Over the next few days, they fell into a kind of routine. Keiko would wake every day to Chichiri's gentle voice as he said his morning prayers. She would sit quietly and meditate or say her own prayers until he was finished. Then Lian or one of Cho-Yen's guards would bring in the morning meal. After breakfast, Liang would give Chichiri an herbal tea and rub various herbal mixtures into his chest and back to help the cough.
Chichiri, for his part, seemed to be on the road to recovery. His breathing became easier and his cough came less often.
Cho-Yen adamantly refused to let any of the captives bathe, although Liang said there were hot springs close by, and Keiko insisted that bathing was healthful. The bandit leader did, however, make arrangements for the captives to have an extra yukatta and robe each, provided that they washed them themselves. So each day after breakfast and Chichiri's checkup, Liang and Keiko took the previous day's clothing to a nearby stream and laundered them. This brought a welcome change to Keiko's routine of sleeping, wandering about the small shrine, and wondering when they'd be rescued.
After that first day, Keiko made a point of not going outside the shrine unless she absolutely had to. And then, only when Liang was with her. Many of the men in Cho-Yen's group looked at her in such a way that made her very uncomfortable.
"I was wondering," Keiko said one day as she and Liang were washing the clothing. "How do you know Chichiri?"
Liang gave her a sidelong glance.
"How do you know I know Chichiri?"
Keiko blushed. "We'll I've watched you interact with him. There's a familiarity between you two, but I don't think that Chichiri notices it."
"He wouldn't," the healer said. "We grew up in the same village, but we didn't interact much. The only reason that I know him is because he and his two friends were very well known around the village. Everyone knew Hikou, Kouran, and Houjun."
A shiver went down Keiko's spine. Those names were familiar, and yet she was sure she'd not heard them before. Liang continued.
"Hikou and Houjun came to visit my father a lot. He was the village doctor and those two boys were forever getting scratched, or into the poison ivy, or something. Well, mostly it was Hikou, but Houjun was always there to get his friend out of trouble, or offer moral support."
Liang's face grew grave and he hung the robe he had washed over a tree branch to dry before continuing.
"The year that Houjun turned eighteen, he proposed to Kouran. A week before they were to be married a series of floods hit the neighboring towns and I was called away to help my father with caring for the wounded and sick. When we came back we found our own village swept away and learned that Kouran and Hikou, along with many others, had been killed in the flood. Houjun was nowhere to be found. Six years later, when the Suzaku no Miko appeared, I learned that Houjun was now Chichiri, the Suzaku shichiseishi."
Keiko stared down at the yukatta, forgotten, in her hands. Tears trickled down her cheeks.
"How awful. He lost his best friend and his fiancee all at once."
They were silent for a time, Keiko lost in her thoughts and Liang allowing her time to absorb all he had said. When a large white flake drifted down from the sky and landed on Keiko's hand, she gave herself a small shake.
"I'd better hurry and finish," she said.
She finished washing the yukatta and helped Liang carry the wet clothing back to the shrine to dry. The snow began to fall harder, until the whole landscape was covered in a white blanket.
"You'd best keep these people healthy," Cho-Yen said to Liang when he delivered the evening meal to his captives.
"It would be easier if you would allow me to have more blankets, or at least light a fire," the healer said.
Cho-Yen shook his head.
"My men need blankets too. If they can't have fire, then you can't. Perhaps you should pull your futons together for warmth when you sleep."
Keiko didn't at all care for the man's tone as he made the suggestion nor the look he threw at her.
"We'll manage," she said.
He laughed and left them alone.
"He's got a point," Liang said.
Keiko threw him a horrified look. Both he and Chichiri laughed.
"Do you mistrust our intentions that much?" the seishi asked.
Keiko blushed. "Gomen. I know you're both more honorable than that."
Both men gave her a smile and a slight bow. The ate in silence. When everyone had finished, Liang stood and gathered the bowls.
"Keiko, why don't you pull the futons together. We can pile the extra clothing on top for added warmth."
Keiko nodded. Chichiri stood and followed Liang out of the shrine. He paused on the porch while the healer took the dished to the camp cook. Chichiri stared up at the grey sky which was still dropping large white flakes on everything. He wondered how he'd handle sleeping so close to Keiko. He hadn't had a romantic interest in women since Kouran had died. Yet when he was alone with Keiko he couldn't seem to focus on anything else but her.
The way she moved. The way she smelled. The careful way she went about any chore that had to be done. She never complained about their situation. And when she was gone with Liang, Chichiri was chagrined to find that he felt jealous of the time the healer got to spend with her.
I'm not a love-struck teenager, Chichiri reprimanded himself. And she isn't Kouran.
Or is she? a small part of him wondered, recalling his talk with Liang about reincarnation.
"Daydreaming?" a soft voice asked.
Chichiri turned and found Keiko standing in the doorway behind him. She gave him a small smile as she moved to stand next to him.
"Not to sound like a mother hen, but shouldn't you be inside? The cold can't be too good for you right now."
With a shiver she moved a little closer to him, brushing against his arm. He smiled and wondered if she realized what she was doing. He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side, offering her his warmth. His smile grew wider as he looked down into her startled eyes.
"It would seem that the cold is not so good for you either."
Chichiri's smile slowly faded as he looked into Keiko's eyes. There was something there. Something familiar and yet foreign too. But one thing he was sure of. The woman in his arms was Kouran. Her name was different and things about her appearance had changed, but there was no mistaking the soul that resided in the body. He wondered why it had taken him so long to notice.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Liang asked as he came up the steps toward them.
Keiko gave a little start and Chichiri watched as a pretty blush colored her cheeks. He dropped his arm, but didn't move away.
"No," Keiko said. "I was just telling Chichiri that he ought to come back in before his cold gets worse."
"Good idea," the healer said. "But first I was asked to give you a message. Two of the bandits stopped me and the big on said to tell you that he liked your firm bottom."
Liang blushed a bit at the end. "I wouldn't have repeated it, but he said it was important."
Keiko began searching the crowd of bandits and missed the look that crossed Chichiri's face. The light was almost gone, but Keiko spotted the two bandits off to one side. It was Chen and Li, the two men who had found her on Reikaku-zan and taken her to Tasuki. She didn't let her eyes rest on the two men in case anyone was watching her and after another minute of scanning the bandits she turned.
"Let's go inside. It's cold out here."
