Reunited – Chapter 39

Kagemusha rears, squealing and bucking his hooves into the air, scaring Yojimbo. Kentaro keeps his front to the men approaching us and backs up, holding Yojimbo’s reins and keeping him steady. I back up to Kagemusha, keep my right hand on Kazenoho, and reach behind me with my left.

“Shhh, be still, Kagemusha,” I say sweetly, and he immediately quiets. The two men closest to me gasp and jump away.

“What is this?” A large man from my right looks sideways at the two men.

“A kodama!” One of them cries and points to me. I step forward with my sword out at them, and they back off.

“She is an Oda!” Another cries from the woods.

“What’s the meaning of this? Who attacks three peaceful travelers in the middle of the day?” I shift my attention to the larger man. He seems to be in charge.

“Who are you?” he asks me, and I smile.

“I asked you first.”

“Forget it. I heard your name, Sanaa. I’ve heard everything you’ve said for the past hour.” He folds his arms across his chest. “But you’re the first woman I’ve ever seen carry a sword. If you were my daughter, I’d beat you senseless with it.”

“If you were my father, I’d kill you in your sleep.”

His sharp eyes take in every last detail about me, the men, and our horses. I bet he sees we have no luggage, no bags, nothing but our clothes and weapons. I want to look at Kentaro and Usagi and gauge their reaction, but I shouldn’t take my eyes off this man.

“My men think you’re a tree spirit. Here on Orihime, the tree spirits speak to the animals and protect everything in the woods.”

A kodama. Fine. But the way he said, “Here on Orihime…” bothers me, like he knows we’re not from here.

“Kazuo said you’d be a handful, but I didn’t believe him,” he roars and doubles over in laughter. Kazuo? Has he turned on me? I pale and step closer to him with Kazenoho out even farther. He laughs again and brings his hands up.

“Are you serious? Kazuo sent you?” Usagi asks. “You better answer quickly before she spears you in the chest.”

I glance left and Usagi is keeping his guard up to the men on the other side. My moment’s disattention leaves me vulnerable, and the large man sneaks silently into my arm span. I duck down then shoot up, snapping my right hand up directly at the soft spot under his chin. His head jerks back on contact with me, but his knee knocks my weaker left hand holding Kazenoho, causing it to shear sideways. I hold onto Kazenoho and kick out but miss him as he steps back.

It only took a moment but we fought and came to a stalemate. He throws up his hands and cocks his head, watching me heave my breaths through the adrenaline and the nausea.

“Who taught you to fight?”

“Who sent you? I’m not talking any more unless we’re friends.” And hurry it up because I need to puke again.

“Arata Sasaki sent us. I am Shiro Koga.” He unwraps his face from the black cloth protecting his identity. He’s a lot younger than I thought, maybe twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, a short beard, and cropped hair. Koga? Wasn’t that the family of black ninjas? “When you didn’t return last night, he hired us to look for you.”

“Why didn’t he or Kazuo or anyone else I know come?” I’m finding it really hard to trust people nowadays.

“Your Taira clan?” I nod. “Are searching for you. Seems they sold you for a high price and now Fujiwara wants to withhold payment. Your family thought it would draw attention if they were caught looking for you.”

“Didn’t you already kidnap me once?” I relax a little but not too much.

He rubs his face and shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, you know, business is business.”

Shit. I’ll have to trust them now, but they’ll turn on me for the right price. The world spins, and I break out in a cold sweat before dropping Kazenoho to my side.

“Everyone step out of the way.” I launch myself for the same, poor tree I puked on before and go again and again. Oh my gods, I’m nauseous and hungry simultaneously. It’s absolutely repulsive.

“You regularly draw your sword when you’re sick?” Shiro Koga asks.

“None of your business.” I press my cheek to the tree. I love you, tree. I’m sorry I puked on you… again. Maybe I am a kodama.

“It’s a forty-five minute walk from here to the rendezvous. We’re well past the roadblocks, but we should go.”

