Chapter Two: The Search

Aya ignored the brunette following him as he rode back to where he'd left his belongings. Damn horse had untied himself again and followed him. He sighed swinging to the ground, what the hell was he going to do with him? Kage had always had a mind of his own. The redhead had gotten Kage off some guy who had been beating the poor animal and while hitting the beast was tempting; he also knew it would do no good. Animals just didn't have the same reasoning skills as people...well not all people anyway. There were a few that had the reasoning skills of a gnat.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts then looked up at the homesteader, which Aya could now see that he wasn't a farmer. He'd figured the guy was hired as protection, but he had seemed part of the train as well. It didn't really matter to him what the guy was. What mattered was the reason he was following, although the redhead had a pretty good idea. The younger man stared back at him with a haughty expression. "Burt said to make sure you were coming back."

"Ah." It was as he thought. Aya turned and took his coat and hat from the tree he'd left them in then put them on before grabbing his extra saddlebags from the ground. "Well, my job is only half done." He said quietly as he tied them in place behind his saddle.

"Job?"

"Yes. Part of it was to guide you people to the land you bought." He swung up onto his horse and met the other man's eyes. "My employers are not heartless, Mr. Gunslinger, and neither am I."

"Ken." The brunette interrupted. "Ken Hidaka."

"Hidaka-san." Aya bowed his head slightly. "I am Fujimiya Aya, now let us find that trail." Ken grinned, nodding enthusiastically. Aya gathered his reins and urged Kage forward. If memory served him correctly the trail was to the south. He turned his horse in that direction and urged him forward.

Omi paced around the wagon. Ken and their new guide had been gone for two days and Omi was worried about him. He'd heard some of the others saying the man called Aya was a mercenary, which Youji explained was like an assassin. A man who killed for money, that's who Ken was traveling with. It was rather disconcerting. Omi knew the gunslinger could take care of himself, but after having seen Aya's skills first hand he wasn't so sure that Ken was safe.

The morale of the wagon train was at an all time low. No one knew if Aya would come back and actually guide them to their new homes. Youji was the only one who seemed certain of the fact, and though Omi loved his adopted brother dearly, he wasn't the smartest man in the world...especially when it came to a pretty face. The teen sighed as he climbed out of the wagon and stared off where Ken and the black rider had disappeared. He hoped they came back soon.

Aya made sure Hidaka was sleeping before removing his shirt to get at his injured side. His last fight with the damn Indian rogues had not left him unscathed. One of the braves had gotten in a lucky hit with his tomahawk. The swordsman gingerly removed the poultice he had placed over the wound and grimaced when he saw that it was showing signs of infection. "Damn." He muttered then stood and stalked over to where he'd left his saddlebags. Damn his pride. He hadn't wanted to show any weakness in front of the young gunslinger so he'd ignored the wound after the first night. It had been foolish beyond reason and Aya cursed himself as he gathered what he'd need to rid himself of the infection.

He slid his knife from his boot and slipped the blade into the hot coals of the fire. This was going to hurt...more so than it would have if he'd just taken care of the damn wound properly the first time. Luckily the wounds he had sustained before meeting the wagon train were all but gone. They had been more minor anyway. Just scratches really. Nothing like this.

Still cursing himself he grabbed up a bottle of whiskey and after taking a long drink he poured some of the fiery liquid over the long gash in his side. Luckily it hadn't been too deep. Aya bit his lip against the curses he wanted to scream as the whiskey stung his wound. This really wasn't the best way to do this, but it was all he had. He then slipped a scalpel out of his surgery kit and, after sanitizing the small blade with some more whiskey, he began cutting away the dead and infected skin around the laceration on his side.

It took over an hour because he had to keep stopping so that he could add more wood to the fire. He couldn't afford to lose his only light source. Once he was finished cleaning the wound he took the now red hot knife from the coals. This was going to hurt like a bitch, but it was his only option to close the wound since he'd run out of supplies to stitch it with. He glanced at Hidaka's sleeping form then placed his belt between his teeth. After taking a deep breath he put the blade against his skin and nearly screamed from the pain. He managed to make only a soft groan that was further muffled by the belt in his mouth. It took only a few seconds to get the wound closed.

