CHAPTER TWO: The Boy Who Wears Glasses But Isn't Smart
She woke up early the next day and took a few minutes to stretch all her muscles. The cheap inn came with a cheap bed by the looks of it.
Afterwards, Kagura dared take a look at the showers, wondering whether and half expecting that they would be in the same condition as her bed, but found herself positively surprised. It wasn't the cleanest place, but even on the trips with her parents she had seen worse.
After washing up quickly and changing her clothes, she left the inn quietly after throwing a few coins on the sleeping attendant's desk and pocketing one of the maps lying around.
She stepped out onto the fairly empty streets and immediately propped up her umbrella to shield herself from the rising sun.
A few farmers and vendors were leading their livestock and wagons through the narrow streets, occasionally shouting at each other for blocking each other's way.
Some maids and servants were carrying big baskets down towards what she assumed would be a river of sorts.
A young girl balancing a bucket of water on her head passed her on the right.
She made sure her bandages and hood were in place and continued her journey. This town was nothing special, and she would probably forget about the bartender with the strange request in no time.
The city gates loomed over her soon enough as she passed underneath them and left the town behind.
The next part of the way was rather uneventful, as she only followed the cobblestone path in silence with only the crunching sound of her boots meeting the ground accompanying her.
Once she saw the small houses in the distance indicating an upcoming village, her stomach growled ferociously, reminding her how stupid she had been in her excitement that she forgot to get food for the way.
She quickened her steps towards the village, anticipating a nice and warm meal. About the size of a buffet.
She got closer and closer to the houses, and her stomach grumbling grew louder and louder.
However, before she could enter the village, she was nearly run over by an ox pulling a cart.
"Watch out!" A panicked voice called out, breaking the silence of her journey.
The animal made loud noises of protest while the scrawny-looking human on the cart was helplessly trying to regain control over the beast. He whimpered as he was nearly thrown off the cart and Kagura decided to help the poor kid.
Holding down the ox was no problem for her, and soon it also stopped struggling under her firm grasp and calmed down. The scrawny kid got off his cart drenched in sweat and flushed red.
"Thank you so much! God knows what I would have done if you hadn't been there, Mister!" The bespectacled kid bowed deeply in a hurried manner, completely overlooking the fact that she was a female in the process.
"Oh! And I'm terribly sorry! I was really trying, but this cat ran over our way and... and well… oxen and cats don't mix well…" He broke into an awkward laughter as she didn't answer immediately.
"Be more careful next time." She opted to say in the end, startling the already nervous boy with her feminine voice.
"Ah, yes, of course!" He began bowing before her again. "And thank you again, Miss!"
She waved it off with her hand, preparing to continue her journey towards the village and, more importantly, food.
"Please, Miss! Let me repay you somehow! I don't have much money, but there must be something I can… " The boy gripped a piece of fabric of her mantle in order to stop her. She turned back towards him and removed his hand from her coat.
She had actually considered just to let it go, but reconsidered.
"Where are you headed, boy?" She asked him.
He blinked, then pointed to the village on the horizon.
"Kabuki."
Xxx
Hitching a ride with the boy who apparently was older than her had been a pretty good decision.
She was currently at an inn happily filling her stomach with the home-cooked goodness, complementing the innkeeper's wife with every mouthful.
The elder lady smiled down at her and kept providing her with more and more plates filled with food.
Shinpachi, the boy from the ox carriage, awkwardly stood next to her table and seemed to have an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"Don't worry," she mumbled out between swallowing her bite-full and putting the next spoon-full into her mouth, "I can cover the bill."
The boy shifted from one leg to the other. "That's not quite it…"
The innkeeper's wife announced that she'd be back in a moment and headed back towards the kitchen.
Kagura paused her eating marathon and glanced up towards the black bowl-haired kid. "Then what is?"
He fumbled with his fingers before cautiously answering, "It's just that… I've never actually met a Yato before…"
Kagura suppressed her urge to sigh and nodded understandingly instead. "There's a first time for everything, kid."
"I- I guess." He answered, before adding "and my name's Shinpachi. Shinpachi Shimura."
Kagura just nodded one more before redirecting her attention to her food.
Names never meant much to her. Other races feared the Yato, so they usually ran away before they would think about introducing themselves. And the few that did feel courageous enough fell from memory due to their untimely deaths.
So in that moment, she couldn't have cared less what this puny boy's name was. Just as she had forgotten the bartender's name from the last town over, Shinpachi Shimura would just be grain of sand in the beach she ran across.
She nearly scoffed out loud. His appearance was about as plain as it got. Black, short hair, brown, average eyes, a skinny, nearly lanky frame with spectacles as the only defining feature he had to offer.
Not to mention that he apparently was two years older than her, but could hardly handle himself, yet alone an oxen and a cart.
"Did you need anything else from me?" She asked him with an almost rude tone to her voice.
He jumped slightly before shaking his head abruptly. "Ah, no…"
She put her chopsticks down in anticipation of what else he had to say, but after visibly gulping the boy decided to keep quiet. After waiting a few more seconds and raising her eyebrow expectantly, she sighed and chose to take matters into her own hands.
"So why are you still here? I can handle myself from here on out." She might have sounded harsh, but there was nothing this guy could gain from associating with her.
His eyes flitted around the room suddenly, examining the few other guests at the inn, before he hesitantly sat down across from her. At her inquiring gaze he only chewed on his bottom lip and sunk into deep thought.
"The tru-" He cleared his throat before attempting to speak again, "The truth is that I still need to transport the cargo from the cart across town."
He spoke with a low and hushed voice. His gaze still roamed the other people in the room until they settled back on her blue ones. "I can pay."
