Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Kazemaru and Miharu ❯ Chapter 30

Miharu became accustomed to her new life with Kazemaru as the weeks flew by. The leaves outside the cave they stayed in began to turn into bright shades of yellow and red, and the little pool had swollen with the summer rains into a sizable pond. Kaze placed stepping stones for her to walk on, from there little room to the entrance. Miharu spent a fair amount of time wandering the island, shaded by a paper umbrella Kaze had acquired for her at some trouble. Her skin would always be darker than his, but she wanted to keep it as light as possible.

 

There was nothing about the island that didn't delight her. The entrance to the cave was in a tiny ravine, buried under layers of bamboo and momiji trees. Her eye was always drawn up to where the sun broke through the canopy in brilliant beams, illuminating the silver disks of spiders' webs and turning the dew into starlight.

 

Once over the stone steps carefully carved into the ravine's edge, a steep pathway led down to the pebble-strewn beach. From here she could easily see the little village of Yokosuka, nestled up next to the sea and between the hills that bumped up next to the shore. She liked to watch the fishermen work early in the morning. She was sure they could see her as well, but Kaze explained that the villagers thought the island was haunted, (which it was of course) and so the boats gave it a good girth.

 

When the tide was low, there were sharp rocks that traveled around the island from the beach to the cliff face. There were many small caves there, and lots of crab. Kaze taught her how to catch them with a net, wading out between the rocks in just her yokata folded up into her waist belt. She was glad the fishermen stayed away, she certainly wouldn't want anyone (other than Kaze) to see her like this. She enjoyed catching the crabs—it was probably the most challenging and physically active thing she'd ever done. She would boil them with a cooking fire she'd made in one of the lower caves. She had to bring wood and the pot with her every time, as the sea would wash it away come high tide, but she didn't mind. Crab, she discovered, was Kaze's absolute favorite dish, and it was well worth the effort seeing as it was the only thing she knew how to cook.

 

She learned quickly to start the fire going first before she caught the crab, for the first time she found herself distracted and busy when the tide began to rise. Kaze had been expecting her, though, and came to her rescue, carrying her and then her cooking up to the cave where she had first stayed. They watched distant ships disappear into the northern haze, heading for the port of Edo, while they tossed the crab shells into the churning sea far below.

 

Another path of stairs from the beach climbed the steep ridged back of the island right up to the very top, where she could look down the full 150 feet of cliff to where she caught crab. Kaze had taken her here earlier on, to point out where everything was. To the north, Edo and Kamakura, to the west, Yokosuka, to the east and south, the great, endless sea. They sat staring at the edge of the world, when a strange thought occurred to Miharu.

 

“Where is Kurihama?” she asked.

 

His face seemed distant, strange. He wanted her to forget, but they both knew she couldn't. He scanned the all-around view, cutting through the haze with his preternatural sight. He pointed to the southwest.

 

“That way. But you can't see it for the hills,” he explained.

 

“Right,” she murmured.

 

They stayed there until the red sun sank behind the land and the stars peppered the sky, mirrored by the tiny orange fire-lights in Yokosuka and the fireflies that drifted through the ravine. It was enough, then, just to be together.