Aya dropped the knife and tried to breathe through the pain as he spread a small amount of burn cream over the wound. He sighed in relief as the cream cooled his burned flesh then put some gauze over it and wrapped a bandage around his torso. Feeling eyes on him he looked up to find Hidaka watching him with an irritated expression. "Did you seriously just do that?" The brunette snapped sitting up. Aya decided not to comment on the obvious as he reached for his shirt. The gunslinger frowned. "Ok, stupid question, but why didn't you tell me you were injured? I could have-"

"I am quite capable of taking care of my own injuries." The swordsman interrupted as he finished dressing. Already he felt better, but there was one last task he had before he could turn in for the night.

"Obviously." Hidaka muttered, rolling his eyes. "You know cauterizing a wound leaves a scar right? Why didn't you stitch it or something?"

"I do not care about scars, and I ran out of surgical twine over a week ago." Aya replied without emotion as he set some water to boil. While his earlier injuries had been minor; they had been deep enough to need stitches, which was why he no longer had any twine and since he had been following the wagon train to keep them out of trouble; there hadn't been time to replenish his stores.

"Oh...what are you doing now?"

"Willow bark tea reduces both fever and helps to fight infection." The swordsman responded in the same tone. Exhaustion was starting to set in, but he needed to drink the tea before he went to sleep.

"Ugh, that shit tastes disgusting." Hidaka wrinkled his nose.

"Yet it works." Aya sighed. "Go back to sleep Hidaka-san."

"You can call me Ken, ya know?" The brunette muttered as he laid back down. Blessed silence returned to the camp as Hidaka closed his eyes. When the water began to boil Aya dropped a few pieces of bark into it then sat back to wait. He was so tired, but he fought off sleep for another few minutes then poured the tea into his canteen. He rinsed out the pot and put everything back in his saddle bags before sitting down on his blanket to drink. After drinking about half of the bitter brew he closed the canteen and laid down to sleep.

Ken woke the next morning and frowned when he saw that Aya was up already. The redhead was saddling his horse like the wound on his side wasn't there. "Good, you are awake." Ken frowned. The man hadn't even turned around, how the hell had he known that he was awake? "Eat quickly then get ready to ride. We have a lot of ground to cover today."

"Tch, fine." The gunslinger sighed as he rose from his blankets. Briefly he wondered how he hadn't woken when Aya had started cooking. There was bacon and eggs in a pan next to the fire along with some fried potatoes. Ken blinked in surprise. He'd never brought eggs with him on his wanderings after the first couple times he'd found them broken in his pack. When he said as much he heard the swordsman snort.

"Those are not chicken eggs." He glanced at the gunslinger, amusement in his eyes. "They are quail eggs that I found this morning. There was a nest not far from here." Ken stared at him in shock, fork halfway to his mouth.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Since before dawn."

"Jesus, how long did you sleep?!"

"A few hours." Aya shrugged as he turned from his horse to face Ken. "Kage was uneasy, there were coyotes nearby last night." Ken watched in shock as his own horse, Zou walked over to the swordsman and nudged his shoulder.

"Didn't I..." The brunette looked back where he'd tied his horse off.

"It appears my horse has been teaching yours his bad habits." The swordsman sighed as he absently stroked the brown mare's white-starred forehead. She ran her head into his chest, almost knocking him over.

"What the?" Ken had never seen his horse act like this, nor warm up to someone other than him. He saw the redhead's lips twitch, then he reached into his front pocket and pulled out half of a carrot. Zou whinnied softly as she took the treat from his palm. Aya grunted as his own horse nudged him from behind.

"No. You already had one." The swordsman snapped turning to shove the stallion's face away. Kage pawed the ground with a snort. Ken laughed then set about finishing his food. Within a half hour they had the campsite cleaned up and Zou saddled. As he swung up onto her back he watched Aya carefully. He still showed no sign of being injured.

