After a few days of camping out on the Indian grounds, Michiru spotted a scout in the distance on a painted horse and stopped in her tracks. She had been working on cleaning Haruka's shirt in the river water causing her to be away from the blonde. Her heart started to pound a bit faster but she closed her eyes and focused her lover's words echoing in her head. 'They won't hurt you if you give them reason to leave you alone. Never take more than you need from the land and they will let you alone in peace. Do not panic.' The scout in the distance watched the woman from his location and raised a brow. However before he decided to turn to the tribe to let them know a stranger was there, his dark brown eyes spotted something moving in the distance away from the strange woman. He could only catch a moment of seeing a light colored head of hair and knew who it was then. He turned his bare heels into his horse's side and rode off to the tribe to report his findings leaving the woman to wash the clothes in peace.
Michiru relaxed letting out a long sigh as the rider rode off only to vanish in the higher hills. It was like she had seen a ghost but she quickly came to realize there was nothing to be fearful of. All her life she had been told horror stories about the native people all over the country, and it had influenced her quite a bit. She had allowed those tales to blind her for what was really true about the people and she felt extremely guilty as she finished her task to return to the camp site. Noticing Haruka was no where in sight, the woman settled down onto a log to sit and let herself mull over all the things running through her head. It didn't take her long to drift off into her own little world.
The woman's lover had been tracking down a deer to take for food for the two of them. She had a hard time crafting a bow but the blonde was determined not to use a gun. It would be a dead give away to everyone around that someone didn't belong in the area. The less Haruka gave to those hunting her, the better off she'd be in the long run. Carefully, she stalked a decent sized doe toward the grassy grounds. The animal didn't seem to notice her as she was too busy munching on the ground. The hunter slowly crawled out toward some cover before getting an aim to shoot toward the animal with her bow and an arrow. Haruka only allowed the arrow to fly when she knew she could get a clean kill without wounding another doe behind the animal she wanted to take. The last thing she needed was to take more from the land than she needed. One deer could feed Michiru and herself for a good while and there was no need to waste a second deer. The animal shifted out from behind the target and Haruka let the arrow fly releasing the string before hearing a loud thud knowing she had taken the animal down. She spent the next half hour tracking it down and taking all the meat she could carry back to the camp with her. However, there was something she wanted to do with sme of the meat she had harvested knowing she wouldn't be able to cure all of it and it would decay to ruin.
"Michiru..."she murmured softly giving a sharp whistle before hand.
The teal haired woman snapped out of her thoughts and stood up spotting her lover with a large deer hide tied to her back with leather strands. It didn't take her long to figure out she had gotten food for them and took a moment to walk over to her to help her with the heavy load.
"I didn't expect you to get one so easily, Ruka."
"I can shoot a bow rather easily, hon. However, there's something I'd like to do with the meat I know we won't be able to eat in time. I know you aren't fond of the idea of being on Indian ground but I feel as if i need to let the tribe know we are here because we need to be and that we are not going to cause any problems. I want to ride to the tribe boundary and give them some of the meat as well as the hide. I won't be able to use it for anything in the time span we have but they could use it for some clothes for a child or for a skin for other things."
Michiru smiled gently understanding the reason and gave her lover a nod. "Fine, just promise to be careful and to return in one piece, okay?"
"I will, you just rest and keep yourself safe okay? I know you can shoot so don't be afraid to use the pistol I left with you."
"I won't. Just be safe Ruka." She leaned in and kissed her blonde lover tenderly. Haruka returned the gesture softly before moving to jump onto her horse.
She didn't bother with tacking him up and merely rode him bareback with the rope she had used for a halter and a reign set. It doubled as a pair of reigns in case they had to flee during the night hours. It was also one of the other tricks she had learned from her mentor. She leaned down and kissed her lover's forehead sweetly before taking the pack of food she had placed inside of the hide with her. Michiru had taken care of placing the meat they would use aside in a safe place while her lover rode off into the distance leaving her alone once more.
The horse seemed to fly across the grassy plains and the blonde rider just kept her patience on the animal. The wind while on horseback was her escape from the world even for just a little while. She always felt more at ease on the animal's back than she did on her own two feet. In a way, Jak always joked that she should have been born in a native tribe due to the way she could hang onto the animal. At times the blonde started to wonder if she had a point but she knew it was impossible. She had been born in the east and raised by an upscale family only to rebel against them for trying to mold her into something she wasn't. When she came of age she ran as fast as she could on a horse and went west where she kept feeling that place of security. It was her true home and she felt it as she stopped her horse moving to a small spring where she remembered was the beginning to the Indian tribe grounds. She did not wish to cross it knowing someone was around. Instead the rider remained mounted for a time before spotting a warrior appear on foot with a spear in hand watching her. Haruka dismounted slowly and carried the deer fur to the line standing on her side motioning for the man to come to her to take it. He seemed hesitant at first but he realized she was the blonde a scout had seen earlier and that she was an ally. He reached out for the hide and calmly unwrapped a portion of it to find food. Glancing to her curiously, he looked puzzled.
