The sky turned a fiery orange as the sun fell below the mountains. An unforgiving cold seeped through his shoes from the freshly fallen snow and traveled up his spine. He closed his eyes, taking in the crisp clean mountain air, when he felt a tug on his boot. It was almost a rhythmic pulling, following the same "one, two, three" pattern. Slowly, he looked down. Fear and adrenaline overwhelmed him. Blood. There was so much blood. The snow was a dark maroon, freckled with cold lifeless bodies. The tug on his boot had come from one of the countless dead. "You did this!" A raspy voice arose from the ground, the lifeless body coming to exact its revenge.
"You slaughtered us!" Another cold voice, a woman this time holding her baby, arose from the ground. "You're a murderer!" All the bodies seemed to speak in unison, a cacophony of sounds washing over him. "Look at what you've done!"
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" He couldn't move. He couldn't fight, and worst of all he was alone.
He awoke, breathing hard, adrenaline pumping. It had only been a nightmare. Again.
Groaning as he stood up from the haystack that passed as his bed for the evening, Nanashi walked outside, pulling on his robe as he walked. He sighed, feeling the spike of cold air on his face. Kotaro walked out and stood beside him, Tobimaru at his side like always.
"What was it this time?" Kotaro started to kick up rocks from the dirt.
"It's not important." The answer obviously irked Kotaro.
"You know, you can't just not talk about it! It's gonna eat you up inside until that's all you think about. You've gotta talk to someone!" Kotaro walked away heading out into the woods surrounding the shed where they were staying for the night.
Tobimaru lingered. Nanashi looked down at him, and saw the wind ruffle his golden brown fur. "How'd he end up getting so wise huh? Any ideas, dog?" Tobimaru barked once and then followed Kotaro into the wilderness. "Yea, I didn't think so."
Nanashi let out a soft sigh, and ran his fingers through his long black hair contemplating if he was awake enough for such an expedition. "Wait up kid!" He followed Kotaro into the tall trees. "Kid…"
"AAHHHH!" The scream hit Nanashi like a tidal wave of adrenaline. He bolted forward swatting away branches and leaves. Horror stories played out in his head, images of Kotaro strung up to a pole, a ready sacrifice. He screeched to a stop, a large drop off standing in front of him, with a raging ravine below, and Kotaro hanging on the edge by his fingertips. Before Nanashi could think, his arms were reaching out for Kotaro.
Gripping Kotaro's arms from the elbows, he pulled back as hard as he could, fighting against gravity. His muscles tightened under the weight. Tobimaru joined the fight, biting Kotaro's sleeve to help pull him to safety. Nanashi continued to play tug of war with nature, feeling the agonizing burn of the scars from his last fight. Both the adrenaline and pain a reminder of his failures. This kid… he couldn't die. Not here, and not now. A final painfully blinding pull, and then at last, a moment of release as Kotaro made his way back onto the drop off.
Nanashi fell back against the dirt, fighting the urge to vomit.
"Took you… long enough…" Kotaro was lying beside him, scraped up and panting, but otherwise unharmed.
"Maybe next time you should just watch where you're going."
Kotaro slowly turned his head to the right, hearing a strange sound. He looked at Nanashi and realized he was chuckling. It was contagious. A giggle slowly escaped Kotaro's lips, and it wasn't long before both were in a hysterical fit of laughter.
Tobimaru barked with them as guttural, hearty laughs echoed through the forest. Kotaro was the first to get up from the dirt ground. Nanashi followed soon after, brushing the dust off of his trousers. "Come on kid..."
Breakfast was had in silence. Neither needed to say anything, for the situation was mutually understood. No matter what, when Kotaro was in need, Nanashi would always come. He had to.
Within the next hour, the two had once again started on their endless journey. Nanashi held the reigns to the horse loosely. With the whipping of the passing trees and the cold breath of the wild, he started to let his mind wander. Images circled the edge of his brain, competing for attention.
For a moment the memories played out before him. He saw himself lying in a cot in a medicine man's house, the smell of blood and must clouding his senses. Kotaro was sitting in the nearest chair, fiddling with the buttons on his jacket. Nanashi took in ragged breaths, pain surrounding him with each one. He knew he would heal with time. Luo-Lang had not done enough damage to warrant a fatality, but it was enough for a good amount of pain.
"So I was thinking…" Kotaro spoke with feigned confidence. "We haven't decided where we wanted to go, after all this…" He continued to fiddle with his buttons.
