Tanjiro silently cursed at the girl’s interference, the blond wouldn’t know how well his luck ran, to be saved so easily, despite what the situation looked, Tanjiro had been preparing to turn the tides and this was without his grip on the other‘s unmentionables.. However, it was true that this way would allow him to come out significantly less bruised than his own plan, but he was sure something could be done about that detail.

The relief of the extra weight being taken off of his body was almost unfathomable, it was so great. But time was short and the young boy couldn’t enjoy it for long, instead, with free range of movement for his legs, having already positioned them to meet his needs, a side-swipe of a kick was sent to the boy, this Seijun, the kick itself would be weak, but it’d be enough to knock the other down and just as fast, without wasting any time, Tanjiro would be standing.

“I’m not done with you yet,” he spoke between gasps for air.

In truth, Tanjiro was in no condition to continue the fight. When he was knocked down, it was decided from the start, although how he lost his footing was still a blur to him, it had happened so fast, even his abnormal reflexes hadn’t been able to keep up … Lady Luck was almost as cruel a bitch as Karma.

“We can take a rain check if you want,” he chuckled. “But I might not be unarmed and outnumbered then, daken.”

There were plenty of ways to take Tanjiro’s statement, if there was a next time, he’d most definitely be armed, either a training sword, or even the real thing would be in his arsenal and then there’d be no chance of victory for the others. Then, there was his brothers--Akeno, his older brother, would have been practically useless in any conflict, trained in the use of as word as he was, he lacked spirit and such a thing was of major importance, otherwise one could not do was Tanjiro was doing this very second. On the other hand, Saburo, his younger brother by two years, was frightening even to Tanjiro.

Despite his readiness to continue, Tanjiro was hoping, if only slightly, that the rain check option was more their speed. At the very least, it would save him from having to explain to his father why he was injured so, after all; he was the heir to the family and his father would quite possibly execute the other kids. Despite wishing him harm, they didn’t have any real intention of killing him. Tanjiro could honor that, even if they chose to come at him in a group.

Well, at least I know what brother feels like now…

Even though he was wishing for the rain check, that did not mean Tanjiro was unprepared for an attack from the others, his senses were focused, as failing as they were, his body was ready to move and he had swiped the legs from under Seijun.

Seijun had walked a few feet from Tanjiro in a hurry before Tanjiro had gotten up. The boy nearly knocked Seijun down, causing him to trip forward, but before he could slam face first to the ground, he caught himself with his forearm on the back wall of the store. Immediately, he passed a glare back at Tanjiro, who not only tried to trip him as he left, but continued to boast as if he could really take the four of them on. As far as Seijun had seen, the whole fight wasn't going in Tanjiro's favor. All it would take were a couple of the others to start stamping down kicks at the boy's face and chest and it would have been over.

The blond didn't know what Tanjiro had been planning, though . . .

"'tch," Seijun scoffed as he motioned for the other three boys to follow him.

They passed the girl, Yumika, by briskly on their way away from Tanjiro, leaving him alone for now. Perhaps there would be another fight--or perhaps not. It was only a matter of where fate brought them. If something necessitated it, maybe, if not, still maybe. There was no way to tell. They all lived in the same village, though. Avoiding each other was impossible.

Yumika didn't follow behind. She watched Seijun as he left, but only out of idle interest. Once he was gone, her attention was on Tanjiro.

Without hesitating, she asked, "Are you going to be all right?"

She didn't sound too terribly concerned, though--but not quite without concern, either. Yumika always had a certain degree of blunt sternness to her voice, always, despite the fact that it was still a little high pitched and immature.

The boy relaxed as the others walked off, the rush of the moment choosing now to die down and allow the pain to take its place, it was now that Tanjiro realized just how much he hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable, thankfully.
“Ow, yeah. I’m fine, I think.”
Tanjiro wasn’t sure whether or not he should thank Yumika, there was a chance, after all; that she hadn’t actually intended to rescue him--no, maybe she really was simply doing Seijun’s father a favor and saving Tanjiro was simply an unexpected outcome.
“Kumamoto Tanjiro,” the boy introduced himself. “Yumika, right?”
It was only polite that Tanjiro introduced himself before confirming the girl’s own name.
“T-thanks, I guess.”

A few excuses for why he was in such a position had crept to the forefront of his mind, he didn’t like even the smallest chance that the girl would mistake him for being weak, although it didn’t take a genius to tell that Tanjiro had no allies amongst that group, but still… It was embarrassing. Luckily, however; Tanjiro did not act on the excuses and instead turned to walk away, unless of course Yumika had anything to say.

"Kato Yumika," the girl replied.

