Hizashi had swaddled you in his fine green cloak and helped Shouta get you onto a horse with him. You were too weak to really hold yourself up so you leaned back against Shouta's chest and tried your best not to slide to either side. Shouta let Hizashi take the lead and the three of you weaved around the town through backroads away from prying eyes until you eventually reached the stream on the far end of town. You rode down the center of the stream for a time, letting the tracks wash away in the current until it fed into a river that looked as though it could swallow the horse whole. Hizashi led the three of you along the river bank where the water lapped at the tracks, stealing them away in places. You rode at a trot for what felt like hours, your body unable to try a steady itself just jostled along.
It wasn't until sunrise that your party reached a place in the woods that was dense enough that Hizashi felt sure that no one frequented the area. Again, you were lifted gently into Shouta's arms and he set you down on a sleeping roll that Hizashi had placed out for you. You uncurled and for the first time in nearly three days you straightened out your body. It felt incredible and horrendous at the same time, like a stretch that was going too far. Tears pricked at your eyes but you fought them off as your body sunk into the new position and got acclimated.
Your two companions bustled about around you, Shouta building a small cooking fire and Hizashi rummaging through the saddlebags of the horse. You started to drift off after a few minutes, craving sleep unhindered by scorching bars or gut-wrenching hunger pangs. Hunger. You haven't really felt hunger in about a day or so now, but there was still an undeniable emptiness in your stomach. Just as you were slipping into sleep a gentle hand stroked your cheek gingerly, prodding you awake.
"Hey," you opened your eyes to find Hizashi knelt next to you, a waterskin in his hand. "I know you're tired but I need you to drink some water, Okay?"
You blinked your eyes open and nodded weakly. You were exhausted and your body was starting to act like it.
"Good, I'll help." Hizashi tilted your head forward and brought the water skin to your lips, gently pouring the liquid into your mouth in increments. Hizashi had a wonderful bedside manner, he'd make a good healer. He held you like that, patiently feeding you water every minute or so, until the waterskin ran dry. Sure that you had swallowed the last bit of water he placed your head back down and brushed some stray hairs from your face. Your eyes closed and the last thing you saw before falling unconscious was Hizashi's warm smile and worried eyes.
***
Hizashi watched over you for a while, making sure that you found rest. You were in worse shape than he'd hoped you'd be in when they found you, he'd hoped you'd at least be able to ride on your own. When he was sure that sleep had found you Hizashi stood and returned to the task of looting the saddlebags. The horses were remarkably well behaved for having been acquired on such short notice, after all, Hizashi had quite literally stopped the cart they were pulling in its tracks and cut them loose. The cart had been bustling down the dusty road towards the town square, going too fast to be just passing through. Hizashi had watched it for a while from the roof of the inn, hoping it would take a sudden turn away from the town square but as it drew nearer he knew he'd have to take care of it before whoever it was happened across Shouta.
It wasn't any of the town's lawmen, Hizashi had been sure he and Shouta had taken care of that throughout the day. However, when he'd managed to stop the cart and take care of the two men driving it he was surprised to find them well-armed and trained, at least partially, in combat.
In his quest to raid the saddlebags, Hizashi came across a rolled parchment, stamped and sealed with wax.
Hizashi broke the wax seal and found that inside was a requisition of services made out to the Northern Dales Mercenary Company detailing the extermination of the "witch" who killed the young Lord Regis of House Bennett.
"Hey, Sho?" Hizashi queried as he turned around to face his partner. "Did you end up getting the full story about her?"
"Mm hm." Shouta looked up from the fire pit. "Townsfolk said that she apparently lured the young Lord Bennett into her home and summoned a sword from hell and skewered him in cold blood."
"Cold blood?" Hizashi's eyebrows raised in surprise and he looked at you once over. "She doesn't seem-"
"She's not." Shouta agreed. "The shepherd down the hill from her said that he heard a ruckus coming from her cottage the night it happened when he was out collecting his sheep, just before the young Lord's travel companions had dragged her to town for trial. He went snooping and said he found a knife in the dead lord's hand. That, with the bruising on her arm? Sounds to me like the young Lord Bennett is a proper cock."
Hizashi nodded solemnly. "Sounds like self-defense to me."
Shouta hummed in agreeance and went back to the fire which consisted of a few small flames that were only just now catching on the dried-out log.
"Hey Sho?" Hizashi called him again, and again Shouta turned away from the fire. "I reckon we could make it to the mountains in three days if we ride hard. That is, if we want to avoid the mercenaries the Bennetts sent."
"The Bennetts sent mercenaries?" Shouta scoffed. "After a woman already given a death sentence?"
