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-Prologue: Part 2

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She yawned widely as she stepped out of the room she shared with the other women, rubbing the sleep out of her half open eyes. She hated getting up early, and, so far, that was the only complaint she had come up with.

She watched as the shabby buildings of the camp around her glowed with the creeping sunlight, as if they had been bathed in gold. She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly as sounds of awakening began to fill the stirring camp. She smiled softly as she walked to the kitchen.

"Ah, Kyouri-chan, ohayo!" one of the ladies said cheerfully. "We need you to fetch water from the river. Here." She handed Kyouri two wooden pails that were slung on each end of a long stick. Kyouri held back the annoyed look on her face and took the buckets and rested the stick on her shoulder.

"All right!" she exclaimed a little too happily, matching the woman's zealousness with a fake smile. "I'll be back soon!" Kyouri hated getting up at dawn, and was always kind of grouchy until at least ten in the morning.

It had been about two weeks since she had arrived at the Sekihoutai's base, she mused to herself as she walked out of the camp to the river nearby. She had finished "working off her debt," as Captain Sagara Souzou had put it, a while ago (besides, it's not like she had gotten away with stealing and the food had been returned). But no one had objected when she didn't leave, and she was actually quite happy to stay. The conditions in the camp were a thousand times better than the rest of Japan. Food, shelter, and learning how to cook, what more could she ask for?

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She kneeled down and tipped the bucket into the stream, watching as it quickly filled with crystal clear water. She heaved herself and the bucket back up as she walked back to the bank. As she set the bucket down an eerie chill ran down her spine.

She shivered slightly and stood up, trying to act as if nothing happened. She picked up the other bucket and began to fill it too, but as she did, she could feel a pair of eyes on her back. She stood up again, not moving as she gripped the bucket tightly, straining her nerves while trying to find the source of discomfort.

She couldn't help her mind from wandering from her task and her concentration waning as she thought of the question that was boring its way into her mind. Had they found her? Were they here to take her back, after all this time? Honestly, she couldn't see how she had managed to avoid them for so long. Still, it could only be a matter of time before they found her again and took her back to him…

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!" A scream pierced through her thoughts and frayed her nerves as she jumped and yelped with surprise. The bucket of water went flying straight up from her arms, and she could only watch in horror as all the water poured down on her, completely soaking her. She was breathing heavily as water dripped off her hair and adrenaline coursed through her veins. After the ringing died down in her ears she could hear the sound of someone laughing veryloudly behind her.

Sanosuke was practically rolling on the ground as he roared with laugher, tears of mirth in his eyes as he watched her hilarious reaction.

"I… can't… believe… I scared you… so bad!" he managed to say between gasps for air and loud guffaws. He watched as she slowly clenched her fists tightly, a fiery and dangerous air suddenly surrounding her. She turned around slowly to face him, a strained smile glued onto her face as her eyes spat fire at him. He stopped laughing instantly as he clamped his mouth shut.

A few seconds later his was flying through the air straight into the river. He shot up and gasped for air, his face slightly pink after belly flopping into the water.

"Sano no baka!!" she yelled at him angrily as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "I hope that teaches you to never sneak up on me!"

"Geez, what's the big deal?" he exclaimed as he swam back to shore. "Can't you handle a little fun?" She shot him a look of daggers as she squeezed the water out of her hair.

"I. Hate. Getting. Wet," she hissed through clenched teeth as she began to wring the sleeves of her gi.

"Ah, so you do have a weakness," Sano said with an evil grin as he shook the water out of his hair furiously. She flinched as droplets of water sprayed her once again, and seemed about ready to throttle him, but instead bent down calmly. She picked up the bucket of water, and the thought of being pummeled by it crossed Sano's mind. Instead, however, she stuck it out in front of her.

"Fill it up," she growled dangerously. He would've refused, but the murderous look in her eyes creeped him out. He snatched it out of her hands irritatingly and stalked back to the bank. He quickly filled it up and walked back to her.

"Here you go, Kyouri-sama," he grumbled as he held it out to her. She narrowed her eyes into yet another death glare, then grabbed it and walked to the other bucket. Soon she had finished tying them to the pole, and she stood up with them balanced on her shoulder.

