The rain had not ceased. It clung to their clothes, ran down hair plastered to their skulls, and pooled in the mud beneath their feet. The forest gave way to a narrower path lined with jagged stones and half-collapsed torii gates, their vermilion faded to rusted embers beneath the storm. Mist coiled along the ground like smoke, thickening as it pressed against them.
Rin Tatsuya led, boots sinking into mud, eyes sharp. Kaito followed, slower, shoulders tense, muscles straining to keep pace. Each droplet that fell from the sky seemed to drum against his ribs, yet his pride refused to falter.
"Stop staring," Rin said without turning. His voice was calm, precise, but carried weight like a blade drawn. "Move. Watch the ground. Watch the air. Everything else is a distraction."
Kaito swallowed. "I'm not a child," he spat, though the words were half-drowned by rain. "I can—"
"Then don't act like one," Rin interrupted. His eyes flicked to a ripple in the mist ahead. Subtle, almost imperceptible, a shadow moving against the rhythm of the forest.
The Red Serpent scouts had found them.
Rin crouched instinctively, hands flexing on the hilt of his sword. Kaito mirrored him, though his movements were less precise, fueled more by instinct than calculation. The first scout stepped from the mist, armor darkened with rain, blade glinting. Rin didn't flinch. He simply watched, breathing shallow, letting the world speak.
The scout lunged, blade slicing through rain. Rin sidestepped, mud spraying, and let the strike pass harmlessly. Another scout appeared, then another, moving in a triangle meant to trap them.
"Stick close," Rin whispered, voice low, "and move only when I do."
Kaito's hand tightened on his own sword, but the fire in his eyes burned brighter. "Or we could charge," he muttered.
Rin's gaze flicked to him. "Or we could die."
The first clash was sudden. Rin's blade struck with a quiet inevitability, not flashy, but lethal. The scout collapsed into the mud, eyes wide, blood mixing with rain. Kaito moved with raw force, swinging his blade in arcs that forced the others to retreat, but lacking Rin's precision. A near miss grazed his shoulder, tearing fabric and skin. He grunted, swearing under his breath, anger blooming.
"You rely too much on strength," Rin said, repositioning behind a half-collapsed torii. His voice carried through the rain, cold and exact. "Watch, wait, strike."
Kaito's breathing was harsh, chest heaving. He glanced at Rin, saw the calm in the other man's eyes, the unyielding control. And for the first time, he felt it, respect tempered with fear.
The scouts regrouped, circling. Rin moved with minimal motion, steel slicing through mud, through armor, through hesitation. Kaito followed, timing his strikes with Rin's, not perfectly, but close enough. Together, they became a rhythm the scouts could not anticipate, a storm within the storm.
Rin's voice cut through the chaos. "Kaito. Protect your left. Don't commit too early. Find the opening."
Kaito gritted his teeth, letting the words sink. He adjusted, blocked a strike meant for Rin, countering with enough precision to take down another scout. In the moment, their synergy felt almost effortless, though the storm screamed around them, mud and blood mingling.
Finally, only one scout remained, elite looking, blade raised, eyes wild with desperation. Rin advanced slowly, calculating, letting the man overcommit. One step, one pivot, one precise thrust, and the scout crumpled, rain washing the life from him before he hit the mud.
Silence returned, broken only by the rain and distant drums. Rin exhaled softly, blade lowering, his gaze flicking to Kaito. The younger man was breathing hard, chest rising and falling, mud streaked across his face, his pride intact but tempered.
"You fought well," Rin said quietly. No smile. Just acknowledgment.
Kaito met his gaze, blinking. "You… you're precise. Like a ghost," he said, voice rough, but now carrying something softer, something almost like admiration. "I thought I'd seen the edge of death. I hadn't seen this."
Rin's eyes flicked back toward the path north, where smoke still coiled into clouds. "It is necessary. Precision keeps one alive. Impulse kills."
For a long moment, Kaito said nothing. He studied Rin, the calm amidst chaos, the cold deliberation, the way his blade seemed an extension of himself, not a weapon. Finally, he muttered, "Then… I'll follow. If only to survive."
Rin said nothing. Words were unnecessary. They moved on, side by side, mud sucking at their boots, rain plastering their hair and clothes. The forest gradually thinned, revealing the faint glow of a village untouched by fire, for now.
But the drums had grown louder. Methodical. Certain. A heartbeat of war that reminded them the Red Serpent Banner was never far, never idle.
Kaito glanced at Rin again. "Do you ever… rest?"
Rin's voice was low, steady, like steel sliding into sheaths that did not exist. "Rest is for the dead."
The line hung between them. Not cruel, not callous, but an acknowledgment of the path they shared. The storm pressed closer, mist thickened, yet in the cold, relentless rain, something fragile began to form, trust. A grudging understanding, born not of friendship, but of necessity, of survival, of shared blood and mud.
The forest opened onto a small ridge. Smoke from distant fires lingered in the valley below, painting the horizon a dull orange. Rin's eyes never left it. Kaito followed his gaze, shoulders tense, but determination in his chest.
"We move at first light," Rin said, voice quiet but carrying over the storm. "The Red Serpent Banner will not wait. We must be faster, smarter, cleaner."
Kaito nodded, eyes narrowing. "Then we move together."
Rin didn't respond. He never did when words were unnecessary. The storm soaked them to the bone. Mud clung to boots and armor. The mist curled around their forms like smoke, concealing them from eyes that might be watching.
And somewhere beyond the mountains, the drums continued to roll.
Side by side, ghost and fallen warrior, they walked toward the horizon, toward the storm, toward the ashes that would decide which of them survived, and which would fall.