♦⊱ Chapter 3 - Settling In ⊰♦

Ruka pov:

"So, you're from one of the villages that were burned down in the recent attack," said Tomo kun.

I clenched my fists, uncomfortable at the thought of lying. I disliked lying but I didn't have much of a choice in this matter. I couldn't just say that I was a person from 400 years in the future, after all.

"Yes," I answered halfheartedly. I hoped that I wouldn't ask too many details because lying to cover up other lies was hard and would surely get me in trouble in the long run – if anyone figured that what I said was strange and implausible, that is.

Tomo kun, much to my fortune, didn't press the matter further. He took me around the dojo to familiarize me with all the areas before we left to wander the streets of the village. Uneasiness bubbled within me from yet again seeing proof of being in the past. The buildings, the people, their clothes, the shops with many items on display – all of it was primeval. Thoughts of the Emperor of Darkness clouded my mind as I recalled what Lady Kana had said. The thought of fighting and bloodshed had me internally panicking a bit.

"Ruka chan, make sure you don't go anywhere outside the dojo alone," Tomo kun said, interrupting my train of thought. We stopped walking and he turned to face me, "Let me know if you have to go somewhere and I'll go with you. Many spies have been sent out by Lord Kurai to report details of villages and provinces he wants to take over and it's not safe to walk around alone. That and there's the deal with rounin like the men who were trying to hurt you."

I couldn't stop a shiver from running down my spine. I managed a smile though and it seemed to help covering up the shiver, "Thank you for watching out for me, Tomo kun."

He rewarded me with a big grin that eased the unsettled queasiness in my stomach. I didn't know how things would be here in the Edo Period for me but I was pretty sure that I would get along well with Tomo kun. He was friendly and kind and seemed responsible.

"By the way," he said, giving me a funny look, "how come you're wearing men's clothes?"

"I just feel more comfortable in them. I'm not one for many layers, you know?" I answered as we began to walk again.

"I see. Well, it looks good on you so I'll let you borrow my clothes for a while longer," he winked, still grinning and I chuckled. I figured these clothes belonged to Tomo kun because if I had worn the clothes of anyone else in the dojo, they'd be even more loose than these.

We spent the next hour or two talking to different people of the village. Tomo kun took care of introductions and helping me familiarize with the village in a pace that I was comfortable with. When we were almost done going around the entire village, Tomo kun suddenly stalled. He took a hold of my hand suddenly and dragged me behind him towards a restaurant of sorts.

"This place has the best sukiyaki in the whole village! Let's have some! My treat!" he said enthusiastically.

"Sure. I am kind of hungry, actually," I confessed with a sheepish smile. My stomach embarrassed me further by letting out a loud growl the next moment and Tomo kun burst out into laughter.

"I can see that!" he commented and guided me to sit at one of the low height tables in the restaurant.

This restaurant was a traditional-styled restaurant. All the tables were low height with cushions on the floor to sit on. Wood-framed, paper partitions were used to separate the tables and give some amount of privacy. Just as I was observing the ambience, a pretty girl wearing a fancy kimono walked up to our table and gave us a bow.

The very next moment though, she threw her arms around Tomo kun's neck and squealed, "Tomo kun!"

She glared at me briefly while I smiled back awkwardly. Tomo kun, for one, looked uncomfortable and shoved the girl off with a blush tinting his cheeks, "Get away, Akari! You're embarrassing me!"

"Who is she, Tomo kun? I haven't seen her around before," Akari said though it almost sounded like a sneer.

Instead of letting Tomo kun give introductions, I bowed with a friendly smile, "It's nice to meet you, Akari. My name is Ruka and I sort of moved in to the village this morning."

"Moved in?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah! She was almost attacked by some rounin but I saved her and took her to our dojo. She'll be staying there with us from now on," explained Tomo kun.

She hummed in acknowledgement but didn't appear too happy about the news. She ignored me after that and turned back to squeal at Tomo kun, "So, Tomo kun! What will you have today?"

