Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Kazemaru and Miharu ❯ Chapter 13

Miharu awoke to Emi gently shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes a crack, shielding them against what seemed like a cruel amount of light. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all. “Just a little bit longer, Emi-chan…” she said croakily.

 

Emi didn't smile. “I am sorry milady but I let you sleep as late as I dare. It is nearly midday, you must get up now. Unless you've become sick from the cold air last night….” There was no concern, no affection in her voice.

 

Miharu sat up slowly, taking inventory of her body. “No, I'm not sick. What time did you say it was?”

 

“Almost midday,” Emi repeated coldly.

 

“What?!” she scrambled a little “I must get dressed and—”

 

“You are already dressed, my lady,” she pointed out.

 

She looked down. She was indeed dressed, although her robes were a little messed up. She must have fallen asleep this way. “Oh. So I am.”

 

“I shall call in the other girls to freshen you up.” Emi was all politeness and distance.

 

Miharu at last noticed her companion's frigid manner, and caught her sleeve before she could go. “What's wrong, Emi?”

 

Her closest friend suddenly became livid. “You know very well what's wrong!” she hissed, her voice a harsh whisper. “Or did he bewitch you to forget the whole affair?”

 

“Affair?!” Miharu was affronted, and then suddenly blushed as she realized that was exactly what it was.

 

Emi simply stared at her a moment. Then she rose. “We will discuss this later.” She was addressing someone above her station improperly, but Miharu just nodded. Emi left the little cloth tent they shared and called to a few servants cheerily, disguising anything odd.

 

Miharu sighed darkly. This was not going to be good. She didn't want to fight with Emi. She was like her sister. But it looked like she was going to have to try to put up some kind of defense, or Emi might not continue to keep their secret. Of course she could always tell Kazemaru, and no one would hear from Emi again, but the idea simply terrified her. She couldn't do that. Never.

 

But all day she avoided Emi like a disease. She made sure she was never alone with her and managed to do so until it was time for them to go to bed. But Emi had different plans. She approached her, all cheer and fake smiles, as if she had just had the most wonderful idea.

 

“My lady Miharu, I have a wonderful idea!” Miharu nearly laughed at how exact her image had been, but sobered quickly when she realized it probably involved them being alone so they could have a little “heart to heart.”

 

“You haven't been able to sleep easily lately, have you?”

 

Miharu lowered her eyes. She'd been sleeping just fine, when she did sleep. Emi knew very well why she hadn't been sleeping. As if on Emi's cue she suddenly had to suppress a yawn. “I suppose so,” she admitted, trapped.

 

“Well, I just thought, maybe a little stroll around the grounds would make you tired enough to help you fall asleep!” she sounded as if she was suggesting they all have a party or something. Miharu felt her heart sink. There was no way she was getting out of this one. She nodded, and followed Emi out of the room.

 

She kept up the smiles and cheer until they were out of earshot of the guards.

 

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Miharu?” she said quietly through gritted teeth, glancing around to see if anyone was listening.

 

Miharu sighed. “I don't know. I can't help it. I've fallen in love with him.”

 

“Fallen in love with him! Miharu, he's a demon!”

 

“Yokai,” Miharu specified.

 

Emi frowned disapprovingly. “Even worse. You know they say the ones that look like humans are the most dangerous.”

 

Miharu sighed, frustrated. “Emi he's not like that. Besides the obvious physical differences—”

 

Emi's eyebrows shot up, and Miharu smacked her, blushing. “I mean his ears and his height, pervert!”

 

“Well what am I supposed to think you've been doing when he whisks you in the middle of the night?”

 

“Not that!” She suddenly remembered Kazemaru's request. “Well not yet anyway…”

 

Emi threw her hands up in frustration. “You see what I mean?”

 

Miharu glared at her. “Listen, like I was saying, other than the way he looks he's really not that different than any other man. Well, except he flies and—”

 

“—kills humans for sport.” Emi finished.

 

“He does not!” she protested.

 

Emi stopped walking and looked Miharu strait in the eye. “Can you honestly tell me that you know for sure he has never killed one of us for entertainment?”

 

Miharu bit her lip and looked away.

