EngelReise - Chapter 12

**Chapter 11 < | > Chapter 13**

Now understanding the burden of Krucifix peninsula travel, Tomako paces north as quick as she can--confident enough that the people of Greater Krucifix will be more accepting of her. With little money and food remaining--horse consumables included--the struggle intensified with every step she takes. As she is faced with impending starvation, it becomes unfortunate reality that she may need to resort to less innocent action to get what she needs... perhaps even criminal.

## Chapter Reading

== Chapter 12 – *Kim Young* =

:: Years ago… ::

With his fist smacking the floor with full power, a younger Soga shouted, “Tomako! Hurry up with the water!”

A teenage Tomako arose from her futon, brought to consciousness by the sound of her father. The man’s aggressive shouting was enough to break her slumber with ease, though his request struck evoked immediate confusion.

The teen crawled out of her futon and moved towards the ladder—her personal section of the house being on the second floor. Once at the edge, she turned her head down in puzzlement.

“Father, did… you call for me?”

Soga, sitting before a partially complete canvas, grit his teeth, “Have you gone deaf, child? I said, hurry up with the water!”

She panicked, “Water? I didn’t know you need water. I- I was asleep..!”

“I *always* have you bring me water when painting, why don’t you know this!?”

Tomako, beginning to tremble, answered, “You normally paint in the afternoon-”

“Wasteful and pointless are your words! Bring me water!”

Without further ado, Tomako placed herself over the ladder, literally slid her way down, then rushed into the kitchen. Soga remained on the floor with escalating impatience as his daughter fiddled around for water.

Frantic, Tomako grabbed one of the available paint bowls stacked in the kitchen, then rushed it over to a nearby bucket of water. She dipped the bowl in by the side and collected a suitable amount of water. With this, the teen sped into the living room and dropped to her knees.

“Water—as requested.”

Soga sneered, “Well, it’s about time.”

He grabbed the water bowl and resumed work without a sound to make. Tomako, still on her knees behind him, exhaled in relief and dropped her arms. Soga, meanwhile, dipped his brush into the bowl of water before then collecting some paint on the tip. His attention went straight onto the yellowish-orange sun he was working on. A single swipe of his brush against the sun—that was all it took.

The man froze and refrained from making a second swipe. With moments of silence and stillness, the girl knew something had gone awry; she could sense something bad approaching. Only in those coming moments did Tomako look past the man’s shoulder, where she caught sight of a brownish color over the sun—clearly unfitting.

Soga’s eyes came down upon the bowl of water and found it dark in saturation, despite working with yellow paint. Tomako, noticing the same predicament, widened her eyes.

“Tomako, this… this bowl of water is dirty!”

“I- I- I don’t-”

He turned to face her without standing up, “Fool, you must have picked up a bowl that still needed to be washed!”

Tomako denied this with every bit of honesty in her, “Impossible! I picked a bowl from the left pile, which… is… clean…” The teen dipped her head down in fright. “Um… or was it the right pile- oh…” Horrid shame overcame her in small fragments, soon she turned her head down with a very innocent expression. “Oh…”

Soga chucked his brush, “Useless!” Tomako flinched in response. “You’ve ruined the picture!”

“F- Father, surely, it can be fixed! It’s merely a dark spot on the sun..!”

Such was true, but only for so long, as Soga then grabbed onto the canvas and tore the work to shreds. Tomako jumped to her feet in response to the tearing. Even she knew this to be an extreme overreaction, though she wouldn’t dare make such a claim. In those coming moments Tomako watched small bits of painting float down in front of her—behind the falling scraps stood an irate father.

“You… are beyond flawed, child. You are the black sheep of the Angel dynasty who only continues to amaze for all of the wrong reasons!” The girl put on a large frown. “Remove that pitiful… *expression* from your face!” By demand, Tomako worked the frown off her face and replaced it with a dull look. “You sleep when you shouldn’t, you… *talk* to horses as if they can hear you, and now you sabotage my artwork!”

Tomako again frowned, but quickly corrected this to avoid a second lecture. Facing the insults, she bowed her head and said, “I can fix myself, Father. I assure you.”

Soga began to walk off, but stopped to look back at her with one especially large eye, “Fix?” Tomako nodded, but his face remained aggressive for several moments. Finally, he waved her off. “You cannot fix what never worked in the first place.”

This mere insult left Tomako twitching for a few seconds, even more as Soga departed from the room. Along with twitching, her hand began to tremble in an erratic way. Soga’s marching could be heard all the way out the door and then some as he made his way to the outhouse.

The troubled child gave the pile of ripped painting pieces a petrified stare—her tremble remained and was strong.

“Do not worry, Tomako.”

The teen received her mother, Togami, but did not face her. Her eyes remained on the destroyed artwork. The mother only watched with a sympathetic face as her only daughter mulled over the art tragedy. One child, a belligerent father, and a farm inheritance situation haunting her.

Togami did not even expand upon ‘do not worry…’

:: Present ::

A stormy night was following Tomako on her journey and it was a bad one. The sky, as black as it is, practically spelled ‘evil.’ She had not witnessed rain so violent since her happier days at home. Furthermore, lightning was constant and nearby—from her point of view, the fact she was not being struck was a clear sign of mercy and good wishes from the gods. If there was *any* morale to be scraped together, it derived from Puriton faith and nothing more.

Heading north, toward Greater Krucifix, Tomako was pacing forward on her horse. Neither Tomako nor her horse—Sakura—were handling the storm with much a heart. The Imperyean woman feared every moment that a lightning strike could put her down; Sakura displayed fear and reluctance to continue forth. They had already been traveling most of the day, at this point, the two were simply desperate to find an area to rest at. Hungry and exhausted, an open field would do them no service with a storm this powerful present.

Tomako’s hat was already losing quality due to the heavy rainfall; it certainly did not protect her hair from getting soaked. Sakura was by far getting the worst of the situation given that he had been carrying Tomako for hours without so much as a rest.

It didn’t help that Tomako was essentially blind because of the night; not even the lightning strikes could provide good visibility on the account of the intense rain. Like it or not, their only hope was to put through extra travel in a random direction. She could only pray to the gods that they were still heading north.

“The very first tree!” She reminded her horse. “The very first tree we find, we’ll stop!”

