Wasted Nights chapter 3

[yun_miyake]

 Title: Wasted Nights

Pairing: Sakumiya/Ohmiya

Length: Chapters

Genre: Romance, Historical, Violence

Rating: Up to NC 17

Disclaimer: Only a borrower of their names

Summary: In the beginning of Edo period, the best samurai from different clans were expected to join training in Edo, led by the Shogun’s most trusted swordsman. The peaceful era of Edo, however, was still haunted by the survivors of Sekigahara Battle from Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s troops. Sho was chosen to join the training in Edo and he must select one of his underlings to travel with him. But nobody was qualified enough to accompany him, until one day, he encountered someone he never expected.  

Note: Triangle love story and a violence, mention of blood.

Betaed by  ladygiggles thanks so much for always helping me with the grammar errors. 

 

Sho and Nino were the first to arrive at the training clearing on the next day. They waited in the corner while taking a look at the massive park nearby the clearing. Huge trees lined up nicely, hiding the castle from the outside world; the birds were chirping happily above them. Soft breeze blew their skin, it was nearly fall, and the air had turned colder. Sho moved his sight from the trees to Nino; he didn’t like the sensation inside his chest. Nino’s admiring gaze towards Ohno the day before bothered him to no end; he wanted that same look from the younger man so badly.

“Nino…” he called, but before Nino could respond to that, the other samurai had finally come. They were separated as the training was about to begin.

Ohno arrived a few minutes later with Jun following closely behind him. He carried a sword in each of his hands; his sleepy expression didn’t change and he spoke with the same soft voice that was hard to catch.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said. “Today’s training section will be the selection. I’ll measure your sword ability, one by one. The advance samurai will train under me, those who are still in the intermediate level will train with Jun.”

Sho could feel how the other samurai reacted in excitement, mixed with anxiety – just like what he felt.

“Do your best, Kazama.”

Sho heard Aiba whisper to his friend. He wanted to tell Nino the same thing, but the man was standing a few meters away from him.

“Without further ado, who wants to fight me first?” Ohno asked, spreading his gaze around. “If none of you volunteer, I’ll decide,” he added.

Nobody lifted their hand for the time being. It was intimidating to fight Ohno in front of everybody else. It would be embarrassing if they lost in the first attack. Ohno shifted his gaze around them as if measuring their ability; he was about to appoint someone when Nino’s hand hung in the air.  

“I will.”

Everyone looked at Nino, feeling relief that they didn’t need to fight Ohno first. Sho tried to make eye contact, wishing he could tell Nino good luck, but the man’s concentration was fully on Ohno.

Ohno smirked and nodded. “State your name.”

“Ninomiya Kazunari,” Nino said with confidence that Sho never seen before. “From Mito clan,” he added.

“Good,” Ohno said, throwing one of his swords to Matsumoto. He drew the remaining sword and gave Nino a signal to do the same.

Sho and the rest of the samurai stepped back to give enough space to Ohno and Nino. Ohno’s expression had changed, the sleepy eyes were gone, replaced by a cold gaze. The man looked ready to kill; Sho only hoped that Ohno wouldn’t injure Nino for real. Nino drew the heavy sword they received the day before and held it tightly with both of his hands. It was clear that the sword weighed him down. Ohno meanwhile held it as if it was as light as a knife; he stepped forward and started the fight.

***

Nino gripped the sword tightly, ready to encounter Ohno’s attack. He knew it was unfair that Ohno had already got used to the heavy sword, but it was a selection after all, the most important was the skill he possessed. Ohno’s movement was fast, his skinny figure had given him so much advantage in close range battle. The man swung his sword to Nino who encountered it just in time, the crushing metal sound rung loudly as their swords met. Ohno’s face was only a few inches from Nino; it wasn’t the right time to admire someone’s appearance, but Nino couldn’t control himself from staring into Ohno’s handsome face that had attracted him since the first time he saw the man.