Kato. Elsewhere, there was a young boy related to Tanjiro fraternizing with a younger Kato girl, but chances were that Tanjiro didn't really know this. As the favored son, though, there was a fair chance that he was in mental possession of some valuable information regarding this girl. Well, a little bit, and not really about her in particular, but her family.

The Kato clan was currently the only Cizokian noble house entirely ran by women. This was successful for several reasons. First and foremost (and the most known reason): the woman who ran it wasn't a penis-hating lesbian. Houyuri Kato felt no enmity towards men, nor any truly feminist ideal that women were superior to men. She was, in fact, revolutionary in believing in equality between the sexes, but that wasn't the foundation of her social standing. The very fact that the family had no men in it was coincidental: Houyuri simply never conceived a son. That, coincidentally, was what most people knew. If Tanjiro's father ever told him much about noble houses that were close by, he'd likely recognize the name and that factoid.

But it was of no consequence. Yumika didn't carry herself like a haughty daughter of a noble family, after all.

Walking away was probably a pretty good idea. Yumika glanced down the road, before starting towards Tanjiro. He was already walking away, and soon enough, he was walking away with a red headed young girl next to him.

"You," which really meant we at the moment, "Should walk a little faster. Seijun's father didn't actually call for him"

Meaning he'd be back any second now, pissed as all at the both of them.

It was true that Tanjiro had some inkling of knowledge on the Kato family, although it was nothing brag worthy. In fact, most of what he heard was almost cryptic, mysteriously vague, actually. But Tanjiro never pressed his father for details, when the time came, the young boy, heir to his father’s legacy, would be briefed on everything necessary to perform his tasks, and that was all that mattered. Still, there was something that was bothering him and he couldn’t quite pin down what it was.

Shrugging off his bothersome thoughts, Tanjiro noticed Yumika following him, the red haired girl seemed to be in a hurry, oddly enough she confirmed this almost as quickly as he had thought it, surprising the boy enough to give cause for a laugh.

“Brave girl,” he noted. “You probably shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
Tanjiro wasn’t a bleeding heart and chivalry wasn’t exactly obsessed over, but Yumika had helped him out and he’d pay the debt sooner or later, even against the girl’s wishes.
“They’ll probably be looking for you, you know that, right?”
Tanjiro spoke sincerely, as was his usual habits. For him, the boys weren’t that big an issue, he’d take to carrying his training sword around with him, making him more than enough of a challenge for them, even with them out numbering him and his father’s guards would keep the thugs from trespassing on his estate, but Yumika--Tanjiro knew next to nothing about her and if she happened to live near or around Seijun and his friends, she could be hurt for helping him. That didn’t bode well for the boy at all.

Picking up his pace, Tanjiro matched his speed with Yumika’s, walking just beside her.
“I’ll walk you home,” he stated rather than offered. “My family’s estate isn’t actually in the village so I’ve got some guys who’ll take me home afterwards, anyways.”
Actually, Tanjiro didn’t have any people to carry him home--his father hadn’t known he left. The grounds of his home were boring and the people of the village usually left him alone, some exceptions standing, obviously. But there was no need for Yumika to know any of that, although she may, too, have recognized Tanjiro’s family name.

There were several other things that the boy wanted to discuss with Yumika, specifically on how she was going to deal with Seijun after today, if she needed help, or anything like that. But the boy ignored the issue, it’d come when it came and he wasn’t going to embarrass himself further.

Why she helped him and if she knew about his family were unclear. Yumika said nothing about Tanjiro's family, nor did she explain why she assisted him in what looked like a situation soon to end in tragedy. Not yet, at least.

Yumika wasn't one to turn down someone kindness. She didn't feel as if she needed an escort home, but it was, as she saw, a way for Tanjiro to return the favor. Sort of an honor thing.

"Thank you."

Going along with him was a good way to avoid getting caught, in any case. Tanjiro's assessment was right: Seijun and his gang were going to be just as angry with her as they were with Tanjiro. Fortunately, she knew Seijun a bit better than Tanjiro did. That could only get her so far, though, and indeed, dealing with four angry boys wanting to beat up on someone or something was not her ideal way to spend the afternoon. Far from ideal, even.

"If you're certain. If no one else can help you home, I can send someone to." What she meant by that--specifically who she could send--was not elaborated upon, nor was it going to be unless he specifically asked.

Yumika made sure to speed up her walking, and turned down into a gap between shops. Chances were that Seijun was going to go to the spot he saw Yumika and Tanjiro last. It was imperative that they get out of sight of that as quick as humanly possible. The established shops were off the road from a somewhat busy marketplace. Amongst people was also a good place to hide. Yumika could only walk so fast, after all, and running simply wasn't an option. She wore a dark violet kimono and sandals; the length of the kimono was to the bottoms of her shins. There was no way she was running in that.

