Search for the Shinazho: Take Two
Chapter 7: Jiyuna vs. Soi… again
It was morning. Jiyuna woke from a deep, dreamless sleep and nearly grinned at the welcoming sight of the tent being lit up with sunlight. She was warm, very warm, and after blinking her eyes a few times to adjust to the light, she realized why.
Sometime during the night, Nakago had rolled on top of her, his face buried beside her head into her hair. His hot breath on her neck sent chills of pleasure running through her. Gods, the man smelled wonderful, the odors of vanilla and lemon intermingled, invaded her nostrils. She struggled against the comfort of her situation, even though it felt so damned good lying under him.
No, she scolded herself. Don't think about that. But, even as her mind said it, she was ignoring it. Lying still under the sleeping shogun, she unconsciously reached a hand up to smooth the soft, silky blonde hair back from his face. The unfamiliar contact caused him to stir, then awaken.
He lifted his head from the swirling red locks of Jiyuna's hair, stared at her, an obscure expression on his face.
Jiyuna's hand still rested lightly on his hair. She shyly pulled it away, waiting for him to roll off her, but he stayed there, that odd expression still on his face.
"Nani?" she asked finally.
"Why did you do that?" His eyes narrowed at her.
The girl shrugged her shoulders, cast her eyes away from his. "I don't know..." she muttered.
"After what I did to you last night, you still show kindness toward me. Why?"
She pushed him, trying to get out from underneath the strong, muscular body, but he didn't budge.
"Tell me."
"Gods! I don't know! You're aren't such a creep when you're sleeping, ok?"
Nakago's face fell. She had shocked him.. she actually shocked him.
He was confused. This girl was making him feel things he did not want, nor have the time to feel, and why? Was it the smell of jasmine and peppermint that surrounded her like an aura and clung to her hair? Was it the compassion she showed all the time? Was it the tough exterior she put on that reminded him so much of himself? He didn't know. Shimatta, he swore. He moved off her abruptly, swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood.
Silently, he discarded his robes - much to the dismay and embarrassment of Jiyuna - and put his armor on. He walked to the opening of the tent, turned back to the bed where she still lay. "Your friends will be coming for you today," he announced. "I'll have to decide whether to let them live or kill them." With that, he exited with swish of his cape.
"Baka!"
She rose angrily from the bed, cursing aloud. "Why the hell are you being nice to him, Jiyuna, he only killed your family." She began to pace back and forth in front of the bed. Would he really kill them? "Of course he would!" she answered her own question.
A million thoughts and questions entered her mind. Should she try to escape again? What if she was caught? Surely, Nakago would allow Soi to kill her this time, in fact, he might even do it himself. But if she did get away, she could warn the others before they reached the encampment. Jiyuna wrestled with indecision.
"Gah!" She gave up, feeling a headache work its way through her, and threw herself back onto the bed. It was then she realized she was still beyond tired. Pulling the pillow under her head, she curled up, hoping to get just a little more sleep.
Just as she closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep, a pair of hands grabbed her by her hair and ripped her painfully from the bed.
"Why don't we finish what we started?" a female voice sounded.
"Soi," she groaned. This is not something I want to deal with right now. Jiyuna was already angry, and Soi was not helping things.
Jiyuna was thrown roughly onto the ground, moaned as a heeled boot dug into her back.
"Come on, peasant, why don't you fight back?" the older girl sneered.
The other laughed hoarsely. "Hmm, it couldn't be because you have your foot digging in my back, now could it?" Jiyuna managed to twist herself so she could grab Soi's foot, and pulled hard. She hit the ground with an audible "Oof!" escaping her lips.
Jiyuna jumped up from the ground, and put a foot at the bared neck of the fallen Seiryuu seishi. "Do you really want to finish this?" she asked, a smirk resembling Tasuki's on her tired face.
Soi opened her mouth to say something, but watched in amazement as Jiyuna flew off her into the nearby tent wall by an unforeseen force. She sat up, and saw Nakago standing at the opening, holding his hand out.
"What the fuck is this?!" Jiyuna yelled. Her back pressed up against the wall of the tent, her arms straight, unable to move.
Soi picked herself up off the ground, chuckling. "Are you forgetting that Nakago has powerful chi abilities?" She walked up to the immobile Jiyuna, and slapped her soundly in the face. She pulled back her hand for another one, but the deep, impassive voice of Nakago stopped her.
"Leave us, Soi," he said.
Jiyuna watched in wry amusement as Soi's face turned to extreme anger. "Nani?! Leave you?"