This was like no other horse trip she had ever taken—this was the longest of her life. Sakura had put in amazing effort in getting Tomako through Kushyrin and Dayaking; but to no surprise, this was a bit much. Overtime travel, no food, no rests, and constant galloping prior to this moment. They had reached a point where the horse refused to gallop any further—they would be walking whatever distance remained to the next tree. Tomako’s heart ached knowing that she had forced essential abuse upon her trusted mount, it wasn’t possible for her to explain why they needed to put in such an effort. Move forward, or die without food. Were it not for this storm, they would *at least* be resting right now.

The woman exhaled with great anxiety and sorrow, then shook her body—water sprayed off of her clothing. Not only would she be starving these next coming days, but she would also need to persevere through with soggy clothing. She could strip and dry her clothing off—kimono included, as this also became soaked—but standing naked in a foreign land, out in the open, was not something she was willing to do.

A moment into the travel, Tomako’s stomach ached; she reacted to this by punching her belly. “Lies… I- I dined with Daigon no more than a day ago…”

What food she did carry needed to be partitioned *strictly* if she had any chance of survival. In her meal plan, as painful as it was to imagine, she was prepared to try and eat only *every other day*. Not even a day had passed, and already, Tomako knew that she would need to at least try her luck at another village—even if she would inevitably be met by more hostility.

Try as she may, lack of visibility prolonged rest. For all she knew, shelter could be but meters away; this was truly the one time where flat plains were not serving her well. *Perhaps if I’m lucky, people living in the mountainous area will be of a friendlier nature. Surely, the samurai have not bothered the mountains…*

At that moment, the most powerful lightning strike yet occurred. Bright blue and very close, the whole shook for Tomako. The devastating lightning strike soon played its true harmful effect, as Sakura panicked and quickly lift his front hooves.

“No, no, no!” Not expecting the frightened reaction, Tomako clawed at the horse’s back for a grapple, but ultimately slipped and fell off its rear. “Urk!”

Tomako landed straight on her back—very roughly—but managed to miss the worst of mud. Missing the mud may have in all honesty been a bad thing, however, for the woman remained down on the hard wet surface with gritted teeth. Sakura had now come to a complete stop, awaiting further order from his master.

“Ur- Urgh..!” The Imperyean opened her eyes to the pouring sky, her face was no longer receiving mercy from the rainfall. “Ugh…” Still on her back, Tomako cringed and pulsated some of her muscles—something went wrong. “Not again…”

About a minute later, Tomako worked off the initial shock dealt to her back and sat up; she had once again fallen from her horse and suffered minor back pain—only this time she hadn’t a roof over her head for recovery.

Tomako stood back up with a muddy rear and back, the worst repercussion obviously being the back pain. Riding was going to be a challenge from this point on; combat was practically impossible. Nonetheless, she approached Sakura and placed a hand over him—her other hand felt around the many satchels and bags surrounding the horse. One simple touch of the fruit bag was enough to leave her with wide eyes.

Rain continued to pour, lightning continued to strike; as she would soon discover, such was not even the *worst* of it all. With a startled expression, Tomako reached inside of the fruit bag and found reason to widen her eyes even more. She proceeded to grab onto what felt to be mush, then brought it out to look at. Using the storm for lighting, Tomako found herself staring at a handful of decay and mold. The entire bag of fruit had long been ruined by excessive rainfall—perhaps even since leaving Imperyea.

She dropped the mush into the mud, shocked, but without expression

“We’re doomed…”

No more than an hour later, the hellstorm had passed; now a bright full moon brought light upon the world. This resolved the issue of visibility, rain, and lighting; alas, the storm had not ended soon enough. The damage had already been dealt; fixing what the storm and hostile population had damaged would be costly—perhaps even impossible, here and there.

Tomako and Sakura had far exceeded the mental and physical threshold; with a day of walking as horrid as this, it would only be fair for the two to *take a day off*. This was not possible. Lack of life needs was the obvious situation, but the storm had presented a new situation—Tomako’s weak back. They were in the middle of nowhere, possibly a great distance from the nearest civilization, and now the woman suffered from a back injury. Her situation couldn’t possibly get worse.

Sakura reluctantly gave follow, but at this point, Tomako could no longer designate the horse as a mount; she lost this privilege after too many hours of extra riding. With this being said, Tomako practically crawled her way up a hill—so lacking of energy, so tired, at a complete loss of morale—with so much mud and so few trees, her goal was to find *anywhere* that could offer shelter of any kind. At this point, a large rock would suffice—even this couldn’t be presented to her.

*Why Imperyeans would care so badly about owning this land is a mystery to me…* she thought with a slight temper.

Upon reaching the hilltop, Tomako at last dropped to her knees and sighed—the drop provoked a pain in her back, further suggesting that this injury was a bit more severe than the last.

“We can go no further, Sakura…” She examined her surroundings—nothing but grass fields—in desperate hope for a sign of life. “You’ve put through more work than I could expect from a horse in a lifetime. Thank you. At last, we’ll rest h-”

She halted her sentence and put on a shocked face. As it would appear, she was *not* faced with only plains. Out in the distance was a flame—a torch—connected to the deck of a humble homestead. Through her perilous journey in Krucifix, she had at last located a farm. Such news was beyond relieving to her, as this suggested that a village would be in traveling range. Hostile or not, Tomako was nearing opportunity.

Though Tomako did not direct her greatest attention onto a theoretical village, her eyes were centered on the one lone farm. Livestock and food—that’s all that mattered to her in this desperate moment. There existed *thoughts*—thoughts Tomako would never ordinarily consider; but then again, this was no ordinary situation to be in. Putting aside thoughts of honor for a moment, there was simple math: The farm had food, and Tomako needed food; henceforth, the farm was the solution…

Under one of Tomako’s more desperate and shameful moments, she soon found herself sneaking about with a somewhat dry satchel. The woman was seizing produce one by one, most of the foods being the bottom of the barrel in value, but nonetheless pivotal to her survival. Vegetables were the main target for her thievery.

