Chapter 64 Rulu and Yashimu

Sitting on one of the prepared futons in one of Kajima's spare rooms was Yashimu who had a somewhat exasperated expression on his face. When he witnessed the sight of Azi kissing Shizu's cheek and her subsequent reactions, he could not believe what he was seeing.

Never in his life did he expect that Shizu could make that kind of womanly expression. Ever since he was 10 years old, he always remembered how Shizu had a serious expression and tone with him. She became more relaxed as she got older, but she had a layer of calm that was always hidden under her expression which became more apparent when she interacted with men.

She never showed interest in any man who tried to court her hand in marriage, those that were bold enough got a fist their face. While the ones she gave a chance were the ones she was amicable with but were so badly beaten down by her trials that they gave up and distanced themselves from her.

Her main source of friends or close company mainly came from family, family friends, or were mainly women.

The only time Yashimu was able to see the softer side of his older sister was when Shizu spent time with Rulu. When Rulu was first born, Shizu was still only 5 years old but she loved her baby sister with such a large amount of love and attention that would make any man feel jealous of how much attention Shizu gave to Rulu unconditionally.

This attention and love later turned into an overprotective nature that made it seem like Shizu was trying to fill a part of Rulu's heart. When Yashimu approached Shizu on why she was so passionate about Rulu, Shizu told him.

"Rulu, lost mother too soon. She was only 5 when she attended mother's funeral. As the big sister, it's my responsibility to help and try to fill the hole in Rulu's heart. She needs a mother figure in her life, and I want to be the one to fill that role."

From that day on, at the age of 7, Yashimu realized just how dedicated his older sister was to her family and it helped him understand why Shizu always had a serious tone or expression at such a young age. She was the eldest and she felt that it was her responsibility to lead all her siblings by example. This meant showing no weakness when it came to duty or responsibility.

This extended to her work in the nation of Kujyuri, when war broke out when Shizu was 12 she went to war with Ozen to set the example for her siblings. At the time Rulu was ordered to stay in the capital since she was 5 so Yashimu stayed behind to keep Rulu company. Shizu wanted to show that she had the strength to protect Rulu to make her wish of leaving the capital come true, but when Shizu returned she was somewhat changed by the experience.

Shizu now understood the cost of war, the lives it took and sacrifices she needed to make to protect the nation. Not wanting for Rulu to experience such painful experiences, she now supported Ozen's order for Rulu to stay in the capital city. While this did earn her Rulu's ire for a time, she beared with it in the hopes that one day her younger sister would understand why she did what she did.

After being knighted, Shizu became more relaxed as she allowed her title to get a bit to her head, but she still kept her serious nature. It was only now hidden and was brought out when it was called for. What now concerned her was finding a suitable husband, but due to her picky nature it resulted in no success for 9 years which made Shizu think about giving up on finding a husband.

All had failed but one day she met Azi, a man of considerable age but with such a youthful appearance that he seemed more like an adolescent teenager or child if one didn't look at him closely.

At their first interactions, he knew that Shizu did not get along with the youthful boy at first and understood that she only tolerated him due to her dutiful personality that she acquiesced to Ozen's order to keep the boy safe and show him around.

When Yashimu saw the pair again, it seemed like they had gotten somewhat along as good friends but had a bit of tension between them as Azi seemed to fear her a bit. Later on, Yashimu began to suspect that her relationship with Azi was changing.

When he rushed to their aid during the investigation, he saw Shizu in tears over Azi's body. Wanting to comfort her, Yashimu told her that he would help bury the dead with all the required honors which made Shizu bite back as she refused to accept that Azi was dead.

Yashimu's surprise at his sister's outburst was only brief as he believed that it was again because of her personality that she was being abrasive. In Yashimu's mind he thought.

'She has failed in her duty to protect Azi. She must feel deeply disappointed in herself. I best give her some room'

Letting Shizu take Azi's body into her arms, she brought him back to their camp and stayed by his side. Yashimu could not understand why Shizu had started to become attached to Azi. The boy seemed odd but was overall a normal peasant boy who had a case of amnesia.

It was only until the next day that to Yashimu's surprise, Azi had seemingly come back to life and the relief on Shizu's face further surprised him.

Yashimu wondered, just exactly how does Shizu feel about Azi at this point.

'Could he be the one?'

