Kita blinked up at the strangers in his yurt, eyes especially going to Kiyuki. The minute he saw her, even in the dim light of his yurt, something struck him. She.. was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. He didn't know why, but something pulled at him. Something tugged so hard at him he nearly fell over. "K..Kiyuki-san...", he said, appreciating the way her name rolled around in his mouth. Then his manners caught up to the rest of him, and he blushed, rising to his feet.
	He was tall for his people at 5'7", and had a very strong build from all the hardships in his life. Snowy hair fell very long down his back, unusual in its sparkling tone and length, and his eyes were the most intriguing shade of violet, like two, perfect amethysts set in alabaster marble. Despite his hard life, he still looked quite youthful, probably no older than 17 or 18. His heart was thumping so hard in his chest, he thought surely they could hear it. He gave a courteous bow of the kind of greeting of his people and said with a warm voice, "I'm Kita Oroshi of the northern Han tribe." ~Damnit! Now I've done it. What if they've come about Yoli?~, he thought. Ah well. He could do nothing now. He shoved his heart back down into his throat and looked to Natasha.
	"I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but I am alright, Nat-san." If alright means looking like he hasn't eaten in days and being chilled to the bone, then sure, Kita's alright. Still, he stands proud, his self-reliance and pride a feature that adds to his wild charm. He is like a stubborn wildflower growing on the tundra, refusing to give in to the cold; shining, blooming in its beauty despite the harsh environment.
	With a shy, distant tone in his voice, he waves his hand over his sparse but comfortable yurt and says, "Welcome to my home." With more supplies like food and warm bedding, this yurt could be very cozy and warm, and could house plenty of people. Much like with a good dinner and a scrubbing behind the ears could make Kita into a truly handsome bishounen.


	Kiyuki sat behind Nat as the worn traveler proceeded to serve a clear soup to his visitors.  She didn't want to stare, but could not help being in awe of the strange features of the two men she had met.  First Nat's green eyes, and now Kita Oroshi's albino-like appearance...with violet eyes?!  Must be some mutated dominant/recessive genes floating around in this world's gene pool.  Kiyuki assured herself.  An insurmountable feeling of fear overcame her-what other unexpected phenomena hid in this world?  The momentary paranoia existed momentarily and Kiyuki regained her composure without drawing much attention.  The soup Kita served warmed her insides after being subjected to the bitter cold outside.  Frostbite...Kiyuki thought, nothing to worry about, it's probably only slight frostbite shaking me up.
	"I'm sorry there is not more I can offer you.  I have to make do with what I have for an indefinite amount of time."  It was apparent that Kita was extremely resourceful, utilizing anything from precious roots he had left for food to the freshly fallen snow.  Natasha picked up on this too hoping this man would be a greater friend than foe.  A long silence passed as the three drank.  Finally, Kiyuki broke the silence.
	"I must admit I don't know anything about the tribe from when you come from, Oroshi-san.  Since I am unfamiliar with many of your customs, I hope I don't offend you."
	The other two were taken aback by this comment.  However, Natasha figured Kiyuki was only trying to play the diplomat and proceeded to back her up.
	"As do I.  Thank you for your hospitality.  If there is anything we can help you with, please tell us."  <We are in this man's debt, but we must keep moving to Ara.  The longer I leave Kiyuki in one place, the more danger we can anticipate.
	"I have lived here for quite awhile and don't need much."  Kita replied. Kiyuki scanned the shelter.
	"Surely, you're in need of new supplies: food, oil, wood, or warm clothes." Kiyuki interjected.  "Whatever you're doing out here, it won't do you good if you're only surviving on bare bone essentials."  Kita looked at Kiyuki in a new light.  She was a pretty girl, but also seemed to sincerely care about his well being.  He deduced the two knew nothing about Yoli.
	"In any case," Kita answered.  "It's getting dark and you're still quite aways from the next town.  I have enough space.  Please stay the night and we can settle this tomorrow."  Natasha and Kiyuki obliged.




