Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Kazemaru and Miharu ❯ Chapter 20

Miharu and her maids had just finished putting away their instruments and were now discussing what they might have for lunch when an alarm call from the guards startled the peace of the morning rains.

 

“DEMONS!!!!!!” the shout came, loud and clear, shattering all thought.

 

Miharu ran to the banister and looked up into the sky in apprehension. She did not see Kaze. What she did see made her blood run cold. Dozens, no hundreds of yokai were headed strait for them. As if in slow motion, she turned around to her frozen maids.

 

“HIDE!” She yelled, and they all ran, not even trying to keep their shoes on. Miharu ran back the way they had come, finding a safe little corner beneath the walkways. She huddled down underneath of it, trying to ignore the fact that her kimonos were probably ruined by the mud. She fumbled in her kimono for the little stone Kaze had given her, her fingers shaking. At last she got it out, but the sound of sudden fighting made her freeze. She closed her eyes, praying that the stone would work, and popped it in her mouth.

 

Oh. God. Kaze had said the stone would taste good. She quickly surmised he had a gift for understatement. Not only was it so incredibly good in every imaginable way, but she was suddenly absolutely starving. She had been a little hungry before, since it was lunch time, but now she felt as if she had never eaten in her entire life. Her stomach hurt so bad she doubled over, and tears streamed down her face.

 

And the stone. Oh, the stone. It was sweet, it was salty, it was everything. It was a thousand good things and the promise of complete satisfaction, should she just swallow it. Her mouth watered profusely, and she moved the stone between her cheek and her teeth so she could swallow without eating the stone. Please, Kaze, she thought, Please come soon. I don't think I can do this.

 

***

 

By the time Kaze arrived on the scene, the battle had already begun. Either it had just begun, or the guards were better in the daytime, because relatively few had died. He noticed in one of the courtyards a monk and his young apprentice holding their own fairly well, and was glad that Miharu had taken his advice. However, they didn't appear to have placed any barriers up, because there was no sign of entry struggle. As for Miharu…

 

He couldn't see her. Which was either good or very, very bad. With a heavy sigh and the reminder that while both parties were not his friends, the demons were his enemies, he threw himself into the battle. It was not easy, taking shots from both sides, but the humans' arrows were easy enough to deflect with a little wind. The yokai were a little more difficult, and he gathered that while they didn't seem to have a leader as he had guessed, on the average they were a little more intelligent than your run-of-the-mill spirit.

 

He was making headway, though, and paused for a moment, judging he had killed about two-thirds of the yokai present. The humans had made a significant advance as well, about one-fifth, and had for the most part stopped shooting at him when they realized what he was doing.

 

And then he saw her.

 

She was crawling out from under a walkway, her kimono covered in mud. She looked exhausted, as if she had been fighting her own battle down there. Unaware of her surroundings, she didn't notice as a yokai came strait for her.

 

“Damn!” Kaze threw his kusarigama, killing the yokai before it could reach her, but two more were coming, and from angles at which he couldn't fight them both. She began to run, haggardly, suddenly aware of her predicament.

 

Kaze hesitated for a moment, unsure, and then resolved on the only option.

 

“Miharu! FREEZE!!”

 

***

 

Miharu's heart soared as she heard what was undoubtedly Kazemaru's voice. She complied half out of sheer surprise, and then felt a chain whirl around her tightly, yanking her off the ground. She screamed.

 

***

 

Kaze only moved her a little, so that he could place himself between her and the approaching demons, which he dispatched quickly with the other end of the chain. He released her, and she whipped around, her eyes going wide. He came toward her, to make sure she was alright, and she stepped back, hands in front of her, screaming.

 

“KAZEMARU-SAMA!!!!” she cried.

 

He paused a moment, confused. He killed a yokai in his peripheral vision, his wing taking a slight amount of damage. Ah. His wing. Suddenly his mind put it together; he was in his transformed state, which Miharu had not seen. And she was afraid of him. His heart sank.

 

“Miharu-chan…” he tried, and she simply shook her head, working herself into a corner. “It's me. Kaze. Look.” He gestured to his armor, hoping she would recognize it.

 

She stopped crying, and stared hard at his armor. And then his face. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she rushed to him, intending to touch his face. She stopped about a yard away from him, and craned her neck looking up. She was just above waist height to him now, and there was no way she could do what she had thought to.

 

“You are tall, my love.” She said simply, a note of humor in her voice.

 

He smiled, and carefully collected her in his arms, beating his wings to lift them above the fighting. He landed on the roof, setting her down on a beam and kneeling down to her level, taking her shoulders, careful not to hurt her with his claws.

 

“What did you do with the stone?” he demanded, trying to make her understand the danger she had put herself in.

 

A few tears made their way down her cheek afresh and she lifted one hand slowly. In it was the stone. “I couldn't do it, Kaze… I was so hungry… I was going to go crazy if I didn't swallow it. So I spit it out.” She looked so sorry.

