In Those Hands

The reformed Hi Shin unit took the three-hour long journey to the case that Karyou Ten had been using as a central reference point. The garrisoned troops of the area welcomed the army into its walls and Karyou Ten spent much of an evening speaking with the commander about the events they had foregone and the potential for the assassins to attack them or nearby villages. They had already attempted to find a way to disseminate this information to Kanyou or a nearby greater general but each message that was sent out in secret never returned with an answer; either due to the messenger themself going missing, simply being ignored by the ministers at the court themselves, or attacks from the unknown group that would force a detachment to return. Each of those encounters was a hard battle that resulted in no gain or loss from either side besides creating more dead; and the lack of conflict at the area where So Sui's separated unit was gathered worried Karyou Ten about the potential for a trap somewhere on the journey to the fortification that never came. And yet, nevertheless, the tension persisted.

Kyou Kai remained resting in a modified cart for the duration of their travel and was quickly given a room of her own to rest in at the castle. Shin, however, did not sit with her and refused to rest in the cart even after his lieutenants requested him to while noticing his uncomfortability as he sat on his horse. Whether it be from his exhaustion or the thoughts in his mind, he and Karyou Ten–who rode next to each other the whole way–did not speak much. She gently prodded him to drink water and such occasionally, but otherwise they kept to themselves during the journey. It was an air that had not changed much since she first saw him, though he was refusing to give up.

When they arrived, most of the soldiers took the orders handed down to them from their lieutenant-commander or leader, who had been instructed directly by Karyou Ten; though Shin himself hid himself away somewhere and napped. When he awoke, in the evening, as Karyou Ten was finishing her work with the head of the castle, he stood out in one of the courtyards and simply took in the view of the people going about their lives and his own soldiers relaxing with each other here and there. Unaware of her presence, Karyou Ten stood behind him and called his name. As he turned, she did her old "KA-RYOU-TEN" maneuver with the arm and hand movements, though she omitted embarrassing yelling that would give her now-older self far too much embarrassing attention than she wanted.

He looked at his hands and messed around with different hand positions and symbols as if he was going to make an imitation of her but eventually looked directly into her eyes, defeated, "How am I s'posed to respond?"

"Perfect."

"Huh?"

"My plan will without a doubt succeed," she didn't have a plan.

"Plan for what?"

"Domination." Walking quickly up to him, he expected her to stop right in front of him and stare him down; but instead, she grabbed his right hand with her left and started to lead him forwards with an intense turn that made her cape wave elegantly. "You're hungry, right?"

"Haven't eaten in a while, so yeah," he responded.

"Great," he always wanted food around this time, "And how's your sword?"

"It's holdin' up fine."

"I was afraid you might've gotten too used to the polearm and handling the sword too roughly," she said.

"I've used a sword for a lot longer than a yanyuedao, so I don't think I'll be mistreatin' her that fast."

She frowned with her brows, "You did break your polearm almost immediately."

"That's not my fault. That guy moved fast, I wasn't used to the feel of the polearm yet, and I hit the walls and ground maybe a little bit too hard– but that's not on me! With the way I see some generals use it, you'd think it'd last through a little bit of that…"

"No, I think that's definitely on you. Who just slams their weapon into stone over and over and expects something to happen?"

Shin frowned with his lip, "If I just hit him harder and faster than he could move, then it'd be over… So what're you takin' me around for, really?"

His question was a tad annoying, and he should just be a good boy and follow; but that wasn't Shin's nature, of course. "I wanna talk. Been a while since we've just hung around like normal."

"If you wanted a date you could've asked."

She looked back at him with a slight flush draping her cheeks and nose, hoping that he wouldn't notice such a thing and instead attribute it to their walk. She knew he was being a little funny. She was very aware that he didn't mean that seriously. She was extremely conscious of the fact that he didn't mean anything by it besides the fact that she was just dragging him along with her. So, then why did he not smile as he said that? As though he was serious, but he wasn't. Then what? The longing in his chest brought the peaks of his smile down, she thought. Then why did he seem to look at her so? And then she said, "Who's asking for that?"

"Plenty of girls: I look pretty good, don'cha think? I've got treasures, fame, and…"

Not only had she failed in one respect, but another was pointed out to her. "Just– come on–" she turned back and continued to drag him by the hand.

He gripped her hand but didn't pull away and simply continued to walk, pulled by a force that he had no control over– an obstinance which he did not resist.

If she stopped and looked at him again, the color of her face would be more obvious than before. She refused to give in so easily to her embarrassment over these feelings, but she knew she couldn't necessarily 'win' this battle at the moment; though it's not as though there was anything to win. The expression on Shin's face gave no insight into the particularities of his emotions, or what he really felt about her. More so than before, it was better to keep quiet and behind the window shade.

…

Inside of an open-windowed building, sitting on either side of a long table and facing each other, Ten and Shin chowed down on a helping of beef that they were lucky to get their hands on before the stock of the day went out.

"It's great!" Karyou Ten exclaimed as the thrill of the flavor caressed her taste buds.

Shin was chewing while trying to talk so everything that he attempted to contribute to the praise of their food was meaningless hogwash.

"Stop talking with your mouth full, you'll ruin my appetite."

He swallowed, "I'll finish your portion for ya' if it comes to that."

"Touch it and you're a goner," she put her elbow on the wooden table, kept it straight at a 90-degree angle, and curved her hand down to point at him with her index finger.