Tanjiro followed closely behind Yumika as she sped up, it wasn’t that he was slower than her, but that she knew the way and he didn't, so there was no choice but for him to follow at her heels.
“Send who?”
The boy finally questioned the girl, having taken a few moments to think over the situation. Not that he was planning on accepting her offer. Nope, the thought hadn’t crossed his mind at all. Well, maybe a little.
“And, uh… Maybe half-way…”

Being near people was a good thing, Yumika definitely had the right idea, Tanjiro was almost surprised at just how street smart she seemed--she had effectively lied to a group of boys who were out for blood, and didn’t show any fear in the process, a girl her age most likely would have hid around the corner, maybe called someone for help, or just ignored what was happening.

“Why’d you help me, Yumika?”
There was no honorific after the girl’s name and he even spoke familiarly with her, using her given name rather than her family name.
“You could’ve just walked away,” he stared at the girl’s back, still following just behind her and ignoring the people around them. They were invisible to him, cover the two children were hiding behind and nothing more.
"But you didn't ..."

"All right," she replied, "My mother's hired servants are much larger and more intimidating than Seijun could ever hope to be."

Which was a little vague still, too, but was enough information to suffice (about all she was going to say about that, too, even if pressed). If the people that could possibly escort Tanjiro anywhere were hired men, they would be dependable men. Nothing commanded loyalty like money.

Once in the crowd, Yumika made sure Tanjiro was behind her. The people were just a tool for hiding, and it was only mildly crowded. It didn't merit holding onto his hand or anything to keep with him. If they got separated, it wouldn't take more than a second to find each other.

"I dislike Seijun," she replied frankly, "And how he treats other people. He always overreacts and sees it as a reason to hurt someone."

While talking, she didn't look back to Tanjiro, nor did she sound remotely offended at his use of her first name without an honorific. Yumika used honorifics and house names when she addressed most people (sans Seijun and a select few others), but she didn't hold others to do the same, and in the rare cases that someone didn't, she didn't really care.

Out of curiosity-- "What did you do to rile him up?"

“His cousin disrespected my family,” the boy replied nonchalantly. “He was messing with my older brother and I warned him to stop, my brother is … Well, that’s … Anyways, he doesn’t walk anymore.”
Tanjiro didn’t like speaking of his older brother, Akeno was different, special even, and that made matters difficult to portray with words.
“Not important, really.”
Yumika’s comment on Seijun overreacting made Tanjiro realize that he, too, may have overreacted to Seijun’s cousin, but the deed had already been done and Tanjiro wasn’t about to shed a tear for what had happened.
“How far do you live from here," he asked. "And does Seijun know where you live?"
It wasn't that Tanjiro was worried about her being attacked while at home, obviously she had guards, hired help, and the like. Even Seijun wasn't stupid enough to go up against those kind of odds--but lying in wait was different, a coward would simply jump the girl next time she left the estate and get his revenge. Luckily, at least they both knew who was gunning for them, they could, as the saying goes: expect the unexpected.

"Down this road," replied Yumika.

The market "street" itself lead straight out of town. The way they were going, there was no way that Yumika lived in town--well, unless she lived on the outskirts. As the people thinned out and the two children could walk next to each other again, it would seem that was the case.

Yumika's house wasn't too large, but it was the only one at the edge of town. Numerous routes could have been taken to get there. One entailed going over a small bridge. It was less crowded that way, not requiring one of the girls to cut through the busy, somewhat dangerous market. It was, in fact, a little dangerous for a girl to be there on her own. If they were too young to defend themselves, or at least know how to properly, just going there was a risk--not a huge one, but risky nonetheless. Because of this, Yumika's sister always took the bridge route to school. Yumika herself did not attend school.

They weren't too far from it. Enough to continue their dialogue briefly, but not enough for an entire conversation change.

"Yes, he does. He will likely post complaint to my mother tomorrow," Yumika continued, "What about you?"

It was her way of asking, not specifically if Seijun knew where Tanjiro lived, but if Tanjiro was going to be all right.

No attention was paid to the thinning crowd, even as the last person faded out of sight, instead, Tanjiro had more or less zoned, conscious still, but he was attempting to ignore his headache and the pain in his face. It wasn’t an easy task, to be sure. He honestly wanted nothing more than to go to sleep at this point, but he still had a ways to go, and he couldn’t rest just yet.

“Yeah,” the boy replied to Yumika’s question. “He knows where I live, but … I don’t leave the family estate all that often, only when I’m walking to the school to get my brother, Akeno, or wandering with Saburo, my younger brother. Other than that, the guards keep trespassers away.”

What Tanjiro neglected to mention was that most trespassers without proper cause on the estate were held in custody until the manner of their visit was brought to light, his father, Kumamoto Michio, was ill-fond of visitors and especially so, visitors seeking to harm one of his sons. His father was a brutal and influential man and one could never be too careful, especially in Cizok.

