Chapter 2: Ichigo's palace
It doesn't take long before she decides to give up. She is not strong enough to get this man off her back, nor does she have a weapon to take her own life on the spot. From afar she sees the city of Yokohama disappearing in the distance. Dark clouds rise over the harbor and she can only imagine what has happened and if this man who kidnapped her has something to do with it.
She looks at him from below, perched on the back of his horse. His skin white, icy as snow. His eyes hidden behind impenetrably dark glasses. His hair can barely see it, made of silver, similar to his horse's coat. He hasn't spoken a word since he took her in one arm and rode away from the city. Instead, he placed a gag on her, screaming for help did her no good.
They ride for hours, so far that she doesn't know where she is standing when he decides to drop her from the back of his horse. He leaves her lying on the ground and gently takes the reins of his horse to lead him to a small lake to cool off.
The girl watches him out of the corner of her eye, uneasy at the obvious way he decides to ignore her. Without thinking too much she breaks into a run as she rips the bandage from her mouth and stops as she feels the air and the sound of steel traveling past her face. A sword sticks in the nearest tree and she sees strands of her hair floating in the air for an instant before she turns around.
The man who kidnapped her stares at her, standing a few feet away. He is so tall that he forces her to lift her chin to look at his face. Despite having his eyes hidden behind dark glasses, she is sure his gaze is stern. His lips are suspended in a straight line and a shiver runs down her spine now that he is no longer smiling.
"I'm tired," he confesses as he takes his first steps towards her, leaving her completely frozen. "Don't make me have to look for you," he says as he pulls the katana from the trunk of that tree as if it were stuffed in butter.
"What do you want from me? I'm not going to tell you anything, so don't waste any more time," she says with her heart pounding under her chest. As if bowing to him, she leaves her head at the man's disposal and closes her eyes tightly. "Kill me!"
Satoru arches an eyebrow as he sees her prostrating herself, begging him to be her executioner. He positions himself in front of her and when she hears his footsteps she opens her eyes to see his feet standing in front of her. Her body trembles involuntarily and silently accepting her fate, she closes her eyes again, her eyelids tightly closed.
She can't stop trembling even as the seconds tick by, until finally, intrigued by how long it is taking him to end her life, she opens her eyes.
He is crouched in front of her, smiling at her with his katana in his palm. His calmness exerts an overwhelming terror on her.
"I'll give you some time to come to your senses."
"What?"
"Why are you protecting them?"
"Because... I-I won't tell you anything..." she answers, rising to her feet.
He stands up and she lifts her chin in the direction of his face.
"You're not going to escape me, you're my only clue. Nor am I going to kill you, or torture you. Just because you are willing to give your life for them. What's your name?"
"Ka..." She's about to say 'Kasumi', but stops. "Kai."
"Kai?"
She hesitates for a moment; she doesn't know who this person is or why she is looking for her siblings with such conviction. She nods after deciding not to reveal her real name to him.
"Kai, I'm not going to hurt them if that's what you're worried about. I promise you they will be safe with me. We are on the same side."
He has a nice, wide smile. But she's met too many liars to be swayed by a sympathetic face. She keeps her mouth shut and averts her eyes. If her own aunt was willing to sell them, for who knows what purpose, what will this stranger be capable of? He's probably just trying to trick her, convince her to reveal where the children have gone and then betray her. But why would someone like that want the children?
"What do you want to do with them?" she asks softly, meaning every word.
"Someone important to me asked me to protect them."
She opens her eyes wide. She would like to know if there were any way to determine how much truth there is in his words, but finds none.
Satoru turns toward the lake and walks over and then sits down against the trunk of a walnut tree. He lets out a heartfelt sigh and folds his arms.
She, on the other side, senses that escaping at this point would be pointless. Not after seeing the way, he threw his katana at her, almost sparing her life. She timidly takes her first steps and ends up sitting a little more than a meter away from him. She watches him out of the corner of her eye taking off his hat, revealing his messy hair.
"Who... who were they?" Satoru raises both eyebrows. "The ones who went looking for them. Did they come with you?"
He denies.
"They were soldiers of the new emperor."
"And what did they want them for?"
"It's too late to answer questions, Kai-chan. I paid for a bed I won't be able to sleep in tonight and we need to get some rest to leave first thing in the morning. Sleep. Tomorrow we'll see if I'll answer your questions or not."
