Akane just couldn't pin this kid down, he seemed way too eager for someone who just witnessed the death of four men, and even then was more than happy to accompany the woman who was responsible for those deaths. Honestly Akane was a little afraid of him in a way, no one should be this calm especially not a young boy.
"Nowhere." Akane shrugged.
"Suppose going north isn't a bad general direction if that's what you're asking, but no I don't have a specific goal in mind." Akane glanced back to the boy, noticing his smile.
"Something's been bugging me... I've known professional soldiers who crack after their first touch with death, but you... well, just how the hell are you so calm?" She decided to finally ask, if nothing else she wanted to make sure the boy in her company wasn't some kind of psychopath, for obvious reasons she definitely wouldn't want to deal with such a character.
Masako blinked, pausing as she processed the ronin's words.
”This isn't my first time seeing death,” she said slowly, thinking through her words carefully. Indeed, why hadn't she been afraid of the ronin when she'd just see the woman kill so many men?
”And the way you killed them,” Masako continued, looking up at the woman,
”it wasn't cruel. You were honorable and fair, and they had their chance to back off and keep their lives. The fact they didn't is their fault, not yours.”The ronin came close to laughing that she actually covered her mouth to stop the outburst, but then shook her head.
"There's hardly anything honorable about killing, kid, its a damn grim, and horrible business at its core." Akane stopped in place to stare down the boy.
"There's not mistake that what I'm saying is hypocritical as all hell, and there's no argument against that, just..." She paused, honestly unsure how she should continue, but also considering why tell some random kid all this? If he was someone who's unnaturally comfortable with death, then that's his problem.
"Never mind. Let's just keep going." Akane turned her attention back to the road, they still needed to find a place to settle down.
Masako fell quiet at the ronin's words, unsure of how to feel. Was her indifference to death unnatural? But Seppuku was considered honorable, and her father and brothers had always watched the slow process with emotionless faces. Setting the issue aside, Masako looked around for a good campsite, realizing that she hadn't a single clue as to what she was looking for. A sheltered patch of dirt or grass? Somewhere surrounded by bushes or rocks? A ditch or cave?
”How about over there?” Masako said at last, pointing towards a clear patch of dirt beside a fallen tree. The not-yet-hollow log seemed like a good seat or backrest for a weary traveler.
Akane examined the area the servant pointed at, and immediately shook her head.
"Sleeping right next to a road is the best way to get mugged, but I guess now's a good enough time to find a good place. Try to find somewhere that's concealed, thick undergrowth, a cave, or some outcropping, anything to keep us out of direct line of sight." After trekking through the wilderness and gaining some distance from the road, Akane stopped.
"Here." They had come across a decent sized cave, after a quick look around the ronin concluded there was nothing nasty living inside. She nodded over to her companion.
"I'll start by finding some tinder and get a fire going, you should go find some wood. Just sticks would do, just make sure they're dry and stay away from green wood, that stuff won't light well." ”Okay,” Masako said, following the ronin as the woman scanned the floor for kindling.
Where can I find sticks? the girl thought, looking around the barren forest floor. Summer was just around the corner, and the trees were finally starting to finish budding and transition completely to photosynthesizing energy with their leaves. This, however, also meant that they hadn't started shedding leaves and branches for winter.
Stooping down, Masako scanned the ground for anything that even slightly resembled a stick, but to little success. There were a few dried twigs scattered here and there, but hardly big enough for a fire.
Perhaps a bush? Masako thought, approaching a withered shrub towards the side of the cave. Bending the shrub's branches, Masako found that the bush still had a few years of life left in its gnarled branches.
But branches that fall off, Masako realized, squatting down to peer under the bush. There were all sorts of dried fauna beneath the leafy shrub, and Masako quickly seized a few medium-sized branches that seemed presentable enough.
”Ronin-san!” Masako called, waving the sticks she'd found in the air for the woman to see.
”Are these sticks good?”Akane looked over to the kid, carrying a bundle of dry twigs and undergrowth in her hands.
Ronin-san... huh... The ronin approached the servant to examine the wood he found, then nodded.
"Yeah, these will do but you need to gather some more, we want to keep the fire going all night preferably. A good armful should be enough. In the meanwhile I'll try to get this tinder going."The next ten minutes were spent with Masako carrying small armfuls of leaves and sticks towards the makeshift fireplace inside the cave. By the fifteen minute mark, the odd pair managed to get a healthy fire going inside the hollow brown-and-gray face of stone.
”Do we just sleep on the floor?” Masako asked, examining the dusty stone under her sandals. Having never spent a day without a tatami mat and a cotton blanket, she found it hard to believe that one could fall asleep on such a uncomfortable-looking flat surface.
Akane raised an eyebrow.
"Well yeah, not like we got mats to sleep on." With a groan the woman sat down, located near the mouth of the cave, and with her back right against the stone wall. She then untied the sword from her waist to lay down beside herself, on the left side of course.
Masako hesitated, looking at the floor with a dubious expression. However, a glance towards the now-resting ronin reminded Masako of how tired she was, and she quickly laid down as well. The fire crackled quietly between the two women, and Masako braved the nagging question on her mind.
”My name is Saku,” she started hesitantly, eyes trained on the stone ceiling.
”Can I ask what yours is?”In response Akane tilted her head,
"I don't believe that's your name, but you got your reasons I guess, so... Saku then?" She placed a hand onto her chest.
"Well call me Akane, just Akane. Its probably good to get some kind of name so I don't have to keep calling you kid all the time." ”Akane,” Masako repeated, tracing the characters of the name in her mind.
”What a pretty name.”
@Dusksong