I walked along the sandy road towards the large merchant city. My hands fumbled through the new kimono I had been given to wear, searching for the piece of paper I had been given.

After a moment of searching, I finally pulled the note out of the blue and black cloth. The list read a variety of food, horse feed, and other commodities that would be useful for our oncoming hunt.

People were walking along the coast to my right, gazing at the night sky. To my left was a great patch of forest, something I could get lost in, something no one had a chance of finding me in.

I shook my head, there was no more option for escaping. If I were to leave, Hayato would pay the price. Once I had been chained and trapped physically, but now there really was no escape besides completing my task.

My mind wandered back to my surroundings, I had reached the city while I was busy thinking. The merchant city was familiar, the very same city I went to with Asao all those weeks ago. The same Hayato was stationed in.

Unlike others, there were no walls protecting the city, making it easy for me to enter.

I merged into the small crowd of people easily. I had almost gotten used to people avoiding me and staring. I enjoyed the fact that I was now clean and presentable.

A red structure caught my eye as I almost walked past.

I rushed the people around me and moved out of the crowd. On top of the ornamental red structure sat Hayato, his eyes were closed as he concentrated.

People emerged from the foggy portal beneath him and pushed past me as I stood against the flow of traffic.

I moved out of the crowd's way and called for the Samurai. "Hayato! Hayato!"

Hayato's eyes slowly opened as he looked down at me, the foggy portal deforming into nothingness. "Kenshi?" He moved from his sitting position and climbed down from the structure. "Kenshi, why are you here so soon?"

"I'm here to fetch our company supplies, and to notify you of what's happening."

His eyebrow raised. "And what might be happening?"

"The Shogun has ordered our company to hunt a yokai."

Hayato paced for a moment, thinking. "Well... Have you spoken to your superior officer?"

"I've tried, but he is more than eager to gain the Shogun's approval..." I had to collect our oddities quickly. If I wasn't back in my allotted amount of time Kohei would suspect that I'd tried to escape. "I must get going, Hayato."

He stopped pacing and looked over at me, then to his seat at the large wooden structure. "No one will notice if I've left for only a few moments... Let me assist you with your supplies."

Hayato most likely shouldn't have left his station so abruptly... But if he was willing to leave, I decided I might as well take the company. "Then let us start moving."

I turned and Hayato followed. Pulling the list from my kimono once again revealed the materials we needed. "First... We go left from here, towards the sandstones."

We turned to the left at the crossways and started making our way to the small stall. As we walked, I noticed Hayato look down, then back to the path ahead. He spoke. "I've noticed, your leg looks completely healed."

I hadn't taken much thought of it, but now that my leg was mentioned, I realized that I walked with no hint of a limp, as I used to. "That's right. I've almost forgotten about my leg."

We reached the small shop. The stall owner looked at both Hayato and I, in our military uniforms. He spoke, trusting us to act according to standards. "Just leave brass on the counter, sirs."

I took the few sandstones we needed and left the money Kohei gave me on the table.

The stones sat at the bottom of the large sack I was carrying. I pulled out the note once again and read our next object. "It looks like next... We need rice."

Hayato looked around for a moment and pointed down the path. "The rice stall is that way."

We turned and started making our way down the road.

It was my turn to reinvigorate the conversation. I spoke the first question that came to mind. "So... How is your brother, Hayato?"

He thought for a moment. "I'm not quite sure. It's been months since last we met."

That was strange. I thought that given their ember, the distance wouldn't matter. "Can you not transport yourself to him?"

Hayato looked frustrated, like this had been on his mind. "No... We can only make a portal with a vessel and concentration. So the only place I can open the portal is with the pair of gates. And even then, I would be concentrating too much to walk."

The rice shop was getting closer, but I still had time to speak. "Have you been training then?" Hayato looked curiously at me. I supposed he'd never tried to use he and his brother's ember abstractly. So I explained further. "To use an ember is an act of will. You have placed these rules in your mind that doesn't even exist. Your mind is holding you back, so you must train it as a muscle and go beyond your limits."

