"But that doesn't make any sense!" Naoyuki and Nobuhiko had been going on for several hours as they walked along the road to the point that Avery had completely abandoned them and was walking up beside Maru, who kept staring down at his map praying silently that he was, indeed, going the right way.

"Fuck, I wish I knew how close we were," Maru quietly whispered as he prayed that it was close so the fighting would end faster.

Avery looked down at the map as Maru looked up at him, and he saw his eyes widen as he took it from Maru. Maru watched him pause and look up at the sky, narrowing his eyes as he made adjustments to the map before his eyes widened and he handed it back to Maru, "You've been taking us in the wrong goddamn direction, you blind bastard!"

Maru looked down at the paper and saw that they had been technically following the road in reverse for over half a day anf that they had, by his estimation, missed at least six turns where they should have gone down several side roads. "Oh, you have got to be..." he paused and looked up at Avery, who was looking down at him about as unamused as humanly possible as he did. "Not a word. Not to Nobuhiko and not to Naoyuki."

"Normally, this is where I'd insult the shit out of you, but if we're being honest.... At the rate this whole trip is going, this is about what I've come to expect."

"I can't understand you, remember?"

"Oh, I know you can't."

"What's going on up there?" Maru heard Nobuhiko call up from behind them, and both Maru and Naoyuki exchanged a quick look before they turned around with confident smiles that was met with suspicious confusion from both of the others.

"We're good! Just... having a chat."

Nobuhiko frowned, "You can't understand each other."

"It's the feeling."

Naoyuki narrowed his eyes, "Sounds like bullshit."

"You sound like bullshit," Maru heard Avery mutter something under his breath as he turned back to the road looking more tired and done than when he began.

Despite the constant bickering between the samurai and the mercenary, Maru was still mostly enjoying the trip. He kept his decision to hear-out Hashioni and Sen as an option in the back of his mind, carefully stored away. There was still a part of him that told him if there was the chance to kill the yokai, he should take it. Who knows if the Rot could even be cured? Experience told him to rely on the element of surprise than take the risk, but something about it still wasn't sitting right with him at the end of the day. Maru watched Avery beside him and moved in closer to him, "I just need an ear."

"Yes?"

"Okay... If we ran really quickly, I think we could outrun Nobuhiko. If I got you a new sword, could you theoretically knock out Naoyuki? I think you could. That would solve our fighting problem."

"It certainly would be a lot quieter."

"That sounded like an affirmation."

"Congratulations, it was."

"I don't trust that conspiratorial nonsense going on up there," Naoyuki called up, soon trotting up to join them with suspicious eyes. He looked between the two before rolling his shoulders, and they were soon joined by Nobuhiko, who had taken up walking beside Maru. "Okay, so, this area we're supposed to be coming up on here is allegedly home to an Ashura."

"An Ashura," Maru looked over at him, eyes wide. "Ashura. The Buddhist warrior deities? Those Ashura?"

Naoyuki nodded. "Lives in a monastery, apparently." He paused and looked over at Maru, "Hey... think you could beat one of those?"

"No!" Maru turned and stammered before he choked out the word.

"Welp... Hope he's not an issue."

---

As it would turn out, the Ashura was the least of their problems. After sprinting away from an accidental murder, Maru and company found themselves standing, bruised and bloodied, a decent ways away from where they had encountered Sen and the others. Nobuhiko was the only one who emerged with actual wounds, hobbling up after everyone else with a broken nose and lip split in several places from where the onna-bugeisha had absolutely pulverized him. Naoyuki, on the other hand, was beyond frazzled.

"I shot... a monk!" Naoyuki squeaked out as he spun to Maru. "I shot a fucking monk! I am going to the worst possible segment of hell because of you and your stupid contract!"

"Or maybe," Nobuhiko countered as he nursed his bruised lip, "you could be a better shot?"

