Scroll Three:
"Yume ni miru yojya, omoi wa asai. Hon ni fukakerya, nemurarenu."
'You say that you love me and dream of me. Then I can not believe your love.
How can you sleep? I cannot sleep because I am always thinking about you.'
Buruma walked precariously on the black lacquer slippers that were the trademark footwear of the geisha. She carefully placed one foot in front of the other, balancing on the raised level of the getas. It was a nippy evening and she pulled her heavy kimono tighter around her, but the cold seemed to seep right into the fabric. She saw Chi Chi further up ahead and hastened to her side.
"When will they let us in?"
"When they're ready," Chi Chi answered irritably. She glanced over at her friend. Buruma still had the telltale trappings and finery of a maiko with their elaborate make-up and fancy kimonos. But tonight that would change, tonight Buruma would exchange the glamorous kimonos and delicate hair ornaments for a collar of white... the official mark of a full-fledged geisha. The geisha had plainer kimonos and less make-up, their grace and poise gave them all the beauty they needed.
Buruma though a few years older than the normal maiko is at the time of her erigae ceremony ('changing of collars' ceremony) was still beautiful and radiant, losing none of her beauty as she had grown older. But the patience of Madam Ranchi had worn thin and it was now time for Buruma chose her path for life. Having no other options and feeling very much in debt to Madam Ranchi, Mai and her other instructors, she had chosen to rise to the position of geisha and repay her dues.
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Vejita readjusted his daitou by his side. It was a brisk night out, not one that he wanted to spend out of doors. He trudged wearily down the main street of Gion. A few of the other travelers gave him dark looks and melded back into the shadows of the alleys. He brushed them off as the scrum so notorious of Gion, the geisha capital. He took exceedingly long steps, seeming to glide along the dirty streets of the underworld. Of course, there is a lighter side to every coin, and a mere three blocks from the impoverished shambles of the lower class of Gion, lay the rich quaters of the higher class---only a few steps within reach of each other. Vejita shook his head. What the city he had known so well in his early travels been reduced to? He did not remember the toothless call girls and penniless beggars that now lined the streets. Neither did he remembered the cold-lined pathways of upper Gion. It seemed even cities could lose their innocence to quickly, raped by time.
Vejita was so caught up in his thoughts that he neglected to notice a young girl scurrying into his path. It was inevitable, he realized too late, to stop the collision. He stooped to help the young girl pick up the fruit that had spilled from her back. Dark green hair, shining luminously in the light from the oil lanterns hung outside the inns. She begged his pardon shily, clutching the basket to her bosom. An old woman shot out from the entrance to an inn, grabbing the girl's elbow roughly.
"Stupid girl!" she screeched, shaking the young girl violently. "Why didn't you watch where you were going?!" Before the girl could explain herself the woman turned to Vejita. "I am sorry, sir. I will see that she is punished," she said strongly.
Vejita shook his head. "That will not be necessary," he said, his voice tired from the long day, and now this 'calamitous' incident. "I am the one at fault--"
"--But I saw her run into you!"
"I was lost in my thoughts; the fault was mine," Vejita said decisively.
"If you say so, sire," the woman said bowing. She pulled harshly on the girl to follow her example and the young girl complied, bowing deeply. Vejita shook his head once more.
"I am no one who deserves such respect," Vejita sighed. "If you will excuse me, ladies," he said with a bow, "I am very tired--"
The older woman stopped him with her free arm. "Perhaps, you would like to stay at my inn," the woman said, batting her eyelashes. "You indeed look weary from travel. I would be most happy to help you...relax..." she said coyly.
Vejita looked at the woman in disgust. 'Is she soliciting me?' he thought, furious. "That will NOT be necessary," he ground out before stepping out of her grasp and stomping off. Vejita shook her head sadly. Gion sure had changed since he younger days. His thoughts dwelt on what had just transpired between himself and the young girl. He pondered her for a while, wondering why she stuck so vevidly in his memory. There was something about her... "Feh!" he scoffed. "I have no time to dwell on such things. " He checked into a small inn a good ways a way from the inn run by the older woman that had solicited him. He shuddered at the memory. After depositing a few material belongings in his room, he traveled back downstairs, to drink sake in the main tea room with a few of the other patrons. He sat beside himself in a corner of the room, observing the other occupants while he let the alcoholic drink course through his body, relaxing him. He gave a satisfied sigh.
He could not think what had brought him to Gion after all these years. One morning as he awoke from his makeshift bed by the side of the road, he had felt the sudden need to travel to Gion, a fantasy playground for men with money. At first he had brushed off the nagging voice that told him that Gion should be his next destination. But finally, the gnawing feeling had worn out and he made his route to Gion.
Vejita surveryed the room with alert eyes. What ever Powers that Be that had told him to be here, he knew he should be on the look-out for his 'mission.' His reason for being here. So far, all he saw were geishas and drunk men throwing their coins at the geisha. Then his thoughts rested on that girl again, what about here was so familiar... the porcelain-skinned young girl with deep, lustrous forest green hair.
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Buruma stared at herself in the tortoise shell mirror. She took a deep breath. This was the night---the night she would become a full geisha. She only hoped she would not falter, bring shame upon the House of Kushami. Madam Ranchi had been nothing but generous and kind to her and her onee-san, Mai, had been patient and caring. She owed it them to become a successful geisha---one bringing in many customers. That was one aspect Buruma could be thankful for. Unlike the geisha of lower Gion, geisha houses like the House of Kushami had a roster of higher clientel and therefore a different set of rules. Being a geisha in upper Gion meant being an entertainer, an actress, and a mistress to one man. One man would pay to take the innocence of a geisha after her ceremony of erigae and then she would belong to him. He paid her okami-san back doublefold what the head of the geisha house had spent on the turning the lovely young girl into a skilled geisha. And for that payment, she was his and his alone. Of course, she would maintain her duties to the house by singing and dancing for regular customers---but her body belonged only to him. Buruma swallowed a lump in her throat. It was a selfish thought she knew, but she wished she did not find a sponsor for some time to come... maybe never at all? Buruma shook her head, causing delicate glass beads on her hair ornament to jangle lightly. It was a foolish hope, an impossible one.
Chi Chi slipped in the door to sit next to her Sister. She could read the nervousness on Buruma's feature.
"Calm down, imouto-chan," Chi Chi smiled radiantly. (**imouto means little sister)
Buruma looked down at her hands which were trembling. "I wish not to displease our okami-san but---" Tears threatened to leak from her eyes. Chi Chi quickly shushed her friend, dapping away at her corners of her eyes with a lacey linen cloth.
"Do not start," Chi Chi threatened lightly. "I will not have you mess up your face that we have so painstakingly put together now!"
The two girls laughed lightly. Then Buruma sighed. "What is it like Chi Chi?"
Chi Chi blushed. "I know not how to describe it---"
"No," Buruma looked at her, irritated. "Belonging to another."
"I suppose it takes some getting used to," Chi Chi mused. "However, this is the life we have chosen to live so our paths have been marked for us." She squeezed Buruma's shoulders as a comforting gesture. Chi Chi slipped out the room as silently as she had come.
Once again Buruma looked at herself in the mirror. She was far too done up for her taste, her hair slickened with oil and pulled up sverely from her face to an elegant bun decorated with ornaments. Her face was a paltry white and her lips a bright, blinding vermillion, her eyes outlined in kohl, no color flushed her cheeks. She thought she looked dead. 'And no man would want a corpse, all the better,' she thought to herself smugly. She placed the mirror carefully on the table then stood up from her knees. There was nothing she could do to ease the butterflies in her stomach. She spotted a small flask of rice wine in the corner of the room. She took a quick swig, downing the hot fluid to the pit of her stomach. The butterflies were now drunk and dancing not so much. Buruma smiled softly as she replaced the flask. She looked around the room sadly. Her last time she would be able to find sanctuary while she was innocent. After tonight, she feared, all creatures would look upon her as a sinner...
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Buruma felt horrible. As she had feared, men took a liking to her right away. They oogled, they catcalled and made eyes. She tried to retain her dignity by refusing their advances. She was in the midst of telling a customer to go to hell when she saw Madan Ranchi talking rapisly with well-groomed man. At the exact moment Buruma focused in on them, they both turned to regard her. Her heart leaped into throat. 'Dear Kami, no...' She shoved the annoying customer off of her her and turned, she thought to make an escape out the back door of the tea house. Chi Chi intervened, her arm intertwined with that of a very tall man. Chi Chi giggled furiously.
"Buruma!" she exclaimed, cutting off Buruma's path for retreat. Buruma groaned inwardly. "This is my sponsor, Son Gokou."
The tall man with wild black hair bowed before Buruma. She returned to favor, looking questioningly at Chi Chi. "And?"
"He is very good to me," she said while stroking the man's muscular upper arm. "Ne, Gokou-sama?"
He grinned sheepishly, tucking one arm behind his head. "Chi Chi, you're embarassing me."
Buruma smiled at the two. No doubt Chi Chi would have him hooked on her arms, no doubt she would get him to marry her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mai signal to her. She walked over, graceful in her getas.
"Yes, Mai onee-sama?"
"Madam Ranchi seeks a session with you and one of our customers." She saw Buruma tense. "Buruma, he is very interested in you." She drew Buruma closer. "Don't mess this up, imouto. I have met him. He is a good man." She ushered Buruma into a back room, closing the door before Buruma could turn tail and run.
Madam Ranchi sat serenely, staring up at Buruma with warmth and courage in her eyes. "Please sit, Buruma-san," she said while ushering to a cushion by a smug-looking man. Buruma sat down gingerly next to him. "Buruma," she called the girl to attention. "This is Yamamoto Yamucha."
