Chapter 19

They returned to the clearing they had camped in the night before. It had been a few hours since they had left the cave and Akage. Umi had bandaged Kaze's wound and Nami hadn't stopped crying since they got back and Sai was still unconscious with Kaze never leaving her side. The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful shade of orange. No one really wanted to go back to the village. They had failed. The demon, Konton, had gotten away. All that was left to do now was wait.

"Nami, it's going to be okay." Umi said to her sister, trying once again to soothe her. It didn't work.

"But he's gone!" Nami sobbed, "He died saving us! How can I live with that?"

"He died well, Nami. That's what matters." Umi assured her.

"But I never got to tell him how I feel!" She said, her tears falling more than ever, "I was always this flirty girl around him and never got to tell him that I... I loved him!"

"I love you too Nami." A familiar voice whispered softly into her ear, "Now stop crying. Please. It pains me to see you this sad." Nami was stunned into silence. She knew that voice.

"A-Akage..." She said, turning to face him. Her eyes met his. He was smiling softly at her. She threw her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder and started crying again, but this time, they were tears of joy.

"I thought you were gone." Nami cried.

"Not quite." He said, putting his arms around her, "Those demons couldn't get me."

"So what took you so long?" She asked desperately.

"Well, I had to do at least part of what the village leader told us to do." He broke away from the embrace and pointed at a group of women behind him, "We may not have been able to slay Konton, but I at least had to save the village women. It was a little difficult without Sai's nose, but I found them."

"So you left me to find other women?" Nami asked accusingly.

"Wait, what?" Akage said, surprised, "No! It's not like that Nami! I swear!" Nami burst into laughter.

"I'm kidding, Akage." She said, hugging him tightly again, "I'm just glad you're back." They spent a few more moments like that and then broke away from each other.

"So how's Sai, Kaze?" Akage asked, turning to his friend. He hadn't left her side once, even when Akage had come back.

"Not good." Kaze told him, emotion straining his voice, "She is still unconscious. Her breathing has gone back to normal, but she won't wake up."

"I... I'm sorry." Was all Akage knew to say.

"Don't be." Kaze said, "This is my fault. I did this to her. We should have just left. She could have gotten free on her own and none of this would have happened."

"You can't blame yourself Kaze." Akage said, "You were trying to save her. The real blame here is Konton's. You're the hero here. She may not be awake yet, but she's herself and that's what matters."

"Thanks Akage." Kaze told his friend, "It's getting late. The sun has almost left the sky. It will be dark soon. You all should get ready to go to sleep."

"What about you?" Akage asked.

"I don't think I'm going to to get any sleep tonight." Kaze said. Akage nodded and got up to prepare things for that night.

Night fell quickly after that. The moon was a sliver in the sky, but the fire that Kaze kept going next to him and Sai provided enough light to see. The events of the day replayed endlessly in his mind. He was trying desperately to find something that would tell him how to proceed from here and how to get Sai to wake up, but there was nothing. All he could do was wait. Kaze laid down next to Sai. As much as he didn't like it, he was going to need some sleep if they were going to have travel tomorrow. He made sure, though, that the last thing he saw before drifting off was the face of the woman he loved.

"What happened? Where am I? How did I get here? Who's laying beside me? Why is my entire body aching and smell like blood?" All of these questions and more races through Sai's mind. It was cool, so it had to be night time and there was a fire going nearby. The smells had all come flooding back into her nostrils too quickly. Some were familiar, but she couldn't distinguish them. Sai guessed that the overpowering scent in the cave had burned out her senses. The cave. The last thing she remembered clearly was passing out in there. Everything else past that was just a blur or a random image. A sword. Blood. Lots of blood. A blinding light. None of it made sense. Her eyes were still closed. Deep down, she didn't really want to open them. What if everything she cared about was gone? She wouldn't be able to take that, but she knew that she had to open her eyes, so she did. She had to blink a few times to process what she saw. Kaze's peaceful sleeping face was just inches from her.

"He's alive!" Was the joyous thought that passed through her mind, "He's alive and alright."

Sai got up and stretched out her muscles. She realized that she must have been out for hours. That was the only reason for her being so stiff. She looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing one of Nami's kimonos. It was white with purple flowers printed across it. Kaze's sleeping form was at her feet. There were bandages all across his chest. He'd been injured. Sai looked down at her claws and saw that they were caked in blood. She sniffed them. It was Kaze's blood.

