All For Love

Disclaimers apply! I've tried to present as accurate as possible all the historical events/information in this story. No offence is intended.
Sentences/phrases in inverted commas and italics are either romaji (after which an English translation will be provided) or spoken in Japanese.
C&Cs are welcome

Names and their Chinese equivalent:

Misao: Cao, or Xiao Cao
Omasu: Zeng/Ah Zeng
Okon: Jin/Ah Jin
Okina: Lao Die (Old Father)
Shiro: Ah Bai
Kuro: Ah Hei
Megumi: Hui/ Xiao Hui
Yu Ting Ban Zong: Oniwabanshuu(!)

Chapter 3: Mamoru

Cao looked up at the tall, serious Japanese officer, suddenly feeling extremely shy. He didn't give her a glance, but instead kept on walking, taking long, brisk strides, while she followed behind.

"Where are we going?" she asked, realising that they were not heading in the direction of where she lived. He didn't reply, making her feel a little nervous. What if he's a wolf in sheep's skin and isn't much better than the rest?

Her fears were allayed when he stopped in front of a military car. "Some people will misunderstand if they see a young girl walking with an enemy officer. Get in."

She hesitated, still a little wary, as he slid into the driver's seat. Jin and Zeng had warned her countless times of gullible girls who took up a stranger's offer of a ride home and ended up being driven to isolated places where...she didn't even want to think about it!

"What's wrong?" he asked, turning to her with a questioning gaze. Those intense eyes burned through her again, and she lowered her eyes, suddenly shy.

"I--I..." Her face suddenly felt flaming hot. Cao, what's wrong with you, why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Why now when she was just fine with being near him barely an hour ago?

Taking a deep breath, she looked up again, only to see another one of his demi-smiles.

"Do I look like the type to do things like that?" he asked, as if he had read her mind. Cao felt herself getting redder.

"N-n-no..." she stuttered. This time, his eyes seemed to twinkle as well.

"Then don't just stand there." He turned back to the front.

Cao stood there for a moment, still a little uncertain. Although she knew she couldn't trust him so quickly, her intuition told her he was a good man. besides, hadn't he saved her? And hadn't he not given her away the first time they had seen each other?

Having made her decision, she slid into the seat beside him.

They stood just below the flight of steps that led up to the second floor of the shophouse where Cao and her family lived., making sure there was some distance between them. Any closer and those who saw them would misunderstand.

Cao was suddenly nervous. In all sixteen years of her life, she had never come home with a boy other than her brothers. What would Lao Die and her sisters think? Furthermore, he was a Japanese soldier--considered an enemy, especially since the Japanese soldiers had caused the disappearance of her brothers.

"I won't accompany you any further," Aoshi replied, sensing the girl's discomfort. She nodded, not daring to meet his eyes.

Just as he was about to take his leave, there was the sound of steps as Jin practically flew down the stairs. She stopped short at the sight of them.

"Cao, you're finally home! What did you think you were doing?I was just going out to search for you. Do you know how worried we were when we reached home and found out you still hadn't reached home? Especially during a time like this where the Jap--" Jin halted and stared, open mouthed, at Aoshi. Her lips opened and closed, as if she was saying something. But no words came out.

"I'm Officer Shinomori. I found this young lady on the streets and gave her a ride home." Aoshi's voice sounded as cold and detached as before. Jin, by then, had regained her composure, but was still a little too shocked to say anything else.

"If there's nothing else, I'm taking my leave." He turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Cao called out. He stopped, without turning back.

"Thank you," she told him. He nodded, and went on his way. And she watched him, with eyes filled with wonder and a heart filled with gratitude...as well as a little something else she could not quite comprehend.

"What?" Cao shrieked later that day. "I'm not going to, no matter what you say!"

Zeng looked up, her eyes a little sad. "We didn't want this too, but it's for the best. People are marrying their daughters off to any bachelor they can find, just to prevent them from being taken away by those soldiers."

Cao looked at the photos again and grimaced. "No, no, no and no. You're not marrying me off! I don't need a matchmaker! Why can't I stay here with you?"

"It's for your own good." Zeng didn't dare to meet her eye.

