SHU NO SAMURAI/SAMURAI OF VERMILLION.

Moving fast is an understatement.

This Vermillion samurai is like watching someone move at the speed of the very pouring rain and I can just barely keep away,even thinking this thought I am just a quarter of an inch from seeing my very own vermillion all over this muddy ground,the small tents and the bamboo sword strikes are not enough to keep me safe for all of mere seconds at a time.

My will somehow as long as he is in my sight becomes as though nothing,I try to keep him out of sight and myself mobile because more and more ronin are riding into the camp.
Noroi is fighting hard,twisting and kicking in ways that they are not accustom to and the methods they were taught are making fighting back against him hard but he is tiring quickly,While I have no Vermillion before my eyes from every cut enemy I pull more than threads out but swords and arrows that slice the foes behind him and shoot at the foes using the height of there horses to loose arrow after arrow into them.

It buys him enough time to slide using the wet terrain to take many of the ronin's ankles from them leaving many screaming men and more blood to hear hiss profound hatred at Noroi,meanwhile I can not look at even a puddle reflection before I feel all my ability gone.

NOROI

The men are falling around me,Sakura is trying valiantly to keep them off from my back so I can not have to watch my back alone.

"STOP!FOCUS ON HIM!"

I scream at her over the pattering rain that only seems to get louder and heavier,she can't hear me so I after I finally bring the last of the recent ronin to there knees,taking every neck I can in three quick swipes I run as fast as I can to reach the samurai.

Nothing keeps him away from his target,He was purely the desire of Kiko to stop Sakura in a vicious maneuver but it appears that Kiko did not anticipate what Itoshi hito would be willing to do to...
Save me.

SAKURA

Every attempt at a slice fails and men are appearing even more now,Noroi is holding is own but just running is killing me.

So I stop,I slide on the ground and try to twist my body under a tent which buys me a few moments of no red in sight,he is caught up in the fabric that sticks to his armor spikes which I use to quickly rise again and run forward using all the last of the recently slain men to make a tiring force of a blood gale,barely leaving enough to cover up Noroi in a small shield that he uses to catch up to me.

He runs past me hard leaving deep prints in his wake, he slides taking his katana,thrusting it into a small opening just above his knee cap,one I had not even noticed until now,the samurai kneels down as his armor becomes a long twinblade that winds itself onto Noroi.

Like a arm guard for armor.

I feel exhausted but am amazed.
They are all gone.
So much death here that I wish I could have avoided,I saw the devastation that it wrecked on neighboring villages though if they live beyond now in the previous timeline,although this is not a sight I have seen I can feel it would still somehow have been a similar ending for them whether it be by my hand or anothers.

For now though.
I watch him,he turns slowly as tired or likely more than I am.Noroi does not take a second to look anywhere else not even to check under his feet for any obstacles just one step at a time towards me and his eyes are starting to get red,intense.

"Are you really here this time?Are you even real?I have pictured you a great deal of times since that day you flew away in dreams and in my minds eye only for you to still be gone like you always are....."

The words are like jabs even though the way he says them are so matter of fact,almost resigned like he has been beaten so much he is starting to fall inside himself like he used to be.

"I'm here yasahii,I am really here.I came for you and am not leaving,I did not mean to leave you like I did before,I was taken after I ran but that we can talk later.Right now I am here,right here and for you."

He is close enough to be at a hands breadth,he pauses breathing hard and I stand up shakily putting my hands out to take each side of his mask but one of his hands,even rougher than before but more gentle as well stops me from my task.

"Stop going away from me,please......You can't keep being so cruel to me Itoshi Hito...."

When I do not move so much as an inch,when I take the mask from his face it crumbles apart after I take it in hand while he never so much as lessens his grip that is feather light on my wrist.

He looks so worn out,his green eyes are weak from holding back with me as well as he appears to have not eaten much in the whole time I have been gone.

So much has happened in three years.

"I am sorry atarashi hikari...I am so sorry.I am here,I am staying so long as you are living my love.You can rest now."

He finally lets his eyes loose a little,nothing but a few tears before he puts his hands to my face,caressing it softly needing more verification than my words then a brief moment passes where he rests his forehead on mine.

It does not last long enough,he falls to his knees from exhaustion after I fail to grab him tight enough and he only leans forward putting his head on my shoulder whispering before sleep overtakes him.

"You can't leave me again...you are my whole world so if you do just take me with you or my life.It has always been yours anyway."

I am not sure if he even heard my words in reply.

"So long as you live I am here,so long as I live i am yours..."