Echoes of the Past

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru acknowledged her gratitude to the meal. "Mmm, hm," he mumbled. When the darkness fell he became more quiet. After scooping the last bit of noodles he ate slower and was waiting for her to fall asleep. After finishing he looked down at his empty bowl and sat there for a second. He was not looking forward to reaching town. He sighed out loud and took their bowls, the pan and the utensils. "I'll be back. I'm going to wash these and fill my gourd." He left her again after putting another log in the fire.

At the stream he didn't wash the dishes at first when he got there. Jiru cleaned himself in the stream and wrapped his wrists and left eye with new clean bandages. It was cold but not dangerously cold. Quickly he dried and redressed himself. Jiru filled his gourd, then washed the dishes and carried them. They would not touch the floor since they have been washed. On the way back he was thinking of the town battling the band of thieves. He wondered if there was a way to get the women and children to safety. But taking them away from the village would be just as worse. It was still early to think of any tactics so he tried to clear his mind.

Jiru got back to the camp and set his bed after putting away the dishes. He placed another log in the fire. Jiru took her gourd and placed them in the ring over the fire. "I told you, you have to boil the water..." He murmured, because he was uncertain if she was still asleep. After a while he put hers back, and drank from his after it cooled.

Jiru laid his sandals and hat next to him as he did the night before. The dog laid across from Echo and the ox was up in the distance again. He got into his blankets and rubbed his right eye to make sure it was clear. "Good night." He said, and rolled away from her. He was certain to wake up early this time to make breakfast.

[laraine]

Echo sighed. "Only someone like him wouldn't appreciate the wonder of the night.." she whispered to herself as he turned away from her to sleep. She herself closed her eyes, wrapped up in the blankets with Jiru's dog cuddling up to her.

She fell into a deep sleep with nightmares and memories. But she awoke easily the next morning.

She stood up and yawned, stretching. "Good morning." She patted the dog gently on the head and gave him a small smile. She didn't want to wake up jiru unless he wanted to sleep longer.

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru laid in his bed all curled up and coughed a bit. He pointed at the fire. He said lazily, "Food's over there, I already ate." The fire had fish already grilled. There was three medium sized fish because he noticed that she really liked to eat. Jiru himself had one and a half. The half he had given to the dog-- after he made sure there were no bones.

Jiru lazily got himself up and itched his head. "I'll clean up..." He folded his blankets and lazily go it into the wagon. He yawned, "Did you sleep well?" He went over to where his bed was and put on his hat, his sandals were already on. He headed over to go fold her blankets. He slouched and said, "I am definitely not a morning person..."

[laraine]

Echo quickly decended upon the fish and ate them quickly. She finished her food as he finished cleaning up. She noticed him looking a little worse for wear. She smirked, then stood up walking over to her horse and patting him gently on the side.

"Well should we get going then?" She asked Jiru. She got onto her horse effortlessly and rode over to him.

"Hey Jiru, thank you for doing this. I know it must be hard to put your town at risk...." She looked away. " I wouldn't risk so many lives unless I knew I could beat them somehow."

[JxSlaughter]

"Well should we get going then?" She asked Jiru. She got onto her horse effortlessly and rode over to him.

"Yup, lets get going." He replied. He got the bucket of water he took from the stream earlier in the morning to cool off the remains of the fire. He poked at it to make sure the fire was out so that he wouldn't cause a root fire.

"Hey Jiru, thank you for doing this. I know it must be hard to put your town at risk...." She looked away. "I wouldn't risk so many lives unless I knew I could beat them somehow."

Jiru covered the cart securely. He spoke as he got ready to go. "These men can make fine warriors. I'm just not sure how we can make them work as one. It will take some convincing to get the head knight to help with military tactics. But I can easily sway the people themselves." After connecting the ox to the cart the dog hopped on. Jiru and Echo were on the move again.

[laraine]

Echo nodded and they wandered in silence for another day, but as the sun slowly began to set, Echo sensed something dangerous nearby. She stopped her horse, looking around the area. The feeling in the air was heavy.

"Jiru! Stop and get back! Its dangerous!" She got off her horse in time to see three male figures appear from the trees. Each smirked with a sinister smile. One had spiked white hair and black clothes and held a whip in his hands.

The other had long green hair and flowing robes.

The final one had purple eyes and medium cut blue hair in a pony tail and twin daggers in each hand. He wore simple peasant clothes.

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru pulled back the ox and it gave a snort and stomped before fully halting its movements. He stopped somewhat beside her. "Who are these people?" They definitely did not look like regular thieves, well, except the blue haired one with the daggers anyways. The dog snarled at the bunch and stood up in the wagon. Ears, tail and hair up. The Akita waited for a command to attack them. Jiru whispered to Echo. "I can't go backward in the cart..."

[laraine]

Echo bit her lip as the one with white hair walked foreword.

"Well well what do we have here? A little runt and a one eyed freak. At least I thought the runt would be alone now, right Elemental?" The man looked to Echo as he said this.

"So you do know who I am." Echo frowned.

"Course, the group were trying to join thinks of you as a poor stray to be put out of its misery. How the mighty have fallen dear priestess."

Echo was getting angry at this man's taunts and looked over at Jiru, then turned back to them and hissed.

"Darn it.." She jumped into action, running towards the man closest to her and avoiding his attacks as the other two also closed in.

