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31_days2006-07-10 11:07 pm
senri.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-07-10 11:07 pm
[July 10] [Blade of the Immortal] Short Road to the Rubicon
Title: Short Road to the Rubicon
Day/Theme: July 10 - the woman in me shouts out
Series: Blade of the Immortal
Character/Pairing: Anotsu, Rin (THIS FIC MAY SPOIL YOU FOR THINGS AFTER/DURING BOOK 13)
Rating: G
The sky was fringed with blue. Rin kept her eyes on that, helping Anotsu into the boat, scathingly embarrassed for both of them. Striving to ignore his shamefully weak grip on her shoulder, then her forearm. The air was muggy. She thought it might rain.
Anotsu dropped back to recline on the wood with a raspy sigh. He was safe to look at again – as safe as ever.
He was very pale; mangy, thin. He looked like a wolf starved down to a cur. He’d lost muscle mass. Probably couldn’t fight worth a…. worth a damn. His narrow eyes were fixed on her. An expression of futile anger and thwarted machismo. Rin locked her eyes onto the designs fringing his robe and settled Head Hammer down alongside him, within reach but not touching him. A gesture only; not like he had the strength to use it.
She stood beside the boat a moment, shifting from foot to foot. Picked at one grimy fingernail. “I’ll buy some rice,” she said. Talking to Anotsu was worthless, scarcely different from talking to herself, but it comforted her nonetheless. It assured her that he wasn’t a phantom yet. “There’s not much money left so I don’t know how much I can get. Of anything.” She tried to bite it down but the words squeezed from the corner of her mouth: “I’ll try not to be gone too long.”
Only slow, tortured breathing from the boat: heavy, irregular as an injured dog. Then a gasp and a long wheeze: Rin jumped, wondering if he’d die right there, the thought too sudden to crush. She leaned over and checked him and saw with a flare of lightheadedness that he was fine. He was laughing. A smirk twisted his lips, spit gathered at the corners of his mouth. Rin dropped back, stomped away.
She was only a few paces on the path when she stopped and looked anxiously back. The entire day felt precariously balanced; the back of Rin’s arms and neck itched as if stung by the cold breath of spirits. The boat sat innocently by the river. It still felt like rain. At last Rin turned and continued towards the town. Whatever happened, they needed food, and Anotsu was not a man who feared being alone with his ghosts.
Day/Theme: July 10 - the woman in me shouts out
Series: Blade of the Immortal
Character/Pairing: Anotsu, Rin (THIS FIC MAY SPOIL YOU FOR THINGS AFTER/DURING BOOK 13)
Rating: G
The sky was fringed with blue. Rin kept her eyes on that, helping Anotsu into the boat, scathingly embarrassed for both of them. Striving to ignore his shamefully weak grip on her shoulder, then her forearm. The air was muggy. She thought it might rain.
Anotsu dropped back to recline on the wood with a raspy sigh. He was safe to look at again – as safe as ever.
He was very pale; mangy, thin. He looked like a wolf starved down to a cur. He’d lost muscle mass. Probably couldn’t fight worth a…. worth a damn. His narrow eyes were fixed on her. An expression of futile anger and thwarted machismo. Rin locked her eyes onto the designs fringing his robe and settled Head Hammer down alongside him, within reach but not touching him. A gesture only; not like he had the strength to use it.
She stood beside the boat a moment, shifting from foot to foot. Picked at one grimy fingernail. “I’ll buy some rice,” she said. Talking to Anotsu was worthless, scarcely different from talking to herself, but it comforted her nonetheless. It assured her that he wasn’t a phantom yet. “There’s not much money left so I don’t know how much I can get. Of anything.” She tried to bite it down but the words squeezed from the corner of her mouth: “I’ll try not to be gone too long.”
Only slow, tortured breathing from the boat: heavy, irregular as an injured dog. Then a gasp and a long wheeze: Rin jumped, wondering if he’d die right there, the thought too sudden to crush. She leaned over and checked him and saw with a flare of lightheadedness that he was fine. He was laughing. A smirk twisted his lips, spit gathered at the corners of his mouth. Rin dropped back, stomped away.
She was only a few paces on the path when she stopped and looked anxiously back. The entire day felt precariously balanced; the back of Rin’s arms and neck itched as if stung by the cold breath of spirits. The boat sat innocently by the river. It still felt like rain. At last Rin turned and continued towards the town. Whatever happened, they needed food, and Anotsu was not a man who feared being alone with his ghosts.