CHAPTER 9: PEACEFUL NIGHT

It was very late at night. The rest of Night Raid had gone to sleep. Sanfred had been given permission to spend a few days there… for the time being. He had his own room, and he was essentially being kept prisoner in there.

Not that Sanfred had any objections. He was sprawled on the bed, letting his right hand soak in a bowl of warm water.

"There's healing herbs in this," Mine mentioned. "It will close the cuts on your hand overnight."

"That seems a little too convenient," Sanfred joked.

Despite the humor, Mine was still shaking. She kept on thinking about that battle earlier in the evening. Things had been close… too close. "I thought you were going to die," she practically choked out. "What the hell happened?"

Sanfred's eyes widened. "I can avoid dying from poison or illness," he explained in a soft voice. "I just discard it."

"You mean… vomit?"

"It felt like 'discard' was a nicer word."

She shook her head, doing her best to hold back tears. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Suddenly, Sanfred took a hold of Mine's right wrist with his left hand. "You really fought for me back there. Thank you."

All she could think to do was to sit down and try to process everything. "I don't even know what's going to end up happening now."

"With any luck, they'll just release me with a pinky promise to keep their secret or something."

"This is serious." She faced him again, unwilling to let him just laugh this off. "I am serious. I'm asking you to join Night Raid."

Sanfred smiled at her in giddy fashion. "There's nothing more romantic than political assassinations."

"I said, this is serious."

"I am being serious." Sanfred released her and postured up, as if to further emphasize his sternness. "This isn't just some fun happy camp. You may have feelings for me, but what you and your comrades do is not about feelings. It's a business. It's a way of life. You're asking me to join your way of life. But I have no stake in it. It's not my war."

Somehow, it finally seemed to hit Mine. She nodded understandingly, although some tears still managed to seep through.

"Whoa, whoa," Sanfred said, gently wiping the tears away with his right hand. "This is really the only way? No gray area?"

She tried to envision a scenario where it would work out… but all she saw was bloodshed. "Sorry."

"Oh," Sanfred said.

When Mine looked at his face again, she saw blushing. She almost couldn't believe it. "You're red," she pointed out.

"Probably some of the poison got to me," he brought up.

"A likely excuse."

"There's more than one kind of fever." Then Sanfred let out a heavy sigh and nodded his head. "Really, you are more serious about all this than I previously comprehended. Now I must confess that I am sorry for letting you down."

"You should be," she said, still struggling to manage some tears, even while she was feeling better.

To her relief, Sanfred extended his left arm, allowing Mine to crawl over next to him on the bed. She lied there peacefully, pressing up against Sanfred's side. While there, she found a level of comfort that made her feel so much better.

And now, Sanfred seemed to leave all those battles far off in the distance, as he relaxed for a change. "I'll do everything I can to make it work," he told her.

She looked over, making sure she was staring right into his blue eyes. "You're serious?"

"Deadly serious."

"No more jokes. I swear to God."

"We have to figure out a better way at distinguishing between jokes and serious talk. This is the latter. I will do everything I can to make it work."

Mine just brought her head back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Her head may as well have been in the clouds. "I accept your vow," she declared in a comical rich voice. "Follow all my orders and everything will be fine."

Right away, Sanfred groaned. "Orders? Can I take it back?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then I must incite a mutiny."

Mine rolled over, looking at him once again. "You wouldn't dare."

This time, Sanfred was motionless. He stared at her, and his mouth slightly hung open, revealing a small trace of his tongue. With that, he moved forward, bringing his face inches from hers. And then he pressed his lips down on hers.

They kissed for a good while. From there, the serenity of the evening seemed to finally get them to submit to their desires for each other. At least, temporarily.

Mine was the one to pull the plug on things. She nearly had her pajamas pulled off by the time she called a halt.

"I'll get you eventually," Sanfred said seductively.

