A better, newer version of my story Kiss Me Sane (which I now realize is a terrible title).
Please review and enjoy! I own nothing.
Mifune hated leaving Angela on her own. He knew it wouldn't be for long, and that Angela had been alone before, but he still didn't enjoy not having her in his sights. They were low on supplies, the nearest town was over an hour's walk away, but the hunter's trading post was only twenty minutes away by foot.
The forest was quiet this early in the morning, the air had the slightest chill to it, and leaves had started to fall and coat the ground in a colorful sheet of reds and yellow and oranges. Mifune listened to the soft crunch of the leaves underfoot, hand drifting to the hilt of his sword. He'd walked these forests many times, had lived here for a long while, and yet he was still wary about walking through it.
Perhaps it was the unnatural quiet that seemed to muffle every sound, or the fact that he had yet to see a single bird or rabbit or deer; the samurai was on edge. Every snap of a twig had him twisting in place to follow the noise, and the distant bang of a gun (most likely the hunters from the trading post) made him jump.
The voice was what finally made him regret not just going to town. He couldn't make out the words, only the voice itself. After a moment of quietly arguing with himself, Mifune followed the voice, stepping off the path with little hesitation.
He didn't have to walk very far.
Within a small clearing, a single person - a man, though it had taken Mifune a moment to see that with all the...wrappings around him - sat cross legged, rocking back and forth and muttering. Mifune knelt down, unsure of how to approach the strange man.
"Hello? Are you hurt?" He reached out, hand hovering just above the other male's shoulder. The man flinched away from him, growling at him. Mifune snatched his and back, surprised by the reaction, but now more concerned than before. Had someone been tormenting this poor man? He looked a little worse for wear, almost starved really.
"Hey, it's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." He lifted both hands up, away from the hilt of his sword. The stranger seemed to relax, if only marginally. The wrapping on his head fell away, revealing bright, scared red eyes. He was scared. Someone had to have caused that fear.
"It's ok, you're ok now. My name is Mifune." The samurai crept a bit closer, lavender eyes scanning over the stranger for any obvious injuries. The sound of the man clearing his throat had him looking back up, torn from his distant search for injuries.
"I...I'm Asura."
"Well, Asura, are you hurt?" Mifune let his hands fall to his knees, body tense as if he expected an attack. Asura tilted his head, as if confused by the question.
"N...no?" He seemed to withdraw from the samurai, eyeing the sword on his hip like it could attack him at any second. Mifune said nothing, mouth set in a fine line as he thought over his options.
Finally, he stood up, brushed dirt off of his knees, and then motioned for Asura to follow him.
"You can come to the trading post with me. Maybe someone can take you into town-" Mifune cut himself off as the other man suddenly lurched forward to grab onto his wrists in a iron grip.
"No!" Up this close, Mifune could see how Asura's skin seemed almost unnaturally pale, and he could see, hidden just underneath the strange black and white bangs, a third eye set into his forehead.
"No...he'll find me there..." Asura let go of him and retreated to the other side of the clearing, fidgeting and muttering all over again. The samurai stayed where he was, concerned and more than a little suspicious.
Someone was after this...person, and whoever it was scared him into hiding out in the woods.
"You don't have to go into town. How about we just go to the trading post, and then we'll go back to my cabin. We can figure it out from there." This got Asura's attention, and after a moment he nodded.
With that done, Mifune returned to the path with the Kishin (not that he knew this) by his side. He watched the other as they walked, wondering just where this stranger had come from...
And also why he had three eyes and was covered only in wrapping - which looked like skin or a some sort of weird scarf now that he thought about it. Hmmm...better to ask when they got back to the cabin.