Nanashi turned on his head, so he could see Kotaro a little better. His voice was ragged, but no less powerful. "I'm thinking…" A heavy cough escaped his throat. "West."
"West?" Kotaru looked up, a small glint in his brown eyes.
"West." Nanashi groaned as he turned his head facing front again. "We should travel to the horizon, and see where it leads us."
A small smile crept across Kotaro's lips. "West it is."
He was drawn back to reality, feeling through the reigns that the horse had begun to wander. He tugged lightly, an indicator to stay on the path.
"What is it?" Kotaro's confident tone broke the fragility of the silence.
"Huh?" Nanashi cocked his head backward. If Kotaro hadn't known better he would've taken Nanashi's attitude as a cocky lack of attentiveness.
"You are tense. Are your wounds flaring up again? Does it hurt bad? The medicine man said not to overdo it, maybe we should stop and…"
Nanashi let out a light chuckle. It was more for the kid's benefit than his own amusement. The truth was that riding had become more difficult since his brush with death. With every bump, pain would flair up from his side, and spread throughout his whole body. But the kid couldn't know. He had to be strong. "No…. it doesn't hurt."
The horse's hooves beat gently down on the pebbles. "I can't help but feeling…." Kotaro sighed with hesitation. "feeling that this is all my fault… If I hadn't… hadn't been…"
"Stop." Nanashi straightened in the saddle. "What's past is past."
The finality of the statement ended the conversation. There was nothing that could've been done, or maybe nothing Nanashi would've wanted done. But even still, words in that moment would've merely been an intrusion.
Eventually the ride became dull to Kotaro. They seemed to pass the same trees over and over, the same fields. They climbed up the same hills, going slow enough so Tobimaru could keep up behind. In fact at times if felt they were going so slow he wondered why they even mounted the horse at all. To keep himself from falling asleep Kotaro had to resort to attempting to count all of the berry bushes he could find. He had gotten as high as 37 when he felt Nanashi tighten.
"What's…." a hand shot up from the reigns to silence him.
"Someone's here…." Nanashi's voice was low, almost a grumble.
The horse came to a stop. Nanashi slowly slipped off the saddle, one finger raised to the curve of his lip to reinforce the importance of silence. He reached into the saddle bag pulling out his sword. The red and gold handle shimmering slightly in the light. Kotaro half expected to see the ribbon there, tying the sword shut, but all that remained was a small knot around the sheath. Maybe one day Nanashi would explain it.
There was a rustling in the bushes, this time loud enough that even Kotaro could hear. Nanashi crept closely to the origin of the sounds, holding his hands on the sword ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.
Kotaro watched as in a flurry of movement Nanashi unsheathed his sword, the tip of it broken and shattered from his last fight with Luo-Lang, and with a deft swiftness chopped the bush in half.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A loud shrill seemed to escape from the bush as Nanashi cut through it.
"Huh?" Kotaro looked and saw that where the bush once was now sat a quivering lump of bright blue.
"Please don't kill me!" The words came out almost in a high pitched squeal. If nothing else it was annoying.
"Stand up." Nanashi seemed unfazed by the fact that their supposed threat was non- existent, or at least so thought Kotaro. Nanashi showed pure doubt. "Why are you following us?" The words were formed more as a statement than a question.
The girl stood before them, her head coming barely up to Nanashi's shoulders. Her blue kimono rippled down to the ground, the edges clearly worn and frayed, and her raven hair draped loosely around her shoulders, only moving when prompted to do so by the wind. She tried to remain calm, but even Kotaro with his untrained eyes could see her fear.
"It's not like that." Even when she wasn't shrieking out in terror Kotaro could barely stand the sound of her voice.
Nanashi draped his sword across his shoulder, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Oh?"
"Yes, I may have been… trailing you for a bit. But only because it's dangerous for a lady like myself to be traveling alone in these parts! I thought that maybe if someone stopped me I would simply say I was with you and they would leave me alone, for surely no one wishes to pick a fight with someone with a sword such as yours. Which, I will say you didn't quite make it easy for me to keep up!"
Nanashi ignored the challenge in her last statement. "It ends here." He sheathed his sword and mounted the horse once more.
"So you would leave me to die here! Are you so in-courteous as to not even offer me a ride into the next town?" She was desperate.
Tobimaru cocked his head to the side staring at Nanashi as if backing up the girl and her point. He knew he was leaving her in a rough position. But he couldn't risk endangering Kotaro. For all he knew she was a decoy sent by some lord who wanted to use Kotaro to extend their life.
