Chapter Five
It had been two months, two long months since she lost her life, and home. She felt sadness and sorrow; it was the feeling of true loneliness. She had been once again, laying on her hard bed thinking. It hadn't been long until she heard her guardian yelling at throwing objects around outside the room. Sakayo quietly got up from the bed and tiptoed over to the door to hear what had happened. It was quiet all of a sudden before she heard footsteps followed by a creak from the door handle. The wooden door opened as she saw a young man looking at her. "Rikyu, what's going on this time?" demanded Sakayo since he was blocking her view. "Just caught a couple of thieves," he replied sticking this thumb and hand behind him, pointing to two other young men struggling out of the ropes. They both looked at her while sitting on the dirty ground. Rikyu moved out of the way to let Sakayo see them. After all, they couldn't do much harm tied up, besides he could always save her. The older brown haired man smirked, showing his white demon teeth. "Tying us up? In our own home?" he said rudely to Sakayo. "Your home?" repeated Sakayo. "Yeah, our home..." said the younger man looking at her. "This is our home?" asked Rikyu approaching them. "Well it's ours now." Rikyu threatened the older man by picking up by his collar along with the other man and tossing them to the other side of the house. The older man groaned just as Sakayo went close to him. "The house is yours, once again, like it always was." "I just don't get you Sakayo," said Rikyu, "Well, let's go then." Sakayo nodded her head and helped untie the ropes on the two brothers. Just as Sakayo was about to leave through the wooden frame, the younger brother stopped her by saying her name. Instantly Sakayo reacted to him by answering him. "You know, we really appreciate you two taking care of this house for us, would you like to stay here for a couple of nights until you have a good home to stay at?" he asked. "Thank you," said Sakayo happily. He smiled back at her. "Your welcome."
"Say, those two boys were pretty nice," commented Sakayo as she looked outside the window. The cool night breeze slide through the window, reaching Rikyu's face. "I guess," he replied as he took out the white ribbon, holding his top knot. His hair swung loosely down to his waist. Sakayo looked at him and gasped. "Riku! What are you doing? They could find out!" she yelled. "Relax Sakayo," she said lying back onto the bed. "They won't come in, plus, you try wearing those things and those hot clothes all day long. Just live a little, it won't hurt for a night." "Okay Riku," she sounded unsure of it all. "It is a really beautiful moon. I've never seen a red moon before."
He quietly sneaked inside peeping through to make sure that no one was looking. He saw a young girl fast asleep on what use to be his bed. "He's not here?" The sound of his voice woke her up. She did nothing but lay there thinking what if he knew. She then realized that only her and him were in that room. Where was Sakayo then? She felt a tap on her shoulder; just about when she was going to toss him she realized it was only Hiroshi. Hiroshi? But why was he here? Why haven't he freaked out about her cover? She's clearly undisguised right now. "Sakayo, may I rest here tonight? My stupid brother kicked me out." He whispered to her. No wonder, he thought she was Sakayo. She was lucky, but what would Sakayo say? He was such a jerk, asking a female to dorm with a male. It was absurd! Still, she answered, "Yes, it wouldn't hurt." That's what she thought too, it wouldn't hurt to let him stay, as long as Sakayo didn't come back. The question still wandered her mind, where was she? She could take all the noises coming from Hiroshi, the sleeping sounds of a man she was use to it. But the second she felt her covers being lift, she gave him a big smack across the face and he was thrown overboard. He learnt his lesson; never mess with a tired, sleepy woman. Or he hoped that was the moral.
The next morning, Riku noticed something different, she jumped with joy knowing that perverted little boy wasn't there anymore. She quickly disguised herself back to her 'man' form, which he admit, was one of the best. Not even a real man could tell the difference, either that, or the men are stupid. Riku, no, Rikyu wondered where Sakayo was. She was missing, gone, from her sight. She had been a bad guardian Sakayo needed her. All she saw outside was the back of Hiroshi's head, while he yawned grossly at the people walking by. All the men thought it was gross, but yet, the women laughed. How was he charming to them? Was it something wrong with their heads? She rolled her eyes and joined him. "Ummm, where's your brother?" He looked at her, "Oh, probably off somewhere, wandering, as usual. Where's Sakayo?" "Ummm... She, went... shopping! Yes she went shopping," she stuttered as she spoke. "We might as well find them both," he said to her, walking in front of her. "We?" she asked. "Whose we?" "Well, you asked where she was, I don't know, I thought maybe you'd want to find the person whom you're suppose to protect." he directly told her, he then ignored her and walked off the opposite direction. Rikyu, confused, just looked around as to where she was; it was confusing all for her, so she yelled at him, then followed.
