“I thought the captain said the beach was clear.”

“That stupid son of a bitch wouldn’t know if his nose was clear.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that.”

“Do I look stupid?”

“You want an answer to that?” The human male glanced back toward Midnite. “Hey! I said don’t move!”

Midnite found their banter amusing as she did their hostile, if ignorant, intentions toward her. Her guise had worked. These humans had no idea as to whom they were speaking so impudently.

“What do you think?” the second asked the first.

“I don’t know. Most of the locals have been committing that hari kari bullshit. Maybe she was too chicken.”

“Understand what he’s saying?” the second asked her with a laugh. “Of course you don’t, you stupid Nip.” He began flapping his arms up and down, making “buck buck buck” sounds.

Midnite raised an eyebrow. Curious, indeed.

“Hey, hold on,” the first said. “A buddy of mine in the 6^th said he’d heard they’re using women and children as kamikazes now.”

“She ain’t in a Zero.”

“I know that, stupid. They’re strapping bombs to them and using them to blow up tanks.”

“Son of a bitch, really?”

“Yeah. I don’t know about you, but I ain’t taking her back to camp until I know for certain.” He focused on Midnite again and raised the hollow stick he’d been pointing at her. “Strip.”

Strip? Certainly he doesn’t mean...

“She doesn’t understand you.”

The first narrowed his gaze. “Well, she’d better learn to understand real quick. Otherwise, I’m putting a bullet in one of her slant eyes. Besides, look at her. I ain’t ever seen Jap tits before. What do you think they look like?”

The second grinned even wider. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind finding out.” He turned back toward Midnite and mimed taking off his shirt. “Come on, let’s go! Move it!”

Midnite felt a sting of irritation beginning to worm through her gut. These men, it would seem, might dress differently than the humans she remembered, but at their core, they were the same as always, driven by base urges. How disappointingly dull.

“Hey,” the second asked his friend, “are you thinking what I am?”

He laughed. “That we might have to thoroughly search her for weapons?”

“Yeah. Who knows where she’s got it stuffed?”

“What do you think about that?” the first asked her, moving a hand to his crotch. “I lost buddies at Pearl. Thinking we might be due some payback.”

Midnite was rapidly tiring of their threats. She cracked the knuckles of her right hand, preparing to remind them of their station in the grand scheme of the cosmos, when a different voice spoke up.

“Hey! What are you two doing?”

Another man, dressed similarly but slightly different to the first two, came marching over.

“Huh?” the first grunted, then turned. For a moment, he kept his weapon – or at least that was what Midnite presumed it to be – trained, then he quickly lowered it. “Oh, sorry ... lieutenant. Didn’t see you there, sir.”

He and his friend both raised their hands to their heads in some sort of salute.

“I asked a question,” the newcomer said.

“We were just taking this woman prisoner, sir,” the second replied.

“Didn’t sound like that to me.”

“We wanted to check to make sure she wasn’t armed. My buddy...”

“Your buddy ain’t here,” the third man snapped. “I am, and I don’t like what I was hearing.”

“C’mon, sir. It’s not like it would matter. You know how these Nips are. I’d sooner kick one than a dog.”

Midnite stayed her hand. The once boring discourse had become interesting again.

The third man, obviously some sort of superior, stepped up and glared at the first two. “It matters because we’re better than that.”

“You know they’d do it to one of ours.”

“So you’re saying you’re not any better than they are? Get your asses back to your squad before I have them handed to you.”

The second saluted, but the first looked reluctant to do so. He said, “With all due respect, sir, you army grunts can’t just...”

“Do you want to test that, soldier? Because, if so, I will look forward to seeing your ass in irons before the day is out.”

The threat was enough to cause the first to back down. He lowered his gaze and shook his head.

“What was that?” the newcomer asked.

“I said no, sir.”

“That’s what I thought. Now double time it and maybe I’ll forget what you two look like.”

The two men immediately broke off and ran back in the direction they’d come from. Once they were gone, the third turned to her. When he spoke, it was in a different dialect ... somewhat similar to the language she had heard the local population use in centuries past. “My apologies if those men frightened you.”

His voice was choppy, broken. Obviously, he was attempting to speak in a tongue not entirely familiar to him. Midnite was not surprised. She knew the humans possessed myriad dialects even within the blessed isles. Outside, the differences only grew, and his look told her he was definitely from elsewhere. Nevertheless, she was impressed. She was familiar with the concept of chivalry, although many humans ignored it – even those who professed to be champions of it. For a human warrior, for that was what this man obviously was, to rise above his base impulses was rare indeed.

She decided to honor him by answering in the language he had originally used. “My thanks to you.”

The man’s eyes opened wide. “Wait, you speak English?”