Hizashi handed Shouta the requisition and started to set up his bedroll next to you.
"No." Shouta decided, handing the parchment back to Hizashi. "She could barely hold her head upon the ride out here, let alone handle a full three days of riding. She'll be in too much pain to move tomorrow as it is. I think we're setting up camp here for a few days, whether we like it or not."
"What about the Northern Dale Mercenary Company?" Hizashi asked, checking the parchment to make sure he got the name right.
"Never heard of them." Shouta shrugged nonchalantly. "Must be new blood. As far as I'm concerned they're little more to worry about than local law, Zash. If we stay here for a few days and keep to ourselves, they'll blow through the area. When she's fit enough to ride we'll take off north. If we need to we'll bolt." Shouta turned back to the fire, now attempting to erect a cooking rack made of stone and wood.
"Right, captain." Hizashi mock saluted. "I'm getting stir crazy, I'm going to take one of the horses and have a look around the area."
Shouta hummed some sort of recognition, not particularly betraying if he was actually paying attention or simply attempting to look like he was.
As it turned out there was a town that Hizashi would have estimated as being an hour's trot west of where your party had set up camp if he'd not taken such a roundabout way of getting there. Hizashi had ridden in on one of the back roads and only made his way onto the main road when he found a general supply shop that had food, bandages, and clothing. He had originally thought that entering the town would be an unnecessary risk until he'd remembered that you, as of now, only had his cloak wrapped around you. Proper clothes, you could not find in the wilderness. Hizashi figured while he was at it he might as well pick up some food, because while you'd surely eat anything Shouta could catch and skin in the forest with how starved you were, he guessed you prefer something perhaps more palatable to start off with. The bandages had been an afterthought that had only sprung into his mind once he saw them lining the back counter as his purchase was being shoved into a fraying burlap sack. He thought of your blistering skin and raw open sores and decided that bandages would probably feel better on those than lose clothes rubbing and chafing.
The women at the counter nearly fainted when Hizashi asked for the lot of bandages, she probably rarely got an order as big as the one Hizashi was getting anyways, let alone how much she would be making from the now added goods. The women behind the counter swept all the bandage rolls into a second sack and plopped it onto the counter.
"Thirty gold pieces for the lot." The woman was fighting off a devilish grin.
Hizashi knew she was expecting him to barter her down, thirty gold pieces was a heinous price. He had thought about it but then remembered fondly that the larger of the two bags of gold he had with him was that of the Northern Dale Mercenary Company and decided that the good chaps of the company could surely afford the bill. With a smile on his face Hizashi plopped the bag down on the counter and gathered up his two burlap sacks, one packed full with clothes and food and the other somewhat deflated with several rolls of badges.
By the time Hizashi made it back to the camp the sun had begun its nightly decline in the sky. The town may have only been an hour away but Hizashi spent the next four scouting the area and making sure it'd be awfully difficult to track his steps. He'd found a signpost at a fork in the road to the north, a very sturdy oak tree a few yards back, and made a mental note of a rather distinctive knot in the roots. A good cache hiding place if the need should arise. Beyond that, he found a caravan of about twenty or so members in a meadow to the North West and a stream he was able to follow through the woods for a good while that eventually ended up not so far away from their camp.
***
You awoke to the sounds of birds and wind rustling leaves and two very defined sets of snores. One was deep and filled with gravel but altogether rather quiet, and the other was loud and resonant, every second breath felt as though it was traveling through the ground and rumbling under you.
Wow. You thought to yourself. I must still be really dehydrated.
You opened your eyes, the sun hadn't fully risen but what light had managed to bleed through the green canopies above came through in wavering spots that swayed across the trunks of neighboring trees. It wasn't enough to burn your eyes as early morning light often was, but it was enough to illuminate the makeshift camp that had been erected around you. Somewhere, beyond a few rows of trees, two horses grazed on dew-covered grass, seeming not to mind that rather generous tethers that kept them from wandering too far away. Much closer to you was the fire pit, embers simmering amongst the charred wood, then a set of burlap sacks and travel bags tossed into a pile against a wide tree trunk that curved inwards and two men in separate pleading rolls lying so close to each other you'd think they were sharing a roll had they not been different colors.
You watched them for a few moments while your mind pulled itself from the deep sleep that had taken nearly a full day from you. The darker-haired man's face was fully bruised now, deep purple in full bloom across his cheek. Hizashi's face was hidden underneath his wild blonde hair that had escaped its tie in his sleep, but through it, you could see just the tip of a pointed ear peeking through. You tried to think back to when you'd seen him last, trying to remember if his ears had been visible under his tied-back hair. As your mind focused so too did your memory, and as though your body had needed a reminder to do so, it began to ache. You gasped, the shaky breath apparently loud enough to stir Shouta who shot up onto his elbows, his eyes scanning the area with vigilance that made you wonder if he'd really been sleeping in the first place. When his eyes landed on you he sighed and melted back into his arms.