"For your tribe. Food and peace offering from me." murmured Haruka carefully adding hand gestures in case he couldn't understand the language.
It wasn't long until he nodded understanding what she had said. As quickly as he had appeared, he vanished without leaving a trace of himself behind. The blonde understood they would continue to coexist as long as she remained on their grounds. She turned and wasted no time riding back to her beloved knowing the warrior would give the gift to his people. Her horse ran hard and quickly across the grounds leaping over logs and Haruka just remained on his back leaning down low on the animal's back. She closed her eyes allowing her horse to take the lead while taking in the feeling of the wind running against her body only to hear the cry of a hawk in the distance. Reopening her eyes, she gave out a yell and urged her horse faster which he did for her never stopping until she got within distance of her safe haven. Seeing the trees, she slowed the animal down and continued at a walk finding Michiru fast asleep with the pistol within reach. The blonde sighed dismounting her horse letting him pick at the ground.
"You must truly be exhausted." remarked the blonde tossing her coat over her lover's body to keep her comfortable. Somehow it didn't disturb her from her slumber.
Letting Michiru rest well into the evening, Haruka kept an eye out for any movement around their location. While some bounty hunters wouldn't dare cross into the lands, others would be stupid enough for the kind of bounty to do it. Haruka couldn't allow herself time to relax or lower her guard even if she did have a graze wound on her side. Too much was riding on her ability to keep a low profile for the time being, to be foolish or forgetful on her duty. Grumbling faintly, she closed her tired eyes as the sun set hearing a howl off in the distance. The location did house quite a few wolf packs but they rarely bothered with people unless extremely desperate for food. The howl signaled they were about five miles away and Haruka just relaxed hearing the howling songs letting herself drift off into a needed slumber against a boulder slumped over with her pistol in hand.
For three long months the duo kept moving further into the native grounds as bounty hunter grew more bold in their efforts to capture the blonde rider. She kept using old tricks she had learned trying to keep herself from being caught but one day her luck ran dry on keeping Michiru safe with her. Haruka was out trying to get some wild game for food when she heard a scream from the camp in the cliffs. She turned sharply mounting her horse leaving behind the rabbits she had been trailing in order to attempt to get to camp in time. As she got there, five horses bolted off but only three had riders.
"Michiru!" yelled the blonde as she tried to catch up and chase the men. Unfortunately, they were far too ahead of her and she couldn't handle the rough ride from exhaustion.
Cursing furiously, the rider returned to her camp to try and gather herself up. What she found caused her to faintly smirk though she had to wonder just how Michiru pulled off killing two of her attempted captors. On the ground nearest the fire place was a red headed man who Haruka didn't recognize but she kicked him over inspecting his features. He wore a brown shirt and seemed to have been neglecting to shave for a while. Next to his side rested a brown haired male in his late forties who just probably moved too slow trying to disarm the teal haired woman. Growling beneath her breath, the blonde moved gathering up her things bound and determined to get Michiru back and to make the journey to track her down no matter what.
The riders who had captured Michiru moved further south for many miles trying to gain ground away from the blonde in order to exact their trap according to plans. The men came upon a large hunting band of men and started laughing quite a bit before stopping in front of their leader. It was none other than Caleb Marshton and he had plans.
"I take it the bounty killed Ray and Jacob?" he murmured.
"No, she did.." murmured the lead rider pointing to an unconscious Michiru in the saddle of a fourth horse.
Marshton chuckled lightly before adjusting the glove on his right hand. "Take her to the cabin and lock her in the bedroom for the time being. We have traps to ste in order to catch our prey."
The men nodded and did as told by their boss. While Michiru was taken care of, Caleb walked around pacing a bit debating on how to circle around and capture Haruka for the money. His dark eyes closed and he soon started to laugh faintly as his men gave off jokes of how easy it would be to capture the blonde in a canyon area. After an hour, Caleb ordered ten of his men in one direction to wait in the mountain side nearest the river where the gang had crossed escaping the location of the blonde rider. If Caleb knew how she worked, the woman would come charging to get her lover back at any cost without regard for herself. He was counting on her coming in blind with rage in order to kill her for both the bounty and for personal reasons. Glancing down to his right hand which was gloved, her tightened it into a fist with a devilish grin plastered on his face.
