Seth was pointing a gun at a man. The man was tall and had a grayish hair and beard. His eyes stared at the young gunslinger with irony, as if he was finding it funny. Seth hold the gun firmly, still pointing at him.

"So you came back, my son." The man said with a ironic tone, his lips curved into a sly smile.

"I'm not your son! I never was!" Seth replied in a harsh tone, his anger rising inside him.

"I raised you! I taught you how to hunt, how to shoot, how to..."

"SHUT UP! You never treated me like a son, you raised me as one of your gang members, you raised me to become a bastard like you, but I will never, never be like you!"

Seth hardened his grip on the gun. His hands were shaking and his eyes were reflecting pure hatred towards the man that was in front of him. The man, however, didn't seem intimidated by the look on the gunslinger's face.

"Go on, then. Shoot me. I doubt you have the courage to shoot your own father."

Seth smirked.

"So you don't know me well enough, old man."

But as he was ready to pull the trigger, he heard a shot from behind him and his vision darkened. The last thing he saw was the old man, laughing hard.

"Good bye, my son!"

The young man woke up, startled. He looked around him and he saw that he was in the same cave he was yesterday instead of spending the night in a camp in the middle of the desert, like he would usually do. So he wasn't just dreaming, after all. He really was shot by Giovanni's men and rescued by a strange Indian girl who didn't seemed to be afraid of him. He looked around again and the girl was nowhere to be seen. He sighed in relief. He really needed some time alone. At least, he was feeling better than last morning, but he was still annoyed. He was annoyed at himself for being so foolish as to let himself be shot and he was still feeling foolish for acting as a shy teenager in front of the Indian girl yesterday, but he shook the thought from his head. He was feeling better now. And more confident too. Now he remembered who he was: he was Seth McLeach, the fearless bounty hunter, and he wasn't going to let himself be affected by that girl again.
He tried to stand up, but pain hit him. He tried to ignore the pain, however. He didn't want to be sitting in a cave all day. He leaned on the cave walls and limped to the outside. The sunlight blinded him for a few seconds. When his vision was adapted to the sunlight, he whistled and the beautiful white mare appeared. She seemed happy to see her master was fine. She nuzzled against him and Seth used his free hand (for he was still leaning against the cave wall) to caress her snout. However, the mare accidentally rubbed her snout against his wounded side, which made the pain go worse, and Seth lost his balance and fell face-down on the floor. He tried to stand up again, but he couldn't move. The pain was too intense.

"DAMN IT!" he cursed, in frustration, and the mare whinnied in concern for her master

The mere was sniffing into his brown hair, occasionally using her "lips" to stir his hair a little, as if trying to tell him everything was all right. Suddenly the sound of a horse approaching was heard and the beautiful woman from before arrived at the scene. She was riding her strong, almost-black stallion with the purple patterns drawn on it. She didn't use a saddle; just a hand-made carpet-like cloth and she didn't have reins. She practically held herself from her stallion's long, black hair. She had a sack to her shoulder, like the one she had before. She came a halt with her horse close to him and her eyes were widened with surprise and also with worry, obviously for seeing him there out of the cave.
From up-close, especially on her black stallion she seemed less vulnerable. Someone would say she looked like a tanned Amazoness warrior, especially since she had her small knife tied at her boot. She seemed to be a great rider, especially since she didn't use a saddle and reins.

When he hard the sound of horse hooves approaching, he looked up to see the beautiful Indian girl mounted on her black stallion. He cursed himself again. It was humiliating to be seen by the girl with him in that situation. Even though he didn't liked to admit, he needed her help because he was unable to move. He grunted in frustration.

The girl seemed scared for him (and not OF him). She jumped off her horse and ran to his side to help him stand.

"Why?" she said to his language -with only a slight sound of singing-like accent-

"Why out? No. No"
She said helping him stand, like saying he shouldn't have done it.

He stood up with the girl's help, but he was feeling so humiliated. He felt an immense anger at himself again. It was embarrassing enough to be in that situation and it was even more humiliating to be scolded by that girl. He grunted again, and with her help, he managed to get back to the cave.

