The Tales of Sachiko Shibuya

Chapter 4

The stale air of the mountain cave filled Sachiko's nose as she rose from her slumber. Her eyes opened sleepily, only to see that the sun had successfully rose and was now shining directly into her face. She grudgingly sat up and rubbed her tired and sore eyes. She looked around to see, where a crackling fire once was, pile of embers and ash. Her eyes adjusted to see that her two escorts were still fast asleep near the front of the cave. She didn't expect to be the first one awake.

Sachiko rolled her shoulders and winced softly. Sleeping on a rock floor in a cave was far from comfortable, especially since she was used to a very expensive bed. All of her muscles were stiff and sore. She carefully leaned back against the cave wall. She was extra cautious to be quiet, as she didn't want to wake the sleeping things. She let her eyes focus on the outside world, as she zoned out.

Sachiko sat at one of the many round tables in a large dining room. Around the table were many other girls of her age. They were all children of noble families, so it made sense that they were all in a very elite private school for girls. Sachiko only attended for a few months, per her ill mother's request, even though her father hated the idea. She rather enjoyed it, as it was very different from her previous home education. But, her time there was cut short due to an accident.

"Look what I found at my window lost night." One of the girls squealed with excited. She pulled out a folded letter, addressed to her. She opened it and proudly showed it to everyone at the table. It didn't take Sachiko more than a second to realize that it was a love letter. The girls at the table ogled at the letter, cooing about how they wished that someone would write them a love letter.

Sachiko never had any experiences like that. Her father was strict and never let her around anyone of the male gender, except servants. She was never taught how to socialize with them. She often felt like she was never going to fall in love because of this...but maybe that's exactly what her father wanted.

"Sachiko...You're already awake?" Elias' voice snapped her out of her memory and back to the present. His voice revealed that he was still groggy from waking up.

"Yeah, I guess I am just used to waking up before the sun rises." She intoned softly. She turned her head to face him. He was sitting up, looking back at her through his white and red mask. His brown hair was messy and unkempt from his sleep, but other than that, he looked the same. Sasuke murmurs and shifts in his sleep, but he doesn't wake. Elias looked at her for a moment longer, as if there was something he wanted to say, but he looks away after a moment of awkward silence.

He then looked to Sasuke. "Sasuke, you're a highly trained ninja. Would you please act like it." Elias would scold seriously, but then give him a playful kick in the side. Sasuke opened one eye and smiled before quickly sitting up and trying to hit Elias in the back of the head in a comical manor, but Elias blocked his hand with ease. Sasuke sat up lazily and rubbed his eyes. His orange hair was like a ball of fluff on his head. It was rather amusing to Sachiko, as she had never seen a male in such a...natural state. She couldn't help but let out a silent giggle.

"Somethin' funny, Princess?" He intoned with a smile. It was obvious that he knew what she was giggling about. Sachiko simply shook her head and looked away. Moments later, she could see him trying to pat down his crazy out of the corner of her eye

"Since we are all awake now, we should get moving. We didn't get far enough yesterday." Elias said in an authoritative tone. He looked at Sachiko, then to Sasuke.

"Alright, but can I go and freshen up at the river first?" Sachiko asked. She had no intention of traveling while smelling like...a dude.

"Yeah, but not for too long. We have to get moving." Elias said as he stood up and exited the cave. Sachiko slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him out. Sasuke then followed from behind. They then made the short journey to the river. Sachiko turned around to see both of her escorts staring at her.