Twice Upon a Time

by Olivia Cunning

  He continued his meal while she continued to plot his murder. When he finished, he climbed to his feet, tucked the sheathed katana in the sash around his waist and approached her. He took her by the arm and hauled her to her feet. She struggled, kicking out at him as best she could with her feet tied. He simply held her at arm's length until she settled down, and then released her.

  “We will walk now,” he told her. “You will follow without making any trouble.”

  “Are you going to release me?”

  “No.”

  She was not surprised. “Where are we going?”

  “Nowhere in particular. It is merely a fine day for a walk. Keep in mind that I am armed, and you are not.”

  “I thought your sword refused to slay me.”

  He pulled a shorter knife from the thick sash around his waist. “Yes, my katana did not agree with your death, but my wakizashi in not so fickle.” He returned the blade to hiding, and took her by the sleeve to guide her. He slid the shoji open and when they stepped out onto the engawa just outside the movable wall, Tenji stood and offered a quick bow.

  “Do you need something, Kojiro-dono?”

  “We are going for a walk,” Kojiro said, donning his sandals.

  “Do you need an escort?”

  “That will not be necessary. Go find a meal for yourself. Send another to fix the damage to the wall.”

  Tenji bowed at the waist and then entered the room they had just left. Kojiro had to help Hana down the wooden stairs, which she found difficult to descend with her ankles tied together, and onto the dirt path in front of the house. They headed south, away from the collection of houses within the castle walls and towards a copse of blooming cherry trees.

  “Tell me of your brother,” Kojiro prompted.

  “I do not want his memory tarnished by your ear,” she said.

  He sighed. “It will make you feel better. Telling me of him will make a man of the body. But if you do not wish to make him more to me than another who died in battle by my hand, that is your decision. I will not press you further.” Hana wondered how far she could run before they caught her. Her feet were tied so that she could walk with little difficulty, but running would be impossible. If she could get the rope between her feet around Kojiro's neck, she could strangle him, but without the use of her arms a handstand wasn't possible. She hated this feeling of helplessness.

  She was one of the top fighters in her clan. How had she been overcome some easily?

  She had to do something besides stroll with him through the sakura trees and listen to his nonsense about making a man out of a body.

  Hana pitched forward, crashing into him and trying to force him down onto the ground. He stumbled slightly, then turned and grabbed her by both arms, steadying her.

  “Careful,” he murmured.

  Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. She noticed for the first time how handsome he was. She lowered her eyes, cursing her traitorous thoughts. When she glanced up again, it was Reece smiling down at her.

  “This is a real y weird leap, sweetheart. How are you holding up?” he said in English.

  “I'm fine. This Ninja woman is very confused.”

  “Kojiro isn't confused at al . It's love at first sight for him.”

  “Seriously? She breaks down his wall, tries to kill him, and he fal s in love? You’ve got to be joking.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. He thinks she’s hot. I'd risk kissing you, but I don't think Hana is ready for that yet.”

  “She might throw up in your mouth.”

  Reece made a disgusted face and swallowed hard. “Sounds pleasant. Thanks for the warning.”

  “Actual y, I think she's more likely to bite off your tongue.”

  “I'm glad you've got my back, sweetheart.”

  Lara was disappointed when Kojiro's image overtook Reece's again. He reached down and plucked a soft, pink flower petal from her hair. She watched, transfixed as he brought the petal to his lips and kissed it, before allowing it to flutter to the ground.

  “You are of the Nameo clan, am I right?” he asked.

  Her brow furrowed. “How do you know that?”

  “You resemble the people of that clan.”

  She shook her head rapidly, her heart thudding in her chest. “No, I'm not.”

  “I know you lie to protect them,” he said, “but the only way to protect them is to behave obediently as a member of my household until I tire of you.” She couldn't believe what he was saying. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I like the look of you,” he said. “I wish your submissive obedience. In return, I will not raid your village and slaughter your people for disrespecting my home and attempting to end my life.”

