CHAPTER 6 – FUNNY TIMES, CRUCIAL TIMES
Things did become much better later as the days came.
Sakuragi has finally got the hang of everything that was bombarded at him. After the first successful training on the arrow thingy, everything seemed pretty easy for the redhead now. He was able to hit incoming stones and not let a drop of water fall out of the bucket he was balancing on his head, able to run way ahead of everyone with twice as much weight carried on his shoulders, shoot 10 tomatoes in the air at one go, catch a whole hoard of fish with both hands, run across flying fiery arrows and shooting cannons without a scratch on his body and hit out with his rod accurately. He had almost mastered everything and learnt everything there is to know about the warring issues, though Captain Rukawa didn’t show much encouragement or any reaction to his improvements.
Sakuragi had finally gotten used to Rukawa’s cold remarks and all, but he still couldn’t help lashing his tongue at him just because he didn’t like his foxy-looking face. He didn’t really get the hang of liking those cold, piercing blue eyes that can see through his armour and through his spell-cast body. Occasionally you would see the redhead and the captain shooting names at each other, namely the famous ‘Baka kitsune’ and ‘Do’aho’ quotes. The good threesome as in Haroko, Fujii and Yuki couldn’t help thinking that they looked like couples bickering at each other. The other girls began to think the same thing too as Sakuragi and Rukawa’s arguments got more and more frequent.
Later one evening, after a long day’s training minus the chores, Mido stared at his master with a very solemn look on his face and said, “It’s about time you take a bath, shouldn’t you?”
“Huh?” Sakuragi looked at his neko companion in surprise.
“Don’t you ‘huh’ me!” Mido said as he threw the towel at his master. “You may like being all sweaty and smelly like the girls, but you are still the son of Sakuragi Midori, and you darn well better smell like a boy instead of a girl! Now off you go to bath, Master Hanamichi!”
“Bath?! You’re asking me to…to bath?! But-But-But…ma-matte, matte!! I can’t go bathing like this!!” Sakuragi protested and struggled as even Noma the mynah and Oukutsu the stallion dragged him to the nearby lake. “Matte!! Chotto matte nayo~!!”
“And why shouldn’t you take a bath, may I ask, Master Hanamichi?” Mido asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because…because…annou…” Sakuragi blushed as red as his hair as he hugged his body. He wasn’t used to looking at himself naked, especially when his body is a body of a girl. Mido noticed and shook it away.
“Oh, pish-posh, Master Hanamichi. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s still your body after all. There nothing to be ashamed about. Go on. Off with the clothes and into the lake.”
With that, Mido poked his claw onto Sakuragi’s clothes and immediately they fell off his body like it was too big for him. Sakuragi yelled as he practically felt himself being violated like that. Before he could yell at the cat and say “Hentai!!!” Oukutsu has butted his head onto Sakuragi’s bare back and sent him falling into the cold water of the lake, sending Sakuragi into a fit of loud yelling and protests. Thankfully, the coldness of the water has calmed down his heated temper.
Sakuragi blushed at the sight of his own breasts and the look of his vagina instead of his usual penis. His hands found themselves on his waist and he found it hard to believe that he had turned from a feisty, strong and high-stamina guy into a slender, model-figured woman, and with huge boobs at that. He looked at his legs which were submerged in the lake and found it even harder to believe that these legs used to be his male legs. He blushed even worse and was in the verge of experiencing a nose bleed just by looking at his own naked body.
While he was contemplating about his body, he suddenly heard incoming footsteps accompanied by a series of chattering and giggling. He turned to see and was shocked that it was his female gundam Haroko, Fujii and Yuki heading towards the lake too. He lowered himself deeper into the lake until only his head showed. He was so embarrassed to be seen here. Why didn’t Mido warn him? He seriously considered giving him a head-butt after this.
“Oh, Minako! You’re an early bird! Mind if we join you?” Haroko asked as she removed her training garments, stripping herself naked. Her other friends did the same, which made Sakuragi blush even more.
“Err…Annou…Are you sure we’re supposed to do that…?” Sakuragi asked, lowering himself even more as he felt a serious nose bleed coming in.
“What are you so ashamed about?” Yuki asked as she stepped into the lake. “We’re women, aren’t we? What’s so embarrassing about that?”
