AN: So I started a new project that probably won't get posted for a few months at the least, I'll have a description up on my page if you care to check it out.
There was a wooden roof, the sound of wheels moving, wood creaking, items jingling and occasional muffled voices when I woke. There were bandages on my left leg where a slight pain was simmering, looking around I was in a smallish wooden carriage I assumed could only fit four maybe five people. My head was rested on a soft pillow and a brown blanket was covering most of me but my afore mentioned left leg which I had pulled the blanket away from when I felt the initial pang upon waking, right as I was about to move myself into a more comfortable sitting position a familiar looking woman in an ivory silk kimono came in with a roll of bandages and a tub of something, she had blonde hair and beautiful green eyes that I couldn't quite make it off the tip of my tongue as for why I thought I knew her. I froze up like I was doing something I wasn't meant to be doing when she looked to me but, she gave me a look over before smiling and speaking.
"Hello dear, how are you doing? Are there any sharp pains or are you finding it difficult to breathe?" she asked as she sat next to the bed I was on and looked over my thigh unwrapping the bandages.
"I-I Uh… I'm feeling okay I guess? And my leg has lingering pain in it, also why might I find it hard to breathe?" I answered with a little more stuttering than I would have liked.
"That's good to hear, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the thigh I'm currently re-disinfecting and bandaging, on the note of breathing though I just wanted to make sure your lungs didn't get damaged when that ninja stomped on your chest. Oh, I'm Shimizu Tsuna by the way." Her hands moved cleaning the large cut on my thigh where she dipped a few fingers into the tub and wiped a salve of some kind on my leg before rebandaging it.
"I'm Uchi- Kojiro just call me Kojiro, so uh... someone stomped on my chest? I don't remember that happening." My brow furrowed as I tried to remember the last thing I did before waking up.
"Ah, well when you showed up and attacked those ninjas as stupid an idea as that was, you did kill their leader somehow and gave some of my friends the chance to take the other two on. Though my daughter who is still recovering from that nasty wound that's going to scar decided to try and help you and right before that you were having your chest caved in by the ninja." Tsuna frowned when she mentioned her daughter which is probably why I thought she looked familiar.
"Uh yeah, it's kinda coming back to me now., so you said your daughter right? How is she alive? From what I remember she looked like someone attacked her with a sword." I asked as Tsuna started giving me some form of medical examination.
"Well, I'll chalk it up to the gods and say they didn't want me to lose my family just yet or to children healing faster than adults. It was probably because one of the women travelling with us used to be part of some ninja clan that taught her how to use something called chakra and with it, she can heal people, it's pretty amazing. Hopefully, I can learn it from her, me being the caravan's main source of medical knowledge and treatment it would go a long way to have something like it." She made a gesture with her right hand as her left poked and tapped me occasionally asking if there was a pain there.
"So before you leave, who are you all? I know I did something really stupid and all and tried to save you, but I don't actually have any idea who you are." Tsuna rested her chin in her left hand before responding.
"Well we're merchants if that much wasn't obvious kid but, we don't really have a name I'm sure we could come up with one but it doesn't really matter, and as far as who we are, you already know who I am aside from being the doctor I'm also the leader of this caravan, and my daughter Kumi who tried to help you is next in line to become leader. All things considered, though the others would probably want to introduce themselves rather than me telling you. So, when you're feeling better and can walk ask them, oh and if my daughter decides to drop by please don't encourage her she's still in dire need of bed rest to heal that scar on her torso." With that Tsuna got up and walked out the door.
A sigh escaped me as I leaned back laying down, so I was staring up at the wooden roof, I laid there resting for a few hours before someone knocked on the door and a male voice said they were coming in.
"Heyyo kid! How're you doing? Tsuna said you were awake, so I wanted to bring you food as thanks for doing the bravest, stupidest shit I ever seen, I mean like fuck Kid! Attacking ninja unarmed wasn't the brightest thing ever! Anyhow, I'm sure Tsuna berated you for that and the others will to, here some rice. Oh, and I'm Matsuda nice to make your acquaintance." He helped me into a sitting position handing me the bowl of rice and the chop sticks.
"Thanks for the food, Matsuda!" I scoffed down the food as my stomach grumbled.
"I have to get back to work so I'll see you later kid, take care." With that I watched him walk out of the carriage.
Finishing up I laid back down again and tried to get some more rest.
The caravan Kojiro was now in the care of had since moved their sight to just outside a village several days out from where he had attempted to help and ended up injured, Tsuna the leader of the caravan had also hired a ninja escort/guard to help them make sure what happened wouldn't again. The former Uchiha had been asleep that entire trip and woke up on the fourth day or the first day they were in the new spot, Tsuna got the caravan back into their usual business immediately though spent ninety percent of her time looming around the injured from the attack, especially her daughter for obvious reasons of her being the worst off having nearly bled out if not for the medical attention. The majority of the children in the caravan with minor wounds were running errands for the adults.