Incredulous at the ways of her own captivity, the one called Kai remains still as her captor leans back against the trunk of the tree he rests against and folds his arms. She cannot tell if his eyes are truly closed or if in fact he is testing her. When in doubt she stands still, waiting for any sign.
The horse that led them there, drinks from the lake quietly, then lifts his head by stretching his neck and looks at her through his dark eyes.
Above her head, the sky fills with gray clouds, so thick that they do not allow her to see the stars and gradually cover the moon almost completely. In the middle of the night the only thing her ears can hear are the songs of small nocturnal insects and the soft movement of the leaves of the trees touching each other.
Perhaps an hour has passed since he asked her to go to sleep, maybe a little longer. She can't be sure, so as she tries to move from her spot, she does so with her eyes riveted on him. With extreme care she manages to get up without making too much noise and when she is finally standing, she can feel her heart about to burst out of her chest. His chest moves quietly, she could almost bet he's completely asleep.
This is her moment.
She takes a step back and waits for a reaction, however slight. And seeing that he doesn't change the gentle rhythm of his breaths she takes a second step, then a third, then a fourth. Her steps are slow and cautious. When she is ten feet away she turns and runs as if her life depended on it. She runs hard ignoring the pain in her knees, forgetting the bruises on her back. She slips through the dark forest pushing branches that pinch her skin, barely able to glimpse her next step. She runs until she is out of breath, until she can't feel her own legs.
Her legs tremble, her belly aches with hunger, she is thirsty and feels like she is going to faint from lack of air. But she keeps running. She runs until she leaves the lake behind and until she feels a couple of drops falling on her nose.
She runs until she hears a particular sound that freezes her blood. Her legs go numb at that very moment. Even surrounded by forest she can feel it inside her, it is so close that she reproaches herself for not noticing it before.
She swallows saliva and listens to its song, a soft humming like that of a mother to her newborn child. But, despite the comparison, it does not convey any calm. It is deeply frightening.
At this moment she feels afraid even to breathe too hard, as if she dreads that she'll fall victim to what's watching her if she moves a muscle. After a few torturous seconds of listening to its humming, she manages to see it. She sees it barely out of the corner of her eye. It is the figure of a woman dressed in a traditional kimono; her hair covered by a thin cloth. Her face is pale with a greenish hue, like mold. It has no eyes, only two dry sockets where they should be. Her mouth is wrinkled and long and her hands are two dark claws that caress each other as if they were tasting something delicious.
She senses that she will be the food of this specter, of this curse.
The immensity of its power bends her, her right-hand trembles when she tries to take her wooden sword and ends up giving up when the apparition throws itself on her with a sinister scream. Like a mouse, she throws herself down and crawls on the ground trying to save her life. She has no choice but to ignore the pain, hunger and exhaustion. She runs again, knowing perfectly well that a blow from her katana will do no good.
Unable to see beyond her nose, she ends up with her foot tangled in a protruding root and falls face first to the ground. She turns around as fast as she can and as she turns around its face is there. Right in front of her.
The empty hollows in its face stare directly at her and she feels as if an abyss is about to swallow her up. An obtuse, twisted tongue sticks out of its open mouth, forcing her face to pucker at its fetid stench. It caresses her pale cheek with the tip of its tongue and her taste seems to have pleased it, as it puffs its body over her like a black cloak. Kasumi closes her eyes expecting a quick death but a shriek hurts her ears.
When she opens her eyes the first thing she sees is the tip of a sword pointed at her forehead, it pierces the curse's deformed and fetid face and it vanishes into thin air a few seconds after screaming in agony.
When the curse vanishes, it leaves the sword bearer behind. It's her captor, standing over her. He resheathes his sword calmly and offers her his hand to help her up.
"It seemed to be Agubanba..." he comments in a thoughtful tone. "He usually stalks girls who are about to come of age," Kasumi blushes when she hears his words. "Maybe it eats children too, who knows... You don't really have to look for too many explanations with curses. By the way, did you see it?"
"Yes..." she answers still with her cheeks flushed.
"That's good, not many of us can see them. It's a useful skill if you're in a place like this."
Uncomfortable with how casual their conversation sounds, she makes an effort not to meet his face head on and turns away, avoiding her gaze.