She could feel his discomfort, or at least...his annoyance. She knew men. Men in her village, especially the warriors, felt humiliated to get help at times of pain. Her people believed that pain makes them stronger. However females helped anyway, and she knew that when a warrior was wounded, he went straight to the healer to get better to get to another battle. So...why wouldn't he let her help him?
Was she doing something wrong? White Men healed in a different way than her people? Ishizu didn't know. She helped him sit back to the blanket. She smiled to him, hoping this would make him feel better. It was a disarming smile indeed

"Hungry?" she asked showing her bag.

She got out some bread and corns and a flask of water. She also had with her meat, freshly baked. Even the bread was still warm as if just baked.

Seth looked at the young woman with annoyance. Sure he was grateful for her saving his life and all, but he was still annoyed. He remembered how foolish he must have been looking yesterday, acting as a foolish shy teenager, so he wasn't going to let that happen again. It was also for his male pride, he didn't wanted to look weak, especially in front of a woman. So he looked back at her and her smile almost managed to tear down the walls that he was carefully trying to rebuild around his inner self, but his annoyance and irritation tried to block away any kind of foolish sensations and thoughts. His body, however, wasn't listening to him and he could still feel his heart racing a bit, which made him feel even more annoyed. He grunted again and when she asked if he was hungry, he looked at the food and nodded, in affirmation.

"Yes."

But he replied in a cold tone. He wanted her to know that he was feeling irritated. Maybe this could help him to not feel so foolish near her again.

The woman titled her head to the side a bit curious about the change of attitude. What happened? Had she done something wrong? Didn't he like the breakfast or his wounds started to hurt again? But the night before when she checked them, she had seen that his wounds were getting better and better.
Luckily they weren't infected or anything worse so she didn't need to cut off his flesh or anything. Moreover the bleeding stopped easily after removing the bullets with the hot knife so she didn't need to burn the wounds with hot metal to stop massive bleeding. So why was he hostile towards her all of the sudden?
However a smile appeared to her lips. Yes she remembered that look. She remembered her family. Her brother. He would always pout every time their mother would try to help him with his wounds. Perhaps it was embarrassment. She smiled again and cut the loaf of bread in half with her hands.
The sweet scent of freshly baked bread got freed in the small cave, inviting. Then the girl took out the wrapped in cloth, roasted meat. It appeared being meat from a deer or perhaps a boar. It was crispy and had all its fat on it. She placed the half piece of meat upon the one half of bread and extended it to him, smiling always.

The scent of the food made Seth's stomach rumble. The food seemed delicious and, for a moment, hunger spoke louder than his arrogance and he left it aside for a while. He took the bread and the meat and started eating.
The food tasted delicious. He couldn't even remember the last time he tasted something so delicious. He, himself, was a terrible cook. In fact, none of Giovanni's men were good cooks. He guessed it was a men's thing to be bad cooks.
He ate the food with voracity, and after he finished, he decided to be at least polite, after all, she gave him something really delicious to eat and he didn't want her to stop bringing him this kind of food for thinking that he didn't liked it.

"Good. The food was good." He said, expressing his satisfaction with his meal.

He repeated for her to understand and then he thanked her.

Ishizu smiled more seeing him not only taking the bread and meat she had prepared for him but also took the rest half of it and ate it almost gluttonously. She could sense how long he had passed since he had a good meal and the simple bread she had brought him the night before didn't count. She saw him almost finishing up the entire flask of water, almost without taking a breath. For some reason the scene of her watching him eat resembled her a husband after the morning hunt in her village that comes home to eat some food. She felt her cheeks getting warm at the thought.
It was also nice to see him like her bread so much. She was the healer and the shaman of her village but still she was a woman and she had learnt how to make flour and bread. She had returned at her village the night before and she was preparing the bread dough so in the morning she baked it by the fire while eating her simple breakfast, she then took some freshly roasted deer meat she had for her breakfast and came back to the cave as fast as she could. Seeing him enjoying it was something that made her happy.
She heard his voice praising her. She could tell he was praising her by the suddenly warm tone of his voice. He was praising her while still the fat and the oils of the meat were on his fingers. She was smiling once more and nodded her head gratefully

"Good"

She said as an "answer"

"Good...Th-Thank you." She remembered the other word he had taught her.