"It was a joke, I promise."

"Really? I see, I'm glad," she smiled and took a bite.

"Yeah, me too," and he did the same.

"Did you and Kyou Kai eat enough? I imagine not."

"The first few days I wasn't conscious much, but she took care of me. I dunno exactly how that went, though. I didn't ask for details. When I was fully conscious, Kyou Kai came across a guy named Dou. He had some rice, and she hunted for a little bit of meat, so it wasn't all that bad. Couldn't ask for better in the circumstances."

After swallowing another bite, she continued, "And the village you came across?"

"Those folk were nice and the village chief took care of us the night we got there. We had a meal with him'n some of the villagers the next day, but that night they gave us some stuff and we tried cooking for ourselves. Even had their own personal baths in their houses, isn't that amazing?"

There was a hint of jealousy, and Kyou Kai didn't mention this to Karyou Ten during their initial encounter. "That must've been nice…"

"It was fine–"

"So you spent the night with her, twice?" She hid it under a devilish smirk.

"You're thinkin' something strange."

They finished up their food and drinks quickly.

"You didn't deny it~"

"Maybe I should keep ya' away from Bi Hei," he joked.

"Why's that?"

"What's ol' Ten doin' with her mind that far into the gutter?"

She took another bite and noticed that her bowl was empty, as was Shin's. "I'm just saying, with a girl that cute what man would blame you?"

"Hey now, she's a person too, I wouldn't touch her like that."

"I wasn't insinuating that you'd do it without her permission."

They got up and paid. Shin side eyed her, "Don't think you should be makin' assumptions about her like that, not that I'd mind if she wanted." He made a silly puckered face.

"If you're just going to say that then why even nag me!?"

Shin huffed a small chuckle, the first that Karyou Ten had heard from him in what had seemed like weeks, "As if I'd sleep with someone just because they were interested."

Outside, she nudged his side with her elbow, "Well, it wouldn't be the first time you had a cute girl under the same roof and didn't recognize it."

"What's that got to do with anything? Cute or not, not like I'd just go for anyone."

She smiled lightly, "So, you're denying her?"

"Why're you speakin' like I was supposed to do somethin'," he retorted.

She grabbed him and dragged him along with her again; and despite the little tinge of red that happened upon her face continued to tease him, "Did you forget what she told you that one time?"

He gritted his teeth and himself turned red, "L-listen, I don't know why people keep bringin' that up, but she obviously didn't know what that meant."

Karyou Ten laughed, "Even though she didn't go back on that comment, not even once?"

"You're still assuming somethin' that maybe ya' shouldn't." His eyes were not watching. They did not look to see, nor to observe. They were stuck. The sword that stood in the sand took his eyes. Below it was the armor of one who was felled. He stared, but he was not watching; so, she took him up the castle wall. He wouldn't see any better there, but the light would perhaps illuminate the world for him to glance upon, if only for a moment, through those dimmed lenses.

"I'm assuming because I understand her."

"..."

Now she eyed him with the glare of a hawk and her head tilted back towards him as she was dragging him, "Maybe I get it."

His lips parted, but he could not say anything. Once again, he found himself stuck. The gears that wove the string of memories round and round within his head could not come up with a retort, and so his open mouth simply remained in a minor part before shutting once more. She did not emphasize what she meant and carried him up the wall by hand.

Atop the western wall, the two of them pondered together. Joining them was the sun as it had already long begun its descent towards the western horizon. On this particular day, the evening sky drowned the world in its particular oranges and purples. The sun's warm hug from up in the heavens softly calmed the world, as if to say that another day would begin tomorrow–that it would rise again–just as it did every day, for as long as history could describe, and even longer than what history knew. The gentle breeze slowly moved grey and white clouds far up above and over the mountains below, and high above the humans who watched on from the ground; and it gracefully swept up the bangs that hung down from Shin and Karyou Ten's heads. To the west, where the sun's nighttime slumber lay, trees blocked bits and pieces of its warmth. Although green, they appeared almost black and colorless against the harsh lateness of the day.

Shin, who sat against the wall with his back to the west, with his right leg extended straight forwards, and his left leg angled upwards, where his left arm could dangle upon, and his right hand rested on his sword that lay on his right leg; and Karyou Ten, who peered below and around what she could see with her body leaning in-between the merlons that rest as part of the exterior parapet, with both of her arms supporting the weight of her head, and one leg extended backwards with the support of the other bent at the knee.

Shin started, "Been a while since we've sat around like this. Only thing missing is Sei."

Karyou Ten's watchful gaze persisted on the natural beauty in front of her, "Yeah. We're really doing it, aren't we?"

"Doin' what?"

A couple of birds flew by, presumably heading to their place of rest for the oncoming nighttime. "Becoming the greatest army under the heavens."

"The greatest army… that's got a nice sound to it, never thought of it like that," he shifted his head to look at her.

"What else were you expecting; I mean, the greatest general has to have an army behind him with an equal reputation. Even though they lost their general, Ou Ki's army was strong as it was; and even now, under General Tou, their might isn't to be reckoned with. I'm sure you're aware, of course."

Shin's eyes then drifted to his sword, "I ain't the whole army on my own, I know, I'm a sword: just a piece of the board–"

"An integral piece of the board," Karyou Ten corrected.

