Chapter 11 – Reunited
Kimi awake little under two hours later. This was the second time she had awake in totally new surroundings and found herself disorientated. This time she was not in a Japanese style bedroom, but what from the inside looked like a log cabin over looking a mountain valley of lush, green bamboo forests.
She tried to prop herself up on the large fluffy pillows but received a stabbing pain in her back and ribs. She choked on the pain and lay her head back. She hadn't yet noticed the woman in the far corner of the room.
She was short and plump, her vibrant auburn hair in elaborate ringlets, the absolutely opposite of Yoshino. She wore a brown and white polka dot dress and a white apron. It seemed as thought she had been soaking material in a bowl of water but immediately jumped up at Kimi's cry of pain.
"Oh goodness dear, you shouldn't do that, you'll only cause yourself more discomfort. Sit still and rest" she said, fussily plumping up another fat pillow and putting it behind the small of Kimi's back to lean her up. "It's a good job he found you when he did else you'd be in a far worse mess than this" she said rushing back over to the bowl and bringing back a soggy white cloth. "Careful now, this might sting"
"Who found me? What happened? Where am- OUCH" Kimi jumped as woman wiped the white rag along a deep cut on her ankle.
"I told you"
"Yeah, sorry... I didn't mean to kick you..."
"That's quite alright dear. In answer to your question, my son found you unconscious in the snow being beaten by a gang on local thugs. He bought you home immediately and I have been attending to your wounds ever since. Although it seems that you had intended to come here in the first place" she said, pointing to the long white package, leaning against a cupboard.
"Crap! My delivery"
"Calm yourself! You have delivered it, it was intended for this address" she said in a raised voice to calm her, she wiped another rag across a cut on the arm and then began to wrap bandages around her waist. "There. I think that's enough but you should still rest for longer. You aren't going to be fit to move around for a while."
"But I have to get back to the village; my family will be worried about me"
"We will send word to your family, let them know where you are and that you are safe. Now sleep. Once you have had a long rest, I expect my son would like to speak with you"
Kimi couldn't argue with this. She knew her family would still worry if they knew her condition or not. But at the moment, even turning her head hurt and she could not summon the energy to get out of this warm, comfy bed. She resigned to the fact that she may even have to spend the night here and lay her head back down.
"Thank you" she said to the woman, now with her back to her, draining the salt water that she had used to clean Kimi's wounds down the sink and cleaning up after herself.
"For looking after me I mean. I really appreciate it, especially as I'm a total stranger."
"It's not a problem dear. It's the least I could do for a daughter of our village's head family, not that I wouldn't do the same for anyone else!" She added quickly.
Kimi froze and stared at her. "How did you-!?"
The woman pointed to the dark blue woollen jumper Kimi had been wearing. She hadn't realised that it was missing until now. It was hanging on a coat hook beside the door. She looked down and realised that the woman had wrapped bandages around Kimi's bruised chest and then dressed her in a loose, pale green shirt. It was far too big for her and showed the bandages on her chest and underarms.
"The Murasaki family crest is on the neck of the jumper. Every specially made piece of clothing carries a family crest on the inside; it's an easy way to know who it belongs to. The Murasaki's are of course unmistakable around these parts."
Kimi slapped her own forehead. "Of course, the crest! I completely forgot. I never notice it; I just wear the clothes..."
The woman smiled warmly. It seemed that this whole time she had been judging Kimi, possibly expecting her to be rude an ungrateful due to her high position. But if she had thought that, she had now changed her mind, realising that Kimi was just a normal girl like any other.
"Now rest. I'll be back later with soup. If you need me call for Iyase" and with that she left, snuffing out the lanterns on the wall.
Kimi only lay there staring out of the deep Grey sky for a few moments, before the warmth and softness of the sheet consumed her into sleep again.
Later that evening, when sky had already turned pitch black, Kimi was woken by Iyase again, who turned out to be the wife of the Blacksmith that Kimi's delivery had been bound for. The smell of hot chicken noodle soup and the warmth of a hot bottle at her feet greeted her.
Iyase sat chatting to Kimi for a while to keep her company, explaining to her that (which was their family name) was out at the moment and was not there to take the delivery, so she had left it in the workshop, a larger and separate building at the forefront of the family home.
Of course in no time at all the topic of conversation turned to Kimi's Heroic deeds of the previous week. She was astonished to find that the increasingly farfetched stories of her journey had even reached these remote parts. Though she didn't mind talking about it to Iyase much.
