Blade Of The Immortal Fan Fiction ❯ Abstinence Education ❯ Part Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

 

She'd follow him anywhere, but sometimes she arrives at unexpected destinations…

 

The characters and universe of Blade of the Immortal/Mugen no Junin are copyrighted by Hiroaki Samura and do not belong to me. Not one sen will come into my hands in consequence of this story.

 

Warnings for sex in various forms, including quasi-incestuous themes and a 16-year-old female paired with an adult male. Violence and dismemberment are legally required in any Blade of the Immortal fic, so be prepared.

 

Abstinence Education

by Madame Manga

 

Part Twenty

 

 

 

 

Rin plummeted towards the dark river. The drop seemed longer than it had looked when she let go, but she hit the big pile of driftwood feet-first with only a jarring shock. She slipped off the log on which she had landed and her right ankle bent and twisted under her. She didn't care about the pain. Where was Manji?

 

She scanned downstream; the wheel of tree roots that had taken him underwater was dragging against the bank and turning in the current. He might be lodged in that, he might be floating free, injured or not—but would he float at all with the weight of his weapons pulling him down?

 

“Manji!” she yelled. “Manjiii!”

 

From this distance in the twilight she could see nothing the size of a man; she had to get closer. Rin dragged and heaved a large flat piece of broken house shutter free from the woodpile. There was an even bigger piece floating nearby that she could lay this on, and that might make enough of a raft to hold her weight. Now for a paddle—

 

The driftwood heaved under her feet as she climbed over a big trunk; she nearly fell through the yawning pit underneath. This temporary island was disintegrating by the moment. She got the piece of shutter down to the water and anchored the big one with her foot. Every couple of seconds she scanned the river again, hoping to catch sight of some human form: an arm above the water, a head bobbing up for a breath. Though the sun had just set, there would be enough light to search by for a little while longer. After that much time passed it might not matter whether or not she found him…

 

Rin forced down the thought, grabbed a split board and carefully stepped to her improvised raft. It lurched and nearly threw her into the water. Immediately she knelt, crouched low for stability and shoved with the board to free the raft from the surrounding wrack.

 

She stayed as close to shore as she could as she floated towards the tree that had hit Manji, trying to steer but contending with random eddies that rotated her flimsy craft. With every spare breath she screamed his name, but there was no response.

 

How long had it been since he went under? Four minutes, five? How quickly did a man drown? Rin fought back tears; crying wouldn't help and would only blur her vision. With growing desperation she called out and paddled towards her goal, working hard not to drift out into the middle of the river.

 

The little raft bumped against the huge tree; Rin reached out to stop her progress. Nothing to grab—her fingers slipped on wet barkless wood. The river's muscle far surpassed hers. Though Rin desperately clawed for a handhold, the raft spun away and out towards the faster-running midstream.

 

How could she get back to look for Manji? She still had her bag and the additional burden of Manji's bundle and twin swords. Discarding all the luggage and swimming for it might be her only option, though the current looked pretty strong right here. Rin slipped the strap of her bag from her shoulder, rose from her knees and prepared to jump into the water.

 

The raft jarred against a submerged object. Rin fell hard on her backside. “Ow!”

 

Again her craft drifted further into midstream, dragging the obstacle underneath itself. Rin found her paddle, leaned over and jabbed at the thing. It yielded slowly and slid from under the raft. Now she could steer!

 

When she turned to put her paddle in the water and get out of the fast-running section, she sensed something odd out of the corner of her eye and turned her head.

 

What was the thing she had hit? It drifted alongside the raft just under the surface of the muddy water, its details obscure. Like a waterlogged stump, it neither floated nor entirely sank. Again she poked it with the paddle, making it break the surface for a moment. In the near-darkness she caught a dim flash of white on black.

 

“Manji!” She threw herself flat, nearly capsizing her raft, and tried to grab a handful of his clothing.

 

Floating face down just beyond her reach, he slipped away. She screamed and lunged forward until she was half on, half off the raft. At the extremity of her fingertips, she managed to seize him by the tie that held his hair and get a grip on his topknot. Soaked and lacking any stable platform, Rin gasped and spluttered.

 

She tried to back up onto the raft again and pull Manji with her, but his much greater weight overbalanced her. The raft tilted, Manji's hair tie parted and Rin slid into the cold river with a splash and a shriek.

 

She came up again gasping and grabbed Manji's collar before he could sink again. His limbs swayed in the water, his only sign of movement. The raft had spun a little distance away, drifting downstream with her bag still sitting in the middle. Rin kicked and paddled with her free hand while towing Manji and managed to grasp the raft's edge. Climbing back on board seemed out of the question—she would have to let go of Manji to do it, and the whole thing would tilt up again and probably flip over.

 

With a tremendous effort, using one arm and both feet, she managed to roll Manji's body and raise his face just above water. She nearly cried out again. In the side of his forehead above his blind eye was an ugly gash and a deep depression four fingers wide. No wonder he was unconscious!