My brow twitched at her rather petty behavior but I shook my head with an amused smile, deciding to ignore her just as she ignored me.

"We'll have two plates of sukiyaki! Extra delicious!" Tomo kun ordered. Akari, however, took fifteen minutes of squealing before she actually wrote down our order, sparing me a glare, and walking away to bring our food. Man, I thought she was never going to leave...

"I'm sorry about Akari," said Tomo kun, seeming glad that Akari had left. "She likes me but no matter how many times I tell her that I don't like her in the same way, she doesn't stop acting like that."

"That's alright," I answered with a laugh.

"So, Ruka chan, did you have someone you liked?" he leaned forward with a curious glint in his eyes. I leaned back a little, my brow twitching as I wondered how to answer his question. I'm sure anyone else would have remembered that my so called village was burned down and talking about any part of that would not be something I was comfortable talking about.

"Uh," I said, scratching me cheek, "not really. I had a lot of friends who were guys, probably because of our shared interest in wanting adventure and doing things not very ladylike. But I've never liked anyone as more than a friend until now."

"Hmm, I see," he mumbled, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.

We sat in slightly awkward silence until Akari returned with our sukiyaki. Excited, Tomo kun dug in immediately, right after a word of coaxing for me to begin too. Settling in for the time being, I picked up my chopsticks and began to eat too.

>>Time Skip

"Ruka!" I heard Lady Kana call from the kitchen. Having put away the cleaning supplies in the store room, I hurried to the kitchen. "Can you keep an eye on this please? I'll call everyone for lunch."

"Sure. It's almost done, isn't it?" I said, looking at the boiling broth.

"It is. Just let it boil for another minute or two. Keep stirring it so it doesn't burn at the bottom."

I nodded with a smile and she walked out of the kitchen. I bent over the broth and stirred it slowly, inhaling the delicious aroma every now and then. I was hungry and eager to eat.

Close to a month had passed since I turned up in this time period. I had been welcomed warmly, accepted as a part of this family in the dojo and had settled in as best as I could into this new lifestyle. I missed home terribly though, Mother, Father, Kojiro and Sparks more than anything. I sometimes cried myself to sleep wondering if I would ever see them again, other nights stayed up while gazing at the sky and remembering all the lovely memories of home. I was somehow convinced that I would never be able to go back though and slowly began to accept how things had turned out. I was very grateful to Lady Kana, Tomo kun, and Matsumoto san the most for helping feel at home.

As I had promised before, I tried to do whatever I could to help around the dojo, to not freeload off of anyone's hospitality. Of course, for the first week, I was not allowed to do anything but rest so that the wound on my back would heal. Thanks to the miracle salves that Lady Kana used, my wound healed well and rather quickly. All I had now was a light scar and a slight prickling pain when I made particular movements.

I was slowly learning how to cook and clean in the past few days. I could make tea now, acceptable tamagoyaki and a few other simple dishes that we had eaten in the past week. I was yet to easily figure out how much salt and spice any dish needed but Lady Kana had complimented me for being a quick learner, that I would be able to become a good cook in no time.

The other chores were pure agony for the past few days. Washing dishes, sweeping and mopping the dojo, washing clothes – all of there were work I had never done before and left me sore in the limbs and back. It made me realize just how comfortable life was for us in the modern world with vacuum cleaners and washing machines and even liquefied-gas cooking units. People of the modern world surely lacked endurance because of all the comfort...

Lady Kana was a tough teacher. She had scolded me for lying about never having done housework before but was patient while she taught me things from scratch. If I complained about being tired and wanting a break, she would laugh and say, 'Don't worry, you'll get used to it,' and I would be back to slogging through more chores. Tomo kun seemed to enjoy watching me mess up chores every now and then – he would tease me and it oftentimes ended with me throwing a bucket of water at him.

As I had expected, we had become good friends. I got along with Tomo kun easily, I was very comfortable with him and almost felt just as attached to him as I was to Akira back at home. Almost.

