The days blended into weeks serving as Saif's apprentice for Nanashi. Now he avoided Haruto's inn altogether because of Sakyo staying there, but Nanashi understood his sentiment. The way Sakyo looked at her gave her the creeps. If he had not been paying such good money to Haruto for his room, Nanashi would have told Haruto to kick him out of there after all. Haruto likely needed the money anyway.
Nanashi trudged home after a day of training with Saif. She had not mentioned it, but the next day was her seventeenth birthday. She had decided to stay in town and train with Saif, but also felt like she was stuck staying with her uncle now as Sakyo still stayed in Haruto's inn. She had decided now that she would move there as soon as Sakyo left, whenever that was.
She arrived home, hearing her uncle's hammer swinging away in his forge. As tired as she felt, she made a dinner he would like. That way when she secretly moved out, he would be less suspicious.
She made the meal and set the table, waiting impatiently for her uncle to come in. When he did, they ate in the usual stiff silence. She did could not think of anything worth saying, considering she was looking forward to finally not living with him anymore.
When she had clean up the meal, there a soft knock at the door. Uncle Chosuke went over to the door, taking a second to peer through the peephole before opening. He swore softly under his breath. He turned back over to her with an annoyed look on his face. He snapped his fingers and pointed toward the stairs. She gave him a puzzled look, but did as he motioned, figuring it would give her some extra time to sort out what things she would want to take with her when she moved out..
She padded up the stairs as softly as she could, but left her door open with the temptation to ease drop on whoever it was visiting her uncle.
She heard him open the door. "Come in, Sakyo," she heard Uncle Chosuke say in a louder than usual voice.
She gasped nervously, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
"Thank you, Chosuke. Hope I am not arriving too late this evening," she barely heard Sakyo's velvety voice reply. She heard the two of them shuffling around in the main room, possibly her uncle busying himself to make Sakyo a drink. "So where is your niece?"
"She's upstairs sleeping. Lazy girl claims Saif was training her too hard again today. She didn't even bother to clean up," her uncle replied. "So what can I do for you?"
"I trust you've finally come to an agreement on the deal I offered you a few weeks back?"
Nanashi held her breath, waiting to hear what her uncle might say back. "You know, your offer if quite generous, but that's not how a marriage agreement works." Nanashi felt like her stomach dropped into her feet. "I'm not supposed to accept money from you or anyone else for her as a dowry. That's not how that agreement works. I'm supposed to giving you something in return for her hand."
Nanashi brought her hand up to her mouth. Sakyo had offered to marry her and her uncle was turning him down. She hoped he could chase Sakyo off with his bullying attitude.
"Yes," Sakyo replied smoothly, "but that's not how things run in the capital. A poor man, such as yourself, forced to raise your niece by marriage, surely deserves some pay back for raising the half demon bastard. If you won't accept my money for her dowry as sorts, take it as a gift from me taking her off your hands."
"I got nothing to offer you for her," Uncle Chosuke loudly responded. "Nothing you would probably want anyway. Nor do I want your money, any way you want to spin it. Besides, I have two other offers on the table for her. One for the cup in your hand, and another for just her life. Either one of them would be a better option for her than you considering she wants to stay in town and serve as a protector."
Nanashi felt her heart racing. Her uncle was trying to turn down Sakyo's marriage proposal to her. It was the first she had heard about it. Or the two other offers he just mentioned for that matter. She felt like whether or not the other two offers were real, she would her uncle accept them than Sakyo's.
"What? This cup?" she heard Sakyo say calmly, right before the sound of shattering glass reached her ears. She flinched, trying to decide whether she should go intervene for her uncle. "I think one of your offers just got taken off the table."
"Well the cup one was the best one to be considered," her uncle growled. "It's the one I plan to accept. Keeps her in the town and keeps her away from you and that other will-o-the-wisp."
Sakyo did not lose his cool. "You're a bull of a man, but a selfish one. The other offer was for just her life, yes? I'll take her with a different sort of dowry then. Your life. You have her packed and ready tomorrow for myself and my associates to come fetch her. They only arrived late last night via ship. We take her, or we kill you, it's up to you." She heard the scrapping of a chair across the floor and clinking of glass. "You can keep the money I put on the table. As a gift from me for a deal well struck."
Nanashi finally let herself breathe when she heard the front door shut. She panicked, half tempted to run down the stairs and out the door before her uncle could stop her. Then she turned her head and looked back at her bedroom window. She would have a better chance going out the window. She would have a longer lapse in time before her uncle came to check on her. Possibly the whole night. She could run to Saif. Or to Haruto.
She went over to her window, opening it. She looked out the window and down. The distance was too far to just jump. She could tie a bed sheet from the window and climb out-
"What are you doing?" her uncle asked her, standing in her bedroom doorway. She brought herself back inside and turned to face him. He closed the distance between them. "What the hell did you bring down upon me, you stupid girl?"
