Chapter 7: And I Think I'm Starting to Care
Chichiri and Ami were busy loading packs on the horses when Tasuki stumbled into the courtyard, a dazed Lolita in tow. Her clothes had been rushed on and were askew, her hair was not brushed, and she yawned in a marathon.
"Tell me again why we have to leave so early?" she shivered, pulling the coat tighter around herself. Wandering to a random horse, she patted it, and then just stood stupidly, wondering what she was doing hanging around a freezing, foggy courtyard. One horse over, Tasuki was fastening the last of the bedrolls to the saddle. He tossed a bunch of carrots her way.
"Feed the horses."
Lolita floated away, stifling another yawn as she waggled the vegetables at the animals. Tasuki raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment. The task at least kept her silent for a while. When the carrots were gone, however, she strolled back into the middle of the group. "Why do we have to go so early?"
"We're taking a secret route, no da," Chichiri humoured as he made a final routine check. Ordinarily, Lolita would have made a face at being treated like a child, but that morning, her mind was too bleary to care.
"Why do we have to take a secret route?"
"`Cause we're gonna bust some criminals a la FBI!" Ami giggled, swinging up her brown horse. The rest soon followed suit and Lolita was left alone, pouting up at them.
"No, seriously. Answer my question."
"`Cause we don' wanna take th' time tuh' go through the whole city an' follow the conventional merchant's route. Some guards are gonna let us out a back door – gate – of th' palace, an' nobody's gotta know," Tasuki explained hurriedly. He bent to offer her a hand up at the same time Chichiri said,
"Maybe you should ride with me, no da," remembering their previous riding 'lessons'. The bandit scowled, and before Lolita could reply, hoisted her up. Chichiri chose to ignore him and instead turned his mount around to a collection of outbuildings.
A weary-looking sentinel guarded the narrow gate practically embedded into the wall. The metal slab of a door whined, opening just enough to allow the passage of the travellers. When they had gone a few metres, the entrance squealed shut behind them, once again blending into the grey rock surrounding it.
"This is it, no da."
The southern exit could probably have offered a better reception with the suburban settlements beginning to clump near the city walls. But the outside of the north wall, near which the palace was located, looked like the turf beyond a crumbling medieval fortress. Curious looking plants sprouted amongst weeds, looking perfectly comfortable where they were.
"Let's get going then!" Ami replied to Chichiri's earlier statement, spurring her horse onward. They picked a rocky way along the god-forsaken wild meadow while in the background, Lolita silently prayed for the extinction of snakes.
Tasuki was beginning to get disgruntled by her presence. She had wrapped both arms tightly around him, and was most obviously clinging on for dear life. Their horse was not as cooperative as he had hoped, either, jerking and bouncing along the already difficult terrain. As it was, he had her tight around the waist, shifting every once in a while to keep her from falling off. After the tenth shift in five minutes, however, he could no longer bite back an observation.
"You've got lousy balance."
"You've got lousy horsemanship skills," she retorted. Chichiri glanced to check up on them, only to be waved away.
"If you're so sleepy, why don't you just go to sleep and shut up?"
"I don't trust you not to drop me. Cerebral apoplexy can kill, you know." He rolled his eyes. Trust her to make snide comments he couldn't care to decipher.
Trotting out of the overgrowth, they finally found the trail. Ironed out by the many caravans of goods rolling over it in and out of the year, it was so much flatter than wile ground. However, the ever-present ruts were there, though after last night's rain, they were more like muddy puddles than inconvenient potholes. From up ahead, an early merchant waved at the travellers.
A few more caravans huddled together at the sides of the narrow trail, which was wide enough to allow the passage of only one trailer at a time. As they progressed later into the day, the file that once consisted of the single caravan and three horses lengthened into a lumbering convoy.
In time, the sun came out full force. Ami happily rode into the sunshine while Lolita groaned, muttered about having had too much sun before, burrowed into Tasuki's shoulder, and eventually gave in to her earlier drowsiness. The little group had fallen behind a silk merchant, and the man, noticing the inexperienced trekker, kindly offered his trailer. Tasuki was only too happy to accept. His legs were beginning to ache from having to support her, and his arms were balancing an unconscious body more than they were steering his horse. But Chichiri did notice that the bandit rode particularly close to the silk merchant for the duration of it.
