"Honey, you're familiar.
Like my mirror, years ago."
"From Eden" Hozier
"What's your name?"
Kaoru's eyes blinked open. On the other side of the river was a doll-sized village. A dozen little stone houses had been built into the side of the river bank. Dwellings for any spirits living nearby."I asked you what your name is?"
Her back was propped up among the vast roots of an ancient tree covered in centuries worth of moss. The moss was as thick and soft as a futon and Kaoru would have been happy to sink in and never get up."Did you not hear me?" The man kneeling beside her removed a bamboo water bottle strapped to his back. Kaoru's parched throat ached. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a weak croak. "Or have you lost your voice?"
The man...Battousai...her rescuer held the bottle to her lips. She gulped down water until she started to cough. "My name is Kamiya Kaoru," she managed to say once she caught her breath.
"So you've found your voice again?" Battousai put the bottle down.
YOU ARE READING
Death and the Maiden
Hayran KurguKaoru (17)- the spirited and willful daughter of a wealthy daimyo, and the niece of the powerful General Saito of Mibu. Being used as bargaining chip in the war between Mibu and Choshu. Wants to humiliate her childhood crush Yukishiro Enishi by publ...