"Ginko-san!"

The mushi-shi stopped on his trek out of the little valley village to peer over his shoulder at his young female apprentice.

He raised a eyebrow as she approached him with cupped hands.

"Look this one seems nice! I found it crawling on my pack!"

Ginko sighed, "Didn't I tell you not to pick up mushi you've never seen before?"

The girl gave him a sheepish grin, "Well, yeah, but I didn't want it to get into our supplies. What if it multiplies, or eats all our rations?"

Ginko twitched, pulling out a jar and holding it out to his apprentice, "here, put it in here."

The girl, Mahiko, did so, mindful of the tiny worm like creature and it's unknown abilities.

Ginko closed the jar, placed it into his pack and then began the long trek out of the village once again.

"Don't touch mushi you've never seen before."

"Aye aye captain!"

Ginko twitched again, then sighed.

"Where are we headed anyway?"

The Mushi-shi pulled out another cigarette, clamping it gently between his teeth as he searched for his matches.

"Yokihama. There's a family there with a mushi problem."

"Looking for this?" The young woman held up his matchbook.

Ginko twitched once again, "Hand it over."

She grinned, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "oh I dunno, not having matches could be the perfect chance to quit."

"I have matches, they're just in the hands of a madwoman."

Mahiko huffed, "I'm not sure I want to hand them over after that comment..."

"Mahiko..."

The girl's expression turned into a pout at the exasperated sound of Ginko's voice.

She handed them over, "Fine, but you gotta tell me what's up with the mushi I found."

Ginko lit his cigarette, "I'll look at it later."

The trek through brambles and brush soon became a long trek through a mountainous forest.

Mahiko could see the life river out of the corner of her eye, but Ginko had already told her not to stare at it for long periods of time.

Still, she had to fight the urge to at least glance at it every now and again.

The light from the river made it a little easier to see in the now darkened forest, and Mahiko alternated her gaze between her master's back and what little bit of sky she could see through the canopy of leaves above her.

Finally, Ginko stopped in a clearing and Mahiko set to work helping him build a small fire and laying out bedrolls.

They kept the river of life to their backs, much to Mahiko's disappointment.

"Here."

Mahiko's attention was drawn back to Ginko, who was holding out a piece of dried meat.

She took it.

"That's all the meat we have left, we'll have to stop in the next village and pick some up."

Mahiko nodded, pulling out her water pouch and taking a few sips to wash down the meat.

"So about my mushi..."