Imprisoned to Love You [Edited]

♦⊱ Chapter 2 - Edo Period ⊰♦

Ruka pov:

I was slightly dazed as I stared into the emerald eyes. My vision panned out to see the entire face of the man who had caught me. He was smiling and I momentarily panicked at the thought of this person too being one of the men who were chasing me. However, he gently helped me stand and pushed me behind him protectively. Unbalanced, I clung to his back, burying my face in the fabric of his clothes.

"As much as I like you clinging to me, I think you should take a step back, miss. Things are going to get rough," the man said making me flinch.

I let go of him and stepped back, noticing that the person who had saved me wasn't quite a man yet. He appeared to be around my age or perhaps a year or two older at max. He was a few inches taller than me with messy brown tousles, dressed neatly, and carried a katana at his waist. His katana, unlike those of the men in front of us, was well maintained.

The guy unsheathed his katana and ran at the men, slashing them mercilessly with quick maneuvers. Blood spurted out of the deep wounds he inflicted, stained the ground in big splotches, and the men fell to ground dead. I slapped a hand over my mouth in horror at what I had just witnessed, barely holding back a scream. My eyes prickled and tears fell from them and I felt sick to my stomach.

This has to be a dream...this has to be a bad dream, I thought to myself desperately.

The guy who had saved me and killed five men like it was no big deal shook the blood off his katana before sheathing it. My heart rose to my throat when he turned to face me, smiling no less. My stomach churned. I stumbled back, panicking more with every minute that passed. I wanted to run away but the pain in my back made it hard for me to just step back and even harder for me to remain awake under all the stress I was feeling. Everything spun suddenly and energy drained out of me.

I tried hard to not lose consciousness in vain. My eyes rolled back and I fell forward into darkness.

When I came to, I had a throbbing headache. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes that seemed to be stuck together. I winced and shut them when I was greeted by brightness, though blinked several times to adjust to the light. When my vision was clear enough, I saw wooden planks of dull brown as the ceiling.

I turned my head this way and that way to see that I was in a small, plain room, lying on a mattress, a little away from a pair of wooden-framed, paper sliding doors. I was enveloped in silence except for an occasion chirp of a bird in the distance. I tried to sit up but gasped at the searing pain I felt through my upper body, mostly concentrated on my back. I held my breath to help ease the pain. It was several minutes later that I heaved, sweating profusely from the after effects of the pain.

Memories of what had happened just before I passed out flooded my mind making my heart skip a beat. What had happened wasn't a dream. The lightning strike, waking up in a primeval setting, being chased down and wounded by people with katanas, being saved by someone, and him killing the five men without hesitance – none of it was a dream. My eyes stung but I clenched my jaw to maintain composure.

Inhaling deeply, I turned to my side slowly and pushed up on my hand. Tears fell from my eyes because of the pain but I finally managed to sit after a few moments of agony. The sheet that was covering me fell to reveal a light pink kimono that I wore instead of my jeans and t-shirt, delicate cherry blossoms painted on it here and there. Inside my kimono were bandages wrapped around my chest and torso.

"What in the world," I mumbled to myself. I swallowed thickly, feeling immensely uneasy.

It took me at least ten minutes to stand, wincing with every shock of pain I felt from the slightest movement. I then limped to the doors and slid them open. I stepped into the hallway and gazed over the beautiful courtyard of grass and trees and flowering shrubs briefly before picking a random direction to walk in.