WALK OF SILENCE
They had walked for hours now, through a forest, which seemed to go on forever, and Musashi had just started to show that he was not invincible in battle. He had a gash in his side from which blood was trickling. His robe now had a large red stain where Fukushima had noticed a rip in the fine silk just one hour before. Not a word had been spoken, not a grunt, nor any other sound. But now Musashi had started to breathe deeply. Adrenalin had long since worn off and it showed. Musashi broke the infinite silence with “The cottage… is just up… ahead.” Then the brave warrior collapsed. Fukushima picked him up and threw the surprisingly light man over his shoulder, then continued to tread through the muddy forest floor, along the barely visible path. He could now see the hut just 50m or so ahead. Fukushima restrained himself from running to safety knowing it might do more damage to, the now unconscious, man’s side.
When inside the small cottage, Fukushima lowered Musashi to the floor and removed his robe and upper-body Armour to observe the wound. It was bad. The gash was covered in drying, brittle, cracking blood. It would get badly infected and would eventually kill the stubborn fool. Fukushima immediately went to work on the man's side.
He had just finished putting on a bandage and padding it with material from his own clothes when Musashi opened his eyes, and grabbed him with one hand, by the loose material on his chest. Then throwing Fukushima back a meter or two he yelled “LEAVE ME ALONE! I don’t need your help.”
To that Fukushima responded with a smirk “look at your side my friend, you are not immortal. It needed immediate attention, and you were not awake. You saved my life.... made me appear as a coward, but still saved my life. In my opinion, I just returned the favor.”

Fukushima's Purpose