"Whoa," Mine replied with a grin, her cheeks the color of roses. "I don't know if I'm turned on or disturbed by your sex hungry side."

"Only one way to find out."

"Yeah… but not tonight. Besides, you're injured, and you're supposed to be healing up."

"If you get my blood flowing, I'll heal faster."

That got a puzzled smile out of her. "That's… totally not a real thing. I think. Let's just keep things the way they are for now, cool?"

"Not cool… but I accept."

With that, Mine bundled up next to Sanfred again, making sure to avoid bumping his right hand, which was still wounded. The two of them stayed there silently for quite a while.

Eventually, Mine brought up an inquiry. "When you first found me, were you tracking me down from the start?"

"What?"

"How did you decide to kidnap me originally? Was it your plan from the start?"

"Where's this coming from?"

"Just answer please." She looked at him intently.

Sanfred sighed and gave her a nod. "I saw the posters of Night Raid weeks before. However, that morning, I went to visit a client to collect a payment. He told me about this new wanted poster, and how he felt like the girl on it was worth more money than the Empire was willing to fork up. Therefore, he told me he'd double the price if he had the girl."

Mine wasn't sure if she was going to like this story… but she still listened quietly.

"That evening, I went to go find work, and what do you know? I saw you, the girl from the poster. Just happened to see you in the city. So, I took the opening."

"That's it? You just happened to run into me?"

"Pretty much." Sanfred looked away now, sensing that it was a nasty subject by now. "You can go ahead and hate me again if you like. I do feel pretty rotten about all of that."

"Like I said, I already forgave you," she insisted.

"Maybe you shouldn't," he brought up.

"I'll decide that for myself, thank you very much."

At least, after that Sanfred decided to accept her words. "Ran into you a second time. Two coincidences? Interesting, right?"

"Yeah, that is hard to believe…" Mine realized it was genuinely hard to believe. Should she really take everything Sanfred was telling her without question? It was hard to see him as being anything other than honest at this point. But he was still a trickster.

For now, she wanted to concentrate on positive things. "Santo Federico," she repeated his name.

"At your service."

"Better than Sanfred," she had to admit. "May I call you something else?"

"Sanfred," he said adamantly.

"Very well. What about your last name?"

He paused to review it. "Garrido."

"What does it mean?"

He grinned. "Elegant."

"Ooh," she said with a little chirp of joy. "So… Santo Federico Garrido. Quite a name there."

"You don't seem to have one of your own," he brought up. "Just Mine? What's your last name?"

"It's dead to me," she mentioned coldly. "Sorry."

"My family name is a skeleton as well," he admitted.

"That why you go by Sanfred?"

"It felt like an easy way to squash it."

Mine nestled closer to Sanfred's waist. "You called me 'Rosa' earlier tonight. What was up with that?"

Sanfred was strangely quiet.

That caused Mine to look over and search for his eyes. "Come on. Nothing cheesy or romantic to go with that?"

Even then, he looked almost apprehensive. "I merely felt that it would be a nice nickname for you."

"Really?" Mine stared at him, trying to figure out how she felt about it. "Well… I don't really like nicknames. Just call me Mine."

"So be it, Rosa," he replied.

With a low growl, Mine reached for his face, grabbing his hair playfully. "If you're going to try and stick a nickname on me, you better give me a good reason why."

With his hair being held firmly, Sanfred caved in. "You are like a rose."

She released his hair, although she remained curious. "That's it?"

"A rose in a desert. It feels like there is nothing but hatred and death around you. Yet you shine anyway. That was why I said what I did."

It surprised Mine how much she appreciated hearing that. True, it was probably just some generic story that could apply to many things. But she felt like she legitimately had that type of a world. Even if she didn't think of herself as a rose, it was nice to know that he felt that way. "You really meant it? You're gonna live here?"

"I said it, didn't I? In my stern voice."

She smiled, not caring if she was noticeable blushing in the dark. "There's a lot of work to do."

"Show me. I will get it all done."