With nothing more to say, Tanjiro stopped speaking and kept pace with his new companion, Yumika.

Once they were before the house--which wasn't so much an estate as it was a large home; Tanjiro would be able to boast much more, and yet Yumika had still mentioned something about her mother having "associates!"--Yumika stopped walking. She didn't head home immediately, instead waiting for a moment to collect her thoughts. It seemed her situation was similar to Tanjiro's, regarding Seijun knowing where they lived, but more importantly . . .

Should she invite him in? Offer him a place to clean himself up? It would have been the nice thing to do, definitely, but not doing it wouldn't have been cruel, either. Tanjiro would be fine either way. The thought was brief, anyways.

"Thank you," Yumika declared as she bowed her head to Tanjiro, "I will have one of my mother's associates escort you home. Please wait here. Goodbye."

The girl had a bad habit of that--being short when talking to someone. Short, simple sentences, not uneducated, nor spoken with any sort of dialect. She was just . . . a little awkward, socially.

It wouldn't be much longer than a couple of minutes before a young man left the house, carrying the look of a samurai: kimono, swords at his hip, dark hair tied up in a top-knot, all the works. The only difference was that he wore a badge of some sort; a bandanna wrapped around his left bicep, a piece of red cloth with a design stitched into the middle: a cartoonish depiction of a cat's head. Cartoonish, but . . . ominous. Awkwardly ominous. He didn't say much other than, "You are Yumika-chan's acquaintance?," followed by a quiet willingness to escort Tanjiro as far as he needed, either half way there or all the way. It just depended on when Tanjiro dismissed him.

Offtopic: Time lapse at will, Mr. Man.

Saying his good-byes to Yumika, Tanjiro patiently awaited the appearance of her mother’s associate, guard, or whatever he was. The man looked quite capable, of that the young boy was willing to bet his money on, but he was also knowledgeable enough to recognize certain characteristics--features--of the man’s attire. This troubling detail would be dismissed, either through a lack of wanting to know, or the smarts to not question the man’s affiliation and occupation, although the latter could be answered in a prefabricated and generic reply. It didn’t matter.

“Yes, I am … Yumika’s friend.” He replied back to the man, unsure of whether or not he and the girl could truly be considered friends, sure they were in a similar situation, she had even helped him, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were friends. Did it?

Regardless of his doubts and awkwardness, however; Tanjiro would allow the man to escort him almost approximately half-way to his family’s estate, the distance from town and direction would most assuredly inform his escort who he was, or at least who he worked for--if he had been a servant of the house.--Still, Tanjiro took the time to thank and dismiss the man, almost profusely, The young boy held a way with words that would almost ensure his future as a politician or military leader, the latter most likely of the two.

When reaching his house, Tanjiro would take his usual way in, effortlessly climbing a tree and traveling the roof of the outer building and dropping into the inner-courtyard. From there, Tanjiro would easily make his way to his own room, on the far side of his family estate, and out of the way of his father’s sitting room.

After reaching his destination, the boy would clean himself up, dress and hide anything needing such attention, and rest until he was called by staff or family. Although, the thought that he was forgetting something or someone bothered him, most likely his brother, which didn’t make effort to cross his mind due to being overshadowed by a dangerous, unexplainable attraction to other thoughts.

He fell asleep shortly afterwards.

Morning came, and Mizuki Kato waited on the bridge near her house. Going across it and down the path it lead to was the best way to school. Akeno, too, took this path--usually. To her knowledge, at least.

A few days, and she was already getting used to it--or, at the very least, hoping to get used to it. Mizuki had woken up a little early and prepared for school much earlier than necessary, much to the dismay of her sister. Mizuki was usually quick to get up when the sun was coming up, but rarely beforehand. She just woke up with the sun; it was that simple. But, instead, she had woken up--naturally--a little earlier, got ready for school, accidentally waking her sister in the process, and headed off to wait for Akeno at the bridge.

It wasn't like she minded waiting, she just didn't want to miss her friend! What if he went this way before she got the chance? Then she wouldn't be able to walk to school with him . . .

The young girl would not have to wait long before her expected company and one other came into view. Indeed, as they neared the bridge the other, shorter, rounder, and altogether less familiar individual would diverge from Akeno’s path, moving alongside the small embankment that the bridged helped to cross.

“G-good morning, Mizuki-chan”

Akeno called out to his friend with a greeting, his good mood apparent on his face, a smile and glint of teeth helping to affirm such. Obviously, Mizuki’s reason for being at the bridge--the fact that she had been waiting on him--completely slipped past Akeno, who gave little thought to why she was present. Just the fact she was, was what made him happy. Regardless, Akeno would continue heading to school, Mizuki would probably follow, after all; she was heading in the same direction.