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Tears of Blood
By : SultrySundina
Category: +. to F > Blade of the Immortal
Views: 1863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Please read disclaimer in each chapter.
Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Tears of Blood (My Story Arc: Finale to Blade of the Immortal):

Disclaimer and Rights: This story is not-for-profit fan fiction. The characters and universe of Blade of the Immortal/Mugen no Junin are copyright by Hiroaki Samura and do not belong to me. I will in no way receive any kind of funds or monies for this story, nor will any monies or funds come into my hands in consequence of this story. Please do not sell or print for sale. Do not archive without my written permission. Permission is granted to print for personal use, and to distribute this document in electronic form, without charge, without alteration, and with this disclaimer and my name attached.

Chapter 4: Tender Lies; Lovely Tears

Rin dressed herself and walked out of the bathhouse. She took her time going to the room. She wanted to be slow, to draw it out before she entered the room; before she had to look at Manji. She was still trying to decipher what she saw, witnessed. In the back of her mind she wanted to believe what she heard; that he desired her as much as she did him, but she wasn't a child anymore, and holding onto those hopes, those childish dreams would not serve her any good purpose. She tucked those memories away. She would have to forget what she saw; but how could she? How could she just forget? She had to though, she thought. She had to for her own sanity.

As she reached the room she felt fear clawing its way into her consciousness. She had been here before, standing at the shōji; in fear and dread. Now it was more in denial. She breathed in, closing her eyes and raising her head. As she breathed out she opened her eyes and slowly pulled the shōji open. Manji was sitting against the window, his leg perched up beside him, staring out into the white blankness that was the snow storm engulfing the town outside. He was smoking again, pulling in long drawn out puffs as he stared outside.

Rin entered and sat down near her bag and pulled out her comb. She tugged harshly at the tangles in her raven hair. She winced, and cried out in shock and pain as she pulled a little too harshly. She looked at the comb and saw a bunched up knot in its tines. She started to rub her head where the hairs had been coarsely yanked from her delicate scalp.

Manji looked over at her when he heard her yelp and raised an eyebrow. He eyed the comb in her hand and her rubbing her skull and silently chuckled to himself. "Baka ona." He thought to himself, and continued to stare out the window then looked back at her and felt as though the room was oddly too quiet. The silence was roaring. He looked back over at Rin who was now putting her hair into her usual two braids with the rings at the ends.

"How was your bath?"

"Fine." Rin wasn't bothering to look at Manji.

"You were in there a long time."

"I suppose."

"Something happen?"

"No. I just wanted to relax for a while. It's been too hot in here."

"Yeah."

"It was pretty full down there, but I'm sure a lot of the people are back in their rooms now if you wanted to go have one. I know how you like to be alone when you do." Rin flashed a fake half smile at him.

"You saying I need one?" Manji raised an eyebrow.

"It wouldn't hurt." Rin raised her hand and pinched her nose in a joking manner and looked in Manji's direction.

"Fine, whatever." Manji rose up from the window and walked across the room. Fix breakfast will ya."

"It will be ready when you return." Rin knew Manji never stayed long in public bath houses. It was a miracle he even bathed at all some days.

Manji stepped out of the room and headed for the bath house. Rin opened the bag of food she had bought the night before and reached in and brought out some rice balls, fried fish and pickles and put them on the small table in the center of the room. She picked up the tea pot off the table but it was empty. She put the pot back down on the table and stood up and walked out of the room. It was still early so the maids must not have brought fresh tea yet. She gingerly walked down to the main entrance and spied the innkeeper. She was cursing under her breath as she was coming from the bath house. Manji must have insulted her again Rin figured. He could be so rude sometimes. Rin walked up to the woman and politely asked, "Excuse me, but may I get a fresh pot of tea brought to my room. Arigatou." She bowed.

"Certainly miss." The woman smiled warmly at Rin, "Do you need anything else?"

"Ne, just the tea."

"It will be right up." The woman bowed and Rin saw her wave her hand at a young woman behind the counter and instructed her to bring a pot of tea up to Rin's room.

Rin fished out a small bag of coin from her furisōde and presented it to the woman. "This should be enough to cover the room and a generous tip for the next few days. I apologize for the actions of my yōjimbō. He can be very rude sometimes."

The woman looked and Rin and accepted the bag. She peered inside and saw a generous amount of coin. A huge smile enveloped her face and she generously thanked Rin. "I am used to samurai. Arigatou."

