The Samurai That I Loved

第16章

Eliza was aflame with emotions she had never felt before. The way Shojiro was staring down at her to the way his hand had begun to trail down her hair, to her back, then slip over her waist left her utterly speechless and locked to the place she nestled against him.

His hair was still damp and scattered around his face, his clothes still wet and his body shivering, but his hand...when his hand shockingly slipped beneath her kimono to lay palm flat against her stomach, she felt nothing but fire upon contact.

He was making her forget where they were, making her forget why she was there at all. Nothing mattered anymore...nothing but this tormenting cascade of sensations.

She was spellbound by his eyes. Instinctively, she lifted her hand, tracing it along his features, learning his face and studying it. When she lowered her gaze to his beautiful mouth, she was lost in the memories of how they felt against her own, how perfectly fitted they were to her own.

His hand was smoothing slowly up her skin, her face was drawing closer to his like magnetism unparalleled.

All at once, he was turning his head away with a hissed curse while retracticing his hand quickly from her kimono. The look of hurt and embaressment that washed over her face was uncontrollable as she immediately scrambled away from him.

He didn't seem to notice at all though, for he was much too busy launching upright to his feet to leave the tent as quickly as possible. To both their misfortunes, one could not stand inside the tiny tent.

The entire tarp collapsed upon them while the rain still downpoured heavily from the heavens.

"Ahh! Kuso!!!" Shojiro snapped, flailing and flinging the tent tarp off of him in anger and frustration.

(Dammit!)

Eliza screamed in surprise when the tent collapsed and was now hastily trying to get out from underneath it. Shojiro's hand suddenly clamped around hers, pulling her up before quickly leading her towards the horse beneath a thickly-branched tree.

"Stay!" He ordered loudly over the rain. Eliza scowled at him as she grew steadily more soaked. She watched on in disbelief as he stomped back towards the mangled tent and began attempting to rebuild it.

Another burst of lightning and thunder lit up the sky causing Eliza to scream again. The horse whinnied loudly from beside her and pulled on its ropes tied to the tree.

"Shojiro, it's no good! Hurry and get back here!" She yelled out into the rain. He ignored her as he continued trying to rebuild the blasted tent.

"Stubborn man." She grumbled beneath her breath as she crossed her arms and watched him. The rain was much too strong to keep the tent upright anymore. Even before he had stood up inside the damn thing, it felt as if it were about give way regardless.

Finally giving up, he hurried to collect everything and bring it back to the horse.

"Come. We go somewhere dry." He uttered in a low voice as he untied the horse's reigns and led them away from the lakeside.

Through the darkness of the woods and down pouring rain, it was neigh to impossible to see five feet ahead of them, however Shojiro was able to locate a cave conveniently only large enough for themselves and the horse to stand inside like a cluster of wet chickens.

Eliza was shivering uncontrollably. Her teeth were chattering and goosebumps covered her pale skin from head to toe. Clutching her arms over herself, she slumped down to sit against the wall of the cave with her knees to her chest.

"Well this is a fine kettle of fish, is it not?" She grumbled out in a shaky voice. Shooting a glare towards a most-angry looking Shojiro, she hissed, "Really, why would you try to stand inside the bloody tent?!"