Blade Of The Immortal Fan Fiction ❯ Abstinence Education ❯ Part Twenty-Five ( Chapter 25 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The most dangerous opponent isn't always the one holding a sword...

The characters and universe of Blade of the Immortal/Mugen no Junin are copyright 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 sixteen-year-old female paired with an adult male. Violence and dismemberment are legally required in any BotI fic, so be prepared.


Abstinence Education
by Madame Manga

Part 25



“See, I told you this wasn't the way to our room, Manji. Why don't we–no, not that way!”

Manji turned and lurched towards the edge of the inn's high veranda. Rin pursued him and grabbed for a handhold. A fold of his clothing slipped through her fingers and he took a long stride out into the unsupported air. She squeezed her eyes shut, covered her head and cringed at the sound of the crash.

“Oww! Shit!”

Rin knew he couldn't be seriously hurt, but still she felt a shock. She dropped to her knees and looked for her bodyguard. On the dark hillside below she spotted a white patch; Manji had landed on his face in a shrub. He swore and thrashed to the accompaniment of snapping twigs.

“Good grief! Can you make a little more noise?” Rin scooted along the edge, looking for a safe place to get down. Manji rolled over, sat up and crawled out of the crushed remains of the shrub, his face and arms streaked with bleeding scratches.

Rin took the shoulder-high jump from the veranda, assisted him to stand and brushed leaves off his clothes. He looked around in obvious confusion, swaying slightly. "Where's the steps? Somebody move 'em?"

She pointed. “They're right where they were before. Just walk towards the garden path and–”

Manji muttered something and moved away from her. Immediately he tripped over and broke a small stone lantern, slid downhill and stumbled knee-deep into the koi pond. “Hey! What's this damn puddle doin' here?”

“Oh, big brother!” Rin clapped her hands to her cheeks. “You're wrecking all the landscaping–and scaring the fish!”

“Well, shit, it's awful dark.” He splashed across the pond like a water buffalo and clambered out on the far side. “Can't see where I'm goin'.”

“Of course it's dark out here–it's night! Will you please stop wandering around before you fall into anything else?” Rin worked her way down the hillside and around the pond, snagging her clothes on the bushes. Away from the warm glow of the inn windows, the only lights were a few flickering candles in the stone lanterns. It was the dark of the moon; the stars cast a faint radiance. “Here, hold my hand. Follow me this time, OK? Be careful on those stepping stones!”

“Yeah, whatever...” Manji submitted to being led, but stopped and circled her with one arm when they reached the paved path that led up to the veranda. “Hey, what's the rush?”

“I need to put you to bed so you can sleep it off, remember?” She wished that Manji had let her accept Makie's offer of help with her intoxicated companion, but he had left Makie standing outside the teahouse and towed Rin with him. “If only I had a lantern...but it serves you right if you trip over everything!” Rin tried to free herself from his tightening embrace.

“Huh? What'd I do?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Rin made a grimace at him, though he probably couldn't see her expression. “You just made a spectacle of yourself, insulted Makie-san and tried to start a fight over absolutely nothing. You almost got us thrown out of the inn!”

“Nothin'? Yeah, we'll see about that.” His voice harshened and he pulled her closer. In the darkness his features were just discernible. “You still ain't told me why she wanted to talk to ya.”

“This isn't the time, Manji. You're drunk and we're in public!”

“I gotta be sober and no one else around to hear this? Sounds like a doozy.”

“Nothing like that! It's just...personal.” Rin turned her face aside when he bent down, her heart thumping.

“What was that crap about her daddy's sensei? Blowin' smoke?”

“Uh...her family had something to do with the Mutenichi-ryu. She even lived at the dojo.” Rin swallowed hard. “Uh–that's mostly what we talked about.”

“Hanh?”

“She...Makie said she knew my mother and father when she was a girl, and that she mourns them too...”

“What the hell?”

“It's true. She said my mother was really nice to her...and that my father was dedicated to his duty.” Rin sniffled and tried to wipe a sudden blurring from her eyes, but Manji's embrace restricted her arms.

“Well, I'll be dipped in shit.” He straightened and let out a skeptical grunt. “You sure? That wasn't somethin' she cooked up to get under your skin?”

“I don't think so.” Rin rested her forehead against the front of Manji's kosode and bit her lips. “You said yourself that she wasn't a liar.”

