Chapter 1

There were two men--they walked the same road, but after ten years they discovered completely opposite truths. So I think if I wander for ten years, I'll be able to find my own truth.

- Soujirou, volume 17, act 148

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Early December, 1878

The wind blew lightly through the woods, causing the leaves on the ground to scatter in an array of reds, yellows, and oranges. All the leaves had fallen off the trees already. There was a slight chill to the air; cold enough for a person to notice, but not so cold that he couldn't bear it. Winter was sure to come soon. A bit early this year, in fact. Soon, the ground would be covered in a light coating of fresh snow.

As the wind blew, it blew leaves onto a path that went through the woods. Though this path was usually well-used, today it only held one young man. This young man wore blue pants and a blue shirt a few shades lighter. These clothes were well worn, suggesting that it had been a while since he had considered getting some new clothes. His sandals looked worn as well. The wind caused him to shiver. He stopped and looked up at the gray sky. Looks like winter will be coming early this year, he thought, Really soon, in fact. Those dark clouds suggest a snowstorm. I think I'll stay at the next village for a few days, until the oncoming storm passes by.

The young man started walking again, this time quicker than before. It would do me no good to get caught outside in the oncoming storm. I better hurry if I want to make it to a village before the snow comes.

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Luck was with the young man, and he managed to reach a village before the snow started. It was a small village, no more than a hundred or so inhabitants, but it was very lively. Small children played in the streets, their mothers not far away watching the childish antics. Some were buying food from a small bazaar. Throughout all of the activity, nobody seemed to notice the young man. That's probably a good thing, he thought, I'd like to not converse with people.

Suddenly, someone bumped into the young man from behind. He turned around, and saw that it was a young girl of about six or seven. Her black hair was somewhat messy, and her eyes were filled with fear. The young man said, "What's wrong?"

The girl answered, "the mean boys are chasing me!"

This was confirmed by the shouts of four young boys. When they reached the young man and the girl, one of them said, "there you are! We were looking for you!"

"leave me alone," the girl cried as she hid behind the young man. The young man said, "What is the problem?"

A second boy from the group said, "That girl standing behind you is being a scardy-cat and won't play with us!"

"that's because you always throw rocks at me or something when you play," the girl retorted. A third boy said, "Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Alright," the young man said, "Calm down. I am sure you can come to a reasonable agreement. You boys shouldn't be picking on a girl, anyways. If she doesn't want to play, she doesn't have to."

The first boy seemed to be angry about the fact that someone told him not to do something. So, in retaliation, he bit the young man's left hand. The young man cried out in pain and shook his hand violently in an attempt to get the boy to let go. But the boy seemed to be holding on tightly. Then, the girl punched the boy in the shoulder. The boy let go of the young man's hand. The young girl said, "Don't be mean to the nice man!"

The boy yelled, "you'll pay for that!" and stalked away, his three friends following closely. The girl said, "thank you for protecting me."

The young man smiled. He said, "It's no problem."

Then the girl looked at the young man's hand. It had a bright red mark where the boy had bitten, and it was bleeding a little. The girl grabbed the young man's right hand and began to walk down the street. She said, "Come on. grandpa knows a lot about medicine, and he can fix up your hand like new!"

"Oh no," the young man said, "It's alright. I will be fine."

"then at least come and stay for a few days. That way you don't get caught outside in the storm that's coming. It would be bad to get caught out in the storm."

The young man sighed. He knew that she was right. Getting caught in the storm would be a bad thing. So, he said, "Alright, you win. I'll go with you."

The girl smiled. She said, "My name is Makatari Yuki. What is yours?"

The young man answered, "Seta Soujirou."

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The house that Yuki lived in was a somewhat small one. It had a kitchen, a room for sitting, eating, and all the other things you would do in a day, and two bedrooms. It also had a bathhouse out back. It looked a little run-down on the outside, but on the inside, it looked quite nice.

Yuki's Grandfather was a nice fellow also. He looked quite old and worn-down, but he had an energetic spirit. He was good at medicine, like Yuki had said, and he patched up Soujirou's hand in no time. He also agreed to let Soujirou stay until after the storm had passed.

