Vagrant Princess chapter 5
Title: The Vagrant Princess
Series: Prince of Tennis
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sanada/Sakuno, Taka/Fuji
Summary: Fuji has followed Sakuno while she is further acquainted with her stoic host...
Disclaimer: All belongs to Konomi Takeshi
Chapter 5
Fuji knocked as loudly as he could onto the door. It was late and very likely that all of the inhabitants of the building were asleep. Far from an ideal choice, the voyage he had been given took much longer than he had anticipated as it had to first stop in Rikkaidai’s neighboring country of Jyousei. Now, with a half-full moon high above him in the midnight sky, Fuji tried to keep his balance while fatigue swayed back and forth inside of him like a pendulum.
Hurried footsteps could be heard coming from inside, and Fuji tensed. Of course, this was the only place in Rokkaku that was a reasonable for him to go to, but that certainly did not erase the fact that he had brashly left this place many years before. As he listened to locks being undone and the door being creaked open, Fuji held his breath for a moment.
“Can I help you, sir?” a sleep-clouded voice politely asked from the crack, the owner of the building never bothering to really look at his late night guest.
“Saeki,” Fuji started-unsure of what entirely to say-“it’s me…your brother.”
Although it took a moment for the words to register in the other man’s mind, the door opened more, and Saeki for the first time stared at Fuji.
“Syuusuke?”
Fuji, for lack of words, simply nodded. He didn’t even speak up when Saeki grabbed his arm and pulled him aside only to quickly disappear into another room. Fuji heard a muffled conversation, words occasionally creeping out from under the door. Rustling noises drifted into the room, soon followed by a young woman whose elfin face was like his own. The woman, at first shocked at seeing the newcomer, soon rushed to him and embraced him.
“Syuusuke, you’re home,” she nearly squealed in excitement.
Fuji didn’t immediately reply as his largest concern at the moment was to maintain his shaky footing while his sister hugged him. Saeki stood to the side of what he perceived as a heartwarming reunion, watching with amusement. The long line of questions was soon rattled off.
“Did you just get here? How long are you planning to stay? Why have you returned? Are you just visiting?” Yumiko asked question after question, seemingly not expecting any answers due to the lack of space between each inquiry. “Oh, do you need something to eat, something to drink? I’ll get tea.”
In her giddiness, she scampered from the room, leaving the remaining occupants rather dazed, and Saeki again approached Fuji.
With a wan smile, he said with a touch of irony; “Here, take a seat. You look tired.”
Graciously accepting the chair, Fuji offered his own weak smile. “I’m sorry if my coming so late is a nuisance.”
“Not at all, Syuusuke. You’re family.”
“Thank you.”
Saeki made a noise in response, and as he sat down a chair besides Fuji, a thoughtful look stole over his face. He leaned closer to Fuji as if he were about to expound on some great secret, unknown to all.
“It is curious, though, that you’ve come this suddenly. Is there something wrong?”
Slumping against the wood of the chair, Fuji closed his eyes, fighting sleep the best that he could while he thought of an appropriate answer to give to his brother-in-law.
“I’m…looking for someone,” he said without opening his eyes.
Noticing how ambiguous the answer was, Saeki was about to question further but was interrupted when Yumiko popped her head in the doorway.
“Syuusuke, do you want anything in the tea? Honey? Milk? Sugar? I think we even have some lemon I can slice up.”
Answering for Fuji, Saeki spoke up, “Sweetheart, I think he’ll like anything you bring him.”
With a bright smile and a nod, Yumiko disappeared again, and Saeki returned his attention to Fuji.
“Who on earth would you look for in Rikkaidai, Syuusuke?” he asked, trying to keep any imposing lilt out of his voice.
Fuji at first was silent, and then resigned to answering at the same time Yumiko hurried back into the room with a tray in her hands.
“I’m looking for a girl, but I doubt you would have seen her at all,” he spoke softly, sitting up to take one of the offered tea cups from his sister.
Having taken a seat at the same table as the two men, Yumiko also contributed to the discussion; “Well, you never know. Describe her, and we might surprise you.”
Fuji sighed. “That’s the problem. She’s very…disoriented by herself. She came off a ship from Seigaku completely by herself. She has never been to Rikkaidai before.” Here he hesitated. “She is also disguised as a boy.”
When given questioning looks from the other two, Fuji leaned back against the chair again. “We had our reasons.”
While Fuji took a long sip of the strong tea, a glance was shared between Saeki and Yumiko, one wondering, the other knowing.
“Is the girl…going by the name Tetsuya, by chance?” Saeki ventured.
Fuji stiffened in surprise. His reaction brought a smile to Yumiko’s face.
