kurosawa87: Well, lets say that nothing will heal very quickly after this kind of events.
darkacex99: Eri is a caretaker~ She's like the mother of the whole group.
rndmnwierd: What will happen next doesn't have many happy moments... But there's always some light at the end of tunnel~
alwaysYou: Oh yes I can!
It's much more fun to keep people in dark than tell them everything beforehand~
Hi again guys and once again, thank you everyone so much for your comments!
The next chapter, here we go~
Chapter 17 – She realized, her battlefield was somewhere elseAfter what happened between Ai and Risa, both were ordered to rest by their general. They were mentally unstable right now, so they were no help on the battlefield. Risa recovered quite quickly, again, thanks to her friends. Eri visited her everyday and Reina and Sayu went to the nurse's place whenever they had time. Just seeing those three made Risa smile and feel a lot better. Of course, her past haunted her more than earlier, but it didn't bother her daily life as much as someone would have thought. In three days, she was happily walking with her friends in the town, chatting all kind of things like the whole incident never happened.
But Ai was another story. The leader's fever lasted at least for one week and even after that, she was in very weak condition. She didn't want to eat, move away from her bed or talk to anyone. The leader just laid still and stared in space, like she was hypnotized or something. Everyone were very worried of her wellbeing, for nothing like this had never happened to Ai before. When she had changed five years ago, she had had this same kind of thing, but it had lasted only one day. Maybe 5 years lack of sleeping, mad training and haunting past finally caught the strong but at the same time, very fragile leader. Even Risa was a bit worried of the warrior. She didn't still like Ai and was hurt of what she had said to her, but she was a human in the end. She had wished all kind of bad things to happen to Ai and once, she even wished she would die in the battle but later, she had regretted all those thoughts. No one should never ever wish something like that, no matter how much you hated someone. Also, Ai was her friends friend and many people loved her. The leader's suffering affected her friends too and Risa didn't want to see them sad. She would help them to get the leader in better condition as well as she could. It would be hard, but she would do it for her friends sake. Though Eri and the others did not show it, the bean was sure that the leader's condition bothered the team all the time.
Then, an announcement came: The battle front was once again threatened and that meant of course, that the army had to go defend their home once again. Families were saying good byes to their warrior, who was about to leave for the battle. Some knew, this would be the last time they would ever see their loved one and some prayed, they would meet again.
This time, Risa was wearing a samurai armor too. It was dark green with a black helmet. She had three swords on her waist, two long and one shorter. It felt quite odd to wear this costume and it was kind of heavy too, but luckily, she had had very good training to this all and now, the armor felt like she was just wearing some normal clothes on her.
As Risa got prepared, someone approached her with a horse. When Risa turned around, she saw no one else but the king's over polite counselor, dragging a night black stallion behind her.
“Hi there Gaki-san.”
JunJun greeted and stopped with the horse, which at first seemed very nervous but somehow calmed down immediately it got closer to Risa.
“Hi.”
Risa nodded back. JunJun smiled and gave the reins in her hands to Risa, who took them hesitating.
“Here, you may have Fuego, for you're the only one who knows how to handle it. Believe me, it's a lot easier to go in your first mission with a horse. I got to go now, I have work to do. Please, be safe.”
With that, JunJun patted Risa's shoulder quickly and left the animal and the girl alone. Risa stared after Junjun a bit confused, but turned her attention soon towards the horse, which was watching her with curious eyes. Smiling, Risa scratched the animal's forehead, causing it to lower it. The night blackt stallion wagged it's tail lazily and it did not react to anything around it. It was just sternly enjoying the attention she got from Risa, who was still scratching it's forehead.
“I'm not sure if this is your first time, but I bet you have more experience about these things than I do. Please, take care of me there...”
Risa didn't know why she was talking like this to a horse, but her father had once said, that these animals were incredibly wise and could sometimes understand people very well. Like answering, Fuego pressed her head against Risa's body and stayed there, causing the bean to smile a bit.
“Eh? Why is Fuego with you?”
Turning around, Risa found Eri riding towards her with a brown horse. She was wearing her whole armor, with helmet and all. When she got closer to Risa, she moved her face mask out of the way so the bean could see a deep frown on her friend's face as she stopped beside her.
“I will go with him.”
Risa answered, causing Eri to look her in awe.
“Fuego? You know how stubborn that horse is? Really, no one has never gotten it out of this village after one battle.”
Risa watched the animal, which seemed to be now sleeping against her, and patted it gently.