"I am a member of the Saika-ikki, you windbag! You don't get a better shot in all of Nihon than me!" Naoyuki snapped back, his tone offended and his pride obviously on the line.

"Oh, yes. I am very impressed by the lovely miss you had back there."

"I will end you."

"Enough!" Maru finally screamed over their fighting, prompting everyone in the whole clearing to stop and stare at him in surprise. He stood there, chest heaving, "If this isn't divine intervention telling me that maybe I made a mistake about these guys, then I have no idea what is! Every single time I've tried to put a stop to all of this, what's happened? Someone gets killed, I almost die-! The points where everything falls apart have been absolutely endless! My partner is dead, my contract is overdue, and I'm travelling with a sellsword and a samurai who can't get along for five minutes!" Naoyuki and Nobuhiko locked eyes with one another before slowly turning their bewildered gazes back to Maru, who let himself slide down the tree and let his head fall back against its trunk as he passed his hands over his face. "I don't even know what the fuck I was thinking after Ran died. I should have turned around and gone home. Instead, I'm here - embarrassing myself."

A quiet hung heavy over the group as they all stood by quietly, their eyes nervously darting between one another while Maru sat back against the tree, eyes close and face turned towards the sky. "But you didn't," Nobuhiko spoke up after a moment of silence between the four. "You are here and you are alive. That accounts for something."

"Never underestimate the perk that living is," Naoyuki added as he crossed his arms with a heavy sigh. "Listen, Rat Man, this whole thing going on... Think it's a sign?"

Nobuhiko turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "Seriously?"

"Listen," Naoyuki held up a hand to stop the protests, "I know that I am a little more superstitious than the average lunatic, but this whole thing where he has been consistently failing is really starting to feel intentional."

Maru didn't usually believe in major bouts of superstition, but how could he not? It was like ever single time, no matter how perfectly he set himself up, something always went horribly wrong. There was never a moment more where he genuinely began to believe that perhaps, just maybe, there was something else going on here that he couldn't quite explain.

"Intentional or not," Nobuhiko finally jumped in after seeming to chew on the idea a bit himself, "you can't just go back to your leader empty handed."

Maru gently thumped his head back against the tree. Nobuhiko was right. He couldn't. If he went back without fulfilling the contract, the best option he could get would be expulsion from the order. the worst... Well, he didn't want to entertain the worst one. Nobody simply walked away from the Sayonakidori, and they certainly didn't suffer failure. You either finished your mission or you didn't come back. He decided as he sat up and pushed himself to his feet what he planned to do. He looked around at his three friends, who all looked expectantly to him as if they were waiting for him to tell them what he planned to do. 

"I'm not going to kill him. Let's try and figure out what happened here," Maru exhaled as he spoke, and he saw Naoyuki actually seem pleased with something he said for once. "Nothing about what we've heard has been adding up to this yokai being a murderer. I say that we give him a chance to explain himself before we draw conclusions."

"Is that... sensibility?" Naoyuki feigned a gasp as Maru rolled his eyes. 

"Shut up, Naoyuki."

---

"Here we are!" Naoyuki announced from the front of the group, placing his hands on his hips proudly, "Mino!" The rolling farmlands reminded Maru of home in Kai, though Mino boasted a wider swath of fields laid full of water for the rice than he remembered in Michizane. "That town down there," Naoyuki gestured down to the village, "is called Kikukawa. One of my seniors comes through here a lot. Never says why and won't let us go to meetings, but it always turns out well."

"You never ask?" Nobuhiko cocked an eyebrow as he looked to the mercenary.

Naoyuki seemed surprised at the suggestion, "Why would I? A lot of us have their own businesses on the side. Besides, it's none of mine what he does in his free time."

