She was unusually quiet. At first, none in the roving group noticed that Yuya was not her typical talkative self. She lagged behind, her confident stomp (that really should have developed into gracious sweeps by now) were a lethargic shuffle. Her head bowed as she walked, as if holding it up was a burden she could really do without and she kept wincing in pain though there were no obvious signs of injury or sickness.

Benitora caught on first when Yuya dropped the medicine box that belonged to Kyoshiro Mibu, a trained assassin and potential successor for the title of Red King turned lecherous and bill skipping medicine man. She stumbled back from the lack of weight, and bit her lip, her chin wobbling from suppressed tears. Right then and there she looked like she was going to break down and cry for reason other than dropping a heavy box.

"Miss Yuya?"

Yuya glanced at the troubled man whose concern drew the attention of the others and saw that five pairs of eyes staring at her with mixed reactions. The range was almost comical if she were in the mood for humor.

Distressed.

Sympathetic.

Compassionate.

Skeptical.

Irritation.

She grimaced and mentally counted backwards from ten, covering her face with a dirty hand. She shook her head to clear it, flicking her hair out of her face. She would not shed a single tear – not in front of the most deadly men in the country and probably the world. That was something to do when she was alone and allowed a little breathing space. Of course her efforts failed and she found herself wanting to cry even more from frustration. Yuya's chest heaved but she was determined to keep quiet about her apparent troubles.

"Are you okay Miss Yuya?" Benitora tried again, this time reaching out – ready to catch Yuya if she did start crying. Girls had a tendency of doing unexplainable things at the least expected moments. And Benitora thought that this was going to be just one of those times.

She didn't reply with words. Yuya took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and smiled brilliantly. She took on the medicine box with a quiet whimper, and adjusted the weight to sit balanced on her shoulders – all the while smiling like a lunatic. Yuya forced one foot in front of the other making painfully slow progress, ignoring distrustful glares and anxious exchanges as she trudged past the men. She thought she was home free when a strong hand whipped out and grabbed the woman by the scruff of the neck, jerking her back.

"Just what the hell is up with you?"

Kyo's dazzling red eyes were hard, impatient and just a tad crazy as he bore into Yuya's overflowing green ones, searching for something to tip him off about her oddball behavior. When Yuya did nothing to fight off his rough handling Kyo frowned, jaw clenching.

"Well?" he roared, shaking her like a doll, causing the contents in the box to clank loudly in a melody that was unappreciated.

Yuya slumped in Kyo's hold, catching the man off guard. He nearly dropped the wench and adjusted his grip accordingly to compensate for the lack of backbone Yuya was showing. There was a murmur from the men, collectively and officially worried about the girl. Just what the heck was wrong with her?

"Useless," Kyo slid a finger under the straps of the box and relieved the woman of her heavy burden, keeping a firm hold of her neck as the box landed on the ground with a thud. "I can't move unless you haul ass. I told you before you're getting fatter."

Yuya closed her eyes tightly shut, and tears leaked out from the corner of her eyes. Kyo flinched and did a mental recount of all the rotten things he'd done to her since becoming acquainted with the woman. He'd said a lot of things. Things that were harsh and cruel. But Yuya wasn't the type to take that kind of abuse without biting back. No, she'd blow up and all but strangle Kyo. The fact that she was about to cry was…

Horrible.

Four boys craned their necks to see what was going on and they gasped in unison. They all saw it too. Tears running down Yuya's face, painting a little river through the travel grime. Down her chin to land on the exposed skin beneath her collar bones.

"Sasuke, I think now would be a good time to leave Miss Yuya alone, hmm?" without waiting for a reply Yukimura took hold of the young boy's elbow and guided him to another spot – somewhere far enough away to spy on Kyo and Yuya without the woman noticing. Bontenmaru was a mother duck, and it was hard for him to turn away from a duckling in distress. But a single flick of glares from Kyo was enough to spur him on to gather Benitora and drag the wailing man away to leave Kyo and Yuya alone. However, he too stopped just a little way away from the pair and promptly sat on Benitora to keep him quiet.

Kyo regarded the woman in his iron grasp and sighed. Oh god, he sighed. Demon Eyes Kyo, Slayer of a Thousand Men sighed. And it was all because some chick was about to start bawling. Good grief, he was getting soft.

"I'm going to regret this," he muttered to himself, letting Yuya hit the ground ungracefully. He nudged her forward with his foot and herded Yuya to the nearest tree. He pointed at the soft ground, like a master would his dog and said "Sit."

Yuya sniffed and did as she was told both aggravated and grateful that she was finally getting some attention. She didn't want the attention per se, but it was nice to know they noticed. Even if it did take three hours for any of them click. They were boys after all.

Yuya curled her legs under her and wiped at her eyes with her sleeves. She sniffed again, but seemed to be in a slightly better mood.

"I don't have all day. What do you want."

