23: Arrival of the Yuka

"-so few of you! Fumio-sama, what of the missing, the wounded?" Michiko's voice whispered with fraught tension.

"If I'd have known it would happen, we would've sent that notice of our return much earlier. You cannot imagine the atrocities..." murmured a terse voice belonging to short and somewhat gaunt man, Fumio, dressed in in a travel-worn medic's uniform. The insignia on his armband bore a three-petaled flower with a '由'1Again, not entirely relevant, but this character means "Reason/Cause". It is pronounced 'yu' and is the 'Yu-' in "Yuka Group". In this case '-ka' in "Yuka" uses the '佳' character, meaning "Good/Beautiful", as represented by the flower motif. Think of it as meaning "The group with a Beautiful Cause/ The group with a Good Reason". That's what characters in-world will recognize it as, and that it is a fitting name for a humanitarian group. Hard to English, Hard to Language, my head hurts. character at its center. His grey hair and eyebrows were somewhat singed on the left, and his face bore age lines not befitting a man in his forties.

As they discussed at the inn's front counter, several other figures trooped through the door and around the road in front of the inn. Parking wagons, organizing supply crates, tending to wounded patients, taking turns eating one of Michiko's already-prepared meals. The lobby and the whole area was abuzz with perhaps forty to fifty people, though less than a third of them were entirely able-bodied.

"We've had a hard enough time just gathering the whereabouts of members. Many are still missing, many others are wounded. We barely have enough bodies to carry the stretchers."

"But, hundreds of Yuka-" Michiko flinched as she was interrupted by a piercing stare from Fumio.

"Yes Michiko-san! Hundreds. Hundreds are dead or missing. The wounded either became so en-route back home or were people we picked up from ruins in the Land of Rain. As far as I can tell, not a single combatant nation spared regard for humanitarian aid workers, slaughtering anyone indiscriminately!" the response was low, spoken calmly through gritted teeth. Condensed fury and rage boiled in Fumio, but he knew not to take it out on Michiko. Everyone had their own problems, and Michiko was just concerned for them.

"Nobody expected escalation in the Land of Rain to reach total warfare. Until Konoha declared outright war, it was just a matter of skirmishes in the small countries. I'm telling you Michiko-san, the countryside population of the Land of Rain has ceased to exist!"

A few calming breaths later, he continued on, "I don't expected you to understand without experiencing what we've been through. In fact, I would not wish our experiences on anyone. Just know that we are very much in need of rest. And even still, we will have to depart before the heavy winter snows come."

"That I can understand. I already have the necessary rooms prepared, more even, since the numbers..." that last bit trailed off into a murmur to herself as she made notes in her ledger.

As soon as the shock from hearing about the Yuka Group's condition dulled, she suddenly remembered the favor she had to ask. The timing might be a bit odd, but it would be even more awkward to bring it up later. He said they were in need of able bodies, too...

"Ah, Fumio-sama, wait! I might understand more than you think. You see a... refugee is currently staying here, and I.. I've heard about the war from her. She came all the way here from the front lines alone, you know. And about her, I have a bit of a favor to ask, even having learned of your circumstances. She's young but able-bodied, and mentioned interest in traveling with the Yuka Group. Surely... you can imagine why."

Fumio showed a look of interest, though grew grim as Michiko continued on about the last few days she'd spent with Kana.

"I see, but-  to travel alone on the eastern roads now? You were right to be concerned for this girl, Michiko-san. You may well have saved her life, too. We ran into some disturbing signs to get here- the aftermath of attacks, even picked up a few more wounded near the border. How did a lone...?"

---

Kana had been listening for a while now, through the servant's door behind Michiko's front counter, feeling she had a general grasp of the situation. Now would probably be a good time to present her case, while this Fumio was musing about her.

Creaking the door open, two sets of eyes immediately turned towards Kana as she peeked her head out into the lobby, wearing her standard neutral expression.

Kana glimpsed Fumio's eyebrows shoot up when they made eye contact while to the side Michiko's face softened substantially.

"Hello" she said, more quietly than she meant to. Greetings were supposed to be the way to go, right, when meeting new people? "Are you the Yuka Group?"

Days of observation and mental preparation were coming into effect here. Could she improve conversation ability? Social skills, fight! Wait no. Not a fight! Not a fight! Fights did not need words. This was core practice for... interacting with other people... err, non-lethally.

"Ah, Kana-chan, hold on. I'll get you some breakfast to eat." Michiko gestured to a table under the window next to Fumio.

While allowing herself to be led to the seat, Kana was all too powerfully reminded that, up until she'd arrived and met Michiko, the only other people she'd interacted with were in the context of battle. A brief thought of some pitiful entity that might have been called Benta or Kenta also occurred, but was too unimportant to register in her memory.

