Seung Mina spent the next four hours at Yunsung's side. She did not waver, or move about in complaint of boredom as she often would without excitement, but sat watching him intently.
She would often let her mind trail off into thoughts that would have otherwise destroyed her. Thoughts of marriage, of children, of Yunsung. She had planned out her entire life in those four hours.
Yunsung would rise through the ranks of the army, and be granted a large homestead by the emperor once Japan had been defeated. They would live contently with a vast farm to the east of their home, and a small town to the west. She would grow herbs and spices to the south, and a great expanse of forest would stretch out to the north.
Every night Yunsung would return from the fields, sweat dripping off his crimson hair, and make love to her in the heat of the summer. She could taste his kisses on her lips, and she could feel his arms around her, embracing her.
They would have children, two boys at first, maybe more later. The older one would have soft brown hair like her own, and would be content to work on the farm in his youth, and to study the ways of Confucius. He would eventually move into government, and being gentle and wise, would bring peace and prosperity to the whole world.
The younger one would have bright red hair like his father, and like his father, he would always be consumed with thoughts of adventure. In his youth he would constantly be getting in trouble with the local girls, and of course by extension their fathers.
As he grew older he would begin to feel trapped in the small town atmosphere, and would think of the great journeys beyond his front door. One day he would leave home in search of the legendary Soul Edge, as his parents had. He may find it, he may not; it didn't really matter. What was important was that he would return home with his fill of adventure and with a beautiful young wife at his side.
Yunsung and herself would grow old together in those peaceful days, and they would never fall out of love. His hair may gray, and her waist may widen slightly, but the ravages of age would never effect either of them. They would remain healthy and strong until their grandchildren had grown and married, and they decided that they had lived to experience everything they ever wanted.
She would die first, because she didn't want to think of life without him. He would not linger long after though, and his broken heart would lead him back to her in the next life.
Yunsung twitched violently in his sleep, and Mina became painfully aware that they were not yet dead, and in fact very much alive. He rolled sharply, as if fighting the invisible enemies in his memory, and Mina realized that he was still very much his own man, and not yet hers. Even if he somehow grew to love her as Han Myong had her mother, she still faced the prospect of him resenting her in the short term.
"Can I do this to you?" she whispered under her breath. "Is it right for me to trick you into loving me?"
A gentle rapping struck the door, and Seung Mina sharply turned her head as the family servant entered in from outside. Kim Sun stood with her head hung low, and with her eyes piercing the floor in submission. Her long black heir fell softly over her shoulders, covering the simple white robes that hung freely over her body. The small candle she carried in her left hand illuminated her face slightly, and revealed the non-emotional expression that she always seemed to wear across her cheeks.
"Have you finished cleaning White Storm?" Seung Mina asked with little regard.
"Yes," she responded. "But, Seung Han Myong instructed me not to return it to Yunsung just yet, I … do not know why."
"I'm sure that it is nothing," Seung Mina said in an attempt to dismiss her servant.
"You are probably right," Sun agreed as she lifted the candle in her hand, and let it rest against the weapons rack upon the wall. "Your father sent me to see that you get some rest," she said after some time.
"I will not leave Yunsung," Mina responded, quick and determined. "I want to be the first thing that he sees when he awakes, I… I want him to know that I care."
Kim Sun stood disciplined. "It is important you get some rest," she said firm and unwavering despite authority. "I will wake you at sunrise if you wish. It is unlikely that he will awaken soon anyway."
Sung Mina was standing now, taken aback by the brash comments of her docile servant. Rebellion began to rise like fire in her, however the instant she parted her mouth to speak, a wide yawn escaped her. Flushed with embarrassment, Mina covered her mouth with her hands and sheepishly averted her eyes from those of her servant.
"Please wake me if he even so much as stirs," Mina said with determination as she passively, and reluctantly, left the dojo; and stepped out into the chilled night air to return home.