“Don’t tell me your mother treasure you so much that she doesn’t even allow you to even bath with other girls now, does she?” Haroko asked.
“Err…Ie! Of course not…It’s just that—Yada~!!” Sakuragi’s words were cut short by a sudden squeeze by someone on his D-cup sized breasts. He looked up and saw that it was Yuki having her hands on them.
“Would you look at that, girls?! Her breasts are just humongous! Fabulous, Minako! Any girl would kill to have such big hunk of ‘mountains’! You are so going to render males breathless with these babies on you!”
“Hentai!! Hands off merchandise, will ya?!” Sakuragi growled as he stood up abruptly, covering his breasts with his hands. When he stood up, the girls stared at him even more with their eyes wider than usual.
“Check out that waistline!” Yuki muttered.
“Look at those arms and legs!” Fujii practically breathed the words out as she was just way too stunned to say anything.
“She really is a figure of perfection! Not only is she great in strength and stamina, she is great in figure as well!” Haroko said as her eyes trailed Sakuragi’s naked body from head to toe. “Any man would die to marry a girl like you! You gotta tell us your secret! How did you get such a perfect figure and still maintain an all-rounder?”
Sakuragi was at lost of words. He didn’t know what to say. Sure, he can say that he had inherited the strength and stuff from his mother and all, but he couldn’t just tell them that his perfectly shaped body was a gift from a magical bronze cat who so happens to hold candles for his ancestral pagoda. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. Finally, as a last resort, he pointed, “It’s easy! ‘Coz…’Coz I’m a tensai, that’s why!! Nya ha ha ha ha~!! Only a tensai can have such a great figure as I do! Nya ha ha ha ha ha~!!!”
The girls giggled and protested playfully at Sakuragi who was able to worm his way out of this awkward situation. As the ever gullible guy he was, Sakuragi soon forgot about how awkward it was to be around naked girls and was soon splashing water at each other. When they got tired of fooling around, Haroko suddenly gave Sakuragi a sly look and said, “Minako, admit it. You came to this training camp for a reason, didn’t you?”
“A-re…? What…do you mean?” Sakuragi let out a sweat drop. Oh no, has he been found out?
“Yeah, I can see that your intention is not to fight for the war,” Fujii agreed, pointing naughtily at him.
“I bet you’re here because you want to be with that Captain Rukawa Kaede!” Yuki chided.
“Na…Nani?! That kitsune?!” Sakuragi was shocked. “What does that have to do with that baka kitsune?!”
“Don’t try to worm your way out of this one, Minako!” Haroko said, grinning. “I can see the way you two bicker at each other so much like school children. You like Captain Rukawa, don’t you? Admit it!”
“Me?! No way! Not in a million years would I associate myself with that baka kitsune!! What makes you think I like him?! He’s obnoxious and vile and conceited and cold and unconcerned and unfair and…”
“And nice and sweet because he pays more attention to you than to us,” Fujii said. “Haven’t you realized that he treats you more harshly than the other girls in camp? This goes to show that he cares more for you.”
Sakuragi was speechless for a moment there. Could it be? The baka kitsune did favour to fight with him more than he wishes to fight the others, and he was given more work than the other girls put together, but that couldn’t mean…could it? Sakuragi looked away and muttered, “Ba…Baka! I would never like that baka kitsune even if my life depended on it! I’m done now. Sayonara!”
He could hear his female gundam giggling naughtily behind him as he slowly left the lake, draping the towel over his naked, wet body. Obviously, they didn’t seem to buy his excuse.
“You gotta be kidding me, Hikoichi.”
“No, I am not. Your women are not fit to go out for war.”
Sakuragi has just finished dressing up after the bath into his nightgown Mido has got for him using magic and was passing by Hikoichi’s tent when he heard Rukawa and the Queen’s counselor arguing with each other.
“I tell you, my soldiers have worked hard and trained hard for this war. You’ve seen their progress and all. I strongly believe that they are ready,” Rukawa was making his point with his usual cold voice but Sakuragi could hear the slight anger in his tone.
“Your women are not as prepared as the women who had trained years and years throughout their whole lives for battle,” Hikoichi argued. “Especially that redhead! She is no fighting material! If I were her mother, I would be embarrassed by such ill and weak performance she’s putting up!”
