030. Repair the hole in the roof.

Well, clearly the hole in the roof is the biggest job that needs doing. Even if it isn’t really my house, I couldn’t stand to see it ruined if the rain started coming right in and warped all the beautiful hardwood floors. I made a mental checklist of tools I’d need, a ladder to get up there, a saw and wood, nails, and a hammer, then quietly got up and out letting Kouki sleep. In the dim predawn light, I gathered together the supplies, having everything but the raw lumber.

Deciding it would be fine I pulled out a few of the best planks from my aging barn and hoped that I’d be able to build myself a new one with the double pay Azami would be giving me for this extra work. Then I set off for the easiest place to get up there and carefully carried everything up to the roof. It looked to be a nice clear day, but that also meant it was going to be a hot one by midday, so I wanted to get this job done and back inside before then if I could. I’m no carpenter, so this was going to be a sloppy patch job at best, but better that than nothing.

The hole thankfully wasn’t very big, only a scorched round hole a little larger than my foot, but it was strange how it burned right through making a perfectly round hole. Shrugging I started sawing away at the boards to cut them to be the right length as the sun started rising.

"Good morning, Kenji-san," I heard a sweet voice call from below. I looked down through the hole and at the cute violet haired maid looking back up at me with a smile.

"Good morning, Chizu," I returned. "Glad to see you’re up and well."

"Yes," she said before bowing her head and raising her skirt slightly at the sides to curtsy. "Chizu forever grateful."

I chuckled. "You’re welcome, now I better get back to work." She nodded and went about cooking breakfast for her masters.

I started pounding some nails into the first plank I’d cut, never thinking about how loud that was to be for anyone inside who might still be asleep. Though I didn’t have to wait long to be alerted to that fact.

"STOP THAT RACKET!" Setsuko screamed up at me. I had been focusing on the nail, but her shout made me slip as I looked away resulting in…

"OWWW!" I screeched as I dropped the hammer that had just impacted my thumb. "Son of a…" I cut myself off as I stuck my thumb in my mouth to ease the pain.

"Serves you right for waking me up at this ungodly hour!" Setsuko taunted. "As if the fire didn’t ruin my beauty sleep enough already." She was right about that. I’d never seen her look more disheveled. Her long blonde hair was a complete mess, all mussed up as if she had been tossing and turning all night, yet she still looked sexy standing down there in her nightgown like that. It gave me indecent thoughts about her writhing in her bed and I couldn’t help imagine that I could have been the one tangling up her beautiful hair while I...

"Setsuko Takahashi!" Azami strutted in, still also in night clothes, yet hers were much more revealing, at least from above. "You apologize to Kenji, ah... Mister Matsumoto, this instant. He is only diligently doing exactly what I asked him to do." I wasn’t really listening as much as frozen looking down her neckline that plunged down in the front. It wouldn’t be indecent at normal eye level, but from my bird’s eye perch, I could see the dark gaping tunnel between her two generous melons. "And now you made him hurt himself!" Even through the throbbing pain in my thumb, another throbbing was becoming more front and center in my mind. It was a good thing they couldn’t see my waist from there or they would have seen my pants tenting up by now. "Come on down and let me make you feel better."

"Fuck," I muttered, more at how sexy Azami’s words were than the pain in my thumb. It was a little swollen, but would be fine. The same could be said for my third leg, but I didn’t want her to know or see that. "That’s okay, I’ll be fine," I responded. "I just have a bit more to do up here."

"Okay…" Azami said cautiously, "But when you're done Setsuko will properly apologize and make it up to you."

Suddenly just the thought of Setsuko sucking me off saying ‘I’m sorry' over and over again crossed my mind and it was all I could do to say, "Yup," before going back to work.

Everyone went about their business and while I wanted to keep watching them down through that hole I figured it’d be safer to just concentrate on my work and get it done as soon as possible. About an hour later the hole was patched and my thumb was sore, but fine. The sun was solidly in the sky now and the household was having breakfast as I came in to report.

Setsuko, now cleaned up with her hair brushed to perfection and garbed in a normal day dress rose from the table and bowed before me. "I humbly apologize for any injury I may have caused." Then she pulled something up and held it out to me, still remaining in her bowed stance. "Please accept this as payment for my thoughtlessness." In her palms was a small purse.

I took it and opened it finding it held more than a dozen silver coins. "This is far too much," I said staggered by the gift.

"That is also your payment for the roof," Azami said and I nodded, but Setsuko still stood there as if waiting to be allowed to return to her meal.