Buruma inclined her head to him in a show of respect. "And what can I do for you?" she asked, her voice less steady than she had hoped.
He grinned michievously. "What can you do?"
Buruma growled. "If you have brought me here to play games--"
"Buruma!" Madam Ranchi snapped.
"Gomen nasai," Buruma said, bowing deeply towards her okami-san. Yamucha grabbed her around the waist, hauling her unceremoniously into his lap.
"No need for that. Ranchi," he ordered. "I wish to speak to this young woman." He dismissed the much honored master of the House of Kushami as if she was a common housegirl. Buruma grit her teeth. She did not like this man at all. Madam Ranchi gathered herself together and stalked out of the room, silently fuming. However, as a weelbred lady, she never showed anyone her ire. She regained her cool facade once she reentered the main tea room.
Buruma struggled against Yamucha, trying to pry herself from his lap. "Please, sire. I am uncomfortable."
He stared down at her. "Are you or are you not a geisha?"
"I am now but not yours to do with as you please," she spat.
"Oh, but you will be, once I sponsor you," he said evilly.
"I would not accept such an offer from a disrespectable man such as yourself," she retorted.
"But that it not your decision to make," he said smoothly.
Buruma growled and savagely yanked herself from his grip. "You are nothing but a--a---" she struggled for the words.
He looked up at her, menachingly. "Do you know where I got this scar?" he said, pointing to a thick , jagged line running over one eye.
Buruma shook her head. "And I really don't care!"
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down so her face was level with his. "In a battle with the Battousai," he told her.
Buruma's face paled, though not visible through her thick make-up.
"You do know who the Battousai is, don't you?"
"Of course, everyone does," she said, still shaken. "But--but I don't believe you. No one survives the Battousai."
He gave an indignant sound. "No one survives me," he countered. "That stupid boy---"
"A boy?"
"He got one good shot in but I got him," Yamucha said proudly.
Buruma nodded absently. She could not believe this man. He was not her ideal at all! He gaffawed much too loudly with an open jaw; his gut hung out much too loosely; his teeth were crooked and yellow; his eyes were much too close. Buruma wriggled her nose with distaste as he scratched his... She averted her eyes. Simply disgusting!
There was boy, she recalled vaguely. A young samurai... she could not remember his face clearly. Sadness flowed through her though she did not know why. Something about that boy, so gentle yet strong, and--- Buruma returned back to the dimly lit tearoom. Sitting once again in front of Yamucha Yamamoto. She shifted uncomfortably under his leary gaze.
"Is there anything else, Yamamoto-san?" she asked uncertainly.
He readjusted himself on the cusion, pondering the question. "Ranchi said you would entertain me. I wish to see if you will be worth sponsoring," he grinned.
Buruma swallowed, nervous, pulled out a shamisen from the corner of the room, adjusting it into her lap. She tested the strings a few times and cleared her throat.
"Fukai fukai mori no oku ni ima mo kitto... Okizari ni shita kokoro kakushiteru yo... Sagasu hodo no chikara mo naku tsukarehateta... hitobito was eien no yami ni keiru... chiisai mama nara kitto ima demo meita kana..."
Buruma took a long breath, glancing nervously over at the man who would decide her future. He was inspecting the insides of his sake glass. Buruma wet her lips and---
She was running through the forest. Her eyes sparkled with the rays of light that pierced the canopy of the dense woods. She smiled wide, pushing herself to glide faster in a zigzag path through the trees and underbrush. The arms of her kimono fluttered playfully in the light breeze. She quickly darted behind the truck of a fallen tree, seeking haven beneath it. Her forest green locks fell in front of her face, blending in with the dense undergrowth. She concealed a giggle behind her hand. She heard a husky voice curse out softly and the sounds of breaking branches. It was almost instantaneous that he leaped over the fallen log, slipping on a bit of moss and tumbling underneath to land on top of Buruma. Buruma retched with silent laughter, pushing Vejita off of her with half-hearted attempts.
Buruma scrambled over him and climbed out of the pit in the earth. Gasping excitedly for breath, she skipped between the trees, heading deeper into the forest. Baba wasn't expecting them till sundown. Buruma wasn't worried about getting lost. She grinned wider, besides, if she was lost, then wasn't Vejita lost too?
Buruma sidled around the massive trunk of a gnarled old tree, tripping over the waves of roots erupting from the ground. She paused to catch her breath. She stretched an ear to catch the telltale signs of Vejita crashing through after her. All she heard was silence.
Buruma's heart was racing. Her mind scattered and she couldn't remember where she was. She tempted to call out his name. All she needed to do was say his name. 'Buruma, you can do it,' she told herself. 'Just open your mouth and say his name.' She ran a dry tongue over her lips, opening his mouth. Buruma just stood there with her mouth wide open, not knowing if she could whisper a sound. 'I can't!' she screamed in her mind. She closed her mouth. Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar premise of this part of the forest. She swallowed deeply, clutching her throat with one hand. 'Kami...' Her temples burned with a pain unfamiliar to her.
She felt their hard, rough caresses against her skin. Their lustful eyes, their hot breath clouding the air. Buruma stretched her neck upward and whimpered. Then they pounced on her like wild dogs.
Buruma lay listless on the cold, wet ground as the last man pulled himse;f away from her. He stood up and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. He looked upon the shivering young girl with unresponsive eyes, then he walked away. They all walked away. Buruma felt the frigid air touch the insides of her thighs. She struggled to pull herself into a fetal position. Her whole body buzzed with a dull throbbing ache.
She didn't even here him coming. A hand descended to rest on her shoulder. Buruma was yanked out of her memory with force. She whirled around, knocking Vejita back. He stood there shocked as she started crying, her body racked with sobs. She didn't even look up at him. He moved unsteadily towards her, gauging a safe distance lest she turn on him again. He reached out a hand cautiously and took hold of her shoulder.
She immediately threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. Vejtia looked around nervously. He was a warrior! Not some simpering... he looked down at with sympathy in his eyes. But she looked she broken and sad. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her fail form, bringing her closer to his body.
"Shh... daijobu yo," he whispered. "It's okay. Everything will be all right."
She shook her head shoving it farther into the crevice of his neck. Vejita could feel her warm lips resting on his skin. Gently, he pried her away from him while she tried to resist by clinging harder.
"Chotto," he chided, grinning slightly. "I want to tell you something, Buruma-chan."
She looked up at him through swollen eyes. What she saw was amazing. A true warrior, her warrior, with his hair aglow with the light of the afternoon sun, his skin bronze and tight from running through the forest, his eyes a warm, deep black.
Vejita looked down on the girl who had befriended him, the girl who he had allowed to see every inch of his heart, who knew of his deepest shame, and still accepted him. He reached up thoughtlessly and brushed away a lock of her glittering green hair. He saw her staring up at him with her endless midnight blue eyes. He had never seen eyes quite like hers before. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Buruma," he began, his dark eyes searching hers. "I know you cannot tell me what frightens you."
Buruma's eyes began to fill with tears. He shook her gently to get her attention; he lifted her chin with his hand. "But I will not ask you. A samurai's code of honor says he must protect those nearest to his heart. Know this, Buruma-chan. I will always protect you."
Buruma looked up at arrogant man sitting in front of her with finger currently playing around in his nose. She would not be singing for him. No, she had a great warrior for who she would speak her heart.
"Bokutachi wa ikiru hodo ni... Nakushiteku sukoshi zutsu... Istuwari nya uso wo matoi... Tachisukumu koe mo naku..." Her voice was strong and unwavering. Yamucha sat up quickly, watching as the shy little bird blossomed into a passionate crane. Yamucha decided then that he wanted her. He waved outside the door to one of his footmen, whispering in his ear to call Madam Ranchi.
He grinned slyly at Buruma. "Yes, well that was very nice."
Buruma didn't even acknowledge the compliment. She mind was overrun with thoughts about the warrior from her past. 'I must find him! He can take me away from all this,' she thought decidedly. She stood up quickly and exited the room just as Madam Ranchi entered it.
"You called?" Madam Ranchi said, trying to keep down her revulsion for the man.
"Yes," he said slowly while standing up. "I believe you've found a sponsor for your lovely little geisha girl," he continued.
Madam Ranchi looked confused for a moment before the thoughts sank in. "You mean you want to..."
"Most precisely, okami-san. Now, where do I sign?"
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Vejita sat back, every muscle in his bady relaxing under the healing powers of the onsen, or hot spring. He rubbed a rough brush over his taut muscles. Sighing heavily, he sunk farther into the steaming water, letting the misty-colored water filled with minerals bubble and run over his body. He had ventured out into the crisp wintry air for a stroll around the main avenues of Gion. He stopped at a small ramen shop and ate there before continuing on. It had been such a long time since he last reprieve in Gion. After he gave himself fully to the ways of a hitokiri, a man with no past whose future lay paved with the blood of his victims.
It had been so tempting. Vejita snorted and scrubbed his skin harder. Beauitful young geisha traipsed every darkened alley in Gion. They were as high class as the girls you would find in the Houses. No, they were unskilled and unrefined--but they were also inexpensive and readily available. So many girls had come up to him, clinging on his arms, clamoring for his attentions. It had taken all his will to refuse every last one of them. Did they not know who he was? Had they known he was the feared Battousai they would have thought twice before propositioning him. He was a fierce warrior with the blood of hundreds on his hands.
Vejita had no qualms about the dozens of deaths he had caused. However, as of late he had been thinking more and more about leaving the life of an assasin and settled down someone. He could become a sensei like his own master, and hopefully train a young man in whom he saw potential to become the next Battousai. Vejita smirked. He had created the persona; why not continue on to beget a legend....
