Safe and Sound (Sakura)

"Oh no. Sure. Make a left at the wrong landmark, Sakura. Now look. You're lost," I find myself saying aloud in order to vent some of my frustrations. I'm mad at myself. A wrong turn and now I'm lost. How pathetic is that. I've been traveling for ages and the one day I actually want to go somewhere. I go and get myself lost. I sigh, pausing in the forest and scratching the back of my head. My sense of direction isn't this horrible. But something has just been off since I awoke this morn. The spirits are unsettled and it bothers me greatly. Probably why I was distrated and took a wrong turn. And of course I didn't realize I was going in the wrong direction until I had walked a good distance.

I shrug my shoulders. Nothing I can do now but head back. I can at least track my steps back since I make it a habit to leave significant landmarks for myself. A broken branch here, a small nitch in the bark of a tree. I look around myself then up at the sky. It was nearing noon now. I should try and find some berries for lunch. I begin walking again. But as I set forward.. Something catches my attention from the corner of my eye. I blink and turn my head. White. I find myself moving toward the odd patch of coloring in the middle of the forest. I move aside a branch and find myself gasping as my eyes fall onto the figure before me. I have never seen hair so white. I edge close, yet keep a distance form the being. He is not ningen. Prehaps he is of the new breed I have heard rumors of. Demons. Youkai finally inhabiting our beloved forest. My eyes rove his figure and I see blood staining his robes. I wish to get closer, but no telling if this being will attack me.

"Sir...." At least it looks more male than female. "Sir.. Are you hurt?" I ask, edging just a hair closer, praying I have not just done something very foolish.

-357

After passing out I remain in a dreamless slumber through the rest of the day and through the night. Even as the sun raises on a new day I remain asleep as my body works to recover from the injuries it received during my encounter with the humans. I didn't begin to rouse from my slumber until a voice begins to echo through my head, first faint and only a simple word, but as it continues it grows louder and whoever spoke says more. At first I resist as my body continues to rouse from its peaceful slumber but finally I begin to open my eyes and as I do I sense the presence of someone dangerously close to me.

Eyes snapping open, I shift my gaze to a blurry figure approaching and before anything can really process and my vision clear up. I jerk to the side and go to move away and in doing so I agitate my still healing injuries. Reaching to my side I grip it and fall back to the ground as I let out a groan of pain. Laying back on the ground, I keep my hand on my side as I glance around the forest above before glancing in the direction I had seen the figure, my vision beginning to focus now.

Post WC: 218
Total WC: 476

I see movement. His eyes are twitching. I'm quite careful not to get close. I have the distinct feeling I should treat him like a wounded animal. Eyes flutter open and I can see they are not focused and I wince when he jerks away from me and ends up hurting himself. He falls back to the ground and the urge to help him overcomes my logical mind. I move toward him, forgetting that I might be in danger. I kneel and help apply pressure to the wound. "Shh. Don't move like that. You'll hurt yourself more," I say to him gently, using the more melodic side that I have used when tending to injured horses in some of the villages.

I gaze at his face with curious azure orbs. "I'm here to help you. So I do hope you understand the tongue I'm speaking and don't attack me. I'm simply a miko. Let me help you."

-514

My gaze falls upon her as she comes towards me, now that my sight had focused I am able to see what it is a woman. I keep my gaze locked on her as she comes and kneels at my side, though when she reaches out for my side I reach out for her arm but stop as she applies pressure to my wound instead of attacking me. I keep my gaze on her as she begins speaking in a gentle tone of voice. Again I find myself being taken care of by a human female.. Keeping my gaze on her, I shift it over her form for before bringing my gaze back to her face for a moment as she speaks again. As she spoke I shift my gaze away from her as I turn my head to the side and close my eyes, " .. Yes, I understand what you are saying human.. And, you need not fear human, I shall not attack you. " I say as I gaze off into the forest.

Why was it like this? .. Why was it a human that tended my injuries again. As I gaze off into the distance, I frown faintly at how weak I must seem right now... Weak enough to need to help of a human, again. As the frown fades from my face I turn my head and bring my gaze back to the female. Looking up at her, I shift my gaze, glancing at her face before I bring my gaze to rest on her eyes.

Post WC: 260

I can sense he wishes to pull away from me, but his injuries do not allow him much movement. I would need to get his kimono off to inspect how bad the damage was. As a miko I am not shy about seeing a naked male. Well.. As an avid healer, I should saw. I know medicinal herbs and teas. I have not learned how to summon the power within me just yet to help with healing, though I have witnessed it before. He speaks and nearly startles me. I had not expected him to answer. I smile though at it. With how he refered to me as 'human', I now know he is one of the youkai that I've heard rumors of recently among the villages. I do calm a bit when he says he will not attack me.

"Well then.. We need to see the extent of your injuries. Wish for me to help you up?" I ask him, offering him my arms to pull himself up into a sitting position. "You can lean back against the tree. But I need to get your outer and inner haori off in order to see what sort of poultice I will need in order to stauch the bloodflow. Then once I finish that I will make you some lunch. Food will help you heal much faster."