 

He sighed, and held her to him a moment, his claws twining in her hair. “It's alright, Miharu. You did the right thing.” He silently cursed himself for not realizing how much harder it would be on a human. But then, he had never expected her to have to use it. He pulled back, thinking quickly.

 

“Here,” he took hold of his obi, passing the ends of it around her waist, tying it tightly. “Take hold of my armor and don't let go.”

 

She did so, but frowned. “But, Kaze, won't you help them…” she trailed off, her voice sounding hopeful and yet desperate.

 

Kaze surveyed the palace grounds. “They can handle it from here. I did most of the work already. If we're going to leave, now is the time.”

 

She had looked out as well, and could easily see what he had said was true. She gripped his armor harder, and nodded.

 

“Close your eyes,” he said kindly. “There are a few in the air who will try to keep us from going, and I need you to remain conscious.”

 

She squirmed, but did as she was told, shutting her eyes tightly and clinging to him as she felt the wind of his wings propelling them off the ground.

 

This was not like flying had been before, Miharu decided. This was terrifying. It was all she could do to clutch on to his armor and shake with fear as she swung this way and that; Kaze was moving to avoid attacks, she guessed. She heard him yell something, and the sound of chain rattling, and then the chain coming back against them. At last they seemed to clear the area, his flying becoming more regular. At last he stopped somewhere, and untied her. She waited, and then heard him laugh.

 

“You can open your eyes now, love,” he chuckled.

 

When she did, she was absolutely shocked to see her surroundings. She was in the cave on Monkey Island.

 

“How…” she gawked.

 

He laughed again. “I can fly much faster like this.” She looked back at him, noticing he had to stoop a little, the ceiling being only a few inches shorter than him. He seemed to be considering something. At last he picked her back up, and she cried out a little in surprise. “I have something I want to show you.” He said simply, smiling.

 

Cradled in his arms she felt very much like a small child, but she found it made flying with him much better. He literally jumped out of the cave before beginning to pump his wings, taking them up above the tallest part of the island. The view was incredible, but she had only a short time to admire it before he dove back towards the island, her breath catching in her throat as he went through the trees into a crevice in the island, touching down lightly outside the mouth of a large cave.

 

He put her down, and gestured that she walk into the cave. She did so, and her eyes were met with a beautiful scene. On one side of the cave, high in the roof, was a hole to the outside, small, but letting in enough light. Directly below it was a pool of water, obviously from the recent rainfall. And to the other side…

 

“Oh, Kaze,” she breathed.

 

There, laid out on a smooth section of stone that jutted into the wall of the cave, was a replica of an interior room, complete with tapestries, screens, and tatami mats on the floor. There were a few furnishings, including a lacquered table with cushions around it and a rather large bed laid out near the wall. All of it was made with the finest materials Miharu had ever laid eyes on.

 

“I know it's not much…” Kaze put forth tentatively.

 

She laughed, walking to the room and gingerly fingering one of the tapestries. “It is incredible.”

 

He shrugged. “Well, you can only do so much with a cave.” He gestured towards the remainder of the cave. “This is where the dragon slept. I cut out the room, and moved my father's belongings here. They weren't to my taste.”

 

She looked at him quizzically. She knew he was one for simple tastes, but… and then she realized he was probably not comfortable with them because they had been his father's. Who he had killed. She let go of the tapestry, and looked down at her hands.

 

Her hands were caked in mud. So were her clothes. She suddenly blushed, feeling inadequate in her surroundings.

 

He seemed to sense her discomfort, and smiled. “In that cabinet,” he gestured, “You will find…” he paused. “Well, they are your wedding presents, actually.” He shifted uncomfortably. “A… an old woman… told me that it is customary for humans.”

 

Miharu nodded, a surprised smile on her face.

 

He walked towards her, kneeling down to her level, and taking her hands. Her own hands swam in his, and she noticed that they were still very callused.

 

“Miharu,” he said plaintively. “I must go for a little while. There are a few things I must do. But I will be back as soon as I can manage. You will be safe here, and there is a little dried fruit on the table if you are hungry. I am sorry, but…”

 

“It's alright,” she said kindly. “I can wait. I need some time to relax.”

 

He nodded, smoothing one large hand over her hair carefully.

 

On a whim, she leaned forward and kissed him, and the feeling was electric. He only barely returned the kiss, as if he were holding back, and then stepped back.

 

“I will miss you,” she said, and he smiled a little. With that, he left.

 

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

AN

Woohoo!!! That was fun, wasn't it? I think it's cute how he's almost twice as tall as her when he's transformed. She's about 5'2” which is gorgeously tall for her era, most of her handmaidens are probably 4'5”. Kaze is normally around 6”, which is still a good head and shoulders above Miharu. But when he's transformed, he's 8' or 9' tall!! Lol. http://hira--akami.deviantart.com/ is my art website. If you wanna see what the characters look like, poke around my gallery, I've got quite a few of them.