Chapter 1

BEFORE THE FOUR INDIVIDUALS MEET UP, ABOUT A MONTH AGO

In a certain village.

Handa Hiroki walks out of the wooden house with an old woman following behind him. She slides the wooden door, closing it.

Old woman : arigatou, handa kun. If its not because of you, i dont know what will happen to my husband.
Hiroki : no worries, obasan. Let ojisan rest for couple of days and he'll be able to get back to work. Ill go take some herbs and medicines from my boat.
Old woman : again, arigatou gozaimasu.
Hiroki : (walks away with a smile)

Handa Hiroki, a self-proclaimed traveller, is 20 years old. He travels via his small boat, trading medicines and herbs from one village to another in exchange of provisions.

He just started his travelling few weeks ago, due to being heartbroken. Back in his village he has a very beautiful fiancee whom he loves very dearly. But on the day they were to make an oath of marriage, she left a note of goodbye, mentioning that she has her heart taken by a person called 'Prince'. He intented to sail aimlessly, rot and die. As he travels, he encounters many interesting herbs and he immmerse himself in making medicines from the herbs. And now he's here, healthy and happy yet disheaveled, a proud 'doc-veller' Handa Hiroki.

"Handa onii saaann"

He heard his name being called as he's on his way to the boat. He turns around and saw a sweet little girl in her yukata, running towards him. He stops his steps, waiting for her.

Girl : ano, handa san. (bows) arigatou gozaimasu for saving my grandpa.
Hiroki : iie iie, no problem. (smiles) He just overburden himself, thts all. He'll be fine after few days of rest.
Girl : i see. (worried) ano ne. Ojii chan has to work hard because he has to pay lots for me and my obaachan and there's noone to help him (tears) i said tht i want to help but ojii chan said tht im still too young to help... and even if i help, ill just be a burden, he said...
Hiroki : (pats her on the head) daijoubu yo. Ur ojii chan is doing his very best to protect both u and ur obaa chan
Girl : (tears) but... wht are we going to eat if ojiichan doesnt recover... and wht will happen field if noone's there to help... (cries)
Hiroki : ermm alright2, ill stay and help till ur ojiichan recovers, okay? Saa, stop crying.
Girl : (wipes her tears and smile) haiii!!

Handa Hiroki grabs her small thin palm and both walks towards his boat. He jumps in his boat carefully and went to a cabin, while the small little girl waited on the jetty. Few minutes later, he came out of the boat's cabin with a bag tht contains herbs and medicines. He locked the cabin and climbs on the jetty.

AT THE HOUSE

Old woman : (shocked) ara, handa kun, i thought i sent misa chan to buy the herbs from you, so u dont have to make a double trip here

The little girl called misa chan grins and runs to the kitchen.

Old woman : (sighed) tht girl...
Hiroki : dont worry obasan, i think ill stay over to chck on ojisan's condition and maybe i can do a bit of helping in his place.
Old woman : (enlighten) ara ara, i couldnt thank you more, handa kun. Im sorry we dont have a guest room, is it okay if we spread for u blankets in the living room?
Hiroki : its okay, ill sleep in my boat, i cant leave my boat unattended.
Old woman : then at least, will u stay for a dinner?
Hiroki : that would be great. Ill go see the field if there's anything i can help with.
Old woman : sure (smiles) misa chan, come here. Please show this oniisan the way to the field and explain to him whats need to be done.
Misa : haiiii (appears)

AT THE FIELD

There are other old men working there, harvesting. There's no need to mention on how many younsters are there helping. They are countable amount. Misa, the little girl, pulls Handa Hiroki to the other side of the field which belongs to her grandfather, explains whats to be done and both of them are off to work that evening.

