“What the hell man, I thought you were heading back before me, but you went off and picked a girl up??” Lei ran into me at the gates, shocked at my sudden appearance with an unknown woman. 

“Long story, is my mom’s class still going?” I asked, avoiding his questions. 

“Looks like it just ended, you barely made it.” 

“I’m about to die either way, you think she’s gonna be ok with this?” I ask my friend, pointing at the girl on my back.  

“I’ll visit your shrine every day and bring you flowers,” he replied. 

“You’re a true friend, I’m glad to have you at my side.”

“Yeah well I think I see your mom coming so I’m gonna head off early, see you Zen.” Lei nervously backed away from me and ran off down the road, and I could hardly blame him for doing so.

“Zen! Where did you run off to, you silly boy!” my mother Xuan Yan searched desperately for me, not realizing I was hiding behind the wall to the academy on the other side to where she was. 

The girl I had rescued slept softly next to me, unaware of the danger she faced lurking around the corner. I tried to think of any excuse that my mother would be accepting of, but my mind was a complete blank. 

“Zen, there you… are?” she finally found me, her head peeking around the corner of the wall. It didn’t take her long to notice the ragged looking girl next to me, and her face started to twist at the mere sight of her.

“Mom, this is uhh, well I don’t know actually.” I looked between the two women, not sure what to do or say.

“Yi Zen, what are you doing to your mother? Sneaking out of class to meet up with... a girl?” a vein popped up on mother’s forehead as she tried not to lose her public composure.

“I just went with Lei to the market, honest.” I waved my hands in front of me to try and distract her in any way. “She just collapsed on me on my way back, I couldn't just leave her in the street!”

“Oho? She collapsed on you, did she?” unfortunately, that made her more angry than I expected. I thought it being accidental would make it better, but I guess she didn’t care about the reason, another woman had touched her precious son.

I dropped to my knees and bowed my head to my mother as deep as I could. She was pissed off, but she was still a kind person, so if I just appealed to her reason, I think I can smooth it over.  

“Mother, I don’t make many requests of you, but this girl seems to be in some sort of trouble, and my burning heroic spirit wont let me ignore her… so please, let me take her with us, at least until she recovers!”

My mother was speechless, completely stunned at my words and actions. I wasn’t sure if she even understood what I had said, perhaps bowing to her was too much. I straightened up but remained on my knees, looking up at my frozen, statue-like mother. 

“I can’t say no to that face!” she finally replied, lifting me off the ground into a powerful, bone creaking hug. “My son finally shows an interest in being a hero, how could I ignore such a heartfelt request!”

Back home, I left the mysterious girl in the care of my mother and went to my room, dropping off my sword against the wall, and removing my well worn, sweet soaked shirt. 

“Oh my, your back looks so much like your father now...” mom commented from the hallway as she passed by with a wash basin. I closed my door properly after that comment.

Having not used much energy at all in the duel with Jin Chun, the most tiring thing was carrying the girl all the way to school, it was uphill and rather steep. My body hadn’t felt so much of a workout in years, as I only trained the bare minimum. 

I touched an old scar on my right shoulder, the wound feeling a bit aggravated from carrying her. Even with the best doctors around, with Skills to heal others, it didn’t fully fix the damage of being run through with a sword in training. I could move the arm fine, but it felt uncomfortable to do so, so I developed at least some ability with the sword in my off hand. 

I flopped onto my bed and closed my eyes, mentally exhausted from the long day. But when I closed my eyes, the image of a set of ruby eyes flashed through my mind. 

I jolt up in my bed with a start, almost falling off the edge of my bed in shock. I only brought her back on a random whim, so why was I even thinking about her? I shook her out of my head and stood up again. My whole body felt hot, how was I supposed to settle down like that?

“Mom, is it safe to come down?” I call from top of the stairs after putting on a new shirt. “Is she uh… decent?”

“Yes, of course.” she replied quickly, so I was able to head down without worry. 

The girl I had rescued was awake now, and her tattered clothing had been replaced by some of my old training gear from a few years ago. It was smaller than what I wear now, but still a bit too large on the girl. 

My mother had combed the girl’s hair and tied it back into a low ponytail similar to her own, but not as long as her own. And even though it was washed, it was still a bit of a shaggy mess. Without her cloak hiding her body, it was clear she was covered in cuts and bruises, what had happened to her to make her this way?

She stood out of her seat and bowed slightly to me before returning to the chair. 

“Thank you for your kindness, I didn’t expect such a thing from a complete stranger.” she tried to sound polite and high class, but she clearly had a country accent that she was trying to hide. 

“I didn’t really do it for any good reason, that guy just pissed me off is all.”

“Well, regardless of your intentions, ya saved me!” she smiled, letting her low class accent slip out. She noticed too late, then dropped her head in shame for some reason. “Sorry, I know I’m just a stupid country hick...”

“Better than being a jackass nobleman, don’t worry about it.” I replied, taking a seat across from her. “What did you do to make him so mad anyways?”

“I-I bumped into him on the street, and then when I tried to apologize, he said I didn’t bow properly!” her voice got louder and with a noticeable tinge of anger behind it. “The nerve, I did the proper thing and he still wanted ma head, is everyone in the capital so uptight?”

“Zen, if you see him again, find out his name for me, ok sweetie?” my mother asked in a worrying way, I could only assume what she was planning to do with that information. 

“Haha, yeah, I’ll try…” I laughed it off and looked back to the girl. “So, those injuries weren’t because of him, right?”

“No no no, I got em training, I’m a swordsman! Well, I was… but my sword broke on the trip here.” she looked like she was about to cry, as if a sword breaking was her fault. Not every blade was created equal, and normal swords just didn’t have the lasting durability of something like my father’s legendary sword.

“You, a swordsman?” 

Rakushi

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