Chapter 2
She trudged up the hill, panting; hungry. She fell down every once and a while due to loose rocks. When she made it to the house she knocked on the doors with a sweat. With a good look of the house it didn't look like a house at all! It was more like a MANSION! The sensei opened the doors. He looked down upon Amaya and frowned with pity for the girl, who was dirty and had torn clothes.
"Hello young one. What brings you to my house?"
Amaya looked up with hazy vision.
"I came…for shelter…" She panted.
The sensei smiled kindly and took her hands and pulled her along to a room with a paper screen door. There were clothes in the drawers that consisted of work outfits, Martial Arts clothes, night dresses, and three pairs of formal but not too flashy kimonos.
"Make yourself comfortable and at home. This is a spare room for those we take under our wing. If you seem interested I would like for you to eat with me and my pupils downstairs in the mess hall. Breakfast is at sun rise, Luncheon is at the stroke of midday when the gong rings, and Dinner is when the sun lowers and the land becomes dark. By the way what is your name?"
Amaya smiled and said
"My name is Amaya. Amaya Mitsarugashi."
The sensei nodded and left her. The sensei was fairly old. He only looked to be in his mid 50's yet he was actually in his mid 70's.
Amaya had lain down to sleep and woke up just as the sun touched the horizon. She yawned and changed into one of the work outfits. She didn't want to be too flashy for her first time here. It would make her seem stuck up and selfish.
She wandered around the huge house and journeyed into what had to be every room. She had found the mess hall with a couple pupils of the house sitting on the floor, legs crossed Indian style and waiting patiently for their food in their martial arts clothes.
Amaya sat down beside a handsome man on the corner of the extremely large-low table.
The handsome man's name was Raiden. He was named after the Japanese god of Thunder. His face was soft and easy to look at. His eyes were a forest green with gold flecks. He had chin length black hair which was held back by a piece of torn cloth. Amaya just stared at the fine wood table until more people gathered into the mess hall. There were about 30 people (not including the sensei's children) in the house all together (as I said it WAS a huge house) and all but 5 came to dine with them. The sensei walked calmly in the room before anyone began to eat and sat down.
"Before any of us eat this food I would like to introduce you to a new person who has come to us for refuge. Her name is Amaya Mitsarugashi. Treat her as if she were a student here."
The sensei pointed to me and said "Go ahead and introduce yourself."
"Erm…okay…" Amaya stood up and blushed slightly.
"My name is Amaya Mitsarugashi. I'm new to this village. I like nature and am skilled in only one martial art called Ninjutsu. I can hold my sake and I haven't been beat while fighting, not that I fight very much however."
The sensei laughed and said
"Well is that so? My you are a bit gutsy for a woman. You will fit nicely here. Ninjutsu eh? Hmmm."
Amaya blushed as she found she was being stared at by everyone in the room except for the Sensei. The food was eaten in about a half hour and there were many conversations. Everyone was talking except for Raiden, who chose not to speak through out the whole dinner.
Everyone cleared away from the mess hall with full stomachs and now were headed for their beds. Amaya, the Sensei, and Raiden were the last of the people to clear out of the room. Amaya turned the corner but felt a rough hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around to see Raiden.
"I hope you like it here." Raiden said.
Amaya nodded.
"I'm sure I will."
"Are you going to be a student here and learn our Martial Arts?"
"Actually I was hoping to after a few days of getting used to here."
Raiden nodded with Amaya's response, smiled and said
"I could show you around tonight…"
Amaya smiled and nodded.
"I would like that. When could we go?"
"Right now if you'd like." He had said.
Amaya smiled and followed Raiden as he walked up the stairs. They stopped at each of the three floors and Raiden explained every thing they did there at the house and how dedicated everyone was to it.
It became pitch black outside and each of them traded yawns. Amaya and Raiden decided that it was already too late and that it was time they went to rest.
Raiden walked Amaya to her room and as she was about to turn to go into her room, Raiden lifted Amaya's hand up to his lips while looking at her beautiful face.
