Disclaimer: Do not own very muchly so…but I wish I owned Sou-kun :)
Thinking
Japan, 1887, Seta Soujiro was strolling almost leisurely through the forest in the midst of a chilly autumn afternoon, clouds overcast even though a harsh rain had just spilt from the sky. The sharp wind bit at his skin but that did in know way draw the smiling man to show any sign of being affected besides the fact that said breeze blowing into his rain soaked body was turning his skin a very becoming blue. One, may the author add, that matched his Gi, Hakama, and eyes all to perfectly. Despite his cheerful appearance the former assassin's mind was in a fit of chaos and frustration, not quite feeling the emotion but never the less, his mind showing symptoms of it.
I've learned absolutely nothing! Save that it's rewarding in its own way to help people. I still don't know what my answer is. I don't even know what type of truth I'm looking for!
Soujiro shivered as his stomach grumbled, the rumbling sound snapping him to attention before forcing him back inside his own head.
When was the last time I ate? No wonder Himura-san seems insane, enough of this and I'm going to loose it too.
The blue eyed, dark chocolate haired, ex-assassin was a bit too absorbed in his own thoughts, barely noticing the warm and fuzzy feeling he soon began to gain.
This is odd… What's going on? Why is everything flickering? Why am I so warm? I've felt this way before but when?
The short ruroni wobbled over to a river inspecting his reflection with great difficulty, wondering why such an act took so much physical exertion to do so. He would have been horrified if he'd had the energy. He was indigo.
I'm Hypo...hypothermic.
After this shocking revelation, the ruroni's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. A sploosh was heard as a body submerged beneath the icy water of the river.
Fishing
Breathing the air not meant for my lungs.
Touching the ground not meant for my feet.
Feeling the wind not meant for my face.
Living the life I was not supposed to have.
I am Ochita the unwanted.
I found the river easily, rolling up my hakama, sliding my gi off my shoulders to let it hang around my waist, and dipping my arms into the frigid water to get used to the cold…not that I had to, I couldn't really feel it anyway. I had a covering over my chest and shoulders made of black bandages. Kasoku wouldn't mind, he was what...3 years old, max? I didn't have any tabi on because I possess an odd phobia for the white socks. Wading around idly in the water, I came to a spot I found suitable for fishing. I let my hands dangle in the frigid water until I snapped them up, a fish in my hands.
I heard Kasoku giggle, "Oka! Oka!"
That's generally what his vocabulary consists of. I threw the fish into the pit I had made at the side of the river. Kasoku squealed happily.
This is how I slowly gained back my soul; the kid gives it back to me. A child whose parents were killed by bandits, but before they killed him I happened to wander by. I took care of them and let's leave it at that. The kid passed out and when he woke up he was stubbornly convinced I was his mother.
'Mother' was something I would never have thought I'd be called through out the entirety of my life. If that is what he calls me then I'll call him Kasoku or 'family'. I caught another fish and he let out another "Oka! Oka!"
I wanted to smile had I known how, but it seems I have forgotten. I don't really feel any emotions mostly due to the fact that I've completely forgotten how. Too bad I suppose; but I wasn't really sorry. You had to be remorseful to be sorry and I wasn't. Not for that anyway. I had something to be sorry about that was a lot more necessary to beat myself up over.
I let my hands once again enter the cold water and I waited. I grabbed something but I'm pretty sure it is not a fish. It is heavy. My eyesight is not so good because I happen to be diurnally blind. Everything in daylight looks like one of those western inkblot tests. I picked up the water-logged object and lugged it out of the river. It sputtered and coughed, chest heaving for air until the figure's breath became shallow.
A person was it? Suicide attempt perhaps? I laid it down in the shade to see what it looked like; funny how I can see without the light. It looked like a man, a very familiar one. I took off my gi, luckily dry. Laying it over the man, I and edged his clothes off of him. I then wrapped the gi around him tightly and quickly. He shivered which was good, it meant he was alive. I picked him up. For someone so much bigger then me he isn't very heavy at all. Perhaps he is a Ruroni like me.
"Kasoku," I spoke to the little boy.
Something rare, I usually just let him blither on. Of course there wasn't much for him to say. It is like that when you can only say one word I suppose. I jerked my head in a direction symbolizing 'come' so he did. We walked back to the camp I had made earlier. Laying the man down by Kasoku who immediately jumped on him and curled up against the young man like a cat, sputtering out something I didn't understand. I lit the fire and walked back to the river to get the fish. When I arrived, I decided that it might be a good idea to take a bath. I liked being clean. So I did. I did not wash my clothes though; it was to cold to do something so risky. I knew I could catch pneumonia doing this but the thought of being clean was to tempting.
