the sun doesn't shine at night

Chapter 2

A/N: A few notes, Dororo is posing as a boy (for survival duh) so there will be an exchange of pronouns here and there. I also gave Tahomaru eyebrows (just give eyebrows to my boy dammit!)

It takes great effort for her to haul and the entire body thrice her weight all night. Dororo has zero ideas how she managed to carry him, it's not like she will get something in return for saving the man but the voice in her head keeps on refusing to simply abandon him and go on with her life. He's a complete stranger, it wouldn't change anything if she let him die in the middle of an enormous forest. Besides, if not because of her, he's already rotting, mingling with the dirt with the crows feasting on his meat - which is also the reason why she cannot simply leave him behind.

The man, or Tahomaru, just like how he introduced himself (and oh, how memorable or better yet, unforgettable how his introduction was made) immediately went back to sleeping (perhaps the right term is unconsciousness) and she was left with no other choice than to bring him - to where? She still hasn't decided. That terrible wound of his should be treated and that is all she knows. First, she needs to find a place or maybe someone who could help him. Despite this nasty era, there are still people who are willing to help even strangers. Dororo has been wandering for all her life, she meets good people and bad as well although most of the time, her luck of finding good things has always been slim. It doesn't mean that luck is never on her side. Being alive for sixteen years in a war-hungry nation, she considers herself luck and tough enough to survive more years.

Getting tired, she drops him again beside a tree and uses her remaining strength to put him in a sitting position. The sun has risen up and just then she noticed that the man's hair is white - that's right - like an old man. But there is no way that the man is old given that he has a nice complexion and...face? Whether Dororo stared at the man's face while he's sleeping or that she finds him slightly attractive, she would never admit it.

"Oi," Dororo pokes his cheek attempting to wake him up. "C'mon, you can't possibly let me carry you all day. Wake up! I'm really tired now, you know?!" she rants and then after a few minutes of failing to wake him, Dororo rolls her eyes and stretches her back and arms, stiff from the weight of the man.

It's a good thing that his wound stopped bleeding but still, he needs to get proper treatment.

The chirping of the birds and the rusting of leaves answers her instead after a long moment of silence.

"I need to get water," she mutters to herself. In reality, she is trying to strike a conversation with a sleeping man but forget it, it looks like he's not going to wake up any sooner. Dororo looks around her to find a river where she can get water.

"I'll be back, okay?" she stares at the sleeping figure before running towards the sound of a nearby waterfall. Before getting there, she finds edible fruits from a low lying branch and takes it. All the while thinking about the man she just saved.

"I wonder if he's going to wake up. What if he died before I got to call for help?" she pouts, hugging the fruits in her hands and shakes the thought of her head. She saved him and from the moment she decided that he became her responsibility. There is no way she could just let him die.

Dororo reaches the small river beside a waterfall. Its crystal clear water makes it easier for her to see the fishes.

"You're lucky I'm in a hurry now or you'll be my lunch today." she sniggers and proceeds to fetch water using an empty shell of some fruit.

A breeze passes by and the trees around sway and swishes from behind her. Dororo got startled and turned her head. It gives her a bizarre feeling like someone is watching her.