My Little Bride

Chapter 5

"Mother,"

Tahomaru enters his parents' room and sees his mother packing things for their travel. Lord Kagemitsu is invited to attend a political gathering at the capital and as standard procedure, the village will be taken care of his two sons.

Nui is sitting on her bed and turns her attention to her youngest son.

"Tahomaru my dear, what is it? You look troubled." Her gentle voice tends to calm the young man and upon hearing it, Tahomaru's worried face relaxes.

"Will it be alright if you leave with father? We're not safe outside..." Tahomaru grumbles and Nui pauses on folding her clothes.

"And yet my sons are doing their best and leave outside the village for our good." Nui counters jovially with a smile on her face. Tahomaru sits on her bed beside her luggage.

"But aniue and I can take care of ourselves. It's not that I don't trust our samurais but.." Tahomaru frets but he was cut off when his mother places her hands on his.

"Tahomaru, I am the daimyo's wife. It is my duty to stay beside him all the time." Nui replies. She knows that her youngest son is just worried about her. Their clan's dispute against the treacherous Asakura makes it hard for them to roam freely outside the domain without worrying about their safety.

"But.."

"My son,"

"Can't you take me with you?" Tahomaru insists and Nui chuckles finding it adorable how her youngest is brooding too much. She places a hand on Tahomaru's cheek and pinches it which makes him pout.

"Who else is going to help your brother run the domain if you come with us? I promise you, we'll be fine." Nui assures and caresses his hair. "Now, promise me that you will look after him. Your brother may look strong on the outside but he still needs guidance. He always overwork and forget about himself."

If there is something Nui knows a lot about his sons, it's their difference when it comes to balancing things. Ever since they were little, Tahomaru is the softer one while Hyakkimaru is the one who took his father's domineering attitude. Because of this, Hyakkimaru's expectation in everything is always higher than normal which makes him push himself off to his limits. While Tahomaru's combat skill isn't higher than his brother, he is more of a people's person than Hyakkimaru. Both of them however possesses intelligence to run the domain.

Tahomaru nods. "I will." But his face changes into dejected one. "Safe travels, mother."

Nui beams and hugs her child lovingly.

-xxx-

Dororo watches from a distance as Hyakkimaru goes in and out of the house. She's been observing him like that for a couple of days already, always with either a platoon of samurai giving orders here and there or holding a handful of paperwork to do. They didn't share a word that much. In most occasions, Hyakkimaru will simply look at her and other times, when she's not quite sure if he sees her, he will simply walk past after muttering a 'don't try to sneak outside when I'm away.' on which Dororo will roll her eyes, mumbling words within his earshot but will he, as always, not pay attention to it. She is both thankful and displeased that Hyakkimaru requires her to have a personal development class. Thankful because in this way, she won't be too bored given that it's been painfully boring everyday, and displeased because she has to focus on studying and studying only. It is also a bit of a challenge to her since her tutor is a strict middle aged man who doesn't know the word 'smile'. He has an aura of someone who will cut anyone's fingers whenever they have a wrong answer on their questionnaires. And Dororo has no option but to be on her best behavior (she thought he will gouge her eyes out when he caught her picking her nose one time, or that when she raised her foot on a table or that when she cursed when a bird pooped on her paper, or that when she sneezed at his face)