Sano thought for a minute and nodded, "all right. How do you feel talking about your family?"
Minako shrugged, "I don't mind."
"All right then, start talking."
"Well, my dad owns a farm and him and my brother work in it almost everyday. My mom stays inside all the time, she never goes outside, and cleans and cooks, you know, mother stuff. She has me run around and get the water and the vegetables and all that. Since I'm the youngest most people would think that I got spoiled more than my brother, but that wasn't the case. My father hates me because he wanted another son to help with the work load, and instead he got me. My mother thought that the only good thing about me was that I could go out and do all the hard work while she cooked. I even did most of the cleaning," Minako started. "My brother was usually nice to me, but sometimes he would get me mad just for the hell of it. His usual way of doing that was to call me the 'little failure' since that's what my dad first thought of me."
Sano looked at her. She seemed so calm on the outside as she was telling him the story that he would have thought she was fine with it, but he used to watching people's eyes and he saw the pain she felt. "That's kind of sad."
"You get used to it after a while," she told him. "I only really had one friend and her dad was the one who taught me how to use a sword, as well as a shinai. What about you?"
Sano sighed, "my dad was a farmer and there isn't much to say about my mom. But when I was nine I ran away from home, hoping to prove to my family that I could do something great. I was found by the Sekiho Army and they took me under their wing, training me and all that. One day my captain, Sagara Sozo, was beheaded and the Sekiho Army was called a fake by the very same government that set it up." He clenched his fists angrily. "A few years after that I became a fight merchant, and I even owned a zanbato. But the last fight I bought, it ended up breaking."
Minako looked at him, "you took the captain's last name?"
"I was a farmer's son, therefore I had no last name. And Captain Sagara was more of a father to me than my own was," Sano explained. "He told me not to go with it because it sounded dorky, but I did it anyway. It was the only way I could think of to keep his memory alive."
Minako smiled, "that's sweet, and kind of cute."
Sano looked at her, "cute wasn't really what I was going for when I was twelve and made the decision, but okay."
"I'm sorry, but it was," Minako said. "Now what do we talk about?"
"I've no idea," Sano admitted. They walked along in silence when they reached another town. "This place is deserted," he said.
"No it's not, they just don't like strangers. They have look-outs a mile ahead of the village and a mile behind that way they can send messages by birds to warn everyone that someone is coming."
"You seem to know a lot about this place," Sano said.
"Yeah, and we had better hurry up and get out as soon as possible. If we linger then they have a tendency to get angry," Minako said. Sano nodded and sped up a little, still looking around. A door creaked open and a little boy came running out.
"Look mommy! It's Minako!" he said, jumping up and down, pointing at her. A small woman with light brown hair walked out and grabbed her son's hand.
"Come inside now Jio," she said, pulling him away. His lip quivered as he was pulled back inside and Minako kept looking straight ahead. Sano waited until they were well away from the village to ask Minako what just happened.
"What the hell was that all about?" he asked.
"I used to visit here all the time with my brother when he came to sell vegetables. That woman was someone that would let me inside her house all the time. We would talk and she would make me food while my brother was bargaining with the market people. Three years ago she had a son, Jio, and I would help her watch him whenever I came by. A few months ago my brother and I came to sell the vegetables, but we were told to leave. The last batch of food they had bought from us made everyone sick. We didn't know that the vegetables had been infected by parasites, but they blamed us nonetheless. Jio had gotten seriously ill and everyone thought he was going to die. His mother never forgave us." Minako had her head down, trying to hide the tears that were forming around her eyes. They spilled over, but she kept walking, trying to hide them from Sano.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "But how did they know that it was your crops and not from someone else?"
"Because we were the only one's who sold to them. Nobody else would take the time to come out here and do it, and the soil here isn't good enough to start a farm," she said. The tears were gone, but the sadness wasn't. Sano could hear it in her voice. He didn't know what to say so he squeezed her shoulder lightly. He saw a small smile but it was gone almost as soon as it had appeared.
"It's getting dark, we should find somewhere to sleep," Sano said. Minako nodded and Sano sighed. "Listen," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him, "it wasn't your fault, no matter what they made you believe. You already said that you guys didn't know about the parasites, and if the people at that village can't understand that, then they're stupid." He lifted her chin again, "and what did I say about smiling more?"
"I've been smiling all day! My cheeks hurt I've been smiling so much." Minako broke away from his grasp, "now where are we going to find a place sleep?"
"In a clearing, like the last few times we've stayed at," Sano said.
"Okay, but have fun finding a place," she said. "There's no clearings around here for miles still."
Sano slumped his shoulders, "are you kidding me?"
"Not at all. Sorry," Minako said. "If we walk fast then we could find one a little after nightfall, but the next one I know about his almost five miles up ahead, or we can go ten miles in the woods to find one."
"I'll go with the five mile option," Sano said. Minako nodded and led Sano to another clearing. She went off the trail and found a clearing soon after. It was almost pitch black when they found it, and Minako tripped over a tree root and fell to her knees.
"Ow!" she said, standing up again. She rubbed her knee and realized it was wet. "What the hell? I didn't fall that hard, did I?"
Sano shrugged, although Minako couldn't see it. "Maybe we should lay down and not worry about doing anything until morning, when we can see."
"Can you sleep on an empty stomach?" Minako asked, chuckling.
"Of course I can! What makes you think I can't?"
"You mean you want a reason besides that you complain almost every three hours of being hungry?"
"Well if you didn't ration how much we ate every day then we-"
"We would be completely out of food. This has to last us till Kyoto," Minako said, cutting him off. "I can't even trust you to carry the food after yesterday when you tried to eat some." She sat down on the ground and put the bag of food in her lap. Sano sighed and sat down next to her. He heard her rustling through the bag and reach for something. She grabbed his arm and put an onigiri in it. "Here, now stop your whining." Sano ate the onigiri in two bites and reached for the bag. Since it was dark he misjudged where the bag was at and ended up grabbing Minako's hand again. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Oops," he said, letting go quickly. "I, uh, meant to grab the bag." She didn't say anything, "I mean it!"
"I believe you...kind of," Minako said, laughing at him.
"I'm going to sleep now," Sano said, laying down on the ground. Minako laid down a little ways away and fell asleep.
In the morning Sano was the first to wake up and watched as the dawn arrived. Minako was still sleeping and he gave her another hour before he waked her up. "Hey, time to get up."
She opened her eyes slowly and stretched, yawning. "Did you by chance make breakfast?" Sano smiled sheepishly and she groaned, "of course not. That would make to much sense." She reached for the bag and her eyes widened, "where's the bag at?"
"What are you talking about?" Sano asked.
"The bag is gone!" Minako said.
Sano laughed, "I'm sorry Minako. I had too," he said while pulling the bag out from behind his back.
Minako clenched her fists and glared at him, "you are insufferable!" She snatched the bag away and grabbed out food for breakfast.
"I'm sorry," Sano said, taking a bite from the pan she was making breakfast in.
"Yeah, I'm sure you are." They finished a breakfast and headed back on the road. They walked for a couple hours in complete silence when Minako spoke up. "Sorry about snapping at you."
"Don't worry about it kiddo," Sano said, rubbing her head.
She had a flashback to when her brother had done the same thing to her the day she had left and stepped away from Sano. "Don't do that."