 

“Exactly. And besides, if he's not so different from other men why not choose one of them? Like, someone the same species as you.” Her voice was acid.

 

“Emi…” she whined. “Because… because they aren't Kazemaru-sama, that's why!”

 

This time her handmaiden caught on to the titles. “He's a landholder? And a warrior?” she asked skeptically.

 

“Yes. See, it's not so bad!”

 

“Yes it is Miharu! That doesn't have any standing for us. It's completely different.”

 

“No it's not.”

 

“Do you even know what he intends to do with you?” she demanded.

 

“Emi you make it sound like he's going to eat me or something,” Miharu scolded.

 

Emi simply stared at her. “You didn't answer my question.”

 

“Yes, that's your answer. I do know.”

 

“How?”

 

“He told me. Well, actually he asked me for what it's worth.”

 

Emi paused. “Asked you what?”

 

Miharu smiled coyly. “He asked me to marry him.”

 

Emi gawked. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Miharu, demons don't marry!”

 

Miharu shrugged. “Well, I guess that wasn't quite what he asked but he said he would if I—”

 

“What did he ask you Miharu?”

 

She shifted uneasily. “For a… permanent relationship, anyway…”

 

Emi scowled suspiciously. “What exactly did he say?”

 

Miharu blushed. “Well heaskedmetobehismate” she rushed “BUT he said he would marry me if that's what I wanted!”

 

“Miharu!!” Emi put her hands over her eyes.

 

“It's not like it sounds, Emi!!” she took hold of her wrists and gently pulled them away. “It's just their version of marriage.”

 

Emi shook her head. “No it isn't Miharu. It's not permanent.”

 

“He said for life, Emi, even though it's not the custom of his…”

 

“Breed?” Emi inserted cruelly. “And what was your answer, or do I even have to ask?”

 

“I didn't answer him,” Miharu said quietly, surprising Emi. “I thought he should ask my father or something… I don't know… I just couldn't decide at the time.”

 

“And now?” Emi's voice softened.

 

“I still think that father should—”

 

“Miharu, there's no way the lord would ever even give him audience, much less your hand! It's just not possible.” Emi sounded almost apologetic now.

 

Miharu felt as if she would cry. “There has to be a way, there just has to be.”

 

Emi paused, as if weighing up the situation. “Well, it would seem that your intentions are well-meant enough even if his aren't”

 

“They are—”

 

“—Regardless if his aren't then. Please understand Miharu, I'm not doing this to go against you. You mean a lot to me, and I only want what's best for you. You have to see that this isn't, or at least it would look that way to everyone but you.”

 

“I know. But you have to trust me,” she pleaded.

 

Emi shook her head. “But what if he's put some kind of spell on you or something? And don't tell me he hasn't because you wouldn't be able to know.”

 

Miharu saw the reason in that. But she just knew Kaze hadn't, mostly because he was fighting against his better reason as well. However, she didn't think it would be a very good idea to tell Emi that. What could she say to make her understand? “Emi, I promise I won't do … anything… with Kazemaru until I find a way for us to be married. Alright?”

 

Emi sighed. “Alright.”

 

Miharu paused. “Look, if you want to help me you could help me find a way—”

 

She held up her hands to silence her. “Don't ask that of me. I'll keep my silence, and that is all I will offer. As long as you keep your promise.”

 

Miharu nodded. At least they were on more comfortable terms now. “Let's go back. I'm tired.”

 

Emi nodded.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN

It is at this time that I shall reveal that the characters in this story are loosely based off me and my family. I would like to stress the word loosely. Miharu is based on my out-of-touch-with-reality fourteen-year-old self. Kaze was originally based off my wonderful husband (who was my fiancé when I began writing this) but in order to be more “yokai like” I had to make him far more sinister and a bit manipulative. However, he does rather enjoy single-person shoot-em-up video games, so I suppose it's not entirely unfounded…. Emi is my younger sister. Always the voice of reason, she's sort of my counterpart and does her best to remind me of reality. I guess that makes her sound kind of nasty, which she's not. She just doesn't want me to get hurt, and the same is true of Emi and Miharu.