I don't own Samurai 7
Kanna's fortress was finally complete and the two devout samurai who made it happen were ready to bed down for the night. But for the first time in the past week, Heihachi was hesitant about returning to the Elder's house. He wanted to prolong saying farewell to his red eyed pillow.
"Shiroji, go ahead without me. I am going to have one last look around."
Heihachi took off in the opposite direction, contemplating what the outcome of the battle would. Downside he could died, upside he could live, and then what? Standing on near the river's edge a shadow caught his attention.
There was someone sitting on the bank. Cautiously stalking forward Heihachi wondered way the night watch had not sounded the alarm. As he got closer, Heihachi was able to make out long sliver hair.
"And here was thinking you'd at the house waiting for me" he said coming up behind her.
"Oh! Heihachi, I was just thinking about you. Tell me again the name you used while you were in disguise", jerking her head up.
Heihachi squatted down next to her. "Eh, Eminosuke, what makes you think of that?
She leaned back and looked absent mindedly at the stars over head. "I visited Gorebei's grave today? It would have been nice if all three of us could have gone to the orphanage together."
He turned his attention to the river, "yeah, Haruko-san would have liked him."
"She told me about the demons that haunt you…ghosts from the Great War. I didn't believe her, I said, 'how could such a goofy samurai have demons'. But I saw it that night with Manzo…the night I ran after you."
They sat in silence in along moment. Heihachi did not like talking about his past, and was beginning to tense up. "Figure that out by your self, how perceptive."
Tomoe pulled her self out of the water and pushed Heihachi down. She loomed over him smiling, rebuking his stoic attitude. "I could careless about what you did or did not do, back then. I just wish you'd get over it. Personally, I am thankful, because it brought you here."
"What are you saying, you don't know? You have no idea about what I did!" he flared.
Tomoe rolled her eyes "You need to let that go, what's it going to take for you realize that you are not the same man you were back then?"
Heihachi glared up her, but she would not be waiver. "Get off me!" he ordered.
"Answer the question."
"Another war… maybe" He huffed out.
"Well congratulation, you're in one", she said with a sardonic grin.
"Now will you get off me" he asked again, trying to push her up. Instead of moving away, Tomoe leaned in closer until she have enveloped Heihachi's lower lip in a clumsy kiss.
Heihachi's brain functions slowed the moment they touched. She melted away all his mental barriers, and neutralized his inhibitions in one tender embrace. Thus allowing his senses to be tantalized by the taste of her and delight in the notion that he was enjoying the sweetest rice pudding, and inhaling the scent of fresh honey. The sense of touch not be neglected, his hands explored the supple curves of the woman above him.
Betrayed by the pounding of his own heart, he pulls away the blissful kiss. He pushed her away and sat up panting for air. "We shouldn't do this"
For a moment Tomoe's eyes were filled with dejected confusion. Until she realized that the suddenly bashful samurai's hand was lingering on her cheek. Tomoe quickly grabbed his fingers, preventing him from pulling away. "Coward" she murmured to her self, noticing that she had exposed some the skin hidden under his glove.
Heihachi watched her nervously, as her gaze became transfixed at the sight of his wrist. As each of Tomoe's hastened breaths caressed the bare flesh, waves of panicked excitement washed over him. But when she licked and nipped at the sensitive skin, Heihachi's heart slapped against its cage.
"Tomoe, stop!" the words came out more like a groan than a command.
Haughty red eyes stared back him. "We live only once"
"This is wrong ", he protested.
She released his hand, "Can you honestly say you don't want this?"
Tomoe said this with calm resolve, in contrast to the turmoil that was written on Heihachi's face. "Would you like to add lost opportunity to your list of regrets" She chided. Not to be denied, she eased the cap from his head, and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.
"I told you not to fall for me", he groaned, painfully aware that her knee was digging into his groin.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing their foreheads together, her lips curved into a mischievous grin. "Yes, but how can I deny the rice Kami of something he obviously wants", she teased.
Heihachi was loosing the battle for self control. She had deliciously straddled his leg, and he could feel himself becoming engorged. Dammit woman, when you look at me like that, can I be anything more than your puppet.
Before he could say anything else, Tomoe gently kissed his upper lip, "Please, let me show you that I trust you."
Defeated and ensnared, Heihachi gave in to will of his instincts.