"–and the Hi Shin is strong, obviously. Without you, and Kyou Kai, and En, and Bi Hei, who knows if I'd even have an army in the first place," he spoke from a place of humbleness. Perhaps watching so many generals in action influenced him more than he realized, not necessarily just his fighting style and ability to lead, but the way he was approaching the topic of his worth and ability. Wars were battles fought by generals, in which their actions dictated the course of the war, and they decided how it went down; yet it was the army that gave the generals their power to do so, whether it was but a hundred men or tens of thousands. "I've been saved by everyone countless times. Especially you and… Kyou Kai, always at my side."

"What's that supposed to mean? You're our general."

Shin stood up and kept his sword in his right hand, then leaned up against the protruding parapet with his back. "Everyone's always been there for me… I'll never be able to repay those kindnesses, and their sacrifices."

Karyou Ten pushed herself off from her position and dusted off her hands, "What's the big idea? No one here is fighting expecting you to repay them. They're all fighting for different reasons, you don't decide if their sacrifices and kindness were worth it, our accomplishments and actions do. We'll keep climbing up until we reach the goal you've been after from the very start: that's enough for us. To protect their families, to gain fame, warrior's honor, or just for the sake of you– everyone's out here aware of the consequences, and no one is expecting anything more than your success, and our own," she punched his arm lightly, "and you don't have to worry about us like that. Raise your head."

"What'd you mean earlier?"

"What do you think?"

He stared straight into the sky as a flood of clouds began to slowly drown out the oranges and purples that once lingered throughout the blue sea. He didn't think. The evermoving clouds had brought with them a cold breeze. "Looks like there'll be early snow this year."

Karyou Ten's attention shifted to the sky just as the conversation did once more, "How can you tell?"

"Every so often a little bit of it comes just a bit early like some pattern based on years and years. Though I never thought about it much like that. As a servant who had a lot to do with farms, I guess I just paid attention to those little differences… or somethin'. You see that?" He noticed some little sparkles appeared up in the sky and out in the distance– little sprinkles of burning light reflecting in the drifting sunlight.

The girl looked back down towards the horizon, doing her best not to be blinded by the overwhelming sight of the sun in front of her–soon to be gone, and disappeared, for the night to emerge–and watched the swaying of the treetops with a hawk's mighty eye, like she expected them to erupt and climb into the heavens themselves. "I'm sure Hyou would be proud of you, Shin, but I think he'd tell you to be more confident. Confidence… confidence in… our feelings, I mean," Shin didn't say a word, but listened, "ask us for help. Ask us to indulge in your dream."

"Is that really okay?" He spoke in a non-interrogative tone.

"If you let these things gnaw at you, it'll eventually sever your arms and legs. When you get up to try and save someone, you'll fall back down and feel like you can't get up. Then you won't save anyone, you'll just wallow in whatever you're feeling."

He turned around and looked to the world below the castle. He could almost feel the piercing stare of Man Goku and his army somewhere out there in the world, looking up at him with a sliver of contempt, but judging him for his actions evermore. As if to burn the image of Man Goku and his brethren from the massacre of Chouhei, the passion in his eyes focused on an army that was not there. His face then looked back at the girl before him, her eyes awaiting his words or even a simple reaction– anything that would tell her what his heart was feeling. He gave a smile, but it was unlike any smile that he had previously given. It wasn't the kind of smile he gave after defeating a general of great caliber, or one of those silly smirks he'd give after making a terrible joke, or even one of the smiles he'd coyly give when he was unpreparedly given admiration or accolades. Rather, this particular smile broke from the middle of his mouth and slowly parted, but only enough that his teeth barely show through his lips. Neither heavy with the feeling of gratefulness or victory, or harshly withstanding the weight of an unbearable feeling. "I can't sink here and drag everyone with me, that's right," his sharp, radiant orbs met hers, and for the first time since meeting with him in a week, she felt that he was back on his feet. He put his hand up, and while she was readying herself to react with the same movement, he moved forward and snuck all of his fingers but his index into his thumb, forming a point, and then poked her right below her neck in the middle of her chest. "I swear, that at the very least, I'll protect ya'."

"Still treating me like a child, huh," she sarcastically said.

"No," he put his hand down, "there are some people I need most. You're one of those people, of course I'm gonna protect you. No matter how smart you might be, or how strong Kyou Kai might be, I'm gonna protect you."

As the wind brought more and more of the cold air over them, and the sun's power of the land waned as it crept evermore to kissing the horizon's lips, she approached with one foot and stood on her toe, and let her hands move up and forward in front of her as her small body lightly glided toward him; and as they approached, her fingers swept outwards as though she was to cup his face, but stopped short in an open grasp that met his cheeks with the anterior of her thenar eminence. "Are you sure?"

"I am. Your hands sure are warm."

"Should I keep them where they are, then?"

"You an idiot? Your hands can't win against this," he hinted to the snow that lightly inched its way closer and closer to them, "and where'd that hand-holding coyness you had go?"

She took her hands off, "What exactly is there to be shy about?"

The ridges of the horizon melded with the far above sun, and Karyou Ten put on a great big smile as she turned towards the inner layers of the castle and started to walk away. She put her hands behind her back and clasped them together, then turned her head behind her and stared at the awestricken Shin. "Are you going to stay out here?"

"You didn't tell me we were goin' inside," he caught up to her and she led the way down the stairs.

"Now why would I want to be out here in the dark when it's starting to snow when there's a designated, warm room for me down there?"

