"Crackle, crackle"

The sound of wood succumbing to the heat, while cinders and ash are born into the world.

With a slivery grey hue, they move in response to the wind, which was disrupted from its intended course and forced to move in the path, which was carved by the constant swinging of a slender but sturdy piece of metal.

This slender, sturdy piece of metal was swung by a man, who kept on swinging it, despite sweating profusely due to the heat from the fire as well as the heat from his passion.

As if it were to bring him peace...

An answer...

The key to his salvation, perhaps?

Takeshi had set up his dwelling inside a cave, across the Kairyu River.

This river separated the academy village of Mt. Kyūkokuzan from the seaside village of Umikaze.

Umikaze was a calm, serene village, pretty much isolated, but not totally.

It was covered by the sea to the south and east, although it is safe to say that there was a small patch of forest that enclosed the east side.

To the north, there was a thick and dense forest, which covered a lot of distance further up north.

This forest, along with the vast mountain range, provided the natural cover for both villages.

The forest across the river and the forest in front of the village were abundant in different types of natural vegetation, providing food and shelter for indigenous fauna and humans alike.

In addition to this, the people of the village did their own farming with natural irrigation provided by the river, which was more than enough for them, not to mention a variety of fish from the sea, which made the villagers self-sufficient and sustainable.

****
A couple of hours before...

Takeshi, who had planned to settle down in the cave he first saw during the attack, inspected it and noted that it was rather too small, due to some sort of rock blocking the path to go further inside the cave.

As a result, he had to cross the river to look for his options.

He was planning to swim across but was concerned about any sudden change in river flow patterns, so he looked around.

"Hmm, this isn't a really deep river. It should be fine, right?
But... what if I get swept away? I'm not even sure where this river leads to."

"Hmm..." Takeshi scratches his chin for some time, then walks south for a bit and then turns back and walks north.

After some time, he passes his initial location and notices that there's a small, broken bridge there.

Takeshi walks towards it and inspects it.

'Hmm, well, it'll be alright, I guess. It has some wooden pieces missing and some broken, but it's not an impossible task to get through.' Takeshi thought to himself.

Takeshi slowly walks down the bridge, clinging to the rope and stopping every time he hears the slightest cries from the wood pieces.

"Okay, one step at a time...
One step at a time...
One step at a- Aaaaaaargh."

The poor old wooden pieces couldn't cling on to life and succumbed to their injuries, taking Takeshi with them as they fell down to the river.

Takeshi fell down into the water through the gap between adjacent broken and non-existent planks with a thud, along with the broken wooden planks.

"Gulp, Glurp, Glurp." Takeshi makes noises as he is taken aback by the sudden fall into the water, and he struggles to breathe through his nose and mouth.

The cold water of the river suddenly hitting his body felt rather like a punch to the body. It wasn't like it was freezing cold, but it was enough to make him shiver and make him really feel it.

To add to this, some water entered his nose as well, making it harder, but of course, it's only natural.

'Splutter' Takeshi tries to swim up to the surface.

'Coughs' "Huff Huff..." Takeshi heaves as he finally surfaces to open air.

"What the... Huff huff
What the hell? I thought I made it.
Aargh, so close.
I was almost near the end."

Takeshi swam a bit, moved to the opposite end, and was able to walk while still in the water as he reached closer.

"Hahh, Hahh..."
Takeshi bows down and rests his hands on his knees as he breathes heavily.

Water is dripping off him continuously, as if one were doing his business steadily.
Okay, that really was a bad analogy...
as if one were pouring water from a gourd... Hmm, that is better (it's not).

Takeshi waited for water from his hair, his clothes, and from other parts of his body to drain naturally.

His hakama and kimono, which were inside, were clinging to his body like a newlywed couple.

They refused to part ways with his body until he rinsed the parts of the clothes that could be rinsed without being removed.

Realising that it couldn't be helped, he decided to remove his haori. Just as he was about to do so, an old lady who was walking towards the river saw him and rushed towards him, to the best of her abilities.

"Oh my, you fell into the river, dear?" She said this as she stretched her hands to touch Takeshi's clothes.

"Ahh, grandma, I kind of fell.
And I kind of broke the bridge too.
Sorry about that." Takeshi said as he smiled and put his hand on the back of his head.

The old woman was small in height, supposedly in her 80s or maybe even older. She wore a pale brown kimono and an obi.