While the Grandfather was making dinner, Yuki and Soujirou were sitting in the main room. Yuki was playing with her doll, and Soujirou was watching. He finally said, "Makatari…"

"Call me Yuki-chan," the said one interjected. Soujirou started again, "Yuki-chan, why were you running from those boys?"

"because they are mean," Yuki answered, "they always pick on me. They pull my hair and throw rocks at me. I dunno why, though. I used to think that they just liked being mean to girls. But I am the only girl they are mean to. I wish I knew why they didn't like me…."

Right then, the Grandfather brought in dinner. They all sat at the table and ate. Yuki and her Grandfather chatted about how their day had been. But Yuki didn't mention anything about the boys being mean to her, and Yuki's Grandfather didn't ask how she had come across Soujirou. This made Soujirou curious about the incident. Surely any other young girl would tell her Grandfather about how some boys tried to beat her up. This he had seen happen many times during his wandering. But yet Yuki didn't say a word about it, and it puzzled Soujirou greatly.

After dinner, Yuki started playing with her dolls again, and her Grandfather went out into the kitchen. Normally, Soujirou would have just sat quietly until bedtime, but the days events were causing Soujirou's curiosity to act up. He walked into the kitchen to have a chat with Yuki's grandfather.

Yuki's Grandfather was cleaning up the dishes from dinner. "Makatari-san," Soujirou said, "Aren't you curious as to why your granddaughter was sharing the company of a rurouni?"

"Not really," the Grandfather said, "Yuki brings home strange people all the time."

Soujirou sweat dropped. The Grandfather continued, "I don't mind sharing my house for a few days. And no rurouni has ever hurt my Granddaughter, so I don't worry about it too much."

"But aren't you curious as to the events that caused us to become acquainted," Soujirou asked, hoping that this question got the desired answer. The Grandfather shrugged and said, "not really. The first thing you forget about someone is how you met them."

Soujirou sweat dropped again. He then said, "Yuki-chan was being bullied by some boys."

The Grandfather sighed and said, "I know. They always do."

Soujirou could feel a hint of tiredness in the man's voice now. This puzzled Soujirou even more. If he knew, then why didn't he do something to stop these acts? Soujirou asked the Grandfather this question, and the Grandfather said, "The town has a great dislike for my family."

"Why," Soujirou asked. The Grandfather said, "Because of my son's decisions. Yuki's mother died when Yuki was born. This broke my son's heart, so he went on a journey to 'find himself.' I stayed behind and took care of little Yuki. About four months after my son left, he returned, and he had a new wife in tow. Yuki liked her, and I had no quarrels with her. But, she was American, and the village does not take kindly to foreigners. They harassed my son and his family, and made life very hard for them. Then, a group of the men got drunk one night, and they killed my son and his new wife."

Soujirou said a silent prayer for Yuki's parents, and Yuki's Grandfather continued, "I managed to get Yuki to safety before she was killed, and I took up the job of raising her. But, the village didn't forget my son and his American wife, and they continue to harass us. And since it was such a short time between Yuki's birth and Her Father's remarriage, the village thinks that Yuki is half American. And So, it is not uncommon for Yuki to be bullied by the local boys. I told her to just ignore it, and they would eventually give up."

Soujirou shook his head. He thought to himself, I don't see how someone could hate another person for something stupid like that. Then again, I have done things similar to that in the past too, so I guess I am not in a position to criticize the people of this village. But it still saddens me that a young girl must suffer for such a pointless reason.

Nothing more was said. Both men understood that the discussion was over, so Yuki's Grandfather, who had finished cleaning up the dishes, went to go make a bed for Soujirou. Soujirou went to the front porch. It had just begun to snow, and Yuki was running around laughing in the light snowfall. She was trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue, but was having a little difficulty. Mainly because it was hard to catch a snowflake on her tongue and laugh at the same time. Soujirou smiled and thought, well, at least she looks happy.

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For the next two days, the snow kept everyone inside. It was slightly boring, but Soujirou didn't mind being inside. It was warm inside, and Soujirou would rather be warm and bored than cold and not bored. Yuki, on the other hand, was getting antsy. She really wanted to go outside and play in the snow. Luckily, on the third day, the snow stopped falling, and the skies cleared up. When Soujirou awoke, he walked out onto the front porch to see how much snow had fallen. There was a good foot and a half of snow in some places, but the wind had blown it around and made it shallower in other places. Soujirou sighed and said to himself, looks like I'll be leaving soon.

