A/N: Was out from the fiction world for awhile, (b/c of lack of inspiration and limited computer access) but I’m back to give you yet another chapter after nearly 3 months of not updating. Please give it another chance. I included some things that might help refresh your memory. [Hope it helps, Rini13 ^.^]

 

Story so far…

Naora is imprisoned in a prison fortress and Tobachi helps her escape— with one condition: join his team. Against her will, she does so, and runs to Ume for advice. Ume suggests she heads over to Nakata’s castle. On her way there, she has an unpleasant encounter with Setoru. A verbal fight leads to a physical one, and Setoru shows his other frightening personality. A limping Naora reaches her destination, and is cared for by strangers. She overhears them talking about her, and the possibility that she might be a reincarnation of a person. The question is, reincarnation of who?

Character List:

~Naora Yamanoue- servant+ bad past, likes fights^^; possesses an internal shield in her body

~Ume Kawazu- Naora’s best friend

~Setoru Konihiko- prince of Konihiko family,  SEXIST, may have a different personality, strength questioned?

~Bakin- Setoru’s current bodyguard [which means he’s the leader of the Black Eight], supposedly was defeated along with the Black Eight

~Dayu- Ume’s male friend [ appearance: ch1]

~Tobachi- the “bad guy”, his reasons for wishing to kill Setoru remain unknown

~Black Eight- Setoru’s elite group of past bodyguards, led by Setoru’s current bodyguard (Bakin), defeated by Tobachi and mysteriously disappeared

~Nakata- princess in a distant kingdom, supposedly very benevolent and educated in the use of magic

~Juna- Tobachi’s boss, possesses a god stone which enables her to predict the future

~Atasuke Ryusaki- someone in Naora’s past, his hands can emit radiation, very little is known about him

 

Love Under a Blindfold

By blue raindrop

 

Chapter Six- The Coming of the Sekres

                …dark clouds beginning to thicken rapidly, suffocating the once cheerful sun…

A woman sipped quietly from the cup that she held carefully between her hands. The heat which the cup emitted curled upward, warming her face. She sat watching the window from across her, looking agitated. The strong wind that blew across the kitchen seemed very ominous, and she didn’t like it one bit. There’s something coming… something inhuman is roaming this village.

                A little child suddenly came running into the kitchen, out of breath. His face was pale, and it was unusual to see her son so alarmed. “Okaa-san!” he exclaimed. “The inguards believe that sekres have entered the village!!”

She jolted up from her seat at the news. “Sekres?!” she repeated in incredulity. There was no time

to spare for second thoughts. “Calm down, Doppo. I will go and confirm this from the inguards.."

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         Naora had been awake for quite awhile, feeling completely rejuvenated from the caring treatment of the family. Though she was normally ungrateful towards such kind favors, she couldn’t sneak away from the place as she had planned originally. It’d make her feel too guilty for having used them. 

                There had been members of the family, checking on her every hour or so for more convincing hints that she was recovering. There was this one person in particular who would check more frequently than the others. She wasn’t sure why he was more concerned about her, a mere stranger they picked up on the street.

                Her thoughts were interrupted by the cautious creaking of the door. Someone was peeking inside-- specifically a young man with eyes that shimmered green despite the poor lighting of the room. His face sent a wave of familiarity all over her. Had she met him before?

                He shattered the silence, stepping inside the room. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” he said. Now with his entire frame before her, she felt a crimson heat on her cheeks, which she hastily tried to return it to its natural ivory color. In all honesty this guy’s handsomeness was indeed rare to find! With his hair a soft tumble of brown, eyes the color of summer leaves, and the sculpted figure of a man who works constantly—but not excessively.

                “Looks can be oftentimes deceiving. But you’ve yet to earn my trust so that’s all I can afford to say about my health or myself for that matter,” Naora shrugged, looking out the window. In truth, she was trying to dig him out from her memories and it was taking an awful lot of her concentration. Who WAS he?

                “My name is Atasuke Ryusaki,” he said. His voice was calm and quiet, like the sound of foamy waves against the shores. She remembered a voice like it—a name like his, in her buried past.

                …trees rustling suddenly against the winds violently, vehemently whipping the statue of the village goddess amidst the village…

                Naora hesitated in telling him her name, but she saw no future consequences in telling him. “Mine’s Naora Yamanoue. So let’s get this straight, you were the one who treated my body correct? Did you find anything particularly fascinating, Ryusaki?” She had already decided what she was going to do with him; an innocent young man who might tattle on her secrets.

                He wrinkled his eyebrows. “Well… you were kind of flat and a bit too muscular for a lady.”

