Even with the sparse vegetation up in this rocky part of the island Junko still somehow managed to run face first into every low hanging branch and frond possible. Her feet slapped down onto the jagged rocks underfoot and propelled her forward regardless, the minor scratches a mere annoyance compared to the deeper feeling of failing to catch Gekko.

Under her breath she wheezed out a series of curses. Another thick woody stem raked across her face and in the next moment her hands lashed out, cutting the offending greenery in front of her with the short blade of Hikoboshi. If only Motonubu hadn’t pissed off those damn Metsina brats! And no doubt he would try to haggle down her rightful payment if she ended up arriving late because of the interruption...but knowing how the seedy Garion Agent operated, that might have been intentional.

As her arms snapped forward and severed another set of vines from her path Junko tried to imagine where Gekko could possibly run to. Even in this early morning darkness, she was positive the boy couldn’t have been heading downhill. She would have seen him for sure. Heading up the craggy hillside was equally as futile an effort as her trained eyes could easily see the only viable path upwards, at least the only one Gekko could possibly take unless the boy was secretly a champion rock climber. All signs pointed to Junko being able to quickly overtake him as before.

Yet a sense of burning urgency festered in her chest. Something urged her to move faster, lest something unthinkable occur. Desperation could lead people down some unimaginable paths.

It didn’t take long for her minor concern to blossom into reality. As she crested another set of piled high rocks, the vista opened up in front of her. A strong blast of cool breeze washed across her fatiguing body, which hadn’t gotten a good rest all night. The wind could only blow so hard because no trees or rocks stood in its way. Junko blinked as a vast opening unfurled out before her. She and Gekko had just spent quite a bit of time running uphill so perhaps the hilltop view wasn’t so surprising. Rather it was where that cold wind blew from that chilled more than Junko’s aching muscles.

Mere steps away the rocky hill disappeared entirely, replaced by the sheer drop of a nearly featureless cliffside. Her and Gekko’s frenzied climb brought them both to the top of a significant chasm, the bottom of which was cloaked in immense shadow. Surprising as the reveal might be Junko was in no threat of accidentally tumbling over the edge. The rocky cliff’s lack of any real greenery made it clear when one was about to head past the point of no return. Gekko certainly wouldn’t be at any risk of inadvertently falling in either.

The look on the boy’s face as the soles of his feet lay halfway off the edge suggested none of that. Whatever happened next would be intentional and irreversible.

Junko caught sight of Gekko’s ragged cadet’s uniform just a short bit away from where she emerged. Gekko’s face turned from looking down the chasm and to her aggressive stance. She still held one blade in front of her like machete and nothing about the woman’s pose suggested mercy. “Not another step.” Gekko, also out of breath, did his best to pant out his threat. “Or I’ll take another step.”

Blink, blink, blink. In combat Junko could act without a moment of hesitation, but talking someone out of a suicidal plunge wasn’t something a mercenary was exactly trained for. She didn’t move, though, and instead just took in several heavy breaths to collect herself. Her eyes slid between the unknowable abyss just a few steps away, and the boy she was charged to protect.

“If you think you have better chances down there than you do with me, you should rethink your calculations.” Junko slowly and deliberately sheathed her sword. It didn’t make Gekko look any more at ease. “I have a vested interest in keeping you alive and in one piece, boy. The rocks down there don’t care. They’ll smash your skull just the same.”

The wind picked up. Gekko’s too big uniform flapped a bit in the wind, like a forgotten flag. His toes edged closer to the side of the canyon. “How about you just turn around and leave, then? If you’re so great, you can just recapture me later. Give me a head start at least.”

Junko’s eyes stayed straight ahead despite how hard she wanted to roll them. “This isn’t a negotiation. I’m being very patient, all things considered. Most prisoners don’t get to run away twice and live to tell about it.”

Both of Gekko’s hands balled into fists. His eyes widened and his jaw clenched. Junko recognized the reaction instantly but couldn’t bring herself to accept the conclusion. The cornered Gekko was about to do something regrettable. His reaction prompted an equal one from Junko. “Don’t- come on, kid, you got family and friends, don’t you? Don’t do anything rash. What would they say?”

For a moment it almost looked like Gekko contemplated Junko’s words. Of course, Junko couldn’t be expected to know what Annitou natives were taught to do in the event of capture.