"Sano," she said, not turning to see him and her voice considerably calmer. "Please don't do that again." She began to walk away as Sanosuke was left with a surprised look on his face. Had he really scared her that bad?

The all too familiar pang of regret shot through him.

He groaned as he hung his head for a moment, then hurried to catch up to her.

"Here, I'll carry it," he said as he evened strides with her, grabbing the pole and pulling it towards him. She suddenly stopped and glared at him.

"Leave me alone!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I can do it myself!" She snapped her mouth shut as her eyes widened, as if just realizing what she had said.

"Say what?" Sano asked, an eyebrow disappearing under his headband.

"Oh, sorry Sano," she laughed nervously. "I guess I overreacted."

"Um, so does that mean you don't want me to help?" He gestured to the pole, a puzzled expression still on his face.

"Uh, yeah, sure, here," she said, handing the water to him absent mindedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh huh… fine…"

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"Give me that, you can't carry it."

"Leave me alone. I can do it myself! See?"

"You're going to drop it. Give it to me."

"But I can carry it, mommy, watch!"

Crash!

"Oh! You stupid girl! I told you you couldn't carry the tray!"

"I-I'm sorry, mommy… I t-tripped… The ki-kimomo…"

Sigh.

"Why couldn't you have been a boy?"

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"Kyouri? Hello?" Sano said as he waved his hand in her face. She snapped out of her flashback and looked up at him suddenly in surprise.

"Nani? (-What?-)" she said, trying to regain her composure.

"I have to get going now." She seemed slightly confused until she looked around and realized that they were already standing outside the kitchen. He had set the buckets of water by the door and was giving her a look of concern.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah," she replied, flashing a strained smile. "You should get going, you're gonna be late."

"Nah, I'm already late." He wanted to make sure she was okay. Especially if it was his fault she was so out of it.

"Oi! Sanosuke!" a boy's voice called from behind Sano. Katsu ran up to both of them, slightly out of breath and looking peeved. "Where've you been? I've been looking all over for you! I'm must've circled the camp, like, five times!"

"Hey Katsu," Sano replied indifferently, ignoring his complaints. "I was, er, held up."

"Obviously," Katsu said as he shot a glare at Kyouri behind Sanosuke. She returned the gesture by sticking out her tongue at him. He grimaced and hardened his glare at her, but she easily beat him with an unwavering and menacing gaze from her piercing green eyes. Katsu shuddered, feeling a wave of fear creep up his spine and make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. There was that feeling again.

It was as if he was in danger just being around her.

"Come on, Sanosuke," Katsu said as he broke the staring contest and began to walk away. "The Captain's waiting for you." Sano gave a nervous glance at Kyouri, wanting to go with Katsu but also needing to make sure she was okay.

"Go, Sanosuke, or you can get in trouble by the Captain," she said as gave him a reassuring smile, then turned him around and shoved him away down the path. "Get going!"

"Fine! Whatever! Ja ne!" He waved and trotted away, hurrying to catch up with Katsu. She grinned at his retreating form, feeling the oppressive feeling in her chest finally recede. She watched him disappear, then picked up the water and stepped into the kitchen.

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"Hey," Sano said in greeting as he walked over to her. "Fetching more water?"

"If I was, I'd be running away from you right now," she replied good naturedly. "You're a danger around wooden objects filled with aqueous solution." He grinned as he sat down besides her. They sat in silence for a while, an easy air around them, as they watched the sun begin to set slowly. It washed the river in beautiful swirls of deep oranges and reds, making it seem like a river of gold.

"Did you get in trouble?" he asked, still facing the river.

"A little," she sighed. "If I'd gotten the water there sooner, breakfast wouldn't have been late. Still, I think I got off easy. How about you?"

"Eh, same, I guess," he shrugged. "Katsu kept bugging me about being late, but it wasn't really a big deal and the Captain shrugged it off." She nodded sleepily in response, then they settled back into the relaxed silence.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked softly, not wanting to disrupt the calm atmosphere. She nodded lazily as she tilted her head slightly to the side. "Why did you freak out when I offered to help?" She was silent for a while, and he wondered if she had heard him.

"I dunno…" she shrugged finally. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Is that all?" he asked. She frowned slightly, her eyebrows knitting together. After a moment of him looking at her intently, silently telling her to elaborate, she sighed heavily and turned to look at him.