*I’m… not entirely in the wrong. My mission to Swatsland is very important, and I’m only taking a little… and the Krucifixans were unjust toward me, so, this is only fair enough, yes..?* Tomako paced herself while at the same time trying to justify her actions. The popular mentality was that her journey was of high priority and honor, thus it would be an acceptable—but unwilling—sacrifice on the farm’s part. *Also, I’ll simply pay the farmers back once I return to Krucifix. Yes, my parents and I will apologize to the family and make proper compensation…*

It was true that the amount of produce she was taking in contrast to the overall amount grown was not significant; only about a percent or two. The action was immoral, nonetheless.

As quiet and unseen as Tomako was trying to be, much of the livestock was taking exception to her presence, as though they knew she was bad news. Even horses were sending panicked whines her way. The rowdy animals were enough to convince her to wrap things up.

“Just a few more vegetables and I should be-”

“Hey!” A man shouted.

Tomako dropped the vegetable currently in hand and froze, following this, an even more shocking situation as a loud whistle came straight for her. Just below her, a think stick had flown right into the ground—it was a near miss.

Her heart beat and her eyes remained large. As a natural response of shock, she dropped the satchel of looted produce in surrender. Only with a second glance did she catch sight of the landed stick’s fletching—this was an arrow that had been fired at her.

“Don’t do anything foolish!” the man demanded. “That was a warning shot.”

Only now did Tomako spot the man over the homestead’s deck. The torch offered some degree of identity, but still not much in the way of face. Nonetheless, the Angel girl had no intention of causing further disruption.

“No, I swear, I won’t!” she pleaded.

An awkward standoff occurred between the two; Tomako remained still and with her hands up, while the farmer retained an archer sight of her. Both parties took slow steps toward one another, the offending party simply wishing to explain herself and leave.

“It’s just… I’m starving, sir, and suffering from a back injury..!”

The man—now even more silhouetted than before—kept his arrow locked back, ready to fire if threatened. His posture and slow movements suggested clear distrust, to no surprise. Tomako ceased her movement once through the produce fields, but the latter party continued to move forward.

“So you thought that warranted thievery?”

Tomako swallowed with both guilt and argument in mind—but mostly guilt. “I- I… was going to compensate you for the inconvenience… eventually.”

He scoffed, “Eventually?” He himself now stopped. “And I suppose if I borrowed you my wealth, you’d compensate me eventually as well, eh?”

“Of course.”

This answer to his sarcastic suggestion brought about another moment of awkward silence. Tomako’s eyes darted left and right, uncertain of how to escape from this ordeal. One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to dare try and run with an arrow locked onto her. Even if she were to survive an arrow and escape, there surely was no one in Krucifix who would lend their medical expertise to an Imperyean.

Tomako, with a hand to her chest, bowed deeply, “I assure you, sir, if there is *anything* I can do to make up for this inconvenience, I will see to it.”

From this point forward, the man fell silent; following this came the lowering of his bow. He kept the arrow back, but was now pointing it toward the ground. The sight of him disarming led Tomako to exhale in relief. She was in a very tight spot, indeed; but at least she would live to see another day…

A short time later, Tomako had been greeted by a very unprecedented treating—food and a beverage of wine. In this situation, she was a thief who tried to run off with free goods; now she was being hosted by the victim.

The woman accepted the meal with as much grace and gratitude as humanly possible; it went without saying, she was being spared out of true kindness, where as she could have simply been turned into the Guard for imprisonment.

Just because she was being treated with hospitality did not say anything for her state of mind; currently alone in a stranger’s living room, Tomako was still sensing inevitable doom over the situation. She hadn’t anywhere near enough to compensate the man.

*This could be good or bad. He’s a farmer, and I’m a farmer. Surely, he would accept a suggestion of free labor. A paid vacation for him in exchange for my survival…*

“Ahem…”

Tomako turned her head up; before her came a more appropriately dressed man—no longer in his sleep attire. Instead, he now came suited in purple-brown leggings, traditional work boots, and a quality green tunic. The Imperyean’s eyes, however, were more so focused on the face of this man. Even she could admit that his character seemed to come straight out of a fantasy, including longer-than-typical hair. Perhaps nine or ten inches in length, against Tomako’s twelve-inch hair.

“I hope the meal I’ve prepared will suffice-”

In a panic, she interrupted him, “Suffice? Of course it suffices! I’m the offender, you didn’t have to do this for me in the first place.” This response was responded to with a raised brow. Tomako literally forced herself to smile. “My stomach was ready to see me executed, but you’ve rescued me.”

The woman’s frantic behavior led to both curiosity, and to her fortune, some sympathy.

“Hm…”

The woman continued to nibble on her food, not wanting to come off as rude to her ‘savior.’ The man in turn proceeded to circle around her with slow steps. His face conveyed suspicion and distrust, not so much in the range of anger or hostility. His eyes went everywhere—to her hair, face, eyes, muddy backside, clothing, belt, and of course, her sword. Of all her features, only the peculiar sword and its shape left him with expanding suspicion.

Soon, he stopped in front of her and extended his arm, “My name is Kim Young, m’lady.”

Tomako received his go for a handshake without hesitation, “My most esteemed pleasure meeting you, Kim Young. I’m-” The woman discontinued her sentence, but appeared to be late for that; Kim already raised a brow, clearly inquiring her name. “I’m… Tog- Tog- Ahem..!” She beat her chest, then bravely looked the man right in the eyes. “My name is Tomako Angel.”

Kim smiled, but with slowly closing eyes, “Mind me, Tomako. Would you be more comfortable sitting on the floor or at a chair?”

“Chair, naturally!” she panicked.

This response was taken in as anything but robotic to Kim, but nonetheless, he shrugged. “I’m assuming you’re not from around here. Down here in the peninsula, we sit in chairs just as much as we sit on our knees.”

“Oh.”

Kim sat with her, one eye open, “You needn’t be shy with me, Tomako. I can tell where you’re from granted your pale skin and non-peninsular accent.” Tomako’s eyes widened immensely. “The Kingdom of Kinchon. Have to be.” This guess left Tomako with a second shock; she had no information at all about the nation he described. “The Kinchese know snow better than anyone else around here. I understand the sun is not so blessing over there.”

Tomako thought carefully about this, not knowing whether to be truthful or not. She was already being spared of her crime, lying would only further any existing negative feelings. Then again, revealing her Imperyean identity could bring even worse results.