Clean meant I could pretend to wash my past sins away. It would never happen. Even if I repented to the end of time it would never happen. My life is a privilege I shouldn't have, but also a miserable curse I deserve. I am Ochita the unwanted.
Jumping to conclusions
Soujiro awoke his ever present smile stretched across his face. He still smiled in spite of the fact that he felt like a stubbed toe, looking down, feeling a small weight. There, on his lap, was a little boy who currently slept peacefully, small noises floating through the air as he breathed in and out. Soujiro tried to push the little boy off not understanding how said child had gotten there in the first place, but he woke up.
"Otou!" the kid shouted happily.
Otou? The child thinks I'm his father?
Soujiro was confused. He thought back and remembered he fell in the river.
My hair is wet but I'm not.
He was wearing something of a faded out forest green color, realizing the piece of cloth (if it could even be classified as such) happened to be a very ratty gi. The little boy snuggled closer to Soujiro, murmuring something incoherent.
"Ara?" the young man asked the little boy in a state of confusion.
The boy rubbed his eyes, jumped up and began running in circles shouting happily. He then ran into the meadow of which they were sitting in. the little boy then ran away. Soujiro sat there wondering what he should do. Just then he heard the gentle pitter patter of the boy's feet running back to him. The child held a bunch of wild flowers in his hands and some of them stuck out of his messy dark jade colored hair. He looked up with pale mint green eyes and squealed throwing the flowers in the air over Soujiro. The ruroni smiled at the little boy; more of a real smile, not as emotionless as the others. The kid had a strange affect on him, as though his normally content mood could be heightened to something a bit more.
Just then someone came across the field striding to the fire. The figure was wearing a battered old gray hat and a covering made out of bandages on the person's chest, as well as a hakama. It had a black poll on its back and two black ringed blades on its hip. A longer than usual looking sword was clipped to its obi. It walked towards the little boy and began to unsheathe its blade.
He's here to kill the child.
His mind raced and he grabbed his nihontou. He tapped his feet at went to strike down the figure. It blocked with practiced ease.
If they have a longer sword it should be harder for them to fight me. How can they block me? I show not my ki so how can they possibly anticipate my attack?
He struck again not using his full shukuchi thinking that the figure could not be all that great if they were sent to kill a child. Soujiro slashed again. The figure dogged in a way that made it look like a soba noodle. It stepped towards the fire and towards the child. Soujiro tapped his feet. It was time to stop playing around and just kill the fiend before it murdered the child.
Soujiro used shukuchi and didn't fool around in the way he had while fighting Himura-san. A life was at stake this time, and the ex-assassin was going to hold true to his original plan, to protect those weaker than he. The fact that his adversary was trying to kill someone so happy and innocent made Soujiro madder then hell.
"Shun Ten Satsu" he snarled and attacked.
Clang
The longer sword hit Soujiro's nihontou, a blade stained black. The ex-Tenken couldn't believe it. He attacked viciously again but the figure rocked back on its heels and smashed the butt of its sword into Soujiro's stomach. The ex-assassin went shooting backwards and smashed into the tree he had been leaning up against when he had awoken. Trying to get up, he found that the figure was already upon the child. The small boy giggled happily, the ruroni feeling nothing but knowing he should be sad as said child shouted, "Oka!"
The tiny boy leapt at the figure with an elated expression, the strange person snatching him from the air, gripping his yukata and setting him down lightly on his feet. Soujiro blinked and looked at the person's chest. It was indeed a woman. The woman sat down, unsheathed the sword, and laid it down. She took a bag that had been tied to her waist, opened it and took out a fish. She then skinned and de-boned the fish by using her sword.
"Ara?" Soujiro said aloud not understanding what exactly was happening.
She has no intent to kill the boy?
"Who are you?" Soujiro asked, smile plastered to his face as always.
"You may call me Ochita." The woman's voice was soft and strange.
It sounded like she wasn't paying attention to what she was saying; as though she were stuck in a daze.
"I am-" he was cut of by a simple-
"I know who you are very muchly so." Ochita spoke quietly.
She reminded him of someone but for the life of him, the young man couldn't remember the person.
"I hope you enjoy fish Seta-san, because that is all I have." Ochita said.
The twenty-two year old blushed, slightly, cautious to eating something given to him by someone he had nearly decapitated.
"You should sit down very muchly so. You seem alright, and good enough, considering the way you fought, but you just got over your hypothermia and that means you should be tired very muchly so. Let me make dinner." She rasped before clearing her throat softly.
