The Day of Thunder

[Ryoshun Yukara]

Yukara sat on a bench in the garden, gazing thoughtfully at the little bridge and peaceful creek. She didn't look her best, though she had at least gotten cleaned up and dressed in fresh clothes, her hair hanging loose about her shoulders. There were dark circles under her eyes, but at least her bandages were clean and she hadn't started bleeding through any of them yet, attempting to take it easy to avoid opening any cuts again.

She could not figure out how she felt. She wasn't sure she even felt anything.

It was not precisely an out of body experience, but she did find herself almost feeling as she was a stranger in her own body, with no idea where to take herself, or what to do with herself.

[Bayushi Norikage]

Norikage came yawning along, he'd actually been looking for Yukara but things, as usual, had gone wrong.

Though apparently so much worse for her.

Fixing her with his gaze, he took in everything he could read about her. It didn't look good.

"You should probably be resting, Yukara-chan." He said and sat down next to her without invitation.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

She had not seen him approach, lost as she was in her thoughts, but she was too tired to leap away comically. Instead, she simply turned to face him, offering a small nod. "I tried. Sleep was... unpleasant. Certainly not restful."

Her expression was clouded, and she added, "I... I am sorry. I did not learn my lesson from our conversation, Norikage-san. I fear you must think me very foolish."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"We're all foolish", he shrugged and handed her a small collection of bright green tree blossoms. "Here I am offering you get well flowers when I know it won't change the past."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

That surprised her. Shocked her. Confused her. Caused tears to well in her eyes as she lost her carefully maintained composure. She sniffled pathetically, trying to wipe her eyes with her sleeve, and rested the flowers on her lap.

"Tha... Thank you."

She didn't know why he had done this... why he was even still here talking to her.

"You should not waste your time on... " A wet sniff. "Someone useless like me..."

[Bayushi Norikage]

With great courage, the Scorpion placed a hand on her head and patted it. Giving her hair a gentle stroke.

"Honestly? I usually don't", he answered. "Someone who has been injured the way you are, a lot of people would call that useless. I wouldn't have even come to find you or talk to you." He sounded very honest. He acted a certain way to get people to like him, he was more or less admitting that. "Though in this case, you still have a use, at least to me. Even beaten and injured, I think you're still worth something. You showed courage and tenacity, you're still alive, and as long as you are you can keep fighting, even if it's in a different way."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

She did not pull away. Or get angry. Indeed, it did seem to offer some comfort when his words left her conflicted.

Another sniffle, and she added, softly, "I am so sorry... I was too slow. I did not avoid it, and now I can no longer do the one thing I trained for. I cannot fight - what will my clan do with me? I am of no value to them now. I achieved my mission, and yet I have no idea where I should go now. I wonder who I even am!"

A rather wet laugh, and she muttered, "I do not know what value you see in me that is not in others... and I am afraid that too will vanish. I did not want to become a burden. If I become a detriment to this task that is being undertaken, how could I be forgiven?"

[Bayushi Norikage]

"What's to forgive?" He asked. "You put yourself in harm's way for others. Not my usual thing, I feel like you should be congratulated." He patted her harass l head a little more.

She looks far better off than in my dream, anyway.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"Yes, but now I cannot aid further. In the next fight, I am a liability!"

She seemed to be getting at the core of it, as if finally letting go something she'd held onto all day. "I cannot stand by you and lend you my aid should danger strike again. I might get someone hurt, trying to save me because I am a cripple! A useless cripple who knows naught else but the hunt and the fight, but who was still so weak, so incapable, that she was the only one to fall. To suffer such injuries as to make herself no more than a burden on those who carry on with the task."

His petting hadn't seemed to deter her, and indeed she almost leaned into it, her mind, her fears, and her body all making different arguments, betraying the turmoil in the woman.

"I do not know what to do. What I can do. If when pity ends, I will be alone again, with nothing more to offer the world."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Uh-huh", he nodded along. "So then you've said you were trained by a monk, right? What would your master say?" He had to try ad get her to relate positively, somehow.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"I do not know. He is dead. Dead by the hands of the woman... monster... I killed last night." Yukara tried to marshal her thoughts. "I struck down a beast that endangered innocent lives all over the northern mountains - one which took my family and teacher from me... and yet I feel no satisfaction... only confusion. I did not expect this."

With another sniffle, she wiped her nose, and turned her gaze to him, adding, "I suppose I am just lost... I suddenly reached the end of my path, and now I have no concept of what path I should take next - particularly given how I am now..."

Taking a steadying breath, she ran her fingers along the petals of the flowers in her lap, smiling weakly. "I put up a show of wisdom, but in the end I also struggle to endure the wheel - the steady turning of time and fortune that undoes us all."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Struggling is what humans do", he offered bluntly. "And if you completed your cycle, it's normal to struggle with the freedom that brings."

He put his hand over hers and gave it proper squeeze.

"It can be confusing, but it can also be a way to open a new chapter in things", he offered. "You know, you don't have to fight to serve your lord, maybe this is pushing you in another direction. We don't know what exactly the fuck fate has in store for us until we're face with it. And all we can do is face it squarely." He lifted his hand off hers and gave the cat girl a wink. "It might take time, but I know you'll face fate again, you've sacrificed once, and you may even do it again. That's what makes a good samurai, I think."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

The touch did cause her to twitch, but she didn't pull away, only turning a faint pink, showing there was still blood left in her body, despite how cold her hands were.

She smiled at his comments, and offered, "Thank you, Norikage-san, truly. For listening to my foolishness, and for the encouragement. I do not know what I will do next, but I will try and remain open to what may come. Perhaps I can... adapt... to how I am. Time heals all wounds, they say."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Well you're doing better than me already", the Scorpion told her. "If it had been me getting injured I'd be infuckingconsolable. If you tried to cheer me up, I'd have probably screamed at you to get lost." He shrugged. He knew himself at least that well.

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"Well... if I did scream at you to get lost, you might go get lost." Yukara stated, her hand clenched in her lap now. "I do not wish to be abandoned."

It was a simple statement, but strangely sincere, and in some sense, rather vulnerable.

[Bayushi Norikage]

"I'm too stupid to listen to that", he said and dug his pipe out of his sleeve, packing it hard. It was going to be another long day. "I know you feel low right now, but you can have a little faith in people who have spared you time. It means something when you do."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

"Thank you."

She picked out one of the flowers, tucking it behind her ear, and smiled, glancing over at him. "I am not used to this... I have spent a great deal of time traveling alone. I will have to keep learning."

Leaning back slightly, she took a deep breath, and continued, "I do not know what the future will hold, but I am glad I survived. I might have wished to die after fulfilling my mission before, but these last few days, I have seen how much there still is to experience - how many places there are to go. My world has been so small, and is now so big."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Well, good." He lit his pipe with his knife and a small stone. "And if you need help there are people you can ask, as well. If I'm the only friend you've made here that would be surprising, but at the very least you can come find me."

[Ryoshun Yukara]

She briefly leaned into his shoulder, then winced, and straightened. "I will. I... still feel as though I am to blame for this - that it was my own mistake that let me be so wounded... but I realize it is folly. I will try to put those thoughts behind me."

Taking a slow, steadying breath, she squeezed her arm about herself, half a pose she used to adopt more often. "If there are things I can do, please tell me. I do not want to be put away as an invalid and forgotten."

[Bayushi Norikage]

"Well", he stood up and walked around her, to sit on the other side, noting the discomfort she put herself through. "What did you dream last night? Mine was particularly terrible. Mind if we compare?"