The heavy wooden door squealed shut behind Seung Mina, and Kim Sun stood alone over Yunsung's sleeping form.
His body shifted slightly, and the heavy blanket parted revealing much of his chest and back to the open air. Kim Sun studied the lines and muscles of his flesh with great detail, and smiled to herself as she did so.
A great longing swept over her, and her heart raced with lust. He looked so strong despite his injuries, and legend of his battles spread quickly through such a small community. He was after all, the hero of the dojo, and she wanted him. Seung Mina could be damned.
The edge of her index finger trailed up the length of his chest, and her fingers dug softly into the line below his breast. Her other hand parted his ebony red hair from his forehead, and she leant over him. This was her chance to kiss him, and she would take that chance. Slowly, softly, she lowered herself over him, and pressed her lips against his.
He struggled at first, confused in his unconscious state. But then he stopped shifting about, and let his lips move as if by their own. His eyes shifted from side to side underneath his closed lids, and he seemed to perspire somewhat.
Kim Sun removed her lips from his, the taste of his kiss fresh, and sweet in her mouth. He resisted, and moved his lips about, tasting the air for her. His closed eyes moved with more ferocity, and he twisted from side to side; consumed in dreams. "Mina," he said softly before shifting over against his back, and falling deeper into sleep.
Kim Sun sat up in a huff, and crossed her arms in her lap. "You jackass!" she said with firm focus. "So you do care for Seung Mina. It doesn't matter though. That brat isn't worthy of you," she said as if consumed within an ego that should not exist. "One does not work her way out of the streets without being crafty," she said with a gleam of arrogance rivaled only by Yunsung himself. "You will be mine yet, and I will get you to make my every dream come true."
Yunsung awoke to a sudden startle. His eyes shot open, and his hand instantly shot for the place by his side that he kept his sword. The nonexistence of that most primal comfort caused him to at once rise from his sleeping position.
The blanket that had covered his body fell to his ankles, and Yunsung stood agitated, and frightened, in his nakedness.
Kim Sun buried her face in her hands, and tried not to look directly at him. She was suddenly much more aware of herself now that he was conscious.
Trying to save her decency more than any sense of self-awareness, Yunsung lifted the blanket to cover himself. "Where is White Storm?" he asked with force and urgency.
"My master Seung Han Myong has taken it back into his possession for cleaning," she responded in her normal servile manner.
"Seung Han Myong you say?"
"Yes."
"I guess that is his right," Yunsung commented to himself as he lowered his head somewhat in the darkness and began to think. "It was foolish of me to think that he would never ask for it back."
"I am certain that he has no intention of keeping it. You are Yunsung, the hero of this temple. There is no one more deserving of such a blade, Master Seung must realize that," Kim Sun said as she shifted closer to him, and let her cheeks begin to flush a fine cherry red. "You are Yunsung, and you can have anything you want," she asserted, seductively and tactfully including herself.
"You are kind to say so," Yunsung mentioned, seemingly oblivious to her advances. "But I cannot shake the thought that he intends to keep it. White Storm is after all a Seung Family heirloom. It is almost morning. I will speak to him about it then."
"And would you like to dress before then. I am certain that an attractive man such as yourself would cause quite a stir amongst the female population should you patrol into daylight as you are."
Yunsung's face flushed slightly as he noticed the blanked hanging over his body, and he relaxed a somewhat adolescent laugh. "You may be right."
"Let me get you some clothes. I believe Seung Mina left a set of your white robes in the other room." And with that she rose from her kneeling position, and walked into the adjacent room. After a few short moments she returned with a bundle of clothing in her arms. Yunsung quickly dressed himself, as he tried to ignore Kim Sun staring intently at him as he did so.
"In my first unit we used to have a soldier that always stared at people while they were changing," Yunsung joked. "Were we ever relieved when he got the run through from a samurai spear… although some of the boys argued that he wanted to have a shaft driven into his pelvis," Yunsung laughed.
