Reunited – Chapter 35

After Fujiwara declares I’m to stay, I’m forced to walk to a wing full of identical rooms. Each open door we pass is another bedroom, and I count four other women in kimono waiting outside of their rooms.

“You will live here with the other consorts, but because you are not coming willingly, you will be bound.”

The old woman pushes me into my room. I have no idea why she’s so harsh with me. I’ve followed all of her commands and walked along quietly without fuss. I’m trying not to piss anyone off because I don’t want to make this situation any harder for myself than it has to be, and it’s going to be hard.

Soul-crushingly hard.

The large room is adorned with red, wool carpets, a four-poster bed of the kind I’ve only ever seen in movies, and a dresser. The old woman stops at the dresser, plucks my wedding ring from her kimono, and sets it on top, turning to me with an evil smile. My wedding ring, the only thing tying me to Jiro, is right there, and I can’t pick it up to put it on. The guard takes me straight to the bed, grabs a long leash of leather and leather cuffs, and binds my hands in front of me so tight my skin turns alarmingly white.

“Sit,” he says, pointing to the bed. He grabs another leash of leather from the other end of the bed and binds my ankles one at a time with cuffs as well. I have about half a meter I can go in either direction or I can lie on the bed. That’s it.

It’s finally time I said something.

“What if I need to urinate?”

The old woman reaches under the bed and pulls out a large pan. “Try not to soil the kimono or you’ll be beaten.”

They both leave with no further comment.

I shouldn’t cry, but I’m hungry, nauseous, humiliated, and about to become some other man’s sex toy. I should allow these tears now while I’m in private so I don’t cry in front of anyone else. I scoot myself towards the front of the bed so I have leeway with my hands, enough to raise them to my face and wipe my tears away.

Never in a million years did I think I’d be in this situation the night I celebrated my twentieth birthday and saw Jiro and Sakai for the first time. I remember how Sakai said it was his duty to protect me until the day he died. Jiro said he would come for me. Where are they?

I try to think back and figure out where I went wrong. It was probably the moment I commanded Minamoto, Miura, and Maeda all to bow to me, when I came out about my true identity to them. That was so long ago, and at the time, I thought it was the right decision. Would it have been better if I had played a weak and innocent girl? Most likely not.

I need to stop crying and assess my options.

One, I can fight and kick and scream. I can be a complete nuisance, be smart-mouthed and annoying. Where would that get me? Either dead or in a worse room, in a worse place than I already am. I imagine being tied up naked, used for my body, only given enough food and water to deliver a baby, and then killed. No. I can’t let that happen. They won’t kill me, which is what I will want if I’m forced into that.

Two, I can figure out some way to escape. These leather straps could be loosened over time. I could chew them or rub them up against a sharp surface until they give way. The process would take a long time though, and people will be in and out of here often. Even if I did get the binds off, I’d still have to escape this castle. I think I can navigate the streets outside based on the images from orbit I memorized but not this confusing place. I honestly believe they led me around in circles between my capture, the throne room, and here just to disorient me.

Three, and this is my best option, I play the seduction card, if I can. I do everything willingly, and I do it well. I flirt harder with Osamu than I ever did with Jiro or even Maeda. I try to get him to trust me, desire me, so he lets down his defenses, and then I take advantage of his weakness. This is what female ninjas did in the pre-modern Old Japan days. They used their sexuality to obtain information or wear down enemies so they could be killed or captured.

Will this work? I have no idea. I don’t know what they have planned for me or what kind of person Osamu is. I need to sit and observe until I can find out.

Oh gods, the thought of having sex with anyone but Jiro is making me ill. I bolt from the bed, snap back at the end of my restraint, and whimper as the bile rises past my stomach. I pull out the clean bed pan with my foot and empty whatever I have in my stomach straight into it, being careful not to hit the kimono.

“What if I told you Jiro was alive?” 

“You’ll have to hold on till tomorrow night.”

A few more hours and it will be nighttime. I’ll hold on till then. I will. A lot can happen between now and night, but if I make it through today and nothing happens, I’ll concentrate on making it through the next day and the next. It’s all I can do.

The old woman comes back for me awhile later. There’s no clock on the wall, no windows for me to see the time of day or to escape this place.

A maid arrives with clear soup and noodles, the old woman frees my hands so I’m able to eat, and she hovers over me the entire time I shovel the food into my mouth. When I’m done eating, I gulp down the water, she takes away the tray, and the guard binds my hands and leaves me.

Osamu makes his first visit a short time after. He comes to my room accompanied by the old woman, the guard, and his wife with Risa trailing right behind. I sit on the bed while they stand over me and discuss me like I’m an interesting table or chair. Certainly not someone who can think and feel.

“She seems kind of small to be bearing children,” the wife says, scanning me from head to toe with a sour expression on her face. I glance at Risa and she avoids eye contact. Has she told them yet? I don’t think she has. Maybe she’s taking her first day as a traitor easy and not saying much. Regardless, if nothing happens tonight, tomorrow I’ll be examined and everyone will know.

“I’ve seen women of all sizes carry babies to term,” the old woman says. “She has an internal birth control method that needs to be removed and then we’ll have to wait and see what her body does.”

The wife turns to Risa. “Do you have this implant? What does it do?”

“Yes, my lady. I have it. It can be turned off via our… technology or removed. Then one waits for her menstrual cycle to start up again. There are no lasting consequences to the implant. It’s very safe.”

Except when it malfunctions and doesn’t work anymore.

“Has she been resisting?” Osamu asks.

“No, your grace. She has remained quiet.”

“Well, I find her completely disgusting. She barely looks Japanese. I don’t think I’ll be breaking her in like my other consorts.”

Risa smiles at her feet as a blush overcomes my face. Deep breaths, Sanaa. I can’t do anything tied up to this bed.

“Do what you like, your grace. We will keep her here if you change your mind.”

Osamu stares at me for a few seconds while his wife taps her foot behind him. “Leave her like this for a week, and if she cooperates, I will instruct you to release her hands.”

He turns and walks out the door with his entourage behind him. Risa turns at the last minute and shakes her head, pursing her heart-shaped lips at me.

“Did you hear that, Sanaa? Disgusting. I’m glad now I never consummated anything with Jiro. He obviously has bad taste in women.”

I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of my response. I only know that the day will come when I’ll kill her myself. She’s now at the top of my list.

The very top.