Carry on my wayward son
They'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind can think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices while I'm dreaming
I can hear them say:

Carry on our wayward son
They'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as man with reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be wise man
Though, it surely means that I don't know

On a story sea of grueling emotion
Tossed about just like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say:

Carry on our wayward son
They'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, that can equal the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely Heaven'll wait for you

Carry on our wayward son
They'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry
Don't you cry
No more

No more.

". . ." - speech

~*^^*~ - POV change

~`~`~ - time change

~^*^*^~ - dream sequence

Wonders of a Wanderer

He had just left another town, his gunnysack slung over his shoulder. His long hair, pulled back in a ponytail swayed in the breeze. Years ago he had moved the ponytail from the top of his head to the base of it. It . . . just felt more right that way.

Stopping shortly for dinner, the man repacked his gunnysack, covered his fire-pit and continued down the dirt road.

~`~`~

Sometime around dusk, the traveler heard the distinct sounds of battle. He turned startled eyes to the sounds as shouts off all kinds bombarded his ears.

"There's one on the hill!"

"Kill him!"

The traveler unconsciously took a step back and started running when the sound of hooves churning dirt met his ears. Something deep within him roared and snarled release from its confines. He reasoned with it to remain content, but he soon realized the beast had no reason. The beast comprehended bloodlust, the will to live, and the reward after a job.

The traveler's head pounded spasmodically, not in beat with his heart nor with the hooves behind him. When he turned, his sword was already in his had and he was moving toward the horses.

~*^^*~

The warriors had been told by their captain to surround the perimeter to make sure no one came near their battle. It was a common procedure. If anyone came near the command was simple: kill the trespasser.

So here they were, bored as ever, watching the carnage. The eyes of the men always drifted between the road they were supposed to be watching and the battle that heated their blood. As some of their eyes began to wander to the battlefield from the road, they abruptly returned when two of their number shouted.

"There's one of the hill!"

"Kill him!"

Indeed, this battle could not be seen by outsiders, for they wouldn't understand the unique physics that it was made of . . . or the reasons of it. The two that spoke charged while the others watched. Surely only two were needed to take care of this figure. He didn't look the least bit threatening. Gray hakamas, and a pale haori worn loosely about his figure that was worn and a little threadbare while on his feet over visibly new socks he had worn sandals. He had a sword at his hip, but these days who didn't?

The two riders closed in on the hapless traveler whopping. No one expected what happened next.

The figured turned, apparently to flee, but his form relaxed, he turned and ran at the horses. Time stood still as the figure, head down sword arm crossed in front of him. He stood. When he was at his full height, he snapped his head to turn eerie eyes on the rest of them. Two thuds signaled two dead samurai.

Suddenly, the leader of these scouts was nervous. The unwavering gold gaze of this new threat seemed somewhat familiar.

During the revolution, a sudden memory intoned. There was an assassin that was perfect in every aspect. He was never seen. He was never caught. He killed his victim without the victim eliciting a single noise. The Hitoriki Battousai was the perfect assassin. He was rumored to have a high red horse tail and a hawk's gaze . . . a predator stalking unsuspecting prey. . . . . .

"A hawk's gaze . . ." he mumbled. Indeed, this new threat had the regal gold eyes of a falcon. Falcon, hawk, close enough for him. Before he knew it, the Battousai had started to wreak havoc throughout his troops. Suddenly, fear welled up in him and he cried out.

"It's the Battousai!"

~*^^*~

I wonder how long it will take them, the traveler stated as he drew his set his pack on the ground. He sifted through it, his hands touching a sheath wrapped in a soft blue cloth he drew the sword, and the blue scarf. Wrapping the scarf around his neck, he prayed a silent prayer of, please, forgive me this once, before he withdrew the sword at his hip and leapt into the mass of samurai.

He used the sword from his hip to deliver blows to heads while the sword from his pack to deliver blows through armor.

"It's the Battousai!"

Damn, he thought as he pulled his crimson sword out of one very belligerent foe. Now I'll have to chase them.

But his dark thought was the complete opposite, for, unknown to him, everyone wanted to kill him and be deemed "the greatest swordsman of Japan". So he was quite surprised to find about two dozen horsemen charging him.

He sighed. May the spirits of the innocent forgive me.. And with that the Battousai coloured the ground with the after effects of the dance of death.

~`~`~

The traveler opened his eyes to a hand removing a cool cloth from his forehead.

