Chapter 7
The next half hour passed in a long conversation. Aya told Kenshin about herself, how her parents had died when she was young, victims of the Third Shinobi World War. Though civilians were usually kept out of harm's way, her parents were travelling in the same caravan as several Konoha shinobi, and the entire caravan had been slaughtered by a sabotage squad from Iwagakure.
Little Aya was left in the care of her grandparents. Her grandmother was a dressmaker, and taught the girl her craft. Her grandfather was a carpenter, and often worked in Konoha, bringing her granddaughter many sweets and fascinating stories. Aya's grandmother died two years ago, and half a year ago her grandfather died, leaving the girl an orphan.
After listening to the girl's touching story, Kenshin pulled her closer to him, and hurriedly reassured her when he saw two small paths of tears.
He conducted several experiments to determine the extent of his control over her, and found that her personality had not changed, but she was willing to do whatever he asked or ordered. Horrified at the prospect of unknowingly harming the girl by saying something that would be taken as an order, Kenshin discussed with her the essentials of her submission, assuring her that she had the right to challenge his words or opinions, but was obliged to obey immediately if the tone of his voice became icy and as serious as possible. He decided that such methods of delineation were the only thing that would help them maintain a semblance of normalcy.
While they were talking, the vegetable soup on the cooker was finally ready, and the pair began to eat breakfast. Kenshin made a memo to find at least a map of the area, and preferably of the whole world. The girl didn't have one at home, unfortunately.
As soon as they had eaten and Aya began to wash the dishes, there was a loud knock on the door and an impatient shout: - Aya, open up! The old woman from the shop blabbed that she saw you with some guy! Who is he? Open up, damn it!
Kenshin's anger began to boil in his chest and he headed for the door, wearing only his trousers and no shirt.
- Get out, Aya is busy and doesn't want to see you. - Kenshin said, opening the door and seeing a fat man with a sweaty face standing in front of him. He opened his mouth in shock, and froze with his hand raised for another knock.
- You whore!" shouted Kaito, and made an attempt to step inside, but got punched in the nose, and took a few steps backwards, falling off the porch on his arse.
The fat man stared at Kenshin in shock, unable to utter a word, blood streaming from his broken nose, running down his lips and chin.
- You... You! You're dead! Do you know who you hit?! Just wait, you and that whore will regret everything! - Kaito shouted angrily, and when he saw Kenshin heading towards him, he quickly jumped to his feet and ran off at full speed in a random direction.
- Shit, that's all I need..." Kenshin muttered with a sigh as he walked back into the house and closed the door behind him. He realised that he had to speed up the plans for the move as much as possible, so he went into the kitchen and told Aya to get ready to go.
Kenshin told her to pack light things, and he began to load his bags with a small amount of provisions for a few days. Kenshin told her to pack light things, and began to load the bags with a few days' worth of provisions, but he packed all the salt and spices he could find, not forgetting the first aid kit.
He realised that he was bound to forget something valuable, but there was simply no time. He didn't want to be the "inept patriarch" who would be beaten to death by a few ordinary people. He didn't consider himself super strong, and he judged his chances against a bunch of people with homemade weapons.
Half an hour later, Kenshin and Aya finished packing two large shoulder bags of belongings, and slipped out of the house unnoticed, leaving through the backyard to an "unknown destination".
Half an hour later, the door of Aya's house was kicked in, and five gangster-looking men broke in. They went through the house, asking the neighbours, but they couldn't find any clues as to where the young girl had suddenly gone, or the "spy of the enemy village" who had taken the poor girl hostage, brainwashed her, and abused her. That's the story Kaito tells, wanting to find an excuse for future reprisals.
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Once outside the village, Kenshin stopped and asked Aya: "Is there a difficult-to-reach, uninhabited area nearby? The more inaccessible, the better!
The girl thought for a few seconds, then said: - Mmm, there is a large forest to the east of the village that grows into large and impassable mountains, but it takes hours to walk to the forest...
- All right, that's it! Drive. - He replied excitedly, pleased with his small fortune.
The boy and the girl headed in the right direction, carrying large bags of things, but to their luck, they never caught anyone's eye. After three hours of walking they approached the forest, and sat down to rest in the forest thicket. Kenshin cursed himself for not taking more water for the journey. The vat he had brought with him was nearly empty, and the nearest mountain was still two hours away.
He was very surprised when Aya said she didn't know plastic bottles existed, or technology like TVs or refrigerators. He wondered why the anime he had watched in his teenage years was so different from reality.
"Perhaps Kishimoto somehow obtained knowledge from this world, or was able to see its history, and added the technology known to our world himself? Or maybe this world isn't real, and I'm in an imaginary world by someone's evil will... Or maybe I'm dreaming, and I'm dreaming.... Or maybe..." -Kenshin interrupted his thoughts without finishing his thought, deciding not to fill his head with nonsense.
Kenshin pulled Aya to him, and began to relax, sitting with his back against a large tree. He felt that this young beauty could give a charge of energy by her mere presence, and he enjoyed embracing her, inhaling her delicate floral scent, and caressing her fragile little body. The girl purred softly and gave herself completely to the loving embrace of her man.