34: Warning Signs, Warring Choices

In response to Kana's sudden commanding aura and agitation, the remaining travelers regained their wits and rushed back to the wagons. Soon after some muted chatter occurred amongst them and it seemed they reached some sort of consensus. After all, they'd all seen the horrors present in the Land of Rain. They were all survivors, and the instincts that had kept them alive to this point were kicking in, Kana was glad to see.

Kana for her part flew towards Ryuu and practically dragged him by the collar of his uniform back to the driver's bench of their own wagon. He choked out questions the whole way, but Kana spared him not a word.

Couldn't he see this was no time for questions?!

By the time they'd gotten the reins secured and started moving again, the other wagon had covered a substantial distance ahead of them already. They were running their carthorses at a dangerous pace, likely trying to reach Yugakure as soon as possible. No one would want to stick around someplace like this.

"Damn it, Ryuu-san!" She said, pressing her face close and gesturing towards the grisly scene still visible from the road, "Don't want to end up like that? Then get this wagon moving!" Her eyes, still bright green with her disguise, sharpened into a gaze that seemed to pierce Ryuu out of his daze.

He shut up and took control of the reins, speeding them up to what was perhaps the wagon's max speed. They could travel much faster if no one had to walk, but it would be a bumpy ride.

"Seriously! Instincts dulled this much already?" Kana shook her head in disbelief, and when Ryuu wasn't looking she flickered around to the back of the wagon, reentering it.

She went right to Fuzō's side and knelt by her, extending a hand to channel chakra and break Fuzō out of her fear. Kana lightly chewed her lips around between her teeth the whole time as she thought rapidly about the situation.

A trap? A warning? A threat? Just what could be their motive?

It was undoubtedly the work of cultists like those who had held her in captivity. The symbol wasn't quite the same, the Shinigon's claw motif missing from the center, but the message of death and despair was still loud and clear.

But why? How? How were they here? Was there... more of them than those from Mt. Shumisen?

She placed the thumb of her free hand against her chin, index finger curling up and tapping between her nose and upper lip.

Her forearms trembled ever so slightly, from disgust, from rage, from fear, Kana felt her concentration sharpen to full alert.

In a matter of seconds Kana's chakra circulated all throughout Fuzō's body and as her posture relaxed, the woman brought her head up from the blanket, immediately catching sight of Kana's nervous behavior. She also took note of the shuddering and jostling wagon.

"Wha- Kana-chan, what happened? It hasn't been that long, what happened out there? Why are we moving so fast?"This failed to elicit a response from Kana, who was still mulling over her memories, trying to remember anything the cultists might have mentioned. Anything to understand what might still be a threat to her.

These thoughts were shaken from her mind when Fuzō's hands reached out and gripped her shoulders, causing Kana's eyes to dart up and meet her gaze. Fuzō flinched for a second at the look in her eyes, but leaned forward to speak clearly.

"Kana! What happened!?"

Kana didn't even know what to say, how to express everything she was thinking clear enough for Fuzō to understand. Instead, after a beat, all she could find to say was,

"Something... something terrible." Her tone was utterly grim, and she glanced downward with forlorn eyes.

But a moment later, she found herself pressed up against Fuzō's chest in a hug.

A hug.

Kana normally hated surprises, and this was certainly surprising. It was startling even, but... again, like with Michiko, it didn't feel bad. Fuzō's thick bandages were smooth against Kana's cheek and the warmth of the woman's body heat was comfortable. Kana couldn't help but find her own observations and thoughts in this moment strange. She also couldn't help but compare how much healthier Fuzō felt compared to how she was back when Kana first discovered her.

And realizing that, it brought something that Kana could only feel was... satisfaction?

The thought calmed her, gave her something else to focus on.

Noticing the change, Fuzō herself softly spoke, "It's okay, I'll do what I can. But I need you to tell me. Take it slowly, step by step. What. Happened?"

Resting her head against the softness and warmth Fuzō offered to her, resting in the woman's arms, Kana recounted what she'd just seen. The murders, the mutilated bodies, the symbol drawn in blood and viscera. All of it. She showed the bloodied Yu hitai-ate as proof

But that wasn't all.

Kana knew Fuzō would question her actions. In retrospect, they were rather hard to explain. She, a child, had reacted more powerfully and commandingly than any of the Yuka members. So...

