The Princess and the Shadow

Chapter 2: Cold shinobi

               Ina was kneeling on the tatami of her room and then she felt a presence and turned her face to see a shadow behind the shoji door. How long had he been there before she sensed his presence?

               She slowly stood up and walked toward the door. Who was? She had already let go of the sleeves of her hakama for lunch, and with a gentle movement with her arm a tanto jumped in her hand, she took the sheath with her other hand and in a sudden movement opened the shoji doors and pointed the tanto to the visitor's throat.

               Her violet eyes widened rapidly and she saw Masayasu standing before her, not taking a step back, standing like a stone, with cold eyes watching her. He did not move a single muscle, he did not feel fear, even though the blade was close to his throat.

               Masayasu continued to watch Ina, he saw that it was so close to his throat, she was quick and was anticipated from attacking, smart girl. He allowed a brief smile to appear in the corner of his lips and he saw her pull away the tanto from his throat.

               His eyes fixed on Ina, not looking away, keeping cold, calm, as usual. Then he sees she hide the tanto into the sleeve. He watched her move quickly and then looked down at her face.

             "So is this how you get a guest?"

              He asked ironically. He saw in Ina's face that she was still confused, trying to recompose, she must have really thought it was some shinobi trying to attack her.

             "Sorry, it's the habit, I'm always armed and attack when ... well ... you surprised me coming from my balcony."

              Ina tried to smile a little, still embarrassed to attack him, for a few millimeters she had not injured him, but he was not afraid of being hurt. She looked at him, admiring his courage and remembering his cold, unmoving gaze.

             "But ... you did not move, I could have hurt you."

             Masayasu knew that Ina would ask about it and he just walked into the room and saw that there were already two trays of food on the tatami, facing each other. He quickly looked at Ina, she could hurt him, but this was not her real desire.

             "I know, you're skilled, but if you hurt me I would not attack you if that's your worry."

             He was taken aback to feel her grab his arm tightly. His eyes met hers. There was concern in those beautiful violet eyes, he saw guilt, she would never hurt an ally, he saw it in her eyes, she was above all kind and just.

            "I'm sorry....I did not want to hurt you, fortunately I saw it was you in time."

             Masayasu looked at her hand on his arm and then looked at her face and a brief smile appeared on his lips.

            "It's all right, Inahime. You did not hurt me, do not worry."

            He put his hand over hers, and continued to look into her eyes. There was still concern, she did not seem calmer with his answer, maybe his surprise had been a bad idea, but maybe it was not a big loss.

           "I trust you, I know I know you'd never hurt me. You said yourself that you realized it was me in time. Besides, I trust you."

           Ina felt the warmth of his hand on hers, although he had a cold posture and kept some distance, he seemed to have lowered his guard to her at that moment. Whether this was purposeful or not, she could not say.

          "Why do you trust me? You do not know anything about me." She asked.

           Masayasu still looked at those eyes, Ina was not the kind of person that looked away, or that felt fear easily, and she did not seem to bother with shinobi, other than the idea of ​​having one as her shadow.