Vejita stood up from the tub and wrapped a soft kimono around his body, slipping hakama over that, followed by his haori coat. He was not thinking to go to sleep just yet. Vejita had just finished taking the damp from his hair when he heard it. Faint yet alarming to his sensitive ears. A woman's scream.
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Buruma's getas clapped heavily on the roughly pounded and paved alleyways as she raced along. She had thought to make a clean getaway yet someone had recognised her and shouted out when Buruma ran from the House of Kushami. She had a small bundle of clothes wrapped neatly and clutched in her hands. She had exchanged her beautifully crafted ceremonial robes for a simple kimono, like the one she had worn when she first came to the House of Kushami. Buruma did not want to stop. She heard the fainting shouting of those follwoing her path. She twisted her head quickly, catching a glimpse of angry faces. 'Kuso!' Buruma now sprinted faster than she had before, one hand clutching the satchel of her things, the other holding her kimono hiked up. The fabric barely brushed the tops of her knees, allowing her greater ability to run and maneuver. The cold air bit at whatever flesh was bare. Buruma's lungs tingled hot as she gasped in the frosty air. 'I pray I make it through this, please Kami, let me survive...'
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Vejita now heard many shouts from men and women coming from the streets below. He quickly grabbed his daisho, the long sword and the short, and strapped them around his waist. He was out to the main square in a few minutes. He saw a face his recognized. "Kakarotto!" he bellowed across the square. A young man with wild black hair looked up suddenly, searching out the source of the voice that had called him by his childhood name. No one in Gion knew him by that name. 'Kakarotto' in old dialect roughly translated to 'fiercely strong son' pronouncing him as son of the great warrior Bardaku. However, his given name was Gokou, named after his grandfather on his mother's side. Gokou searched the crowd, moving from one face to the next when he chanced upon--- a smirk. 'I know that man.' Gokou's face lit up with a grin. "Vejita!" he shouted. He raced over to his old friend, the girl who had latched on to his arm trailing behind him. Vejita bowed with mock politeness to his old companion, the son of his master. He noticed a young lithe woman standing slightly behind Gokou, both her arms secure around one of his.
"Who's the wench, Kakarotto?" Vejita asked with a smirk.
The girl gave him a look of indignation. "Why you--"
"Uh, Chi Chi, this is my old friend, Vejita. Vejita, this is my uh... this is Chi Chi Gyuu."
Vejita just smirked at her. "A working girl, I take it."
Chi Chi growled at him. "NO. For your information, I am a professional entertainer," she retorted, never releasing her hold on Gokou.
Vejita turned his attention from the young woman to speak with his longtime friend. "What's going on here?"
Chi Chi opened her mouth to speak before Gokou could even come up with an answer. "My friend, also an entertainer, ran away from our House. The man who wants her and his thugs are tracking her down now." Chi Chi looked down to the ground. 'Poor Buruma...' "It isn't fair, " murmured, small tears running down her cheeks.
Vejita looked around the crowd. Mainly people who wanted to see a little excitement. "Did she belong to him?" he asked the young woman.
Chi Chi shook her head. "Not yet. From what I heard, they hadn't gotten to far into the paperwork when it was discovered that she was missing."
Vejita nodded. "Then she is still free and there is nothing they can do to her." Vejita gasped when Chi Chi let go of Gokou and latched onto the front of his haori.
"NO! You don't understand! If a man wants a geisha he sees, there is nothing we can do to stop him from getting her! It's not as simple and clean as one might think it is," she finished, turning back to sob into Gokou's chest. Gokou patted her lightly on the back in comfort. He looked up at Vejita with a worried expression clear on his face. Vejita just nodded and turned to walk away.
"You don't have to do this, Vejita," Goku said.
Vejita turned back to look at his friend. "There is no honour in hunting the innocent. I will not stand by as an innocent girl is stalked down like prey."
"Do you think you can catch up to them?"
"Kakarotto, am I not the Battousai?" he murmured, raising one eyebrow.
Goku grinned at his friend and watched him disappear into the crowd. Chi Chi looked up bewildered.
"He's the Battousai?" she whispered, not wanting to cause a commotion. Goku turned his grin down to his beloved, the woman he wanted to marry.
"Yes, he is," he affirmed.
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Buruma was reaching the outskirts of Gion and she was glad. Once she reached the dense forest of the outlying providence, it would become virtually impossible for them to track her. Buruma let out a small giggle, just a infintesimal show of how much happiness lay inside of her. She would be free to seek out a life she wanted, free to pursue what see saw in her dreams. Buruma deplored the thought of belonging to a man like some precious commodity. That feeling multiplied a thousand fold when she found out that she might belong to the disgusting pig that was Yamamoto Yamucha. She had stolen away to her room and gathered her dearest belongings, changed into a traveling kimono and scampered out the side entrance of the House of Kushami. Unfortunately, as she was preparing to slip away, one of the guards had latched onto her. In the only defense she knew, she had let out an ear-piercing scream that had drawn the attention of everyone strolling around the vicinity of the teahouse. The stunned guard had released her temporarily, but that had been long enough to make her escape into the crowd.
Buruma edged into a small alleyway, resting against the walls of an inn. 'Just for one minute...' she thought wearily. She had barely time to react. A hand clamped over her mouth. She tried to scream and bite but the hand stretched over her mouth too tightly.
"You thought you could escape," a deep, raspy voice breathed in her ear. Buruma shook, insane with fear. He chuckled. He whirled her around quickly, pressing her up against the side of the inn roughly. His hand was still clasped tightly over her mouth.
'That scar! I know that scar!' Buruma fought furiously, pushing against him and trying to kick at his legs. Yamucha just smirked. "You will belong to me, ne, Buruma-chan?" he asked, sickly sweet. Buruma growled deep her throat, trying to bite at his palm as it was covering her mouth. He waggled one finger at her. "Tsk. Tsk. Buruma, how unlady-like," he grunted as he shoved her harder against the rough wood of the side of the building. Her hair that she had sloppily pinned in a topknot fell apart to cascade around her shoulders.
"Beautiful Buruma..." he whispered.
She shuddered violently, still unable to say anything.
"I promise I will take good care of you, if only you would let me," he grinned. He positioned his free hand at the neck of her kimono, slowly pulling it down. Her kimono never went farther than her shoulders.
Yamucha was hurled down the alleyway.
Vejita somersaulted in the air and landed in front of Buruma.
"Are you all right?" he asked, not even bothering to look at her.
Her voice, she found, was hoarse and shaky. "Y-y-yes."
He nodded briefly then sauntered down the alley after the man he had kicked.
Yamucha looked up dazed at his assailant---immediately recognizing the angular face, the set jaw, and the dark, haunting eyes.
"B-b-battousai! We meet again!" he coughed as he struggled to stand.
Vejita simply stood, crossing his arms and shifting his weight into a relaxed position.
Yamucha wiped his face, finally blood on his hand, he swore. "Kusotaro! I will finish what we started long ago!"
Vejita sized up his opponent. "Maybe, Yamamoto. But I am older and wise. You, however," he grinned, "seemed to have grown fat and lazy."
Yamucha sputtered in indignation. "You were a foolish boy when we faced before, you will once again fall to me," he yelled.
Vejita gave a throaty chuckle. "Yet you did not leave our little battle unscathed now did you?" He reomved his haori coat and dropped it to the ground. That action was a significant show to Yamucha. The Battousai was ready to do battle.
Yamucha touched his cheek in remembrance. He growled. "It is you who will wear the wound this time, Battousai," he snarled. He rose his chest, puffing it out. "I do not think you deserve such a name. Battousai indeed! I wonder what people say to you when they see that the much-feared 'sword-drawing manslayer' is nothing but a diminuitive little rat!"
It was over in an instant. Yamucha never spoke another word...ever again.
Vejita resheathed his blood-stained sword, forged from the mighty flame. He turned back to the young woman to find that she had fainted. Her brilliant green hair fell over to cover her face. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically within her slightly torn kimono. He whirled around quickly, his sensitive hearing picking up the voices of men nearby
"She must have gone that way!" one of the them shouted.
Another man laughed. "She wouldn't be crazy enough to go into the woods alone!"
Vejita quickly decided what he had to do. He picked up the girl who was slumped against the side of the inn. He lifted her into his arms, securing one arm under her knees and the another supporting her neck. Then like a whisper in the wind he was gone--- into the woods.
Vejita dodged his head around, searching into the depths of the woods. Discreetly, he slipped into the foliage. Now the voices could only be heard faintly in the distance. He breathed a sigh of relief. His 'baggage,' the young woman, was suprisingly light in his arms. He pulled her up against his chest to support her weight. She lolled her head, still unconscious. Her hair spilled away from her face. Vejita's breath caught in his mouth. She looked familiar somehow. It was as if he had seen her and her face was ingrained in his memory but he knew that couldn't be. Buruma sighed lightly, curling closer to his body for warmth. Vejita's eye twitched. He was used to having someone so close to him.
It was muggy. Light rain had started to fall. Vejita placed his load down on the ground and removed his kimono top, letting it rest around his waist. He picked the young woman back up into his arms and continued on into the forest. He didn't know where they were going and what they were going to do when they arrived at the next town. Vejita knew he had to protect this girl. No matter what the cost. Vejita frowned in annoyance. He didn't know why he felt this way towards a girl he didn't even know. But the feeling was there all the same. He knew he couldn't let her go.
Vejita stared up at the canopy of the forest, dripping with dewey wetness. The heat had created a humid mist that permeated the forest floor, sticking to him like a second skin. He was jerked from his appreciation of nature when the girl in his arms shifted. She groaned deeply. Her blue eyes fluttered open. She regarded him a moment, perplexity clear in her eyes, before opening her mouth to speak.