Hiroki : misa chan, where are ur parents?
Misa : misa's papa are in the military and misa's mama is in the main city, studying.
Hiroki : sou ka [ ..military ka... tht explains the amount of youngsters here..] and is misa chan the oldest?
Misa : yeps, mama said in her letter, that soon misa will be getting a little sister or brother. Im exciteddd
Hiroki : letter?
Misa : yup, mama and papa often send letters home and pictures. The city's beautiful, i want to go there someday.
Hiroki : if misa grows up beautifully, im sure u'll get to go to the city. (smiles)
Misa : and at tht time, handa oniisan will marry me right? (smiles innocently)
Hiroki : (drops his dagger) (-д-||||)

Misa hops futher within the field and the wind blows. Hiroki eye's watched her unconciously and suddenly the image of his fiancee appears. He shook his head vigorously and continues harvesting.

Hiroki : (smirks) heeh, by tht time misa chan will be marrying and old geezer (sarcastically)

LATE AT NIGHT

"Yaawnns"

Handa Hiroki is currently walking towards his boat. He had his dinner in misa's house together with the old man whom he's treating. He had regain concious and Handa Hiroki boils few herbs to give him energy. After he had his dinner, the old woman asked him to buy something from 24/7 stall. As he was asking for his leave, the old woman pulled his sleeves unconciously.

[ ... am i too handsome that even an old woman is falling for me. Hehe..]

Even though he meant no harm, his mind still cant forget the restless, anxiety look from the old woman's face before he left the house. He sighed. He rustles in his plastic bag to take out a sweet which he had bought earlier. Suddenly his hand felt something cold from the plastic and took it out.

[ a strawberry yogurt? Nanda... this is for misa. No wonder obasan tried to stop me. Heh]

He turns around heading towards misa's house.

AT THE MEANTIME

"Yadaa, hanase mmpphhhh--!!"

It was the voice of a little girl struggling from the hands of two men.

"Shut it, little girl!! We're going to take you to paradise"

The girl bit the palm of the man who's trying to silence her. He shrieked out of shock and pain, letting go of the girl. The girl swiftly made her escape. Unfortunately the other guy grabs her by the arm.

"Oi, that little bite doesnt hurt a bit compare to a dog's bite."
"Shut up!! It hurts damn girl!"

The man who was bitten earlier slapped the girl's face. He smiled, satisfied with his revenge. Suddenly someone grabbed the man's shoulder and he got punched. The punch was too strong that he was flung hard to the ground. The other guy who's holding the girl too got kicked to the ground. The girl tried to run but her hand was grabbed again. As she looked behind.

Misa : handa oniisan.... (with tears)
Hiroki : misa chan (hugs) dont worry, im here.

"Oiii!!! Give the girl back"

Hiroki : not happening.

Hiroki passes his plastic bag to misa and pushes her slightly behind his back. The two men attack Hiroki but alas Hiroki defended himself swiftly. One tried to punch him but Hiroki was quick to catch his fist and pushes his arm the other way round. The man groaned in pain. Hiroki left the man groaning as the other guy attempted to attack him from behind. He dodged and kicked exactly on his abdomen, sending him flying to a tree.

Hiroki : SCRAAMMM

Hiroki's threatening scream scared the two men and they two hurriedly ran away.

Misa : handaa oniisan!! Ojiichan and obaachan!!
Hiroki : alright!

Hiroki and misa quickly ran towards the house and they were shocked to see the old man getting beaten, while his wife stands behind him, shrieking.

Hiroki dashes towards them and punches the enemy straight on his face. Misa started to cry seeing her beloved grandfather got beaten up.

Hiroki : why dont u pick a fight with someone ur age!! (angers)

"Mind ur own business, kid!! This man has his debt to be settled and today's the last day. He promised to pay us tonight."

Old woman : (weeps) gomen nasai, handa kun...
Old man : pl...please... gi.. give... giive.. us.. few more... days.. i promised... (coughs blood)
Misa : ojiichaaan!!

"(spits) Just kill this man and take house and everything in it"

As the men took a step forward, Handa Hiroki faced them with a snicker.

Hiroki : hoho! "Kill this man and take everything"?? With me being here?

Hiroki grabs the long bamboo stick and swings it. The men charges towards him and hiroki ducked while swinging the bamboo stick, hitting their stomach and rear.
Hiroki advances towards the frightening leader of the thug. He took out something from his pocket and showed it to the man.

Hiroki : oi! Im buying this house with the amount of this ring. Im sure its worth it. Now SCRAAMM!!