The shogun nodded once. "We have some... business to take care of."
The tall, auburn-haired seishi dropped her head and sulked out of the tent.
Still pressed against the wall, Jiyuna fought all she could against the power that held her. She heard Nakago chuckling, and paused her struggle to glare at him. "What's so funny?"
He smiled. "It's impossible to break the bonds of my chi. Not even Suzaku seishi can."
A low growl formed in her throat. "What.. 'business' do we have, Nakago?"
Nakago approached her, his sapphire-like eyes locked on hers. "A spy informed me that the Suzaku seishi and the Miko will not be coming today."
Jiyuna's eyes widened. Not coming? They really didn't care, did they?
He saw the look on her face, considered reaffirming her obvious doubts...then decided against it, simply shook his head. "Your emperor, Hotohori, has fallen ill, and the healer is still too weak from curing his other injury to heal him. They have postponed their 'rescue' until tomorrow."
She sighed in relief, wanted to wipe the sweat that had formed on her forehead. Nakago saw this.
"Oh, do not worry, Jiyuna. They will come for you. The difference between they and me is that they will never leave one of their own in the hands of the enemy."
Jiyuna stared at him for a long moment. "Let me down," she said, her voice even.
A harsh laugh from Nakago filled the tent. "Let you down? But I like you here..." his voice became soft. He strode up to her, traced a finger down her jaw line. "You don't like it here?"
She couldn't breathe. She hated him, hated this man with all her soul... but his touch... gods, his touch! Jiyuna felt her resolve beginning to weaken, her intense fight against his chi dwindle, and finally, her body give itself to whatever he had planned.
Nakago trailed his finger across her lips, smiled again, and... turned away? What the-? she thought, completely confused as he walked out of the tent without another word. A few moments, the chi bonds dissolved and she fell to the ground with a soft thud.
She sat on the ground, staring at the opening, half-expecting him to come back in. This man is going to drive me completely insane! the thought screamed inside her head. It was then, while she sat dumbfounded on the hard ground, that she remembered what he had said.
Hotohori is ill? Her mind reverted back to the night they had bonded in the woods, staring at the stars. She felt ashamed. How could I be enjoying being a captive of Nakago? Hotohori had strong feelings for her, if that kiss was any indication, and she knew she felt something toward the handsome emperor, but that was before Nakago...
Before Nakago?! Jiyuna slapped herself in the head. How could she keep forgetting that he was the enemy? Nakago was the boogieman parents told their children about, and here she was, feeling Suzaku-knows-what for him! She grumbled something aloud that sounded much like "damned men" and leaned heavily against the wall. Her thoughts drifted to the fact that she was starving and really needed to bathe.
These new, much less mind-numbing ideas caused her to get up and see if there were any guards outside the tent. She poked her head out and was immediately reprimanded by three of them.
"Lord Nakago says you aren't to come out."
She sighed. "Well, go tell Lord Nakago that his captive is starving and would also like a bath... if..." she added haughtily, "that's alright with him." Then, she turned and went back into the tent.
Nearly ten minutes later, a guard came into the tent with a tray of food. "Lord Nakago apologizes for neglecting you.. but he's engaged with planning."
Jiyuna grabbed the tray from the overweight guard. "The shogun shouldn't apologize for stupid things," she commented.
The guard gazed at her with a semi-frightened expression on his face. "Anou... he said you will be taken to the lake to bathe soon." He bowed quickly and practically ran out of the tent,
The famished girl scarfed down her food much like Miaka did all the time. When she was finished, she sat down on the bed and waited, and warm feeling going through her at the thought of being clean.
Finally, when she thought she couldn't stand it anymore, Nakago entered the tent. "You wanted to bathe?"
She nodded. "I know you don't want a dirty girl in your bed," she said.
He spun around. "Follow me."
The two walked to the lake in silence. Jiyuna stared at his back, he was in a normal mood when he had broken up the fight between Soi and herself, but something must have happened between then and now.
They reached the lake, and Jiyuna stared at it for a moment. Clear blue water rested, unmoving, against the backdrop of a gigantic, snow-peaked mountain. "Wow," she whispered, her mouth forming a perfect O.
"I will put a chi field around the lake after you get in. That way, you can't run away, and you'll have a little privacy." He cast her a sidelong glance.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Ah, what the hell... she thought to herself before dropping her robes and diving into the clear blue water. The moment she was in, she saw the blue light emanate from his hand, and the lake was sealed. That done, Nakago walked back up toward the encampment, leaving Jiyuna peacefully alone.