"But Fuzō-san, you know I flee the war too. You know I... fled alone? Am alone..."

Kana hesitated, struggling to find the right phrasing. She couldn't reveal any details that she might come to regret, for her own safety. But she still desperately wanted to convey how significant the threat was- convey why she knew to act. At least to Fuzō, who was in just as much danger here.

"Well the-  The ones who made me alone... the most heinous of them, wore that symbol. I-  Such people are absolutely mortal enemies. My, my worst enemies."

Thoughts of her times near-death, of the sacrificial ritual, of her captivity. Those memories stirred up Kana's will within her again, her wrath. And with every second remembering, her face grew so neutral and blank as to be grey, eyes staring someplace far far away. A stare of a thousand yards

Fuzō herself had shown Kana such a gaze not too long ago, and she knew it.

Kana slowly glanced up to look at Fuzō's face again, eyes seemingly showing that she came to some conclusion.

"If there really are more out there, then they..."

Kana stood up from Fuzō's embrace and into a crouch, looking at her seriously. Fuzō looked back with a face twisting with something that must have been worry or concern. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, Kana spoke with a calm and renewed conviction.

"They need to die."

Fuzō for her part, was speechless. Kana's sincerity must have been shocking. But... her face was still softened and compassionate, "I, I understand then. I understand the feeling, truly I do. I hope you know that." She hesitated, grasping the back of her head before releasing a sigh and slumping her shoulders.

"Though if such a foe really is lurking around, I still hope we do not encount-"1Stop raising flags, Fuzō!

An inarticulate cry of alarm sounded from out front, the wagon shaking violently and jostling all around. The remaining supply crates shifted and clattered over. Kana, reacting instinctively, threw herself onto Fuzō and shielded her from anything falling with her own back. Fortunately, nothing directly hit them, only a few glancing blows. But the wagon was still traveling at high speed and bumping unsteadily.

Kana glanced down at Fuzō below her, seeing a face full of shock, before glancing up towards the front.

Obstructed by the canvass cover, she couldn't see what the hell was going on. No doubt she had but a precious few seconds to react.

She had to think, think! What the hell to do?! Fuzō was still watching, but she had to do something. But do what? What could she do without leaving Fuzō alone? Which of her skills, her powers? No, what was the least conspicuous? Least- No!

Kana remembered. She had pondered just such agonizing circumstances before...

An uncomfortable choice. A dire choice. Kana had to make a choice.

'Wasn't fleeing if possible the best solution?'     It looks like it's not possible yet. Maybe if there's an opportunity?

'But what if that entailed leaving something valuable behind?'      Kana had invested a lot of time into Fuzō now... and she was so close to another lead into her past? Fuzō was valuable. She would hate to lose that now.

'Questions she felt she could only answer in the moment when they arose.'

Kana had her answer.

Mind activated to the fullest, Kana felt each beat of her heart ticking away the moments she had left to act. At a furious pace, a rough plan of action was coming together.

"Fuzō-san! Take cover, shield your eyes! Debris incoming!" she bellowed above the roar and rattle of the wagon. Kana reached an arm under Fuzō and pulled the woman up towards her torso.

Fuzō reacted and frantically shielded her head with her arms, pressing her face tightly into Kana's shoulder.

In the next moment, Kana released one of her bright amethyst chakra chains from behind the opposite shoulder, extending it to tear away the entire canvas front of the wagon. Simultaneously, her free hand reached for her waist pocket and dug out her storage scroll to unfurl it.

Concentrating on controlling her chain, circulation for Fuzō, shielding the woman's body, unfurling the scroll, and preserving her Henge disguise despite all of the other disruptions... was an extraordinary effort of multi-tasking. One she had luckily trained for.

Barely an instant passed, but the torn-away canvas revealed impending disaster. Barely a hundred meters in front of their path, the other wagon had flipped and shattered into a wreck spanning the whole road.

Kana felt she could hear the faint cries of agony from the surviving occupants. But there was no time...

And Ryuu- Ryuu had taken a long arrow through his chest just below his shoulder, pinning him to the driver's seat and leaving him with only one useful arm, the other arm bleeding out fast. Even still, he'd managed to cry out in alarm and hold onto the reins. Admirable, but the look in his eyes was fading. He wouldn't last much longer. Kana... figured he was doomed. Ryuu...

...

