Hi, I'm new to the list. I recently completed a "Blade of the
Immortal" Fanfic. Please C&C.
(Author's Notes can be found with the last chapter.)
- - - - -
What's Not Said
A Blade of the Immortal Fan Fiction
by: KCC
Disclaimer:
Rights to "Blade of the Immortal" and its characters
belong to Hiroaki Samura and Dark Horse Comics Inc.
Spoiler Warnings:
This fanfic reveals events that occur after "Cry of the
White Worm Part 2: Path of Blood" (Issue 11 of the comic book
series). The story would only make sense if you've read
"Dreamsong" (Volume 3, trade paperback) or Issues 12 - 18 of
the comic book series.
Symbol Guide:
< > thoughts
_ _ emphasis
Prologue
"Teach me how to fight."
"Why?"
"I want to be good enough that I can kill 50 wild dogs
like you did." He saw her flinch when he mentioned the dogs. He
knew how badly that incident affected her because it had the same
effect on him, too. It had been 2 years since that happened, the
battle scars supposedly healed and yet the scars tore themselves
open each night in the form of nightmares.
Silence and a pair of sad eyes greeted him. Always
sadness -- sadness he could never seem to break through or
understand.
"I need to be good enough so I can protect you."
She smiled then. "You know I don't need you to protect
me, Kagehisa."
And then he reached out and pulled her to him. He held her
tightly, as though to crush all the sadness out of her.
"I want to protect you Makie, the way you protect me. Please."
She sighed and lifted her arms to hug him back. <He needs
to be held like this, too.>
They stayed that way -- locked in each other's arms. They
were thirteen years old and they already knew too much of pain and
grief and too little of love or comfort. They needed this. They needed
each other.
"Please help me to protect you, Makie. I don't want to lose
you. You are all that is precious to me. Please." He sobbed the last
of his plea. He held her even closer then.
"Alright." <Not only for my sake, but for yours as well. I won't
always be around to protect you and I don't want to lose you either.>
"You better go. It is almost dawn and your grandfather will be awake in
a few hours."
At the mention of his grandfather, he stiffened -- an aching
reminder that the solace he found with Makie was temporary.
"Yes, I must leave now, but, someday, Makie, you will be mine.
I won't ever have to leave you and I would give my life to protect you."
Part 1
<He looks familiar.> Makie glanced at the young man who
entered her room. <Where have I seen him before?> She gave him a
flirtatious smile and invited him to sit on her bed. <He's good-looking. I
guess he's my birthday present from the other girls.>
Makie Otono-Tachibana was 20 that day. Not that it
mattered -- the brothel had a way of erasing one's age and memories
and she had been in one far too long.
"Makie Otono- Tachibana, what are you doing in a place like
this?" The young man asked her. His voice laced with anger and
reproach. His hands fisted at his sides.
She gasped. <Oh my god, is it really him?> "Kagehisa?" She
stretched her hand out -- trying to see if the specter in front of her was real.
"What are you doing in a place like this?" He grabbed her
outstretched hand, pulled her up so that she was standing and started
shaking her. He released her and waited for an answer.
"Kagehisa? I --" <What could she say? What reason could she
give him?> She sat down, lowered her head and kept silent. She didn't
want him to see her tears. Her shoulders sagged at the weight of the shame
and disgrace.
"When I heard from my friends that there was a beautiful woman
here and that she was ... and she called herself Makie Tachibana, I had to
come and see for myself. I never thought ... I didn't expect --"
"I can explain. Please, sit down. Please."
"Why, Makie? Why did you leave me?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you then, but my mother --"
He didn't wait for her to finish her explanation. "I have come to
free you. I have brought enough money with me to pay for you. Pack your
things. We are leaving now."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Anotsu Kagehisa
had come. He had come to free her. He had come to save her. She
smiled, stood up and walked towards him. She stopped when she was just a
breath away from him and then she embraced him. "My Kagehisa. Always
there to save me from myself." She lifted her face -- a silent invitation.
<Kiss me.>
He kissed her then. He had been searching for her since she
disappeared when they were 15. He had finally found her and everything
he felt went into that kiss.
She broke away from the kiss and rested her cheek on his chest.
She heard his heart beating in time with hers. They had always been so
attuned to each other, ever since they were young.
"I have a place at the edge of town. You will stay there until we
find you your own place and a decent job." He lifted her chin so that he could
look into her eyes. "Come with me, Makie. I lost you all those years and now
I've found you and I don't want you to ever leave my side again."
"But Kagehisa, I -- yes, I will leave with you now."
<What is she trying to hide from me?> He wanted to ask her, but
he was content to have her by his side. <This is enough... for now.>
Part 2
They left together. Makie walked behind Kagehisa, carrying her
meager belongings in a small sack. She couldn't help but notice the
physical changes in him. <He is even more handsome now and his
body ... has he been training?> She smiled at the memories that thought
brought back. She had been his first teacher -- his first real teacher. So
unlike his grandfather who was driven insane by unfulfilled ambitions and
trying to make his grandson just as mad. She had rescued him from that
with her gentle instruction. She closed her eyes as she remembered all
those midnight meetings. She broke from her reverie to realize that he
had stopped walking and had been looking at her.
"What were you thinking of?"
"When we were younger... our sword training ...and
adventures."
She expected him to smile then. Instead, she saw his brows
furrow and heard him say, "Oh, that." He turned around and started
walking again. "We better hurry."
His reaction surprised her, but she didn't mind too much.
<He's here and that's all that matters.> They walked in silence the rest
of the way.
Only when they reached his house did he turn around and
speak to her. "We will have to share my room. It isn't very big, but it
will do."
"I don't mind, Kagehisa. Thank you for this."
He nodded. He took her hand and led her to his room.
"You can put your things in there." He said, pointing to a wooden
box beside the door. "Let me prepare the bed."
"Anou -- let me. It is the least I can do."
"I have to leave. I will be back shortly. Will you be alright?"
"You know I can take care of myself. Please don't worry
about me."
When he left, she turned to look around the room.
<How long had he been living here? He doesn't have a lot of things.>
She noticed a strange axe leaning against a sword in one corner of the
room. <Kagehisa's sword.> She crawled towards it. She let her fingers
glide through the sheath of the sword. She felt the inscription then.
Slowly, she picked up the sword -- careful not to disturb the axe.
"Redeemed by their blood." Her body shivered -- reacting to the words
she had just read. <Whose blood?> She returned the sword to its place
and fixed the bed, but the words haunted her throughout her task.
<Should I ask him?> She shook her head, answering her own question.
She prepared just one bed. Blushing, she remembered the kiss
they exchanged earlier that night. Breathless with anticipation, she got
out of her kimono and waited for him.
When he arrived, he found her asleep on the bed. _The_ bed.
The blanket had fallen away and revealed enough of her body for him to
understand what she had been expecting to happen had she been awake
when he arrived. Strangely, the thoughts that registered angered him.
<Why?> He wondered and he wanted to wake her and seek answers
from her. <But she looks so peaceful. I have never seen her look
this way before.> "So beautiful." He had spoken that last thought out
loud, he realized. His breath caught in his throat. <Had he heard her?>
He looked at her sleeping form -- oblivious to all the tension he was feeling.
He decided not to disturb her. He quietly walked towards the
corner where his sword and axe were. He picked up his sword, sat and
rested his head on the handle. He fell asleep that way.