It seemed strange she was speaking into the white man's language but at the same time she liked it. She took out a small rug and came closer...she wiped a little the corners of his mouth and started wiping his hands, as if she truly was his wife, taking care of her hurt husband...

When she came closer, Seth froze. He could feel his heart beating fast and his cheeks burning.
"Oh, no, not this again!" He thought.

Suddenly anger took over him; Anger of himself and anger of these foolish sensations. He would not let these stupid sensations take over him again. He wasn't a stupid teenager anymore, he was a fearless bounty hunter, a cold, rude man raised among outlaws, he hated feeling vulnerable and he wouldn't let this woman affect him. He needed to defend his own dignity and defend himself from any kind of weird emotions. So he pulled his hands and moved away from her.

"Stop!"

He snarled at her, like an angry wolf trying to defend its territory.

"I don't need your pity. I can take care of myself." He said, even though he knew she wouldn't really understand the words he had just said. But he hoped that, at least, she would leave him alone for now.

She was shocked for a second and immediately drew back. For a second an image of her being a baby with her older brother by her side came to her mind. "Never trust white men" he used to say, "They are violent and they do not appreciate anything! They only know to destroy! They only destroy each other without even having respect of their opponent!"
For sure the fear passed her for a barely noticeable second from her mind, but she wasn't a little girl anymore! However her eyes filled with tears she held back with all her strength so they wouldn't fall. What was with him anyway? She had helped him, she had treated him, she had taken care of his wounds... She left her village many times for his sake and she spent half of the night before to make him breakfast and why now was he acting this way?
Of course she couldn't understand what he had said, but she could tell by the lack of warmth in his voice, by the tone he used. He was angry and for no good reason, according to her. The sadness turned to anger. She stood up without saying anything and let the piece of cloth down, She then walked to the entrance of the cave and left, barely looking over her shoulder one last time.

Seth watched as she left the cave. He was supposed to be relieved that she left him alone, but instead, he was feeling weird. He felt as if something was tightening his chest. The look on the girl's eyes, the way she seemed like she wanted to cry made his chest tighten even more. Was it... guilt? He shook the thought from his head. Of course it wasn't. Why would he feel guilty? He had yelled at people many times in his life. He was a lone wolf. He never needed anyone. The only people in his life that he had felt affection was sister Anna, the nun from the orphanage who was like a mother to him. But she was dead now, thanks to that bastard, Giovanni, who killed her when she tried to stop him from taking Seth from the orphanage. She was the only person he had ever loved, and yet, she was taken away from him, like the mother he never met. So why was him feeling so bad?
Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears, but he refused to cry. Instead, he felt anger, but he didn't know what for. Was it anger at himself? Or at the girl? It didn't matter anyway. He lied down in the cave floor and closed his eyes, being tormented by his own thoughts.

And the hours passed but the girl never showed up again. And noon came...

The silence was annoying him. He couldn't even take a nap. He was still feeling that annoying weigh on his chest. Finally, he rose. He looked at the cave entrance, but there was no sign of the girl and this was starting to worry him. What if she wouldn't come back? He couldn't remain in that cave on his state. He cursed himself. Maybe he didn't need to yell at her, just move away from her would be enough. He looked at the things she had left behind, at the extinct fire pit she had lit, and he thought about the food she had brought him. He looked down at his own body and saw the bandages she wrapped around his wounds. She had the trouble to rescue him, bring him food and take care of him. She didn't seem to care that he was a White Man, somehow she trusted him enough to save him and that was still something that troubled Seth. There was a bigger reason for her to save him, he could feel it. But now he wasn't sure if that reason would be strong enough for her to come back, even after he yelled at her. Seth sighed in frustration. Beside his saddle, were his clothes and on top of them, there was the small crucifix that sister Anna gave him, a long time ago. He took the crucifix on his hands and looked at it.

"Are you testing me somehow? Is this some kind of punishment? What do you want from me, God?"
He pressed the crucifix on his hands firmly as he "prayed".