“Guess not. So it took that long for her to tell you a little story about your own folks?” He sounded somewhat less drunk now, as if his questions lent him focus. “What else?”

“Well...uh...we had tea...and, uh...” The guilty manner she couldn't hide would probably have told him volumes if he hadn't been quite so intoxicated, and if there had been light enough to reveal her burning cheeks. Maybe she could put him off now, but he'd have sharper questions in the morning. If he woke up with much memory of what he'd said and done in the dark of night...

“Come on! I guess you girls got to spout all yer polite crap and gobble platefuls of sweets to get the conversation goin', but shit, woman–I was dyin' out there waiting for you to show.” Manji heaved a sigh. “I got too good an imagination.”

“Oh, big brother...you were worried about me?” She snuggled her cheek into his warmth; his embrace relaxed a little and he nuzzled the top of her head.

“Maybe that bastard ain't out to hurt you–it don't quite feel that way. But he sure as hell wants somethin'...and I ain't givin' it up without a fight.” Manji tilted her face and pressed his lips to hers.

Rin responded for a moment, her heart and stomach roiling, then pulled back. “I did mention we were in public!”

“Rin, it's dark as hell.” He kissed her again, and this time Rin let herself relax into his arms. If he was thinking about her body, at least he wasn't asking questions...

Manji's hands stroked down her flanks and met behind her; he grasped her bottom, massaged it and pulled her in towards him. His kisses seemed more energetic than seductive, although he seemed to want to impress her with his ardor. He flexed his hips and ground his groin into Rin's stomach. His hot breath raked her cheek while he plunged his tongue into her mouth; she heard an aggressive note in the rhythm of his deep intakes of air. If she managed to get him back to the room, there wasn't a chance he would pass out on the futon and snore like a thunderstorm until morning. Take some time to consider her decision? Tonight he could strip away all the time she had left.

Why not let him?

Rin felt a deep chill. Desire and impatience multiplied by drunkenness and jealousy–if Manji kept his head it would be a miracle. Even if she confessed everything, possessive fury at Anotsu's presumption might overwhelm his remaining scruples. The strength of her own temptation appalled her.

Whose fault was this loss of balance? Which of them had led the other over the edge?

Rin broke the kiss and dug her chin into her chest, panting. Manji tried to meet her lips again, but she kept her face averted and pushed her hands against his ribs.

“Aw, little sister–kiss me nice.” He laughed in a coaxing, sensual way, but with an underlying command. “You know you want it.”

“What?”

“I can smell it all over you. Your little heart's flutterin' like a sparrow in a trap.” He licked her ear and nuzzled behind it. “God, you taste good...”

“But–but, Manji-san–”

“I said, kiss me.” He wound his hand into her hair, tipped her head back and took her mouth with his. His other hand pressed at her waist, fingers digging into her flesh. Rin struggled a little, but his hold was firm. Manji lifted his head, breathing hard. The dim whites of his two eyes gleamed at her, the blind and the seeing almost indistinguishable. “So which way to that damn room of ours?”

Makie's mention of shelter–could she go back to beg for it now? Not unless she could run faster than her bodyguard. Maybe he'd trip again and she could elude him, but he seemed able to shake off some of the effects of alcohol when it suited him. Rin felt a stabbing flash of premonition, of their half-clothed bodies entwined and heaving, of her own mouth stretching wide in ecstasy or pain. She twisted in Manji’s arms and managed to loosen his grip for a moment, then turned to look up at the inn and mark her direction of flight. It would take her a minute or two to reach the steps, and then maybe she could hide–

Silhouetted against the glow of lamplit shoji and looking directly at them stood a tall woman with short ragged hair. Rin's face went cold.

Without a word Makie moved her arm to the side, displaying the samisen she held, and flicked a catch on the side of the sound box. The divided halves of the instrument fell with an ugly chord from the jarred strings. Manji's head jerked around.

The swordswoman gripped an instrument of another purpose now. With a sharp gesture she raised it above her head and pulled it straight: three-sectioned, steel-barbed.

Manji's whole body felt hard against Rin's; his chest tensed and his shoulders hunched over taut arms. He reached into his kosode and yanked something out with a rattle of chain, then elbowed Rin in the side. She stumbled off the path and fell to a sitting position on the ground. How much had Makie seen or heard? Did it really matter? Any obstacle that stood in Anotsu's way–

Makie took a running stride forward and darted the points of her pike out and down. They struck wood; she propelled herself into a high arcing vault off the edge of the veranda. The pike pulled free on the downswing and Makie alighted on the path, facing Manji but still some distance away.