She was such a lovely and kind woman, Kimi didn't feel at all awkward in telling her the whole truth, or at least what she could remember of it. By the time she had concluded her story in the place of being questioned at the edge of the Seireitei, Iyase was on the edge of her seat, almost spilling her hot chocolate.
Kimi couldn't help but laugh. She got the strong impression that Mrs. Hatsuka didn't often have chance for this kind of 'girl time' or gossip, and indeed and a few minutes later a knock came on the door, announcing the arrival of her only child.
"Good heavens, we've been talking for so long that I forgot to tell him" she said, jumping to her feet and rushing to open the door.
In walked the boy that had saved her, wearing a dark green Hakama and a pale mint green shirt. Just peeking over his shoulder was a brown bamboo sword. Unlike his mother, he was tall and slim, with amber eyes instead of hazel ones, though he did have her oval face, almond shaped eyes and auburn hair. He looked to be no older than her sister.
"Mother…" he sighed incredulously "Why are you disturbing her, she should be resting"
"I know dear, I got carried away but we did have a nice chat didn't we, Miss Murasaki?" she said while clearing up the surface where she had left her medicines and the bowl of salt water earlier.
"Yeah we did. It's fine honestly. I'm feeling much better too" this was partly true. She no longer felt weak and exhausted due to sleeping but she still had many stings and aching pains all over her.
He sighed. He seemed to have quite a dull and business-like attitude, again unlike his mother's kind, bubbly and fussy one. "That's okay then. As long as you are well."
"Well I'll leave you two to speak, call me if you need anything" Iyase smiled, leaving the room and pulling the door ajar behind her.
The boy removed his kendo sword and leaned it against the wall beside the door and then took his mother's seat besides Kimi's bed.
"You're lucky I fou-"
"Found you when I did" Kimi finished his first sentence for him in a bored tone. She had heard that phrase far too many times already. "I know. Thank you very much. I know I'd be in much worse shape if you hadn't" she said inclining her head to him rather than bowing, bowing was far too painful. "I really owe you one"
The boy smiled. "So what happened? Common sense tells me that you aren't the Murasaki heir; You are the adopted daughter than everyone is talking about. How did people like... that do this to you?"
Kimi grimaced. He had voiced the same question that she had been wondering herself. "All I can say was that they took me by complete surprise. I wasn't paying attention and they took advantage of that. By the time they made their first move I was incapable of defending myself."
She didn't bother to explain that she had had running's with them in the past, but by the way that he said 'people like that' they seemed to be notorious around here.
"I see. If I'm not mistaken you are training to become a Soul Reaper?" he snapped her out of her thoughts.
Kimi gritted her teeth. "I was… But if things like this are going to happen I'll be a sorry excuse of one" she hissed, more to herself than him. "I can use my Spiritual energy for pretty useful things but I can't sense others'. What use is that? I need more training; I need to work harder." There was an awkward pause. "Wait a minute… how did you get those guys away from me? Are you a Soul Reaper?"
The boy gave a snort, as if to say 'as if!'
"I wish I was a Soul Reaper. No, I stopped them with my sword. A couple of hits was enough to scare them and they ran for it, spineless cowards. Then I carried you back here. Luckily were not too far from where I found you"
Kimi stared at the sword next to the wall, a new thought washing over her. It was unmistakably a Kendo training sword made from Bamboo. "You practice Kendo?"
The boy nodded. "Since I was very young. My father not only crafts weapons and tool but owns a Dojo. He practiced since he was a child and taught me."
"I was told by a Soul Reaper than I would need to learn to use a sword as soon as possible…"
"Well of course. The Zanpakuto is the Soul Reapers main weapon. If you can't use a sword you're useless" Those words stabbed at Kimi like real swords, though she was surprised by the extent of his knowledge. He knew that the swords were called Zanpakuto's?
She hesitated a moment before next speaking.
"Can I ask you a favor-"
"You can just call me Hatsuka." The boy said sharply, getting the hint from Kimi's voice that she didn't know what to call him. Of course his boy was not to type to automatically be on first name terms with someone like her and Yuuga.
"Hatsuka. I have of my spiritual training down, but I don't have a clue where to start with sword training… You are the first and only person I have met who uses a sword…" She hesitated again. She found the strength to lean up, turn her feet sideways out of bed and stand. She sunk into a deep bow. "Would you please consider training me? I feel as though you are my only hope to achieving my dream of becoming a Soul Reaper!"
