Fan Fiction ❯ The ORIGINAL Ayame Story ❯ Sticking Together . . . ( Chapter 3 )

Sticking Together . . .

As I fell, I saw Heyon, Li, Jin, and some of my other friends rush over to me.

"Ayame you idiot! You shouldn't fight anyone in your condition let alone a grown man! What were you thinking!?" I smiled to myself. There goes Li again, yelling at me for doing something stupid.

"Hey Ayame, can you stand?" I herd Jin's voice say.

"Yeah I think so, just give me a sec." I replied, not daring to get up because I didn't think my legs could support me and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. Well, any more than I already was.

"Hey you guys back up a little bit and let her breathe some." said Heyon. He leaned down next to me and put my arm around his shoulder. Jin took his cue and put my other arm around his shoulder. Together they lifted me to my feet and held me up till I could stand on my own.

It was then that I noticed the men and some of the other boys were all staring at us, at me! I was starting to feel sick. I planned for the worst. Would they kick me out and make me live on my own? By myself? Or would they let me stay with them? I looked at Yamabushi and tried to see what he was thinking but his expression wasn't mad or angry looking. Nor was it shocked and scared like some of the boys. It was a look of great interest that I got from looking into his eyes.

Then I herd a grunt and turned to see Ichizu getting to his feet. At that moment fear spread through out my body. I felt sure he would come after me and seek revenge for what I had done to him, even though I didn't really know what I had done. When he saw me his eyes blazed with fire and he ran right at me. I saw some of the boys scatter and run. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact but none ever came. I opened my eyes and my mouth fell open. Ichizu had punched both Heyon and Jin right in the stomach. Both of them crumpled over. I was left standing there, with no one beside me, alone.

"Heyon! Jin! Are you alright?" yelled Li who ran up and bent down to see if they were alright. He barely bent down when I saw Ichizu raise his foot back and swing.

"No! Li look out!" I yelled at him. But it was too late. It caught Li clear in the ribs and sent him crashing into a nearby tree. I didn't see him move after that. He was still as Heyon and Jin were. I started to back away and then I did the stupidest thing, I tripped over a tree root and fell back against the tree, hitting my head in the process. Now I was cornered for sure. I didn't have the strength to get up and Heyon, Jin, and Li were all knocked out. It was just Ichizu and me.

I grabbed onto the tree trunk and pulled myself up into a standing position. Then leaned against the tree with my back and faced Ichizu.

He started to laugh. "Why bother getting up when I'm just going to knock you back down where you belong." He smirked at me. I closed my eyes and waited. I could hear him charging at me. "I wonder if he will use his fist or his legs." I said to myself as I was trying to stay standing.

"That is enough!" yelled a loud strong voice. Ichizu froze, arm raised in mid air, at the sound of Yamabushi's voice. I opened my eyes and looked at him.

"Ichizu, you have no right to harm the young men or that young lady either. Stand down now." He said in a calm but stern voice. He was looking straight at Ichizu and chill went up my spine at his cold glare. Ichizu put is arm down and looked dumbfounded at Yamabushi.

"B-but sir, did you, did you not see what she did to me? Or, well, tried to do to me?" he asked stuttering a bit. I looked at Ichizu then at Yamabushi.

"Yes I did Ichizu, and I can understand perfectly well why such a thing occurred." He said, his voice now softening back to what I was used to hearing. "Now, why don't we all stop staring and finish eating our breakfast, it's getting cold." He said turning to the rest of the people of our village.

They all went back to eating as Yamabushi had told them to do; even Ichizu wouldn't disobey him again. I slowly bent down next to Heyon and Jin to see if they were alright. Heyon managed a yes and Jin was breathing too hard to answer. I walked over to Li to see if he was alright. He looked like he was dead or unconscious. I bent down and tapped his shoulder.

"Li, can you hear me?" I asked hoping he was just knocked out.

"Yeah, I'll be fine give me a minute." He said in a small voice keeping his eyes closed. I was relieved that he was fine. Suddenly Heyon came by me holding Jin up.

"We need to get him to a bed, he just threw up over there and there was some blood." He said with concern in his voice.

"Li, I'll be right back just stay there." I said and I got up to help Heyon take Jin over to the sleeping area.

Jin didn't look too good. He was pale and breathing heavily and drenched in a cold sweat. I felt his forehead and it was very hot. Heyon and I laid him down on his mat then covered him with extra blankets. I went and got some water for him to drink thinking that it might help.

After a while I went back and got Li. I helped him stand up and we went over to see how Jin was doing. He refused to lie down in a bed and just sat against a rock instead. I shook my head. "He's so stubborn." I said to myself. Shou helped us by bringing cold rags over to us. We always kept one on Jin's head to try and stop the fever.

Heyon came over to us with some breakfast. He handed Li, Shou, and me a plate with some rice and a little bit of meat on it.