That was definitely the wrong way to go about it. Yuya shrugged sluggishly and trained her eyes on his feet. Kyo was standing over her, more out of habit than anything else. She heard him mutter under his breath before Kyo grumbled and sat next to Yuya, a bottle of sake in his palm ready to be consumed. He had a feeling he'd need it and lucky for him that Yuya decided to lose the plot after buying his supplies.

"For fucks sakes woman, spill. I, your master Kyo, give you, Ugly, permission to speak freely." He smirked at that and was let down with the lack of furious anger. Yuya was the kind of person that exploded with the slightest insult and would scrap her way out of any situation – even if she was greatly overwhelmed or fatigued. And his comment didn't change her idiotic actions at all. He hid his disappointment by taking a swig of sake.

"I just…"

Four hidden males leant forward, eavesdropping shamelessly on a private conversation. Kyo cocked an eyebrow to let the others know he was very aware of the presence and to keep in line. Just because he was humoring the girl did not in any way mean that he was going to be lenient with his other servants. In fact, he was going to throttle them when Ugly was normal again.

"It's just that…" she sighed and shook her head in resignation. Kyo stilled, bottle poised in mid air as he studied the woman. He was going to string her up in a minute if she didn't hurry up. "Kyo, do I really have to tell you?"

Kyo promptly rapt her on the head with his bottle for her insolence and was rewarded with a glare. Good, signs of life.

"I want to leave." He growled with a glower of his own.

"Okay, okay." Yuya rubbed the spot she was hit and sighed again. "But promise not to laugh, okay?"

Kyo gave her his best I-don't-give-a-fuck look and donked her head again, actually kind of enjoying it. He wanted to do it a couple more times just to make her mad but decided against it because it would definitely consume even more precious time that could be better spent looking for his body and then she probably wouldn't tell him anything anyway. And that in turn would really piss him off.

Yuya pinched his leg and glared. "Promise!"

Kyo hadn't been pinched before so the sensation was a strange one. His eyes widened a fraction in disbelief and he did the only thing he knew how to. He took another drink of sake. Typical.

Yukimura giggled, Sasuke smirked. Bontenmaru chuckled to himself where as Benitora had passed out from lack of oxygen.

"It's a girl thing, so you can't laugh." She warned, yet again, before taking a deep breath. Her next run of commentary were self directed and she fingered the hem of her clothes, procrastinating.

"Okay Yuya, you can do this. After all, the worst he can do is laugh his ass off and then put a dent in your head when he realizes that you were fine the whole entire time."

He waited the self directed rant with more patience anyone would dream Kyo could muster. At least now she was getting back to normal and those asshole servants could stop with the false allegations that he was in fact the sole perpetrator for Muttface's problems.

"Kyo, I had a cramp and it was really sore."

The sincerity of her words hit Kyo like brick and he could do nothing but feel a bubbling red anger steadily building to the surface.

"But it wasn't any old cramp." She added hastily when she noticed the killing aura putting a major dampener in the atmosphere. "Not like, one in your leg, you know? And it's been going on and off for a while."

And then she started babbling, spilling her guts out just because she was panicking and she didn't want to die a very painful and slow death.

"I told you it was a girl thing, right? Well, it's a girl thing and sometimes it really sucks to be a girl because all these things happen to you and it all seems to happen all at once and I'm still young and figuring stuff out and you really can't say anything to anyone because you guys are all guys and I would have told Okuni if she was here but she's not because you sent her on some mission or whatever she does when she's not trying to sleep with you and stuff and I told you it was a girl thing but you guys wouldn't drop it and you kept pushing so I had to tell someone and that was you by default because you can be one scary dickhead sometimes and now I'm gonna cry because I'm frustrated and you haven't said anything and I'm a girl and I'm allowed to do girly things when it counts and… God, I am gonna cry. And I'm sorry I'm a girl and pushing all my own problems on you but it hurts like crazy and…" she wiped her eyes again, and sniffed. "I could really use a hug."

Kyo stared at his feet the whole entire time, counting the many dirty slashes on his sandals. He got to seventeen by the time Yuya stopped. She threw her arms around the quiet samurai and buried her face into his shoulder. Kyo sat rigid, freezing when he felt her arms around his neck and her face in his shoulder. She squeaked slightly, holding him tightly and then slowly peeled herself off of Kyo, sniffing again. Her eyes were leaking. Again.

"Are you done?"

Yuya chuckled wetly, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. Kyo ignored the little voice in his head chiming a ridiculous child like song.

Yuya and Kyo in a tree

K I S S I N G

First comes kissing, then comes marriage

Next there's Kyo pushing a baby's carriage!

"Good. Now move."

"Okay." Yuya replied, smiling eagerly. She didn't seem to notice the slight blushes from the returning men, or the crest fallen expression Benitora wore when he finally awoke from unconsciousness. All was right again in the world of Yuya Shina.