Chapter 4

Yuriko had every intention of not being scared of Waka but for some reason felt a strange emotion that was like fear; but wasn't. Was it the glowing sword pressed to her neck or was it her life on the line? "I have no intention of being scared of you. I mean honestly, when you talk, you sound like a French/Redneck crossover. How do you plan on being frightening?" Yuriko had a plan and she wouldn't let anything or anyone get in her way; that includes the person that was in control of her living and dying.

"Ma Cherie, I don't want to fight you, but if you are going to talk to me that way, then so be it. Get outside."

"If you were smart then you would actually realize that my sword is in Yoshpet."

"Use your lovers."

"It is also in Yoshpet I believe. Oki? Oh wait, can't talk… never mind."

"Use this one." Waka through a sword at her, it was in very good condition but it was going to be difficult for her. Alas, Yuriko trotted outside and faced this man that was actually betraying her. "Are you ready Ma Cherie?" Waka asked.

"More than I will ever be." Yuriko jumped up in the air and came crashing down with an attack that would have killed Waka if she didn't purposely miss. Waka examined the preciseness of her aiming; the elegant way she moved. Waka remembered what he had forgotten about this girl; she was the one in control of her survival, even if she did sign that contract. Waka swung back and also missed purposely. Then they got serious. The furious swings they took and the blood the spattered all over the place was what marked their anger. The white blanket of ice and snow was covered in red. It looked like it was red with white spots instead of the other way around. Their battle had gone on for 20 minutes and not either of them showed a sign of pain in their expressions. Yuriko's face was splattered with Waka's blood and was sliced under her eyes on both sides. Her once white and purple jacket was torn and falling apart. Waka's flip was bleeding and he was panting. His clothes too were torn and covered in dried red spots. Yuriko took note of how tired Waka looked and dashed around him four times, hitting him right above his hips four times; twice on each side. Waka fell to his knees and moaned, "You…win…" he dropped his sword and pointed at Oki's door way. Yuriko turned around to see Oki, standing there in tears.
"Oki," she began. "I… can't explain. This… WAKA! STOP RUINING MY LIFE! If you intended to do these things then why don't you just end me?! Huh? You have Amaterasu, don't you?" she yelled at him.

"Yuriko…" he groaned as he fell flat on his face.

Oki looked Yuriko in the face but for Yuriko, all she could see was a blue mask. She couldn't tell if he was pleased, or sad or whatever. "Oki, can…you…please take off your mask I…want to see your emotion…" she cried.

"Don't talk to me, don't come near me, and don't go to the village until you want to explain to me who you are and why you are here because you are obviously not the girl that I thought you were, the girl I fell in love with." Oki turned around and walked into his house and locked his door.

Yuriko had let every single word that Oki spat at her sink into her mind. Her heart was aching and the eerie feeling of loneliness was surrounding her. Trapped inside her was her tears and pain that couldn't be spoken in words. Yuriko was angry at Waka, worried that she might have killed Waka, upset because she might have lost her life because she had not fulfilled her mission, confused because she didn't know if she should just leave and never come back because she is not supposed to tell anyone who she is or if she should break the rules and tell Oki everything. Then she remembered the danger that was lurking over Kamui; the black mist on Oki's back. She couldn't leave, but she also couldn't stay. All she could do was run so, she ran as fast as she could, away from Kamui. Tears were streaming down her face as she grimaced through the agony. She took a certain path that lead her to ShinShu field. Yuriko looked at the sky and then at the ground and started to cry. "Is this far enough away from you Oki? Is this okay?" she yelled. Yuriko sucked it all up and stopped crying so she could walk to the nearest coast line.

Once there, Yuriko stared into the setting sun and asked Amaterasu for her help. "Origin of all that is good and mother to us all, I need some answers, what should I do?" After ten minutes had passed, she jumped to her feet and started to run to Kamiki village. Yuriko had decided to roam Nippon and just lay everything off of her mind for awhile. What could go wrong?

Oki had turned around from the bloody girl and locked the door loudly to show her his point that he wasn't kidding. His heart was racing and anger filled his heart. Why did she do that? Who is she? "I just want to know!" he cried. He slid down to the floor and sat with his back against the door. He sat there waiting for Yuriko to turn around and knock on the door and tell him everything, but that never happened.

After 30 minutes had passed, Oki had almost forgotten about his regret of the things he had said to her, but he would always look up at the pot that was hanging over the fire and he would remember how she saved him. Guilt and frustration weighed heavily on his shoulders. What was he supposed to do? Should he wait for her to come back? Should he forget about her and continue on with his daily life? No, he could never forget about her, but he had heavy doubts of her ever coming back after all of those hurtful words hit her in the face. "Why did I do that? I…I love her! And she has saved me, twice! What have I ever done to her to let her deserve this?"

Oki unlocked his door and ran outside with hopes that she would still be there, but she wasn't; the man called Waka wasn't even there. There was just a note on the ground which was held in place by a sword. He picked up the note and read what it said to himself.

Oina warrior,
I don't have the slightest idea why you said all of those things to Yuriko. if only I could tell you what she said about you. Alas, I do know how you feel. You want to know who she is and who I am but you cannot know. I can't even tell you why you can't know. I must promise you this though; Yuriko is not doing any of this to hurt you or to betray you. She has not lied to you once. The only thing I can tell you is that I have sent her there to help me search for something. I have known Yuriko for a long time and I know that she doesn't care what she is doing for me, all she cares about is what everyone else thinks of her. She wouldn't care if she died as long as no one would miss her. her life was full of misery and frustration. I can honestly tell you that I have not seen her smile for "3" years now. I know that you made her smile and if you try to hurt her the way you did one more time, then you better think twice of what I can do.
Waka

Oki read the note a thousand times at least so if he needed to, he could look you in the eyes and repeat it, word for word without even glimpsing at it. He knew what he had done was wrong but, when he thought about what Waka had wrote, he started to think about what he should have done. After awhile, he passed the thoughts and wondered what Yuriko was doing. He imagined her in Nippon, deciding that she was going to go somewhere else and live her life alone. So that is what Oki planned to do until he saw her again. This was the first step in his process to fixing everything. How this is going to work, we have no idea.