Yusuke treked through the wood, having decided the night before to avoid the road for now. He didn't want his presence to be known, and going through villages would just leave eye-witnesses of his passing. He didn't want his fellow soldiers to hear and come after him.

On some level, Yusuke knew the idea he had was naive. The war had been raging for twenty years. Undoubtably, countless people had thought of this easy solution to the end of war, and surely they have tried it.

Yusuke knew all of this, but the thing that pushed him on despite this knowledge was two things.

One: Yusuke thought it was because this was arguably the simplest solution that made people think it was not going to succeed. Personally, Yusuke thought nothing was wrong with simple. He recalled the stories he heard of the king sending agents to sneak across the tentative border of Ehendal and Runisca to reach Mount. Illisen, and thought the reason they weren't successful was because it was such a large-scale, complex operation. If the king was to hold council and produce complicated maneuvers for the agents to sneak across, gain entry to Mount. Illisen, locate the immortality fruit (or scour the whole mountain for something that didn't exist), and return with a report or with the fruit in hand, words can easily get out and people can intervene during the steps at any time. Working independently seemed much more better.

Two: Yusuke was absolutely sick of doing nothing. He was fighting, yes, but he was pretty sure it made no difference whatsoever. Maybe it was ego speaking, but he wanted to do something. It felt so restricting to be in a camp, even if he didn't mind Commander Takanaka and respected him on a certain level as an authoritative figure.

And so he left, although he felt somewhat like an idiot now.

He had traveled for one day and one night already, and by his rough calculation, he should reach Ehendal by noon. He was still no closer to finding a solution to get past the border guards than he was when he first left camp.

He considered asking or bribing anyone who was passing to bring him along, but he didn't have anything valuable to bribe anyone with and there was no reason why they would help him either. Besides, he actually needed someone who had something to hide him.

And so as he walked through the woods, following the road that was about ten feet away from him, he kept on looking back to see if there was anyone with a wagon or a carriage. He still didn't have any means of convincing them to help him though.

If the worse comes the worse, he guessed he'll just have to fight his way in, although he hoped it didn't get to that.

Just then, the sound of horse hooves and wheels hitting against ground reached him. Yusuke turned and, through the greenness of the forest, spied the brown wood of the carriage.

Yusuke raced diagonally forward, towards the road. The horse was moving lazily on the road, so just maybe he wouldn't be trampled and killed, but who knows. There was no more time to think.

"Hey!" Yusuke called out, hoping to draw the attention of the driver at the front. Yusuke burst out of the wood, just as the horse at the front of the carriage passed by him. Yusuke froze, suspended in disbelief, when he caught a glimpse of the man holding the horse's rein. "Toguro?" Yusuke said in puzzlement, as the carriage passed by him.

The carriage was a good fifteen feet away from him when it slowed to a stop. Yusuke jogged forward up to Toguro, and yeah, it was him alright. Same crazy muscles, nonchalant face and dark glasses. "The hell are you doing here?" Yusuke blurted out.

"That should be our question," Toguro said after a beat. Yusuke noted on the plural for a moment, before recalling. Where Toguro was, Sakyo wasn't far.

"Sakyo is here?" Yusuke asked. Faint annoyance seem to surround Toguro.

"Get in," Toguro said simply.

Yusuke's body was moving to comply before he consciously realized, because really. Who would argue with such a buff guy that looked like he could effortlessly break any guy in half?

Yusuke was about to clamber aboard next to Toguro, before he stopped. "You don't mind me getting the fancy carriage dirty, do you?"

Yusuke just knew Toguro was annoyed now. He was giving him that glare. Yusuke could feel it through the glasses.

Yusuke got on, brushing the curtain blocking the carriage's opening aside when Toguro inclined his head in that direction for him to go in.

A faint scent of smoke reached him as he slowly stepped in, dropping down the curtains again. Toguro started the carriage.

"Sakyo," Yusuke greeted the familiar man before him.

Sakyo slowly took another drag from his cigar, exhaled, and then languidly turned to Yusuke. "Have a seat."

Yusuke waited for a beat, and then took a seat.

"This is a far way out from your humble village."

Yusuke shrugged. "Soldier now," he said simply. Sakyo looked as though he expected as much. "How's Shizuru?"

The corner of his lips lifted slightly. He took another drag. "Fine," he answered. After a beat and, he added, "Your mother and woman as well."

"Keiko's not my woman," Yusuke said, and then Sakyo did that graceful shrug, and dropped the subject.

"Are you heading to Ehendal?" Yusuke asked.

"What is it to you?"

"Get me in there," Yusuke said simply.

Sakyo grounded out his cigar. "I suspected as much." He leaned forward. "The question is - why?"

Yusuke went for a casual shrug. "I don't ask you why you, a common merchant of Runisca - according to what you told us, is going to Ehendal and you don't ask why I'm going."

"Alright. It's your life, your suicide."

"I don't plan on dying," Yusuke interjected.

Sakyo looked at Yusuke. "The soldiers didn't either."

Yusuke fell silent. The look remained on Yusuke for another minute, before it turned towards the back of the carriage.

"Open that chest."

Yusuke looked at Sakyo suspiciously, before deciding there wasn't any reason Sakyo would want to harm him. He moved towards the chest and opened the box. Inside lied a folded up, expensive looking cloth.

"Take it out," Sakyo said with the tilt of his head. Yusuke stared at the cloth for a moment, then at the dirt-smeared hands of his, feeling as though he had no right touch that cloth even in a billion of years. With a shrug and the thought, well, his loss, Yusuke took it out.

It was a dress with intricate embroidery, beautiful and masterfully made even to Yusuke's untrained eyes. It must have cost a fortune. "One of your leftover merchandise?" Yusuke asked, unable to quite tear his eyes off of the material, and feeling as though he would never lay his eyes on something as fine as that. He blinked, and took a closer look. "The shoulders are little too wide for a girl, don't cha think, except..." Yusuke turned around and looked at Sakyo, who turned to meet his eyes. A grin spread across Yusuke's face. "You made this for Shizuru, didn't you? And she didn't accept it."

"No, she didn't," Sakyo confirmed casually, running his eyes across the fabric. His lips twitched. "I can't say I didn't try."

"Are merchants really this rich nowadays?" Yusuke asked with the shake of his head. "You knew she wasn't going to accept it but you still had it customized."

"She would have looked fine in it," was all Sakyo said.

Yusuke sighed and held it a little higher, bringing Sakyo's attention back to it. "So what do you want me to do with this?"

"Wear it," Sakyo answered plainly.

"Wear it?!" Yusuke choked out. "Why would I?"

"You want to wear your soldier uniform into the enemy's territory?"

Yusuke opened his mouth for a reply, but nothing came out. He looked down at his apparel - Runisca's standard uniform for foot soldiers- and thought he hated when he was wrong. "Alright, alright," Yusuke grumbled. "You're right, happy? But, come on, don't you have something else?"

Sakyo merely smiled a little at him in reply, which didn't tell Yusuke damn shit. He did know that if Sakyo really did have something, he wouldn't be giving it to Yusuke any time sooner though, just to see him suffer. That sadist.

"What am I going to do with my uniform then?" Yusuke asked resignedly.

Sakyo brought out his lighter and flicked the fire on, looking straight at Yusuke through the flame. "Burn it. You don't want to leave any evidence behind, do you?"

Yusuke's vein twitched. "You are really too much of a smart bastard sometimes," Yusuke said.

Sakyo tilted his head towards the opening of the carriage in response. Yusuke sighed and stood, dress in hand and walked towards the opening of the carriage. "Keep the lighter. I have one."

For the picture:

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