So that was what they called it. Such an odd name. Regardless, it was an uncomplicated tongue for one such as her to master. “Yes.” His surprise was evident, so Midnite thought it best to keep up her guise with a simple lie. “I speak many languages. My ... father was a learned man. A scholar.” Hopefully, the humans still had such a concept after all this time.

The man’s eyes grew suspicious. “Could be. Or could be you’re a spy.”

Midnite repressed a chuckle. This human was far less brutish than his peers had been, but he was still a warrior. If pushed the wrong way, he would certainly revert to his baser instincts. It normally wouldn’t matter to her. It wasn’t like he could even hope to harm her. Yet, oddly enough, she found him intriguing. Perhaps it was his behavior. Or maybe it was his appearance, with hair and eyes much lighter in appearance than those native to this blessed land.

Whatever the cause, she attempted to diffuse the situation. Looking around at the bodies lying all about, she said, “Were I a spy, who would be left to report my findings to?”

“Fair enough. But then, what are you doing here?”

An apt question. This human had the spark of intelligence about him. Midnite found herself growing more intrigued by the moment.

The rain had started to slacken, so she turned to the ocean, again marveling at the armada before her, like nothing she had ever seen before. “I used to come here during more peaceful times. It was a place of comfort for me.”

The man raised an eyebrow questioningly but nodded all the same. “I can understand better times. There’s a lake back where I live. The fishing is lousy, but there’s nothing like casting a line and letting the current take it while you relax under a tree.” He shook his head, as if not wishing to succumb to the memory. “That’s far away, though, and nobody ever took a shot at me there. You’re taking a hell of a risk just for a view.”

“Some things are worth the risk.”

“I have to ask, are you with the Jap ... imperial army?”

Midnite turned to face him, locking her eyes with his. They were the windows to one’s soul and she could see a strong spirit in his – brave and bold, yet lacking the petty brutishness of Ichitiro. “I serve no army and I acknowledge no emperor upon this plane.”

“Do you live here, have family close by?”

Midnite contemplated telling the truth or a form of it that this human might understand, but she didn’t want to arouse his suspicions more than they already were. However, in the back of her mind, that word arouse stuck for a moment longer than it should have. How odd. She normally considered humans to be sub-creatures. Despite it being common for youkai or mazoku to take human lovers, and even her siblings occasionally doing so, she’d never found them more interesting than perhaps as pets.

After a moment, she realized he was staring hard at her, so she answered a half truth. “I live in a village not too far from here, but I have no family left there.”

“Are they dead?” he asked. “Or conscripted?”

Midnite simply stared, allowing him to form his own conclusion lest she say too much. The longer she spoke to this man, the more she found herself losing her calm demeanor. How very unbecoming of her.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “My name is Steve ... err ... lieutenant Stephen Fuller. I’m with the 77^th.”

“Stephen Fuller,” she said, tasting the words on her tongue. “My name is ... it translates to Midnite in your language.”

“Midnight? Like the time of day?”

“So I have heard.”

“That’s very unusual. Not particularly Japanese.”

“Japanese?” she asked softly. She couldn’t recall hearing that word before. Perhaps it was one of the many names the humans used for these islands. “No,” she replied, hoping her lie was adequate, “as I mentioned, my father was a scholar. He was a man of ... unusual tastes.”

“So it would seem,” he replied, staring intently into Midnite’s eyes as if he were as transfixed by her, as she by him. “Err, listen. I’m sorry about this, but I need you to come with me back to camp. Standing orders are to detain all non-hostile locals.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry,” he added. “Those jackasses back there won’t try anything. I promise you’ll be fine. Don’t believe everything you’ve been told about us. You’ll be fed and well cared for.”

“Detained,” she repeated. Was this human actually suggesting she accompany him as his prisoner? It would seem so. But it was being done in a way unlike what she had come to expect from humans. Prisoners of war were typically the lowest of the low, their lives only allowed to continue at the grace of whatever general was in charge. Typically, if one did not have a wealthy family to pay ransom, the best one could hope for was to be worked to death. The lives of their females were worth even less.

Stephen’s promise, however, caught her attention. An offer to be treated fairly. That was not often heard from captors because it was not something they needed to care about offering. To have it put out there as an enticement against fighting or fleeing was unusual.

Midnite considered things. She had nothing to fear from this or any other human. They could only imprison her for so long as she allowed. Compared to them, she was as the wind, the sky, the sea. Such things could not be contained or mastered. Had she wished, she could have walked away, and there was nothing this man could do to stop her.

However, she found herself oddly loath to leave his company so soon. Shitoro wouldn’t start fretting over her absence for some time, thus she was free to do as she pleased without interruption.

Midnite smiled at the man before her. “I will offer you no resistance.”

She was surprised to realize she was only partially talking about being taken prisoner.