Gekko opened his mouth as if to speak. Even Junko thought the conversation hadn’t quite been exhausted yet, catching her completely off guard when the boy leaned just a bit farther back. Gravity took over and pulled him down as his feet slid teetered towards oblivion and slipped down. Still standing upright Gekko’s small body disappeared over the lip of the cliff without so much as a peep.

Junko made enough noise for the two of them. “God, damn it!” Hissing through her tightly clenched teeth Junko shot forward towards Gekko’s departure point. The entire length down into the shadow stood as featureless as every other part of the cliff- the boy wasn’t clinging to the side or dangling from a rope or vine in some kind of last ditch trick. Gekko must have slipped far into the point of no return. A single precious moment ticked by and Junko flashed through her options.

Nope. No. Bad. Not good. Terrible. Not a single avenue of action held even a sliver of hope.

Every instant of wasted time closed more doors. There simply wasn’t any other path forward, except forward.

Or down, in this case.

Sparing the time to spit out one last profanity laced curse Kiku-ichimonji Junko shifted her weight just enough to let her feet slide off the edge. Her fall was much more controlled than Gekko’s as she placed the soles of both feet flat against the cliffside. Both her palms slid flat against the rock as her body plummeted down into the unknowable darkness. There wasn’t enough of an incline to truly slow her fall- only enough to just barely give her some control as she descended into the shadows below.

The smell of damp rock rocketed up into Junko’s face. She felt every loose piece of rock she dislodged across her hands as she fell. The pupils in her eyes tried their best to rapidly adjust to the darkness of the canyon. The instinct built up by her years of training took the reins as her body reflexively shifted and moved to avoid tumbling head over foot down into the depths. Even Junko didn’t know what she was looking for, and she certainly didn’t deign to pray to any powers that be for assistance. Not that there was time for that anyway.

In the split second where the incline of the cliff changed, her body simultaneously adapted. Despite the great speed of her fall Junko effortlessly shifted her posture to absorb the sudden change in slope. Both her feet rotated and her heels dug into what rock they could. Not enough to slow her down but just enough to prevent her from completely losing control during her descent. Despite her physical prowess Junko felt her body barely keep up with the demand. A single mistaken movement would have sent her into an impossible to recover from tumble.

If she couldn’t handle this, what chance did that kid have?

A bit more than Junko expected, actually. Despite her controlled fall the adult Junko rocketed down the steep rock like a bowling ball on a crash course for the gutter. Gekko, with his much lighter weight, had much less inertia to worry about. If Junko had blinked she might have shot straight past the boy. Gekko now tumbled in completely freefall, his limbs splayed out either because he was no longer conscious or because he was desperately trying to grab onto something. His chaotic spiralling was a death sentence. He wasn’t going to land like that without paying an enormous consequence at the bottom.

Again instinct had to fill in where Junko’s mind couldn’t. With just moments to make a decision and no way to really determine the risks, she shifted her approach to intersect her path straight with Gekko. Before she could even regret the decision the two collided and became tangled. The sudden impulse forced Junko to abandon her own stability to grab onto the kid, and soon her own body lost it’s balance and began to lose its composure. Biting down hard enough to burst a blood vessel, Junko slammed her heels down and felt her body spin horizontally as she got a firm grip on the limp Gekko with one arm. With absolutely nothing else to lose, her other arm flashed out and drew Sahori from the sheath at her hip.

Training long ago robbed Junko of the ability to properly scream, but she could definitely vocalize killing intent when it mattered. One such massive shout ripped from her throat as she bore down and slammed the tip of her heirloom blade into the mountainside. Of course it didn’t cut anything. Even the City of King’s steel couldn’t cut rock so easily. Instead it sent a shower of sparks whirling upwards as the razor edge clattered and scraped against the hard earth. All she needed was a crack, or a tree, or something to catch- anything to slow the fall down from the suicidal speeds the two were reaching. Agony shot up and down her arm as her straining muscles tried to keep the blade steady against the onslaught of friction that ran alongside it. All the way up the canyon a hideous metal shriek ricocheted across the rocky walls. It was as if time itself was stretching out just to punish Junko for her hubris.