By the time they stopped mid-afternoon to water the horses, Ami had lost most of her energy. She slouched over her saddle, and was strangely silent. Lolita, however, was the opposite. She bounded around fresh from her nap, hovering over anybody who would care to tolerate her presence. It kept up until they pulled off a little way into the edge of the nearby woods to stop for the night.
At once, Chichiri retrieved his pole and set out in search of the river rushing so audibly. Most of the merchants had started to settle down, and the jolly flames of campfires dotted the trail. Once their fire was set, Tasuki ambled off through the trees, somewhere in the direction Chichiri took. Not about to be left behind, Lolita tagged along.
"Where are you going?" Tasuki chose to ignore that question the first five times. He was tired from the day's journey and really didn't feel like answering any questions. Besides, her incessant queries beginning to get to him.
"None of your business!" the retort came a little too sharply. Taken aback, Lolita paused. Tasuki continued to plod forward, but when the footsteps behind him ceased, he too, stopped to turn around. She was already making her way back to camp. Making the wrong way back to camp. "Oi!"
"I get your point!" she hollered back.
"Damn woman! That's the wrong way!"
"Go on your walk! If I get lost, I'll just put my clothes on inside out and I'll find my way back!" Was that humour he heard, or just reproach? Tasuki couldn't tell, but it made him suddenly guilty. Muttering under his breath, he ran to catch up with her.
"What? Yer sulking now?"
"No," she replied, turning surprised eyes at him. "You implied that you wanted me gone. I'm just doing what I'm told to do."
"An' ya had tuh choose tonight tuh' be obedient." Rolling his eyes, he grabbed her elbow and steered her into an overgrown footpath. "C'mon."
A quarter of an hour later...
The moon had risen high over the tippy tops of the trees, and it was steadily growing cooler. From its perch on a branch somewhere, an owl hooted its welcome to the strangers stomping around its domain.
"Have any compass, per chance?"
Now Tasuki was sure that was a reproach. "We're not lost," he insisted, though he sounded dubious himself.
"Real manly."
"Thanks."
"It wasn't a compliment," Lolita mumbled back, picking her way through the moist earth. Leaves carpeted their path, engulfing them in a humid, earthy smell. "Why can't you men just ask for directions? It can't diminish your chauvinistic male pride, can it?"
"And from whom do we ask directions?" the bandit snorted back. "The spirits o' th' undead roamin' these forests?"
"You know, that's a pretty good idea."
His head whipped around to gape at her. "Yer kiddin' right?"
"Oh, no. I'm sure the spirits of the undead have been here longer than us. They'll be nice about giving directions, I promise."
"Y' don't make promises for..." he shuddered slightly, "...them." Then, before his companion could open her mouth, he dragged her forward towards a faint bubbling sound. "The river's near here. Chiri must be there, too." He ran excitedly, relieved to finally stop being disoriented. The land sloped uphill, but when they reached the crest and peered down, there was no river. "Uh-oh."
Yanking away from him, Lolita flung herself onto the ground. "You know what? Forget it. We're lost, and we're not gonna get back until morning."
"There's still your clothes inside out to rely on," Tasuki half-heartedly muttered, sitting down beside her.
"You're not seriously suggesting I strip out here in public, are you?"
The thought was vehemently denied. Yet Tasuki blushed at the mere suggestion and was about to say that they weren't exactly "in public" before catching himself in time and shutting up.
"Hey. Lie down."
Given that he wasn't musing too innocent thoughts, her simple command made him jump a mile and flush hotly. "Wh-what?"
"Lie down," Lolita repeated calmly. She was stretched out on the ground, arms thrown in abandon on either side of her. "The stars are really pretty." He snorted, but obliged. Silence settled between them. They were lying close enough that if he reached out a little, Tasuki could hold her hand in his. "Don't you like stars?"
"Sure. They're 'ere every night. `Can't get rid of 'em if ya tried."
She made a face at him. "Well, I like stars."
"You only like one of 'em," he mumbled morosely.
"I heard that."
"It's true!"
"We're not having this conversation." They fell quiet again for a few minutes. Wind swept past them, rustling the grass. The little twinkling lights moved a little on their inky screen. "You can't see stars like this back home."
"Why not?"
"Because the fake lights are brighter than the stars," Lolita shrugged. "Anyway. Can you show me the constellations?"
"Th' rest're covered by trees, so y' can only really see Chiri's."
"Which is it?"
