The temple blaze cast everything in ruddy light and deep shadows.

She sat on the edge of a chest breathing heavily, hands resting loosely atop her sword's guard. Her peaked cap had been pushed back to rest her forehead against the edge of her hands.

A long moment passed before her shoulders twitched, and she pulled back her head. A hand came up to adjust her cap as our eyes met. Silence reigned, save for the crackling of the fires.

She grinned, and it was full of knives. She extended a gloved hand, soot-stained and bloody. "Ready to begin, then?"

My eyes opened to reveal a cave. Before me was a fire. Beyond the fire lay a bedroll. In the bedroll lay a boy. Heavy bandages covered his right half, from his head to the stumps of his shoulder and leg. His Fire burned low in his core, only just higher than the flickering embers of the dying.

My gaze fell to my hands, clasped in my lap. They looked clean, the gloves unstained. On a whim, I extended them toward the fire. The tongues licked at my fingers, at the cuffs of my sleeves. There was no heat, no pain. Just as I did not react to the flames, they did not react to me.

「This compares nothing to the flames of my 'pyre'.」

The boy's Fire flared to wakefulness, though he held as still as any corpse. I frowned. He was still too weak, guttering and unsteady.

"Hey, you." His head twitched toward me, ever so slightly. "You're finally awake." A soft thrum of amusement passed through my core, however briefly. A joke is rarely as funny the second time you hear it. I moved to his side as he struggled to rise, gently pressing him back to the ground. "Don't move. Your condition is still delicate."

He flailed about with an arm that no longer existed. "I can't- I can't see!"

"Yes." I used the hand on his chest as a conduit, feeding his Fire with my will. Now that he'd awoken, a proper baseline could be established, and he was still pitifully close to going out. "The right side of your face needed bandaging. Your left eye is missing."

"'Missing'?" The boy sounded almost offended by my words. "No, it was a gift!"

I hummed, low and amused. "An odd thing to give."

The boy suddenly became very still. "…Where am I?"

I settled properly into seiza, my hands resting on my thighs. "A cave. Where do you want to be?"

Watching the emotions storm over what face was unwrapped was mildly entertaining, as he struggled with what, if anything, he should share. He understood, clearly, he was not among unqualified allies. I could approve of such caution in the face of the unknown. "Home," he eventually responded.

"And where is that?"

The stubborn set of his shoulders and the thin press of his lips made evident his resolve to keep that secret, reinforced by the determined burn of his Fire.

I let out a chuckle as I rose. "Well, I suppose it cannot be helped."

As I settled back beside the fire, I was impressed at how muted the boy's confusion was, his fear dampened by self-control. It spoke to a strength of character I'd always found desirable.

The boy drifted off to sleep, the strain to his body still heavy. The sun set, and I spent the night watching the moon drift across the sky. It shone white against the darkness, full and bright. By all physical respects, no different than the moon of my past.

…And yet.

「Were I but one of the Grand Classes, I could burn out such rot.」/ Let sleeping Beasts lie, I guess.

It rankled, to know it was so close, and that I could do nothing. Even I must respect the dangers of an Evil of Humanity.

The next morning, I set to changing the boy's bandages. His Fire had recovered remarkably – though still comparatively weak, it blazed brilliantly, showing no signs of going out soon. His remaining eye blinked rapidly as he adjusted once more to light, and when his gaze fell on me, he seemed shocked.

"You're the one who pulled me out of the rubble?" slipped out of his mouth seemingly before he could think to stop himself.

"Just so."

"I expected you to be older." I glanced up from my work with a wry look, and the boy's visible cheek flushed as he turned to stare at the cave wall.

"Is that so?" I drawled as I finished securing the last bandage. He refused to meet my gaze again and I chuckled. Silence descended as I set about wrapping up the soiled dressings to be washed. The boy fidgeted in place, opening his mouth to speak multiple times, but shut it again without a word every time.

Eventually, he mustered the courage to ask, "Why did you do it?"

"'Why'?" I paused in my task as I thought about it. Why had I saved him? "…Because I wanted to."

I was not blind to the boy's struggle for mobility throughout the day, so the next morning, I selected a suitable branch and burned from it a crude crutch. The shock on his face was evident even with half of it beneath dressings as he took the crutch.

"Who are you?"

I arched an eyebrow and remained standing. "Is it not impolite to demand a name without first offering your own?"

He swallowed audibly and did his best to bow without toppling over. "Yes, that was rude of me. I meant no disrespect."

The fact that he did not directly admit fault didn't go unnoticed. "And yet, disrespect was offered. Fortunately for you, I am not so easily offended." I finally sat opposite him across the fire pit, unkindled during these sunlit hours. "In fact, I suppose I cannot keep calling you 'the boy'. Tell me what I should call you, and I will answer in kind."

"Call me…" he trailed off for a moment, before rallying. "Call me 'Tobi'."

If that was his true name, I'd eat my hat. I hummed as I thought about how to respond. Even though it meant nothing in this world, I was not ready to reveal my identity. Part of me rebelled at the idea of hiding who I was.

「I refuse to fear mine own Name!」/ He doesn't trust me with his name, why should I trust him with mine?

That rebellious part of me admitted the point begrudgingly, but there was an easy compromise within reach.

"You may call me Kippōshi."

I do not need to eat, my mana replenished by a combination of my 「Self-Replenishment」 and the energy generated by my vessel. It is enough to anchor me to this world and fulfill my role, though without a proper contract, my reclamation is limited. There are work-arounds, but the idea of blood-drinking is a distasteful one, and the return of such consumption from insentient creatures is all but negligible.

This does not prevent me from eating for my own enjoyment. After one such meal, I set aside my bowl and spoke.

"I have a deal for you."

Tobi seemed equal parts perplexed and suspicious as he continued to eat. "I'm listening…"

"Your condition prevents you from traveling, and you refuse to share whence you come." His obstinance in refusing to give me the location of his home was equal parts amusing and annoying, after several days of it. This transaction would see us both benefit, without betraying whatever loyalty bound him. "I will find a way to return you your limbs, and as repayment, you will serve me for a year. After that, you may do as you will."

"Just like that, huh?" Sarcasm practically dripped from his words.

I grinned, and took some small joy at his flinch. "Rest assured, nothing I demand will be so onerous… for a ninja."