"Rikyu's worried about me, I'm sure." said Sakayo. "Don't worry, I'll take the blame. You said you always wanted to look at the stars on top of a flower field, so, I did you that favour." he said to her. "Thanks again," she said in her sweetest voice. "You don't have to be here with me, not that I don't want you here, it's just that you can walk around too, if your taste isn't the same as mine." "Okay," he said before heading the other direction. Sakayo watched as he left her in the middle of the market. Sakayo walked further up, seeing there was a crowd gathering there. She thought maybe it was a big bargain at the necklace shop but, when she got there, there was more yelling then excitement. "What's happening?" asked Sakayo to an old lady. The old lady turned to her, "It's him again. He said to the necklace owner, Yuremi, who is also the daughter of Ketsuto, the land owner, he wanted to buy this whole village off her." "What? That's outrageous," commented Sakayo. "Yes, we all know. All of us think that too, we want him to go away." she said after that. Sakayo pushed through the crowd. Once she got closer, she could see three men on horses. When she got in the centre, she saw someone who'd she never expect. "Hatake-sama?" she thought in her mind. "Why is he making such a deal of things he never would?" "Please, I can't do that. This place is special to us, it attracts visitors, it's a peaceful resting ground," Yuremi told him. "I don't care if this whole place was some dead people's grave stones, I demand the papers for this land, Prince Hatake wants this land and he'll get it," said one of his men. Hatake spotted a girl he liked so much in the crowd and turned his horse to her presence. "Ah! Sakayo, what brings you here?" Sakayo was mad at the thought he killed her mother, but yet, kept her anger inside. "I live here, Hatake-sama." "Please, don't be so formal, we know one other very well," he told her. "I don't dare," she said quietly. "Good." he said, "Sakayo, do you want to come to my castle to have dinner?" Sakayo, hearing those words, wanted to hurt him so bad, but still looked at him sort of sadly. "I'm sorry Hatake-sama, I won't be able to." "Hatake, it's Hatake..." he said to her. "Sorry, Hatake-sama." she said. "I said it's Hatake..." he said angered, thinking to teach her a lesson, he pulled his horse hard on the reins, making the horse jump up, scaring to bad, she fell down on the ground. Sakayo heard someone yelling, as the villagers were pushed. She was helped up, and then greeted by Kyo, who glared at Hatake. "Really Hatake, you really do sink so low, scaring a poor girl like herself," he said to him. "I wasn't scaring her, I just wanted some respect." he told him. "Well, you have an interesting way of showing it. Let's go." he said leading Sakayo out of Hatake's sight.
"Does it hurt?" he asked her as he examined her small, minor cut. Sakayo laughed. "No, but it does hurt when you like touching it, then looking at it." "Oh, sorry," he said letting go of her arm. Sakayo held her arm." It's alright. I wonder where Rikyu is." "Yeah, not Hiroshi-like to not stay at home and act like a potato head."
"I should have never listened to you. You are the worst direction teller in history." complained Rikyu. "Come on, it's not so bad," he assured 'him'. "No, I guess not, especially when you're tied up with chains, hanging off a really thin tree branch 5 metres off the floor, and knowing it was done by little 7 year olds. No, it won't get any better." she quietly yelled at him. "Well, when you put it that way..." "Do You Need Help?" yelled a very faint voice. Rikyu and Hiroshi looked down below them. "Are you talking to us old man?" yelled Hiroshi. "Stay Calm I Will Get A Very Safe Ladder" he yelled slowly. "He's deaf," confirmed Rikyu. "Wait 10 Minutes" he yelled before he went away. "Oh, I just can't wait to get down. This is all your fault we're hanged to a tree." Rikyu continued on, nagging him. "You know what? You're really starting to act like a girl, nagging at this. Nagging at that, you should really get a life." Hiroshi told her off. "I am not a girl, if anyone's a girl, it's you. At least I don't like to look at myself in the mirror like you do, every single day, before leaving your home." "Hey, you don't know me. I never do that. I don't even like mirrors, I only did that today was because I squished a bug on my face and wanted to wipe it off." "See! You're obsessed over your face, if that's not girly, I don't know what is." "Maybe, being so protective when I asked you if you wanted to join Kyo and me in the hot springs yesterday night." "So, that's not bad. I didn't want to talk to people like you." "Well you are." "I won't then." "Fine." "Fine." "I Am Coming" yelled the old man from before. "Good." said Rikyu. "Just a second," he told her as he pushed the chains near the end of the branch. "What are you doing?!?!" yelled Hiroshi. "Helping you two." he explained, just as the tree branch snapped. "No Problem It Was Nice Helping You!!!" he yelled to the two moaning teens.
