Ink Stained

79: given opportunity*

与えられた機会

An aberration in the routine she settled into since arriving at Ukabarenairei found her balancing precariously on a slippery stone by a fresh water stream that gurgled past her, farther into the distance on either side of her than she could see with her human sight. Pai found the every-day routine soothing to the nerves that kept her on her toes, uneasy whenever she was alone with Shin – usually when she was treating some wound infused with the same poison from that first day when Kagetora stabbed him – or if she found herself wandering the house with nothing to do.

She woke up every morning at exactly six o'clock. She went with Shin to where he trained in the clearing with Kagetora in the morning. After that she returned to the house and helped Onoe with random chores; sweeping the floors, doing hers and Shin's laundry, and cooking meals for Onoe and herself, and Seiran whenever he showed up (she could count on one hand how many times he had), then Shin when he came back. Seiran never stayed in her presence for very long, as if he took Shin's warning more serious than anything else. He never talked to her, either, just came, ate the food like nobody's business, and left. It was a surprising contrast to the flirtatious playboy in school.

She didn't have a clue why, but Kagetora insisted that she be there to watch as the two men sparred in a warm-up session to the real fight that always ended with Kagetora's victory – a point that was a source of endless frustration to Shin. They sparred with Shin's Mask on, but when the fight was about to really begin Kagetora sent her away. She assumed it was because Shin came dangerously closer to losing control of Shinigami every single day.

Pai wondered what Kagetora would do then, when it wasn't Shin he fought with anymore, but Shinigami. The murderous, enraged Makashi that lived in the man he'd promised to train to live without the Mask that kept Shinigami bound and imprisoned. Would Kagetora be quite so proud, so daring, when faced with something like that?

Onoe had gone to Mikurajima that day to get a fresh supply of groceries, and he still wasn't back yet. The sun was high up in the sky, though it only meekly filtered through the shelter of tree branches hanging overhead, blocking most of the light and sky out. She lifted her hand and eyed the time worryingly – it was already gone past three o'clock. She worried if Onoe would make it back in time to make dinner, and hoped that he was all right on his own. He was so young, and he looked like such a timid boy.

But then again, he was also Kitsune. That was the only reason she hadn't gone with him to the closest populated island, despite her worry. He was Kitsune, which meant that even if he looked like an ordinary boy, albeit easy to push around, he was still stronger than any human child his age. If a Hengen was as strong as ten ordinary men, a child Hengen would easily match the strength of a fully grown man.

Shin usually came back to the house at five in the evening, and she wanted to be there to meet him. She couldn't say why that was so. After Shiori's call two days ago, she convinced herself to start avoiding Shin, so that the strange stirring that rattled her so wouldn't grow in strength. But why did she always want to be there when he came back from Kagetora's gruelling training regime?

Maybe it was because she got to take care of him, rather than the other way round it had been for so long already. He had done so much for her, and she figured that this was her only way of paying him back for it. Especially considering that despite Shiori's objection, it really was her fault that they were in this predicament in the first place.

Pai watched a silver fish twist and turn as it shot down the stream with the flow of the water, unable to fight against the current. Its scales rippled in the gentle sunlight, flashing brilliantly for mere instants before disappearing just as fast. She wondered what it was feeling, to be caught in a current it couldn't fight against, no matter how much it tried.