Then came the real pain. Without any time to process what occurred Sahori snapped into something, jerking its hilt so savagely that Junko nearly lost her grip. The forceful impulse tore the blade out immediately but seconds later it got jammed again. This time the sudden stop felt like it was going to pull Junko’s arm out of its socket. Another howling shriek of metal pierced her ears as the blade slipped loose again, hitting one final invisible outcropping with the most bone shattering impact yet. Junko’s natural self preservation instinct took over and she released her hold on her weapon. Yet she hesitated- part of her didn’t want to let go, and that single moment had a heavy price. The reverbating force shook through her and Gekko’s body and bounced them both clean off the cliff’s crumbling slope.

For a few brief moments she lingered in absolute free fall. It felt just a little bit nice.

Then in the next Junko slammed back into the earth. Rolling end on end Junko kept herself between the ground and Gekko even as they careened down at breakneck speeds. Her hyper attuned senses could tell they no longer slid down a sheer cliff, but instead were rolling over the jagged rocks and vegetation similar to the jungle above them. Part of her still functioning mind thought this was a good thing. They were approaching the bottom!

Then her body hit a sizable boulder and Junko lost her grip on Gekko. With breathless exhale she and her prisoner were once again flung into the air like insects being flicked off a windowsill. Up, up, up they went. Then down they came, landing with a riotous thud on the canyon floor below.

-

Rest was rest, right? Even head splitting, agonizing, bloodied rest still counted for something. The distant sounds of the morning songbirds could be heard tweeting far, far above them, and a small babbling brook at the bottom of the canyon provided just enough to refill her canteen. Most of Junko’s supplies were still back where she and Gekko stopped for rest the first time- that was, too far away now to go and retrieve. Somehow she made do tearing strips of the now filthy clothing she wore to use as makeshift bandages for the now significant injuries across her skin. Turns out the most difficult enemy she had to fight yet was gravity.

Gekko still hadn’t woke up. His body lay still by some thorny bushes, whatever injuries he sustained on his tumble down not yet quite visible. It was amazing Junko managed to escape without breaking any bones, but she couldn’t be sure about the boy until he woke and (in all likelihood) began screaming in pain. Junko had a lifetime of experience in preventing injury to keep her safe. The kid might have just scrambled his brain into oblivion with this last stunt. Maybe she should have let him die.

Sitting back near the kid, Junko let her eyes close for a moment. Without alcohol any chance of restful sleep was a long shot. Still, having worked through the night, even an abysmal opportunity like this allowed her the briefest of respites. Her own throbbing head eventually dulled itself down enough to grant a taste of sleep.

As usual she saw fire and tasted blood. “Never forget”, said some clan member. “Engrave each lesson into your bones.” The smell of Hikoboshi’s cooking brought Junko’s attention up from securing a saddle. That dumb sister of hers, always acting before thinking. What if an enemy was downwind and caught the scent? Junko reached for a scroll. Her father would have something to say about this for sure, and given their rank-

“Water.”

Her eye snapped open at the sound. No Kiku-ichimonij would be caught dead sleeping on the job. Her hand broke towards her remaining Hikoboshi as the strained voice croaked out again. “Water, please.”

Senses slowly returned. It was Gekko’s voice.

The job wasn’t done yet.

Momentary relief gave way to frustration as Junko shook off the yoke of slumber and rose back to her feet. Gekko still lay unmoving where she had put him, covered by what ratty remains of a coat she could provide. A raspy voice came out of Junko, though its dryness didn’t affect her usual tone. “Don’t move too much, boy. Can you feel your toes? Where does it hurt?”

“Water,” was the only reply. One of the boys hands groped out blindly to his side. Junko closed her eyes and suppressed jumping to any unfortunate conclusion. She placed a cold metal flask in the boy’s outstretched palm. He slowly drew it back. It looked like he was capable of drinking on his own, at least.

“Okay,” came the eventual response. “Now kill me.”

With a long, drawn out exhale, Junko shuffled her heavy feet towards a spot opposite of Gekko. She plopped herself back down on the earth. It wasn’t like she needed to worry about getting dirt on her clothes anymore. “You’re a real dumbass, you know that? A top of the line imbecil. Annitou must do a bang up job training you cadets.”

“It can’t...” Gekko wheezed too hard and had to stop to catch his breath. Junko waited and picked at her fingernails. “It can’t be worth it. You could have died.”