Those three words stirred something inside of her. Anger? Not really, no. Disgust? Neither. She stared at the rice in her bowl until the churning of her stomach revealed her evoked emotion.
It was disappointment. The thought that even here and now, she was nothing more than hireable and payable work force. It sickened her that her race only exists to do other's dirty work.
Not to mention that the boy was clearly lying. There was no way he could pay the usual price Yato charged. And he knew that too.
After taking a deep breath and placing her chopsticks over her bowl horizontally, she stood up, pushing her chair back in the process, causing a scratching sound to echo through the dining hall.
Her emotions were bubbling and boiling. She hated how those three words did that to her.
"I'm afraid I have to leave." She said abruptly. "I wish you luck for your journey."
Her fingers reached for her bandages and she pulled them up over her lower face, then decided to add something else.
Shinpachi was staring at her in surprise, his dull brown eyes wide and incomprehensive.
"One more piece of advice: Don't try to make those kinds of deals with people like us." She said in a cold voice, masking the rage building up within her.
She caught how his eyes widened even more, nearly inhumanly wide, but turned away from him. The way to the door seemed like an impossibly long distance to cover as she tried to keep her breathing steady while walking at an even pace. She dropped a pouch of coins on the innkeeper's wife's tray while passing her on the way out and calmly walked out of the door.
Once the fresh air hit her lungs and the glaring sunlight began sapping her strength immediately, she let her thoughts swirl through her mind once more.
It had never really occurred to her exactly what kind of a reputation the Yato race had. She knew of it, of course she did, but she had never fully realized the meaning of it.
She was still standing in the direct noon sunlight, but she couldn't bring herself to worry about that right then.
Random strangers walked up and down the street, ignoring her cloaked figure and living their lives as they would every day. They probably also connected her kind to ruthless, greedy mercenaries.
Her mind wandered back to Shinpachi. He looked so plain, so normal, so innocent. But the moment he said those three words, his brown eyes weren't so dull anymore, they were worse.
It was only a flicker in time, but he talked to her as if he was talking to a metal bucket, asking it to fetch water.
She was nothing more than a tool that would work for the highest bidder.
No, she was wrong just now. This churning, unpleasant feeling in her gut was a mixture of anger, disgust and disappointment.
A thought suddenly struck her. Was this how her brother felt? Was this why he joined the Harusame?
"Are you alright?" A soft voice broke her out of her thoughts.
Kagura blinked her eyes open, not having realized that she had closed them in the first place, just as she hadn't realized that she had sunk to her knees.
There was a young girl, probably five or seven years old, standing in front of her with eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Are you not feeling well?"
The girl's wide, innocent eyes reflected the sunlight and the redhead suddenly fully realized that she was still exposed to the toxic sun.
"I'll be fine." She grunted.
She slowly pulled her umbrella out of its holster and opened it with a bit of effort. The girl followed her movements with interest, trying to figure out her well-being.
"Do you not like the sun, miss?" She asked a few moments later while Kagura was recuperating in the shade of her umbrella.
"Not really." The Yato muttered in response.
The girl's face fell into frown. "But it's so pretty!" She exclaimed with a pout.
Kagura examined the girl a bit closer. She was wearing a rather pretty dress, and by the looks of it she was not part of a poor family. Then it occurred to her.
"Aren't you supposed to be with your mother?"
The girl looked to the side defiantly. "I'm a big girl, so I don't need to be."
That almost made the older girl laugh out loud. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth because the girl just reminded her so much of her younger self.
"You're not that big of a girl yet." She said teasingly before standing up. "You can call yourself one when you're as tall as I am."
The younger girl's big eyes stared up Kagura in awe.
"Now go to your mother, okay?" She told her after spotting a similarly dressed brunette who seemed to be looking for something or someone.
The girl pouted but complied anyways, waving towards her while running towards the woman. Kagura gently raised her hand and waved back slightly, but not too much.
She sighed in content under the cool shade her parasol provided when her eye caught sight of a wooden cart with a resting ox in front of it and the short burst of warmness that the little girl had brought to her heart was immediately overshadowed.
She clenched her teeth and started walking down the road, away from the inn.
Shinpachi let his face fall onto the wooden surface of the table. How could he have done something so stupid? Stupid stupid stupid stupid.
The scary girl was right there, and he managed to piss her off. He managed to piss of a Yato. A freaking Yato.
Once the thought properly sunk in, he realized what this meant. She probably went out and was waiting to kill him, right? She was just waiting for the sun to go down so she could begin the hunt.
A shiver ran down his back as a mental picture of her tearing his body apart with her bare hands began forming in his mind.
Her cold, blue eyes would stare at him through her tinted goggles, and the fabric of the bandages over her face would stretch to reveal a maniacal grin.
He shuddered.
This was bad, and there was nothing he could do about it. They had this one task, this one opportunity to make money and he had screwed it up. The cargo was still in front of the inn, on the cart, safely tucked away. For now, at least.
He grunted into the table, slamming one hand down on the hard surface and only barely supressing his urge to let out a cry of frustration.
If the red-haired Yato didn't get to him, and he somehow made it through the mob, he would die latest when Gintoki found out how badly he messed up.
This was not a good day.
But a small voice in his head couldn't help but wonder exactly what had made the Yato react like that. Didn't they do all sorts of things for money?
Then, he attempted to bury his face deeper into the wood once he realized that he was basically doing the same thing at this point.
What would his sister do in his situation?
AN: I did warn you about OOCness.
This one is a bit shorter, but the next one will compensate for that.
Kagura will generally be acting a bit weird these first few chapters because she is still trying to find herself, so don't be confused. As for her age, she's obviously old enough to drink, so she's in her early 20s.
Reviews are always welcome!
Next: The Man Who Has Silver Hair But Isn't Old
~Emi