The clouds that blotted out the small bit of light in our world had finally dissipated, leaving behind sheets of snow to cover the land.

I tugged the bindings on the back of my horse, assuring I had tied my belongings down.

Behind me was Sora, who was now awkwardly trying to fit a katana into his usual luggage.

And in front of me was Mahiro... We hadn't spoken in weeks, and I knew I wouldn't have the chance to speak with him during the ride to the yokai's last spotting.

My words caught in my throat as I tried to speak. "H-Hello, Mahiro... Are you doing well?"

Mahiro confusedly looked up at me. In retrospect, that was out of the blue. But nonetheless, he eventually responded. "I am doing as well as I can do..."

We sat in silence for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, I mustered the sentences together. Although I didn't feel nervous, I couldn't speak without hesitation. I suppose talking with Mahiro since last time was icy waters, making me take more time to think about what I was saying. "That's good... You've been distant in the past few weeks and I wanted to make sure everything was according to how it should be."

After a second of thought, Mahiro nodded his head. "I... Appreciate that." Again we sat in silence, but Mahiro was the first to speak once more. "I've seen you helping Sora. That's a good thing to do."

Was that an acknowledgment of improvement? I decided not to question and interpret it as so. "Thank you, Mahiro."

Another silence.

As we both stood I noticed Mahiro's knuckles. They were scabbed and bruised but no longer constantly raw as they once were. It wasn't that significant, but it was a step in the right direction.

That meant progress on both our ends of the situation.

A horn sounded at the front of our caravan, which meant that it was finally time to embark.

Mahiro made one last statement. "We will talk later." And I simply nodded in response.

It was strange to me. How in this situation both Lee and Sora are struggling with themselves, but Mahiro thrives. I suppose there are more than one of us that know's how to deal with chaos.

Kohei blew into his horn once more, reminding me to swing my leg around my horse's back and finally saddle up.

I watched Kohei ride back and forth in the front of the group of Samurai. He shouted orders as he inspected our formation. "We're riding to the north-west. We should find ourselves in a small village within the next few days. The last sighting of our yokai, and the beginning of our hunt." He rode over to the carriages of supplies and looked at the Doctor, comfortably sitting on one of the passenger seats. His expression was a mix of anxiety and a hint of anger. But still, he spoke. "And I ask you all, please bring any and all injured citizens caused by the yokai to the doctor... For inspection."

That sentence made my stomach churn. If what the Doctor did to that soldier's leg was anything to go by, I knew I couldn't let him near any civilians, and I would have to do it without bringing attention to myself.

Once he finished, Kohei brought his horse into its place in the formation. The crowd was dead silent during his trot back.

Once ready, he blew his wooden horn one last time, signaling the company to start moving.

Our horses slowly started moving forward and speeding up.

The snowy landscape started to turn to a blur as we grew as fast as we could in the slippery terrain. The moon and torchlight bounced off the shining snow and illuminated the path, leaving a glowing path surrounded by a shadowy and dark forest.

We kept going, constantly pushing the limit of how fast we could travel.

The wind flew into my ears and echoed inside my mind, making it hard to think. But if I wanted to survive the oncoming situation, I had to think. I needed a new plan. Something to fall back on in the likely event that everything would go to shit.

But the more and more I pondered upon it, the more I realized there was nothing to do. If I ran, then I would be hunted by the Shogun. And if I stayed, I would die to either the yokai or whatever scheme that was obviously hatching in the Doctor's wretched mind.

I mindlessly watched the snow fly out of my vision as I thought on my hopeless situation. Hayato might have helped us hunt the creature. But I wasted my final meeting with him by humiliatingly revealing part of my past to him.

The cold air infiltrated my lungs and pierced through my body. In a fruitless attempt to prevent it, I pulled my kimono to my nose, covering part of my face and making the air I was breathing an unnoticeable amount warmer.

The scenery around us was changing. Going from large trees with a smattering of little villages to Bamboo and endless shrubbery.

I reminded myself that the yokai we were hunting was just another yokai. I had killed hundreds... No, thousands of those things with my Ember. And although this yokai felt sinister, it was still the same. And although my power used to be immense, making a simple raise of the hand into a shining beam of light that eradicated the evil. I still knew how to handle myself when fighting without an Ember, right?

