File 2.6 - Tempered Tenderness

In a side compartment of the ship, a tight room waited for them with more storage containers than shelves to fit them. The Captain and Sheila sat at one of the two tables in the room prepared for their arrival. When Shizuka came in looking like she had gone through a whipping, Captain Fin jumped up to his feet. He looked over at Edgar for an explanation. “Damn, Ed! I know she’s a handful, but ya don’t abuse her to keep her in line!”

“Woah, Cap’n!” Ed waved his arms to deny any involvement in Shizuka's injuries. “She did that by ‘erself! I tried tah stop ‘er!”

Sheila picked up Ed by his shirt getting his face. “We can’t hand her over to them like this! Start talkin’ right now!”

“Hey now! Like I said, she did it tah ‘erself!” Panic began to settle in for Ed trying to recall everything that happened. Most of the scene became a blur for him. It had all seemed random and sudden without a reason. “Look I dunno what happen’d! She was just shoutin’ sumthin’ an’ became violent! I tried tah stop ‘er when I saw ‘er hurtin’ ‘erself!” He looked over to Shizuka for some help. She simply turned her away in annoyance.

Sheila dropped him back down to the floor giving him enough of a push to send him on his butt. She turned away to quickly check on the wounds that Shizuka had taken. “Looks like scraps and burns from the restraints.” After a brief examination she tried to touch Shizuka’s dress to look more thorough, but Shizuka rebutted her. “Hey! Enough with the attitude!”

“Don’t touch me!” Shizuka backed away from all of them. She had no trust for them. Greed motivated their concerns for her. “Don’t any of you touch me! You’re just thinking about how my father won’t pay you because of how I look! You all make me sick! Innocent people died and all you’re thinking about is money!”

The three mercenaries looked around at each other taking a quiet moment. A little of what Shizuka had hurt to hear. The battle didn’t go unseen by them. However, Sheila reacted before the others did by slapping her. “What do ya think we could’ve done? This ship isn’t equipped for that sorta thing! The world ain’t so simple and we ain’t humanitarians! Ya should be grateful we came for ya!”

“What?!” Shizuka pushed up into Sheila’s face, provoked by her words. “Grateful?! How dare you…”

“Yeah! If we weren’t here ya would’ve been in that village and killed with everyone else!”

“What?! I-I… Y-you…” Shizuka backed away again thinking about the village. ‘I could’ve… It could’ve been…me…’ The thought of the village burning crawled through her mind. She bent over a little remembering everyone’s face, still clear from the morning she spoke to them. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks again.

Fin grabbed Sheila’s arm to get her attention. “That’s more than enough! She’s been through enough today already!”

“Tch! Yer being too soft on her, Cap’n!” The serious stare from her Captain calmed her down sharply. She knew to listen when he became that serious. Thinking with a cooler head, she stared down at Shizuka for a moment. “Ya two need to leave!”

“Huh?” squawked Ed, confused with Sheila seeming to go back to being angry just after the Captain yelled at her. He pushed himself back up to his feet and stood with the Captain. “I haven’t dun anythin’.”

Sheila became even more upset than before for Ed blockheadedness. “Do I have to explain it to ya?”

“Come on, Ed,” called Fin, already leaving the room. He grabbed Ed by his collar dragging him out. “Take care of her, Sheila!” Once out of the room he closed the doors behind him and stood in front like a guard.

Ed still had no clue what just happened. He got in front of the Captain wanting an explanation. “Ya just goin’ tah leave tha girl in there with Sheila?! She’s goin’ beat ‘er up!”

“No, it’s more like Sheila was gonna beat ya up!” Fin laughed out loud seeing that Ed still didn’t get it. A bit of amusement rose realizing how innocent Edgar remained on such matters. He reached out a hand placing it consolingly on his shoulder. “Women need their privacy, Ed!”

“Huh?”

Sheila focused back on Shizuka in the corner of the room between a couple of containers. She sighed to herself. “They’re gone now. So let’s treat those wounds of yours!” The lack of a response from her made Sheila approach her. She knelt down, staring at the young girl feeling a little guilt for yelling at her. ‘She’s taking it pretty hard…’ Sheila offered a hand out for Shizuka working on a gentler expression for her sake. “Come on, ya don’t want it to get an infection do ya?”