The small sound of distant laughter and the well-known sound of horse-petals to the ground could be heard and then he saw her... The Indian woman was there, running around, laughing while her dark stallion was running around her whining happily. They seemed like a couple in love that was playing. She was around 10 dozens of feet away from him. She was hugging her horse's nose laughing or even talking to him in her own language.
Suddenly a pure-white mere appeared to be joining them to their playing while the girl would feed them with some fresh fruit from her palm. She appeared to be good with animals, especially horses.
But most importantly...she hadn't left! Despite the fact she was yelled and even insulted, the girl didn't leave the cave. Instead of that she was out there like the teenage girl she was, playing around with the horses in the fresh air. Her hair was slightly wet with sweat glistering in the noon's sun. Her dark stallion seemed to be glowing in the sun, as he was almost as black as coal and only the purple patterns on his body would "break" the darkness of his wonderful dark brown fur. His hair was longer than Kisara's and the horse (as it was a stallion, after all) was more muscular and strong-looking but the mere next to him seemed also alive and well...
In a second, the stallion licked the woman's hand for a second and she giggled and kept on caressing her horse when her eyes turned upwards towards the cave and saw him. Despite they were away from each other she could feel his eyes to her and she returned his gaze with her own.

Seeing that the girl hadn't left made him relieved. Even the tight on his chest loosened a bit. But he was feeling another weird sensation, as if he wanted to hide himself. Was it shame?
He looked at the crucifix on his hands again, as if asking to God what he should do now. Well, the answer was simple: apologize, but still, it wasn't easy. He never, never, apologized to anyone. His pride wouldn't let him. He pressed the crucifix again. Of course God was testing him. Damn! He didn't like to be in this situation, but now he hadn't a choice, right? He sighed.

"Ok, God, you won. I will apologize to her if that's what You want. But..."
He sighed again and remained in silence, just thinking for a while. And then he whispered to himself:

"But don't think I'm going to be her friend. When I get better I'm going back to my lonely life. I will get my revenge and I will be back to being just another lonely gunslinger. I don't need any companion besides Kisara; I'm fine on my own. And nothing is going to change that."

The girl slowly smiled upwards. She let her stallion go and she bent down to pick a small bag she had with her and started to go up the hill where the cave was. Meanwhile the dark stallion joined the mere for a run (the mere had looked up at her master for a second as if to make sure he was alright).
The girl climbed fast and stood before him. She was small sized compared to him. Her head barely reached his jaw line but she seemed anything but fragile. She was smiling but her blue eyes were smart. She hadn't forgotten about this. She remained still, only looking at him.

That was it. The moment has arrived. It was now or never. He took a deep breath, trying to reunite his courage.

"I... I'm..."

He stammered. The words didn't want to slip from his mouth. He never imagined it could be so hard. If words had taste, this word in particular tasted bitter on his tongue. He swallowed and tried again.

"I'm s-s-sorry."

The word almost didn't come out, but he managed to spit it out. He was feeling so ashamed that he looked down at the cave floor, not wanting to see her reaction.

However her smile only became bigger, more sincere. She couldn't understand the words, but she knows what he's trying to say. She only bent down and opened her bag. Inside was a bowl made of baked clay, covered with animal's skin. When she opened it the smell of warm stew came out.

"Hungry?" she asked him showing it to him.

She had also two loaves of bread and some apples for the horses for later.

He looked at the food she had brought him and nodded.

"Yes."
He picked the food and ate in silence.

She smiled and sat with him, eating too some bread and fruits occasionally raising her eyes to look at him.

As he was eating, he noticed that she was looking at him. He raised his own eyes and looked at her, with his brow furrowed. What was she looking, anyway? He felt a little annoyed and rolled his eyes. Women. He would never get them. As long as she didn't come near him again, that was fine. He finished his meal and cleaned himself, but he still remained silent.

She saw he finished so she simply got up and picked up the clay dish and placed it back to her own sack she too, speechless.

Seth noticed that she was also silent. He shrugged. Maybe it was better this way. He didn't want her invading his personal space again, anyway. So he lied down and pulled the blanket over himself. Perhaps now he was able to take a proper nap.

After tidying her stuff she went closer holding clean bandages. She showed them to him.