"Another traveler will be along eventually. I'm sure they will be more accommodating. "
"If you leave me here you will be a murderer!" Nanashi felt the words cry out from his dreams.
' You slaughtered us!' 'Murderer!'
The girl continued "It would only be until the next town."
Kotaro recognized the hesitation within Nanashi, for it was the same hesitation that had manifested in him. Kotaro put a hand on Nanashi's shoulder. "It's okay." Kotaro tried to keep his voice light to convince Nanashi he felt no unease. "Tobimaru can keep an eye on her, and he won't hesitate to rip her to shreds if she steps out of line."
Nanashi sighed reservedly. "Fine… you can come." He looked at the girl pointedly. "But you walk." Nanashi urged the horse forward suddenly, jolting him into a quick trot, slow enough for the girl to follow, but fast enough that it made it uncomfortable.
"So I never did catch your name!" The girl's voice echoed out from behind them. Besides the footsteps of Tobimaru beside her, she was met with silence. "You know you really are quite rude! I should at least be given something to call you should I require anything. Not to mention most true gentlemen would've at least offered me something to drink."
Nanashi rolled his eyes. "You are more than welcome to stay behind and wait for one of those gentlemen." The girl let out a loud, exaggerated sigh that was filled with pent up anger and exhaustion.
After about an hour of listening to her nonstop complaints of it being too hot, or her light headedness, there was a brief shining moment of silence. It was accompanied however with a loud thud that was the girl's frail body slamming into the ground.
When she awoke, she was sitting under a tree. Her companions were to her left down the road a little bit with the horse. They hadn't left her. This surprised her considering they weren't too ecstatic about having her with them in the first place. When she looked closely at them she saw that the older man seemed to be teaching the smaller one how to handle a sword. She couldn't help but pull a smile.
She stood and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She started to walk towards them, and it didn't take them long to notice her presence. The tip of the sword glinted in the sunlight, pulling her attention to the fact that the tip of the sword was shattered. "Look who's up!" The older man with black hair, not unlike her own, spoke as he put away his broken sword. "I was beginning to wonder if maybe we'd have to leave you behind."
Despite her appreciation to the two for not leaving her stranded, she found herself responding with sarcasm and disdain. "Well if you had at least offered me some of your water, perhaps all of this could've been avoided and we wouldn't have lost precious time!" She bit her lower lip. She realized she was pressing her luck with their patience. She needed to tread more carefully.
"In a rush to get somewhere are we?" The older gentlemen didn't seem to notice or care at how ungrateful she sounded. She couldn't help but wonder if such impertinence was something he was used to. She noticed however that the younger companion looked as if he was about to lose his cool.
Despite this, her mouth ran away with her again. Something about this man just made her forget all sense. Just his presence was enough to agitate her into oblivion. "I just don't wish to spend any more time with the appalling company of you two than is absolutely necessary!"
"Hey!" For the first time she actually heard the younger man speak. "We were the ones who were nice enough to allow you to tag along in the first place! If anything you should be grateful to us for not leaving you behind hours ago!" The boy's face turned red as his anger flared.
"Grateful? Grateful?! Grateful the fact that you made me walk for hours in the burning heat with not even so much as a glass of water?! Is that what I should be grateful for?!" She had no doubt that her face was just as red as the little boy's. The wind shifted east, and her hair started to blow with it.
She heard the clopping of horse's hooves coming down the path. The three of them remained quiet, waiting for the traveler to pass. Despite her frustration curiosity drew her attention to the stranger coming past them. He was a middle aged man with dark brown hair wearing torn and dirt ridden clothes. It seemed to her that he had been traveling for a long time.
"Well hello fellow travelers!" The stranger called down to them from his mount. "I couldn't help but overhear yelling from down the path. Is everything alright?" A smile crept across his face.
"Thank you for your concern I…" Pain seared across her forehead. Images flashed across her vision. She was slung across the back of this new stranger's horse. She could see them, the two whom she put in danger. The little boy was crumpled on the ground, a Shuriken driven into his stomach, the older man slumped down next to him letting loose a scream that could wake the dead. This would be her fault.
The pain subsided and she crumpled to the ground. Her breath was ragged and heavy. "Take me….but don't hurt them." Tears streamed down her face.