“I knew it,” she murmured under her breath.
Saeki himself seemed taken aback by the revelation about Tetsuya, and he mentioned briefly to Fuji how Yumiko had suggested to him earlier that she thought Tetsuya might be female. At the time, he had told her that such an idea was ridiculous. Listening to all of this, Fuji just looked at his older sister, somewhat dumbfounded but still smiling.
“Syuusuke, women always can tell with these sorts of things,” Yumiko declared, answering all unsaid questions that Fuji may have had.
Calming his strained thoughts, Fuji drained the rest of the tea cup; “Have you seen her, then?”
Yumiko giggled. “Seen her? Syuusuke, she stayed here. She was with Akazawa and Kaneda-merchants who come here often.”
“Unfortunately, you just missed her,” Saeki answered. “She left this morning with Akazawa’s group.”
“And you are not following tonight,” Yumiko insisted; “It is the middle of the night, and I have never seen you look so deprived of rest. You are staying here for at least the remainder of the night.”
Fuji knew better than to argue with his sister; not only that, he truly was far too exhausted to argue with anyone. Instead, as Saeki stood up offering to help him into guest quarters, he smiled.
“How is your…son?” he asked Yumiko with sincere curiosity-now that the main reason for his unexpected return had been disclosed.
“Kohta? Oh, he is an amazing little boy. I’m sure he’ll be excited to meet his other uncle.”
Fuji just smiled in return as conflicting emotions welled inside of him. Looking at the serenely content face of his sister and the kind air that her husband carried himself with, Fuji felt guilty for his disappearance and the current situation. Soon, he was bidden good night by the couple and was left alone in a room where he immediately sank down onto a bed. His glazed eyes stared at the dark ceiling as his numbed conscience slowly grasped the idea of being in Rokkaku again.
Much too tired to focus on such thoughts, his eyes quickly drifted shut, and dreams soon replaced reality as sleep overcame him.
The air was refreshingly cool in the Seigaku castle that morning. Hurrying down the hall, Tomoka hummed to herself as she balanced the tray of food in one hand and knocked on a thick, oaken door with the other. With some effort, she pushed her back against the door, opening it.
“Princess Sakuno! Good morning!” the eager young maid chirped.
She dropped the tray onto a small table in the sitting room and turned a tea cup over to start pouring the warm liquid into it. She straightened the plate of carefully prepared eggs with the eating utensils placed on a cloth napkin meticulously beside it. Approaching the door of the bedroom with her footsteps muffled into the thick carpet, Tomoka tried another, softer knock on the wood.
“Princess Sakuno?” she again tried. “I have some food for you!”
She pushed the door open slowly. She immediately went to the windows and pulled back the long curtains. The sun was breaking the horizon, and Tomoka instinctively squinted as the bright light hit her eyes.
“It’s a beautiful morning, Your Highness,” she loudly remarked to the canopied bed. “Her Majesty, the queen, wanted you to have a good breakfast before meeting her later today-if you’re well, of course. Her Majesty waited until she thought you would feel up to moving again. She was so worried after you fainted! But Prince Ryoma said he would take care of you. Wah! Such a wonderful brother!”
She neared the curtains on the bed and began to draw them back to tie to the posts. Without truly looking at the bed and the occupant she assumed was there, Tomoka continued her boisterous dialogue.
“Princess Sakuno, the queen is very excited about your marriage, and you must be, too! Isn’t all of this wonderfully exciting?” She smiled dreamily, and, finally turning to the covers, she asked, “Do you want me to bring your breakfast in here?”
There was no answer.
“Princess Sakuno?”
She pressed lightly at the plush duvet, and briefly hesitant, she pulled the blanket back a little. There was no one underneath it. More than anything, the young maid was simply confused. She hurried back into the sitting room as if she expected to find the princess sitting on the sofa beside the tray of food, drinking her morning tea. However, that room was also vacant, the only noise being the soft crackling of the small fire in the fireplace.
Panic settled like an iron weight in Tomoka’s stomach as she wondered where the princess could be. To everyone’s knowledge, she fell faint during the conference with Fudomine and had since been resting in her own quarters. But she was not there.
Tomoka rushed from the room, barely closing the door behind her.
“Her Highness is gone! Princess Sakuno is gone!” she exclaimed to any who would hear as she hurried down the hall.
Her anxious footsteps rang through the stone hallways, shattering the silent unconsciousness that had been quietly resting until that point in the castle walls of Seigaku.
The unobtrusive sound of song birds flirted with Sakuno’s ears, enticing her to wakefulness. She moaned softly as she sat up, her stiff muscles resisting the cool air of the room as she pushed the thick quilt off of herself. As the scent of food wafted into the small room, the girl felt uncomfortable, remembering the events of the previous night.
