𝐋𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐃 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇 || mizu

𝟎𝟏. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐢

˚ ༘ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ
⁺˚⋆｡° chapter one ⁺˚⋆｡°

┊͙✧˖*°࿐

❛ the archer and the samurai ❜
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊
∘₊✧──✧₊∘

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

[ 1657, 8 YEARS LATER ]

IT HAD BEEN DAYS SINCE SHIZUKU LAST FOUND A LEAD, wandering through forests and villages covered in fresh blankets of winter snow. It had filled the footprints she'd been following, and she'd been shoved right back to square one. But she remained determined.

She would find him. Soon, she could feel it.

It seemed the snow had shown her mercy early that morning, clearing for her a path of shallow tracks that guided her to a new town. There was not a person in sight once she stepped beyond the gates, the ongoing blizzard forcing everyone back inside.

She trekked through the growing sheet of snow on the lookout for someone who might've bore witness to the one she was searching for. It was to no avail. There was no sign of another human, except for a gentle patter of light steps in the snow. They seemed to be following close behind her, though whenever she would glance over her shoulder, she found nothing.

Her pace began to pick up and her grip on her bow tightened. She tugged the hood of her cloak over her eyes and pressed on. The sound still continued; soft crunches of snow underneath a light step. Yet they belonged to more than one person.

Shizuku ducked into the thin alleyway between two shops and hid behind the wall at the end of it, waiting for her followers to reveal themselves. She strung her bow and aimed it at where she assumed someone's chest would be, but in a couple of seconds, she would find that she was aiming at the heads of three children.

They gasped and jumped back upon seeing her weapon, and she quickly lowered it with a huff. In their hands, they held small stones. They nestled into the thick snow as they were dropped out of shock.

"Have you seen a man pass through here? He carries a sword and wears a white cloth around his neck." Shizuku knelt down to the eye level of the young boys, disarming her bow to let them know that she wasn't dangerous.

The boys shared glances among each other, but didn't speak. They kept looking to the bow in her hands. Shizuku wouldn't hide it.

"His eyes are... different." She continued, trying to get the boys to think. If they were out and about during a storm like this, they certainly would have seen him pass through. If he had at all.

This appeared to strike something in their memories and they looked up at Shizuku with widened eyes. One of them nodded, although he didn't appear like it was a particularly happy recalling.

Shizuku sucked in a deep breath, hope swelling in her chest. "Where did he go?" She pleaded. The boys hesitated for a while, almost as if contemplating whether they should answer her question honestly. Then one of them stepped forward and pointed off into the distance.

Shizuku followed his hand to a small noodle restaurant near the edge of the forest. She held no doubt in her heart that he would go somewhere so easily accessible to an exit route like that. The children were telling the truth. They really had seen him.

She quickly thanked them, dropping into each of their small hands a gold coin before hurrying to the restaurant. She wasn't sure whether it was still open when she first opened the door and peered through the curtains. There was nobody inside. Only a few bowls of soba that had gone cold and half-drunk cups of sake scattered on some tables.