"So you two did get hung by little 7 year olds," said Sakayo. "They weren't so little," moaned Hiroshi. "He got hung, not me," said Rikyu as she massaged her sore back. "At least, I'm not so gullible like you, taking words from me. You know that's bad news." explained Hiroshi. "At least I'm not the one saying 'Awww, look at the little squirts, It reminds me of my squirt brother I have.'" imitated Rikyu. "Oh yeah, I'm not the one whose afraid of those brats!!!!" he yelled at her. "At least I have a heart!!!" "Yeah! It got replaced by a black hole!" "Really, this is so, troublesome," said Sakayo. "Yeah, acting like babies with bad excuses." replied Kyo. "How'd you know Hatake anyways?" asked Sakayo going back to their topic before those two rushed inside. "Well, he's my rival, sort of." he told her. "I'm listening." "We know each other as rivals for the other half. Half of the country I mean." "You're the prince of South Seiji." "Yeah, smart." "Thanks, I could tell by how to act around here. People being so respectful to you, and yet, you don't want me to find out. Why is that?" "I wanted you to like me for who I am." he said. He then took her hands in his, and looked at her while she looked at him. "I've never met anyone like you. From the first time I saw you at the door, I knew you were different. If it's not too much to ask, I want you to come and stay at my castle. Rikyu can come of course." Sakayo nodded. "I'd love that." "NO YOU LISTEN!!!!" "NO YOU JUST SHUT YOUR FAT MOUTH!!!" yelled Hiroshi as he stared at her. Riku screamed as he had just blew her cover as a man, while Sakayo and Kyo still looked at each other.
It had been two months, two long months since she lost her life, and home. She felt sadness and sorrow; it was the feeling of true loneliness. She had been once again, laying on her hard bed thinking. It hadn't been long until she heard her guardian yelling at throwing objects around outside the room. Sakayo quietly got up from the bed and tiptoed over to the door to hear what had happened. It was quiet all of a sudden before she heard footsteps followed by a creak from the door handle. The wooden door opened as she saw a young man looking at her. "Rikyu, what's going on this time?" demanded Sakayo since he was blocking her view. "Just caught a couple of thieves," he replied sticking this thumb and hand behind him, pointing to two other young men struggling out of the ropes. They both looked at her while sitting on the dirty ground. Rikyu moved out of the way to let Sakayo see them. After all, they couldn't do much harm tied up, besides he could always save her. The older brown haired man smirked, showing his white demon teeth. "Tying us up? In our own home?" he said rudely to Sakayo. "Your home?" repeated Sakayo. "Yeah, our home..." said the younger man looking at her. "This is our home?" asked Rikyu approaching them. "Well it's ours now." Rikyu threatened the older man by picking up by his collar along with the other man and tossing them to the other side of the house. The older man groaned just as Sakayo went close to him. "The house is yours, once again, like it always was." "I just don't get you Sakayo," said Rikyu, "Well, let's go then." Sakayo nodded her head and helped untie the ropes on the two brothers. Just as Sakayo was about to leave through the wooden frame, the younger brother stopped her by saying her name. Instantly Sakayo reacted to him by answering him. "You know, we really appreciate you two taking care of this house for us, would you like to stay here for a couple of nights until you have a good home to stay at?" he asked. "Thank you," said Sakayo happily. He smiled back at her. "Your welcome."
"Say, those two boys were pretty nice," commented Sakayo as she looked outside the window. The cool night breeze slide through the window, reaching Rikyu's face. "I guess," he replied as he took out the white ribbon, holding his top knot. His hair swung loosely down to his waist. Sakayo looked at him and gasped. "Riku! What are you doing? They could find out!" she yelled. "Relax Sakayo," she said lying back onto the bed. "They won't come in, plus, you try wearing those things and those hot clothes all day long. Just live a little, it won't hurt for a night." "Okay Riku," she sounded unsure of it all. "It is a really beautiful moon. I've never seen a red moon before."