It took a bit to clearly see Sheila for Shizuka. There still remained hesitation, but the threatening feeling she gave off before seemed to be gone. With reluctance, she accepted the hand up. They walked back over to the table with the medic kit set up, appearing just as dirty as everything else on the ship.

“Take off your dress,” Sheila said casually, going through the kit box. The disinfectant and bandages laid out on the table prepared while she went back for a few more things. She glanced back at Shizuka for a moment seeing her still dressed. “We’re both women. No need to be shy.”

“But…”

“Do ya want to get an infection?”

“N-No…”

“Then off with the dress!”

Shizuka's cheeks turned red with embarrassment. The thought of someone she didn’t know seeing her naked continued to run through mind. She knew she couldn’t tend to everything herself, but she didn’t want it to be one of the mercenaries. More pressure came upon her from Sheila. The burning in her shoulder reminded her of the pain making the decision for her. She turned around away from Sheila hoping to keep herself protected a little.

Once the dirt filled dress came off it rested on the table. Shizuka kept her back to Sheila holding up her arms over her chest left only in her panties. Sheila had coarse hands making Shizuka stir a little whenever she touched her to clean the wounds. The bandages wrapped around chest and shoulder as well as her waist covering up nearly all of her upper torso. A few more fixed up her arms. The overall appearance made her seem worse off. “All done!”

Most of the pain had finally passed for Shizuka. She felt a bit like a mummy with so many bandages, but the locations of her injuries made it difficult to wrap. Her hand lifted towards her shoulder, testing it out a little. Shizuka hesitated before turning around to look up at Sheila. She looked away feeling a little uncomfortable. “Umm…thank you…”

“So ya can be nice,” she teased, “Ya should put yer dress back on. Ed’d probably faint knowin’ how much of a baby he is still.”

Shizuka grinned a bit and released a small laugh. She pulled up her dress, staring at it for a moment. The blood that stained the inner side had soaked partially through. ‘I’ll need to clean it…the mayor gave it to me…’ With no further thoughts, she slipped back into the dress and fixed it back into place where it got stuck.

“Girl’s got a lot of spirit, Ed,” Fin said, looking a bit nostalgic.

Edgar gave the Captain a crooked look up from the wall he leaned against. “She’s trouble…”

The Captain laughed a bit to himself. “Reminds me of my first wife!”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be! I loved that fire in her! Makes things more interestin’!”

“I guess… Are all Northerners like that?”

Fin paused to consider the question. He remembered that Ed had limited experience beyond Antarctica. Most of the time, he remained on the ship or only met with port crew. The impression that Shizuka left on Edgar made Fin careful about his words. “Some probably are, but that’s how it’s with anyone. I suspect her attitude lies with deeper reasons than a different environment than ours.”

A long silence came from Edgar as his mind sorted through thoughts. His previous conversations with Shizuka echoed through him. “I can’t ‘magine anyone not wantin’ tah see their dad. Ain’t right!”

The Captain looked up at the ceiling as he spoke, “Families fight… It’s sad for someone so young though.”

“If I could…” Ed turned away slamming his fist against the metal wall. He closed his eyes trying to push back the memories and emotions that followed. “…I’d…”

“He was a good man, Ed...”

The doors to the mess room opened up revealing Sheila and Shizuka behind her. “We’re all done!” Sheila pulled Shizuka forward to hand her back off to Ed. “Ya don’t go doin’ anything crazy again, alright?”

Shizuka held a more demure appearance, politely nodding to Sheila. “…yeah…” She stepped up next to Ed not making direct eye contact with him, but waiting in silence. The air about her had both the Captain and Ed confused.

“Where’d ya put the real one?” asked Ed, not believing how the girl changed so much in a short amount of time.

Sheila giggled a bit, holding a knowing look. “We’ve just came to an understandin’. Simple as that.”

“Huh?”

The dumb confused look on Ed holding them up gave the time for Shizuka to shift back. She didn’t feel comfortable standing around with him just staring at her. A sharp prickly attitude surfaced from her glancing briefly at him while trying to keep directed away. “You coming? I thought you were my jailor?”

“Seems ya still have a long ways to go, kid!” teased Sheila.