The man with the strange hair and feminine eyes as well as Mr. Sanada had walked with her to the town where the group split into separate ways-Sakuno and Niou toward their superior’s house, Sanada some undisclosed destination. Past the west boundary of the town, she and the man trudged. Relieved of Sanada’s stoic presence, Niou was more inclined to chitchat. The travel-worn princess, however, was apt to be reticent.
The sudden appearance of the comfortably-sized house took Sakuno by surprise, but relief soon took the place of any trepidation that she had felt. Following the long afternoon of hard, unfamiliar work, she was content with any lodging shared with her.
A polite knock sounding on the door of the guestroom before it was slightly opened broke some of Sakuno’s early morning dazedness. The lean man with a face as serious as Mr. Sanada’s slipped inside quietly, placing some folded clothes onto a chair beside the door before he noticed that the room’s guest was getting out of bed herself.
“You’re awake. Good,” he remarked. He then held up the clothes; “Your clothes. I apologize that Niou’s old shirts were the smallest things we could find for you.”
“It was fine. Thank you,” Sakuno hastily said, her cheeks flushing as she consciously tugged on the material to conceal her still bare legs even though they were already obscured by the blanket. It was embarrassing enough what had happened the night before; Niou had introduced her to another close associate who cared for Sanada’s finances and-during his daily absences-the house and grounds.
“Yagyuu, we’ve got ourselves a little guest,” Niou introduced the shy “boy” to the other man. “He’s Tetsuya- new to the country, new to logging, yet somehow newly hired.”
Despite his calm outward appearance, Yagyuu was not bashful. This Sakuno realized when the first thing he suggested was that she take a bath. He explained that her traveling and working had probably collected dust, and additionally, bathing would help settle her nerves. He continued by offering to clean her clothes as well. While Sakuno was on the verge of panicking about being naked in the same vicinity as two male strangers, she had failed to notice Niou had slipped behind her.
Arms enclosed her quickly and had her lifted her before she could even make a noise of protest. “Where to, Yagyuu?” she heard Niou say, simultaneously feeling his laugh reverberate through his chest.
A ghost of a smile flitting across his lips, Yagyuu moved past the shorter man down the hall. “Let me fill the tub first.”
“You’re such a maid. I thought Sanada hired you to be his accountant.”
Yagyuu’s glasses caught some light as he glanced at Niou. “In Mr. Sanada’s absence, I try to be an adequate host.”
Niou grinned at Sakuno as he murmured to her, “Hostess.”
“I heard that, Niou.”
Sakuno almost shook her head to return to the present, and she barely caught the last few words from Yagyuu. All she heard was something about Mr. Sanada and food. After he exited the room, she slid from the bed, her feet cringing at the feeling of the smooth, cold wood underneath.
I really need to stop daydreaming, she mused as she tugged on her pants. Replacing the too large shirt with her own double layers of clothing, she pushed her feet into the nearly too small shoes and joined Yagyuu in the adjacent room.
Morphed into both a kitchen and eating room, the area would have seemed cramped were it not for the bay window facing the eastern sun. Adorning the plain, wooden table was the source of the inviting aroma that had helped awaken Sakuno earlier, and she looked at the food desirously but noticed that she and Yagyuu were the only ones present.
As if reading her mind, Yagyuu told her to go ahead and eat; the others would be inside shortly. Instead of asking where they were, though curiosity was demanding an answer, Sakuno saw through the window a glint of what looked like a sword. As rapidly as it had appeared, the flash was gone.
Thoughts about breakfast fled her mind as she was compelled to investigate the unusual light. She neared the door that led out behind the house, she pushed on the heavy door and squeezed outside.
The chattering of birds and creatures now intensified, and Sakuno stood transfixed at the nearly foreign songs coming from all about her. The only animals that she ever encountered were her brother’s cat, the horses for carriages, and the occasional songbird that landed in a courtyard or windowsill. Another sound cut through the air, and she would not have recognized it at all were it not for the practice spars that she remembered watching her brother have with his friend Momoshiro.
Swords, she remembered as she passed a large hedge.
Now, the two sparring men entered her vision. Down the hill that was immediately behind the house, a smooth field had been manicured onto the ground, and in the center of that field were Sanada and Niou, both moving with swift alacrity and each brandishing a sword. The hill steepened at this point, so the swordsmen seemed miles away while still being close enough for Sakuno to see every swing, side step, and jab with an almost alarming clarity. The path she had been following transformed into stairs at the top of the slope, and the girl paused at the top of them, a spectator to the mock-fight.
