Welcome to Gaia! ::

((I would respond but I'm going insane right now...literally so you'll have to give me a day or two...sorry all.))

Chaos could feel a presence...familiar, but it didn't bother him too greatly. He felt that from many people. He looked around a bit and then nodded to a beef stew house. He turned leading her toward it. "Let us eat and drink while we speak...being a rurouni gives little chance to have money and so to use it needing to be sparse in such spendings Yumi-dono."

His yukata swept around his legs slowly as he walked, his grey eyes open to look ahead at the place in front of him. His hair was no longer brown like it had once been in the beginning of the revolution. It was...red. Not flame red like most hair, but in fact blood red. As red as a dark pool of blood. It swept about his shoulders as he walked, movements sure and calculated, nothing unguarded it seemed.

Despite his no longer being in the Revolution or otherwise he was still cautious. Odd, but maybe that was just his way. He tired of this war for Meiji and Shinsengumi. It was pointless now and no longer held any use to it. Himura Sakura walked into the beef pot restaurant holding the door for Yumi as he waited for her to come with him. He spotted the female with the hooded cloak...that single imperfection pon her face showed itself and he moved a bit from her site as he would close the door behind Mou, if she came in that is.

Himura Sakura followed her in and sat down across from her setting his own two blades down to his left and right before he finished sitting. He looked slowly up at her, through those blood bangs. His grey eyes shining dully. "I suppose for the simple reason that there is no reason to kill...My master tried to convince me not to go and find a place in this war. In even before the war. I of course ignored him being young. So I used my power for the Meiji and became great and well-known...

"I keep moving to make sure no one gets hurt, because if I stay I know that will happen. 5 years ago I left the Revolution...I went back to my masters' birth isle. It was the third time I went there...when I went it was a horrible sight. The people of the village had refused to fight...so the government had gone after them. They brought more than 4 armies to decimate this city of less than 100 people. There were only 10 people left when I arrived. Mostly only either the legendary swordsmiths of the isle or the legendary swordsmen...The rest were dead."

His eyes were a bit downcast as the beef pot came. He served her some and then himself before he found himself content to start eating. His head turned down, his blood bangs hanging in front of his eyes and most his face now that he ate. He moved slowly and in calculated movements. Obviously not the way he fought. Then again it seemed from the way he favored that he no longer fought with two weapons, despite the possesion of two. She wouldn't know that one was a sakabatou instead of a katana...

Chaos ate until he finished that bowl and then set it down nodding slowly to her. "There was a story about humility I learned from the great Masamune, Marasume, and their sons both excellent swordsmen. It went like this,

'There was a master who never took on any students for the simple reason that his style of fighting was far too great. It was the black ship of swords as it were. One day he found a boy with no connections or anything. So he took him on. All the people he knew had died and so he trained him. The boy learned this way to fight and learned his ways from the master. One day the boy started paying attention to things down off the mountain. He argued with his master that they should be helping those down there in that fight. The sensei told the boy that swords were used to kill. His technique was to kill any way you look at it. If he were to join someone then that side would undoubtably win. The boy went anyways and fought, before eventually realizing that he wasn't fighting any person that challenged him. He was simply fashioning his blade for others to see.'

"He learned Yumi-dono, that killing those weaker than yourself has no point. It is better to use that strength to instead protect them. To save their lives from that eternal death. What point is there Yumi-dono in dulling your sword against those who can't stop it? I have no reason to kill another now, unless they threaten my livlihood or others I care for. If possible though...I'll use this instead of that." He motioned to the sakabatou and the katana respectively in this case. He lifted his grey eyes to her again.

"Does it matter if you kill those weaker than yourself? You should look at your own feelings if a man...or a woman came upon you. They are much much stronger than you and you have no chance. But you have to be an example to your men that you can't back down or run away. This swordsperson has no remorse and cuts you down with such ease and skill that it makes all your work and all your efforts seem worthless. This one person has in one move made your whole life a joke Yumi-dono. That is what these people go through. That is the effort they must expend to stop you. The effort of losing everything..."