“I see…”

Kim closed his eyes and beamed, “So, with that out of the way, what brings you down here?”

“Well, actually, I’m on my way *up*—to Greater Krucifix, as I’ve been told it’s called.”

The man expressed confusion, “Wait, you’re travelling north? But why-” He shook his head, stopping himself here. “So you were ill-prepared for your travel, it seems.”

“Yes, and I would like to first and foremost discuss reparations.”

Kim snickered and stood back up for a moment, he paced around the room with a fairly humored face. “Reparations? Don’t worry about that, Tomako. Nothing was lost; the way I see it, you just went ahead and got me an early start in harvesting.”

The woman widened her eyes and gasped, “Oh..! Well, even so, my intention was bad.”

Now facing away from her, Kim struck a pose and cupped a hand over his chin. Tomako watched with a much calmer person now that she had a better idea of who she was dealing with. Kim did not come off as someone who would see her situation worsen; in fact, he seemed almost willing to lend her the hand she so badly needed.

“As a matter of fact, Tomako… If there’s one thing us Krucifixans are known for best, is our cooperative characters and strong friendships.” He turned to Tomako again, two hands out as though he were going to hug her. “The people of Kinchon and Krucifix are so close, we as might as well live under a single banner. We were there for you in your time of need, you were there for us in our time of need. I’d love nothing more than to give you support in your travel.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful!” She put her hands together, almost pleadingly. “I, too, am a farmer, believe it or not. I could offer my hand to you as a worker in exchange for the resources needed to reach Greater Krucifix.”

Kim’s eyes widened along with an enthusiastic face, “To Greater Krucifix? That’s it!?” He let out a laugh. “Easily accepted. I’ll assign you the least physical tasks so that your back may heal, a place to stay, and everything you need for a successful trip across the peninsula.”

The man sat back down, where he was now greeted with a very friendly smile. Tomako had not expressed so much joy even in the wake of a friendly Daigon; for once, she was getting the best kind of bargain.

“And what of my horse? Surely, he will be catered to?”

“Horse food? Yeah, sure.”

Tomako clapped her hands, “By the gods, you’re a life saver, Kim!”

At that moment, Kim’s face froze—still showing positive expression—but frozen and forced in appearance. Tomako already found herself pleasuring herself over the thought of rest, casual work she’s used to, and a routine meal—as she had been naturally accustomed to in Kushyrin. Her host, however, suddenly did not seem so comfortable.

His happy expression faded with every second that went by, and soon, he found himself fiddling around with his thumbs. Finally, there was a lack of expression.

“Hm…” he hummed. “I wasn’t aware that Kinchon had any gods…” Kim looked up with a slightly returned smile, but this again faded upon spotting Tomako’s nervous face. “In fact, aside from the Kingdom of Quixang, I wasn’t aware of *any* Shimuan gods. Strange, isn’t it?”

Tomako, too, began to fiddle around with her thumbs, “*Well*, if I may be honest with you for a moment, Kim…”

But he dismissed her by turning his head and putting on a face of deep thought—heavy contemplation. “With… *gods*, pale skin, black hair, an unfamiliar sword… it’s almost… as if… you were…” The man slowly turned his head back onto her, now with lowered brows. “…Imperyean…”

A very cold silence divided the two; the slightest mouth quirk from Tomako acknowledged this suggestion as truth. Beyond this, Kim continued to stare at her with the deadest of stares—clearly surprised, but a dead kind of surprise. *Many* more seconds went by with this revelation in the air, and for the most part, Kim seemed pretty tame over this information.

“Hm… yes…” he finally spoke.

Tomako swallowed, “Um, but anyways, about the farming position you’ve so kindly blessed me with…” She raised a finger while also fighting back the urge to tremble. “I wish to make clear that I want to *mostly* benefit you. I do not want your money, nor do I want more than needed to reach Greater Krucifix.”

“Naturally,” he replied in a reluctantly staunch tone.

The man rolled his eyes aside and sighed heavily, then covered his mouth with his wrist. Such an uncomfortable moment continued to reside as he tapped his fingers wildly against the wood table. For a moment, Tomako thought that she had met one of the kindest men yet on her journey; now she was back to fearing the worst.

Kim, still in deep thought, soon narrowed his eyes and with low brows, as though he had just come up with something. “Mhm, apologies for the silence… It’s just that…” His finger tapping picked up in speed and intensity, then ceased. “I’m simply mulling over what *terms* to establish in reparations for the produce…”

Tomako’s eyes widened, “…reparations..?” She grit her teeth. “Forgive me, but… I was with the understanding that it was of no consequence..?”

“That is before I realized just now that the market may not offer top coin for what you’ve pulled out. Not at least for another ten days or so.” He breathed in and exhaled. “That… and… well…” Soon enough, he could not hide his true feelings, as he brought a fist down and looked at her with a sour face. “What are you doing here, in Krucifix?”

Tomako, caught off guard by the interrogation, straightened her posture against a hurting back. “I am certain that the produce will sell just fine regardless of the season. I’m well familiar with trade-”

“Answer the damn question.”

Her eyes widened even more, enhanced fright coming from the coarse choice of terminology. “Travelling. I’m travelling.”

“Clearly,” he said in irritation. “Where to? Why?”

To this, Tomako nodded with respect and replied, “Surely, you’ve heard of the Swatslandic occupation of Imperyea.”

Kim’s eyes spelled ‘disinterest,’ “Krucifix does not look kindly toward refugees. Your people had their chance to befriend ours; not a shred of effort on your part for centuries.”

“Kim, please listen… listen…” She brought both her hands up to put emphasis on her point. “The Swatslandic military has seized my parents, I am on a humble—but risky—journey to retrieve them. I am no refugee!”

“What? How does that play into Krucifix? You still haven’t answered the original question!”

She again bowed, “I’m sorry. Your land is merely a stepping stone in my long journey to Swatsland.”

“Pfft. *Stepping stone*.” Tomako prepared to reword her definition of Krucifix, but Kim moved on. “Surely you jest. Swatsland? You’re travelling to Swatsland—via land?” An offensive smirk followed. “Were it not for my generosity, you’d have died here on the peninsula. What chance do you think you have on the much longer trail to Svatpa?”

