Forget Me Not (Discontinued)

Chapter Twenty Nine: Rice Fight

Satoru follows my directions to a lone dirt road near the woods. After he parks the van we search around for anyone nearby to find ourselves completely alone.

Once we meet back up after surveying the area, Satoru asks, "Is everything clear on your end?" I nod. "Good, let's hurry and get this done."

He turns to open up the door to van, while I summon my shikigami to go on ahead and scout out the old shelter. My husband places a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Are you ready?"

I simply nod and begin to lead them into the dense forest. Yuji quickly strides up next to me and matches my pace with ease, "So you truly lived out here with your mom and brother?"

I sign to him, Yes, I lived here since I was eight until recently after my mother passed.

"I'm sorry...did she at least get to be with you before passing?"

It was such an odd question to hear from someone so young; I can't help but wonder what caused him to be so comfortable with the topic.

Her death was slow but we stayed with her till the end. But I must ask what made you ask me that?

"It's just...my grandpa died recently as well and his words sort of stuck with me about dying a proper death with people around you. I'm sorry if that's a little weird."

It's fine, but death will come in whatever form and not everyone deserves a peaceful end.

Before Yuji could respond, Megumi joins in and says, "I agree, not everyone deserves mercy."

The conviction in his voice almost shook me. Even though I agree with what he's saying, I can't help but notice the near lupine glint in his eyes.

An arm wraps around my waist and Satoru declares, "Ok no more death talk for the rest of the evening. Next person to talk about death will have to sleep out here with Panda."

I sign to Satoru, We're almost there, I'm just going to let my shikigami look around before we go any closer.

"Alrighty."

I look through my shikigami's eyes as it slivers around the camouflaged shelter. There is mild wear from the elements and some rodents but all in all it is still in good shape. I come back to my own body and give Satoru a thumbs up before leading everyone in deeper to where I spent most of my life. Quickly I recognize the dome shaped shelter hiding next to a hill. I walk over and start discarding the branches and leaves we had used to hide the entrance.

"Not to be rude to Panda or anything but how're we going to squeeze him through that small opening?" Yuji wonders aloud. 

"Rude, most of this is fluff and muscle by the way." Panda retorts with a huff.

"Well, have fun figuring it out! I'm going to go for a walk with my wifey." Satoru grabs my hand and walks away from the dumbfounded boys.

I silently follow him as we walk under the golden sunlight filtering through the freshly burnished the verdant leaves overhead. Suddenly I grab his arm and force him to crouch down in the underbrush with me. Before he can say anything I press a finger to my lips and point at a wild boar.

"Damn I didn't even notice it." He whispers to me.

Stay here, I'm gonna get it for Atuy as a gift. I quickly sign to him.

Before he can even move I sprint towards my target and tackle the large boar to the ground. We wrestle for a bit before I have the upper hand and swiftly snap its neck. I take the boar and swing over my shoulder before returning to Satoru. He stares at me in stunned amazement; I give him a thumbs up to show that everything is ok. 

"Now I can see why deer fear you."

"Hey! Gojo! We got done squeezing Panda inside of the shelter!" Yuji calls out; he pauses once he notices the wild boar I've acquired. "...whatcha got there Takara?"

"Oh she just killed a boar with her bare hands...no big deal." Satoru answers the bewildered boy.

"Oh...ok. Well Megumi went back to the van."

"Right, it's about time that we head over to Atuy's place for dinner." Looking at me for a moment, my husband gently tries to take the boar from me. "Let me carry it. I wanna help out in some way, besides you need your hands to speak."

As soon as he takes the boat from me, I kiss his cheek and sign to him, Thank you.

A proud boyish smile spreads across his face, "Of course love." 

Just as we're about to make our way over to the van, we hear a voice call out to me, "Takara-chan! Is that you!?"

I turn around to see Oki; his ginger hair is slightly disheveled and he's wearing some light hunting gear. He rushes over to me and hugs me tightly. "God it's been forever Takara! How was Tokyo? Are you going to move back here now?"

"Nope. I'm afraid she's staying with me in Tokyo indefinitely." Satoru answers before pulling me away from him.

Oki shoots him a glare, "And who the fuck are you?"

"Satoru Gojo, Takara's husband~" he flashes his wedding band at the dumbstruck man.

"What? Is this true Takara?" His ice blue eyes practically look like they're pleading for me to say no.

I sign to my old friend, Yes it's true. I'm married to him. But I'm curious about why you're out here? The winter hunt doesn't start for months.

"Oh, well I wanted to get some pheasants for tonight's dinner...more importantly why did you marry this guy? You don't even know him."

Well he's actually my childhood friend from before I had to go into hiding with my family. I'm happy with him and I'm hoping that you would support that.

His eyes soften, but there is still pain evident there. "I...know but...does he truly know everything about you? The real you?"

I freeze up, unable to say anything to that. Why would Oki bring that up right now? What is he trying to do?

Satoru steps in between us and looms over Oki, "Takara is making rice tonight, how about this: if she eats the rest of your rice and accepts your proposal, I'll annul the marriage. But if she chooses me, you need to stop harassing her about it. Fair?" 

My husband stretches out his free hand to Oki; to which he accepts, "Yeah that's fair. May the best man win."