He quietly sneaked inside peeping through to make sure that no one was looking. He saw a young girl fast asleep on what use to be his bed. "He's not here?" The sound of his voice woke her up. She did nothing but lay there thinking what if he knew. She then realized that only her and him were in that room. Where was Sakayo then? She felt a tap on her shoulder; just about when she was going to toss him she realized it was only Hiroshi. Hiroshi? But why was he here? Why haven't he freaked out about her cover? She's clearly undisguised right now. "Sakayo, may I rest here tonight? My stupid brother kicked me out." He whispered to her. No wonder, he thought she was Sakayo. She was lucky, but what would Sakayo say? He was such a jerk, asking a female to dorm with a male. It was absurd! Still, she answered, "Yes, it wouldn't hurt." That's what she thought too, it wouldn't hurt to let him stay, as long as Sakayo didn't come back. The question still wandered her mind, where was she? She could take all the noises coming from Hiroshi, the sleeping sounds of a man she was use to it. But the second she felt her covers being lift, she gave him a big smack across the face and he was thrown overboard. He learnt his lesson; never mess with a tired, sleepy woman. Or he hoped that was the moral.
The next morning, Riku noticed something different, she jumped with joy knowing that perverted little boy wasn't there anymore. She quickly disguised herself back to her 'man' form, which he admit, was one of the best. Not even a real man could tell the difference, either that, or the men are stupid. Riku, no, Rikyu wondered where Sakayo was. She was missing, gone, from her sight. She had been a bad guardian Sakayo needed her. All she saw outside was the back of Hiroshi's head, while he yawned grossly at the people walking by. All the men thought it was gross, but yet, the women laughed. How was he charming to them? Was it something wrong with their heads? She rolled her eyes and joined him. "Ummm, where's your brother?" He looked at her, "Oh, probably off somewhere, wandering, as usual. Where's Sakayo?" "Ummm... She, went... shopping! Yes she went shopping," she stuttered as she spoke. "We might as well find them both," he said to her, walking in front of her. "We?" she asked. "Whose we?" "Well, you asked where she was, I don't know, I thought maybe you'd want to find the person whom you're suppose to protect." he directly told her, he then ignored her and walked off the opposite direction. Rikyu, confused, just looked around as to where she was; it was confusing all for her, so she yelled at him, then followed.
"Rikyu's worried about me, I'm sure." said Sakayo. "Don't worry, I'll take the blame. You said you always wanted to look at the stars on top of a flower field, so, I did you that favour." he said to her. "Thanks again," she said in her sweetest voice. "You don't have to be here with me, not that I don't want you here, it's just that you can walk around too, if your taste isn't the same as mine." "Okay," he said before heading the other direction. Sakayo watched as he left her in the middle of the market. Sakayo walked further up, seeing there was a crowd gathering there. She thought maybe it was a big bargain at the necklace shop but, when she got there, there was more yelling then excitement. "What's happening?" asked Sakayo to an old lady. The old lady turned to her, "It's him again. He said to the necklace owner, Yuremi, who is also the daughter of Ketsuto, the land owner, he wanted to buy this whole village off her." "What? That's outrageous," commented Sakayo. "Yes, we all know. All of us think that too, we want him to go away." she said after that. Sakayo pushed through the crowd. Once she got closer, she could see three men on horses. When she got in the centre, she saw someone who'd she never expect. "Hatake-sama?" she thought in her mind. "Why is he making such a deal of things he never would?" "Please, I can't do that. This place is special to us, it attracts visitors, it's a peaceful resting ground," Yuremi told him. "I don't care if this whole place was some dead people's grave stones, I demand the papers for this land, Prince Hatake wants this land and he'll get it," said one of his men. Hatake spotted a girl he liked so much in the crowd and turned his horse to her presence. "Ah! Sakayo, what brings you here?" Sakayo was mad at the thought he killed her mother, but yet, kept her anger inside. "I live here, Hatake-sama." "Please, don't be so formal, we know one other very well," he told her. "I don't dare," she said quietly. "Good." he said, "Sakayo, do you want to come to my castle to have dinner?" Sakayo, hearing those words, wanted to hurt him so bad, but still looked at him sort of sadly. "I'm sorry Hatake-sama, I won't be able to." "Hatake, it's Hatake..." he said to her. "Sorry, Hatake-sama." she said. "I said it's Hatake..." he said angered, thinking to teach her a lesson, he pulled his horse hard on the reins, making the horse jump up, scaring to bad, she fell down on the ground. Sakayo heard someone yelling, as the villagers were pushed. She was helped up, and then greeted by Kyo, who glared at Hatake. "Really Hatake, you really do sink so low, scaring a poor girl like herself," he said to him. "I wasn't scaring her, I just wanted some respect." he told him. "Well, you have an interesting way of showing it. Let's go." he said leading Sakayo out of Hatake's sight.