The man's smile turned sickly and malicious. It was a far cry from the façade of a genuine caring smile that he wore just a few moments ago. "I knew it was you." He laughed maniacally. "I have to admit I wasn't sure at first, but now…" The man hopped down from his horse, pulling out his Shuriken out from its hiding spot in his shirt. His laughter permeated the air, turning it bitter and sour.
She looked at the two men she was with. She saw the man with black hair slowly stepping backward, reaching for the sword he had stashed in his saddle bag. The stranger noticed it too.
"Don't!" He laughed again, pointing his weapon at the boy's chest. "Don't do that." The raven haired man stopped.
"Stop!" Sobs broke away from her as she lay crumpled on the ground. "Take me, but leave them alone! They've done nothing to you! Leave them alone! Please!" She had to change the future. She couldn't let the boy die.
The man chuckled. "Look at you, Yuru. Begging for the lives of strangers. How the mighty have fallen." Her limbs felt weak and limp. She had come so far, and it would end here. She had been so stupid. So incredibly stupid. He knelt down in front of her, grabbing her clothes and drawing her close to him. He talked to her through clenched teeth, his breath reeking of disdain. "The Lord seems to think your little display here was nothing more than a lapse in judgement. But me? I see you for what you are traitor! If it were up to me I would slice you open here and leave you to the dogs."
In a flurry of movement the man was pulled away from her and thrown to the ground. The raven haired man was wrestling with the stranger. The stranger pulled out his Shuriken but the raven haired man had pinned his arm to the ground. "Kotaro! My sword!"
Looking up, she could see that the raven haired man looked in pain, as if every second he held down the stranger was more agonizing then the last.
In a quick jabbing motion the stranger kicked the raven haired man, pushing him off of him. He swung his weapon, but the man with raven hair dodged seamlessly, rushing up onto his feet. She saw the stranger look left at Kotaro, who was withdrawing the sword from the saddle bag. He was going to throw.
"No!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, desperate to save the boy. She ran up to the stranger jumping onto him from behind, only for him to toss her away like a rag doll. She groaned in pain.
"Nanashi!" Kotaro called out as he tossed the sword to the raven haired man. The world seemed to play in slow motion before her.
The stranger sliced right with his weapon while the man the boy called Nanashi side stepped left. He reached up with his left hand, catching the sword that was thrown towards him. He swung the sword, not bothering to unsheath it, slamming it into the strangers head.
The man came crumbling down from the blow. But that didn't stop him. He jumped up swiping once more to maim Nanashi, but was met with an upward blow the arm, causing his arm to bend in abnormal ways. The weapon dropped from his hand, being quickly swiped from the air by Nanashi's right hand, which without a second thought was driven into the chest of the stranger.
He crumpled to the ground, thick red blood spilling from his wounds. He sputtered a cough. "The rest are… coming… Yuru….." He chuckled as red dripped from his lips. "The rest…. Are… coming…" He slumped forward onto Nanashi, who didn't hesitate to push him off into the dirt.
The air was silent except for the sound of heavy breathing. The girl slumped forward crumbling further into the ground. Sobs escaped from her in a waterfall. There was release knowing that the future had been changed. But still, she knew that this was only the beginning of a yet worse fate.
The fire roared in front of her. It danced and leapt across her vision, pulling her into a hypnotic trance. After the fight, the three of them had walked down a little farther down the road and pulled off into the woods to rest for the night.
Nanashi sat with his sword by his side, the red and gold glinting in firelight. Kotaro and the dog sat opposite of him, huddled together. It was clear they were close.
"So," Nanashi's voice broke the trance of the fire, drawing her back to reality. "Yuru is it?"
The girl nodded her head slowly, afraid that her voice would falter if she tried to speak. Her feet shifted, touching the blanket that Nanashi had given her for the night.
"I'm Kotaro." She looked toward the right as the boy started to speak. "This is Tobimaru." He started to rub the dog's fur, which caused him to wag his tail vigorously.
She didn't want to seem rude so she forced herself to squeak out a weak hello. When she trusted herself enough to speak again she looked towards Nanashi.
"Why are you called that… Nanashi I mean." She looked at the man. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Forgive me, I overheard Kotaro call you that and just assumed…." She let her voice trail off.
His deep voice resonated as he spoke. "Nanashi. No Name. That is what I am. I am nameless."
Yuru couldn't help but show the puzzlement on her face. Kotaro saw this as an opportunity to chime in.
"I call him Nanashi for now," he said "But Tobimaru and I are gonna think up something good for him."