She shook her head, not sure what to say back. "I I I didn't-"
He looked ready to strike her. He stepped over to her bed and stripped the sheet off of it. "You heard everything, right?" She nodded meekly. "Then you waited until nightfall and ran off. Climbed out your bedroom window. Ran off to Saif and the two of you fled in the night, out of town. There was nothing I could do to stop you."
She watched him, unsure what he was doing or saying. He was tie the sheet around the end of her bed, opened the window, and threw the other end of the sheet out of it.
"Get going," he roared at her. "Right now," he ordered, shoving her towards the window.
She climbed down and out of the window, trying not to slip on the sheet. She looked back up at the window, but her uncle was nowhere in sight. She ran through the woods, going around the outskirts of town rather than through the town in case Sakyo was nearby. She blinked back tears as she ran.
When she reached Saif's house, she was in full on panic mode. He answered the door and let her in. She haphazardly explained everything she now knew between her uncle and Sakyo. Saif kept telling her to calm down, even as she was breathing rapidly and crying slightly.
"I said calm down!" Saif insisted, grabbing her by the shoulder firmly.
"I can't! We have to go! My uncle said to go to you!" she rushed out between breaths. "We have to run, but if we do, my uncle will be kill-"
She stopped in shock when Saif pulled her shoulders down and in just enough to kiss her. She pulled away, gasping in shock from that. There had been too many shocks to her system. Her uncle... Sakyo... now Saif...
She sat herself down on his bed in the corner with a plop. She went silent, feeling suddenly drained and exhausted.
Saif was panting himself, but less so. "Wait here. I will go get supplies. We can head North and be to the next city, Gandara, in two maybe three days ride."
She felt shaky, too shaky now to speak. She nodded, bobbing her head up and down rapidly. "Don't take too long," she pleaded.
He flitted out of the house, shutting and locking the door behind him. She waited for him, mulling over everything that had just gone down in the last hour. She also packed up supplies for them that were in his stores. She thought about how Sakyo threatened her uncle if she did not go with him, but her uncle told her to run. He never did seem to care that much for her before. Why would he choose now to be selfless with her. She felt sick thinking about what would happen to her uncle in the morning when Sakyo found out he ran. He had also mentioned his associates... She mulled that part over in her, realizing she had forgotten to tell Saif about them in her rush. She only told him about Sakyo and her uncle... Hopefully the associates would not be a problem.
She needed to move, not wanting to sit still anymore. She rooted through the cupboard, taking extra things they might need. She had had two bags packed and sitting down by the door. She jumped when she heard the door knob rattle. She felt on edge, but relaxed a little when she heard the lock click. Then she felt a fresh wave of panic when she saw the door open and Sakyo of all people casually waltz into the room. He had a thing piece of metal in his hand. He threw it casually over to the side of the room. She backed away from the door and into the middle of the room. Her hand itched to grabbed the knife sheathed on her hip, but she felt too frozen to move.
"Well, well, well," Sakyo said too calmly, blocking the doorway. "Your uncle seems more selfless than expected. Telling you to run. Guess neither of you noticed one of my associates hiding in the woods near your home. He heard the whole thing from your open bedroom window."
"Don't hurt him," she chocked out.
"Do you think I would?" Sakyo asked. How relaxed he seemed sent chills down her spine.
"I know you would," she answered. "Or would have someone else do it for you."
He chuckled under his breath. He looked around the room. "This home is pathetic. Hiei certainly downgraded his livelihood moving out here." She frowned at him, not sure who he was talking about. "Oh, you don't Hiei's true name? Saif is the name he's been using. He's on the run. Bounty hunters are after him. Want to know what he did?"
She felt herself get nervous. "I don't care," she answered with fake confidence.
"One of my, mmm, friends, bought him out of his debt and hired him on as a household guard. According to my friend's wife, Hiei made a pass at him, but when he refused, Hiei killed him. And then he ran all the way to this backwater town," Sakyo was grinning broadly after his explanation.
"You're lying," she insisted, feeling unsure of where her allegiance now lay. Saif and Sakyo knew each other. Sakyo had to be lying, but it did not seem like it. She knew for certain though she would rather go with Saif/Hiei than Sakyo any day.
"You sure?" Sakyo asked her. "Either way, he ran, so he's a dead man with a significant bounty on his head. And if I take you away from him, it'll be a sort of payback for him taking my friend away from me. Plus, you're quite desirable looking. A full blooded human who looks like a demoness. There are some men in the capital, wealthy men, with such a fantasy to sleep with a demoness who won't try to kill them.
"That was until your uncle decided to play me. Told you to run and that he planned to lie to me and say you ran off. I can't have that," he stated. "He was willing to sacrifice himself to protect you. I guess I'm going to have make his willingness to sacrifice himself be in vain." His words made her blood run cold. He stepped closer to her. "Surrender to me now, and I'll make your death quick and painless. Refuse, and you will suffer."
