Gloria Oliver by In Service Of Samurai Read Free Book Online

“Talk to me!”
    He cringed as he felt her tentatively tug at his blanket. “Nothing is wrong,” he insisted. “Please, just go away.”
    “I won’t leave until I find out what’s wrong with you. If you persist in keeping me ignorant, you’ll find I can be a very stubborn woman when I feel like it.” A more forceful tug threatened to remove the blanket from his grasp.
    “Please, Miko-san,” he said as he struggled to keep hold.
    “No.” The calm answer told him she was, indeed, serious.
    “I’m all right. Really,” he said. “I’m just tired and wish to sleep.”
    “Let me see you.”
    “Miko-san, I told you—”
    “Toshiro, do as I say!”
    Embarrassed that she was there, that she’d come when he was like this, yet at the same time grateful she seemed to care, he sat up and pulled his blanket away from his face; but he did so with his back to her.
    “Now, turn around so I can see you,” she said.
    “Please, Miko-san—”
    “Do it.”
    With a sigh, he slowly turned and stared at the floor. He heard Miko gasp as she noticed his puffed eyes, his pale face and, most embarrassing, the grime covering his shirt. He turned away again, too ashamed of his present condition. “It’s nothing, just like I said. I’ve heard of this before,” he rushed to explain. “Captain Valez told me of it. I’m suffering from seasickness.”
    And, yes, the captain had told him of it, but he had dismissed it. On the gaijin’s large ship he had barely felt the waves as they passed beneath. On their ship, there had never been much of a chance for him to feel seasick.
    He hoped with all his might that the geisha knew nothing of it. At least, not enough to realize his puffed eyes weren’t a part of it, not enough to realize he’d been crying.
    “Oh, yes, that,” she said in a dawning tone. “I’d forgotten. It was so long ago. It will pass, Toshi-kun.”
    He tried to keep his stubborn stomach’s disbelief from showing on his face.
    “It will pass,” she insisted. “It did for us. Many of us had never been on a ship before we set out with Lord Asaka. We were ill for many days, but we got better. Asaka-sama was the worst afflicted of us all.”
    He glanced back at her despite himself, and did so just in time to see her hide her mask’s smile behind her sleeve.
    “It was a great blow to his manly image,” she added. “I teased him about it constantly for days.”
    He forgot his swirling stomach and puffed eyes for a moment as he stared at Miko in shock. “And he didn’t kill you?”
    “Oh, my goodness, no.” She swept the thought away with her sleeve. “He keeps me around for just this sort of thing. It helps keep him humble. He’s told me many a time I’m unlike any woman he has ever known. I like to think he means it as a compliment.”
    He shook his head and turned away, somehow doubting Asaka would ever be capable of complimenting anyone.
    “I’ll go find some clothes for you so yours can be washed,” Miko said. “Will you try sipping some tea while I’m gone? It might soothe your stomach a little.”
    He remained where he was until she had gone. He was grateful she would be getting him some clean clothes, but what he craved was a bath. Forcing himself to get up, he made his way to the small table across the room. Ignoring the food waiting there and the faint scent that made his stomach flip, he poured a half-cup of tea. He retreated back to his corner and sipped as he waited for the geisha to return.
    His first sip landed like a rock in his stomach. As it cramped, he forced himself to take another. Trying to keep both of them down, he took a third and a fourth. He clamped his mouth shut, expecting the worst, but his stomach quieted. He’d finished off most of his tea by the time Miko returned.
    “These will be a little large on you, Toshi-kun.” She set the folded clothes down by his side. “If you like, I might be able to prepare some hot water later for you to use to clean