Hoshi and Moriko arrive back at the stream. The tiger eared girl drags out a fairly large raft covered in reeds.
"I use this to travel up and down the mountain," Hoshi grunts as she sets it along the stream bank. "Climb aboard. I'll get your stuff."
Moriko eyes the raft before she steps carefully onto the unfamiliar craft with the Soul Reaper in her arms. Hoshi throws Moriko's belongings and the Soul Reaper's katana on the raft before she leaps nimbly aboard. She grunts with effort as she uses a long pole to push them into the stream. The green eyed girl steers the raft skillfully center stream where Moriko feels the current speed the raft downstream. Moriko kneels on the raft, easing the Soul Reaper onto the boards. She washes her hands in the stream before rummaging in her haversack for the small jar of homemade herbal paste and bandages.
Satoru may have been a musician by trade, but he knew how to treat injuries and taught Moriko his skills. Moriko slips the Soul Reaper's blood stained kosode and shigati off to examine the injury. The girl's chest bandages are bloodied as the injury is the size and shape of an extraordinarily thick but crude spear. Fortunately, it is a clean injury through both sides. Moriko smears the herbal paste over both sides of the injury carefully. The red-eyed girl wraps the bandages carefully around the girl's injury and ties them snugly.
"Nice bandage job," remarks Hoshi who hovers over Moriko's shoulder. Moriko glances to see Hoshi, her pole resting over her shoulder.
"It will do until she can see someone who knows more about healing," replies Moriko.
She dresses the Soul Reaper back in her clothing. Moriko then cushions the girl's head with her haversack. The Soul Reaper smells of wildflowers. Reaching for her samisen, Moriko notices the unsheathed katana.
An unsheathed weapon is dangerous, Moriko thinks as she grasps the katana by its hilt. She jerks and nearly drops the blade. In her hand, the blade feels alive and breathing.
"You okay, Moriko?" Hoshi asks.
"Hai," answers the black haired girl, a little shaken. She forces herself to dismiss the sensation. Moriko sheathes the katana back into the Soul Reaper's sheath after wiping the blade clean on her black hakama. The young woman stifles a yawn with her hand.
"Get some sleep," orders Hoshi, "I got enough shut eye to last a while."
"Thank you, Hoshi," says Moriko, looking up at the tiger eared girl.
The green eyed girl huffs out air before she mumbles, "I'm only doing it because I got some shut eye. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye out for Hollows."
Nodding, Moriko stretches out on the raft near the Soul Reaper and falls asleep.
Moriko opens her eyes to find herself staring up into a clear sky. Mist floats out from between her lips as she slowly sits up. She is sitting in snow in what appears to be a central village square. The wolf eared girl rises slowly to her feet. While the landscape looks cold, Moriko feels comfortable in the environment. Ice sculptures capture her attention. Moriko smiles as rabbits are poised in flight in the mist of what appears to be a game involving a ball.
"Whoever carved these must be very fond of rabbits," murmurs Moriko to herself as she steps toward them to take a closer look. Her ear twitches at the sound of footsteps. Moriko turns toward the sound.
Standing with her back to a house she must have exited is the most beautiful woman Moriko had seen. Her pale skin contrasts sharply with her icy blue eyes. Long, pale lavender hair, some of it up in a long bun, falls to her waist line. A strand of hair rests between her eyes. Parting her hair to the left side is a blue, star-shaped hair clip. The white kimono has long sleeves with a pale yellow-green obi wrapped around her waist, and a large, pale purple bow on her back.
Moriko hesitates before she smiles uncertainly to say, "Hello… My name is Moriko." She bows politely as she continues speaking, "I was just admiring the rabbit ice sculptures. Did you make them?"
The woman stares at Moriko in silence before she smiles, her eyes warming, as she says, "My mistress did. Might I ask how you entered her inner world?"
"Her inner world?" repeated Moriko. "Isn't this…"
"Hey, Moriko! Wake up!"
Moriko's red eyes jerk open as she bolts to her feet, tensing for a Hollow attack. Her eyes sweep the area. She realizes the raft is pulled up on the sandy shore of the riverbank. Lying on the sand, asleep, is the Soul Reaper. Hoshi stands alongside a circle of stones with wood piled in its center, waiting to be lit.
"I caught breakfast and have them ready to cook," explains Hoshi, holding up several sticks with fish speared on them.
"You did?" Moriko inquires, her mind not completely registering that there is no emergency.
"Yeah," Hoshi says, scowling, "if you want to eat, you start the fire."
"Oh," replies the black haired girl, allowing her shoulders to relax. She rubs her eyes with her hands, saying, "Give me a few moments to wake up. I had a very strange dream."
After the promised few moments pass, Moriko approaches and kneels by the fire circle. She snaps her fingers and holds the moon flame energy by the wood. The wood is dry and clean as the flames catch quickly on the dry fibers. Moriko draws her hand back to watch the fire growing stronger, closing her hand to make her moon flame energy disappear. She looks up at the sky.