Heihachi lay spent and exhausted in the cool grass. I could really go for a nice bowl of rice, right. What am I saying? What a thoughtless bastard I am, I didn't even think about this being her first time.
He looked down at the silver head resting on his chest. "Tomoe, are you alright?"
Those red eyes he had come to love glared at him with irritation, as she wrinkled up her nose. Then without a word she rose and left him laying there.
What the hell, it could not have been that bad, he thought. "Tomoe?!"
Splash. The samurai scrambled to edge, bewildered by her behavior. The reward for his concern was witnessing Tomoe's silhouette splashing in the water. Touching the nail marks on his shoulder, "I am either lucky or cursed."
"Join me" she called out to him.
After a little horseplay they found them selves wrapped in each others arms again. When Heihachi awoke, the soft glow of dawn was in the tree line. He got up slowly, trying to avoid waking Tomoe.
He did not get far, when she snaked her arms round his waist. "Once more…we have time, don't we?"
"I'll make time"
Morning was well under way by the time Heihachi pulled himself away from Tomoe. They dressed in silence. Just as the samurai picked up his sword; Tomoe took his free hand, and rested her forehead between his shoulders.
"It would have been better if I had let you go the fist time"
"My back agrees with you", he said referring to the roadmap; she had put on his back.
"I'm not going to ask to come with you." she said tonelessly.
He turned to face her "Are you sure? It would mean one more night together"
She blushed slightly "Tempting, but I want you to trust that I will be here when you get back; with your rice ready."
Heihachi pulled her into one last kiss, "Not sure I a want to do that, I could use a little more convincing"
She smiled, and he banished the foreboding sensation in his heart. "Finish the job Samurai, then you get your reward"
"A smile from my devoted consort is reward enough." He teased, causing her to blush beet red.
Heihachi let go her and headed down the road. She stood there watching him fade into the horizon, telling herself that she would not cry.
The elder was sitting outside the house when saw his daughter approach. As she got closer he spied the blotches on her neck and legs, and raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You didn't come home last night"
"No, I didn't"
"You smell like wood, did you sleep like out doors"
She had not looked at her father until then, giving him a haphazard smile, "Something like that, otosan"
"I hope you know what your doing, girl"
"So do I, Father", as she retreated in to house and curled under her futon
Days pasted and Tomoe waited. She trained the archers and she waited. She took rice to the fallen samurai and she waited. When the youngest Samurai returned, she scuffed and waited some more. Only when the rumbling of the capital could be felt in the very stone surrounding Kana, and she took up her weapons, did she stop waiting.
Posed for battle, she anticipating fighting at Heihachi's, in fact she relished it. But when a stray Raiden unit grabbed her, and demanded to know where Katsuhiro was, she was stunned to silence. But when a capped and goggled head popped out asking for his reward, she willing answered. And when golden eyes ordered her inside, away from battle, and to get his rice ready, with a wink, she conceded with the glow of a newlywed.
Seated before a boiling pot of rice Tomoe tuned out the sounds of war. It was all an inconsequential precursor to a volatile reward. She heard nothing, felt nothing, except occasional waves of anticipation and longing.
Almost on queue, when the last bow of rice was set on its tray, the sound of approaching footsteps filled Tomoe's ears.
"Tomoe-Chan?!" the voice doesn't not belong to the one she is expecting. The silhouette is to the too tall, and there is something dismal about the way this person calls her.
"Tomoe- chan … I am sorry "
There are more sounds, more faces, more feelings but all is lost on some who has willed herself impassive. Devotedly planted before a mound of earth, she stares at the protruding sword. The same sword she had retrieved, to serve as his marker on the hill of heroic samurai. Although Shiroji had pried the weapon away from her vise grip days ago, she would not be separated.
Days and nights passed, and still she sat, staring at the ghostly charm dancing on the wind. Her red eyes had long since glazed over with the disillusionment of a widow; that had developed the embittered heart of a scorned lover. So vial is this acrimony that she is made a bronze statue, unable to mourn at the shrine of the rice Kami.
"Girl, why are you still here?" a guff voice pierced the fog of her inertia.
"You are not need here anymore, your samurai is dead"
She slowly turned her disheveled head, "I know"
Shiroji held out a satchel and her quiver. The elder stood next to him leaning on his cane, "Seeking your happiness where you first saw it", he said before abandoning her to her own devices. This was farewell, stark and unyielding.