 

What other injuries might he have? She couldn't see whether the bloodworms were active within the wound. Manji probably hadn't taken a single breath since she had seen him go under. Could the kessen-chu go to work when their host had no air in his lungs?

 

Only one way to know: she had to get him breathing again. How to do that wasn't clear. As it was she could barely keep her own head above water and cling to both Manji and the raft. He slowly sank as her strength waned.

 

They were almost in the middle of the river, moving at a fair clip past the dark wooded banks. Navigating to shore with her awkward burden would be impossible, and she couldn't see where she was going anyway.

 

Waves splashed her in the face and filled her nostrils with water; she choked and snorted to clear them only to swallow a mouthful with the next wave. Manji's head lolled forward and his face submerged. Rin felt a steady downward pull like a huge cold hand that gripped her legs, and overwhelming weariness washed through her.

 

She was drowning…

 

Rin cast her eyes up to the sky, where no stars were yet visible, and uttered a prayer.

 

With a crunch, the raft struck a floating log. A whole pack of them rose above the surface of the water. The leading edge of the raft became wedged and the other side tilted upwards from the pressure of the current. Rin gasped and tried to keep her hold, but the edge yanked itself from her hand and rose above her reach.

 

Without anything to support her, Manji's weight dragged her down. Just before her head went under, she took a huge gulp of air and held it.

 

Though she tried to kick to the surface he continued to sink and yanked her deeper underwater. She seized the front of his clothes in both hands and heaved, but instead of raising him she only brought herself down into the suspended circle of his limp arms. She could see nothing now, feel nothing but the water's increasing pressure and her grip on her bodyguard. Was he dead already? Inevitably dying?

 

With terrible clarity, Rin realized both of them were certainly doomed unless she let go of Manji. Probably even if she abandoned him, she was going to drown, and then she would have to face death all alone…

 

One of Manji's cold hands brushed her face, like a caress from a ghost.

 

Her air running out, Rin felt crushing pain in her chest. He would have told her to leave him to the river, wouldn't he? Of course he would have—and that was an order she could not bear to obey.

 

With the last of her strength she drew Manji's body into her arms and pressed her face to his. Roaring filled her ears; strange lights coruscated before her.

 

Papa…Mama…I'm coming home…

 

Big brother…what will you say to me when we reach the other side together? You'll tell me I'm an idiot and ruffle up my hair and light your pipe and go find a pond where the fish never stop biting…

 

You'll like my parents. I hope they'll understand why I've come to meet them so soon…

 

Suddenly Rin felt a hard bump and their downward drift halted. Her dimming senses barely registered that Manji's body had caught on something. A groaning, creaking surge: the world seemed to roll over and pull them with it. The river released its grip; Rin had a brief hallucinatory flash of wood and water contending like playful children throwing a ball back and forth in a game.

 

Rin emerged wheezing and blinking into the air. She still clung to Manji, whose body had lodged in the crevices of another huge wheel of tree roots. His hair and clothes streamed like a collection of small waterfalls. For a few moments she did nothing but take deep breaths and let her mind clear. When she raised her head, she saw that they had surfaced within the pack of logs her little raft had hit. It was still wedged fast exactly where it had been.

 

With an incoherent yell, she scrambled up to sit and clutched the rough bark under her hands. She was alive! Happiness flooded through her; the darkness seemed to give way to dawn. Then she looked down at the man next to her.

 

Manji lay still partly submerged with closed eye and open mouth, his inert body wallowing and rolling. His unbound hair straggled around his head, his face dead white in the twilight. Jagged ends of bone protruded from a wound in his unnaturally angled right forearm; it was badly broken in at least one place. Rin felt sick at the sight. The current caught Manji's legs and began to slide him away.

 

Rin grabbed him under the arms and tried to get him to a secure spot. Especially out of the water, he was far too heavy for her to move. The wheel of roots began to roll again; in panic, Rin seized him around the waist.

 

The log made a quarter turn and stopped. Manji ended up head downwards with his hands dangling. Rin tilted one of his shoulders up and pounded him on the back, hoping she was doing the right thing. Hadn't she once seen a child pulled out of a canal and revived?

 

No response from Manji. Was the coldness of his skin only from the river? Some people who almost drowned were never able to walk or speak again. Sobs breaking through her rapid pants, Rin rubbed his back in hard upward strokes and pushed on his ribcage, then pounded him again. “Please! Big brother—p-please breathe!”

 

Suddenly Manji's body shook. He retched and spewed out a stream of dirty water. Rin gasped in joyful startlement. He vomited up more river mud as if in answer. She leaned over him, tenderly wiped his face with her sleeve and pressed her ear to his chest.

 

A weak, irregular heartbeat, but no sign of breathing. Could she force some air into him? Rin took a deep breath, sealed her mouth to his and blew as hard as she could. Manji's chest expanded and fell; she took another gulp of air and tried again. His next breath was his own; he filled his lungs and had a coughing fit. Rin put a hand to his throat and felt a stronger pulse and a little warmth returning to his skin.