It was strange to see someone so stoic and cold. Ken knew that if he had been hurt like that and had to have the wound cauterized he would never be so calm about it. He'd probably be swearing up a storm or crying like a baby or both so either Aya had an extremely high pain tolerance or he wasn't exacty human.

Within four days of leaving the wagon train Aya found the California Trail. As he and Ken watched a different train pass by he heard the gunman swear. "They were set to leave at least a week or more after us." The brunette grumbled in explanation. "I recognize the family in the lead wagon."

"Ah." Aya nodded then turned his horse and began riding back the way they had come. "It will take a week to get the wagons back onto the trail, Hidaka-san." He said as the brunette rode up next to him. "It will be rough." He added, adjusting his hat to keep the sun from his skin, which was extremely sensitive. He hated working in this part of the country, preferring to stay in the northern regions, but this request had come directly from the government. They wanted more settlers in the western territories and were extremely worried about what had happened to the men and women who had never reached their claims. Once Aya reached a town with a telegraph station he would send in a condensed version of his report. Right now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Why are you helping us anyway?" Hidaka asked suddenly. "I know you said you were hired to find out what happened to the missing wagon trains, but you've done that so, why guide us?"

"I am not the sort of man who leaves innocent people in the middle of the wilderness to die." The swordsman replied evenly. "If there had been another guide among your people I would not be here."

"Where would you be?"

"Somewhere else." Aya shrugged. It was none of the gunslingers business and he was not in the habit of discussing his life with others.

"Tch, can you at least tell me who hired you?"

"I believe it was the Senator of California, although he used intermediaries so I cannot be sure."

"Inter-whats?"

"A 'baikai' in our native tongue." Aya sighed. The brunette looked over at him in surprise.

"I haven't spoken Japanese in a long time." Hidaka said after a while. "When I first came here it was all I could speak, but I learned English pretty quickly. It took a long time to get rid of my accent though." He looked at Aya curiously. "Why did you come to America?"

"It was not by choice." The swordsman replied shortly. The truth was that he had been exiled. In Nihon the ways of the Samurai were dying and many had either been killed or forced to leave...well the ones who wouldn't set aside their blades anyway. It was something Aya refused to do. He had lived by the sword almost his entire life. He was a warrior...a Samurai, which was the real reason he couldn't leave the people of the wagon train behind to die. There was a lot of the old code he'd had to disregard to survive in this Kami forsaken land, but killing innocents was not something he could do. Sure they wouldn't have died by his hand, but they would have died none the less and it would have been his fault. It was not a sin that he could live with.

"You're a Samurai." Hidaka gasped, staring at him with an awed expression that made Aya feel slightly uncomfortable.

"I am a rounin." The samurai responded tightly. It was not something he liked to talk about. His former master had cast him aside when he'd discovered that the way of the Samurai was ending. The man had actually tried to have him killed, but when that didn't work he'd gone to the government to request Aya's immediate exile, which was granted seeing as he'd been on the wrong side of the current ruling body. Aya still remembered the night they had arrested him and taken him to the boat that would bring him here. It was not a pleasant memory. They had killed his parents and sister then burned his ancestral home to the ground. With nothing left for him there he had discarded the name his parents had given him and left the country of his birth. They had let him keep his katana and armor, but nothing else. One day he would go back and kill the Takatori clan. Until that time came, though, he had to sharpen his skills...while he waited for them to grow soft and fat. His lips turned up in a cold smile as he imagined the look on that bastard's face when the Kageoni came for his soul.

Translation Notes: Some people might know all the Japanese words I used in this chapter, but some might not so I decided to put these here at the bottom of the chapter instead of in it...that would just ruin the flow.

Baikai- Means intermediary which is someone who works on behalf of someone else.

Kageoni- Roughly translates to 'Shadow Demon'.

Kage- Means shadow.

Zou- Means Elephant...Ken's kind of an asshole lol

Rounin-A samurai from the feudal times that had no master.

Nihon/Nippon- The true name for Japan.

Kami- a God in this instance. Also means hair.