“Your step is clumsy today, Niou,” she heard Sanada criticize the silver-haired man.
“Is not,” Niou shot back with a strong swing at his opponent’s left side.
Sanada quickly deflected the blow, and Sakuno then realized that she had been holding her breath. The duel continued-akin to a sort of lethal dance-their movements blurring together as they delivered a slice or barely twirled out of the blade’s reach. In a trance-like stupor, the girl took a step forward only to make an ungraceful and rather painful fall onto her backside when her foot slid on some loose gravel.
Responding to whatever sound Sakuno’s fall had generated, Sanada looked sharply at the top of the hill-his eyes boring directly into her own. Her face heated yet again, but she didn’t feel particularly embarrassed about falling. Rather, the mere intensity of that gaze left her feeling small and confused. With his opponent’s attention elsewhere, Niou took advantage of the pause and advanced on Sanada, and Sakuno gasped when she realized this. But as fast as the swing was, the man whose eyes never left the girl caught the blow and, with a twist, wrenched the other blade from Niou’s hands.
This match, Sanada was certainly the victor.
Niou just laughed at the sport of it all. “Damn, Sanada. Here I thought Tetsuya was a good enough distraction.”
Sanada’s finally turned from the said Tetsuya to the other’s grinning face. “A good swordsman is never distracted…simply aware.”
He then sheathed his sword, nodding to Niou. “That’s enough for now. We need to eat some before going to the site.”
“Well, I won’t argue with that,” Niou said as he put away his own sword. He jogged up the stairs, slowing beside Sakuno as she finally got to her feet. “Morning, Tetsuya,” was all he said as he continued on towards the house.
Left alone with Sanada, Sakuno found herself at a loss of words. He offered none, instead staring off into the woods, hands still gripping the sword as if waiting for an unknown enemy to attack at any moment. She opted for polite conversation.
“Mr. Sanada, thank yo-”
“Are you alright?” he asked without looking at her.
“Huh?”
“Did you sprain anything?”
“Oh…no, I’m fine.” Again, she felt flustered for reasons she couldn’t discern.
Sanada sighed. “It would not have been good to have an injured worker.”
So that’s why he asked. Sakuno thought with an unsure smile.
Again silence seemed to dominate the air; even with the tremors of the awakening forest around them, it was only the suffocating air between herself and Sanada that Sakuno could feel. It all seemed surreal-as though all dormant senses had been awakened. She could feel each vibration in the ground as Sanada first began to ascend the stairs. The movement stopped slightly before her, and it was startling to find herself face-to-face with the taller man-only because he now stood on a step below hers.
Neither said anything-only looked at each other, as though gauging each other’s stance. The girl was frozen as she couldn’t help the images of this man’s calm ferocity from flowing before her. Even in a mock-battle, he was collected and dangerous, yet, standing here before him, she could find no fear within herself.
“Hey! Are you two done with your bonding time or are you going to come eat?” A yell from the house suddenly broke the silence. “Yagyuu’s not letting me eat before you! He’s a mean hostess!”
Immediately, the silver-haired man was yanked out of their sight, back towards the house, and Sakuno felt a light laugh escape her as she thought of how Yagyuu would commence with lecturing Niou. The sound of voices again reached the two standing on the stairs, but they were too far away to be understood.
“You will get used to those two soon enough,” she heard Sanada say. Turning to look at him, she could have sworn that she had seen a smile. Though it disappeared as soon as she looked at him, making her wonder if it had all been her imagination.
When the only response given from the girl was another flustered nod, the man looked away for a brief moment-a sign normally interpreted as shyness, but Sakuno thought it surely could not be that. But like the smile, it was rapidly brushed away, and again she was looking straight into a dark pair of eyes.
“You were comfortable last night?” he asked.
“Y-yes, thank you,” she managed.
“Hm. That’s good. Yagyuu is a trusted assistant. I don’t doubt that he was helpful.”
And Niou? Sakuno couldn’t help but think of the odd but still rather friendly man.
“You were asleep when I returned home last night,” Sanada started again, nearly sounding unsure of himself; then with a twitch of annoyance slipping through his face, he remembered; “I had some…issues come up.”
Sakuno didn’t know what to say. Here, this intimidating man was standing before her, talking to her as if they were well-known associates. Suddenly, Sanada straightened and looked past the girl indifferently, as though he himself realized what he was saying. Stepping past her, he murmured something about breakfast and leaving to work, but it was so brief that the girl couldn’t be sure.
She was left standing at the stairs, watching Sanada walk briskly around the hedges and toward the house.
Now, even the song birds were quiet.