"Welcome back, Tomoe! "Rin cried, when she saw her come through the gates of the Orphanage. Ushering her inside Rin asked her about what had happened in Kanna, and told her about the rumors they had heard from passer-bys. By the time Tomoe was settled inside, the entire orphanage was gathered around her.
Tomoe told them everything, in a fashion she imagined that Gorebei would have however, she waited to the very end to tell the children the names of the heroic Samurai. But poor Aya was the first to start crying at the mention of Heihachi Hiyashida.
"Ho-Ho isn't coming back?" she asked Tomoe.
Another child cried, "Who's going to fix our toys"
A younger boy replied, "Quit balling, I'll fix 'em, Ho-Ho taught me everything."
But even he had a few tears. Rin sat down next to him and rubbed his head. Haruko just leaned back in her chair, holding back her own sadness.
"Well, if that don't beat all", was all she could said. She had to stay composed for the children's sake.
"Nothing can be done about it now, so in the morning we will build a shrine to our lost friend, and do what he liked to do best; chop wood."
"Hai, come on, children off to bed so we can get an early start" Rin said wiping away her own tears. The children obedient rose and started up the stairs. Aya held Rin's hand till they reached the top, leave Tomoe and Haruko behind.
When all the children were out of sight, Tomoe finally broke down and cried. Haruko was bewildered for a moment. "Child, you're crying as hard as Aya, I didn't even think you two got along"
Between her sobs, she croaked out "why am… I wasting…my tears …on a sloppy… untrusting… rice obsessed… samurai"
"Oh, Honey, he was a friend. It is only natural to mourn him." Haruko tried to soothe the weeping girl. "You stay down here tonight, okay."
"I should have gone with them… "
"Then what, you might not have come back to us either. No, Tomoe everything worked out for reason. Come let's get you to bed".
That night Tomoe cried herself into a deep sleep. In the morning the residents of the orphanage built a wooden shrine and chopped wood, just like Haruko said. And for the next several months things were routine and peaceful. Until the following spring.
Aya and the other children were pressed against Haruko's door, listening to her bark orders to Rin and Tomoe.
"Prop her up higher, and hold her hold. We're almost there… I can see the crown" Haruko had Tomoe's knee braced against her shoulders while she placed towels beneath the cresting head.
It was hot and muggy could there be a worst day to deliver a baby. Haruko's mind was racing it had been years she had acted a midwife, but it coming back to her. She let Tomoe catch her breath before the final push. In the pause, a fear passed through Haruko, that babe was premature, a dangerous prospect with their limited resources. But the Canal was pushing the child out fast and she did not have time to be idle.
"Okay Tomoe one last time no push hard as you can"
Tomoe let out a muffled shriek that frightened the audience out side, but succeeded in launching her child into the world. Haruko quickly caught the head and pulled the grey body from if mother. She laid the babe on her lap and rubbed away the blood and amniotic discharge, until the baby cried. The last of the contractions expelled the placenta, so Haruko could cut the umbilical cord.
"It's a girl "Rin cheered, as Haruko placed the baby on Tomoe's chest. There was an uproar form the children outside.
"What are you going to call her" Rin asked wiping the sweat from Tomoe's brow.
"E…Em…Eminosuke." Tomoe said panting.
Haruko took the baby back to examine her. Her lungs were health. There were no deformities. All in all, a really nice sized, full-term, health, baby girl. As she continued to coo and play with the baby, it briefly opened its eyes and smiled. Haruko nearly gasped at the face before, golden tufts of hair matched by golden eyes combined with a smile like Buddha.
"Tomoe… is she, his child?"
Tomoe's expression became unusually inert, as she took the child back into her arms. She rocked and cradled the baby. Let me keep my secrets. At least for now, until I can tell her how I found his broken body on the battlefield, and how I ended his suffering. I can't say out loud that I took his last breath, so please don't ask me too. So when I think we are ready, I will take her to the rice paddy where I buried her father. There I can tell her, everything, who he was, and how kanna brought him redemption. Then I will tell her who she is, Hiyashida Eminosuke, the Rice Kami's daughter.
Haruko could see the mounting sadness in the young mother and decided not press the matter. She even went so far as to force Rin to swear, to never discuss the subject. After that no one else asked about identity of Eminosuke's father, and why should they, she is being raised in an orphanage.
Thank you all for reading. And my apologies for grammar and spelling errors.