Tomako argued, “The reason for my failing here is due to circumstance alone. I am not disagreeing with you, I would not have made it far without the helping hand.”

The Krucifixan’s smirk remained, “Well, I respect the honesty.” Tomako returned a swift nod, trying to sway him away from hostility. “But regardless, I don’t have any sympathy at all for your journey. *Thousands* here in Krucifix have had their families abducted—by the accursed samurai. It has been such a recurring practice that most of us—*my* family included—has moved up to Greater Krucifix.”

“Why are you still here?”

To this question, Kim stood up from the table once more. He moved toward the center of the room where he then struck a pose of strong defiance.

“My family can run, but I will never be moved around by the likes of any Imperyean. I do not fear the samurai warmongers like so many do.” Tomako dipped her head down with fearing eyes. “Come the day where Imperyea becomes free—and make no mistake, your people *will* be free again—I will stand ready for the inevitable invasion. If the samurai dare trespass over my farm, I will bring as many down as I can with arrows.”

Tomako breathed in and calmly responded, “Come that day, I will wish for only the most peaceful outcome from both sides.”

“Heh…” Kim waved her off—words of nonsense to him. “We’ve heard that one before. Many times.” With a growing temper, Kim paced around the living room while flapping his wrist around. “‘With this truce, we enter an era of peace,’ they said. ‘From this day forward, never again shall we hope to see blood spilled between our two nations,’ they said another time.”

“Kim… please.” The man turned to face Tomako, who had now put on an honest face. “I *assure* you, I have no interest in politics, let alone war. Krucifix, Imperyea, and Swatsland could all be part of one singular nation—it makes no difference to me as long as there is prosperity.”

A distrusting face resumed on the man, however, Tomako’s words played *some* positive effect on him, as he had been at the very least silenced beyond this point. In his eyes, Tomako was Imperyean, and to the common Krucifixan, Imperyeans were the *Devils of Shimua*. On Tomako’s side of it all, she once again found herself confused. She couldn’t put her finger over the true reality here of whether Kim was true to his hatred—or simply treating Imperyeans as he had been taught.

With her fingers crossed, Tomako sent the man a very strong face, “Kim, the offer you made to me before this Imperyean revelation was better than any I’ve heard in months. Imperyean or not, I am a humble and honest person before anything, and I *will* live up to my side of any deal we make.” Kim puckered his lip curiously, even more as Tomako put her hands together pleadingly. “Please, Kim. I will do *anything* to secure the original deal of farm work for supplies.”

A silence ensued as Kim stared her down while rubbing his chin. His eyes went many places, but then went places that Tomako feared most. Her heart began to beat in shock as the man practically critiqued her with his eyes.

Kim put on an almost wicked grin. “*Anything?*” Tomako froze, almost completely shutting down at that moment. The man’s grin grew perverse, as did the speed of his chin rubbing. “Say… …that’s not a bad idea…”

The silence resumed, only now it was more awkward and threatening. Tomako had finally taken her eyes off of Kim, refusing to straightly acknowledge the perverse stare he was sending her. Then, with a hand to her heart, Tomako exhaled very deeply.

“I… did say I would do *anything*, yes…” A second loud exhale put Kim’s grin off, now revealing to him that there was arising conflict. “B- But I must please remind you that first and foremost, I am a human with standards, desires, dreams, wishes…” The level of discomfort for Kim had taken a sudden upward spike as Tomako’s eyes then began to greatly water, along with a greatly quivering lip. “A- A- And as such, I would ask that you be as merciful and gentle with my offer as can be, b- because I would one day like to start a family of my own, and when that day comes, I dream not of having horrid memories of the past-”

“U- Uh..! Hey, now, wait..!” Kim panicked. The man approached her with rapidly shaking hands. “D- Don’t cry, Tomako. Don’t- Don’t cry… I wasn’t suggesting- err…” The man grit his teeth, followed by a shameful blush. “I… uh… no… that’s, uh, not…” The sight of a watery Tomako only furthered his regret, and so, he too exhaled loudly. “I’m… sorry, that was just… aggressive thinking. That was… that was stupid, on my behalf…”

The woman wiped her eyes and exhaled in relief, then placed both hands over the table. The general mood in the room had now changed, Kim no longer displaying any hostility, but rather sorrow and regret. He was not sympathizing with her in any way, but his very belligerent suggestion did extinguish the fire that had been controlling his words before.

“Look, it’s far too late to be awake. I think we should call it in and resume negotiations in the morning.”

Tomako looked up at him with a retained sad face, “I suppose you will have me rest outside?”

“Err… Ideally… but…” Kim closed his eyes and shook. “No, Tomako. I will allow you a room. Just don’t make me revoke the privilege.”

She stared at him for several more moments, soon nodding in agreement to the condition. There was a very awkward feel in the room, but she wasn’t going to risk tampering with the situation beyond this point. With a room being designated to her plus a possibility of finding work with Kim, she had to be as humble and accepting as possible.

At any rate, Kim was still the most reasonable Krucifixan she had come across—and that said a lot about her situation.

Tomako had been presented a room of stay. No larger than the room she once resided in at home, this was one had a unique style that few Imperyeans had ever gotten to experience. The room had solid walls, traditional patterns for decoration, and a raised futon—almost in the same style as a bed. In terms of bedding, this couldn’t be more convenient for the woman who suffered a back injury.

Her situation was an interesting one at this point. She had a place to stay, presumably a job, and Sakura could take a well-deserved break. Such were pleasures, however, there also came the obvious fact that Kim didn’t like Tomako, but not in the same nature as Daigon. Kim *literally* disliked Tomako for the very blood that flowed within her—as far as she knew.

*To make such a suggestion… that must mean something. Someone who truly hates a person wouldn’t attempt to bed them, would they..?*

Having put her katana and boots aside, Tomako placed herself upon the raised futon. The initial sitting went fine, but attempting to lay down was another story.

“Urk!”

The woman barred her teeth and placed herself down, she endured immense suffering to the back for several moments; fortunately, the pain lasted for only seconds. With an understanding of what kind of pain she would endure by sitting up, Tomako basically collapsed over the futon. Her day was over at long last.