"And Lao Die actually approved of it?" Cao was practically yelling by now.

"It was his idea, after all you're of marriageable age."

"Well, tell him I'm not! I'd rather marry some young, handsome Japanese soldier than a man who's old enough to actually be my grandfather!" Eyes flashing, she slammed the stack of photographs down onto the table and ran to her room, sobbing.

Why do they have to do this to me? I know many people are doing it, but why can't I be free to choose my own husband? I can't be that undesirable right? And I'm just not ready...I don't want to be stuck with a man I don't love for the rest of my life. She watched as a tear dropped onto her pillow. Oddly, a picture of Aoshi flashed into her mind. Those intense eyes...that emotionless face...I wish he were here to save me this time, even if it's kind of crazy. He isn't some immortal after all, can't save me from everything!

And then she realised the real reason she felt so strongly against having an arranged marriage.

She wasn't really sure why, after all she had only met him properly less than 4 hours ago! Yet, it felt as if she had known him for a long time--she had felt that way since the fateful night she first saw him.

Was it love? She did not know--how could she? She had never loved anyone that way before. But love at first sight...was a rare thing, wasn't it? She didn't know what she felt, all she knew was that she looked forward to seeing him again. Even the thought of it made her smile through the tears that were stopping.

She knew that they would definitely meet again.

He turned back when they were gone, to make sure she went up safely. He had known long ago that she was the girl whom he had caught a glimpse of that night, hiding in the shadows. The energy that radiated around her--it was no mistake. Although her hair was no longer worn down in a braid, he still recognised her from the way she made him feel whenever she was near. It was as if her mere presence could lift the darkness and burden from his heart. Why this was so, he did not have any idea. Perhaps it was her innocence...

Assured that she was safe, he continued on his way again.

* * *

A few days later

Cao adjusted the baseball cap on her head. She couldn't risk it falling off, especially now when Hui-jie needed her help.

Casting her eyes downward, she bowed to the Japanese sentry and made her way through the checkpoint, inwardly sighing in relief. Every time she passed a checkpoint like that, there was a risk of getting discovered-- that she was a girl dressed as a boy. It took a whole load off her shoulders whenever she passed through the checkpoint safely.

"You, stop!" Her heart froze as she was roughly pulled back. The same pair of hands knocked her cap off. Looking up in horror as her braid tumbled down, she met a pair of small, hard, cruel eyes.

The soldier slapped her with such force that she fell to her knees. "So, a girl in disguise! You try to deceive the Nippon Army! You will pay for that!" he growled in accented English.

Cao could only glare at him, much as she wanted to fight back. Experience, both her own and from seeing others tortured badly whenever they showed defiance toward a soldier, had taught her not to retaliate. Gritting her teeth so hard that pain shot through her jaws, she endured the kicks and slaps, each time wishing that she could pay her abusers back in full--or even 10 times more if she could help it!

Then, almost as suddenly as it had started, the blows stopped. Cao looked up, dazed by the cruel beating. Before she knew it, one of the sentries roughly pulled her up and started to drag her to a secluded spot in the back alley of a nearby shophouse.

Realising what was happening, Cao screamed at the top of her lungs and struggled. Just my luck, why me? His grip was too strong, she could not free herself this time. Using all her energy and lung power, she yelled for help another time. Angered, the sentry slapped her again.

"Kono onna no ko , te o hanase!" [That girl, let go of her!] A familiar voice commanded roughly. The hands which were gripping her arms tightly suddenly let go. She fell to the ground in shock.

"Give me a good reason," the sentry told Aoshi in Japanese. Aoshi felt his anger rise to his head, but he forced himself to keep calm. He could not show any emotion--not now. It would undermine his authority. And he couldn't risk that, especially not in front of this Yamada, who was practically the only soldier who would actually dare to challenge a superior in his whole regiment.

"I said, let her go. You do as I say, I am your superior." Aoshi's eyes glinted.

"Not until you give me a good reason." Aoshi's eyes narrowed at the smirk on Yamada's face. He took a deep breath. Anything...anything to save her...

"Ore no onna da." [She's my woman.] He said this matter-of-factly, as if Yamada should have known.

