CHAPTER 14
Churi slid her bedroom door open and moved aside to let her client pass - giving him a few seductive words as he leaned in for one last kiss - before watching him leave as he descended the stairs, a satisfied expression all over his face. Once he was out of sight Churi tilted her head to Nobunaga who was waiting on the side with obvious impatience, considering the arms crossed over her chest and her loud sigh.
“I didn’t know I had a new client,” Churi teased.
“I would treat you better than all those men,” Jurina countered on the same light tone, before entering the room and not wasting a moment to collapse on the futon.
Churi shook her head at her friend’s usual flirty attitude, before sliding the door closed behind her. While preparing herself to go to bed - having thankfully just finished with her last client for the day - she observed the young girl’s curious behavior - as she was inhaling and exhaling deeply and repeating the process over and over, eyes tightly shut.
“What are you doing?” Churi arched an eyebrow in confusion.
“My protector says I need to meditate to control my temper,” Jurina explained between two breathings.
“What?” Churi giggled, her reaction owing her a displeased growl. “And how is that working for you?”
“What do you think?” Jurina huffed, stopping her little exercise in defeat.
“I never noticed you had a temper,” Churi joked, taking a seat by her side and watching her with great amusement. “I wonder how she came to such a conclusion.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” Jurina chuckled tiredly, “I had a very long week, between my kenjutsu lessons and this useless boring exercise. I’m exhausted.”
Churi laid down beside her and propped herself up on one elbow, running her fingers affectionately through Jurina’s dark, shoulder-length hair. It was a gesture she had noticed seemed to appease her young friend, and she wasn’t in the least surprised when she saw her body relaxing.
Her thoughts shifted to the woman who had stormed in the house more than a month ago, in search for her protégée. Their confrontation had been so awfully tense that day, that Churi truly believed their relationship was doomed to fail. However, considering the bits of information Nobunaga had shared with her these last weeks, it seemed her young friend had unexpectedly warmed up a bit to her protector. Of course, they still had a few points of contention: their most recent one being apparently on the most efficient way to help the young girl control her emotions.
“She is quite good looking,” Churi affirmed nonchalantly.
“Who?” Jurina mumbled sleepily.
“Your protector,” Churi clarified.
At those words Jurina briefly popped an eye open - assuming the older girl was joking - before noting her serious expression and genuine smile. “You think? I didn’t notice.”
“Really?” Churi exclaimed, amused by her friend’s feigned disinterest. “I believe she would have quite some success here with a few clients.”
“Don’t even tell her that,” Jurina snorted.
Churi let her fingers brush Jurina’s left cheek lightly, before moving upwards to her scars. When she had had asked her about them a long time ago, the young girl’s reply had more than surprised her, not believing she would have gotten them during trivial fights. Many times in the past she had observed them longingly - a tinge of sadness filling her chest that they had damaged such a beautiful juvenile face - until realizing she had got it all wrong from the start. Nobunaga’s marks were nothing to be ashamed of, and mostly concealed a beauty within her, one carefully hidden from inattentive eyes.
Churi took advantage of Nobunaga’s closed eyes to depose a chaste kiss on her lips. As expected, she noticed her friend’s confusion when she stared back at her, and a smile fell on her lips when she leaned back. “A small gesture of gratitude for everything you’ve done for me.”
She could tell Nobunaga was slightly taken aback by her declaration as she didn’t utter a single word for a while - seemingly pondering over what to reply - until she finally spoke up again.
“I wish I could do more,” Jurina murmured, before a frown crossed her features in annoyance when explicit noises started emanating from the room next door. “You shouldn’t be working here.”
Churi watched Jurina’s troubled expression and lightly caressed her arm to try and ease her mind, before mentally thanking her lucky star for crossing path with such a unique human being. That day of their first encounter, when she had held on tight and not relented to Nobunaga’s rejection, she had made the best decision of her entire life.
A sigh left her lips in content as she laid her head softly on Nobunaga’s chest, ignoring all the noises surrounding her to concentrate on the slow and regular beating of the heart beneath her. Her friend’s unfailing loyalty was a driving force that, thankfully, helped her go through long and sometimes very difficult days.
“Hold me in your arms, Nobunaga,” Churi whispered.
Churi wasn’t sure if her request would be granted. Nobunaga was definitely not big on demonstrations of affection, and tender gestures mostly came from her. Indeed, there had been a few light kisses on the cheek and on the forehead from her young friend, but they were very rare occurrences.
Churi waited patiently - almost believing she would have to settle for Nobunaga’s much appreciated proximity - until feeling two arms encircling her gently. It was a bit hesitant at first - almost awkward even - but she could tell Nobunaga was getting progressively accustomed to the embrace as the minutes went by. Indeed, fingers caressed her long hair shortly after that, and Churi let her eyelids close, now absolutely convinced she had truly found the sole light in her miserable life.
