I feel my vision blurring, the wound in my chest throbbing with pain. Try as I might to stay conscious, I begin to slip away.
When I come to, I'm met with the sight of a young girl kneeling beside me. She starts when I open my eyes, drawing back from me; I realize she was dressing my wound.
"Oh, um, hi there," I stammer awkwardly, enraptured by the child's beauty.
The girl leans toward me and scratches her head shyly, proceeding to clasp her hands behind her back. She looks at me and smiles, a blush creeping across her pale cheeks. "Are you a man? You're the first I've ever met!" She fidgets about for a moment, then takes a step closer. Despite her nervousness at finally seeing a man, her desire to help me is obviously getting the best of her. "Can I keep treating it? You've lost a lot of blood and I have experience in this sort of thing—you don't need to worry..." She brushes a lock of dark hair back from her face, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Yes, thank you very much..." I pause, unsure if I should ask her name in this situation; before I can ponder more though, she supplies it herself.
"I'm Mokuren," the girl says, glancing away when my eyes meet hers. What a beautiful name; a beautiful name for a beautiful child.
Mokuren takes another step towards me before leaning over my wound and pressing a cloth to it. She doesn't look up at me while she works, her face set with focus and concentration as her small hands work their magic. At the angle that she's tending to me, her robe has slipped a little to the side, giving me a partial view of one of her nipples beneath her fishnet.
When she's finished wrapping my wound, she lifts her head to meet my gaze, a big smile on her face. "That should do it. I need you to give it time to heal, okay?" Mokuren looks troubled for a moment, "You can't go walking around too much like this. A deep gash like that needs to be treated properly or else it could get infected." She grows quiet once more, and when she speaks again, it seems more for herself than for my benefit. "I can't bring you back to the village." Her voice softens before she continues, "So, um, is it okay if I stay here? There's a cave pretty close by that we can take shelter in. I'll watch you while you recover," she says, another flush creeping across her face.
The thought of having such a beautiful young girl taking care of me is more than I can refuse. "Of course. Thank you for helping me; I don't know what I would have done without you."
Mokuren just giggles shyly, helping me to my feet before guiding me to the cave we are to spend the next few days together.
***
"So, your village really doesn't have any men?" I ask, trying to ignore how close Mokuren is to me. The cave is small enough that it's impossible for us to lie comfortably more than a couple of feet apart.
"That's right, you're the first one I've ever met," she answers softly. I'm silent for a moment, thinking of something else to say, when Mokuren speaks again.
"Mister, it's going to get quite cold outside tonight, so um..." she blushes deeply, turning away from me to fiddle with the obi tied around her waist. When she turns back to look at me, there is a sparkle of excitement in her eyes. "Would you mind terribly if we share body warmth?" she whispers as she approaches me.
I swallow, barely able to reply, "Um, well... sure." Mokuren brushes past me and settles into the crook of my arm. Her skin feels like silk beneath my fingers.
As we cuddle together to ward off the chill in the air, Mokuren