"I'm surprised you're awake already." Shouta grumbled and he shoved himself up into a sitting position.
"Mmm." you managed, your lips were dry and your body was too stiff and pain-filled to facilitate the making of words.
Shouta nodded as if he'd understood exactly what you had attempted to say and turned to Hizashi who was still snoring. Shouta looked at him for a moment, there was something gleaming in his eyes, then nudged him. Hizashi, who was in the middle of a particularly fierce snore choked in his breath and his eyes blinked open slowly. He, unlike Shouta, was heavy with sleep and didn't seem to be fully grasping where he was. He looked over and Shouta and smiled a goofy sleep-filled smile, then he turned to you and his smile faltered, but didn't fully fall. His eyes widened as if the sight of you had been enough to pull him fully from his slumber.
"Morning!" Hizashi chirped far too loudly for having just woken up, his smile had grown again.
"Zash," Shouta hissed, sleep was now seeming to catch up with him. "you're gonna scare the horse."
"Oh," Hizashi cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly. "right sorry, can't always help it this early in the morning."
This time he was quieter and his voice didn't carry quite so well as before.
It was a slow start to the day as the two men puttered around the camp. Hizashi was rather unfocused and going back and forth between trying to get things out of bags and trying to talk to you. Shouta was much more focused but rather sluggish, that alert and adept man from before hidden somewhere within this now, frankly exhausted, person. You'd gotten some water in you and with great difficulty and an embarrassing amount of help from both men, you were now sitting up against a pile of bedrolls and a tree trunk. You weren't used to being the one who needed tending to, you were usually then attendant. You were able to hold a water skin and bring it to your own lips, saving them the trouble of having to help you with that.
It wasn't until you could smell what Shouta had skewered onto roasting sticks that you realized the full force of your hunger, at last. Your stomach was rather vocal about it's demands for food, painfully twisting itself around and around in response to the smells wafting from the fire pit.
"Here." Hizashi handed you a small bun topped with seeds. You had never been one to drool over plain bread but the way this bun smelled to your food starved body was immaculate. "Eat it slowly, you'll get sick if you go too fast."
You had already begun to tear at it, your hands bearing strong enough to pull the bun apart. He was right, you had to remind yourself, if you ate too much too soon you'd make yourself sick and you weren't sure your body could handle that right now. To occupy yourself between annoyingly reasonably sized bites of bread you watched Shouta cook, his bruised and scabbed hands poking at the embers with a stick.
"Y-you should clean your hands." you managed through your mouth full of bread. "Your knuckles, I mean, before they get infected."
Shouta paused and looked down at his hands for a moment, rotating his right hand to survey the damage. "What they need is a salve."
"I can make you one." You were desperate to be helpful to the men who'd saved your life and were now tending to you. "Just need some ingredients."
"Thanks, but you can barely lift your arms, let alone grind herbs into medicine." Shouta smiled at you, it was that warmer kind of smile he'd given you towards the end of the prison break night. It was as if he were saying 'I know' to how you were feeling, it was unsettling how a man who showed such little emotion was so profoundly insightful.
"Besides," Hizashi chirped in. "he's had worse, let me tell you!"
Hizashi shot a look towards Shouta that only a mother or a wife gives their reckless child or husband. Shouta smiled, somewhat guiltily and ghosted over the scar under his eye with his fingers. There was most certainly a story there.
The morning carried on, and you were fed, mind you, it was half the helping of everything the two men got but after you were finished your malnourished body was beyond full. Hizashi was very apologetic about it, promising that your helpings tomorrow would be bigger. You smiled kindly at him every time he'd start fretting over you, reassuring him that you were a healer and understood. It was hard for you to be on this side of the exchange between caregiver and patient, you were annoyed at everything but also understood it was for the best. You were certainly beginning to empathize with your patients in a whole new way.
"I've gotten you some clothes and bandages, I- uh- figured you'd want to- oh, this will be difficult-" Hizashi was holding a dark pair of travel clothes that looked like they might be mildly too big for you but would certainly work, and a heinous amount of bandages in a bag. You suddenly realized that there was no way you were going to dress or bandage yourself and your cheeks grew hot. You had grown used to the spectators of the town square eyeing you all day but the idea of someone, practically a stranger, having to physically touch you was still a cause for shyness. You looked away from Hizashi and cleared your throat, willing the clear flush on your face away.