"Who are you?" she said accusingly. She looked around, assessing her surroundings. She saw that her kimono had fallen down her shoulders. She moved to quickly cover herself up. She glared at him.
"I'm the one who saved you," he said before setting her down. Her legs were still weak; her knees buckled and she fell against him. He grunted and set back on her feet. She blushed and tried to find her footing on the slippery forest ground.
"Saved me?" she asked, trying to recollect her last memories. Suddenly she remembered. "Oh..." she said softly. Small tears appeared in her eyes. She threw her arms around the neck of her savior. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. He scowled, trying to hide his blush and slowly detached her from around his neck.
"You're welcome," he said, looking at the ground.
She bent over to peer up at him as he looked down. "Do I know you?" she asked innocently.
"Highly unlikely," he scoffed, suddenly straightening up, he almost knocked her off balance. She looked confused. He decided to clue her in. "I am the Hitokiri Battousai," he admitted.
Buruma clasped both of her hands over her mouth. "THE Hitokiri Battousai," she whispered.
He nodded.
Buruma swallowed nervously. 'Here I am standing alone in the woods with a killer!' she thought frantically.
Vejita rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, girl. I won't hurt her you," he snapped. 'How true that is,' he thought. 'On the contrary, I want to protect you forever.'
Buruma shuffled her feet, unsure what to say. Afterall, what does one say to a murderer of hundreds of men?
Vejita sighed and grabbed her hand. She quickly jerked it away. "What do you think you're doing?"
He shot her a glare before answering. "We aren't far enough from your town yet. They can still find us here."
"Oh..."
"So let's go," he said, once more taking a hold of her hand.
He set off at a fast pace, dragging the young girl behind him through the forest. After awhile, Vejita stopped to allow her to rest. She leaned heavily against a large, sturdy tree, breathing heavily.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. She got no response as he crouched down next to a small stream. She tried again. "Why are you helping me?" she asked.
He took a long drink from the stream, cupping water in his hands and lifting it to his mouth. "Drink," he commanded.
She sighed, annoyed, yet did as she was told. When she stood back up he took a hold of her hand once more and they went off into the forest. When she wasn't looking, when she was concentrating on taking sure steps on the slippery ground, Vejita glanced down at the top of head. The light reflected off her locks, shining a brilliant green. 'Onna...' he thought. 'For the life of me, I do not know...'
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She poked at the fire with a stick, the flames singeing the wood black. She sighed and leaned back on two hands, tossing the stick aside.
"What now?" a voice came from deep in the woods, drawing closer.
"Nothing to worry yourself over," she said, sitting back up. Vejita emerged from the surrounding woods, two fat jackrabbits slung over one shoulder. He dropped them by her side.
"Here, cook these," he ordered.
"Of course, master," she said with mock humility. He sneered at her then walked off to gather more firewood. When the rabbits were done, she rolled them onto a plate of leaves she had gathered. Vejita came stalking once more out of the woods, a bushel of branches under one arm. He feed them one by one to the fire.
"They're done," she said, expecting a reply. When she got none, she continued on, "Just wait for them to cool down a bit. We have no ohashi (chopsticks) so we'll have to use our hands." Once again, silence prevailed. Vejita barely acknowledged her instructions before trying to grab one of the rabbits. He hissed and dropped the rabbit and looked at his hand. The whole of it was turning bright red. He looked up, glaring, when he heard an indignant snort.
"I TOLD you the rabbits were HOT, but NO, you had go touch one anyway," she snarled, quickly taking apart her bundle of clothes and rifting through it. He looked quizzical for a moment before his face returned to a grimace of pain. "Ah ha!" she said triumphantly, holding up a kimono of dark beige. She grabbed one corner and pulled on it. A large ripping sound ensued and after a few more yanks, she had a generous-size square of cloth. She scootered over to Vejita's side, kneeling before him. "Hold out your hand," she commanded. He growled but begrudgingly held it out.
"Bakamono..."she grumbled. She flicked off a few pieces of burnt rabbit meat that had embedded itself in Vejita's hand. She spit on a corner of the cloth and gently rubbed at the burn. "Not too bad," she mumbled. Quickly, before he could protest, she wrapped the cloth around his hand, tight, tying knots to secure it. Vejita had maintained impassive to what she was doing to his hand. As a hitokiri he had been trained to deal with enormous amounts of pain, and to be perfectly honest, the burn on his hand was miniscule in amount of pain compared to some other wounds he had endured. This mere flesh burn was a walk in the park, so to speak.
There was something that tickled his mind as he watched her tend to his hand, something almost familiar. He shook it off.
Buruma looked up from securing the cloth around his hand. "Well, that's better at least," she spoke frankly. "Now wait, before picking up that rabbit again, Battousai-sama." She grinned.
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"What do you regret the most?"
Vejita growled and looked over at the one who was disturbing his sleep. "What?"
"In life, I mean, so far as you've lived it, what do you regret the most?"
He glared at her. "What does it matter?" he asked angrily.
"You're avoiding the question," she quiped.
"I am not," he answered coolly. "It's a stupid question."
"Just answer it. You've nothing to lose," she retorted.
He sighed heavily. "A lot, I suppose--"
"You should, considering you're the Battousai and you murder people---"
"Do you want to hear it or not?" he growled. Buruma held up her hands in defeat. "I suppose," he continued, "that I regret never returning home to my father."
"You ran away?" Buruma looked over at him, fairly surprised. She had figured him for the spoiled rich son of an aristocrat, treated like a prince, who had been trained for a soldier's duty then decided to go for a 'joyride' as an assassin. She had assumed wrong.
"I ran from my father for the second time in my life and became the man you see now. I never returned to see him even when I heard he was dying. I was too... I don't know." Vejita looked over, startled. Buruma had turned on her side to face him, rubbing his arm soothingly.
"It's okay. You can tell me. I won't tell a soul," she whispered.
He cleared his throat gently. "I suppose I was afraid... ...afraid he would be disappointed at the man I had become--"
"How could he?" Buruma said quietly. "If he saw what I see now, I have no doubt he would be proud of you."
"How could you say that?" he said, trying to keep the harshness out of his voice. "You don't even know me."
Buruma smiled. "But you saved me. You took me away from that awful place. I know all I need to know."
Vejita looked at her, uncertain. She seemed sincere... "What about you?"
She smiled. "What about me?"
"What do you regret the most?"
She sighed and let herself back back into the grass. So many, many things," she whispered. "My life is full of regrets."
"But what do you regret the most?" he pressed roughly.
She looked over at him and gave a small sidesmile. "You're going to laugh."
He shook his head solemnly. "I promise I won't."
"A warrior's promise?"
"Of course," he scoffed.
She giggled lightly. "Fine." She sighed once more. "I regret... I'm running up this path, back where I used to live. I'm running to catch up to this boy; he's leaving. I don't remember much. It was years ago. But I want to tell him. Tell him, but I can't. I don't have the words. They take him away. And I never get to tell him."
"Tell him what?"
"That I love him."
Vejita looked at her, startled. "Why couldn't you tell him?"
"I couldn't speak."
He looked confused. Buruma saw this and sought to clarfy for him.
"When I was younger, I never spoke. I was mute, I guess you could call it.
'Kami, it's her...'
Vejita sat up suddenly.
"What is it?" Buruma asked, concerned.
He looked at her, seeming like he was lost. "Uh..uh..ummm... it was a bug or something."
Buruma giggled. "The allmighty Battousai afraid of a tiny, little bug," she asked none too innocently.
"Go to sleep, girl," he said, suddenly, turning on his side to face away from her. She scowled at his back. "Fine, grouchy. But my name isn't 'girl.' It's Buruma," she said, finishing in a huff, lying on the ground, her back to his.
'Buruma... Buruma... Finally, I have found you....'
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Buruma yanked hard on his hand.
"Chotto! Can we rest a minute?" she heaved. He shrugged and dropped her hand, the one that he had been using to drag her tirelessly through the forest. Buruma sat down on a small boulder, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Waaah! My legs are sooo tired," she grumbled. Before Vejita could fire a comeback attributing the soreness to her laziness, he was caught off by her sharp gasp.
"Suggoi! It's wonderful!" Buruma sprang from the boulder to stand on a nearby ledge. Vejita moved quickly to her side, fearing she would tumble over the edge.
Vejita scowled at her. "It's just a town," he said, motioning nonchalantly to the twinkling lights below them. The light emitted from the housetorches appeared like fireflies dancing in the night air.
"But it looks so pretty from up here, don't you think, Battousai-sama?"
"Vejita."
"Nani? What did you say?"
"My name is Vejita, so stop calling me Battousai-sama."
There was a long span of silence with simply the whirr of the night bugs and distant sounds of the people in the village below
"Vejita..."
'Kami, I know that name. Somewhere, somewhere...' She looked at the sharp, finely chiseled face looking down at her, perfect as if carved out of stone. 'Could it be? A promise made so long ago come true...'
"Vejita," she began, wetting her lips, "what will happen when we reach the town?" She sounded nervous.
Vejita stared at her with his piercing eyes as she watched the village. The wind caught stands of her hair that had escaped from her tie and tossed it. The light from the torches drifted up to the couple standing on the ledge, reflecting in their eyes. Vejita thought she hid her nervousness quite well under a facade of calmness. And beauty. But as the Battousai, he was extremely good at reading people. He slowly reached for her hand and it took it in his. She looked up at him.
"I will protect you."
"Always?" she asked quitely. 'His answer will be....everything...' He gave her the first smile she had ever seen from him. She though it was quite becoming.
"Forever," he replied
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*THE END*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
or is it? haha! hope you all enjoyed this fic. it's one of my better ones, i believe. please tell me what you think. email me at evillerthanyou@yahoo.com thanks and happy reading!
