33: Crossroads at the Borders

Days of frantic shuffling and reorganizing followed as the various travel groups divided up the remaining provisions and reassigned the wagons and carts. This had the effect of substantially emptying out the wagon Kana and Fuzō occupied, which made it a little more comfortable to rest in. Still, most of the space was occupied with luggage and supplies.

The party heading towards the Land of Hotsprings ended up having the fewest members, only about fifteen with Kana, Fuzō and Ryuu included. Consequently, their group would only take two of the wagons when the convoy split up, as the other groups would need them far more. Fortunately, two was plenty for all of them.

Strangely enough, no one insisted on intruding into the wagon that Kana and Fuzō shared. They all chose to ride the other wagon together. It seems everyone had mixed feelings about how to behave around the two of them. Was it because they remembered Fuzō's medical state and respected her needs? But essentially everyone here had sustained some form of wound. Or perhaps they were just afraid to be attacked? Maybe they respected and valued Fuzō enough that no one questioned her need for a private space?

Fuzō was not much help in answering this either, when she woke up a couple days after her conversation with Fumio. She was understandably reserved about speaking since she'd aired out her feelings, but Kana noticed that she was at least able to relax well enough.

It was a relief, but they had to stay in close physical proximity in order for Kana's chakra to effectively shield Fuzō from the phantom hatred that constantly assailed her. Even then, it required increasingly constant attention from Kana for her chakra to work. As such, Kana could do little else and only seldomly left the wagon's interior when Fuzō was resting.

So, Kana made a habit of always checking up on the woman's condition and tracking the progress of how her wounds were healing, during which times Fuzō would respond simply and honestly to her questions. It gave them both something productive to do, even if it only took a few hours out of the day.

There wasn't much in the way of ~chatting between them, but Kana doubted that either of them would feel very up to that anyway.

And Kana had much to think about too, plotting new backup plans and theorizing new ways to improve her ninjutsu. There was a lot to consider about how to approach her leads. Should she reveal an aspect of her power, or the signet clasp? Should she keep up her prolonged disguise or reveal her true appearance? Or perhaps affect a new disguise entirely? It was a long, tiring, and uncomfortable task to wear a Henge disguise for so long in the first place. If possible, Kana wished to avoid doing so in the future. Still, she had to weigh the pros and cons before she was forced to make those decisions. It was like this for many other matters as well.

In Fuzō's case, she was trying to minimize the time she spent awake to help manage her pain. Kana's chakra channeling could help, but the woman was still gravely wounded and had to tough through it. Fuzō still showed her appreciation with a faint smile though, even when it looked like she was having a hard time.

Sometimes it also looked like she was curious about... something, whenever Kana would draw close to her for such treatment. She never showed that expression when others were around, but it was distinctly inquisitive, like she was waiting to ask something or for Kana to ask her something. Either way, Kana could feel the woman's eyes on her, even as Fuzō waned in and out of consciousness.

It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but she started to consider it an opportunity. Perhaps this was a way to learn that skill the samurai demonstrated-- the ability to sense a gaze? That would be valuable, so Kana tried to keep track of all the times she felt Fuzō's eyes on her. It also let her pick up more easily on when Fuzō was awake or asleep.

Still, Kana could only do the preliminary and assistant work though, so she had to bring Ryuu in to get a real medical assessment at the end of each day. So it ended up that Ryuu would drive the wagon on the seat out front, able and on call in case of a medical emergency but still safely out of earshot.

Ryuu himself had been rather awkward considering what had happened between the three of them, but Fuzō eventually got fed up with his skittishness and gave him an earful, telling him to blame Fumio for almost getting the both of them killed. That seemed to shock the man out of his funk, and he returned to behaving apologetically respectful. For some reason, he spoke hardly a word to Kana anymore. Did he talk to Fumio about her abilities? Did he know about what happened to Fuzō? Did he know she knew he knew about her?

This wasn't going to get anywhere so in the end she let it be, shaking her head with disappointment.

Kana viewed him with suspicious eyes, now even more paranoid about displaying her abilities. She'd had some level of rapport with Ryuu, and learned a decent amount about the Land of Hotsprings from him. That was all gone now. No kind deed went unpunished, as it were. Even just helping Fuzō brought about such annoying complications.

Such was the way things would have to go for her. Kana told herself this once again: no one could know.

Even this low-stakes trial period with the Yuka convoy had shown her how the priorities of others like Fumio could have disastrous consequences for bystanders, third parties, or innocents.

And Kana fervently hoped to maintain the neutrality of a bystander after what she'd seen of war-- after she'd learned firsthand what happened to so many Yuka members. Bystander, bystander! Not involved in their troubles, nothing to see here! Leave this girl alone! For the foreseeable future she might have to deceive, mislead, conceal, or do whatever was necessary to preserve that.

Kana reckoned she would have to abstain from all but the most discreet training just to be safe, much to her frustration. At least until they reached their destination. She was already holding back so much in order to blend in.

Like how even though she could use her control of nature transformations to wash and clean herself, which was something she very much wanted to do, actually doing so would be suspicious and obvious. It would invite questions that Kana had no answers for. And so she bided her time.