Two weeks after learning some house chores, I began to work in the fields too. I was sent out to help with plucking weeds, planting rice seedlings and keeping crows at bay by throwing stones at any that tried to pick at the crops. With the tight and rigorous schedule, I was usually drained by the end of the day.

Well, it's not that I minded it. I loved being in nature and I felt obligated to do what I could for the people who had taken me in without hesitance, without even asking anything about my past or personal life. They had trusted me and given me a second chance at life, even though the second chance was very different from what they thought it was. Nonetheless, helping them with chores and in the fields were the only ways I could repay their kindness. I wasn't very good at what I did but with their patience and encouragement, I was slowly getting better.

Sometime in between, Tomo kun had returned my phone to me, which had come with me to this world. How, I wasn't sure, but I was glad that I had it with me. I managed to convince everyone that it was mostly a piece of junk but delicate and important to me because it was a gift from someone close. They had accepted the rather unbelievable explanation and understood my attachment to the strange object. Discussions about my phone weren't pressed further.

I was able to use it to take photos and see photos of home when I was feeling gloomy thanks to charging the battery in the sun – this prototype phone with solar charging was definitely something I would insist Papa's business partner to push into the market...if I ever got back home, that is.

I returned to the present when Lady Kana walked into the kitchen. I turned off the stove and helped her take the cooked food to one of the rooms of the dojo where everyone had gathered to eat. We served them as they came one after the other and then served food for ourselves. I sat with Tomo kun like usual and began eating. Compliments were spoken to Lady Kana's cooking though I was slightly smug because I had taken care of half of the cooking all by myself today.

I had barely finished eating half of my food when I was roughly shoved to the side, nearly spilling what was on my plate. I spared a sharp look at Akari who was now fussing over Tomo kun but sighed with a shake of my head before shifting to sit a little away – I was used to her rather rude interruptions after all. She'd been barging in on us during almost all meals off late, getting a little more possessive than necessarily about Tomo kun, and the latter was beginning to get annoyed with it. Tomo kun was too kind to openly tell her to stop bothering him so we went along with this common scene every day.

Well, it seemed to me that Akarai was jealous of how Tomo kun and I had become close to each other in the short time I had been in the dojo. She constantly tried to poke her nose into everything when we were together. It was amusing and annoying because I didn't see Tomo kun as my boyfriend like she thought I did. I ignored her glares and her occasional sharp remarks because I, like Tomo kun, did not want to make a big deal out of this too.

Post dinner, which passed with happy chatter and conversations, I helped Lady Kana with cleaning up. I washed the dishes while she cleaned the kitchen and then we dispersed to turn in for the night. I wasn't sleepy yet so I decided to take a short stroll through the dojo. I came to a stop in front of one of the many courtyard gardens within the dojo's compound. I walked up to the small pond in the middle and crouched to watch the koi fish swimming calmly in the water.

I then looked up at the sky, taking a deep inhale of the cool night air. Unlike in Tokyo, the air here was so clean and fresh. Comparing the two worlds reminded me of home, took me back to all the memories I had of my family and friends. I felt tightness in my chest as I reached for my phone and unlocked it before opening the photo gallery. I looked over pictures I had taken with my mother and father, with Kojiro and Sparks. We all so happy in the pictures and looking at them made my eyes sting.

I thought of how worried they probably were, wondering where I had suddenly disappeared to and whether they would see me again. Were they feeling as worried as I was? As lonely as I was? As longing as I was? I was someone who never went anywhere without telling my family and the longest time I had stayed away from them was one night when I went over to Kiyo's house for a sleepover. She was the only one out of all my friends that I had been so comfortable with.

Friends, huh?

I swiped the screen to the side to look over pictures I had taken with Kiyo, Akira and Yuri. There were pictures I had taken with other classmates too but I missed my three best friends the most.

Would I ever see them again? Would I be stuck here forever?

