Hamato Karai
Chapter 9
TITLE:Hamato Karai
AUTHOR:Jinn-Jinn
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Quite poor. Don't sue.
NOTE: The shortest chapter in the bunch, but I think its good. After this chapter does anyone care for more smut or should I just keep it romantic? Let me know, thanks.
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When Karai awoke that morning all she thought about was where Leonardo went and that she had to prepare for the trip back to New York in two days. She never thought, in a million years that a little gift would affect her as it did.
She found the ordinary looking fan folded diminutively where Leo should’ve been sleeping and immediately guess what it was. A gift. Leo had been talking about getting her something, but Karai had told him not to bother. She never received one before, why would she want one now? True, she did receive her swords and her money from her father, but those were things she had to earn and use for the sake of his cause. What would she do with this little thing that really had no purpose?
Still, she knew that Leo meant for this to mean something and that he likely put a lot of thought in it. Already she felt her heart lighten and she rolled her eyes and chided herself for acting like a teenage girl getting her first Valentine card.
Upon opening it she saw that the painter selected a winter scene from Sapporo; specifically the hills that flowed gently together like waves. Below on the left corner was a poem.
The winter snow hugs the hills,
My lover's curves beneath my hands,
In tangled sheets I hold her
Karai smiled at the imagery and had to admit that Leo had good taste. She glanced down to take a look at the author’s name only to be given a shock. It was Leo’s name. My God, she couldn’t believe it, he wrote a poem for her, about them. Suddenly those simple words became a whole lot more intimate. It was the hills they looked out the window that inspired him, it was her body he craved to touch and it was their bodies entangled in crisp white sheets.
Pleasure curled in her stomach and her heart throbbed almost painfully. No one had ever done anything like this. Never had she thought that she would inspire poetry and one with such tender passion. Is this how Leonardo saw her? Did she really inspire his heart so much that he could compare her to the beauty of Japan?
The answer was obviously yes. Leo never failed to say he loved her and his eyes held back nothing. He understood her when no one else did and showed her more compassion and patience than she ever did for him. All that time she rejected his love because she didn’t want it to weaken her, but she was lying to herself. She knew deep down the more painful reason why she did not want his love. She didn’t deserve it and it had infuriated her that he could be so damn selfless, so kind even after all that she had done to him and to his family. She had refused to be ashamed of her earlier actions because she believed that it was the right thing to do and they had it coming for inflicting pain on her. Yet from the very first night and ever since, she was weakened by his light brown eyes and the more and more they softened with love and forgiveness, the more she found herself wanting it, craving it. Now she, Karai, the great Foot ninja who desired nothing but honor and vengeance got instead love and this little poem that made her heart flutter and her soul soar.
Karai fell back on the bed, the fan pressed against her chest. Her head spun as she dwelled on the poem more and more. Each word evoking intimate memories that she quickly realized she cherished far more deeply than any other. There must be something wrong with her, she thought, something terrible that had made her ache at the sight of a giant turtle. A giant turtle with beautiful eyes, a wonderful smile, and a gentle touch that provoked her to-
“-Stop!” She whispered harshly to herself. “I cannot.”
A lie and a great one as the words and the memories pry at her walls. Tugging, coaxing, teasing her until….
“Oh God.” Karai’s eyes begin to water and she squeezed them shut, feeling the shame of inevitable defeat. “I love him.”