CHAPTER FIVE - END
Series: Prince of Tennis
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sanada/Sakuno, Taka/Fuji
Summary: Fuji has followed Sakuno while she is further acquainted with her stoic host...
Disclaimer: All belongs to Konomi Takeshi
Chapter 5
Fuji knocked as loudly as he could onto the door. It was late and very likely that all of the inhabitants of the building were asleep. Far from an ideal choice, the voyage he had been given took much longer than he had anticipated as it had to first stop in Rikkaidai’s neighboring country of Jyousei. Now, with a half-full moon high above him in the midnight sky, Fuji tried to keep his balance while fatigue swayed back and forth inside of him like a pendulum.
Hurried footsteps could be heard coming from inside, and Fuji tensed. Of course, this was the only place in Rokkaku that was a reasonable for him to go to, but that certainly did not erase the fact that he had brashly left this place many years before. As he listened to locks being undone and the door being creaked open, Fuji held his breath for a moment.
“Can I help you, sir?” a sleep-clouded voice politely asked from the crack, the owner of the building never bothering to really look at his late night guest.
“Saeki,” Fuji started-unsure of what entirely to say-“it’s me…your brother.”
Although it took a moment for the words to register in the other man’s mind, the door opened more, and Saeki for the first time stared at Fuji.
“Syuusuke?”
Fuji, for lack of words, simply nodded. He didn’t even speak up when Saeki grabbed his arm and pulled him aside only to quickly disappear into another room. Fuji heard a muffled conversation, words occasionally creeping out from under the door. Rustling noises drifted into the room, soon followed by a young woman whose elfin face was like his own. The woman, at first shocked at seeing the newcomer, soon rushed to him and embraced him.
“Syuusuke, you’re home,” she nearly squealed in excitement.
Fuji didn’t immediately reply as his largest concern at the moment was to maintain his shaky footing while his sister hugged him. Saeki stood to the side of what he perceived as a heartwarming reunion, watching with amusement. The long line of questions was soon rattled off.
“Did you just get here? How long are you planning to stay? Why have you returned? Are you just visiting?” Yumiko asked question after question, seemingly not expecting any answers due to the lack of space between each inquiry. “Oh, do you need something to eat, something to drink? I’ll get tea.”
In her giddiness, she scampered from the room, leaving the remaining occupants rather dazed, and Saeki again approached Fuji.
With a wan smile, he said with a touch of irony; “Here, take a seat. You look tired.”
Graciously accepting the chair, Fuji offered his own weak smile. “I’m sorry if my coming so late is a nuisance.”
“Not at all, Syuusuke. You’re family.”
“Thank you.”
Saeki made a noise in response, and as he sat down a chair besides Fuji, a thoughtful look stole over his face. He leaned closer to Fuji as if he were about to expound on some great secret, unknown to all.
“It is curious, though, that you’ve come this suddenly. Is there something wrong?”
Slumping against the wood of the chair, Fuji closed his eyes, fighting sleep the best that he could while he thought of an appropriate answer to give to his brother-in-law.
“I’m…looking for someone,” he said without opening his eyes.
Noticing how ambiguous the answer was, Saeki was about to question further but was interrupted when Yumiko popped her head in the doorway.
“Syuusuke, do you want anything in the tea? Honey? Milk? Sugar? I think we even have some lemon I can slice up.”
Answering for Fuji, Saeki spoke up, “Sweetheart, I think he’ll like anything you bring him.”
With a bright smile and a nod, Yumiko disappeared again, and Saeki returned his attention to Fuji.
“Who on earth would you look for in Rikkaidai, Syuusuke?” he asked, trying to keep any imposing lilt out of his voice.
Fuji at first was silent, and then resigned to answering at the same time Yumiko hurried back into the room with a tray in her hands.
“I’m looking for a girl, but I doubt you would have seen her at all,” he spoke softly, sitting up to take one of the offered tea cups from his sister.
Having taken a seat at the same table as the two men, Yumiko also contributed to the discussion; “Well, you never know. Describe her, and we might surprise you.”
Fuji sighed. “That’s the problem. She’s very…disoriented by herself. She came off a ship from Seigaku completely by herself. She has never been to Rikkaidai before.” Here he hesitated. “She is also disguised as a boy.”
When given questioning looks from the other two, Fuji leaned back against the chair again. “We had our reasons.”
While Fuji took a long sip of the strong tea, a glance was shared between Saeki and Yumiko, one wondering, the other knowing.
“Is the girl…going by the name Tetsuya, by chance?” Saeki ventured.
Fuji stiffened in surprise. His reaction brought a smile to Yumiko’s face.
