Yes, yes, yes! I must get something done with this! Not entirely sure how... yet... Enjoy!
I woke to the sound of heavy breathing.
Looking over, I spotted the brat, rolling around on the ground, clutching at something un-seen.
She's been doing that lately. It gets more violent every night. She always wakes up, looks around like she heard something coming, and goes back to sleep.
Even though she seems alright with whatever it is, I'm getting curious.
And she's becoming noisy. Her heavy breathing's becoming garbled moans, and gagging sounds.
Once more, she gasped slightly, as she woke.
The brat looked around, checking to see that the coast was clear before she calmly fell asleep once more.
I sighed, letting myself fall asleep again as well.
That morning, the brat got to work just as soon as she woke up, looking like she was under a spell.
She rubbed her eyes a lot, and kept running to the nearest water source to wash her face.
This was getting old. Fast.
She finally came back, trying to quicken her pace. She knows I'm impatient.
This didn't make her any less annoying.
It only made it easier to forget about her antics when she got back. Which made it more annoying when she continued.
We finally made it to the lake. The island I was supposed to be on was in the middle of the lake.
Hope he didn't expect me to swim there. Not that I couldn't do it, but, I had this sneaking suspicion about the brat...
A couple of swipes with Banryuu later, one tree turned into a boat, and I pushed it into the water.
The brat watched, discomfort beginning to emanate from her.
Something had always been weird about her and water.
She would never step into the river to bathe. She wouldn't really go near water if she didn't have to.
She wasn't really afraid of it, from what I'd seen. She seemed... disgusted by it. I can't really say for sure.
"Well, this should get us across." I said. "Unless, of course, you want to stay here, where youkai can reach you, and you'll have to fight alone. I have to be out there."
The brat looked out at the water, then at me, looking torn.
She didn't want to be on the water, that was for sure. But, she wanted to come with me.
She probably only wanted to get away from the youkai... but, somehow... I did want her to come along... just because she was becoming a good servant. Yeah. That's all.
The brat lowered her head, looking defeated.
"I suppose I'll come along." She said, easing over toward the boat. "You're sure this will support both of us, as well as Banryuu?"
"Who said I was sure in the first place?" I asked, teasing her.
She looked at me, eyes wide.
"Relax." I said. "I can swim. And it's nothing to bring Banryuu along with me."
The brat frowned deeply.
"Fine." She said, slowly climbing into the boat.
"You don't have to come." I said. "It was only a suggestion."
She looked out at the island.
"Don't make this difficult." She said. "I'll go. I'm curious about this place you call an 'island'. Don't make it sound like I'm forcing myself. I'm not."
ME? This brat was the one making this difficult!
I scoffed, and set Banryuu down in the bottom of the boat, which sunk down an inch or two with its weight.
Once the boat stopped rocking, I picked up the long pole I'd carved from the tree's remains, and stepped in with the brat.
The boat was sturdy, and somehow stayed afloat as I pushed us out into the water.
Once in a while, I cast a glance back at the brat.
She was frowning at the water for a while.
As we reached the half-way point, she began struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Oi," I said.
She looked up at me.
"Nemurenai." I said. "You won't sleep tonight if you sleep now."
She scoffed, and looked out at the water again.
"I can't get comfortable here anyway." The brat said. "This boat's all rough and sharp in places. I'd never sleep on this."
I felt a sense of relief to hear her retort like that. She hadn't really fought with me in a while, and it didn't feel right... Hmm. I need to ask her about that, too.
I gave a sharper thrust on the pole as we came to the shore, causing the boat to bump into the ground, and making the brat gasp in slight surprise.
"Baka! Be careful!" She snapped at me.
I smirked, jumping out of the boat, and turning to look at her.
She was moving slow, easing herself up, and inching toward the front of the boat.
A little too slow for me. She was gonna pay for this.
As she reached the end of the boat, I put my hand out to her.
She looked up at me. I kept on smiling, urging her to trust me.
This brat was a strong one, though. She watched me closely, as she cautiously reached out to my hand.
I let her settle her tiny hand in my palm before I closed my hand around hers, and pulled up.
She stepped up onto the bow, to keep from falling.
That's when I jerked my hand up, and away from her, attempting to snatch it out of her hands, and make her fall in the water.
That's what I was going for, anyway.
Against all my expectations, her grip on my hand suddenly increased as I jerked my hand up, and she swung off the boat, going up with my hand.
She swung right into me, her face nearly level with mine.
Her eyes went wide with shock. My eyes hurt from returning her expression.
Right in that moment, I forgot what I was doing. I forgot why I was there.
I found myself staring into her eyes, past the shock of the moment.
The aura slowly changed to something entirely different, and made it difficult to move.
I felt a spinning sensation in my stomach, but, I was perfectly fine.
A bright shade of pink spread across her face, and she almost looked... cute.
She stared at me. I stared at her. Neither one of us really moved.
All the urges to move felt like they might destroy the world... the moment was that tense.
And yet... it was nice. We were so close, which would normally have been uncomfortable. But, now...
My hand wrapped around hers once more, and her grip on my fingers relaxed.
Like that time I found her sleeping on my shoulder, I felt drawn to her.
Her eyes grew wider, as she watched me move a little closer.
There was barely a wisp of air between our lips.
All of a sudden, she turned away from me, and let go of my hand, trying to slide out.
Her eyes were tightly closed, and her hands had begun shaking.
She'd done it. The moment was gone.
An irritated sigh escaped my chest, as I dropped her in the water like I wanted to in the first place.
She gasped at the shock of the cold water, and jumped right back out, moving away from me.
There were no words to describe the bitterness I felt then.
I don't know what was going on in the moment that we'd been caught in, but... I wanted to finish it. I don't know what would've happened, but, I was already regretting not having gone through with it.
The brat wrung out her kimono, and turned to look at me.
"I... I'll get started on the afternoon meal." She said.
With that, she was off.
All day, she did what she could to avoid me, taking full advantage of this youkai-free island to wander all around, and even sit in one place for a few hours.
Maybe... there was a chance... that she regretted letting that go, too...
As night fell, and she finally came to sit in the shrine with me, she avoided eye-contact, and neither of us made a comment about the other.
We couldn't speak, or fight. I thought neither of us would be able to sleep, until she laid down on the floor, and let herself doze off.
So, there I sat, looking through the busted door, angry as hell, and wondering why.
What happened today was nothing. It wasn't anything I couldn't easily brush off... so, why couldn't I brush it off now?
The brat began to toss in her sleep again. She was breathing loudly, and forcing herself to cough and gag. I could hear strangled sobs this time.
She was making too much other noise for her to create words, but, looking over, I could see her trying.
She was mouthing 'Okaa-sama' at first. And then she switched over... mouthing my name, instead.
The brat began thrashing her head around; making it difficult for me to see what else she was trying to say.
Curious, I made my way over to her, trying to see what was making her so upset.
I sat beside her, and spotted the words 'kill me' on her lips.
"HE'LL KILL ME!" She screamed, suddenly.
Her eyes snapped open then, and she screamed, quickly getting up on her elbows, and backing away.
The horror in her eyes was just like when I'd first threatened her life. I guess she began to doubt that I would actually do it. Something she dreamt about must've erased all her doubts... and she thought I was going to do it now... why?
Oi - Hey (You've got the idea in your head now right? Americans use it too for crying out loud).
Nemurenai - Don't sleep.
Baka - Stupid / Idiot / Fool.
Okaa-sama - Mother.
Well... I can't say I did my very best here, but, I tried. And I came up with that BankotsuXMori moment on the fly, so, this is probably better than I was going to make it. Anyway, please review!