The horse flew through the air and it felt like it barely ever touched the ground, while I felt heavy and slow. I thought to myself again, I had killed yokai without my Ember before, surely. I was trained. I was skilled. And I could kill this...

Surely.

Maybe I felt slow because I was tired. I hadn't slept after I told Hayato about myself. A good night's rest would do me good. Hopefully, my insomnia wasn't making an extremely poorly timed entrance.

As I pondered all this while not noticing our caravan slowly coming to a stop. Luckily I noticed the halt just before I rammed into the soldier in front of me.

I looked over to Sora and Mahiro and shouted. "What happened?"

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Mahiro shrugged while looking forwards as Sora responded. "I'm not sure, although there appears to be a crossroads ahead. Perhaps that's what the trouble is?"

With a short response, I started climbing off my horse. "I'll go see."

I shuffled past confused faces in the slick snow, growing closer to the haphazardly stopped horses and carriages.

Finally I reached the front, where Kohei and Yasuo were inspecting the crossroads as Lee curiously listened in.

I spoke as I was close enough to be noticed. "What's happening?"

Yasuo waved me over. "We are deciding which direction we want to go. Our navigator stopped the caravan because this split in the path isn't on our map."

Kohei spoke up as Yasuo finished. "Well... It doesn't look like we will be able to be sure which way is right. Maybe we split up?"

Yasuo nodded his head. "Perhaps..." He turned and looked at the gathering of Samurai and counted them silently. "I will take half and you will take half?"

Kohei nodded in response. "It doesn't look like they split too drastically, we should be in hearing distance." He raised the wooden horn that was hanging off his belt by a loose rope. "You sound your horn if you've got the correct path, and I'll do the same if my path is right."

Yasuo lifted and inspected the small horn he had recently received from his pack. Slowly but surely he became co-captain of the caravan. After he was finished he looked over to Kohei and gave a determined expression. "I will gather up those I want to bring with me. I should need... Perhaps twenty to thirty men to make half?" Yasuo walked towards the men and started choosing in his mind. And once he was far away enough from Kohei and close enough to me he spoke in a hushed manner. "I'll make sure to pick our group. We stay together..."

As much as I agreed with that statement, I felt like I needed to speak with Mahiro. And with his hate towards Lee, I didn't see that happen. I responded. "Actually, I think it may be best if we split. Lee should go with Kohei along with Sora to make sure he stays safe."

Yasuo looked over to me, surprised. "I didn't think you would have wanted us to, but if you insist..." He turned abruptly and started walking towards Kohei. But before he left, he spoke one last time. "Go back to your horse. We'll be off soon."

And so I decided to return to my animal as Yasuo told Kohei of his decision. Only a short walk was needed to get back to my horse.

Sora spoke as I mounted. "What did he say?"

I answered briefly. "We'll be splitting up. You and Lee will go with Kohei while Mahiro and I will be going with Yasuo."

Sora spoke as Mahiro stayed quiet. "Alright."

After that, we sat in silence as we watched Kohei and Yasuo sort it all out.

Once the two finished hashing through all possibilities in the snow they mounted their horses once more Kohei shouted to the men. "We're splitting in half!" And without any more words he started waving men and carriages over to his half of the road.

Soon the men in the back and I made our way to Kohei and Yasuo. As planned, Yasuo waved me and Mahiro to his muddy and small path as Kohei waved Sora over to his large and snowy.

Yasuo shouted. "Let's move!" As he moved his horse into position.

Our horses neighed and whinnied as we slowly got them onto the messy path.

I thought the snow was slick, but the mud made it too slippery to even move at full speed without the risk of falling.

We moved at a decent pace through the path as it grew only small and smaller. The large bamboo shoots and bushes started engulfing the path. Soon we were in a single line formation, going Yasuo in the front and Mahiro in the back, right behind me.

I thought to myself.

Now, if Mahiro wasn't-

The road was so narrow that a bush brushed against my side, startling me and disrupting my thoughts. I knew this couldn't be the way, and I believed Yasuo knew as well.

We gradually started slowing down, and as I looked forward I saw that we had hit a dead end. Nothing but bamboo, shrubbery, and the occasional tree.

As we started turning around, a large cracking came from the woods, a large bamboo stalk falling over the road.

Mahiro stared at the bamboo, but quickly looked over to me. "Yokai!?"

