The Road to Town

Hiroki Tamachi adjusted his straw hat on his head; he had been walking for quite a long time, and the road was starting to make his feet sore. He hoped that the Village Hidden in Bones wasn't too much farther. He had heard about it from a friend he made in a tavern a few months back, and the place had piqued his interest; a place of runaways and misfits was sure to attract all sorts of interesting people, and where interesting people go, so do their dishes. His stomach rumbled at the thought as he continued down the road. Damn... How long has it been since I last ate? He thought to himself. Surely he could afford to take a break and eat something now; the last meal he had was lunch, and that was nearly two hours ago, and two hours of walking without rest surely can't be healthy. So, determined to slate his earthly needs, Hiroki sat down on a rock near the side of the road and opened his bag, pulling out a loaf of bread. He broke a piece off, put the loaf back in the bag, and lightly buttered the piece in his hand. He leaned back where he sat and took a bite, looking up and down the road to see if there were any travelers on the road near him; roads were always shorter when walked alongside someone.

Hozuki Kangestu moved quickly through the trees at a steady pace, jumping from branch to branch. She was on her way to the Village Hidden in Bones where she had heard one of her recent targets was recently sighted. She knew little about the village in particular but that didn't matter. All that mattered to her now was catching up to Amaragi before he could escape again. As she leaps through the trees she mumbles to herself, "I swear to fucking god if he gets a way one more time I'm going to lose it!" In he distance a man came into view, she quickly slowed her pace and leaped to the tree nearest him. As she watched closely she could pick out anything hostile in his hand or on his person so she decided to be on her way once more.

Hiroki looked up to the trees when he heard something rustling in the trees above him. He was somewhat surprised when he saw what looked like a woman staring down at him. A wide, cheerful smile spread across his face and he waved with his free hand. "Hello, fellow traveler!" He called up to her in a loud, baritone voice. "Always good to see someone else on these lonely roads!" Hikori stood up on the rock and took a bite from his buttered bread; it wasn't the nicest thing he'd eaten recently, but for travel rations, it wasn't half bad. He adjusted the wooden staff on his back and gestured for her to come down from the trees. "Would you mind coming down from there so we can talk on equal ground? I don't like barking up trees, wrong or otherwise."

Kangestu thought to herself, He doesn't look like an assassin... I guess it wouldn't hurt to say hello. She quickly dropped down from the branch she was standing on and walked slowly towards the strange young man. "What may I ask do you have to talk about?" She gestures with a turned hand and as well as rolling her eyes.

Hiroki shrugged and smiled again. "Oh, lots of things. I'm a traveler, see, been all over the world. Where are you heading? I can talk about pretty much anything, friend." He took another bite of his bread; it was almost gone at this point, unfortunately. "But, I'm being rude." He continued with a full mouth. "My name's Hiroki Tamachi. You have a name yourself?" Hiroki stepped towards the woman and extended a hand to shake; despite his friendly exterior, he was keeping a close eye on her. Her attitude seemed not to be one of a friendly traveler, which put him ever so slightly on edge, but she didn't seem hostile either, so he felt no need to be rude.

Kangestu lowers her shoulders with a sigh. "My name is Hozuki Kangestu." She slowly extends a hand and smiles showing her bright white sharp teeth. "Nice to make your acquaintance." She arched her smile widely to see if he would flinch in fear as she thought to herself, I wonder why hes being so nice to me... You'd think he'd run away at first sight of someone like me.

A glimpse of unease flashed across Hiroki's face when he caught a glimpse of Kangestu's teeth. His stomach sank slightly as he remembered hearing horror stories of the assassins of the Mist and their filed sharpened teeth. However, he quickly regained his composure as he firmly shook her hand. If he was in the presence of a deadly assassin, the last thing he wanted to do was come across as someone worth killing. "The pleasure's all mine!" He cheerily replied to her; while she was quite unnerving, it wouldn't exactly be the first time he traveled alongside someone incredibly dangerous. Besides, these sorts of people often had the most interesting stories to tell.
Hiroki retracted his hand after the shake and tucked it in his pocket. He popped the last of the bread in his mouth and looked down the road to the direction he was heading. "You wouldn't happen to be heading to the Village Hidden in Bones, would you? If so, perhaps we could travel together. Roads are always shorter when traveled with four feet instead of two, my master always said." Hiroki always extended this invitation to new people he met on the road if they seemed like reasonable people; sure, it occasionally landed him with a blow to the head and waking up penniless in a gutter every once in a while, but those were little more than stories to be told in taverns when they were done. Besides, traveling with an assassin from the Mist could offer him more protection than he could offer himself with his flimsy staff.

After he retracted his hand she looked him over once more. "Do you have business there?" She asked rather concerned at the prospect of man not much older then herself possibly walking to a death trap with nothing more then a stick to protect him. Although he could be of use to me. That smiling face could allow me to blend and Amaragi would never see me coming. She thought to herself while she waited for his reply. " Ah, Never mind that I am indeed heading towards the Village Hidden in Bones and I can't say company wouldn't be a welcomed change of pace if you indeed plan to head that direction." She quickly blurted out making sure he couldn't refuse.

Hiroki shrugged. "No particular business, no. I simply want to see as much of this world before I leave it." He explained. A slight sigh of relief escaped him when she accepted his offer; in his experience, people who had malicious intent tended to be a bit more coy with their response than she was. Kangetsu may have been an assassin, but she was certainly still human, and humans always enjoyed company. He smiled and nodded, beginning to walk back down the road toward his destination, assuming she'd keep pace with his leisurely walk. He said nothing for a little over a minute, trying to suppress his curiosity, but he was a very nosy individual, and so finally asked, "If you don't mind my asking, what's an assassin from the Mist doing heading to the Village Hidden in Bones? Or is that one of those things you'd have to kill me if you told me?" He added the last part as a half-joke. He had traveled with individuals who offered him these sort of threats before, so he learned rather quickly to offer people like this ways out of questions they didn't want to answer. Still, he felt it could hardly hurt to ask.

As they walked she simply stared openly at the bright sky and the beautiful trees before answering in a slightly hushed tone of voice, "I'm hunting a man who is wanted for execution in a neighboring village. However, I don't ask many questions from my clientele but from what I gathered he murdered someone in a alley and stole a valuable item. So naturally someone wants him back dead or alive ." She looked over to Hiroki to gauge his reaction before crossing her hands behind her head looking up at the sky again. "Besides I get paid, add a kill to my total and get one step closer to realizing my dream."

Hiroki's eyebrows went up a bit, seeming intrigued and impressed by her story. "Seems like a pretty easy job, then. Sounds like you're hunting a common street thug who crossed the wrong family. I'm honestly impressed you were able to track him here." He looked over to her and smiled. "I hope you find him. It'd be one helluva tale to tell." He looked up at the sky as well. "I'm just heading there because I've heard it's sort of a melting pot for cultures. People from all over go there seeking asylum from one thing or another. And a group of people like that surely have some stories of their own to tell. Not to mention a few good recipes to share." He grinned at the mention of food. His stomach growled audibly; one slice of buttered bread was hardly enough to satisfy his hunger, but he wasn't about to hold up an assassin on duty to stuff his face a bit more. Not until he was sure she wouldn't kill him for wasting her time, at least.

She looked across to him and laughed slightly. "You seem a bit hungry, would you like to stop for food when we arrive in the village?" "I'm sure there will be a restaurant near the village center we can stop and eat at." She said with an oddly interested tone as if she herself was starving. "Otherwise I can get us some meat from the forest creatures and you can cook... You do know how to cook don't you?" She raised an eyebrow as she waited for his reply.