"Did I do that to him?" Sai thought to herself, frantically, "What happened to me? What is going on? Why would I hurt Kaze?" Sai stepped forward. Her foot landed on a twig and it snapped loudly. Kaze's eyes flew open. He bolted upright and looked around frantically until his eyes came upon Sai. They widened.

"SAI!" He yelled in pure elation and relief as he quickly got up and ran to her taking her into his tight embrace, "You're okay!"

"K-Kaze..." Sai struggled to get out.

"Don't talk." Kaze told her, motioning her over to the fire, "You need to sit down and rest." She sat down by the fire and Kaze sat down beside her.

"So do you feel alright?" Kaze asked her.

"Yeah. I feel fine. I just have no idea what's going on." Sai admitted.

"Don't worry about that. You just need to-" Kaze said before Sai cut him off.

"Kaze, stop. I need to know. Did I do that to you?" She asked, pointing at his bandaged chest.

"S-Sai... Sai that wasn't you." Kaze told her.

"Then why do my claws smell like blood Kaze?" Sai asked him, tears flooding her eyes, "If it wasn't me, then why are my claws covered in your blood?"

"You weren't yourself Sai." Kaze answered quickly, "That bastard Konton was controlling you. He made you do it."

"Kaze, don't lie to me." Sai told him, "I know what happened to me and so do you. It's not hard to figure out. My demon blood overwhelmed me. No one was controlling me. Everything I did was out of my own bloodlust. It happened to my father too and, from what I know, it's a miracle that you're still alive."

"See that's the thing Sai!" Kaze said excitedly, "You didn't kill anyone! You stopped yourself because you're stronger than that!"

"But I'm not strong!" Sai snapped, "I nearly killed you! If that demon can do this to me, then what's to say that next time I won't kill you or your sisters or anyone else?" Sai turned away from Kaze, "I'm a danger to everyone here and I shouldn't even be traveling with you." Kaze grabbed her, pulled her around to face him, and kissed her. Sai was too surprised to protest. He pulled away after a few moments.

"Sai, I need you here. I need you with me. Haven't you realized that yet?" He said, gazing intensely into her eyes.

"Kaze..." Was all Sai could say.

"I'm in love with you Sai. I would walk through Hell to be with you. This danger you say you're putting me in, which I don't buy, means nothing to me." Kaze told her, voice unwavering. Sai couldn't control herself. She began sobbing and buried her face in Kaze's shoulder. He put his arms around her and brought her close to him. After a few minutes, Sai's tears stopped, but she didn't move. Kaze was warm and she liked being in his embrace. It was illogical, but after everything, it just felt safe. Eventually she fell asleep like that, in Kaze's arms. Now that Kaze knew that Sai was alright, it didn't take him long to drift off to sleep either.

The next morning, the sun was shining brightly. Sai and Kaze were the first to get up and were getting their things ready by the time the others woke up. Nami was first. She sat up and stretched before turning around to where Sai and Kaze were. It took her a second to process what she was seeing, but after a moment it clicked.

"SAI!" She bolted up and ran over to hug her friend, "You're alright!"

"What's going on?" Umi said yawning.

"Umi! Sai's okay!" Nami shouted at her sister.

"What?" Umi said, turning until she saw Sai, "SAI!" Umi also bolted up and ran over to join in the hug. Akage, however, was still asleep. Kaze walked over to him and kneeled down beside his head. He put his mouth inches from his ear.

"WAKE UP!" Kaze yelled into Akage's ear. Akage sprang into the air, sparks of fire flying from him.

"What?! What's going on?" Akage asked frantically.

"Sai's awake." Kaze said, calmly walking away. This shocked Akage into silence. He looked around for a bit until he saw the clump of girls. Crushed in between Nami and Umi was Sai.

"Sai!" Akage called out to her, "Glad to see you're alright."

"Yeah, well I won't be for much longer if this keeps up." Sai said sarcastically, "Seriously guys, I can't breathe." The twins broke off their chokingly tight embrace.

"Sorry Sai." Nami said.

"We're just really happy to see that you're alright." Umi followed.

"So how do you like my kimono that you have on?" Nami asked her.

"It's nice. I really like it. Kinda wondering why I'm wearing it though. Where are my clothes?" Sai asked, bewildered.

"I'll let Kaze tell you that story." Nami said winking at her. Sai blushed. She knew that this was going to be an interesting story.

"Hey guys." Akage called to everyone, "We should get going. We've gotta get these women back to their homes."