Rin turned and went back up to the room. When she got there fresh tea pot was already sitting on the table, and the fūtons were both neatly made and pushed against the far wall. Rin sat in silence as she waited for Manji to return from his bath. A few moments later the shōji opened and Manji stepped inside and closed it. His black hair was not in its usual topknot but was hanging down at his shoulders. This meant that he must have actually washed thoroughly when he was in the bath. Rin was stunned and speechless. He looked so much younger and handsome. Instinctively her hands went to her mouth to try to cover her reaction.

Manji looked at Rin; her hand was covering her mouth as she stared at him, her eyes wide. "Hey what ya gawking at kid?"

Rin looked down at the floor and removed her hands to her sides. "Um, I'm just surprised that you actually washed thoroughly."

"Eh?"

"Well usually you don't…you don't usually wash your hair, or it would seem like you don't." Rin hands were in front of her now, on her lap, fidgeting with her furisōde.

"Whatever." Manji sat down at the table opposite Rin and greedily dug into the food in front of him.

"Manji-san would you like a cup of tea?"

"Eh...yeah, sure."

Rin quickly poured him a cup of tea and then poured one for herself as well. She picked up a rice ball and delicately took small bites from it. She decided from now on she would act as a lady and no longer as a child by diving into her food one minute then trying to seem delicate the next after Manji had made fun of her. No she wouldn't give him the chance anymore.

"You're acting weird today Rin." Manji raised an eyebrow at Rin as he watched her eat. She was sitting straight; poised. She didn't have a single grain of rice anywhere on her furisōde yet and she was sitting in silence. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Hmm? Yes, fine why do you ask?"

"I dunno you're just acting weird."

"I don't think so Manji-san. Maybe the heat is getting to you?" Rin looked at him quizzically, but Manji only grunted and continued to eat. "Good, he dropped the subject." She thought.

Manji quickly ate his meal and drank his tea. It wasn't a good jug of saké, but it would do for now to satisfy his thirst after the meal. Manji moved away from the table when he finished and then relit his pipe from earlier. Rin could see the red flame flicker in the ash and tobacco. It cast a light glow on Manji's face, enhancing his features. Rin blushed. He hadn't bothered to put his hair up yet and he didn't seem to really care.

I think I will go for a walk Manji-san. I don't feel like being stuck in this room all day.

"Huh, don't like my company? Guess I'm not good enough." Manji's bitter words saddened Rin.

"No Manji-san not at all. I just feel like stretching my legs."

Manji had a viscous thought cross his mind suddenly about how he could stretch her legs for her, and a devilish smirk rose to his face. There was no getting away from those kinds of thoughts it seemed. "I'll go with ya. Don't need you goin' off somewhere and getting' kidnapped again."

"Manji-san I think I will be fine, I mean…"

Manji interrupted her, "Like hell. The last time I let you walk off you ran into that Ittō-ryū brat, and then after that nearly got yourself drowned. No, I'm not letting you outta my sight."

"I was out of your sight when either of us were in the bath." Rin responded only to see Manji angrily glaring down at her through his eye. She shuddered. "Very well Manji-san."

Rin and Manji both rose. Manji tossed his pipe in the sand filled bowl that was used as an ash tray and walked over to Rin. She walked over to the shōji, opened it and stepped outside. Manji tilted his head up and looked at her as she peered back behind herself. She was definitely acting strange today and he was curious to find out what was up but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Then it hit him, what if she was standing outside the room earlier. His eye shot open and he froze. Was it that she couldn't stand the sight of him anymore? Nah, he shrugged off the thought. He scratched the back of his neck and realized his hair was still down at his shoulders. He quickly grabbed the fabric tie from inside his kōsōde and tied his hair back up in its usual topknot and stepped out of the room, following behind Rin as she walked a few steps ahead of him.

Rin glanced at the scrolls on the walls. Paintings of sakura trees, and mountains hung nonchalantly. There were other painting as well; paintings of samurai in great battles, of women with their children beside lakes and rivers, and of people in markets greeting one another. Then there was one hanging on wall all of its own. It was beautiful. It was a painting of an onna-bugeisha sitting at the body of a dead samurai clutching him to her with one arm, the other on her own sword, dug into the ground beside her. Rin assumed they were lovers and she wanted to weep when she saw the painting. The background was dark and almost indecisive; mountains and a river, but the two lovers were painted pristinely. The onna-bugeisha wearing a blood red kimono, no perhaps it was stained with blood, and the dead samurai in a white kimono with black hakama. The onna-bugeisha however, was not looking down at the samurai, but out, as though at Rin; into her soul. Her deep brown piercing eyes looking knowingly at Rin, as if she knew something Rin did not. Rin shuddered and did not want to move away but she had to. She suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine and decided she wanted to head back to the room. The samurai in the painting resembled Manji far too closely, and she did not want her thoughts to trail where they usually did.

