Chapter 5 – The Giant Spider
She walked through the hazy corridors as she was a wandering ghost with no direction. Deep within, Annabelle didn't know where to go or what to do. As the days passed by, the weather got colder and heavier, and her Hitomi Kagewaki seemed more and more distant. Because of the strange events in those lands, Hitomi decided to travel to see for himself the villages' conditions. Then there was her, the master who detested her, and the deplorable fellow who seemed to watch her every step.
Her eyes, brushed with purplish dark circles, could hardly blink. Annabelle was always on alert. Every time she slept she had the same nightmare with a spider. And at night, the girl could swear she heard the footsteps of a giant monster around the property. It was driving her crazy... She needed some distraction.
After insistently asking she persuaded the master to cede her some fabrics and sewing materials. So the Scottish lady remained locked inside her room day and night, embroidering a kind of cloak with a printed coat.
"The master sent me to call you for dinner" That hideous baboon opened the room's door without a glance and announced, frightening and making her stick the forefinger with the neddle.
"Thank you for the inviting, but you can tell your lord that I'm not hungry." She didn't look to him because was busy pressing the finger till a blood drop forms on the top.
"You seems very distracted lately, witch." Without her noticing, Naraku knelt in front of her. He took her hand, surprising the human girl, and pressed her finger also, helping the blood to drip.
"Stay away from me!" she pulled away her arm and the robe she was embroidering. Who did he think he was to come close like that?
"You have talent for it, what a pity this activity is so useless" he rolled his crimson eyes over the piece she was sewing and touched the velvet. "I believe you are capable of greater things. Am I wrong?"
"It's none of your business, leave me alone." The lass turned her face, avoiding their eyes to meet again. Her shaky behavior made him laugh.
"You amuse me, woman" He was in a very good mood and must admitted it.
"You make me want to trow up!" - Annabelle growled.
"Well, we'll have many more opportunities to get know each other better" He lifted "I'll tell you are feeling unwell"
"Go to hell." She couldn't loose the change to plague against him before the baboon left the room, but her gesture just made he laugh one more from many times.
Naraku was making her ill, she wanted to suffocate him with a pillow while he slept.
The problem was he never slept.
In the early hours as she walked insomniac, they bumped accidentally in the darkness. It was like that creature was chasing her, haunting her. No one would believe if Annabelle told, but she could swear he was scenting her, that he was watching her bath, change her clothes... and think about that absurd ideas was making her queasy.
Desperate, the Scottish Lady thought about telling the truth to Hitomi about her hidden gift and about the day the gentle lad fell of the horse. When she was almost finding the courage to reveal herself, Naraku's morbid words reminded her every kind of judgment she had to endure in her whole life. She remembered the tragic fate of her mother, whose body tied to a stone lay deep in the depths of a forgotten river. Annabelle wandered if the young master was really that benevolent and understanding man he showed to be.
That psychological torture remained until Kagewaki returns of his journey.
Someday, he came trough the haze with some of his loyal samurais. The galloping horses brought hope to Annabelle's heart that her guardian angel was back. So she ran as faster as she could to welcome Hitomi with a relieved smile in her face, there were not many plants in the garden, only a few sere trees, not a single flower, but to much of dark and desert sand.
Hitomi was in shock, that landscape didn't seem to that one where he grown up. In fact, the Castle's garden looked very similar to all arid lands he visited. It was a plague – he thought. Concerned about his lands and people, the handsome shogun's heir barely noticed Annabelle's presence. He greeted her quickly and ran into his home, focused on reporting his experiences to his father. The peasants were sick, supplies were scarce even at harvest time. It is a nightmare – Anabelle moaned in her thoughts as she heard the two men talking behind the door. They shared the idea of that disgrace be an youkai's work, then the ginger lady trembled. She knew well what would came next – she would be the suspect not only for that mean Shogun and his conselor, but for Hitomi's serene eyes, even the young lad speaking nothing about her.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, her body shaked as if it was going to fall. Then the door was opened by someone.
Hitomi – Annabelle saw his downcast face staring her. He was lost within a silent apathy. "My lord..." After the brief shock, she smiled tenderly.
"What were you doing behind the door?" he asked suspiciously.
"I just wanted to see you, we barely talked..." the lass lowered her gaze to the dark floor.
"You're right, forgive-me about that. I'm so tired..." he walked past her, going to his chambers.
Annabelle didn't understand why Kagewaki was so cold, her heart froze inside her chest. Then, Naraku came closer and when they were side by side, that awful thing said:
"It seems that even the young master is suspicious of you. Oh, what are you going to do now, witch?" With those words, the baboon encourages her anguish.
Annabelle shook her head as her body trembled. She quickly ran to her room and locked the door. The western woman took the blanket she made for her sweetheart, thought about running again, left everything behind, yet her heart guided her to do the opposite. She coudn't aloud that man dressed in monkey's skin to destroy the relationship she carefully build with her dear Hitomi. So, Annabelle folded the blanket under her arm and she marched to the bedroom of the man she missed so much.
