The wind felt sublime as it swept down the side of a long, emerald hill, and the perfectly white clouds in the sky offered the exact amount of shade from the sun's radiance.
Miaka stretched her her arms into the air, and opened her mouth in a wide yawn. It was going to be a good day. Wait...what the...?
Suddenly, she remembered. The chase, the cave, the men...and the stranger. It was if an explosion went off in her mind, a firecracker that sent that day's events booming around in her brain. What had happened? Where was she?
In an instant, she had sprung to her feet, but found that her legs hadn't supported much weight in a while. Her knees buckled out from under her, and she fell face down into the inch tall grass with crunch. Fortunately for her, that particular grass was softer than her home village's softest pillow.
"Child, you have not rested nearly long enough...please, go back to sleep." came a calm, yet strangely icy voice from directly overhead.
Miaka's first response was embarassment. Falling face first at the feet of a total stranger was not the most self promotative thing to do. Then she realized the danger of the whole situation. She didn't know where she was, who this person was, or if they were friend or foe. With lightning fast reflexes, she pushed upwards on her hands, and rolled backwards away from the speaker, her sword hand grabbing for the hilt of her katana, while her other hand pushed her entire body into the air, flipping head over heels, and landing firmly on both feet. It was a move taught to her by her uncle when she was in the Hidden Smoke village. Unfortunately, it would have looked a lot better if there was actually a sword to grab. All her fingers touched was empty air. Great. So now, she was defenseless, not knowing where she was, and facing an unknown (and probably armed) agressor. Just super.
A low chuckle emanated from in front of her. "You are quick...but as you can see, I've already taken your weapon and discarded it...there will be no need for such a thing anymore"
Miaka's face turned hot red with anger. "Why you...what the hell gives you the right to...to...?...oh my" she stopped in mid sentence, her long, thin black hair falling in front of her disheveled face. Her cheeks were still flushed, but it wasn't because of anger anymore.
Seated on a log, not ten feet away from her current position, was a man. If you could call him that. To Miaka, he looked more like an angel.
He had fiery orange hair that spiked up around his head and creapt down along the back of his neck. He had a thin, perfectly rounded face, with not a single blemish on it. He wore a long, dark green shirt, with various assortment of chains and rings around his neck. His shirt had only one sleeve, with strange, black markings running down the length of his exposed arm. Around his waist was a forest green sash that came down to his knees, and on his feet he wore the traditional opened toed shoes usually worn by most ninja.
Beside him, embedded several feet in the ground, was a monstrous sword, wrapped in tape and standing at least as tall as the man himself. However, Miaka really didn't notice any of these things as much as his eyes. His coal colored, glossy, pearl shaped eyes. They seemed to stare right through her, right into the very bowels of her soul. The strange types of marking on the man's arm were also on his face, seeming to run down his cheeks like ink tears.
Miaka looked at him with an open mouth for a good five minutes, before coming to her senses, and turning away and hiding her face in her hands. "I'm...sorry"
She knew, from all the travels she had in the precence of other ninja, peasants, and lords, that no one's character could be decided by their features alone. But for some reason...she was beginning to believe that this man could do no wrong.
Suddenly, a hand came to rest on her shoulder, so soft she didn't seem to feel it right away. "Are you alright? You lost contiousnous after those men attacked you...Ah. There." From behind her, the man's fingers brushed the front of her head. A pulsing pain shot through Miaka's body, so powerful it almost caused her to faint.
"The wound is still fresh...you need more rest" came that same, quiet voice.
Miaka's eyes (though she cursed herself during the process for showing too much emotion) began to well up with tears. "Did you...save me?" she asked staring intently at the ground. He didn't even need to answer, she could already feel his response. "Who are you?"
She could feel the world around her getting darker by the minute. As she was laid gently in the grass, his voice rang clear through her ears. "My name...is..." And then all was black.
The red haired man has revealed himself! What is his motive? What is his purpose? What happened to the bandits? Find out in Chapter three, of "Road of the Dead"
(Ack, sorry for that everyone, I felt like I needed to put something out, but I couldn't really come up with much on short notice. Expect more next chapter!)