"Oh, you're awake." A female voice . . . a startled female voice.

"Where.ungh," A sore arm lifted a sore hand to his pounding head.

"I'll be right back," the female stated and the soft patter of stocking feet told him that the person tending him had left for reasons of her own. With her absence, the traveler took this alone time to evaluate his body.

His arms were sore, his left one stiff as well indicating an injury. His back was sore, probably bruised. His shallow breathing was due to bruised or broken ribs. And to top it off, his head felt like a horse had stepped on it.

His eyes darted to the shoji as slid open. A female and someone else stood in the doorway with a candle to see with. He turned his head away and sighed. He was in the dark, and he wanted some answers.

"Neko, go take care of the dishes with Inu," the shadowed one told the girl.

"Yes, sir," was the girl's reply. With a slight bow, she excused herself and headed toward the kitchen.

The shadowed figure picked up the candle and stepped into the room. It was finally revealed as a she. This older female put her palm to his forehead and frowned. She checked his left arm, bending it and her frown deepened when he hissed. She pulled the sheet that covered him down slightly to look at his multi coloured chest. A scattering of yellow, browns, blue, purple, black, with a tinge of green here and there was a sure sign of bruises and a few broken ribs. She sighed and, with much hissing on his part, helped him into a sitting position. She thrust a mug into his hands.

"The tea should help your fever and your body needs the nutrients," she stated. He only nodded as he gulped the tea down, wanting nothing now but to lie back down. He set the mug aside and, with the help of his unnamed overseer, laid back down.

"I'm sure you have questions," she stated rather tiredly. "When you wake up tomorrow, send Inu to find me. She'll be the one looking over you tomorrow." The traveler nodded and she left through the shoji whence she came.

Now that he was by himself, the traveler looked around. The room was sparsely furbished. One wall had two paintings: one was a bird and the other was a landscape. There was a plant on a desk in one corner. His pallet was situated under a window where moonlight entered to dimly illuminate his room.

He sighed again. It seems he would have to see his room in more detail when the sun rose. Exhausted, the traveler closed his eyes and embraced sleep.

~^*^*^~

"Don't you know every good sword needs a sheath?" she inquired.

"What are you saying?"

"Every good sword needs a sheath. Let me be your sheath. How long will you continue killing? I want to see. I want to see how long you will keep killing with my own eyes."

He sighed. Shouting ensued.

"Look, over there!"

"That's got to be him!"

"Stupid fools," he mumbled.

Drawing his sword he rushed forward and ended six more lives. He turned his dark eyes back to the woman in the white kimono. Raising his eyebrows, he finally coaxed her to move forward. She stepped through the crimson puddles, soft brown eyes never leaving his dark cobalt gaze. He fled around the corner, a woman in a white kimono following his crimson footsteps with scarlet ones of her own.

~*^^*~

"I've prepared a house for you in Otsu. Pretend to be newly weds and stay there," Kastura told him. His eyes widened and the woman behind him gasped. "If you're married you'll be less suspicious. I'll have Iisuka stay in touch with you. Wait for my word. Go, quickly."

~*^^*~

"Is there something wrong?" the stray cat asked.

"I haven't tasted sake this good in a long time," was his astonished reply.

She smiled. "It's festival time!"

"I guess so . . ."

~^*^*^~

He slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to rid himself of sleep and to get used to the very bright daylight. An east facing window had it's pros and cons.

"Good, you're awake."

He turned his head slightly to see a smiling girl. She had light brown hair that was restricted in a plait. A few strands hung in the girls smiling face. She opened her eyes to show startling emerald eyes. She was definitely not from this area. He sighed, something he was doing a lot lately.

"You must be Inu," he said.

"That I am, sir," Inu replied.

"I was told last night by the person with Neko that I was to send you to get her," he told her.

"Arasotta-san told me that you would say this, yes," Inu replied.

After her statement, she didn't move. She was still kneeling next to his pallet. Turning his eyes, dark ones met green ones. Her eyes betrayed nothing, and the seeming mask of her face was likewise. He patiently searched her eyes with a strong will, waiting for when she would give him a hint.

Instead, she turned her head and sighed. She had found something in his eyes by her posture. "Neko and I aren't from around here," she stated softly. "Where we are from, we don't know. We've been wandering around as long as we can remember, like dogs and cats. We have long since forgotten our names, adopting the wandering animal's names as our own even."