"You're not going to... punish me?"
"For running away? I was hoping you would. Maybe by now you've realized that I'm not the most dangerous thing in this forest. But, just in case..." he says and raises his left hand.
Kasumi sees a rope tied around his wrist; she follows the rope with her eyes until she finds another one tied in her own hand.
"W-when?"
"You'll have to sleep with me, boy. Ah... I was hoping to sleep comfortably today."
The rope is not too long, the man's long steps drag her to the trunk of another tree and she looks in all directions wondering how dangerous it might be to sleep there. He sits down on the ground and she stares at him. She has never slept with a man before, except for her younger brothers. Suddenly he reaches up and pulls his hand until she falls between his legs.
With a blush on her face, she looks at him, his soft skin and his smile look like something out of a legend. She has never seen a prettier face than his in her life and is ashamed to have such thoughts at this moment.
"It won't be a comfortable night for either of us," he tells her in a soft tone that makes Kasumi's heart pound. She purses her lips and averts her gaze, turning over ready to sleep lying on the floor at his feet like a dog. But he touches her shoulder and forces her to look over her shoulder. "Come, I'm no sadist."
She sits up, she understands perfectly well what he has implied and although she would like not to follow his instructions to the letter, she ends up giving in. She rests her back against the firmness of the man's chest and ends up moving rocked by his breaths.
"By the way, my name is Gojo... Gojo Satoru."
Kasumi is so tired that she can barely hear what he has just told her. Exhausted from a tragic day, following the swaying of the chest that welcomes her with its warmth, she closes her eyes and falls fast asleep. Perhaps she has also fallen asleep so quickly because somehow, she knows that this powerful man is not in danger even if he is asleep.
When she opens her eyes again, she is lying on the floor, saliva drips from the corner of her lip and her vision is blurred. She can barely see two feet next to the four legs of the horse and suddenly, as if all at once, all the memories of the previous night come back to her.
He had the faint hope of opening her eyes to discover that it had all been a terrifying dream, the result of the blows her aunt had given her in the head. She jumps up and Satoru turns around with a smile.
"Good morning, I didn't mean to wake you. You were drooling so much I figured you were still tired. Help yourself to something before we leave. We've got an interesting trip ahead of us."
Kasumi follows the distinctive scent of firewood. On it Satoru left a cooked impaled fish. The coals still look warm and she, despite the slight dislike she still feels for her captor cannot control her impulses and crawls over to the food. She picks up the branch he used to impale the animal and takes her first bite. Her stomach growls and she looka like she is about to cry. She was so hungry, but not just because she hadn't eaten the night before.
"You're too thin," Satoru comments. "You can't protect anyone with such scrawny arms."
Kasumi doesn't answer, though she can't help thinking he's right.
"How old are you? Fourteen?"
She looks up, chews slowly, then swallows.
"Seventeen."
"Seventeen?! Wow... You look very small for your age," he remarks as he fixes his horse's saddle. "I can tell you eat quite badly."
She can't deny the latter. But she is almost certain that he has not realized that she is in fact a woman. Nor does she make any effort to rectify it, it has always been safer for her to pretend she is a man. Her only regret is that she hasn't had time to take off the girdle she's wearing and it's starting to hurt her chest.
"Where you plan to take me?"
"Are you gonna tell me where the kids are?"
"Never."
"I figured, so we're going to go see an old friend."
She wants to ask him about this friend, where she is and how she can help him. But she's afraid of what kind of answer he has to give her. She eats her fill and wipes the corner of her mouth with the sleeves of her kimono. Then she drinks water with a bit of desperation as Satoru waits for her by his horse. Seeing her finish, he throws some dirt on the coals and she walks carefully until he picks her up like a child and lifts her onto the back of his horse.
His horse's coat is soft and shiny, you can tell his feed is different from those she has seen in Yokohama. Which makes her think that Gojo probably belongs to a wealthy family. His clothes are of good quality, his sandals are leather and his horse's saddle is one of the most elaborate she has seen.
When Satoru shakes the reins of his horse, Kasumi still caresses the embossed leather with her fingertips. The movement of the horse makes her move backwards until she feels Satoru's chest. The muscles in her petite back tense and she quickly settles in, sinking her hands into one of the curves of the horse's saddle to keep her distance.
