Ninja Love: Saizo Kirigakure

Chapter 7

I was indeed awake by dawn, but not for the reason I would have expected. By the time my eyes fluttered open, pale pink sunlight was filtering through the leaves outside and the world was slowly coming to light. Still half asleep, I rubbed my eyes and yawned, closing my eyes again in an effort to savor the warmth wrapped around me and catch a few more minutes of sleep before Saizo started hassling me to get up.

Content, I snuggled deeper under the blanket, but my foggy brain was puzzled when I found my range of motion limited my a heavy weight around my midsection. I reluctantly pried my eyes back open, struggling to focus on my surroundings.

What the...!?

My eyes snapped open in surprise at the sight that greeted me. Somehow, Saizo and I had been rearranged during the night. Our two mats had gotten even closer, the blankets had been shuffled around in the mindless depths of sleep, and now Saizo was sleeping peacefully right in front of my nose, with his strong arms wrapped tightly around my waist! My heart began to pound, and I tried to look anywhere but at the face that was mere inches from my own. My brain, forced into action by this turn of events, was running as fast as it could to try to come up with a way out of this. Seeing no other option, I began to carefully peel off the blankets and try to pry his arms off of me without waking him, but it was all in vain.

Saizo began to stir. "Misaki?" he said groggily.

My eyes met his sleepy ones, and I nearly swooned. Gone were the harsh angles of his stoic glare and the sharp gleam in his harsh aqua eyes. They were replaced by a painfully familiar soft gaze and bedhead that I could have sworn I had seen somewhere before.

"Misaki, why are you hugging me?" Saizo asked, gaining awareness of the situation.

I blushed and pulled my mind out of the gutter, instinctively trying to defend myself, "Me? This isn't my fault, you're the one holding onto me!"

Saizo furrowed his brow and frowned slightly. "I would never..." he trailed off and his eyes widened as he realized that his arms were indeed wrapped around my waist. He quickly pulled himself away from me and practically jumped out from under the blankets and on to his feet. He whirled away from me, but not quick enough for me to miss what looked like the beginnings of a faint blush.

I sat up on my mat and laughed a little at his flustered appearance. Saizo rubbed the back of his neck met my gaze almost sheepishly.

"Must've been really cold last night..."

○○○

We spent the next half hour packing up the campsite, but were delayed for another few minutes because Saizo insisted that we had to change. He began pulling a few monkish-looking outfits from our packs and tossing some articles of clothing at me.

"We need to disguise ourselves from now on. Notices will be posted because of yesterday's incident," he shot me a perfectly executed you-better-not-get-us-in-anymore-trouble look, and I got the message loud and clear.

"I'll be posing as a high-ranking monk, and you are going to be acting as a young disciple of mine."

I gathered the clothing in my arms and was about to ask Saizo to at least have the decency to turn around and give me some privacy to change, but he walked up behind me, suddenly taking my long, brown hair in his hands and wrapping it into a chignon.

"It would be best if you wore your hair up for the remainder of our journey, like this," his warm breath tickled my neck and sent chills down my spine.

He's so gentle with my hair... between this and the sleeping situation, I'm beginning to think Saizo may not be as harsh as I first thought.

I changed in the back of the cave, and put up my hair as Saizo instructed. Once both of our outfits were complete, Saizo looked me over, and I him. He wore a wide-brimmed straw hat that conveniently covered the majority of his face in shadows. The plain black kimono he wore matched his hair nicely, and I noticed that the feather was neatly hidden from view, but had not been removed. A sash the color of a stormy ocean was tied around his waist, and the whole outfit was topped off with a necklace of wooden prayer beads and a pair of plain straw zōri.

I wore a similar outfit, but with a pale grey kimono instead of black, and without the prayer beads. Saizo showed his approval of my outfit with a brisk nod, and we were on our way.

Our next point of interest was at a customs gate at the bottom of the mountain we were on, and the going was relatively easy, albeit boring. Passing through the gate would allow us to traverse the northern section of Japan and reach Iga. Our challenge was simple enough: Pass through customs without drawing attention to ourselves or being recognized. Hopefully our disguises (namely, our hats) would do most of our work for us.

"Try to act normal. Never turn around or make as if to leave, just keep your head low and keep moving forward," Saizo rattled off instructions in a controlled tone as we neared the gate. The crowds around us began to thicken, and we followed the flow of traffic until we found ourselves in one of the many lines leading towards customs.

The gate was situated in a narrow part of a rocky pass at the base of the mountain we had just traveled over. There were a few surrounding villages on either side, mostly comprising of inns that travelers could stay in, so the area seemed to stay moderately busy year-round. Past the throng of people and through the open gates, I could see the dirt road lead into a beautiful valley. A large meadow was dotted with homes and businesses and surrounded by a rock wall for a short distance, before giving way to dense forest.

As I turned my attention back to my immediate surroundings, I started to pick up some alarming chatter from the people around us.

"I heard that those people in the shop were ninja, bent on overthrowing Nobunaga's reign!" a large woman with an obnoxiously loud whisper chattered with her companion excitedly.

To my left, a man directed his child's gaze to a notice board only a few feet where I was standing, talking lowly of treason and revolution and other things the young boy could not understand. I peered curiously at the board, trying to edge close enough to see whose likeness was depicted on it. I held in a gasp and lurched backwards when I realized that the image depicted Saizo and I, and the text contained a public advisory notice, offering a reward for our capture!

I turned back towards Saizo, panic rising in the back of my throat. I took brisk steps to catch up to him, but we were already at the ate before I could warn him about the wanted poster.

"Next!" a gruff looking soldier beckoned us forward. Saizo handed him our papers and he briefly flipped over them. For a moment, I though we were in the clear.

The soldier's eyes snapped to mine and I paled. He arched his eyebrow, looking me up and down as if to appraise me. Had he recognized Saizo or me? Would he stop us or arrest us? The man opened his mouth to speak and I inhaled sharply. Too sharply.

"A-ACHOO!" My forceful sneeze rang out with painful volume and range throughout thr crowded area, knocking my hat off to top off my incognito disaster. People around us tossed us weird looks, some gasping and whispering as recognition registered in their faces. Saizo sent me a glare that could have sent me to the grave then and there, and oh how I wished it had.

I hurriedly replaced my hat, but the damage had already been done. I observed the people around me with wide eyes, wishing I was anywhere but there.

"Oh goddess what have I done..."