Chaos at this point looked at her his grey eyes looking into hers. "There was a man there Yumi-dono...on the island. He told me about a female swordsmaster it seemed. Yet she lacked something essential. She had to draw two special looking swords...those made of shadows it seemed to cut down one of their intermediate swordsmen. That boy was named Hijo Konati...he was 15 years old Yumi and in 5 more years would have mastered everything his master had for him...tis a shame someone took away everything he had ever learned about swords." He looked at Yumi for a while before serving himself som more from the beef pot.

"I knew him well...but it matters not any longer. There are still 5 master swordsmen there and 5 master swordssmiths. The best in all of Japan reside there...they are making a god sword as well as a shirne for all those lost. They will be bringing in more to compensate for the large loss and then be making some new families and rebuilding it all...They lost everything because the government felt they should." At this point his voice fell silent and he began eating again. Did he know Yumi had been at the island fighting his masters home land? It was hard to tell with this new man. This Himura Sakura.

((w00ts for longness whee ))

((He doesn't see her as inferior as much as just...not complete. She never finished her training, and went through life like that.))

Chaos finishes his next bowl and sets it down, after cleaning it out, upside down to denote that he had finished. He looked at Yumi for a long time before rising slowly. "There are 6 sword masteries known in this world...all others created the rest...I know all 6 of those master Yumi-dono. I also know each of the great swordsmiths of our era. Can you comprehend these men's lives Yumi? They don't fight to kill...They don't even carry weapons of death...maybe you didn't hear about it from the island but they fought with sakabatou's and boken sticks. They couldn't kill, but they would inflict pain. Turning the blade to cut just enough to leave a memory..."

Chaos' grey eyes stared at her. She had probably never seen these eyes before, because normally he had held the golden eyes. This was his regular eye color. His hair the normal hair color. He stood there looking at Yumi for a long time. "I can't stop you if you decide to follow me Yumi-dono...but I will not have you by my side and lead you back to them...

"If you follow me back there you follow me back. Know this though. Those men...have forgiven you your sins." He turns from the table his yukata sweeping out with him. His blood red hair floating almost over his shoulders as he walked toward the door. He had an air about him that was much different than anything Yumi had ever seen. Even those men on the island seemed different than Himura Sakura.

He stopped at the door and turned to look back at her. He bowed low and then rose saying. "I apoligize for my words...they sometimes come out without thought Yumi-dono." He then turned and left the restaurant leaving her with the bill. Maybe he did so purposefully. He turned right to walk down the street, not seeing the woman in his primary sight at the moment...good thing he supposed...

Chaos stops with a sigh. "Maybe I haven't changed Yumi-dono...but my name isn't Chaos any longer...It is Himura Sakura...I am not fond of the name Chaos Shadow any longer thank you..." He begins walking again having let her catch up his eyes looking ahead to the horizon.

"I should tell you Yumi-dono...just because they forgive you...doesn't mean they will like you...more likely than not they will ignore you and not acknowledge you...You killed those they loved Yumi-dono...being forgiven doesn't change that."

The man in front of her kept walking slowly toward the mountains. They would have to travel over them and across the waters to get to the small village again. His blood red hair swung back and forth almost hypnotically. His hair had changed to this because it was natural. He had changed his hair color before because that allowed him to move about with ease and without being noticed easily...

Chaos kept walking. "It is a test of patience I suppose...A better way to make sure you see everything and get to know it. When you pass by again you'll realize how many people have passed by if you wish to pay attention...It may be hard but I ask it to try and forget that boy."

He didn't address the issue about reading her mind. He wanted to keep her guessing, which made things more interesting for him at least. His arms pulled into his yukata to rest as he walked. He would ignore the horse, it wasn't he who chose to that it through the dangerous areas of the mountains...