Manji yanked the chain to extend it from the handles of the sickles he had drawn. Before he could raise the weapons, Makie sped straight at him with the continued momentum of her vault. Again she brandished her weapon two-handed above her head, twisting it into an accelerating spin. The long barbed blades sang a high note.

Rin scrambled backwards into the landscaping and bumped against the trunk of a manicured pine. This wasn't a cold-blooded attack to gain a calculated goal. Rin couldn't read her face, but Makie's whole body screamed of rage. She shrank against the tree and sobbed in terror.

Manji dived low and Makie's blades sliced the air right above his head. He launched from his crouch, swinging one sickle on the lengthened chain. Rin caught the glitter of starlight off the curved edge of the blade; the combatants were dark forms against the lighter background. He missed striking Makie at the knees, for she planted the point of her pike again and soared above him. Manji nearly fell on his face–even deadly necessity couldn't cure drunkenness. Rin cried out. He recovered with an effort and spun around, whipping the chain with him.

Makie deflected the weapon when it arced at her head. The chain and sickle took a couple of loops around the barbed blade of her pike and hooked there. Rin heard a clang and rattle–Manji had thrown down the other sickle. He yanked on the chain, stepped on it to pin it to the ground and drew one forked shido. His speed blurred the flash of steel, but Rin realized with horror that he was moving a little more slowly than usual. Makie struck at him with the free end of her pike. Manji blocked the blow and trapped the blade in the fork with a twist of his arm.

For the moment he'd immobilized both ends of Makie's weapon. She gasped and tried to work the pike loose from the shido, her slim arms trembling with effort. Manji held it fast; Rin saw the white of his teeth as he grinned. He gestured and slid a new blade into his free hand.

Again Makie was too quick. She arched her back to avoid the slash of the hooked knife and stabbed the chain-wrapped end of the pike into the ground. Using it as a staff, she leaped and kicked Manji square in the face. He staggered and lost his lock with the shido. The chain relaxed when his foot slipped; he had to jump backwards to dodge the singing blades.

To Rin's surprise, Makie didn't immediately follow up while Manji was off balance. She gripped both blades and aimed them at him like an accusation.

“Beast!”

“Hah?” ; He wiped blood from his nose and spat something on the ground. Then his arm whipped back and forward; Makie knocked the thrown knife out of the air. Manji drew his katana.

“How–how can you be–I couldn't believe...my own suspicions–”

Both swordsman and swordswoman were panting. Manji shrugged and took a defensive stance with sword and shido. “You askin' me...a question?”

Makie gasped and caught her breath. “An innocent girl...under your protection! Your honor–your duty–” She lunged at him again. Manji threw up both weapons to shield himself; the pinwheeling blades rang a rapid staccato.

“No–Makie-san–he's not–” Rin strangled on her own shriek.

“Who's mixing it up out there?” Half a dozen people holding sake cups had emerged onto the veranda, obviously having heard the clash of weapons. They peered into the darkness. “Funny place for a duel, man.”

“How dare you touch her!” Steel rang again and again. Makie drove Manji down the path. “Beast! Monster!”

“Fighting over a broad?” called a man from the veranda. “It ain't worth it, buddy!” The others around him laughed and jeered. “Hey, anybody want to make book?”

“On what? Can't see shit. Who's fighting?”

“It's that one-eyed asshole, isn't it? The drunk ronin?”

“Yeah–maybe he bumped into a wall on his blind side and challenged himself to a duel.”

Splutters of laughter. “I'll lay money on that–any takers?”

Rin got up and followed the battle away from the inn, hyperventilating. How could the two people she most admired in the world be fighting over her? She made out Manji's silhouette against a candle-lit lantern as he dodged and blocked, his opponent nearly invisible from her point of view. He didn't seem to be attacking any more; it was all he could do to defend himself. Makie pressed him hard and he visibly weakened. After several passes, his movements grew wilder, even sloppy; when Makie thrust her pike at his legs, he tripped while avoiding the strike and went down on one knee.

Rin gasped when the blades flashed towards him. He'd be cut in half! Manji howled in pain. But he got to his feet again and staggered backwards, his right arm hanging at an odd angle with the hand empty. Makie followed, outlined now against the faint light.