Nobuhiko slowly turned to look at Naoyuki with a befuddled expression written all over his face. Maru almost laughed, but decided against it as he turned to look over at Avery. The large man had pulled out a small notebook and was sketching something in it. When he craned his neck to see, he saw a smattering of strange characters with rather well done sketches of places and people, each one labelled and done in charcoal. Maru recognized several people from the previous town, some of Nobuhiko's samurai, and now the view of Kikukawa over the horizon. Avery seemed to feel him looking and lowered the journal so the man could see. He flipped back several pages to show Maru a picture he had sketched of him, a portrait of him in his somen, and nodded. "I don't think you look half bad in this one, personally." A few pages in, Maru saw a drawing of Sen. He recognized the armor he wore from some of their encounters before. He cut an imposing figure despite his height, Maru could give him that. beside him was the hunched, lumbering figure of Hashioni.

"Huh," he looked up at Avery, "I didn't think you'd have another hidden talent."

"Maru!" Naoyuki whined from beside them, making the two turn to look at him and Nobuhiko, "Tell him to quit being an elitist jackass!"

"I am not!"

"They are actual bloody children," Avery muttered beside Maru, who just sighed and turned to the road. 

"Come on."

The descended into the town and quickly began making their way towards the estate that they had spotted from the hill. Maru had taken ahold of his somen and held it up to the guards at the gate, "We would like to speak to the lord of this area. I'm with the Sayonakidori, and we seek his help."

"Is Lord Aoigahara here?" Nobuhiko asked, seemingly hoping to let his armor and two swords give them a little more leverage.

The two still looked hesitant, but seeing an actual samurai seemed to relax them somewhat. "Lord Aoigahara is not here," the senior of the two spoke, "but his son, Harukawa, is here... If you'd like to speak with him, he's receiving visitors, I mean."

They followed the senior inside and into the reception room as one man was leaving. Maru knew that he had to be at least Avery's height, and when he paused as he went to pass them, his suspicion was confirmed. he was an absolute giant, and the odachi on his back looked like a regular sized weapon because of it. His skin was darker, his hair jet black, and his face covered with a unkempt beard. He was dressed in fine black armor and had his kabuto pulled up under his arm. he was sizing Avery up for a moment before he grunted, "You're one big bastard, aren't you?" He then dropped his eyes to Maru, Naoyuki, and Nobuhiko with a small chuckle, "So, what do we have here?"

"Hello, Lord Shigezane," the guard bowed quickly. "We have a member of the Sayonakidori and one of Lord Kajiwara's sons here to see Lord Harukawa."

"Fine, just ignore the Saika," Naoyuki muttered quietly which made Shigezane look down at him with an actual grin.

"Ah! Now there's a reputable man! You know Ushitaro?"

The door opened again and one of the other guards poked his head into the hall, "Lord Harukawa will see the visitors now."

Shigezane pulled out a sealed missive and handed it to Naoyuki, "For if you see him."

Naoyuki took it and smiled as he held it between his fingers, "I'll get it to him, boss."

They followed the guards into the room and took a seat before the man that Maru suspected was Harukawa. He was young, younger than Maru even, but despite that, the young lord cut an impressive figure. He had sharp eyes and cheeks that served to accent his rich brown eyes. There was a level of fierceness in his face that Maru hadn't exactly been expecting, and sitting there in front of him made him slightly squeamish. Flanked on either side by advisors, all looking to have seen their fair share of battles, the young lord looked well-advised at worst. "Here in Mino," the young lord began, his voice seeming to fill the entire space as he spoke, "we do not appreciate the presence of the Sayonakidori - specifically here in Kikukawa."

"I am aware," Maru bowed an apology, "but we have come to ask for your help. I am looking for a yokai, though I believe that he has been falsely accused of a crime. I was hoping that you could aid me in finding him."

"Our prefecture is at war, boy," one of the older men snarled. "We have no time to go off chasing yokai."

Harukawa nodded as he turned his attention from his advisor back to Maru, "On this, Lord Saganosuke is right. Currently, my focus is on aiding Lord Akechi however I am able. I have no men to spare in your search, I am afraid."

