CHI NO TORA/BLOOD OF TIGER.SAIGO NO BUBUN/LAST PART

"GOD help me"
My prayer feels as though headed high to the heavens above,feeling very much heard now I focus onto there fading cries as The Warrior slashes into the other tigers.
I hear KIko scream and Tennami grunt in pain from trying to drag her back to the large tree root hole that The Warrior put them in.I feel it somehow,the blood coursing down my back and chest as though I had been gashed but I feel myself finding no real moisture.

"No, that doesn't matter,save these innocent girls,hurry Sakura!"
After encouraging myself I focus again on there voices and try to bring them out of the tiger somehow,they are woven in to the other spirits and blood of the other victims,they which would easily throw in a mother and child to such creatures are those I don't care to save though I try anyway,I was not made to be there judge.

My whole body seems to writhe,I hold on to my prayer and to my locket for all my life trying to use it to focus my will on like Grandmother said to.

''I want these people free,for us to make it safe out of here...."


"Awake child."
Huh?
My eyes open and they groggily take in what is around me,it makes me start then collapse backwards from sheer pain,I realize I am on a fluffy straw mat and in a small barn like room.My eyes flit around again while my body tells me in capital letters to stay still or else I will cry again.
''Where am I?Who are....wait..."
It is her.
The woman that was devoured by one of the blood of tiger.
She smiles,that mothers smile on" A deed done good from a youth".kind of smile.
"I do not know nor care to know how,You were a gift from the maker of heaven so that is all i need to know."
The woman crouches low behind me and helps me to rise slowly,I see my school uniform in the corner completely soaked in blood and dirt.I check in my shirt and find no harm to my person and am confused but grateful.

Thank you GOD.
"I will help you to dress in one of my better kimonos child,You join us with the others,My sister and I prepared a modest feast as the best of thanks we have to offer,my daughter even made you a small token."

I try to wave in the negative,I just wanted to help them not to take such fine things from anyone but I should have known better.

Minutes later she leaves after helping me dress,I rise and walk a bit like a duck from all the pain my body feels,even my shoulder hurts less and is freshly bandaged.My feet unsteadily steps outside to breathe in the fresh dewy morning air and see something unexpected.

The Warrior crouched by the very door step,sound asleep.I walk back in and fetch the blanket I had,gently trying to wrap it around his broad shoulders,finding his mask askew I gently try to place it back.
He awakens.
His vibrant,unique green eyes are barely visible and he does not seem fully aware he is awake but they stay steady on mine though and he tilts his head onto my hand that is on his shoulder and whispers softly.
"You can't keep dying on me over and over again Itoshi hito....."
My hand won't move even though my heart in equal parts will not settle nor will it ,I think ,ever feel so much affection towards it.He falls back to sleep and I have as much desire to move away from this spot as one would from a perfect sunrise,that which also passes on and over us slowly and somehow also just as affectionate as his words,though confusing as they are.

All the rest of the day,after the fine,large meal that was prepared was consumed.
After the stories were told in detail and the thanks given and taken from the women and the gentle gift of a flower and straw doll was given to me.
After all of us being taken discreetly on one of there wagon like contraptions, I watched them and waved at them happy  they survived,happy that those evil men were taken by the shinsengumi when The Warrior tied them up and left them there with the dead blood of tiger corpses beside them.
He even used there blood to write the kanji for "MURDERERS''  to make it known to whoever caught them. 
After all that though all my mind will focus on is the words of the Warrior towards me and the way he held my hand and rested so safely by it.

"You can't keep dying on me over and over again Itoshi hito..."

How am I,a stranger,your beloved person?