She shivered, both from a temperature she wasn’t quite used to and also the aftershock of the pain. By all means Tomako would like nothing more than to get her issue diagnosed, however, given the temperament Kim had shown—along with potential lust toward her—she had no intention of asking him for a back examination.

Not a single one of these issues compared to the biggest and most obvious predicament of all…

Rolling to her side for a moment, Tomako panicked aloud, “…I’m about to sleep… in some guy’s house… who possibly wants to see me die…”

Such was the unfortunate reality of the situation, but one she had no choice but to accept. It was no longer a sole matter of getting restocked with supplies, now there was a medical issue in the painting. With her current condition, *any* common street bandit could best the woman. She was at Kim’s absolute mercy, whether she liked it or not.

*My shocked sorrow did create change in that living room. Perhaps if I can simply prove that I am peaceful and loving, he will better accept me…*

Soon wrapping herself in the futon, Tomako put out the one candle in the room, then reluctantly put her head down. Her first night of rest in Krucifix, and it was in some stranger’s bed.

“…may the gods allow me to see sun again…” she prayed silently.

Despite the time of night, a paranoid Kim remained awake an hour or so past Tomako’s departure into her assigned room. The man was sitting on the end of his personal bed—not a futon—and with a knife secure in one hand. Paranoia was the central theme to be found in this room; no matter how innocent Tomako acted, he knew better than to trust an Imperyean—let alone someone who tried to rob him.

Blinking once, Kim soon directed his attention to the doorway. *Alright, enough time has passed…* With this thought in mind, he tightened his grasp of the knife and mobilized toward the door.

The entire house was dark—his bedroom excluded. Only the slightest amount of light bled into the living room as Kim crept out the door with a candle and knife. Utter silence followed, though he was expecting this to change any minute now—all depending on Tomako’s current status.

Closing the door behind him, Kim slid his way around the house in an attempt to remain unheard. All the while his eyes scanned left and right for trouble or missing objects. Tomako was nowhere in sight, and as far as he could tell, nothing seemed out of place.

*My weapons…*

Kim sped across the living room with a face of suspicion and got beside a wall near the house entrance. It was here that the man extended the candle forward for better lighting—this revealed a tall basket of bows, arrows, and military cleavers. No weapon had been seized by his Imperyean visitor.

For a moment, the man gazed upon the basket of weapons with a confused face, as though it were strange that Tomako had not stolen his weaponry.

*If she didn’t steal any valuables, and she didn’t steal my weapons, that must mean…* The man lowered his brows even more before putting the candle away from the weapon basket. *She has a sword of her own she could kill me with…*

There was conflict brewing from within; a temptation to trust Tomako’s peaceful words, but also an installed factor calling for him to doubt her. She was Imperyean and also attempted thievery—in his eyes, two facts that did not warrant trust.

With a concluding nod, Kim raised his knife and turned back to the living room; more specifically, a door that was across the room. There was only one true way to tell at this point if Tomako were plotting anything.

Still quiet and still aggressive in nature, Kim sped his way across the living room again, this time his target being the room he had assigned the woman. His movement, however, was so abrupt and fast that the candle he held died down.

“Agh…”

Kim was now relying on the window moonlight for vision, and so he rested the dead candle over the table they had been sitting at so long ago. Finally, he approached Tomako’s door; one hand free to push it open, the other with a ready knife.

The room was dark but with the moon shining down upon the futon. At first, Kim felt his hairs rise in agitation upon seeing an empty futon—only his eyes deceived him. The futon was not empty; her body was simply flat enough to create such an illusion. In fact, not only was the Imperyean sound asleep, but her sword was sitting right by the door. Were it of interest to Kim, he could seize EngelReise and leave her defenseless; ultimately a bad place to put the sword on Tomako’s part.

Nonetheless, Kim dropped his shoulders down with natural guilt and shame; he allowed for his paranoia to act as reason to infiltrate a woman’s place of rest—uninvited. Such was a truly dishonorable act, regardless of the culture in question. Yet he continued to stare at her as she slept.

*She left her weapon out…exposed… and has allowed herself to sleep in a stranger’s home. I could kill her right now, and nobody would ever know…* Kim took a step back, preparing to leave, but couldn’t seem to overcome the paranoia. *Then again, is she truly being trusting? Or is this just part of some grand scheme..?*

It was hard to build upon the theory that Tomako was playing him; the fact she didn’t slay Kim on this night did say a lot and was hard to argue about. Even so, this didn’t spell ‘innocent’ entirely from his point of view; if anything, it simply showed that she was tired and foolish for letting her guard down.

Curious, to say the least; but he had satisfied his objective and had a vague answer, nonetheless. Tomako intended on sleeping, and no wrongdoing could come from *that* activity. Good or bad with intent, Kim would simply need to continue watching her from a safe distance.

With this, he ceased his intrusion by closing the door, now ready to rest as well…

Beautiful sunshine—a suitable favor given the past night’s horrendous storm. Through it, Tomako suffered a back injury, Kim received property damages; but both might have reached a deal of mutual benefit because of it, as the storm had put the two together.

“Kim?”

That morning, Tomako found herself searching the house for her reluctant host, of whom she very much wished to improve relations with after an awkward night. He, however, could not be found anywhere.

She called a second time, “Kim? Are you present?”

Every room was searched—the bathroom, living room, even a peek at his bedroom—there wasn’t any sign of the man. Strange, considering she was a newly found guest, and one not to be trusted in his house alone.

With it becoming clear to Tomako that Kim was not present in the house, she scratched her head in puzzlement.

“I wonder how Sakura’s doing…” she wondered aloud.

It was outside near where Tomako had first been spotted that their second meeting occurred. Upon exiting the house, the woman had been faced by Kim, who was indulging in personal activity. Ahead of him was a large target board with many holes, and currently, some stuck arrows. He himself was standing sideways, firing off arrows toward the target.

Tomako watched for several moments, primarily waiting for his current quiver of arrows to empty out. With only three arrows left, Kim had caught the Imperyean with the corner of his eye—he expressed initial shock.

“Oh, Tomako. I thought you’d sleep longer than that.”

She grasped her belt and moved forward in a somewhat elegant manner, “My father was the one to teach me; work equals profit, sleep equals decadence.” This claim led Kim to raise his brows in surprise. “Profit, honor, and strength all override decadence. Henceforth, more work, less sleep.”

