The Samurai That I Loved

第14章

The morning sun was rising slowly above the mountains with Eliza already perched in the saddle in front of Shojiro while they departed the Imperial City.

After the events from the night before, she was still left shaken in the wake of her feelings. The nervous flutters of warmth inside her stomach continued to wreak havoc on her nerves, and she hadn't spoken a single word or made a sound since waking up. As it was, there was now a profound awareness of his close prescence to her dismay.

Shojiro either chose to ignore this, or simply did not care. After all, the kiss had meant nothing to him.

She told herself that again and again...

One such devastatingly, earth-altering kiss which had left her burning in an indescribable rush of emotions...had meant nothing to him.

Well what the devil was she thinking anyway? It truly meant nothing to her either! Ernest was the only one who was allowed to kiss her like that, dammit!...Could he even kiss her like that?

How had this man whom she could hardly stand manage to make her body go aflame in a spontaneous combustion of fireworks?! It made no sense. Was this how all kisses felt with veritably anyone?

No...

Something inside her heart whispered at once.

She had never felt such an explosive rush from her first and only other kiss with Ernest. She had never felt anything like Shojiro's mark in her entire life. Even now with his dark, muscled arm clamped around her waist and the hard press of his chest against her back, she was finding herself overwhelmed.

A part of her wanted to go back to the way they were before he had made her feel these strange emotions, these foreign tingly sensations throughout her body. She was blissfully ignorant then.

However another part of her deeply wanted to explore this new magic more. Both her body and mind were practically simmering with curiosity and fascination for the raven-haired Samurai, Shojiro-San.

They journeyed through the mountain passes in silence, only stopping to let the horse drink and rest. Eliza rarely made eye contact with him. He never even so much as looked in her direction. The dynamic shift in both their moods left the hours dragging by at a mercilessly slow pace.

By twighlight time, Shojiro traveled into the woods near a wide lake magically surrounded by cherry blossom trees. Eliza gasped in an uncontrollable fascination with the beauty around them.

Spiriling cascades of petals drifted through the cool mountain breeze before scattering onto the pristine, unmoving surface of the lake. She took in the entire sight with a deep appreciation and awe.

Later she went to sit silently near the edge of the lake beneath a cherry blossom tree while Shojiro was bent over the nearby fire, cooking a couple slices of caught fish. He glanced up at her for a moment, noticing how the wind kept catching her hair and lifting it in front of her face.

Guilt panged through him for his conduct the day before and he finally lost the battle against his heart to go speak with her.

Standing up from the fire, he cautiously approached where she sat. Lowering himself to the ground cross-legged, he handed her a small bowl filled with rice and cooked fish. She took it, keeping her eyes downcast on the food.

"Eliza-chan..." He murmured quietly. The sound of his voice startled her momentarily as she lifted her head to look up at him. He was gazing into her eyes intently, making her feel terribly small and flustered.

"What?" She whispered, casting her eyes away again.

"I'm sorry. Yesterday. The bath...the...I'm sorry. You understand why?" He said. She noticed his English was improving at an alarming rate. She faintly smiled at the realization as she shook her head and murmured,