By the way she spoke Soujiro knew she didn't talk a lot. It was slow and unpracticed.
"Gomen nasai I didn't mean to attack you so offensively, I thought-" he started before she cut him off.
"I do look the part of a killer, ne?" she inquired dazedly.
"Ara? No that's not what I meant." Soujiro sputtered, searching for an appropriate explination behind his actions.
"I know perfectly well what you meant. I was just teasing you very muchly so." She a small twitch coming to her deep black-red lips.
That little action in itself seemed strained like she was trying to show him it was a jest instead of smiling out of humor.
What a peculiar personality; or lack thereof.
The young man sat down and picked up a fish, taking his ninhontou, from its saya, just as the girl did the same, both beginning to skin them. When they were done and she skewered both of them and put them over the fire, sighing, "Your clothes have not dried very muchly so."
Pointing up to the tree she directed the ruroni's gaze up to a branch above where his clothes hung, damp with his obi dripping slightly. Head spinning slightly he turned his blue eyes back to the girl whispering with false cheer as was his way, "you picked me up out of the river."
"Aa." She spoke gently as if she were daydreaming.
He pondered her strange use of speech, guessing that she might feel more comfortable if she spoke in a masculine style. Of what he could see of her face it was very sharp and acute, only causing him to dig deeper into his mind to find the person with a matching skull structure, the familiarity of it beginning to bug him slightly.
Perhaps if she took off that ugly rice hat I would know.
She had saved him yet she wouldn't reveal her identity in entirety. Her hair was short but its color was like a river of blood on a dark night, sending small shivers down his spine. He leaned back against the tree, smiling yet confused.
What does she want from me? If she knows who I am she's probably mad at me for something. Or maybe she's a disciple of Shishio-san. How does she know me? What if she was an adversary? What if she tries to murder me in my sleep? Can I trust her? If she wanted me dead she could have thrown me back in the river. But how…
Soujiro sat there smiling while his mind was raging but he was snapped from his thoughts by Ochita as she questioned delicately, "Something wrong?"
I am smiling, why does she think something is wrong?
"Iie." Soujiro replied.
How did she know I was troubled?
"You're lying; know that. Do not try to convince yourself otherwise. It is unhealthy, very muchly so." She sighed but he couldn't tell how she had known.
He tried to read her by her emotions but he might as well have been trying that on himself. She was either dead, which he found highly unlikely, or had no ki. The strange part was he knew if she wasn't in plain view, he wouldn't have known she was around. It started to scare him slightly.
What is wrong with this girl? I'd notice more a dead person.
He began to believe she was a zombie when his reflexes took into account and he caught a fish flying in his direction, dangerously close to slapping him in the face. He saw her helping the little boy eat, a somewhat humorous scene as he decided chattering incomprehensibly held more interest than his dinner. The little boy squealed and giggled, clapping his hands together cutely.
"Kasoku" she whispered, trying to coax the food into his rapidly moving mouth.
"Ara?"
"His name is Kasoku." she said as if she were talking to no one.
They ate in a silence both found comfortable, the quiet seeming to calm the awkwardness of the present situation. Ochita got up with Kasoku and sat down next to him so she could lean on the tree.
Kasoku shouted "Otou!" and jumped onto Soujiro, curling up in his lap.
Ochita put on an odd face that could only be described as surprise and a blush came to her peachy skin.
"I did not know he could say that." she coughed.
Soujiro smiled, not that he could do much else not really minding the child's assumption. The little boy snuggled closer to him and made a humming sound. Ochita's lips twitched upward for half a second, and she took something that was tucked into her obi, putting it to her lips and playing a small tune, the ruroni observing the small black pipe she now held. She began to play it a strange lullaby, the little boy humming the notes with her. She stopped when Kasoku fell asleep.
"Ayasumi nasai." she whispered.
"Ayasumi." he smiled.
For some reason, with Ochita and Kasoku present, falling asleep had never been easier for the ex-assassin. One thought remained in his mind.
Her name is so depressing, why does she call herself, Fallen.
Resting
This Man sitting next to me is very odd. Seta-san's head lolls to one side and lands on my shoulder, causing me to stiffen considerably. I should push him away right? I try but feel someone's reprimanding eyes on me. Kasoku is watching me with amusement as if he can see my inner struggle; I knowing the little child was far more intelligent than he let on. We both can see the rings under his eyes, as if he hasn't slept well for the past month, so if I move his head I might awaken him. I don't want to be the cause of any more discomfort. That's all I've been for I don't know how many years.
