"Normal people should not get involved with ninjas. I am a ninja, and you are..."
"I don't care about ninjas and normal people! I care about you!"
"Ah!" I quickly sat up from the futon and looked around my room. The space was empty, yet Akane's words spoke to me as though she was right in front of me.
I couldn't get any sleep. I didn't get any sleep. From these nightmares, dreams, flashbacks. They all invaded my mind. Of Shizuka and of Akane. If I didn't dream of one, I dream of the other.
I lay back down onto the futon and rest my head on the pillow but I had no feeling of going back to sleep. By the sounds of the crickets, it was still very early in the morning. Making me only sleep for three hours. I stared up at the ceiling before my hearing caught the front door open and close in the distance. And making their way towards my room were two sets of footsteps; a quiet, stealth walk and a loud, small strided pace. And before long, my bedroom door slid open and walks through was Goemon. Walking up next to me, he sat down on the ground near me and rested an arm on his knee. He looked down at me for a moment before speaking.
"I can tell you actually slept for once." He says with a sarcastic tone.
"What do you want this early, Goemon?" I ask irritably.
"I was out drinking last night when I ran into someone who seemed like an interesting person." He pauses for a moment. "I met her at the bar and offered to buy her the next round, only to find out that she doesn't drink. Catching my eye were the bruises all over her. Being curious me; I asked. Found out that she was a sex slave to a headman of a small village just north of Nagasaki. She had the strength to leave that place last night and make it all the way down here." I continued to look up at him blankly as he spoke of this woman.
"What relevance does this have to do with?"
"She needed a place to stay and a job to support herself with." I groan mentally as I found out where this was going. But I didn't say a word as I glared at Goemon.
Goemon looks up to the door and whistles toward it. And appearing behind the sliding door was a girl. She looked not too young from my age. Her hair was braided to one side and was the color of winter bark. Her eyes gleamed in the low light of the lamp in my room and showed the color of emeralds. Her skin was pale as a full moon as the bruises around her neck seemed to want to hide themselves in the shadows. She walks up near me and bows respectfully to me, even though I didn't move from my spot on the futon.
"I told her I might be able to hook her up with you. You do have the extra room down the hall that she can sleep in. And you do need some help around here." Goemon nods towards the hole that was made in the wall.
"No thank you." I simply said.
"Hey, I think this would be better than any other idea that we had. You will have someone to talk to when you need it. And you won't just listen to the crickets outside during the night anymore." Goemon spoke to me with a slight grin but my focus left him when in the corner of my eye, I saw the girl's hand reach towards my bandages slowly, but I quickly sat up again and roughly grab her by the wrist.
I look back at her with narrowed eyes as a warning to not get close to me as she begins to tremble. I could even feel it in her wrist how bad she was beginning to shake. She looks up at me in surprise for a moment before she pulls her wrist free from my hand and runs out of the room after muttering a quiet "I'm sorry".
"When are you gonna grow up?" Goemon says as he stood up.
I only glared back as he walks to the door and shuts it behind him. I strain my hearing to listen to what he was saying to that girl.
"The guest room is just down the hall. The last door on the left. And don't be afraid of Kotaro. He is a nice guy, he just needs to get used to you. But that's gonna be hard in his situation right now."
"I understand."
"So make yourself at home. And if you want, get some rest. You might just be able to make Kotaro eat tomorrow." Goemon's footsteps walk down the hall and out the front door before I lost his presence. But the girl was still in front of my sliding door, not making a move.
When she did, she walked down the hallway and open the guest room door. She disappeared into the far off room and shuffled the noise she made in the halls.
Laying back down onto my futon and pillow, I stared up at the ceiling once again and thought to myself,
Goemon, what are you thinking?