"His name is Oguri. You like him?"
"He's very gentle... I can tell you take good care of him."
"He behaves like that because he likes you."
She can't help a soft smile on her face as she listens to him, but it doesn't take long for it to fade. The memory of her brothers leaves her speechless for much of the ride, which fortunately turns out to be quiet. She sighs as she recalls the events of the previous day and cannot credit what has happened and how much her life has changed in less than twenty-four hours. The black clouds of smoke over the city come to her mind and a question she asked the night before comes back out of her mouth.
"Who were the ones who attacked the harbor last night?" she asks interrupting the silent ride adorned by the pounding of Oguri's hooves against the path. "Last night you said you were too tired to answer... you said they were the new emperor's men... What did they want?"
"I'm not sure. The Zenin clan took over the palace after Taishō-sama's death."
Kasumi is struck by the familiar way he refers to the former Emperor, but she doesn't question him about it. There are more important things she wishes to hear now.
"I'm sure he has revoked some edicts, especially regarding samurai and shamans. They're going to take everything they can, that's why it's important that we find the children before they do. You know what I mean?"
"They are normal, ordinary children... They are not shamans."
"And you? What's your relationship with them?"
"I... am... a friend of the family. They are orphans."
"Just like you?" She nods. "I see... Well, Kai-chan... trust me. I told you; I'm not going to do them any harm."
"And how do I know you're not looking for them for some other strange purpose? Like a reward or something."
"How clever, I guess I'll have to wait for you to find out for yourself what kind of person I am."
"And what kind of person are you?"
"Exceptional."
She snorts at the word and he chuckles behind her.
The sun falls in front of them and Kasumi hears Gojo sigh next to her ear, she looks at him out of the corner of her eye and notices an almost childish expression. His lips are pursed and his eyebrows are curved in a sad expression. But as they climb a hill his face lights up.
On the other side of the hill, he finds a small fortress of stone and wood. Its perimeter is enclosed by a wall almost three meters high. Located on the edge of an even larger mountain. Satoru sees a mine in the distance, but there are no workers around it.
"I wasn't looking forward to sleeping out in the open again. What do you say? Shall we go and ask for shelter?"
"You think they'll agree to give shelter to a couple of travelers?"
"Not a couple of travelers, a couple of shamans."
Kasumi frowns, she doesn't understand what he means and is even more surprised when she notices that Satoru doesn't lead his horse towards the gates of the small castle. But towards the entrance of the mine. She lifts her chin when she hears a rumble in the distance, the firmament is almost completely filled with dark clouds. The clearest announcement of the approaching storm. And even though she wants to ask him more questions, she remains silent waiting to see with her own eyes what he plans to do. She is certain that Gojo does not plan to sleep in that mine, so as they get closer to it she gets more and more puzzled.
Arriving at the entrance that opens like a ten-foot-high mouth, Satoru leans in. It looks like an abyss, dark and dank.
"Hello?" he says, raising his voice, and the sound is repeated again and again until it fades inside.
He smiles, seemingly satisfied at not receiving an answer. She watches him intently turn back to Oguri and pull out something hidden in a cloth bag. Kasumi's eyes widen as she watches him pull out a jar with a paper tape sealing its lid. She can't read from her position all the words engraved there but she quickly realizes it's some sort of talisman. A seal that keeps a creature trapped inside. Satoru retraces his steps and places the jar in front of Kasumi's nose, showing her the curse trapped inside.
"An old friend taught me how to trap curses when I was young," he says before turning to the mouth of the mine and removing the seal.
"Are you going to release it?" she asks him on the verge of stuttering.
He smiles broadly allowing her to appreciate the pearly whites of his teeth. After removing the seal, he takes the little creature between his fingers and throws it into the mine.
"It won't take long," he comments with Kasumi standing beside him gaping. He turns around and gets back on the back of his horse.
"But why did you do that? You're a shaman! Your job is to exorcise curses, not release them."
Above Oguri, Satoru hears Kasumi's voice and it sounds innocent.
"Trust me, nothing bad will happen."
He holds out his hand to her again, like the day before when he saved her from Agubanba. Everything around Satoru seems too strange to fully trust him, however, a force inside her leads her to take his hand. He lifts her up as if she were a feather and pulls her back up next to him. She does not know whether she has become easy prey to his charms, or whether she has come to the irrefutable conclusion that she has no other way out.