Seta-san shifts closer to me, causing me stiffen and wonder what on earth he is dreaming about for him to want to get so close to something as ugly not to mention bloodstained as I. then I remember that he is only wearing my gi. I let him inch closer. He still has that smile stretched across his face. Can't he see that the smile means nothing and the fact that its hiding his ki is just useless? I do not read his ki.
I feel nothing of the cold air. I ca not feel anymore. I envy him. He can feel. Seta-san can feel yet he does not know how to show it. I can't feel at all. I've forgotten every emotion and feeling except for Pain and Sorrow. Not even the elements can jump start my feelings.
Then it hit me. I can feel the warmth of his head. Not like the people I bump into, and Kasoku always has felt like a cat to me. No Seta-san can make me feel. I will stay with him. I am no longer a killer and nor is he. Staying awake is what I need to do. I never sleep, I cannot sleep. I daydream and rest. But I feel tired? How can I feel tired? I want to sleep. But will I wake up screaming the one name of the person I want to be with the most? And if I did, what would Seta-san do? Would he deem me insane? It seems that the Shi no Tenshi is dead but what if I wake up and think I am still in the bakafu. I did once and almost went on a killing spree had Kasoku not reminded me of who I now was now. Just the sight of the little boy started my memory. But will this all happen or am I worrying myself? There is only one way to find out ne?
Broken compass
Soujiro woke up and inhaled deeply. He hadn't slept like that for a long time. In fact he didn't really think he had ever slept so well in his life. His head was on something silky soft and it smelled like rainwater and peaches. He snuggled closer to it not fully out of his subconscious. Soujiro's stomach grumbled so he licked what he was holding, reveling at the wonderful taste, a few moments from biting when it stiffened. The young man's eyes fluttered open and he realized he was on someone.
"Ohayogosimasu Seta- san" Ochita greeted, watching the ruroni's face turn bright red.
Oh kami-sama, I just licked a girl I barely know.
"Gomen nasai I was-" Soujiro spoke quickly to apologize.
"Sorry for what?" Ochita asked day-dreamily, getting up.
She leapt up the tree and retrieved Soujiro's clothes down, landing lightly on her feet. Kasoku woke up shouting again, the child trying to practice his mannerisms but lacking the vocabulary for a simple 'good morning'. Soujiro was about to tell her what he was sorry for, but he was so embarrassed as he realized she was pretending nothing happened to save him the discomfiture.
How does she know what I'm thinking
She dumped his cloths on him grabbing Kasoku and turned away. Soujiro got dressed quickly, slipping his slightly damp clothes on with speed.
"Here." Soujiro gave Ochita her gi.
"Domo." she replied, slipping it on and tucking it in.
She then walked behind the tree and plucked her bag from the ground. Kasoku hung on her back as she began to walk away. Soujiro just stared at the strange scene.
"Seta-san you are supposed to walk with me. That is how you travel ne?" she asked.
"Anou…well I'm a wanderer and I have no destination in mind." The ruroni smiled.
"As am I." Ochita gave a small twitch of her lips to show her amusemen,t but not because she felt that way in any way, shape, or form.
"Honto ka? So I may really travel with you?" Soujiro asked.
The short man was under the impression that, because she knew him, she held some type of grudge.
"Aa" she whispered.
"Okay. Which way should we go?" Soujiro who was a fast traveler had seen most of Japan, and wasn't in the mood for seeing sights he'd already witnessed.
"The broken spirit follows the broken compass." Ochita murmured.
"Ara?" Soujiro asked, completely confused with the statement.
Ochita pulled something out of her bag, as Soujiro came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. It was a compass that didn't point north.
"A Compass?" he asked almost skeptically, were he capable of that.
"Aa A broken one, very muchly so." Ochita nodded as she said this.
The tiny looking girl then took off in the direction the compass pointed at a very fast pace, carrying Kasoku on her back.
The blue eyed ruroni had to use 4 steps short of true shuku chi just to keep up with her.
"You're fast." Soujiro smiled.
"I'm jogging." A small twitch came to her lips and she grabbed our Ara-ing ruroni by the hand, taking off faster than the boy could himself.
"The unwanted follow the broken." She whispered at him as she leapt into a tree.
Suddenly, a piercing scream split through the air, the short red head turning directions to head to the source of the cry.
Fangs
Author's POV
They sped through the trees at an incredible speed, Ochita listening with a bit of amusement as Soujiro squeaked when branches and twigs hit his face. They had no time to loose, and because of a strange sense of hearing the small girl could bring them to the exact place. They entered a small wooded area, landing lightly, save our blue-eyed ruroni who was promptly dropped on his ass, smiling the entire time though slightly embarrassed.
