Page 35 of Taken to Nobu
Okkari exhales just a little and he glances to Kuana. I wonder if he’s as grateful as I am not to be looking at me anymore. “Provide the status of her okami, Kuana.”
Kuana scuttles to a supply pile not dismantled quite yet and pulls out a carefully wrapped package from among the rest. “Her okami is ready, Okkari. Gi handstitched it herself over the previous solar.”
“Xhivey.” He turns to me. “Kuana will provide adequate clothing for you and you will inform her if it requires any adjustments.”
“Oh…kay.”
“Xhivey. I will leave you now to change, then you will meet me just outside of this home.”
“Wait — the date starts now? Right now?”
He meets my gaze and I brace myself against its impact, more startling than any icefall and made more startling by the fact that, without colors rising in his ridged forehead, I have no idea what he’s thinking.Is he happy? Sad? In any way pleased by this?
“Hexa. The date begins now.” He makes it sound so ominous that, when he leaves, I find myself standing up slowly. I’m full of regret.Why did I tell him I’d try? I should have told the condescending brute to fuck off.
“Don’t worry, my Xhea, I’m sure the Okkari has prepared something to your liking.”
I grunt noncommittally as she helps me out of the lightweight, fur-lined tunic and trousers I’d been wearing and into something much, much stranger.
“What is this?” I ask as she pushes identical cuffs onto each of my arms. The first two cover me from shoulder to elbow, the next two from elbow to wrist. She attaches another strip of fur over my back, and a form-fitting, fur-lined breastplate to my front. Equally strange pieces fasten over my legs and hips and ass and the whole strange contraption is finally tied together with an elaborate series of buckles, similar to the ones worn by Okkari.
“This is your okami,” she says as she works. She has a little smile on her face.
My eyes narrow. “You know where he’s taking me, don’t you?”
“Nox. I have not been informed about thisdate,” she says, mispronouncing it just as badly as the Okkari did.
I tut. “Dates are weird. I never liked going on them on the human colony. Dresses and little useless presents and all that. Sharing a meal together and making awkward conversation. The boys on the colony used to try with me, but I never enjoyed it, so the Okkari shouldn’t get his hopes up. You shouldn’t either,” I pout petulantly, threats as grand as they are empty.
“Nox. I have not been told anything of yourdate, but I do know what an okami is and there is only one use for it and if I am correct, then I do believe you will find this date to your liking.”
“What is an okami?” I ask when she doesn’t say more. “Hmm?”
“I…do not wish to interfere with the Okkari’s plans.” She chooses her words very carefully as she speaks and I know her sense of honor is strong, something to be abused —but only if I were capable of it. I’m suddenly acutely aware that I could do Kuana no harm.
“I could order you to tell me, couldn’t I?”
She nods. “Certainly. You would not need to order. If you would truly like to know, Icantell you…but I would prefer to allow the Okkari such an honor, since it is his date that he has planned to honor you.”
I huff audibly —theatrically. “Fine. Is this enough?” I ask when she steps back to observe her work.
“The okami allows for maximum flexibility in these low temperatures, but to arrive at the caves, you will perhaps need an additional fur.” She releases hers and tosses it around me, tying it securely in place with a knot at the center of my chest, somewhere in the space over my madly thumping heart.
Something about the act touches me on a deep, fundamental level as I watch her green features scrunch up in concentration.She’s giving me her clothes so that I’ll be warm.I look away just as she finishes and step up to the door, pulling a pair of thin, untanned leather gloves onto my hands.
Just before I leave, I mutter, “Thank you, Kuana.”
I don’t look back. I don’t need to look back to know her forehead is orange again.Pride. She deserves every ounce of it. “You’re welcome, Xhea.”
And as I brace for the cold world outside of the doorway, it occurs to me that I forgot to correct her when she called me Xhea…
The Okkari tilts his head while a fierce wind whips between us. Flurries of cold white scar my cheeks with heat while a fresh heat scars my insides. I swallow hard, pulling Kuana’s fur up higher around my face and head. Okkari has no such cover, so the cold white just sticks to his dark hair, which spins around him, threads in the wind, begging to be touched.To be pulled.
“It is only a few dozen paces from here to the cave. You will tell me if the okami prepared for you is adequate.”
“It is,” I say automatically, though I won’t know until we start walking and the cold sinks in — that is, if the cold manages to permeate my wildly climbing body temperature.
“Xhivey. Then we go now. You will follow me and stay close.”
