The mermaid looked at Ryoma, curiously, while he placed a heavy coat made of black fur over him and picked up a spear. The blizzard had finally stopped on that morning.
"I need to go outside and hunt something for us. I didn't have much food inside for two people until the weather gets better and I can fish again or go to the city."
He showed her a small smile and patted the top of her head.
"Be a good girl and stay inside, okay? Wait for me." he said, before leaving.
The mermaid sat in front of the door, waiting for him to come back.
Although the snowstorm had stopped, the snow was very thick all over the area. Ryoma's legs sank until his knees and the cold wind burned the skin of his hands and face.
He had to be slow and silent on his actions, since rabbits and other animals could hear him easily.
It took him a long while to be able to spot a prey. It was a wild hog, looking for food near a tree. Ryoma was against the wind, so the animal could not feel his scent. Getting closer slowly, he was about to throw the spear on the animal, when a huge hog appeared in front of him, with big and sharp tusks. It was probably the male of the herd.
"Damn it!" Ryoma ran away when both animals started to persue him. His legs were heavy from the snow and cold and he was already tired after a few meters. Coming near a ravine, he turned around and laid his feet deep on the snow, holding the bigger hog's tusks, trying to stop him. The animal was furious and very strong and, even after with all his strength, Ryoma was pushed down the ravine.
Some minutes passed before he was able to sit down, pressing his palm on his forehead. His head was hurting and his back too.
Looking up, he had fallen for at least 5 meters.
"I have to take some food home." He told himself, worried about his guest. But, at the moment he looked around, he realized he had landed on a big group of bright orange mushrooms. Ryoma stood up quickly and realized those were poisoned ones.
Looking at his arms, some of the mushrooms were crushed and their sap entered the small cuts on his skin.
He took a deep breath, trying not to panic. The young man started to climb the ravine, while the snow started to fall once more.
############
"Wow." The taller guard said, amazed. "She really got legs."
Him and the other men of the Musamasa's young lord were around the mermaid, looking at her naked body. Her skin was trembling entirely after such intense pain and she was still crying, her face hiding by her long hair. She was sitting down near the wall, trying to hide herself, the chains still around her body.
Ren used food to drug her and they took her inside the castle after she passed out.
"Really nice legs." The fat guard said, licking his thick lips. "Nice everything."
"You can go now." Ren said, after opening the obi of his dark kimono a little. He smiled at the mermaid and she glared at him with the scarlet eyes inside her lose hair. "We are going to know each other better. Close the door on your way out."
"Yes, sir."
When the young lord was just a few steps from her, a circular electric field appeared around the mermaid and they were all shocked.
"What is that?!" Ren stretched his hand and hurt himself. He had burned his palm. "Shock waves." He looked at her with an enraged expression.
"Are mermaids really able to do that?!" one of the guards asked.
"Apparently they are." Ren grinned. "But, let's see how long are you going to be able to maintain this without food or sea water. I am a patient man after all."
The young mermaid screamed at him, before he closed the door, leaving her alone on the dark room.
############
The young man sat down and opened his green eyes lazily, when hearing the banging on his door. He stood up and starched his dark short hair before opening the door, still very sleepy. But, in just a second he was completely awake, taken by pure surprised.
"Kaori, what are you doing here?!" he asked, surprised when seeing the Murasama lady standing in front of him. She was using a dark cloak over her clothes that was covered with small snowflakes and her pink eyes were apprehensive.
"I am sorry to disturb you so late, Shuichirou, but I need help, please."
"Sure, come in." he helped her to take of the cloak when she entered his house. "Do you accept some tea? It is freaking outside.
"I do, thank you." She was trying to behave normally, while sitting on his table and waiting him return from the kitchen. How much time had passed since they last saw each other? How long had it been since she screamed at him, pushing him away from her and hiding her tears and broken heart for their separation?
"Here." He returned with a small cup and offered to her before sitting across from her. Lemon tea, her favorite. He still remembered.
Oishi Shuichirou was the last commander of the Murasama's forces. Although just a couple of years older than her, he was a capable warrior and his family had worked together with hers for many generations.
They were engaged for one year when her father passed away and Shuichirou told her he would leave his position. He moved out from the castle and was living on a small house near the forest.
"Thank you." She said, quietly, after taking another sip and putting the small cup over the table.
"So, tell me, what is wrong?" Kaori took a deep breath, before speaking.
"Ren is keeping a mermaid on the castle." He noticed her eyes were filled with sorrow.