Men stood about everywhere, all eyeing a girl who had backed up into a tree, her clothes revealing yet lavish.
A rich whore? Isn't that an oxymoron very muchly so?
The red head just shook off the thought and turned her close to non-existent attention on the group of men. She felt a strange ki, something that didn't belong with these common thugs, and fixed her eyes on the leader, a man with murky green eyes and, mud brown hair, flashing her his yellow decaying teeth.
"Well look who we have here, two people-"
"Mou!" Kasoku frowned indignantly.
"Three people," The man corrected mockingly before continuing, "Dropping in on our kidnapping. I guess we'll just have to kill you."
In Soujiro's opinion, the man seemed all to happy to unveil his intentions, overly confident with not enough bite to back up such a large bark. And trust him, challenging Tenken no Soujiro was quiet a bark.
"I'm sorry but I'm afraid we will not allow you to do so. Please except our humblest apologies." The ruroni bowed, hoping there was a peaceful solution to this problem.
Kasoku stomped over to the woman, plopping down next to her with a childish 'hmph' glaring at the man with an 'I'd like to see you try taking them down' look. The man eyed the little brat and gave him a menacing, condescending sneer, curving his lips up in a cruel smirk.
"I'm not interested in your apologies, so why don't you just make this easy and stick your neck out so I can sever that stupid looking head from your femmy body." He laughed.
Soujiro's eyes flashed, not enjoying the jest at his expense. So he was a little small in frame, why did everyone undermine him for being short?
"The only neck that is going to roll will be yours." He chirped with a cheerful smile on his face, before fixing the man with a smiling glare and shot forward, hardly using any of his speed, taking out the men that had guarded their leader with a few carefully aimed attacks. Hitting them all with the back of his sword, most likely snapping several of their ribs before they fell, crying out in agony.
He stopped for a moment and turned to the side to see Ochita, using the large black curved poll on her back to knock many of them around. Sidestepping all of the attacks with an eased grace, the girl didn't even bother to move herself quickly as she maneuvered her poll up into one man's chin, bringing the opposite side down into one's knee, snapping it out of its socket, whirling around leisurely to cuff one man in the head with the weapon.
Soujiro just kept smiling and continued to fight off the horde of men, there were about twenty to take care of.
Practice.
The ex-Tenken grinned chillingly, running forward and taking down three men, whacking one in the shoulder with the hilt of his ninhontou, moving the dull edge in an arc down another man's chest, kicking the other with his foot, sending him flying into a tree fifteen feet away. He then went for the leader, assailing him with a medium speed, believing the half rotting man not worthy of his skill.
Unfortunately, the man drew his katana quicker than anticipated and blocked Soujiro's attack, the young man trying to push the older back, only to have the kidnapper catch hold of his throat, squeezing his Adams-apple tightly. The ex-assassin had never felt anything like the sensation of having his throat crushed, faintly aware of the screaming of the whore in the back round.
Shishio-sama is laughing in his grave.
Soujiro shut his eyes and tried to regain his mind, of which felt the need to float away from him at the present moment. Just then he felt someone put there lean arm and extremely long, spindly fingers around his chest, ripping him away from the man and throwing the small man across the grass, running to join him.
"Gross." He heard the leader comment and fixed his slightly unfocused gaze on the man, observing that he held the oldest, ugliest, rice hat the ruroni had ever seen.
Anou…isn't that Ochita's?
And then the girl let out the screech of a bat. Nothing short of the apocalypse could stop her now.
Ochita's POV
My hat…no one touches my hat…that hat is the only possession I have left of the both of them. So I let myself go, changed back into what I hated the most, eyes glazing over until all I could see was a haze of mismatched colors, my eyesight suddenly converting to that of the negative of a photo, looking around in the darkness, finally able to see properly.
My lips opened and turned up, flashing my teeth in a deranged smile, as all I could feel on my face as my body was sent into overdrive. My arms and legs tingled and, my neck felt as though a collar and leash had just been removed. I rocked back on my heels and, after that, the whole scene became a blur. In the end, every man was on the ground, groaning in pain, most likely disfigured for life.
"Forest Demon!" I heard the woman behind me shout and I turned around slowly, noting that the smile I'd placed on my face was still etched there, baring my teeth to the world.
Soujiro was on the ground, looking at me strangely…with a smile on his face, albeit strangely, commenting, "You have fangs."
"When I was young, I knocked them out…they have grown in larger than the rest very muchly so." I explained quietly, the haze leaving and my eyesight returning to a normal state of being half blind.
Review Onegai Shimasu! I revised it a bit, the first draft was hard to read very muchly so.