Traveler's Joy-Rest

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Rin bit his lip, staring after the stumbling corpse. Guilt curled deep in his stomach.

Paku's corpse trampled over leaves and sticks, still fresh, clothes still mostly clean. A clear bite on her forearm told Rin all he needed to know. The girl was still quite flimsy and wasn't one for fighting.

She probably tried to block the thing from biting her face and instead got a bite on the arm. If she'd had a bladed weapon, she could've chopped that part of her arm off and hoped for the best, but she'd probably just die of blood loss and shock anyways.

Rin knew she wouldn't last long. But she meant a lot to Izumo and was so sweet and loved the kids. Paku was strong in different ways than him, or Bon, or Izumo. She was a bright presence alongside Shiemi.

But those didn't last long in worlds like these. Shiemi had learned to be strong and still sweet like Honeysuckle. Paku refused that path and this was the result.

Rin unsheathed his sword, came up from behind, and slid it cleanly through her head. She dropped easily. He laid her down carefully. His ankle was healing decently and it hurt less to walk on, so the task wasn't too daunting.

He took the necklace around her neck that he knew Izumo had a matching one to. He took the diamond ring that had belonged to Paku's mother. He pocketed the items and closed her dead eyes. Rin did his best to cover her with leaves and picked a few flowers to lay on top of her. He hadn't known her very well, but he knew she meant a lot to Izumo and did it for her so the sadness of Paku's death wouldn't be wasted on himself.

The best send-off he could give.

He sighed and moved on, deeper into the trees.

§~•~§~•~§

Shima and Koneko had made a kind of domestic life in the cabin they'd first stayed in. It was cozy enough and they kept a fire going at least until they fell asleep.

They were able to find animals to eat. Konekomeru was sad over the bird that fell from the nest, but a guy's gotta eat.
They slept in the same bed and held hands a lot. Life was easier with just the two of them surviving.

But it felt empty. No kids giggling and being cute. No Rin giving orders they knew they could trust. No stories of how everyone grew up being traded over a fire. No seeing Rin and Bon and Sachi being a wholesome little family in the Apocalypse.

And there was also no watching the tension between Rin, Bon, and Izumo grow either. It was interesting to watch, really. Rin and Bon were very in love and a great team already. Izumo was smart like Bon and good at strategy like Rin. But she was very tsundere and saw things in a different way then the two guys did.

Izumo was a very careful person. She thought things over and then decided what was the best course of action with the least damage. Rin could come up with plans on the fly and make them work while Bon thought too much about things and hated making the decision because there was never one where everything went perfectly. Izumo spoke up about her opinions when she thought them to be noteworthy, no matter how harsh or how negative the opinion may be.

"Do you think everyone is trying to find each other right now or are we all sitting and waiting for each other?" Konekomeru wondered. "That'd be awkward." Shima laughed.

"Somebody finally finds someone else and they're like 'Did you look for me?" And they go "No, I was waiting for you" and the first is like "Oh, I was waiting for you." He described in a very Shima way. Konekomeru snorted in amusement. "That would be awkward." He snickered.

§~•~§~•~§

Shura and Shiemi were doing better than probably anyone else in the group.

Shura spent several nights in the Leader's bed enjoying herself shamelessly.

Shiemi was treated like a delicacy. She was shy and caring and the lady warriors loved it so much that they let her have whatever she wanted. The children loved listening to stories Shiemi told them that her mother had told her as a child.

"The Garden of Amahara is a garden that holds all of the plants in the world." She told the children. One sat on her lap and one played with her hair while another weaved a bracelet around her wrist.

Shiemi was dressed in a soft white cotton dress and had flowers braided into her hair. She had a necklace made with string and a droplet of amber with a fly caught in it. The Lady Warriors told her that if one found a fly trapped in amber (hardened tree sap), it would give luck to the person who had it.

"All of the plants?" A little girl gasped. "All of them." Shiemi affirmed. "Every tree, every fruit, every vegetable, every flower and every bush and every herb. Every single one."

"My grandmother told me that good people go there when they die. They live in the most beautiful and wonderful place forever." She smiled softly.

The Lady warriors wanted to get her pregnant to produce more children with good genes, but they couldn't ask the girl. She was just so pure and pregnancy was hard with no technology or medicine or even vitamins. They didn't want to ruin the lovely girl.

Shura helped with heavylifting and hunting. She was like a Warrior Princess. The Leader had provided her with a bearskin dress and beaded jewelry. She felt like Wonder Woman.

The two lucky women flourished.

§~•~§~•~§

"Could you two just kiss or something before the kids and I drown in the tension?" Torako sighed suddenly on their third day in the rooftop. Bon and Izumo whipped around and stared at her incredulously. "Mom!" Bon gaped.

"There's something between you two that's the same thing between you and Rin. The tension is getting a little high, go hunting together or something, it's stifling." Torako complained.

So they did what she said-they went hunting together.

"We're not talking about that, right?" Izumo guessed. "I mean, we probably should, but no, we won't." Bon admitted honestly.

"Just wait for Rin to be with us to talk?" Izumo guessed again. "Yeah, he's a lot better with emotions than we are." Bon nodded.

They hunted and found some good game for dinner. The tension was somewhat lower when they went back.

§~•~§~•~§

Kinzou and Yukio had retreated into a building. They'd gotten lucky and there weren't too many undead in it. There were enough for Yukio to sustain a bite on his shin when they missed a Crawler, though.

For the last three days, they'd waited for him to start turning while surviving on food and water Kinzou had had in his small pack, but on the fourth day, Kinzou pulled him close and kissed the daylights out of him. "W-What was that for?" Yukio asked breathlessly. "You're not turning, so I can kiss you all I want." The blonde replied happily. No one else could stand Yukio and his trashy attitude, but Kinzou guessed it just took a certain kind of person to be able to stay with a guy like Yukio. And he was that guy.

Waking up next to him in the morning with the sunlight sweeping across Yukio's face as he slept was something he'd never get tired of. When he had his glasses off and his expression wasn't bitter, or angry, or hurt. Or when he woke up. He'd blink his eyes open and see Kinzou and he'd smile. "Good morning." He'd murmur, and lean over for a kiss.

When it was just the two of them, it was almost perfect.

Almost.

Kinzou couldn't shake the worry he had for his brother and his niece. For Bon and Torako and Rin, the boy who quickly warmed up to Bon and settled in with them like he'd grown up with them. For all the girls that'd joined them along the way. He knew they were all strong, but anything could happen. This world held too many inconveniences.

They'd run out of food when they ate breakfast, then they'd go outside to look for their family and more food.