"What? A mermaid? Are you sure?"
"I saw her. She was suffering so much, he hurt her. I need to help her; I need to set her free!"
"What are you saying? You cannot cross him!" Ren was known to torture people who were against him, putting their bodies to rot on Muramasa's central square.
"I cannot let her be like that!" she banged on the table. "My father would never forgive me. He did not raise a coward!"
"You are not a coward, no one is saying that. But your brother is a lunatic. And he had a lot of men on his side. He only wants a reason to cast you aside from the state, do not risk yourself." Shuichirou tried to touch her face but she moved away, looking at him angrily. "Kaori?"
"I am sorry for bothering you." She stood up and grabbed her cloak on the way to the door.
"Wait!" Oishi held her arm and she turned around, a deep frown on her beautiful face.
"Let me go! It was foolish of me thinking you would help me. You abandoned me when I needed you the most. Why would you help me now?"
"Kaori…" he looked so hurt. "You know it is not true."
"You left me alone there, with him! To witness all the horrible, disrespectful things he does!"
"I asked you to come with me." He replied, very patiently.
"I cannot leave Muramasa under his whim. I cannot abandon my people. Even if I am just a woman."
Kaori held her breath when Shuichirou embraced her, tightly, her chin on his shoulder.
"Please, let me explain now what you did not let me before. I could not be there under this command too. I could not support him, what kind of man would I be? How could I stay by your side after selling my soul? How could I touch you with my hands tainted with blood?"
"Shuichirou…"
"You are Muramasa's rightful leader. The law is unfair." He touched her soft hair and inhaled the sweet perfume he had missed so much. "Do not say you are just a woman. You are the most incredible and fierce woman I ever met." He whispered on her cheek. "You are the only one I ever loved. I love you still."
The tears from missing him that she held deep inside her heart overflowed with his sweet words and the proximity of his body. She looked at him and Shuichirou touched her moist cheeks with his thumbs, before kissing her deeply.
When she kissed him back, Oishi picked her up on his arms and took her to his bed. On that cold night, Kaori worries and sadness were able to be forgotten for a momento on the reunion of their bodies and the warmth of Shuichirou's skin against hers.
###############
Kaori returned to the castle before the break of dawn, going inside from a secret passage on the outside gardens. She noticed everything was very quiet and she found strange. Crossing the hallways of the rooms, she stopped for a while in the half opened door of her brother's chambers. He was sleeping with two unknown women on his bed, some loose sheets around their naked bodies. She took a deep, annoyed breath, before continuing to walk towards the down stairs. Reaching the basement, she went inside the dark room where the mermaid was. The poor thing was against the wall, shrunken with fear, tiredness and hunger.
Kaori picked up a small bowl of fresh water from a bucket close and walked towards her direction when one of the guards appeared in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Kaori-sama, but, your brother told us no one could offer her anything."
"Take him out from those whores and tell him to drag me from here again if you want." She said, seriously, before going around him and staying a few steps away from the mermaid.
"Kaori-sama, be careful, she can hurt you!" Another guard said.
"You will not hurt me, right?" she smiled at the mermaid, which looked at her with a fearful expression. "It is alright." She placed the water bowl in front of her.
They had changed the chains on her, now she was using them on her ankles and wrists, tied on the wall.
The mermaid sniffed the fresh water and picked up, drinking everything in one big, desperate gulp.
"I am sorry." Kaori whispered. "I am so sorry."
The young woman looked at her, not understanding her words.
"Please, be strong. I will you set you free. I promise you."
#############
The mermaid had an apressive expression on her beautiful face, still sitting in front of the door. It was already night and the weather was horrible again.
She was worried about the human and his delay. Ryoma had taught her to start the fireplace and she did it as soon as it became dark and rolled herself inside the heavy blanket, waiting anxiously for him.
It took another half an hour before the door opened and she stood up, with a big smile, while Ryoma entered the house.
He looked at her and showed her a couple of bunnies he had caught.
"Here, we will have food for some more days."
She noticed his face was covered in sweat and his eyes were heavy.
The mermaid ran to him and held his body, before his knees failed on him.
Laying him down and removing his coat, she realized his skin was extremely cold and it was hard for him to breath. She cupped his face with a worried look on the scarlet eyes. There was a weird yellowish tone on the cuts of his arms.
"Me…medicine." He raised his hand very slowly and pointed to a small bookcase on the kitchen with different glass bottles. It was the only thing he was able to do after his golden eyes closed due to the intoxication.