"Oh, that's no issue," a voice spoke from the back of the room that made Maru spin around. Standing there in a long blue kimono, her uchikake of bright silvers and green draped over her like the mantle of a saint, was Shoda. She looked like a noblewoman and not the fearsome warrior that Maru knew she was with her long grey hair hanging down her back and spilling over her shoulders. Despite that, she walked with a purpose, the kimono opening slightly at its turned edges to reveal her white underskirt. Behind her was a man done up in a dark jinbaori and grey clothes, his dark hair pulled just back off his shoulders as he followed her. His eyebrows were naturally somewhat furrowed and his laugh lines were pronounced, giving him a serious air about him as he followed closely behind Shoda.

"Oh!" Harukawa quickly stood up and gave a small bow, "Mother..."

"Mother?" Naoyuki turned and looked at her, eyebrows raising, "You're an actual mom?"

Shoda smirked at him, "Surprised, dirtbag?"

"Just a smidge."

"You know them?" Harukawa looked between the assembled men and his mother, blinking in surprise as he did.

"I do, unfortunately," Shoda chuckled, placing a hand on her hip. "Gyoubu, these are the ones I told you about."

Maru turned to look more at the man as he stood, still surprised to see Shoda there. "Is this the Gyoubu that came up right before you left?"

"Aye," Shoda responded with a smile, "He is. Maru, let me fill you in. Haru! Get these boys some food. They've come a long way!" She herded Maru out of the hall with her as Harukawa watched on in confusion.

Once they cleared the door, Maru moved to her side and shook his head, "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"The feeling's mutual," she chuckled as she closed an adjacent door to give them complete privacy. "I take it that you're here on that contract." When he hesitated, she chuckled. "I've been kept informed by Naoyuki," Shoda turned to Maru as she spoke.

"What? How?"

"Well," she chuckled, "I can't give away all of his trade secrets. Just know that he gets a remarkable amount of information out very quickly and that you really should be nicer to him."

"Does this mean that you'll be coming with us?" Maru asked as he stepped closer to her. "Group's been rowdy without you."

"I can't come with you," Shoda smiled sadly at him as she reached out and took his hands, "but Naoyuki told me about your decision. I'm proud of you, Maru." She reached up and brushed his hair back from his face and kept smiling at him, softening more than what Maru had ever seen before. "I heard rumors of your yokai arriving," she nodded as she straightened his kosode and gave him a gentle shove. "Go on. I'll get the boys to fill you in over a meal."

"What about you?" Maru asked as he paused to watch her.

"I'll join you soon," she smiled at him as he returned the gesture and moved back to the meeting hall, leaving her standing alone.

Behind her, one of the doors slid open, and Rokujo appeared at her side. She hadn't ever gotten over how quietly he could move when he set his mind to it. "You're being awfully nice to him," Rokujo glanced down at Shoda, who snorted slightly and turned to look at him. "That's not like you."

"I guess..." Shoda trailed off for a moment before she looked down with a smile the Rokujo would almost dare to call embarrassed. "I guess... He's the type of boy that I hope Kurokawa has grown up to become, wherever he is."

Rokujo smiled and came to stand beside her, folding his hands in front of him with a small shrug of his shoulders, "Well... I do guess he could do a lot worse. Do you think he's in league with Kazegumo?"

"Who, Maru?" Shoda turned to blink at him in surprise. "No! No, of course not."

"And this isn't friendship getting in the way?"

"No. Maru has an actual soul. I guess Sadamasa got ahold of him before Kazegumo could really brainwash him." Shoda watched the door where Maru had vanished through and sighed as she looked down at her hands, "I guess I just wish we could do... something. Anything,"

"We have our priorities to help Mitsukage's mission first. The Blades need us," Rokujo reminded her of something she had to tell herself over and over again.

"I know..." Shoda looked from her hands and back to his face, "but... I guess we have to watch our children shoulder a fight that we should have ended years ago. It just gnaws at me that we can't do more to help."