Meanwhile, Michiko had again brought out some already-prepared rice and water to eat before returning to the counter and making a strange face at Fumio.

Again lost in hopeful anticipation and mentally psyching herself up, Kana had forgotten that she was also still vaguely staring at Fumio, who had now taken the opportunity to answer her question.

"Yes, indeed. I am Fumio, currently... acting director of the Yuka Group's liaison in the Land of Rain. Though I fear not for much longer. We are less than at our best, but I heard you have a request to make."

In the corner of Kana's eye, Michiko made a hand motion as if urging or prompting. Kana recognized this, having seen and learned of it in the market place. She had learned a lot of interesting hand gestures2, though what not all of them meant3.

"Yes... I wish to safely flee the war. I... don't want to be in a country at war anymore." she paused, twisting her eyebrows in concentration as she rapidly formulated all of her questions into one. As far as Kana'd learned, more efficient conversation is better, and the fewer words she had to speak, the better. "Can I travel with you, for a while, and learn about... the countries you're going to? So I can find... a new place to live?"

Kana's head was heating up a bit from running through dozens of questions and concerns in a few seconds, and her facial expression became even more blank as she concentrated. Glancing up revealed that Fumio and Michiko both had very strange looks on their faces, one perplexed and the other teary-eyed.

Fumio's mouth gaped open and closed a few times, traces of pensive suspicion now completely gone from his face.

Then, they shared an unfathomable look with each other, before again turning to face Kana.

"I- I can hardly turned down a plea like that. If you're resolved to travel and make a new life, then the countries to which we are returning are certainly ideal. You must also understand that normally we would help without question, but the circumstances of our Yuka Group means we will have to ask some conditions of you. Are you willing in spite of that?"

"Conditions?" Kana tilted her head inquisitively, eliciting a sort of shocked jolt from Fumio; Michiko again grasped at her heart while clenching her jaw. Kana had chalked this up to Michiko just being too difficult to understand, but Fumio too?

"Ah, ahem, yes. I'm not sure how you managed while traveling alone, but... well, it's beside the point. We don't have much food to spare, so you may have to take part in foraging. Additionally, traveling in a group means our members have assigned roles for setting up camp and resting. We will likely need your aid for tasks relating to this. Furthermore, many of our members are injured and need assistance to move from the able-bodied. We would ask that you help carry a stretcher since there are too many to fit inside the wagons. We also won't be able to stop for too many breaks, so the travel will be long and rough...-"

After regaining his composure midway through, Fumio listed off various responsibilities of their members in a simple businesslike manner.

"-In exchange, however, we can offer the protection of our few Land of Iron samurai, as well as legal entry to the Land of Rice or the Land of Hotsprings. While some of our members are heading to the Land of Iron, entry through their border control is not something we can guarantee for you."

This was all largely within Kana's expectations, though she hadn't considered many of the elements and conditions of group travel. Her time traveling alone had given her a warped sense of convenience. Still, it was overall a good opportunity. And as long as the country weren't at war, the Kana of today would prefer that to remaining in the Land of Fire.

Thinking about the conditions, Kana pondered over how much to reveal about her abilities. If she was too weak in Fumio's eyes, wouldn't they just refuse her? None of the conditions were particularly objectionable, so just the vague basics, right...? She could keep up her disguise as well, since it appears that no one had seen through it. No need to mention that.

"Food... not a problem... I'm used to not eating for a long time. Used to being all alone. Can take care of myself. Can keep walking for a long time. Strong enough to carry stretcher. Used to not sleeping due to danger. Will help in exchange for knowledge about destinations, too." Kana tried to answer all of the concerns and conditions she remembered, in rapid succession. Hopefully this meant there would be no need for follow-up questions. Kana was acutely aware that longer conversations were a strain on her ability. She didn't want to mess this up!

For some reason, no one said anything in reply for a long moment, so Kana slowly ate her rice in the silence. Everyone in earshot though had varyingly sad looks on their faces.

Michiko seemed to be wiping her eyes a bit with a cloth. Fumio looked like he couldn't find anything to say, but eventually murmured "A girl as old as what? Eleven, Twelve?" under his breath.

Well, if nobody had anything else to ask of her, Kana wanted to observe people in the convoy! They came from the warzone, after all. There might be some important information she could gather. Carefully listening had certainly brought her advantages in the past, and Kana was particularly intrigued by the mention of samurai.

While scanning out the window for just such individuals, Kana instead locked her eyes upon something completely unexpected. Something she had not seen from any other person she'd run across. Not in battle, not in town, not anywhere...not anywhere except in a mirror from back then...

Her eyes widened with interest, her gaze suddenly becoming intense. Off to the side, Fumio was startled to see such intensity.

Lying unconscious on a stretcher set out in front of the inn was a heavily bandaged woman with bright and vibrant red hair.Hair very close in color to Kana's own undisguised form.