	Natasha awoke in the middle of the night to find the space where Kiyuki slept empty.  Startled, he slipped out and found her huddled in the shadows of the yurt.  He tapped her on the shoulder so she would see him.
	"Kiyuki, you shouldn't just disappear like this."
	"It's okay, Nat.  That's why I stayed in the shadows."
	"Yeah, yeah.  Clever, but something might've happened to you"
	Kiyuki makes a face.
	"...cute, real, cute...don't mock me."
	"Heh heh.  It's okay, really.  I may be a stranger, but not helpless.  Speaking of which, I think we need to help Oroshi-san out.  We should at least take him to town with us tomorrow."
	"I don't know."
	"What's wrong?  There's no indication that he's malicious.  He has no weapons.  You said so yourself that Ara was a big enough town.  He can't do anything if there are that many witnesses."  Kiyuki was sharp and Natasha had to give her credit for that.
	"True.  I suppose it wouldn't hurt us.  I was surprised he expressed no animosity towards us because of your appearance."
	"...and the Genbu conflict?  Me too."  The two sat pensively in thought for a long time.
	"Okay, now...back to bed.  You have to get back in the tent and stay there until morning, got it?"
	"But it probably is morning, Natasha-SAN."
	"Hey, hey...Kiyuki, no getting smart with me.  We'll be off tomorrow then with Kita."
	Somewhat ill at ease that Kiyuki had managed to awaken and leave the yurt without awakening him, Natasha thought to himself, 'You're sleeping too heavily Nat.  Be more careful.'  Curling up against a side of the yurt, he feigns sleep, closing his eyes and listening to the melodies playing only within his head.  Playing close attention to the melodies associated with the Genbu no miko, he smiles as she finally slips into sleep.  Cocking his head and listening to a far off tune, he smiles, thinking to himself, 'At least the band won't be too far ahead, sounds like there's a blizzard ahead.  Boy is Kat going to chew me out for wandering off though.'  Finally letting sleep once again overcome him, Natasha drifts off into slumber.


	Awakening early, before the first rays of sunlight peek over the horizon, Natasha carefully arises, sparing a quick glance over the two others in the yurt.  'They'll be needing something to eat, shouldn't be too hard to provide something,' he thinks, as he silently slips out of the yurt.  Arching his back, he works out a kink in his back.  Looking off to the east, the distant clouds have just begun to take on an orange glow, foretelling that the rising of the sun is approaching.  Nat mutters to himself, "Well, I should be able to make it back before the suns truly risen..."
	Pausing to listen to the melodies again, Natasha picks out a promising one, thinking 'Yes, should be in about that direction...  Something along the lines of a rabbit or hare.'  The sharp icy winds of Hokkan blow the snow up from the ground, swirling it through the air.  The cold flecks sting Natasha's skin as they pass.  Pulling his cloak tighter about himself, he heads off through the tree line, the soft crunch of his footsteps in the snow lost beneath the howl of the wind.
	There, a small shape, nibbling upon what little vegetation remains with the slowly approaching winter.  A blade silently winging through the air, produces what would have seemed an amazingly precise cut were any to have witnessed it.  The blade continues its flight, returning to its owners hand, and Natasha calmly wipes the traces of blood from his weapon before placing it once again beneath his voluminous cloak.  Grabbing his quarry, he notes the vegetation upon which it had fed, "Not enough to make use of... at least not yet, and its practically out of season."  Chuckling, Natasha closes his eyes, and begins a song, and as he opens his eyes, he sees the plant has grown many times its original size.  Smiling, he harvests what he needs, and returns to the yurt, noting the sun has risen in the east.


