Title: Lost

Author: Biko-Biko

Summary: While Chasing the Kouga ninja to Sunpu, Oboro finds herself lost in the woods and rescued by a complete stranger who offers to escort her to Sunpu in search of her friends. During the trip, the stranger decides to take Oboro in as her disciple after hearing about how frowned upon she is by other ninja.

Warnings: Spoilers for the episodes twelve and up in the Basilisk series and maybe even episodes before twelve.

Disclaimer: I do not profit from this, simply a fan-made story

(This is an alternate ending story, even though it starts from the middle of the series. And those dots that you will occasionally see are because I can't get the extra space without them :P)

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"If we didn't have such a bad leader!"

.

Those words rung through Oboro's mind constantly. The words of Jingoro. Oboro can remember clearly the feeling she had gotten when he had said that, like she had let her comrades down. Oboro can still feel it now as she stirred awake, wakened by the sound of Akeginu's departure. Oboro laid there for what seemed like a while before sitting up in her futon and tossing the covers silently off of her before standing up and making haste to the shoji door.

"Where are you going?"

Oboro froze when she heard the sound of his voice ring through her ears and turned slightly towards where she thinks the sound of his voice came from. Flushing lightly, Oboro opened her mouth to answer, being sure to whisper so not wake Jingoro. She was sure Tenzen would hear her.

"I-I need to relieve myself," Oboro stammered, slightly embarrassed at what she had to say.

Tenzen looked at her, eyes piercing through her closed eyelids before he gave permission. Oboro knew that she would not be able to get away even if she wanted to, even if Tenzen was inside. He was fast and very much stronger than her as well as skilled. Oboro would never even think about escaping.

Using the wall as guidance, Oboro slowly walked to the back of the house, where she knew she would at least have some privacy and walked a little ways away before stopping. Oboro had a hard time relieving herself, due to the fact that she had sealed her vision and the fact that it was pouring. Oboro walked back the direction she supposed she came from and once again placed her hand against the wall, following it around back to the shoji door. There was water within the small hut for Oboro to wash her hands with.

Oboro was just about to slide the screen when she was startled, her hand retracting from the door. Oboro turned her head in the direction in which the sounds that had startled her came from, stilling to listen for any sounds. Oboro could only hear the running water of the river a little ways down. Oboro turned back to the door when she heard a faint voice over the soft hum of the water. It was a soft, womanly voice, a voice that Oboro knew all too well.

"Akeginu?" Oboro muttered quietly to herself.

Oboro remained quiet and listened, trying to see if it really was Akeginu or if it was her own mind playing tricks on her. Sure enough, Oboro heard the voice again. Completely forgetting about her task, Oboro turned, letting herself be drawn near by the voice. Almost mechanically, her legs began to move of their own accord, but not without difficulty. Oboro found that she was injuring herself by stepping on rocks and any other hazardous substances protruding from the ground as well as slipping countless times on the muddy land. Oboro was sure she had a few scrapes and bruises when she was close enough to hear.

"How pathetic."

Oboro inched a bit closer and found herself face to face with a tree, covering her mouth in an attempt to not make a sound, but failed. Oboro crouched down where she hoped was behind the tree and quieted herself, painfully massaging her nose. She had sat there for a few minutes before she realized that the noise had not been heard. Oboro brought herself to her feet with the help of the tree beside her and once more peeked out from behind the its large base. Oboro did not peak long, she had decided to leave and not intrude on her friends anymore. Turning back the way she came, Oboro made her way back to the hut they were all sharing.

Oboro sighed after a while and leaned against a tree, leaning her head upon it. She felt exhausted, her feet were sore from stepping on sharp and pointed objects. Oboro breathed in and out the fresh air. She did not remember it taking this long to get from the hut to the river.

"I can't hear the river anymore," Oboro spoke, whispering to herself. "I was able to hear it before..."

Oboro trailed off. It was as if she had been soaked with a pale of cold water. Panic started to fill her being from the very core and she immediately started to breathe in and out to calm herself. Oboro had not been traveling the right way the entire time.

Oboro rested her weight against the tree and still proceeded to calm herself. Having no idea where she is, she had no possible way to find her way around and who knows what is lurking out in the woods these days. Even in the predicament she was in, Oboro did not regret sealing her eyes shut.

"Akeginu!" Oboro suddenly called, figuring that if she was anywhere near, she would be able to hear her.

"Akeginu!"

Oboro was only met with silence.