"I s'pose that's true."

In one of the nicer unoccupied buildings, Kyou Kai rested soundly. The door to her room slipped open and Karyou Ten and Shin let themselves in. They wouldn't be sharing this room with her, but they would be occupying the neighboring ones. They had excused the guards who were watching over her and sat on either side.

Here, in the night, the three whose lives intertwined had the shadows of their bodies morph into a single entity. The light of the lanterns expressed that entity through movement as it flickered about and rolled across the floor and wall.

"Sure is cold."

"Yeah. It is."

Kyou Kai's arms draped across her chest. Her breaths were not laborious as they had been earlier, and she was at peace. Shin reached out and slid his hand underneath her hand on his side, her right hand, and gently lifted it into the air. It fit snugly into his larger palm and fingers, and he raised it right up above her. He then looked at Karyou Ten sitting opposite, but he did not say a word. She took her own hand and placed it atop Kyou Kai's, and then Shin placed his other hand right up above hers.

Though he stared at the glinting of the sword in those sands, distracting him from the world around him, his attention was sometimes swayed to the stars. Out there, San Su Qi called to him. Its beauty sprung him to life, and he reached towards it. Though he would never be able to grab it, it was there just as loyal as the sun that rose in the morning and slept after a long day of work, as though it were saying "I'm still here."

That I Want to Hold

It snowed some that night. Though the morning came and did not befall unto the earth the most treacherous of its fluffy, white reserve, the dirt still became more or less covered by a thin layer of those lightly falling flakes. Sheets of ice consigned themselves to stone and slate and the waters froze. Though the morning came and did not befall unto the earth its most heinous of winter storms, the sun's lasting rays still could not be felt underneath the blanket of cloud that kept its warmth out rather than in. And yet still the chill of the air bit at the noses and ears of those who happened outside.

"Is there any particular reason you aren't resting?" Gaku Rai came across his general sitting alone on a bench beside a building. Though he wasn't wearing much more than what he normally did, Shin wasn't particularly bothered by the cold air.

"I've rested enough."

"Says who?"

"Me."

Gaku Rai sat beside Shin. "Always tough as iron."

"You're the same."

"I'm an old guy, I get to be more careless than you youngsters."

"Thought you got rid o'that attitude back at Sai."

Gaku Rai took his helmet off and felt his head immediately begin to freeze in all of its hairless glory, "There's use for us, even without Duke Hyou. We have lives to lead, even without him. What we parted with was the idea of our lives lacking meaning beyond that–the near suicidal confidence, or stupidity, of a vicious dog with no master," he then put his helmet back on.

"If ya' were just gonna put it back on why'd ya' take it off?"

"It's good to breathe once in a while."

"Besides, I'm fine. Can't move the best and the pain's still goin' away, but I'm fine."

A couple of Gaku Rai's subordinates passed by and gave him a wave, "Morning," then noticed Shin, "you too General."

They both waved back, "Where are you heading," asked Gaku Rai.

"The barracks ran out of booze so we're lookin' for more," one of them responded.

"I know we're on hold, but don't overdo it."

"You got it Boss."

Shin leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms against his chest.

"So?"

The general tapped his foot on the ground. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap. He stopped. "People keep askin' me. I'm tired. Nothing more than that."

"I did suggest resting."

"Not that kinda tired. Like I'm in the water and I'm drownin', but I can still breathe. Just stuck in some suffocatin' nervousness."

Gaku Rai stretched, "Have you thought about why?"

"That doesn't help none."

"So, what is it?"

Shin looked at him and raised his eyebrow, "You tryin' to–" he hesitated, "what's it matter to you?"

"Kids like you haven't lived long enough to know how to make these kinds of decisions. Even us old guys aren't always the best at it, as you saw," he turned his full body towards Shin, "but it was the support of a king engulfed in a particular flame that let us see where we were wrong."

They stared at each other unnervingly for an unnecessary amount of time. Eventually, Shin caved in, "Powerlessness."

"Not your first time feeling that."

"'Course not. But it's always been about things I didn't get that much, or battlefields that weren't my own, or the strength of someone I just couldn't beat. That's putin' it lightly, but this is more like… I can't help anyone, can I? It wasn't the 'right' decision, but we condemned those civilians to die, didn't we? Now, look where we are: hunted by some unknown group; and where was I? Practically comatose. Kyou Kai had to protect me, and I'm alive because of her, but I've yet to return that favor. If anything, I dunno how to. And look at Karyou Ten: she's practically holdin' the whole thing together right now. In that way, I feel powerless. Like I'm being carried by the arms, feet dragging through dirt, by the two of 'em," he seemingly lamented.

"Sounds tough."

"That's all you have to say?"

Gaku Rai walked into the street, "What more is there to say? Everyone's telling you to lean on them, but you're still trying to hold yourself to an ancient standard. You're part of the new era, ain't'cha? The two Misses aren't 'dragging' you out of obligation, you know." He stretched again. "Do your best on the field, do what you can when you're not." He left.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Shin mumbled to himself.

He didn't move from his spot. Rather, he sat and watched as the people went about their lives. Even in the coldest of days, the world did not stop churning. He'd just watch the legs of passersby and the wheels of small carts, or the occasional soldier who greeted him on their patrol. In what was the afternoon, but felt hardly different from the morning with the omnipresent white light coming from the sky above, a child who seemed to be somewhere around the age of 10 approached Shin and sat next to him in the middle of the bench. Shin looked around looking for the boy's guardian, though no one seemed to be looking for him or even watching out for him. He neither looked lost nor scared, though there was a slight agitation on his face.

