I knew there were no hard feelings, but I still felt embarrassed at my behavior the day before.
"Umm… Sorry for hitting you yesterday."
There came a choked noise from Tatara's area and he winked at me, dropping back as well to our companions. Yay, just me and my embarrassment…
"It's all right, I've had a lot worse. I guess no one warned you there was some fairly strong alcohol in that tea."
"No one, not even you. Gods, I must have looked so stupid, keeling over because of tea," I groaned, shaking my head.
He grinned. "You're not the first one… and you had a lot of it. It can be addictive, don't feel bad."
"I do," I muttered. "Kaa-san would be so angry with me if she knew."
"Come now, you think she would be angry at a Byakko no shichiseishi? Especially over an honest mistake?"
"Yes, I-" WHOA BYAKKO!!! What did he just say what did he just say what did he just say?! My gods, Byakko no shichiseishi! He KNOWS!!!!!
His amused smile was still on his face, but his eyes were mixed with seriousness. He kept his voice low and private. "Hai. I know. I know what you're thinking and I know what you were trying to hide last night."
"But… but… but how?"
He brought one hand up to chest level and inspected it for a moment, as if he hadn't heard me. I was about to repeat the question when he began to talk. "After you fell over and I tried to wake you up, you mumbled the name 'Tokaki'. Twice. We might live far away from the capital but we've heard of the miko and the seishi, same as the rest of the empire. And you were acting strangely before that, talking too fast and not giving many details. Overall, though, you did well; no one figured it out but me."
I groaned. Again, it was my fault. Not being able to tell a convincing lie was really damn annoying. I'd have to work on it in the future.
"But I know, and I won't give you away." He smiled easily, friendly. "In fact, that's why I wanted to show you this way - who better to use an old army trail than the ones who'll save our country? Just promise me you'll get 'em back for Bokkai, since I can't do it myself."
"I promise," I said with complete confidence. One way or another I'd find a way to stop those Kutou bastards.
We lapsed into silence again. A light wind picked up and blew some of my hair into my face; I absently pushed it out of the way and frowned. The rocks should be cutting off the wind; if they weren't, then that meant…
"We're nearing the desert. I'm going to have to leave you all there, but it's easy to follow the trail from then on." Gidayu unconsciously confirmed my guess. "Kinuye will be angry if I'm not back when I said I'd be."
"Is Kinuye that girl at your home?" He nodded. "I don't remember you having a sister. Who is she? Your cousin?"
I guess everyone on this ride had to stifle laughter at one point or another; now was his turn. I gave him a pointed look as he got himself back under control, then shook his head, grinning. "Not in the least. She's my wife."
Oh.
"Oh."
He just grinned, and we were silent again. I could only dwell on this new fact. Somehow I hadn't thought that there was even a possibility of Gidayu being married, so it was probably more of a surprise than it should have been. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. In the rural regions especially it was common to marry young; I myself was pushing the normal marriage age limit. He had been in essence a country boy for the past six-plus years, so there was no reason to assume that he had stayed single. Besides, the looks he and Kinuye had given each other and the general feel from them were ones of happiness and contentment; things rarely found within blood family. I was satisfied with my explanation; I gave myself a firm nod and set the topic from my mind. I also pretended to not see the teasing grin he gave me as I nodded.
A few minutes later we topped a small ridge. Below us, at the foot of the rocks, was a valley of sand stretching as far as the eye could see. It was almost completely a uniform tan, with a bit of orange or slightly darker brown thrown in to relieve the monotony. We'd reached the desert at last.
"This is where I leave you." Gidayu sounded detached from reality, as if this place was strangely unearthly. "If you ever need anything, stop by; I'll try and help you. Good luck." This last he whispered in my direction and I nodded minutely, acknowledging the well wish.
Then he was gone, back in the direction we'd come from, and we were alone in unfamiliar territory. The openness frightened me; if anyone was around, he'd spot us in a second. For the next three days, even in the rocky hills, we'd be more open to attack than we ever had before.
I just hoped we could handle it.
AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Yeah, sorry 'bout the fairly boring chapter... it wasn't as pleasant to write once the first section was finished as some I've done. But it's gonna get interesting again next chapter! I promise you! ~has some veeeeeeeery definite plans~ It's gonna get exciting ~_~ At last! WAI! See ya then!