Tasuki pointed out the clump. Then the wind came again, blowing clouds out of a way of a new group of stars. Excited, he sat up to point them out. Chiriko's...Nuriko's...Hotohori's... He was too caught up to notice that Lolita wasn't paying as much attention anymore. At the end of his lecture, he found a cold hand wedged between the ground and his left hand. Lolita had curled up to face him.
"Lo?" He rubbed her shoulder anxiously. "What's wrong?"
"Just cold."
"Hell yeah..." The temperature had indeed dropped several degrees. In fact, the wispy beginnings of a fog were making themselves known between the trees.
"Are we really gonna be here until morning?" Withdrawing her hand from his, she drew herself up. The moon was hidden from view. It was close to impossible to tell where they were. In the dark, the only other colour was the dull grey of the smoky mist clouding the vague route they had taken.
"It won't be so bad once you get used to sleeping outdoors." Tasuki was beginning to shrug off his coat when Lolita stopped him.
"You're going to be cold if you do that."
"There's always the tessen." All around them were trees and fresh grass. He sighed. "Maybe not."
"Put it back on."
He shook his head, motioning for her to scoot closer instead. Lolita noticed that he was indicating his lap and narrowed her eyes. "Something tells me somebody's enjoying our predicament a little too much."
"I thought ya were cold."
"So I was. But I'm not falling for your tricks."
Tasuki groaned exasperatedly. "The problem with ya girls is that y' think too much. We're in the freakin' middle of a forest, fer cryin' out loud. Ya'd think I was only trying to keep th' two of us alive!" With that, he tossed the coat over to her and leaned against the thick trunk of a nearby tree. "Fine. If ya distrust me so fuckin' much, ya can keep the damn thing."
Lolita's eyed widened. He had not used so many curses in one dialogue since the early days of their acquaintance. Guilty and shamefaced, she meekly crawled over, jacket held out. "Sorry, Tas."
"Don't call me that," he snapped.
She flinched back. "Sorry."
Amber eyes lazily slunk sideways to look her over. Lolita was still staring at the ground, careful not to sit too close to him, looking so contrite he could not have the heart to remain annoyed. Reaching over, he grabbed the surprised girl and swung his jacket around them. She gasped at the sudden movement that found her deposited in his lap. Tasuki's arms were suddenly around her, pressing her against his chest and into the warm confines of his coat.
"Still cold?" he grumbled.
"N-no." Allowing a tiny smile to flit across her face, she relaxed enough to prop her cheek on his shoulder. The bandit stiffened instinctively. Just like Chichiri, she thought fondly, remembering the way the monk's muscles tensed every time they nudged each other when he was teaching her to ride. But apart from that, everything else was different. Tasuki smelled different. She tried to conjure up an image of Chichiri behind her closed eyes, but another scent pervaded her senses almost intoxicatingly. Unbidden, her face found its way to Tasuki's neck, and he groaned a little.
"Am I too heavy?"
"No," he mumbled, staring up at the snatches of sky between tree branches. "Yer just right." After a pause, he added, "An' it's really okay if ya call me 'Tas'."
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Back at camp, the first clanging and banging of settling down dwindled into a steady buzz of conversation. A group of three or four merchants were clustered together near a pretty big fire, talking and laughing amongst themselves. The elderly silk merchant they had travelled with earlier invited Ami to share his fire, seeing that her companions had not yet returned. He had not been along their present route for very long since, he said, the place used to be overrun with highwaymen.
"But it's safer now, with Imperial guards patrolling the area," he nodded, not wishing to frighten the young lady. "I can't afford danger when I have a wife and several unmarried daughters to take care of."
Ami remained talking with him a while, and then returned to their group's own camp to wait.
Chichiri came in a few minutes later with his catch. "Where are Tasuki and Lolita-chan, no da?" he surveyed the area, skewering the fish into little sticks by the fire.
"Tasuki went for a walk in the woods. Lolita was with him." Ami wondered if she should mention that they had been gone for a while, but at Chichiri's complacent nod, decided not to. Grabbing a stick, she poked at the fire, sending a new shower of sparks raining back on the flames. Chichiri briefly looked up from his work. To him, Ami would've been scowling were it not for the pensive way her brow was creased.
"Ami-chan, no da?"
She dropped the twig, not even noticing that it had already caught fire. "Yes?"
"What are you thinking of, no da?" Chichiri was surprised by the audacious intimacy of his question, and hurried to correct himself when Ami smiled and shook it away.