“Uh, I… I’m not sure what to say about that.”

Tomako put herself beside Kim, but from a safe distance, then asked, “What are you doing?”

The Krucifixan put an arrow over his finger and onto the string, then pulled back, “Archery,” he said before firing.

The arrow in question was precise, not missing its mark by much at all. Tomako of all people was impressed by the seemingly masterful shot.

“As a hobby?”

Kim lowered his bow and sent her a prideful grin, “I’m an archer for every bit of reason, but perhaps most of all because I was an esteemed member of the Hwarang.”

“Wow!” Tomako dipped her head down with a slight smile. “…what’s a Hwarang..?”

The man looked to her waist, eyeing up her sheathed katana, “You Imperyeans have the samurai—warriors of the sword; we have the Hwarang—the elite archers of our nation.” His eyes came up to Tomako’s, installing a fearsome gaze onto her. “We, the Hwarang, are the reason your dreadful people have not and *will not* get their hands on this peninsula.”

Completely dismissing the hostility, Tomako followed this up with, “Wow! You were an elite archer of this Hwarang group?”

Kim grinned at her again, but soon, his face betrayed him, as he proceeded to break the prideful look a bit. “Uh, well…” His eyes rolled away from hers, tripping himself in his own claim. “Uh, *technically*, no… but… heh…” Rather than receiving an answer, Kim pointed to the target and said, “Hey, you’re Imperyean, why not show me *your* talent.”

“Wha—at? What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked with dropped lips.

Nonetheless, Tomako reached for Kim’s bow—only to then have him retreat from her a few steps. He instead took out a specific bow from his basket of weaponry—hardly any different from the one he was currently using.

“Here, use this bow instead. It’s special.”

“Really?”

Tomako was handed the red bow, along with a single arrow. Kim then explained, “Anyways, you come from a warfare culture; I’m honestly curious to see how well an Imperyean woman does with a bow.”

She grimaced, “I’ve… never fired a bow in my life, Kim.” She put the arrow over her finger and the fletching over the string. “But I’ll try my best.”

Tomako stepped up to the firing position; Kim, however, backed away from her with strict eyes. With a target ahead of her, the idea of sending an arrow forward did not seem so hard to her, despite having no experience.

Setting herself up sideways and bringing the bow up, Tomako pulled the arrow back and closed an eye. There, as it occurred, the string snapped and disengaged the arrow—leading to a complete collapse of the bow. Both Tomako and Kim were left with wide eyes, but for entirely separate reasons.

“I’m sorry! I- I think the bow-” Tomako bent over and examined the bow—the string was not severed; it had been merely disconnected due to the pull. “I think the string was loose..?”

Kim, still appearing shocked, had his eyes still on Tomako. “Interesting…” Tomako tried to reconstruct the bow, but found the mechanism of this bow to be a bit too confusing. “Go ahead and, uh, grab a different bow…”

“I apologize.” Tomako dropped the bow and simply picked a new one from the basket. “I will need to be more careful.”

Kim dropped his shocked face, now more so expressing intrigue. The Imperyean then walked back to the line to reattempt the firing; this time, she was much slower in readying the arrow—fearing that she might have mishandled the last bow.

Once more, she pulled the arrow back—this time without a snap. Before releasing the arrow, Tomako pointed out, “Good thing you didn’t use that bow in a real combat situation; that could’ve ended badly.”

He smirked back at her, then gave an unenthusiastic chuckle. “…if you were, say, thinking of shooting me with that bow, it would have fallen apart… theoretically.”

Tomako disengaged the bow so that she could turn her head and panic, “I- I wasn’t going to shoot you!”

“Eh—h, I’m just saying… you *could* have tried to… and if you did, I would’ve known of your true intent.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” she again panicked. Kim seemed somewhat unimpressed by this claim, despite the emotion. “I wish to work for you, not cause more trouble. I am on a journey to make honor, not lose more!”

“Just an open thought,” he explained.

Past this point, Tomako seemed uncomfortable with the idea of firing this bow. It was hard to do so when knowing that Kim thought conspiracy. Therefore, she continued to stare at him without much attention to the target.

The man bowed, “Go on, proceed.”

“I’m not sure I want to anymore…”

But Kim waved her onward, insisting that she proceed with the shot. Under pressure, Tomako nodded and turned back to the target in question. Many arrows were already stuck to it—Kim left very little room for a bullseye given all of the existing arrows in the center; with this, she could only wonder how it was that Kim missed her the previous night.

She pulled back, closed an eye, then released the pull. The outcome had it that she could credit herself for landing an arrow on the target; just not where intended. Nonetheless, both Tomako and Kim expressed surprise with the outcome.

“Oh, hey, I hit the target!” Tomako cheered.

Kim crossed his arms and hummed, “Not bad. Not amazing, but not bad.” He closed one eye and measured the arrow’s position with his finger. “If that were a criminal, I’d say you hit them in the shoulder.”

The event was exciting for Tomako, however, the idea of a paranoid Kim still led her to put down the bow. If her host feared a plot, she would try to present herself as a character of non-violence. This *was*, after all, true for the most part.

Acknowledging her desire to stop, Kim signaled her to follow, “Let’s resume our little round of negotiations.”

One last time, Tomako and Kim found themselves at the living room table; this time minus the culture tension. Kim was much more professional in behavior now, trying to reach an agreement that would benefit both parties to an equal extent.

“The good news is that food and water is something I can supply you with at little cost on my end, so long as I’m making profit off of you.”

Tomako nodded, “Then this should be a profitable agreement no matter what for both of us. I know how to handle a farm, and I’m only asking for enough supplies to get me to Greater Krucifix.”

He winked, “There’s only one problem…” His finger came up. “In order for business to be equal, I still need you to *make up* for the supplies I’m giving you. I can have you off and going with food and water by tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean you can leave tomorrow. I need you to fulfill your side of the deal.”

As always, Tomako received this with a reluctant nod—never happy to be held up; yet she knew all along that thing would have to be the case.

“How long would I be working for you?”