"The sun has been out for some time. How much longer will it be till we reach the mountain's base?" Moriko asks, looking towards Hoshi who shrugs before answering.
"Few hours," Hoshi replies as she shoves the sticks in the ground. She adds, "Weather seems good. I'm hungry. Let's cook now."
Moriko's stomach growls as she accepts several fish squeezers from Hoshi. She sits down and holds one of the roasting sticks over the fire. They sit in comfortable silence as they cook until Hoshi breaks the tranquility.
"So," asks Hoshi, spinning her stick of fish with slow precision, "what did you do to treat your back?"
"What do you mean?" Moriko asks as she looks at her tiger eared friend.
"Your clothes have blood stains, but there's nothing there."
One hand holding her cooking fish, Moriko reaches to feel her back. She encounters her own skin and severed cloth. Moriko draws her hand back to discover dried blood. The black haired girl blinks for a few moments.
"I remember getting hit," murmurs the red-eyed girl, rubbing the blood off her hand onto her hakama. She hesitates before she admits, "I did not do anything…so how am I healed?"
Hoshi shrugs as she keeps her eyes on her cooking, as she says, "I wouldn't worry. It's one less thing you have to worry about."
"Perhaps," Moriko replies but feels unconvinced. She glances towards the Soul Reaper, asking, "How long do you expect she will be unconscious?"
Hoshi chuckles and answers, grinning, "Don't sweat it. She'll wake when she's hungry."
They fall silent as the fish begins to pop and sizzle over the hot fire. Moriko eyes Hoshi's fish enviously which never burns, and Hoshi seems to know precisely when to turn it. Hoshi tears into her fish and eats ravenously while Moriko grimly nibbles on her half cooked, half burnt fish. Her wolf ears swivel as a moan escapes their new companion. Moriko turns to see the Soul Reaper sitting up. The Soul Reaper turns towards them, blinking her large violet eyes.
Hoshi waves with her cooking stick, saying, "If you're hungry, Soul Reaper, you better get here to fry your own fish before we eat them all."
"Last night," says the Soul Reaper but grimaces before she can continue speaking. Her hand moves to her injury. She glances at her shoulder, pulling her clothing to the side a little to reveal the bandages.
"I know a little about healing," explains Moriko. Her ears flatten as she asks, "Are you in pain, Soul Reaper-sama?"
The Soul Reaper stands very carefully, her hand slowly moving away from the injury, as she says, "I'm fine." The Soul Reaper's stomach growls loudly, making the girl blush.
Chuckling, Hoshi pulls out one of the uncooked fish squeezers and holds it towards the Soul Reaper, saying, "Don't stand there all day. I'll fry and eat it if you won't."
As the Soul Reaper approaches the fire, Moriko notices her fingerless white tekkou that went up to her elbows. The Soul Reaper's left arm sleeve reaches her upper arm where a badge, reading the numbers 'thirteen' and 'two,' is tied. She kneels opposite of the pair and gratefully accepts the roasting stick.
"Thank you," says the Soul Reaper before she holds the skewered fish over the fire. She hesitates before asking, "What happened last night?"
"Oh, we got you out of a tight spot with some Hollows. We kicked their butts. We're heading downstream to the mountain's base," Hoshi answers as she concentrates on spinning her fish. Sniffing, Hoshi turns to Moriko, scowling, as she says, "Moriko, flip it or it's going to be a charred mess."
Moriko hastily flips her fish around and says, "What Hoshi said is more or less of what happened, Soul Reaper-sama. What is your name?"
The Soul Reaper turns her fish slightly before she answers, "Rukia. I'm the lieutenant to Squad 13 of the Gotei 13."
Hoshi sniggers as she remarks, "You're rather short to be a lieutenant."
Rukia's eyes narrow as she frowns at Hoshi, saying, "You're not that tall either."
Hoshi shrugs as she says, "Anyways, what are you doing on the mountain? Soul Reapers rarely come so far up the mountain. I would know."
"The mountain's forest side had abnormal Hollow activity. I was sent to investigate, but I didn't realize how many there were," explains Rukia. She hesitates before she looks at Moriko, adding, "I think I owe you an apology for snapping as you saved my life."
Moriko ducks her head slightly as she smiles and blushes, saying, "I did not do it alone, Rukia-sama. Hoshi had—"
"Hey, Moriko, your fish is on fire."
Moriko jerks her roasting stick away from the fire and blows the flames off the fish. She frowns at the charred fish before she turns to Hoshi, demanding, "How do you do it, Hoshi?"
Hoshi smirks as she states grandly, "I'm a professional." She takes a bite out of her fish and makes a great show of eating it.
Frowning still, Moriko studies her fish and inwardly sighs. Each girl now concentrates on their cooking. It is silent, but the silence is comfortable. Moriko notices that Rukia seemed pretty skilled with roasting her fish. After a while, roasting sticks and fish skeletons fall into the fire. Hoshi yawns as she stands.
"Good food," Hoshi sighs as she walks back to the raft and picks up her pole. She calls to the others, saying, "All aboard and down to Rukongai we go."
To Be Continued…