I need space....there's no way I can attack these guys without enough room so I or Jiru go down with my power....what should I.....fire!!! I can only use it once though...here goes nothing...

She held out both hands which glowed red. She grasped the white and blue haired men and fires licked at their bodies as it ate away at their clothes.

She jumped away but failed to see the third one behind her, ready to attack.

[JxSlaughter]

"Course, the group were trying to join thinks of you as a poor stray to be put out of its misery. How the mighty have fallen dear priestess."

Jiru looked surprised. "Priestess?"

Jiru put his arm partly over his face when the two became engulfed in fire. "This looks familiar!" The ox went into a panic but Jiru was able to settle it by holding back the halter. "She attacked first... But they knew her, so she must be the target." Jiru failed to imagine her as a criminal even though the men didn't attack yet.

Jiru saw the person Echo did not attack behind her and put his hand over the handle of the weapon. Jiru commanded Ginta to stay before jumping out of the cart. However the dog kept growling and barking, so it made the ox tense. He ran over to the stranger with his right hand on the handle of the katana, and his left hand lowered his rice hat to hang onto his back. With the only vision he had coming from his right eye, the hat would hinder him further. "Echo!"

He swung at the man with green hair only when he came into a close enough distance to him. This way his weapon's length would not be known to the victim and so that he couldn't dodge fully. He cut through the chest, but not lethally deep at all. The man kept dodging Jiru's swings afterward. Jiru got very into the fighting even though he intended not to kill. "One eyed creep huh?!" Jiru put force into a swing across his face when it was open. It got the man's right eye and it continued across his forehead. Again, his swing wasn't lethal- but it definitely wounded. Jiru jumped back as the man held his wounded eye. "Hah!"

[laraine]

THe man with green hair hissed and Echo turned to face them as the other two ran screaming for water. The green haired man held his face, then saw Echo and growled.

"You haven't seen the last of me priestess!!" The man fled into the trees. Echo sighed and walked over to her horse, jumping back onto it. "Let's move on, not sure what else we may encounter on this road. Best to get there as soon as possible. Thanks for the help Jiru."

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru flicked the blood off the tip of his sword and put it back. "That was rather fun." He chuckled, then got into the cart after comforting the ox and silencing the dog. He put back on his rice hat and continued down the road with her.

After some time of silence he broke it. "So... your some kind of a preistess...?" He looked down to cover his expression.

[laraine]

"I was.." Echo answered. "Pay that man no mind what he said...It's a part of my past.." She closed her eyes and sighed, continuing on. "In the village I grew up in I was the daughter of the priest and priestess. Thus I became one as well, that's all." She didn't say anything more, the shield over her heart firmly in place. Still, the memories of that one day clouded her vision. It was hard to escape the destruction.

"Those people were trainees I guess you could call them. For that group were going to destroy. They want to join that murderous thieves group. They were sent to distract us I guess. However that means I must be getting on their nerves." she smirked at this.

[JxSlaughter]

"Mm..." Jiru thought for a while, "Why would they take on so much effort to stop her. She's just one person, but he guessed it is because she has great power and possibly the potential to stop them. "But still, there must be more than that!" "I can't ignore your past, if people are trying to kill you for it." The look he gave her a look that portrayed how serious the situation was, and for a while as if she was keeping something from him. He was expecting to hear more of her story. But looked away because she said to forget it, he didn't want to bring about more sadness in her.

He knew there would be more of the men. If they kept trailing them then they would know which village they were coming to next. Jiru never felt so impatient in his life.

"I need to ditch the cart, we are going too slow. We could make it in 2 days if we both paced on horses." Jiru paused. "But there are no ranchers that we will reach tonight." Jiru sighed and hung his head low.

[laraine]

Echo clenched her hands into fists. "I'm sure you understand my feelings Jiru...I'd rather not revisit that past. Besides, I can't very well tell a stranger something as like that. I have to trust you, otherwise in the end, I might suffer most of all." She smiled at him, then turned away.

I'm lying of course...in the end, if he finds out everything..he will be the one hurt most of all..he cannot get close to me...

"Besides, I'm a child right? child's pasts are pretty ordinary and boring, you wouldn't want to hear it."

She then heard him speak of the cart and frowned. "It's true that we would go faster without the cart but you don't have to abandon it for my sake. We should be fine, if any other evil guys come I can handle them, don't worry.. I won't let anything hurt you Jiru."

[JxSlaughter]

Jiru laughed in his head. "She is still holing that 'child' grudge against me." He knew that he should fix this some how.

He placed his elbow on his lap and faced her with a smile. "Only a child huh?" He chuckled before continuing. "What I think of physical age isn't the same as how I think the maturity level of someone is, or just because they are young their past is insignificant." He closed his eyes. "Besides, you treat me like a child since you have magic powers anyways." He attempted to quote her from memory, "I'll protect you, I won't leave you." "I think we've reached even ground. What do you think? Still gonna' use that child thing against me?"

"But all jokes aside, your a strong girl Echo. You've been through a lot. Your stronger than any adult I've met. Even if I wasn't here you'd be chasing those men down till you've turned them into ashes." He pointed at her and smiled, with the same look of seriousness and attention he did earlier. "You have a heart and spirit beyond that of an adult." He nodded.

"Including me."