When the light of dawn came, it fell upon Akiko and Gengyo’s faces. They had fallen asleep with their backs against the old barrack walls, resting in each other’s arms. The brightness quickly caused them to stir and they rubbed their eyes, throwing off their sleepiness.
"Good morning," Akiko said with a gentle smile.
"Good morning," Gengyo replied back, grinning at her.
It was difficult to force themselves towards movement. The morning air was cold and bracing. Dewdrops coated the grass around them and glistened on their clothes. If not for the heat of each other’s bodies, it would have been a chilly night indeed.
"It will not be long till winter is upon us," Gengyo commented, smelling the autumn air. It was a nostalgic scent for him.
"Mm... A warm fire to sit by, with snow on the ground – it’s my favourite season," Akiko said back. "But we’ll still be busy come winter, won’t we?"
"I’m not sure," Gengyo said honestly. "It seems likely. That does not mean we can’t take the time to enjoy the season, even if our snow ends up red instead of white."
"Mm..." Akiko kept closing her eyes, about to drop back to sleep at any moment. "Pull me up," she begged.
"To do that, I’d need to stand up myself," Gengyo said quietly, unwilling to move out from their little nest.
"Pleaseeeeeee," she said again.
"Gah..." Gengyo hefted himself lazily to his feet. He almost cried out when he felt the stiffness in his legs, but he did his duty and grabbed Akiko’s soft hand to pull her easily to her feet.
"My hero," she said jokingly, looking deep into his eyes with her gentle look. They spent a few long moments looking at each other, their hearts filled with love. "Look, they’ve lit a fire. Shall we go and steal the heat?" She said finally.
"Absolutely," Gengyo affirmed without hesitation.
Around the fire, they found their exhausted comrades, huddled over a tiny flame, begging the wet wood to catch and give off better heat. "Morning," Gengyo said, as he sat down on the damp log beside them.
"Oh," Morohira said mildly, looking up at him, barely comprehending who he was looking at, his eyes heavy with tiredness. He had a woollen blanket over his shoulders and he shivered under it, his teeth chattering.
"Rough night?" Gengyo asked to the others when his father’s conversation died so quickly. Only Jikouji, Morohira and Rokkaku had made their way to the fire, the rest were nowhere to be seen.
"The worst," Jikouji affirmed, "I have never slept so poorly in my life." He looked ten years older as he grasped his cup of tea in his hand, drawing whatever he could from its tiny heat. "Rats drove me outside first, then these two joined me. Didn’t manage to sleep a wink, far too cold."
"I went to the second floor of that shitty barracks, and some poor sod fell through the floorboards right next to me – broke a leg he did. That was enough to get me outside," Rokkaku said, appearing so tired that he looked sickly.
One of the captains came over with a pot of oil as they shared their tired conversations. He poured it straight onto the fire without too much thought and the flame nearly tripled in size, burning with an angry growl. The wet wood soon took. A cheer met his actions, and other men began to gather around.
"Any news from the scouts?" Gengyo asked, beginning to wake up a little more.
"We can see their banners from here – they haven’t moved yet. Can’t say I blame them. This is winter weather this is, a man should be curled up under a blanket by a fire, waiting it out till summer," Jikouji said back.
"Now that we agree on," Rokkaku seconded. "If you ask me, us humans aren’t as clever as we think. The squirrels and the bears have got it right, this is the weather that you want to hibernate through."
"Listen to all of you complaining," Akiko teased, "it’s barely autumn weather yet and you’re already acting like the world has frozen over."
Rokkaku leaned closer to the fire and shot her a dry look. "You have the boss to keep you warm – he must be hotter than this fire if he’s got you in such a good mood."
It was such a light jab, yet it was enough to make Akiko blush and she struggled for a counter-argument. It was Rin that rescued her. "Shut up, Rokkaku, if you weren’t so ugly you’d have someone to curl up next to as well."
"Guh, there she is, loud mouth," Morohira complained, covering his ears, too tired to deal with his own daughter.
"Is he joking?" Rin asked, looking to Akiko. "How can he call me loud mouth when he never knows when to shut up?"
"I think we might have found his weakness," Akiko suggested.
"I will be taking notes on this," Rin assured her with an evil grin.
"Am I right in guessing that you slept well, little sister?" Gengyo asked, before Rin could detail her torture plan any further.
"Of course she did," Rokkaku jumped in, "she took all the blankets for herself. There were five really fluffy things and she threatened everyone until she took them all for her. Bet she slept like a princess."
Somehow, that did not surprise Gengyo in the least.
"Well, I deserve it," Rin said defensively. "A bad night’s sleep would ruin my fine features. Without my beauty to motivate them, how do you expect the men to fight at their best?"
"You could go at the back and scare them forward," Rokkaku suggested innocently.
"Ha...ha..." Dry laughter and a murderous look were enough to quiet him. Even Gengyo got shivers when his little sister grew angry.
"Well, it’s reassuring to know that we’re all in perfect fighting condition," Gengyo said sardonically, pouring a drink of tea for himself.
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