"Have a good night." He said.
Amaya nodded and then slowly strode over to her bed, which was actually a small futon with a thin cotton blanket. Amaya did not care how she was sent to the past. She was just happy to have a roof over her head.
Raiden sighed as he walked away from Amaya's room. 'There is something odd about her. It's like…her soul resides in this place, yet her body and mind do not.' He shook his head. 'Why am I worrying about something so absurd? I am already fussing about someone that I have only just met.' His eyes seemed to come alive as he thought about her.
The next morning as Amaya woke up she heard a few small children whispering by the door. Amaya smiled and walked over to the door. As she opened it there were four children. All were girls. One girl in a dark blue kimono giggled. They were two separate set of twins. One age was 7 while the other was 8. They wore different kimonos. The kimono colors were dark blue and red (the 8 year old twins) there was also pink and yellow (the seven year olds). Amaya blushed a slight shade of pink, seeing as how she was only in her night dress. The child in the red kimono smiled, and tugged on Amaya's night dress and said "Mitsarugashi-san, you look pretty." Amaya smiled and bent over to be eye to eye with the children. She pressed light on the child's nose and said "Surely you joke young Red Kimono Child for there are many others prettier than me. Compared to them I am nothing but a joke." The child giggled. Yellow Kimono Child said "Well no one here is prettier than you so you should feel happy." "Our daddy is training the students early today and we heard you were a new visitor. Will you play with us Mitsarugashi-san?" asked Dark Blue Kimono Child "Sure I guess." I said "However I should change into some play clothes. Would you like to help me get dressed?" I asked them. "It will be fun" Said Yellow Kimono Child, running in, followed by Red, Dark Blue. Pink just slowly walked in behind them. I stepped behind a changing fold and said "Okay Children, you pick out an outfit together and hand it to me to dress in, okay? We'll make a game out of it." Amaya cheerfully announced. The children quickly picked an outfit and tossed it over the changing fold. The outfit was one of the nicer work outfits, colored a dull red with white thread holding it together nicely. It fit Amaya nicely and she wasn't picky. Amaya walked out from the changing screen. "So what are your names anyway?" Amaya asked," and you are the sensei's children correct?" All the children nodded. Dark Blue said "My name is Yuka, and yes we are all his daughters. Raiden is the oldest out of all of us. We have another brother, who is twelve, but he is training and we never really speak much to each other." Red Kimono said "I am Yuki." "I am Kimi." said Yellow. Pink Kimono Child hadn't said anything since Amaya opened the door. She was shy and silent. Amaya smiled "Come now Pink Kimono, I must know you name, or would you rather I just call you Pink all the time?" Pink Kimono Child sighed and managed to say "I…My name is Kima." Amaya nodded. "See that wasn't that hard was it? You don't have to worry, I am not mean. You can trust me Kima." Kima nodded and said "O-Okay." Amaya smiled and tapped Kimi on the shoulder. "Hey guess what Kimi! You are it! Now you have to touch one of us so you won't be it," Amaya smiled. "Everyone run away, don't let her catch you or you'll have to catch someone!" Amaya announced playfully giggling. Yellow looked stunned but quickly caught on and chased every one, arms outstretched.
The game had gone on for about a half an hour and then everybody was breathing hardly. Everyone was whining and groaning from fallen bumps and bruises. All the kids lay down outside on one of the garden's many large boulders while Amaya simply lay on the sweet grass near a cherry blossom tree, staring up at the soft pink flowers growing on the branches. Yuki yawned and it seemed to be contagious as the yawn traveled from person to person. Amaya giggled, her laugh like heaven's chiming bells of purification. "Maybe you should all take a nap." She suggested, laying her arms behind her head. Kima nodded and said "That would be good. We were up last night….eavesdropping on Raiden speaking to daddy." Yuki and Yuka gave a smirk and said at the same time "We think he likes you." Kimi and Kima both blushed, knowing it wasn't their place to tell her what they has snooped into. Yuki continued without her double "And we heard him talking to himself in his room about how he couldn't get you off his mind and how you were so nice and listened to every word he had to say. He said it was like your soul belonged here, but your mind and body are set in some other time or something like that." Amaya sighed. "When we become more like friends and less acquaintances then maybe we will see. Things like this take time you know. I admit, however that your brother is a very good looking man." She blushed like she had some stupid school girl crush. "Besides," she added, "I hardly know him."
