Akane very well couldn't miss that frown from her companion, it seemed her assumptions were spot on... unfortunately. After the villages left them alone, Saku didn't waste a moment in questioning the ronin and of course his concerns were on potential deaths that might come from leaving a wolf wandering the wilderness. It was funny though Anka had a point wolves had long been hunted to nothingness so for one to appear now was... interesting.

The ronin sighed. "What happens to these people doesn't really concern us, they have plenty of hunters so I'm sure they'll be able to put it down." Akane shifted her gaze to the kid, looking right into his widened eyes. "Besides, fighting a beast like this is very different from fighting another man, and even more dangerous I'd wager."

Saku mumbled something to himself, which Akane didn't quite catch, but still understood the gist. In response she rubbed her temples and once again sighed. "Do you really want to stay behind?"

---

@Dusksong

Masako shook her head. ”No, it’s okay. Let’s keep moving. It’s a single wolf against a whole village—there’s no need for us to help out as well,” she said, picking up the pace again.

Leading the way, Masako forged her way through the village as crowds parted for her, eyes wide with curiosity or narrowed in suspicion at the presence of the two travelers. Masako tried not to stare at the children and elders in tattered clothes, barely hanging onto their bodies as she approached the less wealthy part of the village where houses looked more like shacks crafted of trash than wood.

Does the Shogun know that this is how the villagers are living? Masako wondered, averting her eyes from a mother holding a naked child, weary eyes with dark bags under them that spoke of sleepless nights from hunger. Is this how the Shogun’s people should live?

Masako sighed as she reached the edges of the village, turning to look at Akane. ”So, where to now?”

---

@Damiann47

Akane yet again couldn't quite figure out the kid, one moment it seemed he really wanted to help the villagers, but the next he's perfectly fine to move on. As the pair continued to walk along the road, the ronin didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, for one there was no point in depressing herself, but also a dirt poor village like this was the norm. If anything it was much worse nowadays, as the threat of invasion from the north grew the various lords that rule these villages have pulled their men and resources. No help from the state for growth, and no protection from bandits is a lethal combination, hell Akane wouldn't be surprised in this village doesn't last into the next year. Grim stuff, however it wasn't like a single sword could turn it all around.

"We continue walking, probably will make camp before it gets dark. If there's one thing thugs like its vulnerable travelers on a dark road." Akane responded to answer the kid's question.

---

@Dusksong

Masako nodded, following the ronin as she led the way through the forest. Her thoughts were still on the slum-like parts of the village where it felt like she had been on another planet altogether. For all she’d heard about the northern warlord, she hoped that the north, at least, would be different. However impossible the rumours sounded, she hoped they were true.

Soon enough the sun had started its journey to the other side of the mountains, sinking down slowly but steadily. ”Maybe we should go off the path now?” Masako asked, looking at Akane for confirmation. ”So that we can find a place and get a fire going before the sun sets all the way.”

"Sure, there's not harm in camping out a little early." The ronin shrugged, leading the way off the path and into the now denser woods. The mixture of young and old saplings had given way to ancient trees that towered overhead, their gnarled branches and rough, dark bark whispering of times gone by. After walking for some time, Masako perked.

”I think I hear a stream?” Masako asked, looking at Akane. The two made their way towards the sound of gurgling water, the currents neither too strong nor too deep to cross on foot. Masako bent down and cupped some of the cool fluid, admiring how clear it was despite the village nearby that seemed to be full of poverty and suffering. Perhaps there was hope for Shinma after all.

Masako brought the water to her lips, savoring how crisp and cold it was. A movement in the bushes against the other side of the riverbank caused her to look up, meeting the electrifyingly yellow eyes of a ghostly white beast.

The wolf.

---

@Damiann47

A big, white wolf with eyes that practically glow yellow wouldn't exactly be the easiest thing to miss. Akane imminently laid a hand on her sword, yet opted to keep it sheathed for it'll be best if they could avoid a fight with the beast.

"Stand up. Slowly..." She harshly whispered to Saku, "Then back up to me, but don't turn your back on it. Honestly Akane had no idea if anything she was saying was actually sound advice, but she wasn't about to voice that concern unless she wanted the kid to panic.

Masako froze, eyes meeting those of the wolf's. The beast's golden gaze glazed over her, pegging her as small prey in a heartbeat before sliding its gaze up to Akane's eyes. It was still as it took in the ronin, quietly gauging its opponent.

When the wolf's enrapturing gaze left her, Masako felt her adrenaline spike at the danger she was in. Less than five feet away was the blood-thirsty beast that had killed three people in the village Anka lived in, and here she was just crouching in front of its yellow-eyed gaze. Following Akane's instructions, Masako rose slowly, backing up as she did so.

The wolf's gaze flicked back to the girl in front, weighing her again now that she seemed taller and therefore more of a threat, but it still deemed that the servant-garbed girl was no threat. Silently, it backed up and disappeared into the bushes, its dangerous golden-yellow gaze lingering for a split second after the wolf's glowingly white coat faded from view.

Akane let out a breath and allowed her hand to slide away from her sword. Well it seemed they wouldn't be caught in a desperate battle with a beast of that caliber. Even then she didn't move a muscle until she was sure the wolf wouldn't be returning, it wasn't until after perhaps five minutes of careful listening until she finally lowered her guard.

"We're leaving." Akane flatly stated. This wasn't so much as a suggestion but a command. Rather abruptly she grabbed Saku's wrist to drag the kid away from this dangerous place, the ronin being so focused to leave that she didn't even noitce the feminine shape of the hand in her grasp.

Masako followed--or was dragged by--the ronin further into the forest in the opposite direction the wolf had disappeared to. After a initial hesitance, Masako let herself be led into the woods, relieved that the ronin hadn't noticed how smooth her hands were. When she was younger, she'd learned that the quickest way to tell the difference between a life of luxury and a life with lack of. A servant of hers had taught her this--an innocent girl around her age at the time who had murmured in an off-hand comment: "You have such smooth hands, Masako-san. Not like mine at all."

Saki, her name was, and her hands looked like they'd been to the edges of the world and back, lined with callouses and dry skin. Indeed they were similar to Akane's hands, except the callouses on the ronin's were much more weathered and spoke more of training and hardships than a young servant girl's would.

Soon enough the moon had risen and the sun was completely out of sight. ”We should probably find a place to stop soon,” Masako said to the ronin, looking around at the already dark surroundings. Akane had released her hand a while back, but they'd kept up the frenzied pace without a word. Although Masako wasn't good with direction nor distance, she'd wager that they were a few kilometers away from the stream where she'd had a close brush with death.

Akane was too focused on making some distance that she notice how far they've walked that night had already set. Luckily Saku spoke up and that was enough to stop the woman from continuing forward.

"Uh... yeah... yeah, you're right." Akane sighed in response, "Right here should be fine... let's get a fire going." With that she went off to find some decent tender while she assumed Saku would retrieve some proper wood for fuel much like how they arranged their last fire on the previous night.

---

@Dusksong

The morning air was crisp and cold when Masako awoke, sitting up and blinking blearily against the light filtering into the cave. The ronin was already gone from her spot across the fire, but this time Masako knew better than to expect the worst of her travel companion.

Picking herself up off the cave floor, Masako dusted her clothes off and toed out the last embers of the fire before exiting the cave. Akane wasn’t in the immediate vicinity, so Masako decided against wandering off. Doing so would probably incur the ronin’s wrath as well as a lecture on self-preservation and danger seeing as they’d just barely escaped a wolf the previous day.

Masako sat down on a rock outside the cave, thinking. She’d now spent almost four days on the road, meaning that she still had a long way to go if she wanted to make it to the North. Estimating her position, Masako deduced that the pair was mostly likely somewhere between the major cities of Torokami to the south and Shinkawa to the north. Shinkawa was the next major city Masako would have to pass through, and she planned on stopping there and picking up a few supplies for the road—namely a bag, a water carrier, and some dried food for emergencies. However, stopping at a major city may be a fatal error seeing as “Masako Takeya” would probably have been reported missing. As the daughter of a major Daimyo, her name would most likely at least have been mentioned to the guards at every major city.

Deciding that she’d ask Akane on her expertise—in clever phrasing, hopefully—Masako picked up a nearby stick and attempted to draw the map of Shinma from memory, maneuvering the twig to carve lines into the looser dirt.

---

@Damiann47

On this particular morning Akane took the time to meditate, a practice that she had somehow diligently kept up with since way back during her training. Her old master had more than adequately hammered this habit into her, and after all this time she hasn't skipped out on a self mandated session. Its funny that she still thought about that old man, but that part of her life was well in the past even though bits of it continued to surface in the present.

She chose a flat stone not that far from the cave mostly since it was sitting in the direct sunlight which made it pleasantly warm to the touch especially against the cold dawn. Akane's breathing slowed as she opened her mind, there was none of that chanting or gestures as the point to mediation was simply to relax. Soon she gradually became a little more aware of her surroundings even with her eyes closed, it wasn't as if her senses have suddenly become superhuman, rather she was simply devoting more attention to what was around her.

This peaceful state continued for a good while before she detected sounds of movement from the cave, the kid must've just awoken. Akane figured there wouldn't be any point in cutting her session short, he can wait for a little while. The she started to hear the sounds of a stick dragging against the dirt, and honestly had no idea what the servant boy could possibly be up to, maybe drawing pictures?

Akane spent the next twenty or so minutes in her meditative before she finally felt it was time to draw this to a close. "So, had enough time to wake up?" She called from her sitting place upon that rock. She was definitely in the open and close enough to the cave that she wouldn't be surprised if the kid had already noticed her just he decided it was best not to bother her, which was probably the most respectful option. Otherwise he must've been very oblivious if she somehow went undetected by him.

---

@Dusksong

”Oh!” Masako said, surprised when Akane’s voice called over to her from somewhere behind Masako. ”I didn’t see you there,” she said, standing and looking up at the ronin who was sitting behind her. Had she been… Meditating? Perhaps that was the key to the woman’s level head.

Masako looked down at her handiwork in the dirt before calling up to the ronin. ”I think we’re almost to Shinkawa? Around four days away, if not less I think,” Masako said, guessing at the distance. Geography had been one of her subject of study as a daughter of a daimyo, and Masako neither thought herself good nor bad at it. ”Will we be heading there next?”

Waiting until the Ronin hopped down from the pile of rocks, Masako bit her lip. In the court, she’d been forced to keep up a mask and hide her thoughts for fear that someone would deduce enough to hold something—anything—above her, but she didn’t want to have to put on a mask for the ronin. Akane struck Masako as an honest person, and she wanted to reciprocate that honestly. ”Say,” Masako started, frowning, ”if I wanted to pass through Shinkawa without anyone recognizing me—especially the guards—would that be feasible?”

---

@Damiann47

Akane smirked at the boy when he finally noticed her presence, it took the kid long enough. When she joined him it seemed he was occupied with drawing out a little map, and the ronin was able to tell as much due to how... accurate it was. It was definitely strange, geography wasn't a common skill for a servant boy to pick up, normally one wouldn't need to know how to read a map much less draw one himself. Saku had a lot to hide, and Akane was starting to think that she wasn't dealing with a normal servant, well to be fair she started having these suppressions a little while ago.

Then it was his last question that really caught her attention, passing through a city gate unrecognized by guards. That was too way too specific to be a hypothetical question... "Well, to answer your first question, yeah we have to pass through Shinkawa if we want to continue heading north, not unless we want to use side roads, which I don't in case you're wondering." She explained, yet paused a moment to carefully look over the kid, but continued anyway. "As for your second... guess the best advice I can give is act like you belong there. Nothing causes a man to stand out more than looking like he's guilty, even if he necessarily isn't. Confidence but not bravado, there's a difference mind you, can get you pretty far."

Of course she wanted to ask why Saku wanted to pass through the gates without anyone noticing him, but Akane ended up dropping the matter for the moment. Hopefully she won't come to regret the decision for whatever reason.

Masako nodded, relieved that the ronin hadn’t questioned her further. Although she felt a bond between herself and the ronin, she wasn’t sure whether or not telling Akane the truth would burden the ronin and thus decided to keep quiet for now.

”That’s fine then. Shinkawa it is,” Masako said, squelching any uncertainty she felt. There would be many a city she would have to pass through and she wouldn’t let the first of those get her down. While Masako wasn’t exactly sure as to what she wanted, she knew she she didn’t want to see her life played out like a cleverly orchestrated play where she was some pawn the chessmaster would put forth in some small step in the grand scheme of things. That, she was sure of.

Looking at the ronin, Masako asked a question she now felt more comfortable asking. ”Say, is there any place you’d like to avoid?” Although not completely obtrusive at its core, the question still poked into Akane’s past more than most would be eager to reveal—especially if there was something in her past she didn’t want to share. Still, Masako had put out a faint request to avoid larger cities, and she felt that it was only right to extend the same courtesy to her ronin companion.

---

@Damiann47

Akane shook her head. "Not any that comes to mind, big cities can be somewhat dangerous for obvious reasons but that really shouldn't be an issue." It was frankly another strange question from the kid, he seemed to really want to avoid something.

The ronin stretched her back to relieve the tension caught on her muscles, while meditation does a lot to calm the mind and body some cramping is bound to happen after sitting around for long stretches of time. "So, while we got a chance to talk how about we go over what happened yesterday, well you know with the wolf." Akane doubted they would run into the same exact beast again, but she figured that it would be sensible to at least touch on the subject. "Mostly I wanted to get a basic plan together on what we'll do next time we come across a lethal sort of animal."

---

@Dusksong

Masako paused, mind flashing back to the wolf’s gleaming golden eyes. Though they had whispered hidden threats of death and despair, the golden orbs also seemed to hold a certain amount of wisdom that could only be gained through seeing death firsthand.

”I don’t think the wolf will be back,” Masako said, backtracking when she realized how odd she sounded. ”I mean I don’t know, but I don’t think so. What are the odds of meeting the wolf again now that we’re so far off anyway?” she asked, looking at her surroundings. The bushes and trees seemed kind and honest in daylight, silently voicing their well-wishes.

But, the girl couldn’t deny the sense in Akane’s words. ”I don’t know much about combat,” she started with a sigh. This she wouldn’t have to explain — it was common knowledge that while men honed the skills of sword and military, women honed their skills in softer acts such as memorizing the elaborate tea ceremonies or weaving delicate but beautiful tapestries.

However, this was contradicted by the fact that Akane, a woman, was a full-fledged ronin.

”Akane, how did you become a ronin?” Masako asked. ”Not who your shogun or daimyo was, but just… How did you get over the prejudice? The barriers that prevent most women from picking up the sword?”

---

@Damiann47