  “I cannot,” she whispered, her lip trembling. “I will not give my body to you.” He laughed. “I did not ask for your body,” he said, “just your obedience. Taking your body would be easy. Earning your devotion, much less so.” She hated to admit that her pride was wounded by his rejection of her body. She scowled at her traitorous thoughts. “I cannot give my obedience nor my devotion, either.”

  “Then your people will die. The ninja have been a nuisance for too long. I hoped we might form a truce, but if you insist on fighting, we will not back down. Do you understand?”

  He retrieved another flower petal from her hair and turned to walk further into the copse of trees. He stroked the flower petal between his thumb and middle finger as he walked. She was too afraid not to follow. Several Ninjas in her clan had already fallen to this samurai. She didn't doubt that he would do exactly what he said.

  It had been hard enough to lose her ani, but to lose her little sisters, her parents, her grandmother, her friends, and those she'd know since birth—she wouldn't be able to bear it. Especially if it was because of her own stubbornness.

  “Koji-,” she hesitated and forced herself to use the appropriate honorific to show her obedience and lower station. The man was of the elite class of samurai and she was but a commoner with fighting skills. “Kojiro-dono, what would you require of me?” He glanced over his shoulder, smiling slightly. “I have yet to decide,” he said. His eyes travelled down her body. “But I would require you to dress as a woman, instead of a peasant man.”

  She lowered her eyes. She always dressed like this. Wearing a kimono was not conducive for fighting to protect her people from raiders, other ninja clans and the occasional samurai securing territory for his shogun.

  “I understand,” she murmured.

  “Do you know how to cook?” He turned his attention to the path ahead, trusting her to keep up.

  “I…”

  “Perhaps I should rephrase that. Are you a good cook?” She shook her head. “No. I am skilled at fishing and apparently less so at fighting.”

  “Fishing? We are kindred. We shall fish tonight, and tomorrow, my mother will begin to teach you to be a woman, since your mother obviously failed at the task.”

  “Do not speak of my honorable mother in such a way!” He made no comment, which infuriated her further.

  “You should apologize,” she growled.

  “Perhaps,” he said, “perhaps not.”

  She pulled against her bound wrists, longing to strangle him, or stab him, or something equally violent.

  “A woman should know her place,” he added.

  She shrieked in fury, before rushing forward as fast as her bound ankles would al ow. Just before she crashed into him, he stepped sideways gingerly and she fel flat on her face. She lay there for a long moment, too frustrated to care about the scrape stinging her cheek, or the bruises spreading across her shoulder, ribcage and hip. She heard Kojiro's footsteps beside her. She rolled onto her side, expecting him to haul her to her feet again, but he walked past her and continued towards the stream beyond the cherry trees.

  “I'll be fishing in the stream. If you are not there to join me soon, you know what the consequences will be,” he said calmly as he passed her.

  “Wait,�
� she gasped. “Can you help me up?”

  “No. You got yourself into such a predicament. You figure out how to get yourself out of it.”

  She cursed him under her breath and lay there in the dust, trying to figure out how to get to her feet with her arms behind her back and her feet tied too close together to al ow her proper leverage. She sighed and then struggled to her knees. She closed her eyes and concentrated, using the strength in her calves to get onto her tiptoes, then slowly rose to standing position. She started walking towards a shed near the river. A few other men were standing around the shed along with Kojiro. A pair of flat boats floated in the dark water beside a dock and a collection of baskets sat on the shore.

  “She will sit in my boat and watch,” Kojiro was saying to one of the men.

  “I believe that will upset the birds,” he replied.

  “My birds are always calm,” Kojiro said. “Besides, I need to keep an eye on her.

  She's a bit of a troublemaker.”

  “Which is why taking her makes no sense and keeping her makes even less.”

  “I told you what happened. Do you not trust in Bushido?”

  “Of course. We all do.” The man turned to watch Hana as she approached. “Here comes your soul mate now.”