Kim stared at her in silence for several moments before saying, “A week—maybe.” This left Tomako with wide eyes, to which came off as offensive. “What? Do you actually think you’ll be putting through *hard* work with that destroyed back of yours?”

Tomako closed her eyes, “I appreciate the thought for my back, but to say it is ‘destroyed’ is simply not true.” She opened her eyes again. “I’ll accept whatever is most reasonable to you, but there are only so many weeks in a year. With all due respect, I’d rather not spend too many days here.”

With a sigh, Kim responded, “Tomako, I’m looking for good quality work—the expectation is that you leave *my* schedule open so that I can focus on expanding my produce.”

“What? Will you not take up my offer and relax?”

“Heh. Look, I’d rather you do all the common work, and I take the rare opportunity to expand my own interests. Bigger farm means more money in my pocket.” He pointed at her with a straight finger. “You see where I’m coming from? I need you to do a good job on your end so that I can put my focus elsewhere. Leave early or mess up, and this will turn into a tragedy, if anything.”

With this, Tomako reached her hand out in a proposing manner, “You needn’t worry about that. I will see you satisfied, I assure you.”

Kim glanced at her hand for a moment, then back up at her, “I’d like to say that you’re earning my trust in small servings… but then again, I can’t find it in my heart to fully trust you, an Imperyean.” Despite these words, Kim reached forward to accept the handshake. “Nevertheless, I’ll at least trust you to uphold your side of the deal.”

“Yes!” she responded happily.

A smile was returned, perhaps the first since learning of her Imperyean identity. “Truth be told though… when I look into your eyes, I see only a truthful person who knows only good.” Tomako’s smile faded a slight bit, but ultimately remained. “It’s when my eyes are away that there is mistrust.”

“In that case…” Tomako simpered at him. “Keep your eyes on me.”

“That would be the plan.”

The deal had been made between the two, Tomako and Kim; work-for-supplies. In very little time, the relationship between Kim and Tomako went from hostile, to very friendly, back to hostile, and now to mistrusting. Nonetheless, Tomako was safe for now and had a new route to go down. She would work for Kim, get supplies, possibly heal her back, then embark on her long journey across the peninsula.

Hopefully, with Kim, she had seen the very last of the hostile crowd…

To be continued!

**Chapter 11 <** **| > Chapter 13**

## Author Notes

#### Victim of Abuse

While up to this point in the story, it has been made clear that the relationship between Soga and Tomako is terrible, this chapter begins to paint the full picture more blatantly that Soga is not simply a harsh father, but also an abusive one. Due to Tomako's respect for her family and insistence on being quiet, this is most often revealed to the reader in the form of childhood flashbacks as seen in this chapter's introduction. This subject matter has had a slightly controversial effect within the Siontix Realm, so much so that a Siontix Realm Senate motion would be called years later to tone down the abusive substance.

#### Tomako's Back

While not clear just from this chapter, I wanted to begin a precedent with this chapter that Tomako has a horribly fragile back that will betray her given a hard enough drop, This is shown for the first time in the story here when Tomako is ejected from Sakura, as despite landing in wet terrain, she still left this chapter with a back injury. While Kim Young's hospitality would bail her out this time, similar struggles with her back would persist in future chapters as well.

#### Writing Bigotry

To no surprise, one of the most complex issues to write for in this story was to be Kim Young and his reaction to an Imperyean seeking his help. Kim had always been hyped up as an Imperyean hater, inspired by the tensions some Korean and Chinese persons feel toward the Japanese, and my primary goal was to write a character with believable cause to host such ire. Of course, the problem is also that I needed to also write Kim in a way where the unanimous opinion isn't just that he's a terrible person. The challenge of this chapter then, as well as those many to come after, is writing a character who hates *almost* every aspect of Tomako while still hinting that there are areas he will compromise on. For this chapter, Tomako not fitting his idea of an Imperyean stereotype leaves him rather dumbfounded, and her refusal to break down even in light of his clear hostility are both factors that lead to Kim calming down on his bigotry. Most importantly, when he pushes Tomako too far and begins to bring the conversation to a sexual area, her panic and sorrow is the one thing that prompts him to break his otherwise unyielding character and apologize, and I knew this to be the most important way of communicating early on to the reader that Kim is someone who can see the light. The season of chapters to follow would need to chip away at Kim's intolerance, but also contextualize why it exists in the first place.

#### F-Zero: Seppuku - Part 1/3, Lap 2 Reference

While almost too subtle to be recognized as a reference, Kim proposing a sensual move on Tomako as they met and in her desperate time of need was an intended parallel to when Chiya and Earl first met in F-Zero: Seppuku. Similarly, when Earl meets Chiya, he quickly advances a sensual move onto her and is also rejected. The two scenes differ greatly, however, in that Earl makes his move under more positive circumstances, while Kim does so in negative circumstances. The point of this parallel is due to Tomako and Kim being the spiritual successors to Chiya and Earl.

## Chapter Illustration

This chapter illustration depicts the scene where Tomako prepares to fire the bow that Kim sabotaged. For some several months, this became one of the most iconic full-body images of Tomako available, and thus would be borrowed for other projects that required a full-body view of her.

This illustration aspired to advance countryside backgrounds due to the acknowledgment that backgrounds such as this would be very common in a story about traveling across the world. This illustration also chose to focus on lighting due to the very simplistic scene being depicted.

This image was made entirely through Adobe Photoshop.

## Characters Introduced

#### Kim Young

Kim Young (Surname: Kim) is the story's most significant character besides Tomako and is introduced in this chapter when Tomako is injured and caught attempting to steal his crops. A lonely man, Kim holds immense resentment for everything Imperyean due to their history of constant wars against the Kingdom of Krucifix. Try as Tomako could to avoid revealing her Imperyean identity to him, he would piece together the clues and transition from cordial feelings toward her to paranoid and hostile; yet he entertains her company firstly on the promise that she would serve his farm for a couple of days, and secondly for a reason not yet revealed. In addition to being a farmer, Kim reveals that he is a crossbowman and boasts of almost joining Krucifix's most elite archer unit, but is not transparent as to why this arrangement did not fall through. The chapter concludes with Kim still highly suspicious of Tomako, but perplexed to find her not making any sudden moves on him in the night, leading him to wonder if she is truly a woman of her word.