"Sure.. uh, I mean… Thank you, Setsuko," I fumbled for the right way to accept.

That appeared to be good enough for her, but then she continued and asked me, "I’ll be needing some things from the store today. Would you accompany me to carry my purchases?"

"Me? Uh, sure. I mean…" I was boggled at what was happening and looked over to Azami for some clue.

"That’s fine. Chizu, you go with them and pick up some groceries," was all she said and then a simply ignored us as she left the room.

"Ready to go?" Setsuko said, and I was shocked when the beauty grabbed my arm and escorted me out of her house right then and there with quiet little Chizu trailing a few feet behind us like a shadow. "Ah, the warm sun feels so good!" Setsuko said stretching moments later as we walked calmly down the hill in the mid-morning light.

"Er… yeah," was all I could answer with, unsure of why Setsuko wanted me with her, sure there was some trick or scheme, but kicking myself for being too dumb to figure it out. Chizu wouldn’t look at anything other than her feet as she followed, so I wondered if she knew why the Takahashi’s were being so nice to me. If there was a reason I never learned it and whatever their intent had been it was all blow away when Natsumi spotted us walking into the center of town.

"Chizu, you barb’ian bitch!" shouted from a stool she sat on to watch people go by and welcome them into her dojo normally, but today she was standing up from it, a nearly empty sake bottle in hand and staggering back and forth as she aggressively stomped her way towards us. "I shood 'ave let you die!"

We weren't the only ones surprised as the few other people about stopped what they were doing to watch the freaky behavior by one of the town's most respected citizens.

"Chizu, Setsuko, you two should head back. I'll handle this," I instructed her with uncharacteristic bravery. I was scared shitless, but Chizu wouldn't last a second being the focus of Natsumi's rage, and I didn’t want Setsuko getting hurt either. Not that I'd fare much better, but at least I wasn't her target, and she was obviously drunk. Maybe I could distract her enough for them to get away.

"Natsumi, I need to talk with you," I started, but she just ignored me and tried to push right through me. I hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but I kicked out one of her legs from under her and yelled, "Run! Now!"

Chizu took off as the mammoth drunken Amazon tumbled into the dirt in front of her, but Setsuko, ever the bossy bitch just yelled at the giant woman on the ground. "What do you think you're doing? We don’t pay you to get drunk off your ass.. Hey!"

Despite being completely smashed Natsumi was a master martial artist and she snapped up to her still unsteady feet in an instant, pushing Setsuko onto her own butt on the ground and she lunged at Chizu's back. I had just enough strength to push her arm away, missing the small foreign girl by only an inch. It was only then as her knife tumbled into the dirt that I realized she had a dagger and she had really meant to **** Chizu.

Having thrown everything into that lunge she was off balance for another second as I just backed off and waited. Chizu had escaped as she already knew, but I still had to stall her to be sure.

"What's wrong with you, Natsumi?" I yelled at her.

"What's wrong?!" she screamed at me. "Shinji is dead! Ikari is dead. Everyone I ever loved is dead. That's what's wrong!" Oh shit. I knew any messages from the front pretty much came to her first, but a new one must have come in this morning with the bad news. Our army must have fallen and that meant soon the barbarians would be here.

"Shinji?" Setsuko stammered nearby, shocked also to hear the news that her betrothed had perished.

"It’s all her fault! I'm gonna make her dead too," she finished and then turned and unsteadily started walking up the hill.

Boldly, and stupidly, I jumped in front of her. "Chizu didn't kill them. I won't let you kill her."

"Let me?" she spat and then backhanded me away. I flew like a rag doll away with her slap and tumbled hard into the rocky road.

"Kenji, she’s got a right to be mad. Stay away from her," Setsuko cautioned, but I ignored her and jumped back up to take took a running leap onto Natsumi's back.

I didn't have a plan, and that was my fault. Natsumi, drunk as she was, flailed about trying to toss me off, but I rode her like a mad bull as she raged and grabbed at me. The clincher came when Hazuka jumped in to try in vain to help, but Natsumi was so strong she only got in the way. I was about to tell her to get back when Hazuka suddenly let out a bone-chilling cry.

That seemed to freeze Natsumi and I was able to trip her up again, only then seeing the dagger get pulled out of Hazuka’s chest as the big woman still had it in her tight grip. The shocked look on the girl who was my best friend was sickening, but worse was the blank look in her eyes as she fell to her knees, a dreadful gush of blood spurting out of the new hole in her chest.