The kids shrugged and just lay there, staring at the clouds boredly. Amaya was nearly asleep, drifting from time to time. Finally everyone was asleep.
A few hours had passed by sleep until when Raiden walked around the corner and saw all of them sleeping soundly. Amaya shivered as a cool spring breeze washed over them. The children had thick Kimono cloth to keep them warm while Amaya had a short sleeved shirt and thin material. Raiden sat down next to her on the grass, for he was already done with his daily routines. A few cherry blossoms had landed over Amaya's resting body so Raiden took the liberty of brushing them off of her. One suddenly landed in her hair and so he removed it gently and slowly, careful not to wake her gentle form. He smiled down and sighed. "Of course we only just met but I feel a bond that is pulling you towards me." Raiden saw Amaya shiver once more and he took off his loose training robe and laid it onto her. Amaya woke up as Raiden began to walk away sadly and confused. "Raiden?" She asked him, looking down on the robe. Raiden turned around. "Oh I am sorry if I woke you Mitsarugashi-san." "It is fine. Did you mean what you said about the bond?" Raiden turned a slight pink. "Oh…you heard me." He turned away slightly. "Yeah I was sincere on the bond. It just…happened I guess. Why do you ask?" He said rubbing his arms. Amaya stood up and held the robe close to her. "Because I kind of feel it too, only we hardly know each other. Let's start of as friends and then we will see from there okay?" Raiden nodded and Amaya looked to see that he was only wearing thin training material without the warm robe. "Aren't you cold?" She asked taking off the robe slowly. "No I am fine. You keep it. It is a token of my gratitude for giving my sisters someone to play with. They are always bored and we are always too busy for them."
Amaya nodded. "I see." She stood still and looked to the ground and sat down, leaning her back against the living cherry blossom tree that she had slept under. Raiden stayed standing and plucked a few blossoms from the tree. "You know," He said handing her the flowers," The flower festival is coming in a few days. None of the students are being trained today unless they wish to train themselves. Would you like to walk around the village with me then?" Amaya nodded silently. The noon gong rang thru ought the household and all of the children woke up slowly. "Is it lunch time already?" Yuki said, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Kima nodded towards Raiden. "Hello Raiden!" They all ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "Hey Sissy's ready to take me on again?" He said cockily and to his surprise all four kids jumped onto him: Yuki and Yuka on his legs and Kimi and Kima on his arms.
Amaya giggled as Raiden stepped forward and fell backwards. Yuka stood up and quickly sat on Raiden's stomach. "Wow you kids have gotten better at strategies every time I pick a fight. Better watch out for you four." He smiled. "Hey guys! Get Amaya!" He said. The kids smirked and they did the same thing they did to Raiden, to her only she didn't fall backwards so soon. She fell back when she started shaking her legs and when she fell there was a loud thud. Raiden looked over Amaya. "See? I have them trained. Good slaves, now go do your chores like father ordered." All of them nodded and quickly ran off after bowing good byes.
"They act like they don't see you very much." Amaya stated with a tone of obviousness. Raiden looked over to her. "Well yeah, I mean I'm so busy training for the war you know? I got a sent letter saying I would fight in it and I have to go up to the encampment in a week." Amaya nodded. "It must be such an honor." He shook his head and sighed sadly. "We are out numbered. We will never beat those demons.
"By the sounds of it you don't want to fight, do you?" "You can read me like a book. Not many can." Amaya nodded. "I guess that it's just one of the few things I can do. I can usually tell how a person is like and what they will do even if they ARE just an acquaintance."