The man took the ring that was tossed to the ground and ran away, followed by the other injured men.

When the people disappears from their sight, Hiroki quickly attend to the injured old man. He carried him into the house. The old woman quickly boils water to wash the wounds.

......

As the old man and misa fall asleep, the two gather at the dining table. The old woman decides to tell everything to Handa Hiroki.

Old woman : im very sorry and thank you so much (bows her head)
Hiroki : iie, dont worry. At least now this house is saved and they'll never come back again to harrass.
Old woman : (remembers) how can we ever repay u... a ring? (fears)
Hiroki : (smiles) dont worry, i dont need tht ring anymore. Its better off anyway. Good thing i used it to benefit others, rather than throwing it away
Old woman : th..throw away...? It looks expensive...
Hiroki : it is. But never mind.
Old woman : (cries) thank you so much
Hiroki : (smiles)

FEW DAYS LATER

The old man's condition is improving and now he can walk around, though he's forbidden to work until he's fully recovered. The family is on the jetty sending Hiroki off.

Misa : (cries) handa oniisaaann.... uuu... uuu
Hiroki : take good care of ojisan and obasan okay, misa chan?
Misa : (sniffs) uuu... uuuuu...
Old man : ure welcome anytime here, young lad.
Old woman : be sure to eat plenty of healthy food.
Hiroki : arigatou, well, ittekimassu.

Hiroki waves goodbye to the family and starts the engine of the boat. Off to another village.

posted from Bloggeroid

Chapter 00

A young shonen with a curly, brown messy hair is laying on the boat with his arm covering his eyes, protecting it from the direct sun ray. He felt his arm being moved from his face but that doesnt wake him up, instead he moves his face away to the side where there's a bit of shade. A moment later, he felt droplets of water falling on his face. "... rain..?" He flinched and wanted to wipe away the droplets of water from his face, but he couldnt move his hand. He opens his eyes and saw a person's face right above his face, drooling. The person has this idiotic face and scars on his cheeks that looks like cat's whiskers. He immediately shoved the person's face away and sits up in a fright. The boy with a cat's face faced the other way and called someone.

The cat's face boy : Prince!! Rocky has waken up.
The boy : "Rockyy"??!!

The boy who was called 'Prince' appears from the other side of the boat, holding a big box and smiles at the two boys. His silver hair hangs down to round his chin, with a portion of the back being much longer and falling past his shoulder. He has a long fringe which hangs mostly over the right side of his face.

Prince : ohayou, though its past noon already, Hiroki kun
Hiroki : ah.. (on his senses) right, ohayou, Ryouji. (tries to moves)
Ryouji : u were sleeping so soundly while being tied like that (snorts) i didnt know u were into those kinds of play, hiroki kun (laughs)
Hiroki : (angry) shut up!! I woke up bcoz i was tied up. (faces the cat's face boy with a dreadful expression) It was u, eeeeh?

"Mou, can u guys settle down a bit. Ryouji kun, where's the box of medicine? We're almost reaching the port of this village."

The three boys faced the girl, who has two boxes in her arms. Her orange bangs hangs mostly to the middle of her face, covering her eyebrows. She has two thin braids which hang slightly over her shoulder.

Ryouji : hai haii, coming, Mai. (walking towards Mai with the box he was carrying)

Mai : arigatou, ryouji kun (smiles) (turns to Hiroki and the cat's face boy with a stern face) Hiroki kun too, wake up and help us sort the medicines to sell this evening. Aki kun, go and get the anchor ready, switch off the engine and sail closer to the port.
Both Aki and Hiroki : h..haiiii!! (stood up immediately)

Mai : (sighed)
Hiroki : Aki, wait, untie this first, stupid.
Aki : yadaaaaa nee (tongue out)




That's right. The four of them has been together for at least a month now, sailing from one village to another. Handa Hiroki, Onodera Ryouji, Mai Silverlake and Nekozawa Akito. Four individuals from four different background, on a journey which they named Yuuhi ni Sagasu, searching beyond the setting of the sun.

posted from Bloggeroid