"What're ya' up to, kid?"

His lips stayed sealed.

"Mad?"

"A little."

It was a quick response. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

So, that's how it was. "Wanna see a sword?"

The kid looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Really!?"

"Gotta tell me first."

The twinkle disappeared, "Then no."

"Stubborn."

"Nosey."

"I feel ya'."

"Then why'd ya' ask?"

Shin leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his palms, "I dunno, might be good to get off your chest. Sounds pretty trivial, though."

"Well… it's not."

"So?"

"Still not telling."

"Then why're you over here pouting?"

"Why're you, huh?"

Shin smiled, "Good point, but I'm not the one probably worryin' my mom or somethin'. I can sit out here all day and take care of myself just fine. And you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Sure it does. Even a brat's gotta have someone out there thinkin' about 'em'. Mad as we get, there ain't much worse than makin' 'em worry or cry. Besides, unless they're hurtin' you, you should cherish 'em even then instead of gettin' all angry. Especially for someone like me–who knows how much time any of us have? You don't gotta tell me none of it; but I don't think mopin' around here is gonna help you any," Shin leaned back against the wall. "Whatever's botherin' ya', someone'll listen. Even if it's the same person."

The boy sat with Shin for another two minutes and they didn't exchange any words. Then, suddenly, the boy got up. "I'd be just fine without…" He sounded defeated.

As he walked away, Shin called out from the bench a final time, "One day you'll think otherwise. Promise ya' that."

Shin stared back into the street where the buildings on the other side of the road stood. Their bluish-white color in the winter light made them feel melancholic, even more so with the ice and snow that lingered about, and of course the frigidity of the air; though the culmination of all of these things was not a particularly depressive feeling that Shin had, but rather that of someone who felt alive in the cold–whatever that could mean to anyone else.

He heard the light snicker of someone to his right somewhere around the edge of the building he laid on. Karyou Ten poked her head from just beyond the edge that hid her from his view with a happy smile. "That wasn't bad–for you, at least."

"If you were there then you could've helped."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Didn't peg you for a sadist."

Karyou Ten exposed the rest of herself from behind the building and sat in the middle where the child had just been, right next to Shin, and watched him through the corner of her eyes, "And what was I supposed to say if I did?"

"'Hey, kid, where's your mommy? You shouldn't be runnin' away from home.'"

"That wouldn't be as impactful as what you said. It was cute."

"Who're you callin' cute?" He barked.

"This is where you've been all day?"

"Yeah. People askin' me why I'm not restin': isn't this restin'? I'm not out doing anythin'."

Her eyes drifted towards the sky as his did, "You might catch a cold if you're just sitting out here. I don't think most people would consider that to be 'resting,'" she explained.

"Still."

"Anyway, while you were over here, I spoke with the garrison commander again. We were worried about assassins coming into the city dressed as merchants or farmers and striking, so the number of guards at the gates was increased and they started to do more heavy inspection for visitors. So far, no one out of the ordinary has come around," she reached into a pocket and pulled something out, holding it over Shin's hand, "but there was this."

He opened his hand and let her drop the item she was holding into it. Now resting in his hand was a piece of bronze with an inscription of the "Hi" (Fei) character and the character for "death." He stared at it and said, "Not a very intimidating threat."

"If they were trying to be intimidating, I'm sure they would have sent heads. A couple of traveling tailors were supposedly given this just outside of the castle by a mysterious person, meant to be taken to the leader of the Hi Shin," she grabbed it again and then looked at it through the smearing reflections of the light, twisting and turning it around with her fingers to look at it at different angles, "though it really is a weird threat, huh?"

"Maybe they're just sayin' that they're out there watchin' us. Though, with how it all feels, I can't help feelin' that this "enemy" of ours is an amateur," he closed his eyes, "there aren't that many assassins, and the soldiers aren't particularly strong, and then they back off in direct engagement–if this really is a ploy against us, doesn't it seem too weak?"

"They almost got you and Kyou Kai, so I wouldn't be so quick to write them off."

Shin opened his eyes and stood up, then beckoned for Karyou Ten to join him, "Nah, I'm not sayin' they're weak. They're definitely strong in a fight, but all they seem to have is surprise attacks. It's definitely one way to fight–Rin Ko did somethin' similar in assassinating targeted generals back in the war with Wei–but outside of that surprise, there's no force that can push anywhere."

They walked.

Karyou Ten put her fingers up to her chin, "I suppose that would explain some things, but we don't have any information to–"

"–just intuition."

She didn't finish her sentence and paused to reassemble her thoughts. "I can't support that, but I can't argue with it either."

"Those guys don't have the same armor or clothing as the assassins, but they don't bear any insignias or flags either. They're probably just mercenaries. There's no real connection between the assassins and them besides that. If anythin', they're crowd control used to put us in a corner where the assassins stand more of a chance to pick us off. I'm sure those Shiyuu people are arrogant in their abilities, but Kyou Kai fought a bunch of 'em and won all by herself. And surrounded by other strong people, engagin' with us upfront is a scenario for them to avoid."

"I'm impressed you've thought about it that much."