"I need to check your wounds" she only said in her language but it was pretty obvious what she wanted to do

He understood what she meant, even though she had spoken in her own language. He sighed and got up, for her to better examine him.

"Be quick."

It was the only think he said. He knew she wouldn't understand, but it didn't matter.

The girl carefully started unwrapping his bandages.

And, once again, he felt that annoying nervousness. He felt his cheeks getting warmer and his heart started jumping inside his chest. He really hated this sensation. He wished he could just punch himself for feeling so foolish. He couldn't understand what the hell was wrong with his body. And because of his nervousness, he started moving again, making things difficult for the girl.

No..." she softly said in his language again touching his shoulder, "Move no...no..."
She removed the bandage from his chest and went to his leg that was also wrapped like this.

"Damn it!"

He couldn't help but let out a curse. It was frustrating. He was so angry at himself for feeling embarrassed. He was trying really hard to ignore these weird sensations, but it was so difficult. He felt his cheeks becoming even redder, which irritated him even more. When she started to unwrap the bandages on his leg, he was shaking in nervousness. He moved his leg by reflex and let out a grumble, as if that would help him feel less embarrassed.

The girl too would occasionally feel her cheeks getting warmer every time she was close to him. It was strange how much different he was than the people he knew and at the same time the same... She heard him curse and raised her head for a second, not knowing if she had hurt him or not (despite the fact she couldn't understand the word, she could tell it was because something was bothering him).
After a couple of seconds she removed the old bandages and checked the wounds. They seem better already but she knew they were deep and that the man still would need time to recover, but she knew he only would need a couple of weeks. She got out her herbal cream and carefully and softly started smearing it over the wounds with her fingers.

When she started to smear the herbal cream on his wounds, he shrieked. At first, it burned, but later, the pain softened, and he felt better. He breathed deeply, as if trying to contain the pain (and the embarrassment). His cheeks were burning now, which only made him feel worse. He wanted this torture to end soon.

She ended with it pretty fast. She then grabbed the new bandages and started wrapping them around the wounds. She finished my tying the bandages securely upon the wounded parts. She stopped and smiled to herself with the job she did. She then mumbled a prayer and a thanking to the spirits of fire and water that didn't take this man from life and smiled once more.

"Good" she said, "Good"

When she finished her job, Seth sighed in relief. Thank goodness it had ended! He looked at her once more. Of course he was annoyed by all the strange sensations she provoked on him, and he felt uncomfortable when she would come near him, but somehow, he was feeling relieved that she hadn't left after he yelled at her. And, for a second, he left his arrogance aside.

"Thank you... For not leaving."
He said carefully, being honest for the first time in that day. He didn't know if she would understand the word for "leave", but he tried as hard as he could to make her understand what he meant.

Leave? That verb was unknown to her but when she saw his eyes moving towards the exit she kind of understood what he wanted to say so she nodded smiling.

"You're...welcome..." she said.

She was enjoying his company no matter what he said. It was making her feel like the two of them were the only people in the world, but she knew this couldn't go on. This man was still wounded and perhaps still ill. He needed a roof over his head, good meals and rest. She knew he could have none of these here alone. Besides she was also a healer and many people might need her help. Her Master couldn't handle everything on his own and her older brother might be searching for her. She came closer to the man still on her knees.

"Ehm..."

She tried put words in order. She remembered he had used the word "when" once or twice. Probably that was what it was used for.

"When...emm...when...not tired...you...come. Come...me...rest..."

She tried to speak. To tell him he should come with her so he could recover to a proper place.

"Emm...not tired..."

She made a horse sound with her mouth like telling him when he was ready to ride a horse.

"You...me...come...to be...good..."

Seth had to take a while to fully understand what she meant. She wanted him to come with her, probably to her village, for a better recovery. He looked at the cave around him. He didn't want to be stuck in a cave. He was missing the fresh air, the sunlight. Maybe if he went with her, he would recover faster. It was impossible for him to recover faster in a dark, cold place like a cave. But still... he was still feeling insecure. He wasn't sure how her tribe would welcome him. And he usually didn't felt comfortable around a lot of people, especially people he didn't know and couldn't even speak his language. But he didn't have a choice. If he wanted to recover faster, he needed to leave that cave. But he still wasn't feeling good enough to ride. Maybe tomorrow he would be better. So he looked at her again and said carefully.