“Well, I think he has had just a wrong kind of rider...”
By now, Eri had noticed how calm the stallion was. Usually it was jumping up and down all the time and would only cause problem. Now, it was calmly leaning against Risa and no one could even doubt that this animal was a true fire soul in truth. Suddenly, a smile crept on Eri's face as she watched the girl and horse beside her.
“It must be because of you.”
“Huh?”
Eri rode a bit closer, still smiling.
“I think your gentle being affects everyone around you, even animals. Fuego probably sense's it and that's why it's so calm. He knows, you can be trusted.”
Risa watched her friend with a frown, before she turned back to the sleeping animal.
'One to be trusted...'“Get ready to leave!”
The generals voice boomed through the area, causing all the warriors to get in their own places. Risa patted Fuego once, causing it to wake up. The bean mounted and immediately she felt how the stallion got some extra energy out of nowhere. It tossed it's head up and down and even took few steps, but immediately when Risa leaned a bit backwards and relaxed, the horse stayed still.
"Easy there, boy...."
“Risa.”
Raising her head up, the bean was met by her turtle friend's serious face. But no matter how serious Eri tried to be, she had all the time some kind of a kind being radiating from her.
“Be safe.”
Risa was silent for a while, before she nodded her head, smiling a bit at her friend
“Un. You too.”
They took their positions, Eri riding in front of the Team Alfa now, for Ai was not taking part in this battle. Risa found herself being placed behind the captain's troops. She was the only one riding a horse in this group besides Miki. Fuego got some energy when it sensed what was going to happen, but Risa kept a firm, but not too strong hold of the reins, keeping the animal calm. It moved forward vigorously, but it would do nothing Risa hand't ordered it to do. As the gates opened, Risa could see the outside world for the first time in a long while. Of course, she had seen it behind the village walls, but it always felt different to be outside fromt he village. It seemed like any other place, but as she looked in the horizon, she could see how smoke raised from far away, telling where the battle was being fought. She looked around her, watching the expressions of all warriors. No one showed any fear and they were walking on bravely, not afraid to die. And so, Risa turned her head forwards placing the same kind of expression on her face. She would not be afraid. She would do this and fight.
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Screaming, explosions, fire, smoke, death warriors. That was all Risa could see in front of her, as the troops were hiding in the safe of forest. They would not show their whole army immediately, so the enemy would not know their number. They had to give an image, that they had a lot more soldiers, than there in reality was. Also, if they sent all their troops into attack, they would not win much. They had also have some kind of tactics.
Suddenly, the captains hand rose, which caused all the soldiers to get ready. Then quietly, very quietly, they started to approach their enemy in the woods, trying to get to their side. Both Risa and Miki were crouching a bit, for they were on horse back, which made them be a bit higher than other warriors. After approaching at least for half a hour, the captain stopped her army and pointed forwards. They had succeeded, they were now in the side of the enemy. With few hand signals, Miki made her troops move forward, but they were still moving very slowly, for they were too far away from the enemy and if they now gave out their location, they would lose the element of surprise. Warrior's indeed had to have very good nerves, for they had to fear for their life all the time and at the same time, they had to think all kind of tactical things. If Risa had been leading this right now, she would be very stressed and tired by now, but the captain seemed like this was something she did everyday. She didn't show any kind of tiredness, fear or uncertainty. She was calm and all her actions made Risa feel more safe, for she knew that no matter what happened, she would have a leader who would take care of things.
After another half an hour of approaching, the group had finally reached their goal. They were at the edge of the small forest and their enemy's troops were about 20 meters away from them now. Risa could recognize a very familiar looking armors fighting against the ones who had same kind of armor as she was wearing. Immediately, she remembered the day when she was attacked by the enemy and save by the Team Alfa.
Risa watched the scene in front of her; A warrior hit down it's enemy, but was immediately killed by another one. This scene played a lot on the battlefield, till something else caught Risa's attention.
Three horses, followed by a small group of soldiers on foot, ran out of nowhere and attacked the enemy from other side. Risa could recognize those three riders immediately, for they were her dear friends.
But Risa did not have much time to watch after her friends, because suddenly, Miki's hand rose again and this time, her signal made the deadly silence among this group vanish. Everyone let out a battle cry and started to run towards their enemy, Miki being in the front, keeping her sword pointed up upwards, ready to hit anyone who dared to come in her way.
