Born of Love

CHAPTER V

Yuna woke up suddenly. She tried to get up, but a twinge in her head quickly brought her back to the mat. When she managed to open her eyes again, she looked around her: four walls, a recently fixed roof, and the same tatami mat she had gotten him to help him furnish.

She was in the cabin of awkward silences and routine questions.

When she touches her head again, she notices that it is bandaged and that his right hundred hurts especially more than the rest. She hears the back door and footsteps that she trained herself to be that subtle. Listen to how he leaves the bow on the floor and how he takes off his hat by hanging it on a wall. She hears him pacing back and forth in the cabin, giving her a kind of cardiac arrest when his footsteps get too close to the small room where she is. He thanks his past self for proposing to close this space with a door, even if now it only serves to postpone the inevitable.

After preparing something in the kitchen (which is what Yuna assumes from the sounds) the footsteps make their way to the room. Yuna feels a strong desire to climb out the window or use one of the smoke bombs he taught her to use. But his head hurt too much to get up, and she didn't have her equipment handy. With no options and seeing the shadow of Jin's fingers land on the door, she opts for the legendary technique of pretending to be still asleep.

Jin opens the door and looks like he stays there for a few seconds. When he comes in, he makes sure that cold air isn't sneaking in through the window. Yuna manages to calm her breathing while remaining inert. Jin turns around and walks back to the door to close it behind him again.

Yuna exhales through her mouth, a little relieved. Through her eyelids, she can see that Jin had lit one of the candles in the corner of the room. When she opens her eyes, she finds an imposing figure in front of the door. Arms crossed, mouth slightly curved and eyes fixed on hers. It was Jin, who had made the gesture to leave, but remained inside the room deceiving her with the sound of the door.

They looked at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity. But Yuna is not a woman who lets herself be beaten, even when the battle is absolutely lost.

"Hello, Jin! How long...", she says in the most casual tone her headache allows. He nods and steps back to his feet a little. A man of few words, as always.

"I'm awake now."

"Yes, I already knew that". Yuna still maintains her serene expression, but inside she is gnawed by the arrogance with which he seems to speak. "Did you know that you move around a lot when you're actually sleeping?"

Jin was getting ready to leave the cabin after eating. He decided to wear his blue winter kimono; the one he had won in the duel against Kojiro. And even though the blizzard had turned into a snowstorm, he didn't want to postpone his departure.

The neighing of a horse in the distance alerted him, thinking they might be bandits or samurai. He finished tying the katana sheath around his waist and stepped out to take the initiative in case he had to fight. Just as he was about to mount his horse, another appeared at the entrance to the small clearing that concealed his cabin. It was completely covered in snow, but he could make out its bright brown fur and mount; it was Yuna's horse. But what about the rider?

He realized that the cry he had heard must have been Yuna's.

The horse neighed, begging to be followed. And that's what he did. Descending a few meters down the path, he saw the figure of Yuna lying on the ground. He ran to help her, and when he saw her more closely, he noticed the cut on her hundred and the trail of blood that had left her head when she hit the rock. "She must have fallen off her horse... But how?" thought Jin. He knew that Yuna was a good rider, and that despite the snow it wasn't a difficult road for her. His thoughts were interrupted by the roar of a beast that rumbled much louder within the storm. He guessed that this had been the sound that had frightened Yuna's horse and caused it to fall.

Without wasting any more time, he charged Yuna and returned as quickly as possible to the cabin. She was frozen. He felt immense pressure as he was not used to caring for other people and his knowledge of medicine was limited. But Yuna was still breathing; her strong lungs made her chest rise and fall, and he couldn't give up. He owed it to her.

He searched for the medical equipment in one of his trunks and proceeded to clean the wound of the hundred, stop the bleeding, and bandage the area. He lit the stove fire and decided to strip Yuna of her equipment to make her more comfortable. He felt a little self-conscious as he checked the rest of his body for other possible wounds. There didn't seem to be anything worrisome, but he decided to free her from the top of her kimono to put on another dry one.

As he did all that, Yuna muttered in a kind of half-conscious lethargy. Her reflexes were still working, and at times Jin was forced to dodge her arms and legs. He wrapped all the blankets he had in her and stared at her for a while. He was amused that Yuna managed to remove the blankets with her movements just as he was rearranging them. He decided to go try to hunt so that he would have something to eat when she woke up. He was also worried about the bear nearby, but now that he didn't have an unconscious Yuna in tow, he could fight back.

That's why he was surprised to see her completely still when he returned to the room. The blankets were perfectly placed on her and even her breathing was imperceptible. Was she faking it?

Jin found it hard to believe that Yuna would resort to that; But it made sense. She was a woman with a lot of character and pride (the latter denied by her on several occasions). And there was also the matter between them. Called "matter" because he didn't know what to name it in his mind. Maybe she wanted to talk to him as little as possible. He couldn't blame her.

But it had been so long since he had last seen her...

He closed the door to the room and stood there in silence waiting to see what she would do. He wasn't the only one here who knew how to play stealth.

When Yuna opened her eyes (charmingly larger than most) he was overcome with a feeling of satisfaction that made his lips curl into a discreet smile.

He had caught her.

After a few hours they were both sitting by the fire. The snowstorm was still howling loudly outside the cabin. Jin had prepared some rice to go with the wild boar meat.

"How's your wound? Does it hurt?"

Yuna sighed at the question. But she wasn't going to blame him for worrying; He had found her in a very critical condition.

"It hurts only if I touch it, and the migraine is gone. Thank you, Jin."

"It was about time I saved you, except that I didn't have to undress you, and you're much lighter than I am". They both laugh at the reference; That day in Komoda Beach that had changed everything... "Besides, I'm the one who least thanks deserve. Your horse is the real hero."

"My horse? The one who knocked me to the ground and made me crash into a rock?"

"... And that came here to ask for help. Plus, it's not its fault that there's a bear out there."

Yuna takes a violent bite out of her flesh. The memory of the bear's roar makes her feel helpless. Other than that, she seems relaxed (for the first time in months...)

"Yuna... When you were asleep, you whimpered."

"Well, maybe it's because of the nice cut I have in the hundred."

"No... You tend to whimper when you sleep. It's not the first time I've heard from you."

She looks at him doubtfully. Taka had never told her that she talked or cried in her sleep. Neither had Takeshi. If it was true, it must have been something recent.

"And what did I say?"

"Several things, but the most legible was father."