Swords & Saniwa

Sight

~Heshikiri Hasebe~
へし切 長谷部

Requested by JayDagger!

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Every time she fell, she gritted her teeth and stood up, not beaten by the challenges she faced. Grabbing the ends of the closet, she stood up and continued walking till she tripped on the mat and fell again, prompting him to enter her room and taking her hand into his. His warm hand then guided her slowly to the dressing table, letting her sit on the chair. 

"You can release my hand now, Hasebe."

"Yes."

Loosening his grip, she then took her hand away, touching her own eyes. The tips of her finger then ran through her eyelids, thinking back about the incident.

All she could see was darkness.

A sortie was what cost her vision to be gone. Not being able to evade the attacks, she injured her eyes; blood was all over her hands as she tried to stop the bleeding. She could clearly remember that she was insanely calm even with all that bleeding as Yagen treated her with care, careful not to damage her vision. 

A few weeks later, the bandages were removed. She thought she was able to see the light, but what greeted her was an infinite stretch of darkness.

"General, it will come back soon." The tantou kept telling her not to give up hope, but she knew that what he said was just to comfort her.

Miracles just don't happen out of the blue.

Vision will never return to her side.

She believed that it couldn't be cured, and refused to see any doctors sent from the government. 

It was a punishment sent to her from heaven.

"Aruji... I am sure that your eyes can see light once again."

"It's impossible, Hasebe. Perhaps that's what I get when I kill too much... You may leave. I'll summon you when the need arises."

"...As you wish, Aruji."

Closing the door, he then sighed at her plight.

Why is she so stubborn thinking that it couldn't be cured?

Returning back to his room, he then took a pen and wrote a letter to the Government requesting for an eye specialist sent to the citadel. He knew she wouldn't like it, but he passed the letter to Konnosuke anyway. 

He didn't mind being hated as long as she could be cured.

~~

"Miss, this can be cured with an eye surgery." He announced after the thorough examination.

"What? You're lying, aren't you?" The sage asked in disbelief.

"No, I am not lying. If you would like to have this surgery, please come to this hospital and look for me. I shall take my leave then."

As the doctor left her room, he was summoned almost immediately.

"Why did you do this?"

"I believed that it can be cured, and thus I requested for him to come and give an examination."

"It's none of your business! Why are you not abiding my orders!"

"Because I know that it can be cured! I've been looking up on articles and studying medical texts, and some of the cases are similar to you! All had their vision back in a few weeks or a month after the surgery!"

She clenched her fist and bit her lips, not wanting to listen to his words anymore. Standing up, she then left her room angrily. A sinner like her shouldn't deserve this at all.

"Aruji!" He chased after her, but soon gave up as she locked herself in an empty room, denying him access.

~~

It has been a few hours since she locked herself in.

Walking out from the room, she then headed straight to her room to get her things before leaving the citadel. She had decided something great.

Maybe she would see again if she decided to give it a try.

"Aruji!" He called out to her as she turned to the direction of his voice.

"I've decided... to go for this surgery." She said calmly. Hasebe was suprised at her sudden change of decision, and asked her the reason why she decided to do it. She kept mum and didn't answer his question. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered the answer to his ear before releasing her grip. The sword then laughed at her answer, before breaking into a smile.

"Shall we go?"

A nod was all it took to take her hands into his once again.

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I am sorry if the ending's bit rushed ><