"Yume ni miru yojya, omoi wa asai. Hon ni fukakerya, nemurarenu."
'You say that you love me and dream of me. Then I can not believe your love.
How can you sleep? I cannot sleep because I am always thinking about you.'
Buruma walked precariously on the black lacquer slippers that were the trademark footwear of the geisha. She carefully placed one foot in front of the other, balancing on the raised level of the getas. It was a nippy evening and she pulled her heavy kimono tighter around her, but the cold seemed to seep right into the fabric. She saw Chi Chi further up ahead and hastened to her side.
"When will they let us in?"
"When they're ready," Chi Chi answered irritably. She glanced over at her friend. Buruma still had the telltale trappings and finery of a maiko with their elaborate make-up and fancy kimonos. But tonight that would change, tonight Buruma would exchange the glamorous kimonos and delicate hair ornaments for a collar of white... the official mark of a full-fledged geisha. The geisha had plainer kimonos and less make-up, their grace and poise gave them all the beauty they needed.
Buruma though a few years older than the normal maiko is at the time of her erigae ceremony ('changing of collars' ceremony) was still beautiful and radiant, losing none of her beauty as she had grown older. But the patience of Madam Ranchi had worn thin and it was now time for Buruma chose her path for life. Having no other options and feeling very much in debt to Madam Ranchi, Mai and her other instructors, she had chosen to rise to the position of geisha and repay her dues.
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Vejita readjusted his daitou by his side. It was a brisk night out, not one that he wanted to spend out of doors. He trudged wearily down the main street of Gion. A few of the other travelers gave him dark looks and melded back into the shadows of the alleys. He brushed them off as the scrum so notorious of Gion, the geisha capital. He took exceedingly long steps, seeming to glide along the dirty streets of the underworld. Of course, there is a lighter side to every coin, and a mere three blocks from the impoverished shambles of the lower class of Gion, lay the rich quaters of the higher class---only a few steps within reach of each other. Vejita shook his head. What the city he had known so well in his early travels been reduced to? He did not remember the toothless call girls and penniless beggars that now lined the streets. Neither did he remembered the cold-lined pathways of upper Gion. It seemed even cities could lose their innocence to quickly, raped by time.
Vejita was so caught up in his thoughts that he neglected to notice a young girl scurrying into his path. It was inevitable, he realized too late, to stop the collision. He stooped to help the young girl pick up the fruit that had spilled from her back. Dark green hair, shining luminously in the light from the oil lanterns hung outside the inns. She begged his pardon shily, clutching the basket to her bosom. An old woman shot out from the entrance to an inn, grabbing the girl's elbow roughly.
"Stupid girl!" she screeched, shaking the young girl violently. "Why didn't you watch where you were going?!" Before the girl could explain herself the woman turned to Vejita. "I am sorry, sir. I will see that she is punished," she said strongly.
Vejita shook his head. "That will not be necessary," he said, his voice tired from the long day, and now this 'calamitous' incident. "I am the one at fault--"
"--But I saw her run into you!"
"I was lost in my thoughts; the fault was mine," Vejita said decisively.
"If you say so, sire," the woman said bowing. She pulled harshly on the girl to follow her example and the young girl complied, bowing deeply. Vejita shook his head once more.
"I am no one who deserves such respect," Vejita sighed. "If you will excuse me, ladies," he said with a bow, "I am very tired--"
The older woman stopped him with her free arm. "Perhaps, you would like to stay at my inn," the woman said, batting her eyelashes. "You indeed look weary from travel. I would be most happy to help you...relax..." she said coyly.
Vejita looked at the woman in disgust. 'Is she soliciting me?' he thought, furious. "That will NOT be necessary," he ground out before stepping out of her grasp and stomping off. Vejita shook her head sadly. Gion sure had changed since he younger days. His thoughts dwelt on what had just transpired between himself and the young girl. He pondered her for a while, wondering why she stuck so vevidly in his memory. There was something about her... "Feh!" he scoffed. "I have no time to dwell on such things. " He checked into a small inn a good ways a way from the inn run by the older woman that had solicited him. He shuddered at the memory. After depositing a few material belongings in his room, he traveled back downstairs, to drink sake in the main tea room with a few of the other patrons. He sat beside himself in a corner of the room, observing the other occupants while he let the alcoholic drink course through his body, relaxing him. He gave a satisfied sigh.
He could not think what had brought him to Gion after all these years. One morning as he awoke from his makeshift bed by the side of the road, he had felt the sudden need to travel to Gion, a fantasy playground for men with money. At first he had brushed off the nagging voice that told him that Gion should be his next destination. But finally, the gnawing feeling had worn out and he made his route to Gion.
Vejita surveryed the room with alert eyes. What ever Powers that Be that had told him to be here, he knew he should be on the look-out for his 'mission.' His reason for being here. So far, all he saw were geishas and drunk men throwing their coins at the geisha. Then his thoughts rested on that girl again, what about here was so familiar... the porcelain-skinned young girl with deep, lustrous forest green hair.
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Buruma stared at herself in the tortoise shell mirror. She took a deep breath. This was the night---the night she would become a full geisha. She only hoped she would not falter, bring shame upon the House of Kushami. Madam Ranchi had been nothing but generous and kind to her and her onee-san, Mai, had been patient and caring. She owed it them to become a successful geisha---one bringing in many customers. That was one aspect Buruma could be thankful for. Unlike the geisha of lower Gion, geisha houses like the House of Kushami had a roster of higher clientel and therefore a different set of rules. Being a geisha in upper Gion meant being an entertainer, an actress, and a mistress to one man. One man would pay to take the innocence of a geisha after her ceremony of erigae and then she would belong to him. He paid her okami-san back doublefold what the head of the geisha house had spent on the turning the lovely young girl into a skilled geisha. And for that payment, she was his and his alone. Of course, she would maintain her duties to the house by singing and dancing for regular customers---but her body belonged only to him. Buruma swallowed a lump in her throat. It was a selfish thought she knew, but she wished she did not find a sponsor for some time to come... maybe never at all? Buruma shook her head, causing delicate glass beads on her hair ornament to jangle lightly. It was a foolish hope, an impossible one.
Chi Chi slipped in the door to sit next to her Sister. She could read the nervousness on Buruma's feature.
"Calm down, imouto-chan," Chi Chi smiled radiantly. (**imouto means little sister)
Buruma looked down at her hands which were trembling. "I wish not to displease our okami-san but---" Tears threatened to leak from her eyes. Chi Chi quickly shushed her friend, dapping away at her corners of her eyes with a lacey linen cloth.
"Do not start," Chi Chi threatened lightly. "I will not have you mess up your face that we have so painstakingly put together now!"
The two girls laughed lightly. Then Buruma sighed. "What is it like Chi Chi?"
Chi Chi blushed. "I know not how to describe it---"
"No," Buruma looked at her, irritated. "Belonging to another."
"I suppose it takes some getting used to," Chi Chi mused. "However, this is the life we have chosen to live so our paths have been marked for us." She squeezed Buruma's shoulders as a comforting gesture. Chi Chi slipped out the room as silently as she had come.
Once again Buruma looked at herself in the mirror. She was far too done up for her taste, her hair slickened with oil and pulled up sverely from her face to an elegant bun decorated with ornaments. Her face was a paltry white and her lips a bright, blinding vermillion, her eyes outlined in kohl, no color flushed her cheeks. She thought she looked dead. 'And no man would want a corpse, all the better,' she thought to herself smugly. She placed the mirror carefully on the table then stood up from her knees. There was nothing she could do to ease the butterflies in her stomach. She spotted a small flask of rice wine in the corner of the room. She took a quick swig, downing the hot fluid to the pit of her stomach. The butterflies were now drunk and dancing not so much. Buruma smiled softly as she replaced the flask. She looked around the room sadly. Her last time she would be able to find sanctuary while she was innocent. After tonight, she feared, all creatures would look upon her as a sinner...
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Buruma felt horrible. As she had feared, men took a liking to her right away. They oogled, they catcalled and made eyes. She tried to retain her dignity by refusing their advances. She was in the midst of telling a customer to go to hell when she saw Madan Ranchi talking rapisly with well-groomed man. At the exact moment Buruma focused in on them, they both turned to regard her. Her heart leaped into throat. 'Dear Kami, no...' She shoved the annoying customer off of her her and turned, she thought to make an escape out the back door of the tea house. Chi Chi intervened, her arm intertwined with that of a very tall man. Chi Chi giggled furiously.
"Buruma!" she exclaimed, cutting off Buruma's path for retreat. Buruma groaned inwardly. "This is my sponsor, Son Gokou."
The tall man with wild black hair bowed before Buruma. She returned to favor, looking questioningly at Chi Chi. "And?"
"He is very good to me," she said while stroking the man's muscular upper arm. "Ne, Gokou-sama?"
He grinned sheepishly, tucking one arm behind his head. "Chi Chi, you're embarassing me."
Buruma smiled at the two. No doubt Chi Chi would have him hooked on her arms, no doubt she would get him to marry her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mai signal to her. She walked over, graceful in her getas.
"Yes, Mai onee-sama?"
"Madam Ranchi seeks a session with you and one of our customers." She saw Buruma tense. "Buruma, he is very interested in you." She drew Buruma closer. "Don't mess this up, imouto. I have met him. He is a good man." She ushered Buruma into a back room, closing the door before Buruma could turn tail and run.
Madam Ranchi sat serenely, staring up at Buruma with warmth and courage in her eyes. "Please sit, Buruma-san," she said while ushering to a cushion by a smug-looking man. Buruma sat down gingerly next to him. "Buruma," she called the girl to attention. "This is Yamamoto Yamucha."