Nanashi took a steadying breath. She shook her head stubbornly. She charged straight at him. She threw a punch at him, striking him across the jaw. She stumbled back from him after that, watching him.
"Hhmm, maybe you would try to kill one of your clients after all," he commented.
He closed the distance between them, engaging her in a fist fight. She matched him, punch for punch. She kept trying to get close enough to him to get her knife out and to stab him. She went under his arm, trying to tackle him to the ground. He outweighed her though, making him stumble back, but managed to keep standing. He hand went for her neck, but she ducked down, using her shortness against him. He left himself open to be stabbed. She drew her knife and went for his center.
Only to be hurled back into the wall behind her by an unseen force. Something, a long coiled thing, wrapped around her right wrist and yanked her to the ground by it quick as a whip crack. She landed on it, her knife spinning out of her hand. She winced as a wave of pain went through her wrist and forearm.
"Elder Toguro," she heard Sakyo hiss. He turned around, putting his back to her. "I told you to wait outside. I had everything under control."
The coil around her wrist let go. A crackly voice answered from the doorway. "Sure you did. The little demoness was about to pull a knife on you, but I'm sure you were going to dodge it before she planted it in your gut."
Sakyo grunted under his breath. He kicked her knife away from her. She watched as it went skidding into the back corner of the room. He reached down to her, yanking her up to her feet by her left arm. "Get up," he ordered. He seized her by both wrists and pulled her in close. She felt a shot of pain go up her right arm. "Now, before you interrupted me, when is Hiei due to be back here?"
His face was much too close to hers for comfort. "I don't know." He tightened his grip on her wrists. She whimpered. "I really don't."
He turned his head away from her, saying, "get in here." She watched as four men entered the room. One seemed almost too big to fit through the doorway. There was the smallest one who had stopped her from killing Sakyo. His hair was long and tangled. He stood near a tall, incredibly muscular man with sunglasses on. There another skinny man with long black hair and a mask over his mouth. Last was a tall, stocky man with a a mask and helm completely covering his face. She could not help by hope that Hiei would never come back to this house so the lot of them would never capture him. She closed her eyes, praying that the Great Hawk Spirit, the elvish goddess, that he would abandon her and run off.
The four men, if they could be called that, stood at the side of room opposite of Hiei's bed. Whereas, Sakyo pulled her over to sit on his lap on the bed. He held her wrists so she could not try to get away without pain wretching up her right wrist. She was almost certain it was broken. At least she was able to at the edge of his upper legs.
"So you don't hardly know Hiei at all," Sakyo mused behind her. She did not look back at him, nor at the four men mulling around the other side of the small house. "When he was younger, he was raised by bandits. Got caught, ended up as a pit fighter to pay for his crimes. The king likes a good show, you know." He gave both of her wrists a squeeze, making her whine. "Went into debt there, but my friend was generous enough to buy him out, in return for him to become a household guard. Other pit fighters have done the same before. A red headed part demon and a bastard elf did the same once. The three of them were a merry band before the other two bought out." He squeezed her wrists again. It almost seemed like he was enjoying the pain he inflicted. "Hiei took his chance, but when he got drunk the first night with my friend, he made a pass at him, trying to grab him a certain place you'll never know about." He gave her wrists sharp twists, making her cry out unwillingly. His grip slacked to just holding her wrists limply. "My friend refused him, so he stabbed him in the gut, and left him there to die. His wife raised the alarm, and Hiei fled. My friend died later the next morning, but not before he got a chance to share the events that took place."
She could not believe him, did not want to believe him.
The small man cackled, " she doesn't believe you. And why not, my pretty?" Sakyo squeezed her wrist, making her flinch. "You know, Hiei might be gone for a while. That bed is plenty big enough to take turns with her."
She sucked in a frightened breath. The lustful look he was giving her made her skin crawl.
Sakyo behind her laughed breathily. "No, she'll never experience anything like that. I could have made her into a courtesan, if not for her uncle." Sakyo glanced up at the biggest man across from them. "You sense him yet?" The biggest one, the one with sunglasses on nodded his head. "Then let's go greet him, shall we?"
Sakyo stood up, shoving her forward in front of him so he was able to do so. He pushed her in front of him towards the front door. The small man coiled his finger, much to her disgust, stretching it out to open the door for them.
She kept her head down, bidding her time until she got in the doorway. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, trying to block the rest of them from getting out of the house.
She screamed out, even in the haze of pain from Sakyo's grip on her wrists. "Saif! Hiei! Just go! Just run! The bounty hunters are here, t-"
She winced and crumpled as Sakyo kicked her legs out from under her. He then shoved her forward until there was enough room for the five men to exit the house behind her.
She felt a hand come to the back of her hair, yanking her back up to her feet. "Run!" she cried out hoarsely, her voice cracking. Sakyo pulled her back against him, clenching her wrists. "Please, just run!" When she saw Hiei somberly emerge from the tree line, she shook her head and tried and failed to blink back tears.