"The mines are plagued by cursed energy," Satoru tells her, gently pulling back the reins of his horse, now on his way to the castle. "There are many deaths from cave-ins, others die of suffocation from lack of air. There are men who are driven mad by perpetual darkness. If a curse enters their interior to feed on the energy that has been anchored in there, it will grow in a matter of hours."
"Wait, you gave the curse energy so it could grow? Are you out of your mind?" Kasumi asks in dismay, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Exactly, but now I want you to be quiet and let me work. You said it yourself, remember? Shamans exorcise curses... for a small fee."
Kasumi can barely conceal her discomfort. In the end, Satoru is not a trustworthy man at all. But she knows she can't utter a single word of this, and all the more reason to find a way to escape from him as soon as possible.
The castle wall is made of carved stones. The front gate is of two wooden panels as high as its walls. It is the largest fortification Kasumi's eyes have ever seen in her life and she gawks as she admires the details of its architecture.
"Hello, can someone greet us?" Satoru shouts next to her, leaving her perplexed. If there was a proper way to introduce herself to a feudal lord, this was not it.
His manner, though it manages to embarrass her, is effective. The door opens, but not completely. A knight steps out along with a pair of guards and a small-framed man who walks behind their footsteps. Kasumi runs her eyes over the waists of all of them, each one carries a sword and the guards have their hand firmly on the hilt. Instinctively Kasumi takes a step back, almost hiding behind Satoru.
"What have you come for? We don't house beggars in this house."
"We are sorcerers," Satoru replies with a big smile. "My name is Kentaro Masamichi and this is Kai... just Kai. We noticed an evil presence inside the mine behind the castle and wanted to offer our services to exorcise it. In return we will only ask for shelter and food for tonight. A storm is brewing."
"A curse? What nonsense are you talking about? Are you trying to make fools of us?"
Satoru raises both eyebrows, hardly surprised by the reaction.
"Nonsense? Well, if you have a window, you can see it, we're not lying," he says and points with his thumb in the direction of the mine.
At that moment, the man standing behind the general steps to the side and forward to see them face to face. He flashes a smile of mock and smugness.
"I am Lord Tsune's shaman," he says, lifting his chin, "and for twenty years I have been in charge of keeping the curses that approach his castle at bay. If there is a curse in the mine... we have no need of your services."
"Perhaps it's too strong for an old man as weak as you," Satoru grumbles and Kasumi looks at him dumbfounded, incredulous at his lack of courtesy. "I'll go with you, I don't want you to get hurt."
The shaman in the service of the feudal lord laughs incredulously at his words.
"This brat is nothing but a charlatan," says the shaman. "Bring the horses," he orders, looking at him with contempt.
A pair of guards appear through the massive gate at the entrance with two horses each and without paying much attention to Satoru and Kasumi, who are now Kentaro and Kai, they quietly follow the path to the mine carrying a pair of torches. Behind them are the other two shamans who have been called charlatans. Kasumi's brow furrows and she sighs with her heart thudding under her chest. Suddenly she feels Gojo's breath brush against her ear and looks at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to them. But let me have some fun, after all they have insulted our honor..." he whispers softly and then straightens up again.
Kasumi presses her lips together, her heart pounding. She does not know if it is because she fears for the lives of those men who have gone in search of the curse, or if it is for another reason.
The path to the mine is not too long. It takes them no more than an hour to reach the entrance. The sun has already completely disappeared and the only thing that keeps them illuminated are the torches held by the feudal lord's soldiers.
Getting off his horse, the castle shaman feels his hands trembling slightly. The cursed energy that has accumulated in the mine is too great to control, which makes no sense since he has taken it upon himself daily to purify its energy.
"N-no... it can't be... I myself have been in charge of placing the talismans so that this wouldn't happen... It's impossible."
"What are you saying?" The general shouts and gives him a push that leaves him inside the mine. Satoru quickly gets off his horse when he sees him, "You're the one in charge of dealing with the curses, do your damn job."
He knows that both his life and his honor are at stake, but as he grips the hilt of his sword he wonders if it will be enough, if this simple artifact embedded in his cursed energy will be able to deal with the monstrosity in there. It is so powerful that it chills his blood and makes his hair stand on end, he even feels his muscles tingle and his head spins as if he had drunk two bottles of sake.