Back in the room Rin was still silent. She didn't say a word to Manji and just sat in silence staring out the window at the blizzard engulfing the town outside. "How long," she thought, "how long will we have to stay here? I don't know if I can take much more of this."

Manji broke the silence. "Rin," he scratched the back of his neck, "I eh…what I meant to say is I was wonderin' if you eh…well if you... Aw fuck it. Nevermind." Manji went back to staring at the floor. He wanted to find out if she was acting so weird maybe because she had seen something earlier; seen him earlier, because he could not get the question off his mind no matter how he tried, but he wasn't sure how to ask.

Rin looked at him puzzled. What had he wanted to ask her? "Manji-san what is it? What do you want to know?"

"It doesn't matter."

"No, please go ahead." Rin was curious now as to what Manji could possibly want to know but couldn't ask.

"Well I was just wonderin'," He scratched his neck again and continued to stare at the floor, "I was wonderin' if maybe you came back early from your bath? I heard a noise outside the room when you were gone. I dunno maybe it was the maid."

So he had heard her. Rin almost froze but kept her composure. "No Manji-san it must have been someone else."

Manji was relieved. The last thing he needed was her seeing him like that; in that state, over her. "Aw fuck," he thought, "probably won't be the last." He silently chuckled to himself. "Best be careful next time."

The rest of the day seemed to drag on forever, meal time especially. They didn't talk about much. The silence was barely tolerable, but Rin had nothing to say and neither did Manji. They just sat in the room, waiting for nightfall; waiting for sleep to overcome them. Thankfully when nightfall came Rin was exhausted and quickly readied herself for the night. She removed her obi and furisōde and quickly scooted to her fūton and pulled one blanket over herself. "Manji-san when you go to sleep please blow out the lantern."

"Yeah, sure." He responded as he laid down on his fūton and sprawled out. He then blew out the lantern, and the room fell dark.

It was about halfway through the night when Rin awoke in fits of terror as her nightmares came rushing back to her. She sat straight up and her hands were covering her face as she sobbed into them.

Manji was already half awake and watching her. He sat up and remembered how both he and Rin were able to have a peaceful sleep after he had pulled her into his arms and kept her there, so without thinking anymore of it he pulled her into his arms again and leaned against the wall. Rin's face was tear stained and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. She slumped into Manji's arms facing him and sobbed on his shoulder.

"Rin listen, what are you dreamin' about to work you up so much?"

Rin described her dream as the flashes that she bore witness to, as the flashes that cursed her memory, in gulping sobs. "Bodies, hundreds of bodies. Darkness, it's so dark Manji. I can't breathe in there. I can't breathe. It's so cold next, and I'm dying. There's no escape."

Manji wasn't sure what she was talking about but whatever it was had upset her, more so even than her parents' death it seemed now. This worried Manji. What could have scared Rin so? He cradled her to his chest and as her sobbing slowly ceased he realized she was falling back to sleep. He slowly started to drift off to sleep as well, but noticed Rin's head started to fall down towards his lap so he carefully pushed her down and laid beside her on his fūton. He quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep, his arms wrapped around her.

When Rin woke up in the morning she was cradled in Manji's arms, facing him as he slept. He looked so peaceful, almost happy. She felt as though her heart would burst with the contact she now shared with him. She shifted slightly to remove her arm from underneath herself and Manji opened his eye to see her staring him in the face. He smirked, barely awake and moved his hands up to her face. He touched her lips with his fingers and watched through a heavy lid as she smiled under his touch.

Manji was so close Rin could feel his breath on her face. The hot air made her feel dizzy with happiness. She had never been so close to him. He had never really let her close. He leaned in, pulling her face to his and before Rin knew it his lips were gently touching her jaw line, his breath hot on her skin. Rin sighed softly, and Manji trailed his lips down to her neck but barely touching her with them. He took in her soft scent with a deep breath and slowly raised his lips back to her face. He trailed them to the corner of her mouth, then up to her cheek where he softly let his lips fully touch her skin, planting a kiss there. He then trailed his kiss down to the corner of her mouth, once flickering his tongue on the way down to taste her soft flesh. He breathed in a long hard breath and moved his mouth over hers; barely touching them. The sensations were causing Rin's emotions and body to be sent into a whirlwind of desire and anxiety. She had to be dreaming, there was no way this could be real. What Manji did next sent her entire being over the edge of sanity.

