章節 16: If thy right eye offends thee, pluck it out
(Misaki)
My body racked with tremors and my throat was sore from
the constant screaming. The invisible cold hands still reached for me, pulling at my hair, my legs, and arms. I still had no idea where I was, and my mind was running a mile a minute.
With a raspy tone I tried again.
"Someone…please…"
"No one can hear you child. No one will hear you.
There came that unpleasant voice again. The same one that had haunted me before. When it spoke it instilled fear in the marrow of my bones. It remained something I couldn't see. The cuts left by my persistent tormentors bled and dropped on the solid black expanse beneath me.
"Why do you keep me here? What do you want from me?!"
The same form from before appeared but this time as it moved towards me the darkness formed into that of a person. A beautiful man that towered above me donned rich blue robes that brushed the floor as he walked forward. His hair was long and an enormous white snake almost the length of him wrapped delicately around his body, hissing as he walked.
"Sweet child..."
My mind screamed for me to remove the fear from my voice but as I asked who he was my voice shook with nothing but fear. He waved his hand nonchalantly, as if my inquiry meant nothing to him.
"That is of no importance. What is of importance is my restitution. For centuries I have been looked down on for an immature mistake. I was a young ignorant god at the time and was prone to making many mistakes. But was that taken into any consideration? Not once!"
He was almost speaking too quickly and erratically for me to understand. He was obviously angry, but I did not know this man.
Had father offended him in some way? Was he a long-hidden enemy of the Emperor?
He bent down in front of me and the smell of nighttime dew hit my nostrils hard. Once his eyes made contact with mine, they never broke the gaze. I could feel cold fear seeping into the core of my being.
He scoffed before tilting his head a bit to the side. "All I have heard for the past one-thousand years is how disgraceful I am! Who rearranged the stars and moon for you precious mortals!!! They praise all of my blessings and yet I am still damned to the underworld. My father went through sacrifice to breathe life into me and now I am diminished to nothing but tales of my treachery. To be brief, I am here to have you suffer as I have. I want HER to know my pain! So, you will remain here, in the dark, seeing only this darkness."
Her…darkness? Who was her? And what exactly did he mean about mortals? Was he not a mortal as well?
"But first?"
Before I could ask any questions, his hand seemed to double in size and with it he took my head in that hand. His other raised, nails long and inching toward the right side of my face. More specifically, my right eye. A long scream left my lips when the tips of his nails broke skin and blood flowed down my face. His fingers were digging into my skin and curled around the vein at the back of my skull, ripping my eye clean from its socket. My body trembled and all air left my lungs. I felt my body lean and topple over. My hands clutched at the empty socket and I lay in agony on the floor. My mind wandered to Chi before I screamed for whoever the man was to kill me. I would rather die than feel this unbearable pain.
All the man did as he stood at his full height was laugh as his robes swayed away from me, returning to black.
(Susanoo)
My hands were stained in her unworthy blood, but I smiled as I heard her scream in torment. I tossed her right eye in my hand before holding it up to get a better look. A laugh escaped as my brother came into view.
"I commend your work."
"Praise from the mighty water god, such an honor," I mocked.
I cared nothing for his praises. Just the result of it all.
"Are you sure our dear sister will show?"
"I was married to her once brother don't you remember? She will come. She won't bare to leave her adored secret to suffer. It has rained a day within the human realm. She sheds tears of sorrow and coats the land in them."
"And if she does not show? HIS patience will wane, and with it so will our eternal lives."
"We will kill the girl, dump her body at heaven's gate and leave our sweet sister to wallow and run back to her cave. We will kill her before she can enter. We will not fail in this, brother."
"There is no room for failure."
As the girls screams filled the air, I raised my hands as if conducting a quartet and walked away.
A demon that dwelled in the human realm had informed me that she traveled with a Samurai who was looking for a Muramasa sword. My plan was falling into place quite nicely. This would all come to a head very soon
(Misaki)
The smell of copper from the now thick blood coating my hands made my stomach roll. The pain was unsustainable and the amount of times that I passed out were beyond hands. Nothing reached and clawed at me anymore, but each scratch I had already sustained hurt a thousand times over.