“Do you yield?”

“You fucking kidding me?”

“You can barely keep your feet.” Makie had regained a little control; her voice was icy. “Surrender is your only option.”

“No shit?”

She took a deep huffing breath. “I prefer not to kill...when my opponent is at such a disadvantage.”

“Crap, lady, don't tell me you're cuttin' me any slack!” Manji lashed out with his remaining sword. She knocked it from his hand, cornered him against a hedge and pointed a blade at his face. “So kill me. I won't hold it against you.”

“Even a monster like you...once had some honor!”

“Coulda fooled me. What'cha waiting for?”

Makie glanced down the path in Rin's direction. “I'll spare your life...if you give the child up to me immediately.”

“Ah, there's the real point of this whole fuckin' exercise–”

She brandished the blade. “If you're still here in the morning, or if you ever approach her again...I will challenge you, and you will die. Immortal or not.”

“Lady, ain't you figured that one yet?” Manji hawked and spat. “Tell yer boss he can screw himself, because he's never gettin' hold of that girl–except over my cold, dead body.” He pointed at his neck. “Remember, it's the head.”

Again to Rin's surprise, Makie trembled and partly lowered the blade. Now it aimed at Manji's heart. “I...I don't want to kill a drunken man–”

“Sorry, I ain't lettin' you off that easy.” Manji snorted and supported his wounded arm. “Thought I was a monster, anyhow.”

“A-aren't you?”

“Depends. You wanna list the charges?”

“During my conversation with Rin-chan...” Makie paused for a moment, her voice shaking. “I...I told her about the requirements of marriage. She blushed to hear me describe what men desire of women. I thought she had confirmed her virgin innocence...but did she have another reason for shame?”

“Hanh?”

“You can't deny that you touched her! You kissed her out here in the open air–on the mouth!” It was a near-hysterical cry. “What have you stolen from her?”

“Stolen?” Manji took a hissing breath, then began to chuckle. The sound sent prickles down Rin's back; it was like a blade rasping on bone. “What? You mean like her daddy and her mama?”

Makie started, and was silent.

“I'm no freakin' angel. I'll be the first to tell you that. But I ain't never had a little girl's daddy cut to bits in front of her for doin' his duty defending his family. I ain't never told a bunch of dirty bastards to get their jollies on her nice mama while the kid's gotta listen to the screams. Even if I'd laid that girl down every night for half a year, how the hell could I have made it worse than it was already?”

Rin shuddered. Sick and dizzy, she sank to her knees beside a stone bench and leaned on it.

The swordswoman slowly lowered her pike and let her head droop on her slender neck. Manji chuckled again, then picked up his sword, sheathed it and sat on an ornamental boulder.

“Sounds like we better straighten out this little dispute before somebody gets hurt.” He massaged his wounded arm. “Just lay off calling me bad names, lady. I got that covered.”

Makie raised her head again and shook it. “What...what Anotsu Kagehisa-sama may have done...for his own reasons...doesn't excuse your misdeeds.” She put a hand to her face. “Tell me the truth!”

“The truth? I ain't busted her, and you can be damn sure nobody else has.” Makie didn't reply, and he stretched out his arm with a grunt and flexed the hand. “Hell, gimme some credit! You think I'm hankerin' to put a round belly on that skinny kid? I like a woman with some natural cushioning.”

Rin's mouth dropped open, then she closed it again. Perhaps Manji thought he needed to underscore his point. But did he have to sound quite so dismissive?

“I'll admit it, though–” He shook his head. “When she asked me for help, she tried to get me to sign on by takin' her clothes off. What a joke, huh? I smacked that idea outta her fast...but I guess she got me anyhow.”

“What?”

He scratched his chest under his clothing, sounding weary. “Ahh, who knows what kinda romantic bullshit's been going through the kid's head. She sure ain't going to get what she's lookin' for when she aims it at a scumbag like me.”

“Romantic?”

“Yeah, she cooked up a notion that I must be sufferin' for lack of female companionship, and a little while ago she pretty much threw herself at me. Beggin' for kisses and shit.” Manji turned up his palms. “What's a guy gonna do?”

Makie tilted her head back and looked at him.

“I told her no dice, but she was damn persistent, and hell...” Manji rubbed the back of his neck. “I laid a good one on her just to shut her up. I guess that might not have been the brightest idea I ever had, 'cause now she's wanting to snuggle up all the time and she keeps pesterin' me with questions that'd curl your fucking hair.”