I locked the screen and put my phone back in the pocket of my haori, tears threatening to fall over now. I blinked rapidly before looking at the koi fish again. I put my hand in the water, letting my fingers gently touch the backs of the fish that swam near the surface. I looked away from them though when I heard footsteps.

Turning my head, I saw Tomo kun walking through the hallway with Akari latched onto his arm. His expression was sour and he was trying to make her let him go in vain. When Tomo kun spotted me, he used it as a chance to break free of her and sprint to me.

"Ruka chan!" he chimed, smiling wide.

I stood, shaking the water off my hand and faced him. I smiled halfheartedly, "Hey, Tomo kun."

"Ruka chan, are you alright?" he asked, having noticed the forlorn hint in my voice.

I nodded, smiling a little wider while looking at the grass, "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking of home and...missing home."

"Oh," he said, awkward. He didn't seem to know what to say but I met his eyes when he spoke again, "I hope you feel better soon, Ruka chan."

"Thank you, Tomo kun. It's because of you and Lady Kana and everyone else in the dojo being so welcoming that I'm okay. Thank you for being so kind and considerate."

"Eh, you don't have to thank us!" he said, sounding a little flustered. He ruffled his hair, a light blush dusting his cheeks. However, his expression turned serious the very next moment, "That aside, Ruka chan, you should be more careful while going to the fields and shopping from now on. Rumors have been going around about suspicious activity in villages surrounding ours, probably from Lord Kurai's men."

My heart skipped a beat, a different sort of tightness rising in my chest, "Lord Kurai's men are in nearby villages?"

Tomo kun nodded, "I don't know if you've heard but our emperor lost two provinces to him recently and three villages have been completely annihilated by that monster's army."

"I-I see," I mumbled softly, clenching my fists in mild nervousness. If Lord Kurai had taken over two provinces, there were only two provinces left under the rule of our emperor.

"All of the men from our village will be heading off to war soon to help protect the last two provinces. It's finally time for us to use all that we've learnt in Matsumoto san's dojo."

Akari didn't give me the chance to respond to what Tomo kun said. She had remained silent until now and her expression had gone just as somber of mine. She took a hold of Tomo kun's arm and asked him to escort her home and I was soon left to brood again, not of home but of all that could happen in this village soon.

The tightness in my chest had turned to queasiness. With how Lord Kurai had been pushing our emperor back, it wouldn't be long before he attacked this village too, right? And with the men gone to fight in the war and no fighters left in this village, we'd be overpowered and perhaps even killed in the bat of an eyelid if his men attacked. I didn't want to die here – I wanted to go home. I wanted to live.

No, I couldn't be so negative. Surely I couldn't just give up when nothing about the future was certain – there was every possibility that our village would never be attacked because our emperor would become stronger and win against Lord Kurai in the war.

I tried to remember what I had read in history class about wars fought during the Edo Period. I remembered most of the wars that took place but nowhere could I recall the names I had heard here. The Emperor of Darkness who was known by every single person in this village and through the other lands as well didn't ring a bell at all. It's as if I had never read of the title anywhere...and I was, not to boast, quite good at memorizing things.

Was this even the Japan that would turn into the metropolitan Japan I lived in? Or had I landed in an alternate dimension that was similar to but not the actual past of the country I was born in?

I sighed deeply, massaging my temples. All this thinking after a long day of work was stressing me out. And what Tomo kun had just told me wasn't helping.

"Maybe I should get some shut eye for now. I can think about how to survive tomorrow, hopefully," I mumbled to myself.

I headed to the bathhouse first to take a quick shower before I got into light nightwear. I spread out my mattress in my room and got under the blanket. I curled up and closed my eyes, falling asleep while remembering home and my family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a relief that Ruka has settled in well, so to say, and has become good friends with Tomoki. But it seems that all that's smooth in her life. With the war getting worse and people ready to go out to fight in it, things are about to get complicated, aren't they?

And I feel you, Ruka TwT It's really tough being away from family and friends. But hang in there, okay?

Vote!

COMMENT!!!

:D