"Why are you stopping? Do it!"
The shaman turns for a second to look at the one giving him orders, but a vibration leaves him completely frozen. The clatter of a first step echoes against the walls of the mine, small stones fall from the walls like drizzle. His footsteps are slow and loud, one after the other getting louder and louder.
The soldiers' mouths unhinge when they see it looming. One of them drops a torch to the ground and falls flat on the ground. Stuttered words are heard over the insane growl of the curse that emerges with a voracious appetite.
Kasumi opens her eyes, dumbfounded. The curse is so large that as it emerges from the cave it stretches its neck out, it must be at least three and a half meters tall and so long that only its two front legs can be seen. She has never seen such an immense creature and apparently neither have the others present. All except Satoru.
If there was an adequate description of what a demon is, this would probably be it. Three long claws the size of their swords protrude from its legs, its scaly body is a dark purple color and its head is shaped like a hammer with two horns protruding from its crown. Its eyes are dark with a golden glint within them. And standing there, salivating, it looks like the guardian of the gate of hell.
Without a word, Satoru slaps twice on Oguri's back and the horse bolts, barely giving Kasumi time to take the reins.
She watches from afar until Oguri stops a safe distance away as she wonders if he has done this to get her to safety. However, she can't help but worry about what will happen to the rest.
The curse opens its mouth letting its fangs glow in the light of the torch flame and, as the first soldier runs in the direction of the castle screaming at the top of his lungs, the curse's dark tongue wraps around his chest like a toad catching a fly.
The soldier feels his feet leaving the ground and closes his eyes, but opens them as he falls face first to the ground. He turns quickly to see the gray-haired shaman standing between him and the curse, cutting off his tongue.
The creature screams in pain and writhes, so angry that it sends all the soldiers running for their lives. The curse's claws make a furrow on the ground as it prepares to ram them and the only one there with his legs completely immobile is the shaman of the feudal lord. But Gojo takes him under his arm at the last instant, pulling him away from danger.
"Oh no..." Satoru lets go as he sees how the beast continues running with only one goal in mind and he has no choice but to unsheathe his katana as he did the night before, "Stay still Oguri!"
Kasumi sees the monster charge at her and then Satoru's words. For some reason she takes hold of Oguri's reins and before squeezing her feet to force the animal to walk, she closes her eyes and remains completely still.
The night regains its natural calm, neither the chirping of crickets nor the breeze rustling the treetops can be heard. No scream is heard in the surroundings, nor the intense onslaught of the curse.
When Kasumi opens her eyes, the creature is completely petrified in front of her, tempering slightly with a sword stuck in its neck. It barely takes a couple of seconds for it to fade away as did the curse that attacked her the night before. The next sound she hears is the sound of steel hitting the ground as the curse disappears completely.
.
.
.
.
.
She still can't believe that Satoru's improvised plan has worked, nor that she is now in the main hall of the castle at the foot of the mountain. With the feudal lord Ichigo Tsune next to her, with Satoru on the other side eating whatever dish he wants.
It's still hard for her to enjoy the food at her disposal, maybe it's because she has come face to face with death once again, or because the shaman who used to work for this castle has been fired because of them, maybe it's also because she doesn't completely agree with the methods Satoru has employed. She makes an effort to smile when the feudal lord's courtesans appear bringing with them more food than she has ever seen anywhere. She suddenly wonders if her brothers will have eaten anything these days, or if they're safe. Will they remember the way to Master Kusakabe's village?
All this uncertainty leaves her with a sharp pain in her stomach. She swallows as one of the courtesans caresses her shoulder and slides her fingers across her neck, flattering her boldness.
"There's something I don't understand, my men have never seen a curse before, why could they see this one?"
Kasumi looks at him in sorrow. The man is in his fifties, but he has little gray hair. Instead of a neck he has a beard-covered double chin and can barely close his black kimono. From her position she can see his fat swollen pectorals. He has rice grains scattered on his face which his courtesans completely ignore.
She had thought the wealthy men were more refined than the sailors in the harbor, but she doesn't find much difference. She is also uncomfortable with the excessive amount of food at her feet. With this she could feed her family for at least three weeks.