"Nothing important." Then her grin widened and she cocked a teasing eyebrow. "Why? Have I been acting like a desolate old maid all this while?"
He found himself grinning right back. "Not an old maid, no da. But certainly as desolate, no da."
"I'll be an old maid," she declared. Chichiri thought she was trying to laugh the matter off, but Ami's tone was steady enough to prove the contrary. She reached out to flip a fish over and noticed his puzzled face. "You want to know why, but are either too polite to ask, or too shocked." She had it all figured out. In Chichiri's time, the women practically considered singlehood a curse.
"Both options are plausible, no da."
Instead of answering, Ami drew up her knees and cradled her chin atop them. Light from the fire shadowed her face as she thought. After a while she replied, "I've just had enough of men."
Before Chichiri could stop himself, he asked why.
"You know how they say too much of a good thing is bad?" Catching herself, she laughed nervously. "No, that didn't come out right. It's a pretty long story, really, though the gist of it is that men have previously brought me nothing but trouble. And lots of other things besides men, too." He raised a questioning eyebrow, but this time she shook her head. "You don't want to know. Honest. Please don't ask."
That just about ended the topic. While both were actively racking their brains for a fresh subject, Chichiri suddenly commented about how it would be chilly at night at the same time Ami renewed her anxiety over Lolita and Tasuki.
"They have been gone a while, no da," the monk agreed as he got up to search for them. "They must have lost their way in the woods. Tasuki isn't much of a road map, no da," he smiled wryly. Ami returned it weakly. "Go on and have supper first. I'll be back with them soon. If not, don't wait up for us, no da."
Secretly, Chichiri was thankful for the disappearance that necessitated a walk into the forest. His imprudent question had caused an awkwardness to rise up between them. Though she tried to answer everything he asked, Ami was obviously squirming through it all, and Chichiri did not fare much better listening to her guarded replies. He didn't want her to have to be cautious around him; that was something that never existed since the moment they met each other, and he wanted to retain that kind of open friendship.
To get his mind off of things, he halted in the middle of a collection of trees and focused on locating the chi of his comrades. They were a little too hazy for him to pinpoint their exact location, so he walked on, hoping to get a stronger connection.
The deeper he walked into the woods, the colder it became. He was a little worried by then, and tried reaching out again. Thankfully, he touched against Tasuki's aura somewhere farther off to his left. Without a second thought, he changed course.
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The fish took forever to fry, and Chichiri took another eternity to arrive. Ami managed to save the rest of supper before they charred through, and sat out her vigil. But when the other merchants' voices faded into sleepy silence and her fire was the only one left still roaring lustily, she realized just how tired she was. Deciding to take Chichiri's advice not to wait up for them, she tossed a few more twigs into the campfire, straightened out the bedrolls, and tumbled into her own.
She really didn't know when they arrived. When the first whispers woke her, she judged that it must have been around midnight. But there was too much shifting and walking around for three people to make, and that had her scrambling for the first-aid bag at once, imagining that someone must have gotten hurt. But before she could get out of bed, a large hand clamped against her mouth and she found herself pinned to a similarly huge body.
"Stay quiet an' we won't hurt ya."
Around twenty other men were walking through camp, brandishing rusty iron weapons and torches. Some had reached into the caravans and reappeared with pouches of money. All were remarkably silent and had black scarves wrapped around their faces. Ami watched helplessly as the strangers took whatever they could get their hands on. When they had had enough to load a couple of horses, her captor stood, dragging her with him. Ami suddenly found a knife at her throat.
"You've seen too much."
She thought he would kill her, but he merely continued on his way, glancing over their loot before jerking his head to his men, signalling for them to leave. However, a younger man lingered, trying to pry off a large jade ring from one of the sleeping merchants.
"I can't afford any dangers..."
Ami's eyes widened as recognition struck. She tried to scream, but the leader's hand had practically crushed her face enough to allow only the tiniest squeak to get through. The only alternative was to struggle – thrashing, kicking and shoving everywhere she could. The man behind her growled. "Shut up, bitch."
The young bandit was still niggling the ring when the silk merchant finally stirred. At first the elderly man looked like he was going to fight back, but his opponent was younger and stronger. One sharp slap was enough to subdue him. The next time Ami looked, the bandit was raising his weapon, ready to strike. Once again she tried to scream a warning, only to have it interrupted by a sharp blow to the gut. One moment, the world was reeling the wrong way, and the next, she was crumpled over, out cold.
