I was lying on my futon as my whole body ached. Was this because I slacked for these two months?
I did work but not like before. Now that I think about it, the household work I used to do in my father's house was more than I did here. Here we were only two people.
While my mind was occupied, Arashi entered the room with our tea. I smiled as the minty aroma hit my nose. He placed it before me as I took one bowl and sipped. My whole body relaxed as it touched my tongue.
"It is good." I said.
"Yes, this is good for a tired and exhausted body." He said.
We drank the tea savoring the taste in quietness as he suddenly said, "Thank you."
I looked at him wide eyed. "W-why?"
"Because without you being here, I wasn't certain if I could survive." He smiled and took another sip while my gazes still lingered on him.
"Mr Wasabi and his family were reluctant to come here. They said they wanted to meet you but I didn't know they came here to belittle you." He looked into my eyes and added, "I should have been more careful. I knew they weren't like others. They had too much pride and often bragged about their wealth but I thought maybe they would not be hostile toward you."
I shook my head. "It is okay. They didn't do anything."
He looked at me for a moment as if he was trying to read my face then said, "You managed them which is praiseworthy and you managed all of the work while I couldn't even help you."
"Your work comes first." I said.
"Your work comes first too." He said with a straight face.
I chuckled and said, "No. My work is to take care of you so you can take care of others. If you are not well, who will treat them?"
"Then I should make Mr Hiro's elder son worthy enough to replace me soon." He said and we both chuckled.
Lately he was really open to me and I liked it. At first, we were very uncomfortable around each other but after he took care of me in my fever, we began to talk about various things.
As we finished our tea he got up and came behind me. "Alright! Let me give you a shoulder treatment."
"But my shoulders are fine."
He sat behind me as he placed his large hands on my shoulders and said, "This is for relaxation. My mentor used to do this after I swung my swo-" he halted and corrected his words, "As I used to do a lot of work, he often did this."
I nodded. Was he going to say his sword?
I had always seen him carrying his sword but I had never seen any doctors or elders carrying swords unless they were samurai. Was he a...
I could never ask him since each time this kind of topic came up, he would avoid it. I could sense there must be a reason behind it but I couldn't ask him. I hoped one day he would say as he slowly had started to open up to me.
Suddenly, a moan came out of my mouth and it startled me. I was snatched back from my trail of thoughts and my face heated with embarrassment as his fingers trailed on my spine while tapping the most sensual spots.
His hands came up to my shoulders and squished in a weird way as I heard a crack. Immediately, I felt my body washed over with a pleasure of relaxation as a soft moan escaped my lips. It was so good that I wanted to lay down and fell asleep.
"Was it good?" He asked just behind my ear as his breath fanned my skin. I felt a tingle all over my body as all the hair on my skin stood straight.
I nodded as I bit my lips hard, careful not to make a sound again. But I failed to do that as his hands roamed over my back and reached my waist. I heard another crack and I moaned. It sounded so foreign to me as my heart took a beating.
It felt like Arashi was tormenting my body with the magic of his hands. I could get why people who had back pain always came to him. I should be jealous of them for having this privilege from Arashi.
"I am glad you are enjoying it." He said with a breathy voice and my body succumbed to his touch as I stopped a moan from leaving. It was very hard.
But suddenly, he stopped and I missed his treatment, his touch. I looked above my shoulders at him and saw he was rigid. His face bore a grim expression as if he was trying to concentrate on something.
His hand slowly moved to the stealth of the sword as he gripped it tightly. He whispered, "Stay quiet."
I nodded as my breath took a pace. I had never seen him so quiet and serious. His darkened face was alone, terrifying that I felt something wasn't right.
He stood up very slowly and told me to follow him. I stood and followed him from behind with my heart in my hands.
We left our room as his cautious eyes moved around, searching. Searching for what? Whom? What was happening?
I could feel my body shivering at various thoughts coming into my mind.
With a swoosh an arrow came but Arashi was quick enough to cut it in the air. He looked outside and saw three men wearing military clothes standing there, one of their arrows pointed at Arashi while the other two held swords.
"Who are you?" Arashi asked in a hard yet authoritative voice. I was surprised he wasn't scared of the men who had swords and arrows pointed at him.
"Why does a normal physician have a sword?" One of them asked.
"I don't feel Important to answer your question." Arashi said with a calm voice which promised a storm and I was having a hard time to believe it was Arashi.
I had never heard him say that before. It was an entirely different kind of calm. It was dangerous as my feet froze.
"I heard you are treating two wounded people." The middle one asked and added, "We came here to get them."
"And why do you think I would hand you over my patients?"
"You are mistaken, Mr Physician. We didn't come here to request you." There was a deadly glint in the man's eyes as he entered our veranda and in a blink of an eye, Arashi reached him.
Both of their swords collided in a clunk as I lost my balance and a scream erupted from my mouth. Why were they attaching Arashi? How could he defend them? My mind clouded with various questions as their swords collided one after one with a series of clunks that my eyes failed to catch them.
"You are not some normal physician..." The man remarked which made Arashi grin. An evil grin.
His eyes seemed sharper than before and he danced with his sword as if the sword was his hand. His movements were so swift that all I could do was gaped at him.
Because my mind had frozen and my body couldn't move.
"Who said I was normal?" He said as he swung his sword hard and the man lost his sword which flew away from his grip. The sword got stuck on one of our tatami mats as Arashi's sword held the man with the nib of his sword.
I stayed there with a blank mind looking at my husband with a large gap in my mouth because I was seeing a different Arashi whom I had never seen before.