                She got up humiliated, her left leg was suddenly surrounded by green swirls of aura. “You fool. I have no time for your jokes!” From out of her leg which had grown mystic green, she pulled out her sword and struck its tip on the floor in irritation, causing a great ripple on the wooden floor. “You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

                Ryusaki didn’t look frightened at all. He answered her question calmly. “Yes, I found it rather hard to treat because it’s the only body in existence that carries an internal shield.  Normally people wear shields outside their body. But your shield is naturally worn inside your body, thick and metal hard. In addition, you keep that sword in your leg, which serves as a sheath.”

                Naora stifled her laughter. “You are much too accurate. But of course, now that you know, I can’t just let you go. I’ll have to dice you up first.”  She brandished her sword before his body but he threw his head back calmly from her swing, swiftly knocking the sword out of her hands and catching it expertly. He took one of her hands and returned it to her. Gripping her hands tightly in his, he whispered, “Let me go? Then maybe you can help me. These past 6 years, I myself have been trying to let you go, and it’s not very easy…” 

…in seeped the rotting scent of decayed bones, the sounds of devilish whispers dirtied the air....

                 She snatched her hand away from his grasp and she suddenly laughed. “For a minute there, you sounded like you were in love with me or something!” she said in between bursts of laughter.

                He chuckled nervously. “No no… not at all,” he said in a very low voice.

She stopped and said coldly. “Listen up. If you’re someone who belongs in the past, then stay in the past!! If I remember nothing from it, then none of it is important to me! Got that?” she snarled at him. Though in truth, his identity continued to trouble her.

                “Calm down and put me out of your worries; I’m not going to tell anyone about any of it,” he assured her. As he wiped his cheek with a cloth, she returned her sword back to its sheath, shaking her head.

                “Never mind. You’re wasting my time. I’ll let you live, so long as you keep your mouth shut about all this. I’ll come back with some money to pay off my stay here, after this whole ordeal is over.” She headed towards the door.

                “Matte, Yamanoue-san,” he said. “Where are you headed?”

                Naora didn’t stop. “It’s none of your business.”

                …the statue of the marble goddess shook and trembled, tipped forward, and crashed loudly unto the floor, sending a mighty wave of panic amongst the villagers.

Ryusaki’s attention immediately turned toward the window, alarmed. “Did you hear that?”

                Naora froze dead in her tracks. Something was around them, hanging invisible about the air.

                Shrieks from outside pierced the thin walls of the room. They heard and saw villagers running into their houses in terror, shutting their doors tightly in a hurried fashion. Their faces were chalk white, and there was fright in their owl-wide eyes.

                “It looks like we have unexpected guests,” Ryusaki said. “Sekres are in the village.”

                “They’re not just in the village. They’ve gotten inside the house-- upstairs…I can sense them.” Naora replied quietly, looking suspiciously around her. I don’t like this feeling. It feels as if someone is trying to break into my mind into pieces…crushing them.... restricting... how much air I can breathe…

                “What?!” she heard his faint voice. All sound seemed muffled in her ears, as if they were deep-voiced ants.
                “You can sense them? But that means…” He looked at her as she clutched her head with both hands, in pain. He didn’t give it another second. He grabbed her hand and they started to run downstairs.

Damnit, Yamanoue-san, they’re hunting for YOU, he realized in terror.
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                Tobachi walked down the lavish hallway, opening the ornate door of a room and entering it without need for permission. The person inside was on the floor, cleaning his chain whip to a deadly sparkle.  

“The sekres are now in the village. We better get moving before we lose the opportunity,” Tobachi adviced. “The guards will be rushing to help the villagers from the sekres, making for a less nosier intrusion from us, not to mention easier. Get the girl and bring her here. Got it?”

                The person got up with a malignant grin. “What was her name again? Nakata?”

                Tobachi eyed the guy distrustfully as he walked out the door. “Don’t get carried away now Bakin.”

                After saying that, he smirked. Now that we have Bakin and the Black Eight, we’re an unstoppable force. I told you we had a group Naora. And now that the sekres will get you out of my way permanently, everything is just too easy ....

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                Ahh!! How will Naora escape this one, since the sekres are invading her mind? What did Naora do in her past? Who is this Atasuke Ryusaki guy? Since when had Bakin, Setoru’s closest bodyguard, AND the Black Eight become part of Tobachi’s crew? What will happen to Nakata? Why isn’t Setoru in this chapter??? (^___^)

 

Next time: “I remember who you are now! You were, back then… my best friend…” Naora realized. O.O