Risa did the same and encouraged Fuego to move forwards. The horse did as asked and soon Risa was galloping forwards with her sword pointed upwards. But what happened next, changed the whole situation on her part. A soldier, who had ran in front of her was shot down by an arrow. He was hit in chest and stomach an as he fell, he rolled a bit on the ground till he stayed still. There could only be heard some quiet wheezing as the warrior tried to ask help and breath. Soon, one warrior ran beside him and tried to help. But nothing was to be done. The fallen warrior's arms fell to the ground and his head relaxed with his whole body, indicating that he was not alive anymore. The warrior who had came to help just closed his eyes and but his arms in cross above his chest. Then, the warrior who had came to help bowed quickly and continued the attack, leaving the dead man lay still.
Risa of course saw this and suddenly, she got very unpleasant feeling. She pulled the reins, causing Fuego to stop, as she watched the scene in front of her. The enemy ahead of her seemed suddenly very scary and impossible to beat. Also, the fire running free around her and other dead bodies made all kind of pictures fly in her head again. She was not in the battlefront anymore, she was in her village. Burning village, which soldiers destroyed and everyone was killed around her.
'No...'Risa gripped her head, as Fuego danced nervously under her. She tried to get those images away from her head, but could not. She was surrounded by flames and people were dying all around her, people from her land, killed by the enemy. Soon, the death ones changed into her friends and family which made the pain in her head feel even worse.
Just when Risa was about to truly get insane, something dragged her back from the depths of her mind. She felt like falling and instinctively, she tried to grab something, getting a grip of Fuego's hair. The stallion had jumped on it's back feet, for it had seen an arrow shooting towards them. Risa was back on earth immediately, as she tried to figure out what had just happened. The enemy troops were retreating bit by bit and so did Miki's troops and the rest of the army. As Risa did nothing, Fuego decided to take the lead now. It started to follow the troops in to the forest, moving her rider to a safer place.
As they got in the woods, Miki took her group in order and checked everyone. Many were saved but some were lost forever, which the captain just took calmly. She had to show that she was okay and cool all the time, though inside she was torn every time as she heard how many had fallen. Every single name on the death list was too much and it affected her a lot. But she had to be strong and not show fear or sorrow, or she would spread it in her men and it would lead to nothing.
“We are going to stay here for a while.”
“But captain, they are retreating. Why don't we go after?”
Miki rode towards the soldier who had spoken and gave her a spyglass.
“Look, where they are retreating.”
The warrior did as ordered, but saw nothing but a hill where the enemy was running. She stared at his captain with confusion, but Miki just suggested her to look again.
This time a gasp escaped the warrior's mouth. On the hill and maybe behind it too, were soldiers, covered under all kind of plants and grass, which made them almost impossible to notice. There were a lot of them, at least one hundred and behind the hill was probably more. If they had followed the enemy, they would have run to an ambush.
“I have once fallen to that trick and that almost cost my and my whole group's life...”
With that, the captain went to give orders to the rest and deliver a message to the other group. Risa repeated all these things in her head and tried to calm down. She had barely seen the enemy and she had already frozen. Luckily, she had had Fuego, or she would have been as good as dead.
“Niigaki.”
The captains voice snapped Risa back on earth, causing her to turn her face towards the older woman.
“Everything alright?”
“No.”
Risa answered immediately. She was not okay, she didn't want to be here, she wanted to go home.
“It's the fighting stress.”
Miki said calmly and rode beside Risa, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“It will go away with a time and it's very normal in the first battle. You stay in here and take care of the wounded ones and guard this place. You're no use on the battlefield now, so we use your other skills right now.”
With a firm pat, Miki rode away to her other soldiers. Risa was a bit sad but at the same time very relieved. Sad, because she had been given a chance to take part in this fight and someone even trusted her, but all she had done was to freeze. Relieved, for she really was no use on the battle field right now. She was better in here, were she could help others. She didn't belong on the field, for her battles were to be fought in somewhere else.
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To Risa's fortune, this battle was not as big as the earlier ones and lasted only a bit over one week. Apparently the bad guys were planning something, or then they just didn't have enough men to send in battles. Risa had heard a rumor, that the leader of Heng clan would kill mercilessly all who made mistakes or stood against her. Also, if you irritated her enough, you would end up death, though you had done nothing wrong and were a very good warrior. That woman was indeed insane.