On the side of the land of fire, Kasumi Kojiro's older sister was dealing with the fallout of her brothers' "death" and was reaching her breaking point, on the verge of snapping at some of the people trashing Kojiro after his passing. She was planning her own disappearance from the clan that involved the deaths of a few people that she deemed not worthy of living any longer after everything that happened. Her plans were coming along slowly but that was what she wanted, as there was no room for mistakes in her plan.
Kasumi spent most of the time since her younger brothers departing training her skills and using her Sharingan more often than not trying to improve herself and just gain strength in general, though only a week had passed since she had seen her brother in person she sorely missed him wondering what he was doing and hoping he was okay.
Her silky long jet black hair framed her pale complexion and just as dark cat-like eyes as she walked the streets of the large clan compound the Uchiha's had passing her distant cousins, the children saying hi to her when she passed, she feigned happiness with a smile that never reached her eyes one she had long since perfected masking her disdain and loathing for the clan with. The sky was a bright spotty cloud filled blue with an over bearing sun shining upon those in the open drying up and evaporating the recent rain they had. She walked into her family's empty home that was without the same warmth it held not too long ago in her memory, the furniture had dust on it and some of which was in need of replacements but she didn't spend time in the house so she didn't think it worth the effort to change such insignificant things, though the kitchen held a pristine look and cleanliness that the rest of the house failed to capture aside from her and her brothers rooms which she left as was, normally finding herself drifting between the bedrooms using a different one each day.
Entering the kitchen Kasumi went to the storeroom and began looking through them for ingredients, finding a sack of rice, some preserved chicken that looked like it was marked to become inedible soon, some vegetables and sauces. With the ingredients in hand she went to work doing one of the few things she still loved in her life that she did when in a dark place, often not wanting to let her prejudice bleed to innocents like children trying to keep from snapping at them, as she already had problems with snapping at "Elders" when they started trying to push her around and dictate her life. She hummed lullaby she remembered her mother singing to her when she was younger, another thing she used to keep herself in a better mood. Before beginning to cook anything she got out a chopping board and knife then cut the chicken into small chunks, then cleaned off the board and knife washing them before dicing up carrots and broccoli.
She put a few cups of rice in a pot with water to boil putting a lid on, getting out a pan out she rested it on the edge of the fire with the rice beginning to boil hanging above it, she grabbed the chicken and vegetables into the pan after quickly greasing it with a small amount of oil, and began frying them together using a spoon to move it around. After five odd minutes of frying she got the curry sauce she pulled out and measured it before putting the measured amount in and stirring it up, she then pulled the pan away from the fire from the bit and let it simmer off the heat, so she could take a minute to check the rice. The rest of the cooking went by in a flash Kasumi going on autopilot to finish, leading her to have a plate of rice and chicken curry to eat for dinner, this was what most of her afternoons consisted of, her cooking her and her family's favourite meals for herself.
As the night progressed after she cleaned up her dishes and the items she had pulled out, Kasumi went to plotting again.
I'm going to leave on Tuesday, so I have two more days to pack what I want to bring. I want to kill Shinoe, Matasu, Nomu, Azu, Futaro and Kazuto that night, they should be asleep before nine pm so if I leave at ten that should pretty much ensure they're slumber. I'm not sure where Ko went but I want to keep tabs on him if I can and maybe one day I'll get to see him again and we can go back to what it was like when we were younger when we hung out together and lived a little more carefree, before these people got Mum and Dad killed just because Mum married a man from outside the clan, and Dad ended up being partially responsible for that old coot clan heads death.
A bloodstained Katana receded from a small body the light in the dark eyes fading with a strained gurgled choke sound as the small boy's body thumped softly against the floor lifeless his parents mangled gore and viscera was exploded against the bedroom wall, the boy's body was in the doorway with Kasumi standing over him eyes bleeding as her Sharingan whirled into an unnatural pattern a broken sounding sob escaping her mouth as she stared down at an innocent caught up in her revenge.
"I-I… I d-didn't m-mean to…" her faint sounding voice betraying her emotion as she took a step back feeling a liquid touch her feet looking down and seeing the boys blood pooling.
With a sharp breath she left the home and went to the next to continue her revenge before she left, slightly disheartened having not expected to have to deal with children, arriving at the next home she slipped in her new Sharingan pattern flaring as she made her way to her target and once she saw his face she snapped back into that seething hate she had and murdered him and his partner no longer fazed by the death of the small boy that had only been four years old to her knowledge.
Kasumi would leave the Uchiha's that night having killed twelve adults and three children.
AN: