The Akinoyo shinobi bent down, and placed her hands on Aoi. After a few moments Sora noticed a change in the man; although he was unconscious he seemed more relaxed, and at peace.

  "Y-You're healing him," Sora said.

  Realizing this he reflexively ran his hand over the stab wound again. Now that he thought about it, the last thing he remembered after he was stabbed by Aoi was seeing a river of blood spilling out of the wound. Did she use healing ninjutsu back then as well?

  'She's tough.' Sora thought. 'Very tough.'

  The girl was wearing a silver bomber jacket with pink sleeves, and floral decor on the chest. She kept the sleeves rolled up revealing scarred, and jagged arms; arms that to Sora, looked like they belonged to a man. Even through the jacket Sora could see the girl's muscles outlined under the shirt. She also wore white cargo pants with a pink and white pattern, and black boots to top it all off.

  "What are you looking at?" Tsubaki asked.

  "O-Oh, I- I was just-"

  "Staring, stop that - it's rude."

  "-I-I'm just surprised, I wasn't expecting-"

  "A woman?"

  Sora shook his head.

  "A shinobi." He finished.

  "Do you see a headband on my head?"

  The girl easily lifted Aoi up, and leaned him against a tree. She pursued through the man's belongings unrolling a leather blanket, and laid it on top of him.

  "But you know ninjutsu," Sora's voice trailed off.

  "That doesn't mean anything."

  She got up, and started to gather the parts of her armor. Sora could see stilts inside the greaves which is likely how she was able to stand up to 6ft despite being so short herself. After putting on a few pieces of equipment Sora hesitantly approached her, and began to assist her with the equipment.

  Thanks to his father, Sora knew how to arm a samurai. He'd practiced with numerous Kusakyu family men; traditionally armor like this could only be put on with help from another person.

  "You're shaking." Tsubaki said annoyed.

  "Sorry, I guess I'm a little nervous."

  "You're not nervous, you're scared. You'd be smart to learn the difference between the two."

  Finally after several minutes Tsubaki was fully equipped, and back in samurai armor.

  Without a moment's notice the tall woman started to walk in the direction of Ame's entrance. Sora looked at her, and then looked at Aoi.

  "What about him?" He asked keeping up with Tsubaki.

  "You're worried about the man who stabbed you?"

  "I mean... I just... Won't that monster come back with his friends? He won't stand a chance."

  The tall samurai shook her head.

  "Haruki is too prideful to share his defeat with the rest of the pride. He'll likely just cower in some cave somewhere until his wounds heal."

  'Just how much does she know about this rogue shinobi?'

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  "B-But what about the carriage why would they attack-"

  "That was a trading caravan."

  "I-I see... So they took all of the goods, and then," Sora's voice trailed off.

  "Anyway, you shouldn't care about Aoi. He was going to use you as a bargaining chip to extort the Kusakyu. He'll find his way back, and by the time he does I'll have left with the band, and you'll be back home."

  "But I don't want to go back. I left for a reason."

  "If it weren't for Straw's ignorance you'd be dead right now. You know that right?"

  Her words cut deep, but Sora knew them to be true. If Straw hadn't stolen his armor it would've been his body blown into the wind, and not Straw's. Straw was dead because of his own ignorance, and he'd have to live with that. But regardless Sora shook his head.

  "The only thing Straw saw in me was a paycheck!"

  'Why am I yelling?'

  "Why should I give a damn about him? He would've killed me if he had something to gain from it!"

  Sora turned away, and wiped tears from his eyes, desperately trying to hide them from Tsubaki.

  "If those tears are real then you should already know the answer."

  The samurai stared straight ahead, refusing to look the boy in the face.

  "And you're still a child."

  "And you aren't?! You're the same age as me!" Sora said, throwing his arm forward.

  'Why am I so pathetic? She saved me, so why am I lashing out?'

  "It wasn't meant as an insult."

  'What?'

  "The Norigami family is pretty wealthy, and they're under the protection of the strongest clan in the village. Running away to play mercenary?" She paused and let the words sink in. "No matter your reasoning it's foolish, and the dumb ramblings of a child who doesn't know any better. That's why Straw punched you again, and that's why I let him."

  "What are you trying to say?" Sora asked, getting quiet.

  "I'm saying you need to take a better look at your surroundings."

  "I don't get it."

  "And that's why I'm taking you back home. If you want to run away after that be my guest, but I'm not having your death on my conscience too. I'll let your parents keep that to themselves."

  Sora stayed quiet for a while as the two walked along the rain road. He heard what sounded like rain pelting the snowy ground to his right just below the wall; though when he looked up he couldn't see anything through the dark mist.

  'Disgusting'

  "What about you then? Y-You're part of the Akinoyo clan right? Why are you running away?"

  "It's as Haruki said. My very existence is an affront to nature. But I don't want to die or get in the way of my clan; and so I've chosen to leave. It's that simple."

  'I don't think that's quite what he said.'

  "How is that any different from what I'm trying to do?"

  "The difference is that I have the power to protect myself, and unlike you I know about the world outside of Ame-"

  "Then teach me about it! L-Let me come with you. You can teach me how to fight, and how-"

  "Why are you lying to yourself?" Tsubaki's words cut through the air like butter.

  Sora froze. He couldn't quite comprehend what she had said. Lying to himself - was that what he was doing? The events of the last 12 hours flashed in his mind, and he brought a hand to his mouth forcing himself to keep his insides a.t bay.

  "I-I'm n-not."

  Tsubaki ignored that. After a few more minutes the two saw lights in the distance meaning they were finally at the entrance of Ame. Outside the city were refugees that were fleeing smaller towns, and trying to start a new life inside the shinobi village. They looked ragged, hungry, desperate. Some had been yelling at each other, and others were fighting.

  'Over what I wonder.'

  The closer they got to the mercenary band the quieter things seemed to get indicating to Tsubaki at least that most of the men were probably asleep.

  Sora felt himself instinctually move closer to Tsubaki for protection. The two came across a small gate with a handful of soldiers outside it. They were tasked with watching over the mercenary camp. The closer the two got, Tsubaki realized that there were Orange Men at the camp as well.

  "Ah, Tsubaki, welcome back. Where's Aoi, and Straw?"

  "We were attacked by shinobi. We got separated."

  "S-Shinobi?" The guard said. "Then you ought to go see Roji straight away." The man paused, and then gave Sora a look up and down noticing him for the first time. "And this is...?"

  "There's a wagon burnt to a crisp a few miles down the road coming this way. Found em' outside, a survivor."

  The soldier nodded.

  "Then you ought to get going."

  The two entered the camp, and made their way toward a large number of tents.

  "I-I didn't know things were this bad out here." Sora heard himself say.

  "There's a lot of things you don't know."

  They stopped outside a rather large tent, and Tsubaki opened up one of the flaps. "Get inside, and don't move. I'll be back in a while with some food, and water."

  "B-But I-" But before Sora could say anything she closed the flap leaving the boy alone.

  Now that he was sitting down Sora's body finally had a chance to catch up with him.

  'So cold.'

  Needing a way to see his surroundings he re-opened the flap just enough so that moonlight would shine inside giving him just enough light to see inside the tent. The first thing Sora noticed was a sleeping bag. He instinctively got straight under, and allowed his body to warm up. His feet in particular were almost frost-bitten.

  'These shoes... Are all that's left of Straw.' Sora thought.