Souji

I sprawled out on the futon with a soft sigh. Souji’s returned strength meant he was able to go back to his normal life and stay with me, but that also meant we had less time together. I couldn’t help but feel bittersweet each night he went on his rounds. It was selfish, but I craved his touch next to me. I smiled to myself and began my effort to stay awake until he was back. It seldom worked, but I found an odd sense of enjoyment out of it. I thought of my daily iai training with saito. The more my skill improved, the harsher his training regime became. My knees felt like they would buckle almost every single time after a training session. It had paid off, though. I wasn’t quite up to par with saito and the other captains yet, but I had surpassed the other warriors, beating them in duels easily. Souji watched when he could, and always laughed seeing the warriors realize they couldn’t patronize me.

I smiled softly to myself, and just as I was about to fall into a peaceful sleep, the doors to my room were forcefully slid open. At first I thought it was souji, but the shadow in the door opening had a larger frame, and a much more malicious aura. I was just about to stand up to grab my katana, but the thought had scarcely left my head before the shadow threw itself over me, pinning me back to bed. A muscular hand wrapped itself around my throat, keeping me in place. I tried my best to struggle free, but without my katana I was but an average girl.
“My, my, minako.” A honeyed voice rang out to me, and I recognized it as belonging to chikage kazama. I had seen him before in town, but he always stayed well clear of humans. So then, why was he here? Was he going to kill me?
“I’ve had my eyes on you for some time now,” he said, as if he replied to my thoughts. “Your hair, and your eyes, one could almost take you for a demon...” it was too dark to make out the features of his face, but I could tell that he was smiling.
I wriggled feebly under his grip. “I’m.. human...” I squeezed the words out under the pressure of his hand on my throat. Kazama did not reply, instead I heard the dull clang of his katana unsheathing.
“Let’s put that to the test right now, shall we?” He laughed Cooly, and I knew he already knew the answers. He merely wanted to terrorize me. Then, i felt a dull pain along my exposed arm as my skin split open. It wasn’t a large wound, but it hurt all the same. I whimpered.
“My, would you look at that. It’s not healing...”
“Of course not... you- “ I stopped speaking to scream silently from anguish. Kazama had stuck his finger inside the cut, making what was first an insignificant wound a large gash.
“I’ve been speaking with Koudo”, he said, taking no heed of my gasping as his finger left my wound. “You may be a human, but your appearance is not a coincidence. And I know...” I felt something drag along my kimono. He was wiping the blood off his hand and sword on it. “You’ve been mixing yourself with the fake.” I stared angrily at what I thought was his eyes.
“This gives you some interesting traits, don’t you think? That’s why I’m here to take you. “ I felt lightheaded, but I didn’t know if it was from his announcement of kidnapping me or blood loss.
“No...!” I mumbled, but kazama stood up, pulling myself up with him. I struggled desperately, ignoring the increasing pain in my forearm to try and pull him away from me.
“It’s pointless!” Kazama growled. “You’re better of just-“ in a flash, I fell down on the floor. Another shadow had appeared in the opening, and kazama had only barely dodged their attack. I gasped for air, clutching my arm.
“You stay the fuck away from her!” I had never felt so relieved to hear souji’s voice before. Kazama simply clicked his tongue, and turned around to face Souji.
“Well, aren’t you chipper.” Souji didn’t respond, but lunged forward. Kazama didn’t parry, instead he nimbly avoided souji’s strike so the two men had swapped positions. Souji was now standing in front of me, his large frame bringing me an immense feeling of security.
“Fine, take the girl”, kazama snarled. “I’ll come back for you later. Don’t think you’ve avoided being our little experiment. “ then, he disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.
“Wait!!” Souji bellowed as he stepped outside, but kazama had vanished. He muttered angrily before he sheathed his sword and returned to our room. He lit a candle, and quickly returned to my side.
“Minako, are you okay? Shit, this doesn’t look good...” he kneeled down next to me, and gently picked up my bloody arm. Kazama’s groping had opened the cut, and although it wasn’t a serious wound, it had to be treated.
“Can you stand up?” Souji’s voice was gentle, and his emerald eyes gazed into mine.
“Yeah”, I responded with a meek voice, and Souji helped hoisting me up.
“Let’s get you to Yamazaki, you’ll be okay.” I nodded, and together we walked toward yamazaki’s room. Souji was putting pressure on my wound with his hand, and despite what just had happened, I couldn’t help but be amazed at his self restraint. Normally, just a whiff of my blood was enough to get him craving, but now, his eyes showed no hunger, only concern for me.

Yamazaki treated the wound, and ordered me to two weeks of rest. He had pointed out that rest did not include any form of swordplay.
“I’m glad you returned when you did”, I said awkwardly as we laid together in the futon. Souji pulled me closer to him, and nestled his face into my hair.
“I’m not doing my rounds for some time”, he said with a cool voice. “I’ll stay here with you.” I almost shot out of bed, causing a zing of pain in my arm. Souji gently guided me back, having me rest my head on his arm.
“Why?” I asked through clenched teeth. Although I wanted nothing more than him around me, I knew how much the rounds meant to him. “This injury is nothing, all I need is some r-“ I couldn’t finish my sentence before feeling his moist lips against mine. At first I tried to pull back in mere defiance, but souji’s arm wrapped around my back, pulling me even closer into him. I gave in, and after a moment he reluctantly pulled away from me.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight when that fucker is around”, Souji said coldly, but his eyes burned with fire. “I’m not going to lose you too...” I gulped. Souji’s heart was still shattered from losing kondou. I slowly lifted my injured arm, and placed my hand on his cheek.
“I have my sword, Souji. I’ve been practicing.” Souji let out a dry laugh.
“You can pull off a decent iai now and beat the shit out of the other warriors, but, minako, chikage kazama is something different. He will rip off your sword arm before you can even touch the sword handle.” He placed his hand on top of mine, ever so gently. I sighed.
“I’m sorry, Souji.”