As they rode back to the Castle, the gates already in view, Risa thought everything that had happened in that one week. She had helped the wounded ones and guarded the area when others had rested, as she was ordered to. She had not killed anyone, which she thanked God, for she really was not ready for this thing yet. But Miki had explained that Risa had so little experience and she had also a lot of traumas, so it was no wonder she didn't succeed well in her first battle. But the captain had assured her, that it was okay and she would only get better by practicing. Risa in turn was a bit against this thing now. She wanted to fight, but she knew her place was not in the battlefield. She would be more help here in the Castle, where she could help with wounded warriors and take care of messaging and such. It would also release one of the leaders, who was always watching over the safety of the Castle. True, Risa was not a leader, but she could learn to be. Maybe she could suggest something like this...
Finally, the big gates in front of them opened and all the people who were able to, ran to meet the warriors. Again, tears of joy and sorrow were changed, as Risa rode through the people. She went straight to the stables and gave Fuego something to drink. The stallion had indeed taken care of her, for it had saved her when she had frozen on the battlefield. It had also been a good help at night, for it could hear the enemy easily. One surprise attack was prevented thanks to Fuego, when it got alarmed by the sneaking enemy. Risa had noticed the horse's nervous state and immediately got a message forwards, that something was not right. And indeed, there had been an enemy group trying to sneak in their camping area. By Fuego's actions, Risa alarmed help and they made a surprise attack for the enemy. They had pretend that everyone was sleeping, but once the enemy had been close enough, they had attacked from the shadows mercilessly, not saving any life. They could not, for the enemy had gotten information from them and it would be a bad thing to let them go back. It was cruel, but war was just like that.
Repeating this all in her head, Risa patted the stallion, which tossed it's head happily up and down, pleased for the girl's attention.
“Thank you boy.”
Risa whispered and kissed the horse's nose gently. Then, she could hear another horse approaching and soon, her dear friends came into view.
Immediately, the three women landed and went to their friend, hugging her tightly.
“Thank God, you're okay....”
Eri whispered.
“Same to you...”
Risa chuckled back. They had feared for each others on the field and being in different groups made the situation even worse. But they had survived and were alive, that being the most important thing now. Risa pulled away from her friends, but once again, one of them kept holding tightly on her.
“Umm... Reina, you can let go now.”
The kitten raised her head and smiled mischievously at the bean.
“But I don't wan to...”
Eri and Sayu just chukcled at this and just when Risa was about to scold her friend and order her to let go, she felt how Reina's arms let go of her. The next thing she saw was how the kitten was on the ground in a sitting position and glaring behind Risa.
Suddenly a loud neigh was heard and fuego was jumping up and down, causing all but Risa to back away. It took a moment, before the bean realized what had happened. She burst into laughter, the horse beside her joining in. The trio in front of them stared them with fear in their eyes, as the girl and horse kept on laughing.
“Damn animal...”
Reina muttered as she got up.
“You better not do that in front of Fuego. He seems to be very fond of me, nee?”
Risa cooed to the horse, which immediately calmed down as she went closer to pat it. Seeing the animal now calm, Reina approached it a bit, but when she went too close to Risa, the black stallion started to toss it's head and tried to poke Reina with his head again. Risa had tied it very loosely on a fence which allowed the stallion to move around quite much. The kitten jumped away and didn't go any closer anymore. She knew what kind of horse Fuego was and she really couldn't handle him. Also, she didn't want to get poked by the stallion's head again.
Meanwhile, Eri and Sayu found the scene in front of them very amusing and they were laughing like there was no tomorrow, gaining a glare from Reina.
“Haa haa, very funny... “
Reina muttered, causing Risa to chuckle as well.
“Now I know how I get rid of you, when you get too clingy. I just have to take Fuego everywhere with me.”
“You don't even feel sorry for me?”
Reina whined, while Risa just tilted her head to the side and watched her friend like she didn't understand what she meant.
“Feel sorry for what?”
“Your horse just poked me with it's head and made me fall down!”
“But you truly deserved that and it didn't even hurt, now did it?"
“What? You're defending the horse?”
“What, of course.”
“Oh, please come on...”
Reina took few steps closer and immediately, the black animal started to protect Risa. It came forwards, which caused Reina to halt and back away.
“Easy now, easy.... I didn't mean to do anything...”
She said nervously as she backed away. Then she heard some giggling from behind her and found Eri and Sayu laughing at her. The kitten started briskly walk towards her laughing friends and when they noticed that, both started to run away.
“Oh no you don't!!!”
Reina yelled and started to chase her friends. Risa just watched after them with amusement and started to take Fuego's equipment away and treat the horse, while Reina was giving the certain bunny and turtle a lesson.