The scheduled parting came and went without much fanfare. At least, for Kana and Fuzō. Many others had emotional farewells and well wishes as they set off on different roads. It... Kana and Fuzō were just not in the mood for such things, each for their own reasons.

For Kana, their departure from the main convoy could not have come fast enough.

A short few days later, their party crossed the unguarded border into the Land of Hotsprings, which was marked only by a large wooden sign. Soon after, it began to snow almost constantly. It was a light snow, but it accumulated rapidly as the days crawled onward.

The somewhat prolonged pace of their journey was starting the build a sense of restless eagerness within Kana. She knew she could travel much faster, but she stuck it out for Fuzō's sake.

Incidentally, Kana and Fuzō's destination was a mountain shrine and resort called Yamakuni. This was the location of Fuzō's family home, an exclusive villa apparently specializing in medicinal treatment and convalescence. In other words, a great place for Fuzō to heal surrounded by her remaining family. It was one of the only topics that got Fuzō to open up and have some pleasant conversation. Or at least, Kana thought it pleasant to hear.

Hearing Fuzō reminisce pleasant details of her childhood home so wistfully gave Kana some marginal hope that the two could find some happiness there. That was most of what Kana had longed for all this time anyway, so she found herself a bit excited. And for Fuzō, it was doubtless a way to escape from other, darker memories. Kana understood that well enough.

There were a few complicating details though.

Most others in their travel group were headed all the way to Yugakure1Yugakure no Sato, literally meaning: Village Hidden in Hot Water. In other words, the Hidden Steam Village, along a well-kept but seldom-used road, where they would then separate and return to their hometowns. Those few who were not had their hometowns along the route anyway. However, the route to Yamakuni was in a remote direction detouring away from Yugakure, knowledge of which was restricted to Fuzō's family and their accepted guests, so for various reasons no one else would accompany them.

This meant that Kana and Fuzō would have to travel alone for the last leg of their journey, potentially without their wagon. It remained to be seen whether the mountainous routes were too heavily covered in snowfall for the wide wagon to navigate.

Kana began to understand why the Yuka Group were in such a hurry to reach the northern countries before the winter snows. It wasn't because the cold itself was the problem, but that it obstructed roads and navigability.

Despite all that, if the two were indeed to travel alone... Kana had ideas as to how to handle that. She had chakra available to her every will after all, surely she could figure out a way to pass without leaving behind the valuable comfort of their wagon. If not, Kana supposed she could resort to carrying Fuzō in her arms and traversing the route with her own raw strength alone.

They would have to wait and see.

Kana was pondering such things a few days after crossing the border when their wagon ground to a sudden halt. A muffled commotion from outside sounded like people were heading her way.

Glancing to her side, Kana met Fuzō's eyes, which were as usual staring in her direction.

Fuzō brought a hand to her forehead and considered, "Ah, this time of year the snowbanks have probably obstructed the road. They may need your help to clear it or make a path."

Her expression and the sigh that accompanied it suggested that she believed this was probably the case, "I can last for a while, so go on ahead." After that, she lay down and buried her head in a blanket, holding her shoulders tight. This was one of her ways to resist the terror when Kana was gone.

"I will check. Please hold on Fuzō-san. Be back soon." Kana nodded quickly and darted out of the wagon, finding Ryuu missing from his driver's seat. Searching around led her to find him and the rest of the travelers standing stunned in a rough crowd around something.

She started to inquire, "What is happen-" before she saw it. Her voice caught and her vision tunneled towards it. The others were horrified, aghast. But Kana's reaction was more intense. Hers was filled with cold fury.

A trio of great pine trees roughly twenty meters from the road, a prominent landmark. But that wasn't what gave everyone pause. They weren't reacting, too shocked by the scene.

But Kana recognized this. She recognized this symbol. This... brutal message.

Before she knew it, Kana had already run to the base of the trees, tantō brandished in one hand. Her feet crunched into icy snow stained a deep red with blood.

Stance at the ready for attack, she scanned all around, detecting no one else nearby even with her sharp senses. But it did not matter, anyone capable of this was a serious threat.

To each of the three trees, a horrifically mutilated body was pinned though hands and feet by barbed steel rods. Each body was also pinned once more through the heart. The bodies were so shredded as to be unrecognizable. Entrails were scattered around for meters, forming a bloody circle of tattered flesh.

And circumscribed in that circle... was an inverted triangle painted in blood.

It was a symbol... like that used by the Shinigon. Cultists.

Kana recoiled a few steps back in disgust, and in doing so her foot clanked against something metallic.

Dropping into a crouch, she fished it out of the snow with a sharp glance to her sides. Drenched in frozen blood, it was a Yugakure hitai-ate.

Whoever had done this... could take on three trained shinobi and massacre them. Eyes narrowing as the details sunk in, Kana dashed back to the onlooking Yuka members with an urgent shout.

A loud and commanding voice unexpected from the young girl rung out into the snowy silence,

"We must leave NOW! Here there is great danger!"