onepassingnight

For anyone wandering into this dream they would find simple countryside, dirt roads passing through rice patties and wooded areas, the surroundings hazy and implied but coming into more distinct clarity the closer they came to a small house. The weather was chilly, the wind bringing a bit of a bite when it came through the trees now and then, taking leaves with it on each gust.

Tomoe was cleaning, a simple broom in hand as she swept in front of the small house. Her expression, as always, was markedly blank, at least for anyone who wasn't used to her. In truth there was a faint note of unease in her frame and the way her brows were subtly drawing now and then as she worked--but the list of those who would pick up on that were few and far between. She had misplaced something. Forgotten something. She was well aware of it, but no matter how hard she thought on it or looked she could not find it. She couldn't even remember what she was looking for, only that 'it' was missing.

It was then that she noticed someone approaching and moved carefully to the path leading up to the house, watching the newcomer owlishly. They certainly didn't look like they had traveled from Otsu.

"Are you looking for the medicine seller...?"

[ooc; I'm going to do something a bit weird with Tomoe. She subconsciously remembers dying, but the greater part of her mind is trying to suppress it... so I'm going to try to bring that out in weird subtle things in the background or with her (i.e. snow falling inside a building or in the middle of 80 degree weather, spots of blood appearing on her clothing only to disappear again when attention is called to it, maybe sudden but brief phantom pains in her right side, who knows /o/) SO if I write something weird in a tag, that's what I'm going for. I don't know how long the memories will stay repressed, probably a few weeks at least. 8D; tl;dr intro note is tl;dr...]

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It was Japanese, Yukimura could tell that much— but it was something more like what he remembered reading about in books. Even this was too old fashioned and rural for what he might consider his time. When he tried to think about why he was here, his mind told him it didn't matter, and if it didn't matter, then the thought slipped away as if it never existed in the first place.

He just knew he felt out of place, somehow.

He looked down at himself and his hands, and his clothes feel "the same" as they should be - a school suit uniform, save the shoes, a pair of waraji tied to his feet instead of the shoes that should be there. But again, the why of the situation slipped away as fast as it might have come. The woman drew his attention, and as he looked up at her, he blinked. "I... don't know what I'm looking for. Do most people arrive here to look for the Medicine Seller?"

Tomoe tilted her head a bit at the young man before her. He seemed odd and out of place, but she couldn't exactly place why, much how she couldn't place what was missing.

"Yes... but my husband is not here at the moment..." she answered simply enough, though in retrospect perhaps announcing that she was alone was not the safest thing to do. She gripped the broom a little harder in turn, but the unease didn't reach her face. "Have you come from Otsu...?"

He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, not how her hands tightened around the broom, or how she looked at him. Instead, he shook his head, his slightly concerned frown changing to more of a smile. "I am not from Otsu at all. I'm from—"

And he paused. Where... was he from?

"Ueda." Something about that didn't seem quite right, but he nodded as he said it, almost convincing himself. "I am sorry that your husband is away. It must make it difficult when people come looking for him and his expertise."

She had never heard of the place before--but then she had never heard of Otsu either. It must have been another small town nearby. She didn't outwardly react to the mention of her husband's 'expertise', but a grim note chimed inside of her, the same one that always came when strangers arrived, that faint question of whether the visitors had come for medicine... or if their location had been compromised. A greater pang of unease set through her with the thought, a sudden crawling sensation moving under her skin, followed by a dull ache creeping along the right side of her back. Her posture straightened with it, as though that alone would correct the problem.

"It is not an uncommon occurrence," she answered, still watching him like a hawk. "Were you on your way to the capitol? It is still another day's walk from here."

"I suppose that I ought to..." It felt as if he was just passing by anyway. Maybe the capitol was where he was going in the first place? Maybe he needed to just call Sasuke and just ask, or at least tell him where he was... Yukimura peered off into the distance, down the path leading the way he hadn't come, the toe of his left foot twisting a bit into the dirt. The capitol was the way to go, he was certain of it.

"But do you have a phone?" Sasuke had always told him to get his own, but he never had.

"There isn't much in the way of shelter the rest of the way. If you're going to Kyoto it would be best to start off in the morning," she answered easily enough, though where he would find shelter around there was the question. She certainly wouldn't invite him into their home before discussing it with Kenshin. He didn't appear to be armed, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. After all, she didn't appear to be armed at that moment either.

She frowned a bit more before at his question, however. She shook her head, "I don't know what you mean by 'phone'..."

"You use it to call people?" He held his hand up to his ear and mouth, as one might when pantomiming how to use a phone, but the more Yukimura thought about it, the less sense it made, really. Like it was slipping away, and once the last few notions about it fell away, so did his hand. "I-- I suppose it isn't important." He didn't expect her to offer a place for him to stay, so the idea didn't really cross his mind, and he just turned to look off at the distance. Whether or not he was armed (he wasn't,) he held no belief or care that anyone else might be. "The morning..?"

Her perplexed look only increased and she shook her head to his pantomime.

"Yes... the morning... unless you would want to travel through the night. I wouldn't recommend it, especially not if you're traveling alone."

"It isn't safe, is it?" It probably wasn't— but Yukimura had to wonder if it was worth it anyway. He really didn't want to impose, so he might as well see how far he can get on his own feet right now. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that it was possible, like there were endless reserves of energy, and that the night wasn't as dark as perhaps most people thought it would be...

He brightened, stepping backwards away from the lady, his head bowing. "I will take my chances despite that, my lady! Sanada Yukimura is not afraid of the darkness."

"No, it isn't," she answered. That strange pain moved up her back again, noticeable enough that she had to roll her shoulder--and then it was gone again.

She watched him as he backed away before adding, "It isn't the darkness that you need to be cautious of."

He blinked as he raised his head, noting the shoulder roll, but what Yukimura was more focused on was her words. "Then... what is it that I should be cautious of?" There was no doubt that there were dangers everywhere, but surely it couldn't be that bad..?

She raised a brow at him, thinking it odd that someone would need to ask.

"There are bandits and thieves about. It's foolish to travel alone unless you are highly capable of defending yourself." Of course that hadn't stopped her from traipsing to Kyoto alone, but in all honesty she was extremely lucky to have arrived both alive and unharmed. "It seems as though people are killed for little reason these days."

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