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After everything was taken care of, horses and equipment treated and orders taken from the general, the four friends headed to Ai's place. Though Risa said it would be okay, if she was left behind, her friends had insisted that she should come too. She didn't have to meet Ai at all, for the bean could just stay downstairs and spent her time there. Finally Risa had agreed and now they were at the leader's front door. They went inside, the place being cleaned now, for Sayu could not stand the disorder in here. She had with Reina's help put things in order, while Eri took care of Ai. The turtle was not very fond of cleaning, so she offered to watch after her leader's condition, while Reina and Sayu cleaned.
Ai's apartment was not very big, but it had enough room for one person. She had all kind of war things and equipment on the wall and the whole house reminded Risa more of a warehouse than someone's home. The curtains which were still closed, made the place even more darker and even a bit creepy.
Eri went immediately upstairs while the others stayed down. They went to a small table in the living room and sat down on the cushions around it, waiting quietly for Eri to return. Soon, the turtle came down with a dry rug in her hands. She went outside and Risa figured out, that the turtle went to moisten the texture. After that she went back upstairs to treat her leader.
“How... How has she been?”
Risa asked quietly, turning to Reina and Sayu. In truth, she could care less, but she asked for she knew how important this was to her friends.
“She has calmed down a lot and the fever is almost gone too. It gets up and down all the time and it really drains her energy. We hope it will stay down now and wont get up again.”
Sayu said and Reina continued after her.
“She wakes up at nights to cry and scream, for she has those hallucinations and bad dreams. It's partially the fever's and partially her past's fault.”
Reina added quietly, staring the table in front of her at the same time. Risa felt bad for her friends, for they really were concerned about their leader. Ai must have had rough times, because what Sayu and Reina had just told her, sounded like the leader was truly in pain right now. All the time, Risa's hate towards Ai got weaker and weaker, but she was still quite uncomfortable, when she even thought about the leader. She didn't like her at all, but she was determined to get along with her, though the leader would never accept Risa as a warrior or one of this village's people. She would do this only for her friends, nothing more.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud and all the girls were alarmed immediately. The sound continued, till they heard Eri scream.
“Come up here! HURRY!”
In no time, the trio got up and ran to the room, Sayu in front. When they entered the room, they were met by Eri sitting nervously on the chair and trying to get a hold of the leader, while Ai was tossing around in her bed so violently, that the headboard hit the wall behind it. She had her fingers tangled in her short hair and face covered in sweat. She kicked, like she was trying to get something away from her and occasionally, her arm flew through the air like she had tried to hit something. Sayu and Reina went immediately beside their leader and tried to call her out, but with no result. Eri had grabbed Ai's hand by now too, but that did not have any effect either. The leader was still moving like she was tortured by something.
Risa watched the whole scene from behind, feeling very bad for Ai and especially for her friends. At first, the image of seeing how the warrior was tortured made her feel like she finally got her punishment from all the wrong things she had done, but very quickly, the bean vanished those thoughts as she watched how serious this situation was right now. She really had thought that this leader was made of iron and would never ever get wounded by anything else than enemy's sword. But now, the leader was suffering, though she had not been in a battle for weeks. She had pains deep inside her soul which were torturing her, for no one had never taken care of them.
'You're lucky to have Ai's subordinates nearby you.'The captain's words echoed in her head once again. When she had had her wounds after the tragedy of her own, she had had someone to sew them closed. She had had Eri and the others, helping her to get back on her feet again and move forwards. Ai in turn had gotten a knife in her wounds, which were made even bigger and they had never healed. Now, they were teared open once again, causing pain to her and her friends.
“Ai, please wake up!”
“Ai, it's okay, we're here. Ai, it's okay...”
“Please Ai, wake up...”
Risa saw the desperate look in her friends eyes and it hurt her deep inside. Now she realized that Ai truly must have had something good under that ice mask, for her friends look right now told her, that they were very concerned. Then she noticed something in Eri's eyes. It glistened a bit in the moonlight which peeked inside the room from outside.
'She's crying....'Then, her promise came back into her mind and Risa decided to do something. She had had enough of this pain and all suffering around her and she wanted it to end. Right now. The bean walked beside the bed, pushing her friends gently away from her way. She caused some confused looks from them, but Risa didn't care, she would do this.
Gently, she pried one of Ai's hands away from her head and took it in her own. Gosh, she had a cold hand! But Risa kept holding it and gently called the leader.