The cold, crisp water felt wonderful against her skin. She washed the grime of the last few days away using a strip of her robe. The bottom had fallen into the lake and was not sealed away from her by Nakago's chi field.
When she had finished, she swam laps around the lake, waiting for Nakago to return and lift the field. On her tenth lap, she heard the unmistakable voice of the Kutou shogun. "You're time is up." He dissolved the field around the lake and held a large blue robe open for Jiyuna to wear. She slid into it, her long wet hair cascading down the back.
The two said nothing as they walked back up, and Jiyuna was escorted back into the tent. She had looked at the sun before stepping into the tent, and saw that it was near dinnertime. At least I the morning is gone, she thought. Now, what the hell am I going to do for the rest of the day?
She stepped over to the closed opening of the tent, knelt. Lifting the bottom of it very slowly, she peeked out to see what the guards were doing. The two were sitting on the grass, looking as bored as she was. Ha! This'll be easy! She stood up, walked back to the center of the room. Opening her mouth, she shrieked long and loud, enough that the two guards came bolting into the room.
"Jiyuna-sama, what is it?" one asked.
"A spider!" she shrieked, throwing herself at him. "A spider! It's huge and it was on me!"
"Where is it now?" the other asked, looking around the floor.
"It ran under the bed. Please," she begged, clutching at the guard. "Find, kill it. I can't stand spiders!"
"Of course, right away!"
The two dropped to their knees, peering under the bed. A spider attacking Lord Nakago's woman would never do.Jiyuna stood behind them, smirking. Suckers, she thought, before tiptoeing away and out of the tent. Once outside, she took a deep breath of fresh air, and scampered off. She had no intention of trying to escape again, the memory of that first incident was still fresh in her mind as she fingered her swollen eye. But she could at least roam around the camp unnoticed, distracting herself for a few hours.
And here was the perfect opportunity. Suboshi and Soi were standing outside a tent, chatting in the sun. Soi was sitting gracefully on the ground, her long legs stretched out in front of her while Suboshi played with his weapons.
"I don't understand why I can't be allowed in the planning room. I'm closer to Nakago than that snake, Tomo."
Suboshi let out a breath. She'd been complaining about it for the last hour, and he was ready to kill her. He looked up, saw the girl Nakago had captured standing near the side of the tent. What the hell was she doing out? He opened his mouth to say something, but the girl put a finger to her lips quickly, then pointed at Soi, and raised her other hand. In it was a wriggling, completely harmless snake. Suboshi went back to his practicing so Soi wouldn't see that he'd been distracted, but kept an eye on the girl. Whatever she was about to do, he didn't want to miss it.
Jiyuna sighed in relief. When Suboshi saw her, she was sure she'd been caught and in big trouble. But the boy had gone back to playing with his weapons, and had given her a wink. He must not like her much, either, she thought wickedly. She stood at the corner of the tent, directly behind Soi. She lifted the snake she'd caught, and tossed it. It sailed in an arc, plopping right into Soi's lap.
The auburn-haired woman screamed bloody-murder, and it was all Jiyuna could do to not burst into hysterical laughter right there. Suboshi was standing there, tears running down his face, watching Soi writhe on the ground, trying to dispense of the creature.
"Suboshi, get it off! I hate snakes! Aaaah!"
But his laughter was too much, and he crouched down, holding his stomach with one hand. Jiyuna waved once to him and took off trotting across the camp, knowing if Soi knew it'd been her, she'd be dead before nightfall.
She so busy being entertained at Soi's display with the snake she ran right into a hard body, and bounced off. She recovered quickly, but was met with an unsmiling Nakago.
"What are you doing?" he asked her, deadly calm.
"Entertaining myself," she admitted. "I was bored."
"Entertaining yourself," he repeated. "An escape?"
Jiyuna snorted. "Are you nuts? You have guards all over the place. I was only out to find something to do so I wouldn't be bored for the next five hours. You weren't coming back until nightfall, I figured."
"You were waiting for me?"
"No, I-" she stopped. In a way, that's exactly what she'd been doing. "Only because at least I can fight and argue with you. It's hard to do that with the guards."
His blue eyes clouded. "I see." He stepped forward, took her arm. "Back to the pao, now."
"That's where I was going, and I don't need you to lead me there," she protested, wrenching her arm from his grasp.
Nakago watched her walk back toward the pao, frustration all over his face. He was either going to kill her, or bed her until they were both exhausted. At the moment, bedding her sounded like so much more fun. He started after her, knowing that he'd take her, whether she wanted him to, or not.