The Samurai That I Loved

第11章

Shojiro found himself sitting alert in the dead of night by the witching hour of three and four. Hearing and sensing nothing out of place, he still refused to take his guard down. Feigning sleep, he waited for any sign of danger.

The moment his eyes shuddered closed, the men moved stealthily towards the tent. Shojiro lowered his head over his chest, listening as one of the men approached him cautiously. Positioning himself in front of Eliza's tent, one would have to physically move him in order to gain access. The man extracted a sharp tanto knife, stepping forward and crouching down quickly to slice open Shojiro's throat.

Shojiro immediately reacted, blocking his assailant with his forearm before slamming his head against the other man's forehead with an intensity that left the man falling backward. Instantly launching to his feet, Shojiro unsheathed his katana and spun around, ready for the next man to run up. He had expected this, yet he came to realize they were only waiting for a clear moment of weak stealth like the cowards they were.

One of the "samurais" from the afternoon before ran towards him from the shadows with a strangled shout and his own knife raised, ready to swing at Shojiro. With movements quick as lightning, Shojiro sidestepped him, slicing the blade cleanly through the man's stomach before he could even reach him.
Pivoting, he raised his katana once more, blocking the first man's oncoming kick, before slicing open his leg in the blink of an eye.

Another assailant charged towards him as he shouted in Japanese, "Give up, Samurai! Give us that girl and all your belongings! You won't live to see the light of day!"

Shojiro wordlessly crouched down in a readied stance, slowly raising his Katana in front of his face. The other samurai growled and spat at his feet before lifting his tanto knife horizontally in front of his own face, then pouncing forward.

Shojiro easily sidestepped him, circling him in the process before lifting his leg and kicking the samurai in his romp, knocking him headfirst into the dirt and leaves upon the ground.

"Umph!" The idiot grunted before lifting his head and shouting a call to his group. All at once, three other men ran out from the trees at Shojiro. Raising his katana once more, Shojiro breathed deeply before moving.

Eliza picked that very moment to emerge from the tent due to the noise going on. Her eyes bulged as an immediate scream tore from her throat. All she could see were three masked men charging towards Shojiro from all directions.

She hardly had time to react though as her sheltered, innocent, youthful eyes took in the bloody sight of Shojiro raising a second knife from his belt and using both blades to slice two men on either side of him at once, before leaping backwards out of the way of the third charging him head-on.

Crossing his blades together, he raised them simultaneously as a block to the incoming attack before raising his foot and kicking the man straight in his groin, shoving him back.

Quickly spinning the katana in his hand with ease, he plunged it straight into the other man's shoulder, causing a guttural cry to rip from the man's mouth.

"Surrender, we surrender!" The first samurai shouted, holding up his knife and dropping it to the ground. Shojiro looked up at him before slowly extracting his sword from his attacker's shoulder.

The others in his band followed en suite before bowing to the ground. Shojiro scowled at them in contempt before muttering, "Pathetic. You are not even real samurai. You are kabuki actors and thieves."

The leader of the band of thieves jerked his head up as he spat back, "And you are nothing but a traitor with a foreign lover! Your wife?! That is a foreign woman!" He pointed towards a ghostly-looking Eliza standing as still as a statue in front of the tent with traumatized eyes.

Shojiro cursed as he followed his gaze and noticed the horror inside her blue eyes. "She is none of your business." He hissed back to the thief, "Do you know the penalty of impersonating a Samurai? How exactly did you obtain those horses and weapons? You should be grateful I do not kill each and every one of you. Now be gone!"

The other man glared at him silently for several jarring moments. Shojiro returned his gaze straight-on without blinking. Lifting his katana once more, he gave them a final warning without words that they understood well enough. With quick movements, the band of thieves disappeared back into the woods. Shojiro waited until he could no longer see or hear them before turning around to face Eliza-chan.

His dark eyes narrowed on her shaking frame as she clutched herself in frozen fear. Leaning down, he cleaned his blade against the grass before resheathing it and walking towards her.

She instantly flinched away from him as she pointed towards her own face and whispered in a quivering voice, "You... you're covered in blood."

Blood...

He mimicked her movement, lifting his own hand to his face and wiping his cheek. On his hands smeared a deep, red mark of his attackers' blood. This must be what frightened her.

He halted and wiped his hand on his pants before saying in explanation, "Bad men."

Eliza nodded in understanding as she answered in that same quivering voice, "Yes... I know. Three against one is hardly fair, is it? I don't even think Ernest could go up against that many men... or any man at all, to be honest. He is a peaceful man of the cloth, you know."

Shojiro scowled at the mention of the other man's name before turning away to get some rest. Clearly, she was apparently fine. Although to his surprise, she immediately chased after him and wrapped her arms around his back, pressing her face into his cloth kimono.

In muffled words, she cried out, "I'm just happy you're not hurt! I was so scared when I saw all those men running at you, I thought you were going to die! But you... you're such a man."

Shojiro froze, feeling the warm embrace of the girl's arms around his back and waist. Her passionate-filled words left him reeling in confusion. Why was she crying and hugging him?! She was not his woman! He was not her husband!

"Yamete!" He snapped in Japanese, tearing her arms off of him and stomping away to settle his strange heart beating.

(Get off me!)

Eliza stood there with tears in her eyes as she watched him stalk away moodily. "You're such a man..." She whispered again in complete astonishment.