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Part 3: Rumiya
The world slowly came back into focus for the Tasuki. He was in a room, lying on a bed, wrapped in warm furs. And someone had swiped his clothes. "#%$^!" He snarled jumping to his feet, only to land on the floor in an undignified heap. The door to the room opened quickly and someone rushed in.
Tasuki knew this must’ve been his rescuer, but at the moment he didn’t care much, "What the $%*& did you do with my clothes?!?" The stranger blinked at Tasuki, seeming a bit daunted by the fiery seishi.
Finally he answered Tasuki’s question. "I just washed them and hung them up to dry," he said, gesturing to a clothesline strung up in one end of the room, "they were muddy, wet and cold. If you’d kept wearing them you would’ve caught pneumonia." He gave Tasuki a rebuking look, "You should be grateful I found you. If I hadn’t you would’ve frozen to death."
Tasuki blinked, considering the stranger’s words. It was true that he probably would not have survived if the stranger had not shown up. "Arigato," Tasuki muttered.
As soon as Tasuki thanked him, the young man’s entire attitude changed. "Oh it’s quite all right," He said modestly. He went back into the other room and emerged with a warm brown fur, "Here. Wrap yourself in this and sit by the fireplace." Tasuki wasn’t going to disobey that order, it was just too cold. He sat by the blazing fire and watched the stranger straightening up the area.
He had to be one of the strangest looking people Tasuki had ever seen, with long white hair tied back with a ribbon, and eyes that were gold in the firelight. He was dressed in white, with a white fur cloak draped over his shoulders. Tasuki didn’t think he looked too threatening though, he was rather small and delicate looking. Tasuki decided he didn’t have to worry too much, especially not with his Tessen.
My Tessen! Where is it? He looked around frantically. "Where is it?!?" He screamed at the stranger.
"Huh?"
"My Tessen, you $*#&!" Tasuki snarled, "What did you do with it?!?"
"Oh..." The stranger blinked, "You must mean this." He went over to the wall and picked up the iron tessen. He handed it to Tasuki, who took it, and glared back at the stranger with mistrust. The young man seemed to notice Tasuki’s mistrust and changed the subject, "Well, now that everything’s all settled, I’d better introduce myself. My name is Rumiya." He looked at Tasuki expectantly.
Tasuki still wasn’t sure he could trust Rumiya, even if the guy had saved his life. He didn’t want to tell Rumiya his real name, just in case. "I’m Genrou." He finally said.
Rumiya’s mouth twisted in a wry smile, "Genrou, huh. How ironic." When Tasuki gave him a puzzled look, the young man just smiled and shrugged. A loud bang from the other room caused both of them to turn around quickly. Tasuki gripped his fan so tightly his knuckles were turning white, but Rumiya didn’t seem alarmed. "Don’t worry," He said, "It’s just Arai."
"Arai?" Tasuki watched, puzzled, as Rumiya opened the door in the other room. Then Tasuki yowled as a huge white form lumbered into the room. It was a giant white bear! The bear went straight to Tasuki and sniffed him curiously. Tasuki didn’t move a muscle, not wanting to make it mad. Finally it stopped its sniffing and ambled over to a pile of furs in the corner, where it laid down and fell asleep.
"Don’t worry about Arai, she won’t hurt you." Rumiya glanced at Tasuki and sweat-dropped, "Ano, I think your clothes are dry now."
"Huh?" Tasuki blinked, "$^*#!" He rushed to the clothesline and grabbed his stuff. It was dry all right, and warm from the fire. He pulled his clothes on hurriedly and put the tessen back in its harness. Then he looked around and saw Rumiya sitting on a fur in front of the fire. Seeing nothing better to do he sat down too.
After a couple of minutes, Tasuki’s patience ran out. There was nothing to do here, so he started asking questions. "What the $%&* are you doing with a giant white bear?" He asked rudely.
Rumiya looked at him, "She’s a good friend of mine." He didn’t say anything else.
Tasuki was very curious, but he wasn’t going to admit it. So he asked something else, "Why are you living in these $&$* mountains?"
"They’re my home, praise Genbu." Another one sentence answer.
Tasuki was getting sick of this. "Why the $%^* aren’t you giving me any answers?!"
*silence*
Tasuki came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to get any answers to any personal questions so he tried another tactic, "When I was half frozen in the snow, I saw a wolf. It was all white, and seemed to vanish in the snow like it never existed. It was right before you came...did you see it?"
Rumiya started. He gazed at Tasuki, openmouthed, "You saw a white wolf."
"Yeah. Why?" Tasuki was intrigued by Rumiya’s reaction.
Rumiya sweat-dropped. "It’s supposed to be just a legend. Parents tell their kids about a huge, white ghost wolf that prowls around in the mountains and makes travelers vanish." He looked at Tasuki searchingly, "Are you sure you saw it? It might have been an illusion caused by the swirling snow."
Tasuki was insulted, "I may have been freezing, but my eyes were just fine." He glared at Rumiya, who seemed a bit pale, "It was no illusion, #%& it!"
Standing up quickly, Rumiya turned to Tasuki with a stern expression on his face, "Enough of this talk, Genrou. You should be resting! Otherwise you might get sick. After all, I just pulled you out of the snow a few hours ago."
Tasuki grumbled but curled up in the furs and put his head down. I hadn’t realized I was so tired... He fell asleep in only a few minutes.
Rumiya stood there staring at his new guest curiously, before getting up and leaving the cabin, cautiously closing the door behind him