"My turn." Nanashi readjusted himself in the dirt. "What exactly have we gotten ourselves into with you?"
Yuru let her head fall down again, staring uncomfortably at the dirt beneath her.
Nanashi continued. "Considering we did just save your life, I think it's only fair that you give us something. I understand wanting to keep secrets, but you have to realize that there are things that we have to protect too."
She knew that when Nanashi said there were "things he had to protect", he was talking about Kotaro. From the vision she'd had, it was clear that this boy meant the world to him. She also knew that she was the one who had put the boy in danger in the first place.
"I won't lie." Yuru tried to remain composed. She refused to let these events break her. "By traveling with me, you put yourselves in grave danger." She lifted her head and tried to look as dignified as possible. "If this leaves you inclined to continue your travels without me, then so be it."
She had believed that as soon as all this was said, the two would pack up their things and leave right then and there. Leave her stranded in the woods to be eaten by wolves, or worse… caught by one of the lord's men.
Nanashi sighed heavily. Kotaro continued to pet the fur of Tobimaru. They seemed uncomfortable, but they made no effort to move.
"Get some rest. Tomorrow we should get to the town and we can get some fresh supplies." Yuru reached down for the blanket that was near her feet. She watched as Kotaro had done the same.
She couldn't help but notice that Nanashi didn't. He situated himself in the dirt, staring up at the night sky above. He had given her his blanket. She drew it close to her, letting its warmth caress her into a deep sleep.
He was standing in a lake. The warm water soaking through his pants. It seemed rejuvenating almost as if the act of being in the pool itself had given him new strength. He let his hands run across the top of the water. Back and forth. Back and forth.
He knelt down into the pool, ready to dunk his whole body into it as soon as he could. He let is head drop, and he started to cool blue surface of the water. His reflection stared back at him, the only thing distorting it being the ripple of the water caused by his movements.
But then something strange happened. His reflection started to move closer to him. Seeming to rise from the water until it looked like it was about to pop out as a whole person. As it got closer he realized it wasn't his reflection at all, but the lifeless body of one of the countless dead.
It burst out of the water, hands flailing about. "Murderer!" It gurgled, water exiting its open mouth. But the water changed too. The bright cool blue water turned maroon and think.
Nanashi stumbled backward falling further into the pool covered in the red molasses. Bodies popped up from the pool in droves. They shouted obscenities at him. Cursed his name.
"Murderer!" "You did this!" "Kill him!"
Nanashi awoke suddenly, his terror seeping outward in ragged breaths. He looked to his right, and saw Yuru the girl sleeping soundly, and Kotaro and Tobimaru breathing softly as they dreamed. He sighed.
With a small grunt as he stretched his stiff back, Nanashi arose into a sitting position. He watched as steam arose off the firewood. It must have burned out a while ago.
Yuru groaned next to him. She looked up noticing that Nanashi was awake.
She yawned, noticing that not an inch of sun had risen in the sky. It was still pitch black. "Can't sleep?"
Nanashi nodded his head. He didn't want to awaken Kotaro. The kid needed as much sleep as he could get.
Yuru shifted herself so that she was sitting as well, but the blanket still covered her entire body. Nanashi noticed that she looked at him as if she could read his deepest secrets within his soul.
"I know that look." She spoke softly, just loud enough that Nanashi could hear, but with any luck not loud enough that Kotaro would awaken.
"What look is that?"
"The look of a man haunted by something, which I'm guessing is the reason you can't sleep."
"It's nothing I can't handle." Nanashi didn't like this girl prying into his life. The less she knew the better it would be for all of them. Not to mention he had no intention of giving her any hints as to the nature of Kotaro. The truth of the boy was enough to make anyone crazy with the idea of eternal life.
The girl chuckled slightly. "If you could handle it" she said "You would be sleeping right now."
The words rolled around inside Nanashi. "You should talk to someone" The girl continued. "Otherwise whatever haunts you will eat you up inside until there is nothing left."
Familiarity sprung out of Nanashi. Kotaro had said the exact same thing to him earlier that day. He shook away the feeling.
"Kotaro and I are heading West." Nanashi let his hands drape loosely across his knees. "I don't know what you are running from, or where, but you are welcome to tag along with us for a while. At least until you get close to where you need to go." Nanashi saw relief flood over the girl. Her whole being relaxing underneath the blanket.
"Thank you." She squeaked. And as if once wasn't enough she repeated herself. "Thank you."