One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night

Chapter 24: Kenshin's Dungeon

My mind was whirling, trying to make sense out of the whole situation. Violence and confusion warring in my mind, cutting my consciousness to ribbons. Alexis was the woman in the war camp. Of that there could be no doubt. My men wouldn't make that kind of mistake, but why was she there? Was she Nobunaga's mistress? Was she just planning on betraying me from the start?

I looked down into her face, my chest constricting painfully, and I clenched my jaw. Doesn't matter. It was with a dawning realization that I stared down at her as I crossed the courtyard. I held her tightly but gently in my arms, relishing the weight of her body, her warmth. I can keep her. She's mine now. Spoils of war fairly won and taken.

"Sasuke." I glanced over, and Sasuke followed closely behind me, just as expected. "Get a futon and bring it to me in the dungeon."

"The dungeon?" His step faltered for just a moment.

"Did I stutter?" I stopped briefly, looking him dead in the eyes. He didn't flinch, instead pausing to bow to my wishes.

"As you will."

I turned down the stairs, heading into the dungeons, and went to the large cell just down and off to the right of the stairs. There was a window high up in that one, and it was the closest. It would do. I usually never used the dungeons. There weren't that many people who warranted being put here, and right now there were no other occupants. I went in and sat down, cradling Alexis in my lap as if she was terribly precious, leaving the door open for Sasuke.

I pulled a knife and quickly cut the bonds tying her hands. Her wrists were red and bruised, chaffed from the thick leather thong she had been bound with. Anger swelled once more within me, both at the state she was in and at myself for ordering it in the first place. Her behavior in Azuchi now made perfect sense to me, especially if her employer was Nobunaga. But was he just her employer? Was she really his concubine as I had been told? Torment and anger clamped down on my chest at that thought, that Nobunaga had ever touched her.

Carefully, I checked the back of her head, there was a lump but the skin wasn't broken, and there was no heavy bruising indicating a possible severe issue. What if she never wakes up? A fearful rage rose up in me, and I regretted not killing that soldier. Damn Shingen, but he was probably right. They had no way of knowing that she was mine. But is she really?

I ran my hand over her head, my fingers through hair soft as silk, red as fresh blood. I didn't know if the action was meant to soothe me or her, but she had no way of knowing I held her. Just as well. I didn't know what her reaction would be. Did she truly hate me? Was it all an act? A promise to her lover to get close to me? I couldn't know, wouldn't know until she woke. I held her to me, and the simple matter was I wanted her. I needed her.

The idea she belonged to Nobunaga filled me with a fury unlike any I had felt in battle. She wasn't mine. She would never be mine. I had no right to feel the way I do, to even hope that I could have had her. I had asked her to come here, to be with me, and she refused. That was proof enough wasn't it? I have no right to keep her here. To hold her to me, but I didn't want to let her go.

She murmured, words quiet like a sigh, and I froze, unable to tell what she said. A name, calling for her lover maybe? I clenched my jaw, I didn't want to hear. Didn't want to know. I can't keep her, not like this. Not knowing it was all a lie. The pain that suffused my chest, the breath stolen from me, was worse than any wound I had gotten on the battlefield. I didn't think I had a heart to break. She stirred a little, turning her head, her hand grabbing onto the front of my kimono.

"Kenshin...." The sound was quiet, whispered and I doubted what I had heard. My mouth dropped open, my heart skipping a beat. Was she awake? Conscious? No... Her eyes never opened, she never looked at me. She didn't know I was here. I'm imagining it. I'm hearing things, but I could have sworn...