This is what Yashimu thought but denied it in his mind as the image he had of his older sister was not so easily shaken. A little over 2 weeks passed from that event and Yashimu remembered reading Shizu's reports.

She described her relationship with Azi as "stable" which was an interesting way to phrase it, but that was overshadowed by Azi's endurance to handle Shizu training. This had surprised Yashimu and made him think that Ozen's hunch about Azi was on the mark.

Ozen warned that we would need people like Azi to potentially aid the nation. Reading how formal and serious of tone her letters were, he was blindsided by what he saw and heard during the past two days and at dinner.

At first, he hid his shock as he realized that Azi had accepted to take on Shizu trials, but what really got him was Azi's intimate behavior with Shizu for the past 2 days. Not only did Shizu kiss a man, but she also reciprocated or was affected by the affectionate actions of another man, which had never happened before.

Yashimu's brow began to furrow as he tried to organize his thoughts.

"Ummm brother, are you okay?"

Breaking out of his contemplation about Shizu's and Azi's relationship, he noticed that Rulu was sitting beside him with a concerned expression.

He did not notice, but he had yet to change out of his work clothes and into his sleepwear. Looking over to the nearby window he saw the night sky and its numerous stars, he wondered just how long he had been contemplating for. Responding he got up from his back.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit ummm."

Yashimu's words stopped for a moment as he tried to think of the word to end his sentence.

"Flustered?" Asked Rulu.

Nodding his head in agreement, Yashimu then asked.

"What do you think of their relationship?"

Picking up on her brother's meaning, Rulu's face flushed at the memory of when Azi and Shizu were kissing and nibbling each other in bed. Rulu's understanding of her sister Shizu was the same as Yashimu's and it made her feel much more flustered due to her delicate sensibilities as an adolescent woman.

"I-I umm. I am glad that my sister has found a suitable partner. Aren't you brother?"

"Yes, but I'm concerned about how Azi will affect Shizu in her duties. She has always had a steadfast stance on her Ordain Knight position. I fear that she may go soft when interacting with Azi."

"I'm sure Shizu will figure out her emotions, she is quite talented, and she has us as well. While we are the younger siblings, we are still family, so we'll take care of each other like how mother taught us."

Yashimu smiled in relief at Rulu's words, what she said was true. Shizu was an amazing older sister and even if she were to trip a bit in her duties, as her family they could always step in to catch and support her. Shaking off the exasperated feeling he once had he asked a question to Rulu.

"So, how do you like Shisayama? Its smaller than the capital city Kujyuri but it still has all of the creature comforts you would need."

Rulu, with a smile, responded.

"I love it brother, the people are all so nice even though we had only met for the first time and the change in scenery is very much fulfilling. The pastry shop was my favorite place to visit, the desserts they make there are all from Yamato and they look like nothing I have ever seen before."

Chuckling a bit at Rulu's delight, a relief came to Yashimu's heart. He feared that the attack from the swarm of gengiri and kengiri would traumatize her, but it seemed that Rulu was not that faint of heart.

"We will be in Shisayama for the remainder of winter as it was agreed that Shizu would bring Azi back to the capital city to meet with father. He wants to see how Shizu and Azi have been, so it would be best that we join in so that father does not feel as if you have run off."

Yashimu chuckled at the implication he was making with his last words, which made Rulu pout a bit.

"Oh come on brother, I'm not a child anymore. I won't try to run off like when I was a child."

"I hope so, your hobby of wandering around the nearby garden made it quite hard to find you."

Smiling wryly, Yashimu continued to tease his sister to help further change the mood in the room.

"Yashimu! Stop it!"

As Yashimu was about to make another attempt to tease Rulu, they heard something.

"Oh Azi, Please stop. OH AH"

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

"More, Azi. more!"

*THUMP*

Yashimu and Rulu's expressions froze like ice, and their faces began to pale as they began to recognize the cries of their sister Shizu. Their room was beside the one where Azi and Shizu were sleeping, and the walls were quite thin.

Feeling that it would be best if they just ignored the noise, Yashimu and Rulu made their final preparations to head to bed. But did so with red and flushed faces.

"Umm Good night Brother."

"Yes good night Rulu, try to umm get some sleep"

"Azi, Azi!, AZI! YES, more, more. Give me more."

Their faces turned an even brighter red that they thought was not possible. The younger brother and sister began to hide themselves under the blankets of their futon to hopefully drift off to sleep.

They were unsuccessful.