She walked through the doorway unceremoniously, met Naraku sitting in front of the young master and didn't mind interrupting the conversation between them. Annabelle sited on Hitomi's other side and before he could say anything, her desperate embrace silenced him. Then the girl kissed his forehead and started to unburden herself:
"I thought about you every day and night! How could you barely speak to me?"
"Anaberu..." - Surprised and disconcerted, Hitomi tried to make her notice Naraku's presence with a head movement.
"Did you missed me as I missed you, my lord? I wonder..." She didn't care if there was any other person in that room, it was like only she and Hitomi were there. Annabelle grabbed Kagewaki's hands tenderly and continued to talk what was into her heart: "I made something for you..." - she revealed the purple blanked with two roses embroidered on it – one white, other red – within a golden fillet. "Rose... This is my clan's blazon. Tell me a symbol and I can make one for yours." She pretended to be cheerful, yet melancholy marked her countenance.
Naraku observed the scene in silence. In other hand, Annabelle's tenderness warmed Hitomi and brought his affection back.
"Rosu..." He smiled "Anaberu Rosu... sounds well enough to me." The young man sighed "Thank you for you dedication, my Anaberu" and stroked her face softly "Sorry if I was displeasing, I'm just too stressed because of my trip. "Naraku and I were talking about the failure this endeavor was. Our lands are in terrible conditions, now I believe this must have an youkai's finger"
"If you're right, we'll find a way to solve the problem, my lord. Your father's lands won't be cursed forever, I'm sure!" She caught her hand and made it caress her warm cheek.
"I didn't know you were so talented..." Hitomi was talking about the blanked. Admired, he touched the soft purple cloth "It's beautiful as everything you usually do" Finally, his gentle smile was back.
"Do you want me to boil some tea for you?" She asked in relief.
"I want you to play those songs from your homeland for me... Oh, not only for me!" the lad corrected himself "For me and Naraku as well" he smiled for the counselor sited by the wall. "What do you think, Naraku?"
"I'm curious." The mysterious guy said in false enthusiasm. Annabelle rolled her eyes, tired of his presence.
"All right, wait a second" she asked for them as she went to get her harp. The lass carried the golden instrument alone, even it was heavy.
As soon as she returned to Hitomi's chamber, Annabelle started playing the Gaelic songs of her homeland. The two men observed her in silence and equal admiration. For the first time, Annabelle didn't notice malice into the scarlet eyes underneath the Baboon's mask. That pretentious being was only an spectator at the moment, and he seemed to be interested on her art, or – maybe – on her.
Annabelle thought she was spending to much time and attention on Naraku and repressed herself for that. So, her eyes found the sweet gaze of Hitomi again and for those brown and bright orbs she kept looking as long as the music sounded in the room.
"Thank you, it was stunning as always, Anaberu" He sighed in ecstasy, laying himself in the bed. "I'm sure I'll have sweet, sweet dreams tonight".
"Good night, my lord." She bowed, lifted her harp to leave the room and let him rest...
A crash sounded and the roof rafters began to fall, they would hit Hitomi and crush him. Annabelle dropped her harp without any care and throw her body over his while Naraku took a dagger from inside his sleeve and jumped, stabbing an eye of the being that had appeared above them – a huge black spider with crimson eyes, identical to the one Annabelle had dreamed of. Anna and Hitomi could see the youkai perfectly.
The creature came down the hole in the roof, pushing Naraku back. It opened it's mouth, showing the tusks bathed in poison, ready to devour everyone in the room. Annabelle held the moon pendant hidden within her clothes and stared the spider in the eyes, the beast stopped moving and growled. The foreigner girl didn't blink. Naraku stared at her, after he analyzed the petrified youkai and finally pierce the blade into the monster's throat.
The agonizing spider retreated and disappeared, fleeing from the same place where it entered.
"It ran" Naraku announced as he put the dagger back in his sleeve.
"Naraku, you saved our lives!" Hitomi, still impressed by the recent events, praised the Baboon. "Thank you, thank you so much!" he raised and pushed Annabelle by the hands.
"Young master, I only kept my duty to protect you" He bowed in false humility. "The spider youkai isn't dead and possibly will come back"
However, Naraku wasn't the only protector of Hitomi on that occasion. When Annabelle threw herself over Kagewaki's body, the falling logs should have crushed the both of them, but they mysteriously spilled across the floor in different directions. What Hitomi didn't realize, Naraku seized every detail. And while the innocent lad announced that "Naraku's bravery" should be celebrated, the false hero stared Annabelle with the same evil smirk under the monkey's mask.
And she, who was certain of Naraku's bad intentions, now was lost in doubts. After all, the man had saved them. Why would he do such a thing if he doesn't care?
Thankful, Annabelle gave him the first friendly gaze and smile. The first web's string nailed her body and the lass didn't even suspect.
To be continued...
Hey, friends! After a long time (again), I came here to post a new chapter!
Hope you like it, because it's really hard and laborious to translate... LOL
Kissuuuuus 3