Hirui No Nai

Part 3, Competition

Haradachi had been walking for hours now, the walk being uneventful. He passed a few strange deer that had disformed bodies, which was curious, because it seemed to help their survival.
'When will this end?' Haradachi thought to himself. Nobody was there to answer his question.
There was a rustling in the bush ahead, but Haradachi paid no mind. As he walked past the bush, something grabbed his foot firmly, causing him to jump in surprise. The thing was pulled out of the bush with Haradachi as he fell to the ground.
"I will devour your soul!" Shouted the thing.. It was not really threatening, the voice. It was small, almost squeaky. Haradachi squinted his eyes to see a 2 foot tall, humanlike creature with fox-like features. The eyes, ears, and tail had fox features. It didn't look very old, still in the early stages of it's life. Haradachi also saw that it was wearing clothes, and by the body shape, he classified it as male. Haradachi picked him up by the back of the shirt, which didn't seem to harm him.
"How dare you insult me?! The almighty Shippō?!" Shippō exclaimed. Haradachi tilted his head.
"Shippō?" Haradachi muttered under his breath, using his free hand time scratch the back of his own head. Shippō crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and turned his head away as much as he could, trying to seem disappointed. Haradachi sighed as he pit Shippō on the ground gently and continued on his own path. Shippō got up and followed, continuing his unending talk about how great he is and how he will take Haradachi's soul. Then, Kippō asked a question.
"Where are you heading?" Shippō asked, lightening his tone a bit.
"Nirvana"
"Oh, its actually that way" Shippō pointed towards the left. Haradachi looked in the direction where Shippō was pointing.
'Eh?' Haradachi thought, being a little surprised.
"The way you were going would have taken 2 hours to reach the wall, then another hour to reach the main gate" Shippō added.
'EH?' Haradachi was in shock now, Shippō had helped him a lot, instead of killing him. Haradachi picked up Shippō and extended his own arms at an upward angle.
"You are the chosen one" Haradachi said, smiling happily. Shippō kicked Haradachi in the face, which did nothing.
"Put me down you vile human!" Shippō yelled. Haradachi put the yelling child onto the ground. Haradachi followed the point where Shippō had pointed.

After only a little more than 5 minutes, Shippō tugged on Haradachi's leggings. Haradachi turned to Shippō.
"What?" Haradachi asked.
"My legs are tired." Shippō said with the most firm voice he could, which wasn't very threatening. Haradachi sighed as he picked Shippō up, putting Shippō on his shoulder.
"Better hold on" Haradachi said as he continued his tread towards Nirvana.

It was only 12 minutes later when the forest receded and the main gate came into view. Four knights were guarding the gate, standing firm and tall. Haradachi continued towards the gate. Two of the guards moved, they held their spears across the path. The other two had swords, and walked up to Haradachi.
"Sorry, we don't allow half-breeds in here" One of the guards said with a grin, holding up his sword, leaving the tip right under Shippō's chin. Haradachi sighed.
"So what you are trying to say, is that you would kill half-breeds?" Haradachi said. The guard nodded.
"Let's say that all of Nirvana's population became half-breeds, you would kill everybody? Including your own family?" Haradachi asked. The guard hesitated.
"Let's say you were one. Would your friends kill you? Or would you kill yourself? For the sake of your so called, 'honor'?". The guard stepped back, sword still up.
"Now listen, killing things like these" Haradachi said, motioning towards Shippō.
"Has no point. They aren't any less human than you are, they just look different. Its like killing someone because they have brown hair" Haradachi said. He walked around the guards, if which were stunned in confusion and regret. Haradachi entered through the gates, seeing that there were more soldiers inside.
"Hey, Shippō. Are you able to hide as something? So you won't be caught?" Haradachi asked. Shippō shook his head in defeat. Haradachi didn't accept that, so he snuck into a nearby shop, avoiding the soldier's line of sight. Ducking and weaving being boxes, carriages, horses, and large crowds of people. He finally made it into the shop, Shippō still upon his shoulder. Haradachi grabbed a pack with a flap for a cover, and put a random amount of gold coins in place that he found in his pocket. Only 4 coins. He rushed out of the shop and hid behind some crates. Haradachi gently pulled Shippō off of his shoulder, and put the pack on.
"Get in!" Haradachi whispered. At that command, Shippō crawled into the pack. Haradachi stood up once Shippō was in place, and began to walk in a random direction. People seemed happy there, he saw couples, friends, and even strangers were waving to each other happily.

After Shippō rustling around in the pack, getting comfortable and trying to peek outside the top, something caught Haradachi's eye.. He saw a sign hanging over an archway.

The words written on the sign spelled out, 'Nirvana's Fighting Competition'