Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Kazemaru and Miharu ❯ Chapter 4

When Kazemaru returned, there was an awkward silence between them. Miharu tried time and again to think of how to apologize, but the words wouldn't come to her. At the same time, Kazemaru was agonizing over his actions.

 

Why had he done that? He had been trying to get a reaction out of her. He had wanted to confirm the seriousness of the situation to her, make her see the sense of it. But when she refused to be afraid of him, it had stirred something in him that wouldn't leave him alone now. She was human, he reminded himself. The mere idea of it should be ridiculous. He had only meant to keep her a while to scare the lord. He hadn't intended to do anything like that. And now he couldn't stop thinking about her. Every time their eyes met she held his gaze for a moment, and then looked away, blushing. He wanted to say something, to reassure her, but then that would be contradictory to his plans, wouldn't it? As the day wore on he could see she was becoming more and more uncomfortable, and decided it wasn't worth all that.

 

After a perfectly silent meal in which he found himself unable to look away from her, Kazemaru thought of an idea.

 

“Lady Miharu?” his voice startled her after so many hours of silence. “Do you know the song `A lotus in the snow'?”

 

She paused unsure why she asked, but nodded. It was one of her favorite songs.

 

“In the morning I will take you back to the palace,” he said softly. “Would you be so kind as to sing it for me? My mother used to sing it.”

 

She tilted her head. Had he changed again? It was so hard to understand his moods. “Of course, my lord.”

 

She began to sing the opening bar, and the cave reverberated with her voice. Suddenly it was as if the room itself began to hum a chord that matched the song. She stopped suddenly. Had she imagined that?

 

Kazemaru looked to her. “Why did you stop?”

 

She looked around, and then at him. “Did you hear that?”

 

He laughed, full and loud, and she liked the sound of it. It was so honest, no one ever laughed like that at court. At last he gestured to their surroundings. “This cave is like a flute. If I manipulate the wind just right, it will play notes. I was accompanying you.”

 

“Oh…” she said softly. “That's… incredible… and beautiful.”

 

He smiled. “I'm glad you like it. Please, continue.”

 

She nodded and began again. It was a slow, sad song full of aching beauty, and the sound of the wind in those mournful chords was something she didn't think she would ever forget. She watched his face as she sung. He was far off in his thoughts, a million miles away from her and completely unobtainable. She wondered what he was thinking, and then asked herself why it mattered.

 

Tomorrow he would be gone and she probably wouldn't ever see him again, so she should stop thinking these things about him! Maybe if she was lucky she would forget the way his eyes seemed to be a doorway to another world, the way his voice curled around his words as if they were all magic spells. And in a way they were, they seemed to captivate her so much. She tried to focus on the song and push these thoughts away, but the image of him staring at the sun setting kept bringing them back like the water continually beating against the rocks far below them.

 

At last the song ended, and he turned back to face her. His eyes were still unfocused, and they shifted as he looked at her.

 

Why was he torturing himself like this? He had meant for the song to relax them both, to relieve the tension in the air, but all it did was increase the turmoil within him. She haunted his thoughts constantly, and he didn't know why. He had known her less than a day, he chided himself. She probably has plenty of unattractive habits, like picking her teeth, or perhaps she was one of those women who nagged constantly. He had heard about them. But as he looked at her, he couldn't possibly imagine anything bad about her. Her face was open; she looked as if she wanted to ask him something. The whole image was entirely too endearing, her guileless manner and beauty were just too much. He sighed deeply. It was for the best that she was leaving tomorrow. He didn't think he could take much more of this.

 

She watched his face as long as she could stand the tortured expression he wore. She finally tore her eyes away from his, and she knew. He felt the same way, but it just wasn't…. She sighed. They stood like that for a moment as the last of the light fled from the sky.

 

“You should get some sleep, we will leave early tomorrow morning,” he said, his voice a little rough.

 

Miharu nodded, and looked at the pile of feathers. “Oh, I'm not… displacing you, am I? This is where you sleep right?”

 

He shifted uncomfortably. “It's alright. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. I will leave for a while, but I'll be back by morning at least. You will be safe here.”

 

She nodded shortly, and sighed a little. When she looked up again, he was gone. She stood up, and walked toward the entrance of the cave. It was already dark, but the sky was clear and the moon shed a faint light on the world. Thousands of stars glittered in the cold black sky, and the surf beat quietly against the coast in the distance. Down below her, the waters were mild, and she reasoned that the tide must be coming in. She stared into the sky, as distant and untouchable as Kazemaru was. Where was he? When would he come back? She tried to ignore thinking about tomorrow.

 

She walked back into the cave, and carefully removed the comb in her hair. She placed it on the chest, neatly in the center. She delicately stepped into the pile of feathers and curled up. She closed her eyes and forced herself to fall asleep so she could stop thinking. She tried not to think about him, about how her life had changed in the breadth of a single day. She tried not to think about the way his lips felt against hers when he had kissed her. Kazemaru-sama….

 

 

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A/N: ooh! Things are getting interesting….

 

Sorry the plot moves so slow, it's written like a novel instead of a fanfic, so you have to go through a lot of chapters before much happens. It's called the exposition phase….