The Black Arrow

The Priestess

April 16

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of someone moving around. I was no longer laying on a mat on the ground but on a bed. A soft bed with real satin sheets. I pushed myself up against the pillows to look around. It was a beautiful room with candles and the smell of the spring flowers.

That's when my eyes caught site of Shado. She was in a priestess outfit. I knew that from one of my parents many lessons. She didn't acknowledge me when she brought over a candle. I thought she was just going to put it over here for more light but she started pouring the hot wax onto my broken leg. Instead of the scorching pain I thought I would feel it was more of a soft tingling.

"I numbed your leg with a natural herb" Shado said but didn't look at me. "The wax is to help the healing spirits find their way to the areas of which your leg needs mending" Shado continued. Next, she got down on her knees and bowed her head to the floor.

I watched as lights leapt from her body. I watched as they went to my leg and danced over where the wax was. Every Time one touched my leg it felt like water raining down on it. I relaxed against the pillows enjoying the feeling. It sure was better than the pain I felt every time I had accidentally moved it after it got broken.

The light danced over my leg for a good twenty minutes before returning to Shado. As soon as the lights returned she sat up. She looked tired but she didn't say anything. She came over to my leg and started running her hand from my heel to my knee. That's when the realization hit that I had no pants on, just a towel covering my private area. I blushed bright red from what it looked like in the mirror across from me. Shado didn't seem to notice either as she continued to massage my leg.

I laid back enjoying the massage. It felt so nice and the pain seemed to just vanish like it was never there. While Shado massaged my leg she told me about her family. " My grandparents came to America from Japan during World War Two. My grandmother was pregnant with my mother at the time and they were hoping for a better life instead they got thrown into the internment camps. My grandmother gave birth in squalid conditions but miraculously mom and baby survived. As soon as they were released, they went straight back to Japan and settled into the family shrine. My grandmother taught my mother the art of calling on spirits to heal and also the deadly art of silently shooting a bow with absolutely no sound and killing a person before they even knew you were there close up.

My mother decided to join underground syndicates aiming to get back at the Americans who threw them into camps. That's when she met my father. He was a Yakuza boss who was looking for someone with my mother's skill set. They fell in love and got married, and shortly after I was born. Two years ago my mother went to Templeton in Russia to help out a partner of my dad's and hadn't come back yet. My dad said she is just busy. That's when we decided to take a father/daughter trip to Lian Yu with my dad's associate, Slade Wilson, and we got caught by the rival Yakuza gang" Shado said finishing up the massage and getting a towel and wiping off my leg.

I gasped when I heard the name Templeton. That's where my parents were. Her mother helped kidnap my parents. I wanted to scream and lash out but I didn't. I couldn't. I wouldn't. I was infatuated with her and I wouldn't blame her for what her mother has done. I felt her put a wet cloth on my head, kiss my cheek and say "sleep now young arrow, for when you wake your leg will be healed". I closed my eyes and feel into a dreamless sleep.

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I felt the sun on my face and opened my eyes. I was back on my mat and Shado was asleep next to me. I smiled and dared to move my leg. Slowly I moved it up and like Dream Shado said, no more pain. It was fixed. I snuggled closer to Shado and drifted back off to sleep.