The Daughter Of Hideyoshi

Chapter 4

Nobuyuki and I finished our walk as we ended up back to the main building of the army. I turned to him as I spoke. "Um. Thank you for the walk. I really enjoyed it" I said as he waved me off. "No problem. It was nice for me to go. Again, sorry about Sasuke and Saizou. They're a bit of a handful" he said, as I sighed. "That's fine. I'm used to it by now" I said, as I cracked a smile, knowing that I was talking about Toshiie. I sighed as I thought about the army and how worried dad must be right now. "They're probably very worried about me," I said, as I sighed. I noticed that Nobuyuki was watching me, a concerning look was planted on his face. "You're worried about them too, aren't you?" he asked, as I simply give him a nod. I looked back up at him as I spoke. "My dad's probably going to be mad a little bit. First time out of the house and I managed to get myself lost. Plus I'm hurt too" I said, as I looked back at my foot. I studied it, seeing my shoe a black and purple, with a ripped pant leg over them. I pulled my pant leg up as I looked at my wound, seeing the bandage wrapped around it. I studied it as I focused on it. "How's the foot now?" he asked as I looked up at him. He stood with his hands on his hips, while bent over a bit to get a better view of my injury. "It doesn't really hurt anymore, now that I'm standing on it," I said, as I looked down at it. "But the bandage is a little red," I said, as he took a look. "Ah, must have reopened it. Do you mind if I take you to change the bandage?" he asked, as I looked at him. "No. I trust you enough" I said, as he cracked a smile. "Alright, let's go," he said, as he turned around and started to walk the way we were headed. I followed calmly behind him, not saying a word and making sure I kept up. Nobuyuki turned his head as he spoke. "Let me know if your ankle hurts too much. I can carry you there if you want" he said, as I looked at him in shock. "No. I'm good for now" I said as he cracked a smile. "Alright, just keep it easy, we're just about there," he said, as I followed him into a little room. The room looked like the infirmary back at home. White walls and floors everywhere, with a tiny bed that sat in the middle and kept low to the floor. The walls near the door had built in draws, labeled for different things. Nobuyuki turned to the draw as he started to rummage through them. He pulled out a little roll of tape, gauze and some type of pad. "Please, sit and rest your ankle. We'll be done in no time" he said, as he went back to what he was doing.

I sat on the bed like I was told, as I started to take my shoe off. I peeled my sock off, as I tucked it in my shoe. Nobuyuki walked up to me as he put his things next to me on the bed. He started to gently unwrap the bandage that I had already on as he stopped. "You might not wanna look. I don't know how much there is" he said, as I nodded. I lied back on the bed, as I studied the ceiling. I just relaxed as I felt the bandage as it started to unravel from my ankle. The bandage completely came off it as he sighed. "Well, Harper. It's better than before. Just the cut's still bleeding" he said, as I looked up. He took a damp cloth as he started to pat the spot, mopping up the excess blood from my ankle. I saw half of my ankle red and the other a slight pink. I watched as he turned my ankle over, as my eyes widened. A nice gouge sliced through my ankle, looking like a little ring around it, as it bled. I started to calm myself as I lied my head down. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that," I said, as he chuckled. "Got curious?" he asked as I nodded. "Yeah. I never actually got hurt like this before. So I wanted to see what a bad injury looked like" I said, knowing that it was true. Nobuyuki chuckled again. "How long were you inside the army? If you don't mind me asking" he said, as I sighed. "Um. I don't quite remember. I was about" I said, as I stopped to think. The last time I was outside, was when the Toyotomi army found me in the cave. How old was I then? "Um. I don't quite remember. I think I was like four maybe five" I said, trying to remember. Nobuyuki looked at me shocked, then went back to work. "Wow. And you've been there all along?" he asked as I nodded. "Yeah," I said, as the sound of gauze wrapping entered the air. "Alright, all done," he said, as I sat up. I looked at my ankle as I moved it around. It felt a little stiffer than before. It also looked thicker than before. "I put another layer on to keep it from seeping through. I also wrapped it with a cloth so it doesn't peel through again" he said, as I nodded. "Thank you, I really appreciate it," I said, as I tried to put my sock on.