Sweet Treats

They both were screaming with laughter as they walked back towards the inn.

"Did you hear how girlie his voice was when you punched the sense out his smell."

Shio nodded his head and laughed harder at her pun. "I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when you smashed the dirt in his face."

Kiriko laughed harder. "Well he was already a dirt bag. I just wanted to keep it filled." They both cackled louder after that comment.

Finally Shio calmed down. "You know. I really couldn't believe you did that either."

Kiriko calmed down too and smiled up at him. "Well, what was I supposed to do?…I couldn't just let him talk to my friend like that."

He stopped walking and stared at her.

"What? What's wrong?" Her smile slowly fell. Why is he looking at me like that, she wondered.

"Your……your friend?" He asked.

She walked up closed to him and looked into his eyes seriously. "Yes, of course my friend."

A small smile started to form on his lips. Kiriko slowly smiled back at him. She thought he was mad at her for saying that but she was glad to see that he wasn't.

As Shio gazed at her pretty face, the strong urge to kiss her came to him again. He didn't want to ignore it this time. All he hoped was that she wouldn't slap him when he did it. Just as he was about to lean in, he heard a young boy's scream in the distance. Kiriko heard it too. They looked up the road and saw a young boy coming in their direction. Three larger boys were chasing him. One of them had huge stick and threw it at the little boy's legs.

"OW!" He yelped then tripped and slid in the dirt. The large boys started to kick and stomp on him.

Kiriko pulled up the sleeves of her kimono and started to march over to where they were but Shio stopped her.

"Let me go." He said and walked over to where the bullies were. Kiriko giggled when he punched each of them in the head.

"Since my little buddy here is not able to finish this fight…" He cracked his knuckles, "I'll be taking his place."

The bullies ran off without so much as a word uttered. Shio knelt down to help the boy to his feet and dusted him off then gave him a rag to wipe his bloody nose.

"They always beat up on me." He whispered. "If I was stronger, I could have handled those guys………I-I hate being so weak." A large tear fell out of his sad big brown eyes.

Shio looked into eyes and saw the little boy he used to be many years ago. Small, afraid, and alone. He whispered in his ear. "Hey let me tell you something. They might beat you up physically but they can't hurt you if you keep this.." Shio pointed to his heart, "…strong. As long as you keep your strength in here, no body can ever bring you down. Remember that."

The boy gave him a little smiled. "Okay…….Thanks mister." He ran off down the road.

Shio walked back over to where Kiriko stood.

"Is everything okay now?" She asked concern written all over her face.

He chuckled a little. "Yeah everything okay, Come on let's get back to the inn. It's starting to get late."

Once they got back to their room, Shio went to his futon and began to sharpen his sword. The room was separated by a sliding door. Kiriko didn't want to go to her side, so she decided to keep Shio company.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" She asked sweetly.

He smiled, "Now you I don't mind." He was hoping that she wouldn't go to her side of the room right away. Kiriko dug into her little bag and pulled out a candy apple.

"Here." She gave it to Shio.

"What is this anyway?" He smelled the unusual sweet treat.

"What? You never had a candy apple before. Oh you haven't lived man!" She teased. "Try it….. My family and I used to make these when I was…um…when I was little…."

Kiriko trailed off. The thought of her family made her very sad all of a sudden.

Shio noticed this but didn't say anything. He bit into the apple. Kiriko laughed when a squirt of juice came out and hit him in the eye. He wiped it out of his eye and laughed with her.

"You know….this is really good."

"See, I knew you would like it." Kiriko bit into hers and the juice squirted up her nose. They both started laughing.

After they had their apples, they became silent for a moment then Shio spoke up. "There's something that I've been wondering about since I met you. You don't have to answer if it's too personal……..Why did you go to Kyoto?"

Kiriko was silent.

When she didn't speak up, Shio dismissed it until…

"I'll tell you why I went to Kyoto if you tell me who you're looking for in Tokyo."

Shio thought about it for a moment then nodded in agreement.