Hatsuka stared at her. Being the top in his Kendo club he had had many people approach him in search of a mentor but never had he come across someone with some much passion and determination. Then the usual twinge of pain hit his heart when he thought of those black robes and the sword. In his mind's eye, he saw himself in Kimi's position, bowing deeply to a black robed, faceless figure. Memories, feelings and anxiety came flooding back to him, then he heard Kimi's voice again.
"It's ok, I understand if that's a bit too much to ask of you-"
"No." He said quite firmly, cutting off Kimi's sentence. Kimi looked up, no to what? she thought.
His eyes looked slightly glassy as though he was looking but not seeing. He blinked and his tone softened slightly "No, I'll do it." Kimi straightened up in excitement and felt a muscle pull in her side. "I can see how much it means to you, so I'll help. I'm not promising any results though. I'm not a qualified teacher"
She nodded, rubbing her side. "That's fine. I'm not expecting you to make me the best swordsman in the world in an instant, I'm just grateful for a starting point, if nothing else. Thank you again" she went to bow again but Hatsuka put a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh lie back down already before I change my mind." He said impatiently, turning away from her.
Kimi smiled at his back. She had got over excited and over did it again.
"Get a good night sleep and we'll see how you are in the morning. If you are fit to move, I'll take you back home."
Kimi was about to say: What about training? But Hatsuka seemed to have read her mind.
"We can discuss your training another time, there's no point arranging anything until you are in better condition."
"Right." she wondered for a moment if she should call him Sir or Sensei out of respect, but decided that that might be over kill at the moment.
Hatsuka got up to leave, taking his sword with him, nodded as a goodbye and left the room.
The next morning dawned bright and windy. The dark snow clouds had passed over now and the sun shined blindingly down on the paths that were now covered by thick, solid ice.
Kimi's pains had subsided for the most part. If she moved slowly it didn't hurt much and by the look of those treacherous paths they would have no choice but to move slowly on their way back to the village, so as long as she didn't slip she would be fine.
She dressed quickly into her own blue jumper, a new pair of thick black tights that Iyase had left out for her and a pair of snow boots with grips on the sole, also left out by Iyase. She was careful not to move any of the bandages still wrapped around her.
As she walked to the door she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror on the wall and felt sick. Her face still felt tender and soar but she had no idea have purple and swollen it actually was, with tiny cuts healing all over it. She looked like some sickening creation from a horror movie.
She swore loudly and vowed to get those guys back if ever she saw them again.
It would have been awkward to leave her room and wondering around the house in search of someone, imagine if someone bumped into someone she didn't know around the building, they would think she had broken in to steal something. Instead she popped her head out of the door and looked around. No one was there, so she sat back down and waited.
She took to staring out of the window at the dense forest of bamboo. Considering the sun was shining so brightly the snow still lay on the plants like soft cake frosting.
Eventually Hatsuka came to wake her up, again wearing a Hakama in royal blue. He seemed surprised that she was already awake and dressed.
"Early? This isn't early" she laughed moving away from the window steadily. "This is pretty late for me; I would have been up for at least two hours already usually"
"That's good to know. At least I don't have to force you to get up for training early every morning. That's a little less work to do."
Kimi had a feeling he would be quite a strict teacher but she was no stranger to early mornings and hard work. "So, are you well enough to go home?"
"Yes. As long as I move slowly I'll be ok" she spotted his raised eyebrow. "Not that we can move quickly anyway, have you seen those paths? You've got a death wish if you wanna' power walk on those skating rinks"
"Fine. Come and have some breakfast and then we will leave."
Kimi wolfed down the breakfast, a delicious cheese and bacon omelettes, like she had never eaten before. Yoshino had always ensured that Kimi ate at least three meals a day to build up her energy, the last thing they wanted was for her to collapse from lack of spirit energy, but she had only eaten a tiny breakfast yesterday morning, a small bowl of soup late last night and missed dinner completely.
Once done they both said goodbye to Iyase. Kimi thanked her again for her hospitality.
"My pleasure dear, do visit again!"
"I will" she smiled back, and they departed.
The walk out of the village and up the mountain had taken Kimi half an hour in flash step on fresh crunchy snow, but it took them almost two hours walking on fresh ice. the first leg of the trip was down an incline too, they spent ages hugging the cliff side rocks for their lives. After that Hatsuka managed to catch Kimi before she could fall flat on her butt at least 5 times.