"That's because, my dear Ichigo, they were about to die. It's a good thing we were passing by, otherwise it would have been a massacre."
Gojo's words cause Kasumi so much embarrassment that she has no choice but to turn away. On the other side of the table four courtesans dance ignoring the way their attire falls off their shoulders. A fifth woman is behind them playing a four-stringed musical instrument.
"That's because I am a very lucky man, the gods have given me their favor," he says and laughs and at the same time all the courtesans join him.
Kasumi is not amused and drinks her sake to hide her discomfort. She is even more uncomfortable to see Satoru letting himself be touched so casually by two women who seem extremely enthusiastic about him. They have opened his kimono and from where she is sitting, she can see his firm pectorals, very different from those of the feudal lord.
She blushes when one gives him a kiss on the cheek and laughs softly. She leaves her lips marked next to his ear and upon seeing her, the one sitting to his right does the same. Satoru laughs and eats as if it doesn't bother him in the least. In fact, she feels like he likes it. Satoru loves the attention.
"Relax Kai," Satoru tells her, "Hasn't a woman ever been attentive to you before?" Kasumi blushes and ends up shyly denying. "Then make the most of it, we have a long journey ahead of us and we must take advantage of the few moments of fun we have."
The courtesans next to her are not as effusive as the ones above Satoru. Probably because she is stiff as a brick. All she cares about right now is filling her belly and going to sleep. Taking a bath sounds a bit ambitious to her.
Ichigo seems to notice; he looks sideways at her constantly and fills her cup more than once. When he finishes eating, he asks the woman who plays the instrument to play his favorite song and the courtesans invite Satoru to get up.
"Why don't you show Sir Kentaro to his room?" He says with a smile, "You too," he says to the ones next to Kasumi.
They nod smilingly, laugh softly, hiding their lips with their hands, and the group leaves the room. Then she turns and looks at the last girl who stands up with her instrument and bows to her master before leaving.
Kasumi sees Satoru retreating with the women, takes two of them under his arms and disappears through the door frame. It is only a few seconds that the castle corridors are graced by their enthusiastic voices until they finally disappear. Kasumi sighs.
"You're not very fond of female attentions, are you?"
Kasumi opens her mouth trying to find an excuse, but stammers out a reply before she can gather her thoughts. The feudal lord's question leaves her uneasy.
"I-I meant no disrespect, sir. Please excuse me, it's been a very long journey and I'm a bit... tired. I only have enough strength to eat."
"Your master doesn't look tired at all."
"My master? Oh, yes... well he... is someone exceptional," she answers remembering the way he described himself, "I thank you very much for your attentions and I apologize for my lack of courtesy," says Kasumi before prostrating herself before him.
Ichigo pats her shoulder and she raises her head, looking at him intently. He has a big smile painted on his face, among the pieces of food that have been left forgotten on his beard.
"Easy," he tells her softly. "Eat, you're thin. I can tell you've been through a lot. Does your master take good care of you?"
Kasumi doesn't quite know what she should answer. If she tells the truth, that he has kidnapped her, Satoru might be able to release another curse to force her to go with him. She can't risk the lives of more people, especially the life of someone as generous as this man.
"He always protects me," she replies, finding a way to reply honestly.
"I could protect you better. You have the rough, calloused hands of someone who has worked hard, but you have the innocent look of someone who has lived absolutely nothing. You have thin arms and a small back. Your clothes are old, your sandals are worn."
She looks at him in surprise, he still has a hand on her shoulder.
"I just lost my trusted shaman, why don't you stay with me? You will have a safe place to sleep in exchange for doing the same work as my former shaman. You'll be able to eat like this every day, I'll dress you in the best cotton and give you a sword worthy of someone like you, what do you say?"
Kasumi gives a slight smile. At another time she would not have hesitated for a second to answer this question even if she is not a shaman of Gojo Satoru's characteristics. But now, in her condition, she has no choice but to avert her gaze gloomily. Although Satoru is not a person she trusts completely, she must continue on her way as far as possible to find her brothers.
"Besides... I know you're like me," Kasumi furrows her eyebrows and looks at him again with slight confusion; what can she have to do with a man like him? "I know you have no interest in courtesans, not like your friend Kentaro... No, no, you're different."
"Wha-what?"
