Saeko Matsushita's Story

Kiske chuckled inwardly when Katsu made his aggressive claim. He was more than welcome to try but the monk had trained most of his entire life to prevent demons from tearing him and others around him apart. He'd at the very least make it a challenge for the youkai and besides that he doubted the half demon really meant his words. But at his acceptance of help Kiske could hardly contain his excitement. This was just the chance he had been looking for ever since he had started designing enchanted weaponry. A close up look of a legendary weapon and a chance to study it in depth. True he only had rumors of stories to go on but he was sure with the actual object within reach he would be able to unravel the mystery much quicker then just reading the stories.

"Oh I'm glad to hear you say that and I would be more than happy to assist you." Kiske said but then turned his attention back to the strange humans who seemed to be frozen in place, not moving and not speaking. "But you are right, we need to take care of these humans first as they are sure to attract attention from the nearby youkai..."

As the half demon turned to call to the humans Kiske cringed when he mentioned that bit about the youkai. You just had to mention that to an already half terrified group of strangers, didn't you...Something tells me your people skills are a bit on the lacking side. Kiske thought to himself as he stepped forward to place a hand on the youkai's shoulder. "Do you have a house in mind, my good youkai? Is there a large enough residence that you have access to? If not might I suggest we find a nice inn where we can rent some rooms for the night? Assuming of course this village has such a location."

Kiske paused to address the group of humans as a thought occurred to him. "It just occurred to me that not a single one of us has asked what the group of you wish to do so I do believe now is as good a time as any to find out wouldn't you say? So how about it? Would you like to stay with this odd group of friendly people until we get this whole mess straightened out or would you rather strike out on your own and hope to find your way?"

The half-demon was taken aback by the young male human’s willingness to trust him over the monk. While neither of them had done anything that would earn a great amount of trust, the typical response was ‘die, demon, die,’ and ‘save us, holy man.’ Not a polite, ‘I’d rather follow the demon, thanks.’ Not one person he’d ever met had essentially complimented him on his honesty. He was greeted more with malice and sarcasm for it. He blinked, confused a moment, and then shook it off, addressing something that had been grinding upon his nerves for quite some time. “Tsk. Half-youkai, youkai, canine-man, I have a name you know. I’d appreciate it if you lot’d use it for once.” Katsu scowled. It took him a moment to realize that he had not introduced himself properly to the group, as he was more concerned with his brother’s presence and the Tahra’s jabbering mouth. He ran a hand through his hair and let it rest upon his neck for a moment. “My name is Katsu. Nothing more, nothing less.” He said simply, not caring much to find out what the others were called. Although he knew their names, he still addressed Tahra as ‘Fox’ and Jin as ‘Demon Slayer.’ He was uncomfortable being familiar enough with a person to refer to them by name. It meant being attached, and being attached often meant weakness or coming despair. This he learned the hard way many times in his early years. Keeping them at an arms length was much easier to deal with than having to suffer someone he was fond of. Why he felt obligated to keep them out of trouble at this point was beyond his comprehension.

“There is a small shack you all can stay in. I think the demon slayer left some food behind, it should be enough to hold you off until tomorrow.” He stated simply, turning heel and expecting the others to follow. “I’ve traded one human for five. Bisha-nii will surely believe I’ve gone soft.” He muttered under his breath. “We won’t all fit in there comfortably, but I prefer sleeping outside anyway. It’s really only built for two or three people.” He paused, mulling over his options and what the monk had said earlier. “I’m not going to baby-sit you all. If you wander off, I will let you die. If you’re not happy with that, I suggest you go look for someone else to cry to.” He slid the door open to the small shack-like house, revealing it to be mostly empty, save for a fire pit and a bit of travelling food. Katsu frowned, and looked over the group of six. “You can fight over the space yourselves. I’ll be on the roof if you need me. But I suggest not needing me.”

Immediatly he looked away as soon as his suspicions were confirmed, forcing himself to relax as he once more picked up the knife and began to cut the meat into sizeable chunks removing bone at the same time. Even tough he didn't look up at the now identified Jin or acknowledge either of the men's entrence he was aware of every move they made but for different reasons for each of them. He kept tabs on Kiske to make sure that he didn't get too close to his friends and he was tracking Jin, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard, in case he did anything, though he admitted that he himself was more likely to do something. Keisuke just moved from the meat to cutting up some veggetables for the stew he was prepareing, his hand shaking only the slightest amount. When he was done with that he put the knife down as fast as he could without attracting attention to himself then added in most of what was left of the drinking water and put in some hebs before lifting it and settleing it on the the hanging hook to boil above the fire. He shook Saeko awake so that she could watch over things for him while he was gone then grabbed the bucket and left for the river to refill it, nodding to Deirdre as he passed her.

Keisuke was relieved as he was able to make his way out of the hut and to the river. As he was there he quickly refilled the bucket and set it to the side. He ran a hand through his hair and took deep breaths to steel himself for going back. The only reason that he'd been able to leave his friends there with that guy with the swords was because Saeko was now awake and no one seemed to mind him. Shaking his head to clear his mind of his thoughts he stood up and went back with the now filled bucket. When he reentered the hut, he seemed to be calm, even to the most trained eye, he was only able to hide his nervousness thanks to years of practice. Keisuke set the back to where it was before, then stirred the soup so that it wouldn't burn or that it wouldn't cook unevenly, it would be done soon, it didn't take that long for soup to cook. "Tokyo," he answered Jin's question haveing caught it just before entering the hut. "We were just taking a walk through the woods and we'd stopped to rest next to the well as usual. Next thing I know we were at the bottom of the well and when we climbed out we were here," he elaborted on their situation, keeping his eyes on the pot but his main focus was on Jin and Kiske.