“I knew it,” she murmured under her breath.
Saeki himself seemed taken aback by the revelation about Tetsuya, and he mentioned briefly to Fuji how Yumiko had suggested to him earlier that she thought Tetsuya might be female. At the time, he had told her that such an idea was ridiculous. Listening to all of this, Fuji just looked at his older sister, somewhat dumbfounded but still smiling.
“Syuusuke, women always can tell with these sorts of things,” Yumiko declared, answering all unsaid questions that Fuji may have had.
Calming his strained thoughts, Fuji drained the rest of the tea cup; “Have you seen her, then?”
Yumiko giggled. “Seen her? Syuusuke, she stayed here. She was with Akazawa and Kaneda-merchants who come here often.”
“Unfortunately, you just missed her,” Saeki answered. “She left this morning with Akazawa’s group.”
“And you are not following tonight,” Yumiko insisted; “It is the middle of the night, and I have never seen you look so deprived of rest. You are staying here for at least the remainder of the night.”
Fuji knew better than to argue with his sister; not only that, he truly was far too exhausted to argue with anyone. Instead, as Saeki stood up offering to help him into guest quarters, he smiled.
“How is your…son?” he asked Yumiko with sincere curiosity-now that the main reason for his unexpected return had been disclosed.
“Kohta? Oh, he is an amazing little boy. I’m sure he’ll be excited to meet his other uncle.”
Fuji just smiled in return as conflicting emotions welled inside of him. Looking at the serenely content face of his sister and the kind air that her husband carried himself with, Fuji felt guilty for his disappearance and the current situation. Soon, he was bidden good night by the couple and was left alone in a room where he immediately sank down onto a bed. His glazed eyes stared at the dark ceiling as his numbed conscience slowly grasped the idea of being in Rokkaku again.
Much too tired to focus on such thoughts, his eyes quickly drifted shut, and dreams soon replaced reality as sleep overcame him.
The air was refreshingly cool in the Seigaku castle that morning. Hurrying down the hall, Tomoka hummed to herself as she balanced the tray of food in one hand and knocked on a thick, oaken door with the other. With some effort, she pushed her back against the door, opening it.
“Princess Sakuno! Good morning!” the eager young maid chirped.
She dropped the tray onto a small table in the sitting room and turned a tea cup over to start pouring the warm liquid into it. She straightened the plate of carefully prepared eggs with the eating utensils placed on a cloth napkin meticulously beside it. Approaching the door of the bedroom with her footsteps muffled into the thick carpet, Tomoka tried another, softer knock on the wood.
“Princess Sakuno?” she again tried. “I have some food for you!”
She pushed the door open slowly. She immediately went to the windows and pulled back the long curtains. The sun was breaking the horizon, and Tomoka instinctively squinted as the bright light hit her eyes.
“It’s a beautiful morning, Your Highness,” she loudly remarked to the canopied bed. “Her Majesty, the queen, wanted you to have a good breakfast before meeting her later today-if you’re well, of course. Her Majesty waited until she thought you would feel up to moving again. She was so worried after you fainted! But Prince Ryoma said he would take care of you. Wah! Such a wonderful brother!”
She neared the curtains on the bed and began to draw them back to tie to the posts. Without truly looking at the bed and the occupant she assumed was there, Tomoka continued her boisterous dialogue.
“Princess Sakuno, the queen is very excited about your marriage, and you must be, too! Isn’t all of this wonderfully exciting?” She smiled dreamily, and, finally turning to the covers, she asked, “Do you want me to bring your breakfast in here?”
There was no answer.
“Princess Sakuno?”
She pressed lightly at the plush duvet, and briefly hesitant, she pulled the blanket back a little. There was no one underneath it. More than anything, the young maid was simply confused. She hurried back into the sitting room as if she expected to find the princess sitting on the sofa beside the tray of food, drinking her morning tea. However, that room was also vacant, the only noise being the soft crackling of the small fire in the fireplace.
Panic settled like an iron weight in Tomoka’s stomach as she wondered where the princess could be. To everyone’s knowledge, she fell faint during the conference with Fudomine and had since been resting in her own quarters. But she was not there.
Tomoka rushed from the room, barely closing the door behind her.
“Her Highness is gone! Princess Sakuno is gone!” she exclaimed to any who would hear as she hurried down the hall.
Her anxious footsteps rang through the stone hallways, shattering the silent unconsciousness that had been quietly resting until that point in the castle walls of Seigaku.
The unobtrusive sound of song birds flirted with Sakuno’s ears, enticing her to wakefulness. She moaned softly as she sat up, her stiff muscles resisting the cool air of the room as she pushed the thick quilt off of herself. As the scent of food wafted into the small room, the girl felt uncomfortable, remembering the events of the previous night.