I peered into the forest. I didn't see anything, but it felt like that had to be on purpose.

As I jumped off my horse I raised my hand to Mahiro, telling him to stay where he was for the time being. "I'll see."

I lurched closer as I drew my golden accented sword from its sheath. It was deadly quiet, a yokai would have already tried to attack...

Finally, I reached to edge of the clearing. And as I saw what had done it, it was too late.

Mahiro shouted. "Bandits!"

The cloaked figures popped out of the bamboo forest and held swords to the still mounted Samurai.

I quickly counted one, two, three, four... Twelve shroud figures. We severely outnumbered them, but they looked like they knew what they were doing, and we were vulnerable.

As they ordered, the men slowly got off their horses and threw their katanas into the forest.

A man walked towards me, holding a strange wooden contraption with an arrow held by a wooden mechanism, the only thing keeping the extremely taught cord from shooting it. It looked strangely familiar to a bow and arrow. But as I pondered over his weapon, the man shouted. "Drop your sword!"

I looked to my hand and noticed I had instinctively taken stance. There was no way for me to beat them. But there was also no way I was going to throw my katana away.

Slowly, I sheathed my sword. But the thief wasn't satisfied. "I said drop it!"

All I could do was shake my head.

He stared. His finger drifted over the trigger. But luckily I won the bargain.

The Bandit walked over to me and looked as though he was preparing to attack me, or teach me a lesson, as I'd bet he would phrase it.

I could see Mahiro watching me, even in this situation, he was seeing what I would do.

The other bandits were searching through luggage, distracted, vulnerable. It was my only chance to make a move, my only chance to impress.

With each step closer I formulated a plan. It wasn't a good plan or a smart plan, but it was a plan.

As he finally came to arms distance he swung his wooden contraption backward, but he was slow, awkward, and inexperienced.

I didn't have enough time to draw my sword, nor did I want to kill him. Which meant I only had one option.

He finally started to swing forward as I threw my fist flying towards him. And before his weapon could touch me I made contact. I could feel my fist crack against his jaw. One or the other was going to break, and luckily it didn't feel like my hand.

The thief was foolish for trying to attack so openly, and he paid the price. They couldn't be more than teenagers with homemade contraptions trying to make easy coin.

Quickly enough the other Samurai caught on and attacked the bandits, hitting and pushing and yelling filled the small road. They tried their best, but the thieves were completely outmatched in both skill and numbers.

The bandit in front of me was drawing back in pain. But I couldn't leave him the chance to fire his weapon, so I leaped forward and struck him again, this time to the side of the head.

As I hit, he fell limp to the ground, unconscious. The others were finished in almost no time at all, almost as absurdly fast as the situation seemed to have escalated.

I stared as the bandits lay either unconscious or with paralyzing fear in the mud, begging to be let free.

Mahiro walked over to me as Yasuo and the others decided what to do with them. He spoke. "That was bold and possibly foolish, but it worked. Well done..." Did he just compliment my decision? It felt impossible, but I'd heard it nonetheless.

I nodded. "They were young and inexperienced... We all did our parts, I was just the first to act." Mahiro shrugged and started to walk away, but I spoke again. "Mahiro!" He turned back to look at me. "I've been meaning to talk to you. You've been distant since... Last we talked. And I understand, but we all need to stay with one another now. We need to stay a team."

Mahiro's blank expression held intense anger and emotion behind it. He still was unhappy, but he agreed. "I'll be more in touch. You've been doing better, but I've yet to find forgiveness. All I can offer is to be less absent. I know we've formed some sort of..." He stopped himself, but then forced the words to come out. "Team. And now I'm a part of that whether I like it or not." He stared blankly into the forest as a horn sounded in the distance. "This was not a bad conversation. We'll see each other again."

Was that a conversation to Mahiro? I supposed so. But all the same, we were back on talking terms.

The horn sounded again. Kohei must have realized he had the correct path.

It looked as though Yasuo decided to leave the bandits. They were children, and not worth the effort.

Again, the horn sounded. Something that resembled a team was formed once again.

The final stretch was ahead of us. The cold air engulfed us where we were. And the warm and sunny past was behind us.

We could only go forward now, into the pain and the dark, with nothing but the hope of making it out alive to comfort us.