They left the organization and was running to a section of Kamodichi's backyard. There she saw a dark brown horse. Kamodichi unhooked the horse and got on. He reached for Ataku's hand. She hopped on and wrapped her arms around his waist. He galloped over and down the hill and into the woods. Kamodichi felt Ataku's warmth on his back. Even with the metal armor it did not over come her presence. He could sense her hair following the wind as they galloped through the uneven ground.
He felt comfortable, his urge to protect her advanced. He glanced at her, she had her eyes closed. Her breath came in small inhales. Her head was against his armor, fear was creeping on him. The fear of losing something important. It may seem at first he was only saving the world but he hadn't realized what the results might be. As he grew older, he never questioned his duty to make his mark on the world but why did he do so now.
Ataku, the girl without a memory could she be the reason not to? "Look" she said. She broke his thoughts and he stared at what littered the ground. Decaying bodies lay undisturbed from when they escaped the village. It had been 24 hours and the dead lay here. Ataku jumped off the horse and ran to two child corpses. Faye and Myro had been shot with arrows in the head. Ataku picked up Faye's body and cried. She was cold to the touch, Ataku shook her head, tears streaming. "Why? they were only children" she whispered.
Soon Hokina crossed her mind. She placed Faye back down and ran into the burnt village. "Ataku" Kamodichi ran the horse after Ataku. Ataku found Hokina's body burned on one side and laid in front of a well. Hokina, her friend, her foster mother now lay dead at her feet. "I could offer to help bury them" Kamodichi said. "You wouldn't let me save them" Ataku whispered in anger. "Ataku, they were going to die anyway" Kamodichi said. "Shut up!" She yelled. "Kamodichi" she said. Kamodichi was quiet.
"You can't predict everything as if you know what's going to happen as if you know more than the humans you surround yourself with. If it was a 5% chance that they could have lived I would have took it no matter how low it was. You said you helped people, well helping people goes beyond what fate tells you. Helping people means you take any risk to make sure they are safe. Even if means you lose your life too" Ataku said, she looked at the sky with her back towards him. Tears managed to escape her eyes.
Kamodichi saw something that he couldn't explain. Small lights surrounded Ataku and she glowed with an intense blue fire. The aura vanished and Ataku dropped to her knees and held her dead friend's hand one last time. It took a moment for him to contemplate what happened for he had never seen it before. He had a deep feeling that Ataku had done this before, that she knew something he didn't. Her words were power in his mind. You can't save her..... He heard the voice. No matter how much you think it, you can't save her....
What did that mean? He couldn't save her, from what?
"We can bury her now" Ataku said sadly. "Yes" Kamodichi nodded. They spent the rest of the time building graves for the dead. Ataku didn't say a word as she covered Hokina with dirt. Kamodichi watched by his horse. No one could explain what happened to her. All he could think about was her memories. What kind of life did she have? Was it happy? Was it bad? Did someone else know of her existence? Someone who could tell them who Ataku is? Of course why didn't she have a last name?
"Kamodichi" she said. "Yes" he was worried. "Let's go find the bandit now" she said. Kamodichi nodded, "OK". They rode the horse through the trees. Hopefully they'd get the answers they were looking for.