Caleb's men eventually spotted a rider working their way down the riverbank at a dead run on horse back two days later. However, from that distance they couldn't exactly tell if it was the blonde prize or not. They assumed it was and three of the men worked down through the rocks before taking aim with their rifles. The guns fired and the sound echoed but the rider remained mounted unflinching in a dead run. The men kept firing off rapidly wasting their ammunition trying to take down their target but they had no idea what they had done by firing off so many gun shots on their location. The rider kept down low against the ebony neck of the black horse and smirked knowing full well the plan was working to her advantage. It was in fact Setsuna who had sprinted down the waterway at top speed drawing their attention away from watching their backs as well as further up the the enemy was distracted, Haruka crossed the river on her horse wasting no time in using the cover as best as she could to blend in and stay hidden from the watchful eyes of Marshton's men. She kept low in the saddle watching the turns and twists continuing to track the horse prints from her camp.
A day ago Setsuna and Jak had come across her and were quickly informed Michiru had been taken away from her. With Jak's knowledge of the lands, she devised a plan that would make them invisible to the renegade group. Setsuna was given Dart to ride as a distraction while Haruka took the time to cross the river and keep tracking the location of Marshton's camp. So far the plan was working but Jak was off on her own having borrowed Setsuna's paint mare to take off into Lakota territory leaving the two on their own for the while. Haruka had no idea what was up her mentor's sleeve but she had agreed to go forward with the plan and kept tracking down through the mountainous terrain for hours before coming across a camp in the far distance while perched upon a mountain's edge. From where she stood on her horse, the blonde could look out passed the tree line spotting make shift tents and an old abandoned cabin where smoke was filtering out through the chimney.
"Just stay strong, Michi. I'm goin to get you out of there somehow." murmured the rider softly.
Marshton and his men at base camp were busy loading up their rifles and getting set up to go back tracking to find the blonde themselves when they heard the echo of the gun shots being fired. With as many as there were, they assumed it was another band of bounty hunters and not the prey they were after. The men grew antsy and soon two took off to go and check in with the mountain group to report back to Caleb. He had a gut feeling they were being taunted somehow by the blonde and was growing furious because of it. He glanced around slowly where he stood looking out toward the mountains and the plains with an eerie feeling that we was being watched. The man was unable to pinpoint it but he could feel someone was watching him.
"Soon enough, you will be mine, Tenoh." he growled firmly moving off into the cabin.
Inside the building, Michiru awoke moving slowly only to wince and grab for the back of her skull. A large lump had formed where a rifle butt had slammed into her head to knock her out in order to bring her to a new location. She winced but slowly looked around through sore and tired eyes realizing nothing was familiar. There was no fire, horse and no Haruka which already put the woman on edge. The pistol she had was gone as well which only made the small woman curse beneath her breath. While adjusting to her surroundings, the door opened and she glared toward it only to spot Marshton enter with his greedy eyes on her.
"I see you finally decided to come around. Bout damned time, woman." he growled.
"What did you do to Haruka?" responded Michiru coldly.
"Wouldn't you like to know? My men are hunting her down as we speak and are going to bring her to me. I'm going to kill her and then take you back to Dodge."
Anger boiled over in the woman and she reached out as Caleb got closer to smack him across the face. He took the hit feeling a sting on his cheek and her also felt something hot leaking down. Michiru had drawn blood with her fingernails which caused the man to turn and belt her across the mouth with his gloved hand. The blow made Michiru turn her head and wince but she didn't show any kind of fear. Glaring daggers at the man, she watched as he drew away with a smug expression on his lips.
"You may as well get used to being alone, Kaioh. Your blonde friend is gonna be dragged back to Dodge and put up on display as a corpse." laughed Caleb as he slipped out of the room only to lock the door as he closed it behind him.
The woman growled rubbing her cheek where a bruise was forming. She did her best to ignore the pain and she slowly looked around. There was no windows or escape routes which she silently cursed about. She was trapped and couldn't help thinking about her blonde rider. Deep down, she prayed she'd be able to out smart the men that had her but she also knew how foolish Haruka could become when emotions blinded her.
"Please don't do anything rash..." she sighed closing her blue eyes.
Michiru sat on the edge of the bed looking into her hands slowly. She knew she had tried to get away from being captured but she could only remember firing off three shots killing two of her attackers before everything went black. Angrily, she clutched her hands into fists strong enough to draw blood with her fingernails on her palms. The thoughts of being overpowered so easily nagged at her and only caused her to curse and focus on the pain in her hands which she had caused in a moment of anger. Wincing, she looked to the small cuts in her palms and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Ruka. I should have escaped into the wood but they cut me off. I hope you fair better than I have." she whispered to herself while using a piece of cloth to dry the blood flowing from her hands slowly.