Rin felt her entire body go weak and gave into him whole heartedly as he kissed her deeply. His lips crashed into her with intense fury and rapture. Her hands flung up to grasp his hair and she moved her fingers through it. She opened her mouth and moaned a small sigh of pleasure. Manji's tongue darted to her lips and she gave into his silent demands for him to be allowed entry. What he was doing she was unsure, but the feelings encasing her being right now told her to let him continue. She felt his tongue gently touch her own inside her mouth and move around. The feeling was strange but she was too caught up in the pleasure of how it felt, not the unfamiliarity. She pressed her body to his and as she did so Manji deepened the kiss, and Rin followed suit, following the movements of his tongue with her own. Manji let out a faint groan and held her even closer to him, crushing her breasts to his chest.

Manji then shifted his weight on top of her, pinning her beneath his muscular form. Rin felt his hand slide down from her face, tracing the lines of her curves as it moved down her chest and further down still, to between her legs. Her breathing was in short, quick pants and she clutched onto Manji's shoulders, her nails digging in as he began to raise her skirts to her knees. Then suddenly as if her dream had been shattered like a broken vase, Manji jerked himself away from her. Rin gasped in surprise and sadness at the loss of contact.

Manji pulled himself away from her, not wanting to, but knowing he had to; he had to say something, he had to stop her, himself. "God you really would do it wouldn't you? You'd really let me spread those pretty little legs of yours and steal your innocence?" Manji slumped over onto his back and stayed there for a moment, silent.

Rin looked at him in surprise, "Manji-san I…I know you wouldn't hurt me."

Manji turned his head and glared angrily at Rin, "Haven't you learned anything all this time we've been together? Men are pigs Rin! Disgusting animals that would rather nothing more than to take this pretty little body of yours and ravage it until there was nothing left of you, not even your spirit! Never trust a man like this, not even me, you'll only end up like..." Manji didn't get to finish Rin shoved him further away from her as hard she could and sat up and moved to her fūton. She was just staring at the shōji, not saying a word, not doing anything. Then she turned her eyes to him.

Rin stared at him, her eyes blazing with anger and hurt, but she still didn't cry. She looked as though she wanted to kill him or for him to just disappear, he wasn't sure which. She rose up from her fūton, pulled on her furisōde and tied her obi, and was about to make her way to the shōji. Manji rose up and quickly grabbed her arm to stop her. She looked at him with infuriated eyes and warned him, "Let go of me Manji. Never touch me again: Never." All her hopes, all her dreams had been shattered and she didn't want to be anywhere near the man responsible.

"Rin don't be stupid. I'm not letting you go anywhere like this. Aw shit, listen Rin I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. If you wanna cry, or hit me, anything I understand. I just don't want you to…to…"

"What Manji, have some childhood fantasy that you'll sweep me into your arms and rescue me every time like some damn dream? I don't think so. I know all too well not to believe in fantasies, especially if they involve you! I know you wouldn't give a KID like me the time of day. That I mean nothing to you: Nothing more than some burden; something you don't want to touch or have any feelings for, but that you feel obligated to protect. I'm NOT a child anymore, and I'm not your dead sister Manji. I'm not her! "

It had just sunk into Manji that he had just done the worst thing possible. Manji released Rin's arm as her words began to sink in and stepped back. How could she think she meant nothing to him? Her words cut deeper than she could have even imagined, and Manji just stood there as she walked out of the room through the shōji.

"God dammit." Manji slumped back down and picked up his pipe but when he realized he was out of tobacco he threw it across the room and it ripped a hole in the rice paper wall. "Fuck woman. Fuck!" Manji sat there, his face in his hands, head between his knees as he realized again that Rin was no longer a child. She was a woman, and she wasn't going to stand for his bullshit anymore. She wasn't going to let him compare her to Machi anymore. He shouldn't have in the first place. Rin was right, she wasn't her: She was entirely different; entirely. "Fuck Rin, why me, why did you let me even near you?" Was all he could manage to say to himself.
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Tears of Blood	By : SultrySundina Category: +. to F > Blade of the Immortal Views: 1863 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Please read disclaimer in each chapter.

Tears of Blood