He had come to the conclusion that Ohno was attractive; a little mysteriousness in his expression had aroused Nino’s curiosity. Ohno’s thin lips curved into a weak smile as he saw Nino’s efforts to push him forward.

“You’re stronger than I expected,” Ohno said.

“An appearance could deceive,” Nino answered.

“Let’s see how far you can defend yourself,” Ohno hissed.

Ohno pulled further before waging another attack; he swung his sword in a complicated movement to distract Nino, but the latter could read the pattern. He moved forward and countered Ohno’s attack at the right time, but the heavy sword had worn him out. He wobbled and felt the end of Ohno’s sword touched the skin of his neck.

“Nice movement, Ninomiya,” Ohno said.

“Thank you,” Nino replied, bowing at Ohno and the audiences before leaving the clearing to the side. Sho welcomed him with a pat on his shoulder, like a worried big brother.

“You’re great,” Sho praised him.

“He defeated me in just two moves,” Nino shook his head in disappointment.

“He’s the expert in swords battle, I’d be surprised if you won,” Sho said, giving Nino a soft smile.

Nino nodded, perhaps it was just a hunch, but it seemed that Sho had paid attention to him more than what he did back in Mito castle. It bothered him; he never expected Sho would have trusted someone that easily without a proper background check. Nino didn’t complain, though. Sho probably would be the first and the last person who trusted a former thief like him.

“Next,” Ohno called to the audience.

Aiba was the one who lifted his hand. His movement was good, but he couldn’t control his sword that well. Ohno defeated him easily with only a simple movement.

Sho took the fifth turn – he looked more serious than he already was. Nino watched the battle carefully; Ohno and Sho were probably equal in physical power, but Ohno’s technique was far above Sho’s. He could block Sho’s attack without much effort, the furthest thing Sho could do was touching Ohno’s right arm with the back of his sword.

Ohno took a longer time to defeat Sho and when the battle ended, the audiences clapped their hands to appreciate Sho’s efforts.

“That was great,” Nino said as Sho approached him. There was a little wound on his cheek and it was bleeding. “You’re injured,” Nino wiped the blood carefully with the tip of his fingers. Sho’s expression changed when Nino touched him; the man smiled awkwardly and mumbled that he was alright.

They sat side by side, watching the subsequent battles. Nobody fought Ohno longer than Sho; everyone was defeated rather easily. When everyone already had their turn, Ohno returned his sword to its scabbard in style and gave a signal to Jun to come closer.

Nino shifted his gaze to Jun who approached Ohno quickly; he had seen many sandal bearers before, but none of them showed a full loyalty like what Jun did to Ohno. Nino could see it from the way Jun was looking at Ohno, from the way he spoke of his lord, and from his gestures in answering Ohno’s command. Perhaps Jun had a hidden feeling towards Ohno – something that Nino needed to find out, if he got enough time.

Ohno talked to Jun in a low voice that no one could hear. Jun nodded a few times while glancing at the samurai before him. They finished the talk and once again returned their attention to the waiting audience.

“We’ve made our decisions,” Ohno announced with a firm expression on his face. “Ninomiya, Sakurai, Aiba, Ikuta, Fujigaya, and Ueda will train under me. The rest will be with Jun,” Ohno paused, giving them some time to grasp in which group they would go. “This is not a final decision, if your performance is poorer than what I expected, I’ll move you to the basic level. Any questions?”

“Can we ask for a private lesson?” Nino asked.

“We don’t provide such a thing,” Jun answered. “If you want to improve your skill, you can train by yourself as long as you like, Ninomiya-san,” he stressed on Nino’s name. The latter averted his gaze away from the man; somehow, Jun’s big eyes were not a pleasant thing to stare at.

“I’ll end it here. You can train all you like and I’ll check on your progress tomorrow,” Ohno said. He left the clearing afterwards with Jun behind him who looked like a big guardian dog.

“That Matsujun pissed me off,” Aiba said to Nino. He had stood right beside him without him noticing it.

“Matsujun?” Nino confirmed.

“Yeah, Matsujun. His name is too long,” Aiba grinned. “Kazama will train under him, I hope he’ll not get too stressed.”

“You’re right, he’s not a pleasant person,” Nino said, but his mind wasn’t on Jun at all. He thought of Ohno; of his ability in using swords. What kind of training had Ohno done to possess that kind of high skill?

Aside from the man’s ability, Nino also noticed the reluctance in Ohno’s gesture. He probably never trained someone before now and he wasn’t the type of a person who liked to show-off. He expected them to have progress overnight, it was almost impossible, except for someone like Sho who loved to train himself to death.

“Nino-chan, would you like to train with me?” Aiba asked.

“Hah?” Nino raised his eyebrows.

“Your technique is so much better than me. I don’t want to be transferred under that Matsujun,” the man continued with such a miserable look.

Nino really wanted to say that it was none of his business if Aiba got transferred to Matsujun’s troops, but the words got stuck in his throat.

“Alright,” he answered.

“Thank you,” Aiba beamed. “Are all samurai in Mito possessing a good sword technique?”

The honest answer would be ‘I don’t know’, but it would be troublesome if Nino had to explain that he wasn’t Mito’s samurai. Aiba probably would scream in surprise if Nino said that he was a thief until three months ago.

“Yes. Sho-san trained us very well,” Nino answered, flashing a fake smile at Aiba.

Nino searched for Sho; the man was explaining his technique to a samurai from Takeda clan – someone called Ikuta. Nino recalled how Ohno knocked Ikuta within ten seconds; the man might be tall and muscular, but Ohno was much stronger and faster.

He moved his gaze away from Sho and Ikuta, then began his training session with Aiba who happened to handle the heavy sword worse than Nino.

“This sword is hell,” Aiba said, panting hard as they finished their first session.

“It seems that our first progress will be hurting our muscles,” Nino agreed, sitting down beside Aiba.

At the end of the day, none of them could handle the sword perfectly. All of them left the clearing with aching arms. Sho and Nino walked together towards their chambers while massaging their upper arm.

“Aiba-san seems a nice guy,” Sho commented.

“He’s nice, only he talks too much,” Nino replied.

Sho seemed to want to convey something, but no words would pass his lips. He gave Nino a friendly pat before separating to their respective rooms. Nino watched the man disappear behind his door; he turned around and headed towards the path which led him to the private area of the higher ranked samurai.

He knew it was forbidden for him to be here, but his curiosity won out. As a former thief, he had learnt how to find secret paths to the hidden chambers. Edo castle was huge; the private quarters for high ranked samurai weren’t separated properly, mainly in Lord Yoshinao’s residence. Nino guessed it was because the Lord let his underlings choose whatever areas they liked to reside.  

It was easy to find Ohno’s residence; the building was located at the eastern side of the training field. There were two guards in front of the gate; they looked rather bored and sleepy. Nino took the path towards the back yard through the line of trees; he climbed one of them to jump across the wall to Ohno’s quarters. He landed quietly like a cat and walked slowly until he found what he was looking for.

Ohno was practicing swords by himself; he was topless despite the cold air. The muscles on his upper arms, his abs, and his shoulders moved in a nice rhythm as he swung the swords in both of his hands. Ohno was muscular, but he wasn’t bulky, his body looked solid and there was no room for fat. Ohno’s sweat poured, wetting his face, his neck, and his abs. It seemed that he had been practicing for quite a long time.

The sword movements were complicated and it was too fast to follow. Ohno even didn’t demonstrate any of those movements this morning. Nino’s thought flew to Sho; no matter how good Sho’s technique was, he was no match for Ohno.

Nino didn’t know how long had he been staring at Ohno when a cold metal touched his skin. Ohno was behind him, one of his swords was on Nino’s neck; he moved so fast that Nino had no time to hide.

“What are you doing here?” Ohno said, pressing the sword stronger onto Nino’s skin.

“I…didn’t mean to do something bad,” Nino stammered.

“I’m eligible to behead you right here for intruding into my private quarters.”

“Please forgive me for my rudeness, Ohno-san,” Nino said; he could feel the blood on his neck as Ohno pressed the sword deeper into his skin.

Ohno let go of him, but still pointed the sword into Nino’s neck. “You’ll get your punishment tomorrow,” Ohno said, lowering his sword down. “But if you infiltrate this quarters once again, I’ll make sure that your neck will be separated from your body.”

“Thank you, Ohno-san,” Nino bowed down.

Ohno wore his upper kimono and led Nino towards the front door. “Jun,” he called.

Jun appeared from the chamber on the left side; he showed a surprised expression, but trying hard to suppress it. His eyes went to Nino with an unreadable look.

“Take this man back to his chamber,” Ohno ordered.

“Yes, Ohno-san,” Jun obeyed, approaching Nino and dragging him by the elbow.

“Make sure he’s safe inside his room,” Ohno added as they walked over the threshold.

Nino freed himself from Jun’s grip when they were far enough from Ohno’s quarters.

“It’s a miracle that Ohno-san didn’t behead you,” Jun commented coldly. “What were you doing there?”

“I was lost,” Nino lied.

Jun snorted amusedly. “The private compound is surrounded by walls; you must be very stupid that you didn’t see them.”

“Perhaps,” Nino replied briefly. It was better to let Jun speculate by himself than telling him the truth. Besides, Ohno mentioned about the punishment; it would be enough for Nino to do some self-introspection. “Good night, Matsumoto-san,” he said as they reached his chamber.

Jun watched him until Nino closed the door behind him; that man surely looked like a big guard dog. Nino quickly ate his dinner, took a bath, and headed towards his bedroom. He drew something from below his pillow – the map of Edo castle. He marked the position of Ohno’s private quarters and made a note on a separate paper about the details of the place. That was when he recalled Ohno’s perfect abs that was wet from his sweat.

It must be fantastic if he could touch that body with his own fingers. But it wasn’t the right time to think of someone’s abs; there were many things he needed to worry about – tomorrow’s punishment would be one of them.

***

When Nino and Sho arrived at clearing on the following morning, they found Ohno was already there. They greeted the man and took their position, trying to ignore the cold drizzle that had been dropping since yesterday night. The other samurai joined them a few minutes later, bowing lowly at Ohno before taking their own position.

“Good morning,” Ohno greeted them with a gloomy face, just like the cloudy sky above them. “I hope all of you had a nice practice yesterday,” he continued, stopping his gaze briefly at Nino. “Today, I would like to see how far have you gone in controlling the sword.”

Nino and Sho exchanged a disbelieving look; none of them had perfectly controlled the heavy sword. The worst thing was their muscles were still aching from yesterday’s training. Swinging the sword in this condition would only harm them.

“Ninomiya, you go first,” Ohno ordered.

Nino somehow knew that Ohno would appoint him to demonstrate his skill ahead of the other samurai. He walked forward and drew the heavy sword from its scabbard.

“You can start,” Ohno said.

Nino did his best in controlling the sword, but his hurting muscles and the cold air hindered his efforts. He failed in the third movement and slipped on his own foot; he wobbled and fell down to the muddy ground. He could feel Ohno’s gaze behind his back; Sho made a gesture to help him, but Ohno waved his hand.

“Let him get up by himself,” Ohno said. “You should have practiced more in using your sword than intruding in someone’s private quarters, Ninomiya-san,” Ohno said with a loud and clear voice so everyone at the clearing could hear him.

“This man entered my compound last night without approval,” he continued. “He’s still here because I didn’t want to break a record in beheading someone who has just started his first-day training in Edo. I won’t let you have your lunch until you can control your sword perfectly. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Ohno-san,” all of the samurai answered in unison.