The man with the strange hair and feminine eyes as well as Mr. Sanada had walked with her to the town where the group split into separate ways-Sakuno and Niou toward their superior’s house, Sanada some undisclosed destination. Past the west boundary of the town, she and the man trudged. Relieved of Sanada’s stoic presence, Niou was more inclined to chitchat. The travel-worn princess, however, was apt to be reticent.
The sudden appearance of the comfortably-sized house took Sakuno by surprise, but relief soon took the place of any trepidation that she had felt. Following the long afternoon of hard, unfamiliar work, she was content with any lodging shared with her.
A polite knock sounding on the door of the guestroom before it was slightly opened broke some of Sakuno’s early morning dazedness. The lean man with a face as serious as Mr. Sanada’s slipped inside quietly, placing some folded clothes onto a chair beside the door before he noticed that the room’s guest was getting out of bed herself.
“You’re awake. Good,” he remarked. He then held up the clothes; “Your clothes. I apologize that Niou’s old shirts were the smallest things we could find for you.”
“It was fine. Thank you,” Sakuno hastily said, her cheeks flushing as she consciously tugged on the material to conceal her still bare legs even though they were already obscured by the blanket. It was embarrassing enough what had happened the night before; Niou had introduced her to another close associate who cared for Sanada’s finances and-during his daily absences-the house and grounds.
“Yagyuu, we’ve got ourselves a little guest,” Niou introduced the shy “boy” to the other man. “He’s Tetsuya- new to the country, new to logging, yet somehow newly hired.”
Despite his calm outward appearance, Yagyuu was not bashful. This Sakuno realized when the first thing he suggested was that she take a bath. He explained that her traveling and working had probably collected dust, and additionally, bathing would help settle her nerves. He continued by offering to clean her clothes as well. While Sakuno was on the verge of panicking about being naked in the same vicinity as two male strangers, she had failed to notice Niou had slipped behind her.
Arms enclosed her quickly and had her lifted her before she could even make a noise of protest. “Where to, Yagyuu?” she heard Niou say, simultaneously feeling his laugh reverberate through his chest.
A ghost of a smile flitting across his lips, Yagyuu moved past the shorter man down the hall. “Let me fill the tub first.”
“You’re such a maid. I thought Sanada hired you to be his accountant.”
Yagyuu’s glasses caught some light as he glanced at Niou. “In Mr. Sanada’s absence, I try to be an adequate host.”
Niou grinned at Sakuno as he murmured to her, “Hostess.”
“I heard that, Niou.”
Sakuno almost shook her head to return to the present, and she barely caught the last few words from Yagyuu. All she heard was something about Mr. Sanada and food. After he exited the room, she slid from the bed, her feet cringing at the feeling of the smooth, cold wood underneath.
I really need to stop daydreaming, she mused as she tugged on her pants. Replacing the too large shirt with her own double layers of clothing, she pushed her feet into the nearly too small shoes and joined Yagyuu in the adjacent room.
Morphed into both a kitchen and eating room, the area would have seemed cramped were it not for the bay window facing the eastern sun. Adorning the plain, wooden table was the source of the inviting aroma that had helped awaken Sakuno earlier, and she looked at the food desirously but noticed that she and Yagyuu were the only ones present.
As if reading her mind, Yagyuu told her to go ahead and eat; the others would be inside shortly. Instead of asking where they were, though curiosity was demanding an answer, Sakuno saw through the window a glint of what looked like a sword. As rapidly as it had appeared, the flash was gone.
Thoughts about breakfast fled her mind as she was compelled to investigate the unusual light. She neared the door that led out behind the house, she pushed on the heavy door and squeezed outside.
The chattering of birds and creatures now intensified, and Sakuno stood transfixed at the nearly foreign songs coming from all about her. The only animals that she ever encountered were her brother’s cat, the horses for carriages, and the occasional songbird that landed in a courtyard or windowsill. Another sound cut through the air, and she would not have recognized it at all were it not for the practice spars that she remembered watching her brother have with his friend Momoshiro.
Swords, she remembered as she passed a large hedge.
Now, the two sparring men entered her vision. Down the hill that was immediately behind the house, a smooth field had been manicured onto the ground, and in the center of that field were Sanada and Niou, both moving with swift alacrity and each brandishing a sword. The hill steepened at this point, so the swordsmen seemed miles away while still being close enough for Sakuno to see every swing, side step, and jab with an almost alarming clarity. The path she had been following transformed into stairs at the top of the slope, and the girl paused at the top of them, a spectator to the mock-fight.
