Shinobi Isekai: Round Three

Luck Be a Lady

((紅姫 = Benihime = Red Princess 恵子= Keiko = Lucky child 恵語= Keigo = Lucky words

I'm gonna ask that we be respectful and not talk about her deadname. She may be fictional, but the people she represents are not. Thank you. ( ◡‿◡ )

Also, I keep forgetting to say how long she's been at the temple. As of the last chapter, she's been there six months.))

Beni.

Benihime.

It sounded like a Japanese name, from what she knew. Lots of girl names ended in 'hime', since it meant princess and that was cute, apparently. It was really fancy, though, and she was quietly lamenting letting Choumei take the reins in that moment of panic.

Benihime, red princess. It was apparently a reference to red's pride of place as luckiest of colors. Keiko's name had also meant lucky, and their grandfather Keigo's, for whom Keiko was named, mean lucky words! Luck was a family tradition only her mother had apparently skipped out on—although, Hotaru meant firefly and in her culture, they were pretty lucky—so she wasn't mad at having a lucky name, herself.

It's just...red? There was nothing red about her! Not even her undertone.

Besides, she'd had a name! A nice one! She picked it out herself after long, restless nights spent pondering which name would piss her parents off the least while also being one she liked. She'd finally settled on her grandmother's name, Beatriz, since it kept her deadname's first letter and paid homage to the family matriarch.

Benihime was similar, she supposed. It also started with 'b, but the vibes were completely different. She knew nothing about Japanese names outside her limited experience in anime, so it was definitely better than anything she could have come up with. Beatriz would have stood out too much.

Really, the only issue she had with it was that she hadn't chosen it. She'd gotten attached to Beatriz over the years, had put time and effort into getting her friends used to it. Now, none of that mattered.

It hadn't mattered anyway, given that none of her friends were even here, but still.

If he dies, you can pick a new one.

Yeah, no. He was alive and hadn't tried to hurt her, so she wasn't gonna go out of her way to hurt him, either.

And yet, here you are, going out of your way to help him, instead.

Well, yeah? She wasn't gonna just let him die now that he'd survived the flood. She stirred at the soup bubbling in the wok with a wooden stick she'd boiled clean, pulling out the bones she'd used to make the stock. The Anbu was sick, sniffling and coughing wetly in his sleep—and the best way to treat any illness was with caldo and VapoRub. Anyone who said differently was being paid by big pharma. She didn't have any of the ingredients necessary to make a proper caldo de pollo, but she had rabbits, nutty potatoes, and onions. It wouldn't be the tastiest of soups, but it should be filling.

It was a welcome change of pace for her, too.

Something scraped along the floor and spun, holding her stirring stick aloft, only to laugh. It was the turtle. She'd noticed he was missing from the pool after the water receded, but she was too concerned with the person lying prone on her kitchen floor to worry about him. Now, he was crawling across the floor with slow, methodical steps, evil eyes locked on their unwelcome visitor.

Oh, no.

Oh, yes!

"Don't encourage him," she chided Choumei as she ran over to the monstrous reptile, hooking her hands underneath his belly and lifting him up with a heave. God, he was heavy! His clawed flippers flailed around in the air and he let out the most hideous hissing noise in protest. "Bad turtle," she told him breathlessly as she carried him out into the courtyard. "No eating ninjas."