"Rikichi, you will go with Gorobei and Heihachi." Kambei said. "Shichiroji, you Kyuzo and Chidori shall go with Kirara-dono."
"But, Kamebi-sama!" the priestess protested as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "They're our enemies! We're not even sure they can be trusted!"
"I'm sorry, Kirara-dono. We don't have enough time." the old man said to her, giving her no time to retort.
I hid my smirk and glanced at my blond partner. He was waiting patiently, his face stoical as ever. The blond man named Shichiroji exchanged a quick glance with Kambei himself and then we all set off, each on his own way. Since Shichiroji was his right hand, he was some sort of leader of our group. Not that I complained. Of course they didn't have any reasons to trust us.
He asked me to stay with the priestess, not quite sure about how well I would do if I were to guard their back and asked Kyuzo to stay in the front, having already noticed his quick reflexes and great senses. He stayed behind us and I could feel his gaze linger on me from time to time, probably making sure I wasn't going to try anything. Kambei didn't trust me completely, like he trusted Kyuzo. Shichiroji didn't, either. Good for them.
As for me, I still wasn't completely certain about my reason for joining them. It could have been that kid, but my interest in him wasn't that important. I was going to get bored of waiting eventually, plus that I had no apparent reason to want a duel with him, like Kyuzo had with Kambei. It could have been to torment the old man. Or perhaps, after so many years spent with Kyuzo in so many places and 'serving' under so many idiots, I couldn't even imagine myself without him.
I had never given any thought to why I've stayed with him for so long. Nor to why he accepted me, even though I was a true burden back then, when I didn't know how to defend myself. I realized that I had probably needed a reason to live. After my mother died of pneumonia in that late winter, I was all alone. "We only live in other people's eyes. If there's no one there left to see us, then we have no reason to live at all. Kyuzo gave me that reason, almost six years ago. He'd do just fine without me… perhaps better than ever. But I'd be all alone again. Anything is better than to be alone."
I frowned slightly as these thoughts passed through my head and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Even though I had Kyuzo in front of me and Shichiroji behind, anything could happen. I had to stay focused and alert at all times. Kirara looked at me from the corner of her eye, but I ignored her. My duty was to protect her, not to be nice to her.
"Are you a samurai?" she suddenly asked.
From her tone, I guessed she had omitted the word 'even' so as not to upset me too much. I didn't turn my head to look at her.
"Not really."
"But you have the swords."
"A katana doesn't make anyone a samurai." I said, my thought wandering to that samurai boy, Katsushiro.
"Then why did you come?" she asked sharply, not really caring about being polite anymore. "We need samurai. If you're not one, I don't understand why you're here."
I knew she was expecting an answer from me. I was also aware that she had drawn Kyuzo's attention with that question. "Stupid girl." I thought, glaring at the rocks we stepped on. I was ready to give her an equally impolite reply, but Shichiroji intervened uninvited.
"Maa, maa, Kirara-dono. Kambei said we need all the help we can get. Chidori-san may not be a samurai, but her skills are undoubtedly great. Her ninja skills may also be of great help to us, you know. There aren't many people left who know how to use the ninja arts. The nobuseri wouldn't know how to deal with that."
I decided I wouldn't let the irritated sigh escape my throat and kept walking without another word.
"Tell me, Chidori-san, where did you learn ninja arts?" the blond samurai behind asked.
"Someone taught me." I replied curtly, not wanting to say anything more about the three years Kyuzo had spent teaching me stealth, poison use, pressure points, the use of ninja weapons (such as the senbon, the poisoned needles I used the most from my ninja arsenal) and many other things.
It seemed hard to believe that a samurai as dedicated as Kyuzo would know such secrets, but one of the only things I knew about his past was that he had once had a ninja comrade. They had spent a few years together, until the ninja got killed. During those years, Kyuzo found a way to improve his samurai skills using ninja secrets. Since I was reluctant to be trained as a samurai, he had decided to teach me ninja arts first.
Suddenly, I tensed and Kyuzo stopped, drawing his katanas. He disappeared ahead without a word and he made no sound as he ran, giving Shichiroji a hint about who could have been training me as a ninja. I drew my own twin blades and waited, closing my eyes for a moment of peace before the battle. Shichiroji took his weapon and prepared for the attack as well.
Kirara shifted her weight, moving a small rock when she did.
"Don't move!" I hissed at her.
But it was too late. One of the nobuseri had heard us.
"Get her to safety!" the blond told me as his weapon made contact with the robot's armor, breaking through it easily.
I took Kirara's wrist and pulled her after me, keeping only one of my two swords in my left hand, since I was left-handed. I spotted Kyuzo not far from us, fighting some of the robots himself. In a moment, I pushed Kirara to the ground and threw myself over her to protect her from the bullet that hit the rock a few inches above my head. I felt a few pebbles hit the back of my skull and got up in an instant, slicing the nobuseri with one swift move.
The priestess got up on shaky legs. One of her kness was bleeding, but it wasn't anything serious. She could still run if she had to. I took her hand again and ran toward Kyuzo, who was just putting his katanas back into their sheath. We stopped next to him and looked behind for Shichiroji, who was walking along the rocky path as if nothing had happened, even though I saw worry I his eyes when he got closer.
I asked them to stay for a moment before we head off again and knelt in front of Kirara, taking a small flacon out of my bag to put some of its content on the priestess's wound.
"This should help." I said. "It will soothe the pain."
She stared at me, probably wondering whether or not I had put poison in that ointment too, but gave me a small nod and murmured a 'thank you'. I kept a smirk for myself as we continued our 'adventure' to the 'rock that looked like a wing'.
Half an hour later we were fighting again. This time they had taken us a bit by surprise. I kept cursing as the robots came one by one toward us, hitting us with everything they had. I thrust my sword into one of them, feeling the oil spurt on my face. I wrinkled my nose, disgusted, but I didn't have time to complain, because another one blocked both my swords and I couldn't set them free to cut him. Shichiroji was just as busy as me, surrounded by three of them.
I heard Kirara scream and my stomach cringed for an unknown reason. I pushed the robot away with my feet and landed on my back on the hard rocks, hitting myself at the base of my spinal column. When I managed to get up, I had to block the nobuseri's sword with one of my own and I used the other one to cut him in two. The pain in my back made my feet go numb and I fell on my knees, panting. Shichiroji offered me a hand, but I shook my head and got up on my own, still staggering a bit.
"Kyuzo!" I exclaimed when I saw the gash on his arm.
I immediately made the connection with Kirara's scream. A nobuseri had probably attacked her and he jumped in the way to stop him. I snorted. He had never done anything like that for me! I realized I was thinking about it as if I were jealous and burst into a maniacal laughter that made two pairs of eyes stare at me and probably question my sanity. Kyuzo was used to it. He ignored me.
I suppose he was upset. After all, it was my job to protect the priestess. It was my fault he had gotten hurt, not hers. But I still wasn't going to give him any of my special ointment. Because.
And I burst into laughter again.