"It's just…" she began slowly, as if picking out words carefully. "It's just… I hate it when people don't think I can do something myself. Everyone I've been around has always done things for me because they never think I'm capable. If I was a boy like you, they'd probably be asking me to do everything."

"Oh…." That wasn't expected. What could he answer something like that with? He went to the alternative and instead attempted to lighten the mood. "Is that why you're dressed as a tomboy?" She frowned, quirking an eyebrow at him, looking down at her clothes. She was wearing almost exactly what Sanosuke was wearing: a long sleeved gi with pants and an undershirt, except hers didn't have any stripes showing rank and was a sky blue instead of white. Her shoulder length messy brown hair probably hadn't been combed in days and seemed to have been cut unevenly.

"I wear these because they're comfortable, baka," she said glaring at him, though there was a shadow of a smile on her face. "Kimono's are too stuffy." He just grinned, blowing off the comment. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Did people around you really think that?" Sano asked thoughtfully. "At my house, my mom and little sister had to help with the farming just as much as I did." She sighed heavily once again.

"Everyone I knew thought girls are useless."

"Everyone?" He doubted everyone thought that.

"Well… okay, not everyone," she said finally, raising her head and smiling slightly. The smile however, melted away as quickly as it had appeared. "But to me… my mother was everyone." She chuckled weakly, as if reliving an amusingly painful memory. "I always knew my mom wanted a boy instead of a girl." Sano thought for a moment, knowing that he was trekking through uncharted territory. He didn't know anything about her family or past, so now was a good time to find some stuff out.

"So… did you run away?" he asked, glancing at her (A/N: oh yah, very tact…). She looked pensive for a moment.

"I did run away," she said slowly, thinking as she talked, "but not from her."

"Who from then?" She didn't answer, however, and just shrugged and looked up at him, flashing a rueful smile that made her look more exhausted than he had ever seen her.

"It's getting late, don't you think?" she said, getting up and not really waiting for a response. "I'm tired, I think I'll turn in. Oyasumi nasai, Sano. (-Good night, Sano.-)"

"Hai, good night," he responded as he watched her go. Had he said something wrong? Maybe he had been prying in too much. Her family was obviously still a touchy subject. Maybe in a few weeks she would be more willing to talk.

Come to think of it, he hadn't talked to anyone about his family, and no one had even asked where he came from.

He thought about his dad, rough and outgoing, his little sister who always followed him around calling out his name, and his mom, who's touch was always tender and full of love, no matter how calloused her hands were from using the farm tools. He wondered how the fields of daikon were doing, and if maybe they missed him like he sometimes missed them…

After a few more silent minutes of watching the sun sink lower and lower, he yawned and got up, also heading in to bed.

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Note:

Oooh, hints about her past! I'm sure you're dying to know. It's gonna keep you up at night, isn't it? Huh huh?

Ugh, I'm annoying myself. Okay! Moving on!

Reviewer Responses:

WhiteRabbit5: Phooey, grammar (shudder). I hate grammar, though I always try to have it right since I'm such an annoying perfectionist. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll try to keep an eye out for future nasty pronouns :). I'm glad you like Sano-chan, and I did try to make him easygoing, since that's how I imagined he was before the whole my-role-model-was-shot-and-betrayed-so-I-hate-all-patriots-DIE(!!) thing. I'll make sure he stays more in character when he's older. Ano, why would you think I wouldn't want you to review my stuff? It's awesome getting reviews from you; they're always so insightful and help boost my morale a lot, not to mention they make really good points on how to improve. If you don't review, I'll be stuck with mostly my sister's feedback, which consists of "yep, it's good," followed by bobbing her head up and down for a few minutes as if confirming what she said. So please keep reviewing as long as you keep reading! And I hope you get out of your writers block soon! (Must…know…what happens to Naruku…)

EvilPinkFuzzelofDoom: (awesome name). I'm glad you think it's, er, interesting! Gomen, I figured "tai" was another suffix like "gumi" or "shu," since in the manga (in English) they call it the "Sekiho Army." In any case, it's shorter and takes up less space in the summary. Thanks for reading!

So, yeah… PLEASE REVIEW!! CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM WELCOME!! JUST PLEASE DON'T FLAME! (unnecessary, that it is).

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