-740

As she informs me that she needs to see the extent of my injuries, I glance away from her face and at my cloths for a moment. For once I will be getting nude in front of a woman with out the thought of doing things to her in mind. Turning my gaze back to her I glance at her arm for a moment before slowly reaching up to her arm, yet again proving to myself that with out humans I would not be able to survive... While holding onto her arm I slowly begin to sit up, groaning softly in pain as I sit up fully before releasing her arm. After releasing her arm, I let my hand fall to my side for a moment as I take in a few deep breaths, now that I had begun to move the pain from before has started to come back. " What is your name human? " I ask the female as I shift my gaze over her body once again while I bring my hands up and begin to slowly untie the sash around my waist. It seemed she had no problem with me undressing since she was the one that brought it up, though at the moment the only thing on my mind is getting my injuries treated.

Post WC: 220

He is looking at me again. Its like he is studying me. I don't know why he would want to. I'm just a simple priestess. But I let him make his observations. Maybe he needs to to help him insure his own mind that he is safe. He takes my arm and I brace myself for his weight. He manages to sit up and I listen to his pained sounds. He seems like a strong male. For those sounds to come forth.. He must truly be hurt. I wait till he is settled and let him calm the ache that must be battering at his senses. A question spills from his lips the moment he regains himself. I smile though as he begins to undo his obi so that I may get to his wounds.

"Higurashi. Higurashi Sakura desu," I answer him. "I'm a traveling miko. You're lucky. I took a wrong turn this morn and just happened across your path by pure chance. Or perhaps this was a destined meeting by the Gods," I say to him, my smile warming as I speak of the Gods above.

-928

She answers my question about who she is and I nod faintly. She didn't look familiar and the name wasn't ringing any bells, though I would know if I came across someone like her... and she would probably remember me as well. As she continues speaking, I listen to her and finish untying my obi before I begin to pull my haori open so she could see my injuries. Pulling my haori open, I glance down at my form and the gash on my side from the sword, though the wound from the sword was not the only thing marring my flesh, the wounds from the attack that ripped things from with in my body also riddled my upper body, the damage from them still in the process of healing since the attack struck at the inside rather then the outside. As she comments about her 'gods' I glance at her for a moment as I carefully slip my arms from the sleeves of my haori and allow it to fall down before I slowly lean back against a tree behind me to rest. " As a priestess, you know how to heal someone right Sakura? " Good, she could tend to my injuries and use her magic to heal my body.

Post WC: 212

My eyes follow his moments as the haori is slid away from his upper body. My eyes widen as I see the injuries. I can tell by the bruising of his flesh that serveral of the injuries are within and seeking to mend themselves. But he is losing the blood he needs to heal from the gash on his side. I am about to shift my pack off my back when his question makes me tense a little. I then scratch the back of my head and grin sheepishly. "Eto... I really haven't mastered healing powers yet.. But I do know physical means of healing. I'm kind of still trying to learn how to spiritually heal someone," I say to him and take the large pack off my back. I open it up and begin pulling out herbs. But then I'm on my feet and gathering wood for a fire.

I tend to mulitask a bit too quickly in my head. I get the fire going within a couple of minutes and let it burn for a moment so the flames can gain from heat to them. I settle down before him and return to the task of going through my pack. "I'll make some willow bark tea to help with the aches. Then another tea to help strengthen your blood to aide you in healing. Now I have to think of the right combination for a poultice.." I trail off and shift closer to him, hands reaching. My fingertip lightly touch his flesh, probing to feel the extent of the damage.

-1190

This was good news, if she could heal the damage with in a matter of minutes or even hours I could be back to normal, though what to do after that was a whole different story. Now that I was going to be healed I begin to ponder what I should do after she heals me, I needed to get stronger so I could deal with the humans that did this to me, so training was in order.. Before I could continue to ponder what to do once she healed me she begins speaking and informs me that she is unable to preform healing in the manner I thought she could. This is a rather unfortunate and troubling set back, if she is unable to heal me with magic then I will have to heal naturally. I guess the one good side is that she knows ways to heal with out the aid of magic. Now that she has informed me she is unable to heal me with magic I begin to wonder how long this will take, hopefully not to long. I watch her take her pack off and begin to take things out of it but out of the blue she raises to her feet and walks off and begins collecting wood.

I frown faintly as I watch her go about collecting wood before she gets a fire going, though I wasn't sure why she had started a fire since it is still day.. I watch her for a few more moments before shifting my gaze away from her and begin to relax once again. As I start to relax, I close my eyes and listen to her as she starts to speak. It sounds like she knows what she is doing, that is a good thing to know. I keep my eyes shut until I feel the faint touch of her finger tips as she begins to prod at my flesh. Bringing my hand up quickly, I grab her wrist. Opening my eyes, I shift my gaze back to her, glancing down at her hand before looking to her face.

Post WC: 352