Just then, Yuki came running out the front door and jumped into a pile of snow. Soujirou chuckled as he watched Yuki jump out of the pile of snow and run around the yard like a maniac. Yuki then ran back to the porch and said, "Come on, Soujirou-san! Come play with me!"

Soujirou shook his head and said, "I am not much fun, Yuki-chan."

Yuki didn't listen to Soujirou, but instead grabbed his hand and dragged him into the yard. She said, "Help me make a snowman, Soujirou-san!"

Soujirou smiled and helped Yuki make a snowman. Then, they had a snowball fight. Soujirou went easy on Yuki, but he shouldn't have done so. Yuki clobbered him, and he was completely covered in snow. Yuki's grandfather chuckled at the pair and said, "Looks like you underestimated my granddaughter, Seta-san."

Soujirou said, "Guess so. I won't do that again."

Yuki giggled and threw another snowball at Soujirou. Soujirou saw it, though, and ducked. Then, they all heard a yelp. The trio turned to see what had happened, and saw that a boy had gotten hit by the snowball. Yuki said, "Oops! Sorry."

"I bet," the boy said with venom in his voice, "You dumb Americans cause all the problems here!"

"I am not dumb," Yuki yelled out. The boy then stuck his tongue out at her. So, in a fit of anger, Yuki picked up a small chunk of ice and threw it at the boy. It hit the boy in the head. He fell down, dazed. Soujirou, who was worried about the boy, went over to check on him. There was a cut on the side of his head. When Soujirou tried to help the boy, the boy simply pushed him away and said, "I don't need the help of a friend to a filthy American!"

Then the boy stormed off. Yuki's Grandfather was scolding Yuki for hurting the boy. But, Soujirou wasn't paying attention. He was thinking about the consequences of Yuki's rash act. He said to himself, this is not good. The village could use this against Makatari-san and Yuki-chan. I have a bad feeling about this…

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That night, Soujirou didn't sleep easily. He was too worried about the Makatari family to sleep. After tossing and turning for several hours, Soujirou finally got up and looked around the house. When he came to the front door, he could hear something outside. He opened the door a crack, and saw that several people carrying torches and swords were coming. I knew this would happen, Soujirou said to himself as he ran to the bedrooms to wake everyone up, I hope Makatari-san has a plan.

Indeed, he did have a plan. After he and Yuki were awake, he told Yuki to get dressed. Then, he said to Soujirou, "Will you take Yuki to a nearby village for me?"

Soujirou politely said, "Do you mind me asking why?"

"These men are not going to hold back this time," Makatari-san said, "I do not want them to harm Yuki. I shall hold them off while you two make your escape."

Suddenly, Soujirou felt for this man. He knew that he didn't stand a chance against an angry mob, and yet he was going to try in order to protect his granddaughter. that is true devotion, Soujirou said to himself. He nodded and said, "Yes, I will take Yuki to a nearby village."

Yuki walked into the room then. Makatari-san gave Soujirou a piece of paper with an address on it. Soujirou then turned to Yuki and said, "Ready to go, Yuki-chan?"

Yuki said "We gotta go?"

"You and me," Soujirou said, "Your Grandfather is staying here."

"Okay," Yuki said reluctantly, "Just one more thing."

She walked up to her grandfather and gave him a hug. She said, "Be careful, grandpa."

"I will," Makatari-san said. Then, Yuki walked over to Soujirou and took his hand. Makatari-san said, "The address of my friend is on that paper. He will take care of Yuki for me. Just head west, and you will reach the village."

Soujirou went out the back door and hurried to the woods. It wasn't safe to take the road though town, so Soujirou guessed which direction would lead him to the path outside of town and went in that direction. It would have been easier during the day, since the sun could tell Soujirou which direction was West. But, unluckily, it was dark.

After what seemed like an eternity, Soujirou managed to find the path. He began to walk down it, Yuki following. The said girl yawned, And Soujirou was made aware of the young girl once again. Yuki said, "Sou-chan, I'm tired."

Soujirou sighed and said, "I think we can take a break for the rest of the night. It will be quite a while before the villagers come here."

So, the pair camped out for the night. The next day, they continued on their journey, hoping to reach the village very soon.