Rena couldn’t help but feel relieved when she left the courtyard where the young trainees were currently training at kyudo, and the old Watanabe sister’s words sank in her mind. When she had stepped in the dojo this morning she had been surprised by the sole missing face, preventing her from completely focusing on the lesson all morning. As soon as her last trainee left the dojo she found herself moving towards the courtyard - willing to investigate her protégée’s unusual absence during her lesson - only to have her older sister inform her that she was still sleeping when she left their room this morning. Now, Rena was standing in front of the room in question, more than decided to have a word with the young girl.
“Watanabe-san, are you here?” Rena inquired.
“Yes,” the answer came a little while after, switflty followed by a “come in.”
Rena slid the door open at the invitation and what she found behind it made her freeze instantly. Her protégée was well present in her room as her sister indicated, but the sight presented to her was not the one she expected. Indeed, before her was laying on the futon and on her stomach her apparently still half asleep protégée, entirely naked.
Rena found herself momentarily at a loss for words, and she couldn’t help but observe the nude form offered to her, her gaze falling at first on the tip of her dark hair spread over her shoulders, before moving downwards to her naked slender back, and finishing on the curves a bit lower.
Rena would probably have kept on staring at the unexpected sight in front of her if she had not been interrupted in her observation by the small grunt escaping the young girl’s lips, and her startled eyes fell into her protégée’s sleepy ones as she tilted her head towards her.
Rena cursed at herself for all the stupid questions adding themselves in her head, wondering why on earth the view was making her feel so abnormally agitated. There was probably a very simple and logical explanation for her protégée’s current undressed state, one that should never have unleashed this peculiar behavior of hers. When the young girl began to slowly sit up on the futon to face her Rena tilted her head to the side, definitely not wishing to repeat the shameful staring she had been doing just a few seconds ago.
“What is it, Rena-san?” Jurina grumbled as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, and very much unaware of the turmoil currently going on inside her protector’s head.
When her question was met with silence she finally noticed the older girl’s strange attitude and she frowned - wondering what could have provoked it - before remembering her current nakedness as she gazed downwards at herself. Despite realizing it was the obvious reason for her protector’s discomfort she choose not to do anything about it for now, leaving the bedcover tossed aside near the futon where it was.
Jurina found herself watching with great amusement the woman who was avoiding her eyes and purposely anything else; relishing seeing her so out of her comfort zone. Never once during their conversations the kenjutsu instructor had kept so silent like she currently was, and the unforeseen sight was simply too incredible to not take advantage of it.
After a little while, when she had decided her protector’s unease had lasted long enough, Jurina stood on her feet and her eyes searched the room for her clothes, quietly putting them on, before shifting her attention to her protector when she was finally done.
“I think I’m going to sleep naked from now on,” Jurina declared nonchalantly, guessing her protector was kind of expecting an explanation for her previous undressed state, “Summer is way too hot in this region. It’s impossible to sleep with clothes on.”
Rena didn’t reply, trying to brush aside the image the young girl’s words had just put in her head again. And she was finally starting to erase the memory of what she had seen… Rena mentally cursed herself for her behavior, too focused on her own thoughts and her desperate wish to erase the inappropriate image, to notice the amused smile on her protégée’s lips.
“It’s not that I mind your presence in my room,” Jurina said, enjoying herself way too much, and taking another seat on her futon, “but is there a reason for you to be here?”
Those words jolted Rena out of her thoughts, and she finally looked at her. “You missed the lesson. I was wondering where you were,” Rena replied, now more composed, and choosing to leave purposely aside the worry her absence had caused.
“I did?” Jurina replied in surprise, suddenly feeling a bit guilty when she realized the light inundating indeed her room, confirming her protector’s affirmation. “I came back from the village quite late yesterday,” Jurina explained, this time being the one averting the older girl’s eyes.
It was not that she felt ashamed about her weekly visits to a certain house - after all, her protector was well aware of them - but she remembered the promise she had implicitly made to her a little more than a month ago. She was supposed to be present in the dojo each and single day first thing in the morning, and she had unintentionally failed to keep her word this time.
Jurina took a peek at the older girl still standing in front of her, expecting to see disappointment and maybe even anger in her eyes. What she saw instead surprised her immensely. It was none of both. Had she been worried about her? It was not like Jurina to apologize to anyone - in fact, she had only done so a very few rare times to her sister, and only when she judged the situation absolutely required it - but she couldn’t help the words from escaping her lips when she spoke up. “I’m sorry.”
Warmth filled Rena’s chest at the young girl’s sincere apology - one she would never have expected to hear from her - and she sent her a small smile in reply, her features now more relaxed. “It’s alright.”
