This Alliance

Chapter 6: What must I do?

Chapter 6: What must I do?

Naomi waited in that horrible silence alone in the main room. The sun now had fully dipped into the horizon, replacing the bright blue sky with a dark purple covered with small, white specks for stars. Outside the house she could hear chirps of insects and croaks of frogs. Takeo and Naoki were urged to bed early, while she stood outside of her father's room.

Wait. All she could do was wait. Many thoughts circled through her head once the loud sounds of crickets could no longer keep her distracted. So much had been revealed to her in such a short span of time. Yet there was more that was yet to be seen.

Nothing was to be heard from the other side, which made Naomi doubt if he was even there, but the sliding open of the door proved her wrong. She had seen samurai armor before, but the sight of it on her father made her stomach churn. It was exactly how she pictured it in her dream.

The layered plates resting on his chest, arms, and hanging from his waist were colored with red, white and blue, collecting itself into a symbol of a fan. Although Naomi could not see the back of his armor, she knew what had been on the back.

A Red Torri.

From his side hung his katana. The weapon of the Samurai. The blade wore itself in a silver dulled with age, but even with that in mind it was still able to reflect the andon's orange light. Within the weapon's guard danced a golden serpent, not able to reach its own tail. Naomi wondered what he had done while that snake simply watched.

All of this was as though a dead man had come back to life.

"How do I look?" Her father asked, adjusting the secureness of his arm braces.

She smiled and replied, "like the emperor's champion."

Her father flinched at the comment and Naomi averted her eyes to look at the ground. Even though she knew the man before her, she still couldn't look him directly in the eyes.

For a moment, the two stood there, unable to say anything, but what could they say. Everything was happening all at once yet no words could be formed to describe it. Naomi wondered if her father wanted to be involved with the Aramusha's deal at all.

That was until the distant rocking of the carriage parked outside broke the tension and her father must have thought it best to finally walk to the door. His steps onto the wooden boards were light as they carried no sound in their wake. Naomi followed close by to see him off and when he slid open the door she spoke.

"Father?"

He stopped at the sound of her voice and turned his head so that only half of his face could be seen. Outside was that same carriage she and he rode in before, the only difference was that the cloaked woman wasn't there and Naomi was glad for that.

Naomi hesitated, tensing her muscles as she opened her mouth, "just promise me one thing."

Waiting for her response, her father said nothing.

"When you get back, tell me everything."

Even through the darkness of the night, Naomi could see her father's eyes narrow.

"Please," she whispered.

As his eyes softened, she knew that she had gotten to him. It was completely confirmed to her when he nodded his head.

"I promise," he said finally, then shut the door behind him, leaving Naomi alone in the dimly lighted house.

Him leaving made her finally able to breathe and process the information given to her. He would finally tell her. Years of his stories about the emperor's champion's victories, losses, adventures would be told with interest from her. A samurai with great skill, adorned with the symbol of emperor.