In Her Eyes:
It was the Dutchman’s fault,
she figured. If he hadn’t confessed about his sexual preferences and how much
he enjoyed being in the company of men, she would never have had to deal with
these persistent thoughts which continued to run through her mind. At first she
had thought,
All foreigners are strange in the head.
But that thought took a
complete 360 and became,
Some men
are just strange in the head.
However, she had to assume
that it was all right. If you loved someone well enough whether it be a woman
or man in this case, then it shouldn’t really matter. Not that she would ever
contemplate or entertain the thought of seeing two men doing that together.
Urgh. Too much.
She shook her head and kicked
at a pebble on the ground. It was strange – to think that people would be
persecuted for their sexual preferences. She tried to remember what he had said
when telling his story.
How alone he had been. How he
had been looked down on – considered an outcast. Until he found the book
written by some Japanese scholar called Iharu Saikuku. She idly wondered if
that book Danshoku Ookagami was in
any bookstore (since they had passed several during their journey) but she
doubted it. No one would be able to sell such a book in public without being ridiculed…right?
Seriously though, things were
really beginning to change in
Of course it could be so easy
to say,
No, Dutch-man san. Japanese men are not like that.
They are proud and noble. They don’t have time to sleep around with other men.
We’ve got lots of brothels to take care of their sexual urges…
Too many if you ask me, she added as an after thought while pouting. She had
spent one too many nights in those kinds of places but had managed to escape
each time. Thank goodness.
Anyway,
She stretched her arms above
her head and turned her face to the sun with a small smile on her lips now.
It wasn’t really her business
what other men wished to do with amongst themselves. She didn’t really care to
know anyway. If they loved each other and wanted to be together, then it was
fine with her…wait a minute.
Two men…close together…
What had that Dutchman said
again?
/In the path of homosexuality, there is something that
is similar to Bushido…and since Bushido is built on a strong relationship
between a group of men excluding women…/
Could it be that he had experienced something like that
before? After all, he had been raised in a dojo with only men.
No way!
“Eh?” the wild one with the
bushy hair asked warily, while cleaning his ear with a finger. “What are you
looking at?” He flicked the dirt he had accumulated to the ground and then
began to work on the other ear. “What’s with that look on your face?”
“You’ve been lost in deep
thought for a while,” the quieter one added – he being the current subject of
her worried musing. “Is there something wrong?”
“Ah…eh…no, no, no!” she said,
laughing nervously as she spun around again to lead the way. “To
And she knew she was
rambling, but was grateful for the fading daylight which hid the dark blush
that stained her cheeks.
No, she was sure that they
weren’t like that. They could barely stand each other even now and only
remained civil enough because of her intervention.
She failed to notice the look
the two men exchanged behind her back – puzzled but willing to accept it as one
of her many quirks and nuances.
She stretched again and this
time walked with a little more spring in her step. No, there was definitely
nothing wrong with having feelings for another man. She just didn’t want her men to start having those feelings for
each other.
For you see, Fuu was a rather
jealous young lady and wanted to keep both Mugen and Jin by her side always –
or at least until they reached their destination. And once they do go their
separate ways, she hoped that they would continue to remain in each other’s
hearts for as long as they lived.
Although, she still prayed
fervently that they would never meet another 'foreigner' again.
~Fin~
…