"Hearn,.Lian.-.Otori.02.-.Grass.For.His.Pillow.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hearn Lian)

“I did not expect to live.” Remembering her skill and her ruth-
lessness, I added, “I owe you a huge debt. I can never repay you.”

She smiled. “I was repaying debts of my own. You owe me
nothing. But I hope we will be friends.”

The word did not seem strong enough to describe what we already
were. She had brought Shigeru’s sword, Jato, to me and had
helped me in his rescue and revenge: the most important and most
desperate acts of my life. I was filled with gratitude for her, mingled
with admiration.

She disappeared for a moment and came back with water. I
washed my feet, listening to the two masters talking within the
house. They planned to rest for a few hours, then I would travel on
with Ko-taro. I shook my head wearily. I was tired of listening.

“Come,” she said, and led me into the center of the house, where,
as in Inuyama, there was a concealed room as narrow as an eel’s
bed.

“Am I a prisoner again?” I said, looking around at the window-less
walls.

“No, it’s only for your own safety, to rest for a few hours. Then you
will travel on.”

Jo

“I know; I heard.”

“Of course,” she said. “I forgot: You hear everything.”

“Too much,” I said, sitting down on the mattress that was already
spread out on the floor.

“Gifts are hard. But it’s better to have them than not. I’ll get you
some food, and tea is ready.”

She came back in a few moments. I drank the tea but could not
face food. “There’s no hot water to bathe,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll live.” Twice already she had bathed me. Once here, in
Yamagata, when I did not know who she was and she had
scrubbed my back and massaged my temples, and then again in
Inuyama, when I could barely walk. The memory came flooding
over me. Her gaze met mine, and I knew she was thinking of the
same thing. Then she looked away and said quietly, “I’ll leave you
to sleep.”