Kim Sun could never remember a time when he had indulged in such gross, hurtful humor, and it caught her by surprise to see his eyes water and tear in laughter upon the recollection of something so violent. It seemed that war had changed him somewhat, took away part of that blissful ignorance that characterized him so much. He had become the part of a warrior, and not the other way around as local legend had predicted.
"You have become stronger," she mentioned as she tilted her head, and stared into his swelling red eyes. "You are no longer the brash young child you once were. You have truly become a man," she said as she rested her hand against his shoulder and gently massaged the bridge of his collarbone.
He pulled away, and seemed to become disgusted with her, but more so with himself. "Nothing has changed," he affirmed. "I can tell how you are looking at me now. You admire me for being strong, ruthless and violent. You admire my prowess in war, and that is exactly what I am trying to defend us against. The Japanese lust for war, and that is what I am protecting us from. I am not like them!" he screamed as his laughter instantly shifted to weeping and tears rolled down his cheeks. He collapsed to his knees, and his head fell into his hands. "I am not like them!" he screamed, letting out the violence, and the rage, and the months of tension that had built against his nerves. "I am not a monster!"
She moved to embrace him, and let her arms fall around his shoulders, and pulled him close to her breast. He did not struggle, his fragile emotions had snapped, and he could not find the resistance to refuse her comfort. "You do not have to be strong around me," she said. "I know that you are protecting us. I know that you fight every day to keep us safe. Just… just let me help you in your fight."
Kim Sun pressed her fingers against the back of his neck, and on command his head rose from her chest, and his eyes gazed into hers. She brought him closer into herself, and let her lips rest against his.
"This doesn't feel right," he whispered under his breath, as if some small piece of him wanted to fight against her, and refuse her; but that piece could not find the strength to resist. He was so tired of fighting.
"You don't have to say anything. I am here to take care of you now."
His face twitched in defiance, but her arms tightened around him, and he let his body fall limp inside of her. "It's good to be taken care of," he whispered, as he lay motionless in her arms.
"I understand," she said as she brushed the edges of her fingers through his fresh, clean hair. "I understand what it means to be afraid, and yet brave. I know what it's like to be so very strong, and yet underneath so terribly weak. You don't have to explain anything to me, I already understand."
The tips of her fingers pressed into the heavy muscles at the back of his shoulders, and she gently massaged them as he hung transfixed within her embrace. Her hands ran across the breadth of his neck, and through his hair, and again, she kissed him. This time he made no motion to refuse. Her lips traced the length of his, and despite the pain, and the hardship, he became excited. Only a statue of earth and clay would have been unaffected in the face of her passion; but Yunsung was no statue, and he found himself kissing her back.
At that moment, as the two figures rolled within each other about the hard wooden floor, a sleepy eyed woman slowly pushed open the heavy door of the temple. Her plain green dress had been replaced with her more familiar red attire, and her soft brown hair had been tied behind her.
The rising morning sun broke through the open door, and like the accusing finger of truth it struck through the darkness and rested upon Yunsung and Kim Sun. His eyes blinked like one unaccustomed to the light, and he was unable to distinguish the blotchy and spotted form that stood against the confines of his vision.
Seung Mina's eyes swelled as she twisted her face back into the direction of the sun, and raced away from the temple, her silver tears falling in clear waves against her cheeks. The moment descended into silence as the soft tapping of her feet broke in the distance, and Yunsung lay confused, and awed; with Kim Sun still suspended in his arms.
His lips broke from her, and his mind raced into the realm of reality. The translucent seduction Kim Sun had entwined around his heart was broken by the sudden impact on his senses, and he rose to his feet; shamed by the light. "Seung Mina," he hollered as perception fell upon him, and he found himself moving at great haste away from the temple, and towards the figure that had stood at the gate only a moment before.
Starring with wide speculative eyes as Yunsung fled from her embrace, Kim Sun couldn't help but laugh under her breath, as she stepped back into the darkness of the temple.