Rin huddled beside the bench, pressing her hands over her ears until they throbbed. Needles seemed to pierce her thighs and breasts. Manji's callous tone was only part of the act. He couldn't mean what he said–

“I'm not saying there ain't some payback–hey, I got a pair of balls–but sheesh! Like I want to hook up with some raw kid who can't tell her ass from her elbow? I'd've stuck with my goddamn boss and asked him to fix me up with a matchmaker if I liked the idea of bringing a woman up from scratch. And I ain't the marrying kind, you got me? Gimme an enthusiastic whore any time.” He scanned Makie up and down and made a lusty sound in his throat. “I gather you ain't acceptin' new customers, pretty lady, but that day you first walked up to me in the street, I could've shown you more than a few good reasons to get back in the game.”

Makie turned away without responding and looked straight at Rin. “Child? Is this true?”

Rin hesitated a long moment. She shuffled forward on her knees, got up and bowed. “Yes, Makie-san.”

“Your guardian has not betrayed his trust, and you are still a virgin?”

“Y-yes...” She smeared angry tears from her cheeks. Manji remained sitting where he was, his head down and his hands braced on his knees. “He hasn't done anything...that I didn't ask him to.”

Makie digested that for a moment, then let out a long quiet breath. “I see.”

Manji's shoulders looked tight though his posture was casual; Rin had a sense that he was steeling himself against something. He slowly scratched the back of his lowered head. She looked around and spotted a gleam under a bush. It was his shido, the hilt bindings sticky; she picked it up and brought it to him. Manji accepted it with a grunt, stood up and sheathed it under his clothing. His right sleeve was sodden with blood.

“Hey, did I miss something?” In the silence Rin heard several of the louder voices among the gradually dispersing spectators. “Anybody get killed?”

“Nope, don't think so. Sounds like they gave it up.”

“Aw, that bastard got his ass kicked. He's begging for mercy.”

“Who from?”

Manji's hand came down on Rin's shoulder, making her jump. “We're gonna blow this joint first thing in the morning, so we'd better get some shut-eye.” She trembled under his touch, her throat clogged. He squeezed her shoulder slightly and let go. “It's OK, kid–it's all over now. Nobody's hurt...at least, any way that counts.” She couldn't speak or take a step to follow him when he moved up the path. He found the rest of his dropped weapons by scuffing in the dirt, picked each one up and put them away. “You coming?”

When she didn't answer, Manji returned and tapped her lightly on the back. “Hey, little sister.” Rin looked up, and he put an arm around her shoulders. She buried her face in his sweaty throat, pressed her fists against his chest and gave way to anguished sobs.

Manji stood still, ruffling her hair with awkward patience. After observing them in silence for a minute or two, Makie folded her pike and came a little closer.

“Manji-san.”

“Yeah?̶ 1; He dropped an absent kiss on Rin's forehead, then straightened with a slight startle as if for a moment he had forgotten where he was.

“May I offer you...a word?”

“...I'm listening.”

“She is blossoming, Manji-san. Like a flower in the sunlight...” Makie paused with a slow, melancholy sigh. “You must take care...not to cast too long a shadow.”

“Thanks.” Manji's voice remained neutral, though Rin felt a suppressed jolt deep inside his body. “I'll keep that in mind.”

Rin looked up to see Makie go. Most of the spectators had gone back indoors, but a few lingered. The odd dress of one figure drew her eye. Someone swaddled in heavy clothing with a scarf tied over the head, like a frail old man afraid of the cold. The frame wasn't meager or sagging, though, but straight and slender under the bulky coat and cloak. Man or woman? She couldn't quite tell.

The figure turned and vanished around the corner of the veranda before Makie reached the steps. Rin's eyes opened wide, the veil of tears clearing. She knew the sleek, calculated economy of that movement. Not exactly the same as she remembered: a little restricted as if by bindings of bandages or a still-painful wound. Familiar even so...

Rin rubbed her stinging eyes. Perhaps she would always see her enemy watching...even in her dreams.

“Bitch.”

She glanced up at Manji, whose gaze followed Makie as she picked up the halves of her samisen and rounded the opposite corner of the building. He hardened his grip around Rin's shoulders and took them towards the waiting inn.


Continued...