"Good call, Akage." Kaze yelled back. The group finished getting their things together and then proceeded to start traveling their way back to the village. This time, though, they let Sai use Dragon Wave to cut down the trees. Traveling went a lot faster than it had before and was much more enjoyable. Nami and Akage walked together hand-in-hand, while Kaze talked with Umi. Sai led the way. The group reached the village in only a few hours. The villagers saw them exit the woods and ran to greet them. It was a tearful reunion between parents and daughters, husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The village leader found them after he had reunited with his own daughter.

"Thank you so much." He said to Kaze, who was at the head of the group, "Thank you for bringing my daughter and the rest of the women back to us. How can we ever repay you?"

"Don't worry about payment. Helping you was the least we could do." Kaze assured the man.

"Well that simply won't do. You must at least stay the night with us." The man insisted, "We will provide everything. I'm assuming that all if you will want baths after a hunt such as this, so I will have them prepared at once. In the meantime, I believe you will be busy dealing with the entire village thanking you."

The man was right. All of them spent the next hour shaking hands, hugging people, receiving all sorts of other forms of gratitude. By the time they were finished, all of them were ready for a bath, a meal, and then some sleep. Sai was bathing by herself in the same bath that Kaze had walked in on last time. She thought back to that. It felt like such a long time ago even though it had only been a few days. So much had happened. Kaze had even told her that he loved her. Sai, even though she loved him back, had no idea how to proceed and she guessed that neither did he. They would have to figure it out as they went along. After all, that's what her parents had done and they seemed to turn out alright.

Sai finished her bath and walked out of the bathroom. She found a new kimono laying outside the door. Obviously someone had told them about what had happened to her clothes. It had probably been Nami, considering the fact that her kimono was no longer in the room. This new one suited her much better. It was more her size and had red flowers printed on it. The new kimono fit her well and still allowed for quite a bit of movement. Above all, it seemed to be made out of a very durable material, one she hadn't seen before. It would be perfect for fighting. Sai decided that she would have to ask the village leader about it tomorrow before they left. However, the more pressing matter was food. She smelled it and she was hungry. A plate full of it was sitting on a small table in the room. It looked delicious, though Sai was a little disappointed that she would be eating alone. However, that didn't stop her from sitting down and starting to eat. She didn't get through much of it, though, before she heard a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" Sai called out.

"It's me." Kaze's familiar voice said back, "Can I come in?"

"Oh, Kaze." Sai said, surprised. She hadn't expected company. "Yeah. Sure. Come on in." Kaze slid open the door. He was carrying a plate of food similar to hers. After closing the door behind him, he walked over to where Sai was eating, put his food down, and sat across from her.

"I figured that I couldn't let you eat alone." Kaze said smiling. This made Sai blush slightly.

"You didn't have to do this, you know?" She said to him.

"I know." He responded, "But I wanted to. I enjoy your company."

"Thanks Kaze." She said, blushing more.

"Hey, it looks like the village got you a new kimono." Kaze pointed out, "It looks nice. I like it."

"Thanks. I do too. I really like how it feels." Sai said, "But I do want to know what happened to my other clothes."

"Is it really that important?" Kaze asked trying to avoid telling the story. Sai have him a look that said "of course this is important," so he proceeded to tell her the story.

"Wait." Sai said, trying process the story, "So you cut open my kimono, in front of everyone?"

"Well, I mean, it was to save you." Kaze said, trying to justify his actions.

"Did anybody see anything?" Sai asked.

"Well... Uh... No... Not at first..." Kaze stammered, his face bright red.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sai asked, annoyed.

"Well, after I put the sutra on, it kinda flew open." Kaze admitted.

"Dammit..." Sai said in a defeated voice, "So everyone saw?"

"I haven't really asked... But Sai, I swear that I didn't mean for it to happen like that." Kaze told her.

"Don't worry about it." Sai told him. That took Kaze completely off guard. "I mean, Nami and Umi are basically my sisters, so that doesn't really matter. Akage is in love with Nami, so he wouldn't be interested in me. And well, you, you've seen everything already, so I guess I really shouldn't care that it happened again by accident."

"So... You're really not mad?" Kaze asked incredulously.

"Nope." Sai assured him with a soft smile on her face, "Not at all."

"You're the best Sai, you know that?" This made them both laugh. They kept talking and eating like that for a few hours. Eventually, Kaze decided that it was time for him to leave. He knew that both of them needed sleep after all that they had been through. They said their goodnights and Kaze headed back off to his room. Sai was a little sad to him go, but was happy to finally be able to get some sleep. It came quickly to her that night and she was fast asleep in minutes.