Kana grit her teeth, setting her jaw. She needed all of her focus. Her eyes began to go bloodshot with the mental effort. It was a matter of seconds before their wagon would crash into the mass of wreckage!

There was no good way to stop their wagon. And hardly a good reason to with such little time left! Perhaps eight seconds?!

Her chakra chain then whipped around behind her, latching onto a pair of the nearest supply crates and throwing them towards her scroll. The scroll which she'd tossed into the air, her hand thus free to release a mass of chakra that enveloped the crates and activated the storage seal to contain them.

But then, a wheel snapped off the back of the wagon, lurching it to the side and throwing its occupants off to the left

Before even the puff of smoke dissipated from the storage seal, Kana reached out mid-lurch and caught the scroll, an impressive feat of precise agility. The scroll was then safely tucked back into her coat pocket, but they were still in peril.

Manifesting two more chakra chains from her back in desperation, Kana stabbed all three into the wagon's floor and launched herself up and out dozens of meters backwards, still bracing Fuzō--who let out a muffled shriek--in her arms.

Seconds seemed to tick by more slowly mid-air as she watched the wagon she was just riding reach its doom. One of the panicked horses stumbled and tangled up the others, resulting in a mangled mass of flesh as the wagon clattered over them and shattered against the remaining wreckage. Blood and wooden shards splattered everywhere as Kana landed on her back with a grunt a safe distance away.

She'd preserved her chains only long enough to use them for softening her landing, but the effort of using three in addition to everything else was too much. Kana could only hope that Fuzō hadn't seen anything. Quickly checking, Kana saw the woman's eyes were still buried against her shoulder, largely unaffected by the landing it seemed.

But still, one of her powers was exposed. She'd only barely held onto her disguise, too.

Kana clicked her tongue, but snapped her gaze up and to the side at a sound. The speed and abruptness at which she turned produced a cracking sound from the vertebrae in her neck, but Kana paid it no mind.

All of her senses activated fully, glancing to the sides, listening for the sounds of rustling underbrush, the smells of blood. She could sense figures nearby, but not precisely. They were... circling her?

She wasn't certain... that was until she caught a glimpse of black robes flickering around the snowy treetops far out in the distance.

It was at that sight that Kana's calm and rapid reactions turned ice cold. Her adrenaline-fueled mind slowed to a brutal calm. Her instinct, her will to survive roared and roiled up her chakra.

'Observe, analyze, categorize, anticipate... over and over and over.'

Chakra poured forth from her reserves, condensing all around her, but with the increase in volume she forgot something.

She was still channeling her chakra into Fuzō.

"Ah-!" a gasp was all Kana had time to let out before she realized.

Fuzō looked up and screamed out in terrified confusion as the creeping sensation of hate and fear surrounded them both now, pouring into Kana's senses like it had done once before, an incredibly sharp hateful and evil intent. This is the sense that plagued Fuzō. Phantom Monsters.

It was disgusting, but Kana did not feel terror, no. She felt primal, like a beast of wrath, but not fear. She kept her wits about her this time, having experienced it once before. She already knew her foes were monsters. Monsters wearing human skin, not phantoms. Truly, nothing had changed right? Except...

Except here and now, she finally had an opportunity.

An unintended consequence. A twist of fortune. She could now sense exactly where her enemies were. Their malice was so obvious it was like a beacon to this borrowed sense of Fuzō's.

She was tempted. The urge was undeniable. She could kill everything here. In one fell swoop, probably. An explosion of lava to melt them? Perhaps impale them all with Mokuton where they stood, unable to react? They surely deserved to die, and Kana would take pleasure in executing them.

But no.

With Fuzō's dusty red hair in the corner of her vision, the pleading terror in her eyes as she gazed at Kana in panic, and the sounds of her agonized whimpering in the girl's arms, Kana's heart faltered.

Or rather, what her heart truly desired reasserted itself. She had already made her decision, even suspecting that this outcome was a possibility.

She didn't truly know the capabilities of her opponents, she had no support, and she had something to protect. Wasn't it...

'Wasn't fleeing if possible the best solution?'

And now was a perfect chance. She could easily evade opponents she could track this well, while they were still far off. The best solution... for the problem at hand.

With a seething breath released between her clenched teeth, Kana squinted her eyes shut and flickered away. Within minutes she was kilometers away from the crash, not one presence could be detected following her.