Adaption is Key (An Aza Chobei Fanfic)

Chapter Twelve: Comfort

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Rien was done watching over the two, she had left the room with a satisfied yet longing face. Chobei was laying down beside Mizuho as they laid bare without any blankets to cover themselves. Despite this, he looked beside him with a small yet content smile as the swordswoman shared the same reaction, only for her to turn more somber.

"I'm sorry..."

"What do you talking about?" Chobei asked with a soft and concerned voice. "We're now accepted into Lord Tensen and we agreed upon screwing each other than some strangers."

Mizuho tried to hide her face with her hands. "It's about your brother Toma..."

Chobei was shocked as it's been a while since he had heard news about his little brother. The last he did it was before he was recruited for the expedition. Heck, that boy was literally the main reason the Bandit King went on this question. Desperate but not wanting not scare her, the convict asked.

"What about... Toma?"

She sighed as Mizuho explained sadly. "When the Yamada clan found Toma, many of the members including and especiallly my close friend Shugen, the second-ranked member, wanted to murder him for being related to an infamous criminal... However, since I sympathized with you and your brother, I argued for his safety and well-being. After he had forcefully cut Toma's hair and face, I challenged him to a duel. Unfortunately, Shugen was the strongest swordsman in our clan, despite being ranked second as a potential heir.... He can be kind if he wants too since he gave one of our female members Sagiri a rank, although the lowest one, but he can be ruthless if he wants to...."

The Bandit King's face turned into rage towards the second-ranked member of the Yamada clan. How dare this Shugen bastard try to harm Toma..... How dare he harm Mizuho....

Mizuho touched the severe scars on her bare body as she continued. "Although some of these scars are from training, most of these were caused by Shugen's swordsmanship.... Some even caused internal bleeding.... Regardless of his rank, he's the strongest swordsman within our clan, which was caused by his extreme notion to fight justice...."

Chobei's eyes widened upon hearing this with rage. Even though he had his fair share of betrayals against his own gang members, he believed that samurai had a code of honor. Despite this, he was angered by the fact that Shugen would disregard this in the name of his twisted sense of justice, especially if it concerned Toma and Mizuho.

"I even offered to sleep with him, so that he could spare Toma. Fortunately, Shugen stopped, albeit reluctantly, so that I could 'find the right man to be with' since he doesn't want me to be careless with my womanhood again. However, he also gave me strict orders that I can't break one of the rules of being your executor. Don't let them escape, don't befriend them and don't have... intimate relationships with them. If I break one of them, he'll kill both me and Toma. If we failed or died finding the elixir, Toma will die.... I mean, there was this time with the Silver Serpent gang..."

"Please tell me about it." Chobei asked as he listened to the woman's story as he wanted to learn more about Shugen and how threatening he truly was.

"When their boss was interrogated after secretly sending underlings to spread his influence, the boss refused to name the members in hiding so Shugen mercilessly decapitated the ones who were already captured until the boss exposed the free ones' locations and names.... Afterwards, all were executed, including their families... from the elderly to even the newborns... all innocent men, women, and children added up to over one hundred deaths until the boss was finally executed.... Despite the needless bloodshed, the shogun rewarded Shugen with ceremonial garb and a blade called 'Fuributsu Kaneaki'... What have I done...?"

She started to sob as Chobei stayed distressed. "I'm sorry.... Why am I just the worst? I talk back to my boss, she beats me all day.... I talk back against the clan, I risk an innocent life.... I accepted to sleep with the criminal I was supposed to watch over... "

Chobei then hugged Mizuho as he tried comforting her. "It's my fault, Mizuho.... I acted uncharacteristically reckless when I should've accepted Rien's offer to practice Bochu Jutsu with her... "

"No, it's my fault. I acted on my feelings towards you and I disregarded my duties as your executioner instead of continuing as a prostitute again..."

Chobei blushed until he shook his head and rebuked. "No, it's my fault that I also acted on my feelings towards you..."

Despite this, Chobei sighed. "No matter what, we will try to repair it. Just because you had premarital sex with a man doesn't mean you're reverting back into your old life. You are now both physicially and mentally strong..."

Mizuho became flustered until she spoke. "Thank you... but what if Shugen finds out I broke the rules--"

"He won't! We won't let that happen..." Chobei said as he held Mizuho's hand. "Once we get Toma and your sisters, we'll all run away to a place far, far away from your clan's clutches! We'll live an ideal life where we'll be able to do whatever we want."

Tears ran through Mizuho's dark blue eyes. "Thank... you... but what would your brother think... of us...?"

"I believe that he would appreciate his older brother being with the woman who had saved both the Aza brothers..."

"Does Aza Mizuho have a ring to it?"

He chuckled. "Of course..."

They then fall asleep in each other's arms, embracing one another's company as equals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

I'm back from my vacation!!!! I might upload future chapters irregularly, but please be patient. I also might be focusing on writing other fanfics for different series. Thanks for reading and helping this series reaching five hundred and fifty reads in total!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~