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Numb limbs weren't exactly the best wake-up call. Especially not in the middle of the night. Yawning, Tasuki lifted his face from the mass of hair he had been pillowing for the last hour, puzzled as to its very existence. His arms were wound around another nicely warmed human body, and he looked down, suddenly remembering Lolita. Despite the cold, she had fallen asleep, cuddled against him like it was the most natural thing in the world. He sighed contentedly.
A rustle in the forest answered.
Instantly, he was wide-awake, feeling around for signs of danger. A hazy figure appeared through the trees in the distance, striding closer and closer very fast. He shifted Lolita off himself and was trying to coax the feeling back into his legs for a possible fight when the figure called out, "Tasuki, no da!"
He sighed in relief and turned to shake his stirring companion awake. "Lo, Chiri's here!"
She was quickly up and scrambling down the incline to intercept the silhouette. Moments later, the monk emerged through the trees. "I've been looking all over for you two, no da!"
"Lo here got us lost," the bandit loped over, ruffling her hair as he accepted his coat back.
"You were the one who insisted we walk down here," she retorted.
"At least now y' won't haf'ta go back tuh' camp with yer clothes all wrong."
Chichiri raised his eyebrows in puzzlement, but merely led the way back. It was mostly a silent walk with a few giggles erupting from Tasuki and Lolita between whispers and playful nudges. The forest was still dark, making it more difficult than usual to navigate through unfamiliar woods. Chichiri kept glancing at the sky, and each time, his frown only deepened.
Tasuki noticed his friend's preoccupation. "Oi, Chiri. We're not lost again, are we?"
"No, no da."
"Then why do ya keep lookin' up?"
"I want to make sure –" Suddenly he froze, arm held out to stay his friends. Tasuki instantly shoved Lolita between them and backed the monk, scanning the depths of the forest. The only sounds came from a rare owl. There wasn't even the slightest whisper of wind to rustle the trees.
"Nothin' `ere."
"They're back at camp, no da." Chichiri broke into a run, tearing through the foliage with the other two at his heels. The ground was uneven and once or twice, an unlucky stumble slowed him down. Tasuki was swearing under his breath, tessen already in his hands. Dry leaves crackled under their feet, and twigs snapped in their faces. Lolita hadn't the slightest idea what was going on, but she could tell by the tight strain in Chichiri's voice and by Tasuki's blatant language that it wasn't anything very good. Keeping up with them was difficult enough, but at last the trees opened up before them, and they burst into camp.
Everything was in order. Relatively. Chichiri and Tasuki scanned the slumbering merchants warily, the former saying something about how he was so sure he felt something.
"I did, too," Tasuki muttered, sweeping sharp eyes over the line of trailers and horses. Nothing seemed out of place... Then Lolita gasped and squeezed past him. She would have run right over to their blazing campfire if he didn't hold her back. "Stay here. It's dangerous until we figure out what exactly is wrong."
"I'll tell you what's wrong!" She burst out, wrenching her wrist from his grasp. "Ami's gone! I can't believe you guys didn't even notice!" True enough, their camp was the epitome of calm, except for one slept-in bedroll. Blankets were everywhere. It looked as though a struggle had taken place. Their horses were thankfully still where they were hitched although all the saddlebags had disappeared. Chichiri had a grim expression on his face as he knelt to examine the bedroll.
No blood.
"They didn't hurt her," he squinted towards the forest spreading out on the other side. "But we're not sure that's not going to happen."
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A/N: A note for the clothes worn inside out. That's a little superstition the folks in my country believe in. They say that whenever you get lost in a forest, just take your clothes off and put them back on inside out and you'll miraculously find yourself back to civilization. I've never actually gotten lost in any forest before, so I wouldn't know.
I'm sorry if this chapter was boring. It was kinda hard to focus on it because I kept getting plot/fluff bunnies for succeeding chapters. The foreshadowing is really making me impatient. But teeheehee, I am getting started on fluff, and for the record, I'm really enjoying writing it!
To anybody who's still following this story, thank you for your support. I am honestly beginning to lose patience (and interest) with this piece, especially when I don't get enough feedback. ...Though, come to think about it, that's not the appropriate thing to say... :) So please, if you're still interested in seeing this through, please leave a review.
Oh, to InkedButterfly: Yes, Lolita is her real name. I know some people aren't too comfortable with the implications tagged behind that name, but I like it. * shrug*