Her face was wrinkled, some of her teeth were missing, and she had a casket on her person that had a stick in it, supposedly for fishing. Her hair was rather short, or it would appear as if it were tied in a bun, and it was fashioned with a hairpin.

"Are you okay, dear?
Are you hurt somewhere?" The grandma said this as she inspected his body by going around him.

"No, grandma, I'm fine, I just have a scratch on my forearm, that is all. Nothing serious." Takeshi continued to smile as he said this.

"Ohh, It most certainly is not fine. We need to get you treated.
Come with me to the village.

I'm not sure from which direction you came from, but you certainly seem like a traveller. We should get this treated first thing." She said, with eyes filled with concern.

"I'll come there then, grandma.
But I'm concerned about the bridge.
I broke it, I have to take responsibility for it and see to it that no one crosses it until it's fixed."

"It's not your fault, dear. I've told Hamuro-dono several times to fix this bridge.
He procrastinated it by saying it'd last for over a year and so on, and look at this...

A young man like you fell into the river due to his lapse...
What would you have done if something more serious happened to you?

That brat, I'll make sure he gets an earful today."

"Hahaha, it's fine, grandma. I just want to make sure that this is repaired.

I can help in repairing it if any villagers can let me know how it is done." Takeshi hops and stands up straight, he then stretches his arms and back.

He moved his hands up in the air, then interlocked his fingers and really let them stretch out, closing his eyes and making a slightly displeasured face, which was followed by the sounds from his stretch, which really felt like the sound of a nut cracking.

He then took up the randoseru, which he had set down, before trying to rinse his clothes.

He then slowly walked towards the village that came into his view as he moved forward with Grandma.

"By the way, my boy, what is your name?" She asked curiously.

"Ohh, me? I'm Takeshi."

"Oh my, I'll call you Takeshi-chan then." The grandma smiled radiantly as she said his name.

"Hahaha, okay then.

What is your name, grandma?"

"It's Sachiko, you can call me Sachi!" Her smile, despite her age, almost seemed infectious to Takeshi, he somehow felt genuinely happy seeing her face, and every time he saw it, it seemed to be shining brighter than ever.

"Okay, I'll call Sachi obaa-san." Takeshi said as he returned her kindness with his own smile.

"Aaah, you shouldn't call me that, you know, I'm still a maiden at heart." She said this as she laughed and patted his shoulders.

Usually, people would feel weird about getting to know unknown elderly people, but for some reason, Takeshi found it normal, somehow, he felt comfortable, as if he were meeting someone like his grandfather again.

They walked a bit further and reached the village.

The village seemed really old to Takeshi in comparison to the one's he saw while travelling as a pilgrim.

The houses were made of timber, with wooden beams and all, some were in bad condition, and some looked like they were clinging on to dear life. Some were in pretty good condition still.

There were wooden frames that showed signs of termite infestation as the shou-sugi-ban (layer of protective char) had worn out.

The roofs were thatched with straws and reed, while some had some minor gaps.

There were people chatting around by the engawa of houses, and some people by the road.

In the distance, one could see a house that stood apart from the rest, which was the village chief's house.

"Hmm, Takeshi-chan, come, I don't think Aiko-chan hasn't returned yet.

We'll wait by there, while I get you something to change into." Sachiko-san said this to Takeshi as she headed into one of the houses.

Takeshi walked closer to the house, holding his injured hand by the elbow, and sank down to sit by the engawa.

Sachiko returned with a kimono and a hakama and handed them to Takeshi. Takeshi went inside a room in the house and changed into his new clothes.

He came out, and as he was looking for a place to wash it, Sachiko snatched it from his hands and smiled at him. Just as they were talking, a voice unfamiliar to Takeshi came from outside the house.

"Sachiko-san, are you the one in here?"
A young woman, in her mid-20s, with grey-coloured eyes and a fair complexion, wearing a dark blue kimono, wearing a white cloth on her head, and with hair tied in a bun, came into the house.

Her voice was rather pleasant to hear, and her face too was beautiful in its own right... 
On seeing Takeshi, her expression changed from pleasant to not so pleasant.

"Ay, ay, ay... Sachiko-san, did you go to the forest and pick up yet another stray?

You have to stop doing this, you know, this is a house, not an inn for ronin."