  Hana scowled. She did not like it when Kojiro referred to her as his soul mate. She liked it less that he was spreading the news to his people.

  “I thought we were fishing,” she said to Kojiro.

  “We are fishing. As soon as the sun sets, we will head out.” Something moved in the basket and Hana started, taking a step backward. “What's in there?”

  Rather than answer her question, he opened the basket and removed a large, black bird from the container. He held it with one hand around the creature’s long neck and the other under its belly. “It's a cormorant.”

  She had heard of this method of fishing, but had never actually seen it before. “You use these to fish?”

  “Correct. I was not always samurai. I earned that distinction. My father and his father were fishermen.”

  “My father is also a fisherman,” she said. She knew it was not easy for a common man to earn the distinction of samurai. Kojiro must be an uncommonly brave warrior.

  “And your brother?” Kojiro asked. “Was he a fisherman?” Hana shook her head. “He did not have the patience.” Nor had he had the patience to be a great ninja, but that did not make Hana love him any less.

  Kojiro put the bird back in its basket and turned to one of the men loading them on the boat. “Musame, do you have an extra cloth for her head?” A man dressed in a black kimono handed a long piece of black cloth to Kojiro. He wrapped it around Hana's head. “To protect you from sparks,” he explained. “Can I trust you enough to remove your bindings?”

  She hesitated.

  “Apparently, not,” he said. “Perhaps I should leave you on the shore. If you fall overboard while bound like that, you will assuredly drown.”

  “You could tie her to the boat,” Musame suggested.

  Kojiro glanced at him. “That has merit. I wish she were trustworthy. I would like to teach her to prepare the birds. They seem calm in her presence.” That was almost tempting enough to get her to behave. She had heard of people who could fish using birds, but she’d never seen it done. Perhaps the skil would be of use to her people. Food was rarely in abundance. Hunger was common.

  “Or I could just leave her on the shore,” Kojiro said.

  “No,” she said hastily. She dropped her eyes respectfully. “I would like to accompany you.”

  Kojiro lifted a hand a wiped a smudge from her nose. When she looked up at him in question, he smiled warmly. “This is good news, Hana.” The crew of men readied themselves by wrapping black cloths around their heads and putting on grass skirts over their kimonos.

  Kojiro lifted Hana and put her in the boat. He untied the bonds from her hands and surprised her by not tying her to the boat. This was good, because the rocking of the vessel had her clinging to the side of the fairly flat boat with both hands. Ten baskets, each containing a bird had been loaded onto each boat. A huge lantern was lit at the bow where Kojiro stood steadily. Two other men used long paddles to propel the boat forward and turn it on its proper course. The second boat drifted behind them. Hana watched, too fascinated to consider a defensive move, as Kojiro removed a bird from one of the baskets and worked a noose around the creature's neck.

  “Are you trying to kil it?” Hana asked. She wouldn't put it past him.

  “The col ar must be tight enough to prevent him from swallowing our fish,” he explained. “But we do not wish him harm.” Kojiro set the bird in the water, holding a long string attached to the bird's neck in his left hand.

  “Why do you have that fire blazing?” she asked. “Won't it frighten the birds?”

  “It draws the fish towards the boat.” He lifted a second bird from a basket and began the same process of tying nooses around their necks and attaching them to long strings in his left hand. By the time he had all ten birds in the water, several were swimming back towards the boat. Kojiro lifted the birds and forced the fish from their throats into a basket, before placing the cormorant back in the water.

  Hana's mouth watered at the sight of the fish. “Those are Ayu. Will we eat them for supper?” she asked enthusiastically. She'd rarely had the opportunity to eat the succulent, sweet meat of that variety of fish. She would be in for a treat.

  Kojiro chuckled. “That we will.”