          Kiyuki and Kita awaken to the smells of pieces of rabbit, cooking over the small fire in the yurt.  Seeing the pale haired man stir, eyes opening, Nat smiles, "In return for your hospitality I tracked down a little something myself."
	Kita blinkblinks, looking a bit chagrinned.  "You didn't have to.." But Natasha smiles, shushing him with a raise of his hand. "No, Kita. I  want to and it is my custom." Kita scratched his head a bit but smiled, nodding. The gnawing in his stomach was getting on near painful, and that rabbit smelled so _good_!
          Dividing out the portions, Natasha sets a larger portion aside for Kita, and little for himself.  Finishing quickly before the others, Nat remarks, "Kiyuki and I will have to be off soon.  As I said yesterday, you are welcome to join us.  We're not heading into the more tribal lands you come from, but towards the cities of central Hokkan.  It's not exactly the world you know, but we could help you that far.  And there you could find a place for yourself."
	Glancing around the yurt, he adds "It has to be better than starving yourself to death here... for whatever reason you've chosen..."
	Kita frowns, looking as if something is hurting him inside. But he says nothing of it, merely murmuring, "I have nothing to go back for anyway."  A glance is shot to Kiyuki, eating carefully as she is.  For a moment, the ice around his heart threatens to melt and he says, "I would like to travel with you, if I could." But then he feels it and tightens up, the look on him turning cold again. "That is, if it would be no bother."
	Natasha grins, replying, "Not at all. We would enjoy your company...."  Nat stops, listening intently for an instant before rising and pulling his cloak tightly around himself, completely enshrouding himself, before exiting from the yurt.  Surprised at his sudden departure, Kiyuki and Kita look quizzically at him, querying "Natasha?," before following after him.


          Outside, it is obvious what prompted Natasha's egress, a man draped in a heavy travelling cloak sits astride a horse, approaching the yurt.  Natasha stands between the man and the yurt, black cape drawn in about himself, body hidden beneath, while his wild dark blue hair is whipped about in the wind.  Off behind the first horseman, two more follow slightly  back and to his right.  Even farther off a group of three more approach.  
	Seeing the small dark cloaked figure standing between himself and the yurt, the lead horseman pulls back on his reins, his horse prances as it comes to a stop.
	Natasha smirks, a mischievous glint passing through his eyes, "You're the one from Kikaku.  The one leading the mob to the shrine.  You did a good job of hiding your foreign accent.  They must have really thought you were one of them."
	The horseman glares down at the small figure before him, "We have come for the Genbu no Miko.  We suggest that you hand her over to us."
	"Genbu no Miko," Kiyuki mouths silently, realizing they mean herself she steps forward explaining "I'm not your Genbu no Miko, and..."  As she passes Natasha, he reaches out grabbing her shoulder and pulls her back behind him, earning a slight glare and rebuke, "I told you I can take care of myself, Nat."
          Turning to her, the Genbu no shichiseishi remarks, "Just humour me this once, we'll talk later."  Returning his attention to the horseman, Nat's eyes narrow, "I won't have you harm this girl, or drag her into the machinations of Hokkan's religion either."  Beneath the folds of his cloak, three metallic clicks emanate.  "If you don't press this matter any further, then I'll leave you be.  I would recommend standing down now, I'll take no responsibility for the consequences of your actions."
	The horseman chuckles at these words, coming from the small figure before him, "Big words, boy."  Signalling with one hand as his other commences to draw a sword, he calls out to his compatriots, "Kill the lot of 'em."
	Turning one last time to Kiyuki, Natasha remarks simply, "I warned them."  Nat practically explodes forwards, his hands snapping out to either side two blades now arcing through the air, his arms whip the cloak out from in front of him as he leaps forwards.  The boomerang like blades make their arcs with deadly precision, and the five other horsemen behind the leader quickly desist drawing their weapons, and instead reach to their throats, each futilely holding back the blood from the severed arteries.  In mid leap, Natasha flips, grasping the lead horseman's sword with his left hand.  Upside down, he pushes off of the sword flipping himself over the lead horseman as his right hand drags his third blade across the horseman's neck.  Landing behind the horse, his right hand reaches out and back to quickly grab the beasts reins, while his left hand reaches up and snags his two returning blades from the air.  Wiping the blood from his blades, folding them, and stashing them once again, Natasha turns back towards Kiyuki and Kita, in time to see the final horseman, the one he hadn't noticed, barreling down upon the Genbu no Miko.


	Kita watches the fight with awe, seeing Natasha move with such grace and speed. Kita was a good wrestler, and excellent with a bow, but he'd never seen anything quite like this. As he watches, the final horseman, taking advantage of the carnage and confusion, turns and begins to make his way towards Kiyuki.
	"You've caused us _enough_ trouble, little wretch. Now you _die_!" Kita's heart suddenly leaps.  