Jurina briefly nodded at her at that - relieved her simple words seemed to have a positive impact on the older girl - until her latest conversation with Churi came to the forefront of her mind. There was something she had meant to tell her for days now, but she had until now refused to broach the subject, convinced the little method they had put in place would manage to work in the end. Unfortunately, after trying again and again it still proved as fruitless as the first time, and she knew she couldn’t stay quiet any longer.
“Your meditation thing, it’s not working,” Jurina admitted, a small defeated sigh leaving her lips.
“It’s not?” Rena exclaimed, only half surprised.
When she had suggested her that exercise two weeks ago, she knew by the look on her protégée’s face that she wasn’t in the least happy with it but she had insisted nonetheless, knowing the positive effect it could have on her if she truly decided to follow it. Of course, it was a long shot - considering the young girl’s difficult personality - but she was pleased when she had finally accepted to try, not without a certain reluctance. Unfortunately, it seemed she had reached her limits, and was failing to succeed on her own.
“No, so I hope you have a plan B for my little temper issue,” Jurina continued half jokingly.
Rena pondered over her words carefully, searching her mind for any other method that could help her solve her problem. Obviously, it was out of the question to give up. Her young protégée was truly gifted when it came to kenjutsu, and she couldn’t stop admiring how quickly she had learned the techniques she had taught her during her lessons. However, as necessary they obviously were for her to progress, her temper problem was a big issue she had to solve quickly, if she wished to progress any more.
“Alright,” Rena nodded, taking a seat in front of her. Meditation was a technique that had been passed to her by her own kenjutsu instructor years ago, and she knew the positive impact it could have on the human brain if properly taught. After all, she had been herself pretty devastated after Airi’s death, and she believed she would never have been able to move forward - and become the experienced kenjutsu instructor she now was - if not for the benefits meditation offered.
“Are you focusing on positive thoughts?” Rena inquired, more than decided to help the lost girl in front of her.
“What’s that?” Jurina snorted. The only thing that crossed her mind when she closed her eyes was a face that still haunted her ten years later. Positive thoughts? A complete and unknown notion.
“You need to brush aside any worried thought and think about things that give you pleasure,” Rena explained, trying to catch the young girl’s attention. Indeed, Jurina wasn’t looking at her anymore, and the kenjutsu instructor could guess her question had somewhat triggered something negative within her. Maybe memories she wished to forget.
“Anything in particular? Because I’m running out of ideas,” Jurina exhaled deeply in frustration.
Rena thought thoroughly about it, the exercise proving to be more difficult than she would have expected. Her protégée’s question made her realize how little she knew about her, despite the gap that had immensely been reduced between them since the attack. Of course, they spoke on a daily basis, but it was always about kenjutsu matters. Not once she had questioned her about a private matter - never too keen on prying - and the secretive young girl had not been inclined on sharing much about her, anyway.
“Your sister. You love her deeply, don’t you?” Rena suggested, receiving a confused nod in reply, “then focus on her.”
Rena waited patiently for the young girl to comply, and she watched her carefully when she finally closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rena wondered what could be crossing her mind as she saw her tensing up at first, until her features finally relaxed a little while later.
A small smile inadvertently fell on her lips as she watched her protégée’s peaceful expression. During her kenjutsu lessons, the young girl was an exemplary trainee, always listening with the utmost care to every advice given that could help her progress. Of course, she could tell she enjoyed very much the practice of sword fighting - judging by the smile she could sometimes witness on her lips during training - but never once had she seen her features so relaxed as right now. It was a fascinating view.
“Rena-san,” Jurina whispered, “I think it’s working.”
A pleased expression crossed Rena’s features and she extended her hand, resting it carefully on the young girl’s one when she finally looked back at her a while later.
“See,” Rena smiled, squeezing the hand beneath her lightly. “You just need to find the right focus.”
Jurina nodded at her silently, indeed realizing this little exercise wasn’t as stupid as she would have thought. Miyuki’s face had stubbornly refused to leave her at first, until her sister’s one had finally replaced it, enabling her to thankfully ease her mind. Jurina didn’t know exactly why and when it happened during the process but, at some point, the bright smile of her sister vanished, the image of her instructor filling her mind. Jurina had tried to brush it aside at first - a bit disturbed by the unexpected intrusion - until relenting when it refused to leave her after a few fruitless attempts.
Maybe the older girl’s current presence by her side had caused the sudden vision; Jurina had stopped trying to figure out the strange occurrence when no other explanation came to mind. Mayu’s image had managed to bring her so much necessary peace that she had been a bit frustrated by the unwilling change, until progressively realizing that the effects on her body were not as negative as she would have believed. Quite the contrary.
TO BE CONTINUED
Topic: Warriors - Chapter 29 [WMatsui] (01/07/2020) (Read 115015 times)