Of Her Nature V

Gojyo woke up and slid from between the covers. He looked for his silk boxers and slid them on. He walked across the room and sat in a chair. His crimson gaze found a sleeping Scarlet. The various shades of red seemed to all compliment each other. As he scanned her shape, his hands sought out his cigarettes and he lit one.

As the acidic smoke entered and left his lungs, he noticed she’d poked one foot out from under the covers. Her small creamy skin looked like a pearl on velvet. Her foot looked so tiny surrounded by the bunched up covers.

He saw her softly stir and she slid a hand out feeling for where he should have been laying.

She patted the mattress and slid her hand up and down.

“I’m still here.” He softly purred through the darkness.

She sa and and blinked her eyes open.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I’m not the best sleeper.” He supposed that was from one to many midnight demon attacks.

She groggily spoke, “Nah, you didn’t wake me.” Your absence woke me. “Whatcha thinking about?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yep.”

“What about me? Why should I dominate your thoughts?” She smiled demurely.

Why shouldn’t you. “I’m baffled by something.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t seem to understand why you are so proud of your birth, and I’m so bothered by mine.”

Her eyes grew wide. “You think I’m proud of my birth?”

“Well, in my old place, I don’t think I had a single thing that was red. Your parents named you Scarlet, they must have really loved each other.”

Scarlet trembled and bit her lips closed. She squeezed her eyes shut and then took in a deep long breath. “Gojyo, what have you been told about my birth?” She felt shame and tears well up behind her eyes.

Gojyo crushed out his cigarette and moved over to sit on the bed, “Nothing…..why?”

Scarlet glanced at him and them looked away. “I’m not proud of my birth, far from it.” She tried to find composure in her breath and ran a hand through her hair.

“I don’t understand.”

She patted his leg and took in another deep breath. “Gojyo, my parents didn’t name me Scarlet and they didn’t love each other.” Her eyes sought out strength on the ceiling, “I was conceived in violence. I am a child of rape.” She closed her eyes.

Gojyo looked at her. He had no idea what to say. He put an arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him.

She sighed again, “My mother drank --- a lot. She got violent when she drank.” She sat up and wrung her hands. “Well… to make a long story short. She tried to kill me. I don’t wonder why. I escaped. Jorja found me on the auction block and saved me.” She finished quickly and matter-of-factly. She hadn’t thought about this in a long time and had no desire to irritate her wounds.

“Auction block? Slavers?”

She huffed, “Yeah, the kind that specialize in little girls.”

“Man, is that still going on?”

“Yep, more than one might think.” She took in a deep breath, “So, you can hardly say I’m proud of my birth.”

“So why the name change and why the …decorations?”

She shrugged, “It’s my mark. It’s my stain. I never want to forget why we fight.”

He gently squeezed her hand. Her words hit him closer than she knew. He scanned her face and he knew. He knew that deep down they were very much the same. They just expressed it erenerently. He hid behind humor and she hid behind strength.

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her skin. “Ya, hungry?”

She offered a half-smile, “Yeah.”

They stepped into the hallway and Gojyo looked in the direction of the infirmary. “You head on down. I’m gonna check on Hakkai.”

Scarlet nodded.

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