"Tomorrow. After I rest. I... I am still tired. Need some rest. "
He made a gesture, showing her he wanted to sleep first and go the other day. He hoped she would understand.

"T-Tomorrow..." she repeated in kind of thought.

She saw his gesture and she saw outside the sun and back at him and then finally understood. Tomorrow meant the day after. That was what he wanted to say.

"Tomorrow!" she agreed with a nod, "Tomorrow...when not tired."
She softly placed the blanket over his body and then went to the fire. She poured a little bit of water into a clay cup and some herbs in it and placed it on the hot coals. After a little she brought him the hot tea offering it to him. Gesturing for him to drink.

"This helps...helps...not tired..." she said trying to speak his language

He took the tea with both his hands.

"Thank you."

But when he took a sip, he felt the strong, bitter taste of the tea and he immediately spat it on the floor.

"Argh! This is horrible!"

He looked at her again, grimacing. And an ancient memory came to his mind, back to when he was a child. He remembered the time he got sick and sister Anna prepared a terrible tea for him to drink. Somehow, the similarity with this situation made him smile for a second, but when he noticed he was smiling, he made a grumpy face again.

She giggled a little at his attitude. Despite the fact she was a healer she knew how horrible taste those herbs had, but she also knew that they helped sick people get stronger.

"It helps…" she said again, "Do...good..."

"Yeah, I know."
He rolled his eyes and took another sip. He grimaced again at the taste of the tea. At every sip he took, he made a stop and a grimace. The tea was horrible, but he managed to drink it all. And when he finished, he looked at her and asked for some water.

"Water. I want some water." He said, making a signal.

She nodded handing him the flask.

He took the flask and drank all the water it contained. He handed it over to her and wiped his mouth with his arm.

"Thank you."

"Wel...you're welcome"

She said taking it back

"Rest..." she said softly, catching one of the words he had spoken before.

Seth lied down again and pulled the blanket over him. He closed his eyes and soon he fell asleep.

Ishizu watched him for a second and then went out to feed the horses a little. When she came back it was late in the afternoon. For some reason she didn't want to leave him alone this night. She went to a corner of the cave and lay there till she too fell asleep.

Well guys here's another chappie with more interaction between Ishizu and Seth!
Poor little guy he's smitten in love for the first time and he is so confused! Also we find out something more about Seth here;
the fact that he has nightmares from time to time considering his father, Giovanni (Gozaburo's Western Incarnation).
We also got to see the attitude Seth has most of the time! Well...quite a difficult guy, isn't he? Poor Ishizu!

Ishizu's scene with her horse was inspired by "Spirit the Stallion" movie when Little Creek was playing with Rain.

Now someone might wonder why Ishizu is named as "Native American" or "Indian" instead of mentioning some tribe's name.
That is because Ishizu doesn't belong to some specific or existant tribe but she belongs to an un-named tribe AnaPaulaDBZ (DA) and I created. It is almost as if they symbolize the entire Native American population somehow.
The reason we did that was not only to prevent misunderstandings, by naming a specific tribe of Native Americans but also because we didn't want to put limits to our imagination regarding their rituals, customs, celebrations etc. I hope you guys understand us

I am mentioning this to avoid any confusion in the future, because you'll never hear any name for the tribe Ishizu lives in or the people in her village or anything specific such as rituals and others that happen to real tribes. Therefore do not always expect something
specific for our story! Believe me it is not out of laziness to read about some specific tribe. It was all our decision!

Anyway I hope you enjoy it so far! We sure enjoyed roleplaying it (and we still do! ) so we both hope that you liked our humble work. Of course more will come soon.

Seth McLeach AnaPaulaDBZ

Ishizu katerinaaqu

Giovanni AnaPaulaDBZ

(Well we share the...horses but here mostly AnaPaulaDBZ did Kisara while I did Mahaado )

Please do not claim or steal this art/story/plot without OUR permission! Thank you