Hello hello hello, we have more to read!

Now, we all know how much I loved the last chapter, and Naraku being a dick. This chapter doesn't quite live up to that level of perfection, but it isn't terrible. This chapter is going to be a nice big mess for Nori. I hope you're ready for this one. Poor girl's going to go through a fair bit this chapter.

So let's not dilly dally

Miasma

Here the power is ruthless and the truth is deaf. Here the air is filled with the miasma of sin
- Jean Racine

The morning bought with it confusion and aches.

I awoke on the hard wooden ground of the music room, naked beside a purple haori thrown over the top of me, muscle stiff from laying on the floor. The futon I slept in wasn't all that comfortable, but it was more comfortable than the raw ground.

What...?

Oh.

Oh shit.

Naraku. He and I had-

"Really?!" I sunk back down to the floor, covering my face in shame. What the fuck did I do? I'd slept with Naraku, essentially my work colleague. I'd always kept a firm don't shit where you eat philosophy about my work-life. Dont date colleagues. Don't fuck colleagues. It only made things messy.

I was more mortified about the fact that I didn't regret it.

Naraku was... well.

I had no complaints. That was all I would say on the topic.

Oh shit!

Sword fighting!

I jumped up, found my hadajuban and kimono and donned them in a rush, holding the kimono closed as I searched hastily for the sash.

I couldn't find it anywhere.

Fuck. Where the hell was it?

Dammit, I couldn't hold out for it. Instead I threw on the purple haori I'd been covered with - Naraku's haori - and held it all closed with my hands as I ran through the hallway back to my room, praying no one would pass by and see me like this. Thankfully someone up there was on my side this morning. Not a single person spotted me as I bolted from one room to the next. Breakfast was sat outside my room when I arrived. I ignored it in favour of getting inside and dressing in the uniform Kagewaki had delivered to me. I pulled my hair up into a hasty knot, held together with my pen as usual.

I split breakfast into two portions and left one portion in my room. I'd eat after training.

The other I ran to Kagewaki's room, setting it down on the floor outside his door and leaving it there. I knocked on the frame to alert him someone was there, then bolted out towards the gardens.

I made it to the training field before the General.

Success.

Apparently I impressed the General after knocking three young men flat on their asses in the first minutes of sparring. He'd pitted me against newbies. Children and young men that had just been drafted and had a bokken shoved into their hands. I don't know what he expected. I had been training for years, and he knew as such.

My training was no joke.

I think after the first few the General realised that, and started pitting me against more challenging soldiers.

I was a little rusty after a couple weeks, but fell back into it eagerly.

Tell you what, though. These boys meant business. I'd learnt the method of the sword as a hobby, just a fun sport, and I had been taught as such. These men had learned to save their skins, and it was obvious. They were rough and at times I really had to fight back more than I ever had to keep myself from going down.

It was a challenge.

It was a bigger challenge when, during one spar, I noticed two very familiar figures stood beside the General, overseeing training. Kagewaki and Naraku stood side-by-side, watching intently.

My opponent got a good strike to my arm that was probably going to bruise like fuck before I got back into the game.

I barely scraped the win on that challenge, and stood above the fallen soldier, panting harshly.

He was looking back up at me in total shock. "I've been training since I was twelve," he said, like he couldn't believe that he had lost to me. He looked a little younger than me, maybe Kagewaki's age, so he hadn't been training as long as I had.

"And I've been training since I was seven," I replied, offering a hand to him.

He took it and I hoisted him up. He slapped me on the shoulder good-naturedly. "You're good, girl. I look forward to seeing more of what you can do."

"And you. Maybe in a thousand years, you can face me again," I teased.

"I'll train every day of those thousand years so when it comes time, I will beat you," he promised.

Good. "Train well, then."

"Miss Masanori."

Shit.

The last thing I wanted to do was go over to the general now, when he was standing with the two men I was involved with. How the fuck had my life gotten so messy so quickly?

Steeling myself, I passed off the bokken I had been using to another soldier and turned to the General. I bowed in greeting. "General Watanabe."

"Well, you've impressed me, girl. Congratulations. I do hope to see you more frequently on the training fields. You're welcome here any time your duties to our Lord allow you time."

I'll take that as one major compliment.

"I am impressed, also, Miss Nori. I have never seen a woman work a sword quite like that." Oh Kagewaki...

A quiet noise from Naraku had my eyes cutting to him. I could feel the smugness and the innuendo almost rolling of him. He wouldn't dare. Would he? "I agree," he purred out, voice low and just a shade off mocking again. "To see a woman master a sword is a sight to behold."

These two men would work together to destroy me if I wasn't careful, intentionally or not. I had a feeling Naraku could make an innuendo out of any topic, and would absolutely work that to his own advantage. Kagewaki seemed naive enough that I hoped he wouldn't pick it up. I didnt know how I would react if he did find out what had happened with Naraku and I.