As they approached the front doors of the Murasaki manor, they flung open and Yuu came flying out at them looking livid, closely followed by Yoshino, then Shinsetsu.
"Uh... Hey there" Kimi grinned awkwardly.
"Can't you go anywhere without hurting yourself? Why do you always go looking for trouble, huh? One of these days-" Yuu began to rant, stomping towards her. Kimi waved her hands out in front of her as if to shield herself from a wasp's nest. Evidently the family had received the message and seemed angrier than worried. "You can't even go on a delivery without getting into trouble, what, do we have tie you on a leash and walk you around like a dog now?!"
"Wait! No, you've got it all wrong! I didn't go looking for trouble this time, trouble found me!" She looked around at Shinsetsu and Yoshino helplessly, as if pleading them to believe her. They didn't speak or attempt to come to her defence, just stared at her quite expressionlessly as if to say 'This is your battle.'
She turned to Hatsuka for help. "Right?" He had been standing back at the entrance hesitantly, not wanting to enter the grounds of the home. He seemed to be trying to worm out of view so not to get caught in the argument. He jumped at the sound of his name. "Uh... That's right, Miss Murasaki did nothing to provoke the fight" he said, as though he had been addressed to give a statement by a commanding officer.
This wasn't entirely true. No one else knew about the time by the river with those boys, only that one Soul reaper, who she hadn't seem for many months.
Yuuga seemed to forget all about her rage the moment she laid eyes on Hatsuka. She seemed momentarily stunned. "Hatsuka? Take Hatsuka?" She asked stepping forward and looking him up and down as to examine him thoroughly.
Hatsuka nodded and bowed to her. "It's been a long time, Lady Yuuga"
She blinked in surprise and Kimi could swear she saw a pale blush creeping onto her cheeks as she inclined her head back.
"I-... yes it's been a long time indeed. I didn't realise you still lived around here, Hatsuka."
He simply nodded and did not speak more. Kimi looked between the two, just as confused as her parents. However, understanding seemed to bloom across Yoshino's porcelain face within seconds.
"Thank you for bringing Kimiko home, Hatsuka. Give our regards to your family for us, won't you?"
He bowed again. "Yes ma'am, glad to be of help" Kimi was thoroughly irritated by all the formal talk now.
As Yoshino and Shinsetsu re-entered the house, Hatsuka seemed to be considering leaving too, until Yuu invited him inside.
At first he declined, then Kimi reminded him about 'arranging a time and date'.
It seemed that Yuu took this to mean something else entirely. Her cheeks puffed up angrily and she enter another violent tantrum. Though she still joined them into the living room.
"So, when do you think we should start?" Kimi asked, warming her hands up with a cup of tea.
"Well we certainly can't start until your injuries are healed. I can see how much it pains you to move too suddenly. So first thing is first: Contact me when you feel completely well to train again. Secondly: We need to find somewhere to train. I don't expect you to have a dojo?" He asked.
Kimi shook her head. "No but I think my courtyard is big enough to train in..."
"Very well, as long as you don't mind a few bumps and scraps from the hard stone floor."
"That's just part of the training" she grinned back.
"Waaaait wait wait wait waaaait" Yuuga suddenly piped up, holding her hand in the air as if to silence a crowd of people. "So Hatsuka is training with you? Does that mean..." She looked questioningly at him. Kimi didn't understand this but he seemed to. He shook his head and Yuu sighed.
"Do you two know each other?" She asked curiously. The two glanced at each other for a split second.
"We're old acquaintances" Hatsuka smiled.
"You could say that" Yuu said in unison.
They looked at each other and away again. "Anyway" Hatsuka said, raising his voice to forcibly change the conversation "Unless you can find an indoor or sheltered area for us to train, I think it would be best to wait for winter to end. The ice and snow will an inconvenience."
Kimi felt like rushing outside into the snow, hugging it and saying 'He doesn't mean it baby, ignore him' but she managed to hold herself back. "You have a dojo at your house don't you?" She asked instead.
Hatsuka looked confused. "How did you know that?"
"Your father makes martial arts equipment, he trained you from young age, and you came to speak to me wearing a kendo uniform and carrying a bamboo sword last night and this morning. I put two and two together."
"Very good skills of deduction. Yes, I do have a dojo at home but traveling to my house at the crack of dawn every morning will be a pain. I however, am used to traveling around the mountains at all times and in all weather. It is easier if I come to you. I will consider it though if at any point it does become more convenient."
Kimi nodded.
After downing his tea quickly Hatsuka bowed and left.