Enishi's eyes were kept mostly to the ground as he made his way through the forest. "Another boring day," he mumbled while occasionally kicking a pebble on the road. His days consisted of nothing but wandering around from one village to another. What had appealed to him once was now just something that he had to do each day of his life. His legs started to drag along. He decided to search for a place where he could find out where he was, so he turned off of the road.

The wanderer made his way towards an area along the side of a hill. From there, Enishi could catch a glimpse of what was surrounding the west side of the forest. He spotted a village not far from where he was. It was set along a hill, almost surrounded completely by water. There was a very high wall made of logs built around the entire village. The only entrance was through a main gate, which he saw were guarded by a tower positioned on each side of it. There were two watchmen at each tower, and two where the gate was. While taking all of this in, Enishi wondered why the village was so heavily guarded. The though left his mind when he started to head down towards the forest road again.

When he had resumed the usual routine of pebble-kicking, Enishi noticed a familiar feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "It's been a while since I've had anything decent to eat." The life of a wanderer was hard due to the fact that they were always poor and searching for food. "There doesn't seem to be anything in this forest to eat besides twigs and leaves." Since he didn't have any food, he decided to regain some energy by resting for a while. Setting his satchel down, he sat under a shady, old tree.

Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention; there was a berry bush sitting right next to the tree that he was leaning against. Without wasting a single second, Enishi reached over a grabbed as many berries as he could. It took no time at all and within a few minutes, all the berries were completely wiped out. Settling back down under the tree, he started to drift off into sleep when his stomach started to ache. It only got worse, and he tried doing everything to rid the pain. When it was reaching to the point where he couldn't take it anymore, Enishi started to get dizzy, and his site worsened. He collapsed on the ground, where two strangers would later find him.

The dancing flame of a candle caught my eyes as I opened them. I had no idea where I was, and when I realized that, a thousand questions jumped into my head. How did I get here? Whose house was this? Where was I? I lay there, not moving a muscle. Suddenly I heard the screech of the front door as a tall man walked into the room. "So, I see you're awake. Before you ask me any questions, my daughter and I found you along the forest trail not far from our home. It seems as though you'd eaten some poisonous berries, and passed out. My wife is a doctor, so she healed you with some medicine of hers." I nodded, feeling foolish of what lack of basic survival skills I had. I was still trying to think of what city I was in, when the stranger spoke again, "This place is called Kyoto, if you were wondering."

It must have been the guarded city I saw earlier today. Trying not to show my poor manners, I introduced myself," My name's Enishi. I’m just an average wanderer. Thank you for all of your help and hospitality." I looked up at the stranger and I saw a grin on his face.

"You don't need to be that polite around here! Anyway, my name's Tokake Heisho." He said as he laughed. My face turned crimson. He seemed like a decent man, I thought, as I started to laugh with him.

After I had rested at Tokake's home, which by the way, he insisted that I do before anything else, I went out to explore the village. My first thoughts were of how compact everything was. Looking down the street, I saw at least ten cottages, built side-by side from each other. Around the corner, I spotted a square filled with most of everyone in the village. There were merchants selling crops, clothing, and other goods, while busy shoppers gathered around them. From what I saw from the forest, this village appears to be much smaller than I would have expected.

I looked back up to the wall that I had seen earlier to get an inside look at it. I was surprised. There, along the outer wall, were three separate layers of an inner wall. It circled the whole village, enclosing it, just as the first had. My mind went back to why the people here were so protective of their village. I decided that I would ask Tokake.

"Why, don't you know, lad? This empire is at war." Tokake explained the whole ordeal while we sat down for supper. Kyoto was settled in along the border of the Mitsukan Empire. Right next to them, was the border of the Gobe Empire, which they were at war with. Nothing has happened yet, but when the Gobe attacked, Kyoto was predicted to be hit first.

"That's why you built that wall surrounding Kyoto?"

"Yes. Many years before the war had started, our village was eaten away by a terrible fire," Tokake's serious expression scared me a bit, "When we started to rebuild it, we decided to construct a defensive wall around Kyoto, worrying of the conflicts brewing between our empire and the Gobe Empire. It's a good thing we did too!" Chuckling, Tokake took a gulp of his water. For a big man, his mood sure changed easily.

Later on in the evening, Tokake's wife and daughter came home. She walked in, and slumped down into a wooden chair. She turned her had towards me, startled about the forgotten stranger whom she helped earlier today. "Oh, my apologies for not noticing you earlier, stranger. It's been a busy day. Many people were sick." She seemed exhausted.