	Ka-thump! One heartbeat, and Kita's turning. 

	Ka-thump! Cold. He feels so very cold. The man is coming, his sword at the ready, evil in his eyes, and Kita's so scared. Not of the man, but what he feels inside. Ka-thump! ~No... Not again. NO MORE!!!~ His whole body is cold now and he feels an icy tingle over him, his vision clouding green a bit.

	Closer.  That sword, the gleam in the wielder's eyes.

	Ka-thump! "NO MOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!!!!", Kita screams, anguish and horror tearing him apart! As he screams, a bolt of green light shoots from his fists, which he realizes have come together straight out in front of him. As the bolt hits the rider, he is knocked back from his horse and covered in a thick shell of ice, both freezing and suffocating him at the same time. It happened in an instant, but to Kita, it was an eon. The horse, spooked, gallops on past, continuing on through the snow.

	Kita's eyes are as wide as they can be and he trembles. Ice clings to him in places, frost sparkling in his hair. He let loose so much energy, he's even partially-frozen himself. "What have I..." His voice is stricken, almost a whisper. Then he just drops to his knees, silent, eyes wide, terrified.

          Natasha's eyes widened slightly at the realization, 'Kita must be a Genbu no shichiseishi, it explains why Kiyuki was drawn out here, but he doesn't seem to know of the legend.'  The look on Kita's face told Natasha enough, 'He's not been hardened to death...  And he doesn't understand his power.  It scares him...  Damn Genbu!  Using us like tools, putting us through our own private hells just to shape us into exactly what he needs...'
	Placing his hand on Kita's shoulder, in a comforting gesture, Natasha remarks, "Thank you Kita...  You did do what was right, you know.  You were just protecting Kiyuki.... You had to.  And don't worry, there are others like you..."
	Kita turns to the small man, but before he can ask any further questions, the gypsy lifts a solitary finger to his lips in the gesture of quiet, "Shhh... Let me demonstrate."
	A momentary flash of green surrounds, Natasha, his eyes begin to almost glow with a green light, as he begins a song, one hand held outstretched as if holding a glass aloft for a toast.  Kiyuki and Kita look on, slightly confused.  On the ground before Natasha, slowly, through the snow, the tip of a vine breaks its way through the icy cage, faster and faster it grows as Natasha's power takes effect, nature itself being redirected and altered by his song.  The vine curls and wraps its way up the Rom's leg, crawling higher.  It wraps about his arm, curling about it, tendrils writhing like snakes moving slowly to the rhythm of his song.  Finally the head of the vine reaches his outstretched hand, thorns from the vine now piercing his arm, as a solitary flower blooms in Natasha's outstretched hand.
	As the song fades from his lips, Natasha shakes himself free of the vine, before turning his attention back to Kita.
	"Like I said, there are others that are like you, in their own ways.  Now, what do you say about accompanying us?"

	Kiyuki fixed her eyes on Kita's profile.  He looked toward the horizon, paralyzed, and unable to speak.
	"More like us" was Kiyuki's only reply.  Natasha had addressed Kita, and assumingly referred to the fact that there were other people like him.  He now realized Kiyuki was contemplating the possibility that there were other incidences of people from her world appearing.
	"Maybe there are more like you, Kiyuki, that appear from some far off place.  I don't know."  The gypsy also began to comprehend his own uncertainty.
	"So what happens now?" Kita said in a distant voice.
	"I suppose it's still your choice, Kita.  We can't stop you from going your separate way, but I encourage you to join us.  I don't know what we'll find, but at least there's a group of us."  Kita regarded Natasha's suggestion with a nod and looked to Kiyuki for her opinion.  She smiled and let out a chuckle.
	"So, I guess there's still a lot that all of us don't know."
	"Yes," Natasha confirmed.  "It's the blind leading the blind leading the deaf, oops, sorry, Kiyuki."  Kiyuki eased up a little bit.  Kita stood confused by the comment.
	"So, it is.  Please, Kita, come with us.  Whatever you're searching for, maybe we can help."