"Koshirou?" Oboro hesitantly cried out.

Oboro was soaked and shivering and she doubted the rain was helping her chances of being heard. Oboro licked her lips and opened her mouth.

"Koshirou!"

.

Silence

.

Oboro started to panick as she pushed herself from the tree and kept walking. Where? She did not know.

Akeginu returned to the hut soaking wet and shivering a bit. Upon opening the door, she was met with the monotonous voice of Tenzen, whom of which startled her a bit.

"Where is Oboro-sama?"

"Oboro-sama?" Akeginu muttered as she stepped in and shut the door behind her. "What do you mean? She was sleeping..."

Akeginu turned her eyes towards the futon Oboro was occupying only to find that she was not there. Horror spread throughout her being as she realized this and the fact that she could be anywhere, possibly even in danger and not realize it. At this point the door opened behind her as Koshirou stepped in.

"Akeginu, take Koshirou and go search for Oboro-sama. I will stay here incase she returns," Tenzen spoke.

"What about Jingoro-dono?"

"Let him sleep," Tenzen said. "We need not waste time waking him up. If Oboro-sama is not here by morning, we take leave without her."

Akeginu's eyes widened as she heard this. That simple statement put her under a massive amount of pressure. Not only does she not know if Oboro-sama is safe, but if she is not found by morning she is assumed dead. Akeginu didn't know if she could handle that, Oboro-sama isn't just her leader, but her friend and even assuming she is dead makes her blood run cold. Of course, Oboro-sama could be dead or alive by tomorrow morning, but it would not matter because they are under a time limit. If they were ever to catch up with the Kouga, it would be the sacrifice they would have to make.

Akeginu ducked her head a bit, seeming defeated by the circumstances fate had to put out.

"Understood."

Akeginu turned around to face Koshirou who remained silent, dead silent. Koshirou knew what had happened without hearing the whole thing, as expressed by his demeanor.

"Let us go, Koshirou-dono," Akeginu said as she walked up to the door of the hut. Koshirou nodded and followed her out, shutting the shoji door behind him. Together, Akeginu and Koshirou departed, in search for Oboro-sama.

Oboro panted out as she blindly ran through the woods, away from the howling sounds that seemed to enjoy chasing her. The ground was a mass of mud and grass and other things she did not care to know of. Fear coursed through Oboro's veins, pushing her to run faster. Her energy was draining though. Oboro's adrenaline rush was wearing off more and more as time seemed to tick by.

Her chest was heaving rapidly up and down as she blinked, barely managing to keep her eyes open. Her legs were burning from the effort of running for so long. Oboro could remember the days of her failed ninja training, the days of soreness and muscle cramps. This reminded Oboro of that very same training.

"Augh!"

Oboro let out a gasp as she fell, her face coming in contact with the mud. Looking back, Oboro saw the offending object that had caused her harm. A tree root stuck out from the mud. The ground must have lowered when it turn into mud, exposing the tree root. Oboro hissed in pain as she pushed herself up off of the floor. Her ankle was throbbing badly. Oboro gasped once more when the sound of the howling wolves got nearer.

Ignoring the pain, Oboro pushed herself up off of the ground and continued running, her ankle the last thing on her mind at the moment. Oboro felt herself starting to sway, loosing her balance while running, tiredness catching up with her.

"N-no..." Oboro panted out while she ran.

Without warning, Oboro lost her footing, falling into the mud beneath her, her body and face becoming coated in the gunk. Oboro no longer had the strength to get up and keep going, her body was exhausted and sore as well as out of shape. Oboro heard the howls of the wolves and let out a shaky breath before letting her body relax. She could no longer feel the mud beneath her or the howl of the malicious wolves.

"No..."

Oboro couldn't die, she refused, be even she is a sucker to her own fate. There was so much she hadn't gotten around to, like seeing Gennosuke-sama again and ending the ninpou war, getting married and having children. Oboro's thoughts were cut off, she was losing consciousness. It was without warning that she slipped away from reality and into the vastness of her mind, into a heavy slumber.

This was made out of a lack of stories for the basilisk series. I had only finished watching the series yesterday morning and thought it was great, although the ending was a bit depressing and disappointing (in my opinion) and so this came out. I'm trying to keep it realistic to the anime, as in Oboro being clumsy and possessing no ninja skills, but from episode twelve up in my story, the ending is going to be changed drastically, I don't know how because I'm just going to write and see where it takes me, but I'm excited to know myself on how it's going to turn out.