 

Tiny ripples slithered and whispered around the edges of the wound in his forehead; it gradually closed and shrank. Were the kessen-chu also healing his broken arm? She reached over and tried to lift it, but desisted when the sharp exposed bones cut into his flesh. Unless it was straightened, he might come out a little crooked this time…

 

“Aaggh!” Manji gritted his teeth and blinked his eye, but seemed only half conscious. “Ugh…”

 

“Manji! Wake up!” Rin patted his face.

 

“Huh?” He opened his eye, looking dazed and lost. The depression in his forehead hadn't entirely filled out yet.

 

“Manji! You have a broken arm! How do I set it?”

 

He stirred and shifted his head, moaning. “Aw… crap… ow…”

 

“Please wake up!”

 

Some focus returned to his gaze. “What…the hell?” Upside down, he stared at the water below. “Where…?”

 

“We're in the river, Manji. You were pulled in—you're injured.”

 

“Cold…dammit…Rin?”

 

“Yes, I'm here. Can you move at all?”

 

“Hurt…?” For a moment she thought he was confirming his own injuries, then realized he meant to ask her if she was all right.

 

“No, I'm fine. You're the one who needs help!”

 

Manji abruptly pulled himself to sit upright. He tried to brush his hair back with his right hand, grunted in pain and looked at the protruding bones in his forearm. “Aw, shit.”

 

“Oh, gosh, that must hurt! What can I do?”

 

“Eh…” He blinked a few times at the dark-blue sky and the first emerging stars. “Damn, we lost all our stuff?” He felt under his clothes and pulled out a weapon halfway. “Ah, at least I still got some blades…”

 

“No, I kept hold of everything. I'll be right back!” She gingerly climbed down from their perch and scooted along the log to reach a spot from which she could jump to the raft.

 

When she brought her overloaded bag, Manji took it from her and examined the contents. He extracted the sash of her yukata. “Here, double this up and tie it around my wrist. Good and tight.” He directed her to loop the other end around a root stub.

 

“OK, move back. I need a little room.” She shifted and watched him brace his feet. “Lock your hands around my chest. When I give the word, pull hard as you can.”

 

Rin followed his instructions and threw her weight backwards with him. His arm straightened with the sash securing his wrist; the broken bones sliced under the skin and grated into place. “Arrrgh!” Manji leaned forward again to release the traction and clutched his arm.

 

Rin embraced him and pressed her face to his shoulder. “Oh, big brother—thank goodness you're all right!”

 

“Yeah, guess I am.” He cast off the knotted sash. “There it goes…damn, Rin, what happened? You fell in and I went after you?”

 

“No…um, sort of the other way around.” Breathlessly she told him about the driftwood and the malicious porters. “This enormous tree hit you! You don't remember?”

 

“Not really.” He touched the mark on his temple that had now almost vanished. “Guess I got a conk on the head, huh?”

 

“Big brother, your skull was caved in! I was so frightened!” Rin threw her arms around his neck and sobbed. “I was almost sure you were dead—you were sinking and I held on to you and I thought I was going to drown, but at least I knew you'd be with me—oh, God, Manji, I wanted so much to tell you that I—”

 

“Oh, come on. Calm down already.” Manji ruffled her hair. “Couldn't have been that bad.”

 

“What?”

 

“Don't get hysterical, kiddo. I'm fine, you're fine, no harm done, other than gettin' wet. I guess you must've been a little nervous if I was woozy for a minute, but I've got a pretty hard noggin.”

 

Rin's mouth dropped open. “You were totally unconscious and…and drowning! If I hadn't jumped in after you and saved you, you'd be DEAD!”

 

“Me? Don't be an idiot.” He laughed and showed her his perfectly healed arm, then raised a brow. “What do you mean, jumped in? You fell in, right?”

 

“I saw you disappear!” She pointed at her raft with a shaking finger. “I…I paddled after you and couldn't f-find you until I ran into you! Then I couldn't get you on b-b-board and we sank under the w-w-water and…” Her lips trembled.

 

“Tried to rescue me? Ya crazy kid!” Manji sighed and shook his head. “See, if you get all excited and overreact, it ends up complicating the whole freakin' situation. It's only dumb luck I didn't end up having to fish you out too.”

 

He rubbed his chin and looked at the dark riverbanks slipping by. “Though I still have to get us to shore somehow, and I doubt a little girl like you can swim it under her own power. Well, I'll take care of ya.” He slapped his thighs with a businesslike air, climbed down through the tangled roots to stand on the bole of the tree and grabbed her bag. “Careful moving around on these damn logs. Need a hand?”

 

Speechless, Rin stared at Manji. He worked water out of one ear with the end of his little finger and glanced up at her. “What?”

 

“Ohhh…you!” She kicked him in the chest and hid her face in her hands.

 

“Hey!” Manji rubbed his sternum. “Ow! What the hell was that for?”

 

Rin gave way to violent giggling. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she flung her arms wide to the starlit sky.

 

“Females.” Manji let go a long-suffering groan.

 

 

Continued…