“Don’t you dare say anything rash about her,” Rukawa’s voice seemed to tense a little. “She is doing far better than the rest of the girls put together and she is of the right strength and built. Besides, I am the captain around here and I have the authority to say who’s good and who’s not.”
“Hait, you may be the captain but I am the Queen’s counselor,” Hikoichi stressed his status haughtily. “I’ve seen better people train their troops and turn out so much better than your juvenile delinquents, and they are women, not men. Besides, I got the job on my own and not by some help from their general okasan. When she looks at my report, I’ll be seeing you all off and back to your hometown within seconds. Konbanwa.”
By Hikoichi’s gesture out of the tent door, Rukawa could see that this haughty Queen’s counselor has made up his mind. He let out a sigh and walked out of the tent. His blue eyes met Sakuragi’s copper-brown eyes for a second there, but he was not in a mood for arguments right now. He just walked past the redhead without a word.
“You know, I can give him a head-butt if you want,” Sakuragi suddenly found himself saying to the kitsune captain. Rukawa stopped in his tracks, standing with his back facing him without a word. As our redhead stared at Rukawa, he somehow felt a little sorry for him, especially when he did give him a good word or two to Hikoichi even though he had been lashing his tongue at him since the day he came to camp. He didn’t know why but he couldn’t help feeling that Rukawa had suffered much more than he and the girls had.
“I…uh…well, for what it’s worth, kitsune…” Sakuragi hesitated before blurting out, “I…uh…I think you’re a good captain. Yeah, you are a good captain, although you’re still no match for a tensai like me but…you’re good.”
After quite a long silence, Rukawa turned around to face Sakuragi. He expected the captain to glare at him with his cold blue eyes giving him that Who-are-you-kidding look, but instead, the captain looked at him with a pair of blue eyes a trace of…gratitude?
“Arigatogozaimas, Minako,” Rukawa said briefly before moving away towards his tent. The redhead Sakuragi stared after him until he has entirely entered the tent. He had never seen this side of Rukawa before. It wasn’t the usual cold eyes he came to know. It was a pair of genuine thankful eyes, as if he was truly grateful for Sakuragi to say a good word about him. He even called him ‘Minako’ instead of his full (but fake) name ‘Sakuragi Minako’. Sakuragi has unexpectedly become mesmerized by those eyes. He didn’t know why. If Mido had held a mirror in front of him, he would have noticed that his copper-brown eyes were in a dreamy state.
“I see where you’re going here, Master Hanamichi,” Mido’s voice suddenly came out of nowhere, bringing Sakuragi back to his senses.
“Huh? Nani?” Sakuragi asked, his eyes switched from the dreamy state to his innocent state.
“Don’t you play dumb with me, Master Hanamichi! I can see what’s going on here! You like him, don’t you? Admit it!” Mido said with a mischievous grin on his face the exact way Haroko did when she teased Sakuragi.
“Nani?! Me?! You’re crazy! I wouldn’t like that baka kitsune in a million years!! No way!!!” Sakuragi blushed again as red as his own hair, his heart suddenly beating about 5 times its rate—more than when he did his trainings.
“Uh-huh. Yeah, right. Your Mom was right when she did her daily prayers; you are a gay! No wonder you’re still single. Now go to your tent, young man!”
Sakuragi unexpectedly did as he was told without further arguments. Were his girlfriends right? Was Mido right? Was he really starting to actually like the cold kitsune captain? Was he actually enjoying his squabbles and quarrels with that kitsune and doing it just because he wanted to get his attention and to stare into that icy cold blue eyes he hated yet loved so much? Have Sakuragi’s feelings for Rukawa actually changed after hearing his argument with Hikoichi and the way he looked at him when Sakuragi complemented him? Is this really how…love feels like?
Before he went away to his tent, he took one last look at Rukawa’s tent and smiled.
The night in the forests of Gaia was quite silent as the women in the camp dropped off to sleep one by one. Hikoichi had waited until the women have gone off to bed before rushing over to the lake to take his bath. And while he’s away from his tent, ours truly Mido the cat and Noma the mynah were getting busy.
“I’ve worked so hard to put Master Hanamichi to this war and I’m not going to let some posh Queen’s counselor ruin it for his own benefits!”
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