The traveler nodded, approving her explanation. "I'll get Arasotta-san for you."

"Thank you."

Inu stood up and left through the sliding shoji. A few moments later, the soft sound of stocking feet resounded in the hallway. His shoji slid open again and, who he guessed was Arasotta-san entered his room, sliding the shoji shut behind herself.

"Sorry to keep you waiting . . ." she let her sentence hang in the air.

"Just call me Tabi," the man on the pallet replied.

"Okay then, sorry to keep you waiting, Tabi-san," Arasotta-san replied. "If Inu hasn't told you yet, I'm Arasotta. Ituwaranai Arasotta."

"Pleasure meeting you, Arasotta-sama," Tabi replied.

"If you don't mind me asking," Arasotta inquired. "How did you get so banged up? I've only seen samurai and hitoriki come back looking like that."

"I was caught in a place that I shouldn't have been," Tabi replied. "It seems that I had ventured a little too close to a battle that I shouldn't have witnessed." Unbeknownst to him, Tabi's eyes hardened. "The perimeter saw me as something to keep them occupied."

Arasotta nodded sagely. She had heard similar stories from others in town when she went to buy fish or vegetables.

Tabi was startled out of dark thoughts by a cool hand to his forehead. When the hand drew away, his eyes met light brown eyes. "You're fever is gone." He only nodded to her good news. She moved his left arm again and she frowned when he hissed in pain filled agitation.

"I don't know what's wrong with your left arm," she stated bluntly. "The medicine man and his wife don't come to town until tomorrow. I could have his wife look at your arm, if it's okay with you that is."

"It's nearing winter," Tabi stated.

"That it is," Arasotta replied.

"If it's okay with you, I'll stay over the winter and help you around the inn," Tabi started. "So, if you would like capable help over the winter, perhaps it would be best if you had the doctor's wife look at my arm."

"I could use your help over the winter," Arasotta stated. "A young man's help is something I haven't had in a while, that it is." She smiled at him. "Rest now. Your ribs are healing nicely."

He drank some tea and ate a little rice before Arasotta left him again. Tabi closed his eyes and welcomed sleep.

~`~`~

". . . fever for how many days?" an unfamiliar female voice said.

"He had a fever for six days, Kabuki-sama," Arasotta responded. "It broke two and a half days ago."

Tabi slowly opened his eyes to see another woman talking with Arasotta. Frowning, his slow memory told him that this woman, Kabuki-sama did Arasotta-san say?, was the doctor that was mentioned in their previous conversation.

"Ah, your awake," the newcomer stated. How come people always stated the obvious? Tabi pondered this new development. "I'm, the wife of the doctor that frequents here," she went on to say. "You can call me Kabuki."

"Sure, Kabuki-sama," Tabi stated.

"What's your name, stranger?" Kabuki asked making small talk as she examined his ribs.

"You can call me Tabi," he stated blandly.

"Ah, so we have a wanderer in our midst," she stated as she moved from his ribs to his left arm. "You said his left arm wasn't healing like his right?" The question was directed to Arasotta.

"Yes," Arasotta said with a nod of her head.

Kabuki unwrapped his arm to find an angry black and purple bruise covering the middle of his forearm. She poked it in several places eliciting hisses and whimpers from Tabi in several tender areas.

"I think it's a type of break, but I haven't seen this kind," she stated. "Don't use it until the bruise is a light brown. I don't think the bandage is necessary. If it starts to hurt, put it in a sling." Tabi and Arasotta nodded. "The bruising around his ribs has diminished, so I think it is safe for him to move about. Don't lift anything heavy for a while that will irritate your ribs, you hear?"

"Yes, Kabuki-sama," Tabi replied. Kabuki smiled.

"I think a walk would do you good."

"Yes Kabuki-sama," Tabi replied.

~`~`~

Tabi awoke sometime later to the shoji door opening. He turned his head to see Inu and Neko enter his room with food and drink. He looked at them, questioning with his eyes.

"It's our break, that it is," Inu said.

"And we thought that since the doctor said you should start moving around, we thought that we would share dinner with you, that we did," Neko explained. Tabi's eyes softened the slightest bit.

"How thoughtful of you two, that you were," Tabi replied in kind with a smile. The girls giggled. Struggling to a sitting position, Tabi managed to eat dinner with the girls while the told them of the happenings of the town he was currently staying in.