Sho approached Nino when Ohno left the clearing. His face was a mixture between anger and concern.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“Sorry, Sho-san,” Nino answered, looking down at the muddy ground.

“It’s fine by me, but you have to apologize to everyone here,” Sho said, patting Nino’s shoulder in a friendly way.

It took them all day to practice and Sho was the one who saved them from starving as he demonstrated his perfect technique to Ohno. The captain was hardly impressed, he only nodded and told them to eat their late lunch.

“I don’t know why we need swordsman in this peaceful era. The war is over, all we need to be afraid of is natural disasters,” Toma said while eating his onigiri.

“To prevent this country from outside threat,” Aiba said.

Nino ate alone under the tree while listening to the conversation from the rest of the group. They didn’t blame him and convinced him that Ohno would still torture them even without him intruding into his private quarters. But this kind of punishment wouldn’t stop Nino from making another foray. He hadn’t located what he was looking for and in order to do that, he had to plan a better strategy.

***

A week had passed since the training started, but none of the samurai had showed Ohno a satisfying result. Sakurai Sho was good, but he was still far below Ohno’s standard. He had tasked Sho and Jun to prepare themselves for a battle in the following week in order to measure how much progress Sho had made.

Ohno left the training that day to Jun; he was summoned by Lord Yoshinao for a sudden meeting. The Lord was waiting for him at one of the gardens; Ohno was welcomed by a tall young man – Kotaki Nozomu – who was grinning from ear to ear as he guided the way towards the Lord.

“You’ll be given an important task,” Kotaki said, showing Ohno his white front teeth.

“Thanks for the advance information, Kotaki,” Ohno mumbled, adjusting the sword on his belt as he walked.

“Is the training fun?” he asked.

“So much fun that I can’t wait to end it,” Ohno answered coldly, but it wasn’t enough to erase the smile from Kotaki’s face.

Both of them arrived at the garden where the Lord was enjoying a cup of tea while looking at the line of maple trees. Kotaki prepared Ohno’s tea before leaving the venue.

“Good season,” Lord Yoshinao said. “I’m glad that the training progresses well, Satoshi.”

“Thank you, my Lord. All of them are working very hard,” Ohno replied, bowing at the Lord respectfully.

“I need you to do one more task,” the Lord said without further ado. He took a sword which was covered with a fine cloth and handed it to Ohno. “It’s the naginata sword. The ancient legacy of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. We’ll return this sword to Osaka and I appoint you for this mission. You can choose when is the best time for you to carry out the mission.”

Ohno was bewildered when he opened the cover of the sword; the scabbard was carved with dragon symbol with such a great detail. He drew the sword and saw the ancient design; he wondered how it ended in Lord Yoshinao’s hand instead to Lord Ieyasu.

“It’s not supposed to be here,” Lord Yoshinao said as if he could read what was in Ohno’s mind. “That’s why I need you to bring it back to Osaka.”

“Yes, my Lord,” Ohno replied.

“I’ll be glad if you can keep the existence of this sword a secret,” the Lord said with the final tone.

Ohno left the Lord’s compound with the sword in his hand. It was neatly covered with a cloth; Kotaki accompanied him towards the exit with his usual grin and unfunny jokes. Ohno didn’t listen to any of the man’s words; his mind was full with the upcoming mission he needed to fulfill. Lord Yoshinao had emphasized that he had to hide this sword from other people, except for his most trusted underling.

Jun was waiting for him at the main chamber when Ohno arrived.

“Ohno-san, we have an issue,” the man said before Ohno could say something.

“What is it?”

“Ninomiya,” Jun said with a frown on his face. “He got hurt during the training.”

“What happened?”

“His left hand was deeply injured,” Jun explained.

Ohno heaved a deep sigh. It was his responsibility if something happened to the training participants. Ninomiya seemed to be a trouble maker since the very beginning. He quickly stored the sword in his room and together with Jun, they headed towards Ninomiya’s chamber.

 

 TBC .