"How's he doing?" he asked as Shou changed the rags on Jin's forehead.

"Not so good." I said quickly eating what little was on my plate. "Every now and then he gets a coughing fit and a little blood comes up." I was really worried about him. It was partially my fault after all for getting them into this mess.

"Hey, don't beat your self up over us." said Li smiling. He was fine now and stood up and took our plates away for us. "Shou and I here will take care of these. You guys just concentrate on getting him back to normal." then he and Shou walked off to the near by river to wash off the dishes.

As they left, Yamabushi came over to us.

"How is he doing?" he asked looking at Jin with concern.

"Not so good, he's got a fever and he keeps coughing up blood." said Heyon looking at Jin.

"Well, lets see what I can do." he said rolling up his sleeves and bending down next to him. He put his hand over his head to see how the fever was. "Well, his fever is gone. Whose idea was it to put the blankets around him?" he asked looking impressed. "Most people would think that more heat would just add to the fever." he said standing up.

"It was Ayame's idea." said Shou as he and Li cam back from the river. I blushed a little bit.

"When ever I had a fever my, my mother would wrap me up in blankets." it hurt to say it. I hadn't mentioned her or Chang Mi since our village was destroyed.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Yamabushi said. "She was a very gifted woman, quite extraordinary with her hands. I'm sure you'll make her proud one day." he said putting a hand on my shoulder. "But, until that day comes, you may stay with us as long as you please."

I looked up at him with both relief and awe.

"I can stay? Really?" I asked happily. It was a weight off my back. I was worried whether or not he would let me stay after what had just happened.

"Of course you can stay Ayame! Man, sometimes I wonder if you're as smart as you act or if it's just dumb luck." said Li jokingly. He was trying to cheer me up and get a laugh out of me. I couldn't help myself. Even if I was sad about what had happened. I was so happy that I could stay here with them, that I was alive, and that I had my friends if nothing else. I fought back tears because I didn't want the others to see me.

"I'll go get fresh water." I said as I quickly stood up and picked up a large wooden bucket on my way out.

"Will she be alright Yamabushi?" I herd Heyon asking him as I walked out. "She still seemed upset as she ran out."

"Ah, it's not easy loosing everything dear to you in one day. Her emotions are mixed feelings about what to do. As you can see, she was worried that she would not be allowed to stay with us. It's probably just fatigue. She'll be alright after resting, which is also what all of you should be doing." he said eyeing all of them. He turned and walked out as well to go check on the other men.

"Yamabushi?" I called out. I had hid behind some bushes outside. I wanted to talk to Yamabushi alone.

"Yes, child?" he said turning and looking at me.

"May I ask you something…about what happened when I fought Ichizu?" I asked him wondering if even he would know.

"You may ask anything you like, my dear." Yamabushi smiled at me. "Lets go find a nice place to talk alone shall we?" he said gesturing toward the stream. There happened to be a big log next to the stream and we sat down.

"Yamabushi, what was that white light that I saw? I remember Ichizu and I were fighting, and then I felt as if the world stopped and I was in a dream. Nothing hurt any more and it felt good. When it faded Ichizu was on the ground." I said going over in my mind what had happened.

"Ayame, you possess a rare and wonderful gift. I have not seen one with your powers in a very long time. It only happens about every 3 or 4 generations." He said looking at me. "But, along with your gift comes great danger. It is a burden only you can bare."

"But I don't understand. Why do I have these powers? And how did I get them?" I asked still wondering how I could get such a thing.

"Ah, I could not say for sure. But," he said smiling at me. "I believe it has something to do with your father."

"M-my father?" I stammered looking at him.

All he did was nod.

"But, where is my father? I haven't seen him since I was a small child." I said wondering why and how Yamabushi could know about my father when I could barely remember his face.

"It's a very complicated thing to deal with. When you are ready, you will see everything clearly." He said smiling at me.

"… Yamabushi?" I asked timidly.

"Yes?"

"Is it alright if I stay here?" I said as fast as I could.

"Now, now, calm down. What did you say?" he said smiling patiently at me.

"May I please stay here? With you and the boys?" I asked slowly. The palms of my hands were sweaty as I awaited his answer.

"Of course you may. You may stay with us as long as you wish." He said to me.

"Really! Oh thank you a thousand times over!" I said excitedly to him. I felt as if things were beginning to turn around for us. That there was still hope for us. I felt like I could just shout out to the mountain tops and sing my heart out.

I stayed down by the stream until it started to get dark. As the sun finally shrunk behind the mountains, I saw tiny lights dancing around the water. As I looked closer, I could see that they were fireflies. I smiled to myself believing that not everything beautiful in this world had been killed. I stood up and headed back to the cave.

"Everything will be alright now. Yamabushi said I could stay…I can stay…" I told myself over and over again. I didn't know what I would do to earn my keep so to say but I would do everything I could to please Yamabushi for his kindness.

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