“Your step is clumsy today, Niou,” she heard Sanada criticize the silver-haired man.
“Is not,” Niou shot back with a strong swing at his opponent’s left side.
Sanada quickly deflected the blow, and Sakuno then realized that she had been holding her breath. The duel continued-akin to a sort of lethal dance-their movements blurring together as they delivered a slice or barely twirled out of the blade’s reach. In a trance-like stupor, the girl took a step forward only to make an ungraceful and rather painful fall onto her backside when her foot slid on some loose gravel.
Responding to whatever sound Sakuno’s fall had generated, Sanada looked sharply at the top of the hill-his eyes boring directly into her own. Her face heated yet again, but she didn’t feel particularly embarrassed about falling. Rather, the mere intensity of that gaze left her feeling small and confused. With his opponent’s attention elsewhere, Niou took advantage of the pause and advanced on Sanada, and Sakuno gasped when she realized this. But as fast as the swing was, the man whose eyes never left the girl caught the blow and, with a twist, wrenched the other blade from Niou’s hands.
This match, Sanada was certainly the victor.
Niou just laughed at the sport of it all. “Damn, Sanada. Here I thought Tetsuya was a good enough distraction.”
Sanada’s finally turned from the said Tetsuya to the other’s grinning face. “A good swordsman is never distracted…simply aware.”
He then sheathed his sword, nodding to Niou. “That’s enough for now. We need to eat some before going to the site.”
“Well, I won’t argue with that,” Niou said as he put away his own sword. He jogged up the stairs, slowing beside Sakuno as she finally got to her feet. “Morning, Tetsuya,” was all he said as he continued on towards the house.
Left alone with Sanada, Sakuno found herself at a loss of words. He offered none, instead staring off into the woods, hands still gripping the sword as if waiting for an unknown enemy to attack at any moment. She opted for polite conversation.
“Mr. Sanada, thank yo-”
“Are you alright?” he asked without looking at her.
“Huh?”
“Did you sprain anything?”
“Oh…no, I’m fine.” Again, she felt flustered for reasons she couldn’t discern.
Sanada sighed. “It would not have been good to have an injured worker.”
So that’s why he asked. Sakuno thought with an unsure smile.
Again silence seemed to dominate the air; even with the tremors of the awakening forest around them, it was only the suffocating air between herself and Sanada that Sakuno could feel. It all seemed surreal-as though all dormant senses had been awakened. She could feel each vibration in the ground as Sanada first began to ascend the stairs. The movement stopped slightly before her, and it was startling to find herself face-to-face with the taller man-only because he now stood on a step below hers.
Neither said anything-only looked at each other, as though gauging each other’s stance. The girl was frozen as she couldn’t help the images of this man’s calm ferocity from flowing before her. Even in a mock-battle, he was collected and dangerous, yet, standing here before him, she could find no fear within herself.
“Hey! Are you two done with your bonding time or are you going to come eat?” A yell from the house suddenly broke the silence. “Yagyuu’s not letting me eat before you! He’s a mean hostess!”
Immediately, the silver-haired man was yanked out of their sight, back towards the house, and Sakuno felt a light laugh escape her as she thought of how Yagyuu would commence with lecturing Niou. The sound of voices again reached the two standing on the stairs, but they were too far away to be understood.
“You will get used to those two soon enough,” she heard Sanada say. Turning to look at him, she could have sworn that she had seen a smile. Though it disappeared as soon as she looked at him, making her wonder if it had all been her imagination.
When the only response given from the girl was another flustered nod, the man looked away for a brief moment-a sign normally interpreted as shyness, but Sakuno thought it surely could not be that. But like the smile, it was rapidly brushed away, and again she was looking straight into a dark pair of eyes.
“You were comfortable last night?” he asked.
“Y-yes, thank you,” she managed.
“Hm. That’s good. Yagyuu is a trusted assistant. I don’t doubt that he was helpful.”
And Niou? Sakuno couldn’t help but think of the odd but still rather friendly man.
“You were asleep when I returned home last night,” Sanada started again, nearly sounding unsure of himself; then with a twitch of annoyance slipping through his face, he remembered; “I had some…issues come up.”
Sakuno didn’t know what to say. Here, this intimidating man was standing before her, talking to her as if they were well-known associates. Suddenly, Sanada straightened and looked past the girl indifferently, as though he himself realized what he was saying. Stepping past her, he murmured something about breakfast and leaving to work, but it was so brief that the girl couldn’t be sure.
She was left standing at the stairs, watching Sanada walk briskly around the hedges and toward the house.
Now, even the song birds were quiet.
CHAPTER FIVE - END