"Hai, Hai, this one is a good lad, Aiko-chan.
You know the bridge to Mt. Kyūkokuzan, right, the one that brat didn't repair yet.
It broke today, and this poor child fell into the river, he even got injured."

"Sachiko-san, how many times have I told you not to call him a brat in front of outsiders?
Well, I guess he is at fault, and it is partly that geezer's fault that we keep getting all these strays.

We had a couple of them last year, and now we have a stray no. 3.

Oi, you there, who are you exactly? You seem like a ronin, but I don't think you are one with bad manners. I'll patch you up, but you have to leave after that, there aren't any more futons to host another.

We already have a noisy one and a silent one mooching off of us." Aiko said it in a disgruntled tone, as if she remembered the faces of the two she was talking about.

"Ohh, you misunderstand me, Ms. Aiko. I have no intention to stay here in the village. Although it'd be nice if you let me know if there are any places where I can set up a tent, maybe a cave of  sorts."Takeshi waved one of his hands, trying to convey his intentions.

"Hahh? Cave? Are you serious?" Aiko asked in surprise.

Seeing Takeshi's rather serious expression, she understood that he really meant it.

"Alright, let me see, I'll find you a spot before nightfall."

'He doesn't seem like a bad person, I really wish we could set up a place for him to stay in the village. I'll talk to Hamuro-san and see if we can set up something.' Aiko thought to herself as she walked inside the house.

Takeshi's wound gets treated by Aiko.

Aiko was the village's local Isho, teacher, caretaker, and much more. She, along with other young women her age, did most of the work, raising their children, looking after the elderly, and tending to travellers who got lost in the forest.

Most of the young men of this village are enlisted in different armies or are wandering as ronin. The older men in the village do things that the women aren't able to, but as each year passes, their role gets lesser and lesser as the young girls learn to do stuff faster.

The village chief, some elderly husbands of a few women, and the samurai from the village who stayed back are the only men in this village, and while that itself isn't any less of a number, it is less compared to the number of women there.

In addition to them, there were two other guests in the village, and from Aiko's tone, they seemed to take advantage of the villagers kindness.

But she really was exaggerating, the thing she feared the most was them doing something inappropriate to the women here. While it seems unlikely, she can't trust them fully enough to clear off her suspicion.

After Takeshi got all ready, he took off to see the rest of the village. He was told to wait till Aiko got ready.

He went exploring on his own, and as he got closer to the outskirts. Houses were fewer, and there were a lot of trees planned here, beside which was the fence or boundary of the village.

The fence wasn't really necessary there, as beyond it was just a forest, which was small and light enough to see the sea beyond it.

Takeshi heard two distinct voices yelling, as if they were training, and he could also sense their ki, which appeared to be good enough even with this much distance between them.

He decided to check out the one on the right, as it piqued his interest.

As he moved closer, he could hear the sounds of the man's yelling more and more, not to mention the powerful swings of his sword.

He could also sense really strong ki—not as strong as Kenichii or Kaori, but stronger than the one he felt during his first match against Masayoshi.

It was fluctuating a lot, which was enough to send a chill down his spine. If there were any killing intent in it, it would've been able to scare quite a lot of people.

He walked slowly towards it, and as he was about to go beyond the fence, a voice called him out from behind.

"Oi, Takeshi-kun, let's go, I'm ready."

Takeshi, who was caught by surprise, turned around to find that it was Aiko.

He breathed heavily and then yelled back. "Okay, I'm coming, Aiko-san!"

He then walked back, but the curiosity remained in his mind. He had a feeling in his gut that he would run into this person, as well as the one on the other side.

Takeshi walked back into the heart of the village and met up with Aiko, following which they both left the village in search of a suitable place to stay.

Be-beng...

On the outskirts of the village, the opposite end...

"Ho, there seems to be someone new here. Did one of the samurai return? Or is it another ronin?
He has a very interesting ki signature; it's fluctuating a lot.

Hmm, well, the possibility of that person being like me is low, it could be that it is someone who hasn't trained their ki well.

Hmm, it'll be interesting to see who this is, hehe." 
The man, who was on the side where Takeshi was checking out, grinned as he said this.
He wiped the sweat off his face and continued on with his task.

****

"Another one with unstable ki, huh? Did that idiot go and bring someone else from his family?

Let's see how this plays out." The other ronin said as he felt Takeshi's presence fading away.

Be-beng...
Plink...

To be continued.