Every time I woke, the pain would start again. So, I found comfort in the dreams that came…
§§
Chi-san had been my guard for less than a season but in the time that he did accompany me I discovered that he was unlike any guard I had ever had.
One later afternoon my writing instructor demanded that I copy her lesson plans ten times each to improve my calligraphy. She always complained about how sloppy it was and reminded me repeatedly that if I did not improve, that I would never find a husband or do the empire any good. I sat there until the lanterns were lit for the night.
Chi-san had dropped me at my lesson and then went on to the training courtyard to sharpen his blades. When he returned, knocking on the door, Wakazashi clutched tight in his left hand, his eyes were wide when he saw the piled of crumpled paper balls strewn about the floor
and my hands and arms covered in smears of thick ink. He'd chuckled, kicking one of the imperfections my way.
I am sure the common people when hearing that the royal family had accepted a samurai as a bodyguard, and witnessing the demonstration of Chi's abilities upon Hanami, thought that he probably walked around in that thick armor he arrived in all day. But his robes remained plain and his hair in a clean knot. Whenever he looked at me, I saw a clear young but defined man. And each day, he showed a bit more of a personality than the day before.
"having fun princess?"
Looking up at him I narrowed my eyes and gave a fake smile. His white robes were pristine as usual, and flowerless brown branches embroidered into the front right side wrapped around towards the back of his kimono. The katana he always kept with him was scabbarded on his back, and surprisingly his hair was out and brushed his shoulders. I looked away quickly as he chuckled.
"This is ridiculous! My writing is not that horrendous."
I was extremely aware of his frame as he leaned over my shoulder. A hiss slid from between his teeth. My hand holding the brush stopped before it could meet the paper for the millionth time. "What?"
"I am afraid your instructor is correct Kitsune…it is truly terrible."
I put down the brush with some force, splattering ink across the far end of the low table. Of course, he would not simply appease me. Why did I think that he would?
I crumpled up my current mistake and threw it at him.
I huffed out a sigh and readied myself to start again. His arm nudged mine and when I glanced up at him, he nodded for me to move over. I shot a look at the closed door before scooting over. He came to sit beside me and plucked the brush from my hand.
"I will help you."
"You write?"
His eyebrows rose and a smile played at the corner of his mouth. "I'll try not to take offense to that princess."
"Oh no that's not what I meant!" I cringed at my terrible use of words.
He laughed lowly. "It's alright. No offense taken Hime. My father taught me to write neatly and clearly. During one of our lessons he told me a story of a war he had taken part in long ago. The Emperors father waged war with China. They'd backed out on a treaty agreement which constituted war in the late rulers' eyes. My father fought in that war. All of the Samurai participated in defending their country. Though China's army was large and intimidating. Their ruler was also ruthless and unforgiving."
I listened as his hand took hold of mine as we both held the brush. He swirled the brush tip in ink.
"No need to douse the entire brush. A little goes a much further way," he mumbled. He then set our joined hands to the parchment. He continued the story as we wrote.
"In the midst of battle, Japan looked to be overtaking China's forces. But my father received word from one of the scouts that another battalion of soldiers was advancing from our rear, trying to cage use in. My father acted quickly and wrote a message to the commander within the army. He tied the note to the hawk's leg and sent it off. We won the battle, and our men remained alive because of that message. But imagine if it had not been legible. What if the commander had not been able to read it on act of poorly practiced skill? I am afraid we would have fallen to ruin long ago. You nor I would be here now."
"Mm, pay close attention Kitsune."
When I looked down at the page again, we'd reached the bottom and the writing was clean and neat. I couldn't help but to smile over at him. His returning smile surprised me and made my cheeks grow warm.
"Now, only three more to go." I teased.
And we remained that way. His rough calloused hand that normally gripped the hilt of a sword made the brush in my hands flow smoothly across the parchment. The next morning when Chi accompanied me to my lessons, we found it quite hard to keep straight face when my instructor baffled praised my major "improvement" for an hour of the suns time. She cancelled class in light of it. Chi-san and I had a glorious laugh for days onward.
§§
I missed him now as I lay here in agony. I wanted my friend, my father, and the comfort of home. How would anyone find me here, in this in between space.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票