Hayato paused in the road for a moment. "But, I've heard tales of the conception of Embers. And they've said that in the beginning, the old samurai could use their extreme powers with ease."

We reached the rice shop. I looked from the note to the sizes of bags, then proceeded to buy while I spoke. "Embers have evolved over the years..." I handed the coin to the vendor. "The more people granted with Embers, the more people had to refine themselves to use their Embers properly." I looked down at the note again, our list was growing shorter.

Hayato looked very interested in what I said. His world was two dimensional and goal oriented. Since all he had to do was use his Ember how it was, the thought of improving upon it slipped his mind. He spoke after taking it in. "That makes sense. I suppose that's why they say that the first Ember had unspeakable power."

With a nod, I replied. "I want to see improvements by the next time we meet."

Hayato reminded me again of how new this all was to him. "How would I improve?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure... If I had to suggest a routine..." I thought for a moment. To break barriers created by one's mind, the same mind had to figure out how to destroy them. All I could do was try to push him in the correct direction. "Every time I see you using your Ember, you're always in a tranced state. So try keeping your eyes open. Watch the waves pass by as you work instead of focusing entirely on one task."

Hayato thought for a moment. "Indeed. I'll keep you informed on my progress." He looked around for a moment. "Our next stop?"

The list was short, we only had one stop left. I pointed behind us, towards a stall we had managed to miss. "Over there." We walked along the path closer to Hayato's station.

Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention as we moved forward. Hayato took notice and spoke. "What is it?"

He wouldn't understand. "Um, nothing." He shrugged it off and we kept walking, but I couldn't let this get away from me. "Hayato..." I fumbled around in my pocket and grabbed the note, along with the last of Kohei's brass. "Take this and buy the last of my supplies, will you?" Without letting Hayato say a word, I handed him the coin and moved on my own path.

I walked quickly to the small stall. It held dying flowers and dead shrubberies. Except one lonesome lily in a large pot of soil.

I grabbed the man's attention as I finally reached the shop. "Sir, is that a sun lily?"

He nodded, pleased that someone finally showed interest. "Yes sir, our last! It's in bloom as well!"

"That's strange. I thought they only bloom in sunlight?"

"They do. But I suppose this one is an oddity. It perked up only a few hours ago."

I picked the small flower from the pot. "I'll take it."

"Wonderful! That will be-" I picked the last of the coins I had been saving since the sun set. It would be more than enough for a single flower. The man looked at the pile of coins on the table and smiled. "A pleasure to do business with you!"

The flower sat carefully and hidden in the pocket of my kimono.

Giving a wave to the flower shop owner, I set back to Hayato.

Hayato was leaning against the stall with supplies in hand, waiting for me to arrive. He stood as he saw me. "You're back."

He handed me the objects and I quickly transferred them to the sack I was given. "That's all we need."

We had spent longer than I had expected in the merchant city. Both Hayato and I would have to hurry if we wanted to keep ourselves from punishment. Hayato looked around. "We better move quickly, I've been away for far too long."

I nodded my head in agreement as we started walking along the path once again.

The red structure was close, so we picked up the pace.

Within a few moments, we had reached the gate.

I talked as Hayato quickly climbed atop it. "I should be back to report in a few days."

He reached his perch and responded. "I'll be expecting you."

We didn't have time for much more conversation, so I left with a nod to keep myself from overextending my stay. As I moved back I saw Hayato frustratingly force his eyes fixed upon the sea as he opened the gate once again, keeping himself from falling into his usual tranced state. He gave after a few moments and reverted to normal, but at least he had tried.

But enough with tutoring, I had to bring the supplies to Kohei. So I set back down the sandy path towards our camp, dreading every moment.

My anxiety was palpable. A team of powerless miscreants set off to hunt a demon, and I was in the forefront of the fight.

Well, at least I had been able to go shopping beforehand.