"They made you uncomfortable... I know, they make me uncomfortable too. I have them here because I like to entertain my guests, but the truth is..." he says and leans against her, "I like young men like you much better, tender boys."
With the light touch of his hand, he lays her on her back and climbs on top of her. Kasumi can barely move; her arms hardly respond.
In another room, a courtesan with long silky hair, dark as night, removes the first layer of Satoru's kimono, another lays his sword aside while three others undress and kiss each other. One more kisses his neck and he closes his eyes.
"You are so tall and strong," the one clinging to his chest whispers between kisses.
"The master will have a lot of fun today, tomorrow he will be in a good mood," comments another one, already completely naked and ready to join the group.
"I see that he likes visitors," replies Satoru smiling, taking the face of a courtesan between his hands.
"Yes, especially when they are young..." comments another and the group bursts into laughter.
Satoru's smile fades. He doesn't need much more to realize what's going on, and in an instant he reproaches himself for having fallen into the most obvious trap. There could be no better distraction than this. Suddenly he raises both hands and grabs his clothes at full speed, then his sword as he does his best to delicately shake the courtesans off.
Perhaps he is mistaken and when he returns to the hall, he will find Kai chatting animatedly with the feudal lord, and then he can return to the chambers to finish what he was about to start. But he regrets opening the door and finding what he had suspected.
Kai is on the ground, crawling. His clothes pulled up from his ankles and Mr. Ichigo on top of him with his kimono open. Before he intervenes, he hears a whimper, Kai is crying.
Like a storm, Satoru grabs the feudal lord by the beard and throws him against the wall breaking the wooden panels. His body runs through the next room and the courtesans who ran after him begin to scream in outrage.
Satoru picks Kai up, his limp body unable to stand and he looks with distrust and a furrowed brow at the sake jug he has been serving him all night. He takes Kai in his arms and sighs.
"I'm sorry," he tells him before leaving Kai leaning against the wall to turn around and pick up the sake jug with one hand.
Kasumi sees Gojo's angry stride and although her training is basic, she can clearly feel his enormous power growing like a storm. He walks determinedly towards Ichigo, who still can't recover from the blow he has landed on him. She cannot see the feudal lord's expression of terror at the sight of Satoru's face again, she can only hear the pleas of his courtesans and their cries of despair. Running half naked through the corridors of the castle in search of help.
Satoru crouches over Ichigo's body and looks at him with an absent expression.
"Do you want to die?" He asks him and he, stripped of all dignity, with his kimono completely open and his genitals in the air, whimpers a plea lost in mucus and tears.
The shaman ignores his plea and with his left hand opens his mouth while with his right he forces him to swallow all the sake he was pouring into Kai's cup that night until there is not a single drop left.
Then he stands up and retraces his steps until a guard arrives to whom he throws the jug and knocks him unconscious in an instant.
"You, gather all the food," he orders the concubines. If you are not going to pay us with hospitality at least we'll take this," he says and takes Kai in his arms again.
.
.
.
.
.
After setting up a makeshift tent with nothing more than a five-foot fabric, Satoru settles against the trunk of a tree and takes Kasumi in his arms, who has not yet recovered from the effects of that drink. He places her on his chest and rests her head against his dark hair.
The rain falls heavily on them, they are protected by nothing more than the thick trunks of the trees around them. Above their heads they hear thunder and lightning. However, Kasumi feels safe, so safe that she can lie down to sleep on her captor's chest while he converses with her, even though he knows she cannot answer him.
"I'll have to be more careful next time. I got carried away. At least we have enough food for the next few days. I hope you don't mind sleeping like this after what happened... I'm glad I got here in time... I'm very glad."
Hello again! Thank you for the comments you have left on this story on all my platforms! I hope you liked this chapter. The previous chapter was more of an introduction of the universe and characters, as a prologue of what's to come. As you may have noticed in this world the same Jujutsu rules apply as in canon. And from now on and for a while the relationship of the two will develop as they travel together to find "Kaisumi's" siblings.
I'm really excited to write this story in a different setting than the one I've used in several previous fics. It gives me much more freedom and the opportunity to let my imagination run free.
I love stories set in this moment in time, and I love being able to explore Satoru's personality in all its complexity. I hope you liked this chapter and look forward to reading the next one. See you next Sunday!