Buruma inclined her head to him in a show of respect. "And what can I do for you?" she asked, her voice less steady than she had hoped.
He grinned michievously. "What can you do?"
Buruma growled. "If you have brought me here to play games--"
"Buruma!" Madam Ranchi snapped.
"Gomen nasai," Buruma said, bowing deeply towards her okami-san. Yamucha grabbed her around the waist, hauling her unceremoniously into his lap.
"No need for that. Ranchi," he ordered. "I wish to speak to this young woman." He dismissed the much honored master of the House of Kushami as if she was a common housegirl. Buruma grit her teeth. She did not like this man at all. Madam Ranchi gathered herself together and stalked out of the room, silently fuming. However, as a weelbred lady, she never showed anyone her ire. She regained her cool facade once she reentered the main tea room.
Buruma struggled against Yamucha, trying to pry herself from his lap. "Please, sire. I am uncomfortable."
He stared down at her. "Are you or are you not a geisha?"
"I am now but not yours to do with as you please," she spat.
"Oh, but you will be, once I sponsor you," he said evilly.
"I would not accept such an offer from a disrespectable man such as yourself," she retorted.
"But that it not your decision to make," he said smoothly.
Buruma growled and savagely yanked herself from his grip. "You are nothing but a--a---" she struggled for the words.
He looked up at her, menachingly. "Do you know where I got this scar?" he said, pointing to a thick , jagged line running over one eye.
Buruma shook her head. "And I really don't care!"
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back down so her face was level with his. "In a battle with the Battousai," he told her.
Buruma's face paled, though not visible through her thick make-up.
"You do know who the Battousai is, don't you?"
"Of course, everyone does," she said, still shaken. "But--but I don't believe you. No one survives the Battousai."
He gave an indignant sound. "No one survives me," he countered. "That stupid boy---"
"A boy?"
"He got one good shot in but I got him," Yamucha said proudly.
Buruma nodded absently. She could not believe this man. He was not her ideal at all! He gaffawed much too loudly with an open jaw; his gut hung out much too loosely; his teeth were crooked and yellow; his eyes were much too close. Buruma wriggled her nose with distaste as he scratched his... She averted her eyes. Simply disgusting!
There was boy, she recalled vaguely. A young samurai... she could not remember his face clearly. Sadness flowed through her though she did not know why. Something about that boy, so gentle yet strong, and--- Buruma returned back to the dimly lit tearoom. Sitting once again in front of Yamucha Yamamoto. She shifted uncomfortably under his leary gaze.
"Is there anything else, Yamamoto-san?" she asked uncertainly.
He readjusted himself on the cusion, pondering the question. "Ranchi said you would entertain me. I wish to see if you will be worth sponsoring," he grinned.
Buruma swallowed, nervous, pulled out a shamisen from the corner of the room, adjusting it into her lap. She tested the strings a few times and cleared her throat.
"Fukai fukai mori no oku ni ima mo kitto... Okizari ni shita kokoro kakushiteru yo... Sagasu hodo no chikara mo naku tsukarehateta... hitobito was eien no yami ni keiru... chiisai mama nara kitto ima demo meita kana..."
Buruma took a long breath, glancing nervously over at the man who would decide her future. He was inspecting the insides of his sake glass. Buruma wet her lips and---
She was running through the forest. Her eyes sparkled with the rays of light that pierced the canopy of the dense woods. She smiled wide, pushing herself to glide faster in a zigzag path through the trees and underbrush. The arms of her kimono fluttered playfully in the light breeze. She quickly darted behind the truck of a fallen tree, seeking haven beneath it. Her forest green locks fell in front of her face, blending in with the dense undergrowth. She concealed a giggle behind her hand. She heard a husky voice curse out softly and the sounds of breaking branches. It was almost instantaneous that he leaped over the fallen log, slipping on a bit of moss and tumbling underneath to land on top of Buruma. Buruma retched with silent laughter, pushing Vejita off of her with half-hearted attempts.
Buruma scrambled over him and climbed out of the pit in the earth. Gasping excitedly for breath, she skipped between the trees, heading deeper into the forest. Baba wasn't expecting them till sundown. Buruma wasn't worried about getting lost. She grinned wider, besides, if she was lost, then wasn't Vejita lost too?
Buruma sidled around the massive trunk of a gnarled old tree, tripping over the waves of roots erupting from the ground. She paused to catch her breath. She stretched an ear to catch the telltale signs of Vejita crashing through after her. All she heard was silence.
Buruma's heart was racing. Her mind scattered and she couldn't remember where she was. She tempted to call out his name. All she needed to do was say his name. 'Buruma, you can do it,' she told herself. 'Just open your mouth and say his name.' She ran a dry tongue over her lips, opening his mouth. Buruma just stood there with her mouth wide open, not knowing if she could whisper a sound. 'I can't!' she screamed in her mind. She closed her mouth. Her eyes darted around the unfamiliar premise of this part of the forest. She swallowed deeply, clutching her throat with one hand. 'Kami...' Her temples burned with a pain unfamiliar to her.
She felt their hard, rough caresses against her skin. Their lustful eyes, their hot breath clouding the air. Buruma stretched her neck upward and whimpered. Then they pounced on her like wild dogs.
Buruma lay listless on the cold, wet ground as the last man pulled himse;f away from her. He stood up and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. He looked upon the shivering young girl with unresponsive eyes, then he walked away. They all walked away. Buruma felt the frigid air touch the insides of her thighs. She struggled to pull herself into a fetal position. Her whole body buzzed with a dull throbbing ache.
She didn't even here him coming. A hand descended to rest on her shoulder. Buruma was yanked out of her memory with force. She whirled around, knocking Vejita back. He stood there shocked as she started crying, her body racked with sobs. She didn't even look up at him. He moved unsteadily towards her, gauging a safe distance lest she turn on him again. He reached out a hand cautiously and took hold of her shoulder.
She immediately threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his chest. Vejtia looked around nervously. He was a warrior! Not some simpering... he looked down at with sympathy in his eyes. But she looked she broken and sad. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her fail form, bringing her closer to his body.
"Shh... daijobu yo," he whispered. "It's okay. Everything will be all right."
She shook her head shoving it farther into the crevice of his neck. Vejita could feel her warm lips resting on his skin. Gently, he pried her away from him while she tried to resist by clinging harder.
"Chotto," he chided, grinning slightly. "I want to tell you something, Buruma-chan."
She looked up at him through swollen eyes. What she saw was amazing. A true warrior, her warrior, with his hair aglow with the light of the afternoon sun, his skin bronze and tight from running through the forest, his eyes a warm, deep black.
Vejita looked down on the girl who had befriended him, the girl who he had allowed to see every inch of his heart, who knew of his deepest shame, and still accepted him. He reached up thoughtlessly and brushed away a lock of her glittering green hair. He saw her staring up at him with her endless midnight blue eyes. He had never seen eyes quite like hers before. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Buruma," he began, his dark eyes searching hers. "I know you cannot tell me what frightens you."
Buruma's eyes began to fill with tears. He shook her gently to get her attention; he lifted her chin with his hand. "But I will not ask you. A samurai's code of honor says he must protect those nearest to his heart. Know this, Buruma-chan. I will always protect you."
Buruma looked up at arrogant man sitting in front of her with finger currently playing around in his nose. She would not be singing for him. No, she had a great warrior for who she would speak her heart.
"Bokutachi wa ikiru hodo ni... Nakushiteku sukoshi zutsu... Istuwari nya uso wo matoi... Tachisukumu koe mo naku..." Her voice was strong and unwavering. Yamucha sat up quickly, watching as the shy little bird blossomed into a passionate crane. Yamucha decided then that he wanted her. He waved outside the door to one of his footmen, whispering in his ear to call Madam Ranchi.
He grinned slyly at Buruma. "Yes, well that was very nice."
Buruma didn't even acknowledge the compliment. She mind was overrun with thoughts about the warrior from her past. 'I must find him! He can take me away from all this,' she thought decidedly. She stood up quickly and exited the room just as Madam Ranchi entered it.
"You called?" Madam Ranchi said, trying to keep down her revulsion for the man.
"Yes," he said slowly while standing up. "I believe you've found a sponsor for your lovely little geisha girl," he continued.
Madam Ranchi looked confused for a moment before the thoughts sank in. "You mean you want to..."
"Most precisely, okami-san. Now, where do I sign?"
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Vejita sat back, every muscle in his bady relaxing under the healing powers of the onsen, or hot spring. He rubbed a rough brush over his taut muscles. Sighing heavily, he sunk farther into the steaming water, letting the misty-colored water filled with minerals bubble and run over his body. He had ventured out into the crisp wintry air for a stroll around the main avenues of Gion. He stopped at a small ramen shop and ate there before continuing on. It had been such a long time since he last reprieve in Gion. After he gave himself fully to the ways of a hitokiri, a man with no past whose future lay paved with the blood of his victims.
It had been so tempting. Vejita snorted and scrubbed his skin harder. Beauitful young geisha traipsed every darkened alley in Gion. They were as high class as the girls you would find in the Houses. No, they were unskilled and unrefined--but they were also inexpensive and readily available. So many girls had come up to him, clinging on his arms, clamoring for his attentions. It had taken all his will to refuse every last one of them. Did they not know who he was? Had they known he was the feared Battousai they would have thought twice before propositioning him. He was a fierce warrior with the blood of hundreds on his hands.
Vejita had no qualms about the dozens of deaths he had caused. However, as of late he had been thinking more and more about leaving the life of an assasin and settled down someone. He could become a sensei like his own master, and hopefully train a young man in whom he saw potential to become the next Battousai. Vejita smirked. He had created the persona; why not continue on to beget a legend....