"It's not much different from what we used to do as a Hundred Man or Three Hundred Man unit–the main armies would engage, and we'd go around or wait until a head made itself clear and then bash through weakened defenses."

That's right, she thought. He was arrogant, maybe just defining himself in all that talk, but he learned. He adapted. He didn't get this far just by talking loud, after all. "I–"

Karyou Ten's words were interrupted by the sound of the city bells echoing through the streets signaling for the troops to gather for defense.

The constant business of a military junction did not provide for the easygoing attitude that a person might have on an off day. Not to say that easygoing attitudes didn't exist, but rather that the experience Shin and Kyou Kai had during their time in the village was one that the soldiers didn't often find outside of war–and as the Hi Shin had become an integral part of the Qin army, the end of wars no longer meant that the soldiers themselves would simply leave for home at the end of a campaign. In these times of battle, the enemy could be lurking anywhere; so, who knew how much time anyone had, right?

Standing guard atop the walls and echoing orders throughout the castle, Shin and Karyou Ten came to find that there was no direct attack on the castle, but a message from a civilian that several villages to the north were being rampaged.

For that reason, then, Shin appreciated the small unit of time he was able to receive in that village, as much as it may have bored him doing much of nothing. For that reason, then, he could not look at her and Karyou Ten simply with the eyes of a comrade in arms, or a general who commands his units. Prickly as they could be, he wanted to give them that feeling again. If, sometime, their duties were not impeding their ability to enjoy the life that they had–to enjoy life outside of the slashing of swords and the yells of strategic directions–then he would like for them to enjoy a bit of that life.

They left only a few hundred soldiers, less than half of a thousand, to stay with Kyou Kai. But the rest of the unit would head out. It was their duty. Regardless of the fact that they knew it was an attempt to lure them out, it was their duty to the people who inhabited these lands, and who were therefore their responsibility.

He knew that they would always put themselves out in the front. He knew that they shared the same goal as he. And he knew that he relied on them, and likewise him. Nonetheless, for the girl who grew up as a cult's tool and in the shadows of revenge, and for the girl who grew up without a place to call home or a family to call hers, he wanted to give them just a piece of that life that they could otherwise have: one that was without the constant looming of death and the fear of losing one another.

And they charged ahead. Forwards, into the clutches of those who seeked them but seeking to pierce through.

It's not as though the moments he was thinking of having didn't already exist. They always did. When they'd sit on a wall together and drink, or even when they sparred–these moments always existed, but he did not appreciate them as much as he did, perhaps. Or rather, he was not attentive of their existence like he should have been. "If; then" was a slippery slope, so he didn't think about the "ifs", and instead thought about "when." When it was over, then he would let the voices of his heart speak through his fires.

A reconnaissance group was sent ahead of the main Hi Shin force, which was further detached into two squadrons consisting of their approximately 3,000 strong force split into 3 equal groups. Shin stayed with Karyou Ten as the central group, while So Sui and En took the right wing and Gaku Rai took the left wing. The idea was not that they would encounter a field in which groups would need to fight over control of a battlefield on different fronts, but rather that they had the ability to cover a wide area of vision and effectively communicate; or rather, that being split didn't lend itself to the entire unit being caught by surprise. Of course, this made it easier for the smaller groups of 1000-Man units to then become entangled with whatever the assassins had planned; but the Hi Shin made a bet that Shin, and probably Karyou Ten, would be targeted above the lieutenants. With feeble numbers, it's not as though the assassins themselves could then split their own numbers among the three different units, but would instead concentrate themselves on the central figurehead–which would be supported by the left and right units. Karyou Ten had used Shin and herself as bait several times before, so she was certain of its effectiveness in at least limiting the opportunities of a small combatant group.

Though, as two small hours went by, they encountered no soldiers and no civilians in peril. At the same time, they were certain that there was still at least another hour before they'd reach where the message had said the villages being attacked were. No smoke filled the air from a village burning, either. All that was around them as they steadily galloped forth on their horses was the environment around them and the occasional pitter of a winter bird's call or the cry of something hiding itself in the bushes as the numbers and numbers of horses and people seemingly attached to them rode on by. Even as they reached the first village, however, they found no trace of battle, and even the villagers were nothing more than welcoming. Messengers from the other wings came and went just as the calling of those birds did.

Karyou Ten approached Shin, "Nothing."

"And the others?"

"Nothing. There wasn't any conflict here in the first place."

Shin scratched his head and groaned. "What're the chances they lured us out and planned to attack the castle instead?"

"And why would they do that?"

"Well, Kyou Kai's there–"

"–which they wouldn't know–"

"–and wouldn't it make more sense for assassins to sneak into a castle anyway?"

Karyou Ten squinted her eyes as she looked at him, "Well, you're not wrong, I guess. But luring out the 3,000 of us is nothing when we've still got troops left there and the garrison isn't any smaller of a force. If they can't hold us out in this terrain," she picked up a stick from the ground, "I don't see how luring us away would help them in a siege or castle break-in."

"Which means they've gotta have somethin' out here for us, right?"

The Hi Shin had formed a perimeter at each of their wings outside of the village and were careful to not interrupt them any further for fear of getting them involved with what was happening. And the silence was so loud. As they were all anxious in anticipation for what might be waiting for them, they all used their ears and eyes to listen closely.

In that loudness, Shin remembered something. "It ain't very late, is it?"