"Does it hurt?" he asked her as he examined her small, minor cut. Sakayo laughed. "No, but it does hurt when you like touching it, then looking at it." "Oh, sorry," he said letting go of her arm. Sakayo held her arm." It's alright. I wonder where Rikyu is." "Yeah, not Hiroshi-like to not stay at home and act like a potato head."
"I should have never listened to you. You are the worst direction teller in history." complained Rikyu. "Come on, it's not so bad," he assured 'him'. "No, I guess not, especially when you're tied up with chains, hanging off a really thin tree branch 5 metres off the floor, and knowing it was done by little 7 year olds. No, it won't get any better." she quietly yelled at him. "Well, when you put it that way..." "Do You Need Help?" yelled a very faint voice. Rikyu and Hiroshi looked down below them. "Are you talking to us old man?" yelled Hiroshi. "Stay Calm I Will Get A Very Safe Ladder" he yelled slowly. "He's deaf," confirmed Rikyu. "Wait 10 Minutes" he yelled before he went away. "Oh, I just can't wait to get down. This is all your fault we're hanged to a tree." Rikyu continued on, nagging him. "You know what? You're really starting to act like a girl, nagging at this. Nagging at that, you should really get a life." Hiroshi told her off. "I am not a girl, if anyone's a girl, it's you. At least I don't like to look at myself in the mirror like you do, every single day, before leaving your home." "Hey, you don't know me. I never do that. I don't even like mirrors, I only did that today was because I squished a bug on my face and wanted to wipe it off." "See! You're obsessed over your face, if that's not girly, I don't know what is." "Maybe, being so protective when I asked you if you wanted to join Kyo and me in the hot springs yesterday night." "So, that's not bad. I didn't want to talk to people like you." "Well you are." "I won't then." "Fine." "Fine." "I Am Coming" yelled the old man from before. "Good." said Rikyu. "Just a second," he told her as he pushed the chains near the end of the branch. "What are you doing?!?!" yelled Hiroshi. "Helping you two." he explained, just as the tree branch snapped. "No Problem It Was Nice Helping You!!!" he yelled to the two moaning teens.
"So you two did get hung by little 7 year olds," said Sakayo. "They weren't so little," moaned Hiroshi. "He got hung, not me," said Rikyu as she massaged her sore back. "At least, I'm not so gullible like you, taking words from me. You know that's bad news." explained Hiroshi. "At least I'm not the one saying 'Awww, look at the little squirts, It reminds me of my squirt brother I have.'" imitated Rikyu. "Oh yeah, I'm not the one whose afraid of those brats!!!!" he yelled at her. "At least I have a heart!!!" "Yeah! It got replaced by a black hole!" "Really, this is so, troublesome," said Sakayo. "Yeah, acting like babies with bad excuses." replied Kyo. "How'd you know Hatake anyways?" asked Sakayo going back to their topic before those two rushed inside. "Well, he's my rival, sort of." he told her. "I'm listening." "We know each other as rivals for the other half. Half of the country I mean." "You're the prince of South Seiji." "Yeah, smart." "Thanks, I could tell by how to act around here. People being so respectful to you, and yet, you don't want me to find out. Why is that?" "I wanted you to like me for who I am." he said. He then took her hands in his, and looked at her while she looked at him. "I've never met anyone like you. From the first time I saw you at the door, I knew you were different. If it's not too much to ask, I want you to come and stay at my castle. Rikyu can come of course." Sakayo nodded. "I'd love that." "NO YOU LISTEN!!!!" "NO YOU JUST SHUT YOUR FAT MOUTH!!!" yelled Hiroshi as he stared at her. Riku screamed as he had just blew her cover as a man, while Sakayo and Kyo still looked at each other.