"My name is Enishi." I didn't know what else to say.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Hitomi, and this here," she said as she gestured over to her daughter, "is Marimo." I looked over at Marimo, who gave me a quick wave, and then ran into her room. We stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say next. Finally, I spoke.

"Thank you for healing me, Mrs. Hitomi. I hope that I was no trouble for you." She laughed. A laughter that would soothe anyone's troubled soul. "My husband was right about you. A polite one, that you are." Unlike her husband, Mrs. Hitomi seemed very refined and proper. The expression on her face made me feel welcome. She looked always calm and at peace with herself. It was peculiar, but Mrs. Hitomi reminded me much of what I remember about my own mother. In a way, I was jealous of Marimo.

The Heisho's had let me rest through the night at their home. As hard as I tried, I couldn't sleep. Many thoughts were racing through my mind. What will happen to these kind people when their village is being attacked? Would they stand a chance of surviving? I took a moment to pray for them. The eyes of the innocent should never have to witness the horrid scene of war. I wished for some way to help them. They were so innocent.

The morning sun rose once again, shining into my eyes. I heard a sound coming over towards me. I noticed that Mrs. Hitomi and Marimo were about to head outside.

"Going out to work?" I asked.

"Oh, no. I'm going out to the forest for while to gather healing herbs with Marimo."

I ended up taking Marimo into the forest while Mrs. Hitomi stayed. I figured that I might as well make myself useful. Mrs. Hitomi had reassured me about Marimo's knowledge of the herbs, knowing what knowledge I, myself, had. We trekked along the dusty, dirt path towards the forest. I reminded myself constantly not to eat any of the berries I had come across the other day. We got pretty deep into the forest when Marimo stopped, "We can pick up some of the needed herbs here." I watched her as she skillfully determined which herbs were good, and deposited them into her basket. When I got a general idea of which herbs were useful, I crouched down next to Marimo and started to help.

"Do you go to work with your mother every day?" I asked as I continued to pick.

"Yes. My parents believe that I'm already educated enough not to have to attend a school," she explained, "Besides, our family is very poor even with the money that my mother is making at the hospital and the work my father does, so any bit of money helps. Three years ago, when I was ten years of age, we had journeyed over from Edo, searching for a better life. Even though we only earn what we needed for each day, I'm still happy that our lives are peaceful and gratifying." I nodded.

It was already into the afternoon when Marimo suggested we head back into the village to deliver the herbs to Mrs. Hitomi. "She probably needs them by now." When we got closer to the village, we quickened our pace. I could sense that something was wrong. A faint scent of smoke traveled in the air. I felt a sinking feeling in my heart as I looked down at the road leading to the Village Square. Marimo had dropped the full basket of herbs we'd picked.

There were bloody bodies of villagers sprawled out on the road; some covered so deeply in blood that it was hard to determine where they were hit. "The Gobe army." I choked out. A wave of anger had built up deep into my soul. The feeling of helplessness and despair swept over me once again. I had wished long ago that I would never have to feel it again, as well as anyone else. Our first action was to run to the square, where Mr. Tokake and Mrs. Hitomi worked. There were crumbling pieces of what were once roofs over the shops. They were slowly descending onto the road, some on top of the bodies. I stopped as one fell next to me, knocking down a broom leaning against the stone wall of the building. Marimo quickly passed me, desperately hoping that her parents were still alive. Her young and innocent mind could not find it possible of what could happen to her parents. I, on the other hand, had already seen the death of a loved one. Her parents were already dead. We'd dragged Marimo's parents over to where the forest trail was, safe from the fire, which had almost engulfed the entire village. I ran back to the village to find anyone who might still be alive, but I know that those who were not killed by the soldiers were most likely burned down with the fire. What once was a busy, cheerful village, was now a bloody pool of massacre.

By late evening, we had dug two graves for Mr. Tokake and Mrs. Hitomi. We spread the herbs that Marimo and I had picked today around them. I poured what little amount of sake I had in my satchel over their graves. It was a poor memorial for the people who had treated me so well through the last days of their lives. I looked over at Marimo, who didn’t seem to show any emotion throughout the whole afternoon and evening. She just stared down onto the graves, a trail of tears running down her face.

The fire in the village had started to burn down, leaving everything as black as the midnight sky. In the morning, Marimo and I would set out down the forest path, on our way to another village. She had nothing else.