“Ai.”
It hurt to say the leader's name but somehow, Risa managed to do this. She had to, because it was too late to back up now. For everyone surprise, the leader calmed down a bit. She was listening to Risa now, though she kept still tossing around. Summoning all her willpower, Risa held the hand a bit tighter and called the leader again. In no time, uncomfortable feeling rose in her mind again, but the bean pushed it away firmly.
“Ai, please wake up.”
Suddenly, the leader stopped moving. She was breathing heavily, but her legs stopped kicking and her other hand dropped down from her head. Everyone was stunned by the scene in front of them, but they didn't get to wonder it for a long time.
Out of nowhere, the leader jumped into a sitting position, crying something out and facing Risa. All the three jumped back, but Risa could not, for Ai was using her hand as a lever. The bean gasped and raised her other hand up for protection, as the leader brought her face closer. Her eyes were red from all the crying and the dark circles were under her eyes once again. But instead of looking scary or threatening, Ai looked more like wounded and sorrowful. Risa frowned as she looked deep in those chocolate eyes, seeing the pain in them now very clearly. She forgot how she probably should get away, for Ai's free hand was up and balled in a fist, ready to punch someone. But the look in her eyes... Gosh, Risa had never ever seen such pain in her life.
It was silent for a long while, before the leader made a face and it seemed like she was about to hit Risa. Her subordinates moved forward immediately, but Risa stopped them by holding her hand up. She had no idea what she was doing, but for some reason she didn't want the others to inter in this. Something was going to happen soon, she could see it but it was not something everyone was expecting.
The hand, that Ai had raised waved in the air, like the woman did not know what do with it. Then it found it way towards Risa's face, but it approached slowly and on the way, Ai opened her fist, the hand now moving towards Risa palm open. Risa didn't falter back and just followed what the hand did. It landed on her cheek and caressed it gently. Ai's hand was cold and rough, but somehow Risa did not have a feeling to swap it away. They stayed like this, the leader staring deep in Risa's eyes and the bean doing the same to Ai. Then out of nowhere, Ai broke down. She felt forwards, her head landing in Risa's lap while her hands still stayed on Risa's cheek and other hand. Rough fingertips caressed Risa's cheek, but it did not hurt at all. Also, the pressure in her other hand was very gentle, though Ai was in unsteady state and could not control her body very well. She had some uncontrollable twitches, but not once did Risa feel pain in her face or hand.
'She could never ever hurt anyone....'Her friends words repeated in her head, as the bean looked at the weeping warrior in her lap. Ai probably had recognized her and Risa knew the older woman did not like her and had tried to hurt her earlier. But now, she was just gently caressing her cheek and keeping a tight, but at the same time very gentle hold of her hand.
Nothing happened in a while, as the leader cried in Risa's lap, her friends watching the scene from behind. What they just saw was something which made them totally freeze. Yes, Ai had broken down few times before, but they had never seen her in this bad condition. The pain she was feeling right now radiated from her and even the people around could see and feel it. But what surprised them even more was how the leader acted towards the bean. They had been so sure that Risa would soon have a black eye, but something had stopped the leader from harming her.
'Could she... Could she recognize Risa?'Eri thought as she watched the weeping leader, who had still her upper body in the bean's lap.
After a while,Risa took her free hand and very slowly and gently patted the leader's back, where she could feel some bones. Ai had lost weight a lot, for she hadn't wanted to eat at all. As Risa caressed Ai's back the leader calmed down a bit and after a while, all the person's in the room could hear her speak between the sobs.
“I am... sorry.. So sorry... Please forgive me.... Please.... Please....”
As the hoarse and very weak voice kept on apologizing, Risa closed her eyes and kept on stroking the older woman's back, leaning her head a bit on the hand on her cheek. Sober or not, Ai had apologized, though Risa was not sure if it was for her. However, this was something new from the leader and it made Risa change her thinking towards Ai again. She closed her eyes and let her head fall down as a very hard but at the same time somehow very relieving decision was made.
'I'll forgive you, but please... Forgive me as well...'Risa said in her mind as she kept on holding Ai. At the same time, she felt something burn her own eyes and soon, something wet traveled down her cheeks and Eri and the others could see small moist spots on their leader's back, as tears fell on it. Outside, where the evening had come, a shooting star flew through the sky, flashing quickly and then fading away.
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Okay, I know that spyglass was not invented yet during that time but lets just play that it was. Also, you will come to notice that I like stars... Lol
Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!!