Though she had a rough estimation of the time already, she checked the sky and tried to guess where the sun was through the ever-blinding clouds above. "No, why?"

"Weren't we hearin' birds just a little bit ago?"

They looked up into the trees or peering between the cracks of the view between them; and at the peculiar discolorations of the environment as the white of the overnight snow had laid onto the ground with the bushes and the greens and the withering particulates that knew the earth as their grave. Yet as hard as they looked, they encountered no abnormality nor any bird that they had just, in fact, been hearing not so long ago.

"There ain't nothin' else goin' on either." Silent.

"We should join with the others," Karyou Ten's eyes darted to and from the horizon past the trees and the canopy they created above.

As they looked around, they tried their best to spot their foe. Sword in hand, and orders flying around in a polyphonic, dissonant symphony; though as the quietness of the morning shredding itself into the afternoon carried with it the falling of a new snow, those echoes quieted ever so softly. The patter of feet crunching against the cold surface and neighing of the horses whose fur protected them from only so much of the oncoming freeze. In all that, the faces of soldiers who were ready to defend their comrades, and their people, seemed more frozen–yet warm–than the frost itself. In their eyes, the fires of the predicament were nothing more than obstacles to part. Their pride knit itself into a tight fabric weaving itself throughout their hearts, and together they would stand stronger than all.

They gave their hearts–their soul and their very being.

However countless the faces before them peered into the windows of their body.

However tall the great hurdles before them stood and prevented them passage.

Directed by that man, interlocking hands, breaking through the barriers.

Though, the horses collapsed. Just as the snow fell, they turned head first and landed on the ground. The heavy plunge of a vector suddenly being thrown off of its course and into the blanket of white ground.

At the forefront of it all, Shin–his eyes in that brief moment meeting with the eyes of a beholder of a sword piercing his soul through with such a vicious glare. Their bodies hidden by a camouflage of white, their bodies rising from the snow just beside the trees, and brushes to the sides; and then from the front, the appearance of spearmen and swordsmen who were to charge with the same tactic of a hidden strike. He tumbled forwards and he saw the rope pulled up from below and spikes in the ground that drove into the bodies of animals–men and otherwise–who found themselves collapsed. The following lines preceding him collapsed forward as well while those directly behind them stopped before the rope and spikes in front of them. With the strength that he had, he pushed himself forwards–as far from the piercing trap that he could, as did many of the others. What they found themselves in was a split–most of the army lay behind them, but they were being hit from their sides too. Now, in the trees, they noticed archers or assassins who dropped from the sky; but they did not aim to slaughter the Hi Shin with the apparently smaller numbers that they had, but rather to round them and keep them from moving forward, just as they had attempted with So Sui's unit on a much smaller scale. As he did so, he noticed the collapse of chunks of branches from the above trees crashing down behind him, effectively marooning them from the rest of their crew.

Cut off from the three other units for however many minutes it would take for the messengers and lieutenants to notice their quickly moving predicament, the Hi Shin could only act to fight. He landed a mere hand's length away from a spike on his shoulder and rolled twice before he was able to exert the energy and force necessary to push himself up and draw his sword. The division between him and the main force was not particularly large, but the spikes and converging forces would make it difficult for the main army to reach the group at the vanguard now cut off from them, numbering in only the tens of able-bodied soldiers now; and however-many defenseless injured now scattered in that moment of chaos.

In that concern, Shin yelled to those who could hear him on his side of the divergence that they needed to form a half-dome wall in the middle and drag the wounded to it. The number of shields they had were limited and more pressing were the archers in the trees behind them. For the moment, there was no focus on this detached vanguard unit from them; but no less was the potential for their strike to rain a volley of death.

Against the battery of flesh and armor, the half-dome stood strong against the thrusting of swords and shields from their fronts–their feet planted, indebted to the soil supporting the balls of the feet digging deeper into the ground. Shin kept his eyes on his forces and shouted his orders to all of them, ensuring that they stood their ground, but also ensuring that their fight would continue until they had won. The rush of being caught off guard, and his fall, made his stomachache with the pain of tearing muscles, as though his wounds still had not left him. Even so, there was no chance to stop and think about it. There was no chance to sit and whine. There was no chance he was going to cry over a little stomach pain.

His head turned to his rear, and he took one look at the few soldiers he had asked to watch their rear for arrows or changes in the situation, but they had no news for him. On the other side, the Hi Shin outnumbered their foe; but just as predicted, the constant threat of assassins kept them at bay, as did the archers positioned throughout their flanks. He and Karyou Ten, in the middle of her own unit struggling with all her might to find a solution to at least reach Shin's small group, met eyes through the openings that the branches and leaves gave them.

They had no time to exchange any sort of expression nor feeling through the whimpering glints in their eyes and quivering lips exhaling and inhaling the sweated and sullied air. Before them, now, Shin felt the tingling sensation of a god–one that reminded him only a little of Hou Ken, yet screeched with just as much ferocity in its howling voice. It was a grotesque emancipation of the battlefield that liberated the unit cut off from its main forces with the bitter stepping and approach of that sour god whose feet seemed to prance yet moved just as slowly and softly as the soldiers around them fighting to control the Qin's halftened circle. Its reverberating gallops beckoned the general towards it.