  The birds swam in front of the boat, diving frequently, resurfacing with fish in their beaks and then choking them down. The fish got trapped in their distensible throats above their noose and when they became uncomfortable, they would swim towards Kojiro, and he would remove the fish from their throats before returning them to the water. When the basket was ful , Kojiro began to bring the birds back in. He removed their leash, fed them several fish and left them standing on the edge of the boat, with their large webbed feet curled over the hull and their wings spread wide.

  “What are they doing?” Hana asked.

  “Drying their feathers,” Kojiro said, tossing another of the birds several fish from the basket.

  “Why do you give them the fish?”

  “They're hungry, too,” he said. He stroked the nearest bird, before tossing him several fish. The birds were placed back in their bamboo baskets and the boat was directed to shore. The other two men in the boat unloaded the birds, while Kojiro brought the fish ashore and then reached for Hana. She had not considered escape until that moment, but an opportunity now presented itself. She stood up in the boat, wishing now that she'd had the foresight to untie her ankles. Stil , she had use of her arms. It was a far cry better than before. When Kojiro reached for her, she punched him twice in the face before diving for the water on the far side of the boat. She'd thought her punches would give her enough time to escape. She was wrong. Her head and upper body was submerged in water before something grabbed the back of her tunic and pulled her back onto the boat. She struggled for all she was worth, but a short blade under her chin made her still.

  “For that, one person in your clan shal die. Give me a name,” Kojiro whispered harshly in her ear.

  “No!” she cried, immediately regretting her action.

  The other five men were laughing as she was dragged back to shore. “Give me a name, or I'll chose someone myself.”

  “No, please, I'l do anything you say,” she said, dropping to her knees at his feet and pressing her forehead to the ground.

  “My choice?” he said. “Even better. I'l bring back the body to show you the consequences of your actions.”

  Intense revulsion grabbed her stomach in a fist. She couldn't bare it. “Kill me! If you must take another of my people, then kil me.”

  “That is not an acceptable compromise.”

  “Then what? I will do whatever you ask. I will be ful y obedient. I will not try to escape again. Just, please, do not harm any of my clan.” He was
silent for a long moment. “Remove your tunic,” he said.

  She lifted her head from the ground. “What?”

  “Remove your tunic.”

  Was he planning on raping her? Al owing his men to rape her? They were al watching with interest.

  “Why?”

  “Someone who is obedient doesn't ask questions. She simply does what she is told.”

  “I will do as you say. I just want to know why.”

  “It is wet and I told you to.”

  Wel , she had her answer. She removed her tunic, and crossed her arms over her bare chest. She was glad it was dark so he couldn't see the heat of embarrassment flush across her face.

  “Let's go, Onihana-chan.”

  He started back towards the village and she fol owed, her head hung low. Of all the times for Lara to feel in control, she would have picked this as being her least favorite moment. She was sure this was directly attributed to Murphy's law.

  “Reece, this guy is a serious jerk,” Lara whispered harshly.

  “You shouldn’t let her hit him in front of his men. He didn’t feel like he had a choice but to save face by humiliating her.” Reece turned to look at Lara. “Nice outfit,” he teased. “Now, all you have to do is everything I tel you to do, and you won't find yourself in this situation again.”

  “Why does Kojiro keep taking control of you, and why does Hana have the upper hand with me most of the time?”

  “I'm not sure, sweetheart. I think it must have something to do with the strong feelings these people are experiencing.”

  “Or maybe they really are soul mates.” Lara shivered. “It's cold. Are you real y going to let me walk al the way to the village topless?”

  “It wasn't my idea,” he said. “And I wish the women walked in front of the men in this culture, so I'd have a nicer view on my journey home.”

  “Kojiro’s severe case of asshole-ism isn’t wearing off on you, is it?”

  “I could never be this much of a dick. I’ve considered punching him in the balls three of four times already.”

  Lara chuckled. “Won’t that hurt you?”

  “Yeah, but it will hurt him, too.”

  “I miss the twenty first century,” she said, rubbing her hands up and down her upper arms for warmth. It was spring, but the nights were still chilly.