Lord of Honorable Deception and Lady of Poisoned Luck (Karma and Manami)

I Gocha

The storyline was made be me but the characters used belong to their respective owners.

Italics is when something is in the past.

~The mid-air squiggly lines show what someone is thinking, and you guess who.~

Author’s Note: The settings for this story are in the time, culture, and biome of Japan in the medieval era, but is not the actual country itself because I don't have time to research the regions of that time or learn the geography.
_____

“Witch!”

~I didn’t know!~

“Monster!”

~I’m sorry!~

“Murderer!”

~Please stop!~

“Die!”

~I BEG OF YOU!~

“Be gone!”

Karma’s pov:

To start, know that the person begging earlier is an accused witch on the run. She’s wanted for allegedly causing the deaths of a lot of idiots, but had never intended for any of them to die in the first place. Idiot number one, was the son of the preacher from her home village, that's very religious and superstitious. ~There wasn't a school or doctor for more than a week's trek.~ Anyway, this guy got a little to preachy with the little lady you see, and in defense she swiped the bastard in the arm with a small kitchen knife. It wasn't properly washed though, so he died two weeks later from infection. But this bastard’s father ~the preacher~ was convinced that a little wicked girl of thirteen had casted a curse of death on his son. In the span of six months, the preacher had almost the whole village believing this girl was a witch; yes including her parents. Only one that would defend the poor girl was a nameless huntsman. He always carried more than one blade a time, and had purple eyes that screamed ‘come on just make my day.’ Guy was gruff and very rough around the edges but a lot smarter than what people expected. The huntsman taught her everything that she would know to survive on her own; small game hunting, fishing, sewing, cooking, gutting, reading, writing, and an extensive knowledge of plants with their uses. While in his care he only had one rule; “Never lie unless you're a damn good liar.”  This rule she takes to heart and follows every day even after her life at that hellhole went tits-up. At fifteen winters old, the village warranted for her head with the preacher in lead.

“RUN KID, KEEP RUNNING TILL I FIND YOU!”

“B-but Sir-”

“ OKUDA MANAMI LISTEN TO ME AND RUN!”

So she ran for five years, from the bounty-hunters that the preacher sent out. In the first year seven of them died from exposure to the winter elements ~Bunch of amateurs looking for fast money and an easy target~, then in the second year seven more showed up dead from drinking contaminated spring-water ~Why would you still drink it if tasted funny~. It built up a reputation for Okuda-san, as the Poisoned Witch. In the third and fourth year there was one bounty-hunter in each. One died while chasing her downhill, and the other got hit by lightning. Both were seasoned bounty-hunters and had a reputation for killing anyone who tried muscling in on their pray. But they couldn't beat Okuda-san’s favor with luck. In the last year ~Present time~ of running she met up with the huntsman, but he was followed by two more bounty-hunters plus me, and ~If you've been keeping with the pattern~ an odd number of people ended up dead. Two bounty-hunters and the huntsman. You're probably wondering how I know all of this, quite simple, I just asked Okuda-san.

“Hi there!”

‘AAAAHHHHH’

~Loud~ “Hey, hey, hey; you alright there?”

“...Ww-what?”~Purple…~

~Two dead in front of her and one right behind her, there's blood on her hands and kimono~ “What happened here, what happened to these guys?”

“Ttt-they were following me-e, fff-or mmm-my head,” she said as her eyes went to the deadman behind her, “and he pp-protected me.”~She’s trying to appear calm~

“Did you know him?”

We talked like this for a while ~With more stutters, hiccups, whimpers, etc~. Me asking all the necessary questions to fill in the gaps of what I missed, and her answering truthfully to the point of story length explanations ~She spilled her life story out to me~. I could tell in how she spoke that she wasn't used to talking to people. Meaning that if she even tried to lie, I'd see right through it ~Being an expert in both execution and detection of the craft myself~. The whole time, her purple eye’s were on huntsman’s dead form.

~Did you even notice that there's a very real sword on my left hip?~

“If you're going to kill me then go ahead.” she said suddenly.

~How amusing.~

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon Okuda-san. You see I was looking for your caretaker the past three seasons, and I'm not someone who likes going home empty handed.”

Before she could react I knocked her out and carried her away from the scene, not really caring for the blood stains. Wolves or some other predators should take care of what's left; the bounty-hunters don't really deserve a proper burial, and I can't bury the huntsman, that would away from the time it would take to carry his illegitimate daughter to safety ~Both of them have the same colored eyes that is very rare, so need I saw more~. Yep, it's best left to nature. She’s light, so it doesn’t cause much trouble to get to where my horse should be. Now, you probably wanna know who the hell I am, and why I was looking for the huntsman.

Young Lord Akabane Karma is who I am, and last summer I acquired a decent amount land. It’s not much to brag about; a few of stale old villages, an old military fort, and a mountain range. But what makes it spectacular is the fact that I won it from my sire, Lord Asano Gakuhō. While also screwing over my ‘dear’ older brother, Young Lord Asano Gakushū. We share the same father but have different mothers; mine being a very witty concubine whose surname is Akabane. The current status of both woman's whereabouts are unknown and have been for a time. Back on topic; I needed someone to scout my land for me so I know what to work with other than framers, stonemen, and wild land; the huntsman seemed to fit quite nicely. I even did this search solo to see if this guy was worth his salt, then he had to die. Now I'm suck with a little more than nothing…

I see my horse and walk a little faster. Not so sure how to get her and myself mounted but it shouldn't be too hard.