Chapter 7

The little thief

The daily visits to the temple became Mai’s routine. She found it refreshing. She would walk and joke with Shinji. The young samurai was annoying at times, but was a good buddy. Thankfully, he was able to get rid of his habit of blushing every time Mai spoke to him. The days were quite peaceful. Shinji was slaving to get the temple clean. Mai was conversing with the priest or ventured on a little excursions to the village and to nearby meadow. The view was indeed breathtaking. Mai had never seen such vivid green.

This time, Mai peeked carefully and saw Shinji cleaning the statue of Buddha. She made silently her way to the exit and went to see, what was happening in the village. Unfortunately, she didn’t manage to conceal her identity from the villagers. Her kimono was plain navy blue, but made of fine fabric. And of course the hair reaching her knees. It was obvious, that only a princess could have such hair. The peasants were treating her friendly, but with reverence, always careful not to disrespect her. Mai wished, she could cut the damn hair. It would be easier to walk and she would look more like herself. However, if she was going to be fake princess, she couldn’t do it.

Mai stopped by the market to buy some apples. Her stomach started demanding food loudly. The woman selling fruit smiled at her cheerfully.

“Are you hungry, my lady? The peaches are very tasty today!”

“Actually, I wanted apples…” muttered Mai, as the woman was already packing peaches in a fabric bag along with apples and a couple of dried plums. Mai reached for a pocket in her sleeve to take out money and pay the woman for the fruit.

“It’s for free!” the fruit seller declined money. “I wouldn’t take a single coin from the Amayami-hime!”

“Look…” started Mai. “I have a lot of these and you are earning your living by selling fruit. Take the money already and buy something for your kids!”

Mai shoved coins in the woman’s hand, who stared at her with wide eyes. Eventually she accepted, smiling thankfully and offered a discount for the next time.

Mai took an apple from the bag and started eating. It tasted completely different than apples in her time. It was more juicy and the flavor of the fruit was strong. Generally, the food here was better than in 21th century. And the air was cleaner than back in Tokyo. Perhaps Mai would use a little vacation here. A couple of weeks won’t hurt, will they? Taking another bite, Mai made her way towards the temple

Mai was so deep in thought, she didn’t really notice the commotion behind her.

“Thief! Catch the thief!” yelled some men.

As she turned her head to see what was going on, a small shape darted past her. The apple slipped out of Mai’s hand and the girl inwardly cursed as she saw her lunch laying in dirt. Then the group of pursuers ran past her and Mai struggled to keep herself on the feet.

“Idiots.” she mumbled and stalked in the direction, where the men went. Anyway, it was the same direction, she was heading.

She heard the group of men shouting curses and threats, as they gathered in a circle. The thief, they were pursuing, was presumably in the middle of it. Beside her, there were a couple onlookers standing. The men were beating the thief.

“Maybe it’s a criminal,” – thought Mai – “but they are going to kill the man”. She looked around, but no one was about to intervene. She took a deep breath and rushed forward.

“What is going on here?” she demanded, shoving the two big peasants aside. Mai gasped, when she saw the actual criminal.

A little girl, not older than eight years old, was trying to shield herself with her arms from the attackers. She had ruffled black hair with a little ponytail on the one side and wore orange kimono of rather fine fabric. Mai could feel anger boiling in her.

“Are you insane?!” she shouted at the men, pushing herself between them and the girl. “How could you beat a little child? And you are calling yourself men?!”

“Move aside, woman!” ordered one of the pursuers.

Mai glared at him furiously, standing her ground. No way, she would let them beat up this girl. The man rushed towards Mai, but his companions grabbed him and started dragging him back.

“You fool!” shouted somebody from the crowd. “Don’t you know who she is? You will get executed!”

The attackers weren’t so eager anymore to beat the little thief. They must have known better than to attack the princess. Mai send them one more angry glare and leaned over the girl. She patted her back to calm her.

“It’s all right now, I won’t let them hurt you.” she said gently to the kid. Girl lifted her head to look at Mai. She glanced hopefully with big chocolate eyes. “God, she has the best puppy-eyes, I have ever seen.” – Mai thought.

Mai stood up and looked at the crowd. They were still standing there, as if they had nothing better to do. One of the men stepped out.

“It’s a thief, you are protecting, she stole from my stall!” the man said angrily, spitting on the ground. Mai couldn’t believe, that such innocent-looking child would be a thief, but decided not to argue. She sighed and reached to her pocket.

“Here you go. It should be more than enough.” she said giving him three golden coins. “Now let’s forget about the whole mess. The show is over!”

The village people started to return to their daily routine. Mai kneeled in front of girl and examined her. She seemed to be okay, bruises a most.

“It’s not right to steal from people, you know?” she asked the kid. The girl stared at her feet.

“I was hungry.” she said quietly. Mai felt pity for this child. She fished an apple from her bag and gave the girl. The child stared at apple and then at Mai, unsure whether to accept the fruit.

“Come on, I won’t let you starve, kid.” said Mai, smiling and trying to encourage the girl. The child eventually flashed a wide smile, muttered a quiet “thank you” and took the apple. She nearly swallowed the fruit. “She must had been starving” – thought Mai, passing another apple to the child.

In the end, Mai and the little girl with a big appetite were sitting on the temple stairs and eating fruit. Well, Mai was mostly staring at the child, who ate the entire supplies.

“Wow, you were sure hungry.” stated Mai. The girl nodded happily and smiled at her.

“Thank you. It was yummy!” said the kid smiling even wider. Mai thought she was cutest child, she had ever seen. She couldn’t believe, that anyone could even think of hurting her.

“I’m glad, that you liked it. Oh, and by the way I’m Mai.” Mai cursed inwardly, as she realized, that she had just said her real name instead of that of the princess’s.

“Nice to meet you, Mai.” said the cute kid. “I’m Rin!”