Year of the Boar, Thirteenth Month, Day 4.

I awoke in the middle of the night and did not know why. All about the house seemed quiet; I lay still for a few fractions of a stick; perhaps my dreams had woken me but when I distinctly heard the word "intruder" shouted, I felt my blood run cold. I could not move. I knew there was something I was supposed to do in an emergency, but in my panic, I could not remember what it was. 

My chest felt tight and my mouth was as dry as sun-bleached bone. After what seemed like sticks on end, Atsuko shook me, calling my name; another shout brought me to my senses and I managed to get to my feet. In the dim light of the night lantern, my eyes met Atsuko's and I saw my terror reflected in hers. I inhaled sharply and said a single word.

"Go." 

I saw Atsuko hesitate for the merest fraction of a stick but then she squeezed my forearm gently and nodded before she hurried the girls out of the room and, I hoped, up to the attic.

I was alone. Ready to meet my fate; hopeful that he would not torture me for too long before he slit my throat. I refused to meet death on my knees so I stood, trembling violently in the centre of the room and waited. 

Eventually, there was a flurry of shouting and stamping punctuated by the occasional clink of metal. I realised he was getting closer and my breath came shallower and shallower until I barely drew any air at all. I felt lightheaded and sick. 

I waited. Silence fell and I did not know if it was because all of my people were dead or because Shigeru was dead. I was too afraid to slide the doors to my room open and find out. I contemplated hiding after all but as I was considering where I could go, two of my soldiers burst into the room dragging a slight, pale figure between them.

I could not process what I saw; it was as if my mind would not allow me to see what was in front of my face. "Is he dead?" I blurted. The soldiers looked utterly confused. "MiLady...?" 

"Lord Fallen Sakura. The intruder. Is he dead?" I repeated myself slowly, afraid to hope that my soldiers may actually have prevailed. 

They looked at each other baffled and eventually one of them told me that the intruder was the individual they held up between them. "Then … not Fallen Sakura...?" They pushed the slender creature forward a little so I could see. It was a woman. As they shoved her forward, she stumbled, falling toward me and I could see her face. It was not just any woman. 

It was Airi; blue with cold and she seemed barely conscious. 

I reached for her, pulling her against me; she felt limp and icy. I heard myself shrieking her name over and over again as I rubbed her back and shoulders frantically, willing her to wake up, but she did not respond. I pulled her over to my bed and wrapped her in my down comforter and then dragged Atsuko's over her as well. I felt panic rising; the familiar knot of anxiety twisted at my insides as if it would burst through my stomach trying to get out. This might actually be worse than an attack by Shigeru himself.

I could not imagine how she had come here through the blizzards or how she even knew where I was but if I had been betrayed, I was not going to let her die before I found out who had done it. And if she had come for another reason... I certainly did not want to lose her.

She stirs. I will resume later.