If you are reading this for an update, please go back and read chapter 5. I consolidated chapter 1 and 2, so that those became one chapter; I also added a little filler and edited some grammar mistakes in my previous chapters. Thanks!

Chapter 6

Mizuki notched her first arrow into the bow and breathed deeply releasing the arrow as she exhaled. The arrow whisked through the air and hit the target at the very edges of her X. Mizuki sighed in frustration and renotched her bow. As she drew back her string, she heard a sound behind her and whirled around with the arrow pulled back.

Nobutada had run up the hill and into the forest without his usual calm approach. He didn't quite understand the voice telling him to run faster to see Mizuki, but his mind kept flashing the image of a girl being beaten and the sobs leaking out of her tightly closed mouth. As he reached the clearing in the woods, he was faced with an arrow pointed at his heart. Nobutada instantly dropped into a readying stance, hand upon his katana.

Mizuki looked deep into Nobutada's eyes and her gaze flicked up and down his stance taking in the sureness of his footing and the tensing hand upon the grip of his katana. She sighed and pointed her arrow down to the ground. Nobutada ran forward and grabbed her arms.

"Why? Are you mad? Have you lost your wits? Do you not remember what happened years ago? Do you bring dishonor upon yourself and your family name again?" Nobutada shook her with each sentence.

Mizuki was stunned that Nobutada was questioning her about her life and her choices. "There is nothing left for me. Why should I care about dishonor or my family name? No one has caught me since and therefore no one has punished me. I make sure that my actions do not reflect those I would care about." Mizuki looked into Nobutada's eyes solemnly. She turned slightly to release herself from his grip.

Nobutada's hands tightened as he felt her trying to escape. He pulled her into his chest and sighed heavily. Mizuki stilled in his arms and fiddled with the bow. Nobutada's mind was racing with each thought that surfaced through his memory. The flashes of Mizuki holding a rusty katana in her bruised arms, the look she had when her foster father died, the sounds of her bowl scraping the bottom of her rice barrel. His arms tightened around her as he sought to give her the comfort that he had been denied these years.

Mizuki looked up at Nobutada and was surprised by the man holding her. She knew that these actions would destroy his honor, his pride; she would not let this gentle man she loved be so conflicted. She dropped her bow and arrow to her side and brought her hands up to his chest. His warmth radiated from his heart as she placed her right hand against it. She felt the heartbeat, strong and bold sounding out all that his life would bring. Mizuki gently pushed against Nobutada's chest until he let his arms fall to his side. She tearfully smiled at him and reached down to grab her bow and arrow.

Nobutada grabbed her hand before it could grip around the bow. His face grew cold as he felt the calluses upon her palm. Beneath his hand was not the gentle slim hand of a proper Japanese woman, like that of his aunt. Those hands were callused only with the action of cooking, sewing, and nurturing the family. Mizuki's hands were covered with the same calluses that covered his hands. Hands that gripped the finest steel, strong in grip and swift with movement.

Mizuki pulled her hand from Nobutada's grasp. She matched his gaze and smiled regretfully. "A girl with hands such as these should not be around you. They have nothing to offer you but true dishonor."

"You kept practicing." Nobutada spoke softly as the words hissed out from around his teeth.

Mizuki grabbed the bow and arrow as she straightened up. "Yes, I did keep practicing. Please Nobutada, leave before you are found in the company of the village outcast." She turned back to the target and renotched the arrow. Her mind was whirling but she stilled herself to the task at hand.

Nobutada flinched as she said his name. He straighten up and turned to leave, but was stopped by her deep intake of breath. He was drawn to the concentration of the girl before him. Mizuki's gaze was concentrated upon the target as she drew back the string to its most tight. She slowly released the arrow and breath in one smooth action. Nobutada smiled as the arrow buried itself closer to the X target. Mizuki grumbled as she renotched another arrow.

Nobutada walked up to Mizuki and gently grasped her hands. He guided her arms into the proper position to fire the arrow and whispered in her ear, "Gently breathe in as you draw back, and breathe out when you release but don't blink. You blink a little, keep your eyes on the target at all times." Nobutada tapped her fingers and she released the arrow. It landed with a thud a breathe away from the center of the arrow.

"I didn't make the center of the target." Mizuki looked at him accusingly.

"I can't work miracles. You need more practice." Nobutada walked over to the tree and pulled out the three arrows. "I'll bring up a straw target so you aren't trying to judge your skills on a tree, but rather a real target." He ran his fingers over the arrowheads. "Also so that you don't ruin all of your arrows from hitting the hard bark over and over."

Mizuki looked at him curiously, "Why are you helping me?"

"You are different than I imagined, Mizuki. If the beating of bamboo cannot dissuade you from pursuing a life of the warrior, then perhaps nothing will." Nobutada slide the arrows into her quiver. "Wait here, while I fetch a target for you."

Mizuki watched Nobutada's retreating back and wondered what had come over him to give into such a breach of social norms. Mizuki sighed and picked through her quiver looking for the arrows she had already fired. She drew her arrow back in her bow and continued practicing.

Nobutada walked into the training field and grabbed one of the older targets. He started off in the direction of Mizuki's home, when he was stopped by the shout of Ujio.

"Nobutada, where are you talking that old target?" Ujio shouted from across the field.

Nobutada turned slowly, his mind thinking of an excuse for the unusual behavior. "I'm taking it to Taka's. Maybe the boys can use it for practice." At Ujio's nod, Nobutada shifted his direction slightly to pass by Taka's home before heading up the hill.

Later that night, Nobutada sat by the doorway of Taka's house watching the rain pour down. The injured foreigner was still soundly asleep, resting from his injures. The boys were in the room beside their father's armor, kneeling and praying as Taka watched them from the doorway. Taka turned to Nobutada, "How was Mizuki this afternoon? You stayed for many hours at her place."

Nobutada looked at Taka swiftly, his face betraying the underlying fear of her observation before settling into a more neutral facade, "No, it was nothing. We talked for a bit. I taught her to fire her bow with more skill."

Taka smiled as she knelt beside Nobutada. "Be careful, Nobutada. I don't believe that she has changed much since her younger years."

"No, Aunt. I don't believe she has." Nobutada glanced up at the hill where Mizuki's home stood.

Mizuki gently pressed her fingers together, wincing as the tender flesh flared from the pressure. She smiled knowing that the hours of practice were reaping rewards. She watched the rain pour down as she slowly ate her meager dinner of rice and vegetables. As her body settled into a peaceful state, her mind began to race. Nobutada caught me practicing today. He taught me to shoot well; he guided my hands. He touched my hands. He knows my secret. Mizuki gasped as she recalled the number of hours that Nobutada must have been absent from the village. As leader of the village, Nobutada did spend many hours away from the central village life and patrolled so perhaps none would suspect anything amiss. She smiled as she reminisced about the day.