I decided to play it safe and just ignore the baboon's teasing for now. "I thank you both, though I do need to work to knock the rust off. It has been too long. I hope I can join the training frequently, General Watanabe. Thank you kindly for the offer."

After a few more pleasantries were exchanged, Kagewaki butted in. "Miss Nori, would you honour me with a walk through the gardens?"

Please no.

I opened my mouth to try and flounder through a polite denial when a servant came rushing up to the four of us. "Miss Masanori, the Lord Hitomi demands your presence at once."

Saved by the bell.

But fuck.

This day was annoying enough as it was. Why couldn't I just get away with a day without having to deal with the Lord as well?

Though I'd rather face his death threats than his son's romances right now.

The Lord was in a good mood when I reached the meeting room. That much was evident when he greeted me by name.

"Ah, Miss Masanori, you've arrived. Come join me."

I did as bid, kneeling opposite him at the low table. The servant kneeling at the table immediately poured me some tea. She was dismissed with a flick of the Lord's hand. I was left alone with the Lord. Now that was unusual. Usually he had an audience for our meetings. Someone to witness the death threats he gave out. We'd never once met alone.

He sipped his tea with a contented sigh. "Your healing has impressed me. My son shows little improvement, but I haven't felt so good in years. Here I thought I had age to blame for my woes."

Kagewaki had shown a lot of improvement in my eyes. He was up and about every day in the gardens. Eating more, taking more. His depression was waning with every day. Perhaps he wasn't quite ready to run a marathon, but he was doing amazingly. "I'm pleased to know you're improving, Lord Hitomi."

"Nagasaki, please."

Oh no. Not him, too. What was with these Hitomi men?

"Of course, Lord Nagasaki. Can I ask why I was summoned?" Rip the bandaid off. Find out what I'd done wrong and get the death threats over with.

He set down his teacup. "My son has had many praises of you in the time you've spent with him. You've done wonders with him. He's leaving his bed, helping in matters of war. I haven't seen my boy so happy since his mother was alive."

So what did that mean? I waited expectantly for Nagasaki to elaborate.

"You've lightened the castle aura immensely with your presence, Miss Masanori." Where was all this praise coming from? It was strange, out of character. I didn't trust it. What was coming next.

"I'm happy to have contributed," I replied carefully, wary about speaking out of turn. I absolutely did not trust this conversation as far as I could throw it.

"My son came to me last night with a rather odd request." There it was. "He requested that I allow him to court you."

I swallowed thickly. Kagewaki, you're an idiot and a fool. What the fuck were you thinking?

"Of course, it wasn't an easy decision to make." Of course. "You're a peasant. Just a travelling healer. For a Lord to marry a peasant... You can see why I couldn't agree to the idea."

"Of course, my Lord. It would be a brazen disregard of class structure." And I wanted no part in it.

The Lord chuckled. "Funny it is that you agree with me now, after I have already made up my mind on the situation. My son is a sickly boy. As such he has been secluded. He knows not of the world around him, no matter how I try to teach him. The fact is, Miss Masanori, I do not trust you. This has presented the perfect opportunity for all of us."

I could hear it now.

Off with her head.

"You shall marry my son."

What?

"And in doing so, you will show him how untrustworthy you are, woman. He will see you for what you are, and it will break him. He'll come to realise not to trust a common woman and her charm."

Nononono. You were supposed to put an end to your son's idiocy without hurting him. "My Lord, there's little sense in it. We're of different worlds." Literally. "I'll embarrass your family's name as his wife. I don't want to serve that insult to you."

He smirked. That bastard. "You're serving me quite well," he responded smugly. "Welcome to the Hitomi family, Miss Masanori. Your wedding will be planned shortly and it shall be grand. Try not to break my son's heart too sadistically, girl."

I felt sick.

I'd have preferred the death threats.

Information corner

"Really?!" - the line that Nori uses in the first scene of this chapter. There's no big thing to say about it just to look at the line, but a lot of thought went into it. In the first draft, I wrote 'oh my God', which is the phrase I'd use (and have used) in similar situations. But that's not something you would hear in Japan. Not a lot of Japanese people are Christian. They do exist, of course, but as it stands, any allusion to God just isn't that common in Japan. A similar sentiment to the phrase 'Oh my God' in Japanese, while dependent on the area, is maji ka. It can be used pretty much exactly the same as Westerners would use their version of 'Oh my God' and translates to English pretty much as 'really.' Sooo I chose to use that rather than the original 'Oh my God' I used in the draft. Not a big thing, but something I thought I'd mention anyway. I find it interesting, at least.

Review Corner

darkvibeslover - Welcome back! Glad you liked this chapter. I had a lot of fun with it, of course, but the whole sex without romance dealy isn't so much loved in the fanfic community, so I wasn't sure how it'd be taken. It's going to get darker, just you wait. Especially with the whole sort of wanting but also really not wanting the marraige thing. Its gonna be a fine mess.

I love angst and drama, and this chapter really provided. There's just something about it that I adore so much, and poor Nori really got caught in the centre of it. I'm absolutely not sorry in the slightest.