I decide to walk. I love the horses but riding on them when I’m hungry, thirsty, tired, and pregnant is just too much. Still, every time we slow down or stop, Kagemusha huffs in my ear or butts his head against my back. He makes me laugh which is more than I can say for the nausea.

Shiro Koga keeps pace ahead of us but turns around to watch me every hundred meters or so. I keep my eyes on my feet and the trail in front of me. I grit my teeth through the pain I’m suffering from my torso, hips, and feet.

“Do you or your men have anything to eat or drink?” I ask Koga. I’m afraid I won’t make it if I don’t eat something. I’m staying conscious by pure will alone. I don’t want to pass out around complete strangers with only Kentaro and Usagi to take care of me.

“Yoshi,” he snaps at one of the men who thought I was a kodama, “give the lady your water bottle.” He turns back to me for a moment. “I’m sorry we have no food. We travel light.”

A loud chirping sound echoes down the path from ahead of us, and Koga answers it with a call of his own. “We’re clear to the road.” He must have men out in front watching. When I turn and look behind us, several more men bring up the rear. We were probably surrounded for the majority of our trip in the woods.

I drink from Yoshi’s bottle and hope I can keep it down. I’m already tired of puking. I wonder how long this lasts. Days? Weeks? I know very little about pregnancy, despite being confident for Miko and giving her advice. I wish I could talk to my aunts about this, but… Sigh. I love them but men and pregnancy are two subjects they are completely incapable of giving appropriate advice in. There’s no one close who can help me.

The trees begin to thin, sunlight, blue sky, and white puffy clouds filling in the spaces between the newly opened leaves on the trees. Two men wait for us on the road at the end of the path.

“We should hurry to the rendezvous point,” one man says. “The road block is only one kilometer in this direction. They keep moving it.”

Koga turns to me with a smile. “You’re more important than I thought. Who are you, really?”

I don’t answer. I’m tired of explaining myself. Once I’m reunited with my family, have eaten and had a bath, I’ll be able to deal with the world, but not before then. I pick up my pace and walk away in the direction opposite the roadblock. I’m only a few kilometers from seeing Jiro, and I want to get there before the opportunity is stolen from me.

I start to count my steps and watch my feet instead of craning my neck to look around every bend. Koga’s men surround us, Fujiwara’s soldiers are right behind me, and Taira is combing the immediate area, but I keep my stride steady, walking as fast as I can on very little fuel. My head begins to throb — I’m squinting my eyes in the bright sunlight — so I free my hair from the braid and massage my scalp as I walk. My hair is oily and disgusting, hanging limply and kinked around my shoulders.

Kagemusha picks up his pace behind me, his clop-clop-clopping getting more rapid, and then his head butts straight into my back again.

“Hey!” I laugh at him and hold his bridle. “You love me, huh? I wish I could keep you.”

“This horse has a mind of his own.” Usagi reaches forward and pats him on the neck. “I think if you weren’t right in front, he would have thrown me off ages ago.”

“I kind of like riding horses. When I pictured my life on Yūsei, I never expected it to be like this.” Kentaro smiles down at me, and I tear up remembering our workouts together in the Itō dōjō. That was a different life, someone else’s life.

We come around a bend and a small town stretches out in front of us. The village can’t house more than a thousand people, and it is boxed in by rice paddies. Mountains to the west climb to the horizon.

“Inabe?” I ask Koga, and he nods. “And where are we meeting my family?”

“In town. Another ten minute walk. Will you make it?” He eyes me from the tip of my head all the way down to my toes. I’m limping. The shoes we stole from the ryokan don’t fit.

“My hips and feet are killing me, and I’ve had little to eat in the last few days.”

“We have a few minutes here before coming into town…” His arm sweeps out encompassing the view in front of us. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“No offense, but why should I? Honestly. Tell me why I should offer you any personal information. I don’t know you, and I think you know more about me than you let on.”

He strokes his short beard, covering a small smile. “When Kazuo hired us to come and get you from Ōmi, your Yamato, we were shocked to find you all there. No one has lived in Ōmi for more than ten years. The curse keeps everyone away, even my own people who travel where they want when they want.”