Vejita stood up from the tub and wrapped a soft kimono around his body, slipping hakama over that, followed by his haori coat. He was not thinking to go to sleep just yet. Vejita had just finished taking the damp from his hair when he heard it. Faint yet alarming to his sensitive ears. A woman's scream.
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Buruma's getas clapped heavily on the roughly pounded and paved alleyways as she raced along. She had thought to make a clean getaway yet someone had recognised her and shouted out when Buruma ran from the House of Kushami. She had a small bundle of clothes wrapped neatly and clutched in her hands. She had exchanged her beautifully crafted ceremonial robes for a simple kimono, like the one she had worn when she first came to the House of Kushami. Buruma did not want to stop. She heard the fainting shouting of those follwoing her path. She twisted her head quickly, catching a glimpse of angry faces. 'Kuso!' Buruma now sprinted faster than she had before, one hand clutching the satchel of her things, the other holding her kimono hiked up. The fabric barely brushed the tops of her knees, allowing her greater ability to run and maneuver. The cold air bit at whatever flesh was bare. Buruma's lungs tingled hot as she gasped in the frosty air. 'I pray I make it through this, please Kami, let me survive...'
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Vejita now heard many shouts from men and women coming from the streets below. He quickly grabbed his daisho, the long sword and the short, and strapped them around his waist. He was out to the main square in a few minutes. He saw a face his recognized. "Kakarotto!" he bellowed across the square. A young man with wild black hair looked up suddenly, searching out the source of the voice that had called him by his childhood name. No one in Gion knew him by that name. 'Kakarotto' in old dialect roughly translated to 'fiercely strong son' pronouncing him as son of the great warrior Bardaku. However, his given name was Gokou, named after his grandfather on his mother's side. Gokou searched the crowd, moving from one face to the next when he chanced upon--- a smirk. 'I know that man.' Gokou's face lit up with a grin. "Vejita!" he shouted. He raced over to his old friend, the girl who had latched on to his arm trailing behind him. Vejita bowed with mock politeness to his old companion, the son of his master. He noticed a young lithe woman standing slightly behind Gokou, both her arms secure around one of his.
"Who's the wench, Kakarotto?" Vejita asked with a smirk.
The girl gave him a look of indignation. "Why you--"
"Uh, Chi Chi, this is my old friend, Vejita. Vejita, this is my uh... this is Chi Chi Gyuu."
Vejita just smirked at her. "A working girl, I take it."
Chi Chi growled at him. "NO. For your information, I am a professional entertainer," she retorted, never releasing her hold on Gokou.
Vejita turned his attention from the young woman to speak with his longtime friend. "What's going on here?"
Chi Chi opened her mouth to speak before Gokou could even come up with an answer. "My friend, also an entertainer, ran away from our House. The man who wants her and his thugs are tracking her down now." Chi Chi looked down to the ground. 'Poor Buruma...' "It isn't fair, " murmured, small tears running down her cheeks.
Vejita looked around the crowd. Mainly people who wanted to see a little excitement. "Did she belong to him?" he asked the young woman.
Chi Chi shook her head. "Not yet. From what I heard, they hadn't gotten to far into the paperwork when it was discovered that she was missing."
Vejita nodded. "Then she is still free and there is nothing they can do to her." Vejita gasped when Chi Chi let go of Gokou and latched onto the front of his haori.
"NO! You don't understand! If a man wants a geisha he sees, there is nothing we can do to stop him from getting her! It's not as simple and clean as one might think it is," she finished, turning back to sob into Gokou's chest. Gokou patted her lightly on the back in comfort. He looked up at Vejita with a worried expression clear on his face. Vejita just nodded and turned to walk away.
"You don't have to do this, Vejita," Goku said.
Vejita turned back to look at his friend. "There is no honour in hunting the innocent. I will not stand by as an innocent girl is stalked down like prey."
"Do you think you can catch up to them?"
"Kakarotto, am I not the Battousai?" he murmured, raising one eyebrow.
Goku grinned at his friend and watched him disappear into the crowd. Chi Chi looked up bewildered.
"He's the Battousai?" she whispered, not wanting to cause a commotion. Goku turned his grin down to his beloved, the woman he wanted to marry.
"Yes, he is," he affirmed.
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Buruma was reaching the outskirts of Gion and she was glad. Once she reached the dense forest of the outlying providence, it would become virtually impossible for them to track her. Buruma let out a small giggle, just a infintesimal show of how much happiness lay inside of her. She would be free to seek out a life she wanted, free to pursue what see saw in her dreams. Buruma deplored the thought of belonging to a man like some precious commodity. That feeling multiplied a thousand fold when she found out that she might belong to the disgusting pig that was Yamamoto Yamucha. She had stolen away to her room and gathered her dearest belongings, changed into a traveling kimono and scampered out the side entrance of the House of Kushami. Unfortunately, as she was preparing to slip away, one of the guards had latched onto her. In the only defense she knew, she had let out an ear-piercing scream that had drawn the attention of everyone strolling around the vicinity of the teahouse. The stunned guard had released her temporarily, but that had been long enough to make her escape into the crowd.
Buruma edged into a small alleyway, resting against the walls of an inn. 'Just for one minute...' she thought wearily. She had barely time to react. A hand clamped over her mouth. She tried to scream and bite but the hand stretched over her mouth too tightly.
"You thought you could escape," a deep, raspy voice breathed in her ear. Buruma shook, insane with fear. He chuckled. He whirled her around quickly, pressing her up against the side of the inn roughly. His hand was still clasped tightly over her mouth.
'That scar! I know that scar!' Buruma fought furiously, pushing against him and trying to kick at his legs. Yamucha just smirked. "You will belong to me, ne, Buruma-chan?" he asked, sickly sweet. Buruma growled deep her throat, trying to bite at his palm as it was covering her mouth. He waggled one finger at her. "Tsk. Tsk. Buruma, how unlady-like," he grunted as he shoved her harder against the rough wood of the side of the building. Her hair that she had sloppily pinned in a topknot fell apart to cascade around her shoulders.
"Beautiful Buruma..." he whispered.
She shuddered violently, still unable to say anything.
"I promise I will take good care of you, if only you would let me," he grinned. He positioned his free hand at the neck of her kimono, slowly pulling it down. Her kimono never went farther than her shoulders.
Yamucha was hurled down the alleyway.
Vejita somersaulted in the air and landed in front of Buruma.
"Are you all right?" he asked, not even bothering to look at her.
Her voice, she found, was hoarse and shaky. "Y-y-yes."
He nodded briefly then sauntered down the alley after the man he had kicked.
Yamucha looked up dazed at his assailant---immediately recognizing the angular face, the set jaw, and the dark, haunting eyes.
"B-b-battousai! We meet again!" he coughed as he struggled to stand.
Vejita simply stood, crossing his arms and shifting his weight into a relaxed position.
Yamucha wiped his face, finally blood on his hand, he swore. "Kusotaro! I will finish what we started long ago!"
Vejita sized up his opponent. "Maybe, Yamamoto. But I am older and wise. You, however," he grinned, "seemed to have grown fat and lazy."
Yamucha sputtered in indignation. "You were a foolish boy when we faced before, you will once again fall to me," he yelled.
Vejita gave a throaty chuckle. "Yet you did not leave our little battle unscathed now did you?" He reomved his haori coat and dropped it to the ground. That action was a significant show to Yamucha. The Battousai was ready to do battle.
Yamucha touched his cheek in remembrance. He growled. "It is you who will wear the wound this time, Battousai," he snarled. He rose his chest, puffing it out. "I do not think you deserve such a name. Battousai indeed! I wonder what people say to you when they see that the much-feared 'sword-drawing manslayer' is nothing but a diminuitive little rat!"
It was over in an instant. Yamucha never spoke another word...ever again.
Vejita resheathed his blood-stained sword, forged from the mighty flame. He turned back to the young woman to find that she had fainted. Her brilliant green hair fell over to cover her face. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically within her slightly torn kimono. He whirled around quickly, his sensitive hearing picking up the voices of men nearby
"She must have gone that way!" one of the them shouted.
Another man laughed. "She wouldn't be crazy enough to go into the woods alone!"
Vejita quickly decided what he had to do. He picked up the girl who was slumped against the side of the inn. He lifted her into his arms, securing one arm under her knees and the another supporting her neck. Then like a whisper in the wind he was gone--- into the woods.
Vejita dodged his head around, searching into the depths of the woods. Discreetly, he slipped into the foliage. Now the voices could only be heard faintly in the distance. He breathed a sigh of relief. His 'baggage,' the young woman, was suprisingly light in his arms. He pulled her up against his chest to support her weight. She lolled her head, still unconscious. Her hair spilled away from her face. Vejita's breath caught in his mouth. She looked familiar somehow. It was as if he had seen her and her face was ingrained in his memory but he knew that couldn't be. Buruma sighed lightly, curling closer to his body for warmth. Vejita's eye twitched. He was used to having someone so close to him.
It was muggy. Light rain had started to fall. Vejita placed his load down on the ground and removed his kimono top, letting it rest around his waist. He picked the young woman back up into his arms and continued on into the forest. He didn't know where they were going and what they were going to do when they arrived at the next town. Vejita knew he had to protect this girl. No matter what the cost. Vejita frowned in annoyance. He didn't know why he felt this way towards a girl he didn't even know. But the feeling was there all the same. He knew he couldn't let her go.
Vejita stared up at the canopy of the forest, dripping with dewey wetness. The heat had created a humid mist that permeated the forest floor, sticking to him like a second skin. He was jerked from his appreciation of nature when the girl in his arms shifted. She groaned deeply. Her blue eyes fluttered open. She regarded him a moment, perplexity clear in her eyes, before opening her mouth to speak.
