Thousand Year Old Cherry Tree

Chapter 2: Beautiful Red

I groaned in pain. Was this how grandpa felt upon descending to the river of the departed? Does this mean I lost my life the moment I fell into the well? I guess my life was short-lived. In haze-like daze I saw a hand right before my eye. Don't worry grandpa, I'll be joining you soon. I was going to reach out to the hand, assuming it was grandpa, held before me. However I noticed something odd, causing my eyes to widen.

'Grandpa never wore red nail polish...nor did his hand had no wrinkles.' Abruptly sitting up, I soon find myself face to face with a guy bearing striking red eyes. He was dressed in a red and black hakama. He had brown hair pulled back into a side pony-tail and finally a red scarf wrapped around his neck to finish.

"Y-You're not grandpa..." The next thing I knew, I found my cheek being pinched by the mysterious guy. It hurt.

"Hey." His voice sounded angry, "Who are you calling grandpa?"

"....I'm sorry..." Once I apologized he let go of my cheek.

"And to think you're my new master?" He glanced up and down at my form give a small sigh, "Are you even capable of handling me?"

"W-What?! Hold on a second! I don't even know who you are! And besides where the heck I am!" I shot off multiple questions, all needed to be answered by someone. Though my shot gun questions came to a halt once the guy placed a finger against my lips to silence me.

"My, my master. You sure are in a rush aren't you." My face reddened upon his action. "But an introduction is indeed needed."

Removing his hand away from my mouth, he gave a small bow. "I'm the child beneath the river. Kashuu Kiyomitsu. An uchigatana summoned by you, the current saniwa sage, to serve and defeat the retrograde army in the year 2205. I may be difficult to use, but we can work on that."

"....Come again?"

"Like I said my name-"

"Yeah, I heard that but could you repeat what year it was?"

"2205."

"....2205." I paled hearing Kashuu say that. Not only that, his face seemed oddly serious upon mentioning that. "It's not the year, 20XX?"

"Nope." Kashuu replied as he continued to explain, "After you fell into that well in 20XX, your powers managed to call me out before we ended up in the Citadel."

"My powers?" I scrunched my face in confusion, "What pow-"

He placed a finger in the dead center of my forehead, "If you keep doing that, you'll get wrinkles."

...This guy...

After several attempts of calming down thanks to Kashuu, I managed to get a proper explanation in the end.

He didn't know about the voice that called out to me before, however the minute I fell into the well I was hurdling toward a portal to the future. In the year 2205, the retrograde army was said to have been changing history. Rewriting the history of most of the famous historical events in Japan. As the saniwa sage, from what Kashuu mentioned, I have the ability to give swords from a distant past a human form in order fight. The first sword I've awakened was none other than Kashuu Kiyomitsu, the former sword of Shinsengumi's Okita Souji.

Right now, Kashuu is forcing me to rest since I took most of damage through venturing into the portal by protecting his sword despite being able to awaken him.

"But if you were that sword..." I asked Kashuu one more time, before going back to sleep. "How did you get a human form? I didn't do anything, but hold you."

....Wait that sounds wrong. I held him as a sword, but now he became human just because of holding him? My cheeks almost warmed at the thought. I unintentionally hugged a guy. A guy that was way...way older than me despite his youthful image. Better yet he's a sword and he's a good looking human too?! My mind was beginning to spin at the sudden onslaught mess of thoughts.

He gave a slight shrug, "Who knows. I wasn't aware of you until you called out to me."

Before Kashuu left, he said. "I'll be back with food later, Master."

Shutting the sliding door, I returned my gaze over to the ceiling. Then I covered my face, feeling it heat up. "I'm an adult, why am I having a guy cook for me? Just because I summoned him through an ancient well that can take people years into the future to fight an army I don't even know about. Become this sage and summon swords that change into pretty boys like in the mangas. Oh great, I sound crazy." Though I ended up being focused on one word.

'Fight.'

"Was his only reason for having that form was to fight?"

It sounded very lonely. For only receiving a form just to fight. It seemed very lonely. Was Kashuu alone this whole time before I even called out to him?

Kashuu's POV

I didn't want to tell her what she did. I didn't even know she was unconscious, but when she brought the hilt of my sword closer to her it brushed against her lips. Since her powers weren't strong enough, the only way for me to gain a form was by her lips. Thus her powers as the saniwa sage activated, and gave me a human form in the nick of time. Right before we landed into the citadel, we ended up right next to a giant cherry blossom tree right in full bloom. It softened our landing as I managed to take hold of the person that fainted during the fall.

Holding my unconscious new master in my arms, I quickly headed straight into the citadel for refuge. I found a fox by the name of Konnosuke that helped me find a place for my master to rest in, I thus waited for her to wake up.

Though I didn't expect her to call me grandpa, what kind of dream was my master having? Let's hope she wasn't trying to venture pass the river of the departed.

Was it odd to feel something in this new body of mine? I placed a hand against my chest as I placed the bowl of porridge down on a tray. But the new master called out and protected me despite being the abandoned broken sword of Okita Souji.

Was this how affection felt? Was I finally loved by someone?

I shook my head, and refocused on returning to my master's room to give her food. By the time I returned, she was fast asleep. Summoning and learning so much at the same time must have taken a toll on her mind.

Placing the tray onto a nearby table, I kneeled to sit beside my master.

I brushed a few strands of her black hair that were getting in the way of her face.

Despite all the confusion and anger, the master had a calm and pleasant expression on her face.

Taking a few stray strands of my new master's hair, I leaned to brush my lips against her hair.

"Thank you for caring for me, Master Yuna." Nonetheless, I am grateful for her. I am grateful of being the first sword she called out to. From now on, I'll be sure to protect and serve you against the retrograde army.