"I-uh- won't look?" Hizashi squeaked.
Behind him Shouta laughed, it was the loudest noise you'd hear him make since meeting him. "Which way did you say the stream was, I'll go get water?"
Hizashi's face fought off a look of disbelief and he pointed uphill. "That way."
"I'll be, uh- let's say an hour." Shouta grinned as he stepped up into the stirrups of one of the horses. "Whistle if you need me to be longer."
"Great, thanks." Hizashi rolled his eyes and Shout took off at a rather enthusiastic trot. He turned back to you and pressed his lips together.
"Look, I can just sort of swaddle myself in the cloak for another day if you're uncomfortable-"
"No, I can-" he interrupted, stopping for a moment of awkward silence. "-c-close my eyes?"
"You already said that." You laughed. He was endearing, his goofy grins and expressive eyes made him all the more enjoyable to be around, and this awkward streak was nothing short of adorable. You found yourself growing flustered for reasons beyond just the current predicament.
"Well, I can!" he yelped helplessly.
"Right, well-" you had to make the decision, it was your body after all. "Bandages first."
"O-okay!" The ground shook beneath you and Hizashi winced. "S-sorry!"
You decided to ask about the tremors and the yelling later and instead had to focus on helping Hizashi wrap bandages around your torso. It had taken you a few minutes to build up the courage to let the cloak drop around your waist and show you bareback to Hizashi but he acted as though nothing had changed and went on rambling about the little town he found, specifically a kitten he'd come across. He was good at that, random conversation. He was knelt down behind you and you guided the bandage roll around your chest holding it loosely in place so he could complete the rotation, you repeated this process until your torso was more or less covered in a layer of bandages, loose enough to breathe but tight enough to stay in place and protect your peeling skin from the chafing of the tunic he'd bought you.
"Don't tell Shouta I'm telling you this, he thinks he's very mysterious, but this kitten was so small and wobbly I think he would have cried." Hizashi carried on, draping the open tunic over your shoulders, guiding one of your arms in.
"Shouta," you laughed "crying over a cat?"
"Oh yeah," Hizashi laughed, scrambling over to your other side to help guide your other arm. "He has a soft spot for them. Can't stand livestock or dogs, he will hunt rabbits without a second thought but cats? Loves them."
"In my town only witches kept cats, they weren't for the keeping of good, holy folk according to Father Dimmesdale." You tell him, less embarrassed as he crouches down in front of you now that the bandages are in place.
"Is that why there were so many strays in the market?" Hizashi began lacing up the front of your tunic after your clumsy fingers were having trouble threading the lacing.
You nodded. "They keep the rodents out of the food stalls, and the fishmongers feed them minnows under the stalls."
Hizashi pulled back and looked you up and down, then back down. "Uh- right."
You followed his eyes and found yourself staring into your lap. Pants. Shit. You looked up at him and panicked.
"Close your eyes!" you blurted out.
Without a second thought, Hizashi closed his eyes immediately before realizing that he in fact did not have the pants in hand.
"Um, can I get the pants first?" he asked, eyes still closed.
"Yes." You chuckled, that flush coming back to your cheeks. Now was not the time nor was he the person to be feeling these sort of stirrings for, you scolded yourself.
He opened one eye carefully, making sure he wasn't peeping at anything before he opened the other and grabbed the pants. "It might be easier if I can get you kind of standing and leaning back on me so you can step into them?"
You nodded. You'd dressed plenty of men before, however, you usually waited until they had more mobility than you did before doing so.
"Okay." Hizashi steeled himself behind you, his arms hooked under yours and with surprising strength, judging by his lean form, lifted you until you were mostly standing. You pressed back against him, your muscles screaming from the movement and the skin on your back screaming from the heavy contact. You gasped and screwed your eyes shut. The flare of pain subsided and a breeze blew through the campsite, cool air hitting your legs and rear.
"Don't look down." you ordered.
Hizashi did quite the opposite of looking down, his head turning to the sky and his hands fumbled to collect the trousers. It took a good few minutes of awkward maneuvering, your legs barely being able to hold your body up didn't help and at one point Hizsahi had to hold you up entirely by the waist while you got your legs into the pants.
Fully dressed, Hizashi lowered you gently back down onto the sleeping roll and plopped down next to you on his own. There were a few seconds of heavy breathing as if the two of you had just completed some great physical feat.
"Don't tell Sho about the cats thing." Hizahsi puffed.
"N-no, I won't. " You laughed.
"Good." He smiled and slouched further into the bedroll.