Yamada's eyes widened, and he immediately began bowing nonstop. "Sorry, officer! Forgive me, I didn't know she was your woman or--or I would have never--"

"I'll see to it that you are suitably punished. Now return to your duty!" Yamada bowed a few times more and scurried back to the checkpoint, while Aoshi kneeled down beside Cao, who was now staring in wonder at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. She nodded blankly.

"You...you're always the one who saves me...you saved me the other time, and now..." She looked down and blushed. Aoshi smiled in his heart, though his face remained solemn as usual. Her bashfulness made her all the more adorable. Despite everything she said and all her actions, she was still an innocent girl, more innocent than any of the others he knew. And that was why he always felt an urge to protect her from anything... everything that could hurt her.

"What are you thinking about?" her voice cut into his thoughts. He met her eyes. "Nothing much, I was just wondering why you always seem to be the target of my juniors."

She looked away from him. "I don't know. Either they're really deprived or..."

"Or what?" he asked.

She didn't dare to reply, and so changed the subject instead. "What did you tell the sentry that made him let me go?" This time, she looked at him straight in the eye. "He sure let go in a hurry. If you told him I have a venereal disease or something you'd better watch out."

His eyes twinkled. "Maybe I should have." Good, she was recovering from the shock and returning to her normal, spunky self.

"Come on, out with it!" She cocked her head, and he could not help but smile slightly. Few of the locals, if at all, would behave so unrestrainedly around a Japanese soldier. When they saw him, they cowered in fear, as if they expected him to coerce a confession of collaboration with the resistance forces out of them. Their meek, stammering replies made him wonder what his inferiors and counterparts had been doing to the locals.

But this girl...Cao...was different. She seemed to forgive so easily, and showed no fear.

Looking at her inquisitive look, he kept his face straight as he told her in a reproachful tone. "You don't know what I can do to you for showing contempt to an officer."

"Whatever it is, you won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're a good man, I can see that." Her words struck deep into his heart. Because you're a good man. How ironic those words were. If Aoshi had been alone he would have laughed out loud at her naiveté. A good man? How would she know? What did she know? She had not seen him doing practically nothing as those under his command massacred hundreds to thousands of civilians, who were believed to be aiding the Anti-Japanese resistance, at the beach. She had not seen him decapitating a member of the resistance who had been caught passing out anti-Japanese flyers. Would she think the same if she had seen all that? You don't know anything...you're too young to know anything.

"Will you just tell me?" She begged. "I promise I won't get angry..." It was hard to ignore the pleading look in her eyes, and Aoshi decided to give in.

"I told him you were my woman." He expected her to hit him, to slap him, or even beat him up like she did to those soldiers who had tried to rape her the first time round. But she didn't. Instead, she lowered her eyes shyly, a pink flush growing on her cheeks.

"He actually believed it?"

"Why not?" He stood up.

"Because...just because." She got to her feet behind him. "Anyway, thanks for saving me--for the second time..."

"You'd better be on your way." he didn't turn back. "I might not be there to save you if you get attacked again, so be careful...tell them you're Shinomori's woman, if you want." His tone softened. "If you ever need my help, you can look for me at the barracks near the Kempeitai centre."

And then he left, leaving her to gaze after his retreating back, just like she had so often.

tbc...

Notes: Okay, I don't really know where the Japanese military barracks were during the occupation. Much as I searched, I couldn't find anything about that. Anyone who wants to correct any information is welcome to do so. As such, I've just realised that there is pretty much a lack of information on certain topics--does anyone know anything about the different colored flags on Japanese military cars that signified different grades of Japanese officers? The book that I found--"Syonan--Singapore Under the Japanese" is pretty much a summary of oral interviews and no more than that, so I could not find further information.
To all those readers who waited for weeks in vain for this chapter to come out(bows head) Gomen nasai! Just that I got stuck with writer's block and rewrote this whole chapter a few times until I was satisfied.
Yeah, i know Aoshi was quite OOC, especially in the last chapter. It is kind of hard to write in character sometimes, and in this chapter, I just want to show that Aoshi's more relaxed around Cao(Misao), as if her innocence and openness counters his darkness and reserve.
Thanks for your patience!