“You would have died.” Junko didn’t look up from inspecting her fingers. “If I was a second slower I would have been digging a grave down here.”

“At least then I’d get some proper rest.”

“You want to sleep? Then sleep.” Junko snapped off the branch of a low-growing bush and began to scrape the bark off. “You don’t have to respond with smartass commentary every time I say something. If you just kept your head down and stayed quiet this whole thing would be over by now.”

“Is my kidnapper...” Gekko let out a bit of a pained gasp, but apparently it was because he was trying to sit up. “...really trying to guilt-trip me?”

Rather than respond Junko just kept silently plucking away at the bits of wood on her stick. Eventually fingernails didn’t do a good enough job, so she switched to carving with her knife. It wasn’t until the sky above began to turn properly blue that Gekko’s haggard voice eventually croaked out again.

“How much?”

The words jostled Junko out of the slight sleepy daze she fell back into and her response came back equally as disjointed. “How much, what? How much pain am I in right now? How much food is left?”

“How much are you getting paid for this job?” Junko didn’t immediately answer. Gekko sounded as though he might be delirious. He came back again, his voice having gained only a modicum of strength. “How much is worth risking your life for?”

“Ah, okay. I see.” Junko leaned back to inspect her carving in the limited light available. Somewhere above them the sun had risen. Shame she didn’t get to watch it rise. “You think you have it figured out. ‘If I endanger myself enough times, she’ll stop chasing me because it’s not worth it’. That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

“No.”

“Right. You’re too clever to be so easily read.” Junko squinted and held the wood closer to her face. “I’m not getting paid in any currency. I wouldn’t take a job like this for cash.”

“Then what? A debt? A favor? I assure you, nothing is worth putting up with me.”

“You can’t put a price on life.” Junko exhaled. “You only get one chance to make up for your mistakes, kid. Life is priceless.”

That earned a loud, agonized groan from Gekko. “What a thing to hear from a kidnapper.”

“Hating me doesn’t make it less true.”

“You haven’t answered my question. What is the job paying? Maybe if you split it with me, I’d be more cooperative.”

“Can’t split this payout I’m afraid.” She took a break from working on the wood to look up at the canyon floor. Now that more light was seeping through the top of the cliffs she could get a better look at her surroundings. “Rest assured it’s important enough I won’t let any harm come to you. I got a bruise now the size of a watermelon on my backside to prove it.”

With an exasperated sigh Gekko fell back down into his resting position. He emptied the flask then closed his eyes. Him sleeping would be best for both of them.

Unfortunately Junko didn’t escape that easy. “What is it, then. I give up.” Gekko’s tone now sounded completely disinterested. “Is this just fun for you?”

“I’ll tell you why you won’t get away from me, Tanuma Gekko.” She spoke in a quieter tone, as to not interrupt the boy slipping back out of consciousness. “My payment for this job is the life of my sister. You can be reckless with your life once I get paid, but until then I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Load of crap.” Gekko yawned. “You’d just kill anyone holding your loved ones hostage, wouldn’t you? You aren’t the type to take a threat like that lying down.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Mister All Knowing.” Junko snorted with contempt. “Maybe someone like you doesn’t know what it’s like to value others. I happen to have liked my family.”

“Liked?”

“Like. They’re still important to me.” Junko’s eyes darted from rock to rock in search of something. “They’re in a bad place now because of mistakes I made. I bring you to this place, you translate some dumb language, and I get my family back. Doesn’t that sound like a square deal?”

“I don’t get a whole lot out of it.”

“You get to keep breathing.” Junko’s eyes perked up and in the next moment she was on her feet. She moved with such speed that Gekko, in his horrible state, also became alarmed. He tried to raise himself up again but got quickly put down by Junko. “You rest, little man. You’re in no condition to do anything anyway.”

“Well, what is it?” Gekko’s facade of composure weakened as he once again sank down into a collapsed state. “So I can sleep easier knowing I won’t be torn apart by dogs or maggots, at least.”

Junko disappeared from Gekko’s sight without much of a response, though right before he drifted off again he could have sworn he heard Junko whisper something in the distance. It couldn’t have been right, though, sense it almost sounded like she was...scolding someone. He was too far gone to care anymore, and the pounding headache and sore bones slowly faded as once again darkness took hold of his mind.