"Who are you?" she said accusingly. She looked around, assessing her surroundings. She saw that her kimono had fallen down her shoulders. She moved to quickly cover herself up. She glared at him.
"I'm the one who saved you," he said before setting her down. Her legs were still weak; her knees buckled and she fell against him. He grunted and set back on her feet. She blushed and tried to find her footing on the slippery forest ground.
"Saved me?" she asked, trying to recollect her last memories. Suddenly she remembered. "Oh..." she said softly. Small tears appeared in her eyes. She threw her arms around the neck of her savior. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. He scowled, trying to hide his blush and slowly detached her from around his neck.
"You're welcome," he said, looking at the ground.
She bent over to peer up at him as he looked down. "Do I know you?" she asked innocently.
"Highly unlikely," he scoffed, suddenly straightening up, he almost knocked her off balance. She looked confused. He decided to clue her in. "I am the Hitokiri Battousai," he admitted.
Buruma clasped both of her hands over her mouth. "THE Hitokiri Battousai," she whispered.
He nodded.
Buruma swallowed nervously. 'Here I am standing alone in the woods with a killer!' she thought frantically.
Vejita rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, girl. I won't hurt her you," he snapped. 'How true that is,' he thought. 'On the contrary, I want to protect you forever.'
Buruma shuffled her feet, unsure what to say. Afterall, what does one say to a murderer of hundreds of men?
Vejita sighed and grabbed her hand. She quickly jerked it away. "What do you think you're doing?"
He shot her a glare before answering. "We aren't far enough from your town yet. They can still find us here."
"Oh..."
"So let's go," he said, once more taking a hold of her hand.
He set off at a fast pace, dragging the young girl behind him through the forest. After awhile, Vejita stopped to allow her to rest. She leaned heavily against a large, sturdy tree, breathing heavily.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. She got no response as he crouched down next to a small stream. She tried again. "Why are you helping me?" she asked.
He took a long drink from the stream, cupping water in his hands and lifting it to his mouth. "Drink," he commanded.
She sighed, annoyed, yet did as she was told. When she stood back up he took a hold of her hand once more and they went off into the forest. When she wasn't looking, when she was concentrating on taking sure steps on the slippery ground, Vejita glanced down at the top of head. The light reflected off her locks, shining a brilliant green. 'Onna...' he thought. 'For the life of me, I do not know...'
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She poked at the fire with a stick, the flames singeing the wood black. She sighed and leaned back on two hands, tossing the stick aside.
"What now?" a voice came from deep in the woods, drawing closer.
"Nothing to worry yourself over," she said, sitting back up. Vejita emerged from the surrounding woods, two fat jackrabbits slung over one shoulder. He dropped them by her side.
"Here, cook these," he ordered.
"Of course, master," she said with mock humility. He sneered at her then walked off to gather more firewood. When the rabbits were done, she rolled them onto a plate of leaves she had gathered. Vejita came stalking once more out of the woods, a bushel of branches under one arm. He feed them one by one to the fire.
"They're done," she said, expecting a reply. When she got none, she continued on, "Just wait for them to cool down a bit. We have no ohashi (chopsticks) so we'll have to use our hands." Once again, silence prevailed. Vejita barely acknowledged her instructions before trying to grab one of the rabbits. He hissed and dropped the rabbit and looked at his hand. The whole of it was turning bright red. He looked up, glaring, when he heard an indignant snort.
"I TOLD you the rabbits were HOT, but NO, you had go touch one anyway," she snarled, quickly taking apart her bundle of clothes and rifting through it. He looked quizzical for a moment before his face returned to a grimace of pain. "Ah ha!" she said triumphantly, holding up a kimono of dark beige. She grabbed one corner and pulled on it. A large ripping sound ensued and after a few more yanks, she had a generous-size square of cloth. She scootered over to Vejita's side, kneeling before him. "Hold out your hand," she commanded. He growled but begrudgingly held it out.
"Bakamono..."she grumbled. She flicked off a few pieces of burnt rabbit meat that had embedded itself in Vejita's hand. She spit on a corner of the cloth and gently rubbed at the burn. "Not too bad," she mumbled. Quickly, before he could protest, she wrapped the cloth around his hand, tight, tying knots to secure it. Vejita had maintained impassive to what she was doing to his hand. As a hitokiri he had been trained to deal with enormous amounts of pain, and to be perfectly honest, the burn on his hand was miniscule in amount of pain compared to some other wounds he had endured. This mere flesh burn was a walk in the park, so to speak.
There was something that tickled his mind as he watched her tend to his hand, something almost familiar. He shook it off.
Buruma looked up from securing the cloth around his hand. "Well, that's better at least," she spoke frankly. "Now wait, before picking up that rabbit again, Battousai-sama." She grinned.
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"What do you regret the most?"
Vejita growled and looked over at the one who was disturbing his sleep. "What?"
"In life, I mean, so far as you've lived it, what do you regret the most?"
He glared at her. "What does it matter?" he asked angrily.
"You're avoiding the question," she quiped.
"I am not," he answered coolly. "It's a stupid question."
"Just answer it. You've nothing to lose," she retorted.
He sighed heavily. "A lot, I suppose--"
"You should, considering you're the Battousai and you murder people---"
"Do you want to hear it or not?" he growled. Buruma held up her hands in defeat. "I suppose," he continued, "that I regret never returning home to my father."
"You ran away?" Buruma looked over at him, fairly surprised. She had figured him for the spoiled rich son of an aristocrat, treated like a prince, who had been trained for a soldier's duty then decided to go for a 'joyride' as an assassin. She had assumed wrong.
"I ran from my father for the second time in my life and became the man you see now. I never returned to see him even when I heard he was dying. I was too... I don't know." Vejita looked over, startled. Buruma had turned on her side to face him, rubbing his arm soothingly.
"It's okay. You can tell me. I won't tell a soul," she whispered.
He cleared his throat gently. "I suppose I was afraid... ...afraid he would be disappointed at the man I had become--"
"How could he?" Buruma said quietly. "If he saw what I see now, I have no doubt he would be proud of you."
"How could you say that?" he said, trying to keep the harshness out of his voice. "You don't even know me."
Buruma smiled. "But you saved me. You took me away from that awful place. I know all I need to know."
Vejita looked at her, uncertain. She seemed sincere... "What about you?"
She smiled. "What about me?"
"What do you regret the most?"
She sighed and let herself back back into the grass. So many, many things," she whispered. "My life is full of regrets."
"But what do you regret the most?" he pressed roughly.
She looked over at him and gave a small sidesmile. "You're going to laugh."
He shook his head solemnly. "I promise I won't."
"A warrior's promise?"
"Of course," he scoffed.
She giggled lightly. "Fine." She sighed once more. "I regret... I'm running up this path, back where I used to live. I'm running to catch up to this boy; he's leaving. I don't remember much. It was years ago. But I want to tell him. Tell him, but I can't. I don't have the words. They take him away. And I never get to tell him."
"Tell him what?"
"That I love him."
Vejita looked at her, startled. "Why couldn't you tell him?"
"I couldn't speak."
He looked confused. Buruma saw this and sought to clarfy for him.
"When I was younger, I never spoke. I was mute, I guess you could call it.
'Kami, it's her...'
Vejita sat up suddenly.
"What is it?" Buruma asked, concerned.
He looked at her, seeming like he was lost. "Uh..uh..ummm... it was a bug or something."
Buruma giggled. "The allmighty Battousai afraid of a tiny, little bug," she asked none too innocently.
"Go to sleep, girl," he said, suddenly, turning on his side to face away from her. She scowled at his back. "Fine, grouchy. But my name isn't 'girl.' It's Buruma," she said, finishing in a huff, lying on the ground, her back to his.
'Buruma... Buruma... Finally, I have found you....'
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Buruma yanked hard on his hand.
"Chotto! Can we rest a minute?" she heaved. He shrugged and dropped her hand, the one that he had been using to drag her tirelessly through the forest. Buruma sat down on a small boulder, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Waaah! My legs are sooo tired," she grumbled. Before Vejita could fire a comeback attributing the soreness to her laziness, he was caught off by her sharp gasp.
"Suggoi! It's wonderful!" Buruma sprang from the boulder to stand on a nearby ledge. Vejita moved quickly to her side, fearing she would tumble over the edge.
Vejita scowled at her. "It's just a town," he said, motioning nonchalantly to the twinkling lights below them. The light emitted from the housetorches appeared like fireflies dancing in the night air.
"But it looks so pretty from up here, don't you think, Battousai-sama?"
"Vejita."
"Nani? What did you say?"
"My name is Vejita, so stop calling me Battousai-sama."
There was a long span of silence with simply the whirr of the night bugs and distant sounds of the people in the village below
"Vejita..."
'Kami, I know that name. Somewhere, somewhere...' She looked at the sharp, finely chiseled face looking down at her, perfect as if carved out of stone. 'Could it be? A promise made so long ago come true...'
"Vejita," she began, wetting her lips, "what will happen when we reach the town?" She sounded nervous.
Vejita stared at her with his piercing eyes as she watched the village. The wind caught stands of her hair that had escaped from her tie and tossed it. The light from the torches drifted up to the couple standing on the ledge, reflecting in their eyes. Vejita thought she hid her nervousness quite well under a facade of calmness. And beauty. But as the Battousai, he was extremely good at reading people. He slowly reached for her hand and it took it in his. She looked up at him.
"I will protect you."
"Always?" she asked quitely. 'His answer will be....everything...' He gave her the first smile she had ever seen from him. She though it was quite becoming.
"Forever," he replied
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*THE END*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
or is it? haha! hope you all enjoyed this fic. it's one of my better ones, i believe. please tell me what you think. email me at evillerthanyou@yahoo.com thanks and happy reading!