Shin pushed his way through his unit who kept their guard up to head forth and greet the challenge that approached them. He knew not who this person was–neither if they were the strongest of the foes sent out to destruct the Hi Shin, nor if they were the leader of the units they were pitted against; but he knew that in this moment, he had no choice but to accept a duel he was uncertain would end with him in good constitution. Yet, such was the way of those who perverted battles with ideals of pride and strength. And those who parted the sea of men granted their appearances to each other–then, facing each other and looking at the little bits of bristle that covered the other's face, or the particular color of one's lips contrasting with the monochromatic dull of red crimson.

"You the one in charge around here?" Shin asked his opposite, yelling from the opposite side of the barren crevice lying in wait in front of their armies.

The other approached slowly. Not in hesitation, but simply in a timely manner that she saw fit the tempo of what would be their conversation. The slight appearance of a headband across her temple poked through the whispering roots of hair that hung from all sides and poured down almost to her shoulders. A cocky little smirk rested on her face, and the dark slanted eyes of a deep brown stared distantly at Shin. Her clothes did not seem different from the other assassins they had come across, that is to say they all seemingly belonged to the Kyou clan; and yet, the red markings that were branded across this woman's clothes ached of a brewing tempest that inspired those in front of her to be on guard. Her walk echoed in gracefulness, and she appeared before them just as Ou Ki did high upon his horse. "You've been quite a pesky thorn. On our initial encounter, I believed for certain that your head would be laying in the river; and yet we could find no remains of the so-called esteemed leader of the Hi Shin."

Shin approached and halted in front of his unit, "Against Kyou Kai and I, there ain't a single thing any of you can do, is there?"

An insidious smile appeared on her face, "If that is what you choose, then I suppose you may believe in such tales. That girl is no more than a fledgling dressed in robes that do not fit her. She is a stray dog whose only instincts are to hunt. The hand that feeds her is the hand that is torn and scratched; and no amount of taming will let that mutt appreciate the hand or its own life."

"How many poor girls have you sent to their deaths lookin' for her? How many times are you going to preach to yourself about 'honor' or 'codes' while losing every battle you have? Nobody but egoists listens to that junk. Who of us is perfect?—but she and I are lookin' further than ourselves."

Her smile disappeared into a deadpan expression, and her figure inched its way closer and closer to the defending Shin. "You Qin dogs know only how to bark."

A flash of lightning struck Shin, and in moments her sword was kissing his neck with a dreadful bite; but no quicker had she moved, had he made an instinctive commitment to raising his sword. Though knocked by the blow, he pushed forward, and his strength was able to throw her away. She spun, and spun, and spun, and spun. It was that dance again. That dance that he initially gawked at when he and Kyou Kai had first met, and that dance that he had now faced in his foes several times. It was beautiful in a way. Like a fragile flower churning in streams of blowing wind, but he knew better than most: this mystifying elegance in which long sleeves flowed with the smoothness of a perfectly carved river held a strength that would doom any mortal who approached it. Shin did not approach, nor make any attempt to back away; and instead, rather than give an inch of space or lunge into the potential mouth of a set-up, he stood his ground. Although the Shiyuu held speed and agility in their favor, the Kyou-taught Shin was able to rely on his reactions and brute strength to try and find openings. As he had encountered one of her blows by now, he had a gauge of her essence.

But there was no opening. No follow-through. Shin had underestimated his opponent. Not in ability, but in intentions. Her sword did not reach for him, nor did her body find itself lunging at him. Instead, from behind her hand three needles shot themselves at him. In the fraction of a second that Shin had to react, he raised his sword desperately in what he believed to be their projected trajectories; but even with his strength and power, only one was launched off course in the time that he could move. While he simultaneously attempted to contort his body away from their vector, one plunged itself beneath the skin of his exposed arm; and the other found its way above his clavicle to his neck.

Shin grabbed the object lodged in his neck first and ripped it out and then proceeded to do the same with the other. They were not large, but they were tipped with something. He could feel it in his blood and body as a slight numbing effect overtook the areas they had penetrated. He could feel the slow-creeping effects of whatever had found its way into his self, so he looked around to assess the situation as best as he could. The woman in front of him did not react in swiftness to quell his burning fire, but simply approached slowly while eyeing him. His body felt weaker, and his limbs felt heavier, and his breathing seemed to slow. Cut off from the majority of his allies and with little time that he felt that he had as he succumbed to an unnatural tiredness, there was little opportunity for any action.

"Karyou Ten! Fall back!" He yelled in his fading voice. It was rare for Shin to be the one to order a retreat; and although disorganized at the ambush, it was not Karyou Ten, but the go-leaders and vice-captains who were able to organize the pockets of the Hi Shin into larger and larger segments together. Despite their success in reorganization over the minutes that the battle had gone on, they were still being herded like cattle away from Shin's location and pushed away. They had assumed it would be an ambush to rampage the Hi Shin, but the target was solely on Shin. Through the yells and screaming, and the hardwood trees and lightly falling snow, Shin was able to glance at Kyou Kai for mere seconds. He mustered what little of a smile that he could, and she watched as he collapsed, falling into their foe's hands at last. Apart from their initial encounter, he had not even attempted to retort in the battle; and yet, he seemed content with his decision in doing so.

On the opposing side of the forested field, Karyou Ten could not continue to focus on the fallen Shin so out of her reach, and instead focused on continuing to organize and lead the troops who had entrusted their lives and beings to her wits and command.

She fought.

Through her words.

Through her anxiety.

Through it.