I imagine being a bonafide ninja on this world means you have the ultimate power to do whatever you want, work wherever you want, for whatever price. Greed and desire overtake the nausea, and now I want Koga on my side. I want him to teach me, Jiro, and everyone else so we can accomplish anything together.

Koga laughs. “You’re not even listening to me.”

“Sorry. It’s been a distracting few days. Have you met Mark Sakai?”

“Yes. He said he’s your protector?”

“You could say that. He’s my family, too.”

“You’re married to his nephew?”

“I am. Jiro.” I smile at the ground, trying to keep the happiness to myself, but I’m completely transparent.

“So tell me why a little girl like you, already married, needs protecting from an entire clan and rescuing from our evil overlord Fujiwara himself?”

The dragon in my chest burns red hot, and I clench my teeth. I wish everyone would stop commenting on how small, weak, and otherwise insignificant I am.

“Well, it’s not because of my charming personality, I can tell you that much.” We come to the center street of town, straight into mid-day foot traffic. People turn, pale, and step or run out of the way. The Koga black ninjas seem to have a reputation. We pass by an open neighborhood shrine between two buildings. Without stopping, I turn my head and see two people kneeling in front, cleaning the photos, leaving offerings, and burning incense in front of my greatest grandfather.

“It’s because of that.” I wave my hand at the shrine and keep walking. “I’m a direct descendant of Emperor Naruhito. It held some sway back on Earth, but I think my bloodline means even more here.”

Koga stops with his mouth open, and I keep walking. “Let’s go! I’m not waiting for you!” I call back over my shoulder.

I follow the men in front around a corner and one of them whistles. At the end of the street, Mariko and Beni sit on the front porch of a house drinking tea. Beni’s head snaps up, she drops her mug, and it crashes into pieces on the porch. “Jiro!” she calls into the front window.

My heart leaps and tears fall down my cheeks as Jiro emerges from the house. His eyes search the street, and he breaks into a run when he sees me, determined to reach me swiftly. I push past the men in front and sprint towards him. He slows down at the last second, but I fly straight at him, nearly knocking him over.

“Jiro!” I erupt in a fit of tears and laughter all at the same time. It’s really him. His arms are around me, his fingers dig into my back, and I finally feel safe and relieved and so, so happy for the first time in days.

Jiro swings me around, and I’m light like a bird soaring on the wind, dipping down with the rush of air and free-falling straight into love again.

“Sanaa, my love, never be far from me again,” he whispers right at my neck and a chill goes straight down my spine. Yes, never. I’ll be stuck to him like glue forever now.

He sets me down on the ground, but I keep my arms around his neck and pull him close to kiss him, kiss him like it’s the first and last kiss ever. Jiro leans into me, one arm around my waist, the other at my head, claiming me, his lips telling this world that I belong to him, that this abduction was the biggest mistake Miura and Fujiwara have ever — will ever have — made. He’s urgent and forceful, the pent up anger and frustration he’s been feeling at my absence letting loose in this kiss, and I let myself be taken up by it.

Our kiss transforms from sheer power to heart-stopping eagerness, to be close to each other again and never be apart. This love is awake and alive, burning slower and hotter, climbing higher, to be the kind of fire that burns down an entire forest, not just a tree. Our separation, seeing what our lives would be like apart, only made me appreciate him even more. We’ve been separated before, but during my stay in the desert, he could always see me and knew when to come before I did major damage to myself. This time we both thought my life was going to end badly. The abduction changed the game entirely, evident in the way we’re clutching at each other now.

We could go on like this forever, and I want to. I don’t care how many people watch us right now or how dirty and disgusting I am. I pick my legs up and wrap them around him, but then laugh and pull away.

“I’ve been dreaming of this for days now.” My face is red with tears, but I still manage to smile and hug him again, squeezing him with all four of my tired and aching limbs.

Kentaro clears his throat behind us, and I roll my eyes from Jiro’s shoulder.

“I’ve already got a room, Kentaro,” Jiro says, and I burst into laughter. I missed his sense of humor most of all.